“I don’t like ‘em…” Ridge Cracker said staring down the three cages on the other side of the camp. “I don’t like where they come from neither….”
“You’re just saying that because the big one beat the hell out of you without even breaking a sweat.” Flare Flash said smiling, “I’d be pretty upset if that happened to me too.”
“It ain’t just that, Flash.” Ridge Cracker replied, “It’s all ‘bout how they showed up… outta nowhere an all, then they beat all us at our own game when we been trainin’ for ya’ll know how long… It just ain’t right.”
“Well, considering that they could’ve killed us…” Flare Flash said looking to his wrapped up foreleg, “I think they’ll be fine additions to our unit when we find out that they’re one of ours.”
“You think them boys are with us?” Ride Cracker asked, “Now what makes you say that?”
“Look at what they did.” Flare Flash answered simply, “There’s no way they’re run-of-the-mill ponies or even royal guard… the way they fought was textbook Equestrian Royal Marine special forces, and you know our unit is a mix from all branches, hell Roadmap WAS a royal guard before Commander Garrison grabbed him up.” a small smile came across his face, “And they put an Army juggernaut on his flank in just a few seconds.”
“Well since you decided to add me into this conversation,” Roadmap said stopping any chance for Ridge Cracker to respond, “I don’t know what to say about those three… and about Ridge getting beat, didn’t you and Cloud Seeker go down after a few seconds in the air against the pegasus?” he asked smirking, “I’m sure if-“
“If I do recall, according to Comet…” Patches interjected stepping into the group. “You were one of the three that was taken down before the actual fighting even started.”
Roadmap’s face went bright red as the others around the small blaze began to laugh uncontrollably. His eyes darted across the campfire not a single face was without a smile. Lowering his head he walked back to his tent in shame.
“Aw come on Roadmap!” Flare Flash, “We were just having some fun! You know that we haven’t had that in a long time!”
Roadmap didn’t respond, he simply sulked into his tent and zipped the door behind him. The other around the fire just sat there and stared at the tent, expecting him to come out any time, but after a few minutes it looked like he was in there to stay.
“Talk about a buzz kill…” Flare said shaking his head, “He gets upset the moment somepony points something like that out.”
“Having an ego like his will do that to somepony.” Camo said taking the now vacant seat. “But I’m sure he’ll be himself in the morning.”
“I hope so.” Tower Shield said the moment he came into view, “We might be only a few hours ruck from Canterlot but I kinda want the fastest route so I can rest my hooves a bit before we get sent out there again.”
“I thought hoofacures were for mares, Tower Shield.” Another grizzled voice rumbled from behind him, they all looked back to see Long Shot, crossbow in hoof putting out a burned down cigar into the ground. “Besides, your watch is coming up her soon; you need to get your gear on so I don’t have to wait as much.”
“Yes sir.” Tower Shield replied standing to head to his tent.
“Don’t call me sir.” Long Shot joked, “I work for a living.”
The others at the fire let out a small chuckle before one of them spoke up. “Long Shot, what do you think about those three?” Camo asked sarcastically.
“I’m not really sure Camo.” Long Shot answered shaking his head, “I was with Commander Garrison’s scouting party, but from what I heard they’ve got some real ability as fighters.”
“Flash says they may be Royal Marines.” Camo said, “Like you and Tower Shield were.”
“I’m still a marine, Camo…” Long Shot replied, “I just put on a different uniform when the day starts.”
“Ok… Ok…” Camo said submissively, “I but you still didn’t answer the question.”
“If you really want to know what I think, Camo wait until we get into the black ops vault, then you’ll have my opinion.”
“Oh alright…” Camo said looking back up to the sky, for some reason there weren’t as many stars out as usual and the familiar mare in the moon was no longer present. “Well how ‘bout that night four days ago?” he asked, “You know the one that lasted hours longer than it should’ve… especially given that it was the summer sun festival.”
Though the question was intended for Long Shot, he’d already walked off beyond ear shot. There was a strange silence amongst them for a few seconds, until Patches decided to answer the question for their missing superior.
“I really don’t know what that was about.” she replied looking to the sky, “But that wasn’t as interesting as those three.” She pointed to the three cages, “Whoever they are there’s something special about them.”
“Comet sure has taking a liking to them.” Flare Flash added, “Especially that pegasus, I bet it’s because he’s the only one who’s really out flown him in an aerial duel.”
“I thought the two of you were pretty equal.” Camo said confused, “You’re always neck and neck in our drills.”
“We are pretty even.” Flare said in agreement, “But in competitions he-“
“Was always just a bit better than you…” Comet said jokingly with Cannon Fodder at his side, “But you’ve been coming close recently, I might actually have to start trying the next time.”
“There you are Comet.” Flare said rolling his eyes, “I was wondering you weren’t around the fire yet.”
“Cannon Fodder was having trouble with his bandages.” Comet said slapping the frail unicorn on the back, “and I was more than happy to help him wrap back up.”
“I told you to come to me if you had issues rewrapping that wound.” Patches said walking to the two. “Now I have to see if you did it right…”
“Come on Patches,” Comet said reassuringly, “I think I can-“
“His muzzle was broken in five different places, Comet.” She interrupted, “and since I don’t have any braces to keep it straight, the wrapping is the only thing that keeps his muzzle from setting wrong.”
“Alright Patches, you’re the expert.”
“I have my cutie mark for a reason, Comet… just like you have yours.”
“Um… can I have a say in this?” Cannon Fodder said though his bandages, “Because I really-“
He was interrupted by Patches wrapping his mouth shut with an ace bandage. He rolled his eyes while the others around him let out a small chuckle. After Watching Patches finish up her work with Cannon Fodder, Flare Flash brought up the previous conversation.
“So Comet.” He began, “What do you really think about those three we grabbed in the badlands?”
“I think my stance is pretty straight forward about them Flash.” Comet said looking to the cages. “I trust them… even though they kicked the snot out of us, and I think that there’s something more to them… like they’ve got something inside of them that’ll determine the fate of us all.”
“Wow…” Camo said rolling his eyes, “I think that pegasus hit you harder than any of us thought.”
“I’m serious Camo.” Comet said staring him down, something Comet rarely ever did, “Ponies of that caliber and skill don’t just forget everything about their lives other than how to kill.”
There was silence around the campfire, simply because of Comet’s seriousness about the three. He really believed there was something special about them other than the fact that they were dropped right in front of the 1025th. Camo shot a quick glance to Patches and pointed to his head.
“Very mature…” Patches said rolling her eyes, “but you may have suffered a concussion instead of just a few bruises and cuts… I could look you over again.”
“I’m fine Patches.” Comet said reassuringly, “You’ve looked me over more than once and each time you’ve given me a clean bill of health.”
“I could’ve missed something…”
“You? MISS something?!” Comet laughed, “Now I’ve heard just about everything.”
“There’s always that chance.” Patches said placing her hooves on Comet’s face gently, “Let me look you over on more time.”
“You could look me over anytime you want…” Tower Shield said, stepping into the light, head to hoof in his armor, “especially at night.”
“At least Flash and Camo aren’t the only ones with jokes…” Comet said chuckling. Even Tower Shield couldn’t help but laugh a bit.
“Well I’ve had my fun…” Tower Shield said with his horn beginning to glow dimly, “Time to actually work for once.”
“Wait!” Camo said raising his hoof, “You never told us what YOU think about those guys.”
“I trust them about as far as they can throw me.” Tower Shield said turning around, “and I don’t know how strong they are.”
Tower Shield walked off, beginning his watch. The others around the fire looked to one another than to the moon once again. “Think it’s getting late…” Flare Flash said “Think we should hit the stables?”
“It was already late when the moon rose.” Camo said yawning, “The only thing that’s kept me up was all of you talking like we weren’t ever gonna see each other again.”
“Well you can go to sleep, Camo.” Comet said, “You were always the lazy one anyway…”
“How else do you think I was never seen,” Camo asked smiling, “I was always the best at finding amazing napping spots.”
“Lazy good fer nothin’…” Ridge Cracker grumbled, “Ya’ll need ta be more like me.”
“Stupid and illiterate?” Camo asked.
“You son of a…“
Ridge Cracker proceeded to chase after Camo to the sound of roaring laughter from those around them. Even Cannon Fodder couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle through his bandages. As the excitement died down another pony emerged from his tent, slightly annoyed at the small group still awake.
“What’s so important that it wakes a pony twenty feet away up from his sleep?” Lug Nut asked sleepily making his way to the group, “I was having the officer dream again.”
“They were just making small talk, Lug Nut.” Long Shot said, “You can go back to sleep.”
“Well can’t really do that if they already woke me up.” Lug Nut replied wiping the sleep from his eyes, “Now what in Equestria were you talking about?”
“Well… the main conversation was about the three we found in the badlands.” Flare Flash explained, “And we’ve got some mixed opinions… Ridge hates them, and Comet thinks they’ll save the world one day. Almost everypony else has the ‘I don’t know what to think about them yet’ opinion.”
“Well put me in the majority.” Lug Nut replied, “We’ve known them for less than a week, and when they were awake, it was a really painful meet and greet. I mean Iron Hide and I were completely outmatched by that wise cracking unicorn.”
“Well you were outmatched…” Flash said smiling, “Iron Hide was K.O.ed by the earth pony.”
“Not what I was getting at…” Lug Nut said, his face turning red, “but besides that we really should try to find out as much as possible about them before we get to Canterlot, they-“
“They could’ve been caught on purpose for the soul fact that it would get them close enough to Princess Celestia!” Cannon Fodder muffled form his bandages, “We need to tell-“
“Of all the things you’ve ever thought of Cannon…” Flare Flash said covering his hoof with his face, “THAT’S on a new level of paranoid.”
“You don’t know that.” Cannon Fodder retorted, “Just look what they did to me.”
“A butterfly coulda done that to ya, Cannon…” Ridge Cracker said rolling his eyes “And accordin’ to Comet they were just lookin’ fer clues to who the hell they are… they never said nothin’ ‘bout bein’ high class hooves fer higher…”
“If I was one I wouldn’t tell you Ridge…” Cannon Fodder pointed out, “and what better way to-“
“They’re not assassins Cannon,” Comet said placing his hoof on Cannon’s shoulder, “You could tell by the way they fought…” he drew a small line in the dirt next to the fire and pointed. “They were loud, keeping in contact with one another,” he explained “That’s not how contract killers operate, we’ve been up against enough to now that, they’re military-“
“They were scared…” a silent listener said from his seat, “They didn’t know what they were getting into, just like us.”
“Cloud Seeker?” Flare Flash asked “How long have you been-“
“Long enough…” Cloud seeker interrupted, “An assassin would’ve known much more about his opponents and he sure as hell wouldn’t get caught so easily.”
“So you’re agreeing with Comet?” Patches asked.
“No… I’m saying that they’re not assassins, because if they were none of us would be here right now,” Flare Flash was about to reply but he was quickly stopped by Cloud Seeker continuing, “And I know this because that’s what I would do.”
“Says the masked dagger totin’ ninja expert.” Ridge Cracker said rolling his eyes, “Look if ya want ta-“
“What’s all this talk about?” Commander Garrison said stepping out of his tent, “All of you should’ve hit the stables hours ago.”
“We were just talking about those ponies we picked up in the badlands sir.” Flare Flash replied, “We were just getting second opinions on them.”
“You should be sleeping.” Commander Garrison said staring him down, “You’ve got the next watch.”
“What?!” Flare Flash exclaimed, “I thought Camo had the next one!”
“For somepony who knows exactly how many days are between R&R, you really don’t look at the working schedule like you should.”
Flare Flash grunted under the sounds of the others chuckles. Reluctantly he left his seat and returned to his tent to gear up. Those who still remained looked back to their commander, wondering if he had anything else to say before he went back into his tent.
“What are you waiting for?” Commander Garrison asked “You’re all adults, I don’t have to tell you to go to sleep…” he turned back to his tent and began to walk, “But we are starting early tomorrow, so it would do you good if you got sleep now.”
The ones who were at the fire got his hint and extinguished the small flame, each went to their respective tents, ready for the next day. But little did they know the welcoming party in Canterlot was far from welcoming.