"You really should've come to me sooner, you're injuries aren't exactly looking that great." The medical officer commented as she removed the bandages that covered Blaze's mid section and fore leg. "The wounds on your sides have signs of an early infection; your leg appears to be starting to bind with the cloth of the bandage, not to mention some of the scars I'm seeing here from previous battles that seem to be more of a fast patch job than medical treatment. Tell me, before you returned from the last battle, how long had it been since you had taken off your armor, much less reported for your monthly physical?" Blaze scratched the back of his head in thought.
"I doubt I've ever showed for a physical with it always conflicting with another part of my schedule, I usually ended up having them after I got injured or knocked unconscious. And as for taking off my armor... that would be before my last shower, which was... the day before we marched here." The medic sighed and shook her head.
"Well at least you take your armor off and practice some form of hygiene with some measure of regularity." She commented. "From now on, I want you to clear your schedule to make it to your physical. You might be young, but that only makes you more prone to poorly healed wounds. If you have to, make your schedule around the eventuality of having a physical." Blaze nodded slowly as the medical pony took a small knife in her mouth and placed it above a flame, letting the blade glow a red before taking it off and swiping it across Blaze's side, removing the gunk and grime from the wounds.
"Anything else I need to know before I go?" Blaze asked as he closed his eyes against the pain of the glowing hot blade skidding across his hide.
"Oh, you're not going anywhere." The medic stated as she dropped the knife into a small bowl of water, steam quickly billowing upwards as the metal cooled. "As I said before, many of your wounds have healed in a small measure, but are not healing correctly. I might be because the pony who did it was pressured by you to hurry, or it might have been because you insist on getting out of the medical bay and straight back into the action without a moment of recovery to spare. This time, however, I will make sure you stay right hear while I ensure your wounds heal completely and properly."
"W-what?" Blaze shouted. "You expect me to take time off now? The army's marching tomorrow, I can't stay here and have a last moments notice furlough! If anything I'm needed more than ever in the front lines to lead the troops into the next phase of the war!"
"Well, if you really though that, maybe you might have tried to take better care of yourself, but here we are with you in a bad way in great need of medical attention." The doctor replied bluntly. "Now you can lie down quietly, making this easy for both of us, or you can make it hard on yourself, your choice either way." Blaze immediately stood up and faced the mare.
"I will not stand idly by while those stallions march to war!" Blaze argued. "If I even want a chance at being a respected leader then I need to show them now more than ever that I can deny my own needs and give my all to the needs of the nation!"
"I guess that means you want to do this the hard way then?" The pony asked with a sigh. "Well, if you won't cooperate, I have full permission to have you restrained by force so that you can receive proper medical attention. You might not like it, but in your-"
"It's not a matter of whether I like it!" Blaze cut her off. "It's a matter of what is more conducive towards the greater good of all of Equestria, which, at this moment, entails me marching right back out there and leading the charge towards our next objective!"
"Sir, if you are truly that important to the success of further operations of the Equestrian army, then I suggest you allow me to help you help us all." The doctor rebutted. "A pony in your state shouldn't even be strolling down to the market place to buy flowers during peacetime in the summer, much less march for miles on end in freezing temperatures with large amounts of stress, both mental and physical. For your own sake, you must rest. And if you will not stay here and rest for your sake, then do it for the ponies you hope to save that need you to lead the greatest army the world has ever seen if they are to have a hope."
"It isn't that I have to lead them it's that-" Blaze began.
"Then I see no reason to not keep you here and give you time to rest and properly heal from the various wounds you have received." The doctor shot back. "Now tell me, are you going to stay here out of your own volition, or will you resist and try to go with them anyway, because I have been given an entire platoon of soldiers to use to restrain you in the event you try and escape this medical facility."
"T-the soldiers need me, I need to be there!" Blaze stammered, taken aback by the pony's obstinate nature.
"And why exactly do they need YOU in particular? Is it because you are so uniquely qualified to lead them because your cutie mark is in war related activities?" The pony shot back. "If that's the case, then I assure you, most, if not all, the leaders of the army here have their cutie marks in some aspect of combat, training, or some other military capacity. Or maybe they don't need you there at all," the medic suggested as she walked away from him, leaving him with a shocked look, "Maybe you just need you there. If that is the case, then I suggest you get over it, yourself, or whatever has you so set on going with them, because the end of the matter is that you are not going with them." Blaze sat down with a loud thump on the bed, his expression one that voiced his shock, both at the pony, and at his current predicament.
"Hey-o, anybody in here awake?" A familiar voice called from the entrance of the tent as Amber poked her head in. When her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, she saw the hooded Flint in what seemed to be a starring contest with Blaze. While Flint was the perfect illustration of stoic calm he almost always seemed to be to Amber, Blaze, though frozen, seemed to be the exact opposite. Large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, falling off his muzzle in thick droplets that smacked against the nonabsorbent fabric of the bed. Blaze's muscles also seemed very tense, slightly shaking as if he were going under some large physical stress, even though he sat completely bare on the bed. "Is everything alright in here?"
"He's been like this since they left for the next target." Flint replied in a near whisper. "I'll wager we can chalk it up to shock... but Blaze doesn't seem to be the type for this stage of mental shutdown." The hooded stallion concluded.
"Is there some medicine he needs? Maybe he needs a sedative to help him relax, o-or a-" Amber said as she opened the medical box she carried. Flint placed a hoof on the box's lid. Amber looked up, catching a glimpse of the blue eyes under his hood, unsure of what to say. Flint shook his head, and slid Amber's hoof from the box and latched it closed with his magic.
"He doesn't need any medicine, he's fine... physically." Flint continued, looking back at the still frozen pony before him. "His mind, his very spirit, is out in the battle. He's fighting alongside them, even though he's far from them."
"Where are they?" Amber asked, garnering a look from Flint. "The soldiers I mean, where did they march to?" Flint looked back to Blaze and shook his head.
"Baltimare, we've had reports that a reptilous army has been moving towards it, apparently quite a bit faster since the day we beat off the last invasion." Flint replied. "The march from here to Baltimare is anywhere from three to five days, depending on the weather conditions and what not. They should be back in at most twelve days."
"D-do you think he'll stay like this the entire time they're gone?" Amber asked hesitantly. Flint sighed and gave a shrug.
"Who knows? He might come out of it when he's hungry, he might never really come out of it. All we can do is sit here and wait." Flint replied, keeping his eyes on Blaze. "Sweating like he is though, he'll need some water at some point in the reasonably close future."
"You m-mean, he might stay like this forever?" Amber questioned, her voice betraying her worry. Flint looked back to her, his expression invisible beneath the shadow of his hood.
"I doubt he'll be like this forever, but we can't tell when he will come out, it's really up to him right now." Flint stated calmly.
"No wonder you aren't a doctor," Amber muttered, "You have some of the worst bedside manner I've seen." She said with a chuckle.
"I don't sugarcoat the truth. Telling ponies what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear has a tendency to cause them more pain in the long run than many of us might care to admit." Flint stated with an unchanging tonality.
"I guess you have had personal experience with the former?" Amber ventured. Beneath his hood Flint nodded, something that sounded like a small sniffle seeming to be heard from his direction. "A-are you alright? I-I didn't mean to offend you!" Amber said looking shocked at the thought of having hurt somepony without intending to.
"No, it's not you." Flint replied. "I was the one who coat the truth with a layer of lies once." Flint explained with his face still turned towards Blaze. "It got somepony I cared for almost killed on multiple occasions."
"I'm sure you didn't mean to hurt them, you must have had you're reasons." Amber offered hopefully. Flint gave a small chuckle.
"Isn't that how it always is? We think our reasons to do what we do justify whatever ill may come of it, but in reality, in never does." Flint stated. "You want my advice? Never force somepony into something without asking them, they'll never recover from it."
"I-is that pony y-you talked about... are they alright?" Amber asked. Flint looked over his shoulder towards her, a small tear falling from the shadows onto the cloth of his cloak
"I don't really know." Flint replied solemnly.
"Well maybe when Blaze snaps out of his... state... maybe he can help you find this pony." Amber suggested with a small smile.
"Amber," Flint began, "Blaze is that pony." Flint stated
"Flint, I... I'm sorry." Amber said.
"You don't need to be, you shouldn't be really." Flint said softly. "I'm the reason why he's doing this. Sometimes I wish it all away, but then... then I can only think of what might have been... and I'm truly frightened. No, I'm not frightened, I'm absolutely terrified. I've face horrors that nopony should have to see, and yet, of it all, the part I'm most terrified about is not what demons might come to snatch me up and drag me down to the depths of Tartarus, but what might have been if I had been a meter to the left or right that day."
"Flint... Flint you need to stop." Amber said quietly, catching Flint off guard. "I-I don't know exactly why, but I know that Blaze would tell you that, and right now you need to listen to anything Blaze would say." Amber looked at Flint and then at the still form of Blaze, that seemed to calm slightly as she looked at him. "Blaze isn't angry at you, he's mad at himself for not being here, for not being more than he is."
"He has every right to be angry at me; I'm the one who killed everything he once was. I was the one who squashed him out and replaced him with whatever pleased me." Flint said sullenly.
"H-he doesn't, not in the slightest. You're his friend, his comrade in arms." Amber replied. "It would take a lot more than you messing up, no matter how royally to might have done so, to break such a bond."
"I don't know how, I was the one who-" Flint began again, only to have hoof smack him in the back of the head.
"Stop talking about how you were this or you did that and how that or this thing is the reason for why he should hate you and that he should never want to see you again for one reason or another!" Amber shouted angrily. "Blaze is your friend, he considers you a pony of great confidence, and that means that no matter what you do or have done he will not hate you. Blaze isn't perfect, but who among us is? We are all with our distinct faults, so how about you stop sulking about in your misery, because there is no misery worth having right now. You should know that Blaze hold you in higher regards than that."
"But I-I just can't! What I've done has in essence defined our world as it is today, I can never be far too repentant for that, for all of this!" Flint roared, sending is chair flying as he stood up in a whirlwind.
"Well you best start trying, because Blaze has already forgiven you.” Amber shot back. “As for my part, I agree with you. I don't think that we would be in this situation without you. No, I think most, if not all of us, would be dead by now if you hadn't intervened. If you truly set the course Blaze took, then the only emotion you should feel is pride, because you have made the greatest military leader Equestria has ever seen." Flint glared at her. His shoulder rose and fell with each enraged breath, but as he went on, they began to sputter until they became sobs as he crumpled to the floor in a mess of tears. Amber rose and wrapped her hooves around the stallion in a comforting hug as he left the emotions he had allowed to build up flow free.
“There is no need for tears.” Somepony said. Amber looked up, and saw Blaze, now completely still, with no shaking or jitters. “Save the tears for the day of sorrow, bewail the loss of the many. Sorrow is the end, keep strong, and move on.” Blaze said with his eyes unmoving.
“For a day shall come when you wish for tears,” Flint continued, “And you shall have none to cry. Keep strong, move on, be merry while it lasts, and save the sorrow for the last day.” Flint finished looked up at Blaze. “A Stanza for The Weary Soldier, written by Golden Embroidery.” Blaze seemed to smile before his eyes closed. Slowly, Blaze drifted to the side, until he finally flopped onto the bed.
The thunder of the troops returning filled the air, the morning sun still barely above the horizon as they rose above a hill, revealing themselves to the town below. Blaze walked out from his tent, his bandages removed, the majority of his wounds having healed over the two weeks they had been gone. His light officer’s uniform flapped in the chilling breeze as he looked on towards the soldiers as they approached the town, a runner clearly visible as he rushed to give news before the main body of the army returned.
“See, what did I tell you? Safe and sound as always.” The medic proclaimed as she walked out of the tent behind him. Blaze nodded slowly, looking over the crowd of soldiers as they drew closer.
“How many will stay that way until the end of the war?” Blaze asked before returning inside his pavilion. The doctor looked at him, and then back to the group of soldiers, already noticing the drastically lower amount of soldiers that were returning to the small town.