//------------------------------//
// Snowy Days 
// Story: An Angelic Soldier 
// by Korten 
//------------------------------//

Snowy Days

The snow crunched under their boots as they traveled through the snow forest. First match of the basic training tournament – Phoenix vs. Santagol vs. Raven vs. Texan. In the far end of the planet a large forest that had a blanket of snow from previous nights had been set up as the arena for the fight along with various structures. The objective was simple, eliminate the enemy teams with stun rounds that only need one shot to the head, and multiple shots depending on the body part, outside that there weren’t any rules outside staying in the field which already had an energy shield up but students at time did get a bit creative. 

“O’Brian I want you to get up on that perch over there, and keep me informed if anyone gets close,” Ember commanded him. He simply nodded, placed his sniper on his back and climbed up the stone structure and then used a bipod and aimed out the window. 

“Tina, Richard, and Drew you three enter the structure as well, I and Elisa will scout ahead. O’Brian you know what to do.”

“Roger,” they all said over the comms. Ember and Elisa split from the group and headed deeper into the forest, heading down a small hill to a frozen stream below. The snow falling made visibility in the distance difficult so they turned their vision to heat and everything lit up. They moved slowly from one brush to the next, hugging trees and crouching behind rocks and bushes. 

Ember jumped and grabbed on the top of the rock and lifted them up and looked out from a higher position. She went prone as she saw something pop up on her HUD. Three targets were moving in their direction. Tagging them she leapt off the rock and motion for Elisa to fall back. The two of them headed towards their base, and Ember opened up the comms, 

“Three targets have been tagged and sent to your HUD. We’re coming back.”

“Roger, so who are the nice people from?” O’Brian asked.

“No idea, but I think we will find out soon,” she said as they arrived back at the base. “I only saw three of them so it could be a recon party.”

They vaulted through the low window and then crouched. On their HUD the targets were getting closer and didn’t seem to be changing direction or speed. “O’Brian, don’t fire yet in case the remaining three are in the area. Wait for my mark.”

There was a silence, as they waited and watched as the enemy team got closer to their base. They couldn’t see the other three and that worried Ember if they were planning some sort of ambush or diversion. But with three other teams, it was possible they had already been eliminated as they were twenty minutes in to the match. 

“I wish we had drones or quads. Those would be useful,” Richard commented.

“Only for the advanced, but yes that would be quite useful and awesome if I may add,” Elisa replied. 

“Ember, they have entered my sights, permission to fire?” O’Brian asked over the comms.

Ember looked out and couldn’t see them, only their tag, so O’Brian would be the only one able to fire at them. She went to respond but O’Brian spoke again, “Wait, they stopped and began to turn. I don’t think they know we’re here.”

“Alright, Elisa, come with me. We’re going to move and see if we can take them all out at the same time,” she said as she vaulted out of the base and into the snowy ground outside. Elisa followed and they moved slowly through the snow. They watched their tag so see their distance and which direction they were moving but also checking the motion sensor to see some subtler movements. 

She hugged a large rock, crouched, and looked out and could now see the three of them facing the opposite direction. “O’Brian you still have visual correct?” Ember asked wanting to make sure.

“Correct.”

“Then on my mark,” she aimed her sights at one of their heads and the red tag turned green, and as Elisa and O’Brian aimed their tags turned green as well. “Mark!” at an instant all three of them fired and the stun bullets slammed into the unsuspecting soldiers and knocked all three to the ground. “Good kill,” she said, even if it was just a stun. 

Suddenly they all heard three beeps echo throughout the area and a synthetic female voice came on, “Texan Squad has been eliminated. Raven, Phoenix, and Santagol remain. Three hours until match completion.” 

Ember moved towards the stunned bodies and crouched, the three of them wanting to curse their opponent but knowing it was futile. “Well I guess we know who we just eliminated. Must mean either Raven or Santagol got the other three…”
“Think they’re in the area?” Elisa questioned.

Ember looked around down the lanes of trees, “It’s a large forest. They could be anywhere.” 

“So then what’s the plan? Stay in our fort till they come find us?” 

“I would advise against that Ember,” O’Brian chipped in. “They may plan for the same thing and nothing will happen.”

Ember stood back up, “Reasonable estimation. Probably be best to wait at the fort just for ten minutes, if we see nothing then we will move out. Anyone disagree?”

Elisa and O’Brian had no complaints and the two of them headed back to the fort. Upon arrival, Ember started up the timer and they all sat in silence as it counted down. While they waited, Drew began to check his gun to make sure no chances of it getting jammer and overheats, and then went onto his various tools. Although to his dismay he acknowledges that a tech expert wouldn’t be the most useful in the match, at least on the tech side of things. He still like everyone else in the squad was a good shot; personally he was quite fond of his submachine gun, the SUB-42, a new model that released just the last year. 

Ember was a fan of her own assault rifle, the AR-74M2, an older gun but it was a tried and true gun that was still used by many infantry on the frontlines. It provides a good range of fire from long to medium, but not the best in close range but there was worse. O’Brian was using his trust sniper rifle, the SNR-55A, brand new and custom made for him, given to him personally by the heads of the academy shortly after joining Phoenix squad. 

Richard was hulking around his light machine gun, the LMG-80, even older than that of the AR-74M2, but was still unmatched in years compared to newer light machine guns. Tina as she said, was quite close to her shotgun, the SG-N, a newer model and great for close range combat that allowed her to take out enemies in usually one shot and dent armored vehicles and mechanized robots quite heavily. Lastly there was Elisa who was also using an assault rifle but a AR-22S, which is the same age as Ember’s gun but was primarily a burst fire rifle whereas Ember’s is an auto but could be changed. 

Although everyone had access to multiple guns, everyone had a cube with a variety of weapons in them and everyone was trained to use them just as effectively but each of them has their personal preferences. 

After the timer ran out, everyone got up and they began to move out into two smaller teams, Ember, O’Brian, and Tina in the first, and Richard, Elisa, and Drew in the second. They didn’t want to be ambushed all together and if one team got fired upon then the other could come in to get them out. “According to my map there should be a large structure to the east. Looks to be a power station,” Tina relayed to the squad. 

“Think a squad would hold up there?” Ember questioned.

“From the map it looks fortifiable, so yeah I would bet on that.”

“Any structural weakness? A backdoor we can take?”

Tina continued to check her map on her UCD, “I think there might be a sewer tunnel below it that entrance is just a bit away.”

Ember began to think about what they should do, it was a sound plan, go in through the sewers and enter the structure from below and eliminate the enemy with a surprise attack. However they were trained to be cautious, and so that sewer could be a death trap waiting to happen. Although she was a bit more clever than that, and wondered if the enemy expected them to think that and left the sewer unguarded or with little defense. Raven squad was known for our thinking other squads so you had to really sit on a plan before acting and account for every possibility they may make. 

It was possible though that Santagol was in the power station and they were a lot simpler, relying less on elaborate planning and just going in and taking out their foes. It got their superiors angry at times for their somewhat lack of cohesion but they had to admit the squad was good at what they did. 

Ember realized she had been just standing there for a bit and O’Brian and Tina just looked at each other and wondered if she was okay. “Oh sorry. Lots of thinking…” she confessed, and as the Squad Leader you were expected to do a lot of it, unless you were Carlo Dosi, the leader of Santagol. 

She decided to ask everyone else over the comms, “So what, should we go in? Possibly split up and some go through the sewers and the rest up top or we just ignore the power station?”

Richard decided to speak first, “Splitting up sounds good. Personally I will volunteer for going up top. Not a fan of sewers.” 

“But I thought you loved sewers Richie?” Elisa teased him.

“Sewers are dirty and full of waste. I rather go through a hot desert then a sewer, the sheer amount of things that run through them is just horrible. Plus what about mutations? You never know what radioactive waste gets funneled through there,” he protested.

“Alright,” Elisa said while laughing. “You made your point. But do you honestly think they haven’t already scouted out this area before we began? I doubt they would leave the waste there…”

Drew however wasn’t as convinced, “I don’t know about that Elisa. I mean think about it. While the situation isn’t exactly what it will be like in the field, but it’s still training. I wouldn’t put it past them to keep possible radioactive waste down there for us to check and make sure to avoid.” 

“Well none of you have to worry,” Ember stated over the comms, “As we will be going down there. Not you.”

“Thanks,” Richard stated. 

Ember sent the coordinates to each entrance to the two teams and they made their way. The ground began to dip as they reached the sewer entrance. A small concrete building, the door was locked, so Ember kicked it off its hinges and it fell to the ground at the foot of the wall across the room. They entered in and turned on their night vision as they climbed down a ladder and entered the sewer. Like she expected the water wasn’t rushing as it was frozen from the long winter and all of the systems in the sewers were off to keep it from freezing. 

The planet they were on, Kalsoara, was one of the first colonies of the Human Empire, Red Edge that was conquered over a hundred years ago and repurposed as a training planet for recruits in the United Alliance. Outside the cities that were updates and changed, but a lot of old facilities that were built early on in the colonization were abandoned and used for battle areas such as the one they were in now. 

As they walked in the darkness they kept track of their map to see when they would get under the power station. The comms came back up to Elisa voice, “Ember, I believe we may have made contact. Signs of recent activity have been found.”

“Keep low, and don’t get blind sighted,” was all Ember said as the comms ended and their trek continued. She began to scan the frozen waters and various waste and found there was little to no radioactive waste, and no evidence of any of it ever being here. Ember had to admit that she didn’t expect any radioactive waste to be down here but she would be lying if she wasn’t slightly cautious at the prospect.

As they got below the station, they found a large chamber with various rusted machines, and broken tubes. Across she spotted some stairs that seemed to be giving out so they needed to take this slowly. Each step they could hear a creaking and the subtle shaking as it began to lose stability. Ember first reached the door at the top and slid it open and stepped in, Tina followed after and as O’Brian moved the stairs began to shake horribly and he began to lose his footing. 

Ember gestured for him to run and that she would grab him, O’Brian quickly ran and jumped as the stairs fell. She stretched out her arm and grabbed his hand and quickly pulled him in. The noise from the crashing echoed throughout the sewers and the halls above. “Well that could have been quieter…” O’Brian mumbled as he looked down at the broken stairs. 

“Contact!” Elisa yelled over the comms as shots could be heard, “We have made contact! They got us pinned down from the second floor of the offices. Four up top, two unaccounted for.”

“We will be there,” Ember said and then turned to O’Brian and Tina, “Let’s go.” 

On their HUDs, the location of the second team lit up and they began to make their way up stairs and halls. They entered a long room with large turbines that were rusted and falling over with dust on the broken down parts. Suddenly they heard a loud shot fire and each of them dropped down and crouched behind cover. “Welcome! Team Phoenix, to our… Humble domain!” 

“Carlo Dosi!?” Ember screamed out.	

He clapped his hands, “Ding! Ding! That is correct- and I assume your Raina Ember, leader of Phoenix?”

She didn’t respond and so he spoke first, “I’ll take that as a yes. Well, I can’t stay here. My trusty sniper will take care of you lot; my efforts would be wasted on you… people. So I bid you a adieu and have a good day.” He spoke to them cheerfully. 

“That guy really gets on my nerves,” O’Brian stated. “Very punch able.”

“Get in line,” Tina said. “I get the first throw.” Tina before joining Phoenix had been asked to join Santagol by Carlo and he wasn’t quite the gentlemen when it came to asking woman to join his squad. 

Another sniper round fired, even for a stun round they still dented the metal, and even ripped through some of the rust. “So got a plan Ember?” O’Brian asked. 

Ember looked out as far as she could and then went back as a stun round slammed against the turbine she was behind. But while she was out she did see something interesting as she saw a ladder against the wall going up to the catwalk with the sniper on them behind a large metal crate. Now was just a matter of getting to them, someone needed to be a distraction, the only question was who it would be. “Yeah, we need a distraction. Someone needs to sneak around to the ladder over there and eliminate him from behind. So, who wants to be the distraction?”

“I will,” Tina suggested. “I know the sniper on their squad and I got a good idea.” 

Ember nodded, “Alright, then when you begin I and O’Brian will move up.”  

Tina moved up, and quickly raced behind another turbine as a sniper round flew over her head. “Hey- Kevin!” she yelled out.

“Tina,” the sniper simply replied with a hint of irritation in his voice. 

“Still up for that dinner you asked me out for?” Tina asked him, and O’Brian and Ember began to move up in the shadows as the snipers attention was now on Tina. 

The sniper leaned out and looked where he had saw Tina move to, “You denied me the last time and now expect me to forgive you?”

“Well… I realize my fault now… You’re quite handsome… And kind…” she tried to make it sound convincing but she felt as if venom had entered her body. Ember and O’Brian moved up again, and were pleased that Tina’s ‘distraction’ was working.

Kevin stood up, “Really? I mean… Thanks. All forgiven now, what day do you want to go out?” Tina almost wanted to laugh at how easy he was able to fall for this. O’Brian pulled out his pistol and slowly climbed up the ladder. “Tomorrow at eight? I am free then-,” suddenly he fell down as O’Brian fired his stun rounds at the snipers head.

“Thank gods…” Tina gave out a sigh of relief. 

“You do know that won’t work out in the field, right?” Ember told her as she lifted herself up and off the ladder. 

“I doubt the enemy will fall for it. But this isn’t the field is it?”

“That is true, it isn’t…” Ember said as Tina climbed the ladder.

The comms turned back on, “Hey! We need help over here!” Richard yelled. Without further delay they went down the hall that Carlo had that was right behind Kevin’s body. As they got closer to their friends, they could hear the sounds of the fire getting louder and they quickened their run. As soon as they entered the office building they had to immediately jump into cover as the four remaining members of Santagol had spotted them and began to fire at them as well. 

“Flash bang!” one of the Santagol grunts yelled out as they threw a grenade at them. Ember, Tina, and O’Brian jumped out of the way and looked away as it exploded. However they were still a bit disoriented and the enemies began to get more aggressive. 

However, because they entered the room, Elisa, Richard, and Drew were no longer as suppressed and began to move out of their spot to see if they could surround the Santagol members up top. Ember quickly leaned out from her position and shot the closest enemy and to her luck hit them in the head and they fell over on top of another soldier. O’Brian pressed the button on his stun grenade and threw it at the enemies.

In a quite haste they scurried out of the way, and Tina was able to get a couple of rounds on one leaving only Carlo and another still alive. Suddenly from behind, Carlo’s final companion fell to the floor as he looked to see the rest of Phoenix arrive on the floor. He sighed, “I guess I lost…” he mumbled under his breath so they couldn’t hear. 

“Ember!” he yelled out from his cover. “I surrender.”

Ember looked at her squad, was he being serious? Sure he was the only one left up but it was cowardly for a soldier to just outright surrender. Even one person can sometimes change the tide of battle. She held up her arm as Carlo stood up with his arms up. 

“Alright then I accept-,” was all she got out as the window across the room shattered and a stun bullet struck Carlo in the head and he fell over. Everyone crouched behind cover as smoke grenades were thrown in and began to expand.

However while this went on there was once more three beeps and the synthetic voice, “Santagol Squad has been eliminated. Only Phoenix and Raven remain. One Hour and Thirty Minutes until match completion.” 

“Everyone turn on your heat vision!” Ember yelled out over the comms. “Raven is here, damn bastards must have been waiting for this moment.” 

Suddenly she saw something hit the floor next to her and she recognized it, “EMP!” she yelled but not before it exploded and her suits systems went down. The suit wasn’t fried, not completely but it would take some time for the systems to reboot themselves, time that Raven wasn’t going to give them.

She tried to move around the smoke but she was blind without the heat vision. Ember ducked as she heard bullets fire just a head of her, and suddenly more smoke grenades hit the floor. Slowly she moved through her cover and stopped when she found something at her foot, she looked down and saw it was Richard and he wasn’t moving. “Damn,” she softly spoke as she walked past him only to see Elisa only stunned.

More fires echoed throughout the smoke filled area. “Ember!” she heard her name called out by O’Brian. She turned to see him barely running up to her cover with his leg limping from a stun round. “My systems are down, I’m blind here.” 

“I know… We got three of them, but just we two are left. The rest got stunned…” 

Ember noticed the smoke starting to lessen, “Shit… This wasn’t supposed to happen. What do you see?” 

He quickly leaned out with his heat vision and saw the last two Raven members walking about, having not spotted them yet. “They don’t know we’re here… We can flank them and get them.”

“Right, you lead,” she stated as he went past her and they moved behind the desks at a slow pace. Suddenly she stepped on glass and that alerted the two remaining members. 

“There!” a feminine voice yelled out from across the room. O’Brian leapt out of cover and fired his sniper rifle and slammed into the girl’s chest, the force of impact knocked her off her feet. But then he was shot by the others rifle. Ember leapt over her cover and fired at the standing enemy. They tried to move out of the way but Ember hit him once on the head and it was over. Quickly she ran over to the last member who was just getting up. 

She raised her rifle at her head as she tried to get up. “Leader of Phoenix…” the downed enemy spoke. “Never thought I would lose to you… Guess you’re not in second place for nothing…” 

Ember fired one bullet and the leader of Raven fell on her back, and the Angel smirked behind her helmet. 

Three beeps, “Raven Squad has been eliminated. Phoenix Squad remains. Phoenix Squad wins the first match.” While she felt relief that she won, she didn’t like the implications. They were caught off guard and almost lost. More training would be needed before the second match, this wouldn’t happen again…

Ember jolted up from her bed, and looked around only to hear the sounds of running water from the bathroom. Sun rays beamed through the window next to her and onto her bed. She placed her hands on her head; she was sweating from another dream of her past. They were starting to get more frequent and more recent as they went along. She brought her legs to the side of the bed and let them hang there for a moment. She brought up her UCD, she had adjusted the time based on what time Fiery said it was on the planet. It’s 7:30 AM. 

She remembered that the Sheriff said the train would arrive around 8:00 AM. So they needed to hurry and get ready as they first needed to head to his office and pick up the letter for the princess. “Oh you’re awake,” she heard behind her as Fiery stepped out of the bathroom.

“Yeah…” she said solemnly, the stallion wanted to ask but didn’t pry.

“Well if you need to use the shower, I’m done,” he spoke as he went over to his bed and began to pick up his stuff. Slowly she got up and walked towards the shower, she stripped and then let the warm water rush over her. It felt refreshing and helped her wake up faster. Afterward she dried herself off with a towel and instead of putting back on her clothing simply put back on her armor, something about being in it made her feel calmer and more at home. 

She exited the bathroom and met with Fiery who was ready to go to the Sheriff’s to pick up the letter. They stepped out of the room and went down the stairs and greeted the mare at the desk and then headed out. Like the night before, the streets were bright with life, and the stares. Not that she didn’t expect them, they were stared upon last night and it would happen today. 

After a short trek they arrived at the Sheriff’s office and walked in. She could already see the letter sealed on the stallion’s desk. “Good you’re here,” he began as he grabbed the letter and moved in front of his desk. “Ah got the letter right here.” He handed it to Fiery who put it in his saddlebag. 

“The train should be arriving, best to get you both tickets and on your way. I’ll see if ah can get you two your own cart; otherwise the other passengers may be off put by you Ember. No offense.”

She shrugged, “None taken. Considering the stares we have gotten thus far, it isn’t much of a surprise.”

“Right, well let’s be on our way,” Silverstar spoke as he walked past the two of them and out the door. They entered the street and headed in the direction of the train station. As they got closer Ember could hear the sounds of the train coming to a stop. When she got a view of it, she wasn’t surprised by its low tech state as everything currently on the planet was considerably low tech compared to her home in the stars above.

As they walked up the wooden steps to the station, they could see ponies getting off and to her dismay only saw Earth Ponies getting off, no Unicorns or Pegasi. Before they reached the ticket master, Fiery took out how much he assumed it would cost for two tickets. However the sheriff just held up his hoof, “I’ll pay. You two already been through enough, and if not for you. Ah wouldn’t have learned of what happened to Santa Mane. Plus it’s not too expensive.”

He alone went up to the ticket master and paid for two tickets to Canterlot and then talked to the ticket master to get a hold of the conductor.  The Sheriff walked with the ticket master and they went to go meet with the head conductor while Ember and Fiery sat on a bench. After a bit the sheriff came back and handed them the two tickets, “Ah got your own cabin, when you give them your ticket they will lead you to it. Any questions?” he asked but no one responded. “Well then, Ah bid you a good travel you two… Just make sure as soon as you can you get that letter to the Princesses or at least to the Royal Guards to give to the Princesses. Good luck.”

“Thank you for your help, Sheriff Silverstar,” Ember said. 

The Sheriff smiled, “It’s no problem.” He said as he exited the train station leaving the two alone. Ember and Fiery walked outside and up to the train. 

One of the conductors collecting tickets was taking someone tickets and then noticed a shadow over herself. She turned to see what it was and then jumped back, “Whoa! Are you the Angel I was told about?” 

Well that was quick Ember thought. 

“Yes, I am Ember, and this is Fiery Slate and here is our tickets,” she handed the mare the tickets. 

“Okay, then follow me and I will bring you to your cabin that we were instructed to,” they followed the mare inside, and up a couple of cabins until they reached the right one. “Do you two need anything?” Both shook their heads and sat down. “Alright then we shall be off in five minutes.”

The two of them sat down, Ember watched through the window as ponies moved to get on and off. First time being on a vehicle since they arrived, it was nice to not have to keep walking everywhere. Fiery mentioned that they would need to pass through Ponyville on the way to Canterlot which is on the side of a mountain. That she wasn’t too fond of hearing as with their level of technology it didn’t seem safe but then again they have magic so that may play into it. 

She almost laughed at the name Ponyville, it just seemed a bit cliché, and she wondered how exactly they came with the name. Maybe someone who wasn’t very good at making names was put in charge to do it. 

After five minutes passed they heard the sound of the train’s horn and slowly they began to move forward. She was impressed by the ride, even after the speed increased the ride was smooth and the chairs were cushiony. The two didn’t talk much as she continued to watch out the window, seeing the landscape moving like a blur. Suddenly everything became white… It was snow. A blanket of it covered the area and a cold breeze swept through the cabin.

Immediately her mind went back to her dream, the first match of the tournament. Trekking through the snow and her promise, the promise to make sure she wouldn’t be the only one left standing and yet it happened. Years of training and it wasn’t avoidable. They all died and she stood there alive, exactly as it did at the tournament. 

She failed; it was that plain and simple. The leader of the famous Phoenix squad wasn’t able to prevent what she believed was possible. Ember had an image, a dream that her squad would grow up eventually and retire. Even Angels retire, some don’t but she personally wasn’t planning on being a soldier for her entire life. In fact she planned on settling down with O’Brian if he had lived; spend as much time with him before the mortal bounds took him. 

Ember knew some angels who refused to marry or even accept the idea of being with a human. They found that the idea of marrying someone who is either not the same race was disgusting or the fact that they will not live for as long as too much to bear. However Ember didn’t subscribe to these thoughts, nor did her mother who married Andrew despite him being a human. Personally they both valued the time they spent with them rather than worrying about the day they die.

Plus with advances in medical technology, humans easily lived up to nearly two hundred years rather than the old ninety or rarely past one-hundred but that was before the various planets that housed humanity left and expanded into the stars.

She continued to stare out into the snow, and her mind wondered.  

“O’Brian!” Ember yelled from the foot of the snowy hill. The night was young and the sky was clear and the stars shined bright. O’Brian sat on a chair on the hill and suddenly jerked up when he heard her voice. He starched his hair as he stood up and went in the direction of Ember’s voice.

“Y-Yeah! I am up here,” he yelled back in response. Ember ran up the hill through the deep snow and found O’Brian. In the center of the hill were chairs and a makeshift fire pit. “I haven’t lit it yet.” 

He went over to the pit and lit it with his lighter and the fire illuminated the area and the snow around the pit began to melt. O’Brian gestured for her to sit and she did so. “How kind of you,” she said softly.

“Well I do aim to please,” he replied as he sat down and let the fire warm him. 

“So why did you do this? Came out of the blue…” she spoke softly as she held out her hands and they proceeded to get warmer. Neither of them was wearing their armor or the suit underneath it. Just simple winter clothing, herself a sweatshirt with a jacket overtop and jeans. He wearing a long sleeved shirt with a jacket and cargo pants, sometimes they found it nice to strip of the armor and just wear civvies.  

O’Brian leaned back in his chair, “My family, we used to do this every winter. Just sit outside around a fire and talk about… stuff. Plus we needed a break after what happened in the first match.” 

“Oh? You never talk much of your family,” she asked curiously ignoring the part about he first match.

“Yeah I know…” he began to explain. “This is the first year I will miss this with them. I… have a large family; I am actually the youngest of seven.”

Now she was even more curious, “Seven? I’m the oldest of two.”   

“Living with a large family is tough. Nine people all living under roof, but we make it work,” he spoke as he stared into the fire. “However these sit around the fire allowed us to talk about anything, really made everything else seem small.”

“Anyone in your family also part of the military? Is that where your abilities come from?” 

He shook his head, “Naw… I’m the first in generations to join the military. Actually quite the pacifistic family, they didn’t take too kind to me joining. See they hated the Rendexi Empire; it was very militaristic and cruel so they naturally grew a hatred for the military. They felt it was a hazard to our safety, biggest reason we left when I was eight.”

Before she could ask another question he turned it around, “How about you? What about your family?”

Now she was in the spot light, a sad feeling came over her as she didn’t get the chance to ask more. “Alright… Well my family is much smaller, just me my brother, mother, and step-father.” 

“Your parents must have come from the Gods Realm; you seem as old as the event.” 

Ember nodded, “Yeah. Well my original father did, not my step-father. I was born shortly after, that’s when my mom left the military and remarried my step-father Andrew and like my original father, he was too is a military man. Both I and my half-angel brother joined the military, he’s actually on his way to becoming a Captain.”

“How much younger is he then you?” 

“Two years, he’s seventeen…”

“And on his way to becoming a Captain? Damn that’s young!” 

Ember smirked at that, “Yeah, he’s sort of a prodigy. I actually hope we can get Phoenix stationed on his ship when he becomes Captain.”

“Well that would be interesting… Let’s hope it works out for him.” 

“Let’s…” she said as she picked up a stick on the ground and poked the fire. “So… Wasn’t everyone else supposed to be coming here?”   

O’Brian looked around, “Yeah they were supposed to. It’s…” he looked down at his UCD. “10:30, they were supposed to be with you at 10…” 

“I guess they wanted us to be alone…” she said in a seductive voice and O’Brian couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Please don’t do that voice again!” he said barely able to contain his laughter. “Oh man… But no really I wonder what’s taking them so long…”

“Yeah I wonder…” she spoke in a soft enough voice that he couldn’t hear. But then they heard footsteps going through the snow and voices. Soon enough the rest of the squad came into sight.

“Oooooooh,” Began Elisa as they walked towards the fire. “You two, here alone… I hope we weren’t interrupting.”

“Not at all, sit down, sit down! Anyone wants some s’mores?” O’Brian spoke to the group. They all sat down and began to make s’mores and chat about life and personal things. Tina said they were late due to Richard not able to find his jacket, and he had them all searching for it and in the end they he had to borrow one from a friend. The winter nights on the planet were some of the coldest but with friends she found it more than bearable. 

She came back to reality by the shaking of her shoulder by Fiery. “Hey you in there?” Fiery spoke to her as she turned her head to face the stallion. 

“Y-Yeah… Sorry a lot of my mind…” 

Quickly he looked over his shoulder out the window and then back at her, “Good, you’ve been like that for hours and I was getting worried. Anyway we’re getting closer to Ponyville. Won’t be that much longer till we reach Canterlot, although it will no doubt be night…” 

Ember looked out the window and could see the town coming into view, they were getting closer. She just hoped that it wouldn’t be long till she was home…