Chapter Five: On Korea II
Co-Ruler of Equestria and It’s Colonies, HRH Princess Celestia
---
After her rotation had taken her out of Canterlot and into the wider world of Equestria, my friendship with Reckless had to spread a bit more thin, into the form of letters that I so love to pen and send across Equestria.
But, when the Royal Guard were set to march as part of the annual Tribal Unification Festival in Canterlot, I was able to touch base with her in the flesh once more.
The parade itself was as wondrous as they normally are. The Guard always know how to put on a good show, and this year seemed particularly inspired. The procession started from the Palace itself, and snaked it’s way in a graceful horseshoe around the Canterlot city streets, ending at Harmony Park where the majority of the festivities were being hosted.
(A half-truth, I suppose. The Unification Festival is practically Canterlot-wide on it’s best years, with hardly a single city street free from the excitement of happy ponies and carnival games).
The Royal Guard themselves led the parade, in perfect, practised unison. The symphony of their synchronized hoofbeats filled the spaces left behind in the band’s music reverberating through the streets and over the crowds. I was able to watch them from my balcony in the Palace, and though she was but a pinprick amongst her peers, the sight of Reckless marching alongside her compatriots filled my heart with happiness. The thought of the confused mare poofing into existence, bloody and afraid seemed foreign now, when weighed against the present visual of her marching in line with a dozen of her friends and peers.
The guard stayed on technical duty for the entire festival, but things get a bit more... Relaxed, when the parade concludes in Harmony Park. My day was busy with hooves to shake and ponies to meet, and I wasn’t able to fly down to Harmony Park until later that evening, after I’d already sent the Sun to bed.
I met up with Reckless where I imagined I’d see her. The refreshments table.
She was there with a few of her peers, who were gleefully cheering her own as she gracelessly knocked back a mug of cider in one energetic swig. Judging by the plethora empty mugs on the table next to her, it seemed it was hardly her first of the night. She didn’t slow, though, annihilating the drink with ease to the laughter and cheers of her fellow guards and civilian friends alike.
I stood aside. A pegasus, as I sometimes like to be.
I waited until Reckless noticed me, which did not take too long. When she caught sight of me in the corner of her eye, she said something to her fellow guards, and then trotted in my direction with a warm smile.
“Y’know...” I began, cracking a smirk. “I should be giving you an earful for doing that while still in uniform.”
“Not all have disguise so easy,” she returned levelly, matching my smirk with one of her own. “Princess is well?”
“Very. How did you enjoy the parade?”
“Enjoy much,” she said. “Exciting. Loud.”
“Yes... Did you ever march in a parade back home?”
“No march, but in one. Honoured, very exciting. Many soldiers, and gun salute. And new blanket.”
Blankets were how they honoured her, back at home. She’d explained it to me before... Both times she’d been promoted, she’d been given a new blanket which she wore on her back. It was adorned with her honours, and the fabric was, according to Reckless herself, ‘tasty.’ While she’d been technically honoured with one for each promotion, I am of the suspicion that she actually went through a few more than she lets on.
I started to say something, but I was cut off by a brilliant booming sound in the sky above.
Fireworks! I turned to watch them, having received a few assurances from various staff members around the Palace that this year’s display would be particularly impressive. And indeed, the majestic flower-shaped ember bursting through the dark skies above Canterlot was something wondrous to behold. I turned to look at Reckless, wondering if she’d seen fireworks back in Korea...
And when I did, her expression was hardly what I’d been expecting.
Ears perked up, alert and at attention, as were her eyes. Her body was tense, and she was looking around as if in shock.
It took me... A few more seconds than I’d like to admit to put things together. When I did, though, I extended a wing to gently touch her side, and, as discretely and calmly as I could, I ushered her towards someplace behind one of the produce stands now stripped clear of it’s bounty after a full day’s worth of hungry ponies. Reckless shirked from the contact at first, but when she saw who the wing belonged to she allowed herself to follow, calmness slowly returning to her. Her tail was still swishing back and forth, however, and every ensuing blast of the fireworks above us earned another subconscious flinch from the poor mare.
“I should have warned you about the fireworks,” I said, softly. “I’m sorry, dear...”
She looked at me for a moment, and then shook her head. “Knew already. Forgot. Just... Surprise. Old instinct.”
I nodded. “I know. I’m sorry,” I said again.
“Fine, now.” She assured me, though she still seemed far from relaxed to me. I’d ushered us behind the row of shops and stands into a quieted alley bordering Harmony Park... Someplace private, and away from the hustle and bustle of the boisterous festival. Reckless seemed grateful. “You know this, it seems.”
I tilted my head curiously. “Know what, Sergeant?”
She nodded up at the fireworks. “Back home, people don’t understand. Play tricks, think funny. Here, ponies don’t do that, but also don’t understand, either.”
I exhaled, a little sad and a little understanding. “I’ve lived long enough that I have seen the signs in many ponies.”
“Silly, though. Not in Korea. Nowhere close. Shouldn’t feel like it.”
“Memories are an odd thing, dear. They happen in here...” I tapped a wingfeather to my skull. “And they don’t always care what happens out here.” I used the opposite wing to motion... Everywhere, I suppose.
She gave a little nod, and said nothing further. Still flinching with each firework above, but a little less.
“Say...” I gently removed my wing from her side, but only to use it to motion down the alley a ways. “I know a rather tasty doughnut café not far from here. You like doughnuts, I assume?”
She looked at me with a ‘are you kidding me’ sort of expression, which earned a little chuckle from myself.
“Come on. On me. Let’s get a roof above us and some doughnuts in our belly.”
“Have doughnuts in Korea, too. Stolen. But good.”
I laughed. "Well, these ones are on me.“
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Odd_Sarge · 17k words · 41 2 · 576 views
- milesprower06 · 15k words · 91 6 · 1.8k views
- Bicyclette · 1000 words · 73 19 · 1.5k views
- Soaring · 4.4k words · 77 3 · 1.1k views
- Rune Soldier Dan · 2.6k words · 48 3 · 397 views
Stats
Page generated in 0.144 seconds
Total duration
844 users online
1,153,632 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
She's been through too much. Equestria is good for her.
That was a good chapter.
I don’t know what it is that hits me so hard. There’s just something about this that makes me happy and sad at the same time and I can’t help but laugh at myself a little. Here I am reading a story a Horse who was dead for 27 years before I was even born and I’m just so happy the She gets to live a good life in Equestria. Huge props to your writing skills in that regard. I look forward to what you come up with next.
Is this referencing any particular incident? On the one hand, I can’t imagine Reckless’s marines tolerating “pranks” with firecrackers or what have you, but on the other, this has been exceptionally well researched and written thus far, and I have no reason to think that might have changed.
11888476
No specific incident. That quote was inspired by a short couple of lines from Art Sickler, who was her handler from 1956 to 1958.
11888575
Thank you. I think now I'm curious as to how they'd "tease" her (since, you know, these are marines), if only so I know whether or not I need to get defensive or upset over a War Horse that died when my now-retirement(ish)-age parents were toddlers.
For the last few lines of that quote: why would Reckless have particular trauma associated with having to be quite, instead of, say, the command for to be still so they could patch her up, or the one associated for when they used her to carry wounded GIs?
11888847
Bombs, artillery fire, etc. Part of her training would have involved her having to know when to lay low and flat against the ground while they were being fired on. A big fucking horse in a battlefield is a dead give away for your position, so she was taught how to lie as low as possible and make as little sound as possible. Less of a target. It would happen even when they were safe in camp, so she had to be ready to hit the deck at any time.
After the war, it's really no surprise that the same verbal cues she'd been given in the heat of battle would take her right back to it. This chapter in particular was kinda meant to touch on that.
11888902
Thank you for the answer, and, my apologies: I asked that question because what is reading comprehension, and misread the excerpt to mean that Sergeant Reckless got like that only after being told to be quiet, which struck me as odd. Her having that reaction to being told to lie down and be quiet, which she would've been while under fire (for the reasons you stated), is very much not puzzling to me.
Little surprised nobody was interested to study her at least a little. I mean, GIs getting "Battle Fatigue" is one thing, but a horse? Feel like there at least could have been something to learn there, least in the 50s and 60s.
Anyway, thank you very much for the answers!