That Others May Live

by CptBrony

Moving Day

Moving Day

The men slept through a substantial portion of the day and then decided to just keep on resting that night. Amel wanted to go out and see the castle grounds, but neither man would go, so she stayed with them. She made a big stink of it for a while, but eventually, she calmed down and just hung out with Frost and Duke.

The next day, everyone was rejuvenated and revitalized, ready to take on the world. Neither man expected a mission for that day or particularly soon in their future, and felt glad for it. They had gotten their rest, but now, as with all PJs in foreign lands, it was time to go out and taste the local culture and explore the mysteries of the foreign land. All three of the party were ready for a day of fun and exploration.

But that day didn’t come today.

Three knocks sounded at their door as they prepared to head out. “Who is it?” Duke shouted.

“I have a message from her royal highness, Princess Luna,” a guard’s voice replied. Duke groaned at the monotonous call to duty.

“What’re you groaning about?” Frost said, walking out of the bathroom.

“Princess Luna’s calling on us,” Duke said.

Frost hung his head and sighed. “Well, damn. And here I thought we would get to have some fun.”

Amel stepped out of the bathroom behind Frost. “What?” she asked, distraught.

“Looks like our day of fun is on hold,” Duke said, turning to look at Amel. He did a double take, though, when he noticed she came out of the bathroom. “Why were the two of you in there together?” he asked.

Amel raised an eyebrow. “Frost was helping me with my mane and clip,” she said. When she said clip, she was always referring to the knife Frost bought for her in Saddle Arabia.

Duke nodded slowly. “Riiight,” he said. Amel huffed at him and stared in the other direction.

Duke went to the door and opened it up to reveal the guard outside. “Please, if you would all come with me,” he said as he spun around.

“All? As in, Amel as well?” Duke said in a surprised reply.

“Yes sir, she must come as well,” the guard explained. “Princess Luna will tell you why when you get there.”

“You can’t?” Frost asked as he and Amel walked to the door.

The guard shook his head. “Above my pay grade,” he said.

The guard led the trio from their room to Princess Luna’s personal chambers. Duke had expected to go to a war room to be briefed on a mission at first, but with Amel present, it didn’t make any sense. There must not have been a mission. If whatever it was involved her, it must have been informal or in regards to her role with the men.

When they arrived at Luna’s door, the guard saluted, then left them before the door. The men salute back as they were taught, and Amel tried to imitate, but just looked silly. The group waited for the doors to open, and when they finally did, just inside was the princess, looking out at her country from her balcony.

“Princess Luna,” Duke said as he led the way in. Amel gave a bow first, but cut it short when neither man did so.

“Duke, Frost. And... Amel,” Luna said, sounding like she had forgotten Amel’s name. She turned around and smiled at them. “I am glad you could come by.”

“What is it you need, princess?” Frost asked. “We’ll be ready in half an hour, tops. We had planned a day of fun in the city...”

“Frost, hush,” Duke said.

Luna waved her hoof back and forth and giggled. “No, no, nothing like that! But I never did congratulate you on such an exquisite job rescuing my sister’s unicorn.”

“All in a day’s work, ma’am,” Frost said, standing as straight as possible.

“Of course,” Luna said, still giggling. “But, as I said, this is not a mission. Though I fear you will have to get your things together today.”

“What is it?” Amel asked. “Are they going far away?”

“I would hardly say far. But do not worry, fair Amel, you shall accompany them.” Luna reassured the mare with a touch of her hoof to Amel’s shoulder.

Amel let out a breath she had pent up for several minutes. “Thank you, princess,” she said.

Luna took her hoof back. “Yes, you will need to gather up your things by noon, I am afraid. No day of fun in the city; you’re moving out.”

“Tired of us already, princess?” Frost asked with a grin.

“You humans tend to be so smelly,” Luna said.

Frost chuckled, but Duke felt something else. She said that as if she were familiar with humans, like she had met one or more. She must have had some sort of relationship with the previous human in Equestria, and form the sound of it, she was close to him. She might be able to elaborate on some of what Duke had been contemplating.

Duke cleared his throat. “Princess, if I could ask you something...”

Luna looked to him with cheery eyes. “Regarding this, or something else?” she asked.

“Something else,” Duke replied, knowing where it was going.

Luna shook her head slowly. “I am afraid that it must wait, then. I must work out some things with certain transfers regarding you and some others to your new station.”

“Yes, of course,” Duke said, silently cursing.

“What do you mean?” Frost asked.

“You shall be stationed in Ponyville for the time being, and it will be your primary headquarters in Equestria,” Luna explained. “It is where one of our fellow princesses lives along with other very important ponies who may influence your search. You will have resources there that you do not have as much access to here, and a runway not far away that will have carriages to take you wherever you need to go.”

“What about ‘some others’?” Amel asked.

Luna smiled. “You recall me saying that you will work with my Nighthawks?” Luna asked. Duke and Frost nodded. “Well, they will be stationed in Ponyville with you. Your mission will often overlap or require that you be together, so keeping you together is the goal.”

“Aprotelese?” Frost asked. Luna nodded. “Cool, he seemed like a decent guy.”

“You seem like you would like him,” Luna said.

Duke clapped his hands together. “Well, since that’s sorted out, we should probably get ready to move. If you would excuse us, princess.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, go and pack up your things. Be at the front of the castle at noon.”

“Are we not flying?” Frost asked.

Luna shook her head. “All flights are fully occupied, so you will take the train.”

Frost heard Amel breath a sigh of relief. “Not into flying?” he asked her.

“It is not my first choice,” she said.

Frost chuckled at her and put his arm around her neck. “Ironic, then, that you got stuck with two guys from the United States AIR FORCE,” he said. With a pat on her side, he released her and left the room with Duke.

Amel went to follow, but Luna stopped her. “You certainly know how to pick them,” she said with a grin.

“Huh?” Amel replied.

Luna chuckled and pointed at the exiting Frost with her wing. “Hold onto that one,” she said. “He’s a keeper.”

Amel blushed furiously. “I-I-I, umm, I don’t-” Luna gave her a look that said really? “P-please excuse me,” Amel said and then immediately ducked out.

Luna laughed when Amel was gone, then turned back to her window. “Yes, he is a keeper,” she said. “If only Cinny had managed to keep hers...”

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

The men’s gear was already organized, so packing only took a short time. They still had a couple of hours before they would be taken to the train, so the trio decided that they would take a look around the castle. It was a beautiful day to see the grounds.

They decided to start off in the gardens, but when they got there, they found that the gardens would be their only stop for the day. The place was absolutely enormous, with a dozen paths, statues everywhere, a hedge maze, and benches and ponds throughout. It looked like it was Central Park inside a castle.

Duke whistled. “They sure know how to treat royalty,” he said with a hint of dissatisfaction.

“Sure do,” Frost said without the same feeling. He was stunned. “It’s so quiet.”

“Not like the rest of the castle,” Amel said. “When you two were gone, everything was crazy with nobles and highborn ponies.”

Frost let out a humorless laugh. “Sounds like a wonderful time,” he said sarcastically.

Duke beheld the garden with relaxed eyes. He had always liked serene places, but the garden wasn’t really what he was looking for. He was really into museums and historical places. Every time he went to one, he came out knowing something he didn’t know before, and he believed that you should always try to learn something new every day.

“You two feel free to walk around,” Duke said. “I‘m going to look at the statues.”

Frost gave him a little salute. “Suit yourself,” he said. Duke went down the path on his own to go and view the statues.

“So, uhh, what should we do?” Amel asked.

Frost shrugged. “I guess we can just walk around,” he said.

Amel was happy to walk, so she and Frost started off in a different direction than Duke went. The gardens were very nice, much better than the palace grounds in Saddle Arabia. Birds flew about, chirping their little songs for the walkers. There was a light breeze, not cold, but cool enough that the temperature was just perfect with it. The ground was soft under them, a welcome change from the tiles and packed dirt they had been walking on for so long.

Amel felt a bit strange. She remembered what Princess Luna had said to her the previous night, but she didn’t want to. Frost was nice, and she liked him a lot, but it was conflicting in her head. Frost and Duke helped her because they wanted to do the right thing, not because they knew her. Maybe that was why she liked Frost; he jumped in to save her when he didn’t have to.

Duke did too, though. Although she didn’t like Duke as much. He didn’t come across as being as nice as Frost, not in conversation at least. Frost also seemed a little more fun. But that begged a question.

“Frost?” Amel said.

“Hm?”

“Is that your real name?” Amel asked.

Frost blinked, surprised at the question. “Well... no, it’s not.” He hoped she wouldn’t ask for it.

“How did you get it?” Amel asked.

Frost felt relieved. “Well, it’s a bit of a story,” Frost said.

“I think we have time,” Amel said.

Frost had to think back for a minute. “Well, it all started back in the early days of my career. Right now, we’re with a very special unit, one that it takes time to get to. You have to serve a minimum two years in Pararescue before you get there, though most guys have more under their belt.”

“What was your original unit?” Amel asked.

“I was first assigned to the 352nd Special Operations Group, 321st Special Tactics Squadron,” Frost explained. “Not any more, though. But that was where I got my name.”

“How was that?” Amel asked.

“Well, we were certainly a special unit with mainly military responsibilities, but all Pararescuemen have to be capable of rescues,” Frost said. “The unit was based in England, a big island country way in the north. With our aircraft, we were able to fly really far to other northern countries to perform rescues of people in trouble. Almost all of the time, I got sent to Norway to rescue mountaineers and skiers.”

“So you are Frost because you went to cold places?” Amel asked.

Frost chuckled. “Not quite,” he said. “Once, when we went for a rescue, it was to save someone who had seriously slashed their leg on a rock when they fell. They were injured pretty badly. We were called in to rescue them. To get there, we had to fly in a CV-22B Osprey, a freaky hybrid aircraft that takes a while to explain, to rescue the climbers.”

“It turned out, the injury was worse than we had been told. When we got there, we found out that the guy’s leg was nearly shorn off by a falling rock.” Frost smiled as Amel shuddered with repulsion at the thought. “We didn’t have a tourniquet with us to deal with that kind of bleeding. Honestly, the guy was lucky; the cold had kept his blood flowing slower and slowed his bodily functions, and that was what kept him alive.”

“What did you do?” Amel asked, excited to hear the story.

“I did the only thing I could do; I improvised. When we set out, we all brought basic medical gear and some thin, but extremely well made, insulating jackets for warmth. When we touched down, my buddy went to secure the lines to get the climber up to the Osprey while I treated the guy.”

“I had to take off my jacket and use it to tourniquet his leg, like they did in the world wars ridiculously long ago. It was my only good thermal protection, but I had to save this guy. It worked really well, and it was a good thing it did; the line for the stretcher that would bring the climber up to the Osprey broke.”

“Oh no!” Amel said.

Frost nodded. “Yeah, we thought the guy was doomed. But we were informed that another chopper, an HH60 Pavehawk, would be by really soon to get us. In the meantime, we had to treat the guy and keep him alive. And I was positively freezing the whole time without a jacket.”

“Did you get him out?” Amel asked.

Frost nodded proudly. “Yup, we got him out of there alive and brought him home. I let him keep my jacket, since it was stained with his blood. He loved it and I think he still has it to this day. But when we got on the helicopter, one of the crewman looked at me and said, ‘You like like you just came out of the freezer!’” Frost said with a laugh. “I had little icicles all over my arms and shirt. My buddy said I frosted over out there, and then, everyone called me Frost.”

“Wow,” Amel said. “That’s amazing.” Frost smiled brightly at her compliment and they continued their walk without more major conversation.

Princess Luna was right about him; he really was an awesome guy.

Duke marveled at the craftsmanship of the statues. For beings that only had hooves, they were carved with precision and mastery. Unless they were unicorns. Then they were still good, but not quite as impressive.

Duke felt captivated by a particular statue in the garden, though. It wasn’t of any pony, or horse, or anyone. It had two legs at the bottom, keeping it attached to the stand, then two wings going out, and a horn out of the top. The most striking part, though, was the eagle in the middle with its wings flared. The way it was drawn, it almost reminded Duke of the SEAL Trident.

He noticed an inscription in the front. It wasn’t long, only one word, etched deep into the stone. The word had a powerful ring to it, like if he said it, it might bring something about or evoke someone somewhere in some world and tell them that something was happening.

“Harkness,” Duke read.

The power of the word didn’t feel real, though. Duke stood there, as if waiting for something to happen while a brief breeze passed him by along the path, moving his hair before his eyes. After a few seconds of standing there, he shrugged his shoulders and walked away. It might have been a Special Ops unit memorial or something.

Duke walked on back to the castle, where he spotted Frost and Amel standing in front of the door, waiting. He took his time walking back, appreciating the beautiful garden a little bit more before he left it behind. As he came within earshot, Frost called out to him.

“Have a nice long stroll?” he asked.

Duke nodded slowly. “I learned a few things today,” he said.

“We’d best get going,” Frost said. “They’ll be waiting for us out front soon. We’d best grab our things and head out.”

“Sounds like a plan, Frost,” Duke replied.

It didn’t take long for the trio to go get their things and go to the front of the castle to wait. They took less time than anticipated, and ended up waiting out there for half an hour before someone finally showed up. When a stallion came to take their bags onto a cart, the men and mare were happy to secure their things to it and walk alongside it.

The walk to the train also didn’t take very long, and they were waiting around for the second time that day. Though this time, they weren’t going to be as bored.

Duke noticed a dot coming toward them in the sky. “Incoming,” he said casually.

Frost looked up and, as the dot came closer, saw that it as Aprotelese. “It looks like we’re getting a send-off before we go.”

Aprotelese was flying incredibly fast and had already landed by the time Duke and Frost were standing up to greet him. Before saying anything, he shook himself off to get the water from the clouds off and warm up a little now that he was back on ground level. He was wearing an empty tactical vest, horseshoes, a knife, and a dark gray beret. When he was finished, he smiled and happily greeted his new teammates.

“What’s up, guys?” Aprotelese asked.

“You were, a minute ago,” Frost said. He stepped forward and stuck his hand out.

Aprotelese took it and shook. “Something I bet you guys wish you could do yourselves,” Aprotelese said.

“If only,” Duke replied.

Aprotelese looked past the men and stopped. Amel was standing off behind them, looking away and trying to avoid being seen, but to no avail. As Aprotelese saw her, he immediately made his way around the men and walked toward her.

“Hello,” he said in a slightly deepened voice. “Might I ask your name?”

Amel looked at him, startled at the unexpected conversation. “Umm, I- I am Amel,” she said nervously.

Aprotelese removed his beret. “I am Aprotelese,” he said with a soft smile. “It is a true pleasure to meet you.”

Amel swallowed and blinked. “Thank you,” she said.

Aprotelese kept his beret off. “I fear that my eyes must be having difficulty seeing,” he said, sitting his rump down. “Because I can’t see anything but you at the moment.”

Amel turned a bright shade of red and started to stammer. When she couldn’t find words to say anything, she put her head down and let her mane fall in front of her face.

“Uh, I... Um, you...” She was having a lot of trouble. Frost saw it and decided to come to the rescue.

“Amel’s been traveling with us for quite some time now,” Frost said. “We freed her from some nasty ‘royals’ in Saddle Arabia, and decided that we like her and want to have her around.”

Aprotelese looked at Frost, then Amel, then Frost again. “Ah, so that is where you come from,” he said to Amel. “Well, I can promise you, nothing like that exists in Equestria. I and my fellow guards do our best to protect ponies like yourself.”

Amel looked through her mane at the stallion. “I thank you for your service,” she said quietly with a smile.

Duke walked over to break up the conversation. “Aprotelese, can I talk to you about something for a minute?” he asked.

“No problem,” the stallion replied quickly. He left Frost and Amel to chat with Duke.

Amel looked at her hooves, fiddling with them. “He is handsome,” she said after a minute.

“Gotta watch that guy,” Frost thought. He nodded slowly. “Stallions must look their best when they can,” he replied.

Amel looked up at Frost. “You will e working with him?” she asked.

“It sounds like we’ll be living with him,” Frost said.

Amel nodded. “Well, he seems nice... but maybe not what I am searching for.”

Frost nodded, barely listening. “Oh, you wait; he’ll try to convince you otherwise.” Frost looked down at Amel with a grin. Amel looked at Aprotelese again, who was talking to a disappointed looking Duke.

“I wish him good fortune, then,” Amel said. “I know the kind of stallion I like most.”

Duke, meanwhile, was growing frustrated. “So you know nothing about him?” he asked.

Aprotelese shook his head. “Nope, sorry. Heard stories, but nothing more. Not even a name. He stayed low profile, from what I understand, and something happened that made him go away, along with a lot of what ponies knew about him. Can’t help you other than that, sorry.”

“Damn,” Duke said. “Guess I’ll have to do some serious research into this.” Duke was determined to learn the story behind this other human and to find out what he did.

The train finally showed up, blowing its loud whistle, and when everything was good to go, the trio plus Aprotelese boarded up, ready to face down whatever adventures, dangers, and bizarre twists they would encounter on their way to finding OGA.

Comments

[BronyofMeddlers]

Hmmm, not bad of a story, but that statue...Why do I have feeling of fore-shadowing somehow?

[Ghost-091]

*insert Frost's nickname story*

Oh common! That's not how you get a nickname! Here's how:
terminallance.com/wp-content/uploads/comics/2010-01-05-Strip_1_Nunchukus_web.jpg

[Therandompony]

Harkness?
Please don't say he's dead, I liked him.

[totallynotabrony]

I remember one day in January 2009. It was -22F. I remember that very well because I had a flat tire.

My scarf kept the breath close to my face, and the moisture was freezing on my eyelashes. I had to stop and clean the ice off so I could see.

[CptBrony]

4476968
That's insane. The coldest I had was walking to school in -1* F this past winter.

[Corneredbadger]

4476968 i feel for you good sir. I've spent hours in a -20 freezer at work before, came out with an icicle for a goatee. one big spike hanging off my chin; it was funny as hell

[Bazing]

“If only Cinny had managed to keep hers...”

STOP! Stop crossing your stories over! Naughty!

[Ink_25]

‘You like like you just came out of the freezer!’

I think you mean look, don't you?