Dan Vs. What Traitors Think · 4:21am Jul 13th, 2016
Personal Log, Enclave Officer S# 49915503
First Assault Raptor Wing, Skyhook Squadron
Squadron Leader Staccato Star- callsign "Stack"
People think it takes a lot to betray your country. To betray your homeland, your home, your friends and family and everyone you love. To consciously turn your back on all of that, to turn your back on everything you stood for and believe in, people think it's some kind of big transition. Like something has to snap inside of us for us to turn "evil." They look at traitors as ponies who just broke down, couldn't take it any more or those that sold out their comrades out of greed. Sometimes, that's true…. but not always.
The Enclave existed for years, heck, it existed since Equestria was founded. Commander Hurricane created it as a way to transition the Pegasus Army into the role of managing and maintaining the weather. The commander emphasized that we needed to keep up the same vigilance and discipline with controlling the skies that we used when conquering the land. For all intents and purposes, the Enclave did its job. For generations, pegasi served this "Enclave" group with the goal of keeping Equestria safe and secure. We forgot what it was really meant for.
Today, the Enclave is supposed to be a rescue and disaster relief service for Equestria. Officially, we're meant to be the first responders and emergency workers for Ponyville, Cloudsdale, Canterlot and the surrounding areas. Unofficially, the Enclave is meant to be a militia formed to maintain the ranks and operation of the Pegasus Army in an era of peace. Most non-pegasi don't even know we exist and fewer realize what we are- an army waiting for war to break out again. Waiting for things to go wrong.
I joined the Enclave just out of flight school. I guess you could call me a patriot, or at least I didn't feel like joining up with the Wonderbolt Reserve or the SWS(Special Weather Service) after I graduated. So, I joined up with the Enclave and got a job as a warehouse worker in one of the storage complexes on the ground. The Enclave only kept you ready for things- drills, exercises, games, to prepare you for when things happened. But many days there wasn't anything to do in the Enclave so Enclave pegasi all worked other jobs to bring in bits. Standard procedure.
I tried to be creative stacking the crates and boxes. Got me my nickname so I figure I did at least a passably good job- or at least something memorable. But day in and day out of stacking crates can get tedious to say the least. Can you really blame a guy for wanting more? After so many shifts stacking boxes, you almost hope for the alarm to sound so you'll get to do something. You don't want anypony to get hurt, obviously, but something, ANYTHING to break up the monotony is what you're hoping for. For a few minutes at least and then it's back to work.
Spinner and I dated a couple times. Now that we're working together, maybe there'll be more of that if we're lucky. It doesn't seem so long ago that we betrayed Equestria. It's like an afterthought almost, the fact that we switched sides and we're the "bad guys" now. Never was easy for me to tell the good guys from the bad, anyway. Good guys always did something bad at some point, so what difference does it make if we join a different team? War's just like a big competition except the stakes are higher. They'll figure out who was right or wrong in the end.
People don't realize how easy it is to betray your country. It's like lying to someone you love or respect; you don't do it because you hate them. You're not trying to hurt those you care about, you don't think anyone's going to be harmed. What does one small group of pegasi matter to a powerful country like Equestria, anyway? A country that can do any kind of magic, that can move the sun and moon whenever they want to. That fought tougher challenges than us and has been around for over a thousand years. What does one little betrayal mean to them?
So, that's pretty much how it happened. The Director came to us, told us we can be something better than we are and we wouldn't have to work as hard as we do. We'd get new jobs, do something important and we'd be in charge for once.
I was a warehouse worker.
They offered me a position as a squadron leader.
Double the bits I was making at the time, no strict schedule.
Who in their right mind wouldn't say yes?
All I had to do was sign up. So, I did, and they gave me my own suit of Hailstorm power armor, my own plasma caster and five other pegasi directly under my command. In return, they got to tell me how to use it.
We… gunned down civilian ponies. Ambushed the convoys, cut them all to pieces, razed entire villages and towns. I try not to think about it. Try not to think about the crying… the screaming. They gave us injections to help block it out, they let us play music and stuff over the speakers inside our helmets. So it's easier not to think about it that way. We can all just block it out.
We all think about the decisions we made that led us here from time to time. That's natural, just a part of life. Some of us think about switching sides again and rejoining Equestria. We think about helping Dan and Twilight rebuild things. It would feel good to be loyal again. For a minute, at least. But eventually, I'd just be back stacking boxes again. Making almost no money, no future.
When I think about… all those burnt buildings… I think stacking boxes might be a better position. But it's too late. Betraying Equestria was one thing but betraying the Director?
I don't even know if anypony could survive that.
It's easier to just soldier on. Think about the future instead of the past or the present. Despite all we do to block things out, my mind keeps going back to when I betrayed my country. Betrayal is a quiet thing and almost always a personal one. It's not always a huge change and many times it can't even really be seen. It can be as simple as saying "yes" or "no" to someone, clicking "accept" or "decline" on your phone or computer. How many terms have you scrolled through? How much fine print have you overlooked? Usually, when you're being asked to betray something or someone, you'll be promised something else in return. As they say, every pony has a price.
People think it takes a lot to betray your country. It takes however much your loyalty is worth.
Log entry concluded.
Man, this is super deep. I love this story, but sometimes it's hard to mentally balance things like this, and the Director's own backstory, with the wacky Loony Tunes shenanigans the main cast get up to. I guess that's what the episodic structure is for.