//------------------------------// // Veterans // Story: Scarlet // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Over the course of the next few days, Scarlet, Lens, and Primrose left the verdant foothills surrounding Hoofrest Shire behind. They followed the dirt road out of town for some distance before, at the start of the second day, it turned sharply to the south and they found themselves passing under the canopy of the glittering woods once again.  The canopy here was far denser than it had been in the region Scarlet led Primrose through before. Sunlight struggled to cut its way through the thick ceiling of leaves, and animal calls were far more frequent; often far closer as well. The gloominess of the place set Scarlet on edge, and the possibility of crossing paths with the swarm of changelings they had encountered previously drove her to increase the pace of the group as a whole. But, thankfully, no such encounters were to be had, and by noon of the third day they had crossed through the forest and come out the other side. As they passed through the forest edge, the land sloped down before them, granting them an impressive view for many miles ahead which largely comprised of grassy foothills with the occasional pocket of forestation and shrubbery. But more than that, with how much open space there was between those patches, there were few places for any potential threats to hide. As Scarlet and her friends took their leave of the woods, she came to a stop and took in a deep breath. The fresh air filled her lungs and gave her entire body a rush of invigoration, awakening her senses and her mind. She looked up at the sky and her eyes caught sight of a lone white cloud drifting lazily across the cerulean heavens above. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth at the peaceful sight. She just stood there for a minute, taking it in. “Huh? Scarlet?” Lens’ voice called out to her a few moments later, drawing her from her reverie. She looked down to see that both Lens and Primrose had stopped and were looking back at her curiously. Lens turned to face her fully and cleared his throat. “Why’d you stop?” Scarlet’s smile grew. She shook her head in dismissal before cantering to catch up. “It’s nothing. I was just enjoying the view, that’s all,” she said simply. Lens raised an eyebrow, matching her pace by her side. “You? Since when have you ever had an appreciation for impressive views?” he asked skeptically. Scarlet paused at that for a moment. She couldn’t help but chuckle under her breath at the realization that he wasn’t really wrong. Caring at all about the view was something she had only started doing after they had been discharged. Once her chuckles died down, she offered him a helpless shrug. “I cannot say for sure, but I for one am glad for the development.” Lens eyed her a second longer before smiling and looking ahead himself. “Yeah, same here,” he agreed with his own lips curling up into a smile. His pace slowed down a little as he, too, took in the view. “Heh… it is pretty impressive, isn’t it?” “Yeah,” Scarlet muttered in agreement, her eyes following the trail of the Melodia River as it carved its meandering way through the terrain in its journey to the south. She could just make out the straight gray lines that curved across the plains and over the river in two long bridges. She picked up her pace on spying those, eager to get back on a well-maintained highway. “Come on, the galloping road isn’t much farther.” The trio fell into a companionable silence after that, the only sounds being that of their hooves thumping on the dirt path, the wind brushing by, and the distant songs of birds or calls of wild animals. The silence did not last long, though. Primrose, to Scarlet’s surprise, suddenly pulled ahead of the group before spinning around to face them directly. “So… I’m curious about something.” “Sure, what is it, Primrose?” Lens asked, adjusting his glasses with a quick flick of his magic. Scarlet responded by merely offering Primrose a little nod and smile. Whatever questions Primrose had, she’d be happy to answer them. Primrose bobbed her head at the two unicorns, one at a time. “How did you two meet? Scarlet told me you knew each other a long time ago.” Scarlet’s smile became strained the moment those words reached her ears. She was not as happy to answer that as she had been expecting. She looked down for a moment, hesitating. Ultimately, whatever qualms Scarlet had with telling the story were not at all shared by Lens.  His smile grew and shimmered with excitement, and he launched eagerly into the story without even waiting for a word from Scarlet. “Oh, I can tell you all about that! See, it was in the second half of the war, and I was getting reassigned to a new unit,” he began, glancing over at Scarlet eagerly. “Scarlet’s, to be specific. She was going to be my new commanding officer.” Scarlet sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation. “I guess we’re doing this, now,” she grumbled to herself. Although, the almost childish enthusiasm Lens was displaying was enough to at least make her smile. A little.  “Yes, my squad,” She confirmed. “He was assigned to be our ward specialist and pathfinder. His primary objective in any combat situation was to block any incoming ranged attacks so that the rest of us could do our jobs, and outside of combat, he was supposed to help us find our way through the environment. His previous work as an explorer and archeologist made him remarkably suited to the task.” Primrose nodded along. “Okay, and how did it go?” Lens chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. “W-well, you see, when I showed up with her unit, they had set up a camp at the edge of this forest. When I arrived, she came out of her tent to size me up and then told me to find a spot and get comfy for the night. Then she went back inside and, uh, well, that was it…” Scarlet closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. “Lens, as much as I appreciate your attempt at honesty, do you have to make me sound like such a callous bitch?” she asked, lifting a hoof to rub at the bridge of her nose. She had all but forgotten how she had treated him back then, and could not imagine treating him like that now. The stallion chuckled sheepishly at her remark. “Eheh, sorry, Scarlet. I’m just telling it how it is.” “So, wait, hang on,” Primrose cut in, tilting her head in confusion. “It… wasn’t all sweet or anything?” Scarlet sighed and shook her head. “Truth be told, Prim, I barely even noticed him at the time,” She said before Lens could offer up any kind of answer. “What the- Hey!” he protested with a pout, shooting her a disapproving glare. Scarlet looked back at him with a frown. “What? It’s true. I had enough on my plate, in case you were unaware. It was my first time being in command of a new unit! I was nervous as hell and didn’t want to get too attached to any of you. I was barely coping with the strain of having mere coworkers fighting and dying beside me!” Lens let out a short bark of laughter before looking at her in disbelief. “You? Nervous? Had you not just told me, I never would have known. You only ever displayed confidence and control all the time,” he noted. Scarlet shrugged her shoulders. “Had no choice. If I allowed myself to appear weak in front of my squad, what would that do for the team’s discipline and morale?” she asked, giving her head a slow shake. Lens was quiet for a second before giving a slow nod of understanding. “Alright, fair enough,” he said plainly, and for a moment, Scarlet was glad that misunderstanding was out of the way. And then she thought about it. “What the- Hey!” she protested, it now being her turn to pout. “I beg your goddamn pardon?! Isn’t this the part where you try and lift me up and encourage me?! You know, ‘we would have looked up to you anyway,’ or some such drivel?!” Lens lowered his glasses to peer at Scarlet over the top of the frames. “What? And tell a lie?” he asked before pushing them back up and chuckling. “Sorry, ma’am, I’m not allowed to lie to my CO.” Scarlet stammered for a moment to try and find some witty comeback before groaning and looking directly ahead. “Remind me why I fell in love with you back then,” she grumbled under her breath. “I don’t know. Is it perhaps my fetching good looks?” Scarlet looked lazily over at him, her nose turned up. “You look like a nerd,” she deadpanned as he adjusted his glasses yet again. “And is that a bad thing?” “...Well, no, but-” “And there you go.” Scarlet sighed before firing off a quick bolt of magic to zap him on the nose. Lens let out a high pitched ‘yip’ from the surprise sensation of an intense static shock on his muzzle, his eyes crossing for a moment. He shook it off and leveled a flat look in her direction shortly after. Scarlet smirked before looking ahead at Primrose again. “To cut a long story short, I didn’t really notice him or even especially like him for quite a while. It took him rambling non-stop at all of us about some ruins we had stopped to rest in for me to actually pay him much attention.” Primrose blinked a few times, her muzzle scrunching up as she tried to comprehend that. “Um… how come?” she eventually asked. “I mean, aside from being too busy to run a squad. I mean, don’t you like the ponies you work with?” “I was trying not to, like I said a moment ago,” Scarlet clarified, thinking back on her old team and wincing. Truthfully, many of those ponies had been really kind and caring, and had they not been her direct responsibility, she likely would have called them her friends without hesitation. She didn’t reminisce for long, though, and turned back to Primrose. “But more than that, we were on assignment. I didn’t have time to look at the new guy and think ‘aww, he’s cute, I should go say hi’.” Lens chuckled, adjusting his glasses. “Wait. You think I’m cute?” “Shit,” Scarlet swore internally, a tiny blush appearing on her face. She swished her tail and focused directly ahead. “I-It’s the glasses. And how you ramble on and on… and how you squirm when I pick on you.” “And you never said anything before because…?” Scarlet groaned, very rapidly becoming uncomfortable with the situation and topic of conversation. “W-we were a military unit! Thinking about my squad in that sense was not at all appropriate!” “Heh, tell that to the other stallions on the team,” Lens remarked quietly. Scarlet paused for a second, her brain taking a moment to properly register what had just been said. Of course, she knew exactly what Lens was referring to, but this presented her an opportunity to turn the tide of this odd verbal duel back in her favor. She turned slowly to look to Lens with an eyebrow going straight up and a displeased scowl forming on her lips. “I beg your pardon?” she asked slowly, her voice carrying a sharp edge that promised terrible pain to Lens if he gave her an unsatisfactory answer. Lens went rigid like a deer caught in a spotlight spell, and a fierce red blush appeared on his face. “I! Uh, well, I, uh… W-well, see, the thing is, w-w-well, uh… w-we kinda, uh, that is, uh, well, you see… I mean, they would just…” he babbled incoherently, looking anywhere but at Scarlet and actively tugging at his bandana as if it were strangling him. On the inside, Scarlet smirked triumphantly. Oh, what fun it was to watch a grown stallion squirm. Not allowing any of her delight at the spectacle before her show through, Scarlet marched right up to him, a stern frown on her face. She placed a hoof on top of his head and turned it so they were eye-to-eye and their muzzles were only inches apart. “Lens. Why don’t you be a good boy and just spill it already,” she said slowly, her voice leaving no room for argument. “That is an order.” Lens swallowed heavily before speaking up again, shaky and nervous. “I mean… a few of the other stallions on the team kinda liked to, uh… W-well, you know,” he tried to deflect, an uneasy chuckle slipping out of him. Scarlet narrowed her eyes. “Would I be asking you if I knew?” she growled. Lens’ chuckle devolved into a pathetic whimper, and he visibly wilted under her stone-cold glare. “...Some of them liked to make... inappropriate comments about you behind your back,” he eventually stammered out. Scarlet let out a slow exhale before releasing her hold on Lens’ head. “I see,” she said slowly. Such talks had never really been much of a secret to her, of course. She hadn’t been an idiot, or deaf. She’d heard those murmurings herself on more than one occasion, and had slapped out a few reprimands about it before Lens had arrived. Luckily, such things had died down by the time he showed up. He must have caught just the tail end of it.  Her expression soured even further, but inside she was giggling like a school filly at what was to come next. “And did you ever partake in such... discussions?” she asked him, taking the edge in her voice and giving it a very nice run through the grindstone until it was like a razor. His blush deepened. “N-no!” he denied way too quickly to be believable. When Scarlet narrowed her eyes dangerously, he caved under the silent pressure and stared dejectedly down at his hooves. “W-well… okay, one time… the others wouldn’t stop bugging me when they caught me staring, and… I caved. I’m sorry, Scarlet… I felt really wrong the whole time.” Scarlet hummed quietly before shaking her head. Time for the punch. “Tsk tsk tsk, shame on you, Lens. You know, if you want to compliment a mare’s appearance, it’s generally better to do it in front of them, so they can appreciate the compliment,” she lightly teased before sauntering past him. “Doing it behind our backs might give us the wrong idea.” She giggled merrily when the sound of Lens letting out a long and dejected whine reached her ears. She looked back at him over her shoulder with a good-natured smile instead of a predatory one. “Relax, Lens, I’m just messing with you. And for the record, I heard what you said that day.” Lens looked at Scarlet with a gaping jaw. “Wha- and… and you’re not mad with me?” he asked. Scarlet shook her head. “I was annoyed at the time, but come on, it was damn near ten years ago. I got over it.” At that, Lens let out a long sigh of relief. “Oh, thank the Five…” he then chuckled and picked up the pace until he was by her side again. Primrose had watched that entire exchange with an adorably bewildered look on her face. She tilted her head at the two before falling into step next to Lens. She looked up at him curiously for a few moments. “So… Lens. Scarlet didn’t notice you, but did you like her when you first met?” she asked. Lens nodded. “Absolutely. I mean, yeah, I was really intimidated by her at first. She was so intense all the time. She didn’t talk much, didn’t take crap from anypony, and was just an all-around badass. But the more time I spent in her squad, taking orders and getting to see her unwind after a successful mission, I got to see just how passionate she was. Under that cold, hard exterior was a mare with so much wonderful potential and the raw, fiery determination to do whatever she set her mind to. I was struck by her almost immediately, and, well, it only grew from there.” With every word that Lens said, Scarlet’s face heated up more and more with a vivid blush. First, it was the very tips of her ears. Then it was her cheeks, and soon the back of her neck. “So many compliments, so much positive reinforcement,” she thought inwardly with an exceedingly awkward cringe on her face. “It’s too much. I don’t know how to deal with this much praise!” “Aaaw,” Primrose cooed, looking past Lens to give Scarlet a downright predatory smirk. “You hear that, Scarlet? Lens really liked you the day you met!” “Yes, Primrose, I am aware,” Scarlet growled through clenched teeth. “I am right here and painfully aware of all of his gushing.” Lens chuckled sheepishly. “Heh, sorry if that made you uncomfortable.” Scarlet let out a slow sigh and shook her head. “No, no. It’s fine,” she waved him off before looking down at Primrose. “Does that answer your question, Prim?” “Uh huh,” Primrose answered with a chirpy nod. Her muzzle slowly scrunched up, though, and she looked up at them again with a small frown. “I have another one.” “Sure, what is it?” Lens asked. “How did you two get kicked out of the military?” Scarlet stumbled mid-step, her eyes flying wide and her jaw-dropping open. Lens did not seem to be faring much better. The two shared an awkward look, and both of them started blushing. “Uh…” Lens stammered before swallowing heavily. “W-we, uh… we did something we weren’t supposed to do.” Primrose tilted her head. “What did you do?” “Grown up stuff,” Scarlet was quick to reply, having already given ‘the talk’ once before and not in any rush to give it again. “Y-yes!” Lens agreed, pointing at Scarlet. “Very grown up stuff! Not something for you to worry about! Eheh…” Primrose’s expression slowly went from childish curiosity to an unamused deadpan. “...You guys had sex, didn’t you?” she asked. Lens went to say something, but the words caught in his throat. All that came out was  a series of broken, wordless noises. Scarlet leaned past him to stare at Primrose in shock. “Primrose… how do you know what sex is?” she asked, legitimately surprised. Primrose shrugged. “I’ve stayed with a lot of ponies, Scarlet. Some of them were…” she shuddered, an uncomfortable grimace appearing on her face. “...Not good.” Red flags went up in Scarlet’s mind immediately, and she felt the first tingles of disgust and rage burning at the base of her skull. She forced herself to take a deep breath before she spoke. “Did any of these ponies try to do anything to you?” she asked slowly. Primrose blinked and then shook her head rapidly. “W-what?! Nooo! Ew! That’s gross, Scarlet! No, some of them just talked about it a lot, or did it where I could see!” she was quick to dispel before sticking out her tongue in revulsion. The burning in Scarlet’s skull began to cool off. She let out a quiet sigh of relief before shaking her head. “Huh… well, at least I don’t have to give you the talk,” she said quietly. “Nah, Wind was the one who did that.” “I did not need to know that.” Primrose giggled at that before the trio fell silent. Scarlet took the opportunity to relax and refocus her mind on the task ahead. However, try as she might, her mind kept wandering back to Lens and the recollection they had shared about their first meeting. She glanced at him from the side, watching as he kept meticulously adjusting his glasses or his bandana, how he would occasionally mumble under his breath to himself to help him think, and so many other little quirks she had slowly started to fall in love with back then. They were just as charming now as they had been back then... It had been eight years, though. A lot had changed… did she really care for him that way, now? She growled inwardly as she tried and failed to reach a satisfactory answer to that question. “Gah! Why are emotions like this so hard to figure out?!” she shouted within the privacy of her own thoughts. Suddenly, a low growl filled the air. Scarlet’s horn immediately lit with magic as she sprang to the front of the group, her eyes darting in the direction of whatever angry animal had decided to try and pick a fight with them. To her immense confusion, however, there was no animal in sight. It was just her, Primrose, and Lens. They were all alone right now. The light on her horn winked out, a baffled expression crossing her features. “...huh?” “Um…” Primrose suddenly piped up, and all eyes turned to her. Now she was blushing, and had one hoof on her stomach. “Sorry… I just realized how hungry I am,” she said, giggling sheepishly. Lens looked to Scarlet with a teasing smirk. “Little quick to the draw there, aren’t you?” Scarlet let out a heavy sigh before dragging herself back over to the group. “Oh, shut up, Lens. Come on, let’s stop for lunch. The grass here looks pretty good.” “More grazing?” Primrose groused, falling to her haunches. “Ugh. So yucky.” Scarlet rolled her eyes and lifted the filly in her magic. “Oh, come over here and eat your greens,” she teased before setting Prim down in the grass next to her. Primrose huffed indignantly, but all the same did as she was told. Lens joined them shortly after, craning his neck down and joining them in nibbling away at the grass. Boring, bland, stiff. It was the same as ever. Between mouthfuls, Primrose suddenly shot up, a few blades sticking to her upper lip like a very green moustache. “Hey! Wait a minute! You two never answered my question!” she protested. Lens stood upright. “Which question?” “You fool,” Scarlet thought, closing her eyes and bracing herself. “Did you two have sex or not?!” Primrose asked impatiently. “You have doomed us all.”