All's Fair in Love and War

by SeaBreeze173

Chapter 4

I briskly trotted along the sidewalk on Lady Bug Lane to the little blue house on the cul-de-sac, my mind mulling over what I’d say to my father when I saw him. I figured the best course of action would be to go home and cool off a bit before going to Fort Tacoma. Waiting until he arrived home in the evening would certainly make me loose my nerve.

Having arrived home after 9pm the previous night, I decided to stay at a hotel in the city. I knew Sterling wouldn’t appreciate me waking him so late and frankly, I wasn’t so eager to be on the receiving end of his anger, what with me being exhausted as well.

I picked up the spare key from under the flower pot under the front window and unlocked the front door. After replacing the key in the place it had lived in for all of my twenty-one years, I walked into the house and made my way up the stairs to my bedroom. I dropped my saddlebags by the door and stumbled over to the bed, face planting into my multitude of pillows and blankets.

---

I stood outside the gates of Fort Tacoma. It was just after one in the afternoon, Sterling’s lunch hour. I took a deep breath and exhaled. I rolled my shoulders and fixed my mane. I was stalling. One part of me wanted to go in there and demand answers. The other part wanted to run home, grab my saddlebags and hop on the next train to Manehattan.

“No, Aggie,” I reprimanded myself. “You are going to march to Sterling’s office and get answers,”

I started forward and stopped at the gate. On the other side stood a stallion with the insignia of a sergeant major. I wondered why a sergeant major was standing guard at the front gates. Usually lower ranks did gate duty.

“Can I help you?” he said.

“I’m Fire Agate. Colonel Sterling Silver is my father. I have a meeting with him,”

“Colonel Silver is your father?” the stallion looked at me. He was a big blue earth pony with red eyes, a purple mane and tail and had a spear cutie mark. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him.

“Yes, sir,” I nodded. The sergeant major continued to stare me down until a flash of recognition went across his eyes.

“Fire Agate, I should have known,” he said, a slight smile curling his lips. He opened the gate and ushered me in. “Sergeant Major Comet Walker. You don’t remember me, I’m sure, but I have met you a few times” he extended a hoof. I touched my hoof to his and smiled.

“You’re father is a good stallion,” Comet Walker nodded. I bit my tongue at the comment and hastily replied,

“Yes, he is,”

“Wait here, I’ll get somepony to escort you to your father’s offices,” the blue stallion trotted to a building a few yards from the gates and soon came out with a burgundy earth pony mare with an amber colored mane and tail. She was much smaller than I, closer to Topaz’s height. Suddenly it hit me.

This was a mare.

In the Army.

A military mare, who just so happened to be at the same base as Sterling Silver.

“Lance Corporal Sweet Spot, escort Miss Agate to Colonel Silver’s office,” the sergeant major said to the burgundy mare.

“Yes, Sergeant Major, sir. Follow me, ma’am,” she said. I nodded and smiled to the sergeant major once more and followed after the little Army mare. I wondered what my father thought about having a mare on base. The thought of him having to live with a mare on his base made me giggle.

The lance corporal glanced back at me and stopped, turning around to face me.

“N-not to be rude or a-anything, but, why are you laughing at me?” she peered at me. “It’s because I’m short, isn’t it?”

I shook my head. “No! No, I’m not laughing at you. I laughing at my situation,”

Sweet Spot tipped her head to the side in confusion.

“You see, my father, he’s…not the biggest supporter of mares being in the military. I think it’s funny that you are at the very base that my father is in,”

“Oh,” the lance corporal blinked. She turned and continued down the path. “The Colonel has never spoken of his opposition for mares in the military; at least I haven’t been made aware of it,”

“Is it becoming more common now?” I asked, curious as to if I could use this knowledge to my advantage.

“Mares are still rare. I’m the only one at this base, however, there are several within the Army. I’m not all-together sure about the other divisions, though,” Sweet Spot frowned.

We walked along the pathway for several more minutes, going past barracks, the mess hall, a running track and several other buildings.
Eventually we came to a large, rectangular building at the rear of the base. Sweet Spot led me inside and turned left. We walked past several doors, stopping at the last one on the right. The words “Colonel Silver” were on a gold plate nailed into the wooden door.

“Here you are. I hope your meeting goes well,” Sweet Spot nodded before trotting back the way we’d come.

I lifted my hoof to knock, stopping right before it touched the door. I felt my heart start beating faster and my mouth went dry. C’mon now, Aggie. You’ve made it this far. Don’t be a chicken.

I steeled my nerves and knocked confidently.

“Come in,” I heard Sterling’s voice say.

I turned the knob and opened the door. My father had his head bent over, looking at a bunch of papers spread across the desk before him.

Sterling lifted his head and his eyes went wide. It was the most surprised I’d ever seen him in my life.

“Hello, Pa—Sterling,” I quickly corrected myself. I didn’t know why I nearly called him Papa.

Sterling pushed his chair back and stood. His face had mostly returned to the way it usually looked, but his eyes still held the surprise.

“Agate, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Manehattan? Is Penelope alright?” His voice was laced with concern and it caused me to pause.

“Penny is doing great; at least she was when I left. She had a filly, Morning Glory, and a colt, Boulder Moss,” I said cautiously. This was going much better than I originally thought it would, but I was treading with care.

“But what are you doing here? It’s barely been four days. You, your mother and sister aren’t due back for another week,” Sterling went on, though I caught a hint of a smile went I mentioned that he had a grand colt.

“I came back last night,” my tail swished as I rubbed my left hind leg against my right. “I needed to talk to you,”

If Sterling wasn’t surprised to see me when I walked in, he certainly was now. He peered at me for several moments before motioning to a chair in front of the desk. “Have a seat,”

“I would prefer to stand, if I may,” I said.

“As you wish,” Sterling said. His voice was beginning to take on its gruff tone it usually had whenever we spoke. “So, what is so important that you had to come back to Whinnyanapolis a week before you’re supposed to?”

“I needed to talk to you about…us,”

My father raised a brow. “Us?”

“Yes, us. Our relationship. We haven’t been able to share a word with each other in over six years without having a fight. Ever since I voiced my wish to join the guard,”

“We’ve talked about this, Agate,”

“No, we haven’t,” I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer the desk. “We have had fights, we have shot glares at each other from across the room, and we broke Mother’s dining room table, but we have never ‘talked’.”

Sterling peered at me, silent. Finally, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his hooves.

“Okay then. Let’s talk.”

Author's Note:

Character credit goes to Kydois for letting me use their OC Sweet Spot in this chapter. Sweet Spot will be seen again in future chapters.

Comments

[ponybird21]

Excellent!

[SeaBreeze173]

7749926 Thank you! I'm happy to be back to writing.