//------------------------------// // Acquaintances // Story: The Battle of Alkatin Pass // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// The Quartermaster watched the Chiurgeon stitch a gruesome bite wound up on a mare’s neck. The pegasus moved the needle between her feathers with such precision that she had to admire her work. It reminded her of her own passions that she’d had to drop when the war broke out. How she eagerly anticipated the moment where she could finally pursue them once again. “Is there something I can help you with?” the Chiurgeon asked, her eyes never lifting from her patient. Though obviously working under duress, the pegasus’ words carried no irritation or ill-will in them. The question was genuine and warm, underwritten with a desire to be helpful if needed. The Quartermaster shook her head. “Nothing at all, dear,” she said, backing up to make space for the doctor as she moved from one side of her patient to the next. “I’d originally stopped by to see if there was anything you needed to requisition for your treatments, since our supplies are all in a bungled mess at the far end of the camp. But it seems like you’re far too busy for that at the moment.” “We should have everything we need for the moment,” the Chiurgeon responded. “But soon there will be more wounded. Right now, I just need to patch up as many as I can and move them off the tables so we can treat the rest coming in.” The Quartermaster nodded, though she still hovered near the tables. “Do you need any assistance?” she asked after a moment. “I can always have my secretary handle requisition orders in the interim.” The Chiurgeon hesitated for a moment. “Are you good with a needle?” she finally asked. “Good with a needle? Hah! You have no idea who you’re talking to, darling.” The Quartermaster readily took the offered needle and thread and began to sew where the Chiurgeon directed her to. “Why, I wanted to open my own fashion boutique before this whole nonsense with the war ruined those dreams. Creating dresses is my passion.” “Is it?” The Chiurgeon turned away and grabbed more bandages from a nearby table. She began to layer them over the nasty gashes to her patient’s shoulders, stemming the flow of blood still trickling out of the wounds. “How did you end up as quartermaster, then?” “Well, that’s quite the simple matter.” The Quartermaster tied off the thread and moved onto the next open wound to stitch back together. “It’s one thing to design dresses, and another to make them. Yet neither of those will get you anywhere if you don’t know how to manage a supply line and market. It’s one of my many talents. When the draft call went out, I answered and almost immediately found myself in the position that you see me in today: Quartermaster of Army Group Center.” She cocked her head at the Chiurgeon as she watched her work. “What about you, darling? Work in a hospital before?” “Oh, goodness no,” the pegasus said. “I used to take care of animals.” “My, how altruistic!” The Quartermaster smiled at the mare standing across from her. “I imagine they’ll be very happy to see you again once all this nasty business is wrapped up once and for all.” “I certainly hope so. I can’t imagine what they’ve had to go through without anypony to take care of them.” She sighed and added, “But they’re used to living in the Everfree Forest. They know how to look after themselves, too.” The Quartermaster blinked. “I was under the impression the animals you cared for were household pets, not wild beasts.” “Sometimes the wild ones are the ones who need the most help.” The Chiurgeon’s eyes lifted as the flap to the medical tent opened and another wave of wounded began to enter. “Oh! Major! I didn’t expect to see you here!” She quickly saluted at the approaching ponies, and then her eyes fell on the mare standing next to her. “And Magus Sparkle! Is something wrong?” The two approaching ponies carried another orange pony between the two of them. “This private is badly wounded,” the Magus said, looking around for a table. “She needs treatment immediately.” “O-Of course!” the Chiurgeon replied, her anxiety at interacting with the Magus somewhat getting the better of her. She turned her attention to the Quartermaster and pointed with a wing. “Can you set her somewhere else?” she asked, gesturing to the wounded mare they had been operating on. “We’ve done all we can for her, now she just needs to rest and hopefully she’ll wake up again.” The Quartermaster nodded and picked the wounded soldier up in her magic, moving her off to the side and opening up the operating table. The Magus then placed the soldier she helped carry on the table with her magic and gave her a worried look. “How are you feeling?” the unicorn asked the bloodstained earth pony. “Like a million bits,” the mare drawled through a shaky voice. “That big bugger weren’t too bad… easier than I thought, really.” “What happened to her?” the Chiurgeon asked as she examined the Private’s wounds. “She aided us in taking down the final behemoth,” the Major said. “She fought bravely, like a mare possessed. She protected our Magus here long enough for her to bring down the last behemoth, even while under attack from a dozen bugs. Most of the PFI would have fled if they had to stare down one of those monsters.” “She saved my life,” the Magus added. “There were so many changelings in the middle of the crush I couldn’t keep track of them all. I’m merely repaying the favor.” “So the battle is over, then?” the Quartermaster asked. “I take it we won, since we aren’t fleeing for our lives.” “It wasn’t quite decisive, but it was a victory,” the Major said. “The lesser queens scattered when we dropped the final goliath. We sapped the Hives of many of their last reserves. Another push on the breeding grounds themselves will end the war, but it’s all but over now. Not unless they pull more behemoths out of their ovipositors.” “They shouldn’t be able to,” the Magus stated. “They could rarely field more than one or two in previous battles. That there were so many today means that they had given us everything they had left.” “I certainly hope so. I just want to go back home.” The Major sighed and removed her helmet. “The worst is over, now. That I can say for certain.” “I’ll have to start looking into getting you a fine ceremonial dress for the inevitable medal ceremony,” the Quartermaster quipped. She looked at the Magus and wilted a bit. “I would offer the same to you, Magus, but I know you don’t like anypony else touching your belongings.” “My robes are the defining dress of my Order,” the Magus responded. “…But I thank you for the offer.” “Well, shoot,” the mare on the table said, coughing lightly. “Maybe you should whip something up for me. I should be getting a medal or three after this, don’t ya’ll think?” “Just be happy you got to keep your legs. We’ll let the Princess sort out who gets medals and who doesn’t.” The Private chuckled and closed her eyes, tilting her head back a bit. “Heh, that’s fair. I’m just looking forward to gettin’ back to my orchard. Been gone a long time… family’s probably worried ‘bout me.” The Quartermaster narrowed her eyes. “Orchard? May I ask where you’re from?” The Private waved her non-injured hoof. “Ya probably never heard of it. Little backwaters town kinda near Canterlot by the name of Ponyville.” “Ponyville?” the Quartermaster echoed, incredulity permeating her voice. “Why, that’s where I grew up! You’re one of the Apple family, aren’t you?” “Yeah, that’s right.” The Private winced as the Quartermaster began to stitch the gaping wounds on her neck and shoulders closed. “We grew the best damn apples in all of Equestria. And after all of this, I’m really looking forward to getting back there and doing what I do best.” “I used to live near Ponyville, too,” the Chiurgeon said, pulling a sopping rag from a bucket of scarlet-tinged water. She used a wing to wield the rag and wipe the blood off of the Private’s orange coat while her other wing picked up some bandages to tend to her wounds. “I’ve always liked the ground better than the sky.” “I was going to take up a weather management job in Ponyville before I decided to join the army,” the Major said. “I think by now, though, I’ve become a career soldier.” “Impressive that you all lived so close together but never met until this moment,” the Magus observed. She brushed some dirt off of the sleeve of her robe and looked them over. “But I suppose the world has a strange way of bringing ponies together.” “That it does.” The Major shot the Magus a look, which the unicorn steadily returned. But instead of more grating barbs and tension, the pegasus gave her comrade a salute. “I’m sorry for the loss of Magus Shimmer. Both of you did excellent work dispatching the goliaths.” “We wouldn’t have been able to do so if we didn’t have excellent top cover,” the Magus said with a curt nod. “So you have my thanks.” Awkward silence fell over the five ponies, dragging on and on. They weren’t friends—each of them knew that quite well—and the little moment of spontaneous camaraderie had died all too fast. “I wonder where we all would have wound up if it weren’t for this war,” the Magus said, finally breaking the silence hanging over them all. “How our lives could have ended up differently.” The Quartermaster dipped her head. “We’d probably be a lot happier and a lot less jaded than we are today,” she said. “Maybe some of us would have gotten to know each other on better terms.” “Maybe. Maybe not.” The Major shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it now. We all have our jobs to do, and there’s no getting around that.” “I suppose.” The Private grunted and rolled her shoulders, wincing as the thread running through her wounds tugged at her flesh. “But the war won’t last forever.” “No, it won’t,” the Chiurgeon agreed. She looked on at the other mares with sad eyes. “But will we see each other again when it’s over?” Eyes met eyes and then darted away. “If fate is willing, then maybe.” The Magus drew her hood up once more and took a few steps backwards. “I must speak to the Princess now. The day is won, but there is much more still to do.” “I have to debrief my subordinates,” the Major said with a shrug of her wings. “Duty never waits.” “I suppose I should check on our supplies then and make sure we’re set to move,” the Quartermaster said. “If we’ve won the day, we’re likely to break camp and move the army again in the next day or two.” “I have more patients I need to attend to,” the Chiurgeon said. “Ponies lives are in my hooves.” The Private closed her eyes again, too tired to do much more than rest. “I need to catch my sleep,” she said. “Took quite a thrashin’ out there… gotta shake it off.” The five mares all looked away from each other, their eyes and ears instead settling on the sound stone set up in the corner of the camp. The Hostess’ voice was already proclaiming news of the victory at Alkatin, so impossibly soon after the day had been won. The Major chuckled and shook her head. “I’m glad she’s on our side,” she said, walking past the other mares and toward the flap of the tent. “How she gets the day’s news so soon after it happens, hundreds of miles away, is beyond me…” The Hostess’ cheery voice starkly contrasted the somber scene in front of the Private as her new acquaintances all began to leave, one after the other. Soon, it was just her, shuffling off from the operating table to a little cot by the edge of the tent. She grunted and groaned as she sat down on it, all her bruises and aches flaring up as she tried to lie down and get comfortable. Remorse and regret flooded through her, but she didn’t quite know why. Maybe it was the Quartermaster’s words. Maybe it was the Magus’. All she knew was that, for a brief moment, she had felt something between her and the other mares. Even the Hostess on the sound stone seemed to connect with her soul. Her voice was always comforting, like a friend ready to cheer you up whenever you needed it the most. It was also familiar. Was she from Ponyville, too? She didn’t know. And then the feeling was gone, and she was left alone once more. But with the war coming to an end, she could at least look forward to going home again. She could see her family after so long, and everything would return to the way things were before. Exhaling, she tried to make herself as comfortable as possible, and soon exhaustion began to tear at her eyelids like a heavy weight dragging her down to the depths of sleep and rest. But those eyes, the colorful eyes of the four other ponies gathered around her… they followed her into oblivion, and her heart wept at something lost between all of them.