Millennia: Eye of the Storm

by Thunderblast

Prologue

Leave wasn't anything new, although medical leave is a whole other story. During this time, ponies are virtually paid to stay home and unwind for a specific amount of time. Needless to say, having been convinced to take time off rather than meeting with the second lieutenant to arrange it all through piles of paperwork feels quite congenial. The downside to it, however, is there was absolutely nothing to pass the time. Nothing entertaining, that is. I suppose this is what it was like for the others who have been put on immediate medical vacation.

Only three days into 'vacation' and the only thing to do is to sit back, watch television, or read books. Those were my options. My doctor demanded nothing overly dramatic is to be done until I get back. This included strenuous physical activities, such as hiking or swimming.

Then again, the only swimming pool I knew of in Canterlot was at the Royal Guard Academy on the palace grounds, and that is obviously off-limits; and only the craziest of ponies hiked the upper portion of the mountain the city rested on, especially this time of year. Perhaps I am better off living here, granted there was nothing I could do to hurt myself, even though I wasn't physically injured anywhere.

Both Doctor Haywalker and I were very well aware it would be a long road to recovery. I couldn't bear to watch any news channels as their big headline remained to be Manehattan Rebuilding, or something related to that matter. The news remained true to its word. Manehattan was, in fact, still picking up the pieces. That is a good thing, right? Well, yes. To many, anyhow. Not for me, it wasn't. Merely hearing the word Manehattan sickened me.

Of course, it is only a matter of time before I have to travel back to that urban jungle for work. I wasn't ready to be discharged from the Marines just yet. Not to mention the help I seeked could only be found at Joint Naval Station Manehattan, where Haywalker was. Strangely enough, mental aid for current and former military members was far and few in between virtually anywhere I look. Maybe I would have to write to the princesses about that. One of them would get the job done, for sure.

I laid on the couch in my apartment, fiddling with a pair of dog tags in my hoof out of pure boredom, my lazy eyes focused on the flat screen television just across the room. Of all of the countless different channels I could have tuned in to, the only one to really keep my interest was the channel that broadcasted 24/7 weather. Strangely enough, weather had always found a way to mesmerize me.

It was only early January, and meteorologists were already discussing the coming hurricane season, a time of year where tropical cyclones plagued the world's oceans, beginning with the Antlertic. The true reason it kept me awake was because the ship I was assigned to sailed out there every so often, and my job is to provide a constant flow of weather reports to my commanding officer, who was also the captain of the L.R.S. Eclipse.

Frankly, its something most sailors would least expect; a Marine performing the duties typically reserved for ponies in the Navy. I don’t think if I had not known Shadow before enlisting that I still would have landed this “rate”, because that is not how it works. The most Marines do on ships is act as a ground protection of sorts for them, such as if the ship is raided. Aircraft carriers, while not entirely defenseless, have mostly anti-air missiles and machine guns here and there, strictly around the lower exposed decks. That said, vessels such as cruisers and destroyers act as the primary protectors of carriers since they have the most firepower.

An audible rumbling emanated from my stomach, startling me slightly while I lay there, relaxed. I sat up and stretched out my hooves, having been jolted from zoning out for who knows how long. My gaze lifted up to a clock on the wall, which read just a few minutes past one in the afternoon. It was then that I decided, it was time to have some lunch.

Thanks to my stupid new mind habits, for the duration of leave, my appetite has downsized greatly and in some cases utterly vanished altogether. As a result, eating has been far and few inbetween for me.

With hunger calling at long last, I slid off the couch and onto all fours. My muscles relaxed standing up, trotting over to a coat hanger beside the door and snatching down a black pocketed jacket in my hoof and began slipping into it, bundling up the buttons to the collar afterward.

I then took a navy watch beanie off of the hook beside it, fitting it around the top of my head and ears comfortably. In Canterlot throughout January, the outside temperatures and accompanying wind gusts were brutal. Being a city built a mountainside has those cons, unfortunately.

As soon as I finished checked over myself, taking my apartment keys and tucking them into a pocket, I strolled out the door into the elements.

Turning to the door as it shut behind me gently, locking up, I paused when the sound of hoofsteps approached from behind. My ear swiveled, head turning to the side and gaze setting upon a tan earth pony mare with a finely-brushed auburn mane and a matching scarf around her neck. I smiled gently, pocketing my keys and shifting to face the mare. "Afternoon, Rose," I nodded once to her.

"Likewise, Star," Rose Shine smiled warmly, reaching the bottom step of the metal staircase. "How have you been doing?"

"All right, I suppose. Could be better. I’ve got eleven days left," I answered with a sigh.

"You don't like leave much, do you?" Rose cocked her head, frowning.

My head shook gently, smile also fading. "To be quite honest with you, no, I do not. There’s nothing to distract myself. Nothing fun, that is.”

"I understand. You know," Rose began, "I'm usually open to hang out, or go out and do something. Maybe we could—"

"No."

Rose's ears perked, her eyes widening. "What?"

Eying the mare carefully, I took in a deep breath and let it out somewhat shakily. "I mean... I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet."

The mare's head dipped a bit, she nodded forbearingly. "Oh."

"I don't want you to be upset, it's just..." I stopped myself, reaching a hoof out toward the mare.

"No, no. Star, I get it. I... messed up. I messed up so badly,” her stare met mine warily. “I understand if you are hesitant to spend time with me. But, I know you are going through some tough times and I won’t force anything. You need your rest, anyways. What happened to you, I know was traumatizing. I may not have been there the whole time, although, it's clear."

"What's clear?" My brow arched.

Her body notably grew tense at that moment. She looked up after briefly lowering her gaze, swallowing. "You are different. The way you stand, the way you talk... even the look in your eyes. You're not the same stallion you were before. Star, you're—"

My hoof lifted, and Rose immediately silenced herself. I shut my eyelids and breathed calmly, the air from my nostrils steaming as it met the nipping cold. There were a few moments of total silence, aside from the occasional whistle of the wind between the buildings where we stood.

Taking in a deep breath, the tan mare let her ears fall a little. "Star, I'm sorry."

I lowered my hoof, slowly looking the mare in the eye. "I am, too."

Rose shifted a bit in her stance, eyes darting off to the side for a moment. "Then I suppose I'll be on my way. Let me... know... when you'll be ready," her ears pinned back some more, and she proceeded to walk around me.

I stood there, staring blankly off ahead of me. The tan mare paused, peeking back over her shoulder, then sighed softly and started down the staircase onto the street.

"Copy that," I muttered under my breath, raising my head to look skyward as little snowflakes started fluttering down to earth from the heavens.

***

Standing in line at a nearby cafe, I looked around the pony ahead of me toward the counter, where the poor cashier received a lecture by an angry customer over the littlest of errors; one and a half sugar cubes instead of just one. These damn nobles in Canterlot are just too difficult to please anymore, it seems.

Eventually, the line did move again, and it came my turn to place an order, setting bits on the counter to pay for it. The cashier rung it up, placing the money in the register, and trotting off to the small kitchen to have the order placed.

I stayed at the counter, staring blankly at the wall behind it and waiting patiently for the pony to return. While waiting, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. Turning to look just to the side and behind me, I found a slightly older stallion than myself in a turtleneck sweater and a scarf, having a rather nervous-looking smile crossing his muzzle was standing there.

"Excuse me, fine sir, but... Are you who I think you are?" he questioned with the faint tickle of nervousness which even I caught.

I blinked a couple of times in bewilderment and twisted to face him directly. "Come again?"

"You are Lance Corporal Star Shooter, if I'm not wrong? In the Lunar Marine Corps?"

Once again, I froze, briefly studying this pony before responding. "How would you make that out?"

"So you are him." His smile grew more, becoming less skittish and more genuine. "You saved Manehattan, and my dear friends who live there. You are a hero, Star."

My eyes grew wide and I motioned a hoof for the pony to lower his volume a bit. "Okay, alright, shhh. No need to speak so loud.” I set my hoof down when he nodded. “Listen, I'm no hero. I just follow orders, like everypony else. I go where they tell me to go."

His smile faded, and instantly, his tone turned grim. "You didn't go to Baltimare."

The sudden change hit me hard. "I was... ordered to stay put." I knew that wasn’t the truth, but it isn’t any of his business.

"And yet you still went into Manehattan with other soldiers and fought back when nopony else would. I would call that heroic."

"Well, you know what? If I could have saved everypony, I wouldn't mind the title much. All I did was shoot at some bastards with territorial issues. When backup finally came to our aid, that's when everything was under control," I snapped, shoving a hoof to his chest and my stabbing gaze impaling him like a pair of sharpened daggers. "Don't believe everything the damn news tells you, you hear me? I didn't save anypony."

Once I had finished, it took me some time to realize the pitiful stallion had recoiled back nearly as far as he could go and was crouching down beneath my pressed hoof. Slowly I lowered it to the floor, eyes widening the moment all was fully realized. I glanced up, noticing the ponies behind us in line, watching with shock at my outburst. I simply stared, without a clue of what to do next.

My focus shifted back to the pony I had gone off on, where I found him to now have blood-red cores that illuminated his sockets. Not just his pupils, his entire eyes!

A sharp gasp of shock slipped out, drawing back from the now-standing pony. As I watched, the stallion's appearance suddenly transformed to one I never thought I would see again.

The unicorn, coat a light yellow and mane orange, donning a uniform like my own, stood there with his ears pinned back all the way. He looked... disappointed.

"Star Shooter..."

My crimson irides shrunk to pinpricks. "No..." I felt my heart completely stop in my chest.

A looming shadow began to creep and overtake my form, darkening it, consuming the shop and everything in it. Everything except for him.

"Staaaar..."

"No... stay back!" I continued to back away from him, heart now pounding away in my chest.

"Star... Why didn't you save me?"

My eyes glassed up with tears. A sense of terror swept across my entire body as the only thing around us was total darkness.

"I-I couldn't... You jumped..." I gulped down a clogging lump in my throat. "You jumped on it. You jumped on the grenade!"

"You could have saved me... You could have saved them."

Even while the yellow unicorn advanced closer, my hooves did not stop. Yet I simply could not get away from him. His eyes glowed in a faint red hue. A sinister red. On either sides of him, numerous other stallions materialized from a blur. Some of them wore sailor crackerjacks; others, Marine Corps blues.

"No... Stop! Please... I don't need this right now!"

My hind hoof slipped off what I found to be a gradually-crumbling steep cliff, leading down into a pit of flowing ichor and whispering shadows. The ponies kept coming closer, some glaring and the rest glowering with disappointment. A letdown caused by me.

I froze in place staring down into the wicked abyss that sent a cold chill running up my spine, before looking up in front of me to meet the ominous burning stare of one particular unicorn.

A fearful whimper uttered in my throat, suppressed faintly by grit teeth, "Please... Solar... I-I'm sorry!" tears streaming down my cheeks endlessly.

Soon, the ponies had formed a circle around me and closed in slowly. They trapped me between them and the terrifying drop at my hinds with no way of escaping. I would be taking the plunge no matter what happened next, and I had no distinct option other than to close my eyes and accept this fate, feeling the combined chill of their ghostly figures pressing up against my body.

I shot up in the midst of a pitch black room, screaming out. My chest heaved, lungs feeling as if they were about to burst under the pressure, and my heart pumped rapidly in my chest. A glaze of tepid perspiration slicked the back of my neck and across my forehead, lightly dampening my unbrushed, mildly frizzled sky blue mane.

My dilated pupils scanned every inch of my surroundings steadily, providing a much needed relief upon realization that it was all just an illusion. It was just a dream...

Sighing out in exhaustion, I let my head fall flat onto the pillow, hooves spread outward on my sides and set my sleepless gaze upon the ceiling while my conscience seeked countless attempts to soothe my perturbed mind.

I need to put an end to all of this. I need to, badly. Just eleven more days to go. You can make it, Star. Everything will be just fine.

Author's Note:

And so Millennia returns...

Comments

[Thunderblast]

7571069 Don't worry, there's no Solar Empire war going on in this universe.