Salvation

by Sandstorm Inkwell

Chapter Fifteen

With my encounter with Twilight temporarily avoided, I had rushed back to the mead-hall. Setting my beret on one of the tables, I looked around and sighed. Now I had nothing to do since Scoots wouldn't be back until later. I kicked the ground and watched as some dust came up from it.

“Well, better than being bored out of my skull,” I muttered to myself as I went to grab a bucket and a sponge. Filling the bucket with water, I added soap before going back into the main hall. Before I even got to work, I paused and went upstairs into Gonz's room. Sitting next to his solar charger (smart bastard) was his iPod. He had decided to leave it behind since he was, technically, going to a class. Also, having to explain the device to everyone in Canterlot would have been taxing.

Grabbing the device, I unplugged it from the solar charger and walked back downstairs. Placing the media player on a table, I scrolled through the song list before I found the one I was looking for. I hit play and immediately, a guitar started to strum. As I got down to start scrubbing, I also started singing along with the singer.

“American girls and American guys, we'll always stand up and salute.
We'll always recognize, when we see ol' glory flying,”

I heard the door creak open but didn't bother looking up to see who it was I continued singing and cleaning.

“There's a lot of men dead,
So we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our heads.
My daddy served in the army, where he lost his right eye,
But he flew a flag out in our yard 'til the day that he died.
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister, and me,
To grow up and live happy in the land of the free.

Now this nation that I loooove is fallin' under attack.
A might sucker-punch cam flying in from somewhere in the back.
Soon as we could see clearly through our big, black eye,
Man, we lit up your world like the 4th of Julyyyyyy!

Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty starting shaking her fist.
And the Eagle will fly, man it's gonna be hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell.
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on yooooouuuu.

Ah, brought to you courtesy of the Red, White, and Bluuuueeee!”

There was a slight instrumental break and I finally looked to see Applejack near me. She had grabbed a sponge and was now helping me clean the floors. She had a small smile on her face, which caused my smile to grow slightly.

“Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage:
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage.
An' you'll be sorry you messed with the U.S. of AAAAAAAAAA!
'Cos we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way!

Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty starting shaking her fist.
And the Eagle will fly, man it's gonna be hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell.
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on yooooouuuu.”

As the ending vocals sounded, I heard Applejack chuckle and couldn't help but laugh as well. Standing up, I stretched out my back before walking over to the iPod and hitting pause. Seeing as how I was temporarily done, Applejack also stood and stretched before looking at the iPod.

“Ain't never seen a device that can play music without a band, before,” she said with a smile.

I shrugged, “It's called an iPod but, yeah, humans did a lot of things for efficiency sake. Imagine nothing but earth ponies in Equestria and you've got the same situation as Humans did. No magic, no flying, just good old ingenuity.”

She chuckled, “That sounds like a mighty difficult life. 'Specially with nopony to control the weather.”

“React, Adapt, and Overcome,” I replied simply before looking at her and crossing my arms with a smirk, “Now, I know you didn't come over here to see me make an ass of myself and help me clean.”

She shook her head, “Nope, that I didn't. I came to say that you don broke Twilight with whatever ya did before you came runnin' through the market, screaming like some crazy pony.”

I laughed loudly, holding my stomach as it began to hurt. Finally, I sat down and looked at her with tears in my eyes, “Broke?”

She had laughed with me, not as loudly, but with me. Nodding her head she replied, “Yep, when I found her, she was redder than an apple on harvest day. She kept mumbling your name and something 'bout a kiss.” She then raised one of her eyebrows at me, “I had to push her back inside so I could close her door 'nd keep her from making a fool of herself.”

I was on the floor now, the laughs barking out as tears ran from my eyes. I knew that I probably shouldn't be laughing but it was just so priceless!

“Tyler! Ya stop laughing right now!” I heard AJ yell.

Immediately, I stopped barking laughter but I was still chuckling under my breath and smiling as I looked over at the orange mare. “Yes?” I asked, trying to conceal my laughter.

“Y'all need to go and work things out with Twi, sugarcube. I can see what's happening 'tween ya two and I want to support it. I can't support it, tho' if somepony,” she glared at me, “keeps acting like a colt and if another keeps overreacting at ev'ry sign of affection.”

I sobered up and nodded, “Eh, good point. While we're on the subject. How are you and Kilborn?”

A blush came to her cheeks as she glanced away from me. I smirked at her.

“What ya mean?” she asked, scratching at the floor with a hoof.

“Oh, don't give me that. You two have been more connected than somepony's cutie mark and their special talent since he started working for ya,” I remarked, the accent from my home slipping out some, “I ain't seen him happier to be around anyone, or pony, than he is when he's around you. Likewise, I see how you act when he's around and when he isn't around. Y'all are just as guilty as Twi and me.”

“N-now hold on one applebucking second. Ah came here to tell ya to stop being a colt. Don't ya go turning this on me now. Your still at fault.”

I nodded and raised my hands in mock surrender, “That I am. How 'bout this. After I finish cleaning the floor, I'll go on over and talk to her about what happened. However, you need to talk to Kilborn 'bout your feelings about each other. Deal?”

She looked at the ground before looking up at me with determination in her eyes, “Deal.”

After we shook on it, AJ left me to finish cleaning. With the music playing, it didn't take too long and soon my joints were popping in protest as I stood up and surveyed the now clean floor. Though the work wasn't too physically exhausting, I opted to bathe again. When I was done, I got out and dressed in my ACU, now that they were actually clean.

After putting on my belt and thigh holster, I walked back downstairs and outside. Looking a little to my right, I saw Athena just sitting silently next to the building that her users called home. Wanting at least a little more free time before the possibility of being stuck in the Library with Twi until after dark, I began to walk over to the still machine.

BOOM!

I ducked slightly at the sound as I looked up in confusion. It sounded somewhat like thunder but the skies were clear. No clouds were even approaching the village. Something clicked in my mind and I rushed for the Humvee. Opening the passenger door, I leaned in and turned on the radio.

“-nix 1-1. We are in heavy engagement with OpFor foot mobiles. GPS is down. Blue Force Tracker appears to be offline. In need of assistance. Repeat, to any unit on this freq, this is Phoenix 1-1. We are in heavy engagement with OpFor foot mobiles. GPS is down. Blue Force Tracker appears to be offline. In need of assistance. Repeat-”

I felt my mouth go slack when the radio actually picked up something. As I listened though, only one word came to mind that put all my feelings to voice.

“Shit.”

Comments

[Scarlet Storm]

'Cos we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way!

Best line ever