“It’s your choice, academy or auction.”  
-Sergeant Lightning Dust
 
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry Sergeant! I was being a…dumb…stupid..skink.”  
-Cadet Smolder
 
 
Story behind this picture:
 
*After the “Battle of Canterlot” Equestria fell into darkness, The Storm King was declared ruler, General Tempest Shadow was basically given charge as the societal and military architect for the newly established regime and six of the Princess of Friendship friends were now seemingly proudly apart of this new order. Lightning Dust in fear of this new order, volunteered to become part of the army, she was accepted and would go on to participate battles, in places such as “The Dragonlands”, “The Changeling Kingdom” and the sacking of “Griffonstone”. Eventually she gained the rank of Sergeant, she also developed a new sense of pride and began to love the new culture of the Storm Kingdom, it didn’t help that the idea of “Friendship” was considered a failed idea, and was replaced with the idea that true strength comes from power, these changes ultimately made her much more cruel then she is. After the conquest of the neighboring kingdoms, Tempest announced that her commanders(The former Mane 5 now the Command 5) would be left in charge of the newly established “Storm Kingdom Cadet Academy” to train pony and creature children from across the Kingdom, and that any officer was allowed to join the Academy to serve as instructors, Lightning Dust, who now held the rank of Sergeant, now serves alongside her former rival, Commander Rainbow Dash in training the new recruits to become proud future soldiers for the Storm King’s Royal Army. Lightning Dust accepted the job a drill sergeant for the new recruits.  
Which leads to the first day at the academy for Smolder,  
Sergeant Lightning Dust was greeting the first cadets at the Academy, Smolder who still had a bit of defiance left in her(Despite her homeland being conquered, her brother sold and her fellow dragons enslaved) insulted the sergeant by calling her “Lightning Flank”. Sergeant Lightning Dust however knew the perfect way to get her in line and to prevent further insubordination and defiance, she revealed that any cadet who refuses to serve the King and be a loyal solider, is not expelled, they are sold into slavery. Smolder, for the first time in her life, was scared into a state of begging. This was without a doubt the most humiliating thing Smolder had ever done. After this experience, Smolder swore she would never let anycreature see her in a weak and cowardly state again, and trained to not just be a soldier, but to be an elite. Eventually she caught the eye of General Tempest Shadow who would soon incorporate her into her private force(The Storm Six) ’
 
The symbol on Smolder’s neck is called “The Seal of Gram”, a horrible weaponized curse created by Pinkie Pie‘s special forces unit(The Black Paw Warlocks) the curse seals away a dragon’s ability to breath fire, making them much easier to control, manage and defeat(That along with the Elemental Golem) *
 
 
Sergeant Lightning Dust’s personality is a combination of Sergeant Hartman(Full Metal Jacket)Catra(The recent She-Ra: Princess of Power) and Azula(Avatar: The Last Airbender)
 
 
Lightning Dust also has a tendency to use derogatory names for each new recruit(despite The Storm Kingdom’s military being diverse, bigotry never dies)
 
Derogatory names for recruits:
 
Skink(Dragons)  
Fatty(Yaks)  
Chicken-Tuna(Hippogriffs)  
Feather-duster(Griffons)  
Mudbound(Earth Ponies)  
Tick(Changelings)  
Furball(Abyssinians)