If there was one thing Crescent Moon was grateful for it was that he hadn’t been demoted. His superiors would’ve been totally within their rights to do so but apparently didn’t want to make anymore waves than they were already making. So he got to keep his title of Lieutenant but not much else besides that. His squad was mostly out of reach and he no longer had a place in the special officer quarters on base. He didn’t even feel like he was in command of a squad at all anymore with the new way they were doing things. When was the last time he had done anything with one of them? And they didn’t follow his orders anymore at all but the direct commands of East and West Wind and Commander Blizzard.
He was totally left out of the loop and essentially acted as just any other soldier. If there was a guide on how to alienate and shake the faith of a former true believer so badly then what happened to Crescent Moon probably followed it to a “T”. He still remembered how aghast he had been at Rainbow Dash, how stalwartly on the side of Blizzard and the Empire he was, but he wasn’t appreciated for it at all. And after getting to know her some more and having to face the facts about some other things he could say with confidence that his love and admiration for his home was gone. Change had come.
Rainbow Dash would change this place. And he wanted her to change it. It wasn’t because of a personal grudge of his either, at least not entirely, he knew he wasn’t exactly the most selfless of ponies, but because he believed that Rainbow Dash was right and represented something so much better.
Equestria. He wasn’t afraid to think about it or say its name anymore. He may have still been ignorant on quite a bit about it but if it was the kind of place that produced a pony like Rainbow Dash it had to be better than the Empire. No doubt about it. There was no way he would go along with the Empire’s outdated ways and anti-Equestria sentiment, no matter how much Blizzard would push it now.
For now though all he was doing was eating lunch in an old warehouse appropriated for all the new soldiers patrolling over the city. No distinction between officers and others, they all just ate at some thrown together tables and chairs. Since Blizzard wanted them to have more of a presence in the city they weren’t allowed to go all the way over to the base just for a lunch break. Several places were set up around for the soldiers to break at, today Crescent Moon found himself here.
“And so she actually told us no, can you believe it? Actually forced us to arrest her cause even when we threw her back inside she just came flying back out. So we took her up to the jail and she’s been in there since. Keeps yelling at the guards and everything, aint being let out until her mood improves.”
One of the soldiers sitting at the same long table as Crescent Moon was talking about some mare he and his partner had to arrest. Crescent didn’t see anything funny about it but the others he was talking to were all grinning along. They weren’t officers, not even a corporal among them, so Crescent could’ve told them to shut up and just eat but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself as the former commanding officer of Rainbow Dash.
“I tell you, mares have gotten some crazy ideas in their heads around here lately,” the soldier shook his head. “And we all know whose fault that is.” He laughed, the others joining in.
That caused Crescent Moon to silently grit his teeth. He really didn’t want to cause a scene or get in trouble himself right now, that wouldn’t help anything. But he didn’t like to hear them badmouthing Rainbow Dash.
“That nut from Equestria-” the soldier laughed. “What was she thinking doing all that stuff? I wasn’t there when she and her friends put on that sports game or whatever it was, were any of you guys? What was up with that? No wonder she got what she did from the Commander.”
That got another round of mean-spirited laughter from the group as the soldier continued. “Trying to get us to do some dumb game from Equestria, getting the mares all excited and causing problems, and this is after she was shown so much gratitude from the Commander and Captains too. I get that she helped out in our fight with those dumb wolves but then she turns around and uses that goodwill to try and… what did the Commander say? Foster dissent? Corrupt us or whatever?” He snorted and leaned back, crossing his hooves behind his head and closing his eyes with a relaxed smile. “That dumb mare got exactly what she deserve-”
He couldn’t finish his sentence as a caramel hoof plowed into his face, sending him off his chair and crashing to the floor.
Crescent Moon climbed over the table to follow him. The other soldiers who had been laughing along were too startled and surprised to get up at first, they sat there slack-jawed at their table wondering if they should do anything.
“You cheapshot?!” The injured soldier growled as he stumbled to his hooves, probably not realizing that he was talking to a superior officer just yet. He raised his eyes and tried to focus on Crescent Moon. “Why the hay did-”
Another hoof cracked across his jaw this time, sending him sprawling to the floor again with a pained groan.
“H-Hey!” One of the other soldiers finally got out of his chair, but recognizing Crescent Moon as a lieutenant he wasn’t sure what to do. “S-Sir? What’s going on?”
“Disciplinary action,” Crescent Moon replied, glancing at the other soldier over his shoulder.
“Disciplinary action for what?”
Crescent Moon turned back to impassively look down at the soldier groaning on the floor and clutching his face in pain. He kneeled down over the soldier and drew a hoof back. “Don’t.” Thwack! “You.” Thwack! “Insult.” Thwack! “My.” Thwack! “Soldier!” Thwack!
Each heavy punch resonated loudly in the warehouse and the soldier was a black and blue mess at the end of it, his breath wheezing while lying unconscious. Crescent Moon was panting heavily himself as he stood up, looking around he noticed that everyone had stopped eatingwhile he had his little scrap, the soldiers at the various tables all staring at him. He glared right back at them.
“Well? Does anyone else want to say something about Rainbow Dash?”
They didn’t. The watching soldiers all returned to their meals, no complaints or other words from them. It was quieter in the warehouse, something that Crescent Moon welcomed immensely as he stepped away from the roughed up dope he had just straightened out and returned to his own meal. His mood was now slightly improved from before.
Aurora for not the first time woke up hoping that everything had been a dream and when she opened up her eyes and flew out of her room that Rainbow Dash would be there. But soon reality set in and she could only let out a depressed sigh, knowing that things weren’t so happy right now. At least it was a rare day when her brother was home. For the past few weeks she and the rest of the family had seen him even less than normal, but now he finally got the chance to say hi even if he was just leaving again later this afternoon.
Her brother wasn’t the same as usual though thanks to what happened either. He didn’t have the same bubbliness that he usually did, nor did he make as much time to play with her. Her parents too looked downtrodden, Snowshine and her parents as well, there was a phantom over their entire house.
Aurora flew downstairs into the small sitting room and saw her big brother and Snowshine sitting together, drinking tea and eating some special cookies Snowshine had made. Even together like this the two of them didn’t have smiles on their faces.
Summer Rains noticed her arrival and looked over to her. “Oh, good morning.”
Not the warmest of hellos but he probably had other things on his mind.
“Hi...” Aurora timidly said, hopping up on the couch opposite theirs.
Snowshine looked between them, her mouth opening and closing a couple of times as she searched for the right words but nothing came out. It was an awkward family sit-together. All of them were concerned about Rainbow Dash, and the rest of the family was concerned about Summer Rains, and he was concerned about what else might happen in this city that could hurt Aurora and Snowshine. There was no chance for a normal and happy conversation today, a dreary atmosphere soaked all three of them. For a filly who should be nothing but smiles having fun with her friends and family it was especially bad.
“Um, big brother?” Aurora finally broke the silence again.
Summer Rains blinked and his ears perked up as if he forgot Aurora was there. The soldier turned his head to look at her. “What is it?”
“I was just wondering if you want to play together until you have to go? I’ve got all my stuffed animals and everything,” she asked.
The corners of Summer’s mouth tugged down in a sad frown. “I… I’m sorry, Aurora. I just want to rest until I have to go back out again.”
“O-Okay,” Aurora couldn’t even attempt to keep the sheer sadness and disappointment out of her voice as her face dropped and she gazed at the floor.
Snowshine gave her husband a look and the soldier wilted, sighing as he got off his couch and sat down next to his little sister, pulling her up and gently hugging her. “I know it’s tough and I’m not being the best big brother right now but things are a little difficult. I haven’t seen Rainbow Dash since her fight with Blizzard and it feels like everything is just falling apart here. I promise that I’ll make some time for you as soon as possible, but I have work to do first.”
Aurora looked up at him, her eyes welling with tears. “Are you going to help Rainbow Dash?”
“I-” Summer Rains paused before he finished that sentence. Was he going to help Rainbow Dash? He certainly wanted to, but what had he been doing since she got imprisoned? Nothing. He was just going through the motions and listening to orders again as if she had never arrived here and started changing things in the first place. Summer Rains despondently realized that he had just been hoping something would happen instead of him actually taking any steps to make it happen.
“Yes,” he answered for real. “I am going to help her. Not just her, but everyone.”
Snowshine got out of her sear and came over to her husband and little sister-in-law, wrapping her wings around both of them in a big hug with a smile on her face.
“Thank you,” Summer said to his wife, affectionately nuzzling her cheek.
“It’s the least I can do for you with everything going on,” she replied.
“Me too!” Aurora hugged her brother tightly. “I’m sorry for being selfish and asking you to play with me, I know you’re working really hard and everything...”
“No, I should’ve been paying more attention to you. You’re my little sister and you’re stuck in here without any friends to play with. It’s not fair to you,” Summer Rains smiled at her.
“None of what’s been happening in this city is fair to anyone,” Snowshine said.
“Yeah… and I should’ve been doing more to change that and fix things, but I’ve just been… I don’t know, out of it? Seeing what happened to Rainbow Dash—the two of you weren’t there, you don’t really know what he did, it was… just too much for me I guess,” Summer looked down in shame. “I think I’ve just been too scared.”
“We’ve all been scared, about a lot of things,” Snowshine told him. “It’s kind of a scary time right now. And Commander Blizzard is scary, no one is going to blame you for being afraid of him or what he might do.”
“But she’s my friend,” Summer Rains tightly shut his eyes. “And the rest of my squad too, I haven’t done anything for them and I still don’t know what to do!”
“You just do what you can. That’s all anyone can do, be the best you you can be,” his wife told him.
Summer Rains opened his eyes. “I-” he paused, and sighed, any argument he had disappearing. “Thank you. And you too, Aurora, I’ll do what I can, whatever I can do to help Rainbow Dash and the rest of this city. I’ll think of something.”
“It may not be much but even I’ll try and help, don’t underestimate the power of gossip! Next time me and my friends can actually get together for a little party I’ll tell them all just exactly what I think about Commander Blizzard. It doesn’t matter how tough he is if enough ponies in this city become disgruntled,” Snowshine confidently said with a smirk on her face.
“I’ll help too!” Aurora said.
Summer Rains chuckled and rubbed his little sister’s head. “No, you need to just try and have some fun and enjoy your time as a kid. Don’t worry though, we’ll all make it so this is a city you can be happy to grow up in. First things first though, I need to get back in touch with the rest of my squad.” He detached himself from the hugging mares and stood up. “Sorry, but I’m going to leave a little bit early, there’s no time to waste!”
“Good luck out there,” his wife said, a wry smile on her face.
“Kick butt!” Aurora waved.
Summer awkwardly grimaced. “Did you hear that phrase from Rainbow Dash? Just uh, don’t repeat it in front of our parents, okay?”
“Okay!” Aurora saluted, a happy smile spreading from ear to ear.
The pegasus soldier rolled his eyes and headed for the front door. It was true, he had a lot of business to take care of and some confidence to get back. He didn’t have a plan, he didn’t know what the others were doing, but he wasn’t just going to be sitting back and going through the motions any longer, even if it ended up with him being arrested for insubordination he wouldn’t be playing Blizzard’s game anymore. It was time for change!