Rusted

by gallagsp the corgi

Chapter 5

The view from Shimmering Blade's room was slowly becoming boring. The rain hadn't let up at all, and in fact had gotten much worse. Water poured from the sky, clouds blocking the sunlight and casting dark shadows onto the streets below. She thought again what the doctor had told her, about how she needed help, and how he was her only ally.

"Bullshit." She muttered to herself. "Bucking Bullshit. He wouldn't know a good ally if it bit him." She turned away from the window and grabbed her dog tags from the drawer again.

"Good allies have your back, no matter what. They'd never leave a friend behind. I had great allies..." She gripped the chain tighter, the tags rattling a bit as her hoof began to shake. "They never leave a friend behind..." She grit her teeth, breathing heavily.

"Remember the oath, guys? Remember the oath? The oath we all took and swore to uphold? NEVER leave a friend behind!" She pounded her other hoof against the bed. "Well what about me? was I not good enough? Not a priority for you?" Her voice began to rise as her anger grew.

She needed to go. She needed to go for a walk, clear her head, relax. She couldn't have another blow-up.

"Celestia, what's wrong with me?" She sighed, trying to calm herself down. "Maybe I am crazy." She began to cry again, rage building up inside her from it. "Damn it... just bucking great..."

She wiped her face and set the tags down on the table. She stared at them for a moment before picking them back up. She looked them over one more time before she decided to put them on. She felt the cool metal chain slide over her head and onto her neck. Suddenly she felt calmer. More relaxed. She felt at peace with herself and the world. Those images of fire and chaos that filled her head before were replaced with happier ones.

She closed her eyes and smiled. The first genuine smile she had felt creep onto her face in years. Her breathing slowed and steadied, her body relaxed and she soon felt herself falling asleep...

She opened her eyes. Looking over the field below her. The grass had been cut back and worn down and replaced by dirt and mud, but it was home to her. She leaned against the sandbag wall and looked over, observing the 20 foot steep slope of dirt down into the field. The forests and woods had been burned and chemicals dumped on them to kill the trees so the enemy could not hide, but there were a few trees that still somehow survived. Evergreen, her squad mate, had said they were a special kind of tree that incorporated magic into its system as a defensive measure, making them really hard to kill.

She thought about Evergreen. He was an Earth pony, built strong and tough. He knew everything about trees but not a lot else, probably because he was a tree farmer back home. His brownish red fur was the color of fall leaves, his eyes were bright green and his mane a golden brown. His spear was always decorated by a small twig of pine bound by some tripwire, which he replaced everytime it dried up from the only pine tree in a hundred miles, located just outside the Quartermaster's tent.

He was from Boulder Village, a small town near Rainbow Falls that was known for its tree farms and rock farms. She never understood how ponies could farm rocks...probably magic again.

She looked back over the field. Though she was a swordsmare, she still had the eyesight of an archer. So she was able to make out the sneaking shadows among the ruined trees. Unsure if they were friend or foe, she watched carefully and waited...

Suddenly, a high pitched woosh filled the air. She ducked out of instinct and an arrow embedded itself into the wall a few feet from her. Thoughts about trees and Evergreen abandoned her mind. She yelled out to some other soldiers nearby that they were under attack, and soon the whole camp was alive with activity. Archers ran to the wall to return fire while spearponies and swordsponies grabbed their weapons and armor in preparation to strike back. Shimmering Blade, already armored and armed, grabbed her shield leaning against the wall and tightened the straps on her forehoof. and drew her sword.

She cried for her squad to rally on her, and they answered the call. Six ponies total, Two spearponies, two archers, a combat mage and herself as squad leader and swordspony. A few words were exchanged and the squad lept over the wall and slid down the slope. Shimmering blade led the charge into the dead forest to bring the fight to the enemy.

She dodged another arrow as she neared the tree line. The griffon that had fired the arrow couldn't react in time to defend himself as she leapt into the air, bringing her sword down on top of him. Blood flew as she pulled the blade from his neck and turned to observe the carnage of the battle. She saw Evergreen pulling his spear out of the chest of another griffon, She looked to the left where Quicksilver, the mage, called upon her magic to throw bolts of energy into the woods after the swiftly retreating. The archer, Bowstring Fletcher, fired a few more arrows, downing one more enemy.

She smirked. The cowards always did this. They would sneak up on them, pester them for a bit, then retreat while they still could. She turned back toward the camp, where a few more ponies had come over the wall and wandered the field before the woods, but her squad was the only one that actually went into battle.

An officer, upon seeing her squad emerging from the woods splattered in blood, ran up to her and started yelling about not following orders and abandoning the camp during an attack. She silenced him by taking a blood stained rag from her armor pocket and wiping the blood from her still drawn sword before sheathing it.

He angrily glared at her. "The commander will be hearing about this."

Shimmering Blade woke up. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around the hospital room. A quick peak at the clock had shown she had slept for most of the night, waking up the next day at her usual time. The early morning sun shone brightly in the sky. Something seemed different about today from yesterday. Shimmering Blade couldn't put her hoof on it, but somehow, deep down, she felt like today was going to be a good day.

Author's Note:

After over a year of not touching it... Wow time flies. Hopefully I havn't lost touch with this one and the ideas I want to get across with it. Thanks a lot guys, your supporrt means the world to me.

I feel this story is moving a bit slow... There's been no change of scenery and no major events have happened so far... I'll have to fix that.

Comments

[Neece]

Memories and the beginning of acceptance, perhaps? Interesting, please don't take another year to update again XD

[gallagsp the corgi]

6261688 I'll try not too! Life gets in the way sometimes but I hate leaving things unfinished. I'm gonna start trying to get more chapters out on a more regular basis.