Chapter 4: Actions and Consequences
By the time Gale Team returned to base everypony was riding with Radar in the PWACS skywagon, they were all wounded, but stable, thanks to Radar knowing some basic healing magic. They were met on the airstrip by a quarter of Morninglight's medical ponies who quickly rushed the three wounded pegasi to the infirmary. When they arrived, they were surprised to see that the infirmary was already full of wounded ponies, and nearly every single one of them were REAF soldiers. The vast majority of them appeared to be suffering from shrapnel wounds, and severe burns. The unpleasant smell of seared pony flesh, burnt hair, blood, and sanitizer filled Blaze's nose, as a sea-foam unicorn with a bone-saw cutiemark examined him.
"What happened Doc? Why are all these other ponies here?" Blaze asked, as the doctor pony checked over all of his vitals.
"There were several explosions in the REAF hangar bays, ninety percent of out standing force is laying in here." He replied, his voice sounding old and haggered.
"Explosions? How is that possible? We got the griffins..." Blaze asked as he felt the unicorns powerful healing magic washing over him, dulling the pain and filling his body with an odd tingling sensation.
"Nopony is certain of what happened yet, but I've heard whispers flying around that it might have been an inside job." The unicorn replied, a grim worried look on his muzzle.
"A...spy?" Blaze weakly asked, as he felt his eyes start to get very heavy.
"Shhhh, I'm gonna put you under for a little bit so I can fix you up. Just close your eyes, and you can worry about that when you're patched up enough to do something about it." The buck said in a soft comforting voice as Blaze's vision clouded up.
The doctors voice slowed and changed pitch wildly as Blaze's body succumbed to the anesthetic spell. His body felt incredibly heavy and alien to him in the final moments, and in the back of his mind he wondered if this is what it was like to die. He awoke several hours later in a daze, his body had a gentle tingling sensation all over that felt almost like somepony was tickling him from within. His eyes still felt heavy, and he struggled a bit at first to open them. He blinked a few times until his vision cleared up enough to see where he was, and was surprised to see that he wasn't in the infirmary. He was back in the room he shared with Crimson in the barracks. Crimson was sitting on his bed opposite Blaze, and was reading a book that Blaze couldn't quite make out the title to. His flank was wrapped up tight with healing bandages, but aside that he only appeared a bit bruised up. He turned his head and smiled warmly upon seeing his friend awake again.
"Welcome back to the land of the living." Crimson said with a relieved tone as he closed his book.
"I feel like I got punched by a dragon or something." Blaze replied with a soft, almost whining groan as he started to regain the feeling all over his body.
"I'd prefer if you didn't tempt fate by mentioning a dragon, we’ve had enough bad luck." Crimson replied, and Blaze could hear light cracks and pops as he shifted his body.
“Yeah you’re probably right.” Blaze replied, and laid his head back on the pillow, getting comfortable again.
He closed his eyes again, keeping them open felt like a chore in his battered state. He felt over his body as he laid there, feeling over all the spots he had been wounded. The magically healed skin felt different somehow as he traced his hoof over it, he grimaced at the odd feeling, hoping that it would normalize once he was fully healed. He then heard the soft click of the door shutting, followed by a second, much more substaintial click that he could only assume was the deadbolt locking in place. Blaze was a bit confused as to why his roomate had closed and locked the door, but shrugged it off and assumed Crimson was going to sleep and didn't want to be disturbed. This thought however was shortlived, and his mind began to race with new ideas, some of which turned his cheeks rosy, as he felt the bed shift when Crimson plopped himself down on it.
"Crimson? Uhmmm buddy, what are you doing?" Blaze nervously asked as he sat up in bed again.
"We need to have a little talk." Crimson replied, as he scooched up to Blaze and gave him a gentle rub on his shoulder.
“Uhm, you know, I’m not really feeling up to having a serious talk right now.” Blaze stammered back, then quickly laid back down, faking a yawn and acting like he was falling asleep.
“Well that’s too bad, because I do feel like talking, and I’m still your superior officer, so you don’t have much of a choice in the matter.” Crimson said, in a serious tone, sounding more like he did on the flight line than he usually did on his down time.
“I really hate when you pull rank on me like that...” Blaze replied with a sigh as he sat up again, an annoyed look on his face.
“I don’t like having to do it, but sometimes it’s the only way I can get you to listen to me, and this is serious.” Crimson said, before leaning down and pulling back the covers.
“Look Crimson, I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be a killjoy, but I just don’t think my barn door swings that way!” Blaze said as he pushed the older buck back a bit and pulled the covers back on top of himself.
“Oh shut up, I already know for a fact that it does, so stop trying to deny it! Besides, this isn’t about wanting to fiddle around, even if I wanted to I’m too bandaged up down there.” Crimson said, and Blaze noticed the softer more comfortable tone beginning to return into his voice.
“Well if this isn’t about your unhealthy obsession with my flank, then what is it?” Blaze asked, gently ribbing Crimson, a bit.
“Well actually, it sort of is about your flank... You see, during the battle you got some of the worst of it out of the three of us. You may not have even felt it, but at some point you took a bolt to your right flank that hit one of the plates in your armor just right and it sent a bunch of tiny slivers into your flank. Not the worst blow you took all day, but probably the hardest to fix...” Crimson explained.
“Buddy, my legs feel fine to me, what in Equestria could be the problem? See look!” Blaze said and kicked his legs around in the bed.
“Yeah, Scalpel fixed your leg right up, she does great work, you could probably even walk a short way on it if you needed to, and it should be good as new in a few days.” Crimson answered, much to Blaze’s relief.
“Okay, so if I’m not crippled, my leg isn’t coming off, and you’re not trying to come on to me, then why are you being like this? Couldn’t we have talked without you feeling me up, and pulling rank on me?” Blaze asked, feeling very confused.
“Because, when he performed the operation.... your cutie mark peeled right off....” Crimson said, now looking at Blaze with eyes like he still could not believe what he was saying, despite staring right down at irrefutable evidence.
Blaze felt like his blood had transformed into ice water and his body shook all over as he looked up at Crimson, unsure of what he could possibly say to him. Crimson had a look of betrayal in his eyes, and Blaze knew if he lied again now, he would likely loose his friend’s trust, and loose him forever. He let out a soft sigh, and looked down at his hooves then back up to Crimson’s eyes.
“Were you ever going to tell me?” Crimson asked flatly, but Blaze just whimpered in response.
“Well?! Were you?! Answer me, Celestia damn you!” Crimson screamed at him and started to shake the freshly healed pegasus.
"So you'd be all proud and chatty about being a full grown stallion with a blank flank?!" Blaze asked, his eyes teared up, and his voice quivering.
"Are you even a full grown stallion? Or are you just a little colt that outgrew his classmates, and never got his mark?" Crimson asked him, unable to believe that somepony could be full grown without their mark.
"I didn't lie about my age, I am a full grown stallion! I just never discovered my special talent...” Blaze replied, and lowered his head in shame.
"Okay, well then how exactly did you get a false cutie mark put on your flank?" Crimson asked curiously, his anger having fallen seeing how distraught Blaze was.
"One of my friends back home was a unicorn, she specialized in appearance alteration spells. She used the same spell the actor ponies use to change their marks to give me a fake one...” Blaze said as he slid out of the bed, walking over to the dresser.
Blaze sighed as he pulled his clothes from the dresser, tossing them into a duffel bag carelessly as he emptied his drawers. Crimson raised an eyebrow as he watched Blaze cleaning out his dresser, and wondered what he was doing.
“What are you doing Blaze?” Crimson asked, as he moved to stand up on his bed.
“Packing my stuff up...I’m gonna be kicked out of the corps for this, may as well pack my things now...” Blaze replied in a defeatist tone.
“Really? What makes you think I’m going to let you out of this so easily?” Crimson asked, in a very comforting tone, with a tiny smile on his face.
“W-what do you mean?” Blaze asked, falling back onto his haunches as he looked up at his friend and commanding officer.
“What makes you think I’m going to let you off the hook? Let you just walk away with your tail tucked between you legs?” Crimson inquired, his expression changing from a comforting one to a playfully devious one.
“What are you saying Crimson?” Blaze asked, giving crimson a look similar to that of a lost and scared puppy.
“I’m saying that I’m not going to report you, I’m not going to have you kicked out of the unit, in fact I’m going to make sure Scalpel keeps his mouth shut so that absolutely nopony else learns about this.” Crimson said confidently, then climbed down off the bed and sat down next to him on the floor.
"You'd really do that for me?" Blaze asked, hoping this wasn't a cruel joke as crimson started putting his uniforms back into the dresser.
"Eyup, that's what I'm gonna do." Crimson replied, a devious little grin on his muzzle.
"What's the catch?" Blaze asked with a sigh, dreading the conditions of keeping him quiet.
"Well condition number one is that you take most of that money you earned from this last mission and get some decent equipment instead of wasting it on booze and a visit to Manehattan or somethin’." Crimson started, giving Blaze a look that told him this point wasn't negotiable.
“Fahne... what else?” Blaze replied, his voice sounding a bit annoyed at this.
“Second off you’re paying for my drinks tonight.” Crimson added as he licked his muzzle.
“Alright, you don’t drink that much anyways.... anything else?” Blaze asked as he closed his drawer.
“Yeah, one last thing,” Crimson started, then planted a quick peck on Blaze’s cheek. “keep an open mind.”
He left Blaze sitting on the floor in the middle of their room, his muzzle hanging open slightly as he felt the blast of cold air rush over him upon Crimson’s departure. He could not believe it, he had discovered his deepest darkest secret, and he was just letting it go. He could have had him kicked out of the Corps for this, he could have probably had him arrested for lying on his enlistment papers, but instead he was even going to make sure the doctor kept his muzzle shut. He had taken it so much better than Blaze could have ever imagined that he would.
Then he traced his hoof over where crimson had kissed him and his cheeks grew a deep crimson hue. Crimson had actually kissed him! He had teased him about colt cuddling for as long as he had known him, but he never thought that he really meant any of it. Now he knew that all those flirtatious little passes he had taken at him were probably all real, and at first he wasn’t really sure how to feel about that. He had never even considered thinking about bucks like that before, and he wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to think about them that way either. On the other hoof he had just been kissed by another buck and his stomach wasn’t turning over or anything over it. Blaze shakily climbed back up onto the bed and laid looking up at the ceiling, counting the cracked ceiling tiles as he weighed up his options. After giving the matter a bit of thought, he decided that he didn’t need to make any definite decisions, he would simply let the bits fall where they may, and not worry about it. Besides, he had much more important things to think about, like getting paid. Meanwhile in the shattered burned out remains of hanger one two figures sat amongst the twisted metal and scorched equipment of the destroyed hanger.
“You have my compensation?” The mare asked, keeping her voice as low as she could.
“The operation was not a success, you have earned nothing.” The other figure, a smaller framed griffin in a flowing white flying cloak responded.
“I followed my instructions to the letter, it’s not my fault that your attack force couldn’t handle half a flight of volunteers!” She protested, stamping her hoof down and shattering the charred remains of a helmet.
“The operation as a whole was a failure, and therefore your services were not required.” He retorted, shifting slightly under his cloak.
“That’s not fair!” She protested once more, demanding what she was promised as she pulled a pistol.
“Fine, you shall receive your just reward for your hard work...” He said, trailing off as he pulled a bag of gold from his cloak.
The mare’s eyes lit up, and she dropped the pistol. She imagined the bright lights of Manehattan, seeing the finest shows, wearing delightful gowns designed by Hoity Toity himself, and never having to see this dreadful place ever again. She was only right about one of those things, in a movement swifter than her mind could even process the griffin reached up and effortlessly broke her neck as if it were made of balsa wood. She fell to the ground lifeless and the griffin picked one of the coins up from the bag and unwrapped it, taking a bite of the chocolate inside, and smiling at his handiwork before grabbing the sack and placing it back onto his belt. He pulled a large piece of sheet metal down and placed it on top of her, hoping they would write her off as a casualty of the building’s collapse, before disappearing into the blizzard that cloaked the base.