//------------------------------// // A New Job/ Heart to Heart // Story: Coming Home // by The Gunny //------------------------------// “Hold up, looks like its a colt...” Battle Cry said to his Squad as they paroled the Saddle Arabian desert. A colt was walking down a road alone. “What's he doing down there?” Coriolis, the team’s interpreter, muttered “Alright lets check it out, Bats you're on Cori’s flank got it?” Lieutenant Triblade said, the heat from the desert saw to it that there were no clouds so the squad was traveling on foot most of the time if they weren't flying. Coriolis and Battle Cry started moving towards the Colt cautiously, he was crying and holding something close to his chest. “ياعم أنت على ما يرام؟ أين أمك وأبي؟ (Hey pal, you alright? Where's your mom and dad?)” Coriolis said in Saddle Arabian, the kid looked at him for a moment before turning away. Coriolis approached carfully while Battle Cry stood back with his crossbow ready for anything. The Colt suddenly stopped whimpering and shouted. “DIE EQUESTRIAN!” Battle Cry dropped his weapon as he saw the spoon of a grenade fly into the air. He Pushed Coriolis out of the way as the Colt ran off. The Grenade Exploded sending shrapnel into his wings and body. "AMBUSH!" “GGGAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Battle Cry shouted as he shot off of the couch, his head was throbbing, to much to drink las night perhaps? The feeling of the shrapnel in his body that had long been removed felt as if it was still there. He looked around for any sign of an attacker but relaxed when he saw no one. “WHAT HAPPENED!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she burst into the room with a Baseball bat. She looked at Battle cry, her rainbow mane was disheveled and she still had morning wing. [A/N: Yeah I went there.] “Nothing! Just a nightmare!” Battle Cry assured her, she put the bat down and then looked at Battle Cry with a fake motherly look. “Oh did little batty watty have a bad dream?” She mocked, Battle Cry chuckled but in truth he had had a dream so bad it sent shivers down his spine. “Heh, good one.” He looked at the clock “I should probably go.” He said getting up off the couch and adjusting his uniform. Rainbow Dash smiled at him and nodded before he exited the house. He opened his wings and looked towards the barracks, then he glided down to them. The flight was uneventful which Battle Cry hoped would be a precursor to his day, when he landed however it was a different story. Standing at the assignment board where civilian and military weather patrols were scheduled was none other that Thunderlane. The blood in Battle Cry’s veins turned to lava, his eye twitched as he saw the smug expression on the stallions face. If glares could kill Thunderlane would be six feet under, Battle Cry made his way to the board and looked it over. His name was penciled next to his partner for the day, Rainbow Dash. At this he smiled but his attention quickly turned back to thunderlane. “So how is that girl of yours, heard she’s a screamer.” A random Pegasus said, Thunderlane laughed and nodded. “You could say that, she does have a bit of a lust for me.” Thunderlane said, Battle Cry’s eye began to twitch. He started towards the offending Pegasus when a familiar hoof placed itself on his shoulder. “Thunderlane the Stallion who been with your wife?” Epluribus asked, Battle Cry nodded. “Keep Calm. I’ll figure it out okay?” “So wheres Rainbow Dash.” Battle Cry asked trying to forget the conversation between thunderlane and the other pegasi. “She normally comes in late, so you can start without her or wait around.” Epluribus replied, Battle Cry looked at him. “Alright where's our Op-sec.” Battle Cry asked. “Sweet Apple Acres, Just keep the clouds out of the sky and you’ll be fine.” (~~~~~~) Battle Cry let his legs demolish one of the last clouds in the sky, he had only been here an hour and the work was almost done. Where was Rainbow Dash? “bats, what’s up?” She appeared out of nowhere causing Battle Cry to flinch. He really hated surprises. “Wow, did you do all this in under an hour?” “Yeah.” Battle Cry said as he caught his breath, it was tiring work. He pulled up the last cloud and sat on it looking down at the apples below. The sight of Twilight Sparkle trotting nervously over to the farm house however was not peaceful at all. In fact it was erratic in movement and speed. “What's eating her?” “I don’t know, Knowing Twi it’s probably nothing.” Rainbow Replied, she noticed the sweat covering Battle Cry’s body. He really had pushed himself hadn't he? She dove down to the apple Trees below and came back with two apples in her hooves. “Here, Applejack lets us have free apples for working this sector.” “Uh huh.” Battle Cry said skeptically, he had a lot more on his mind that the legality of the apples. Rainbow could tell just by looking at the stallion. “Hey why are you so glum?” She asked, Battle Cry shrugged. “Aside from obvious reasons...” “You know what its like to be far from home?” He asked, Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Well its like having your heart ripped out every single day. Thats why you had to find something to hold onto or else you go completely crazy. For some of the Colts over there it was a chariot, or their moms apple pie. But for me, it was my wife and daughter. Now it seems like everything has changed, maybe cause it has. Its just after some of the things I’ve done, the things i’ve seen....well have you ever thought that maybe to see the face of evil all you had to do was look in the mirror?” Rainbow Dash at this point had sat next to the Near sobbing stallion. “All their faces, every single one of them. I can still see them every time I close my eyes...” “Battle Cry, its not your fault this happened.” Rainbow Dash tried to comfort the now crying veteran. “Everything’s gone. My family, my career, my life....” Battle Cry just sat staring at the cloud. “Can’t fly combat missions anymore, Doctors say I can’t fly full speed anymore, and there's no one to help me now.” “Hey!” Rainbow Dash said grabbing Battle Cry’s face in her hooves and staring into his eyes. “Thats not true, you still got me. You watch My flank I watch yours remember?” Battle Cry sniffed a bit but nodded. “Thanks Dash, But....but I think I need to be alone for a while....” battle Cry said before taking off towards the barracks, Rainbow Dash hoped he wasn't doing anything stupid. (~~~~~~) Berry Punch rubbed her face, she had had a very rough night. Thunderlane had come home drunk again, he still was pissed that she hadn’t told him about her husband. The bruise was one of many she had received in the year since Battle Cry had gone to war. At first it was hard for her to contemplate that she had cheated on her husband but as the pain of him being gone grew so did her need to relieve stress which only lead to more drinking and more bad decisions. Poor Flower Petal was forced to watch this downward spiral and it was even harder on her when the school kids would tease her about not having a dad. “But I do have a daddy!” She would cry before running away. “Don’t I?” Often times Flower Petal would come home crying only to see her mother drinking again. She would lock herself in her room and keep her crying to a minimum because Thunderlane hated crying. As berry Punch reflected on all this she couldn't help but feel the anger begin to well up. How could she have let such a bastard take control of her life! She took a look at the bottle of Stalliongrad reserve Vodka before tossing it aside. It was time she took a stand.