Memories

by HuskSummers

A Wall Torn Down

Author's Note: I'd like to apologize once again for all the time that I have taken in writing and not writing this story along with my other fics. Life has taken its toll on my ability to have time to write, and I won't promise anything, but I will do my best in trying to get more written soon. But, as the author Rust can tell you, the schooling I'm going through is no joke, and it requires many hours of dedication, oft consuming any time you thought you had free.

As always, please leave me constructive criticism in the comments, especially now as I try my best to shake off the rust of nearly a year-long hiatus from writing. As such, i must apologize before hand for the shortness of this chapter. I felt that if i did not cut it where i did that it would go on forever.

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On those nights when you want nothing more than to slip into a peaceful slumber, your mind has a way of running through every possible thought, every scenario, that could keep you awake. There were far too many players in the game. Some were bound to be merely pawns, and others the one moving them about the board. The question that bore down on me the most was how many pawns would they have to sacrifice for their happy ending?

After laying down for several hours to no avail, I finally gave up on slumber, and stood. The small tent that Crazy Ghost had afforded me was just big enough that I could comfortably stretch before donning my armor and heading out into the camp. However, as soon as I stepped through the flaps of my tent, I found Dizzy waiting.

“Here are our orders from General Crazy Ghost. I have agreed to serve under you…” Dizzy did not speak with enthusiasm, but at least his grudging acceptance was still acceptance. He would not be giving me any troubles, or at least that’s what I hoped.

“Thank you Dizzy. You are a great warrior, and I do not want you to look poorly upon your performance against me,” I said, trying my best to win him over. I’d be compassionate, as I would with any of my soldiers. If that didn’t work I would end up having to be a little more assertive in our interactions.

Without waiting for a response from the wolf, I opened up the orders. I looked to Dizzy as I finished reading.

“Did the general give you any indication as to what we would be doing?” The question was no sooner out of my mouth than he responded with a quick shake of his head. Good...that meant everyone would get the news together. “Thank you for delivering these. Now, if you could round everyone up and gather them by the grandfather tree near the Circle, we can get on our way.”

Dizzy faltered for a moment. “Who taught you of the grandfather trees?” It seemed an innocent question, but it brought up a good point, a point that I had to think quickly to deflect.

“General Crazy Ghost brought up the name in passing as we spoke yesterday,” I lied to the beastly wolf. Thankfully he accepted what I said without question, at least without questioning aloud, and he took off to do as I had asked.

Due to the nature of my team General Crazy Ghost had put all our tents in the same general location, so I did not have to wait long for the team to assemble. Shirotora was the first to appear, seemingly out of nowhere as he is wont to do.

“So Wolfie...what are we going to do today? The same thing we do every day?” The sudden appearance of the large cat nearly made me jump out of my skin. Upon looking at him, I realized he was smiling. It had been his intention to scare me, and even without a true reaction he knew it had worked. I put a hoof to my face and shook my head, both amused and bemused by the character I was quickly coming to know.

“Where did that nickname come from?” The way he had casually said it seemed natural to him, as if he’d said it many times before, and so I couldn’t just let it go without question.

“Chaos magic...it just felt fitting. It feels especially fitting now after seeing your reaction,” he teased. I shook my head at his antics...this kitten was going to give me many headaches.

“Don’t call me that,” I told him, but then I thought about it for a moment and amended, “You’ll do it anyways...so at least try to keep it to when the troops aren’t around.”

“Aye aye Sergeant Wolfie,” Shirotora answered in an overly serious tone, punctuated by a salute. I turned away from the predator in exasperation, just barely running into Quicksilver, our noses touching. The pair of us froze, unable to react to the situation that had just presented itself until we got a little incentive in the form of Shiro clearing his throat. Just as suddenly as it had happened, we back away from one another, nearly falling over ourselves doing so.

My cheeks burned and this worsened upon seeing the grin plastered on Shiro’s face. I didn’t have the heart to look at, or speak to, Quicksilver as we waited for the rest of the team. By the time everyone had arrived, I had finally managed to regain my own composure. “Soldiers, I’ve got our first orders. Today we are to move ahead of the Lupine, further into the Everfree, scouting during the day to help set up the night time movement of General Crazy Ghost’s forces. Any questions?” When none came, I turned around, motioning for them to follow.

“Stonewall, you’ll be on point to start. Rhetoric, you keep him company up there. Quicksilver and Dizzy take the middle. I’ll bring up the rear with Shirotora,” I laid out the plan as we walked to the edge of the clearing in the direction we would be advancing. Shiro and I would take the rear guard positions due to the fact that it was the most dangerous assignment in a scouting mission like this. Especially with the Lupines’ affinity for taking out the rear of an opposing force first.

With our orders given and the mission planned, the we moved into the brush of the Everfree. After several slow hours of moving through the heavy brush, keeping alert for any possible sign that NLR forces were in the area, we became relaxed and started to casually speak to one another.

“Hey Seargent! I watched ya fight Dizzy yesterday. Yer gonna have to do better than that if you want to beat me,” Stonewall cockily shot back over his shoulder.

“Is that right? Well, you’re lucky I took it easy on you last time,” I returned with a laugh. The moment that he turned his head to respond was the moment that everything ground to a halt. His expression changed instantly to surprise and then to determination as he launched himself into the much smaller Rhetoric. As Rhetoric went to the ground, he was cast into shadow by multiple forms leaping at the large earth pony.

Before I could react to help, I instinctively brought my clawed hoof up to my right. My leg was jammed into its socket by the force of the Lupine warrior impaling himself upon my blades. With the first one down, I turned to see two more approaching with caution. They didn’t want to make the same mistake that their predecessor had, but they had to act, and I forced them to by running at them.

As they leapt into the air towards me, I tucked into a roll, blade flashing out and gutting one of the two before launching myself shoulder first into the other’s exposed underside. The pair of us tumbled a short ways, but I ended up with the advantage and my blades sliced through muscle and tendons, crippling his left hind leg. “Yield now!” I ordered him. I did not want to kill him. It would not be honorable, and it would be a senseless death, however his warrior pride, his Lupine pride, would not allow that, and so he mustered the little strength he had left and ran towards me, fangs bared. I met him and gave him the death he had been looking for. It was clean, and he brought great honor to his clan.

As I finished off the last of my three opponents, I turned my gaze to the others. I could see them all, holding their ground...all except Stonewall. Rhetoric stood, wielding his magic to cut down foes at the same time as he wielded his claws, but he couldn’t seem to do it fast enough to reach the overwhelmed earth pony that had saved his life. I did my best, rushing to their side, taking two by surprise. In the process a third attacked me from behind, but before I could deal with him, a set of blades impaled him from behind. I swiftly ended his suffering with a swipe that went clean through his neck.

This was the last of the enemies, and as I he fell, I quickly went to help in evaluating the damage done to Stonewall. His wounds were many, and while most were shallow and forgiving, others were sure to be deadly if he didn’t get treatment fast. Seeing his wounds suddenly sent flashes of similar wounds upon my own body from when I was a Lupine, falling to those wounds, and reawakening in a small hut being taken care of by a wise mare.

“I know of only one person qualified to heal him this far into the Everfree,” I said as I looked to the rest of my team. Shiro’s eyes seemed to light up in understanding. We needed her brand of witchcraft.

We needed Zebra magic.

Comments

[Awkward Elipsis]

Your writing seems just fine, no big errors that stick out to me. Still shocked you got Shirotora in your story and Waya in Shirotora's story.

Glad to see you writing this again, and always remember, real-life troubles first.

[shirotora]

Great chapter. Glad to see you're back. Don't worry about taking too long with the next chapter. I remember how hard it was at NNPTC. With the homework, uniform care, and regular classes, I barely had time for things like stories, games or porn family friendly movies.

[HuskSummers]

4453088

Thank you! I appreciate the support!

4455879

Yes...the program is rather insane. But this gives me a new stress relief valve, so hopefully I get back into the swing of things.

[Blue Streak]

i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/3130299904/hE600F47D/
Thanks for the new chapter.

“Stonewall, you’ll be on point to start. Rhetoric, you keep him company up there. Quicksilver and Dizzy take the middle. I’ll bring take rear guard with Shirotora,”

I don't think that's right.

[Hekate Sketch]

Lol, I was planning on reading this after reading Chaotic Harmony the first time around, but uh.....forgot to fave it . I will read this Now! or rather get as far as possibru before getting on WoW.

[Hekate Sketch]

So! I'm caught up now, and as said before by others IRL first, then fics. I'm actually happy this isn't over yet, because it means I get to be one of the first few to comment on new chapters, and be Simmons when it comes to saying how much I like the fic.