A soldier from the frontlines of the Equestrian Civil War returns home to uncertain peace
A soldier from the frontlines of the Equestrian Civil War returns home, out of place and out of touch with the world that he once called home and struggles to fit in. Little does he know his past will be coming back to haunt him.
I killed a pony today. I still can’t believe it, everything happened so quickly. I heard a noise come from outside the wire of our COP while I was on watch. Thought it was a stray dog. We get them every so often, mostly cause we give ‘em some of our leftovers from the MREs. Went to check it out and saw a NLR sapper trying to bury an IED near the entrance. I wasn’t even thinking, I just started to do. Two shots, that’s all it took.
I must have stood there nearly three minutes just staring before somepony pulled me back and behind cover. Guess my shots must have let every NLR soldier in our AO know their friend got killed. There must have been hundreds of them. We had tracers and rockets flying in every which direction into our little outpost. Went on for hours, they almost had us to; if it weren’t for our air support.
When the dust had settled, I went back to that stallion’s body near the entrance. He must have been a little younger than me. I hope it was quick. Chaser, I’ve never been so scared in my life. Not of what’s going on around me, you get used to that. But of what I might become. I feel like I’m losing my grip on what’s right and what’s wrong. It’s becoming more and more confusing here with each passing day. What scared me the most that day was not that I had killed him, but that I didn’t care.
I know this is a lot for you to hear right now, but I needed to talk to somepony about this. Please stay strong, for the both of us.
Your friend,
-‘Doc’ Coban
●●●
“Hey, Doc. Whatcha writing?” That motherfucker, sneaking up on ponies like that. One of these days, I’d probably just let my hoof ‘accidentally’ go into their face. That’d show ‘em, not like I’d ever do that to Spc. Strong, though. For only having just gotten out of basic training, he was freakin’ huge. It kind of annoyed me that he was already a Specialist just because he had a degree from the University of Canterlot when he enlisted. But then again, the service was known to favor those with that stupid slip of paper.
“Some shit you don’t need to worry about,” I said with agitation, shifting the letter away from Strong’s view. Maybe he would just go away this time. I felt his hoof roughly push me aside and snatch my letter to Cloud Chaser. Fuck, or he could do that too. “Give that back you little fucker!”
“Haha!” Strong cried out in mock victory as he began reading. “Cloud Chaser huh? Got yourself a little marefriend back home, huh? You have a picture of her? Probably has a nice flank and…”
“Shutup, man! That’s my best friend from my childhood! What the hell is your problem?!” I yelled back.
“Aw, c’mon, Doc. I’m just messin’ with yah,” he said before continuing reading. His eyes began to get a worried look about them. “Uh, Doc…is…this how you feel?”
I knew I should have bucked his face in. Snatching back the letter from his grasp, I gave him a cold stare. “Why, what’s it to you? And besides, I’m not sending this to her, you kidding? It’d scare the hell out of Chaser. It just always helps me a little to write what I want to say, down first. Then send her the one that is a bunch of BS. Don’t want her to worry, you know?” The Specialist continued to look at me intently, trying to figure out if what I was saying was true.
He must have realized I wouldn’t bull shit him. “Alright, Coban” he turned away and began to exit the makeshift barracks, “If you need somepony to talk to, I got your back.”
“Whatever man, get outta here ‘fore I smack the shit outta you” I said with a hidden grin. Strong chuckled as he let the door close. As annoying as the Specialist could be, he was a damn good battle buddy. I tossed the letter aside, I’d get to working on the version I could send later. But now seemed like a good time as any to take a nap. I laid down on my cot and soon drifted off to sleep.
●●●
The world around me shook and I awoke with a start. “What the?” Before I could even finish my half-asleep inquiries, I felt another violent tremor and an explosion. Somepony was screaming outside. Fuck me sideways, time to go to work I thought as I threw on my full kit and grabbed my rifle. I plowed through the door and saw the unimaginable.
I had been in firefights before, but nothing quite like this. Our mortar pit must have been hit with rockets and coordinated fire. A secondary explosion came up from the pit, goddamn mortars were going off now. Keeping my head down I turned to see somepony on the turret catch a round through his face. My vision began to fixate on what was left of his body as it slumped to the ground.
Was someone calling me? It was so faint, but I could still here it. “Doc!”
I turned and saw Strong next to me. “Doc! Switch on! We got a fucking war to fight!”
“Yeah, yeah” I mumbled, glancing back to the body nearby. Rounds snapped by inches over our heads. “What the hell is happening?” I shouted back at Strong.
“What the fuck, have you been sleeping or some shit?” Well yeah I had been, but now probably wasn’t the best time to bring that up. “Those NLR assholes are hitting us with everything they got! C’mon! Follow me, we got wounded up by the gate!” Strong replied before sprinting off.
Alright keep your shit together Coban, I thought to myself. Do your damn job and kill anypony trying to kill you. Remember your training. I looked up at where Strong was and felt myself get thrown back and hit the HESCO barrier behind me. I shook my head, trying to make the ringing stop and conducted a quick inspection on myself. Just shaken, but nothing more. That was a start.
“Oh fuck” I muttered, “Strong! You okay, buddy?”
The big unicorn, at last finally responded after what seemed like ages. “Yeah, I’m good. My ears are ringin’ but I’m good.” We dusted ourselves off and continued our push towards the front of the COP. Did I mention I fucking hated this place?
The gunfire and incoming rounds intensified as we drew nearer to the gate. Another pony lay on the ground, Sgt. Nova. She looked up at me, her voice shaking in fear as she struggled to speak. “Save your breath Nova! You’re in capable hooves. Strong!” I shouted.
“What is it Doc?” he asked, whirling around.
“You help the guys at the gate, bring back anypony who gets hit to me. I gotta fix up Nova! You copy?!”
"Wilco, Sergeant!” Strong took off into the sound of chaos just outside. I diverted all my attention to the casualty. I always wondered what she looked like off duty. She seemed like she could be hot. But then again maybe my deployment goggles had kicked in. Either way, she wasn’t in a good state.
“FUCK!” Nova screamed while I was trying not to panic. She was slipping into shock and it appeared that her trachea was deviated slightly to the left. Damn.
Pulling away at her plate carrier, I realized that the situation was worse than I had initially thought. The round had punched right through a weak point in the armor and passed through her left lung. Her body rattled as she struggled to breathe. I quickly pulled out my med-kit looking for an occlusive dressing to cover the wound. “Damnit!” I mumbled when I noticed that the Sergeant was straining to see the wound for herself.
“How bad?” she rasped, fighting to speak. I could see the growing panic in her eyes.
“Shut up and let me do my job, Nova.” I stated matter-of-factly. It took all of my mental strength to keep composed for Nova’s sake. Last thing she needed now was a medic who was equally as terrified as she was. Pulling the occlusive dressing out of my medic kit, I warned her abruptly “Hold on.”
“…Hurts!” Nova cried out in pain as she placed and secured the dressing on three sides. The round was lodged somewhere in her, and hadn’t punched completely through her body. I heard the whistle as another rocket began to screech towards the COP. Shielding Nova with my body, I attempted to create a barrier between the blast and her.
Fortunately for us, that rocket went to some other part of the outpost. Dust and smoke were filling the air rapidly and began to make working on Nova very difficult. I heard someone calling for me again. “Doc! I got two more wounded here. Both are ambulatory, but they’re hurtin’ bad.” It was Strong. Thank Celestia he was still alive. “We gotta fall back further in. The gate is lost!” He had behind him two ponies who I couldn’t identify due to the haze surrounding us.
Nova looked at me, “…use, comms. Call for…secondary defensive…” Was beginning to look like I was in charge of this mess. Where the hell were the infantry ponies?
I got on my radio and paused for a second. We were retreating, what the hell happened? A round zipped past my face and brought me back to reality. “Raptor 1-6, this is Raptor 1-2. The gate is lost, I say again, the gate is lost!” I began to hear voices just outside the entrance, oh shit. “Strong! I hissed, take Nova to the medical bay, and take those two with you!” I press-checked my rifle’s chamber. “I’ll keep ‘em pinned.”
Strong began “But, Doc!”
“That’s a fucking order, Specialist! Get outta here!” I barked. Strong nodded and without question this time, led the wounded away.
“I heard somepony over here!” a voice in the haze said. “I want Alpha to take left, Bravo will take right. Let’s go!”
“They’ve breached the perimeter! All personnel, fall back to secondary defensive positions at the medical bay. I repeat! All personnel are to fall back to the medical bay!” I hissed into my radio. Please let there be somepony else to hear the message. It’d would be a terrible way to go, in this hellish place.
The hoof-steps began to draw closer; taking cover behind some rubble I prepared myself for the upcoming shoot-out. I aimed down my sights at a silhouette. Wait for the exhale, slow steady squeeze. “LT!” cried another silhouette “I found one hiding back here!”
Somepony was thrown to the ground, shaking and sobbing. “What do we do, sir? Do we take her prisoner?” Her? Who were they talking about?
“No prisoners, we eliminate their presence here.” Well there went the option of surrender.
A mare’s voice began to plead through sobs “Please, don’t! I’m begging you, please!” Somepony racked their charging handle back and the mare began to wail.
I pulled the trigger and a body collapsed. “What the fuck?!” shouted a stallion. My rifle retorted with another three rounds. Two more bodies collapsed, one was left. I heard a click as my rifle jammed from all the dirt and simply charged the remaining NLR soldier. I didn’t care, I was sick of this shit.
The soldier must have been confused. One second his squad was standing around him and the next minute he was being tackled by me. I began to pummel his face with my hooves, over and over. All I could see was red. His attempts at trying to defend himself only made me more violent. “No more! No more!” I heard him say.
“You’re right, no more” I said as I plunged my knife into his chest. The stallion coughed in shock as the steel blade passed through his body. “Fuckin’ fascist SoE pig!” he managed to sputter as I twisted the blade. His body shuddered as I ripped out the knife. As I stood, I spotted my now mangled radio on the ground. Great.
I heard a quiet whimpering. “Troop!” I whispered, remembering about the mare. “You ok? We need to go, like…right now. I don’t plan on dying today.” I had never seen such fear in somepony’s eyes before. She seemed to be focused on some distant object. Battle fatigue, PTSD, whatever you wanna call it. She continued to sit in the blood soaked dirt and sob.
More hoof-steps, faster this time. “Shots fired! Shots fired! Hostiles are still active!” shouted a distant voice “Eleminate with extreme prejudice!” Fuck.
“Rookie, any time. We have to go now!” I whispered more aggressively this time, turning back to her in time to watch as she put her service pistol to her temple. “Hey! Set it down! I can help you!”
“No, you can’t” she said to me in hushed tones. The mare smiled, “It’s over, it’s finally over” and squeezed the trigger.
“FUCK!”
“Where’d that come from?!” The voices seemed to fade out again. Her eyes were still wide open, staring at me. Smile on her face yet. Damnit. I slowly reached forward, took her tags and closed her eyes. Was the least I could do for not saving her. The sounds of the battle were drawing closer and began to wake me from my reverie. Taking one last look at the limp corpse, I hurried back to the medical bay.
●●●
As I approached the medical facilities, I heard a voice nervously call out “Star!”
“Night!” I called back. A worse for wear looking trooper poked his head from some rubble.
“Doc! What the fuck are you doing?! Get down before they see you! We got a few casualties inside too.” Holy Celestia on a cracker. Nothing was going to go in our favor today.
“How many of us are left?” I asked the trooper.
“Just me and Donovan watching our defensive positions, and four more inside. Two ambulatory, one litter urgent surgical and the other pony is good to go. Spread a little bit thin at the moment.”
“Roger, you and Donovan stay sharp. Those NLR bastards are crawling all over the place. We’ll get out of this, trust me.” I smiled for added reassurance, though it probably made the situation seem all the more grim. As I made my entrance into the medical bay, I could smell the bitter, metallic scent of blood. Strong was trying his best to keep Nova alive while the other lesser wounded two troopers were redistributing ammo and supplies.
Strong looked up from Nova “Doc! You’re alive! Holy shit, bro I thought you were dead, but Nova here kept sayin’…er….sputtering, that you’d come back to us!”
A tired face looked up from the examination table, “Doc…”
“Easy, Sarge. Take it easy. Don’t need you wearing yourself out” I chided. “Keep maintaining the pressure on those wounds, Strong.” He nodded briskly. “You two! Troopers! You have a working radio between the two of you?”
One of them reached into his rucksack and pulled out a satellite comm, “Here you go Doc, picked this off our radioman. Poor bastard got his guts shot out.” Pleasant. “Figured he wouldn’t need it no more.”
“Roger. Thanks, troop” I said before switching the comm unit on. “This is Raptor 1-2 to any unit still out there. New Dawn I say again, New Dawn. Anybody, please respond, over!”
The radio hissed with static. So this is how it was going to be huh? A sudden surge and a cackle came through. “Raptor 1-2, this is Eagle 6. What’s your status over?”
Thank Celestia! Relief washed over everypony in the room. “Eagle 6, we’re in danger of being overrun. Multiple hostiles inside our perimeter, break. Multiple KIAs and MIAs. Seven survivor and only four combat effective, break. Have one urgent surgical, and two ambulatory troopers, how copy over?”
“Uh, roger Raptor 1-2. Super 6-1 en route for fire support and MEDIVAC is going up. Patching you through to Super 6-1 now.”
Outside, I was beginning to hear gunshots ringing out. Hell, we didn’t have much time anymore. A burst of static cackled through the comms. A heavy southern accent started speaking “One Two, this is Super. We got visual on the COP, just need y’all to mark your location.”
Without even thinking I bolted out of the bay, full speed. At the time, it felt like I just didn’t care about living or dying, just had a job to do and get the remnants of our platoon out. I could feel the rounds snap and whiz by my body, as I hurled the smoke to the edge of our little perimeter. Saw that trooper get hit that was trying to hold the line, before everything went black.
●●●
“That’s all? Are you sure?”
“What the fuck do you mean ‘That’s all?’ I told you all the shit you were asking for!”
“There wasn’t anything else you can remember?” Celestia, I hated these weekly appointments with the shrink the Solar Empire was sending me to. I glowered at my psychiatrist, hoping my twisted and scrunched facial expression would make her spontaneously combust.
“No.” I said flatly. “Can I go now? Would rather be at the bar.” She sighed. Oh boy, not the whole ‘avoid becoming the angry/alcoholic veteran’ speech. “Roger, shrink. I got it, message received. Don’t worry, I’ll only black out a little,” I said with a shit eating grin before grabbing my things from her office (along with a few bits she had left carelessly on her desk) and hastily leaving.
I usually like to sit by myself. Well, that’s a lie, I don’t like being alone; but having facial scarring and multiple exposed tattoos probably doesn’t make me seem the ‘approachable’ type. “One Agave Nectar ale” I said flatly to the barkeep.
“Deviating from the usual tonight, eh Smiles?” Fuck that asshole.
“Didn’t come here to make small talk, Joe. Keep your fuckin’ smartass comments to yourself” I glowered. Barkeep Joe, heard he had a brother that opened a donut shop somewhere. Bet he was an asshole too. Grumbling he reluctantly slid over a growler of the ale. Well, at least Joe could provide decent product to his clients, despite his attitude.
Taking a large swig, I downed half of it. Lightheaded, good start. Somepony tapped me on my shoulder, “The hell do you want?” I asked.
“That’s my seat, pretty colt” said possibly the deepest voice I had ever heard. Spinning around a little too fast, I stumbled off the seat and looked up. The biggest stallion I had ever seen stood in front of me, along with his posse. This was going to be interesting.
If I was sober, I probably would have kept my mouth shut and moved along. “Too bad, knucklefuck. Find another seat for you and your colt cuddling buddies.” He moved closer while his friends circled around me like scavengers to carrion.
“What did you say, you little prick?”
Quickly I struck his throat with my forehoof and enjoyed the sight of him gasping for air as he collapsed. So much for the tough guy persona. I suddenly saw a heavy layer of dust wrap around everything. Three shadowy figures stepped out from the haze, bloodied and mutilated. I tried to run, I really did, but it was as if my legs were staked into the dirt. Dirt? I looked down. Where was I? Rubble was everywhere, and those three things kept getting closer.
“Die, you SoE pig!” screeched an alien sounding voice.
“Shots fired!” screamed another.
I felt something bump into me from behind. “It’s over, it’s finally over.” Turning, I saw her again. Her brains exploding out of the side of her head while the life drained from her face. Her eyes staring off into the far beyond; that smile.
Somepony put their hoof on my shoulder. Reflexively I grasped it and whirled around. “FUCKING DIE!” I screamed. The figured seemed to pause for a minute. Taking the opportunity, I reached for my sidearm. Where was it? Oh shit, it’s gone. No matter, they had to die, those things. They did this, to her. I lunged at them, swinging and landing blows.
“Get him off them!”
“Somepony! Call the Guard!” What? The Royal Guard? Out on the frontier?
“Coban! Snap out of it!”
“Let them go, you nutjob!” Nutjob? Who was talking? The dust settled as quickly as it had appeared and staring me in the face was a terrified, blue faced posse member trying to breathe. I released my hooves from his throat and heard him cough as air entered his lungs. I looked up and around me. There were three unconscious ponies and one gasping for breath, while everypony else in the bar was staring. Oh shit.
Shaking, I stood and slowly backed away from what had just occurred. I could feel their eyes upon me, judging silently, muttering to themselves. I started to speak “I...I…” before somepony grasped my collar and hurriedly dragged me out the bar door. As the door closed all I could hear was “Don’t you ever come back to my bar! You hear me Coban?!”
●●●
“Let go of me!” I said briskly while struggling to get back to my hooves.
“What the hell were you doing in there Doc?! You could’ve hurt ‘em!” Wait, that voice.
“Nova? Sarge? Holy shit, you’re alive!” Smack! Her hoof came down across my face. “Ow! The hell?!”
“You almost killed those idiots in there, Doc!” she said, anger brimming in her voice. Then she smiled, “Not like they weren’t asking for it though.”
“I uh…”I sputtered. Wow, know any words, ya moron, I thought to myself.
“Doc,” Nova began to speak again, “What’s going on with you? I mean damn, you took on four punks and nearly killed them!” I really wish she’d stop mentioning that.
“Nothing,” I said as flatly as could be. “Just…drop it. Okay? And how the fuck did you find me?”
She paced at the street for a few seconds. “It’s…a long story, Doc. Okay? Say we head home? I’ll catch up with you perhaps later this week?” Home. Wish I could say that.
“Uh, yeah. Well I guess I’ll be seeing you later then.” She squinted her eyes at me. Celestia, they were really blue.
“Hey, Coban. Tell me the truth, where DO you live?” Damnit. Why couldn’t she just leave well enough alone? Looking at her, I could tell she wasn’t going to leave me alone unless she got the truth out of me. Sighing, I finally caved.
“Well Nova, when somepony such as myself has episodes like you just happened to see, it’s rather hard to hold down a job. Without a job, I have no bits, and with no bits I can’t rent anyplace. So I live at the fucking homeless shelter and purchase the bare necessities from the veteran’s fund the SoE sends me every month! You happy now?!” She stared at me in disbelief. “What?!” I screamed.
“I didn’t know” she said softly and looked at the ground, embarrassed.
“Well now you do. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to leave now.” I said as I started trotting away from her.
“Doc! Coban! Wait!” she pleaded. Aww what now? I rolled my eyes before turned back to face Nova. “Why don’t you crash at my place? Could pull out the futon I don’t really use.”
“Thanks, but I ain’t cheap. Besides, I’d rather not be a bother.” She blushed profusely at that quip.
“I never said anything of that nature!” she stated, stamping her hoof on the ground for good measure. “I’m just offering to help you out! Get you back on your feet is all.” I didn’t really try to hide the disbelief on my face. “And besides.” She got quiet again, “I owe you.”
“Noooo. Nova, I was just doing my fucking job!” I protested. I never really liked getting favors or charity for that matter. Plus, she outranked me…sort of. This was getting weird.
She glared at me “And I’m just doing my job now by helping out a battle who is clearly in distress!” she shouted at me. I stood in surprise, it had been a while since somepony actually talked back to me. Still, I wasn’t going to let her get to me.
“Nova, I appreciate the gesture. Really I do, but I won’t accept charity,” I said in a more calm tone.
“Well then, what if you helped earn your keep? Help with cleaning my apartment and assisting me with grocery shopping, you know. Stuff like that?”
“Thanks, but no.” Was tempting though.
“Why not?”
“I already told you, Nova.”
“Pleeeeease?” she pleaded, this time while using some sort of puppy dog eye thing. It was kinda cute. Weird, and how did she get her lip to wobble like that while getting her eyes to be all watery? Fuckin’ hell.
“Fine!” I said, exasperated. “I’ll take you up on your offer. On the condition I help out around the apartment or other things you need taken care of.”
“Done and done. Put ‘er there, roomie” Nova said with a grin. She put out her hoof towards me. I paused, not too sure what to do. Nova looked at me slightly puzzled “Don’t leave me hanging.”
“Oh! Right, my bad. Hah!” I hoof-bumped her back. Smooth. “Alright Nova, back to your place. You’re on point I guess.”
I heard her chuckle. “Hey, Coban. Just call me Autumn. We’re not in the service anymore.” Celestia, civilian life was freaking complicated.
“Blitz.”
“What?”
“Blitz, my nickname. What all the school colts and fillies used to call me back in the day.” Autumn looked at me for a bit before speaking.
“Naw, I’ll still call you Doc. Blitz is an awful nickname.” I heard myself laugh. Whoa, weird.
“Good, I always hated that stupid nickname anyway.”
“Shall we, Doc?” Autumn pointed her hoof in the direction of travel.
The walk back to Autumn’s apartment was rather, well, uneventful to say the least. I enjoyed it though, but more for the reason that I’d finally have an actual roof over my head that wasn’t the shelter, and that didn’t smell like sweat and vomit. She began to slow down her brisk pace.
“Well, here we are. Home sweet home.” My jaw dropped. Before me was the most amazing building I had ever seen. Shiny two-way glass windows, beautiful landscaping and modern architecture. What wasn’t there to love? “You never see an apartment before?”
I blankly looked at Autumn, “This is what you call an apartment?! This place is huge! It’s like a mansion! Like the royal palace! Like Celestia herself would live here! It’s beautiful!” I never thought I’d gush over a freakin’ apartment building. I heard her giggling. “What?”
“Heh. Sorry, I’ve never had anypony like my place that much before” Autumn said. “C’mon! I live on the 2nd floor. I’ll give you the official, one and only Autumn Nova patented tour!” She trotted up the steps quickly. “C’mon, Doc! What are ya waiting for?”
I stood there like an idiot, “I’m…I’m allowed to go in?” She looked at me with an amused look on her face.
“Of course, Doc,” she laughed. “Think I’d offer to help you and leave you?”
“I…I don’t know. Just, nopony’s done something like this for me before.” I lowered my head, ashamed to admit it.
“Oh. Well, then consider me your first!” Autumn said mischievously with a wink. “C’mon lets head on inside.” I obliged, feeling strange about the whole thing. Guess I just had to get used to the whole ‘some ponies are just plain nice’ concept. She held the door open as I sauntered on in. The sight was overwhelming.
Clean and gorgeous were the first two words that come to mind. “Tada!” she said, beaming with pride. “Over here is my living room, and right there is my kitchen.” She began to walk through the apartment. “And this here is the TV area and down the hall are the bedrooms.” I couldn’t help but stare out the living room window. It was a beautiful view of Canterlot, the palace sparkled in the distance. I stepped closer in wonder. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“What?” I snapped out of my reverie. Autumn stood next to me, looking out towards the Palace as well. “Oh, heh. Yeah, the view is amazing.” That among other things.
“Alright, you get set up in your bedroom, shower, whatever. I’ll be making some dinner if you wanna help out.”
“Sounds good, Sarge.” Autumn raised her eyebrow at me. “Sorry. I mean, Autumn.” I began to walk down the hallway. “Hey, which room is mine?”
“Second door on the right!” came the reply from the kitchen.
As I opened the door, the room revealed itself to be relatively normal by comparison to everything else I had seen today. Bed, closet, nightstand, chair and full bath. Simple, but quaint, I like it. My body itched with excitement looking at the shower. It had been a while since I’d experienced a hot shower, and I was sure I could use one.
I closed the door and giddily trotted over to the bathroom. I turned on the water and simply hopped in. I didn’t care if it was going to take a bit for the water to get warm. Hell, I wanted to experience the water’s increase in temperature. Fuckin’ weird, I know. But I’d be damned if I didn’t get a chance to know that feeling.
The shower steadily became warmer with time, and it was glorious to say the least. I must have stood in that shower for at least ten minutes just letting the water run over me before I actually started to clean myself.
●●●
After a bit, I got out of the shower feeling refreshed and happy. Never had a stupid shower felt that good. I threw on a towel and headed on over to the kitchen to see Autumn preparing some food. I tapped her hoof “Need some help there?”
Autumn whirled around brandishing a butterknife in her teeth at me. “Holy…Celestia, Doc. You scared the hell outta me!” She laughed and shakily tried to resume making a hay sandwich.
“Hey, Autumn? You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, Doc. I’m fine. Just scared me is all” she said flatly, putting on what I could only imagine was supposed to be a smile but ended up looking more like a grimace. Yeah, bullshit everything was fine.
“Autumn…” I started.
She glared at me this time, “Doc. I’m fine! Just let it go, okay?!”
I could take a hint. And plus I didn’t want to get knifed in the face by a damned butterknife. Be one of those stupid deaths. I shrugged. “So you need some help.”
Autumn’s bubbliness returned, “Yeah! Think you could grab the plates? They’re right over there.” she chirped. I brought her the plates and set them down. Skillfully, she slid the sandwiches onto both plates. “The bigger one’s yours. I don’t eat too much anyways...”
I grabbed my respective plate and brought it to the table. She sat down opposite of me, backlight by the city lights. My thoughts turned back to when we were deployed and I saw her. Maybe it wasn’t my ‘deployment goggles.’ I mean, Celestia, she looked great. I felt my cheeks flush. Fuck. Nooooo no no no no. Don’t even go there, I thought to myself. Change of though, change of thought!
“So, Autumn. I gotta ask, how did you manage to land a place like this?” Phew, close one.
“Mrph!” she mumbled, trying to chew and swallow her food quickly to reply. “Mpph…Sorry” she said sputtering, hoof over her mouth. “Well to make a long story short, Doc. I got lucky. Managed to get a job in contracting for Trifecta Industries. Pays well.”
“Whoa, wait. You’re a PMC?” I asked, totally taken aback.
Autumn burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, Doc. Should’ve mentioned that they do other stuff outside of mercenary work. I work in their logistics division. Better hours, get to stay away from the front and isn’t going to destroy my body.” She sighed wistfully, her gaze drifting into the distance. “Miss the action though. Sometimes I kind of wonder if I made the right choice, going the ‘safe’ route. What about you, Doc? You miss the old days?”
I started playing with the few crumbs that remained on my plate. “I dunno. Sometimes, yeah. Miss the black and white of it all. Made my life simple, you know? Then there are times I’m glad I got out. The stupid bullshit they made you do during the downtime.” Autumn now looked at me with intent, as if waiting for a definitive answer. “But if I had to do it all again? Yeah. Hell yeah, I would.”
She nodded in agreement before grinning. “Yeah, thought you’d say something like that.” Slowly Autumn got up to put her plate away.
“Hey lemme get that for ya” I offered. Nabbing both her’s and mine and trotted to the sink.
“Thanks, Doc. Just leave the plates in the sink for tonight. We’ll clean ‘em tomorrow. I’m tired as fuck.” Autumn sluggishly strolled to her room.
“Rawger, Sarge. What time we drawin’ weapons at?” I asked. She turned and smiled at my stupid joke. Sweet.
“G’night, Doc.” She said before heading into her room and shutting the door.
“Night, Autumn.” I shut the light off in the kitchen and made my way back to my room. My own bed. This was going to be an awesome night of sleep.
●●●
I awoke with a start. Something was wrong, couldn’t pin down what the hell it was, but something was definitely wrong. I felt around for my rifle, before realizing that I was in Autumn’s apartment. What time was it? I fumbled in the darkness for the clock. Celestia, the display was bright. 0143 hours. So much for a full night of sleep. A muffled cry came through my door.
What the hell? I thought. I scrambled to my hooves, preparing for…well, the unknown I suppose. Cautiously I approached the door and opened it, scanning left and right. Nopony. I heard the cry again, louder this time. And it sounded like it was comin’ from…Autumn’s room? Naw that couldn’t be right. Why would she…oh shit!
I booked it into Autumn’s room, crashing through her door in the process. “Autumn?!” I cried with panic rising in my voice. Great, so stallion-like. That’s when I saw her curled up in the corner, shaking with fear.
“N...no! Stay back!” She whimpered. “Please!”
“Autumn? It’s me, Doc. I want you to look at me, okay?” I asked as calmly as I could. Better keep my distance, just in case. “Where are you now? Autumn?” I took one step forward.
“STAY BACK!” she screamed, inching closer to the knife on her nightstand. Wait…knife? Oh fuck, this was bad, really bad.
“Okay Autumn. I’ll stay back” I said, while keeping close tabs on where she was in location to the knife.
Her eyes began darting back and forth rapidly, looking at the shadows. “Yeah, you will…you fuckin’ NLR bastard!” She started to wring her hooves and gasped. “Fuck, it hurts! Oh Celestia!” Autumn collapsed in a writhing heap on the floor and began screaming again to my dismay. “DOC! DOOOOOOOC!” I took my chance and moved in quickly, pinning her hooves down to keep her from thrashing around and hurting herself.
“Autumn! It’s okay!” I shouted. “We’re in your apartment in downtown Canterlot!” I saw her eyes regain focus.
“..What?”
“We’re in your apartment, Autumn. Here in Canterlot. You’re safe, Autumn.”
“I’m…in Canterlot? Doc? What are you…oh.” Her piercing blue eyes started welling with tears. Aw damnit! She shoved me off and started to quietly sob. “I’m….I’m so…sorry…” Autumn struggled to speak between gasps.
I was never one for these situations, emotions? Gah! This shit was too confusing! “Hey, it’s okay. You got nothing to be sorry about, Sarge. I got your six, battle. Hooah?”
Autumn wiped away her tears with a small laugh. “Fuckin’ Doc. Still squared away after two years of being discharged.” She scooted over and rested her head on my shoulder, “In other words, thanks.”
“Hey don’t mention it. You did the same for me, right?” I said. “Want me to leave ya be, now?”
She grasped my right hoof and with pleading eyes asked “Do you mind staying here with me? Just for a bit? ‘Till I fall asleep?” Damnit, not that eye thing again!
“Yeah. No worries, Autumn. No worries.”
●●●
Doc?
Yeah?
You ever have…a special somepony?
What?
You heard me.
Yeah….yeah I did. Was a while ago.
She have a nice flank?
Why the fuck do ponies always ask me that? I suppose at this point I might as well have on record that yes she did indeed have a ‘nice flank.’
Called it.
Knock it off, Autumn.
Just messin’ with ya Doc. Soooo…if you don’t mind me asking.
Yes. I mind. Not talking about it!
But Doc! C’mon!
No! Fucking…drop…the subject! Aw, wait. Don’t. Don’t you do it!
Do what?
That damned puppy dog eye thing.
Aw what, you mean like this?
Not looking.
Doc!
Nope.
Doc! Lookit!
Okay, fine. I’ll tell you, but only if you promise to stop asking me about it.
Works every time.
Hey! No gloating, or no story.
Sorry.
Well, her name was Cloud Chaser. Like I said, crazy hot flank and was a pegasai to boot. Was totally awesome in…
Cool it, Doc. I didn’t ask for THOSE details.
Heh. Well, she was great. She was smart, funny, beautiful. But I don’t think she and I ever saw eye to eye on the military. She never thought too highly of it, but accepted that I wanted to join.
Hmph. Fuckin’ hippie.
She stuck by me all throughout basic training and showed up at my graduation. All the other stallions were jealous, but that’s beside the point. I was sure that if she could stick by me through all of that, she was the one. Then I got deployed. We had that stereotypical farewell; tears, the works. Initially all is good. Sending letters to her and getting letters back. ‘Bout seven months into deployment, the letters just stopped showing up. But I kept sending them. Had some stupid idea that if I kept sending them, she’d reply. Then finally one day during my tenth month I got a letter.
Oh.
Yeah, one of those. I can still remember exactly what she wrote. “I can’t do this anymore. It hurts me every time I see your letters. I see the fighting on the news and it pains me to think that it might’ve been you who was hurt.”
Shit, Doc. That’s rough.
Yeah, tell me about it. The funny thing is, that I wasn’t mad or nothin’. Can’t explain why, but I just wasn’t. What about you, Autumn?
What about me?
Don’t play dumb.
Never had one.
Wait. For real? You? C’mon, you gotta be kiddin’ me. I mean…uh.
You mean, what?
Uhm.
Oh Celestia, you have a crush on me, don’t you!
Heh. Well I…uh.
Alright then, Doc. What did you mean?
Fuck, I can’t believe I’m about to say this. But here goes. I think that…you’re the kindest pony I’ve ever met. A beautiful one at that, too. And, I…I think I’m falling for you.
Doc?
Yeah, Autumn?
“Doc?”
I groggily awoke, “What the hell? Autumn?”
“Sorry, Doc. But I guess you were muttering in your sleep. Thought you were awake. Something about a beautiful pony that you’re falling for? Guess you were dreamin’ about a special somepony huh?” She winked. I really hope I didn’t mutter anything else out loud.
“What time is it?”
Autumn threw open the blinds and the sunlight came pouring through. “Nine o’clock. It’s my day off so I have to run a few errands out in Ponyville if you wanna help out.” She looked at me out of the corner of her eye.
“Sure. How we getting’ there?”
“Train leaves at eleven fifteen.”
“Train it is then” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could despite being blinded by the sunlight. Autumn trotted out the bedroom door with me following sleepily behind. “Didn’t realize you’re such a morning pony.” She chuckled, then put on her serious face.
“Oh, you mean the proverbial elephant in the room?” I replied a little too sarcastically.
“Now that’s not fair!” Autumn quipped back with anger brimming in her voice. “You don’t know what it’s like to not be able to work like a regular pony!”
“What the fuck?!” I screamed at her in both shock and fury at her audacity. “When you found my sorry ass, I was hoof deep in a fight strangling the life outta some poor bastard! So don’t you EVER tell me I don’t know what it’s like!”
She looked down, embarrassed. “Sorry, Doc. I lost my head.”
“Well no shit! I knew I shoulda tried to do something or said something at dinner!” I caught myself mid-rant. “Oh. Well, it’s fine. I mean, I probably shouldn’t have been snippy about it.” I looked down at my hooves which were suddenly interesting.
We both sat down at the table in silence for what felt like an eternity before Autumn finally broke the silence. “It never really healed.”
“What?” She had caught me off guard.
“Remember that day at the COP? When they lit us up?” I grimaced. How could I not remember that day? Nodding wordlessly, I let her continue, “That bullet left its mark on me. The doctors couldn’t remove all the shrapnel from my chest, so it gets hard to breathe at times.” How did I not notice that before? “When I went down from the first shot, I felt another round hit my back-plate. That was when I got scared. They wanted me dead, not just wounded. Those NLR fuckers wanted me to die.” Autumn stopped for a brief moment, fiddling with the tablecloth. “Guess I’m lucky that the second round didn’t do its job,” she laughed bitterly. “If you can call this ‘lucky.’”
“Explains why you jumped when I came from behind ya,” I stated matter-of-factly.
The auburn mare shrugged “Probably. Just been jumpy since then though.”
“What triggered it again though later?” I asked, trying to figure out how to help my former Sargeant.
“The shortness of breath. Combine that with the darkness and the calm.”
Holy Celestia. “Yeah?”
“Yep. I dread trying to sleep these days, Doc.” She brushed her mane from her eyes, “Its become a fuckin’ chore, one that haunts me on a regular basis.” Her mane flopped down again in front of her eyes. “How do you deal with this kind of shit, Doc?”
I laughed and Autumn glared daggers at me. “Hey now! I ain’t laughin’ at you. Just laughin’ that you thought I dealt with my problems.”
She raised her eyebrows in curiosity, “So then what do you do?”
“Drink.”
“Doc,” began Autumn. “I’m no medical professional, but I’d say that’s probably not the best way to ‘deal with it.’”
I turned to face the view of the sun rising above the palace. “Never asked for your input on the matter, Autumn.” She placed her hoof on mine, making me tense up momentarily.
“Doc, this is the first time I’ve told somepony why I act the way I do. Can’t you trust me the way I trust you?” she pleaded.
I glanced out the window once again, losing myself in the grandeur of the horizon. I heard her sigh heavily and get up from the table. “Either way Coban, if you need somepony to talk to, I got your back” Autumn said quietly before heading back down the hallway. I sighed, just like good ol' Strong.
“I hear her every night” I said calmly. Autumn poked her head from the hallway. It was her turn to be caught off guard.
“What’d you say?”
“I said I hear her every night!” I snapped back at her. Autumn approached me slowly. Sighing, I slouched on my chair. “I can still see those eyes of her’s. Accusing me of failing her.” Tears began to well up in my eyes, I didn’t fucking care now. “And all she tells me is ‘it’s over, it’s over.’” The tears started rolling down my cheeks. “Then she blows her brains all over the place” I spat with pent up anger and frustration. “And I couldn’t do a DAMNED thing!” I was screaming now. “I had a job and I FUCKING FAILED HER!”
I felt a pair of hooves wrap themselves around me, holding me tightly. I hadn’t even noticed Autumn this whole time. I cried bitterly into her shoulder. “I tried to stop her, Autumn! I tried!” I began to whimper. “I tried. Please believe me! I tried!”
“I know you did everything you could” she whispered soothingly. “I believe you, Coban.” I grasped at those words desperately. I believe you, she had said. I struggled to stop my crying, pulling away from her. Wiping my eyes I felt embarrassed that I had shown her, well, whatever this side of me was. My bitch side, I suppose for lack of better term. I fought my emotions back down, why did I think this was a good idea? I never should have told her about any of that! Fuck! I screamed at myself internally. I felt a hoof gently touch my shoulder, “What?” I asked, whirling around and still fighting the years of pent up emotions that had just burst out.
Autumn just gave me a solemn look and nodded, knowing there was no way she could fully understand what was going on inside my head. But it felt good, weirdly enough to tell somepony else about that, it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. “Hey,” I said “Let’s get ready for that train.”
●●●
“How ya holdin’ up Doc?” Autumn asked.
I rolled my eyes, “Don’t worry, mom. I’m fine”
Autumn put on her best pouting face, “You…you think I’m…old?” And cue the lip quiver. Called it. “How could you!” she squeaked.
Fine, two could play this game. “If only I married my mistress instead of you!” I said a little too loudly.
“How dare you!” Autumn said, feigning anger. “How could you do this to me and your crippled colt! Think about your colt, Caramel!” She said with a sly grin.
Making up names now? “Don’t you lie to me, Candy Mane!” Ugh, Goddess. Candy Mane? “I know all about you and April Showers!” Had to come up with better names next time.
“Well…maybe she gives me what I want!” shouted Autumn back at me.
“What you want?!” I shouted back. “I tell you what you want!”
“Uhm, excuse me you two. But are you going to purchase your tickets or not?” asked a rather flustered pegasus ticket attendant.
“Oh…hehe” began Autumn turning an even brighter red as she looked around, realizing that the whole train station was now looking at us.
“Yup. Two for the eleven fifteen for Ponyville” I said, trying my best not to start laughing. Autumn hurriedly threw down ten bits and nabbed the tickets from the attendant. She began to pull on my leg to get me to move. Heh, priceless.
“Hey! The tickets are only five bits! You overpaid!” cried the attendant.
“Keep the change!” hollered Autumn. “Doc! C’mon!”
“Doc? Who’s Doc?” I inquired. Oh this was too easy.
“Fine…” she grumbled. “Caramel. If you don’t fucking move I swear I will castrate you in your sleep then force feed you your own balls!”
“Right away, then Candy Mane!” I said cheerfully as I trotted down the platform. I could hear her face-hoof behind me. She hurried to catch up to me, glaring daggers at me.
“That was just plain evil, Doc!” she hissed. “Ya could’ve told me other ponies were watchin’ us.”
“I could’ve. But it’s way funnier to watch you get embarrassed.” I chuckled. “Besides, it’s your own fault. I mean, we were in a freakin’ train station of all places.”
“Still” she said, pouting. “And really? Candy Mane? What in the hoof kinda name is that?”
“I’m not good at comin’ up with names on the fly,” I said. “Hell, I could ask you the same thing! Caramel?”
“Hey now! Don’t knock it! I happen to like that name!” Autumn protested.
Now I was curious. “Some sort of special significance to it?” She blushed for the second time that day. “Well, c’mon. Spill!”
“Just somepony I used to know” she said, slyly.
Suddenly, a conductor began to roar above the hustle and bustle of the station “All aboard! Next stop, Ponyville!” Well at least the train was ready to leave, and on time too. Huge change of pace compared to the military transports. Celestia, those were awful. Could be a thirty minute wait, or could be the next day when ya leave, who knows? Ugh.
We shambled onto the train among the crowd of other ponies. I hated crowds. Too many ponies, various high-speed avenues of approach, the list could go on. And from the looks of it, Autumn was having a difficult go of it as well. Her face was scrunched up with disapproval at the amount of ponies entering the cars. I motioned to her with a nod of my head to the windows, get a good view for the trip at least. Promptly, we both sat down, collectively breathing a sigh of relief as ponies around us began to take their seats as well.
“Well, at least that part’s over with” I said optimistically.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blue pegasus and a purple unicorn enter the train. Where had I seen them before? They started walking towards where we were sitting. “Are these seats taken?” asked the purple unicorn politely, motioning to the seats opposite of us. Both Autumn and I shook our heads in unison. “Thanks!” she said, beaming with excitement.
“I still don’t see why I have to go on this stupid train,” griped the pegasus. “I mean, I could probably fly faster to Ponyville!” “Dash!” exclaimed the unicorn. “Your wing is in no condition for flight yet! The doctor said you need to rest it for at least a week!” The pegasus groaned excessively loud and slouched in her seat, blankly looking out the window as the train began to depart from the station.
“So, you two headed for Ponyville as well?” asked the unicorn. Guess she was talking to me, seeing as Autumn was focused on trying to control her breathing.
“Ponyville? No shit? Thought we were fuckin’ goin to Appleloosa!” I said dryly only to receive a punch on the shoulder from Autumn who had calmed herself down. The unicorn looked slightly deflated.
“Don’t mind him, he’s just an asshole” Autumn said with a smirk plastered on her face. I was gunna have to get her back for that later.
“Sorry, my humor’s a little dry, miss?” I paused, waiting for her to introduce me to herself and her friend.
“Twilight!” her chipper self appeared to bounce back with relative ease. “Twilight Sparkle. My friend here is…”
“Rainbow Dash!” The pegasus perked up at her being introduced. “Ya heard of me?” Autumn looked at me and shrugged.
“Uh, sorry? Rainbow Dash, was it?” I stumbled with my words, trying to not piss anypony else off today.
“Hey, that’s fine if you haven’t. Just means more fans to win over!” she proclaimed. Okay, then? Interesting pair, these two ponies. Complete polar opposites, Twilight seeming to be the more knowledgeable of the two and Rainbow seeming to be more athletic than anything. “Nice ink, by the way. Goes with your scars!”
And very direct, apparently. Her friend, Twilight gasped in horror. “Rainbow!” she sputtered in disbelief. I started to chuckle while Autumn stifled a snicker.
“What?” protested Rainbow. “They look cool! Not tryin’ to be rude or anything…”
“Coban, name’s Coban. And this little bundle of joy,” I said, prodding Autumn in the ribs with my hoof, “is Autumn.”
“So where’d you get your ink done, Coban?” inquired Rainbow, much to the dismay of Twilight. I rolled up my shirt sleeve to reveal an intricate tattoo of my own design. A manticore clutching a shield and sword with the words ‘Death Before Dishonor’ beneath. “That’s one of my more hidden ones. Got a few more on my chest and back though. The ponies at Ink Spots out in Canterlot did all of them."
The blue pegasus whistled in awe. “Those are so…awesome!” she squealed with excitement. “Can I see the one on your back?”
“What?” I stammered.
“Your back tat, can I see it?” asked Rainbow Dash as Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, Doc. Show her your tats!” giggled Autumn. I glared at her. I turned and lifted the back of my shirt as Rainbow began to read it aloud.
“75th Manticore Rangers, Charlie Company. 2nd Platoon. In memory of the fallen…” her voice trailed off. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to, that is…” she fumbled for her words.
I shrugged my shirt back on and gave a casual grin in her direction. “Hey, no big deal” I said.
Twilight spoke up, filling in the silence left by Rainbow Dash who was now fiddling with her multicolored mane to distract herself from what had just transpired. “How do you two know each other?” motioning towards myself and Autumn.
“We both served in the same unit” said Autumn in a flat tone. “75th Manticore Rangers.” I nodded in agreement. Both Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other and then back at us. “What?” asked both Autumn and myself simultaneously.
“You guys were Rangers?” Rainbow Dash asked incredulously. “Then what the hay are you doing here?”
“Turns out, getting shot isn’t what you’d call good for job security, oddly enough” I quipped back. “I ain’t got nothin’ to hide, neither does Autumn over here. You can probably look our records up since we’ve been out of the service for about close to a year now.” Rainbow narrowed her eyes, trying to get a read on me. I sighed. “We’re tellin’ the trust, honest. We got nothing to gain from making things up.”
Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. “Well?”
“They’re telling the truth,” said Twilight calmly. “That lie detector spell sure does come in handy.”
Autumn shot a look at Twilight, “Wait, so you just like, scanned us or something with your spell to see if we were lying?”
Twilight nodded her head vigorously with excitement, “Yep! Isn’t magic just fascinating?”
“Uh, yeah. Guess it is?” Autumn shook her head in bewilderment. This was going to be an interesting trip.
As the train slowly chugged along, both myself and Autumn learned quite a bit about our newfound acquaintances. Twilight was a pupil of Princess Celestia herself and worked in close conjunction with her at times and Rainbow was a new Wonderbolt in-training. Autumn seemed to hit it off well with both of them, though Twilight’s natural inquisitiveness annoyed me a bit. Otherwise, she seemed like a nice enough pony.
“So what are you all doing heading out to Ponyville?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Compared to Canterlot, I’m not sure that we have much to offer.”
Autumn dismissed the claim, “It’s a quaint town. It’d be nice for us to get out of the city at least. And besides, we shouldn’t be here too long. Have an errand to do there.” She anxiously tapped her hoof on the floor. Actually, I had no clue why we were going to Ponyville either. I’d have to remember to ask her once we got off the train.
“Hey!” piped up Twilight, “Why don’t you guys stop by the Ponyville library once you’re done? I think the girls would love to meet you two!”
I looked at Autumn who gave a nod of approval. “Sure. That sounds good. Say around 1800 hours?” Both Rainbow and Twilight cocked their heads in confusion. “I’m sorry, force of habit. 6 o’clock sound okay?” I turned to Autumn, “That should give us enough time to do our errands, right?”
Autumn pondered the time for a few seconds. “Yeah, that should be fine. We’ll probably be done sooner though, so we’ll plan for a hard time at 6, but we may be there a bit earlier if that’s okay.”
“Hey not a problem!” chirped Rainbow. “It’ll give me a chance to show you the local hotspots! I mean, both of you.” She quickly corrected herself.
Twilight giggled as Rainbow turned a slight shade of red. “And by the hotspots she means the bars and the clubs, all three of them.”
“Alright, could use a drink” I said with a grin, and to the dismay of Autumn. “How’s the crowds out here?”
“Aw they’re not bad. The bars are pretty quiet most of the time. Not too much trouble.” Awesome. Mental note, ‘go to Ponyville to drink.’
“Don’t worry, we’ll bring our own brand of trouble” said Autumn. Wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or not, but Rainbow seemed to get excited about that.
“YES!” she exclaimed. “The bars and clubs are so boring to go to with any of my friends!”
Twilight whipped her head around quickly, “Hey!” she cried out, taking offense at the comment.
Rainbow turned to her, “No offense Twi, but you guys for the most part, aren’t the type of ponies who would normally go to begin with.” Twilight scowled but conceded the point to Rainbow. I actually didn’t take Twilight for the drinking type either. Felt like a cup of tea with that mare would go a long way. “But I mean, you’re still invited.”
“We’ll see,” teasingly said Twilight. I looked at the clock in the car, eleven fifty-two. Should be arriving pretty soon at this point.
“Hey, Rainbow. I got to ask,” I began. “Why’d you wanna be a Wonderbolt?” Wasn’t a normal unit, after all.
“Why’d you wanna be a Ranger?” she asked me back.
“Hey now, I asked you first!”
“Doesn’t matter,” she replied.
I sighed in exasperation. “Joined for the title. And the challenge of it. Plus I wanted to blow shit up. Stupid reason, I know.” “Well that’s pretty much why I joined too. Except I don’t get to blow stuff up.”
I nodded, fair enough. The train began to slow down, we were getting’ close to the Ponyville station. Autumn looked at Twilight, “Hey, where is the Ponyville library anyway?”
“Oh you can’t miss it, it’s the big tree near the center of town.” Twilight replied. “So we’ll see you two around six, right?”
“Yep” said Autumn and myself in unison.
The train came to a complete stop as the conductor’s voice came booming over the PA system. “Ponyville Station, Next stop, Dodge City!” Once again there was a mass rush to the doors as they opened. Fuckin’ big-ass crowds, I thought. As we all clambered out, I heard Rainbow trying to get my attention.
“See ya later, Coban!” she shouted over the hustle and bustle of the crowd. I raised my hoof in reply. I heard Autumn giggling next to me.
“What’s so funny?” I asked her.
She began to laugh even harder as we walked along the platform. “Are you serious?” Autumn asked incredulously. “How could you not notice?!”
“Notice what?”
“She was totally into you!”
“Who?”
“Are you seriously that dense?!” Autumn was perplexed as was I. Who was she talking about? She sighed. “That Rainbow Dash is totally into you!”
Wait. What? Naw, really? No. Really? “Seriously?” I asked.
“Ugh!” Autumn groaned. “Trust me, Doc. I got a mare’s intuition about this sort of thing. She was into you.”
“But what makes you say that?” I insisted. “We were just talking!”
She rolled her eyes “Whatever, Doc.”
“Hey, so where we staying at?” I asked, desperately trying to change the subject.
Autumn flicked her tail at me in annoyance. “At the Ponyville Inn. It’s close by.” Thank Celestia, that train ride was exhausting with that Rainbow Dash character talkin’ my ear off. A nap was in order.
“So, double time?”
“Hell yeah.”
●●●
After checking in to the Inn with the crotchety old mare in the lobby and unpacking the small travel bags we brought, I was finally able to hop into the bed. Holy fuck, this bed was even more comfy than the one at Autumn’s apartment. Then again, I was pretty tired.
“Hey, Doc. I’m gonna head out for a little bit and take care of some personal stuff” piped up Autumn. “I’ll probably be back ‘round four to get ready for tonight. I’m thinking I can pull a few strings with my boss and make this sort of a weekend business trip. Got a few clients we have to finalize some contracts with here anyway.”
“Alright, sounds good” I slurred groggily from the bed. “I’m goin to sleep till you get back more than likely.”
“See ya, Doc” she said as the door shut behind her. Ah, peace and quiet. Perfect.
●●●
“Listen up, troopers! Thirty seconds! Brass check! Buddy check! Y’all know the drill”! shouted Sergeant Tailor over the roar of the Manticore’s dual engines. Ponies left and right were press checking their rifles and going over last second equipment adjustments. “Doc!” he shouted, staring me down. “If you can’t be safe…”
“Be deadly” I shouted back, press checking my own weapon. The Manticore jostled as it approached on its final descent.
The pilots began to speak over our comms, “Comin’ into a hot LZ. Get set to hop out quick!” A few stray rounds pinged off the airframe. The crewchief slid the door open with her magic and a flurry of dust flew into the open troop bay. “Touchdown! Go git ‘em!”
Rapidly, we all jumped out the Manticore and began setting up a perimeter. The incoming fire was starting to increase exponentially as the transport aircraft pulled away.
“Contacts! Hundred meters! My twelve!”
“Fucking hell! They’re everywhere!”
“Get that gun up! Ammo!”
Somepony struck me on the helmet. “Doc! Hostiles! On the ridgeline!” Spc. Strong shouted at me.
“Roger! I see ‘em! I see ‘em!” I cried back. I steadied myself in the midst of the chaos, controlling my breathing. Waiting for the right moment to squeeze. Now. The rifle bucked into my shoulder as the rounds met their target and the silhouette fell in a heap. Two more fell in the same manner as Strong fired a few bursts with his squad gun.
Sergeant Tailor crawled over to us “I need ACE!”
“All green here, Sarge!” we shouted back simultaneously. “Hey Sarge! Where the fuck is the rest of our platoon?” I asked.
“Shut up and keep firing!” was the brisk reply. Wilco. A mortar impacted close by. We could hear Sarge screaming into the radio. “Whiskey One Six! This is Whiskey One One Actual! We’re taking heavy fire! Requesting close air, over!” Another mortar whistled in as we all hit the deck.
The explosion ripped through our small perimeter. A voice called out as my ears rung, “Medic!”
I hit Strong on the shoulder, “There’s my cue! I’ll be back, dude!” I shouted as I hurried to the voice. One pony lay still on the ground, his hind legs gone and his face ripped to shreds. Private Boulder crouched above the body, trying to shield it from the dirt that was kicking up.
“Fuck!” I shouted. “Who is it?” I began to pull out my medical trauma kit. I looked over and realized that Boulder was just staring at the body now. “Boulder! Look at me! Who is it?!”
“They got Shadow, Doc. Fuckin’ got him” he said in a flat tone. Suddenly, Shadow’s forehoof kicked forward and he began shrieking in terrible pain. Shadow managed to push me off him in my shock.
“Damnit! Hold still, hold still!” I screamed as he tried to look at his wounds. “Fuckin’ shit! Boulder! Hold him down!” The Private pinned down Shadow’s forehoofs with his own. In the process of thrashing about, the wounded pony’s eye was starting to come out of its socket. Celestia, this op was already goin’ to shit. A stray round flew past my face, inches from my muzzle. Then another one, this time hitting its mark. “Give us a fuckin’ chance!” I shouted in vain as the blood and grey matter pooled out from the new hole in Shadow’s head.
Boulder looked sick, I didn’t blame him. I ripped the tags off of Shadow’s lifeless body and threw them to the Private. “Get to Sarge, tell ‘im we got one KIA! Then get back to your position!” At least the poor bastard ain’t alive no more. Better that than crippled I suppose.
Boulder nodded numbly and ran over to Sarge. I could hear the expletives being spewn about. Grabbing the ammo and rifle off Shadow, I threw a bodybag over his body. Didn’t want the other to see that shit. “Doc!” Strong was shouting. “Need a hand over here! Bastards are making a push!” Hurriedly making my way over to Strong, I could hear the chatter of his machinegun. “Fuckin’ assholes!” he was screaming.
I kicked his hoof and dropped to the prone. “Gimme targets, Strong. I need fuckin’ targets!”
“Two o’clock! Four Contacts, fifty meters!” came the reply. “I ain’t got a shot!” A few rounds snapped by our heads. Fuck these bastards were putting down close fire. “Cover me while I move!”
“Set!” I shouted as I brought myself to a crouch, rifle at the ready.
“Moving!” My rifle began barking as rounds flew out the barrel towards the general location of where we had last seen the hostiles. Strong scrambled to run over the berm to a better firing position. Shit, felt like an eternity for him to get to cover.
“Set!” I breathed a heavy a sigh of relief and dropped back behind cover, reloading my rifle. Strong’s machinegun began firing again and I clambered over the berm to get to his firing position when something knocked me flat on my ass. Fuckin’ hell, I thought. The world was spinning around me and I heard Strong shouting something to me. What the fuck happened? Everything seemed to be moving so slow and felt myself being dragged.
“Fuck! Get off me!” I started screaming as I was thrown to the ground.
“Celestia! How the hell are you alive?”
“What?!” I shouted. Who the fuck was talking to me?
“You dumb, motherfucker! You just got shot in the damn head!” Guess that would explain the throbbing in my head. Wait, what? I must’ve looked confused, cause whoever was talking started to repeat themselves. “You just got shot in the head, ya moron.” My surroundings had finally started to stop spinning as I looked up to see Strong standing over me, a look of concern on his face. “You there, Doc?”
“My head…” I mumbled.
Strong sighed heavily. “Just stay down, till the ringing stops!” He resumed firing. My head was throbbing in pain, fumbling I struggled to remove my helmet. Suddenly a loud rumble came from the other side of the berm. I looked to Strong who had stopped shooting and heard Sarge roar “Stallions! Prepare to defend yourselves!”
I scrambled to Strong’s side and saw an unreal sight unfold in front of us as a battalion size element of NLR regulars charged down the mountainside into the valley. “Holy shit…” I heard myself mumble.
Strong began hurriedly dragging out spare ammo out of his pack. “I ain’t dyin’ here. Not today.” The roar of the hoofsteps grew louder and louder with each passing second. As our squad braced for contact, everpony was tense; I could smell the fear. “Long live the Empire!” screamed Strong as he let held down the trigger of his squad gun. The moment he fired everypony began pouring rounds into the massed enemy, myself included. I could feel my vocal cords straining as I screamed in fear and with hate, that I might die that day for this stupid fuckin’ valley.
Sarge was still screaming into the radio, the desperation growing noticeably in his voice. “One Six! They’re right on top of us! Drop it right on us! Drop it right on us!” The first group of NLR troopers ran into our line. There was no more organization, everypony was fighting for their own lives.
Swinging my rifle, I caught an NLR trooper in the face with the butt of the gun and shot him as he fell. Strong was standing and firing from the hip, his ammo box dangerously low, but still dropping the bastards as they rushed him. I turned to see Boulder struggling with an NLR trooper when another came up and stabbed him in the neck.
“Boulder!” I cried out, rushing towards him firing in anger at the two NLR troopers. Then the world around me was lifted right before my eyes. I felt myself get thrown for quite a distance before slamming back into the ground. The earth rocked with explosions and the air was filled with smoke and burning flesh. My vision was obscured as dirt and rock was thrown into my face. Within seconds, the bombardment was over as quickly as it had started, moving into the mountainside.
I choked on the dirt free air as I struggled to breathe. Groaning, I pulled myself up. There was an eerie quiet that came from where our line had been just seconds ago. I felt a sharp pain in my leg and collapsed immediately. Looking down at my leg, I could see a deep cut on the calf. Aw fuck. “Sarge? Strong?! Anypony?!” I cried out as the rumble of Manticore dropships approached our position.
A few weak groans reached my ears. “Hello?” I called out, hoping to find the source. I barely noticed as the dropships touched down and our sister squads started pouring out, double tapping the enemy and searching for survivors.
“Hey!” called out an unfamiliar voice. “I got two of ours here!” Somepony tapped me on the head. “Don’t worry, brother. We’ve got it from here!”
“Strong!” I called out in a daze, “Sarge!” my head was ringing even worse now.
“Get those two on the dropship for immediate CASEVAC! Start triaging the rest of these guys!””
“Aah!” I screamed as I awoke with a start. Looking around, I sheepishly realized I was still in the bedroom. Fuckin’ dreams. Rolling out of bed, I realized my fur was covered in a cold sweat; shower time.
Standing idly in the warm stream of water I simply thought, thought about the past. This shit was pissing me off. How could things that happened so long ago still have a fuckin’ stranglehold on my present life? Angrily I smacked the wall only to hear a muffled yelp of surprise from the other side of the room’s wall.
I mentally face-hoofed. “Sorry!” I shouted through to the other side. Whoops, gotta control the anger. But what I needed to do was just something, anything to get my mind off the time spent over there. Slowly I shut the water off, the stream turning into a trickle, dripping repetitively onto the shower floor.
Clambering out, I dried off hurriedly and threw on my polo. Oh Celestia, this thing was ratty as hell with holes and splotches galore on it. No amount of washing was going to salvage this poor guy. I sighed in annoyance. There was no way in hell that I should walk into the bars here with this on. And if Autumn was right about that Dash character, then I might as well try to give a shit about my appearance right? Right.
Grabbing the room key off the nightstand, I trotted over to the door. “Alright Coban, let’s get you a decent shirt” I mumbled to myself.
●●●
Walking down the quaint streets of Ponyville was drastically different compared to the hustle and bustle of downtown Canterlot that I had grown accustomed to. It was nice though. A few colts and fillies ran through the street playing whatever little game they were doing. I felt a smile tug at the corner of my lips. This was a nice place, maybe I’d find a way to settle down out here. Definitely blew Canterlot outta the water.
Looking left and right at all the shops I searched for someplace that would sell clothing when one shop on the edge of the main drag caught my eye. It was relatively smaller in comparison to some of the other locations but was decorated in a rather gaudy manner with ‘Carousel Boutique’ emblazoned on a sign nearby.
I chuckled quietly to myself, who decorates like that? Maybe I just didn’t understand fashion, but it’d be worth a quick visit. After all, worst comes to worst, I’d swing in and get a kick out of possibly more outrageous décor.
Opening the front door to the boutique, the smell of potpourri wafted in my direction. Didn’t look like the interior was done like the outside. Thank Celestia, I suppose. Was probably just to attract potential customer’s attentions just like it had to mine.
“Welcome to Carousel Boutique!” came a rather elegant voice from the next room over. “I’ll be with you in a minute!”
“Alright.” I replied. Wow there were a lot of mane-equins here, must be a custom tailoring type of place. A purple-maned mare trotted into the room. “Hello” I started before she cut me off abruptly with a shriek of horror.
“Celestia! What is that?!” she wailed in disgust, shielding her eyes from me.
I stood there jaw agape. I couldn’t remember anypony being that rude to me before. What the fuck was her problem?
“It looks like that polo has been through a war!” she cried out, suddenly getting rather close to visually inspect my shirt.
“Uh….what?” I stammered in confusion. What the hell was going on?
“You simply cannot be wearing this type of dreck around! Allow me to get your measurements.” She hurriedly began working while I remained standing there still in shock from the initial introduction.
“I’m….uh….looking to buy a…uh…plain fitted collared shirt?”
Her ears drooped slightly. “Oh, okay. No patternwork or anything else?”
“No. Just a plain fitted collared shirt.”
She huffed slightly, “Well we can make that work. Now since your coat is a slight shade of grey, I’d recommend one of these colors.” A hoof-full of swatches flew at my face.
“Let’s go with the tan?”
Pulling the swatches away, she gave an approving nod. “Alright, sir. If you could just have a seat over here, I’ll have your shirt ready within five minutes!” Five minutes? Wow, I thought, how the hell? “By the way, I forgot to ask you your name sir! I’m Rarity, proud owner and operator of this fine establishment!” she said with a smile.
“Nice to meet you, Rarity. Name’s Coban.” I extended my hoof in greeting.
At the mention of my name, her eyes narrowed slightly. Slowly, she shook my hoof. “You wouldn’t happen to know a ‘Rainbow Dash’ would you?” Rarity inquired.
“Yeah, actually.” I laughed. “Rode with her and a friend of hers on the train from Canterlot earlier. I’m actually supposed to meet up with them later at the library here…”
Before I could even finish, Rarity gasped rather loudly in surprise. “Oh my goodness! You’re the stallion Rainbow was telling me about! Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“Huh?” I asked, rather dumbly. Wow Coban, fuckin’ smooth. “I guess?”
The mare in front of me giggled excitedly as she did a little dance that could really only be described as rapid tiptoeing in place. What the hell did I just get myself into?
●●●
As Autumn walked through the streets of Ponyville, her mind wandered to thoughts of the past. “Ugh, snap out of it,” she muttered to herself. Stopping in front of some nameless shop along the main street, Autumn casually scanned her surroundings as the clock tower struck five. Shit, where the hell was this fucker?
“Looking for somepony?” came a voice from behind.
“Hey, Deacon,” Autumn briskly replied.
“Walk with me.” Autumn obliged, struggling to hold her tongue. Once they were out of earshot of most ponies, Deacon turned her head slightly towards Autumn. “Why the fuck is Rawhide here?”
“Don’t start with me, Deacon” hissed Autumn. “I should be asking you why the hell you requested a damned daytime meet. You KNOW how fucking dangerous this is.”
Autumn felt her soul wither slightly as Deacon glared at her. “Change of plans. The cattle are back at the ranch. Don’t fuck this up.” And with that, Deacon left as abruptly as she had appeared. Autumn shook her head as she started heading towards the town library. She would have to ask how Deacon was capable of that.
●●●
After nearly an hour, the shirt was finally complete. As I scurried away from the white and purple menace known as Rarity who had talked my ear off about shit I didn’t care about, I swore to avoid coming back to that little shop.
I looked down in the little shopping bag that I now carried and grinned. Well she did make this shirt to my exact order. I sighed, knowing that I should probably give that mare a second chance. Maybe the next time she wouldn’t be so….overbearing? Yeah, that’s probably the best word. With a loud cacophony, the clock-tower struck five. I awoke from my reverie. Five. What time were we…shit!
In a full gallop, I scurried as quickly as I could to the library. Fifteen minutes early is fifteen minutes late, yada yada. If there was anything I still retained from my time in the service, it was be early, no matter where you go. And plus, I wouldn’t mind getting to know those two from the train a bit more. They seemed pretty nice.
●●●
After an exhaustive twenty minute run/search for the library, I finally found it. “Who the fuck builds a library in a tree?” I heard myself say incredulously.
“Not sure, but it’s pretty cool on the inside!”
“Gah!” I jumped and whirled around, taking a defensive stance with the shopping bag clutched tightly in my teeth. That was when I heard that husky laugh. Damnit.
As Rainbow Dash struggled to stop laughing I could do nothing but glare at her. Harder? Nope, she’s still laughing. “You look absolutely ridiculous!” She said between fits of laughter.
Ridiculous? Me? Fuck no, I’m the goddamned epitome of fierce and strength. Oh…the bag. Setting it down gently, I sighed heavily. “Don’t do that.”
Rainbow’s laughter died down noticeably now. “Don’t do what?” she asked.
“Sneak up on me like that.”
Realization flashed across her face, “Yeah. Sure, Coban.” She sheepishly kicked at a pebble. “So…um, you’re here early…”
“Yeah! Yeah…uh, you know. Still stuck in the military mindset I guess.” I laughed. Oh goddess, that sounded like a crazy pony’s laugh. I should probably work on that. The laughing thing.
Rainbow shrugged, “I know what you mean. Some things just stick with you.”
“Yup.” Goddess, Coban! This was how you talk to the mares? Get your shit together! After all, Autumn said this one in particular was interested, right? Get crackin’! “So. I guess we go into the place of the books to meet…the others?” Holy fuck.
Rainbow chuckled quietly. “You sure have a way with words, don’t you?”
“Hey! In my defense, I only get this way around…” Oh fuck! Coban! Stop your goddamned mouth! “…um…”
With a sultry glance, Rainbow asked “Gonna finish that sentence?”
Oh no. No no no no nonononono. Don’t do this, Coban! You barely even know her! “Uhm…libraries…yep! That’s what I was gunna say. Heh…ehh he.” Fuck, really? Libraries?
With a seemingly knowing grin, Dash moved in dangerously close. “Libraries?” I nodded my head rapidly. The proverbial grave was getting deeper as I gulped nervously. “You’re too funny, Coban.” She giggled. Why was that cute? Aw shit.
Grinning like a fool, I nervously backed up into the library. Not sure how this evening could get any more awkward. “Hi!” said somepony behind me once again.
“Fuck!” I shouted, spinning around only to see Twilight. Both of us stared at each other in confusion. “I have to change!” I blurted out.
“Oh, uh.” She seemed a bit caught off guard by my reaction. “Restroom is up the stairs and to the left.” Before she had finished her sentence I took off for said stairs.
●●●
After a few minutes of calming down and changing into the new custom polo, I trotted back out downstairs to see a bunch of new faces. In a hurried manner, Rainbow introduced me to her friends. There was Shutterfly? Or maybe it was Fluttershy. The yellow one who was shy. I’ll get it right eventually. Apparently she wouldn’t be going to the club with us. Pinkie Pie, whom Twilight had to have an extensive talk with to explain my condition. Then there was Apple Jack who I took an instant liking too. She reminded me of Strong with that country accent.
“Rarity wanted to come, sugar-cube,” Applejack began. “But she’s just been swamped in orders lately. And from what I hear, you two are already met?”
“Yeah…we did.” The mares started chuckling. “What?”
“She, uh….has a way with ponies the first time she meet ‘em hun” said Applejack as she tried to suppress her amusement. I nodded in agreement. Looking around I noticed that there was one pony not present. “Hey have y’all seen…”
“Hey Doc!” came the reply. I looked to the door and saw Autumn standing there, seemingly exhausted. “Mares,” she began.
Twilight interrupted Autumn, “Oh, girls! This is Autumn, the other pony Dash and I met today!” Autumn raised her hoof in a quick greeting.
“Thanks for the invite, Twilight, but I think I might head back to the Inn to take a real quick nap.”
The other mares nodded with a sort of understanding, “You sure you don’t wanna go with us?” I inquired. I kinda need somepony I know well to come with.
She flashed a tired smile my way. “Sorry, Doc. I really need to get some sleep. But if I wake up sooner than I plan on, I might stop at the club. Which one you all going to?”
“Club 38!” replied Rainbow.
“Nice! You’ll have fun, Doc. You need it. Nice meeting you girls!” Autumn said as she turned to leave. Upon saying our goodbyes, the group decided it was about time to head over to the club.
Rainbow casually snuck up next to me and poked me with her wing. I looked at her slightly puzzled before breaking out in a smile as she pulled a flask from her saddle bag.
“I like how you think,” I whispered to her before taking a swig of liquor unbeknownst to the others. Passing it to Rainbow, I asked, “What was that?”
“The Apple’s Cider. I stocked up last year since I almost never get a chance to have any.”
“I’ll let ya know, I’ve never been a big fan of hard cider, but that was really good!”
“I know, keep quiet about it though, cause Pinkie Pie downs this stuff like its nothing.”
I stared at the hyper, bouncing, pink pony who Twilight was still struggling to keep under some semblance of control. “I could see that.” Rainbow giggled quietly and raised a hoof to her mouth. Goddess, that was cute.
As we approached Club 38, I could hear the heavy bass and rapid up-tempo rhythms pounding through its walls. I had heard about this place and how famous it was, but never expected to see a line that long. How the hell did we expect to get in?
Dash nudged me gently, “Follow close, Coban.” The group began to approach the VIP area.
“Mares, Dash!” exclaimed a bouncer. “How you doing?” he asked as he stepped aside to let her and her friends pass before suddenly cutting me off. “And where the hell do you think YOU’RE going?” the bouncer glared at me.
“Hey! Silver! He’s with us!” protested the mares.
“Oh, sorry.” he said, stepping aside. “Don’t think we’re not watchin you though” he said through gritted teeth. I pushed past him and followed the girls inside to be greeted by a rapid up-tempo beat. Ponies are far as I could see were dancing to the rhythm in brightly colored clothes and glow in the dark accessories, drowned in a cascade of pulsating strobe lights.
All the girls with the exception of Rainbow went off into various sections of the club and disappeared into a sea of ponies. It was all a little overwhelming at first, and Dash could see the growing worry in my face. “Wanna grab a few more drinks first before we hit the dance floor?” I nodded, just one beer to take the edge off. “Hey! Two dalmares over here!” she shouted to the bartender. I shot a glance at Dash. “The fuck is a dalmare?”
She laughed. “Don’t tell me you don’t do hard liquor? Thought all you military ponies liked a good whiskey.” “Alcohol in general. I never took to learning the names of the drinks though, mostly spent more time mixing random drinks together to see the effects.” The bartender slid both the shots to us in one fluid movement. Impressive. “Bottoms up!” I shouted before downing the shot. Wow, wine-y type whiskey without a strong smell. I looked over to see Dash cough once, trying to play it off. “Hey it’s okay, rookie!” I smirked.
“Oh yeah?! Is that a challenge?” she asked. Shit, forgot about that whole competitive thing of hers. I paused for a split second. “What’s the matter? Worried you’ll lose to a mare?” she taunted.
I flipped my shot glass over. “Not on your life.” Fuuuuck, what was I doing? “Bartender! Another five shots for the both of us! In fact, make it eight!” I stared Dash down and could see her eyes grow wide at the mention of another eight shots. “I play for reals, Dash!” I whispered.
Her normal brashness and bravado was totally gone, as her eight shots were placed in front of her. “We start on three, first pony to down them all wins.” I stated as I eyeballed the glasses. “One, two….three!” I lunged at the drinks like a madpony, and within seconds, I finished the last glass and victoriously slammed it on the counter, albeit feeling like shit.
Dash on the other hoof, seemed to still be stuck on shot number three. I laughed as Dash shot me a nasty look. “You don’t have to finish them all, if you don’t want.” Slowly, she set the half full shotglass back down.
With more speed and force than I would ever expect, she pulled me close and whispered “You’d better not tell anypony about this!” I nodded, slightly concerned for my safety. “Good!” she proclaimed, reverting back to her normal self. “Ready to dance?” she asked. My legs were shaky and I was now running on a very….very good buzz. “Fuck yeah!” I shouted and pumping my hoof in the air, to the annoyance of a few other bar patrons nearby.
Dash giggled, “That’s the spirit!” as she pulled me through to the crowded dance floor. The ground shook from the kick of the bass. Rainbow Dash began to move to the beat with ease. Her hips moving from side to side in a hypnotic fashion, her tail flicking side to side. She looked in my direction and caught me staring and slowly began to make her way over to me, “You gonna just keep staring, or you gonna join me?” Dash beckoned mischievously.
“Uh…” I stammered. Awesome, can’t even fucking speak now. “It’s been a while since I’ve danced” I sputtered, trying to get out of dancing.
Dash pouted, “You’re going to make a mare beg?”
“Fine,” I sighed. Those times I got drunk at the dining-out events the Army had surely must’ve paid off for something. Fuck, this was gunna be embarrassing. I began to dance, moving with the rhythm of the electronic music. Pulling up some various hazy memories of events past, I started to do some of my old routines I would do with the guys when we used to get drunk enough to dance like idiots in front of good ‘ol Sergeant Major.
Dash looked at me in surprise. “I thought you said you weren’t any good?”
“Never said I wasn’t.” I shouted back to her, “And besides, I’m pretty sure it’s the alcohol that’s doing this.” Other ponies began to circle around us to watch. “Hey! I think they want a show!”
Rainbow Dash shouted back, “Well, let’s give them one then. You lead!” We both began to dance with each other, as the crowd around us grew bigger. It was almost as if we were both feeding off each other’s energy, and before I knew it, the song was over. As the other ponies resumed their own dancing again, Rainbow got in my face. “Damn, you’re good”
I laughed, bullshit I’m good. “Nah, you’re just drunk.”
She laughed and wrapped her hooves around me. “You’re a funny guy, Coban…I knew you were a funny guy. That’s why you’re so awesome!” Gently moving her to a seat, I nabbed two beers from the bar counter and brought them back over. With my teeth I popped off the bottle caps and offered one to Dash. In her woozy state, she struggled to grasp it. I chuckled to her annoyance. “This isn’t funny, Coban. Hah! I got it!” she proclaimed before spilling half of the beer onto part of her outfit and the floor. Huh, that’s funny. Why didn’t I notice the outfit before?
With a defeated look, Rainbow dejectedly looked up towards me. “Aw, that’s cute!” No sooner, had the words come out did I see a grin appear across her face.
“I KNEW IT!”
Startled, I jumped slightly in my seat. “Know what?” feigning innocence.
“You think I’m cute!” Crap.
“What?! No! I um. I meant that expression was cute!”
“So you don’t think I’m cute? What are you trying to say, Coban?”
“I…wha…huh?” I stuttered. Celestia, help me. Rainbow burst out laughing. What the hell?
“Just messing with you, Coban!” she said, “But you did say that I was cute!”
I grinned, “Yeah, you do look attractive in that outfit of yours.” Rainbow’s cheeks flushed a deep red as she quickly looked away. Yup two can play this game.
Rolling my eyes, I took a long sip on my beer when somepony caught my attention. “Hey, Dash. You know that guy?” I inquired, as my words began to slightly slur. “Hey Dash?” She just stared at me with a weird look on her face. “Equestria to Dash?! Hello?” I waved my hoof in front of her face.
Finally, she spoke, “You…think I look…attractive?” Her eyes still didn’t meet mine.
I nodded matter of factly, “Yeah. You are.” What was she getting at? Blushingly, with a shyness I had not known her for, Dash quietly mumbled a thank you, and flicked her tail in apprehension.
“But Dash,” I pressed the question again. “Do you know him?” I nodded my head in the stallion’s direction.
“Oh, him?” She seemed lost in thought. “That’s just Thunderlane. One of the pegasai on the weather team here.”
“He always walk with a limp?”
“No? Why?”
Her response drove fear I had not known for quite some time now into my heart. Urgently, I pulled her close. “Dash, we need to find your friends and get the hell out of here, now.”
Dash began to protest, “But we just got here Coban. We can stay…”
“Find your friends, we leave NOW!” I hissed. Immediately, I felt bad for being a bit aggressive with her, but something was very wrong here. That was when we both heard it.
“For the Lunar Republic!” cried Thunderlane as he brought his hoof up, clutching something tightly.
Oh shit. Grabbing Dash, I threw us both over the bar counter as an explosion consumed the building, ripping the air from our lungs. Bits of shrapnel rained down on us as the cacophony subsided. And here I was, back in the fight. My adrenaline pumping through my body, I was loving it.
Nothing beats the combat high.
“Dash!” I screamed. My own voice sounding muffled, I felt around on the ground. I struggled to keep my eyes open in the smoky haze when I bumped somepony who laid still. “Dash?!” Peering through the smoke, I saw a cyan coat. Game time. Grasping her fore-hoof, I felt for a pulse; weak, but it was there. Visual check, minor lacerations to the face. Nothing that wouldn’t heal. Oh shit. Deep puncture, left hind leg. Just missed the artery, thank Celestia, but still bleeding badly.
I took of my polo and began shredding it to smaller strips. Packing the opening of the wound with the strips, I noticed slight movement from Rainbow. “Coban?” she said, with strained effort.
“I’m here, Dash. Hold on, I got you.”
“My leg hurts.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know, kid. This is going to hurt a bit, ok?” I said as I began to apply the makeshift tourniquet. I heard a whimper as I tightened it down. “See? Took it like a champ.”
“My friends…” she began. Oh yeah, huh.
“Can you move on your own?” I asked. Rainbow weakly nodded, her head still throbbing. “Good, find us an exit, we need to get out before we die of smoke inhalation. Slowly, but surely Dash began crawling off to find a means of escape.
My thoughts went back to the situation at hoof as I clambered over the counter towards where I had last seen the girls. How the hell did this guy get through? Didn’t Dash say he was part of the local weather team? I shook my head. This was nuts, why attack a civilian compound? This made the NLR no better than a terrorist group. What would they gain other that a unified Solar Empire, ready to deliver a crushing blow?
I bumped into something heavy in the haze. A body. Rolling it over to make sure, I sighed with relief when I didn’t recognize it. Shoving it out of the way, I pushed onward. As horrifying as this situation was, I felt eerily relaxed. Why wasn’t I having a meltdown or a panic attack even? My thoughts were interrupted by another body, this time a mare. Her body mangled and shredded to ribbons from the blast. I wanted to feel the urge to vomit, to feel sick at the sight, but nothing happened. Not even a twinge of remorse or sadness.
A feeble cry emerged from the rubble. “Help!”
“I’m coming!” I shouted. “Where are you?”
“Here!” came the reply as I saw a hoof poke above some debris. Hurriedly, I crawled over and began pulling away at the mess. Beneath the wreckage, I found one of the ponies I needed to find.
“Hey, Twilight.” I said as I pulled her from her temporary prison.
“Thank you!” she stammered, voice quavering with fear. “Wh…where are the others?”
“So far, just you and Rainbow. She’s looking for an exit. Know where approximately the other two went?”
Her eyes winced in pain as she tested each limb. “I couldn’t tell you…it’s so easy to lose your sense of direction in a crowd.” I nodded. Fair enough.
In the distance I heard a crash and a voice. “Buck! Pinkie, gimme a hoof or I swear I’ll force ya ta help me on the farm durin’ apple buckin’ season!”
“Sounds like they’re ok” I said to Twilight. “Applejack? Pinkie Pie?!” That you?!” I shouted.
“Coban?!” came the reply. “Thought we lost y’all!”
“Yeah! That explosion was like, super-duper extremely scary!”
“You both okay?” I called back.
“Yeah, sugarcube. We’re fine.”
Somepony nudged my shoulder. “Coban,” mumbled Dash, “I found an exit, it’s a bit of a tight fit, but I think we can get ponies outta here.”
I nodded, “Alright, get you and your friends the fuck out of here. It’s too dangerous.”
“But we can help!” she protested.
I glared at her, “I didn’t ask for any goddamned help. I told you what you need to do, so go and fuckin’ execute!”
“But…”
“Listen,” I began, as a low rumble echoed through the building remains. “Get your friends and get the hell out.” Her mouth opened to object, but closed just as quickly as I shot another glare her way. Hurriedly, she called to her friends to follow her to the exit as I made my way to search for other survivors.
I could hear sirens outside the building, thank Celestia the Guard and the local fire department was here. Took ‘em long enough. Yet I still kept moving forward in my search. My mind began to race, what the hell was my body doing? Why was I searching?
Another muffled cry for help, to my immediate front. I made my way as I heard a mare in pain. “Hello?” I cried out. “Where are you?”
“Here!” The voice came from almost directly underneath me now. What the? Peering through the rubble beneath me, I saw her eyes. Scared and helpless.
“Hang on!” I shouted as the building began to rumble again. Oh shit, not good. Time was running out now. I desperately started to move debris to get to her. Feverishly working, I could see I was making progress.
“Hey! There’s somepony alive under here!” came a cry from outside the building. Huh? Me? Of course I’m alive, what the hell?
“Get moving! Get that fucker outta there!” I could hear ponies outside trying to move rubble from above us. If they weren’t careful.
There! I could see her whole face now! “Almost there! Just hang on, kid!” I shouted in excitement. Then the world around me began shaking violently. The rubble above opened up as a unicorn fire-pony lifted me out through a haphazardly made hole with his magic. “No!” I screamed as her face grew smaller. The world shook once more, collapsing on the mare. “NO!” I scrambled towards where the opening had once been.
“Hold him back!” shouted somepony.
“YOU KILLED HER! YOU FUCKING KILLED HER!” I screamed, spittle flying everywhere. “YOU BASTARDS! YOU FUCKING KILLED HER YOU IDIOTS!” Several hooves pinned me to the ground. “You killed her,” I whimpered.
“Give him a sedative!”
“Killed her…”
●●●
I awoke strapped down to a hospital bed. I struggled against the restraints. No use, those assholes really put me in tight.
“Hey, Doc…”
“Autumn?” I turned my head to see her sitting in a chair next to the bed. “How long have I been…”
“Not long, Doc. You’ve only been here for maybe a few hours.” A few hours? Felt like I just got a good night’s sleep! “You doin’ okay?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. Head isn’t ringing anymore though.”
Autumn nodded, “I think the doctors had something to do with that.” She sighed. “Heard the blast from the Inn.”
“That big?”
“Oh yeah. You’re fuckin’ lucky, Doc.”
“Where’re the others?”
“Oh, they’re in the waiting room. Well, except Rainbow Dash. She’s in ICU.” The dread must’ve been clear on my face, “Don’t worry, Doc. She’s fine. They’re just doing it as a preventative measure.”
I sighed with relief. “So…” I began. “How many?”
“What are you talking about?” asked Autumn.
“You know what the hell I’m talking about,” I spat out angrily. “How…fucking…many?”
Autumn looked at the ground and sighed. “Hundred and seven dead and eleven missing. There’s only eighteen confirmed survivors from the blast. And that’s just here in Ponyville.”
Holy fuck. That many? Wait…just here? “What do you mean, ‘just here?’”
Autumn nodded, “Six other cities and towns were hit in similar attacks. The news is saying it’s NLR. But there’s no way…”
My thoughts drifted back to the moments before the blast. Those words rung in my head. For the New Lunar Republic. I looked towards Autumn, “Yeah, they’re right.”
She looked at me in disbelief. “What?”
“Right before the explosion that fuck shouted ‘For the New Lunar Republic.’ I knew those assholes were bad, but hell. This is a whole new level.”
“But, there’s no way!” she argued. “It’s impossible for them to have hit this far deep into…”
“They did, Autumn. You should know! Never underestimate your enemy!” She shook her head in shock at the news. “But six other locations? Are you sure you heard the news right?”
Autumn nodded glumly, “Yeah…six.” Fuck. “Hey, Doc. You know what? There are some concerned ponies out there who want to make sure you’re okay and I’m sure that you want out of that bed.”
Hell yeah, anything would beat being strapped down to this rock-like bed. Autumn called the nurse in who then unrestrained me, albeit nervously. As I sat up, Autumn began to try to help me. “I’m good, Autumn” I said briskly.
“Alright, Doc. Let’s go out to the waiting room.” I hopped off the bed.
“You know what? They can wait a little longer. There’s somepony I need to see first though.” Autumn simply nodded and gave me a hug.
“Good to see you’re up and up, Doc. And good luck.” She said with a wink.
●●●
After a bit of wandering around the hospital searching for Rainbow’s room, I finally found it with the aid of a Nurse…Redheart? Yeah that’s it. At least, I think it is. Anyway, I found it.
Opening the door slowly, as to try to not make any noise the hinges squealed at an incredibly high frequency. So much for being quiet.
“Hey…” came a weak sounding voice.
“Hey, Dash.” I said in a hushed voice. I walked over to her bedside and pulled up a chair. I looked around at the various bits of medical equipment and machinery that was monitoring her health.
“Sorry about that whole mess back there.”
I chuckled, “What do you have to be sorry for?”
She sighed, “For arguing with you.” Rainbow lowered her head, cheeks slightly flushed. “I…shouldn’t have done that…” She seemed to sink deeper into her bedsheets and mumbled “I’m sorry…”
“Dash, you literally have nothing to apologize for…if anything I should probably apologize to you snapping at you like that.”
With an aggravated groan, Dash forced herself up in bed. “Celestia, Coban. Here I am apologizing to you and you say I got nothing to apologize for?”
“I take it this is a rare occasion?” Rainbow crossed her hooves and glowered. I chuckled, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. If it helps, I accept.”
“Good!” she said with a huff. “And if anypony asks…”
“Secret’s safe with me.”
She smiled, “Thanks.”
“Oh! So how’s the battle wound?” I asked.
“What, this paper-cut here?” Rainbow said motioning to her left leg. “’Tis nothing but a flesh wound!”
I burst out laughing. “Since when do you talk like that?”
“Quiet, wench!” she proclaimed before bursting into a fit of giggles. “I’m sorry. I think I heard that line from a movie somewhere. I had to use it.”
“But seriously, Dash.”
“Yeah, it’s fine! You worry too much Coban.” Her gaze looked out the room’s window.
“Rainbow? You okay?”
“It’s just…I don’t know.”
“C’mon, spill. I’m all ears.”
She sighed heavily. “Fine. During that blast, the only thing on my mind was how fucking scared I was. It took every ounce of strength and loyalty I had to force myself to stay to help my friends. Coban…I’ve been in some pretty crazy situations, but I have never been that terrified.” She shifted in her bed slightly. I simply sat and waited for her to continue. After a slight pause, she resumed.
“I was so scared that I could barely even make myself move. Element of Loyalty. Huh…I almost flew home and abandoned everypony. And there you were…simply…doing. Not concerned about yourself. But about others. You stayed behind and almost got yourself killed for somepony who you never met! I just wish…I just wish that I had the strength you had in that moment.” Her shoulders slumped a bit as she turned to face me. “That’s all.”
I studied her facial expression. Definitely serious. “You want to know something?”
“Sure…”
“When I was in my first firefight. I straight up pissed myself.”
Rainbow’s face had an expression of shock and disbelief plastered all over. “What! You? No…”
“And why not?”
“’Cause…you…I mean…c’mon, Coban! You’re a freakin’ awesome badass! You’re a horrible liar!”
“I’m not lying, Dash…I straight up pissed myself.” Time to explain I suppose. “No shit, there we were in the middle of the badlands of Helmare province…” Rainbow drew closer and sat upright, paying close attention. “…we were on patrol, looking for signs of enemy activity when out of nowhere I hear something wiz right over my head. Everypony drops, dick in the dirt. I’m the only dumb motherfucker still standing when something else cracks past. At this point, my sergeant threw me to the ground and starts screaming at me if I had a death wish. I asked him, ‘What the fuck, Sarge?’ and he’s all, ‘You moron! Those are bullets! They’re fucking shooting at us!’ And when he told me that, I pissed myself. For a while the guys called me Pee-Wee…”
I snapped back to reality when I realized that Rainbow was struggling to not laugh. “What?” I asked.
“Pee-Wee? Seriously?” she sputtered, trying to contain her amusement.
I smirked. “Yeah, you can fucking laugh…” Rainbow roared with laughter, and soon began trying to catch her breath. “I said you could laugh, not fucking be reacting to a goddamned comedian.”
“Sorry…hehe…” Rainbow began before she caught another fit of giggles. “Hehe…Pee-Wee.”
“Yeah, fucking hilarious…”
“I think Imma call you that from now on.”
“Dash, I swear to Celestia.”
“I’m sorry, Pee-Wee…carry on” she said with an evil snicker.
Rolling my eyes I started back up. “But the point is that I wasn’t this ‘badass.’ After a while, I just got used to it all. The world turns black and white and it’s…just much easier. Base survival. And I enjoyed it for quite a while. But something like a combat high, you just can’t get in the civilian world. What you saw tonight, yeah I was in my zone. I was loving every second of it, I didn’t think twice because it’s the best goddamned high you could ever get. But to be like that? It’s not something to admire. Not something to want to aspire too. How you reacted Rainbow, is how most normal ponies would react. But you stayed despite the fact you were scared. That is something to be proud of.”
Rainbow looked at me with a sort of awe. I raised an eyebrow. “Oh…”
“Yup. Rainbow, you’re probably the most loyal pony I know, and don’t let anypony else tell you otherwise. And I won’t hear any more of this self-doubt bullshit. We clear?”
“Crystal,” came the reply.
“Good,” I said as I got up from the chair. “Now get some rest, kid. I’ll stop by in the morning to check up on ya and make sure these quacks here are doing their job.”
“Did…you just call me kid?” asked Rainbow incredulously. “But we’re like…the same age aren’t we?”
“I’m just gonna keep calling you kid if you call me Pee-Wee”
“Ugh! Fine! I won’t call you Pee-Wee. Unless you piss me off!” Rainbow retorted.
“Fair enough. Now get some rest Dash.” I turned to leave.
“Hey! Coban, wait!” she called from her bed. Now what?
“Yeah?”
“Did, oh goddess, why is this so hard to ask?”
“What?”
“Okay,” she gulped anxiously. “Did you mean what you said back there?” Shit. I froze like a statue, was she talking about that? “You know...” Yup, she was.
I took a deep breath before responding. “I’ll tell you when you get better, Dash.”
A disappointed look crept on Rainbow’s face. “Don’t make a lady a promise you can’t keep, Coban.”
“I always keep my promises. Sleep tight, Dash.” I said as I left her room.
I sat down in the wadi, staring at the sunny afternoon sky. If there wasn’t a war here, it’d be a nice vacation spot. Rifle was cleaned, my MRE was already finished. What else was there to do other than pull security? “This fuckin’ sucks.”
“Yup,” said Strong, as he carefully watched the valley below, machine gun poised and ready to strike at a moment’s notice. With nothing else to do, I began flinging rocks at Strong’s helmet in an effort to save myself from boredom much to his annoyance. “Knock it off, Coban.”
“You don’t tell me what to do” I said as I threw another rock at his helmet.
“Throw another one and I’ll be swinging mah damned gun at yer head.” Hey, I don’t back down from a challenge. The moment the rock left my hoof, Strong roared as he swung the butt of his machine gun into the side of my helmet.
Celestia, I just saw stars. My face crashed into the ground from the withering blow. I could hear Strong chuckling. Spitting blood from my mouth, I grimaced. “You’re on, colt-cuddler…”
“The fuck did you just say?”
“You heard me!” I said with a confident smirk. This was going to end badly.
Strong was just rolling his sleeves when Top showed up at our position, tobacco in cheek. “Celestia on a cracker! What is you, some kinda goddamn hippie colt cuddler?” Whipping his head toward Strong, he began screaming. “The fuck is this? Ranger, why the fuck is your sleeves out of your regulation?!”
“Top!” I snapped to parade rest, “Is there a problem? Specialist Strong has been monitoring the valley all morning.”
Top then brought all attention to me with the most intense glare I had ever seen. “Doc, I don’t care if this Ranger has a suckin’ chest wound! He will NOT traipse around on post with his fuckin’ sleeves lookin’ unprofessional like! Might just article 15 both your asses!”
“Yes…Top” I sputtered. “Specialist, you’re expected to conduct all business on post with the grooming standard, under direct orders from Top himself.”
Strong hurriedly unrolled his sleeves while rolling his eyes discreetly. Top nodded his approval and then looked back at me. Oh shit, when did I last shave?
“Doc, your berd hairs is in violations…growin’ far beyond the corner of yer fuckin’ mouth.”
“…uh…”
“PO-LEECE THAT BERD! ALL Y’ALL IS STARTIN’ TO LOOK LIKE HIPPIES!” Top screamed at full volume, destroying some of the hearing I had left. With a loud huff, Top stormed off, searching for some other unsuspecting fuckers to harass.
With lower morale, we resumed our duties; which included (but were not limited to) sleeping, pissing off the wall, making fun of Top (when he wasn’t around), and singing pop songs. After the second song, we went back to talking shit on Top.
“How the fuck did that squared away bastard get into the Rangers?” I wondered aloud.
“Cause his shit was squared away, dumbass” retorted Strong.
“Fuck off dude, I know that” I snapped back. “But Rangers are hard-chargin’, no shit givin’, unruly, raggedy-ass motherfuckers. And we get the one Top who has a massive hard-on about the fuckin’ grooming standard?”
Strong shrugged and spat some tobacco on the ground. “Yup.”
“I mean, come on. What does he think, that it’s the one thing that we can fuckin’ count on being there for us at all times?” I rambled on, while Strong brought his dominant eye down to the sights on his gun.
“Shut up.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up. You shut up, Specialist!”
Strong knocked the safety off his weapon. Fuck, this might be for real. I could feel the excitement building in the back of my throat. Hurriedly I grabbed my rifle and brought it to bear. “What do you see, dude?”
“My one o’clock, four hundred meters. Foot mobiles, three of ‘em.”
I swung my rifle to the directions he called out. “Yeah, I fuckin’ see ‘em. Can you make out any weapons?”
“Negative, but S2 said there weren’t any civvies out here, right?”
“Keep watch on those asshats. I’ll radio it in” I whispered. Grasping the earpiece, I checked comms before sending. “Viper One-Six Actual, this is Viper One-One. Copy, over?”
“Roger One-One, send it.”
“Eyes on three unidentified foot mobiles in grid Mike Sierra four three niner two, one one six five. Requesting eyes in the sky, over.”
“Roger. Stand by, One-One.”
Strong nudged me in the side. “Hey, they’re carrying something. Might be weapons.”
I shook my head, “Wait for confirmation from One-Six. Last thing we need is dead-ass civvies.” Strong scoffed and turned his attention back to the foot mobiles.
My headset crackled back to life. “One-One, we’ve confirmed no civilians in the area. Your sector is a free fire zone, over.”
“Roger, Actual.”
“One-Six out.”
“Hey Top!” I called over comms, “You get all that?”
“Well I ain’t hearin’ no fuckin outgoing, send that shit!” came the angry reply. I sighed. That stallion needed a hobby or something.
“Well?” called Strong. I nodded, that was all he needed to loose hell on those three fuckers moving below us. Thinking they were all ninja and shit. I chuckled a bit as I watched them drop like rocks from the barrage.
“Nice, dude.” I said, offering Strong a hoof-bump He shook his head. “C’mon, don’t leave me hanging,” I protested when a small thump was heard in the distance by the both of us. “You hear that?”
Strong’s eyes narrowed as he stared into the distance. “I think I see something.”
“Like what?”
His eyes suddenly grew large before he shouted at me, “INCOMING!” Instinctively we both dropped behind cover as rocket trail flew over our heads. And another, closer this time and hitting the wadi next to ours.
“Holy shit!” I shouted. Incoming fire started coming in from every sector and comms started blowing up with chatter. “Dude, I think we just stirred ‘em up!”
“Ya think?” shouted Strong as he hefted his gun back toward the valley. “Now help me out here!” I stumbled over to his position as more and more incoming started cracking over our heads. I loaded a new magazine and looked up to see three rounds hit the wall just millimeters from Strong’s head.
“Dude!” I shouted to him.
“What?” he called back, completely oblivious to his brush with death. Alright then.
“Nothing! Keep fuckin’ shooting!” That was a little too close for comfort.
Top resumed his screaming over comms. “Y’all better git yer heads down right about now! Fast movers in one mike!”
“Got air support inbound!” I screamed over the chatter of Strong’s machine gun fire. “Get the fuck away from the window!” Strong stopped firing and fell back further into the wadi as I stuck my rifle out the window and fired off a few rounds of forty mike-mike into the valley and surrounding hills to keep NLR fire off the birds.
Top came back over comms, “Ten seconds!”
I dropped and crawled to the back wall and tried to get a view out the window from where we sat. I could hear the rumble of the engines as our birds screamed in from the east and rained hell on the NLR positions. Fuck yeah. “Aw yeah! Get some!” I shouted.
“Think they liked our bombs?” asked Strong.
“I don’t know,” I laughed. “Let’s go ask ‘em.”
●●●
As we slowly moved down the hillside, our progress was hampered from time to time by sporadic gunfire. They'd shoot in our general direction, we'd hit them back harder with accurate fire. Was a sort of cat and mouse game for us at this point. Most of the time their bullets would miss, thanks to the natural inaccuracy of saddlebag firearms.
The only time we would get concerned was when they started shooting rockets. Didn’t need to be precise or well trained to kill somepony with one of those.
“Assholes,” muttered Strong. Looking at my battle buddy, he seemed to be getting pretty tired of this whole ordeal. After all, we were supposed to exfil the area today. But mission plans never survive initial contact, do they?
“Just think, Specialist,” I said matter-of-factly. “After this, we’ll be on our way back to the FOB, eat some hot chow, rack out in an actual cot, and hit on those cute nurses we saw last week.”
Strong smirked as he slid down into a small draw in the hillside. “Yeah. Well at least I’ll be hitting on them. Your track record with the mares is, not great.”
“Shut-up!” I snapped back in frustration as I proceeded to tumble down the same draw. “I’m quite a catch, I’ll have you know.”
“Right.” A few rounds snapped by. Damnit, they were at it again. Strong groaned in exasperation, “Contact, front. Two hostiles” he said almost in a bored manner.
I could feel the shock wave as one of the rounds zipped past my muzzle. Nope, can’t have that now. Raising my rifle, I put one of the two silhouettes in my sights and squeezed. Boom, down. I double tapped as it slowly fell to the ground. Could never be too sure. Strong, dropped the other one who had seemingly been taken aback by what had just transpired.
“You idiots, okay?” called Top over comms. Strong still had his weapon raised at the two bodies, making sure they were dead.
“Yeah. We’re good,” I called back. “Two dead hostiles. We’re going to conduct PIR's. Over.”
“Sounds good, Doc. Two and Three will be maintaining overwatch.” I motioned to Strong for us to move in. The bodies couldn’t have been more than fifty meters from our original location. How the hell did they miss us? I mean, for fucks sake, we were sliding down a fuckin’ hill. My thoughts raced as we got closer.
“They seem a little small, don’t they?” asked Strong. I narrowed my eyes, oh shit.
“Foals, dude” I said, stunned at what lay before us. That’s why they didn’t kill us. These were fucking foals.
Strong’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “What the fuck” he managed to stammer.
Shakily I called over the radio again. “Hey, Top. You might wanna see this.”
I should check on him, thought Autumn. He’d just been sitting in the room for the past couple of hours after all. As she trotted over to open the door she heard…singing? Puzzled, she slowly crept into the room. In the far corner of the room, there sat Coban gazing out the window singing in a low key.
“Won’t you spare me over till ‘nother year? Well what is this that I can’t see, with ice cold hands takin’ hold of me?” Autumn shuddered involuntarily at the lyrics, what the hell was he singing about?
“Well I am death, none can excel, I’ll open the door to heaven or hell…Whoa Death somepony would pray, could you wait to call me another day. The fillies prayed, the preacher preached, time and mercy is out of your reach…”
●●●
“Ooh, Death…Ooh, Death. Won’t you spare me over till ‘nother year? Won’t you spare me over till ‘nother year?” I mumbled as I slumped back further into the chair. Staring out over the small town, I could still see the residual smoke that hung from the explosion.
What the fuck was the point of that, killing those innocent ponies? No, no, no, I berated myself mentally. Head in the fucking game, don’t dwell on that shit. A hoof on my shoulder woke me from my internal debate.
“Hey…” murmured Autumn.
“Hey,” came my weak response. No witty comeback or nothin’. Just didn’t have it in me, this fucking sucked. Autumn said nothing, but simply pulled up a chair and sat beside me. We must’ve sat in silence staring over Ponyville for several hours as the faint sounds of the emergency crews cleared what remained of the rubble.
I heard a quiet yawn next to me as Autumn struggled to stay awake. “It okay if I rest my head?”
“Sure.” I said and very quickly felt her nuzzle my shoulder in an effort to get comfortable. And there I sat, with my old NCO resting her head as I watched the sun slowly rise in the east.
●●●
Autumn awoke to find herself laying on top of her bed in the Inn. “Wasn’t I sitting with Coban?” she wondered. A new fear struck at the core of her soul, that song from last night. “Oh hell…Doc?” Autumn anxiously called out. No response. Quickly she got off the bed and trotted over to where he had been last night.
“Doc?” she inquired, opening the door slowly only to find an empty room with two chairs facing the window side by side.
●●●
I rang the bell for the third time before the cranky receptionist finally acknowledged my presence. About fuckin’ time. “Can I help you?” the mare asked rudely.
Oh you fuckin’…“Hi, yes. I’m actually looking to pick up a job application here.”
Rolling her eyes, the mare directed my attention to a door behind me labeled ‘Pony Resources.’ “Through that door and to the right. It’ll be room number 104.” And with that brief explanation, she went back to flipping through her fashion magazine. Some ponies. As I turned to canter over to PR, I heard a brusque snort and the shuffle of magazine pages, “Not even a thank you?”
“Fuck off” I stated as I closed the door behind me. This should be interesting. Alright, so that bitch said to the right and it’d be…ah there it is!
Room 104. As I looked at the door itself it seemed abnormally plain. Well, then again I suppose the whole building was unusually plain in its appearance. Almost as if the proprietors took a bizarre pride in keeping this place looking mediocre.
Shrugging off the nervousness that hung around me, I nudged the door open to see a stallion comically oversized for his dress attire. Stow the smile, holy shit this is hard.
“You Coban?” inquired the massive stallion as he kept his head down, reading and shuffling through papers on his desk.
“Uh, yes sir.” I stammered back. “If I may, sir, how did…”
“You’re Doc Coban of the 75th Manticore Rangers Detachment Bravo. Last saw action in Helmare Province? Because if you’re not, then get the fuck out of here you’re wasting my time.”
“Yes sir, I’m that ‘Doc’ Coban.” What the hell? The bizarre stallion before me mumbled something incomprehensible to himself.
“Good record, no real disciplinary actions…”
“Excuse me sir, this is where I can pick up an application to work here right?”
The stallion, looking very baffled simply stared at me as if I had offended him in some way. “Yes it is, you’re applying right now.”
I am? “I am?” Smooth, Coban. Let’s look like a knuckle dragger. “I mean, I just saw the ad in the paper that you guys were hiring vets…and I needed a job so...” Shut up, Coban. Holy fuck.
The stallion started laughing. “You’re funny Doc. I like you. Tell ya what; let’s go into the interview portion of this process. Question one…”
“I don’t even have to put in paperwork?”
“I did a cursory glance of your files from the service once our system gave a positive ID on you,” he stated bluntly. “Anyway, back to question one…”
This stallion seemed really familiar. He almost looked like…“Strong?”
●●●
Autumn was beginning to panic, so far nopony had seen Coban. Just one more place to check up on, she thought as Autumn hurriedly walked up the steps to the Sugarcube Corner. “Hi there! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!” said a way too enthusiastic Mr. Cake.
She didn’t have time for this, “Listen here chief,” Autumn growled, “where’s Pinkie Pie?”
Mr. Cake was taken aback by the unusual bluntness from a potential customer, and she looked pissed. “Haha, uh…I’ll call her for you…” No sooner had the words come out of his mouth, a pink blur flew past him and appeared next to Autumn.
“You called me?” asked Pinkie in her usual bubbly and bouncy self. “Oh, hi Autumn!”
In the blink of an eye, Mr. Cake watched as his employee was choke-slammed to the ground. “H…Hey!” he stammered in disbelief.
“Where is he?” yelled Autumn.
Pinkie shook in fear, “…who?”
“Coban, damnit! Where is he!” demanded Autumn, why couldn’t this pink abomination clear her head from whatever was going on in there?
“I uh…I think I saw him go into some building three or so blocks down? I think it was called...Tri…fec…ta?” Pinkie squeaked out in terror.
“Shit” muttered Autumn, “Thanks Pinkie.” As quickly as she had come Autumn was gone, leaving behind a confused Mr. Cake and horrified Pinkie.
●●●
“Fuckin’ damnit Strong! I thought you were dead you bastard!” I could barely keep the smile off my face, I mean holy shit, here I was thinking my best friend was dead, and bam! Live and in my very presence!
“Up top, fucker!” exclaimed Strong with equal enthusiasm. A strong crack emitted from the bro-hoof. “You have no idea the effort I had to go through to track your sorry ass down, brother.”
I chuckled, “Yeah, well that’s what happens when you relapse into alcoholism.” An understanding smile came across his face. Wait a minute, what? “Track me down? The fuck are you talking about Strong?” My euphoria felt as if it had just run full tilt into a brick wall lined with spikes.
Strong looked genuinely puzzled at my question. “Didn’t Autumn tell you? I had her try to track you down, cause we need a guy like you on the team.”
“Whoa, what? Autumn never told me shit about a team. I just came here ‘cause I figured it could get a cushy desk job like her." I thought I could trust her.
Strong burst out in abrupt laughter. The hell was so funny? “Oh Celestia, Coban. You really think that Autumn is the paper pusher type? Get the hell outta here! We’re PMCs! I got that cunt out at the front desk taking care of most of that paperwork.” Probably explained why she was such a bitch. “Autumn really didn’t tell you?”
“No motherfucker, she didn’t. And frankly I’m starting to wish I didn’t come here, so you’d better fucking explain what the fuck is going on!” I growled, slamming my hoof down on Strong’s desk.
“Hah! Easy, Doc. Easy. Why don’t you take a seat and hear me out?”
“You got five minutes, Strong.”
Strong sighed audibly and grimaced. “Look Doc. Right now, the Empire is getting fucked. Those NLR assholes are slipping into our military ranks, taking shits on our supply lines, and pulling stunts like what happened the other day here in Ponyville. I’ve been contacted directly by Princess Celestia herself and the SoE High Command to form a small task force. The objective is to go into NLR territory and find out where the handlers for these agents are and flush them out by any means necessary.”
Strong took a deep breath before starting up again. “I need you on the team. You’re the only fucker I know who’s crazy enough to survive one of his own plans and carry it out to the fullest while thinking about his troops.”
I leaned back in the chair, what’s the catch?
“He’s right you know” said a new voice.
I whirled around in my seat, “Autumn?” I glared and noticed her become visibly uncomfortable. “This true? Is everything you told me so far a lie? This was all to put me back up to this?” Autumn kept her head down and kicked at the floor. “Fuck!” I exclaimed while slumping further into the seat.
“Doc, listen” Autumn began, “we need a stallion on the team with your abilities. And neither of us would trust anybody less than you.”
I glanced at Autumn who quickly looked back at her hooves and back to Strong, who sat on the edge of his seat awaiting my answer. Shit, back to the grind. I nodded my head, “Yeah, I’ll do it. But I want it on record that I’m not doing it for either of you.”
Strong stood behind his desk, face beaming with a smile. “Whatever your reason Coban, you got my respect.” He put out his hoof towards me, “Welcome to Task Force Black.”
In a hurry, I stumbled out of the main door. A voice followed suit, “Doc!”
Damnit! She needed to piss off, “Fuck you, Autumn! I don’t need to fuckin’ talk to you!” I continued my brisk pace. Anywhere but here, now was not the time for this shit.
“Doc! Please!”
That was it, if she wanted to talk, I’d talk alright. I whipped my head around. “Listen you sack of shit, I don’t wanna talk to you. Hell, I don’t even wanna see you!” I took a breath to continue my rant, after all, she had it coming. “I can’t believe I fucking thought of you as a friend!” Fuck, what was I saying? Stop before you really say something you regret, Coban. C’mon! I turned back around, “I just need to be left alone.” Suddenly something heavy hit the back of my head. “Ah! The hell?”
“Fine!” yelled Autumn. “Here’s your stupid advance! Courtesy of Strong!” I looked down to see a bag of shiny new bits on the ground by my hoof. Looking back toward the building, I saw Autumn storm back inside and slam the door shut.
Aw geez. I need a drink, and somepony else to talk to. Picking the bag up, I slowly plodded over to the hospital.
●●●
Autumn slammed the door behind her and slowly made her way to Strong’s office. How the hell could he say that? She was only trying to help him! Ungrateful shit, he just had to blow the lid on the whole thing himself. “He get his bits?” inquired Strong.
Autumn collapsed into a chair. “Yeah, he fuckin’ got ‘em” she said, her voice brimming with an intense anger.
“You know,” began Strong. “He said you didn’t tell him…”
“Of course not!” exploded Autumn. “He didn’t need to hear it at the time! He…he needed a friend,” she trailed off.
Strong leaned closer from his desk, a stony expression on his face. “Whatever he needed wasn’t part of the plan Autumn. You damn well knew that. We fucking needed him and you took your sweet ass time bringing him here.”
He sighed and slouched back into his seat. “No matter what was going on outside just now put that shit behind you. I’ll talk to him personally about it, but in the meantime solve your fucking problems. I don’t need two field agents arguing out in the field, now get the hell out of my office.”
Autumn got out of her chair and began making her way to the front. “Hey Autumn,” she turned around. “Have a nice day.”
●●●
“I’m here to see Rainbow,” I stated to the head nurse. The nurse briefly raised her head and resumed her paperwork.
“Is she expecting you?”
“Uh, well. Yeah. I told her yesterday that I wanted to make sure she was doing okay” I said.
“Well good news is that she’s being discharged today, in a few minutes in fact. Why don’t you have a seat in the lobby, Ms. Dash will be down in a bit.”
“Thank you ma’am.” I walked back to the lobby and took a seat. Looking around the lobby I saw a mother and her colt. She appeared to be sleeping while her colt was playing with a few toy soldier figurines. I smiled at the innocence and the colt caught me starting at him.
Looking to his left and right to make sure there wasn’t anypony else I might be looking at, he finally asked me, “Wanna play?” I shrugged my shoulders, fuck it. Got nothing else to do at the moment. “Sure, why not?” I got out of my chair and sat on the ground with the colt who presented me with a 75th Ranger action figure.
“What’s your name, mister? I’m Jitter!”
“Doc,” I said all while staring at the toy soldier in my hooves.
“Your name’s ‘Doc?’ Are you a doctor?” asked the inquisitive colt while eyeballing my tattoos.
“Of sorts, or well…I was at one point.”
“Hm…”he began pondering. “You don’t lookit!” Damn kid was pretty perceptive. “What do you really do?”
I sighed heavily. “I was…a medic with the Army.” His eyes lit up at the mention of the Army.
“Really? My dad’s in the Army! But I don’t know about now.”
I raised an eyebrow, I didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “What do you mean?” I asked as I made the toy soldier ‘walk’ along the carpet.
Jitter became visibly upset at my question. Aw shit, not good. “He lost his leg. I think it still hurts him. That’s why me and mom are here.” He stared at his hooves for a bit, before asking me “What unit were you in?”
Thank Celestia, change of subject. I looked at Jitter with a small smirk, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told ya!”
Jitter placed his toy soldier down. “I’ll believe you! Tell me, tell me, tell me!” I sighed, thankful that his mind was now away from his father’s pain. He was practically bursting with enthusiasm that for a split second I wondered if this colt might be related to Pinkie Pie in some manner.
I leaned forward and whispered, “You ever hear of the 75th Manticore Rangers?”
His eyes sparkled with excitement. “No way! Really? That’s so cool!”
I laughed, “Yeah I guess it is, huh?”
His mother woke up with a start from my laughter. “Oh! Jitter! What have I told you about bothering other ponies?” She turned to me, “I’m so sorry he disturbed you. He gets these random outgoing bursts from time to time.”
“It’s quite okay ma’am” I said. “He certainly knows how to make conversation.”
“Momma! Doc was in the Army, just like dad!” Jitter blurted out with excitement.
A brief flash of pain was visible on his mother’s face, “Was he?”
“Yeah!” Jitter was physically bouncing up and down now.
“Hey, Doc!” A voice came from behind me. I stood up and turned around to see Rainbow with her leg patched up along with…her wings? “Ready to leave? I know I am.”
“Yeah, just give me a second” I said before turning back to Jitter and his mother. “Take care Jitter, and stay out of trouble for your mom’s sake, okay?” As I began to walk toward Rainbow, I gave Jitter’s mother a brief nod. As if knowing what I meant, she did the same. Hopefully her husband would turn out okay.
“It’s really good seeing you, Doc!” said Rainbow as she gave me an awkward hug. “Been hoping I could see you.” I felt a light tug on my back leg. Looking back I saw a now very shy Jitter.
“Uh, Doc? I uh, I want you to have this,” as he presented me with the toy Ranger. “I know that you're strong an' stuff, but maybe it can give you extra protection.”
A smile crept upon my face, “Thanks, kid. This means a lot.”
As Rainbow and myself began walking out of the hospital, Jitter’s voice boomed out “Your marefriend is really pretty!” Damnit, kid!
●●●
Autumn arrived back in her motel room and stared at the emptiness that lay before her. The two chairs from the other night were still there; a reminder and almost mocking tribute of what could’ve been. Angrily, she knocked both over. “Fuck!” she exclaimed. It wasn’t fair! All she had been trying to do was protect him! Couldn’t he see that?
She collapsed into a corner of the room and stared at the ceiling as tears began rolling down her cheeks. How could he say those things to her? Autumn whimpered as her breathing steadily became more rapid and panic began to set in. No, no, no! She screamed internally, not now!
“Doc!” she cried out. The walls began to close in. “Doc…” Autumn whispered to the empty room, “I need you…”
●●●
“So, how long you grounded for?” I asked Rainbow, staring at her bound wings.
She flicked her mane out of her eyes as we walked along. “Ugh. Two weeks. Two WHOLE WEEKS! Can you believe that? How can I not fly for two weeks?” she stomped her hoof down to accent her frustration. “They might as well have cut off my wings.”
I chuckled much to her annoyance. “I assume that means no Wonderbolt shenanigans for a bit?”
Rainbow looked down, “Yeah, the team stopped by earlier this morning. They don’t want me to exacerbate the injury.”
“That’s a surprisingly big word for you.”
“Oh, just because I’m a Wonderbolt you think I can’t have a big vocabulary?” Rainbow pouted, her lip quivering. And she’s back.
“Wha…whoa…wait just a minute…” I stammered. “I just meant that I’m surprised you knew that word.” Oh Celestia, fell for that trap.
“So now I’m a dumb mare? That’s sexist as hell Doc.” I squinted, I wasn’t sure at this point if she was being serious or joking around like normal. “I’m just messin with ya, Doc” she giggled.
I sighed in both frustration and relief. “Yeah, should’ve figured at this point. So what happened to your wings exactly? I don’t remember them being messed up.”
“Yeah, well apparently the whole building coming down on top of us and the blast put a strain on the tendons. The doctors say I’m lucky it’s just a strain and nothing more.”
“By the way,” I began, “where exactly are we going? I was just sort of following you.”
Rainbow batted her eyes at me, “Aw, aren’t you just a lost little puppy.”
“Rainbow, seriously.”
“Ugh, you’re no fun. We’re going to Twilight’s again, the girls are throwing a party in honor of my hospital discharge.”
“I feel like this was Pinkie’s idea.” Rainbow nodded.
“These kinds of things usually are. Hey, do you want to come with? You can be my plus one!” she said with a big ‘ol grin plastered on her face. “After all, didn’t that colt earlier say your ‘marefriend’ was pretty?” How were mares able to get their eyes that big?
I scoffed “Yeah, sure. I’ll go. There…will be alcohol there right?”
Rainbow stared at me as if I was an alien from another planet that had just made first contact. “Duh, it’s not a party without cider!” I nodded, that was a fair assumption. We continued our walk in silence as the silhouette of the Ponyville Library came into view. Rainbow’s voice shattered the relative peace and calm. “Hey, where’s that mare that’s always hanging on ya? Uh, Autumn right?”
Fuck, “We had…a bit of a falling out earlier.” Keep the answers short and simple, no need to drag Rainbow into that whole mess. “Why?”
“Oh, just wondering.” Rainbow looked away quickly. Could’ve sworn I saw her blushing, what the hell was she planning? The closer we got to the library I could hear music coming from the tree. Ugh, that whole tree still weirded me out. Just…why?
“Looks like we’re here” I stated flatly. “Hopefully this will be a bit better than the previous night, right?” Celestia, Coban. Terrible joke, way too soon for that.
Surprisingly, Rainbow laughed at the joke. “Yeah, I hear ya there.”
The party went pretty much as expected. Pinkie Pie was her normal Pinkie Pie self and had successfully managed to blackout midway through the party (which apparently was a first) with Fluttershy attempting to help her while also being somewhat inebriated.
As for myself, I had the remainder of them gathered around while drunkenly telling stories. As to why they were listening to me, the fuck was my guess. But I didn’t mind, kept my thoughts off of what happened earlier in the day.
“So then what happened?” inquired Twilight, who seemed way too interested in the story itself.
“Yeah! C’mon! Tell us, sugarcube!” cried out Applejack, while Rainbow struggled to support Rarity who was relatively gone and resting on her shoulder.
“So there we were…” I continued on with my story, “And Top says ‘Nah, we can’t stop the convoy just so you can shit, Strong.’ You see, so…like, uh…so Strong goes, he goes, uhm. ‘You know, you know what Top. That’s cool. It’s all good, because I don’t need to go outside to shit.’ Then he says to me, ‘STRONG! Get me, an ammo can.’ I give him one, right? Next thing I knew, he takes a shit…in the ammo can, while we’re in the armored vehicle. And Top, Top smells this and it smells foul and he goes ‘Celestia, Strong! Did you just shit?’ And he, he goes. ‘Just following orders, Top!’”
I began laughing uncontrollably at my story along with Applejack and Rainbow. It was nice to see someponies here shared a taste for foul humor every now and then.
Twilight on the other hoof was completely lost. “But, what’s the punchline?”
“What?” I asked mid-laugh as I snorted.
“The punchline? I remember reading in a book about jokes that they’re supposed to have a central punchline that the story or joke builds up to and…”
“Oh loosen up Twi!” teased Applejack. “Not everything goes by the book so to speak.”
“Ugh, such foul language” stammered Rarity as she struggled to her hooves. “How could you speak like that with a lady present?” I fought back the urge to tell her it wasn’t exactly lady-like to get shitfaced on cider neither. But hey, whatever. “Where’s Spikey-Wikey?” she inquired, “He’s such a gentlecolt!”
As Rarity stumbled off, Rainbow and I began snickering at her. “I heard that!” she called out to us.
Applejack and Twilight continued arguing about the sociological and practical aspects of telling a joke which was becoming surprisingly heated. I looked over to Rainbow, slightly concerned. She shook her head, “Nah, it’s good. It usually ends with Twilight going to the bookshelf, proving her point with facts then the two of them apologizing.”
“Wow…really?”
“Yep. Have yet to see that change” laughed Rainbow as Applejack and Twilight stormed off to the bookshelves elsewhere. Rainbow shifted closer toward me with a strange look about her. Goddess she looked really good. “Why don’t we go somewhere, a little more…private?” she said with a sultry tone.
What’s going on? “Yeah sure.” Good job, drunk me. This is a horrible idea, don’t do it! My brain was screaming at my body which was doing its own thing at this stage.
Rainbow led me to the calmer portion of the library where we both collapsed into respective heaps on the couch. “Ah, I gotta say this was a good party. Thanks for inviting me, Rainbow” I said as I further sank into the couch. Holy shit, this might be the comfiest thing I ever sat in.
Then I noticed that Rainbow was staring at me. The hell? “No worries Coban. I’m glad you came” she said, resting her hoof on my leg. My body began to react without even thinking as I pulled her closer. This was crazy, was this really happening I asked myself. Rainbow couldn’t wait another moment; grasping my mane, she closed the gap between our lips in one swift movement. And suddenly there was no longer a need to be subtle. As if the unspoken question had been answered before it ever got to be asked.
An explosion of total peace and serenity overwhelmed me as she pulled away. Never before had I been so overcome with tranquility as a small smile crept upon Rainbow’s face. I struggled to speak again. “Wow,” I said lamely as my brain tried to resume its normal functions.
As Rainbow giggled at my kiss-induced stupor, I saw the beauty and innocence in her eyes. Something I no longer saw in my own. Fear began to creep into my thoughts, knowing what pain I could potentially cause her, yet I couldn’t; no, I didn’t want to let her go.
“I’m glad I met you on that train that day” she purred.
“I am too, Rainbow. I am too.”
●●●
The next morning I woke up with a start. I remembered, kissing Rainbow? Nah, that couldn’t be right. I felt a weight on my chest and saw Rainbow resting her head on my chest. Okay, nothing super crazy happened right? Right? Oh goddess, I’m freaking out. No! Calm down. Rainbow’s faint snoring began to soothe me. Heh, she was pretty damn cute. A light suddenly blinded me along with a chorus of aw’s and how cute’s. Who the fuck else was here?
“Oh my GOSH!” screeched Pinkie Pie. “You two are soooo CUTE TOGETHER!”
“Pinkie!” I cried out, “Quieter please. Got a bit of a headache right now.”
I felt Rainbow pick her head up off my chest, “Huh? What’s goin’ on?” she asked half asleep.
“Apparently your friends like to stare at us while we sleep?” I said cautiously to Rainbow as she yawned.
“What?!” she blurted out in shock. Both of us turned toward the group that stood before us as they all (with the exception of Pinkie) seemed a bit embarrassed. “Girls! Really?”
“Sorry!” stammered Twilight. “Pinkie stumbled on you two this morning.”
“That doesn’t explain why you were all viewing this like some sort of exhibit” Rainbow flatly stated.
“Well, it’s…or…uhm…”
“Wait,” I interrupted. “What time is it?”
Thankful for the change of subject, Twilight responded, “Nine fifteen, why?”
“Oh fuck! I’m late to work!” I exclaimed. Hurriedly I grabbed the few items I had from yesterday. “Bye Rainbow! I’ll swing by later, sound good? Great!” Quickly I trotted over to where Rainbow sat and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before hauling out of the library. Holy shit did she turn beet red, totally worth it.
●●●
Autumn awoke late that morning, she had barely gotten any sleep the previous night. She needed to talk to Doc. That whole situation from yesterday left a horrible taste in her mouth. No way did she want to lose him as a friend. Autumn groaned as she struggled to get out of bed and looked around. No Doc still. Well wherever he was she hoped that he had an equally terrible night of sleep.
Half asleep, Autumn struggled to brush her mane when she heard a door open and slam shut. “Doc?”
“Hey, Autumn!” came the reply as if nothing had happened. As she made her way to the kitchen, she saw Coban wolfing down a quick breakfast and looking particularly well rested.
“Doc. I…I need to apologize to you about yesterday, and this whole situation really.”
●●●
I choked on my food when I heard Autumn say that. “Uh…”
“Now hear me out!” she insisted. Alright, not going to interrupt ya. “I never meant for it to go down the way it did. I felt…I felt like you needed a friend more than anything when I found you. Yes, Strong wanted me to just get you back so we could knock out this op sooner. But you needed help.” She sighed and lowered her gaze.
“I should have told you sooner, I know. And I wouldn’t blame you if you have a hard time trusting me, but I wanted the best for you. I wanted you to be happy, and I hope you can find it to forgive me.”
My jaw hung open at the apology. Holy crap, I made her feel like shit. I coughed nervously, “Autumn, I said some stupid shit the other day. You’ll always be my friend and I’ll have your back regardless. So uh…”
“Did, we” began Autumn “just have an apology standoff?”
“I think we just did?”
“Friends?” asked Autumn, holding out her hoof.
“Yeah,” I grinned. “Friends.”
●●●
“Doc, Autumn. I appreciate you coming today” said Strong as he welcomed us into his office. “It’s safe to assume that both of y’all solved any differences?” We nodded in unison. “Good,” he flatly replied, “Because we have an operation to conduct. The two of you will be working with Deacon and Chaser” Strong said as two other ponies opened the office door behind us.
“Sorry we’re late, boss” said the mare.
“No worries,” Strong brushed it off. “Deacon, Chaser. Meet your new team members, Doc and Autumn.”
“No offense boss, but we normally work with intel ponies. Not your average fuckin’ meathead” said the stallion. I was already starting to get a bad taste for both of them. Fuck ‘em.
“Stow your shit, Chaser” exclaimed Strong. “Both of you; you’re going to need these two for this op. They’re qualified enough. You already know their backgrounds, so lock it up.” Both ponies shifted awkwardly while the mare named Deacon shot a nasty glare at Autumn. Guess there was a rivalry here already? Good, what the fuck could possibly go wrong here?
“I want you two to split up your little clique” continued Strong while motioning towards Chaser and Deacon. “Pick a new partner from these two. And whoever picks Doc, show him to the armory and get him his gear.”
“So what’s the plan boss?” asked Chaser.
“The brief is waiting for you all in the staff room, any further questions can be directed there” Strong said, while getting up with a briefcase. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for a meeting at Canterlot. Take care” he said as he trotted out the door.
The moment Strong left, Chaser and Deacon both turned their very unwanted attention towards us. “Fuck,” muttered Autumn under her breath.
“Listen you knuckle-draggers,” Chaser hissed at us. “It’s a fuckin’ honor to tag along with us. So do as we say, when we say it.” He prodded my chest to deliver his point. Wrong move, you dick. I snorted in annoyance. He laughed, bringing his face close to mine “Aw, you mad you’re second best to us intel ponies?”
That was the last straw, quickly I brought my right hoof to his face and knocked him flat on his side. Bringing my body weight down on top of him, I grasped his mane and slammed his head into the ground twice for good measure.
“Celestia! Coban!” cried out Autumn. Deacon stood there in shock at what had just transpired.
Getting up, I gave Deacon one last good kick in the gut. “Don’t patronize me, you asshole” I spat out in anger at the pony lying on the ground.
To my surprise he started laughing. The hell? He just got his ass kicked. Coughing, he stammered “Holy shit. Doc, is it? Not bad, looks like you still remember how to fight.”
I nodded slowly, where was this headed? Autumn spoke up, “Look, let’s just go to the brief and draw from the armory, alright? Nopony else needs to get their head smashed today.” Such the diplomat.
“Nah, I ain’t gonna fight,” said Chaser. “Doc here proved he could handle himself. I like you. Hopefully you’re just as good with a gun.”
Deacon finally managed to close her open mouth, “Hey Doc, you’re with me. Autumn, go with Chaser.”
I looked at Autumn apprehensively. She nodded and motioned for me to go with Deacon who lit up a smoke. “Let’s go, Doc” said Deacon, bad guys aren’t exactly known for waiting in one location for too long.
●●●
“Evening ma’am. Looking very sharp if I might say so myself” said Strong as he sat down at the conference table.
“Enough with the pleasantries Mr. Strong, let’s just get right down to business” commanded Princess Celestia. Her once beautiful mane now dull from the stress of the decisions being made during war-time. “We’ve already seen the capabilities of the NLR and I have no intention of letting this happen again. The very idea that they were even able to infiltrate this deep into our territory! It troubles me greatly.”
“Yes ma’am, I understand that the situation has…escalated.”
“Indeed. Mr. Strong, I am authorizing you to take full control of the situation, so there will be no need to do any of your sales pitch. Whatever resources you need, I’ll get them for you. We need to stop this threat at all costs.”
“I understand. Oh, and ma’am?” began Strong, pulling paperwork from his briefcase.
“Yes, Mr. Strong? What is it?”
“There’s something I’ll need that you’re going to have to authorize.” He slammed his hoof down onto the conference table, underneath his hoof, a form. “I need you to authorize New Dawn Protocol for this operation to take place.” Strong slid the paper over to the Princess who looked upon it incredulously.
“You realize that what you’re asking me is something that is in violation of multiple ethical codes currently in place here in Empire” she threatened.
“Do you want to win this or not, Princess? You know as much as I do that we need a quick and certain victory against the NLR. The Empire’s intelligence teams are in no condition to handle the situation in a timely manner. Hell, even the Rangers will take too long to mobilize. We can’t afford to wait before getting these ponies behind the attacks. We need something to show the ponies here on the home-front that we in fact CAN defend ourselves and won’t stand for such brazen atrocities.”
“I’m not sure I like the idea. I could have you imprisoned for this.”
“Lock me away and you lose this war, Princess. We both know that! So what will it be?”
The disheveled Princess sighed heavily, “So you’re sure about this so-called ‘wedding, Mr. Strong?’” she inquired.
“Yes ma’am, it’s been pinging for months. The passports have expired, no attempts to leave the Empire. They just sort of…” began Strong as he presented the known information on the target.
“You’re telling me nopony knows where they’re at now?”
“We have one pony who might know something. Our local asset mentioned some HVT’s up somewhere in the mountains by the Badlands” he continued.
“And you’re to shake this…asset…down?”
“That’s what my ponies are here for; they’ll be on site within the hour.”
●●●
“Celestia, Deacon. Turn that shit off.” I exclaimed, switching off the power to the truck’s radio. While these vehicles didn’t offer as much protection as the old armored vehicles I remember from the Rangers, it did provide some protection in the sense of a low profile. And fuck, a low profile meant staying alive at this point and loud old school hip-hop was not the way to go.
“Hey!” cried Deacon in protest, “I was listening to that!” I ignored her pleas, her music was awful stuff.
The comms cackled to life as Chaser’s voice came through. “About to get a little bumpy ahead, y’all good?” The truck slammed down as the road became hellish. Whoa fuck, keep it on the road, I kicked myself mentally. Slow and steady, slow and steady. The wheel yanked in every which direction.
“Yeah, we’re good” I replied. Not really, fuck this road. “Except Deacon and her shitty music is driving me up a damn wall.”
“It’s not shitty!”
“Nopony listens to that old school stuff anymore, Deacon” said Autumn. Deacon began to pout and slouched down in her seat. I chuckled; it was good to have Autumn back. I sighed with relief as the pass smoothed out again. Not having to fight the steering was so much nicer.
“One Six Actual, this is Hammer One Actual. Just passed through RP Blue, over” stated Chaser through the comms.
For a brief moment, there was nothing but static. Signal could be bouncing, after all there were fucking mountains everywhere out here. “Hammer One Actual, this is One Six Actual. New Dawn, say again New Dawn. You’re on your own from here.” Oh good, no backup? Celestia, what the hell was I doing back in the game? Nervously, I began packing some tobacco in an effort to keep my cool.
“Roger One Six. Hammer One copies all, out.”
As we continued driving through the narrow mountain pass road, I noticed the night sky above. Out here without light pollution, everything was so clear and strangely beautiful. My mind went back to my old post in Helmare Province.
My reverie was broken by Deacon’s voice. “These the ponies?”
Looking further down the road I could see the start of the village and several silhouettes of ponies. A bead of sweat began rolling down my forehead. This was it, officially back in the game. Low profile, low profile.
“Nah. Ember has a safehouse further up in the village. These are her loyalists, we’re cool. They’ll be giving us her location. Still, eyes open” said Chaser.
As Chaser brought his truck to a complete stop, I followed suit; keeping a good four lengths back just in case these ponies decided to pick a fight with us. As one of them began talking to Autumn and Chaser, another walked over to us.
“Howdy” the stallion said with a thick drawl.
“Hey, they know we’re here?” I asked.
“Shoot, son. NLR left two days ago.”
“Nothing should surprise us out here?” pressed Deacon
“Naw. We’re good here. Y’all wanna smoke?”
“Hell yeah!” replied Deacon with too much enthusiasm
Damnit, shut up Deacon I thought. “ Nah, we’re cool. Thanks”
As the stallion sauntered off back into the night, Deacon stared me down. “Can’t listen to music, can’t bum a smoke. What are you, Doc? My mom?”
I scoffed, “Listen, those embers from the smoke will be a dead give-away at this time of night. So I think for our own safety no we probably shouldn’t light up. And plus, you really want to bum a smoke off this shady pony in the Badlands at night?” Deacon rolled her eyes and continued to keep watch the roofs of the village. Making sure there were no sudden surprises when we would roll in.
Fuck, I probably should cut her some slack. I like my tobacco too and knew how depressing it was when you either ran out of smokes or chew. “Hey, Deacon” I bumped her forehoof.
“What?!” she snapped back, not removing her eyes from the rooftops.
“I got some dip if you want. Still get the tobacco high, minus the smoke or light signature.” Cautiously, she looked over at me as I waggled the chew can in front of her. “It’s miiiiint” I teased.
“Fine!” she said, snatching the can from my hoof and jamming a massive wad of chew into her cheek. Fuck even I don’t start with that much. I looked at her in surprise while she spat out of the window.
“Wow, it does taste like mint. I’m going to have to buy some when we get back.” She handed me back my can.
Looking at it, there was a sufficient amount gone. Damnit, I just got this one too. Glaring at Deacon, I growled out, “You owe me a new tin.”
“Fine, but just because this flavor is damn good” came the reply.
The radio cackled, “We got Ember’s location. Move out, twenty meter spacing. Take point Doc.” I pulled around Autumn and Chaser’s truck and took the lead. Nothing sucked much more than this. Every turn we made further in this little podunk mountain village had all of us on edge. My heart was racing as every second seemed to turn into hours.
Rounding one corner particularly quickly, I slammed on the brakes nearly hitting a goat. “Shit!” cried out a caught-off guard Deacon.
“Hold up” I called over the comms, as a herd of them began being shepherded across the road by a lone stallion and his dog. “Fucking farmers. Hey Deacon, deal with it.”
“Hey!” she called out to the stallion who stared at her in surprise as if he didn’t somehow see us. Frustrated with his lack of understanding, Deacon angrily shouted, “Move!”
The surprised farmer hurriedly ushered his goats across all while giving both me and Deacon the stink-eye.
“Smooth,” I said to Deacon. “Way to win hearts and minds out here.”
She ignored my jab at her expense as we continued on our way through the village. “Looks like everypony left” stated Deacon as we drove further. All the lights were out and other than the one farmer, there had been nopony else for the past several minutes. Shit was a ghost town and it was starting to have me worried.
“Regardless, hooves on the triggers” came the reply from Chaser’s truck.
“Hey Chaser,” I asked over the comms. “We sure this, Ember, has the intel?”
“Boss seems to think so, along with the spooks out in Canterlot. This mare knows something. Wouldn’t make sense to send us out this way, right?”
Autumn laughed and quipped back, “The spooks have been wrong in the past you know.”
“Fifty fifty shot here, I’m bettin’ we find her” said Deacon.
Making another left turn, I was greeted with a sight I had been dreading for the past several minutes. “Oh shit, five. No make that seven probables ahead, eighty meters and closing.”
“Who are these ponies?” asked Deacon. “Nopony was supposed to be out this way.”
Autumn’s voice came through the comms, “Roof, twelve o’clock, one target. Ten o’clock windows, second floor. Two targets.”
“Unknown vehicle approaching from our six” called out Chaser.
“Copy”
Deacon muttered under her breath as the unknown ponies drew closer, “Fuck, NLR shock troops.” As I slowed down the truck, several of them blocked the pass ahead while another two walked over to our respective doors. Oh shit, not good.
Quickly doing a visual scan, these guys were pretty well armed; a few saddlebags here and there, a few more accurate modern rifles along with lots of rockets. This shit wasn’t looking good for us. “Deacon,” I whispered under my breath. “Follow my lead.”
“Roger” she whispered.
“Hey! Step out of the vehicle. We’re going to need to see identification!” called out the closest NLR trooper to me. Yeah, like hell that was going to happen. “Hey! You fuckin’ hear me? Get out now!” he shouted again, this time bringing his rifle to bear. That was all I needed.
Quickly drawing my personal defense rifle, I loosed hell into the trooper as Deacon followed suit. Slamming my foot down onto the gas, I drove straight into the troopers blocking the pass.
“Shit!” cried out Deacon as several rounds slammed into the truck’s windows, showering us with glass.
In the panic, my sense of direction went to hell. Suddenly I had no idea where the fuck I was. “Dead end!” I shouted, slamming a hoof down on the steering wheel in frustration. Screeching to a halt, the truck came to a stop before hitting the wall. The incoming fire began to grow as Deacon and myself climbed out of the truck and scrambled for cover. How many of these bastards were there? And more importantly, didn’t that fuck near the entrance of the village say the NLR had left?
“Autumn, Chaser! You up? One-one, you there?” I screamed into my radio. A rocket slammed into the truck’s bed, thankfully not detonating. Gotta love those duds, I grimaced. “Deacon, get up! We gotta move, now!”
“Hammer Two One, you there?” the faint and panicked voice of Chaser came through the comms as the firefight continually grew around us.
A few rounds snapped over me and Deacon’s cover, “Fuck!” she shouted, “This was supposed to be a clean snatch and grab!”
“Roger, One One! We copy. Pinned down, but we’re green, over” I popped my head up quickly only to be met with steady incoming. I dropped down in a hurry, no way in hell was I going to die here. Deacon blindly fired her rifle over her cover and was visibly shaking now. “Deacon!” I shouted at the mare, “Save your ammo! We’re going to need it at this rate!” I flipped my rifle to the side, making sure there was no malfunction. Celestia, this went to hell quickly. “We need to push up and fight our way out!” I screamed at her.
“Are you nuts?!” she shouted back. “We can’t even fucking move without getting shot at!” Damn spooks.
“On three, I’ll start firing and you pop smoke! Ready?” Holy shit, I really hope this works.
“What?!”
“One!”
“Doc! This is nuts!”
“Two!”
“Son of a bitch!”
“Three!” I popped out of cover and began firing at targets. The incoming was go fierce I could barely even keep my eyes open. Really hope Deacon was throwing the smoke. In my peripheral, a small cylindrical canister flew toward the NLR troopers and popped as it spat out a grey haze across our immediate front. Thank Celestia.
“Moving!” shouted Deacon as she sprinted past, sliding into cover inside the billow of smoke. Fuck! She just had to run past my field of vision. My internal train of thought was broken by the sound of Deacon’s voice as she swore incomprehensively. Shit. As I pushed up through the smoke, I broke through and nearly ran headfirst into Deacon who was struggling with an NLR trooper in hoof to hoof combat. Barreling into the trooper, I knocked both him and Deacon to the ground.
The trooper coughed from the impact and his eyes widened in terror as I brought my rifle barrel to his head. With eight pounds of trigger pressure, I ended his life. Brain matter exploded from the back of his head as Deacon hurriedly scrambled back up and looked upon at the now deceased stallion.
“That’s two cans you owe me now” I spat at her. The NLR troopers began falling back after seeing their friend get executed. Firing a few rounds in their direction, I turned back to Deacon, “Try and keep up.”
Shakily, Deacon nodded her head. A few rounds zipped over our heads, “Now what, Doc?” she asked.
Looking around I saw an old dilapidated building with a rusted over door, maybe. “Think you can rip that door from the frame and throw it their way?”
Without a second thought, Deacon closed her eyes and began to focus her magic at the door. C’mon. Do your stuff! I could see the door frame begin to buckle under the stress. Yes! Almost there! “You got it, Deacon!” With one final effort, Deacon flung the door into the NLR troopers who scattered quickly. “Hah!” I cheered, thank Celestia Deacon had some control of her magic abilities.
Deacon wheezed and brought her hoof to her nose, pulling it away in slight shock. “Fuck me,” she muttered as blood began running down her face.
“Let’s go!” I shouted at her, trying to get Deacon to focus on the situation at hoof. Grabbing her roughly, I dragged her over to the doorway and tumbled inside as rounds slammed into the wall. Sitting her in a corner, I conducted a cursory exam over her. No rounds hit her, good on that, one eye dilated with the other adjusting normally to the light conditions, bloody nose. “You’re good. Just a mental strain from taking that door out. You need to avoid using magic for a bit.”
“They went in here!” came a voice from the alleyway. Fuck. Grasping a frag grenade, I flipped the paddle and rolled it down and out the door we had just come from. “Grenade!” An explosion rocked the earth around us as I shielded Deacon with my body.
As the dust settled, I listened intently trying to hear if anypony was still alive out there. Silence, “Watch my six,” I said to Deacon as I edged closer to the doorway. The sound of Deacon’s rifle being racked gave me the answer I needed. Poking my head around the doorway, I scanned the area. Two, four, no five KIA. I breathed a sigh of relief. I turned around “We’re clear out here.”
Deacon nodded slowly, visibly relaxing and setting her rifle on the ground to wipe her muzzle. “Thought they had us there for a bit” she said flatly.
I shrugged, “We’re still ain’t we?” I asked. “Besides, we still got a mission to carry out.” Deacon chuckled.
“I’ll try to regain comms with One-One,” she offered.
I nodded, “Good deal. And make it quick, those NLR bastards aren’t done with us yet.”
●●●
Damnit Doc, why’d you have to go ahead and shoot that fuckin’ NLR trooper, wondered Autumn to herself. This whole thing was gone to hell. “Contact right!” she shouted at Chaser.
“Peel left!” came the response. Autumn put down covering fire as Chaser ran behind her. The truck was knocked out of action, there were NLR troopers everywhere, and they had successfully lost communications with Two-One. What else could go wrong? A rocket screeched overhead. Nevermind.
As Autumn ducked, the rocket plowed into the building behind them, throwing brick, mortar and shrapnel everywhere. “Popping smoke,” Autumn shouted as she hurled a smoke grenade toward the NLR troopers.
“One-One, you there?” came a faint radio call. Holy shit, Two-One was still up?
Chaser began shouting at his comms, “Two-One? That you? What’s your damn status, over?!”
“We read, One-One. Five enemy KIA, all’s quiet for now, but not for long. Doc grabbed one of their radios and it sounds like we stirred up the hornet’s nest. We’re going to have reinforcements on top of us in a little bit!”
“Copy, Two-One. We’ll meet you at RP Dragon and fight our way over to the target” shouted Chaser.
“Roger, One-One. Stay safe.”
“We’re moving!” roared Chaser to Autumn. “RP Dragon! Let’s go!”
●●●
“One-One is up,” said Deacon. “We need to get to RP Dragon and make the push into Ember’s compound.”
I sighed, this night was just getting better and better. “Need ammo?” I asked.
Deacon checked her kit. “Negative, still got about 150 rounds left.”
“Roger” I said as I press checked my rifle. “This Ember mare better be worth all this.”
“Deacon hefted her rifle, “I hope so…still got the map?”
“Yeah,” I pulled it out of my pocket handing it to her. Deacon studied the map closely while I kept watch on the doorway.
She prodded the map with her hoof, “Alright. The NLR as far as we know maintain control of Route Blue along with our sector, here. From what I could hear, it sounded like One-One’s location is under NLR control as well. Our best bet is to take the alleyways and cut west toward the RP.”
I nodded in agreement, “Roger. How soon we move?” Deacon shot me a deadpan look. Guess right now. “Cool, let’s get what we came for.” Cautiously I approached the door once again scanning my left and right. No movement, so far so good. “All clear,” I whispered. Deacon pushed past out the door. How’d that saying go? Out of the pan, into the fire? Eh, something like that.
“Go!” hissed Deacon. Checking my corners, I rounded into the alley. No contacts still. This was always the worst. At least being shot at, I knew what was going on, but the anticipation? Always had a way of messing with my head; I motioned to Deacon with my hoof to move up. As she trotted past, I couldn’t help but notice how fucking quiet she could be. The sound of a distant gun battle broke the nighttime silence.
“Guess One –One is on the move,” I said to Deacon as we continued our hesitant progression through the village’s alleyways. She nodded, watching the windows as we passed. After an agonizing 20 minutes, we made it to the RP, but with no sign of One-One. The shoot –out that had been trailing us had grown eerily silent.
“Where are they?” asked Deacon with some bizarre hope that I might miraculously hold the answer.
I shrugged, “We wait.”
●●●
As Chaser and Autumn retreated from the fight, one thought raced through Autumn’s mind. This mare better be worth it. Chaser desperately threw a grenade toward their pursuers who scattered. The heavy thump of the blast rocked both of their heads.
“Into the alleyway!” cried Chaser. Autumn complied without a second thought. These bastards had the main road locked down and any second spent questioning orders meant possibly catching a round. As they ran, Autumn looked at Chaser, no emotion in his face, he was running like no other. Autumn soon realized she was struggling to keep up. A few stray rounds zipped past. “There!” said Chaser, motioning with his head toward a fork in the alley. “We pop smoke and lose ‘em. I’m not dying out here in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere, not today.” Autumn fumbled with a smoke grenade as she pulled the pin and dropped it behind them as they ran toward their savior. The cloud grew behind them as the confused shouts of the NLR troopers began to grow dim.
Chaser went left with Autumn close behind. Damn, this stallion could run, she thought bitterly as her muscles began to ache. Pushing past her physical pain, Autumn kept running for her life. Abruptly, Chaser stopped and frantically began pulling out his map.
Autumn nearly slammed into him as he spoke, “Looks like we’re less than a klick away from the RP,” he said. “Eyes and ears open, those bastards won’t be far behind.” Autumn nodded and looked back anxiously toward their six as Chaser stuffed the map back into his pack.
●●●
Whump!
Rainbow slammed into yet another small cloud, in a relatively successful attempt at avoiding her friends for most of the day.
“Hey Rainbow!” came the all too familiar high pitch voice of Pinkie. Well, mostly successful.
“Dangit,” groaned Rainbow. “What, Pinkie?” she nearly spat out in annoyance. “I’m really busy right now.”
“You don’t look busy. You look like you’ve been trying to avoid us” her normally poofy mane began to slowly deflate as she spoke.
“No, I’m not. I’m just…I mean…UUUGH!” protested Rainbow. “I don’t wanna talk, okay?” Almost immediately Rainbow regretted that statement, but her friends went a little far the with their teasing. Was it THAT shocking she was interested in a stallion? Goddess.
Pinkie took a step back, a bit surprised from Rainbow’s outburst. If only for a second, a frown crept across her face before she resumed her normally bubbly self. “We’re sorry Rainbow, we were just teasing you. We might have gotten carried away though…” her voice trailed off.
“Ya think?” snipped Rainbow. “So why exactly are you here?”
“Well silly, Twilight told me to come get you. She said something about there being some important news from Canterlot arriving within the hour and that all of us need to be at her place when it arrives!”
“You go ahead. I’ll head on over in a bit,” Rainbow said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “I have a couple errands to do anyway.”
“But…”
“I’ll be there soon enough Pinkie” said Rainbow this time with a slight hint of anger in her voice. Pinkie raised an eyebrow and began sproinging away. She may be overbearing but at least she could take a hint every now and again thought Rainbow. Finally, some peace and quiet as she laid in the comfort of the cloud letting it envelop her. As she lay there, Rainbow’s thoughts drifted to Coban. He said he was going to work; “Where at, though?” she wondered aloud.
●●●
“We’ve been waiting close to half an hour for them!” hissed Deacon. “We’re going to miss the damn window!”
I rolled my eyes and muttered “Fuckin’ spooks.” Rather quickly, a hoof knocked the back of my head in reply to the smart ass remark. “Try to make radio contact with ‘em, genius.”
Deacon scoffed as she fiddled with her communications unit trying to get signal. Any time you needed it to work, I chuckled quietly to myself. A slight rustling came from down one of the alleyways and caught both of our attention. Motioning to Deacon I pointed out where the noise had come from.
“Think it’s them?”
I shrugged in response. For somepony who was really quiet on her hooves, Deacon was awful when it came to noise discipline in regards to shutting the hell up.
Slowly I brought my rifle up, “C’mon you pieces of shit, let’s see what you got” I said through clenched teeth. After what felt like an eternity, a rat scurried out from the alleyway and through my rifle sights. I breathed a sigh of relief and watched from the shadows as the rodent scurried away with a squeak.
The damn anticipation was making me jumpy again. I shook my head, stay in the game. Stay in the game. “Doc!” Deacon whispered urgently, “Look!”
Two dark figures moved down the same alleyway, and seemed to be totally oblivious to our presence. “Can you tell who these knuckleheads are?” I asked Deacon.
She shook her head to my dismay. Fuck I knew where this was going already. “We need to use the challenge” she stated flatly.
“Fuck,” this was about to get hairy. “What’s the plan, spook?” I asked Deacon.
She pondered for a few seconds, “Okay, I’ll light up a flare and throw it their way and hopefully it disorients them for a bit. At that point you shout the challenge to ‘em and if we take fire we’ll make it work from there.”
I nodded, was about the only thing left we could do at this point. “Alright, let’s do it.”
●●●
As Chaser and Autumn sprinted down the alleyway, Autumn couldn’t help but believe their luck. They had defied the odds and somehow taken on a force that had outnumbered them at least five to one and had somehow escaped with their lives. Now if they could only find...
Her train of thought was interrupted by a sudden blinding red light that seemingly came out of nowhere. Both her and Chaser froze and raised their rifles in apprehension when they heard a voice call out to them. “Honesty!”
Autumn arched her eyebrow at the word. What? Honesty? Her mind began racing. She looked to Chaser who had a smile creeping on his face. “Loyalty!” Chaser said back to the voice. It all came together for Autumn. She had almost completely forgotten about the challenge and password, “Two One, that you?”
●●●
Rainbow casually sauntered into the library in a fashionably late manner, Rarity would be proud she giggled to herself. Immediately, Rainbow felt a strange vibe in the room and saw the other girls standing with solemn looks on their faces. She scoffed, “Ok, so I’m a little bit late. But I’m here now!”
Twilight shook her head, “Rainbow, you need to read this.”
Rainbow cocked an eyebrow at Twilight’s briskness. What was going on she wondered as Twilight raised a scroll in front of her to read. As she read, Rainbow lightly mumbled the contents on the scroll page.
MEMORANDUM FOR: Princess Twilight Sparkle
Co-ruler of Equestria
SUBJECT: After Action Report – Princess Celestia; Implementation of New Dawn Protocol
Visit to Canterlot – Of the New Year
1. PURPOSE: This memo provides a strategic and operational assessment of security operations in and around the Capitol of Canterlot and the surrounding country-side.
2. SOURCES:
A. SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL(S) REFERENCED:
1. Capt. Armor, S., Commander, Royal Guard
3. APPROVED EYES
A. Princess(es) Celestia, Twilight, and Cadance
B. Elements of Harmony
4. DISCUSSION OF NEW DAWN PROTOCOL:
As we already know, the NLR threat in Canterlot and in the surrounding territories has been temporarily eliminated thanks to the valiant efforts of the Royal Guard along with local law enforcement. However, such a victory is a small one that has come at a high cost. The realization that the enemy infiltrated that deep into Canterlot despite such high security measures is not a pleasant one.
A stallion by the name of Strong (the owner and proprietor of the Trifecta Contracting Group LLC) has already been engaged in counter intelligence operations against these forces and certainly has vital information the Solar Empireneeds. While his warning did arrive after the incident in question, I believe that it is time we allow him and forces to assist us in this fight under the SoE banner. Our current military capacity simply does not have the capabilities and know-how to counter this threat.
In the light of recent events and speculation, the Canterlot Royal Guard cannot be trusted to protect Equestria in its entirety. Such tasks will now be delegated by the soon to be Cmdr. Strong to respective branches and units upon his arrival in Canterlot.
Healthy stallions and mares of fighting age will be required within thirty days of the announcement of New Dawn Protocol to register with the selective service system and will be chosen for military service based on a lottery drawing. Any attempt of ‘dodging’ will be punishable up to a ten year prison sentence. All reserve units will be mobilized in preparation for a declaration of war with the New Lunar Republic; current reservists and retired Guards (within two years) must report to Fort Levenhoof within the next two weeks for additional training and information in regards to the shift in the structure. This includes members from but is not limited to:
103rd Guard Division
82nd Canterlot Royal Guard
3rd Guard Division
160th SPFR
Wonderbolt Flight Demonstration Team (all stages of training)
75th Manticore Ranger Bn.
1st Marines
1st Bn., 2nd Marines
With the authorization of New Dawn Protocol, Equestria will be restoring its standing military along with full time defense industry capabilities. Additionally, the creation of Tier-One level special purpose forces will be established under the name of Task Force Black, attached to Operational Detachment 19. Information regarding this unit is strictly on a need to know basis. Any dissemination of material regarding either the Detachment or Task Force Black will result in immediate ‘silencing’ of loose ends.
Trifecta Contracting Group LLC will additionally be tasked with intelligence operations along with mission planning/OPORD’s for the new SoE armed forces due to the recent suspected intelligence leaks from insider sources within the Royal Guard and those in court loyal to the former Princess, Luna.
This information will be publicly released within the next twenty four hours across the Empire and will be considered ‘Tier One Classified’ until its release. Any release by unauthorized personnel before the scheduled public statement by Princess Celestia will be considered an act of treason.
Any and all questions in regards to military service may be directed to the Defense Ministry.
-Memo from the Defense Ministry to Princess Celestia et. al CC: Princess Celestia
Rainbow blinked, took a step back and looked around at the others. A silence like she had never known hung over the room. “Holy shit,” said Rainbow absolutely stunned at what she had just read. “This is really happening...”
