And so, that week was gone in a flash. The big day was here. The day in which I would say goodbye to my father for another three or more months, or however long he would remain at sea until the conflicts across the ocean ceased or were resolved.
These were the only times civilians were allowed on base. Since our town was so small, that was everypony here to bid farewell to the sailors shipping out into hostile waters. Among those ponies were myself and Mom.
Standing in the center of a weeping crowd, my father, dressed in his work uniform rather than the average crackerjacks, held both me and my mother in either hooves as tightly as possible.
"Try not to worry too much about me," Sea spoke softly. "This is not much different than the last times."
"Please, honey," Hazy sniffled softly, retreating back from the embrace to look my father in the eyes. "Please, come back to us, safe and sound."
Sea smiled genuinely, a smile that typically calmed Mom instantly. "I will. I promise."
With one final, lung-crushing hug, my father begun to step away toward the brand new, fresh-out-of-the-shipyard destroyer as other sailors had already boarded, or were currently doing so.
Me and Mom observed as he walked up the ramp onto the massive vessel. He gave a final glance our way, a look of concern, and even a bit of fear all over. That was a new sight to see. A terrifying one, at that. It was a look I would remember forever.
As the last of the crew boarded, some gathered on the railing, waving their hats to everypony in a final goodbye. On the far side of the ship, a pair of smaller tugboats rolled in, towing the enormous hunk of steel away from the pier, facing it seaward.
In a sole plume of smoke from the exhaust stack, the engines whirred to life, kicking up some rather high surf in its wake as it began to sail away, joining a multitude of other distant ships within the fleet that had come from other cities.
Some ponies, family or no family aboard that boat, wept at their departure. My mother was among those in a breakdown, and she only had me to hold, and I only had her to comfort.
All we could do from this very moment on, was hope and pray for a safe return.
⚓
In hopes of keeping much of the negativity out of our lives, throughout the first two weeks, me and Mom kept the radio turned off. The both of us had decided it was no good to continuously feed ourselves with news that may only worsen our fears. Dad was typically the one to read a newspaper, which also meant Mom had no reason to buy one. At least, not until he is back.
Nonetheless, Dad was still on the top of our minds, no matter the time of day. It felt... off. Even around town was different. The way ponies acted, even how they spoke. Everypony seemed to know well. The feelings were all mutual.
One brisk morning, after showering and dressing up warm to my standards, I made my way down the stairs, slinging my feather-weight backpack across my shoulder with a hoof through one strap, and stopped at the door.
"I'm leaving, Mom. I will see you after school," I called out. No response. "Mom?"
"O-oh, yes. Alright, honey. I'll see you later. I love you," she finally responded from the living room.
One ear pinned back slightly. Part of me felt the need to check on her. The other part was trying to tug me out the door. I was running a little behind for school as it is. I could not be tardy for the third day in a row.
"I love you too, Mom," I replied, taking the doorknob in my hoof and pulling inward, and on my way I was.
A light rain fell from the overcast sky above, somewhere between a sprinkle and a drizzle. The buttoned-up jacket I wore kept out much of the breeze that ran down the street in a losing battle against myself.
From deep thought I was startled as one of my hooves landed in a puddle, sploshing slightly onto my sleeve. Softly, I groaned, shaking off my now-drenched hoof and continuing downhill and into town.
⚓
Somehow, at some point, I ended up at school earlier than I expected to be, just as other students were filing in through the doors and into the halls of the small building.
"Hey, Anchorage," came a filly's voice to my left.
Glancing up and over from the tiled floor, I blinked twice, eyes meeting those of Misty's. "Hey."
The just barely-shorter crepe filly met my pace as we walked to class, one hoof on her backpack strap while it rested on her shoulder. "I haven't seen you lately. Where have you been?"
"I haven't missed school. Maybe you just... were looking at the wrong time," I replied halfheartedly.
Misty proceeded not to question that, and instead nodded. "Have you seen Azeruth?"
"I spotted him at the market on Sunday. Why?"
"He hasn't been to school since... yeah."
"I can understand that. Teacher ain't punishing anypony for staying home. Not yet, at least," I faced ahead, slowing my pace to keep the conversation going a bit longer.
Misty nodded slowly. "How are you handling?"
My gaze shifted to the teenage filly briefly, then once more forward. "Better than last week."
"What about your mom? Have you been taking care of her?"
"We've... kind of been taking care of each other as of late. We're used to Dad being gone a lot, so, it's not really anything new at this point."
Misty nodded again. "Alright. I was just checking. Hey, later on, wanna meet up with Vixen and go to the Salty Lion?"
I went over the plan in my mind for a little bit before nodding. "Sure, that sounds good."
The light pink filly smiled slightly. "You tell your mom first, though, so she doesn't worry."
"I will," I returned the smile, stopping at my locker.
Misty kept the smile, then walked off and rounded a corner to her own. I watched as she left, smile gently growing but remaining weak.
A sudden ringing echoed throughout the halls, the two-minutes-before-class warning, and it immediately reshifted my focus back to school.
Taking the combination lock in hoof and twisting the dial, until the click that jarred my locker's door open, I slid my backpack from my shoulders and hung it up on a small hook inside. Unzipping and reaching inside the bag, I then pulled out some pieces of paper, my homework that was due today. Any more pieces, and somepony might have believed I was bringing some sort of presentation.
I wouldn't exactly call it procrastination, although, I have been slacking on completing homework in the last few days starting from last week. It didn't help at all that, with my recent tardiness, the teacher decided it would be a brilliant idea to double the work I needed to do per night. As if two full sheets of algebra problems were not enough already...
Turning around and taking a final glance at my homework, I froze upon bumping into a taller figure, whose shadow loomed over me almost threateningly. My gaze moved up from my homework, eyes meeting those of a smirking colt standing in center of two others who had surrounded me. The school bullies.
"Can I help you?" I asked flatly, kicking my locker door shut gently with one of my hinds and eying the center pony.
"How's your fillyfriend treating you, Anchorage?" the taller, older earth colt chuckled. "Anchorage... what kind of name is that?" he cackled, this time with the other two joining in.
Rolling my eyes, I answered, "For the five-hundredth time, Cobalt. She is not my fillyfriend, and again, for the six-hundredth time, it is a maritime term," I motioned a hoof. "Defined by a ship finding a suitable place to—"
Before I could finish, both of Cobalt's hooves shoved me back into the closed locker with a hard clank and a grunt coming from me upon impact.
"Shut up, Anchorage. Nopony cares about what your name is supposed to mean, if it means anything!" He snarled, pressing a hoof to my chest to hold me against the locker.
I shifted slightly in Cobalt's hold, continuing to eye him carefully, though primarily unfazed by this latest attempt of his to break me. "Then why are you here?"
"Misty is mine, you hear? And if I find out she falls for you, guess who's going home with a black eye... or two?" Cobalt chuckled, his other hoof raising, recoiling back.
My gaze moved to his hoof, half-preparing for it to pump forward in a painful hit. I knew he wouldn't, though. Despite his intimidating appearance and personality, for the last two years, this has always been as far as he's gone. Even after being caught by teachers once or twice, he kept going at it.
"Whatever you say, Cobalt. Me and her are just friends. I'm fairly certain that she doesn't have a taste for colts like you and I."
His smirk faded, transforming into a scowl, his hoof further recoiling back. "What is that supposed to mean?!"
"It means she is not looking for anypony to date. More so, you will be the last she goes to just for the fact that you try to make it appear as if you two are dating," I lifted my hooves to the one holding me to the wall, prying it off carefully.
"Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get to class, and so do you," I said, beginning to walk around him.
"Hey! I didn't give you permission to leave!" Cobalt spun around, swiping a hoof and loudly smacking the paper out of my hooves, covering the floor beneath us in my homework.
I turned around quickly, glaring right back up at him. "Just, back off, alright? I'm really not in the mood for this today," then reached down to regather my work.
With no further reply from him, I filed my homework neatly and begun walking off.
"His father doesn't love him, that's why he named him Anchorage," Cobalt whispered from behind to his buddies.
"He named him that because he's in the Navy. Anypony who names their foals after their passion doesn't care for them."
"I'm sorry, come again?" I stopped, glancing back at him with a suspicious eyebrow raised.
Cobalt turned in my direction. "Butt out of it."
"Because... I could have sworn I heard you say something about my father," I rounded back towards him slowly. "That's surely not true, is it?"
"So what if it is? I can gossip about anypony I please. Now, get out of my face!" He pulled a hoof back, thrusting forward to punch me.
Out of defensive reflex, my wings opened, quickly moving me just out of the way of his hoof and landing no more than a couple feet from where I had just stood. My eyes immediately locked with his.
"I see how it is," I replied, spreading my wings and flapping hard once, propelling me forward, directly into Cobalt at a speed that shocked even him.
Falling to the cold tile with a deep grunt, Cobalt's eyes opened up wide at my attack. Now he was the one staring up at me, and I was on top of him, tossing punch after punch into his muzzle.
Much of the minute was a blur, his yelps and cries tuned out while I proceeded to practically beat him senseless. The two others he typically strolled with hadn't made a single move to pull me off of their friend, instead rushing off. I didn't have a single care for them. My primary focus was Cobalt.
"N-no, stop! Agh!" He yelped and wriggled underneath. "St-stop, Anchorage, stop!"
"Anchorage!"
My hoof froze just mere inches from Cobalt's blood-dripping nose. Any more hits and he likely would have passed out, now that I got a decent second look at him.
Gradually I swung around, body trembling and heart pumping quickly and heavily in my chest. A crowd had gathered down the hallway, in center standing the school's few teachers, and the principal, all staring with horror mixed with shock.
It was somewhere in those heart-wrenching moments where I finally realized, Cobalt had broken me.