She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

by Backslasherton

Chapter 1

The man stood at the foot of her bed. His grin was relaxed and casual. His clothes were worn, dusty, and faded. His boots were rough, mud stained, and riddled with creases on the toe. His grey pants were bloused over his boots, with mud and dust spots up and down the legs. They were held up by brown leather suspenders with a dark grey metal rectangle under a flap on a holster. The were strapped to a brown leather belt holding pouches with metallic squares sticking out the sides of the flaps and a grey tie draped through the belt. His once white pressed shirt was now a faded tan, with tattered seams around the buttons. A roughly-sewn stitch held together a tear in the right side of the shirt. A matching grey jacket was strewn over the ragged shirt, no better for wear than the rest of his articles of clothing. Patches were sewn on the elbows of the jacket, providing reinforcement. With the rough scratches on them, it was evident that they served their intended purpose well. A tan overcoat was thrown over the jacket, with the bottoms of the long coat a shade darker and lined with small tears and stitches. He smiled and held his arms out to his sides.

Celestia stood up and walked over to him. She looked him up and down. He followed her with his eyes. She walked around him, looking at everything he had on him. His grin faded, and he started turning his head.

“Don’t move.” She quipped at him. He turned back forward, leaving his arms up. She kept circling him. She stopped in front of him. He grinned again, albeit more strained than before. She raised a hoof. He looked at it, and the grin became more strained again. She prodded him in the chest, and he staggered back. He forced a chuckle.

“Hah… Is uh… Is everything alright?” He said. Her horn lit up, and he felt her magic all over. He jumped to the side, and she made towards him.

“What are you?” She started towards him. “Why are you here?”

“Celestia, listen. There’s a very real and very- Woah!” She leaped forward, pinning him to the wall with her magic. “Celestia, please.”

“What are you?!” She yelled.

“It’s me Jack, I swear!”

“He’d dead!” Her horn glowed brighter. “Now who are you?”

“I’m Jackson!”

“I saw his body! He’s dead!” A ball of magic formed in front of the man’s face. “What are you? I will not ask again!”

“It was a cadaver!”

The glowing stopped. The man opened his eyes, looking back at a still very angry princess.

“Explain.” She ordered. He quickly nodded.

“It was a cadaver. From the last mission we did.” He swallowed nervously. “We took a corpse and disguised it to look like myself.”

“How?”

“A specialist. There was a specialist in our platoon that was able to disguise a Diamond Dog corpse as myself.”

“...What was this specialist's name?” She asked. He was breathing heavily, and his neck was straining from pressing against the wall, trying to get as far as possible from her horn as he could. His hands glowed, pinning them to his sides.

“First Sergeant Evening Shroud!” He shouted. The room fell silent. The glow of the matriarch’s horn reflected off the walls of the castle. The yellow light caught the gold trimmings and filled the room with a deep yellow hue. Hoofsteps were echoing down the hall. Muffled voices were audible outside. A knock cut through the silence louder than a gunshot.

“Your Majesty? Did someone call for me?” A voice came through the door. Jackson’s eyes shot to the door. Celestia’s did not.

“One moment please, Lieutenant.” She called back as if nothing was wrong.

“Yes, ma’am.” The voice returned.

“Lieutenant…?” Jackson trailed off. Celestia’s magic enveloped his body and carried him over to a nearby chair. He jerked back as he was thrown into the chair. Her magic remained on his wrists and ankles, securing him in place. He did not struggle, knowing all too well that it was fruitless. She’d shown that to him already.

Celestia walked over to the door, her magic still aglow, and open it.

“Please, Lieutenant, come in.” She stepped aside, an orange unicorn followed. Her red mane was pulled back in a bun and barely noticeable underneath the black beret she was wearing. The beret bore the royal family’s coat of arms on the front. Her navy blue jacket fit well over the white shirt and black tie underneath. The front left side of the jacket was lined with a few medals. The left side of her jacket had just her nametag that read “Evening Shroud”. On the lapels of her coat were pins of two crossed short swords. On the shoulders were epaulettes with a silver rectangle pinned to the edges. The officer saw Jackson and stopped dead in her tracks.

“Your majesty?” She turned to the princess. Celestia took a deep breath.

“Lieutenant, can you tell me what happened on the day of December 14th, 999?”

“Y-Yes, ma’am.” She took a few deep breaths. “Where do you want me to start?”

“From the moment your assignment started to the moment it ended. I want to know everything, with no errors or gaps in the story. Do you understand?”

“Yes, your majesty.” She swallowed. “Well, we first did a briefing in front of the carriages...”

---

-- December 14th, 999. 8:47 AM --

“Alright, we’ll move in through the front entrance here. Intel suggests that a guard is out there at all times, with shifts lasting roughly 4 hours. Sergeant Sky reports that the last guard change happened at 7:32 this morning. That means the current guard should be over halfway into his shift. Intel suggests that at this point, the guards tend to be more lax, with some even sleeping for brief periods.” A pony in the back raised their hoof. “Yes?”

“Sir, will we be taking the guard as prisoner?” The young voice called. Jackson nodded.

“Our current ROE is minimal casualties. We don’t get much intel on these diamond dogs, and we’d like to change that.” The private nodded. “Alright. Continuing on here, we don’t know too much about the interior of the base. It seems that so far, there should be minimal contact down the main corridor for the first 30 meters or so. From there, things get foggy as to what we can expect. This mission will rely heavily on snap decisions and isolated squad orders, that’s why we’re taking a smaller force. Any more questions?”

Nothing.

“Good. Let’s be loaded up and ready to go by 8:55. You have six minutes. Let’s get moving. Dismissed.”

The crowd saluted and wandered off into various parts of the tarmac. Jackson looked down at his watch, and nodded before wandering off on his own.

---

“We didn’t really see the commander until a little after 8:56. Operations control wasn’t really too happy about that, but he said something to one of the logistics officers and they seemed to wave it off.” She looked him up and down. “And it was odd that he came in still in his civies, which was out of character for his normal field gear. I had assumed he had gone to change into BDU, but when he didn’t, I didn’t say anything. I’m sure he had his reasons. He was carrying his duffel bag with him, so there was that. I thought he might’ve changed in his ca-”

“Lieutenant,” Celestia interrupted. “Please, continue with the important parts.”

“Right, of course.” She nodded. “Anyway, we were in the air with little incident and when we landed, he started to round up the squads.”

---

“Alright, Lieutenant Winds, Sergeant Shroud, over here.” Jackson called out. The two came over to him. He was sitting on the edge of the carriage tying his boots, slacks bloused over the top. “I want your squads geared up and ready to move out in five. Our objective is about six clicks out. We’ll hump it through the woods until about 500 meters back. From there we’ll send forward scouts to check out the entrance and report back. Lieutenant Winds, get two volunteers and strip them of any unneeded gear before sending them up. We want them to be fast and quiet. I’ll have my men follow up shortly behind. I want Winds on my left and Shroud on my right. Strict silence the whole way. Any questions?”

Shroud and Winds both rose their hooves. Jackson nodded to Lieutenant Winds.

“How far do you want everyone spaced?”

“Squads 100 meters, individual men 10 meters.” He stood up and threw his overcoat and jacket into the carriage, revealing an M1911A1 in its leather holster.”

“Are you gonna use that thing?” Sergeant Shroud asked.

“If the need arises. Using it would be counterproductive to our objective and it’s loud as shit.”

“Yes, sir.” Sergeant Shroud nodded. Jackson nodded and clipped a bastard sword to his belt.

“I want wide spacing. I don’t want to see three guys get wasted because they were getting cozy.”

“Yes sir.”

“Alright. Brief your squads, sound off when you’re ready to go.”

---

“Sir, the scouts’ report is coming up.” Lieutenant Winds called. Jackson looked up from his map, seeing a pegasus running towards him. He jumped into the dip in the ground, using his wings to silence his fall as he landed beside Jackson.

“Sir.” The pegasus called. “There’s two guards, both talking to each other. The tunnel is somewhat lit, but it’s sloped towards the back, so we can’t see that far back.”

“The guards are talking?”

“Yessir, they’ve been doing it for awhile and are rather deaf to their jobs.”

“Good. We’ll use that.” Jackson nodded. “How far back does the main tunnel go?”

“Roughly 30 meters.”

“Alright. Good work. Head back up and wait for the rest of the group.”

The pegasus saluted and ran back to the front. Jackson waved to the squad leaders, gaining their attention. He raised his index finger and swept it out in front of him, indicated that Squad 1 was to curve around to the side. Still holding one, now on both hands, he spread his arms out, indicating that he wanted them in wide spacing as they moved. He moved his arms down, indicating he wants them to lay low, and he held his finger to his mouth, indicating strict silence. He repeated this hand motion to third squad, receiving nods from both squad leaders. He waved forward, and the squads began to move. He spoke to the ponies around him.

“Wide spacing, move straight ahead. Make an arc with the other squads. We’re going silent as of now. Nod if you understand.” Six heads bobbed. “Get going.”

The force moved forward, a wide circling arc slowly engulfing the camp in front of them. Jackson kept his head on a swivel, keep contact with his team and scanning for sentries in the woods. He made sure to make eye contact with each squad leader every 30 seconds. Once they approached the camp, he raised a fist, and the group stopped. He pointed to himself and waved forward, indicating that he would move forward on his own. He moved forward, crouched with his hand on his sword. As he neared the treeline, sunlight bathed the clearing in a bright glow, letting him see everything with ease.

The Diamond Dogs may be many things, but camouflage masters was not one of them.

The front of the cave was poorly concealed by milled lumber arranged in a grid with small branches thrown over the top. Not inherently terrible, but one would get better results by using more than 2 branches nailed to the boards. Jackson shook his head and laughed internally. He spotted the two guards conversing underneath the coverings. He nodded to himself and slipped back into the shadows of the forest.

He made contact with his squad and waved down the other squad leaders. He waved and the unit moved forward. When they approached the treeline just before the clearing, he halted the group.

“I'm going over to Lieutenant Winds. Hold here. Take charge of the squad.” He whispered to a sergeant in his squad. The pony nodded and Jackson slinked off to his left.

A member of Winds’s squad noticed the man approaching from the side and waved down the Lieutenant. The officers nodded to each other as the commander approached.

“I want you to take your squad in and get those two guards as prisoners. Restrain them and post some guards to hold them outside the cave while we clear it inside.”

“Yes sir.” Winds turned to the rest of his squad and relayed the command through hoof motions. Jackson nodded to the rest of the squad and backed away as they moved toward their objective.

The commander watched as the squad approached the distracted guards. The eight ponies approached, four moved in and to take the guards and the other four swung around to cover the cave entrance. Jackson waved down the other two squads and held his hand up in a fist, telling them to hold.

The squad pulled the guards down and gagged them. Before the dogs even knew what had happened, they'd been bound and thrown to the ground.

Jackson smiled to himself and waved the other two squads in. Lieutenant Winds met the commander as he approached.

“Cave entrance clear.”

“Good. Get your boys ready to go and we'll move in.”

“Yes sir. May we interrogate the prisoners before going in?”

“We don't have enough time. Guard change is supposed to happen soon and we can't risk getting caught. Just get your men prepped to breach.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sergeant Shroud!” Jackson called. The unicorn ran up.

“Yes sir?”

“Get your scouts geared back up. We’re breaching as soon as everyone is set.”

“Got it. Yes sir.”

---

“From there, once we got ready, Lieutenant Winds left four of his squad members with the prisoners and we moved in.”

“And so far you’d had your eyes on the Commander the whole operation?”

“No, I’d focused on my squad for a good portion of the forest. He’d been with his squad, so someone had been with him for the whole time. The only time no one could account for his whereabouts was from after briefing to before takeoff.”

“I see.” Celestia looked to Jackson. His eyes were closed and his head was tilted back against the top of the chair. She kicked him awake, and he jumped in his seat. She gave him an annoyed glared, and he shook his head and looked out the window instead.

“May I ask what is going on, your majesty?”

“Yes, but not at this moment. Please, continue.”

“Well, I guess from there we just went into the cave. There wasn’t anyone in the hallways until we came across what I think was barracks.”

---

Shouting erupted as a wandering Diamond Dog spotted the unit moving down the hallway. He turned around and started yelling down the hall, but was quickly silenced by a knife appearing in his back. He hell forward, still.

“Damn good hits, private.” Jackson said to the pony next to him. The soldier nodded gratefully to the officer.

“Thank you sir.” He walked over and pulled the throwing knife out of the body. Sergeant shroud approached the commander.

“Sir, the whole compound is on alert now.”

“Yeah. I’d imagine so. Tell your men we’re going hard and loud. No use sneaking around anymore.”

“Yes sir.”

“Contact! Infantry twelve o’clock!” A voice erupted from somewhere behind the two.

Jackson snapped his head around. Further down the hall, about twenty feet ahead, was a diamond dog. He pulled a red stick off of his bandolier and flicked a lighter. He lit the fuse and raised his arm back to throw. Jackson pulled his pistol from the holster and fired off three shots in rapid succession.

The diamond dog fell back, but the red stick flew forward a few feet and landed between Jackson and the dog. The commander turned and ran, his sergeant right next to him. The blast followed behind and threw them to the ground. Dirt and rocks flew around, but no one was any worse for wear.

“Where the FUCK did they get dynamite from?” He yelled.

“Is everyone alright?” Sergeant Shroud called out. Various responses of yes echoed back. “And I thought your gun was loud.”

Jackson wearily pulled himself to his feet, the ringing in his ears disorienting him. He stumbled by the crater and came upon the Diamond Dog’s body. He’d been thrown into an awkward position, but intact otherwise. The commander pulled a couple of the red sticks off the dog’s bandolier and inspected them.

“These were made a by a professional.” Jackson said. “Or at least the closest thing to it in Equestria.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Look at them.” Jackson handed them to Sergeant Shroud. “The edges are perfectly glued. Perfectly consistent. There’s no variation in the construction.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means,” The commander was cut off by more shouting.

“Contact! Multiple infantry units, twelve o’clock!”

“It means I’ll have to get back to you on that one.” Jackson holstered his pistol and pulled his sword from the scabbard. “Free to engage! Go!”

---

“We finished rounding up prisoners and clearing out the base. We hadn’t encounter any more advanced tech.”

“Not yet, at least.” Jackson interjected. Celestia shot him a glare. He rolled his eyes and looked out the window, waving for the Lieutenant to continue as best he could with his wrist restrained.

“...Right. Anyway, yeah. We hadn’t encountered anything yet. When we got into the main atrium, we’d found some interesting things.”

---

“Sir. You may be interested in this.” Sergeant Shroud said. Jackson nodded followed her.

“Alright. What is it?”

“We found these crates. There’s two identical to this one. We think it may be from their explosives manufacturer.”

“Alright. Open it. Gently.”

Two privates came up, holding crowbars. They wedged them underneath the lid and pushed. With a creak and a pop, the nails came loose from the wood. The two threw the crowbars aside and gently lifted the lid, and Jackson peered in.

---

“It was a huge frickin’ bomb.” Jackson said. Celestia glared at him. “How long are we going to do this for?”

“What was in the crate, Lieutenant?” Celestia asked, eyes still on Jackson. The man rolled his eyes dramatically.

“It was a bomb, your majesty.” Shroud said. “And yes, it was a rather large bomb.”

“Staff Sergeant Forest then found the plans on the table that outlined an attack on Ponyville that would’ve taken place during the Summer Sun Festival. The three bombs would be placed in strategic locations to kill you, your sister if she did indeed return, and as many civilians as possible.”

“I don’t remember asking you for your input, sir.” Celestia shot back. Jackson groaned.

“Sergeant?”

“Lieutenant, and yes. It was Staff Sergeant Forest who found those exact plans.”

“And then what did I say?”

“Well the commander gathered the high ranking members of the unit.”

---

“Alright. I think it’s obvious at this point that we’re not dealing with amateurs at this point. We need to start interrogating everyone in this camp and find where this bomb maker is. So pair up or go solo, I don’t care, but you need to get some of these guys and start grilling them. Light a fire underneath them, threaten to lock them away forever, tell them the extent of their punishments for this crime, I don’t care. Just get them talking. Got it?”

“Yes sir.”

“Get going. We’re on the clock. Shroud!”

“Yes sir?”

“Get your scouts from earlier. Send them to the convoy and get that garrison unit here ASAP. They also need to tell mission command that we’ll be staying for longer than planned.”

“Yes sir.” She saluted. Jackson walked off and grabbed an important looking diamond dog by the collar they wore around their neck. He dragged the dog behind him, the dog writhing around violently as he choked for air. The commander didn’t drag him far, just into the other room. He dropped him to the ground and put his sword to the dog’s neck.

“I want you to take a good look at the situation you and your men are in right now. Then I want you to ask yourself if this is what you all want to be in for the rest of your short lives. If the answer is no, you will answer my questions clearly and quickly and you will not lie. Nod if you understand.”

The dog nodded slowly.

“Good.” Jackson sheathed his sword and walked in front of the dog. “Now. State your name.”

---

“We’ve got him!” Jackson yelled. He walked into the atrium, grin on his face. The high ranking members from before came over to him. “Some high-horse pony that thinks he can destroy Equestria.”

“That’s good news. Where is he?” Lieutenant Winds asked.

“Yakistani mountains.” Jackson said. The officers stared in disbelief.

“Yakistan?” Sergeant Shroud asked.

“Yes.”

“Outside of Equestria, Yakistan?”

“Yes.”

“Outside of our jurisdiction, Yakistan?”

“Yes.” Jackson nodded. “I didn’t say it was the best scenario, but we do know where he is.”

“We’ll never be able to get permission for a mission like that.”

“I know. That’s why I have a plan.” He turned to the orange mare next to him. “Can you disguise a corpse?”

Her face contorted into a look of confusion and minor disgust.

“I suppose I could, yeah. Why do you ask?”

“I need to die.” Jackson said. All the ponies surrounding him took a step back, confusion and surprise mixing all at once. Jackson looked around, more confused. “Probably should’ve worded that better.”

“What are you talking about?” Shroud asked. “You want us to kill you?”

“No, that’s not what,” He sighed. The commander kneeled down to the orange mare and whispered. “Eve, I need to die so that I can go after the bomb maker myself.”

“Why?”

“Because if I’m dead no one will think anything is wrong when I’m gone for an extended period of time trying to hunt down this guy.”

“Why not just inform the department and send a squad after him?”

“Just think about it. An Equestrian special forces military operation illegally operating in another nation’s borders. That department can’t know that. Because there’s a chance that someone will let it slip, and that could spark a war.”

“But you’re the commander in chief of the department. You can just inform a special council or something.”

“What do you think I’m doing?”

“Sir, I don’t count.”

“Well then I’d best tell the rest of the officers and NCOs behind me.”

“Sir…”

“Can you do it, Eve? That’s all I need to know.”

The orange mare hesitated, but eventually nodded. Jackson clapped her on the shoulder.

“Alright.” He stood back up and addressed the rest of the group.

“First Sergeant Evening Shroud will disguise a diamond dog corpse to look like myself. Upon returning to base, the fake corpse will be dressed in my BDUs and I’ll be officially marked as dead. I’ll then go solo after the bomb maker in the mountains to limit any risk of political backlash. Worse case scenario, I’m a meddling alien who’s imprisoned for life.”

“When will you return, sir?” Lieutenant Winds asked. Jackson shrugged.

“Don’t know. Depends on how long it takes. If three months goes by and you still haven’t heard from me, make the call that I’m not pretending anymore. At that point, you can do the will reading or whatever you want to do. Any questions?”

A few ponies raised their hooves.

“None? Good. Return to your squads and prep them for the return trip. First Sergeant, come with me.”

---

“First Sergeant Evening Shroud then took a corpse and used her magic to disguise it as myself and it was sent back in a body bag. I went to Yakistan, found the bomb maker and took care of him. As it turns out, though, there was a little more to it than just him.”

“How so?” Lieutenant Shroud asked. Celestia glanced at her, and the orange mare looked down. “Sorry.”

“He had associates.” Jackson said, trying to take the attention off of the Lieutenant. “They were then promptly taken care of.”

Celestia was quiet, and wasn’t glaring at anyone this time. Jackson smiled a little at that. She stood and walked over to the otherside of the room.

“That’ll be all for now, Lieutenant.” She called. The Lieutenant and the Commander made eye contact. He nodded and she left.

“Good to see you, sir.” She whispered to him as she left.

“You too.” He whispered back.

The opened and closed the door gently, hardly making a sound.

“You’re too hard on her.” He said at last.

“You lied to me.” She shot back.

Jackson went quiet. He sighed soft and leaned his head back. The silence of the room sat heavy, like a weight on his whole body.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

The glow on his wrists faded away, but he didn’t move.

“No lover has ever been able to hurt me more than my past has.” Celestia said. “You’re a man of many firsts, Commander Douglas.”

He didn’t speak.

“I suppose you’ll be reporting to duty tomorrow morning, Commander?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Don’t be late.” Celestia walked out of her chambers. “Have a nice day, Commander.”

Comments

[Arez]

Ooo a rewrite!

[Winter Eclipse]

Damn, what a ice queen

[Chronoimpared]

Cold as ice. Yeesh.

[Backslasherton]

8726595

8655058
Yeah, she's cold but like, come on. He let her believe he was dead for months, without saying anything. I think anyone would be pretty upset.