Southern Comfort

The following is not my own. I've binned it temporarily until the author shares their bin link.

>Captain Silver Star
>Guardsmare stationed on the southern border of Equestria
>Doing her job to keep the nation safe, fighting monsters and keeping out dangers
>Literally no stallions on base, they all do civil service in the safer villages, there were so few of them anyways
>Silver was okay with that, she was abnormally tall and built like a walking tank and covered in scars, a typical stallion guard in Canterlot would piss himself in fear at the thought of her
>She could pull a griffon's head clean off, which again, was normal after a few years on the southern border and the almost-daily skirmishes that came with it
>In the heat of summer, when the sun remained out for 20 hours a day, Silver was struck with estrus
>It always happened in the worst times
>She dealt with it by tucking ice packs under her armor and in the rear plate
>It felt like she was sitting on an oven
>Silver got a letter delivered from Cadance
>Odd, seeing as the far lands guard corps was under Celestia and Luna
>Looks like she was getting some new recruits
>Silver skimmed through the letter, there was an unusual lack of data on them
>Just... 580 recruits
>Some group she'd never heard of called VCKG Relief Corps
>Silver rolled her eyes in annoyance at the thought of having to break in that many recruits, especially in the middle of Kluge Town's slave trade season
>"Son of a bitch..."
>Silver finished up her day in the sweltering heat, listening to the story of how a tank was completely inoperable until they could fly in a single sensor to fix it
>Just as Silver finished checking over the paperwork to get the part, the base went on alert, a caravan from Kluge was passing close by
>They were always an issue, coming into southern Equestria to bypass the desert for their slavetrading
>Although the business was despicable, there hadn't been enough reports of kidnapped ponies to raise alarm
>The cartel was dangerous enough to deal with, Silver didn't want to start any trouble with them and risk anypony's safety
>As three choppers lifted off to intercept the caravan, Silver went back outside to keep an eye on the situation
>It was a typical standoff, with the caravan being turned away and retreating into the desert
>Those new recruits would be arriving tomorrow morning, Silver would be up all night dealing with this
>She'd look tired on top of looking like she'd fallen into a blender
>Oh how dreadful
>She got one of the lower ranks to grab her an energy drink
>The mare came back with a white can of a zero-calorie stay-awake-forever drink
>Zero Ultra, not her favorite, but it was always in stock and did the trick for her
>Following a restless night, Silver Star awoke to the roar of C-5 Galaxies circling the base
>They were painted gray with Cadance's livery along the sides
>Silver quickly swapped out the ice packs in her armor and went out to the control tower
>The planes hadn't been permitted to land yet and were running in the pattern
>Their security passes checked out, this was Cadance's fleet
>One by one, the massive aircraft touched down on the strip and pulled to the side
>Looks like Relief Corps brought some supplies with them
>Several tanks, IAVs, and humvees rolled out of the back of the planes
>Then from each C-5, a sea of green poured out
>Organized line after line of green ponies stepped from the planes, all of them in gentle desert fatigues
>As Silver got closer, she realized the only mare among the recruits was the pilots and the leading officer
>Silver looking past the saluting guardmare over 580 stallions
>By Celestia's hefty flanks, she'd been out here for four years and hadn't seen a stallion since bootcamp
>"Captain Silver Star, passing command of Relief Corps to you."
>Silver looked back to the saluting guardsmare
>"I accept command of Relief Corps, you are dismissed."
>The guards and pilots boarded back onto most of the planes, leaving two on base as a gift from Cadance
>Silver checked with her first officer, Sunny Daze, whispering quietly to her
>"Sunny, get me all the information you can on these recruits. They seem a little off to me."
>Sunny pulled her eyes away from the stallions, snapping back to reality
>"Yes ma'am."
>Silver briefly thought about the stallions, surely Cadance would've at least trained them
>They were standing in formation under the sun as guards from across the base observed from their posts
>Why the hell would Cadance ship in tons of these soft citycolts
>"Emerald, you're from the Crystal Empire right?" she asked a nearby mare
>"Yes ma'am."
>"They have loads of stallions there?"
>"Next to none, ma'am."
>Silver approached one of the groups and looked one pf the stallions up and down
>Just fatigues, no armor
>Usually the guards in the city were always dolled up in their dress uniforms
>She noticed only a few minute differences between the hundreds of nearly-identical ponies
>Things like their height, facial features, manes, eye color
>The longer she analyzed, the more distinct each became
>"What's your name, recruit?"
>"Anon, ma'am."
>"And yours?"
>"Also Anon, ma'am."
>Silver walked down the front row, recieving the same answer
>With only rhe slightest confusion, she dismissed the entire corps and asked one of the officers to bring them to their barracks to unpack
>Without thought of the new recruits that day, Silver tried to go back about her usual business
>Word had spread about the Relief Corps' appearance and the entire base was awash in interest
>Silver stood in front of a vending machine trying to get another energy drink to make it to tonight without passing out when a few officers walked by
>Their discussion was rather quiet but still audible as the passed
>"Relief corps, sounds like a joke name, right?"
>"You think they're just eye candy or they can actually help us out?"
>"Eh, either's fine by me, I'm gonna keep the first one I can get my hooves on."
>"You're right, I gotta get one before the patrols get back."
>The conversation faded out as they turned a corner
>Silver tapped the button for her favorite energy drink
>Out of stock
>She curses under her breath and got a zero ultra instead
>She stopped by Sunny Daze's office with her tasteless drink
>"Any info on this new group?"
>"They don't exactly check out, Captain."
>"What is it?"
>"For one, the only document they all have is a certificate of citizenship dated back to about a year ago. No birth certificates, no school records, no immigration documents, literally nothing."
>"Any ID?"
>"They're all the same, named Anon, all matching cutiemarks, their birthdays are all on 1/1."
>"You think they're changelings?"
>"Changelings blend in better, they don't create identities."
>"Find out who they are and where they're from."
>"The paper trail ends with the flightplan from today. I couldn't find anything on their immigration or where they're from."
>"Get in contact with Cadance about this."
>"Yes, ma'am."
>Silver left to go check on incoming morning patrol
>Afternoon patrol was setting up to head out in one of the new IAVs as the dusty convoy of humvees rolled in
>A couple ponies got put of the vehicles, most notably was a mare named Sea Dreams
>She had been Silver's friend for over twenty years
>Sea motioned to have a word aside with Silver, stepping away from the humvee
>Sea tilted her head, motioning to one of the stallions who had joined up with gate security
>"Who's the new guy?"
>"Recruits came in this morning, all stallions. Sea, keep away from them."
>"What's wrong?"
>"Something is off about them, they don't have any existing records and what the hell was Cadance thinking putting this many on the southern border?"
>Sea frowned, "Are they changelings? I hear they look different now."
>"Sunny says changelings don't stick out this much. We haven't figured it out yet."
>"I'll be cautious."
>While afternoon shift patrol rolled through the gates and further from the base, Silver walked with Sea back to the showers
>Since the base had been entirely mares for years, they used both facilities for showers
>Though now the days of using either restroom were over
>"You really think something's up?" Sea asked
>"I have my suspicions, but I'm waiting for Sunny to confirm them."
>"Aren't you happy to have them around, it's been a real clamfest for the longest time here."
>Silver stared at Sea Dreams in silence
>"I didn't mind it, they've already made the base too off-guard."
>Sea Dreams departed to go wash up while Silver listened to a quiet rumble in her gut
>Having skipped breakfast as well as dinner last night, she dreaded going to the mess hall
>She preferred a quiet meal in her quarters to the loud hall, even a few minutes to get her food would wear down her patience quickly on a good day
>Luckily, she'd chosen a good time to get food
>Between the morning shift's lunch and night shift's breakfast
>As Silver stepped into the mess hall, she was sorely disappointed to find that schedules had been changed
>It was louder than usual, mare and stallions alike interacting happily
>Some of the cooks behind the counter were a little distracted by the sudden influx of both stallions and the need for food
>As an active combat zone, Silver Star's base wasn't allowed to have any restaurants for safety reasons
>She was stuck with the menu set by the head chef and on-base agriculture team
>Which meant today was baked potato and carrots, not necessarily the worst, but when you've had it everyday for a month it tends to get old
>Silver grabbed her meal and quickly left, ignoring some of the ponies calling her to their table
>She stopped back by the showers to get a drink from the water fountain that had a working coolant system
>Something about being awake for the last 36 hours and only drinking energy drinks left her skull throbbing
>Lo and behold, a stallion wrapped in a pink towel was waiting outside the newly-repurposed showers for the colts
>Silver didn't feel like yelling at him
>"Private, what in the hell are you doing out of uniform?"
>The stallion snapped to attention
>"There's a pony in the lockerroom, ma'am. She's making some of us uncomfortable."
>Silver's patience was wearing thinner by the second
>She walked into the lockerroom, prompting a few gasps from the nude stallions
>In the far corner was sergeant Hollowpoint, a door gunner on the helicopter with a red stripe
>"Sergeant, what are you doing in here?"
>"Ah'm cleanin' out mah old locker."
>"Why is your locker in here?"
>"There wasn't nopony usin' this side."
>"Finish cleaning out your locker and get out." Silver turned and began walking out of the lockerroom when a stallion in hastily assembled fatigues came up beside her
>"Ma'am I've been looking for you all day."
>"Yes?"
>"I'm Relief Corps' leading officer, I wanted to talk about our roles on-base."