That Others May Live

by CptBrony

Pre-Deployment Training

Pre-Deployment Training

Amel made her way off to Rarity’s to get her take on how everything was meant to go. She seemed like the resident expert on romantic stuff, so it would be unwise to opt out of her invitation.

As she walked along the streets of the wrecked, but quickly recovering, town, she thought that this must have been the type of environment Frost and Duke operated in on a regular basis. A town or city was destroyed, and they were sent in to rescue people, particularly if there were bad guys around. Urban centers seemed like the most likely places they would have to fight to rescue people.

It was nice to see ponies’ spirits up. Frost and Amel never returned the music player, probably to a certain pony’s discontent, so they continued using it to lighten the mood. Many houses were already fixed up, with debris piles sitting outside waiting for disposal. Guard units patrolled the area to ensure there was no trouble. Whenever Amel passed a patrol unit, the guards greeted her with a quick “Ma’am.” It felt nice.

When she arrived at the boutique, Amel knocked three times on the door. Inside, there was a bit of clamoring, and it sounded like a few things fell over, but quickly after the raucous, the door opened up to reveal a glamorous looking Rarity.

“Darling!” she greeted emphatically with a hug. Amel returned it. “Oh, I’m so glad you came. The last time I offered this sort of thing to a someone of another culture, we were sure he wouldn’t come. Rainbow even made a bet on it, but lost.”

“Why wouldn’t he want to come and talk to you?” Amel asked, curious. “You’re one of the best ponies to spend time with.”

“Oh, Harkness was a bit of a character,” Rarity said dismissively. “Anywho, come in!”

Amel walked into the boutique and looked around it was practically spotless; you would never guess it was effectively a small field hospital just days before. The floor was pristine and shining, everything was in order, and the décor was spot on. The only oddity was a fallen lamp, which Amel assumed had just happened.

“What happened there?” Amel asked.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle told me she has to go to the library to ‘rent a book’,” Rarity said, magically grabbing a broom and sweeping up broken glass. “She knocked this lamp over on her way out the back door.”

“Must be an important book,” Amel said. Rarity blinked, then remembered Amel didn’t really know.

“Oh, darling, that’s not it,” Rarity said. “Her dragon-coltfriend lives in the library.”

“Oh,” Amel replied. She hadn’t expected that. “She must be excited.”

“Well, as long as Spike doesn’t get too excited, I don’t mind,” Rarity said. Amel giggled. “But those two are an example of what you should do!”

It appeared that the advice was going to start pretty early. As Rarity swept up, Amel looked around for a place to sit. She found a nice cushion by the stage, probably that Rarity sat on while working, and plopped herself down on it, ready for some mental note taking.

“What do you mean?” Amel asked.

“When Sweetie Belle was old enough to realize she liked a certain colt more than just as a friend, she didn’t know what to do,” Rarity said. “Especially because he had a crush on me.”

“Oh dear,” Amel said.

“Oh, it was no big deal,” Rarity said. “She asked me what she should tell ‘her friend’ to do. I told her, ‘Your friend needs to follow her heart. The longer it sits untouched, the more it will long to be touched, and then, it could make a very poor choice of who gets to touch it.’ She asked me why her friend was so scared, so I told her about the pain of rejection, but that it’s totally normal and fine to happen.”

“Did you ever get rejected growing up?” Amel asked.

“Oh, countless times,” Rarity said. ”Believe it or not, I didn’t always look like this.”

“Oh?” Amel asked.

“Indeed,” Rarity said, still checking for shards of glass. “I had braces, pimples, and my body grew in random proportions during puberty. I was rather freaky looking.” Rarity laughed at the image she remembered of herself from her younger days.

“You sound strong,” Amel said.

“Hardly,” Rarity said. “See, we all have the ability to get back after a rejection. It’s mostly just whether or not you understand that not everyone will be interested in you. Once you realize that, you realize that, just as you have your own tastes, so does everyone else, and that’s just it.”

“A good lesson to learn,” Amel said.

“Yes, indeed,” Rarity said. “One I don’t expect you will have to learn. But! Back to the story. “Rarity cleared her throat. “When Sweetie Belle took my advice to heart, she decided to ask Spike if he would like to go out on a date. I must admit, she had it easier than I; even through her puberty days, she was a pretty young lady.”

“Some are just that fortunate,” Amel said.

“Yourself included,” Rarity said. Amel blushed. “Don’t think you aren’t! Even with a makeover, you couldn’t look much better. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand…”

Both mares shared a laugh over that. Rainbow just didn’t put effort into her appearance. Maybe her lover liked that rough and tumble look, who knew. Maybe they were into that weird stuff, too. Rainbow was so dominant in public, but no one knew about in her “personal” life.

“Anyway. When Sweetie Belle asked Spike if he’d like to go on a date, he said sure, mostly because he didn’t know what to say,” Rarity continued. “Later, he came to none other than myself for advice on what he should do. I told him he should just give it a shot; if it didn’t seem like it would work, they would still be friends. He liked the idea.”

“Are you sure he didn’t just do it because YOU said he should?” Amel asked with a giggle.

“Ha! I‘m almost positive he did,” Rarity said. “But when they went on that date, they had a fabulous time. Despite never asking me, they even kissed when Spike came to drop her off here. I saw it happen.”

“Ooooh!” Amel said, putting her hooves to her cheeks. “That’s adorable!”

“Not when it’s your little sister with a dragon,” Rarity said. “I let Twilight know what happened, and we interrogated our respective little ones when they returned home. I must say, it was quite fun to embarrass Sweetie Belle when she walked in, and I understand Twilight had an absolute ball with it.”

“What did you do?” Amel asked in amused horror.

“I waited for Sweetie in her room,” Rarity said. “When she walked in, I said, ‘No dragon coming up with you? After that kiss, I wasn’t sure what to expect.’” Amel fell into complete hysterics. “I knew Spike wouldn’t do something like that, but it was not important at the time. My job was to embarrass my little sister, and embarrass her I did.”

“I wish I had grown up like you did here,” Amel said. “It sounds like so much fun.”

“Oh, it certainly had its ups and downs,” Rarity said. She really seemed to be intent on getting all the glass from that lamp. “I was very fortunate growing up. I suppose that’s why I ultimately became the element of generosity.”

“I heard most ponies grow greedy when they grow up with a lot of things,” Amel said.

“That is true,” Rarity said. “I have my fabulous parents to thank for for raising me right!”

Rarity continued telling Amel stories of how she had embarrassed Sweetie Belle in her somewhat older years after she took a liking to colts, and particularly Spike. The jokes originally just started as Sweetie Belle being a classic girl, kissing and skipping class for “library studying”, but eventually grew to be more… mature, jokes. The kind you don’t read about in anything rated T for teen.

All the while, Rarity worked, and Amel tried to think of how to apply Sweetie Belle’s lessons to her own situation. It wasn’t terribly hard, as the lessons were all simple: go for it, and it’ll happen. Even if it somehow doesn’t, you’ll still be friends, and that’s the most important thing. Lovers should be best friends as is.

It got Amel thinking. She really did like being friends with Frost. Sure, he got her heart racing with his antics and personality, but she also felt strangely calm with him, especially lately. He was her best friend, no doubt. Even if he did say no to her being more than just friends, he would still be her best friend in the whole world. As long as their friendship continued after she finally asked him, she didn’t mind so much him saying no any more.

“Ah, all done!” Rarity said. She had taken some time cleaning up the glass. “I had to make sure I got it all. Of course, two months from now, I’m still going to find a piece of glass somehow bigger than the original bulb. That just always happens.”

“I know how you feel there,” Amel said.

“Anyway, since that is done now, I scheduled a spa treatment!” Rarity announced excitedly.

“The spa is open?” Amel asked incredulously.

“It’s actually doing everything for free right now,” Rarity explained. “The work that the townsponies are doing right now is back breaking, and a chance to relax at the spa is good for their health.”

“That actually makes perfect sense,” Amel said with enlightenment.

“So let us go!” Rarity commanded, pushing Amel out the door.

They walked over to the spa through nearly clean streets. With the happy music, and apparently free spa sessions, the townsponies were in good spirits and worked fast. Amel really had to hand it to these ponies, when they wanted to do something, they did it fast and they did it well.

When they arrived at the spa, the spa ponies just looked up, smiled, and told Rarity to go right on in. Rarity walked right past them and brought Amel along to a large mineral bath, where none other than the other elements were awaiting them. Even Rainbow, although there another mare next to her, and they seemed to be getting awfully close to each other.

Amel and Rarity stepped into the bath and relaxed the instant they dipped in. Amel could feel the minerals easing into her skin under her coat, adding to the healthy shine she had started to develop since she left Saddle Arabia. All the impurities started leaving her skin, and she practically wanted to simply fall asleep right there.

“Rainbow! Dusty!” Applejack’s southern voice called out, snapping Amel from her stupor. “Y’all two’re in a bath with us. Please, control yerselves.”

“Heheh, sorry,” Rainbow said.

Amel shook her head and came back to the world around her to be with her good friends, the Elements of Harmony. She wondered at times how her life played out this way; two hero humans came and rescued her, she became friends with the most important ponies in the world, and she had prospects to become a human and go to a whole new world with her new human friends. What were the odds that this would happen to her?

“So Twilight, I was just telling Amel about our first times grilling Spike and Sweetie Belle after their first date,” Rarity said.

“Oh my gosh, that was the most fun ever!” Twilight said in her characteristically un-princess-like demeanor. She was a really casual pony, most of the time. Maybe it had something to do with being Princess of Friendship. “Spike tried to run, but I held him down with my magic and interrogated him. Flash ended up sending me away!” Twilight laughed hard at the memory.

“If I remember correctly, Flash was really rather pleased with how Spike did,” Rarity said.

“Oh, yes, he was,” Twilight said. “He decided to make dad jokes at Spike’s situation, being really the closest thing to a father Spike has. They were so, just, incredibly, hilariously bad.”

“Closest thing to a father?” Amel asked. Twilight explained the story of how she came to be with Spike. “So you are like his mother?”

“Sort of,” Twilight said. “More like a big sister than anything.”

“Perfect for trolling hard,” Pinkie Pie interjected with a snort.

“Indeed, I am the Momma troll,” Twilight said with a snort of her own.

“You can imagine her parents reactions,” Rainbow said. “They send their daughter off to school, she comes back with a butt tattoo and a baby.” Twilight rolled her eyes at the joke as the mares all laughed.

“So Twilight, as Princess of Friendship, what advice do you have for Amel?” Rarity said, ignoring the classlessness that was Rainbow Dash.

“I think I’d say she just needs to do it,” Twilight said without giving Amel a chance to speak first. Amel wasn’t aware that Twilight knew about all of it. “If you’re friends, you’ll stay friends. Of course, if you want, I can get Cadance down here within the next few hours to make it… ‘Easier’, for him to say yes.”

Amel’s face turned completely red, and she tried to sink down into the water until just her nose was pointing out of it. Her ears and eyes were under the water, but she could still hear everything going on.

“Yes, darling, I’d say to do that,” Rarity said. Amel heard a bizarre noise, and through her eyelids saw a bright purple flash. Moment slater, another flash happened, and Twilight said something Amel didn’t quite catch.

She came up out of the water. “What?” she asked.

“Cadance will be here by tonight,” Twilight announced. Amel immediately went back to where she was in the water. “I hope she knows the only thing she’s lost is the ability to see us,” the princess said to the group.

“If she can’t see us, maybe we aren’t here,” Fluttershy said.

“Ah know that’s how you used to do it,” Applejack teased.

“It was,” Fluttershy said with an evil grin. “But even if I close my eyes, I can TELL when Mac is there.” Applejack’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks, and she turned away and wretched while the other ponies looked at Fluttershy with some surprise.

“That was just savage, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash laughed, getting a hoof bump from her old friend. “Positively savage. Even for you, these days, just… too savage.”

“Why? Why would ya say something like that?” Applejack asked, sickened.

“I thought the Element of Honesty would like me to tell the truth,” Fluttershy teased, earning another wretch from her extended family.

“Because she’s so savage,” Rainbow said.

“Actually, the Apples are the true masters of this ‘savagery’, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said, offering Applejack a look. “Big Mac is a pretty primal stallion-“

“STAHHHP!” Applejack cried, shoving her hooves in he rears. Every other pony in the tub laughed. “Ah came here to relax, not here about Fluttershy taintin’ mah brother with her wicked ways.”

“I just couldn’t help it. I’m sorry,” Fluttershy apologized with a snicker. Amel had no idea she was so “savage”, as Rainbow Dash put it.

After Fluttershy clearly won the short verbal bout, the girls got to chattering away as usual. Normally, the conversation revolved around their respective works, but now, they primarily revolved around how they were helping to rebuild the town. They were all very pleased with Amel for playing the music, save for Twilight, who still wanted the player back. Rainbow Dash offered to take care of it later, and Twilight was more than happy to accept, freeing Amel of the responsibility.

It was nice to have such a casual group of friends to spend time with, even if they were some of the most respected and beloved ponies in Equestria. They never let it get to their heads. Certainly the most respectable ponies around.

They continued with their spa day for a while, then decided to go to the castle to eat delicious food and chill for a while there while they waited for Cadance to show up. Amel wished she had stopped it, but it was too late now. Plus, it was a chance for Twilight to see her family again, so it wasn’t as if it was just for Amel.

They spent several hours in the castle, first eating, then just talking in Twilight’s library. They sat upon the most comfortable cushions Amel had yet sat upon, forcing her to inquire as to what they were made of. It was some material she had never heard of, something Rarity imported from Trottingham or something.

In time, Princess Cadance arrived outside the castle, toting along Shining Armor. Twilight ran out to the balcony and greeted them, flying all the way down to hug her brother and sister-in-law.

When they walked through the door, Shining Armor nodded to Amel, and she nodded back. Cadance, however, had a different greeting: She ran up to Amel, picked her up in a big bear hug, and squeezed her close.

“Oooh, I’m so happy for you!” Princess Cadance squealed. Amel could barely breathe. “He’s such a nice man, so respectable. I’m sure Frost will be delighted!”

“I can’t wait to see how this plays out,” Shining Armor snickered, remembering his own uncertain attempts at eanring Cadance’s love.

“So, you and me are gonna have one on one girl talk,” Cadance said excitedly. “Shiny will spend some time with Twilight for now and reminisce.”

“That’s most of why I came,” Shining said.

“Most?” Twilight replied.

“I also came to ask the men about their tactical gear,” Shining Armor said. “They have this stun gear that could be really helpful to our guys.”

“Anyway!” Cadance said, releasing Amel from her bear hug onslaught and grabbing her by the hoof. “We’ll see you in a bit.”

“Where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“Secret,” Cadance said with a giggle. “Can’t be interrupted!”

With that, Cadance dragged Amel along through the halls, up numerous staircases, and all the way to a balcony at the top of the castle. Already awaiting them was a tea set and some nice cushions.

“I spoke to some guards on the way up to have them set up some tea for us,” Cadance explained. They sat down. “So. Tell me everything.”

“Well… uh…” Amel wasn’t sure how to start, so she started from when she first saw the men. Cadance was aghast at the life Amel used to live, how brutal it was, but was enamored with how Duke and Frost came in and saved her. Then they were nice enough to let her tag along when they really probably shouldn’t have. Why did they do that? As much as operating in Equestria violated their SOP, that must have just added to it.

“That’s horrifying!” Cadance said. “But that’s soooooooo incredible!”

“You’re awfully excited,” Amel observed.

“Well, I’ve never managed love between a human and a pony,” Cadance said. “Wasn’t exactly there before. Not until very late in the game.” Amel nodded, though she didn’t understand.

“So, I want to be with Frost,” Amel continued. “But I’m not sure how to go about it.”

“Well, I have a few pieces to give,” Cadance said. “Normally, love is between two ponies. Or gryphons. Or dragons. Or combinations. All in this world. I haven’t really dealt with otherworldly love.” Amel deflated.

“So… what?” Amel asked.

“Well, normally, I would say two ponies should try living together before they commit,” Cadance said. She started sipping her tea.

“Frost did say I could go to his world with him,” Amel stated casually.

Cadance spat the tea out to the side. “Hold the phone. He said that?” she asked. Amel nodded. “That changes the game.”

“It does?” Amel asked.

“It does,” Cadance said. “See, Auntie Luna can look into the human world with some pool she has in her basement or something, I don’t know what it is. If you can go back with Frost, live with him, it works perfectly! If it works out, you stay with him there, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after!”

“If not?” Amel asked, nervous.

“Well, with Discord’s help, they can just pull you back into this world,” Cadance said. “They’ve been getting better at precision dropping things into our world.”

“Better?” Amel asked. Cadance put a hoof to her mouth, realizing that Amel wasn’t technically involved in secret stuff. She lived with the human operators and knew about them and some things about their missions, but she wasn't an actual operator or agent.

Cadance looked over Amel for a moment. “Hmmm... I suppose you can know this. You sort of have a right to know, with how everything has been going.” Amel was heavily involved in the whole thing, after all. “ Yes, they weren’t accurate at all before when they brought things in from the human world. How do you think Duke and Frost came here to Equestria in the first place?” Cadance asked casually.

Amel blinked. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. It was the royal sisters who brought Duke and Frost here, with the assistance of the Spirit of Chaos. She was so confused, but it made so much sense. How else would two exceptional human warriors just happen to show up in Equestria during its worst wartime situation in history?

“Wow,” Amel said.

“Wow indeed,” Cadance said. “They tried to bring in something called a SEAL, but first they pulled some kind of spy, this OGA fellow. When they realized someone would be sent to rescue him, after the spy landed in some random place in the dragon lands, they made a bet that it would be a SEAL, and I think they were looking for a particular one they knew about. Unfortunately, he apparently wasn’t tasked, and Duke and Frost came instead. They have been very helpful, though.”

“So… they were brought here specifically to fight for Equestria,” Amel said, still amazed at how it all played together.

“Yes,” Cadance said. “Their skills haven’t been used the way Auntie Celestia wanted, but they have done things that she hadn’t thought of before. Things that definitely changed the tide of the war in our favor.” Amel was agape of mouth. “I can see this is quite a bit for you, so let’s get back to the matter at hand!”

“I… yes, let’s,” Amel agreed.

“So, you can go home with him,” Cadance said. “Is this in a romantic context?”

“No, just to get me to his country because he thinks I would like it,” Amel said.

“Perfect!” Cadance said. “So, here’s my information-driven advice.” Cadance cleared her throat. “If you can go home with him in a friendly context, do it. Right now, he’ll be distracted with getting this spy man back home. When his mission is done, he will likely be given time off because of how crazy this whole adventure was. Talk to him about it then, after you’ve had a chance to really spend time together totally away from his work. For now, keep being friends, and later, after all is said and done, go for it. He will definitely say yes, especially if you opt to be a human.”

Amel thought about the advice. It all made perfect sense; wait until he’s away from work, then go for it. If she’s a human, she will have physical appeal, especially if she’s pretty like Frost said he would expect. Not that that mattered. And he and Duke would help support her, and would no doubt always be her friends, so she would never be alone in America. Especially if she lived with Frost.

“I like that idea,” Amel said definitively. “What should we do for when they get back?

“I’m glad you like the idea,” Cadance said. She sipped some more tea. “I think for tomorrow, just meet them when they land, let them know you care a whole lot. Shiny and I can go with you.” Amel nodded in agreement. “Now, let’s get back to some simple girl talk!”

Cadance and Amel kept chattering away about random girly things, with Amel’s emotional and romantic troubles set at ease. Amel couldn’t wait for the next day when the men would come home, if for no reason other than that it would be interesting to see their reaction to the proverbial bomb Cadance just dropped on her. Maybe she told AMel specifically so Amel would tell the men after all was said and done, so the ponies wouldn’t have to do it. It certainly closed up quite a few holes in her understanding of what was going on. But now Amel had to wonder just how deep this whole ordeal really went.

Author's Note:

Please, hold your comments until you've read the next three chapters

Comments

[hs0003]

Comment comment comments.

[Dream Seeker]

BUT-

Fine. Holding back the flood.

[Ink_25]

I just can't hold it back!

eanring

—> earning

And somewhere you wrote AMel instead of Amel.

[TheLolzKnight]

Celestia... you essentially kidnapped a government agent, allowed him to be captured by a hostile force, kidnapped his rescuers, tossed them into a war zone AND above all lied to them? ! God woman, I though you were intelligent! All the repercussions, all for a navy seal? Idiot. Also morally abhorrent, that too.

[whoofian]

“It was,” Fluttershy said with an evil grin. “But even if I close my eyes, I can TELL when Mac is there.” Applejack’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks, and she turned away and wretched while the other ponies looked at Fluttershy with some surprise.

SAVAGE AF