37 - Faux Pas, Part 4 of 8
Duster was exhausted; nearly a full day without sleep was not the cause. The exertions he had made in the battle throughout the previous day had sapped the majority of his strength. The lack of rest and food compounded the problem. The one saving grace of their current location was the water they had running past as the shattered remnants of the Assault Corps trudged further into the rocky abyss that was Ghastly Gorge.
He hadn't suffered any injuries worth complaining about, though losing half of his left ear was upsetting. Many others hadn't been so lucky. Of his squad, Gunnysack, Rolling Thunder, and Jewel were holding up well enough, but Locknload and LD seemed unstoppable. That pair seemed bred for war.
A shard of shrapnel had pierced the unicorn stallion's left shoulder, and he had walked for half the day with it imbedded. It must have hurt, but Locknload never even acknowledged it. Beigh's skills were missed, but LD had removed it and used his bandages and knowledge as a medic to bind it well enough.
Gunnysack mentioned that he had last seen their sergeant before he and Rolling Thunder came taken to the rendezvous point. There was an unspoken fear that she was dead.
The unicorns had stopped using their magic to light the way ahead, which made the passage much more difficult. The darkness was miserable. The rain hadn't let up, so now the entire corps was slipping their way through the smooth rocks of the canyon floor as they continued forward into the pitch black. At one point, they practically had to squeeze their numbers through a passage that was barely wide enough for ten side by side.
Flittergear and Scootaloo had exchanged some hushed words about it being a good choke point, but no orders were issued either way. Several hours passed before they finally stopped to rest. The rain also decided that it needed a break; the clouds parted, revealing a waning gibbous moon. It must have been well-after midnight, but Duster had no idea how long it would be until dawn.
The pale moonlight illuminated the Ghastly Gorge, lending a frightful appearance and justifying the name of the place. Shadows against the rock formations made ghoulish shapes that might have stolen one's nerve. All of the soldiers there had been through far too much to give themselves over to such a little thing. The full impact of the day was still trying to register.
"Duster," Captain Scootaloo spoke, getting his attention. "I want to scout ahead a little. Come with me."
"Yes ma'am," he said as he stood and followed her. "Shouldn't we take a unicorn with us, ma'am?"
She didn't look back when she answered, "I don't expect any enemies ahead, but if there are, we'll have to make a hasty retreat. The additional firepower would just slow us down."
He stayed near her, his eyes scanning the obscure passage in front of them; the two walked into it by themselves. This was somewhat disconcerting, as enemies could be sitting only a few yards away without being detected. They passed the bend, leaving the rest of their force behind. As if it were by design, Scootaloo stopped as soon as they were alone. They stood in silence for a long moment. Only the sound of the running water and some nocturnal insects could be heard. The captain seemed to be staring blankly ahead. Duster tried to discern what she might be looking at, but there was nothing there.
"Are you alright?" he quietly asked.
"No." She didn't turn to face him, "No I am not."
A thought immediately jumped into his mind, 'where is Sissy?' He quickly pushed it away. Even if something were wrong, that wouldn't help. Duster felt himself become gripped with fear.
Scootaloo glanced back at him, and the faint hint of her expression was enough to let him know why she had brought him out away from everypony else. She didn't want to be seen.
"Duster," she said, but then hesitated.
"It's my sister, isn't it?" he asked, preparing for the worst.
The moonlight caught the tears that were streaming down the captain's face, and that was the moment when Duster knew. His world had just been turned upside down.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Scootaloo's lip quivered, but she simply reached into one of the pockets in her harness and produced a small bit of cloth. It was Sissy's eye patch, emblazoned with her cutie mark. The threads glittered in the moonlight. It was such a pretty thing to convey such dark news.
Fear was becoming a thing to be managed and fought, but in this case his defenses were insufficient. It was the same as that day in Apple Loosa, when the timberwolves first came. He could almost hear the screaming and feel the sheer terror again. That was when his father had died. Now his sister had also gone. Duster could barely breathe. His heart raced and his blood ran cold. He sat involuntarily for a moment as he tried to gather himself.
"She asked..." Scootaloo began, but then had to clear her throat. "Sparklefly asked me to watch after you. I promised that I would, like you were my own brother."
Even though he had spent the last year harboring little but anger toward his sister, Duster realized that he didn't hate her; he never really had. It was a sorrowful revelation since there would be no way to tell her now. He hated himself for not sending her so much a single crummy letter. The thought of somepony else looking after him, however, was enough to redirect the latent anger at a new target.
He stood and hissed at the captain, "I don't need your pity."
In a flash, her sadness turned to rage and she pushed Duster back and continued to advance toward him.
"I don't care what you want or need," Scootaloo snarled at him. "Sparklefly was my friend, and I was hers." She pushed him again and continued, "We depended on each other, and I'm going to follow through her last request."
The water splashed as Duster backed into it. The captain had a wildly savage look in her eyes as she spoke. It was as if all pretense of civilization had been stripped away, leaving only a ferocious beast. Duster would have been lying if he'd said it hadn't scared him.
"I'm sorry," he said as the fear subsided. "I guess I hadn't thought about my sister having close friends."
Scootaloo turned away from him, facing the bend that led back to the rest of their army. She stood there for a minute.
"I'm the one that should apologize," she finally said. "I think this is the worst day I've had. We got out with less than a quarter of our force. We couldn't stop them with eighty-thousand, how are we going to do any good with only eighteen? I botched things with the griffins... Everything we're working for is falling apart, and I don't even know how many more of my friends are going to die if we fail."
He walked up beside her, not sure what to say. His own emotional state was now rather raw, and he certainly didn't want to provoke another outburst.
"I don't know if you and I can be friends," Scootaloo continued, "But I'm going to do what I can to keep you safe; I have to."
She sighed and sat down. Her shoulders were slumped like a heavy weight was crushing her into the rocky bank of the brook.
Her body language seemed to echo the emotion in Duster’s heart. Still uncertain, he sat down beside her. Duster began to feel like he might fall apart at any moment. It was like his bones were melting away and his muscles didn't have the strength to hold him together.
Scootaloo snorted, "Sparklefly would be yelling at me right now. She'd tell me to get back up and take care of what I've got left."
"It's a small matter," Duster heard himself say vacantly.
"What?" Scootaloo faced him.
He returned her gaze, "That's what she would say. That’s what our dad used to say.”
Through the tears and layers of sadness, Scootaloo smiled at him. Duster swallowed the lump forming in his throat.
"I'm sorry about Beigh," Scootaloo offered.
Duster shrugged, his heart heavy, "Maybe it's better this way. He was a friend, and I miss him, but he would have been crushed if he'd found out..." he couldn't finish.
The stallion, now the oldest remaining in his family, understood the things that would be his responsibility. Truly, that was the smallest weight that upset him. Sissy was dead. Like their dad, she was never coming back. The two sat for a while, he couldn't be sure how long, drinking in sorrow with only the small comfort that they were not alone in their grief.
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More names for the inevitable memorial wall.
8622483
Aye...
It now occurs to me, you never really addressed Scootaloo's family issue. As in whether or not she had one, I feel like her relationship with rainbow dash could mirror itself here. Since rainbow is, if the she is an orphan theory applies, her only real family growing up was Dashie.
8622483
And that is the basis of why replacements joining a unit are not well treated by the veterans.
8756339
1) I tried for a long time to stay with the canon... at least through season 4, which is when I started writing. All the changes that cropped up in season 5 messed that up, so I just stayed the course. That's why her family is never mentioned. They aren't in the show, so I have no idea, so I just left them out. Oddly enough, Cloud Blazer's poor family got the same treatment somehow...
2) Absolutely. It's hard to want to get to know somebody that's likely going to be dead in a matter of hours or days.
8756366
Scoots family has never bean mentioned, that is why everybody thinks she doesn't have one.
8756409
I think the only mention I gave to it was saying that Rainbow Dash had been there for her more than her own family.
And now Duster knows the truth. A little bit late to stop envying his sister, now. I wonder: did he ever know that his sister pretty much saved his life back when he was sick by constantly being at his bedside and noticing when he was starting to ebb away? I can't remember.
8788239
I don't believe she ever mentioned it. The only other one that was likely to have noticed and made mention of that was Beigh... so... I'm going with, Duster never found out.
Yep. It's a personal tragedy for Duster to come to that realization too late to take back the rivalries and bitterness.