That Others May Live

by CptBrony

Unpredictability

Unpredictability

Frost was the first into the room at the palace with Amel still on his back. On the way over, she had calmed a bit, and actually dozed off a little, which was surprising to the Pararescueman. As soon as he entered, he went straight over to Amel’s little alcove and set her down on her bed, then proceeding to set it back to being parallel to the wall. Duke came in behind, watching on and making sure that they weren’t harassed by any guards who thought that they might try something.

Before they had left the house, Duke had brought the young stallion back down to his father, Melaysh. At first, Melaysh was really pissed off about his son being injured, but when Duke explained the situation, his face took on another turn. He told the men that they could leave, so they did just that. As Duke left behind Frost, he looked back and saw Melaysh looking toward his terrified son from a doorway, holding a big stick.

It might not be their fight, or their country or even world, but the stallion’s actions were disgusting. No man, regardless of being anything but a psychopath or sociopath, can truly not care when such acts are committed. As such, Duke could feel himself smiling as they left and he heard the yelps of pain from the house.

Amel snoozed lightly on the bed, but she didn’t seem very deep in sleep. “Frost?” Duke asked. “You alright?” He knew that Frost grew up in a troubled household, but he wasn’t sure what else may have happened. His father and mother’s relationship could have contributed to everything, after all.

“Yeah.” Frost replied. He paused for a moment. “You think she’ll be alright?”

Duke shrugged. “Can’t say. Don’t know her. But if she was able to suffer that for so long before, and not kill herself, I bet she’ll make it through. It might be harder, but I bet we can help.” Frost nodded solemnly.

She was stirring behind her curtain. “I think we have to talk to the king about this.” Frost said. “He gave us the okay to have her here. If he was truthful, his guards will be punished. If not,” Frost eyed his knife. “There will be hell to pay.”

Duke didn’t move or respond, just looked at Frost. “In one form or another, I can take care of that. You have to take care of her.” Duke thought back to his days at the Air Force Academy. There had certainly been a couple of sexual assaults there; they were put all over the news. “She’ll need you.”

Duke stood up and walked over to the window and looked out. They were pretty high up, a natural place to be for any Airman. The city bustled below them, ponies and horses, and the occasional griffon, going about their various businesses. Some griffons were harassed, others left alone. There was a thief being savagely beaten, a public hanging in the distance. Duke wondered if the horse being hanged was a murderer or a rapist.

He stepped away from the window. “I wonder if they have any idea of what’s really going on in this world right now?” he wondered.

Frost went over to the gear pile and picked out his rifle to inspect and clean it. Gotta pass the time. “So,” he began as he disassembled his weapon. “How long do you think it’ll be until they can get us that intel?”

Duke shook his head. “No idea. Could be in their language, or in another. And they might try to make us do something in exchange for it.” He grabbed his radio com, then walked over to the door. “I’ve got nothing better to do, so I’ll see if I can find out. You stay here.” Frost nodded, and Duke exited the room.

Frost went and grabbed his own radio com, then continued cleaning his weapon. He needed to distract himself for a bit, get his mind in the right place. Performing some meticulous task was always good for that; it requires all of one’s attention, so it takes it. Frost got into the zone as he wiped off his parts with the Tuff cloth. He kept it up until, when finished, he checked all the parts to make sure they still worked. When they did, he set the rifle aside and just sat on his bed.

Amel moved around and made a small ruckus, attracting Frost’s attention. He stood up immediately and walked over to the synthetic border between the two zones and stood outside it and listened. Amel was breathing deeply, probably trying to calm herself or get her bearings. “Frost?” she said weakly.

“Yeah?” he said. She made a little yipe, clearly not having expected him to be right there.

“Umm...” She was unsure of what to say. “Is Duke there?”

“No.”

She was silent. “Okay.” Silence again. “T-thanks for saving me.”

Frost breathed in deeply. “That’s what we do; we rescue people.” He stepped away from the border. “Do you need anything? Food, water?”

Amel sniffed inside her alcove, and the sound of hooves on stone came out. She stepped out. “I think water sounds nice. And food.”

Frost nodded. “Let’s go get some.”

Amel simply nodded her response, and the two walked out and to the dining room. Guards were giving them looks as they passed, some trying to intimidate Amel. Frost responded by giving them the most poisonous looks he could muster, the kind that said, I will end you. None of the guards bothered them after getting a look.

They walked into the dining room only to find it partially occupied by a bunch of well dressed nobles. As they entered, the nobles’ heads all turned and their eyes went wide at seeing the human and previous slave-pony. Some let out huffs of disgust, others simply shook their heads disapprovingly. Frost put his hand on Amel’s neck and ignored them as he guided her through to get some food.

They sat down and had their plates filled and ate in silence, trying to ignore the prying eyes and hateful expressions directed towards them. Amel kept her eyes down, toward her plate, while Frost’s eyes were up and scanning, making sure no one tried anything. He wasn’t about to let some ass come up and try to ruin their meal.

And yet, some ass did just that. “We are nobles, you know.” One of the mares, who evidently had heard about the Equish-speaking humans, had stood up and walked over, her dress trailing the whole way. Good thing the floor was so clean. “We don’t appreciate the company of slaves, especially not in the palace.”

Amel was about to stand, but Frost got up first. “Well, in case you weren’t told, here’s some news; She’s allowed here, and she’s not a slave any more. She’s on the same level as you, now, if not above you.” The mare scoffed. Frost went on. “And furthermore, I don’t need some condescending bitch trying to tell me who is and isn’t good enough to be around her. I grew up in a poor, abusive household with crappy parents. I ended up becoming one of the most elite special operations soldiers there is; I’m tier one, 24th STS. So don’t go trying to tell me that where a person, or pony, is born or what fate they suffer means something, because I can tell you from experience, that it does not.” He sat back down. “Now, would you care to join us for a pleasant meal?” he added with a smile.

The mare’s face turned red. “حراس!” she shouted. Two guards came running. “تأخذ هذه اثنين من للخروج من هنا.” The guards looked at Frost and Amel. “رمى بها في الشوارع القذرة التي تنتمي إليها.”

Frost had wondered what they would do, and even hoped that they would try to follow orders. But it would seem that they were in the know. “آسف. ضيوف الملك.” The mare’s jaw fell slack, and she looked back at the human and pony. “لا يمكننا الاقتراب منها.”

The guards turned and walked away. “See what I mean? You can’t touch us. And if you try, in any way, you will regret it.” Frost went back to eating, but sat directly next to Amel. The mare walked away in a fuming rage.

Amel looked up at Frost. “Thank you.” She looked over at the nobles, then back to Frost. “You and Duke are only ones to defend me.”

Frost took a bite of some bread and swallowed hard, the scratchy stuff feeling pleasant on its way down. “Well, that’s going to change eventually. Trust me.” Amel smiled at Frost’s hopeful words and ate on, her mood much elevated after the exchange between him and the mare.

Frost’s radio comm keyed. “Frost, Duke. You might want to head over to the war room.”

Frost put his finger to his ear. “What is it? I’m eating with Amel.”

“Feel free to bring her. I’m sure your first date can wait.” Frost chuckled. “But seriously, this is important. We might be about to get another role in this world.”

Frost nodded. “Alright, we’re on our way.” He turned to Amel. “Well, I hope you’re almost done, or I’ll just carry it for you. We need to go to the War Room.” Amel looked at him confused, but nodded and scarfed down the rest of her food, and the two made their way to the War Room.

**************************************************************************

Duke decided he would go straight to talk to King Sauri. He didn’t want to seem alarmed or in a rush, though, because that could betray a weakness in the form of needing information, something that could easily be used against him. He needed to make sure he came off as calm and collected, not anxious and waiting for anything. His pace was slow as he made his way there.

The guards gave him little in the way of care or importance on his way there, which was fine by him. He had no desire to be unpopular with the guards. Some gave him strange looks, like they had received when they first got here, but that had become fairly normal. He could imagine the looks that Frost and Amel would get if they left the room and walked anywhere. And he was glad that he had left Frost to deal with that.

Duke arrived at the doors and was greeted by two guards saluting him as he approached. He nodded to them, confused, but paid it no mind when they opened the doors for him. As he walked in, he looked around and noticed that the guards inside the throne room were noticeably absent. The only sound that came from the room was the water flowing from that fountain in the middle. Unnerved, but not letting it show, Duke went on.

The throne had no one on it. It looked incredibly stark and bland, actually. Most of the decoration that went into it was actually only there when Sauri was.

Duke went past it and made his way down the starker hallway and to the War Room. From the end, Duke could hear several voices talking, one at a time. No one sounded very emotional; no anger, sadness, frustration, anything. It was probably just a formal ceremony. As Duke walked into the room, he found that it certainly wasn’t that.

He walked in on King Sauri speaking to a fairly large group of stallions. This might explain where all the guards went.

Duke knocked on the table, getting the king to turn around. “Ah, Duke!” he greeted with a big smile. “Please, come in. I actually think you could help a great deal with this.”

Duke walked over, curiosity replacing any nervousness that he had had. “What can I do for you?” he asked.

King Sauri held up his right foreleg and waved it over the group of stallions. “I need your opinion on these stallions. Who do you think could make up a new, much more capable unit to fight the griffons?”

Duke looked them over, but not only would that get him nothing, they were horses, so that resulted in him getting even less. “I really can’t say.” he explained. “Back home, people just had to pass a physical trial to get into some military training, and even then, a lot of those people failed the following training. Soldiers back home are made, not born.” Sauri looked up at him, intrigued. “At least, that’s how it works back home.”

“Hmmm.” King Sauri turned back to his stallions. “An interesting point.”

“Might I ask what kind of unit you plan on making?” Duke asked. He figured that he and Frost had probably inspired the idea. “And how do you plan on training them?”

King Sauri looked back to Duke. “Well, I was hoping that they might become soldiers like you and your friend, Frost.” Duke had bought the boardwalk on that one. “And I thought that you and your friend might train them.” But he did not pass go, nor collect two hundred dollars.

Duke stepped back. “Whoa, hold on. We can’t just do that.” Duke began. “We need to get permission from our higher-ups to perform foreign unit training, and we can’t exactly contact them right now. There’s no way for us to do this.”

“But if they never have to know, and never can unless you tell them, then why not train them?” Sauri asked. “I was thinking that you could train them and lead them on missions. Nedal told me his side of the story, and I can see that you will not help us unless you follow your ‘rules of engagement’.” So Nedal was right about this guy. “If you train and lead them, you may feel free to operate how you will.”

Duke actually had to stop and consider this. It was true, his superiors would never know about any of this unless he or Frost told them. And when they got back, since the higher-ups probably wouldn’t believe them, they and OGA would probably have to make some crazy story up to explain what took so long and why they couldn’t contact CENTCOM. So it was entirely possible to secretly train one of these foreign units without visible repercussions.

On top of that, they could have the stallions under their command doing whatever they say. It would be loads more helpful to have an operation go the way they planned, unlike when Nedal decided to ignore their plan and invade the town. It would make operating much easier, and they could do things the way THEY wanted to.

But there were some things that he needed to check on before he made a decision. “Let me think about it.” Sauri nodded. “Anyway, on to why I came; That intel we grabbed at the village. How long is that going to take to translate?”

Sauri shrugged. “I don’t know. My translators said that it was half in the griffon language, half in ours. It was written in some kind of confusing code to make it hard to read. So it will take some time.”

That meant that they would have time to kill before another important OGA related mission. They could train a new unit. “Alright. I’ll need to get Frost’s opinion on this, but I think we might be sold; we’ll be able to train them, at least in some smaller things.”

“Wonderful!”

Duke nodded. “Yes, I bet it is.” He paused for a moment, then moved onto the other subject he came for. “And about that mare with us, Amel.” Sauri nodded. He remembered her. “She was forcefully taken from OUR room by your guards. Any comment?”

Sauri frowned. “A king never goes back on his word, I thought you would know that.”

“My experiences with leaders have tended to give me lesser opinions about them.” Duke included.

“It is shameful, then. No, I had nothing done. And I will have my guards told not to touch her ever again, you have my word.” Duke nodded. “You and your friend and mare may live here how you will, as long as you don’t cause trouble.”

“Trust me, we won’t be the ones causing trouble.” King Sauri nodded, almost like he knew that would be the case.

Duke turned around and keyed his mic. “Frost, Duke. You might want to head over to the war room.”

“What is it? I’m eating with Amel.”

“Feel free to bring her. I’m sure your first date can wait.” Frost chuckled on the other side of the comms. “But seriously, this is important. We might be about to get another role in this world.”

“Alright, we’re on our way.”

Duke released his mic and went to sit down to wait for Frost to arrive, looking over the stallions while he waited.

Frost arrived with Amel shortly, looking somewhere between content, curious, and nervous when he got there. He first glanced at Duke, who sat quietly, listening to Sauri talk to his stallions, then at the stallions, who looked stony and almost unreadable. He had a feeling about what he was going to be told by Duke.

“So. What’s going on?” Duke filled him in, adding his own opinions about it as he went on. When he finished, Frost took a moment to think. “Well, I can’t say that I object too much, though I’m not entirely sure. It’s your call, boss.”

Duke nodded. “Sauri.” The king turned around, an excited look on his face. He must have been listening. “We’ll do it.”

The king smiled wide and practically hopped over. Not very kingly. “Great!” he replied enthusiastically. “Let me show you all of the stallions who you can select.”

“Is this not all of them?” Duke asked.

“No, there are plenty more beyond this room.” King Sauri sent his stallions in the direction opposite of the way to the throne room. As they approached the wall, it opened up and revealed a hidden passage. “Come, come!” Sauri followed his stallions down the hidden hall.

The men fell in behind the king and glanced around at the walls. These were very different from the walls of the hall that led to the War Room. There were tapestries that depicted individuals who must have performed some great feat, often accompanied by paintings or drawings or carvings. There was a large number of the classic shield with two swords behind it decoration, and the shields were all very ornate, different crests adorning each one. Beneath them, the stone floor was carved and filled in with various precious metals; silver, gold, even platinum made intricate patterns on the ground beneath them.

“I guess this is where their economy goes.” Frost thought. At the least, it looked like they were honoring the dead or something. He kept Amel close as they walked.

They arrived at the end of the hall and stepped out into a massive arena-like room. There were a few groups of seats here and there, each with a designation. The arena area itself was huge, a circle that was likely around two hundred-fifty meters wide. Throughout the floor, there was all sorts of equine training equipment; jumps, bits with weights attached, sandbag laden saddles, punching bags, or maybe they were kicking bags, and other pieces of training and workout gear. Almost everything was in use at the moment the men entered.

King Sauri shouted something, and all of the stallions lined up. There must have been a good three dozen of them, making three rows of ten stallions each. They all stared straight ahead, clearly aware of the men, but not willing to break their disciplined stance. King Sauri looked them over one more time, then turned back to the men.

“Well, these are the elite guards of mine who are eligible to become more elite. Please, browse to your heart’s content.” Sauri stepped aside.

Duke frowned, and he and Frost walked forward to look over the stallions. While unfamiliar with equine anatomy, the men could clearly see which ones were physically superior and which needed work. A few broke their straightforward stares to look at the men, but when they made eye contact by accident, they quickly looked away. Most, though, were stoic and unmoving.

But there was one who decided to open his mouth. “I see we met again.” Nedal. “But I suppose that this time, it’s less tense.”

Duke furrowed his brow. “It’s not any less tense than before, trust me on that.” He turned to Sauri. “He’s absolutely not going to be allowed in.” Several of the stallions in the group went wide-eyed.

Sauri looked shocked as well. “Why ever not?” he asked.

“He already displayed a gross lack of care for civilians, and our Rules of Engagement. He’s not eligible for the training, nor will he be.” Duke explained.

Nedal stepped forward. “Well, these are my stallions. You take them, you take me.”

“In case you aren’t in the know,” Frost began. “We’re going to command this unit, not you. Any of these guys who make it are never going to be under your command again. On top of that, you would have to pass the physical and psych evaluations. You won’t.” Nedal growled at him, causing Amel behind him to cower. “And we don’t like you.”

“Damn right.” Duke said. “Sauri, I wish I could say that I hate to say it, but he’s not joining. And if you demand that he does, well, then you won’t get a special unit. Plain and simple.”

Nedal took in a deep breath. “I will not be disrespected in such a way by outsiders.”

“You will, and you’ll get real damn used to it.” Frost said, shielding Amel. He pulled her chin up to look directly at Nedal. “Cuz’ we choose who we train and aid in battle. So you also might want to stop being a dick.”

Nedal clamped his mouth shut and moved back. Duke watched him as he skulked back, then turned back to the king. “Well?” he asked. “What’ll it be?”

Sauri looked at Nedal, who had determination in his eyes, then sighed. “I’m sorry, Nedal. You’ll not be joining the new unit.” Nedal’s jaw tightened, but he held his tongue. “You men may begin training the stallions when you are ready.”

Duke and Frost nodded, then turned back to the stallions. “We’ll start tomorrow-”

“Boss, they don’t speak English.”

Duke sighed, having forgotten. “Amel.” he ordered. She yelped, then came right to his side.

“Yes?”

“Translate for me.” She nodded, and Duke began. “You will report here tomorrow morning at five. We will begin then.” Amel translated, trying not to sound nervous. “Thank you, Amel.” He knew that her bilingual skill would come in handy. He turned to Frost. “Alright, we got nothing to do today. Back to the room.”

“Rog’.” The men began walking back to their room.

Before they left the room, though, they decided to watch each of the stallions leave to see how they looked at the trio. Most didn’t look at them at all as they left, but some looked at Amel, not with anger, but confusion. They didn’t seem particularly upset by her.

But then Nedal walked by. “I will get back at you for this disrespect.” he warned. He looked right at Amel. “I know you have at least one weakness.”

Frost pushed Amel behind him, and, with a smile, grabbed Nedal by his lower jaw while his mouth was open. He smiled brightly. “If you ever try to threaten her or us ever again,” he said. He closed his eyes in a pleasant manner, like he was about to take a nap. “I’ll take this jaw, and I'll wear it like a necklace.” He released Nedal’s lower jaw, still smiling, and watched him walk away. The stallion looked back nervously at the human as he left.

Duke whistled. “Damn, dude. Didn’t think I’d hear you say something like that.”

Frost shrugged. “Meh.”

The men and mare left the training arena and sauntered on back to their own quarters, thoughts of the potential future weighing heavily on all of their minds.

Comments

[insightguy]

3 chapters? not bad!

[agentrainbow007]

DAMN STRAIGHT! three chapters at once, can't wait to see what training you go in store for the elite squad

[Rain_Bow_Dashie]

I wanted to comment yesterday... BUTTTT my browser decided to explode, and it then decided it wanted to not work, so i got G-mod and Half Life 2: along with Episode 1 &2 (proven fact. Valve does not believe in the number '3' Portal 1&2 Team Fortress 1&2 Half life 1&2) any pony notice a trend here?

[Morphy]

2874094
That is kind of curious. Maybe they'll skip directly to 4?

[Rain_Bow_Dashie]

2874647 or Portal 2 Episode 2 (ha ha ha)

[Ogatasensei123]

As per usual, I'm very impressed by your work and this is a particularly shining example of what one can do when they truly apply themselves. Great job bro, give yourself a pat on the back, you deserve it. And keep those chapters coming.

[CptBrony]

2876915
Thanks, man! I'm glad to see that you like it.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

This is getting interesting...

[Truthseeker]

I say, if they ever see Nedal in the field again, that he get a case of friendly fire.

[Gravity012]

7027767
Oh yes. He should get 'accidently' shot in the head.