//------------------------------//
// Ch. 1-13: An Old Memory 
// Story: Seeking A Quiet Afternoon 
// by Tired Old Man 
//------------------------------//

Mender ascended the stairs out of the basement. He looked to his right and saw Crunch resting under the sofa in his usual spot, an apple core near his sleeping face. That looked so damn cute.

"Hey, I just realized something."

Mender sighed. "What is it?"

"I get to be a voice in your head!"

Yep, Mender was going to hate this arrangement. That damn black band on his horn would be his downfall...but then an idea struck him.

"Say, if I took this band off, you wouldn't be able to bother me like this, you know."

"Aw, please don't do that. I still need you to get a feeling for the outside world."

"Then I'll need to add one more condition. Stop pestering me when I don't want any pestering...like right now. I want to take a nap, so don't bother me."

"Alright...wait. What? Already? You just finished talking to me through the door!"

"...what did I say about pestering me?"

"Fine, fine, enjoy your nap. I can wait a bit longer before you talk to other ponies, I suppose."

Young's voice went silent, and Mender smiled. He rounded the corner and walked out onto the porch, where that wonderful rocking chair awaited him.

The gentle breeze flew through his mane and the faint sound of creaking wood underneath him was a lullaby to his ears as he rocked the chair. The sun began to set and change the sky to Applejack's coat color as he finally felt sleep get a grasp on his body and mind. Mender let his eyelids fall at last as he dozed off in the chair.

20 minutes had passed before his ears picked up on the faint sound of galloping hooves. One, two...no, three sets all rushing toward his home at a rapid pace. Oh dear Celestia no, please don't be those fillies. PLEASE.

He kept his eyes shut, desperately clinging to his rest as best he could as the hooves fell silent as they neared the porch.

"See? There he is in the chair!" Mender recognized Scootaloo's voice.

"Who are those young fillies?" Young asked.

"The Terrible Trio," Mender replied.

He heard giggling. Not a good sign. They're not going to do something, are they?

The next hoofsteps were quiet as the fillies gathered around him on the porch. He felt a hoof tug on his hindleg. 

Celestia dammit. His eyes shot open and stared at the three Crusaders sitting in front of him.

"Ugh...what do you three want? I was napping, you know."

"We know, mister Mender, but we really need some help," spoke Sweetie Belle.

"Couldn't you have asked, I dunno, anypony else still awake at this hour?"

"But we wanted to ask you somethin! We're tryin to be Cutie Mark Crusader Interviewers!" Applebloom chimed in.

"Interviewers?" Mender didn't like where this was heading. It sounded like he'd be doing a lot of talking.

"Oh, this is gonna be good. Hang on while I get some snacks."

"Yeah! We sorta realized that we don't know much about ya Mender. That's why we're interviewin ya for the school paper!"

"Ugh...can't this wait until a better time? Say, tomorrow morning, maybe?"

The three fillies shook their heads, then Scootaloo spoke up.

"We need to have the interview today so we can get it all straightened out for the paper tomorrow!"

"...no." Mender was blunt.

"Please?" All three said it at once, and started with those begging eyes. Augh, those eyes. He HATED those eyes and their overflowing cuteness.

"Aaaaaaaaaagh, fine! Just put those eyes away before you hurt someone with em!" His voice sounded pleading, and the three fillies turned off their cute faces.

"Hah, what a pushover."

Mender grimaced, but shook it off and asked, "Okay, Crusaders. What do you want to ask this old stallion, hm?"

Sweetie Belle spoke up. "Confidential sources have told us that you were an army pony. Is this true?"

"...you got that information from your sister, didn't you?" His eyes fell down on the off-white pony.

"Wha-h-how did ya know?" Her shock confirmed it.

"The look on your face, obviously...but yes, I was an army pony."

"Did you participate in any fighting during your service?" Scootaloo asked.

"Not unless I had to. I was a medic, and medic's don't usually go to the front lines of battle to fight...erm, maybe I ought to explain how the army categorization works first, just so you understand why I became a medic there."

The three fillies nodded and pulled pencils and notepads out of seemingly nowhere. 

Mender continued. "So, first I should say that not all ponies are enlisted into the army. It's all predominantly male, much like the castle guards are in Canterlot. Very few females are accepted into the service, and even then they are given jobs meant to keep them out of as much danger as possible. The army gives very high regard to the safety of mares and their children all over Equestria, and they try to keep mothers out of their ranks if at all possible, instead enlisting any single females that have no children. Naturally, I didn't have those sorts of problems, but perhaps that serves as another reasonable explanation as to the abundances of mares here."

"Now then, onto the jobs assigned to the enlisting ponies. Earth ponies usually serve as the strongest ground forces of Equestria, and rightfully remain so. Their penchant for endurance and stamina can have them cover large distances of land in just a day or two, and they know how to take a hit and keep going without stopping. I would admire them more for their stamina if I didn't have to keep up with them myself on some deployments. My hooves ached keeping up with them half the time."

Mender took a small breath.

"Most infantry wear similar armor to that seen worn by the royal guards, but none of it was as fancy looking. It was all crafted out of strong iron, easily capable of shrugging off arrows. Each was given either a sword and buckler, a spear and heavy shield, or a crossbow, depending on their personal preference. Others that weren't part of the main force found themselves in the midst of infiltration and sabotage behind enemy lines. They wore little to no armor, gambling their safety on stealth and subterfuge in heavily fortified positions, and were usually given shortbows and daggers for personal defense. Overall, they formed the backbone of the army, more or less, by far having the largest numbers...and the largest death toll."

Mender muttered that last part to himself, and the fillies didn't hear it. They did hear a touch of sadness in his voice however, but that faded as he continued.

"Most pegasi were put into the Air Raiders task force. Since pegasi needed to be fast and nimble in the air, most wore leather armor for protection as iron armor was too heavy and cumbersome. They were all trained in the art of divebombing, and given a large partisan spear as their main weapon. I must say that seeing a swarm of diving pegasi devastate an enemy force was something not taken lightly by anypony in those times...but some pegasi were different. Any particularly fast ones were made into messengers instead to ferry messages back and forth between the front lines and the command center. They too were highly valued, given the task assigned to them and all. It was not without risk, however, as most messenger ponies did not wear armor to give their bodies as much speed as they could...and fast they were. We called em Dashers in the army."

Scootaloo giggled at that name. Mender briefly wondered why before he recalled the pony Rainbow Dash. Hee, he could understand why she giggled at that.

All the while he could hear the fillies furiously scribbling on their notepads, but was also surprised to hear no sound coming from Young. Apparently, he was as attentive to the story as the fillies were.

"Lastly, there are the unicorns like me. Unicorns were separated into three groups based upon the magic they were most adept with. Those particularly in tune with large destructive forces were given artillery positions, responsible for bombarding the enemy with large surges of magic. Given the right time, preparation, and placement, these ponies could level hills with their power...in addition to any untimely foe caught in the wake of such a storm. They've rightly earned the name of Stormbringers in that regard. Those more familiar with small destructive forces, and in particular illusions, were usually paired up with saboteur earth ponies to assist them with their missions. The illusions they could conjure would keep the saboteurs safe at night, in addition to detecting any nearby threats with more precision than an earth pony ever could. In short, they were the cloak to the earth ponies' dagger, and were respectably called the Shrouds."

"Finally, there's the last group of unicorns where I fell into, the Medics. We were particularly useful for our magical healing capabilities, and as everypony knew at that time, the medic is the biggest support beam behind any half-decent military might. A platoon could march for a week and lose half their numbers if a medic wasn't there to patch them up along the way...though the other ponies sure don't want to admit that. They want to think their fighting is what keeps the war machine moving, and in a way that's true. However, somepony's gotta make sure the machine's running properly, and that's our job. We do what we can to save ponies lives...even if what we have to do isn't pretty for the one we're trying to save."

Mender caught his voice trailing off as he saw the fillies stop writing while they processed his last words, trying to imagine what he meant by them. He wondered if he should clarify what he meant by that...but that would be too graphic for these fillies.

"A-anyway, Crusaders. I believe that's an accurate enough description of the jobs the ponies in Celestia's army do. I figure that's enough information for you to write a story about, at least."

"But we didn't come here for a general summary, Mender. We want to hear about YOUR experiences." Scootaloo said, slightly mad that he tried to end the interview early.

"Hah! These fillies are sharp tacks, Mender. Good attempt though."

Dammit...well, at least he tried. He sighed and continued. 

"Well then, how about I tell you about how I got enlisted in the army? Hey, it even covers how I got my cutie mark!"

"Ugh, not another cutie mark story!" This time the words came from Applebloom. All three made a slightly sour face, and recalled to him how they got wrapped into learning about the cutie marks belonging to Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Twilight just trying to find out how Rainbow Dash got hers.

Mender laughed. That must have been painful to them...at least if his impression of those six was accurate. 

"Girls, I promise, this story won't be as cutesy as any of the other stories you've heard, I'm sure of it."

Their ears perked up at those words and their eyes widened a bit as they readied their notepads. They were now quite anxious to hear his story.

"Well, truth be told, I got this cutie mark before I signed up. See, before I became a medic, I wanted to be a surgeon. I originally lived back in Scoltsdale with my parents at the time. My father was a surgeon at the time, and my mother a nurse. Both of them had an amazing work dynamic about them whenever I hung out in their offices when I was little. I guess you could say my parents were my biggest inspiration to be like them."

"However, when I actually started my studies into the field of medicine, I found it rather difficult to grasp some of the concepts taught in the books. I had asked my father to help me on some occasions, but he waved me off, stating that if I wanted to be like him, I had to learn like him. He learned all of his knowledge from the books I was reading, and somehow had no trouble understanding the information inside them."

"It made me all the more frustrated, but all the more determined. I continued my studies extensively until I had memorized everything in those books by the time of my 25th birthday. However, nothing in those books prepared me for what happened on my birthday...of all possible days."

"That day during dinner, I told my father about all the things I studied, and he quizzed me on what I had learned. I had answered them all correctly, but he still looked unimpressed. I asked him why. He told me, 'Your head's in the right place Mender, but your heart isn't.' I asked him what he meant by that, but he wouldn't clarify, instead telling me that my heart will know what's calling to it. That cryptic statement bothered me heavily at the time, but my mother insisted that I not worry about it, as the answer I was looking for would come in time...nopony told me it would happen that night, however."

Mender paused a moment to gather his thoughts on how to carefully explain the next part to the fillies.

"I walked on the outside to the right of my mother and father on the way home. We were walking by a house on the left when it suddenly exploded. All three of us were caught in the blast."

He heard small gasps and the pencils stopped writing.

"I don't know when I woke up, but when I did, both of my parents were badly burned, and some glass shards were embedded in their bodies. I had taken the least damage, only some minor burns and cuts from the few glass shards that passed both of them. My mother was conscious, but barely breathing. My father...fared worse. He wasn't moving."

"At that point, my medical knowledge kicked in and I started assessing their injuries. I checked my father's pulse first. It was faint, but he was alive. His body had large glass shards and deep cuts along his body. Considering the damage, he most likely had glass shards inside him as well. My mother was in a better condition, with less burns and glass shards, but she was also in an unstable condition as her breathing became labored."

"I had to think fast. I looked around for a store that had anything resembling surgical tools, and my eyes honed in on a seamstress who opened her door, curious about the explosion no doubt. I rushed over to her and asked if I could borrow some needles, thread, and some cloth. She went back in and came out twenty seconds later with what I asked without hesitation. I thanked her, and asked her to quickly contact the nearest hospital before I ran back to my parents."

"My mother's condition was getting worse, and blood was starting to pool under her. In that instant, I knew she was coming close to passing if I didn't do something fast. I started treating her exterior wounds, suturing up all the cuts I could. I carefully removed the glass fragments on the outside of her body using my hooves, then sutured those wounds as well. This stabilized her somewhat as the blood flowed less freely outside of her body. I finally took the cloth sheets I was given and bunched them up against the larger wounds that resisted the suturing I had done before I had finished. I could do nothing else for her until she was in a proper hospital room, so I tended to my father next."

"Unbeknownst to me, a small crowd gathered around us. They would later recall to me that I had moved as a blur, a flurry of rapid hooves and careful precision as I tended to my parents with the limited tools I had at my disposal. When emergency responders came to the scene, they noted the wounds I had fixed and asked for my assessment on their injuries, which I promptly relayed to them. As they digested the info and prepared gurneys to get my parents to the hospital, I was asked to come along. I apparently gave the impression I was a surgeon without actually telling them that, but I came with without any objections."

He stopped for a moment to observe the fillies and saw fear in their eyes at this moment.

"I...should stop. This next part is...probably not for your little ears to hear."

The three fillies shook their heads, the fear in their eyes replaced by determination in an instant. Hah, they were either braver than he pegged them to be...or very foalish.

"Very well then. I was taken to Scoltsdale Medical along with my parents. It was there that I was recognized as their son, and congratulated on my efforts thus far by some of the resident nurses there. However, my father was the only doctor on staff that week, which meant that my evening wasn't over just yet. Both were set up in operating rooms as I found myself orchestrating the nurses' actions in preparation for emergency operation on my parents. I patiently sat in the waiting room, trying to catch my breath after all that has transpired thus far."

"I sat there for about five minutes absorbing what I had done...and thinking about what I'd have to do next as my parents were prepped for surgery. The nurses had enough training to properly treat the burns on ther bodies, but that didn't concern me. No, it was those glass shards I knew still resided in their bodies. Those shards...those would be my real test in the next few minutes to come."

"One of the nurses came by and told me they were ready. Both had been stabilized, but my father was still barely clinging to life. My mother, however, had somehow declined into a worse state. Her body was more fragile than his, so I made the decision to operate on her first."

"...I'll skip some major details here, but my mother had a substantial amount of glass fragments in her chest cavity. Some had come close to her heart, but didn't actually pierce it. I was thankful for that as I went to work removing the glass fragments with little effort. Satisfied with my work, I closed her up and asked the attending nurse to monitor her as I prepped to handle my father next."

"My father wasn't as fortunate as my mother. His body had less glass than my mother's, but the fragments were much larger...much more damaging. One particularly large fragment struck his heart. I felt raw, unfiltered fear at that very moment...but I had to steel myself. There was no way I was going to let him die like that!"

"I removed all the fragments I could save for the one in his heart. That one I had to save for last, and I only had one chance to get it out without causing any further damage...and I'll admit it, I was very scared. My father's live was in my hooves, after all, but I couldn't just stand there and watch him die."

He paused for some time, prompting the fillies to ask the question he wanted them to.

"...s-so? Did you...succeed?" This came from Sweetie Belle, though he barely heard it.

"I did."

The fillies smiles turned wide...but quickly faded away. Mender wasn't finished.

"I removed the large shard and sutured his heart up. I was confident the operation was finally over. I had saved both of my parents, and a huge feeling of relief washed over me. It was then I noticed a faint glow on my back, and the cutie mark showed up. It was quite a literal interpretation of what I did to save my father..."

"A day later, my mother woke up. She was so happy to see I was safe, and even happier after I told her what I did to save her...and my father. She had asked me how he was doing, and I told her that he was recovering, but had not woken up like her. In the days to come, I cared for my mother, and patiently waited for my father to wake up. One day became two, two became four, then a week had passed with no noticeable sign of improvement. In the meantime, I kept busy doing my father's work as best as I could manage, occasionally consulting with my mother when I had to."

"It would be a month before something would change. My mother had recovered enough by then to start watching over my father while I acted as a substitute surgeon in his stead. Practicing medicine was quite different than simply reading about it, as I came to discover. The trust ponies put in your hands was refreshing, far from the panic I had dealt with when I first started doing his duties. One day, she had told me that father had finally woken up...but there was a problem."

"The shockwave from the explosion caused severe damage to his brain. He couldn't remember his name, who he was, or even us.  He couldn't even acknowledge the fact that I saved his life without sounding so...detached. It sickened me. All that work I did to save him, and he can't remember me anymore. Fate had put a cruel twist in on my life...and it was now a life I didn't want to be a part of anymore, not when it hurt so much like this."

"I told my mother I was enlisting in the army. She protested heavily, but I didn't listen. I ran, and left her with my amnesiac father. Forgetting this tragedy was all I wanted to do...guess that didn't work too well if I'm remembering it, huh?"

Mender was silent for a moment, feeling judging glances from the fillies near him.

"Not a day goes by that I regret making that choice, you know. I've regret making a lot of choices in my life, and this was one of the biggest ones. I would go back even now and apologize...but I can't, not now...nor ever. They...both passed away while I was in service."

Mender said nothing more, trying his hardest to hold back his tears. He looked down and saw tears in the Crusader's eyes, the most coming from Scootaloo.

Mender got off the chair and hugged the three crying fillies. He could swear he felt sad emotions radiating off of Young as well during that hug.

"Now now fillies, don't you go and make this a sad story in your paper, you hear me? I saved my father, and that's how I got my cutie mark, and that's all this town needs to know."

"The-then why d-didya tell us the rest, Mender?" Scootaloo blubbered.

"I...don't know. I haven't told this story to anypony before. Nopony bothered to ask until you three did. I guess I'm terrible like that, and I should have ended it before then. I guess...I had to let it out somewhere, and I'm terribly sorry it had to be you three."

Now it was Mender's turn to cry. He felt the fillies cling tighter to him as his raw emotions filtered out after being bottled up for so long.

After five minutes, Mender began to realize he was soaking the fillies' coats, and broke off the hug. He urged them to tell the story minus the sad ending. He didn't want ponies to pity him, not while he hasn't made a big impression on the town yet. The fillies agreed, and gathered their notes and left. Mender figured those fillies wouldn't be asking him for another story for a long time now.

He settled back into the chair, wiped away his tears, and rested his eyes as a long sleep awaited him at last.