Flash spent the next few days as he did the first, and at each lunch period he would play Shayle. Each time he did, she lost. Flash tried the other students- and they routinely trounced him. He wasn't experienced at chess and, frankly, quite confused at how he was consistantly managing to defeat the zebra. His replacement uniform fit him perfectly, a fact that Commodus clearly took a liking to.
The homeroom instructor- an aged military mind by the name of Finwe, got on well with Flash. He skipped out on all the basic "high school" classes, but came back during strategic studies. They would pass ideas back and forth, modifying historical precedence to make it fit modern reality. An example of such was never forming lines- always scatter. Modern artillery was far too accurate to risk bunching together like that, and with radio communication a scout can have your position reported in real time.
Flash had been assigned one of the guest rooms, and after classes he would walk through the crowds of students to return there. At first they had given him a wide berth, regarding him with curiousity and respect, but slowly he settled in, and today he had to thread his way through the chattering masses.
"Dinner will be... Ponyville Apple pies with a side of fish, as usual," the speakers buzzed. "Lights out at 7:30 tonight, a little gift from Class Opulance for getting their new uniform design through commitee. They'll be shipping them out next year, good work students."
There was a pause.
"Anybody who didn't notice my not using proper military time should refer to their terminology manuals, section 8. If I don't see a properly formatted complaint from every one of you by 0800 tomorrow- you'll be docked recreational time."
The mass of ponies, as if one organism, groaned.
"You're students, you get homework. Deal with it."
The speakers then clicked as Commodus turned the intercom off.
Flash smiled to himself, and shook his head slightly. Director Commodus had a strange but workable way of running things. Loose, but also strangely tight. She often purposefully used improper jargon, gave false announcements (everybody should have their schedules committed to memory- so if anyone showed up for lunch early she had them cleaning dishes.) and kept the students on their hooftips. He was really starting to respect her, and a frown crept along his face as he put his hoof to the doors to the officers section. He sighed, really had been poor to her.
He pushed open the door, and as soon as it closed- silence. This was the area that Sergeant... Dusk? Dawn? So many names, Flash was losing track of them all. She had called this the "graveyard", which was due to it being filled with "spooks"- Centurion special forces that had taken over a section. They were sometimes seen in the halls, sometimes outside, and wanted absolutely nothing to do with Flash. They existed like a strange sort of non-harmful growth inside the schools body, totally and utterly ignored- and ignoring- everypony else.
One of the suitted figures- wearing dark sunglasses that disguised his eye colour- strode past Flash without so much as glancing at him. For all their heroics in getting him here- they didn't seem to care now.
Paying the stallion no mind, Flash continued onwards towards his quarters, and then pivoted to open his door. There was a note, he found, and he ripped it off to read.
"Commodus managed to get us some cider- you're invited to game night in the instructors lounge." it read, and Flash had to squint to see something scrawled underneath.
"- she's a forgiving mare, if you apologize."
Flash sighed, and quite frankly considered just tossing the invitation and going to bed. How could he look that mare in the face after he had been so terrible? How could he apologize if he /was/ that terrible?
Pushing the door open, staring longingly at the basic cot, he felt himself pulled in two directions. One he knew was right, on the other hoof- did he deserve her forgiveness?
He glanced at his rear legs. He lost one, he remembered it well. Nobody had blamed him for that, even less so when his prosthetic had gotten in the way- it was just a part of him. Magic had brought it back- but that wasn't the point. The point was nobody had judged him for it, he had still carried out his duty to the best of his ability.
Yet he had judged Commodus.
Flash's forehoof gripped the doorhandle tight enough that he felt the sting of pressure against the frog of his hoof, but he wanted it, he wanted the pain, he deserved the pain.
He tossed the invitation in the bin and closed the door.
Sleep didn't really come to him. Flash slept in fits, rolling in the bed and more than once creeping down the quiet halls in an attempt to tire himself out. When night came he crept out of the officers quarters, and explored the school after hours.
The few others in the halls- students on maintenence duty, ignored him. He was part of "them", and his appearance even during strange hours was beyond their questioning. He started to smile, it was rather interesting to be placed on that pedestal. Flash still quite remembered his days in high school- it was less than a decade ago- and now he strode the hallways of an empty school, utterly beyond question because he was as much a part of the building as the chalkboards to the students. Just as he had percieved his teachers back then- lives? Teachers are robots, they just get plugged in at night.
Sticking his head into one of the classrooms, which looked to be a scientific lab of some sort. Microscopes lined the walls, and the greater part of the room was given to counters with sinks sunk into them and bunsen burners. One of which he noticed was on.
One of the students from Class Excellence... he believed her name was Curie, was working along to a chemical textbook and the light of her own. She was clever- a magical field prevented any light from leaking into the hallway, only looking directly at her was Flash able to notice.
He coughed- actually involuntarily- and she jumped in her chair. Whatever she had been working on exploded violently, but was contained in a blue magical field. Her chest heaved as she took in surprised gasps of air, and then her head slowly turned towards Flash.
"Oh." she said simply.
"Did we almost die?" Flash asked.
"No, I was... trying to increase the light produced by flash bangs- it's really easy to tell if it's working when it's so dark."
Flash nodded, "are you allowed to do that."
Curie squinted at him. "Well, regulations..."
"... must surely state that you can be out after-hours if an instructor approves it, right?" Flash finished, cutting off whatever bullshit excuse she was inventing.
She nodded.
"Then carry on."
She sighed, clearly relieved, and smiled. "Thanks."
The irony of Flash finding a student working on creater brighter chemical flashes was not lost on him.
His journey continued down the halls, and at the end of each he would find a stairway and go a level up. He found a room full of maps where students learned geography and had high-level wargames with eachother. He found another with a wind-tunnel used to demonstrate aerodynamics, and yet another that had a whos-who of the last few centuries of firearms. Flash strode into that one, regarding the wall of weapons with a profound respect. He picked one off the wall- an ancient hunting rifle design, with an almost comically wide barrel. Only chambered one round, and was designed to be able to wound a dragon enough to either force it to ground or retreat.
Flash hefted it and looked down the sight, noting that it was utterly devoid of any ranging. He supposed with something that big- just eyeball it and hope for the best.
"The gun that kept the skies clear for two-hundred years."
Flash's wings thrust open in surprise, and he pivoted- instintincually aiming the disarmed gun towards the doorway- to find one of the instructors standing there.
"You uh, surprised me," Flash said, and lowered the gun.
"That I did, I still got it," The aged stallion said, smiling in the dim light. He walked in slowly, looking towards the wall of weaponry.
"I like to come in here after hours, give them all good cleaning," he says, and stops before Flash, looking up at the wall behind him.
"We just keep making them faster. That first rack lasted five hundred years. The second lasted two hundred, the third fifty, and the forth are all from the last decade."
Flash turned and placed the dragon-gun back on the rack, second row. The man was right, they seemed to be evolving exponentially quicker.
"Didn't see you at the party- you too good for us old folks?"
Flash sighed, "No, I was just... uh, tired."
The stallion laughed, a hoarse laugh that devolved into a coughing fit.
"Hooo boy, haven't heard a lie that bold in years! You best stay out of intelligence kiddo- you lie like a filly."
Flash blushed and kept his eye firmly on the rack of guns, forcibly managing his breaths and trying to force himself to implode into a singularity.
"Colonel, you got a lot to learn about life," the stallion said, and Flash heard his creaky body sit on a desk. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath.
"You can't just curl up into a damned ball and give up when you make a mistake! Y-"
Flash turned and faced him, angrily. "It wasn't a mistake- mistakes have no fault. I was at fault, I was wrong. I was wrong and I didn't even /know/ I was wrong- that's the worst kind of wrong!"
"Yeah and? You gonna learn from it and move on- or are you gonna just retro-actively defeat yourself forever? So you acted like a jackass and insulted Commodus, that was in poor form- but poorer form is not just taking it like a stallion, saying sorry, and moving the hell along."
He slipped out of the chair and strode to before Flash, looking up at him with a fire in his eyes. "Stallion up boy, or marksmanship be damned- you aren't gonna last three minutes in a real command situation."
"Then maybe I shouldn't be given one."
The stallion sighed, but kept at it, prodding Flash in the chest and looking back up at him. "What's wrong with you? You so special that you get to make that call? You've got the talent to lead, and you're gonna bottle it up because you were wrong? I got news for you son- you're gonna be wrong again, and again, and again. People will die because of your poor judgement. You're going to feel bad, people will hate you."
Flash didn't feel that helped much.
"And you know what? They would be worst off without you. You have the gift of leadership, and that means you get to lead stallions to their deaths and learn from it so it never happens again. So buck up son, there's no place in this army for a coward- and you don't get to leave either."
Flash stared at him.
"I expect the next words out of your mouth to be "Yes sir," I may be retired but I still outrank you- colonel."
He mumbled something about "never used to have damn colonels- it was just guards and captains".
Flash continued staring.
"Colonel, I am not going to watch you throw away a promising career because you called a mare fat! You are going to her office tomorow, and you are going to apologize to her and move on! Is that clear!?"
Flash responded quickly, "Sir yes sir!"
Flash then blinked, he hadn't actually thought of responding- the damn geyser had appealed to his trained instincts. The damned geyser that was now grinning like an idiot.
"Damn right. Name's Sherman by the way, I'll see you tomorrow."
Sherman then executed a perfect about-face, despite the clear sounds of artheritc cracking in his joints, and marched out the door.
Flash shook his head and left a few moments after, heading for the roof. He had a desperate need of fresh air- it was suddenly feeling very crowded inside the school.
He threw open the doors to the roof, and the metal gateway slammed shut nosily behind him, jarring him and causing him to flap his wings open again.
"Lookin' to fly away, Colonel?"
Flash squinted in the dark, looking for the source of that familiar, feminine, voice.
Yes indeed, there was Director Commodus, sitting beside a small table, looking towards the sea and the stars. Flash froze, hoping perhaps her sight was based on movement and she would forget him.
"N-noo I was just surprised... by the door..."
Commodus sighed, "Or were you just shocked to find out I could climb stairs?"
Flash blinked.
After a moment of silence Commodus continued, "Look, if I disgust you that much... just go, forget about it."
Flash blinked again, "What? You don't... disgust me."
Commodus sighed again, exasperated. "So then why didn't you accept my invitation? I found it in your garbage bin."
Flash responded quickly, this was getting bad in a hurry "What? No, no I didn't mean anything by it!"
Commodus stood, and turned to face him, slowly trotting over with a mean look on her face. "Then why? Why didn't you come? Celestia above I had finally come to grips with myself- thanks to a few very good friends- and now you arrive and I'm wondering if I should retire. Just who the hell /are/ you!?"
Flash swallowed, "A fool."
Commodus blinked.
"I'm a fool, director. I hurt you, I know that, I hurt you more than words can truly mend- but I can try," he started, and then sat down, lowering his head and looking towards Commodus hooves.
"I disrespected you, and I disrespected my uniform," he said, and then reached to his chest, starting to unbutton his uniform.
"I judged you for something I shouldn't have, I questioned you infront of your staff, and I looked down on you," he pulled it over his head, and tossed it aside. It landed on the roof railing, fluttering in the wind.
"You're not disgusting, you're not even ugly. You're a good speaker and a bold leader, you've done more for these students than any of them will ever realize, and you've done more for Equestria than I could in a thousand careers. By Celestia you don't even need to leave your office to do more for the war than I've ever done."
He looked up, slowly, tears in his eyes. "Look at me, I'm just some idiot that can point a gun. I never asked for this rank, I never did anything to deserve it- and you've proven I don't. So don't let me get you down, please, for my own sake- I don't think my soul can bear the weight of hurting someone so far beyond myself."
Commodus too, appeared to have something in her eye, and put a hoof to Flash's, pulling him up to his hooves.
"Colonel," Commodus started, and then leaned in- giving him a smooch on the cheek, "you're really good at pulling speeches out of your ass. You're going to make a good general some day," she said, and pulled him towards the railing.
They both looked out over the dimly lit city towards the ocean, it was really quite beautiful. A noir spectacle of bluish grey ocean expanse that ceded softly into the darker horizon, barely discernable against it except for where the moon reflected. Quiet murmurs of late night conversation and the odd hooves against stone roads whispered from down below, and the stars twinkled up in the sky.
"You're alright Flash. You can be an asshole at times, but you're alright." Commodus said, and reached over, picking up Flash's uniform and then draping it over him.
"Did you mean it?" she asked.
"Every word."