The Ghost of Cozy Glow the Second Story

by SapphireRose87

14) Qualifications

Shining Armor wanted me to start my new job as general the very next day but in reality a new job title doesn’t really start until a week later. Of course Shining Armor knows that but a lot of soldiers don’t. A lot of them think the very next day means the very next day. The fact that the new job title doesn’t start until a week later I had some time to think about what to do with Jasper and Olivia.

Jasper was stunned when I made him my second in command and Olivia was pissed. I totally understand that. I would be pissed too if someone that looked like a bad worker got the higher job title over you because you feel like a better worker. Just because you feel like you’re the better worker doesn’t mean it’s true. That’s what happened with Jasper and Olivia. Even though it looked like Olivia was the better soldier even though she rushed to my aid several times. I looked at her success rate only to find out that she wasn’t as great of a soldier that she appeared to be.

I probably should have called her into my office to explain why she didn’t get the job title right after I announced Jasper as my second in command. The reason I didn’t do that was because every soldier gets their progress report at the end of every month. I figured she had read it and knew how she was doing at her job. Her reaction to my decision to make Jasper second in command gave me a sneaking suspicion that she might not have read her report. I wished she would have read it then she might not have been so pissed off. I read her report and it was a big surprise to me at how poorly she was doing.

I had to follow the guidelines of what to do with them. The guidelines for giving a soldier a higher job is based on whether a soldier has an 85% success rate or higher then they are recommended for a job promotion. A success rate is based on how well a soldier does in completing missions. Most ranks completing missions involve working with a team. If a higher up puts in a job recommendation and if it is approved then the soldier is placed at that rank. However the rules for that state that a soldier can turn down the higher job title only three times. After that happens it is brought to the commanders attention that the job titles had been turned down three times. The commander then gives the soldier another chance to accept the higher job title. If the soldier does not accept the job title then their case is brought to a person or pony of royalty’s attention. After that person review’s that soldier's case and sees that the soldier has turned down the higher job title they can only force the soldier to take the job title that is the next rank up.

That’s what happened to me. Actually I was recommended for the job of lieutenant but I turned it down three times. It was brought to my commanders attention and I still turned it down. That’s when my case was given to Princess Twilight; she can only force me to take the next rank up. The funny thing was before she found out about it she had been pushing me to consider to take the job of knight of the royal court she claimed it was because I had won five medals just by being a cadet alone and to add onto that I’m the little brother of a legendary death walker. When she found out I wouldn’t take the job recommendation of lieutenant she seized the opportunity to make me take the job of knight of the royal court. So I got forced to be a knight of the royal court because I was still cadet when I got the recommendation. Even though I got a higher job title that I didn’t want in the first place, I didn’t want a higher job title because I was in denial about everything that I had accomplished.

There is a way that a soldier can possibly keep from getting a job promotion is that they do a recording with their superior stating that they don’t want to be considered for job recommendations. But if a soldier has a success rate of 90% or more the statement doesn’t stay in the file. Unfortunately a lot of soldiers don’t know about that rule because it’s considered classified information for some reason. That’s what I tried to do and didn’t find out about that rule until after I became a general.

The reason I tell this story is that the same thing that happened to me, happened to Jasper. His success rate was high like mine was. His success rate was 90%, my success rate was 95%. I looked at his progress reports and found out that he had been recommended for lieutenant also. He didn’t get the job of knight of the royal court until he was forced to take it. I also saw on his progress report that he had won two medals. But it doesn’t mean that you have to win medals just to get a higher job title recommendation. Since a success rate is based on completing missions Jaspers success rate was very high at 90%. He also did the same thing I did in recording a statement but since he had a success rate of 90% it got tossed out of his file. He doesn’t know that because only the rank of general and higher ranks know that information. His success rate stayed at 90% until I came along. My guess is he used the fact that I was a new death walker to start messing up on his missions. That didn’t really do much to drop his success rate. It only dropped to 85%.

After I saved him, for some reason he started doing better at his job again. The funny thing is that I don’t know why he decided to do better but he tried to make another statement with John stating he didn’t want anymore job recommendations again. The fact that John kept threatening to have him sacked was really an empty threat. It was a ploy to get his success rate back up to 90%. That’s because 85% or higher is not grounds to sack someone. There are two reasons a soldier can get sacked, the first is if they let their success rate drop below 50%, the other reason would be if they get four reports filed against them. If either one happens then soldiers superior has to have them sacked, and it’s out of their hands at that point.

Jasper was the kind of soldier that didn’t want to get sacked if he had a thing or two to say about it. I could see that from the first day I met him. That’s too bad because for some reason after I saved him and started doing better at his job his success rate went up from 85% to 95% and that’s pretty hilarious to me. If you ask me he should’ve kept screwing up on his missions, but he didn’t screw up bad enough to keep from getting a job recommendation to get promoted.

Since he started doing better on his job and got his success rate back up, he probably would’ve got a higher job title even without my help.

It’s too bad I won that duel with Shadow Mist and the fact that he was my former teammate got him the job of second in command because I figured it was time for him to face the music just like I had to when I became general. That’s why I gave Jasper the job of second in command.

As far as Olivia goes, before meeting her when she was a cadet her success rate was 50% and getting ready to drop lower. For some reason she decided to improve on her success rate and to her superiors surprise it went up 85%. However, when she was made knight of the royal court her success rate went back down to 50%. She was very close to getting sacked until she was assigned to work with me and Jasper and her success rate went up to 75%. When I looked at her progress report I kind of saw a pattern to her success rate. It drops really low to the point of getting sacked then goes back up, gets promoted, her success rate goes back down to the point of almost getting sacked, before that happens she improves on her success again. I thought long hard about what to do with her. I even spoke to Shining Armor about it when I went to go pick up my seventh medal and he told me the same thing after I won the duel with Shadow Mist, do with my teammates what I see fit to do with them. I really couldn’t decide what to do with her so I flipped a coin to decide her fate.

That probably wasn’t the best way to go about it, but the coin flip worked in her favor. I did that because when I was growing up I was told if you can’t decide to flip a coin.

I decided to try and get her the job title of sergeant. The reason I say this is because I talked to Second Luke, and Commander Rainbow Dash and in seeing that Olivia was my former teammate they made an exception and let me give her the job title of sergeant. We all figured that if she got promoted she would get the 10% for the job promotion sooner or later. In looking at her progress report I saw the pattern and I was hoping that getting promoted to sergeant would help her break the pattern. That wasn’t the case because soon after being made sergeant her success rate dropped 60% and started to go lower. Unfortunately if a soldier let’s their success rate drop to 60% and below after at least two months after the job promotion they are pulled into the office three different times to give them warning about it. After the third warning if their success rate does not go up the higher job title is taken away and they. They are demoted back to cadet status.

Right after Olivia became knight of the royal court and her success rate dropped back down to 50%, John tried everything he could think of to help her get her success rate back up before she got sacked. He sat down with her several times and the conversations went on for a while, he gave me the recordings of them and showed them to me. John even got the bright idea when I came along to assign her to work with me. His reason was that since I was announced as a new death walker and dare I say it ‘handsome’ that she would want to show off in front of me and that would get her success rate back up. It looked like it worked because it went up 75%. When she became a sergeant and let her success rate drop again, and to 60%. Her two months to improve weren’t up yet, so I had warned at least two times. I wasn’t sure if I’d get a chance to give Olivia her third warning when she got three reports filed against her. It looked like she would be getting her fourth report very soon.

However, after I gave Olivia her the job of sergeant and Jasper the job of second in command she started to act out and didn’t do her job to the best of her abilities. I tried the same thing John did but nothing worked, she continued to act out. When she got her third report filed by Second Luke I tried the next best thing, yelling at her.

Not to mention before I stood up for her when the other sergeants were bad mouthing her behind her back. I would say something to the effect of she’s just having a bad day. Things like hoping that it would stop the other sergeants from complaining about her. I could tell that they were thinking that the day I had to sack her would be coming around the corner very soon. I did not want to think about that at all. Every time the thought came up, I just put it in the back of my mind hoping that it would never happen.

As far as jobs go, I also had to worry about my death walker training. Sunset made good on her word that I wouldn’t be able to forget about that training. On one of my off duty training days Sunset came to base and took me to the training simulator. I stood there looking at it with confusion.

“What’s this all about Sunset?” I said. “This simulator is only for hand to hand combat! I’m not even at the highest level on it yet. Not to mention I haven’t even bumped up the strength on any of the enemies yet. I just don’t think I’m ready for that yet, which is probably why I’m not that good at hand to hand in real life. Come to think of it, I only use this just for fun sometimes. Especially on Betty’s birthday!”

“Yeah I know,” said Sunset, “but this is actually the perfect tool for your death walker training! And since you need to be at your full strength to be able to defeat enemies in real life I'm putting the strength for them to maximum!”

My jaw dropped when I heard this and I had a pit in my stomach too.

“You’re joking right?” I said. “Please tell me you’re joking! If you’re not I’m sorry about not being able to train with you! Seriously I am! Please accept my apology!”

“Oh no need to apologize Norman,” Sunset laughed, “I understand that life as a general is completely hectic! But you just can’t help but push yourself so this should be a piece of cake!”

“Yeah whatever you say,” I said, “unless you’ve decided to try and kill me today!”

Sunset cracked up, “No, but it’s good a thing we have a barrier set up to protect the spectators.”

I looked around and sure enough a crowd of people were watching what was getting ready to take place. When Sunset saw the look on my face she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hopefully they’re here for you?” I said.

“Nope,” said Sunset, “it’s not me it’s for you! Why else would they show up?”

I rolled my eyes and thought, I can’t win can I?

“Let’s see here,” said Sunset, “other than putting the strength of the enemies on max I’ll put it on expert level. And I’ve added 14 more levels for you to go through after you master this one. This should get your death walker abilities up to par and will come in handy one day.”

“How many enemies do you expect me to fight?” I said.

Sunset had an evil smile on her face, “Hum, I think that I’ll put the enemy count to five hundred.”

“Yeah,” I said, “and you’re not trying to kill me today! Is it because you’re not getting enough sex lately or something?”

Sunset couldn’t help but laugh at that remark. “No, I’m fine in that regard, but thanks for asking! Like I said, you need to get your death walker abilities up to par. When I say that, use your death walker abilities only! Got it?”

“I got it!” I said.

“Good,” said Sunset, “now let’s begin!”

When the simulator started the enemies advanced quickly. The first attack that came out of me was the darkness power and I used it to create a smoke screen. The smoke screen attack only lasts for a few minutes so I had to use that to take down as many of the enemy out as possible. Then, for some reason an iron chain with a blade at the end of it appeared wrapped around my wrist.

Huh, I thought, that’s new!

“Looks like you have a new attack,” said Sunset, “when did that happen?”

“Just now!” I said.

“Well,” said Sunset, “let’s see what you can do with it!”

It turns out that it was a long range attack. I could use my wrist to shoot the iron chain and it took down ten enemies all by that attack alone.

“A long range attack!” Sunset said. “Nice, very nice!”

Then came the attack that I really hated the most, the fire and earth attack.

Oh boy, I thought, I hate this attack with a passion!

I let out the attack and for some reason the genernades looked a lot bigger than before.

“Is it just me,” said Sunset, “or did the fire and earth attack look a lot bigger this time?”

“Yup,” I said, “it’s bigger! And I hate that attack!”

“I know, just keep going!” Sunset said.

Finally, when I couldn’t move anymore or summon any of my death walker abilities Sunset turned off the simulator.

What is with my trainers? I thought. They just can’t help but push me to my limit!

“Good job!” Sunset said. “You got up to two hundred and on your first try! Of course your sister Betty could get five hundred or more and that was when she was alive! She’s dead now so she can get more and she’s the queen of hell!”

“Yeah,” I said, “I know…”

“We’ll keep pushing until you can beat this level.” Sunset said. “I know you can do it! Although it’s going to take awhile, but you really need to practice by the next time you train with me! If you do that, you’ll be up to par in no time!”

“Thanks for the pep talk!” I said.

“It’s problem at all!” Sunset said.

* * *

“I saw you training with Sunset Shimmer today!” Jasper said. “And I what she set the simulator to. Is she trying to kill you?”

“My thoughts exactly!” I said. “I think she just felt like torturing me today!”

Before I could say anything else to my surprise, my radio went off. I didn’t think they would try to contact me on my off duty days something must be happening with a soldier under my charge. If they’re contacting me today then it needs to be dealt with immediately.

“Roger, roger,” said Luke, “General Norman, you're needed at the training area for sergeants and other higher ups over.”

“Roger,” I said, “what’s this about? Over.”

“Roger,” said Luke, “it concerns Olivia and you should bring your second in command too!”

“Roger,” I said, “ are you really serious Second Luke? Over!”

“Roger,” said Luke, “I’m totally serious! Over!”

“Roger that,” I said, “I’m on my way, over and out!”

“What on earth is Olivia doing?” Jasper said. “Didn’t she get a third report filed against her a week ago?”

“Yeah and now she’s gone stupid on me!” I said. “Probably because I promoted you to second in command over her!”

“I was wondering why you did that,” said Jasper, “why did you do it? Olivia looked like a better soldier than me until recently. I recall recording a statement with John about not wanting any other job promotions.”

“You wish she was the better soldier!” I said. “That’s because her success rate on prior missions was at 50%, it went up to 75% when she got assigned to work with you and me. I had to talk to Second Luke and Commander Rainbow Dash and they made an exception seeing what she was my former teammate. I was hoping that the promotion would help her get the other 10% needed for the job promotion. But I was wrong as soon as she got promoted her success rate went down to 60%. I also did a recorded statement and it got thrown out of my file especially when John recommended me for the job title of general. Little did I know Shining Armor was going to force me to take that job of general, just like when Princess Twilight forced me to take the job title of knight of the royal court. When you started screwing up on your missions your success rate dropped from 90% to 85%. Your success rate went back up after I saved you, and it went from 85% to 95% so it’s very possible that you would’ve gotten a higher job title anyway even without my help. I don’t know if you hid all of your progress report information so you wouldn’t have to look at it. Just because you hid it doesn't mean it’s not on your file. It’s too bad that I won the duel with Shadow Mist. I figured it was time you faced the music just like I had to. Not to mention I couldn’t ignore the fact that I’ve won seven medals; it didn’t matter how times I denied that it happened. Even if I had hid all my medals which I actually did, the fact that I won those medals would be on my report and if need be they could make a copy of each medal that I won to put on my uniform anyway. Remember what you said about recognizing my achievements? You should probably take a page out of your own book!”

Jasper stared at me puzzled by what I just said and then got the point and laughed at that statement.

“What’s so funny?” I said.

“Yeah you’re right,” said Jasper, “I forgot I said that. That’s the way I feel about things like that. I had been thinking about things like that myself trying to figure out why I got promoted and not Olivia. Now that you just said that, it makes sense now. I was going to ask you about that but I was too nervous to hear what you were going to say so I kept my mouth shut! The other reason why I felt nervous to ask is I wanted to keep being in denial about my achievements too. That sure came back to bite me in the butt!”

“Yeah it did!” I said. “Now, let’s go see what’s going on with Olivia! And I hope I don’t have to do what I think I’m going to have to.”

When Jasper and I got to the training area there was a huge crowd surrounding it.

“What’s going on Silas?” I said.

“Apparently,” said Silas, “Olivia’s taken the job as sergeant to a whole new level!”

“And you’re not stopping her because?” I said.

“I’m not getting in the middle of that!” Silas said.

“Chicken!” I said. “Don’t worry I’ll handle her! It seems I didn’t get through to her after all!”

I stepped into the training area only to get punched in the face by Olivia.

Well, just like old times I guess… I thought.

I recognized the cadet that she was fighting. It was a young woman that had just enlisted named Mae. I had put her under Olivia’s charge. I had no idea why Olivia would do wrong towards one of her cadets that she was training. Now I know my trainers like to push me to my limit but they never put me in harm's way by doing so. They always stopped when I got to my limit but never pushed like the way Olivia was doing now. True I came out from my training looking like a punching bag, but they never would’ve tried to kill me. That's what Olivia was doing right now, I didn’t realize that what the other sargent’s that complained about her were right. Olivia had Mae in a chokehold and was strangling her. I saw that and was completely pissed off that Silas didn’t intervene. I quickly broke Olivia’s chokehold and pushed Mae back from her. Mae was on the ground trying to get a breath of air when she finally did, Olivia came after her again, that was when Jasper stepped in and grabbed Olivia’s arms, putting them behind her back to stop her.

“Let me go Jasper!” Olivia said. “I’m not done with her yet!”

“Too bad,” said Jasper, “not gonna happen because you are done!”

Luke had already notified the guards because there were two of them waiting right outside of my office. But, they couldn’t take her into custody yet because I hadn’t officially declared her sacked. I really didn’t want to do that, but I couldn’t just overlook things this time.

“What on earth were you thinking?” I said.

“I was just doing my job!” Olivia said.

“That’s not how you do your job and you know it!” I said.

“That cadet had a smart mouth on her and I just disciplined her! That’s it!” Olivia said.

“A smart mouth is not grounds for you to kill a cadet! I’ve tried everything I think of with you but you just won’t listen! Just because you’re pissed off at me doesn’t give you the right to put a cadet in harm's way! I tried to help and I even gave you the promotion of sergeant! I thought with that at least you would improve your success rate on your job! Unfortunately since I have no choice and I really don’t want to, this is your last report! I wish I could do something else about it, but I can’t. This is it for you, and you’re done. The guards are outside ready to take you into custody!” I said. “Do you have any last words to say to me before you go to the holding cell to face the board?”

“Yeah,” said Olivia, “this is your fault General Norman! You should’ve promoted me to second in command I would’ve done a better job at it then Jasper and you know it!”

“Did you even read your progress reports?” I said.

“As a matter of fact,” scoffed Olivia, “I burned them! I didn’t need to look at them to know that I’m the better soldier!”

“Oh really?” I said. I took out her file and passed it over to her across the table. Olivia looked at the fact that I had her progress report sitting right in front of her in shock.

“Maybe,” I said, “you should review this before you go?” I pointed at the top of her paperwork on file. “How much success rate do you have on your missions?”

Olivia growled at me, “60%! But that doesn’t-“

“Oh it does,” I said, “yes it’s true you came to my aid whenever I was in trouble. But that doesn’t bump your success rate and you know it! Your success rate gets bumped up when you complete a mission and you complete it with the rest of your teammates! You do realize that don’t you?”

“Of course I realize that!” Olivia said. “But if the rest of my teammates didn’t come back in one peice or dead, that's not my fault! They should’ve been doing their jobs!”

“So, let me get this straight if someone got into trouble on your team or harmed that to you means they weren’t doing their jobs? Are you nuts?” I said.

“No I’m not nuts and you know it!” Olivia growled.

“If I recall correctly Jasper got into trouble and almost died. Because of that he wasn’t doing his job either? I don’t think so, what if the same thing happened to you? Would that have meant you weren’t doing your job? Jasper got punched and sent flying over a railing! If I’d just let him fall it would’ve been my fault! The fact that you would’ve let Jasper die just to complete your mission scares me to think that a soldier would go that far just to get the job done!” I said.

“But I’m the one that took down that other thug by myself!” Olivia said. “Just for that alone I should’ve been promoted. Actually I’m surprised I’m not the one who got the medal for that! I’ve done more fighting than you and I’ve been in the military for over a decade! That alone should’ve got me promoted!”

“Oh boy,” I said, “you must be delusional or something! Do you know how many cadets that are in the military that have been in it longer than you and never got promoted? You realize that a promotion is based on how well you do as a soldier! And the progress report under that says you had a 85% success rate when you were a cadet! That’s the reason why you got promoted to knight of the royal court. You know for a fact that if your success rate gets lower than 60% you’re demoted back a cadet. I have no idea what happened to you to make you become this way but doesn’t look good for you at all. As I just said, just because you’ve been in the military for longer than another cadet doesn’t mean you get promoted!”

“But you saved Jasper,” said Olivia, “and they gave you a medal just for that! If you ask me I saved the both of you!”

“So taking down an enemy means you saved us?” I said. “No, that was part of doing your job. John already warned us that there would be a lot of thugs surrounding William! As I said before if I had let Jasper fall it would’ve been my fault! The fact that you would let someone die just to do a job makes you delusional and crazy! ”

“And like I said before I’m not nuts!” Olivia said.

“Humph,” I said, “so you don’t think your comrades are necessary to complete a job? Who’s the idiot now?”

“I’m not an idiot!” Olivia said. “And I thought I told you not to call me that!”

“I say you’re an idiot because why do you think we send out three man teams to take care of assignments at all times? You do realize that even if we are not needed on the original team you got assigned to, if another team needs help on another mission then you get assigned to that team! Why do you think John had us go through that obstacle course? If teams weren’t necessary to complete a job, then that wouldn’t be set up in the first place! Good thing it’s not necessary for a general to work on a team! Unless it’s a difficult assignment!” I said.

“And why’s that?” Olivia said.

“It’s because the higher ranks don’t need a team! They’re the ones that are more than capable of completing the job. If they do work in a team, it’s only because it’s a difficult assignment and that’s up to the commander to decide but most of the time no they don’t need it. If they weren’t able to do the job they wouldn’t have gotten promoted! Were you hiding under a rock when you saw my battle with Shadow Mist? I think I showed everyone that I’m more than capable of doing the job.” I said. “If the shoe was on the other foot, maybe you would’ve done the same thing. But would you have listened to your trainers?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” said Olivia, “but seeing the way your trainers pushed you by turning you into a punching bag, I probably would’ve just ran the other way because I don’t need that type of training!”

“Hum,” I said, “you don’t value your comrades lives because you think they get in the way then you’re not a soldier to me! There’s a reason why there’s more than one person on the military. If only one person could get the job done, then it wouldn’t be necessary and even Princess Twilight knows that! I really don’t know what happened to you after you got promoted but you let your success rate drop, getting some of your comrades killed in the process and you don’t feel any grief for that at all?”

“No I don’t,” said Olivia, “you wanna know what happened to me Norman?”

“Not really,” I said, “but if you must tell me then go ahead.”

“I almost got killed on a mission myself! That was right after I was made knight of the royal court!” Olivia said. “That was because I was trying to save someone! That sure backfired! And that was on my first mission! I was at the edge of a cliff holding onto my teammate trying not to let him fall! The only reason I hadn't let him fall yet was because I had gotten a rope around his waist. Then suddenly the enemy started attacking so I let go of the person on the rope and then instead of my other teammate trying to help defend me he went to help the fool hanging by the rope. My job was to kill the enemy, that’s it! It was my teammates fault that they got in the way so I cut the rope letting the first guy fall. When my teammate was trying to pull the first guy to safety the enemy grabbed him and used him as a shield. I killed him along with the enemy.

That was after I got promoted, before that I had a 85% success rate because I never ran into trouble. The missions were easy, okay maybe a little too easy. It wasn’t until that mission that I could care less what happened to my teammates as long as I got the job done! Let me ask you something, Norman if you had been in that situation, what would you have done?”

“First of all,” I said, “I wouldn’t have cut the rope just to get to the enemy. As for the enemy using a teammate as a shield, I would’ve done everything in my power to get that teammate to safety and that’s where your training comes in. As a matter of fact, a couple of the reports that were filed say that you’ve missed more than ten of your off duty training days! They’re required for a reason! And yes I’ve had that happen to me on a mission before. And that cadet came home alive. It’s because I would do everything in my power to get that cadet home even if it meant sacrificing my own life in return. I used my training to do that. Now, you’ve told me everything you needed to tell me am I right?”

“Yes sir…” Olivia said.

“Guards!” I said.

“Yes sir?” One of the guards said.

“Olivia has said her last words to me,” I said, “this is her last report and it’s official. She’s sacked! It’s out of my hands now.”

“So you’re going to sack me after everything I just said?” Olivia said.

I sighed, “Yes, did you hear a word I just said? You’ve gotten your last report and I can’t do a thing about it. If you had told me your story before it would’ve helped us figure out what to do with you. So I’m sorry Olivia but you’re sacked! Guards please take her away before she says something else that I don’t want to hear.”

Without another word the guards put Olivia in handcuffs and walked her away. I was getting to close the door to my office when I heard someone knock.

“You may enter!” I said.

“Olivia finally got sacked,” said John, “didn’t she?”

“Yeah,” I said, “and with a parting gift in the form of a sob story. I almost felt sorry for the girl, but seeing as I tried everything to help her before this happened I wish she would’ve told me her story before. That probably would’ve worked in her favor. She was probably saving that as a trump card in order not to get sacked. If any case she’s gone now…”

“Okay then…” John said.

“I have a feeling that’s not all you came to talk to me about?” I said.

“Yes,” said John, “have you been able to figure out a way to deal with your stress situation?”

“Yes,” I said, “I’ve been talking to Robert and Jasper about it. And with Robert being my boyfriend I talk to him more and sometimes Sunset when I get a chance to.”

“Oh good,” said John, “I have to admit I was really worried about you. I also heard that you and Jasper are playing chess now?”

“Yeah.” I said.

“I’d never thought I’d see the day when you two would be playing nice instead of beating each other up!” John said.

“So,” I said, “how’d you find out about that?”

“One of Jasper's co-workers told me her name is Chloe,” said John, “if you ask me I think she’s got it bad for Jasper.”

“You think this because?” I said.

“Because,” said John, “when she talks about him she has a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.”

At that comment I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t start getting love letters from her!” I said. “Although that would be hilarious! “

“Speaking of that,” said John, “did you find out who’s sending you love letters?”

“I have no idea,” I said “and I still don’t want to find out!”

This time John was doubled over in laughter.

“Ha, ha,” I said, “very funny!”

“Okay, okay,” said John, “I’m done, it’s good to know that you’re not turning people into punching bags anymore. I’ve heard Sunset Shimmer’s stepped up your death walker training.”

“Yeah,” I said, “I’m going to practice tomorrow because it’s my off duty training day.”

“I heard she set the enemy number to five hundred! And put their strength to maximum!” John said. “How many have you gotten up to so far?”

“Two hundred so far,” I said, “I’m going to need to get up to five hundred sooner or later. My sister could take on five hundred or more! And that was when she was still alive!”

John whistled, “No wonder why she’s a legend now! She definitely deserves the title!”

“Do you have anything else you want to talk to me about?” I said.

“Yes,” said John, “I’m glad you’re doing better.”

“Thanks,” I said, "you may go now."

"Yes sir!" John said.

"Please don't call me that!" I said.

As John walked away luaghing I couldn't help but wonder if John just loved to torture me.

* * *

The next day Jasper and Robert were watching me train. I was working on using my death walker ablilties this time.

"You think he can get past two hundred this time?" Jasper said.

"It's his second time training," said Robert, "so I don't know. But you know Norman once he has a goal set before him, he’s bound and determined to reach it."

"Oh boy," said Jasper, "I hope he doesn't push himself too hard because of it!"

"I think he's getting to his limit soon!" Robert said. "He's already up one hundred ninety nine! Now Two hundred! It looks like he can still keep going!"

Jasper whistled at it, "He just can't help himself can he? He really wants to complete his mission!"

"No kidding," said Robert, "but right now, he's just training, so this isn't really a mission. Wait a second… He’s up to two hundred ten! It's only his second go around with this! I'm not surprised though."

“At this rate, it will take no time to catch up with his sister!” Jasper said.

When I turned off the simulator and sat down on a nearby chair because my legs felt like they were about to give out on me.

"You pushed yourself too hard again." Robert said.

"I'm fine Robert!" I said.

"You don't look fine," said Robert, "you look like you're trying to catch your breath!"

"I just stopped so of course I would be out of breath!" I said.

"Huh." Jasper said.

"What is it?" I said.

"It's kind of weird not having Olivia around to watch you train too." Jasper said.

I shrugged, "Fine by me! That's one less person watching me train!"

Jasper laughed, "Yeah, that's true!"

"I was wondering about something." I said.

"What?" Jasper said.

"Why did Olivia hate you so much in the first place?" I said.

"I have no idea what I did to make her hate me," said Jasper, "but ever since we met it was like hate at first sight!"

At that comment me and Robert couldn't stop laughing and Jasper joined in too.

* * *

It's true John mentioned that I used to play guitar thirteen years ago but what I would rather do instead was play the drums. I remembered that I would play the drums every time I got upset about something and for some reason that helped me get my anger out. I also remembered that I played in the marching band back in school.

This time before I started to play had to refresh my memory on how to play. Once I had done that I started playing and after about a half hour of playing I heard a knock on the door.

"I forgot you could play the drums too!" Robert said. "And I forgot you were good at it!"

"Yeah did you forget I was in the marching band back in school?" I said. "If I recall correctly we were friends back then or did I get that wrong?"

"No you didn't," said Robert, "we were best friends even back then! I knew you were pretty good but I did forget that you played on the drumline too! I've been watching a lot of your home videos with Amethyst, and you did pretty well on the face offs! Your daughter really loves to see how you were when you were younger!"

"That's to be expected," I said, "hmm, I do have videos of Betty when she was younger. Does she watch any of those too?"

"Oh yes definitely!" Robert said. "She's very interested about the family that she was adopted into! What's that look for?"

I shook my head, "True, everything looked fine when the cameras were rolling. But you don't know when the cameras stopped."

"So what happened?" Robert said.

"My mom was an abusive pyshco," I said, "mostly towards Betty. When I tried to stand up for her that was when I wound up getting hit."

"Is that why you feel Betty dying was your fault?" Robert said.

"Because I wasn't there when she was growing up," I said, "I left home when I was about seventeen to work odd jobs with my father to help send money back home. I didn't see Betty again until I was nineteen. By then she was a death walker and I was surprised by what she had to go through because of it. I had been there for her, then maybe she would've made the decision to live."

"But you should try to start moving past that," said Robert, "just like I said before it happened thirteen years ago since Amethyst was born two days after Betty's birthday."

"I know," I said, "Betty told me the same thing and she's dead and she's the queen of hell."

* * *

The next day at work it was a slow day so Jasper and I were playing a game of chess to kill time. In the middle of the game right when Jasper was about to win he called for a time out.

"What is it Jasper?" I said.

"It's Chloe again," said Jasper, "she's been bugging me a lot lately and it's getting on my nerves! I'm going to go hide now! Please don't tell her where I am!"

"You got it!" I said.

After Jasper went to go hide under his desk, I tried my best to keep from laughing at him.

"Hey Norman," said Chloe, "where's Jasper? He's usually playing chess with you on a day like today. And from the looks of it he was getting ready to win wasn't he?"

I shrugged, "He just had to run off for a little bit and no I don't know where he went."

"Did he say when he'll be back?" Chole said.

"I have no idea," I said, "he does have other things take care of you know! I mean that's because he's my second in command and all..."

By this time, I was really trying very hard not to laugh.

"So why do you keep asking about him?" I said.

"Because he's a total hunk and I've got my eye on him!" Chole said, "Trust me, I'm not the only girl that likes him around here!"

"Yeah," I said, "just because you have it bad for the guy doesn't mean he wants to play ball. As a matter of fact, why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer!"

"Oh please!" Chloe said. "I don't need a picture if you know what I mean?"

I did a face palm and shook my head, "From what I can tell he's not interested!"

"How do you know?" Chole said. "He could be waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask me out. I can't wait for that to happen! It's only proper that the guy ask the girl out don't you think?"

"Gee," I said, "I think that's only going to happen if he's interested. And I know when someone's not interested, and I don't think he's got it in for you!"

"Uh-huh," said Chole, "oh well. I'll see him around sooner or later. I have to get back to my desk."

As soon as Chole left I couldn't hold my laughter in aymore.