Salvation

by Sandstorm Inkwell

Chapter Eleven

Sweat. It drenched my clothes by the time we had gotten out the last of the apple trees. As I had expected, Applejack had a name for each of them. The last to be pulled up was named Pieminie.

Setting Pieminie aside, we all rushed back to the clearing. Once there, Gonzales was quick to get into the Humvee.

“Everyone ready?” he asked as we all gathered near the driver side door. I looked amongst the assembled group, no one shook their head.

“We're good!” I stated. Nodding, Gonz started up the Humvee. Athena began breathing with a roar that startled the two farm ponies. Walking up to the window, I leaned against the door.

“Take it slow!” I shouted.

“Of course! Athena likes it slow!” was the response. Rolling my eyes, I stepped back as Gonzales shifted the vehicle into reverse. Looking over his shoulder, Gonzales began to back it up. He turned the wheel, causing the machine to turn as well. When he was about to hit some trees at the edge of the clearing, he stopped and spun the wheel around. I watched as the soldier shifted the vehicle to Drive and pulled forward into the widened trail. Slowly, the Humvee moved down the trail.

Following behind it, we began to replace the trees when it passed. It took about a hour before the Humvee was out and all of the trees were replaced. By that time, Kilborn had shown up and helped us finish up.

“Well, Applejack, it seems you can finally have your clearing back,” Kilborn remarked with a smirk once we were all done and standing around the now silent Humvee.

“You big lugs are allowed to stay on my prop'rty anytime. So long as y'all don't go chasing little fillies, that is,” Applejack replied, a smile spreading across her muzzle. We all laughed at that. Looking back, we had all found the misunderstanding to be pretty humorous. Even the Crusaders thought it was funny.

“We'll keep that in mind,” Kilborn replied before turning to address the squad, “Come on. We need to get settled before dinner.”

“Why? You got a date Sarge?” Jones joked.

“Only with my two favorite mistresses: food and bed. Now come on, let's get rolling.”

Chuckling, we all climbed into the Humvee, waving bye to the two farm ponies. Once we were all settled in, Smiley standing with the top portion of his body poking out the from the top of the Humvee, Gonzales started up the Humvee again. Shifting it into gear, he pressed the accelerator causing the Humvee to begin to rumble down the road.

I smiled as I felt the familiar vibrations of a moving vehicle. Laying my head against my seat, exhaustion was quick to catch up to me. With a yawn, I closed my eyes and welcomed the blackness of sleep.

“Tyler!” I heard someone shout. Looking up from my book, I saw that it was my friend, Featherston. The chubby teenager walked up to me with a smile on his face. “Why the hell are you reading? You need to be dumb, like everyone else here!”

I chuckled, rotating the book sideways, “What these black things mean?” I asked jokingly.

“There we go!” he replied, slapping a palm on my shoulder. Shaking my head in amusement at my friend's antics, I marked the page of my book before closing it. As I did, my friend sat down at the round, blue table that sat in the vast room known as the Commons Area. Looking around, I saw the stone pillars with metal supports at the top that held the roof up. A large ventilation duct snaked along one of the walls near the roof, huge vents facing out at the room. The concrete floor had a soft shine to it.

Other kids sat at other table spread throughout the room. There weren't many as it was still early in the morning. School started at eight thirty-five and many showed up to school with only two minutes to spare. Featherston and me always showed up early because we had nothing else to do.

“So,” my friend began, “did Laws tell you?”

“Tell me what?” I asked.

“Jamie screwed up so we kicked her off the team!” he exclaimed excitedly.

I smiled. Jamie was a freshman in our school. She had gotten me, a senior, to date her near the beginning of the year. Things were going alright until it got near Homecoming. Then she started to become... distant. It was hard to explain but it all just felt off. Finally, Homecoming came around and my parents and I met her and her cousin, who was taking care of her, at her house. After I put on the fancy flower bracelet and pictures were taken, Jamie and me left the house since I had driven separately.

We ended up at IHOP for dinner before the dance. It was there that I had finally had enough and asked her what was wrong. Her response was that she wanted to break up with me because I was 'distracting her from school'. That hit me harder than I could handle, thus forcing me to enter a state of semi-denial. I knew it was over but I still hoped that we could have at least an inkling of fun together at the dance. That proved to be wrong.

When we had arrived at the school, where the dance was being held, she immediately disappeared. I did catch her for one dance but beside that, she was lost in the crowd of moving bodies. My friends who had seen her said that she had been grinding against a guy while texting a different guy. That whittled away any denial that I had, turning it into hatred.

However, I was a kind person. Against the better judgment of my friends, and myself, I waited for her after the dance. What almost made me snap at her was that she had the gall to ask if I was taking her to the movies as well, the Homecoming tickets including a movie ticket for after the dance.

I had told her no. When she had asked why, I had replied with that I was tired. Satisfied, she let me take her home. The ride was silent, my music up loud enough to drown out any talking she might have done. When we arrived at her house, she got out and closed the door. No words, which suited me just fine.

After dropping her off, I sped to the movie theater and met with my friends. They all smiled when I showed up and smiled wider when I bought a large popcorn and drink with the explanation of “cause I fucking can”. With our snacks, we had gone into the theater and found our seats. When the movie started, Jamie decided to show up dressed in pajamas. She crossed the theater before looking around. Seeing me, she walked two rows up from where I was and sat down. After a minute of silence and a snide “Tired, huh?” remark, she left, my friends and I laughing at her antics.

Next day she called me rude, arrogant, selfish, blah, blah. After that, we had an unspoken agreement to not speak to each other. The one time I did speak to her was to tell her to shut up during a team meeting because she was talking while Laws, our team leader, was trying to talk.

“Good,” I finally replied to Featherston with a smile, “she didn't belong anyway.”

Featherston laughed, “I know right? She was horri-”

Pain erupted from the right side of my head, spurring vision into blurriness before fading all together.

Awaking, I rubbed my head, looking out my open door to see Gonz standing there with an impatient look on his face.

“Did you hit me?” I asked, noting the stupidity of the question after I had asked it.

“Well your dumb ass fell asleep. Now get out and bring your shit inside.”

Nodding, I waited for him to walk away before stepping out of the Humvee. My eyes widened as I noticed the crowd around the vehicle. The ponies were looking at it with pure curiosity. Smiling at them, I closed the door before moving around to the open back. Reaching in, I grabbed my gear. I had tossed it in the back before I joined the squad in removing the trees. The backpack I put on while holding everything else in my hands.

Turning from the back, I looked up at the two-story house that the Humvee was parked in front of. It was of the same feudal age design as the other houses of Ponyvile, the wooden walls and thatch roof, but it was a good deal wider. I couldn't help but to compare it to what I thought a mead-hall may look like. Stepping to the door, I noticed that it was actually a double door, the handles being rings attached to the door.

Pushing them open, I walked inside and about dropped my stuff in surprise.

“Welcome to Aries' Mead-Hall!” Jones shouted from the center of the wide, main room.

“We bought a bar?” I asked in disbelief. The main room had long, wooden tables spaced evenly in two rows. Across from me was a recessed room with a bar counter separating it from the main room. On the left end of the room sat a large fireplace, the inside blackened from past flames. On the right side of the room was a small stage, jutting from the wall, elevated by wooden supports. Two doors we placed beside each other on the left side of the room, near the fireplace. One had a picture of a stallion on it while the other had a picture of mare, with a dress, on it. Another door sat between the bar and the stage, this was with no sign.

“Hell yeah we did!” Gonzales shouted as he came out of a doorway I hadn't seen and stood behind the bar counter. He had a large smile on his face as he set his hands on the countertop and leaned on it. I noticed that the bar room was slightly lower than the main room. Assumption lead me to believe that it was to offset the height difference between humans and ponies.

“But why?” I found myself asking.

“Why not?” Jones replied.

“We need to bring in bits somehow!” Gonz exclaimed.

“I thought you and Kilborn were working at Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Smiley is gonna replace me since Athena's out from the clearing. Kilborn will still work there too. He left us three in charge of running this mead-hall!” Gonz explained.

“What?” I asked, astonished, “How did I get involved in this?”

“Cause you're gonna be our bard! I mean, hell, you even played a Lute back at base!” Jones exclaimed, his smiled about to crack his face in half. I sighed. They were right in a way, I did know how to play the Lute. The Lute was an instrument from the human medieval era. It had a similar shape to a guitar but the acoustic chamber was rounded in the back and the head was bent back.

“That and you can tell some mean tales when you put your mind to it,” Gonz added from behind the bar.

“What are you two gonna be doing?” I asked.

“Manning the bar!” Jones exclaimed.

“Serving the drinks and making sure people are happy!” Gonz said not seconds after Jones was done.

“There's no getting out of this is there?”

“Nope!” they both exclaimed simultaneously.

“Do either of you even know how to make Equestrian drinks?”

There was a pregnant pause as the two thought about that. They then lowered their heads,

“No,” Jones replied for the both of them.

“We'll just have to get someone to teach us.” Gonz answered, his smile returning.

I just smirked and shook my head, “Fine but under a few conditions.”

They silenced and looked at me intently, waiting for my conditions.

“One,” I started, clearing my throat, “we all leave each other to their jobs unless it threatens the smooth functioning of the hall. Second,” I smiled, “we make this the best mead-hall Equestria has ever seen!”

“Hoo-rah!” shouted the other two, there smiles returning full force.

“Now, if you'd excuse me, I got stuff to put away before I go hang out with Scootaloo some more. We'll work on this more tomorrow?”

“Sounds good to me,” Gonz said. I nodded, since he was still a higher rank than me, his wording still held value. With that taken care of, I walked to the unmarked door to the right of the bar area. Pushing through it, I noticed that the storeroom already had barrels and sacks in it. The sacks were empty and I assumed it was the same for the barrels. That'll all change soon, I thought with a smile.

To my left was the doorway that led into the bar area, I could hear Gonz and Jones discussing the training prospect. To the right, against the wall, were the stairs that led up. Walking up them, I came out into a sort of parlor, chairs spread around a rug with a fireplace. I had seen the stone column in the storeroom and now I felt it was safe to say that the column was holding up the fireplace.

Stepping out of the parlor, I entered a hallway with a multitude of doors. Passing by four rooms, all claimed by my squadmates, and two bathrooms, I finally reached the end room. Entering it, I saw the simple bed and nightstand against one corner. A trunk sat at the end of the bed with a closet built into the wall across from the bed. In the middle of the room, facing the back wall, was a desk with a chair tucked underneath it. A small bed took up the wall to the left of the door, another trunk at it's head. I smiled at the small bed. Of course they'd think of Scoots as well, I thought happily.

Tossing my gear onto the desk, I sat on my bed, staring at the smaller one.

This is it, I thought to myself, This is home.