//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Upon that day... // by TLSpark //------------------------------// The sound. How I hate that sound. It fills my every thought and strikes without warning. It crawls through the bunkers and it even seeps through my body, my dreams, my very soul. I hate the sound. The sound of war. "Get up you yellow piece of dirt! We need to move out by O-600 hours yesterday!" I open my eyes and see general what’s-his-name standing over me. His face visor is shaded black right now, but I could hear his anger through the com-link. I quickly got up and saluted him. "That's more like it soldier," he continues, "You may have been one of General Fudge's best, but that don't mean nothing to me!" He leaned down, picked up my assault rifle, and shoved it into my chest. Hard. I heard him chuckle and walk away. He was wearing his black, full-body armor suit, just like the rest of us. A small blue square on his shoulder signified his rank in the blue army. I stood there, clutching my gun, regaining my breath, and fuming in anger. I didn't ask to get transferred. I didn't mean to be a crack shot. I just wanted to go back in blue squadron 852, back to my friends... Great, I thought, Why did I have to think of them now? I quickly put the limp hood around my neck over my head and activated helmet mode with my arm controller. The hood immediately began to solidify and morph to my head. The moment it finished, I pressed another button on my sleeve and a visor materialized in front of my face. I checked to make sure that it was shaded, then sat down, and cried. My com-link was on 'personal mute' which meant that I could hear the outside world as well as the other soldiers, but they couldn't hear me. So I was left alone with my sobbing. And my memories... *** "Are you ok?" These were the first kind words I have ever heard in all my life. I was six, maybe seven years old at the time that I heard them. I had been sitting alone in a secluded part of the barracks. Earlier, I had tried to fire a gun at a target the size of a hippo, and missed by about ten feet. The others had laughed at me. I ran right out of the shooting range. I went and hid in my room for the rest of the class, but I was forced out at lunch. I still had tear stains on my face while I ate. Alone. Again. I never expected someone to care about me, let alone the two kids that were soon standing in front of me then. The girl was standing directly in front of the boy, but I still saw their concerned frowns. They looked about my age. I wiped the tears from my eyes and told them I was fine. I expected them to leave after that, but they didn't. Instead, they sat on either side of me, the girl on my left and the boy on my right. "No," the girl told me, taking my hand in hers, "You’re not fine," after pausing for a moment, I quickly took my hand out of hers. "Better listen to her mate," said the boy, "She won't say you're fine till you actually are." He smiled at the girl and held out his hand to me, "I’m Red Dragon by the way, but everyone just calls me Red ‘D’ or ‘Reddy’ for short." I stared at his hand for a moment, and then carefully shook it. Reddy nodded his head and gestured to the girl. She was smiling mischievously. "My name," she began, "will eventually make the enemy shake in their armor suits! It will haunt them in their dreams and cause them to scream in fright at the very sight of me! And someday, It may even bring them to their-" "AHEM!" coughed Reddy. I smiled and suppressed a laugh. "Er...It's Ringer. What's yours?" "It's Ji-" "Not your real name!" Interrupted Reddy. I jumped and shrank away from him, and into Ringer. I shied away from her too till I was just sitting between them and looking at the floor. One of them put their hand on my back. I still didn't look up, so they took it away. "Just...just tell us your codename. You know, just in case-" "No Shot," I said, "Since I can't hit anything..." "Really?" asked Reddy, "Wait a minute, YOU’RE the one who couldn't hit the...” he saw my depressed face, “uh… I mean... well..." "It's ok," I told him, "I know that I'm no good at shooting. Maybe you'll see me again as a courier or something..." Ringer, however, had other plans. She stood up, grabbed my chin, and forced me to look up into her eyes. They were green. "You're not going to end up in a job like that," she said, "It's lucky that you met us then-" "He is?" asked Reddy, standing up himself and looking at Ringer. "Yes, because we're going to help him," "We are?" Reddy asked. "You are?" I asked her. "We will." She said with a finality that made me shake with fear. Or was it anticipation? I didn't know it then, but the biggest grin had been forming on my lips. I liked these two. They showed a rare conviction that was contagious. For a couple of seven or eight-year-olds, they showed signs of being great leaders some day. But for now, they would stick to being my first friends. *** "GET UP!" I jumped at the sudden voice in my ears. In the midst of my flash back, I had forgotten to lower the volume on my com-link. I did this now and got up again, thinking the General was going to yell at me, but I was instead looking into the face of another soldier. He didn't have his visor shade on, so I could clearly see his face. A small window appeared over his head on my visor's HUD that said he was Captain Braves and he was almost twenty-five-years-old. His face suggested that he was at least fifty though. I un-shaded my own visor and saluted to him. He nodded and continued on his way. I looked around and realized that most of the other soldiers had already packed up their supplies. Fortunately, I hadn't dispersed my own supplies around that much, so gathering it up into my small bag was easy. As soon as I had placed everything I owned inside the octangular bag, I placed it on my back and felt it slide effortlessly into the back of the suit. I picked up my gun and went to join the others, already in formation. "Blue Squad 967, atteeeention!" yelled the general into our com-links. A few of the soldiers shook and grabbed their heads, lowering the volume so they could hear again. The general continued without breaking step. "We will be marching through enemy territory. Our goal is to infiltrate their camp and to take it for our own. We will be taking no prisoners," He added. He looked out at us and raised his fist into the air. We all repeated the movement. He kept it there, and then snapped it back to his side, waiting for us to do the same. When we did, he spun around and began to march forward, with us closely behind him. We began to march to oblivion. ________________________________________ The sun was just starting to set on the Apple families' farm. In the distance, two pony sisters were collecting the rotten apples in the fields again. Applebloom, the younger sister, was standing with a large, wooden basket atop of her head, waiting to catch the next rotten apple that her older sister would throw to her. Or, at least, she was about to. Applejack was currently staring off at the sunset with a content smile on her face. She was panting a little from the long day. Seeing her sister like that, Applebloom asked, "Should we stop?" and placed the basket onto the ground. Applejack looked around and spotted only one more bad looking apple. She pulled her stetson over her forehead and ran over to it. "Go long!" She yelled. Applebloom set the basket on her head again and ran off into the other direction. Applejack quickly nabbed the stem of the molding fruit with her mouth and chucked it way off into the distance. Applebloom only just caught it. The two sisters started to laugh and went to put the inedible apples into a barrel that was full of them by the barn. As soon as this was done they started toward the house, but Applejack held back a bit. She looked towards the sunset again and heaved a long sigh. She took in the familiar smells, listened for the soft wind, and stared at how the sun brightened up the orchards; just enough to make it look like it was late autumn. The sun shone brightly on her orange coat and lightened up her blond hair. Smiling, Applejack turned around and set off after her little sister. When she got there, Applebloom was jumping up and down in excitement. "I can't wait!" She proclaimed. Applejack chuckled and brushed aside the younger sister's bangs so she could look into her eyes. "You know," she began, "The Summer Sun Celebration isn't for another two months, right?" "I know... but I'm still really excited! I haven't seen cousin Braeburn in ages!" "You just want to see him cause he always brings you some knick knack or sweet from Apple Loosa," "So?" Applebloom asked. Applejack just chuckled again and led her sister into the house. It had been a long day, and now was the time to help make dinner and relax. A great end to a great day.