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by The Boss

Memories

Shield and Light Wing were walking through the bodies of the Saddle Arabian defenders, nudging them with their hooves to find any survivors.

“The buck is this shit, bro?” Light Wing muttered, rolling a dead mercenary onto his back. “Two Saddle Arabians agree to letting Equestria have all their bucking gold and gems because of some floating animals?”

“Buckin’ screwby.” Shield replied, picking up a crossbow and looking it over. “Saddle Arabian king hires thirty thousand Equestrian mercs to fight Equestrian Marines and expects them to win. These guys barely new combat spells.” Shield gestured to a dead unicorn. “Bucking insane.” He used his knife to break several components in the crossbow before dropping it.

“I heard Captain Equestria call this a ‘Peacekeeping’ operation.” Light Wing spat, glaring at the capitol building where Shining Armor was addressing the ponies of the city. “Nothing peaceful about it. I mean, in Zebrica we were facing off against a tyrannical, genocidal, dickless dictator, here it’s a good king who treats his subjects well.”

“At least it’s not Stalliongrad, my balls still haven’t thawed out from that shit.” Shield nudged another dead body with his hoof, the Saddle Arabian groaned. “Shit.”

“P-Please E-Equestrian…” The Saddle Arabian rasped out.

“It’s a colt, only a bucking colt.” Lightwing said in disbelief, looking at the Saddle Arabian. He couldn’t have been more than fourteen.

“I-I want my m-m-om.” He spoke very poor Equish, Shield noticed he was missing a leg.

“Where is she, kid?” Shield asked, kneeling down and looking the colt over. He shifted slightly.

“D-Dead...” The colt tried to detonate a pair of crystal shards, Light Wing fired a crossbow bolt into his head.

“FAUST ALIVE! WHAT THE BUCK!” Shield shouted, leaping back. “They’re using bucking kids?!” He looked at Light Wing, the stallion was staring at the dead body. “Light? Light, lower your weapon.” Light didn’t budge. “Light Wing.” Shield pulled the crossbow from his hooves. “Look at me.”

“S-Sarge, I…” Light Wing turned his head to Shield, but his eyes stayed on the colt.

“Light, go back to camp. Tell them about this, okay? After that I want you to get some shut eye, you’re going on fifty hours.” Shield said sternly, Light Wing nodded slowly and tried to take his crossbow. “Light, you don’t need this now. I’ll give it back to you, don’t worry.” The stallion nodded again, then took to the sky without a word. Shield shook his head, slung Light Wing’s weapon onto his back, and then continued his grim task.

He stopped for a moment, his grip on his crossbow tightened. Shield turned to face one of the blown out apartment buildings, his crossbow ready to deal death. There was nothing in the open though, Shield walked towards the source of the noise but found nothing.

“Mister Dasher?” A mare’s voice snapped Shield out of his nap. He sat up in his chair and turned towards the door. “It’s almost time for class.” Shield nodded at Cheerilee, then sighed. He could hear the students gathering outside, it was going to be another one of those days.

“Thanks ma’am.” He replied to Cheerilee, shaking the dreams away. The veteran stood from his seat and began to write the key points of the lesson on the board. The other school teacher left to tend her own class, Shield chuckled when she was gone. While he didn’t get hangovers, he was sure that she was having a monster right now. A bottle of whiskey and half a dozen beers had that tendency.

The classroom filled up quickly, fillies and colts took their seats. Shield noticed two empty seats at the back of the room, then sighed. Of course they were tardy. The walked to the door, then closed it. He flipped the lock and went back to the front of the classroom.

“Good morning class.” He said cheerfully.

“Good morning, Mister Dasher!” The class replied.

“How’s everypony doing today?” Shield received a chorus of positive answers. “Excellent. Let’s get started then.” Shield pointed to his first point on the board. “The Sapling Springs conflict…”

[♠]

Rainbow Dash walked into her home, work had ended early for the prismatic pegasus and now she looked forwards to relaxing at home before going to visit her friends. She opened the door to the closet and tossed her saddle bag in carelessly, she froze when she heard it hit something. The pegasus looked into the closet and found that the bag had landed on Shield’s duffle bag, she feared she had broken something and pulled the duffle out and into the living room.

Rainbow Dash eyed the bag for a moment, it was beaten and thread bare. She was surprised that it still held anything, it was covered in stains and patches. Shield’s name was stamped on the fabric, as well as his rank. The mare opened the bag and emptied its contents onto the coffee table. She recognised his dog tags and his helmet, both were unharmed and so she put them aside.

Next, Dash picked up another necklace, it had more tags on it. Some of them were in Equish, while others were in different languages. Many of them had been stained red. Rainbow Dash put them aside as well, not wanting to think about what had made them that color. Two olive drab shirts were the next thing she spotted, patches embroidered with Shields name and branch sat over the pockets. On the right sleeve was a patch with his cutiemark, on the left was what she assumed was the symbol for a staff sergeant.

She set the shirts aside with everything else, being sure not to not unfold them. A metal lock box caught her attention next, it was battered and beaten like the bag. She hesitated to open it, but curiosity got the best of her. When she opened the box, she felt a few tears come to her eyes. Sitting on top of everything else was an old piece of paper, two very crudely drawn ponies stood next to eachother. One of them had a rainbow mane, and an arrow pointing to it that read “Me”. The other was a light brown pony with a black mane, the arrow pointing it it read “Shieldy”.

”What ya working on Dashie?” Asked Shield as he came through the kitchen, the little filly looked up and smiled.

“I’m drawing a picture of my bestest friend!” She replied, Shield walked over with a big smile on his face.

“And who would that be?” He asked playfully.

“You!” Shield wrapped a wing around her. Then he hugged her tight, tighter than he ever had before. “Shieldy? Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah, Dashie.” He said, letting her go. “I’m feeling fine.” He looked at the picture. “Hey, why don’t we put a date on this, that way when you’re all grown up you can remember your big brother?”

“I don’t need a picture, I have you for real!” Shield nodded slowly. “And I want you to have it, that way when I’m a wonderbolt you can have me with you while I go all over the world.” Shield blinked a few times, Rainbow Dash thought she could see his eyes glistening.

“Thanks Dashie.”

Rainbow Dash remembered the day clearly, she had made it the night before he had left. The mare lifted the picture and examined it closely, the picture had to be the best preserved thing she had seen so far. She put it down carefully and looked back in the box, two small books and a couple notes of foreign currency occupied the rest of the space. One of them had a blank cover while the other was clearly a Faustholic bible. Dash debated opening the blank book, but shook her head, she had determined that nothing was broken and so she replaced everything into the duffle bag.

She put the bag in the closet and sighed, the crude drawing burned in her mind. The memory of that morning hit her hard, she remembered waking up and only finding a note. Her mother had cried, her father went out and didn’t return until the next day, and she could only ponder as to why her brother had left her. She had thought that it was her fault, as most foals would, it wasn’t rational but it was normal. Rainbow Dash took a few deep breaths as she thought of her parents, had Shield even told them that he had returned? She would assume as much, but at the same time it was Shield she was talking about.

While she was sure that he was grateful to them, they weren’t his real parents. He hadn’t told them he had enlisted, or that he would be gone for six months for training. He hadn’t even told them he was being deployed. Rainbow Dash could understand him not telling her, to keep her from worrying, but her mother and father were an entirely different issue. The prismatic pegasus decided that she would pay a visit to her parents and find out for herself.

Dash walked out of the house and took off towards Cloudsdale, unsure of the answers she would receive.

[♠]

Shield sat in his classroom, eating his lunch while the fillies and colts played outside. Well, all but two of them. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon let out a sigh in unison as they scribbled down the notes on the board. Shield hoped that this punishment would discourage future tardiness. To be fair, he had asked the fillies why they were late when they knocked on his door. They had responded negatively and thus were left to sit in the hall while the other students learned.

To be sure that he had made his point, he had the fillies write everything on the board twice. Once in print and once in cursive. The Sapling Springs conflict was quite an extensive topic, covering nearly all of the board in text and diagrams. Shield had made sure to add as much detail as possible, from the names of the impromptu generals that had been elected, to the address where the first pie was thrown. He had specially added the hat sizes of the leaders of the two rival factions just for them to write down. It was Marine Corps memorization training, applied to academics rather than weapons specifics.

“I’m done!” Exclaimed Diamond Tiara. “Can I go now?”

“Did you get the hat sizes?” Shield responded.

“Seven and a half for General Plant, six and three quarters for General Glee.” Diamond Tiara said, annoyed.

“Are you going to be late to my class again, miss Tiara?” The filly shook her head. “Excellent, you’re dismissed.” Diamond Tiara shot out the door like a crossbow bolt. Silver Spoon finished a few minutes later. “The type of pie that started the conflict?”

“Manehattan Chocolate Cream.” Silver Spoon replied, Shield gestured to the door. The filly ran out to join her fellow students, as she went she passed Miss Cheerilee. The mare looked like she had been hit by a concussion shard.

“Hello Cheerilee.” Shield said in a quiet voice.

“Don’t yell.” She replied, getting a chuckle from the one eyed marine. “I haven’t had this bad of a headache since I was a young mare.” She rubbed her temples. “Why did you let me drink so much?”

“It’s a matter of per-” Cheerilee shushed him, he lowered his volume a bit. “It’s a matter of perspective, ma’am. To you, that was a lot. I ,on the other hoof, wasn’t even tipsy when you went under the table.” Shield walked over to the window where a small plant sat, he examined it for a moment. “Is this mint?” Asked Shield.

“Yes, why?”

“Because…” Shield took a few leaves and brought them over to Cheerilee. “When I was in Zebrica, we used it to soothe pretty much everything, including headaches. Though, I find it works better if you eat the leaf rather than drink it in tea.” Cheerilee looked at the leaves for a moment before taking them and eating them. Her face contorted a bit as the strong flavor hit her. “You’re not supposed to eat them all at once.”

“Well, you didn’t tell me that.” Cheerilee muttered.

“They’ll get working soon, don’t worry.” Shield walked to the window again. “Right now, I suggest you get ready for class. Recess is almost over.” Cheerilee sighed and nodded, then left the room. Shield pushed the window open. “Hey! Five minutes, then I want you all back inside!” The veteran started pulling the window closed, but paused as he saw movement in the sky. A figure tried to hide behind a cloud, but Shield had already seen whoever it was. He had written the sighting yesterday off, but now he was sure. “I’m being reconned.” He closed the window fully and prepared to teach his class.

Author's Note:

Here it is, another chapter fresh from my sleep deprived mind!

Like, Fave, Comment and all that good stuff.

Comments

[Blue Streak]

Yay a new chapter.

[Blue Spark]

He's being reconned, but by who I wonder?
Maybe an old buddy of his, or possibly somepony out for revenge?
So many theories...

[Blue Spark]

3865229
I agree.
And whatever the author decides, despite other's opinions, will always seem like the best option because he makes it WORK.
Definitely can't wait for an update. :D

[ComboBreaker]

3868721
3866075
May I pop in really quick? I have one question. As much sense as it would make, How would Shinning Armour be the one would recon him. In the story they say the figure hid behind a cloud and Shinning Armour is a unicorn? So how would that work?

[Blue Spark]

3876687
What I mean by that is Shinning could have one of his guards ponies watching.
Since Shinning Armour is a very busy pony, it would make more sense that he would have one of his guards do it for him.

[Blue Spark]

3877239
3876687
Yeah, I mean, people would grow suspicious if the Captain of the Royal Guard, not to mention the Prince of the Crystal Empire, were snooping around then that'd be weird.
I'd also think it would make sense that Shinning was behind it because he'd probably worry about some highly trained soldier was hanging around his sister, especially if he has a large distaste for Shinning Armour and Celestia.

[Blue Spark]

3877299
Course, there IS a good chance that we're wrong...
For instance, it could be an a soldier for one of his enemies, out for revenge.

Another thought I had, but I now doubt, was that it was Rainbow Dash just spying on him. I thought that option seemed likely because she would've thought Shield and Cherrielee was on a date last night and wanted to follow.

Lastly, it could also be a fried of his just checking up on him which is also unlikely.

Either way, Shinning Armour spying on him seems like a good choice but I have this feeling that it isn't the most logical option...

I bet in the end, we'll be surprised by whoever it is.

[ComboBreaker]

3877271 That actually makes a lot more sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[Nightshade Dawn]

“The type of pie that started the conflict?”

Damn pies