Chapter 11
"GET DOWN!" A soldier yelled, followed by an explosion. Dead and dying soldiers laid all around him. Silas picked up his rifle, he kept his head down as he ran through the trenches. He hopped over other soldiers of Celestia's (not so) Royal Military, all of them young, just like him. They were suffering, everypony was, smoke filled the atmosphere. Silas poked his head out of the trench, he spotted a creature, it looked like a mangled corpse of what used to be a pony. Yet it was still living, it's legs were filled with holes and it had dark blue eyes. It fired a shot of green from it's horn straight at Silas. He ducked his head down and felt something hit his ear, he rubbed his hoof up agaisnt it. He felt blood running down his face, "Fucker shot my ear off!" Silas yelled.
He hopped out of the trench and aimed his rifle at the black monster, he fired three shots. The creature was hit three times in the head, then it fell on the ground dead. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Another soldier yelled, Silas looked down to see a grenade land near him, he jumped back in the trench for cover. BOOM. Silas looked at his squad, what was left of it anyway. "Dammit, we need more support!" He heard his Sergeant yell, "Strat! Get your ass up here! Tape, you too!" Silas and his close friend Aldy sprinted towards the frontlines of the battlefield.
"Shit, we got a whole lotta monster bastards out there." Aldy said with disgust, their sergeant corrected him. "They gotta name for those bastards Tape, they're called Changelings. Those sons of bitches can take the form of whatever walks in front of em!" He yelled, then fired his weapon. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Aldy yelled as he threw a grenade, there was no explosion, Silas noticed the grenade flying back towards them. It landed back in the trench, "OH FUCK! GET DOWN!" His Sergeant yelled, the last thing they heard was the explosion.
Silas awoke suddenly, he sat up in distress and frantically looked around the room breathing hard. "Phew..." He said, then he layed back down, Tavi awoke from the commotion. "U-ugh, S-silas? Whats wrong?" She turned towards him, Silas looked her in the eyes, "Bad dream, sorry." He let out a slight chuckle, Tavi giggled and wrapped her hooves around him and the couple fell back asleep.
***
The mail came that morning, Silas answered the door to Derpy who held out a letter in her mouth. She gave it to Silas, "Morning Silas! Its from Fillydelphia, just for you." She said with glee, Silas looked over the envelope, from Jake...He thought as he opened it up. He said his thanks to Derpy and she flew off, Silas took the letter back into the house and read it.
Dear Silas
How've you been man? I've been pretty good myself, life down in Filly is tough. The cops stormed Stride's Pub the other night, they arrested Slim for assault and public indecency. He got wasted on cider and Stride didn't cut him off, he got so drunk that he ended up getting in a fight with a local policecolts daughter, then Stride tried to kick him out. Slim ended up breaking his jaw, don't worry bout it though, he'll be out on bail in the next week or so. My point is, we're leaving Filly and coming your way. Now, we have enough money for a decent apartment, so we're gonna move to Ponyville. You said it was real nice down there, you were right. Luca and I will be heading out your way by the time you get this.
See you soon,
~Jake
Silas stared at the letter for a couple minutes then read it again. He face hoofed and hung his head, "Dammit, Slim, just had to get yourself locked up again didn't you?..." He said to himself, Silas heard hoofsteps and turned his head to see Vinyl. "Mornin' dude, who's the letter from?" She said in a tired voice, she must of just woke up. "Its from a friend, Jake, hes moving here with Lucas." Silas said, Vinyl smiled, "That's cool, Ponyville could always use more stallions, town needs to be more gender diverse if yah know what I mean." She left the room laughing.
Since he was all alone Silas had some time to think. Why did I have that dream? That happened two years ago and it still haunts me. Friggen Aldy shouldn't have threw that nade, we would of all made it out alive if he hadn't. His thoughts troubled him, he got stressed. He reached behind his right ear, then remember he barely had one. He remembered loosing most of it, then pulled a cig out from his other ear. Silas went outside and lit up, "Son of a bitch, that place was a hellhole, I wish I could of take it all back." He said to himself, then took a drag and blew smoke out into the air. His hooves began to shake a little, he got a massive headache, "Why the hell do I even smoke these?" He dropped the rest the cigarette on the ground and crushed it with his hoof.
He went inside and sat back on the couch, "Friggen things make me shake more, stress reliever my ass." Silas said to himself, he had nopony to talk to. He laid on the couch for a while, just staring at the ceiling. He noticed Octavia coming down the stairs, she trotted up next to him, "Good morning Mr.Strat." She said, giggling. Silas moved so Tavi could sit down, "Morning Ms.Octavia." Silas chuckled a bit, now he had somepony to talk to. He was no longer lonely with Tavi by his side.
Silas had to work the counter at Noteworthy's today. He was kind of bummed out about it, he didn't feel very talkative today, he thought all about the war. The deaths of his brothers on the battlefield, the sacrifices. Silas tried to shake the feeling of loss as a pony entered the store. It was Lyra, she had her lyre in a saddlebag. The mint green mare approached the counter. "Hiya Silas! Hows it going?" She said with a big smile on her face. Silas grinned, "Hey Lyra, I'm pretty good, what can I help you with?" He asked, after all it was his job. Lyra frowned, "Well um, I need new strings for my lyre.."
Silas frowned as well, "Oh man, lemme check if we have any." He got a little worried, he had no idea if Noteworthy sold strings for a Lyre. He went into the back room, they had a bunch of strings, every string known to Equestria. There it was, a shelf that had packages of lyre strings, Silas pulled out a pack and went back to the counter. He put the pack of strings in front of Lyra, her face lit up. "Well, I guess we did have em, that'll be five bits." Silas said in an easy going voice. Lyra looked at him then hung her head, "Oh, um, I only have four...I'm sorry." She turned and went for the door.
"Wait Lyra!" Silas called, the mare turned her head, "That's fine, we'll keep this our little secret." He said with kindness, Lyra's face lit up once more and she trotted back to the counter picking up the pack of strings and putting them in her saddlebag. Then she gave Silas her four bits, "Thank you so much, you're so kind." She said as she trotted out the door. "Have a good day!" Silas said, course he said that to everypony who came into the store.
The next hour and a half was slow, Silas was playing one of the guitars he took off the wall when Applejack came into the store. "Howdy Silas!" She said in her kindly voice. "Yah know yer friends have arrived, they're lookin' for yeh." Silas got up, put the guitar back and followed Applejack out the door. She led him to the apartment complex near Sugarcube Corner, there was a cart with many boxes out in front. Silas noticed a teal stallion next to it.
"Lucas!" Silas yelled as he ran up to his good friend, they brohoofed. "Whats good man? Jakes inside." Luca said. Silas picked up a box from the cart on his back, Applejack did the same, "We'll help y'all with yer luggage." She said, Silas nodded and the two brought the boxes inside. The building was small, Silas and AJ climbed up a flight of stairs, there was a door at the top. Jake was standing in it with a box on his back, Silas followed him in and he, Jake, and Applejack put their boxes down in the middle of the room. "Jake! Good to see yah man!" Silas said, "Daayumm! Good to see you too! Thanks for the help, we sure do need it." Applejack smiled at him, "Not a problem, what are friends for?"
It took about an hour to unpack all the stuff. Jake set up his drum set in the corner of the room , Luca put his guitar on the coffee table. There were two beds, the room was a good size, there was a small stove and a fridge as well. Jake sat on his bed and Luca sat on his. Applejack and Silas stood by the door, "Ya know man, we brought some of your old stuff too." Lucas said to Silas, he passed his orange friend a small box that read, "Strat's stuff."
Silas opened it up, first thing on top was Silas' record collection, well what was left of it. He sorted through them all, they were his favorite albums in all of Equestria. Under that was a couple of his bandannas and his old guitar pick necklace. "Man I used to wear this stuff back in Cloudsdale and Filly." He tried on a bandanna and his necklace, he looked in a mirror and smiled. His incense burners were in the box as well, along with others things, his old pocket knife, guitar picks, and his old sketches from back when he used to draw.
Applejack took notice of his sketches, "Oh my, you drew those? Dang, those are mighty good drawings right there. I didn't know you could draw." She said in awe, Silas chuckled and passed her his old sketchpad, she flipped through it with wide eyes. Silas kept digging through his old stuff, he found his I.D, How did I leave this behind? Silas thought to himself. He brushed aside some old photos to reveal a blue book stained with old blood and dirt with many scratches.
Silas picked up the book and looked over it, he spoke out loud, "My journal." He opened it up and skimmed through the pages, then he found the page. Describing the battle he dreamed about, it was all coming back to him. He closed the book and put it back in the box. "Lotta bad memories in there, but that's history." He said.
Silas took his things with him when he left, Applejack left with him. Jake and Luca were laying in their beds, it was late. "Damn, can't believe it took us all day to move." Jake said, Luca nodded his head, "Yeah, but at least we're out of Fillydelphia, its much nicer here." He said. Jake was dozing off, "Yeah, I feel like we are just at peace, man. We're at peace in Ponyville. No more mad expensive rent, no more police heat, no more drunk hookers, no drugs, everything here is just great." He said, Luca rolled over in his bed, "Yeeah man, totally." Jake and Luca drifted off to sleep. All Jake thought about was that one feeling as he dozed off, Peace at last.