She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

by Backslasherton

Chapter 7

“RPG! RPG!” A man screamed. Jack snapped his head around just in time to see a rocket slam into the roof of a humvee. The blast shook the car, and killed everyone inside. Gunfire erupted and lit up the sitting convoy.

“Go go go! Start moving!” Jack called to the front car. The front car sped off, two more and a truck right behind it. The fifth vehicle started to pull out, but another rocket blast hit it and blew it up. The rest of the convoy behind it was blocked. Jack cussed and dove behind a stuck humvee as bullets started cracking around him.

He peered out from behind the humvee and started firing at the assailants coming towards the base. He noticed one group of people on the other side of the convoy pulling back a wounded man. He turned around to some of the other men around him.

“Cover them!” He called. The men nodded and unloaded on the insurgents. Jack watched as the men started pulling bodies and wounded men back. A couple more men ran out to help with the efforts. Jack noticed one of them was a lieutenant.

“Lieutenant, get your wounded and get the fuck back here!” He called.

“That’s the fuckin’ plan, Jack.” A familiar voice called back. Jack stuck his head back out and looked at the Lieutenant. It was Joe. Jack nodded to himself, and kept up with the covering fire.

An insurgent sprinted through the fire and men, seemingly not caring if he lived or died. Jack set his sights on the man and pulled the trigger.

*Click.*

“Son of a bitch!” Jack called. He quickly pulled the mag out.

“Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!” Shouting came from where the men were pulling wounded out. Jack slammed the magazine back in place and stood up, ready to fire. He stopped as he saw Joey tackle the suicide bomber. Jack sprinted towards the bomber.

“Get the fuck off him!” Jack screamed.

The resulting blast threw the captain onto his back. He laid still, not moving. He felt every part of his body cry out in pain, the years old memory still fresh. He felt the marine next to him trying to get him up and out of fire, but he didn’t try to help him. He just laid there, giving into the cold grip overcoming him.

“General?” A voice called out.

Jackson opened his eyes. The battle was frozen around him, bullets suspended in mid air. The pain in his body was gone, and he sat up.

“Is this your home world?” The voice called again.

Jackson looked around, spotting the lunar princess standing by a humvee with frozen marines crouched behind. Jackson stood up.

“How are you here?” He asked. The princess looked around grimly as she walked forward.

“The night is our domain. All parts of it. Including the realm of dreams. Admittedly, we did not expect to be able to traverse dreams so soon after our return.”

“So... you can see my dreams?”

“Yes.” Luna stopped in front of him. “Though we have only seen this dream of yours so far, the emotions with it are quite strong. It seems thou hast had this dream many times.”

Jackson grimly surveyed the scene around him.

“I suppose so.”

“Is this a nightmare? Or a memory?”

Jackson stared at the smoldering crater where Joe had been only moments ago. Luna followed his eyes, and her heart fell.

“A memory.” Jackson said softly. He walked across the field, looking at every man on the ground’s face. “This was my company.”

“Was your country at war?”

Jackson shrugged.

“Depends on who you ask. Legally, we were in a ‘conflict’ not a war, since there was never a declaration of war.” Jackson stopped suddenly. “Didn’t change the facts.”

Staring down at a body, felt a small form brush up against his side. He glanced at Luna before letting his gaze fall back on the body. It was horribly mangled and missing many parts. He could feel Luna squirming as she saw the body.

“Your people are quite… proficient at war.”

“...Yeah.” Jackson felt his chest tighten as stared at the body of Private First Class Zachary Ross. A sweet kid from a dirt poor family. Enlisted just to help pay for college. Jackson pushed those thoughts aside. “Too good if you ask me.”

He looked up, spotting the frozen RPG-bearing insurgent on the ridge. He raised the rifle slung over his body and emptied the mag into the man. Luna jumped as the weapon roared its merciless staccato. The rounds tore holes through the insurgents body, but he didn’t flinch. Jackson dropped the rifle at the click of an empty mag.

“That is quite a loud weapon.” Luna said, inching back forward towards Jackson.

“Yeah. Sorry.” Jackson shook his head. He unslung the weapon and threw it to the ground. “I don’t know why I even bother.” He turned and looked to Luna. “So this is a dream?”

“Yes.” Luna nodded.

“More like a nightmare to me.”

He shook his head and turned around. He watched the world fade away from the battlefield, and reappear with him standing on a gravel driveway. The green grass of a ranch in Texas sprouted up around a small single story farmhouse. His fatigues faded away and was replaced with a jacket, button down and jeans. He looked himself over, and looked at the princess by his side.

“Did you do that?” Jackson asked.

“We cannot do anything to your dreams. You are in control.” Luna said. “This is your dream, and it is whatever you make it to be, good or bad.”

“...Good to know.”

Jackson moved forward to the door of the home. He pushed it open, and stood in the doorway as his eyes fell over the room. To his right was a small circular rack with an umbrella and a cane in it. Beyond that was an older looking and cozy looking living room set around a flat screen TV on the wall. Various paintings depicting various things were hung around the room. On the far right wall, above a fireplace, was a small case with various medals and ribbons hung with some patches inside. As he walked to it, he reached out and touched the wood of the case.

Luna came up behind him and looked over the case behind him. Below the case, on the mantel, was a picture of a young man in uniform in front of a mottled blue background with a bright and proud looking flag stood to the side. Luna glanced to Jackson, and made the connection. It was a very young looking Jackson in a black uniform with a crisp white cap on top. The pin on his shoulders was a yellow rectangle, and his chest was missing many of the ribbons that Luna saw in the case.

“I was so proud of that picture.” Jackson said softly, smiling fondly at it. Luna looked up at him and smiled back.

“It is a good portrait to be proud of.” She nodded. “Was this after your training?”

“Yeah.” Jackson nodded. “I’d just commissioned for my first tour in 1999. I figured I’d serve my fives years, pay my dues, and go off to civilian life.”

“Something tells us that is not what happened.”

“Yeah. I ended up serving ten years.”

“What changed?”

“9/11.” Jackson said simply. “A terrorist attack on American soil.”

The TV behind them flashed on, displaying a grainy news report. A suited man behind a desk spoke somberly.

“It is confirmed the second tower has been hit by a second plane, and has collapsed. There is no current death toll, but it is projected to be hundreds, if not thousands.” The reported paused, seemingly trying to collect himself. “One plane has hit the pentagon, and one has crashed in a field in Virginia. FAA has grounded all flights indefinitely at this time.” The TV flashed off.

“Total death toll of that day would be around three thousand. Civilians, not soldiers. There’d be hundreds of first responders killed. Firefighters running into collapsing buildings and dragging people out, EMT and Police killed by falling debris.” Jackson shook his head. “The world stopped. For the first time in decades, no planes flew. No kids played outside, and Americans was scared to leave their homes. And in the middle of all that, I knew I couldn’t abandon my country in its time of need. I’d serve all that I could.

“But then my best friend was killed, and I was nearly killed with him.” Jackson shrugged. “I’d started to lose faith in what we were doing. Eight years later and we’d made no real progress. I stayed because part of me still believed this was my duty. But when Joe died, that part died with him. I wanted out. So I left next chance I got. Turned down my promotion offer and just went home.”

Jackson sighed and slumped onto the couch.

“I left my world in 2011. Even then, ten years later, we still hadn’t gotten him. We were still killing people, taking and losing land, but we weren’t any closer than we were the day the bastard murdered thousands of innocent Americans.” Jackson shrugged. “That was three years ago. And it kills me everyday with just the thought that he might be out there living it up in freedom after all he did.”

Luna sat next to Jackson on the couch.

“Thou has a heavy load to bear. But you needn’t carry it alone.”

“I suppose not.”

The world faded again to the apartment Jackson called home in the Castle. Luna and him were sat on the couch in the living room. Jackson stared across the room at himself. Standing in the middle of room was him in his pajamas embraced and talking excitedly to a human Celestia. Jackson’s face burned red.

“I uh… I didn’t mean to do that.” Jackson stuttered. “We were just… uh…”

Luna smiled fondly.

“Thou needn’t worry. It brings us joy to see our sister so happy.”

Jackson nodded gratefully as his face started to return to its normal color. He silently turned back and watched past himself hide his tears of joy that Celestia hadn’t seen at the time.

“Thank you.” He whispered.

“Thank you. For keep our sister’s spirits after all this time.”

Jackson shook his head, giving Luna his attention.

“I uh… I’m sorry for earlier. I’m not good at introductions.” Jackson chuckled. "Especially not when I'm drunk."

“Nor are we.” Luna admitted. “But it is in the past. We understand thy hesitations of meeting us, especially in light of the seen before us.”

Jackson nodded, smiling as if he’d thought of something funny.

“If I may ask you something,” Jackson hesitated, and Luna nodded for him to continue. “Why do you talk like that?”

“Ah, yes. We are from a different era. One in which royals were expected to speak this way.” Luna smiled. “Your method of speech is unfamiliar and highly informal. But… relaxing, given the atmosphere.”

Jackson laughed.

“Well I thought I might have some leeway given you’re in my head right now. Speaking of which, aren’t you supposed to be sleeping or something?”

“We sleep in the day. We could be called nocturnal, we believe the term goes.”

He nodded.

“Okay.” His gaze fell back on himself embracing Celestia, and he smiled. “Well I don’t want to be greedy. I imagine you have others to help from nightmares. Hopefully none as grim as me.”

“We- um, I don’t imagine it will.” Luna said. Jackson grinned.

“Good start.”

“We thank thee.” Luna stood. “We bid thee farewell for the night, general. We hope to see you in the morning.”

Jackson nodded.

“Goodnight, Luna.”

With a flash, Luna disappeared from Jackson’s dream, leaving the living room a little bit emptier. Jackson didn’t mind anymore. The world around him shifted back into his home on Earth. He just flipped on the TV and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the familiar place.

---

“Agh… son of a bitch. Why did you let me do that?”

“What was I supposed to do?” Celestia said as she poured Jackson a cup of coffee. “You were already intoxicated when I got there.”

“How bad was it?”

“You were upside down on a keg of beer drinking from the tap.”

Jackson groaned.

“Have I ever told you how thankful I am you people don’t have the internet?”

“No. But we still have cameras.” Celestia grinned. “Fortunately, no one had one. But if it makes you feel any better, you also tried to play guitar.”

“Why on earth would that make me feel better?”

“Because that was before you started singing.”

“Oh Jesus Christ.” Jackson hung his head in his hands. “I’m gonna have to ask you to just stop talking about it at this point. If I hear any more, I’m just gonna resign right here and now.”

“Well we wouldn’t want that.” Celestia said as she sat opposite of Jackson, still in her human form. She grinned mischievously. “What’s a Yellow Rose of Texas?”

Jackson raised his head, confusion across his face. He closed his eyes as he groaned in realization.

“Please tell me I didn’t.”

“You did.”

“Jesus Christ.” He fell against the back of his chair. He waved his arm. “It’s an old as hell song from the Texas Revolution or the Civil War, one of the two. Originally performed as part of an… admittedly extremely racist sideshow performance in black face. With the modern revised lyrics, I thought it was a sweet song about a girl. I always called you that in my head, cause sun and gold and yellow, all that stuff.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe I actually did that.”

“You didn’t sing, to be fair. You just called me Rose more than once.” Celestia smiled. “Also called yourself the next James Taylor.”

Celestia had never seen the man cringe so much. He cussed under his breath and tried to shake the thoughts out of his head.

“When I drink, I turn into this bumbling incoherent idiot. I hate it. Which is why I don’t drink. Because drunk me sings and does kegstands.” Jackson sipped his coffee, trying to wash the thoughts out of his head with caffeine. “At least I went with James Taylor.”

“Was he a singer?”

“Yeah. A great folk singer from the ‘70s. Made a lot of good songs, including the one ‘Carolina on My Mind’ which was the song for the 82nd Airborne in the army, which a few college friends of mine were in.”

Celestia stared at the man across from here, smiling sweetly. Jackson shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts out of his head. He finally shrugged and picked up his fork, poking at the eggs on the plate in front of him. It took him awhile to notice Celestia staring at him.

“What?” He asked, staring innocently.

“You’re just… such a teacher.”

“...What?”

“You just can’t leave something at a simple answer. You explain everything.”

“I do?” Celestia nodded. Jackson deadpanned at the table. “Huh.”

“It’s cute.” Celestia laughed. “It’s also very interesting. I love hearing things about your world. You don’t talk about it too much.”

“Yeah, well it’s a hard topic sometimes.” Jackson shrugged a growing feeling of homesickness. “But sometimes it’s also really therapeutic.”

“Do you think about it often?”

Jackson thought for a moment. He nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I do.” He said softly, staring off into the distance.

Celestia recognized the look of longing for something unattainable. Even after seeing it hundreds of times over her lifetime, it still struck a string of sympathy from her.

“I’m so sorry, Jackson. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be in your situation.”

“It’s fine really.” Jackson smiled. “You already do so much to help me.”

Celestia smiled.

“I’m glad something so simple could help you.” She giggled. “Maybe one day we can get more ponies to join in on the human fun.”

Jackson laughed.

“That’d be an interesting sight.” He shook his head. “Just seeing Lieutenant Shroud stumbling around. Or even Twilight just trying to study herself.” His eyes lit up as he remembered. “Speaking of which, how did she like Ponyville?”

“She loved it. In fact, she’s decided to stay and take over as the new librarian.”

“Not surprising on the librarian part. I take it she meet some people?”

“She did. She made quite a few new friends.” Celestia grinned knowingly. “What did you think of them?”

Jackson grinned.

“How did you know?”

“I saw you hanging outside the window, Jackson.”

“Well, shoo me, I was worried. I’d heard about those woods, and I wasn’t sure it was the safest bet to let them go into the woods unattended.”

“Well they turned out fine. You don’t need to worry so much.”

“Need I remind you of the endless hours of pacing you did while thinking of what would happen if you sent Twilight to Ponyville?”

“I’m her mentor, it’s my job to worry for her.”

“And I’m the guy in charge of her safety. It is literally my job to worry for her.”

Celestia laughed and shook her head. Jackson joined her. It wasn’t often the two got to just sit and talk like this. Usually they were too busy for each other. He just stared at the woman in front of him, smiling. And she smiled back.

“I love you.” The two said in unison.

---

“What do you mean ‘permanent reassignment’?”

“I mean, you two are being stationed in Ponyville as sleeper agents. You’ll report back if anything happens, but other than that you carry on life as civilians.”

“Lieutenant, with all due respect, I have to ask that you reconsider this.”

“My decision is final. Golden Eyes, Time Flash, you two are being permanently reassigned to Ponyville.” Shroud’s tone left no room for argument. “And lighten up. It’s the easiest assignment you’ll ever get. ‘Sit around and do whatever you want but report in when weird stuff happens’. There are ponies that would kill for a position like that.”

“But ‘Time Turner’?!”

“Let. It. Go!” Shroud yelled. “Dismissed!”

The two ponies left the now frustrated lieutenant’s office with reluctant salutes. They excused themselves as they passed Jackson standing outside her office, giving quick salutes before hurrying through the building.

“What were those two grumpy about?” Jackson asked, taking a seat as he came in.

“They’re whining about getting the sleeper job.”

“What?” Jackson scoffed. “Should make them run PT with lead armor for that kind of attitude."

"You worry me sometimes.” Shroud sat back down. “So. Not that I don’t appreciate the distraction, but what are you doing here?”

“Just stopping by.” Jackson shrugged. “Like to check in.”

“I haven’t seen you check in with any other officers ever.”

“Well you must’ve been busy.”

“Uhuh.” Shroud deadpanned. “Well if you’re gonna take up a seat, can you help me with paperwork?”

“That’s no way to talk to a superior.”

“With the amount of stuff you make me do outside of my regular duties, I should have some leeway.”

“...Fair enough. What do you need help with?”

“Inventory.” Shroud sighed. “Going over the paperwork that the other companies’s quartermasters submitted. Making sure their documentation matches ours.”

“Alright, let me take a look.” Jackson reached over and took a few bounded stacks of papers. “Let’s see…”

Jackson thumbed through the pages, watching the page numbers tick up well into triple digits.

“Jesus Christ that’s a lot of paper…” He divided each of the stacks by company, and held the master document in his hands.

“Oh that’s just one company. I’ve got the rest here.”

“Why did I volunteer for this?”

“Because you owe me a lot of favors.”

Jackson grunted. Shroud grinned.

“Look at it this way, that’s one less than before.”

“How many do I have in the first place?”

“Two-hundred and thirty-five.”

“...You’ve kept track?”

“Yup.” Shroud floated up the stack in front of her, scanning the pages. “Now get busy.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Author's Note:

Hey guys! I'm back from a brief hiatus. Spring break happened and I went out of state on a trip and had very little time to work on pretty much anything. (That's a lie. I had an 11 hour bus ride, but it is surprisingly hard to write while on a packed bus during an overnight trip).

Anyway, I know I've just gotten back, but I'm going to put this story on a bit of a hold for a bit. I've not really planned this far, and I want to get a more coherent idea before continuing. I'll be focusing on finishing Blue Moon, which was supposed to be much shorter than it's becoming. Also because I've really wanted to get into Equestria Girls and I want to finished Blue Moon before launching the next story, which is going to take place in the same world.

TL:DR:
Sorry I've been gone from this story. I'll be gone again here soon to focus on Blue Moon before launching another Equestria Girls story in the same world. After a bit more planning, I'll continue this story.

Thanks for reading!

As always I'm still looking for pre-readers/editors/someone to bounce ideas off of. PM me if interested.