Antecedents

By: Dusk Quill

In the warm afternoon, two ponies sat out in the lush gardens of Canterlot. The mid-September sun bathed the glistening city in bright light. It was an idyllic scene to savor—and savor it Fleethoof did. It was not often that he got such extended periods of time without being called to some call of duty. Getting to enjoy a summer day with one of his most favorite ponies in the world was one of the small blessings he cherished.

If only he had actually been looking forward to this moment.

He glanced over, his eyes meeting the rich purple irises of Cadence as she waited patiently on the pegasus. He gathered up his courage to face her completely, giving the princess a subdued smile.

“Nice day,” he remarked passively.

Cadence rolled her eyes with a smile. “You’re stalling, Fleet.”

“I know, I’m just… a little apprehensive.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m afraid.”

That was a new one to hear coming from him. Cadence was legitimately surprised to hear him utter such words. Her gentle smile never left her face as she watched the stallion curiously.

“What are you afraid of?”

It took Fleethoof a long moment before he responded. “I’m afraid that you won’t like what you find.”

“Fleet, you don’t need to be afraid of me. There’s nothing that could make me think any less of you.”

We’ll see how true that is… Fleethoof thought with a hard swallow. “If you say so…”

Cadence saw the distress on her friend’s face. “If you’re having second thoughts, we don’t have to do this…”

He shook his head adamantly. Even if she had not intended it, he could hear the touch of disappointment in her voice. He had kept too much locked away for far too long. Now was the time to let it all out.

“No, I… I want to do this. Really, I do,” he said with a genuine smile. “I’ve hidden away from you for too long.”

Cadence’s smile widened and she shifted her body to face Fleethoof. He moved in turn so both ponies now sat face to face. He could swear his pulse was quickening.

“You’ve done this before, right?” he asked, suddenly wary.

“Nope!” Cadence giggled at the way Fleethoof’s jaw dropped. “Oh, relax. It can’t be that hard. Besides, I’ve read this spell a dozen times now.”

“So I’m the guinea pig?”

“In a way. Now close your eyes and just try to relax.”

Fleethoof chewed on his lip for a moment, and then reluctantly shut his eyes. Darkness overtook him as he released his breath. His shoulders slumped, and he allowed his muscles to begin to unwind. He trusted Cadence—she hadn’t done anything to lead him astray in the past.

“Okay, ready?”

“Just do it before I start doubting myself,” he muttered.

He heard Cadence snicker softly. “Okay, here we go.”

Cadence’s horn began to glow with a pale cornflower blue aura. Her jaw tightened as she focused on maintaining the effort to hold the spell. She had dredged up the long-forgotten enchantment from the Royal Archives, and knew of only one pony to try it out on. If it worked, it would unlock every part of the affected mind.

Just before she could focus on sending the spell to him, Fleethoof asked, “Will it hurt…?”

“I don’t think so,” Cadence said, and gently tapped her horn against his forehead.

Fleethoof’s eyes instantly flew open as icy coldness seeped into his skull. He gasped and tensed up, suddenly unable to move. He could feel his mind go blank—and then all at once, a flurry of memories flew back to him. Long, repressed visions flashed before his eyes, and likewise Cadence’s.

Cadence gawked as images from Fleethoof’s life passed through her mind like a movie playing in fast forward. A cacophony of voices echoed in her ears from conversations of the past. Every so often, a voice would speak out louder than the rest, signaling some significant events in the stallion’s life. She sat still as a statue, basking in the awe of the treasure trove of memories she had unearthed.

“Mom, Dad! Look! I got my cutie mark!”

“He’s a colt after your heart, Nightingale…”

“Fleethoof… I don’t know how to say this… But… Mom’s gone…”

“If you ever touch him again, I’ll break your jaw!”

“He has no foundation—no direction in life.”

“You’ll never get anywhere with behavior like this.”

“Have you ever considered joining the Royal Guard?”

The memories changed abruptly, and Cadence could just start to make out glimpses of Canterlot now. There were ponies—a lot of ponies.

“You are the most pitiful excuse for a recruit I’ve ever seen in all my years of pushing sorry colts like you through those doors!”

“What in Equestria makes you think you’ll ever be good enough to even think about being a Royal Guard?”

“I’m Steel Shield. You and me, we’re gonna get through this together.”

“You did good, son.”

“…We are now at war with the Griffon Kingdom.”

“Welcome to war, Corporal.”

The visions suddenly shifted violently. Cadence’s ears were filled with distant gunshots and explosions mixed in with the screams and shouts of soldiers. She saw everything through Fleethoof’s eyes in fast motion as he raced through a dark, burning city with Shining Armor.

“Stores! Windows! Eyes high!”

“They’re inside!”

“I’ve got your back, remember?”

“Yeah, and I’ve got yours.”

For a brief second, the memories faded out, dulling a little. Quiet took over from the noise. Cadence watched as darkness blackened her mind, and then she heard somepony yelling.

“Sniper!”

A sharp snap broke the silence, and gunshots resumed.

“Captain! Captain Phalanx! Get up! Get up!”

“You’re in charge now, Fleethoof!”

“Open fire!”

“The name’s Shot. Sharp Shot.”

“Keep moving! Go! Go!”

“Phalanx… He saw something in you, Fleethoof… And he was willing to protect you to the death for it.”

The next part Cadence was familiar with—and surprisingly, the memories seemed to slow down and play out. Fleethoof rushed into the room, and through his eyes Cadence saw herself. She was chained to the wall, her coat and mane disheveled and dirty.

“Princess Cadence!”

She watched through Fleethoof’s eyes as he freed her from her prison, and the memories jumped again, like a record skipping in a phonograph. She was on the ship headed back for Equestria, seeing herself through Fleethoof’s eyes again. Anguish was gnawing at her insides for some reason. She realized she was feeling the same emotions he had experienced.

“Why? What good would that do you?”

“Me? Probably none. But it’s already doing you good.”

Cadence felt a burst of warmth spread across her cheeks as the memory-form of herself brushed a tear from Fleethoof’s cheek. She smiled as she recalled that moment, only now realizing just how much that had meant to him. She felt liberated and drained at the same time. She could only imagine how it must’ve felt to him back then.

Ever quiet and patient, Cadence watched as Fleethoof’s life unfolded before her eyes. She watched from his perspective as he returned to the end of the war and how he had been wounded. Luna’s voice spoke out suddenly.

“Besides, Captain, I have another offer for you.”

“What sort of offer?”

“I have been putting together a unit specialized for special operations… I want you to lead it.”

“What is the name of this team?”

“Fireteam Skyfall.”

She then watched as he chased a madpony across Canterlot, and how much joy he felt when they had been reunited in Saddle Arabia. Her smile widened again as she watched the summer gala they had attended together through his eyes. His heart was racing as they danced. It was adorable.

That was when the memories took a darker turn. Before her eyes, Cadence watched as Fleethoof’s world took a dramatic turn. Another black ops unit had been created, and was suffering miserably. Even with Fleethoof’s aid, they crumbled. She could feel the stallion’s guilt and anguish over the hopelessness of the situation. She witnessed the harsh torture of the changeling prisoner, her stomach twisting into a knot. She hadn’t even been aware Fleethoof had been involved in such acts.

The memories skipped, and Fleethoof’s team was raiding a house somewhere in the dead of winter now. They took down somepony with expert precision and finesse—and then he shifted into a changeling. A bloody battle erupted, and ended with Fleethoof and the changeling left alone in the room. Cadence could feel Fleethoof’s rage burning in his heart as darkness took his soul.

Oh, Fleet, no… Please, don’t…

But Cadence knew what was going to happen even before Fleethoof kicked the changeling onto his back. She flinched and tensed up as she observed the murder through the eyes of the killer. It was an unnerving experience to her to think of her Fleethoof as a murderer.

“P-P-Please… Forgive me… Fleethoof…”

“I can’t forgive you, Lightning Strike… What you did is beyond forgiveness…”

A single gunshot ended the memories. They blew away like a cloud of dust. But to Cadence’s surprise, they still didn’t end. The mist formed together again into the shapes of dark, gnarled branches and thick trees. Fear and dread gripped at her soul, and a loud snarl filled her ears.

“Break for the trees! Run!”

She was running. No, Fleethoof was running through the dark forest. Images of undead ponies chasing him flashed through her mind. Never before had she seen such horrifying images. The forest gave way, and she was inside an old house. Fleethoof was with that bat pony, Midnight Dasher. They were wandering the corridors. Whispered words echoed through her head.

“Monsters…”

“Cursed…”

“Sunny Town…”

“Silence…”

Burning pain began to fill Cadence’s body, and breathing suddenly became a chore. The memories blurred like she was viewing them through fogged glass. A strong heartbeat pounded inside her mind. And then darkness overtook her sight, and the heartbeat in her head slowed to a stop.

“C-Cadence…”

Fleethoof’s strained words broke her out of her trace. Cadence blinked her eyes, holding the spell strong so as not to lose it. She gasped again when she saw Fleethoof. His entire body was trembling and his cheeks were damp with tears. His forehead had broken out in a sweat and his breathing was labored.

“Oh my gosh!” She dropped the spell immediately, and the movie in her mind disappeared. Almost instantly, Fleethoof seemed to recover. He took a few deep breaths and blinked, his eyes wide with shock and trauma.

“I didn’t… expect it to be… so intense…” he gasped out.

Cadence was instantly by his side, holding the gently quivering stallion close and rubbing his back while she supported him. He looked ready to collapse at a moment’s notice. “I’m sorry, Fleet! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it would be so hard for you… I didn’t know, I just—”

“It’s okay, Cadence… Just… gimme a moment…”

It took a few minutes before Fleethoof got his breathing under control again. His head was pounding with a splitting headache. Cadence’s spell was much more powerful than anything he had been expecting.

“I really am sorry, Fleethoof. I didn’t know it would have those kinds of effects on you,” Cadence apologized again.

“It’s fine. I forgive you,” he said, pushing himself back up until he was sitting upright again. “I was just really not prepared for that!”

He chuckled weakly, and realized she hadn’t laughed either. He risked a glance at her. Cadence was looking at him with an expression crossed between sympathy and sorrow. He had seen that look from her so many times in his life now—the few times he had actually been around her. It almost felt like a cruel joke whenever he saw it.

“…What?”

Cadence slowly shook her head. “I never realized…”

“Never realized what?” he asked.

“Just how much you’ve been through in such a short lifetime, Fleethoof.”

Fleethoof couldn’t do anything but chuckle. “Yeah, twenty-three years of this. Heh… Poor little Fleethoof, right?”

The princess blinked and made a quiet noise of realization. “That’s right, your birthday is tomorrow.”

“Yep,” he said with a short nod. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

“Oh, Fleet. I’m sorry life’s been so rough on you…”

Cadence wrapped her hooves around his shoulders in a tight hug. Traces of a smile twitched on the pegasus’ lips. He brought his hooves up and hugged her back. Whenever he was with Cadence, the troubles of the world just seemed too far away. He knew that was an outright lie, of course. Cadence had been involved in those troubles twice before. Even his lifelines weren’t safe from himself.

“It hasn’t been all bad though,” Fleethoof said after a moment, giving her a smile. “You’ve been one of the greater goods in my life.”

Now Cadence let out a laugh—a gentle, airy sound that lifted his soul. “Me? I’ve nearly gotten you killed before. I almost shot you too!”

Fleethoof’s ears flattened against his head and he grinned sheepishly. He had forgotten about that. A nervous chuckle left him. “Almost only counts in horseshoes and hoof grenades. You have yet to kill me, which puts you head and shoulders above some others.”

Another laugh came from the princess. “Well, I’m definitely glad for that then!”

“I’m just glad I didn’t teach you to shoot before then. That would’ve been a tragedy!”

Cadence scoffed and pushed Fleethoof’s chest playfully. “You’re terrible, you know that?”

Fleethoof just grinned. “Oh, I know.”

Cadence exhaled a happy little sigh, smiling at the smiling pony seated before her in the lush grass of the garden. Summer flowers bloomed around them, creating the perfect scene, and bright sunlight seemed to bounce off his mane. It’s exactly why she had picked this spot to test her spell out.

She thought back to what she had experienced. All of Fleethoof’s life had flashed by much too fast to make heads or tails of many of the details, but she had gotten the gist of it. But there was one thing she still didn’t quite understand.

“When I was watching your memories, you were in this large house in the Everfree Forest…” Cadence started, catching Fleethoof’s attention from the landscape. “The memories just… stopped. It was all black for a while.”

She watched as Fleethoof’s expression dropped from a happy smile to a scowl of dread.

“What happened, Fleet? Does this have to do with the Everfree Incident?”

Fleethoof licked his lips as he pondered what to tell her. His gaze dropped to the grass, and then swept wide out over the garden. Cadence saw some dark truth smoldering in his eyes. She watched the gentle breeze tousle his mane for a little while before he gave a deep sigh and yielded.

“I died.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Cadence had the hardest time trying to decipher what he meant by that. Fleethoof often spoke in cryptic riddles and metaphors. But for her life, she couldn’t unravel his message.

“What do you mean?” she asked. Fleethoof gave a short, hard laugh.

“I mean I died,” he said again, finally looking at her with an unreadable expression. “My life ended. I stopped being alive. I died.”

Cadence did not know how to respond to that. He… died…? she thought over and over again, trying to wrap her mind around the thought of her captain actually ceasing to exist for any period of time. So many questions buzzed around in her head. Only one immediately leapt to her tongue.

“But how are you alive?”

Despite her fear, Fleethoof didn’t scowl or look away. A roguish smirk spread across his lips. “Midnight and her old team used some powerful magic to bring me back. It was… interesting.”

Cadence felt like a foal in school, dire to learn more. “What was it like?”

Fleethoof was a little taken aback by Cadence’s interest in the subject of death. He never would have pegged her for one to enjoy this topic—until he remembered a crucial fact about her. She was immortal. She would never experience death unless it was by the sword. Strangely enough, that thought bothered him a little, though he had no idea why.

“It hurt a lot at first, but I think that was the poison destroying my body. Otherwise, it was just like going to sleep. My body got really weak and heavy, and then everything just sort of stopped,” he began, pausing to take a breath and gather his thoughts. “And then there was just blackness. I don’t know how long it lasted, but it gave way to a bright light, and all I could feel was warmth. And then there it was…”

A gentle smile touched his lips as he met Cadence’s enthralled gaze. “I was on the shore of Elysium. Oh, it was beautiful, Cadence. The beach and ocean stretched as far as the eye could see. The grass was so green and lush it felt like walking on the finest blankets. The sun was bright and warm, and waterfalls flowed into crystal clear streams. Flowers of all kinds bloomed everywhere, and off in the distance, beyond a marble bridge, I could see hundreds of ponies playing and frolicking amongst the trees.

“I saw the palace of the Great Alicorn off in the distance. Its ivory towers stretched higher than anything I had ever seen before. Although I was sad that my time was up, I couldn’t bring myself to feel any regret. I just felt… peaceful. I would’ve seen more, but two ponies approached me then and wouldn’t let me proceed.”

Cadence found that she had been unconsciously leaning forwards, closer towards Fleethoof as he spoke. She was enraptured with his story. Elysium sounded as beautiful as all the stories had told.

“Who were they?” she asked eagerly.

“One was Phalanx, my role model and former leader from the war…” He paused, and Cadence noticed a tear forming in the corner of his eye, despite his wide smile. “The other was my mother…”

Princess Cadence’s eyes went wide as she gasped. Joy welled up inside her for Fleethoof. He had finally gotten to see his mother after all those years. The emotions were so strong, she couldn’t keep the smile off of her face at his fortune.

“And then what happened?”

Fleethoof laughed softly and tapped on his forehead. “Wanna see for yourself? You can see my whole past, after all.”

Despite his bravado, Cadence remained skeptical. “Are you sure, Fleet? I don’t want to hurt you again.”

“I know what to expect this time. Just go a little easier on the spell, and I should be okay.”

Cadence nodded, and took a deep breath. She cast the spell again and gently tapped her glowing horn against the stallion’s forehead again. A brief chill ran through his body as she unlocked his memories again. This time, however, they came out in slow progression, playing more like a movie than a flipbook being turned too fast. It was much easier to handle.

“Where are we starting?” he asked, keeping his eyes closed to allow her access to his mind.

A small smile touched the princess’ lips. “How about the beginning?”

Smoke and Ash (Chaim)

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Bang! Bang! Bang!

Under the assault of bullets, the paper targets flinched and recoiled in midair. Holes poked through the thin sheets with each shot, peppering the target over and over until silence took over. When no more projectiles flew, two neat clusters of holes sat over the pony silhouette in the chest and the forehead.

“Cease fire!” the range officer shouted, and a buzzer was sounded.

Adira removed her earmuffs and set her empty firearm on the bench. The range officer—a unicorn—returned the targets to their respective shooters with his magic, giving them a minute to analyze them. Adira smirked as she admired her handiwork. Those would have constituted a few clean kills.

She ejected her spent magazine and began reloading it again. The Mossad training course wasn’t very grand, but the humble range and obstacle course was more than challenging. The officers kept a close eye on everypony, making sure forms were perfect without even the most minute of deviation allowed. It was rigorous—but it had to be to be the best.

“Agent Adira.”

Adira had been halfway through loading rounds into the magazine when she heard somepony call her name. She cast a brief glance up, and then turned around completely out of respect.

“Director Adonai. Good afternoon, sir.”

The dark brown stallion smiled at her, and then turned his gaze to her target. “I see somepony didn’t stand a chance with you today.”

“Nopony ever stands a chance against us,” she said with a chuckle beneath her breath. “Did you need me for something, sir? You only ever seek us out individually when you want somepony removed.”

Adonai gave a hearty chuckle and shook his head. “No, Adira, nothing of the sort—much to your disappointment, I’m sure! I was wondering where your brother was, actually. I have not seen him this week.”

Adira’s expression dropped, and she pursed her lips. “...He is at the cemetery, Director. He always takes this week off.”

In full understanding, Director Adonai nodded and bowed his head, dark remembrance clouding his eyes. “I suspected as much. Thank you, Agent Adira.”

She nodded once more, and then returned to reloading her gun. She heard the director’s hoofsteps walking away from her, only to stop a second later.

“Adira, is he all right?” She didn’t respond right away. “Does he need some more time to himself?”

Adira took a deep breath as she thought back to her brother. The memories hurt to dig up. With a sharp snap, she reloaded her gun and chambered the first round. A target was sent down the range, ready for the first shot.

“I think taking him away from killing Arabians is the last thing you should ever do, Director.”

Tail Aviv National Cemetery sat a couple blocks away from the Ministry of Defense, where the Mossad lay hidden in secret. The expansive graveyard was the largest in Learsi—and for good reason. Millenniums of bloodshed had led to a need in space for the dead. But not every body returned home to be buried.

In amongst the rows of headstones, obelisks and monuments honored the fallen that could not be recovered. One such memorial, erected for the fall of Ashkelon, sat on a raised pedestal at the heart of the cemetery. Effigies of Learsian ponies sat etched into the smooth obsidian stone, forever on guard for their home.

Chaim gazed into their eternally watchful eyes as nostalgia and sorrow swept over his soul. Try as he might to remain strong, simply staring at the hundreds of names carved into the stone was enough to break him down. He could not believe so much time had passed. It all still felt so fresh in his mind.

Seven years… he thought melancholically. Seven long years…

His jaw clenched and teeth tightened on reflex around the flowered wreath in his grasp. A little moisture blurred his vision. All across the platform, other wreaths and bouquets of flowers were left in remembrance along with photographs and other little mementos. Chaim set the wreath down up against the obelisk.

Taking an uneven, shallow breath, he forced himself to look up at the list of names. No searching was necessary—after he had found their names the first time, their location had become seared into his brain. Eden and Eliyah. My love and my son…

Bitter tears stung at his eyes while he ground his teeth so hard it hurt. The pain was nothing compared to the tearing of his broken heart.

“I miss you, my family…” he whispered, praying their souls would hear his words. “I miss you every day…”

In the late afternoon sun, Chaim closed his eyes and wept. Distant screams and echoing explosions from the past beat at his eardrums. His mind was pulled back—back to when his entire world fell apart.

“How do I look?”

Chaim smiled widely as he examined his appearance in the mirror. His new uniform had arrived the day before, and today was his first chance to wear it with his brothers in arms. The light beige desert camouflage seemed to brighten even his dark burgundy coat. His emerald eyes drifted down over his new clothes again before turning around to present himself to the mare behind him.

Eden gave a soft laugh and smiled widely at her husband’s display of pride. “I swear, Chaim, I have never seen you get so excited about anything before.”

“I take pride in what I do.”

“And you make us all very proud,” Eden replied, trotting over to the stallion to give him a sweet peck on the cheek. “You look very handsome, my love.”

“And you look as lovely as the day I met you,” he said, brushing a stray lock of her amber mane out of her face. “No, I lie. You’re more beautiful than then.”

“Oh, stop it you!” She laughed and playfully nudged Chaim’s shoulder. “You’re going to be late if you keep this up. Then what will your friends think of you?”

A grin crossed his face. “I don’t know if that’s appropriate to be saying out loud, my dear.”

Eden rolled her eyes as she began making the bed. “And what will your boss think? You can kiss that promotion goodbye if you keep him waiting.”

Chaim grumbled, but she was right. Half of the reason he had gotten Adira to acquire an official Learsian Army uniform was to show off a little to his leader. He had been gunning for a promotion and maybe take second-in-command of their little band of misfits. The other half was just to look damn cool while shooting up the Arabians.

Pulling on his shirt to straighten it, Chaim stepped over to the heavy safe in the corner of the bedroom and began removing his weapons for the day. His rifle and his pistol, which had quickly become extensions of himself, were in pristine condition and ready for whatever Saddle Arabia chose to throw at Learsi today.

“Will you be back for dinner this time?” Eden asked passively from the bathroom.

“I expect so.” Chaim loaded his weapons and slung his rifle over his shoulder. “We are merely assisting the soldiers checking the trains that come in today, making sure no Arabians are trying to sneak in or blow us up. Nothing exciting, just an easy day’s pay.”

“Good. You know how you worry me when you get sent off to fight far away.”

Chaim cast a gentle smile at the mare as she stepped back into the bedroom. “You don’t need to worry about me. I can care for myself, you, and Eliyah.”

Eden smiled, but her eyes told a different story. She wasn’t convinced. “I wish you would reconsider taking a job with your sister. The Mossad has to be safer than volunteering to fight on the front lines.”

A light laugh left him, and his eyes sparkled teasingly. “Would that make you happy?” She nodded vigorously. “…Very well, my love. I will talk to my sister again—tomorrow. Right now, I have to go. Nitra’e bekarov.”

Chaim gave Eden a slow, lingering kiss before heading for the door. “Do not leave without seeing your son!”

A smile spread across the stallion’s face. He trotted down the hall, finding the right door and slowly pushing it open. As he expected, Eliyah was still fast asleep in the early morning hours. The sun had just barely risen, after all. Beaming with unconditional love, he quietly stepped in between piles of toys over to the small bed and sat down carefully on the edge.

The foal rolled over slowly, mumbling something quietly in his sleep. Chaim’s heart melted as he watched his son, ever so gingerly stroking his mane once. In the depths of his soul, Chaim prayed that peace would return to Learsi soon. He resented the notion of his son growing up in a war torn civilization. The thought of his own flesh and blood taking after his heart to fight in a faraway land terrified him to no end.

“Ot nehmadim, my son,” he whispered above a hushed breath, and leaned down to gently kiss his forehead. “Ani hoev otkha.”

Once he had fought his way back out of Eliyah’s room, Chaim trotted briskly to the front door. Eden stood there, waiting for him. He smiled as he admired the way the early morning light seemed to radiate off her mane and made her eyes sparkle. No words were exchanged between the two—just a slow, lingering kiss shared between lovers, and then he cantered out into the cool morning air. The sun was halfway over the horizon, shining rays of golden light across the light blue dawn. Ashkelon was mostly silent, with only a few citizens up and about and a hoofful of shops opening for business.

Chaim had always enjoyed this time of day. It was like a sort of limbo in between the world of the night and the realm of day. Ashkelon was a nice enough city as well. It was smaller than Tail Aviv, but after living there his entire life, everything seemed smaller than the capital. Still, it was quiet, and far enough away from the war raging up in the north of the country.

As he walked to the rendezvous point, he couldn’t help but think back to what Eden had asked of him. He knew Adira’s job with the Mossad was dangerous—if not equally so as his—but came with the security and comfort of Tail Aviv. That had been what deterred him from it in the first place, and what had driven him to a private contractor job with the local hired guns. One reason kept him on the run from the war.

Eliyah.

His son mattered more to him than any part of his nation ever could. He swore his life to defending his family, even if it meant turning his back on his duty to Learsi. He could still serve the effort in an indirect way. Adira had done all she could behind the scenes to keep him from getting drafted, and much to both of their relief, he had yet to be summoned.

So far, I’d say my luck has been running strong, he thought with a touch of optimism as he arrived at the train station. A group of four surly looking stallions stood around waiting for him. He knew what would be coming next. In three… two… one…

“Weeeeell, look who decided to show up!” one of them chided, though his joking grin personified his good-natured attempt at humor. “Yom tov, Sleeping Beauty! Miss the alarm this morning?”

“Yeah yeah, get off my back, Ezra. Where’s the boss?”

“He’s inside, talking to the lieutenant of the local force,” Ezra explained. “Good thing, too. He might not notice you were late. Hey, nice threads!”

Chaim rolled his eyes as the stallion tugged at his sleeve.

“I didn’t realize we were playing dress up now.”

“Gai in drerde, Ez.”

“Love you too, my brother.”

A stallion poked his head out of the train station and waved to the band of ponies. “Hey, fillies! Get in here!”

At their leader’s beck and call, the stallions gathered their weapons and trotted into the building. It was brightly lit and kept cool, thanks to the overworked air conditioning. A small force of the local garrison loitered around the empty terminal, waiting for the first train to arrive. They all looked at the newcomers with disdain.

“Here’s the way thing are gonna play out, fillies. When the trains come in, we’re gonna sweep one while the soldiers check another. They're carrying weapons and ammo to the southern outposts and we're the checkpoint. We don’t want any of it to fall into Arabian hooves, so check every car thoroughly for any stowaways or smugglers, hevanti?”

Nopony responded verbally. Chaim nodded his head. Ezra just chambered the first round in his gun. Others made unintelligible sounds of acknowledgement.

“Good. Now these colts, they don’t necessarily like us private contractors, but we all knew this going in. Just try to play nice, don’t touch any of their packages, and we’ll all go home with money in our hooves tonight.”

They waited—and they waited. It took close to a half hour before the first train horn was heard off in the distance, drawing closer to Ashkelon. Chaim was grateful that they wouldn’t have to be kept waiting on a delayed train. Few things bothered him more than when things didn’t run according to plan.

“Here we go,” Ezra muttered as they made their way onto the platform. “Another day, another shekel.”

Chaim made a soft sound of agreement. While he typically enjoyed the bounty hunts on wanted targets, an easy day of work was exactly what he needed. It would give him time to think on Eden’s request and Adira’s offer. Was this the life he wanted to be following to the end of days? Would a job with the Mossad be any safer or better, for him and for his family? It was a gamble—Chaim was not a gambling pony.

The first of the trains pulled up to the station. It was ten cars long, each one padlocked and sealed tightly. He didn’t see how Arabians could possibly have gotten in any of the cars unless they came in through the roof or were sealed in from departure. He had to admit, it was possible. Lately there had been stories of individuals aiding the Arabians from within Learsian borders. The treasonous idea disgusted Chaim, but dealing with traitors was always a risk run in war.

“Alright, colts. This one’s ours.” Chaim took a set of bolt cutters from his leader. “Split up into pairs and check each car top to bottom. Once it’s cleared, let the workers in to unload them. The soldiers have the next train.”

“Ezra, with me,” said Chaim and set off to the first car in the long train.

Ezra followed close beside him, his gun slung across his body. As they approached the door, he readied his weapon. Chaim snapped the lock off with a quick motion and pulled the door open wide. Many large shipping crates lay inside, all labeled with warnings of explosives and live ammunition. Ezra jumped in the car first, followed closely by his partner, and swept the otherwise empty car.

“Damn, it’s clear…”

“Were you hoping for a fight already?” Chaim teased.

“Yes. These jobs are always so dull.”

“But they’re easy pay.”

“I don’t want easy pay. I want to fight!”

Chaim rolled his eyes as they leapt back to the station platform. “Then you should’ve joined the army, brother.”

Ezra gave a hard chuckle. “I’m beginning to regret not.”

The two stallions trotted past the cars currently being searched and headed for the fourth. A little further down, a second train had begun to pull up. The Learsian soldiers were already standing in wait, ready to board and search.

“You do look like you belong with them,” Chaim said in agreement. “All brawn and no brains.”

“Forgive me for wanting to actually do something with myself,” said Ezra. He cast a look to Chaim as his partner broke off the next lock. “Since when did you become so defensive and careful? What happened to the stallion who used to break down doors and shoot first, ask questions never?”

A smirk crossed Chaim’s face as he pulled the door open. “He is still here, brother—he’s just thinking of his family and not his own excitement any longer.”

“Remind me to never fall in love,” groaned Ezra with a joking grin. “I’d hate to become as boring as you.”

Chaim scoffed and gave a short shake of his head as he hoisted himself up into the car. This one was also empty, much to Ezra’s continued disappointment. As they jumped back out, they could see the other mercenaries moving down the line while a bunch of Earth ponies unloaded the crates from the train.

Ezra and Chaim moved down to the last car in the train. The lock broke and they climbed aboard. Just like the others, it was also empty. Chaim breathed a sigh of relief. Ezra gave a grumpy huff.

“Well, it looks like the Arabians wised up and decided to leave us alone,” Chaim said. “Let’s get these off and wait for the next line.”

“I hope the Arabians are in the next one… I don’t want to feel like I wasted—”

A bump on wood caught both ponies’ attention as they were about to jump out of the car. They turned around, facing the area the noise had come from. The only thing there was one of the crates of weapons. Chaim exchanged a confused look with Ezra. Together, they approached the crate, their weapons raised and ready.

Despite their orders not to touch any of the crates, Chaim grabbed a crowbar and shoved it beneath the lid. To his surprise, it moved with very little resistance. Once it was firmly in place, he placed his hooves on the opposite end and began to push down. The lid started to lift up…

Gunshots exploded nearby in the early morning silence. Shouts and cries were heard outside, and both Chaim and Ezra froze, both visibly startled.

“The soldiers must have found some stowaways,” Chaim noted, and finished prying the lid off.

“For Prince Malik!”

A loud yell startled the stallion half to death as an Arabian horse leapt out of the large crate, swinging a blade at his throat. Chaim fell back on his flank, shouting in surprise while Ezra reacted fast and put three bullets into the Arabian’s chest. Two more popped out of the crate, guns in their hooves. They were swiftly cut down by the Learsian mercenary as well.

They were in the crates… The crates! Chaim thought with horror as he looked at the other containers around him. That meant…

As if to affirm his fears, the lids of the other crates flew off and battle shouts echoed around the narrow train car. Arabians began to pop up out of each, taking potshots at the fleeing Learsians. Chaim and Ezra cried out in shock as they shot as many of the enemies as they could whilst clambering back out.

“Take cover!” Chaim shouted out, scrambling down the platform as bullets ripped through the air after him. “Sound the alarm!”

Ezra was right behind him, taking shots back at their enemies every now and then. “They’re in the crates! They’re in the—”

An earth-shaking explosion rocked the train station. The train car Ezra had been running past exploded in a giant fireball. Further down the line, another car on the second train exploded as well, sending half-charred Learsian soldiers flying backwards. Chaim stumbled and pressed his body against the wall of the station for support. Not all of the cars had been carrying soldiers, apparently.

Bullets peppered the wall beside his head. Gritting his teeth, Chaim killed the Arabian nearest him before ducking back into the train station. He found a gun pointed in his face and froze—his fellow mercenary on the other end muttered a silent curse before dropping his aim, allowing him in.

“What the buck is going on?!” the Learsian lieutenant shouted angrily, peeking out the window as gunfire erupted much more frequently.

“Ashkelon is under attack,” the mercenary leader muttered, reloading his weapon. “Sound the alarm, Lieutenant. Get the army out here now.”

Several gunshots smashed through the glass windows suddenly, forcing everypony inside to drop to the ground for safety. The lieutenant took two rounds to the face and fell, dying instantly.

“Fakakta kurva. Damnit, they can’t make this easy…” The mercenary leader crawled across the floor, worming his way behind the ticket counter and hitting the alarm.

A siren rang out in the early morning hours, whining loudly in alert to the sleeping city. A second siren joined in soon after, followed by another, and another, until the entire city was overtaken by the blare of danger. Gunshots and explosions sounded all around the station, working their way into the city as the Arabians slaughtered the last of the Learsian soldiers and pushed forward.

The door to the train station burst inward, and two Arabian horses came galloping brashly in. Chaim rolled over onto his back, firing from the hip until his shots and felled both enemies. His breathing was slow and focused, even though his heart was racing inside his chest.

“They’re pressing into the city—a lot of the bastards,” the leader said as he stared out the window. “We’ve gotta stop them.”

“Are you meshungina?!” one of the mercenaries objected. “There’s gotta be hundreds of them! There were at least a hundred on one train alone! We’ve only got five ponies left! I didn’t sign up for this kind of cocken!”

Five ponies… Chaim thought. That was when his mind made the connection.

“Ezra!”

Chaim scrambled to his hooves and ran up to the broken door. He leaned out, peering around for any signs of the enemy. Although he could still hear gunshots close by, nopony was in sight. He slipped out of the building, ignoring the calling from his boss as he ran down the singed station platform.

The smoldering remains of the train had smothered the area in thick smoke, but the crumpled silhouette of Ezra could be seen easily. The pony lay sprawled out on his side, unmoving. Chaim swallowed back his fear and approached his fallen friend.

Please be okay… Please be okay…

As he drew nearer, Chaim could feel his hopes slip away. Ezra was a mess. His fur was blackened, and his mane was half burnt off. His eyes were closed and he didn’t stir, not even as Chaim came right up on him. The worst sight though was his legs. Ezra’s front right hoof was twisted at an odd angle, clearly broken, while his back right was completely gone, a gristly mess remaining where it had been before.

Despite it all, Chaim could see the pony’s chest very gently rise and fall. He was still alive.

“Ezra… Ezra, can you hear me?” He shook the pony a few times, muttering a profanity beneath his breath when he refused to wake. “Don’t worry, my friend, you aren’t dying today.”

Grabbing the back of Ezra’s vest in his teeth, Chaim proceeded to drag his friend’s body down the platform. The task was slow and arduous, but Chaim ignored the threat presented with each snap of a nearby gunshot. He refused to leave his friend behind to suffer a fate at the hooves of those brutes.

As he drew nearer to the station, another of his allies ran out and helped him drag Ezra into the safety of the station. Chaim propped him up against the ticket counter while another pony began to patch up his wounded leg.

“Chaim, that was damn foolish of you,” he heard his leader snap behind him, and then felt a hoof on his shoulder. He looked up, seeing the surly, older stallion give a curt nod. “Good job.”

The mercenary leader looked around at his four remaining soldiers. “Listen up, stallions. Since the Arabians have brought the fight to our home, we'll make them play by our rules. We’re only five strong, but we’re going to kill as many of them as we can. We’ll flank the momzai, trap them in the city, and help the army eradicate them.”

For all the relief he had felt for an easy day of work, Chaim was itching to fight the Saddle Arabians. He took one look down at his wounded friend. They had caused this. He narrowed his eyes and ground his teeth together. They would pay for this—he would make sure of it.

“Alright—Chaim, Midyan, Zakkai, let’s go! Neriah, finish patching up Ezra, then meet up with us at the forum.”

Neriah nodded, winding gauze tightly around Ezra’s leg. “Eyn col baaya, boss.”

The mercenaries hurried out of the train station and out into Ashkelon. A dense smokescreen had settled over the entire area. Fires burned as far as they could see, and the smell of blood, gunpowder, and burning buildings hung like a plague in the air. It made Chaim retch as they ran down the road, moving past dead Learsians, soldiers and civilians alike. The Arabians were clearly beyond discrimination.

The gunfire had moved further into the city, and screams of terror tore through the air over the wailing sirens. There was still too little fighting for the army to have engaged the Arabians yet. It worried Chaim greatly. It meant that the Arabians were carving a bloody swath through the city unchecked and unabated.

Something exploded up ahead and slightly to the right. Chaim looked up and saw a column of fire extend above the roofs of houses. The Arabians were torching everything that lay before them.

“We’re not too far behind! Come on! Move those legs!”

At his leader’s shouts, Chaim pushed himself as fast as he could down the road. He leapt over the body of a fallen soldier and sprinted around a corner. A small group of Arabians were trotting down the road, tossing firebombs at every house they passed and laughing as they were engulfed in flames.

Chaim snorted and brought his rifle to bear. Two accurate shots killed two of the enemies instantly. The other two dove behind a porch and returned fire. The other mercenaries came bounding around the corner, opening fire on the hidden Arabians as well. The street dissolved into a tense standoff, both sides trying to land a hit on the other.

“Heads up!” One of the mercenaries tossed a hoof grenade through the air. Chaim watched as the small cylinder sailed overhead and landed just behind the Arabians’ position. An explosion sent their bodies flying out into the open, where they moved no more.

“Nice toss, Midyan.”

“Thank you, boss.”

Another explosion went off down a nearby road. “They’re burning the city! We have to stop them!”

Chaim choked back the bitter taste of smoke in his mouth while the small team raced down the roads, hunting the Arabians with any clues they could find. So many gunshots went off around them, it sounded as if the entire army had invaded.

Following the closest cluster of gunfire, the ponies barreled out into a small plaza. Market stalls had been crushed, and the nearby houses were ablaze. Ashkelon had all but become an inferno that was raging wildly out of control. It had become painfully clear that the Arabians had no intention of sacking the city. They had come with one purpose, and one purpose only: to cause as much damage as fast as they could.

Two Arabians ran down the far end of the plaza. The Learsian mercenaries opened fire mercilessly, gunning them down with as much brutality as the horses showed them.

“Good work, stallions!” the leader shouted over the chaos. “Move across the plaza—”

Muzzle flashes appeared from within one of the furthest buildings, kicking up dust and debris around the ponies. The mercenary leader’s words were cut off as three rounds struck him in the chest, sending him crumpling to the ground in a heap.

“Take cover!” cried Midyan, diving behind a half destroyed stand.

Chaim dove beneath an abandoned cart, hearing the bullets snap past his hiding spot. To his left, Midyan and Zakkai had begun returning fire blindly, hoping to suppress the enemy. Biting his lip, Chaim crawled towards the edge of the cart, peeking his head out just enough to get a bead on where the shots were coming from. He rested his rifle on the ground and put a few shots of his own through the windows.

“Hold them back!” Midyan called out as he jammed a fresh magazine into his weapon. “We just have to stall them!”

From the other end of the courtyard, two more Arabians came running into the fray, opening fire eagerly on the hiding mercenaries. Midyan yelped as a bullet ripped across his shoulder, grazing the skin. With a growl of anger, he retaliated with a second grenade, tossing the explosive neatly over the piled debris. Chaim heard the Arabians shout something in their tongue and then scream as the explosion threw them aside like ragdolls.

“Press up!” Chaim said to his teammates while crawling out of cover. He rushed forward to the next safe spot, surprised when nopony shot at him.

Working their way gradually up past the plaza until no enemies remained, the three Learsians galloped at a full tilt sprint down the streets, following the trail of destruction left behind like breadcrumbs. The smell of burning flesh smothered the city and make Chaim feel physically ill, his stomach churning nervously as they galloped past a sea of corpses, all of them civilians. They slowly worked their way through the streets, pausing to engage small groups of enemies along the way before continuing after the main invasion force, still ahead of where they were.

A large explosion rocked the ground beneath the ponies, staggering them momentarily. Up ahead, Chaim could see the resulting fire from the detonation. They were close—very close.

“They’re in the forum!” Zakkai said.

Chaim nodded. “Then that is where we stop them! Three story building, eleven o’clock. Hurry!”

Chaim took point, leading the others inside the charred, broken remains of the building. The interior was a gruesome sight. Brass, blood, and bodies covered the floor of what appeared to be an apartment building. It looked as if nopony had made it out alive.

Bolting up the stairs, the ponies rushed to the roof as they listened to the screams and shouts outside mingle with fresh shooting. The stale, musty taste of the stuffy air mixed with gun smoke in the narrow corridors, and Chaim found it difficult to breathe without gagging. His eyes watered and his lungs ached and burned, desperate for fresh air.

When they finally pushed up the last flight of stairs and emerged on the roof, Chaim could have cried at the sight that lay before him. The grand forum that had once hosted so many public events had become a bloodbath. The Arabians set fire to everything they could. Monuments had been toppled out of spite. Across the way, he watched as soldiers gunned down two civilians in the streets. Heavy gunfire rumbled off in the distance. The army was still working their way in.

As far as his eyes could see, Ashkelon burned. The pale purples and blues of the dawn sky were lost to an endless ocean of dense black smoke. He could not smell the late summer flowers from the parks, nor the salty air of the nearby sea. No gulls cried in the air. No sun smiled down on the peaceful city. Death had claimed this land for itself. The clock tower across the city chimed like a knell, indicating that the entire massacre had taken only a couple of hours.

“Those monsters…” Zakkai muttered under his breath. “Vi tsu derleb ikh im shoyn tsu bagrobn…”

Midyan shook his head, a murderous glint in his eyes. “I’m not going to stand around idly while they burn my home!”

Taking a position at the edge of the roof, Midyan leveled his rifle with the two nearest Arabians. Two shots earned him two kills as the soldiers dropped. Zakkai was the next to open fire, ending the life of another enemy soon after. When Chaim took his position, the Arabians had spotted them.

“Heads down, here they come!”

Midyan’s cry was punctuated by a series of bullets striking the side of the building. They had the advantage of height over their foes, allowing them a better vantage point to engage them at. Once there was a lull in the shooting, Chaim poked his head back out. A few Arabians were making their way toward the apartment building, and the rest of the force was heading their way too.

Chaim fired a few shots in rapid succession, scoring a couple of kills before being forced back into cover again. Midyan and Zakkai popped up next, firing almost the entirety of their magazines before hiding once more. The system repeated with the Learsians taking shots, followed by the Arabians returning fire.

If nothing else, at least we’ve stalled them, Chaim thought as he reloaded his gun. If we die here, at least we bought the city some time.

Midyan shot up again and fired two shots—and then his gun clicked. His weapon had jammed. A few bullets flew past the roof, one finding purchase in Midyan’s shoulder with a splatter of blood. The pony screamed out in agony as he collapsed to his back on the roof, squirming in pain.

Chaim was the first to react, rushing to his teammate’s side and pressing a hoof to the bleeding wound. “Midyan! Are you okay?”

“Do I fakakta look okay?! The fakakta shtik drek just shot me!” the injured mercenary shouted angrily. “Shtup! Leave me, Chaim! Just— argh, just kill them all! I’ll watch your backs.”

As reluctant as he was to leave his teammate, the sounds of Zakkai crying out when another hailstorm of bullets chipped away at their cover drew him back into action. Midyan had his pistol out and was busy watching the only way up to the roof.

“Looks like we’re not getting out of this one, colts,” said Zakkai, unusually calmly for a pony assured he was about to meet his fate. “Let’s make it spectacular, huh?”

Chaim looked Zakkai in the eye. There was no expression of fear or remorse on the pony’s face—just a serene acceptance as he chambered a round in his weapon. Midyan grunted as he sat up against the ledge, stabilizing himself to watch the exit.

Time seemed to move in slow motion for Chaim. He felt numb—out of place in an unreal situation. He thought on his family, and prayed that they had evacuated in time. The assault had fortunately seemed to sweep away from their district of the city. He could only hope now that his sacrifice would earn them a life of peace and prosperity in his absence.

With a nod to Zakkai, both ponies stood tall and proud on the rooftop, glaring down at the swarming Arabians below. They shouldered their weapons and let loose a torrent of bullets down at any enemy they could see. The Arabians dropped one by one, each kill making Chaim’s lust for justice grow stronger.

The Arabians had begun returning fire. Chaim realized this when the first bullet narrowly missed clipping his left ear. He found the shooter and expertly killed him with two shots. Beside him, Zakkai was less lucky. He heard the wet smack of flesh rending, following by a gut-wrenching squeal and something heavy hitting the roof.

Chaim was relentless in his assault. He pulled the trigger again and again and again until his gun ran dry. The trigger snapped. He was out of bullets. He was dead.

And then, two large explosions took out a large number of Arabian soldiers from behind. Chaim looked up frantically to see many armed Learsian soldiers come rushing into the forum like a wave from the ocean. Caught between the two fronts and off guard, the Arabians were smashed to pieces swiftly. Across the city, Chaim could hear larger pockets of gunfire erupting as well. The army was destroying what was left of the invading force.

A battle cry from Midyan and several pistol shots caught Chaim’s attention. He turned to see his wounded friend as he finished gunning down three Arabian soldiers as they tried to rush them. At his hooves, Zakkai lay sprawled out, his eyes staring blankly up at the sky and his torso a gory mess.

“Stup ir, beheimer,” Midyan spat out viciously at the dead Arabians.

“The army’s here,” Chaim told Midyan, helping hoist the pony up. “We’re done. Let’s get down to the street and meet up with them.”

Midyan chuckled weakly as he leaned on his teammate for support, limping towards the stairs. “We’d better get paid a damn fortune for this…”

Chaim smirked and stopped at the top of the stairs. He pulled his hoof grenade from his vest and chucked it down the stairs. He heard it hit the bottom, followed by a cry, and then the explosion. Once he had descended to the bottom, he saw a pair of dead Arabian soldiers that had been lying in wait for them.

Momzai… Bastards... Chaim thought with disdain. By the time they hit the street again, the army had finished off the remaining enemy soldiers in the forum and had moved to their position. Two of them took Midyan aside, starting to patch up his wounds.

“You, soldier.”

Chaim looked up as a soldier approached him. “Who, me?” He looked down at his torn, bloodstained uniform. “Oh. Oh, no, I’m a hired gun.”

The soldier rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter. You can fight, yes?”

“Yes, I can.”

“Good. Follow us then. We’re going to wipe out the force down in the southern district.”

Chaim’s heart stopped beating. Cold dread clawed at his insides, twisting his gut into all sorts of knots.

“…The southern district?”

The soldier nodded brusquely. “It was a small force, but they went unchecked. All of the fighting has been up here in the north part of the city. No telling how much damage was done— hey, wait!”

But Chaim was gone before the soldier had even finished speaking, running like he was being chased by the devil himself down the road.

“Follow him! Quick!”

Chaim couldn’t care less if the army was following him or not. The only thoughts that ran rampant through his mind were his family and their safety. He knew Eden could shoot a gun if needed—he had taught her himself—but the Arabians were ruthless. He refused to subject his family to any of their horrors for any amount of time.

No obstacle stood in his way that he could not overcome. Chaim was unremitting. He galloped with all the strength his legs could possess, even when his lungs burned from a lack of oxygen. Tears streamed down his eyes as he ran through thick billows of smoke, half blinding himself in his mad pursuit. He had to get home—he had to.

The train station disappeared in a blur. He was close. Kicking up a cloud of sandy dust as he skidded around a corner, Chaim took off down a familiar street at a full sprint. He was running solely on adrenaline now. Every building around him had either been blown up or burnt. Bodies of ponies he knew lay scattered disrespectfully in the ashen streets.

Please, Goddess… Please, please let my family be alright…

Many of the fires still looked fresh. He couldn’t be too far behind his enemies. The silent prayers continued nonstop from the desperate pony as he tore down another road, and then onto his street—and slid to a halt.

His entire neighborhood was covered in smoke and rising fires. It was difficult to see at first, but as he counted the rows of houses and found where he knew his home was, the stallion’s heart stopped once more.

Two Arabians were standing in his front yard, tossing firebombs into the already rising flames.

Chaim could feel the blinding rage burning inside his soul. Every nerve tingled within him as he galloped down the road, getting nearer and nearer. Flashes of red obscured his vision, but as he came right up on them, a lethal focus came over him. Chaim had his pistol out and put two rounds into each horse before they could even turn around, killing them both instantly. But the damage was already done.

His house burned brightly in front of him, the fires reaching up to the inky black skies. The heat licked at his skin, even as his blood ran like ice through him. That was when he heard a mare scream from within the building.

“Eden!” Chaim screamed at the top of his lungs, bolting for the flaming silhouette of the door. “Eden! Eliyah!”

Chaim rushed to the door, throwing his weight against the frame again and again. The door shuddered, but refused to budge. Eden must have barricaded it when sirens went off. Turning around, Chaim let loose a roar as he bucked the door clear off its hinges—and recoiled back as flames shot out, singing the fur on his face and chest. The entire building was engulfed in flames.

Fear gripped at Chaim's heart, paralyzing him momentarily. It was as if he was staring into the depths of Tartarus itself. But it meant nothing to him. He would risk hellfire and more for his family. Death was a small price to pay for their safety. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, he ran at the inferno—and was quickly hoisted backwards and thrown onto his back by an unseen force. He felt hooves around him and immediately began to fight, trying direly to break free. He glared back at his attacker, surprised to see the soldier from before keeping a tight hold on him.

“No! Don’t, my brother! It’s too dangerous!”

“My family is in there!” snarled the enraged pony, kicking the pony in the gut to free himself and lunging for the door again.

The house began to cave in on itself and he knew he had no more time to think. Just as he ran in again, another soldier took him down again, the first one grabbing his hooves as both fought to restrain the wild stallion. Chaim screamed unintelligibly as he listened to the shrieks from within the inferno until the raging blaze drowned out their cries for help.

“No! NO! NO!” Tears poured down Chaim’s face while his beating heart was ripped asunder. “Eden! Eliyah! No! Eden! Eliyah!”

“They are gone, brother! There is nothing we can do for them! You'll die if you go in there!”

“No no no no no no no! Eliyah! Eden!”

The ponies flinched as they listened to the anguished cries of the broken stallion. Held back from his own demise by the soldiers, Chaim could only watch and scream until his voice gave out, watching his world get taken away in a cloud of deathly black smoke.

The charred wood crunched like autumn leaves beneath her hooves. Adira had heard the stories, seen the news reports, heard the eyewitness accounts… but nothing could have prepared her for the horror Ashkelon truly was. Pale gray smoke still ebbed out from dying embers and burned skeletons of buildings, mingling in the overcast sky. The streets were covered with ash and blood, and nothing but the rancid smell of decay and gunpowder wafted in the air.

Thunder rumbled gently overhead, bringing with it the promise of a coming storm. It was only the day after Ashkelon had been attacked, but the notion of cleaning rain soothed Adira’s grief. Recovery was direly needed here.

“The Arabians overstepped the line this time…” she murmured quietly to herself and shook her head. “All of Learsi will cry for blood after this…”

Adira climbed carefully over a pile of scorched debris and sidestepped past several bodies. The soldiers were still working on collecting the dead and identifying them for a more accurate death toll. The entire city had all but been razed to the ground, and nopony but the military was allowed access to prevent any further incidents. Adira could only estimate how many digits the final count would be.

“Special Agent Adira.” Adira glanced over to the soldier that had called to her. “We’ve located your brother.”

She felt her heart leap up into her throat. “You have? Does he live?”

The soldier nodded. “Yes, ma’am, he lives. We’ve gathered the survivors in the park.”

“Show me.”

At her request, the pony nodded and led Adira carefully through the streets. She did her best to block out the images of piles of corpses being carted out of the city streets while debris and other wreckage was pushed aside to clear paths for the rescue and relief crews. She could feel the bile rising in the back of her throat. Never in all her life did she dare to imagine such a horrendous tragedy could befall her beautiful nation—let alone to her own flesh and blood.

The park, which had once been described to her by her brother as an idyllic scene of tranquility and beauty, was now a scene of utter sorrow. The amount of survivors was far greater than she had anticipated. Groups of ponies huddled together while they waited to be evacuated, murmuring and crying amongst themselves as food, water, and blankets were handed around. Adira followed the soldier through the dense crowd, almost losing him now and again as he took her down the winding trails.

“He’s there, ma’am. By the fountain.”

Adira followed the soldier’s gesture. The pony had his back turned to them, but the mane and coat were distinctively recognizable. Bidding her gratitude to the pony, Adira walked slowly across the crisp grass.

Chaim was sitting perfectly still, like a statue, staring blankly into the stagnant water of the broken fountain. His coat was completely covered in soot and blood, and his uniform—the uniform she had gotten for him—was blackened. His eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and Adira could see the lines carved through the mess on his face from where his tears had fallen.

Feeling an overwhelming sense of relief, she trotted over towards her brother. “Chaim. Thank the Goddess, you’re alive!”

Adira embraced Chaim, who didn’t even flinch at her touch. She pulled back, ignorant of his behavior for the moment. She took a seat beside him, trying to brush some of the ash off of his uniform.

“I heard what had happened, and my heart stopped. I was terrified you had been harmed, or worse,” she continued. “I cannot tell you how relieved I am to see you, Chaim. Come on, I’m taking you home to Tail Aviv right now. Let’s get Eden and Eliyah, and I can get us on the next train—”

“They’re dead.”

Adira froze on the spot, half from hearing her brother actually respond and half from the words themselves. “…What?”

“They’re dead, sister,” Chaim said with no emotion left in his voice. He had become completely detached from reality. “The Arabians killed them both. My family is dead.”

“Oh, Chaim… Ani mitstaer meod…”

Again, Adira hugged her brother tightly, pulling him as close to her as possible. She felt Chaim tremble in her hooves, and soon felt wetness against her shoulder. The stallion gave a muffled growl of pain and shook violently. Adira held on to him, refusing to relinquish her protective hold on her twin. Her heart ached for him while his broke.

“I promised I’d keep them safe… I failed, Adira. I failed them both,” he sobbed. “I was going to quit the contractor career. I was going to move us to Tail Aviv—and then this happened! Why…? Why them…?”

“Shh… Shh… It’s alright, brother… I’m here—I’ve got you…” Adira whispered. She gently stroked his back, feeling his chest rise and fall with each choking sob. “None of this was supposed to happen, brother... If I had known sooner...”

Chaim tensed up in her grasp, whispering against her skin, “What...?”

“The Mossad had a lead on the attack. It was an inside job—traitors to our nation,” Adira explained in a soft tone. “They were supposed to arrive in Arad to assault the military base there. Ashkelon was not their intended target. We had agents set up in Arad to eliminate the trains when they arrived... but this was never supposed to happen. Something went wrong.”

Chaim's jaw tightened up. He didn't know how he was supposed to take that news. If Ashkelon had not been the checkpoint—if the Arabians hadn't given themselves away, none of this would have happened. The trains were not supposed to be checked. They were supposed to be ambushed. But he and his colleagues had sprung the trap too early.

We should have just let the trains through... If we did, Ashkelon would still stand... Eden and Eliyah—

“I… I made a promise to them… I promised Eden I would join the Mossad for her, and for Eliyah…”

Adira’s ears perked up. She pulled back slightly, looking Chaim in the eye. It stung her heart to see the tears falling down his face and to see the broken look in his eyes. He had lost the will to live. Perhaps she could give him a purpose again…

“Is that truly what you want, Chaim…?”

Chaim nodded slowly. “If I cannot keep my promise to myself, at least I can keep the promise to her… I want to make the Arabians pay for the blood they’ve shed.”

Adira sighed deeply and wiped the tears off her brother’s cheeks. A tender smile graced her face. She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek and one quick nod.

“Come with me.”

“So, Mr. Chaim, you wish to join our organization?”

Chaim stood before a young Director Adonai. His mane had been cut and his coat washed, cleaning himself of the remnants of Ashkelon. His tattered uniform had been replaced with a finely cut suit jacket. Chaim almost didn’t recognize the pony he saw in the mirror that morning.

“Yes, sir,” he answered simply, always staring straight ahead.

Adonai nodded his head slowly. Adira had high hopes for Chaim. Director Adonai had only recently been promoted to his position, and had been looking for new agents to fill the ranks. In her eyes, Chaim fit the bill perfectly. Chaim prayed the Director felt the same way.

“Adira has spoken very highly of you, Chaim,” said Adonai, reviewing the stallion’s records on his desk. “You seem to be the very straight-lace type, much like your sister. She affectionately calls you ‘the better twin’. Would you say this is true?”

Chaim shook his head. “No, sir. I believe Adira and I have our own strengths and weaknesses.”

“I see you’ve been doing mercenary work for the past few years. Was the army too strict for you?”

Again, Chaim shook his head. “Not at all, sir. I just wanted to have the freedom to leave if I chose to.”

Adonai cocked his head to the side curiously, raising a brow. “And you think you’d have such leniency here?”

“I won’t be leaving, Director.”

“I’m not sure how much I believe that,” said Adonai coolly as he leaned across the desk towards Chaim. “I’ve met mercenary types before. They’re rowdy, unorthodox, and have a distinct disregard for rules and structure. What makes you think I’d have any use for a pony like you?”

In one swift motion, Chaim rose to his hooves and drew his pistol from within his jacket. He slammed the gun down on the desk in front of a cool Adonai and stood tall.

“If you want to doubt me for my lack of service, you’re free to,” Chaim snapped suddenly. “But don’t make the mistake of questioning my loyalty, Mr. Director. I’ve lost everything in one day. I made a promise to make a change in my life and I’m going to keep it. And if you’re not going to find some use for me—if you’re going to stop me from keeping that promise—then just shoot me now because I have nothing left to live for.”

Chaim waved his hooves wide open, leaving himself vulnerable and exposed. Adonai eyed the stallion warily for a few long moments, locking gazes with the steely-eyed pony before him. Drawing a deep breath, he lifted the pistol and pulled the slide back, sending a round rolling across his desk.

“This was loaded. You were ready to die that easily.”

It wasn't a question. Chaim remained unfazed. “I was not jesting, sir.”

With a nod, Adonai set the gun back down and pushed it back towards Chaim. “Put it away, Chaim. You’ve proven your point. You’ve got spirit and courage. I admire that in a stallion. But you’re reckless, and it’s because you’ve been hurt. I don’t have use for an agent who’s going to throw his life away so easily…”

He stared hard at Chaim, tapping his hooves gently together. “I want you to go take some time to get yourself together. Think of all you still have, and come back with that in mind. Then you’ll begin your training.”

Chaim blinked in surprise, taken aback. “Sir…?”

“You’re a fighter, Chaim. If you’re half of what your sister is, I think you two could be an unstoppable team. It’d be a shame to turn that away,” said Adonai, offering his hoof to him. “But I need you whole and unbroken. Do you think you can manage to collect yourself sometime soon?”

He gave a slow nod and shook Director Adonai’s hoof gratefully. He would need his time to mourn, but he'd be damned if he was denied his chance to keep his word.

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Chaim took his pistol back and tucked it away again.

“Oh, and future Agent Chaim,” Adonai spoke up as Chaim was halfway out the door. “Don’t ever relinquish your weapon again. That is your first lesson.”

Chaim smiled a little bit again as he stepped out of the Director’s office and into his new life.

He was going to keep his promise.

Do No Harm (Blue Shield)

View Online

The Copper Cannon was loud as it always was. Off duty soldiers of the Royal Guard and Lunar Guard drank in high spirits. Equestria had been celebrating a year of peace, and the second anniversary of the end of the war with the griffons. Laughter, chatter, and cheering reverberated around the large tavern, the entire bar brimming with life.

Six ponies sat around a circular table, mugs of cider and ale in their hooves. Casual banter and idle chitchat passed between the friends, a welcome reprieve from the usual seriousness their profession demanded. With the new additions to their coterie, catching up was the topic of the day.

“So long story short, I’m just about to make my getaway, when who do I run straight into? My CO,” Sharp Shot said, finishing up his story. “He looks me dead in the eye, grabs me by the collar, and just shakes his head and says, ‘I don’t even wanna know.’”

Cupcake and Midnight erupted into laughter, pounding their hooves against the table. Blue Shield smirked as he took a swig of his drink. Valiant just rolled his eyes, and Echo gave a soft giggle.

“How do you get away with half the things you do?” Valiant asked the sniper.

Sharp Shot shrugged. “Nopony really seems to know what to do with me. Fleet just doesn’t care, and everypony else before him was so by-the-book, they didn’t have protocols designed to handle me.”

“Sounds like me in the Shades,” said Midnight as she downed the last of her drink.

“Oh yeah?” A grin crossed Sharp’s face. “Let’s hear about it. What sort of trouble do bats get up to back where you’re from?”

“I’d love to tell you, but Echo and I have our psych eval in fifteen minutes, and I don’t think Fleet’s gonna give me any passes this time. I’ll tell you all about it some other time.”

“Wait, you’re going to a psychological evaluation after having three rounds of hard cider?” asked Blue Shield, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

“Hey, it loosens me up. I don’t test well,” Midnight rebuked. “Besides, Echo only had water. She played by the rules, and that means I did too by association.”

“What—?”

“It makes sense in my mind!” Both bat fillies rose up, making their way towards the door. “See ya later, guys!”

After the others had bid the fillies good luck, Sharp turned his attention back to the rest of his team. “Alright, colts, the mares might be gone, but I’m still gonna make you answer.”

Valiant cocked his head. “Answer what…?”

“What got you all into the Guard, of course! I don’t believe that you all believed the ‘Be all you can be’ crap they push around the high schools and colleges like Fleet did.” A moment of silence passed between the ponies as Sharp Shot eyed each one of them, grinning from ear to ear. “So, come on! What’re your stories? Why did you all choose the Guard?”

“Well, why did you?” asked Valiant.

“Hey, I asked first.”

Blue Shield shrugged his shoulders. “He has a point, Valiant.”

“How ‘bout you, doc?” Sharp asked, fixing his eyes on the unicorn across the table from him. “You’ve gotta be able to get a job in any hospital around Equestria. How’d you end up here?”

“My story isn’t very exciting, I’m afraid. I didn’t ‘end up’ anywhere. I chose this.”

Sharp made a dramatic motion of rolling his eyes. “Same difference. Why?”

Blue Shield took a long swallow from his mug, licking his lips as he rested the glass back down on the table. His eyes grew distant, staring into the far-off memories of the past. “It was… more of a compromise than a choice. It all started when I was back in school…”

* * *

Blue Shield blew a stray lock of cobalt hair out of his eyes, running a hoof through his neatly styled mane again and again in an attempt to get it to sit right. He stared back at his reflection in the mirror of the stallion’s restroom. It was difficult to believe the gaunt pony staring back at him was himself. Heavy bags sat beneath his eyes from many sleepless nights of study and mental preparation. He looked half dead, and had the feelings to match. He was running himself ragged. The worst part was knowing it was the truth and still carrying on anyway.

Blue Shield’s horn lit up as he turned the faucet hanging over the sink on. He splashed the cold water across his face, the cool liquid doing little to bring him back to life. He breathed deeply, his chest feeling tight, constricted with stress.

The bathroom door opened then, and another young unicorn poked his head inside. “Blue? You alright in there?”

Blue Shield sucked in a breath through his teeth, letting his lungs inflate to capacity before releasing it in a slow, controlled stream. He knew he had to go back out there. It was what he had wanted, after all.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Stable.” Blue Shield grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser with his magic and dried off his face.

“You look awful,” Stable said, looking over the unicorn as he trotted towards him.

“The price of med school, eh?” replied Blue with a tired smile. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

Blue Shield pushed open the door to the bathroom, stepping out into the busy hallways of the hospital’s intensive care ward. Ponies in white coats and uniforms trotted briskly around, while patients dressed in gowns lounged and recovered in their rooms. Blue Shield and Stable took a step back, pressing themselves against a wall as a pony on a bed was wheeled down the hallway towards the elevator.

Breaking free from the crowd, the two stallions trotted down the hallway, headed for their designated meeting point. Doctor Hay Fever was particularly surly when interns and residents missed his strict deadlines even by a second. Lately, Blue Shield had been realizing just how intensive lessons under his guidance could be.

Canterlot Royal Hospital had always been his aspiration, even before getting into school. Now that he was living his dream, he was quickly coming to realize it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. He had thought he’d be learning to save lives and make good use of his existence. So far, the most excitement he’d had in his years of studying with the hospital was the foal that had thrown up on his shirt the week before.

“So what’s on your mind?” Stable asked out of the blue as they rounded a corner, walking down a long corridor. “You seem distracted, more so than usual.”

Blue Shield was reluctant to speak at first. He had long denied himself the right to give up and admit he was falling out of love with the job. Admitting defeat was a sign of weakness. That lesson had been drilled into him far too many times…

“Do you ever get the feeling that this job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?” Blue Shield said while stepping aside for another pony getting carted down the hall. He glanced back at Stable, seeing the confusion in the stallion’s eyes. “Maybe working at the most prestigious hospital in all of Equestria isn’t the ultimate life goal they make it out to be in the classroom?”

Stable gave a laugh. “That’s why I never planned on working here. I’m just getting my specialization out of the way. Once I have that diploma, I’m going to move to someplace like Ponyville or Trottingham and do my residency there. You were always the one with big dreams of saving lives.”

“Exactly—saving lives. I look around and all I see is ponies with the sniffles or the flu when it gets cold out. The only surgeries that go on are minor at best. Crime is virtually nonexistent here, and nothing life-threatening ever happens.”

“Are you actually hoping for a disaster to happen?”

“No, not at all.” Blue Shield sighed and shook his head forlornly. “I don’t know… I thought we’d be doing more than we are. And it’s not just us being interns. I look around and I see half the staff sitting around waiting for something to happen too. I guess I’m just hoping for a sign that this is what I really want.”

Stable shrugged as they walked into a room. “Well, maybe today will change your mind.”

“Ah, look who finally decided to show up.”

Blue Shield deliberately looked down at the cream tiles beneath his hooves to avoid making eye contact with Doctor Fever. His day was already rough enough with only two hours of sleep and an exam to deal with in a few more.

“Stable and Blue Shield, you colts are late.”

“With respect, sir, we’re right on time,” Blue Shield said, looking down at his watch. They were actually a little early, but he didn’t dare push his luck.

“Not by my watch, you’re not, and that’s all that matters to me,” said Doctor Fever, his voice gruff and unyielding. “Since you two decided to take your sweet time getting here, why don’t you go ahead and assess the patient first?”

Blue Shield looked up at Doctor Fever, and then glanced sideways at Stable. The unicorn simply gave another shrug and levitated the clipboard from the end of the bed while his friend moved around to the side. A mare lay comfortably in the hospital bed, sitting up and looking around at the small group of interns gathered around.

“Miss Star Bright was admitted today after consuming an unknown concoction during a lesson at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns,” Stable read aloud.

“Well, your vitals seem normal, Miss Bright,” Blue Shield noted as he checked her blood pressure. He levitated a small light from the pocket of his white coat and began checking her pupils. “How do you feel otherwise?”

Star Bright gave a roll of her shoulders. “I feel just fine, doctor.”

“He’s not a doctor,” interrupted Fever.

“Yet,” Blue Shield added. “No dizziness, nausea, loss of memory, blurred vision…?”

Star Bright shook her head energetically. Blue Shield pursed his lips, contemplating what Doctor Fever was trying to prompt him to do. There had to be something more to this he was missing.

“Well, you seem to be perfectly healthy, Miss Bright. If there haven’t been any adverse side effects to the potion by now, I don’t think—”

“Uh, Blue?”

Blue Shield turned around when Stable called his name. The pony had a cautious expression on his face as he took a step back from his friend. Blue furrowed his brow. What was he missing?

His question was answered when he heard Star Bright give a quiet groan of discomfort. She was doubled over in bed, clutching at her stomach with an expression of pain on her face.

“Star? Star Bright, what’s wrong?”

“Doctor, could you get me a—”

Star Bright was cut off suddenly when her mouth snapped shut. Blue Shield saw a look cross her face as her body shivered and her throat quivered. His mind made the connection only a split second before the mare grasped onto his shoulder for support and emptied the contents of her stomach all across his coat and shirt. The interns around the bed all gave various sounds of disgust and backed away while Blue Shield just stared up at the ceiling, shaking his head.

Thanks for the sign…

“They, uh… They gave her a potion to purge her system when she was admitted,” Stable finished slowly, smiling sheepishly at his friend while the mare spat the last few strands of bile from her mouth. “I just got to that part.”

Doctor Fever gave a loud, raucous laugh. “And that, students, is why it’s always important to read a patient’s file before trying to tend to them. Blue Shield here could have very easily avoided this mess by not trying to leap right into action like a war hero—and if he’d shown up on time.”

“I was on time…” he muttered under his breath.

“Oh Celestia, I am so sorry, doctor,” Star Bright apologized, her face a bright red. “I just— I couldn’t help it.”

Blue Shield held up a hoof, smiling as passively as possible. He couldn’t bring himself to be upset. “It’s quite alright, Miss Bright. These things happen. But at least you’re going to be okay.”

“Alright, colt, go get yourself cleaned up while I finish up here. Meet us in Room 417 in five minutes. Think you can be on time?”

“Yes, sir,” replied Blue Shield, trudging out of the room while trying his best to ignore the smell of vomit covering his clothes. Today was very obviously not his lucky day.

* * *

Blue Shield groaned as he scrubbed harder at his damp coat with a wad of wet paper towels. His shirt had been simple enough to swap out for a new one from his locker, but he still had to get his coat clean before he could go back to the group. Years of frustration and disappointment spurred his fervent scrubbing with his magic. As it turned out, the potion Star Bright had consumed had made it impervious to any magical removal.

But of course that would be my luck… Covered with body fluids you can’t clean, he thought. He had tried his best not to be bitter, but his patience had its limits. He was quickly reaching them.

With a defeated sigh, he tossed the paper towels into the nearby trashcan and examined his handiwork. Large damp stains were very obvious on his otherwise white coat, but at least it would be passable for the time being. He frowned as he stared at his name hemmed into the fabric just above the breast pocket. It sat there, almost mocking him, as if challenging him to earn the right to bear them.

“I can earn it…” he whispered to himself in the vacant locker room. He ruffled up the coat in his hooves, caught between the verge of falling apart and stuffing it down.

Giving in is a sign of weakness. Falling apart is a sign of weakness. Everything is a bloody sign of weakness…

Blue Shield let out a growled sigh, releasing some of his tension with it. His head was throbbing and all he desperately wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep. He couldn’t quit. He’d come too far to give up on his dream now—even if his dream seemed like it would never be a reality. For all his hype and drive to do good, it seemed like the world didn’t need saving—at least not this world.

The long months of frustration he had kept bottled up inside himself were boiling over the edge. Tears of exasperation and disappointment spilled down his cheeks. His chest felt tight, and breathing suddenly became a chore. In the quiet loneliness of the empty locker room, Blue Shield, along with his hopes, fell apart.

The door opened a few moments later, prompting the unicorn to straighten his stance out of reflex.

“Blue, Fever’s losing patience with you.”

It was Stable coming to his rescue yet again. Blue Shield swiftly wiped his damp eyes on his coat before throwing it on with his magic. He caught another glimpse of his reflection in the mirror, refusing to believe it was who he had become.

“Alright, let’s get back…”

“Blue, wait… You look awful.” Stable paused, blocking Blue Shield from slipping through the door. He studied the bags under the unicorn’s bloodshot eyes and the damp trails running through his fur. “You should sit down, take a breather.”

“Is that your professional opinion, doctor?” Blue snapped impatiently.

“It’s my opinion as your friend. What the hay is happening, Blue? You look like you’re falling apart at the seams. You need a break.”

Blue Shield tried to push past Stable, failing as the pony sidestepped and blocked him again. “I don’t need a break…”

“Why not?”

“Because then I’d be giving up, and giving up is a sign of weakness.”

“This again?” asked Stable, following behind Blue Shield as he moved back across the locker room. “Blue Shield, forget about all the horseapples your father shoved in your head.”

Blue Shield gave a cold, hard laugh. “That’s like asking me to ignore everything I grew up knowing.”

“You’re going to be a terrific doctor.”

“It’ll all amount to nothing—just like me.”

“Blue Shield, stop it—”

“No!” shouted Blue Shield, slamming a hoof into the nearest locker with a loud metallic bang. “This was my dream! I was going to be saving lives, to be making something of myself! But he was right! I’m never going to amount to anything because I’m going to be stuck doing the same bucking thing over and over and over again! Diagnosing sniffles and sprained ankles, wiping vomit off myself, and wasting away like that old codger!”

Blue Shield rested his head against the cool metal lockers, his chest heaving as he fought back against breaking down again. The exasperation was tearing him apart from the inside out, and it felt like he was fighting a losing battle with reality. But he couldn’t quit now. He was too far along to lie down and surrender.

“I wanted to make a difference… I wanted to help ponies—truly help them…” Blue Shield released a shaking sigh. “It was something I really believed in. Now I don’t even believe in myself…”

Tears blurred his vision, blending the drab green color of the lockers into one swirling mass. His heart ached with each thump. A gentle pressure on his shoulder finally made him look up. Stable gave him a small smile, his hoof resting on Blue’s shoulder.

“Put the coat away, my friend. We’re getting out of here,” Stable said, slipping out of his lab coat and stuffing it in his locker. “By now, Fever’s already moved along and counted us as absent. No sense in hanging around. Hey, maybe you can catch up on some sleep now.”

Blue Shield rolled his eyes, reluctantly sliding out of his coat as well. “I’ve never been absent a day in my life…”

“Exactly why one won’t kill you now. Come on, let’s go.”

Taking the lead, Stable steered Blue Shield down the corridors of the hospital and down the elevator to the ground level. The lobby was expectedly crowded as always with doctors going about rounds and patients being directed in every direction. Blue Shield ignored the throng of multicolored ponies he pushed his way through, trying to tune out the chatter to prevent his headache from getting any worse.

It was an overcast day outside the pallid hospital walls. Canterlot was covered in a fine mist, drizzles of rain sprinkling down from the dense blanket of heavy gray clouds overhead. The cool moisture felt soothing against Shield’s humid, clammy skin. His eyes closed while he sucked in a breath of the chilled spring air, letting it blow the troubles from his mind.

“So why are you always so hung up on being a life-saving doctor?” Stable asked as they crossed the cobblestone walkway in front of the hospital.

“It goes back to my father,” said Blue Shield, keeping his eyes focused downward on the ground in front of his hooves. He didn’t want to look his friend in the eye when he spoke about his father. The conversation already left a sour taste in his mouth.

“Ah, the lieutenant expects big things from you, eh?”

“No, he expected me to join the Royal Guard and be a fighting soldier like he did. He never approved of me taking a civilian life. Being a doctor disgusted him, like I had slapped him in the face.”

Stable glanced sideways at his friend. “Why didn’t you?”

Blue Shield just gave him a hard look that told him to drop the conversation. Stable did just that, and the two walked in silence for a few blocks. It gave Blue Shield plenty of time to reflect on the memories of the many arguments he had shared with his beloved parent. It chewed him up inside. Ever since he had left home, he had vowed to prove his father wrong. He would be the exact opposite of him.

“Hey, I know this great café a couple blocks away,” Stable said after a while with a smile. “It might help take your mind off things.”

“No thank you, Stable.”

“C’mon, I’m buying. They have the best banana nut muffins in Canterlot.”

Blue Shield hesitated for a moment. He glanced to Stable’s smiling face, seeing the encouraging look in his eyes. He was baiting him. A smile of his own crossed his visage, and he gave a slow nod.

“…Alright. But you are actually paying this time.”

“Hey, colts! Can I get a moment of your time?”

Blue Shield and Stable looked up quickly, spotting the pony on the sidewalk that had called out to them. He was a Royal Guard, standing just out front of a designated recruitment center, dressed in the fine golden armor they all traditionally wore. Blue Shield was familiar with the pristine white coats and bright blue eyes every pony that wore the armor possessed—he had grown up with it.

“That’s quite alright,” Blue Shield politely declined. “We’re both in university. We’re not interested in enlisting.”

That made the pony’s eyes light up like a foal on Hearth’s Warming. “Ah, college ponies, eh? You know, if you sign up for ROTC training, the Royal Guard will pay off some of your education for you, and you’d be set to be officers right out of the gate.”

Blue Shield shook his head again. “No, thank you.”

“What programs are you two in?”

Blue Shield gave a frustrated sigh and rolled his eyes. The recruiter was persistent, he would give him that. Stable seemed to have slowed his gait as well, forcing them to linger and put up with him.

“We’re in medical school,” said Stable.

“Well, that’s fantastic! The Royal Guard has great positions for field surgeons and medics that would offer you both the chance to practice medicine while serving your country and fellow ponies.”

Blue Shield snorted under his breath and turned on the recruiter. “For the last time, no. I’m a pacifist anyway.”

“Let me be honest with you colts, you wouldn’t have to be infantry soldiers or do any real fighting. The Guard is actively looking for qualified ponies trained in the medical field. You’d get to travel, be taught disciplines and get experience you wouldn’t working in any old hospital, and it looks great on a resume.”

“Sir, there’s nothing you could say that would ever change my mind.”

Just as Blue Shield turned to walk away, the recruiter levitated a pamphlet over to him with his magic. “Alright then. But how about you give it some thought?”

“How about no.”

“You could be saving lives.”

Those five words froze Blue Shield in place like the pony had just insulted his mother. His eyes traced over the pictures and bold font across the front of the folded pamphlet. Photographs of ponies in uniforms setting a wounded soldier’s leg and giving immunizations to ponies that he didn’t recognize covered the front page.

“Save lives…?” he repeated slowly, enunciating each word to make sure he had heard him correctly.

The recruiter nodded his head, smiling while Blue Shield began to walk closer to him. “Yes, sir! Even if we aren’t actively fighting anything, there’s always a place for medics in the Royal Guard. You could be helping deal with a disease outbreak in Zavros, or aiding the wounded after some natural disaster anywhere in the world.”

Blue Shield’s horn ignited as he flipped through the pages of the information pamphlet hovering in the air right in front of his face. The insignia of the Royal Guard lay smack dab in the center of the pictures and passages of information, the motto wrapped around it in a banner. The Royal Guard: Make a Difference.

Make a difference… Save lives…

“How long is the service requirement?”

“Four years of active service, or eight if you choose to be in the reserves instead,” the recruiter explained. He motioned to the recruitment office with a hoof and a smile. “Why don’t you come in and I’ll give you all the details about it.”

For a brief moment, Blue Shield was surprised to find himself actually considering it. His father’s chastising voice echoed in his head, beating him down from the inside. He had always been instilled with a distaste for the Royal Guard because of his father’s abusive mannerisms, but now they were offering him the dream he had always wanted. It seemed too good to be true.

With a shake of his head, Blue Shield returned the pony’s smile and slipped the pamphlet into his shirt pocket. “I’ll think about it for now. Thank you.”

“Drop in anytime. We’re open every day from dawn to dusk,” the recruiter called after them as the two unicorns trotted leisurely away.

Once they had gotten a block away, Stable turned to him. “Are you actually thinking about signing up? What happened to all the ‘I’m a pacifist! I hate soldiers!’ talk?”

“I never said I hated soldiers—I pity them,” remarked Blue Shield, glancing down at the vivid leaflet sticking out of his pocket. “But if they’re giving me my chance to do some real good and help ponies that need it… well, how bad could they be?”

“Well, just don’t make that kind of decision rashly based on today,” Stable warned. “That’s a big commitment. Sleep on it.”

Blue Shield nodded his head vigorously. “Oh, don’t fret, I will. Now, about those muffins…”

* * *

Over the next two weeks, Blue Shield spent his days caught between studying, the everyday humdrum of the hospital internship, and daydreaming about the Royal Guard. The first night after he had run into the recruiter on the street, he had simply tossed the information leaflet in the trash. The next day, however, lingering thoughts had him retrieve it and pin it to a bulletin board above his desk.

Through the sleepless nights of study, he would occasionally glance up from whatever textbook he found himself with and stare at the glossy photos printed across the thin pages. Beside it hung a flyer for Canterlot Royal Hospital, the tagline regaling it as the prestigious flagship of modern medical science. But still, the contrast between the smiling doctors checking a patient’s temperature in a sterile room and the soldiers wrapping gauze around a wounded comrade’s leg was almost palpable, and felt like night and day.

Every day since then, Blue Shield took the longer way to the university and to the hospital, deliberately taking the route that would lead him past the recruitment center. He stood, unmoving on the sidewalk across the street, eyeing the gray stone structure with curiosity and wariness. It still felt too good to be true. Was it worth taking the chance?

With each day, Doctor Fever’s belittling passive-aggressive comments cut a little deeper, and with each day, his certainty in one dream died while the other grew more resolute. Stable had vowed his support regardless of his decision. But the decision had to ultimately be his, and his alone.

The night prior, Blue Shield had made his choice. Somewhere between memorizing symptoms of infectious diseases and his third cup of coffee, he glanced up one last time. He knew what he wanted.

That was how he found himself now, standing across the street from the recruitment center as he had every day. The information pamphlet hovered beside him, gently grasped by his magic. Blue Shield took a deep breath of the crisp morning air and marched assuredly across the street, throwing the two glass doors open and trotting up to the nearest desk. The recruiter he had met on the street was seated on the other side, filling out some sort of paperwork. He glanced up when he heard the hoofsteps, and his eyes lit up in recognition.

“Well, if it isn’t the soon-to-be-doctor! I’ve seen you outside every morning. Come in to get some more info?”

Blue Shield took a seat opposite the soldier and slammed the pamphlet down on the desk. With his magic, he grabbed one of the quills off the desk and dipped it in the inkwell.

“I’m here to save lives,” he said adamantly, the fire burning in his eyes making the recruiter grin from ear to ear. “Sign me up.”

* * *

“So you were all set to be a doctor here at Canterlot Royal and you turned it down to be a field medic?” Sharp Shot asked skeptically, his eyes scrutinizing Blue Shield’s face as the pony nodded. “Why? You could’ve had a massive salary, a huge house, your name in magazines!”

“It wasn’t about fame or money,” replied Blue Shield, shuffling his empty mug between his hooves. “It was about doing what I wanted to do. I know it’s probably not as exciting as yours, or Valiant’s, or the captain’s, but it mattered to me. It was my dream to be a significant difference in somepony’s life. And I got that chance with the Guard.”

Cupcake nodded his head vigorously with a gruff sound of approval. “Is noble gesture. I would do same thing.”

“So when did you actually get to live your dream and save all the lives you wanted to?” Valiant asked curiously, tilting his head slightly to the left.

“Why, the same place I met you and Fleethoof.” Blue Shield motioned up with a tip of his head to a framed article of the start of the Griffon War. “The war. You see, I opted for a position in active duty, not knowing that a couple months later, I’d be shipped off to the front lines. Worse of all, the Guard saw my studies at Canterlot University of Medicine and thought I was qualified enough to be one of the heads of my company’s medical units…”

* * *

Blue Shield hurriedly double-checked his bags full of medical supplies as the ship rolled through the thick gray fog. Very close up ahead, he could already hear the sounds of gunfire. The other ships had landed on the shore. Ponies were fighting and dying.

“Get ready, soldiers!” Captain Cuirass shouted out above the swell of the sea. “For Princess and country!”

The ship lurched and rocked violently for a few moments, and then everything was still. Gangplanks were thrown over the side, and soldiers swiftly began piling out. Pegasi took to the air, sweeping through the fog over the beach. Blue Shield approached the railing, glancing down at the dusky gray sand below. He wasn’t in Equestria anymore…

You signed up for this, doctor… he thought against his instinctive fear. Now get your flank down there and help those ponies!

His nostrils flaring as he swallowed a deep gulp of air, Blue Shield clambered onto the gangplank and rushed down until his hooves hit the soft sand, feeling the earth give way beneath his weight slightly. The cool water lapped at his fetlocks as he turned and rushed with the rest of his company up the beachhead.

The gunfire had increased exponentially up ahead. Blue Shield could see bodies strewn across the sand, rivers of blood flowing from beneath them down towards the ocean. He didn’t need to stop and check on them. None of them were moving. If a pony had been shot, they would be writhing and screaming in pain. They were beyond pain.

Up ahead, he could see the mass of the army bottlenecked at the gates of the city. He slowed his gait to a canter, lingering back to avoid getting caught in the fight. He could feel his rifle swinging on his shoulder, but adamantly refused to even touch it. It went against his code to do any harm to a living creature lest his life depended on it. The Guard had armed him as a formality. ‘Just because we don’t shoot medics doesn’t mean the griffons won’t,’ his commanding officer had told him.

Snap!

A bullet sliced through the air close enough to Blue Shield’s head that he felt the distortion in the air as it passed by. He yelped and stumbled to the side, hearing another snap of a passing bullet, followed by a third, and then a cry of pain. A soldier in front of him toppled to the ground. Blue Shield gasped, horrified that he had just witnessed the death of a pony right in front of his own eyes—until the soldier rolled over, letting out a shout while clutching at his bleeding leg.

“Oh buck! Aaargh, buck!”

“Hold still!” Blue Shield ordered the soldier, dropping beside him and began to immediately fish supplies out of his bags with his magic. “It looks like the bullet passed straight through the bone.”

“You don’t bucking say!”

Blue Shield licked his dry lips as he poured antiseptic onto two cotton patches. He pressed both patches to the entry and exit wound, making the soldier scream and squirm even more. Using his hooves to keep him still, he applied another patch and began winding gauze around the pony’s leg tightly to keep pressure on the wound.

“Alright, now stay down. Don’t put any weight on the leg yet—”

“Medic!” somepony shouted out above the chaos.

A startled Blue Shield looked up frantically, spotting several more injured soldiers lying on the beach. The entire area was a grisly mess of blood and bodies. He bit his lip, feeling the panic starting to set in. This was nothing like Canterlot Royal Hospital.

“Don’t move!” he told his patient once more before running over to a pair of soldiers. Bullets snapped past him as he ran across the open beach, skidding over the sand until he reached them. “What happened?”

“He took a round to the chest. He’s losing blood fast, doc.”

Blue Shield quickly assessed the scene. The pony keeping pressure on his friend’s chest had blood oozing from beneath his hooves while the other lay on his back, staring blankly up at the sky and gasping for air.

“His lung’s collapsed and he’s gone into shock, and he’s exsanguinating too fast for morphine,” he diagnosed, pulling out a stethoscope and listening to the pony’s chest as fast as he could. Each ragged breath of the pony told him something new. “I don’t think the bullet pierced his lung, but it won’t inflate. It’s under too much pressure and he can’t breathe. Keep holding that wound as tightly as possible.”

The soldier beside him nodded and held his hooves in place. Blue Shield pulled out his knife, ignoring the wide-eyed stare of his assistant as he made an incision just below the wound. Pulling out a small plastic tube, he slid it into the incision, watching the pony’s chest rise suddenly as he took a large gulp of air. Blue Shield heaved a sigh.

“Okay, the pressure’s been relieved on his lungs. Now when I say so, move your hooves. Ready?” The soldier nodded, looking as if he was in as much shock as his bleeding friend was. Blue Shield had already prepared another antiseptic swab. “Move!”

The pony moved his bloody hooves and Blue Shield swooped in, pressing the patch to the wound. The pony beneath him arched his back and his face contorted into a silent scream of anguish.

“Hold his shoulders down!”

The soldier shifted positions, keeping his friend restrained while Blue Shield wiped most of the blood away. Just as he began putting clean cotton patches over the wound, a large explosion shook the earth beneath them. Both ponies looked up quickly, seeing the gates of Skyfall disappear in a massive fireball. The army had breached the city.

Turning back to his work, Blue Shield repeated the process and wound gauze securely around the pony. The pony was still just staring around like he was in a daze. He could empathize. Retrieving an IV bag from his pouch and setting it into the wounded pony, he held it up in the air with his magic, watching as the fluids flowed down the clear plastic tubing.

“He’s stable for now, but he needs immediate attention,” Blue Shield said to the soldier with him. “Whatever you do, don’t move him. Keep an eye on him. If he starts fighting, hold him down. Once we get a safe place set up, we can fix him up.”

“Got it.” The soldier nodded his head, wiping the sweat from his sand-covered brow. “Thanks, doc. You saved his life.”

Blue Shield felt his racing heart flutter slightly when he heard those words. He had saved a life. Nodding his head, he watched as another medic ran up to them.

“Blue Shield! We’ve got a lot of wounded in the city! Captain Cuirass wants you up there, ASAP!”

“Here, take this bag and keep it elevated,” he told the medic, rising only once his place was taken. “And don’t let him move!”

He turned and charged up the sandy beach towards the gates of Skyfall, running past the smoldering rubble and into the city. The army had progressed through the tier, already headed up to the second level. The smell of smoke, gunpowder, and blood hung in the air like a thick fog of war. Death was everywhere he looked, even as he walked amidst the destruction as a harbinger of life, headed straight for the cacophony of gunfire.

Cantering up to the second tier, he found the bulk of the army fighting their way through plazas and marketplaces, fighting in the open and inside shops and buildings all around. The urban warfare was tight and constricting, providing little room to maneuver, and little room to evacuate the wounded.

Blue Shield wandered around the back ranks of the soldiers, seeing other medics already hard at work tending to the injured. Cries of pain rang out all around him. The sight made him want to be sick, but it renewed his sense of purpose. His drive had never been stronger.

“Hang in there, Sergeant. You’re all right. Medic!”

He glanced across the street when he heard the call. A soldier was pulling a wounded comrade down the road towards them. The pony was clutching at his neck, even as thick, red liquid flowed down his throat.

“Prop him up on the wall,” ordered Blue Shield, hurrying over to them. “Give me the story.”

“We were ambushed. He got hit in the neck. Damn birds jumped us in one of the stores,” the soldier muttered darkly.

Blue Shield studied the wounded sergeant grimly. His eyes were dilated and glazed. He was fading fast. Gently removing his hoof from his neck, both the medic and soldier made sounds of shock as blood spurted from the wound on his neck, splattering Shield’s face and chest with stains of red. Blue Shield pressed his hoof over the wound as fast as he could, hoping to stem the blood loss.

“His carotid has been nicked.” Blue Shield took a moment to think and catch his breath.

“Well, do something, doctor! Use magic or whatever!”

“I can’t!” he snapped at the soldier behind him. “Magic powerful enough to heal is impossible, the arcanate is preventing me from using most of my magic, and if I move my hooves, I don’t know how much blood he can lose. I need to get an IV in him before it’s—”

The sergeant gave a choking gasp and his body convulsed once, and then he was still. Blue Shield felt panic overtake him as he pressed his hoof harder to the wound. He could no longer feel the flow of blood.

Slowly, he dropped his hoof from the sergeant’s neck, falling back onto his flanks with a blank expression on his face. In a matter of only an hour, he had saved a life and lost one.

“…Too late.” He looked back at the shocked soldier with a remorseful look, grimly shaking his head. “I’m sorry. There was nothing I could do.”

The soldier said nothing. He stared at the body for a few seconds longer, and then just replaced the helmet on his head and trudged back through the throng of chaos towards the battle. Blue Shield took a deep, uneasy breath, feeling the stress twisting his insides up like a balloon animal at a party.

“We need a medic over here!”

The shout sent chills rippling down Blue Shield’s spine. His eyes slowly shut until blackness consumed his vision. Taking a moment to recompose himself, he rose to his hooves and returned to his duty. Trails of broken and bloody ponies ran the length of the street like a macabre labyrinth. Swallowing back his anxiety, he approached the nearest one, two soldiers already attempting to give another CPR to resuscitate him. An explosion up ahead sent a plume of deathly black smoke into the air.

“Get some stretchers out and start moving the wounded indoors,” he shouted above the sounds of combat. “We need to get them into shelter and set up a makeshift hospital so we can start triaging them.. Hurry!”

It was going to be a hard day...

* * *

“And it was the hardest day of my life. I saw a lot of madness, more than I ever expected,” Blue Shield said as he finished his second drink. “It was the first time I ever saved a life, and the first time I ever lost one… It truly was a test of my devotion and my skill. I like to think I succeeded that day…”

Sharp Shot leaned across the table and asked, “How many did you save, doc?”

“Personally? Somewhere around fifty ponies.”

“Hot damn…” Sharp Shot let out a whistle. “And how many… ya know…?”

“Didn’t make it?” The sniper nodded slowly. Blue Shield glanced down into the now empty mug in his hooves, a nostalgic glaze coming over his eyes. “Four. But I remember each like it was yesterday…”

“Why? You did good, doc—really good!”

“Da,” agreed Cupcake. “Why would you be feeling bad about four ponies when fifty are alive?”

“Because it’s the epitome of why being as sharp as I can be is vitally important. It’s the difference between life and death for somepony. Each one I save is fantastic, but each one I lose is like a knife to the heart.” Blue Shield sighed and shook his head. “My father was a very strict stallion. With him, it was either get the job done, or get lost. When I don’t get my job done, ponies die, and I can just hear him mocking me.

“But in a way, it’s beneficial. It forces me to remain at the top of my game and not make mistakes. It’s probably why Captain Fleethoof picked me out for Skyfall Team. He knows I don’t let myself make mistakes.”

“So what happened after the battle?” asked Valiant. “Where did you get sent to?”

“I remained in Skyfall, actually, with Cuirass’ company. By a stroke of luck, when the princesses arrived for the negotiations, I was taken by them to tend to one of their personal guards. Poor colt had come down with a nasty infection. It spared me from getting caught in the city when the griffons took it back though, or else I probably would have been killed too. After that is when I met you, Fleethoof, and Sharp Shot, and we escaped Skyfall together.”

“Jeez, that was… what? Over two years ago?” Sharp Shot just shook his head, a halfcocked smirk on his lips. “Time flies when you’re having fun with friends.”

“This is one hay of a way to have fun,” remarked Blue Shield with a touch of humor in his voice. “But that’s my story in a nutshell. You were all there for the rest. Which one of you colts is up next?”

The Captain (Shining Armor)

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A sharp series of knocks broke the stillness in the small office. Shining Armor glanced up from the mountain of paperwork in front of him, his quill half-dipped in ink, ready for the next stroke. His eyes turned upward from the door to the clock mounted just above it. A smile crept slowly over his face. There was only one pony he was expecting to come around.

“Come in,” he said aloud, levitating the quill back across the reports as he filled in the remaining blank spaces. The door opened. Shining’s smile grew even wider, breaking across his face from cheek to cheek. “Hey, Twily! You’re right on time—as usual, heh.”

Twilight smiled in return and trotted quickly over to him. She threw her hooves around Shining Armor’s neck in a tight hug, pulling herself close to her older sibling. “I try. I’ve missed you so much, Shining!”

“I’ve missed you too, little sis.” Shining Armor hugged Twilight back, setting his quill down on the desk as he embraced her in earnest. “It’s been waaaay too long since I saw you.”

“Six months, two weeks, and a day, but who’s keeping track?” She giggled lightly. “So, are you ready for our official biannual lunch date, or are you not allowed to take time off to eat now that you’re the super busy Captain of the Guard?”

“I’ll always find time for food,” said Shining with a hearty laugh as the two of them trotted out of his office and down the corridors of Canterlot Castle. “I need to find more time for my family too.”

“Mom and Dad were saying that they don’t see a lot of you anymore,” Twilight noted, observant as ever. She looked up at Shining curiously. “Are you really that busy? Equestria’s always seemed so safe.”

“It’s always seemed that way because I’ve been busy keeping it that way. After all”—he grinned crookedly—“somepony’s gotta do it so you and your friends don’t get pulled away every time there’s a catastrophe.”

“Twice. That was only twice,” Twilight corrected him, making the stallion laugh again, his booming voice echoing down the quiet halls. “Besides, you’ve been to war. Using the Elements of Harmony to defeat evil is one thing, but you’ve actually fought with hooves and guns and… and whatever else.”

Shining Armor was quiet all of a sudden. His eyes had become shadowy, and his gaze was distant—apprehensive. He nodded slowly. “Yeah, you’ve got that right, Twily.”

“Come to think of it, you’ve never told me anything about the war… I’ve only read about it.”

The stallion said nothing. He had suddenly become uncharacteristically taciturn. The way she spoke sounded like she knew something she wasn’t letting on. She was prying for information. Twilight picked up on this in an instant, her wide purple eyes peering up at Shining as they walked across the castle gardens.

“…Shining?”

He looked over at her, the life sparking back into his eyes. “Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

Shining Armor’s mouth dropped open a slight bit, realizing how much he had spaced out. “Oh… Oh yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, Twily. I was just thinking—“

“About the war?” Twilight interjected.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod.

“What happened over there?”

Shining just shook his head. “Nah, it’s nothing you need to worry yourself over, kiddo.”

Twilight huffed and pouted her lips. “Shining, don’t shut me out. I thought we were above this.”

“We are! We are!” he hastily tried to recover. “It’s just… I don’t wanna make you worry about your big brother or anything.”

“Shining, you’re my big brother best friend forever.” Twilight nuzzled her cheek against Shining’s shoulder affectionately. “I’m always gonna worry about you, no matter where you are or what you’re doing.”

Shining Armor smiled warmly down at his sister as they traipsed across the soft lawns of the castle grounds. He did regret not spending enough time with his family, especially Twilight. Ever since he had deployed for the war and she had moved to Ponyville, it had become more and more difficult to find time to get together. Hopefully he could remedy that.

“Hey, look. It’s Cadence!”

Following Twilight’s beaming gaze, he spotted Cadence sitting amongst a flowerbed with Fleethoof, talking between themselves. Twilight went galloping over to her, leaving Shining to catch up at his own pace. For once, he was actually thankful for a distraction. He laughed as he watched his sister and her old foal sitter greet each other with their special little song and dance, leaving Fleethoof looking very perplexed.

“Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” they both sang out, shaking their flanks playfully with a burst of mirthful laughter.

“Well, that’s new,” Fleethoof remarked with wide eyes and a snicker.

Shining Armor laughed as well, trotting up to his friend and nudging him with his shoulder. “Sorry, Fleet, are we interrupting something?”

“Nothing that’s more important than seeing a good friend,” he said, nudging Shining Armor back. “Good to see you’re getting out from behind the desk to stretch those old legs of yours.”

“Hey, somepony’s gotta do the job. And my legs work just fine, thank you very much. Oh! Introductions!” Shining moved back over to Twilight, waving a hoof to the pegasus. “Twily, this is Fleethoof. He’s a very close friend of mine. Fleet, this is my little sister, Twilight Sparkle.”

Fleethoof smiled and tipped his head, taking Twilight’s hoof and gently shaking it. “Pleased to meet you, Twilight. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you and your friends from the princesses.”

“Likewise, Fleethoof.” Twilight smiled, an inquisitive glint in her eyes. “I take it you work with the princesses?”

“…You could say that.” Fleethoof chuckled under his breath when he saw Shining Armor stifle a laugh behind a cough.

“You’re a Royal Guard?”

“Of sorts. I served with your brother during the war. Now I’m more of a personal guard for Princess Luna.”

Shining Armor felt his chest tighten when Fleethoof mentioned the war. The look in Twilight’s eyes was one of pure intrigue, and he knew which direction this conversation would take very quickly.

“You were in the war with my brother?” That eager look of a ravenous learner burned brighter in her youthful eyes when Fleethoof nodded his head. “What was it like? What did you do?”

Fleethoof opened his mouth as if to reply, and then froze. He cast a bewildered look at Shining, making the stallion suddenly feel very sheepish. “Your brother never told you…?”

Twilight shook her head. Even Cadence looked visibly surprised by this revelation.

“Why not, Shining?” she asked.

“He says he doesn’t want to worry me,” explained Twilight with a pout cast in his direction.

Cadence and Fleethoof exchanged a brief look, the silent conversation between their eyes saying more than enough.

“Cadence—“

“So Twilight, where are you and Shiny going today? Got any big plans?” Cadence asked, casually sauntering around the rows of flowers to surreptitiously lead Twilight away from the stallions.

Fleethoof watched the two mares walk a safe distance away with a crooked smile before turning on Shining Armor. “Don’t want her to worry? Really, Shine? That’s weak, even for you.”

“Hey, you don’t talk about what happened to you,” Shining retorted with a snort. “That’s a bit of a double standard, dont’cha think?”

“I don’t have a sister worrying about me.”

“I don’t want her thinking her big brother’s some sort of killer.”

“Shining, she’s a smart filly. I think she’d be able to know the difference between a cold-blooded murderer and a soldier fighting for his life. She’s Celestia’s personal pupil. She’s the Element of Magic—and she’s not a foal.” Fleethoof motioned with his head over to Twilight and Cadence. “I’ve been opening up to Cadence. You do that for the ponies that matter to you. You should tell your sister your story. She’s your family, Shine. She cares about you more than anypony, and she wants to know about you. I think you might be surprised how well she takes it. You’re her hero. You owe her this, if nothing else.”

Shining raised a brow and gave a sideways glance at his friend. “You’ve been opening up to Cadence, huh?”

“That whole spiel and that’s all you got out of it? You really do have selective hearing, don’t you, horn head?” Shining lightly punched his side with a wry smirk, making Fleethoof give a pained laugh. “Go on, go have a fun day with your sister”—he paused, watching Shining Armor make his way towards the other two across the garden—“and tell her the story!”

“Yeah yeah,” muttered Shining, brushing his friend off. “Come on, Twily! My stomach’s trying to eat itself now.”

“Have fun you two!” Cadence said with a laugh and a farewell wave. Smiling, she turned and trotted back toward Fleethoof, a light-hearted gleam in her eyes while sashaying her way back over to him. “Now, where were we, Captain…?”

“…So Princess Celestia has asked my friends and I to play the lead roles in this year’s Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant in Canterlot! Can you believe it? It’s such a huge honor! I can’t wait to tell my friends!”

Shining Armor gave a hearty laugh, rocking back in his seat a little. “Wow, my little Twily’s all grown up and becoming a professional actress now. What happened to that little foal that could barely turn a page with her magic?”

Both ponies were seated outside one of Canterlot’s many cafés, enjoying the warm summer weather while waiting for their lunch. They had spent a good portion of the walk here reminiscing on old times, and much of their current conversation catching up again.

A blush crept across Twilight’s face as she rolled her eyes at her brother’s display. “That was a long time ago, Shining. Besides, it’s just a holiday play. I’m not going to win a golden trophy or anything for my role as Clover the Clever.”

“Nah, you’re gonna be all kinds of awesome at it, Twily! Just don’t forget to thank your big brother in your acceptance speech” Shining remarked, dramatically clearing his throat and pretending to sort through invisible flash cards. He saw Twilight’s lips quiver in an attempt to fight back the smile at her older sibling’s ridiculous nature. “I’d like to personally thank my brother, Shining Armor, for being the best big brother in the entire history of Equestria, and for not being too bad on the eyes either.”

Twilight laughed out loud, sighing happily, just glad to be around him again. “Shining! That’d sound so creepy if I said that!”

Their waiter arrived then, levitating a silver tray with two plates on it. “All right, I’ve got a daffodil and daisy sandwich”—he placed the plate in front of Twilight—“and a sunflower club. Let me know if you need anything else.”

Shining Armor licked his lips and rubbed his hooves together like an excited foal as he eyed his meal with ravenous hunger. He glanced up across the table and had to stifle another laugh when he saw Twilight already digging into her food. Apparently, she had been as hungry as he was.

“Still love your daff and daisy sandwiches, huh?” All Twilight could do was give a muffled response and nod her head vigorously, her eyes closed in contented bliss. It was enough to make him snicker.

For a few moments, Shining Armor just watched her eat, a whimsical smile on his lips. He hadn’t realized until now just how much he had missed being with Twilight. He had grown so used to having her in his everyday life all the way through high school and Westhoof. Ever since she had moved to Ponyville, those distant memories of their foalhood days seemed to be slipping further and further away. Now here she was, fully grown, talking about spells that made his head spin just listening to them and acting in national plays and carrying on her own life elsewhere in the world.

Twilight must have caught him staring, because he was suddenly jarred back into reality by a hoof kicking him beneath the table. He jumped up in his chair, straightening up abruptly. “Huh? Wha—?”

“Shining, are you okay? You were just sort of… staring.” Twilight waved a hoof in front of his face. “It was pretty weird.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine, Twily. I was just… lost in thought.”

“Oh.” Twilight paused, taking her turn to stare as he took a bite of his sandwich. “What were you thinking about?”

“You, us, growing up, the past, that sorta stuff,” he answered in earnest, wiping the crumbs away from his mouth. “I was just remembering all the nights we’d spend up in the summer, staring up at the stars and just talking about everything under Celestia’s sun, telling each other literally everything. We never had secrets or cares or worries back then.”

A warm, nostalgic smile spread across Twilight’s face as she sipped at her drink. “I remember that.”

“I miss those nights…”

“Yeah, me too…”

Nostalgic silence came between the two for a long while. Shining listened to the clinking of glasses and silverware around them. He stared at his sister seated across from him. She was looking very intensely down at her plate. Neither of them were eating anymore, too lost in their own thoughts.

It was Shining Armor who finally broke the silence. “I was a riflepony. Infantry, 1st Canterlot Company. We sailed out of Baltimare for the Griffon Kingdom before the sun had even risen.”

Twilight’s ears perked up when he had begun speaking. The more he said, the more her head lifted up. In her eyes, Shining could see that thirsty look—that yearning to know more. He had her hooked, and he had only said three sentences.

“It took a long time to sail over there. It was dawn by the time we landed. There was so much fog, I could barely see in front of my face,” he said, dredging up memories he would have been very happy leaving buried. He folded his hooves on the table in front of his face and rested his chin on them. “That’s where I met Fleet. He was sitting right beside me on the boat. Life’s funny that way, putting your best friends right next to you at just the right time…”

“What happened next…?” Twilight asked, leaning over the table with anxious excitement. Her eyes glimmered in a way Shining Armor had only ever seen when she was reading a particularly good book.

“Then the fighting started. We hit the beach and charged the city of Skyfall. I tried to stay with Fleet, but that pegasus couldn’t keep his hooves on the ground. He flew off with some other pegasi and I stormed the city with the rest of the army. We rushed through the streets, shooting anything with a gun. There were a lot of griffons, but I was expecting a lot more. I ran into Fleet during the battle again and we led a team through the houses and stores, flushing out any griffons hiding from us. That was our job.

“There was this one house—I’ll never forget it—where I almost got killed…” He paused when he heard Twilight gasp, debating whether to continue and risk scaring her. He decided it was far too late to go back now. “There was this bunch of griffons waiting to jump us. They killed one of our ponies and tried to get me and Fleet too. This griffon, he had me by the neck up against a wall and was choking the life outta me. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t fight… I dropped my gun in the chaos, and I was sure I was dead. Next thing I know, the griffon’s head is exploding right in front of my face. Pow! Fleet took him out… saved my life that day… I’ll never forget the feelings… My heart was racing, I was sweating bullets… I’ll probably always remember the weight of a loaded gun in my hooves, how tight the trigger is when you shoot at another living thing…”

“Shine…” Twilight drifted off, not exactly sure what to even say.

“We took Skyfall in a day. It became our sort of headquarters where all the plans for the invasion were drawn up. It felt pretty damn good knowing we’d driven our enemy out in just one day. Talk about a morale boost, heh… After that, I got hitched to a squad of ponies with Fleet, and we headed out to war. We had a couple of scares. There was this one village, about the size of Hoofington, and we had to get through it to cross a bridge. Before we could get out, the griffons blew up the bridge and we had to fight our way back the way we came.”

“Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?” asked Twilight, abruptly cutting Shining Armor off. Much to his surprise, her tone wasn’t shaking or anxious. She was as calm and collected as ever, simply absorbing his tale. “What changed your mind?”

“I had a change of heart. You’re my sister, Twilight. If I can’t tell you something like this, how can I expect us to be the same way we were way back when?” Shining Armor smiled—truly, genuinely smiled. “I can stop if it’s too much.”

Twilight shook her head with vigorous force. “No, you can’t stop telling the story now! What happened next? How did you get out of the village? Was anypony hurt?”

“Haha! Okay, easy there, Twily! You eat, I’ll talk.”

Obeying her brother’s command to pacify him, Twilight took a large bite out of her sandwich, chewing it slowly. She maintained eye contact with him all the while, pleading with her gaze for him to keep going. Shining Armor cleared his throat, letting the memories consume him again.

“A couple ponies were killed when we fought through the village. Captain Phalanx—he was our squad leader—promoted Fleet and I to sergeants that day. That was the day of the Summer Sun Celebration.”

“The day we defeated Nightmare Moon and found the Elements of Harmony…” Twilight mumbled under her breath.

“Yeah, I heard about that. It’s funny, over in the Kingdom, we didn’t even notice the difference. A couple hours without the dawn kinda goes unnoticed when you’re dodging bullets and explosions and coming down off a combat high,” he said with a smirk. “Now that I look back on it, I’m kinda glad for the extra hours of sleep.”

“Shining!”

“What? Sleep was hard to get over there!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “You’re incorrigible, you know that?”

“I don’t know the meaning of the word.” In truth, he honestly didn’t. “Anyway, we spent the next couple days traveling to Midgard. It’s like the griffon equivalent of Manehattan or Fillydelphia. It’s a big city with a river cutting it in half, but when we found it, it was burning. The army had already hit it. We were just the clean up crew. Things were going pretty normally… until we heard gunshots. Friendly gunshots.”

“There were other ponies still in the city?” Twilight looked positively enthralled.

Shining Armor nodded his head. “That’s what we assumed. We went to go check it out. They were on the other side of the river. I went with a couple other ponies to make sure they were okay, and then…”

He hesitated, the sentence dying on his tongue. Twilight tilted her head to the side, hanging on the edge of his words.

“And then what?”

He licked his dry lips, his eyes darkening a little as his gaze met hers. “…Things got out of hoof…”

“It’s a trap!”

BOOM!

Shining Armor had barely heard the other soldier’s shout before he felt the ground beneath his hooves disappear in thin air. He could feel the cobblestones crumble to dust, and the next thing he knew, he was airborne, his body flung through the air. His world spun like he was on a carnival ride. The screams of his teammates rang out loud in both ears. And then he hit something solid and scraped across endless patches of relentless roughness.

A deafening ringing consumed his hearing and sent sharp stabs of pain through his brain. His vision was a cloudy blur of spinning colors that made him want to puke. His head pounded in time with his heartbeat. It was the only thing keeping him assured that he was still somehow alive.

What the hay just happened…? he thought in a dazed delirium. He struggled to get back to his hooves. Every muscle in his body felt like it had been turned to gelatin. As his vision cleared up, he saw his two companions getting up as well. Behind him, the bridge they had crossed was little more than a smoldering pile of ruins and dust. Beyond that, he could still see his squad through the haze of smoke.

“Colts! Colts! You guys all right?”

Shining Armor turned, spotting the group of soldiers they had been coming to rescue coming to their aid now. The irony tasted bitter in his mouth and slightly metallic. Spitting the flavor out on the ground in a patch of red confirmed that irony tasted a lot like blood.

“We’re good,” he replied, shaking off the tremors still stirring in his muscles. “You ponies oka—“

Three distinctive snaps tore through the air near Shining’s head, making him duck out of reflex. He heard the bullets ricochet off the cobblestone paths. They were still under attack, but from where, he couldn’t tell yet.

“Quick! This way! We gotta get out of the open!” the soldier helping him up shouted.

Far being the one to argue that point, Shining Armor took off down the road with the others in tow. More bullets ripped past them. A glance over his shoulder and he saw their assailants. Four griffons were pursuing them down the road, stopping to take potshots at them. Shining skidded to a halt with a blue pony lugging a sniper rifle and returned fire, forcing the griffons to scatter for cover.

“Hug the walls! Duck in the doorways!” Shining shouted, pushing the sniper to safety under the nearest arch.

The troop of ponies threw themselves under archways and into the doorways of stores, using them as crude cover to engage the griffons. Bullet after bullet flew through the air back and forth in a deadly game of precision and chance. Shining slid behind cover alongside another soldier, one from the other team. Both stallions flinched as a piece of debris flew off from their cover, the broken stone cutting across his cheek.

“Where’s your CO?” he asked the pony, popping out to lay down some suppressive fire.

“We don’t have one anymore!” the pony wailed in fright. “He got picked off by the buzzards a bit back! We’re just a recon team sent back for you guys!”

“Buck! Then who’s in charge?!”

“Nopony, Sergeant!”

“Buck that! Just do what I do and stay alive.”

Shining peeked his head out a little to try and spot the enemy fighters. A bullet flew right past the end of his muzzle, sending him tumbling back to his flank. His partner took his place and poked out, firing four rounds after their attackers. Down a little ways, the other soldiers continued to engage the griffons as well. In the open streets, fighting with this limited amount of cover was far from ideal.

“Why can’t we fight them in the store?” the pony asked as he reloaded his weapon, trading spots with Shining Armor.

“I was kinda hoping my teammates would be helping us by now,” he admitted, firing a couple shots blindly down the street. “If we don’t take them down here, they’ll shoot us in the backs when we run.”

“Yeah, well, fat load of good they’re being right now!”

Shining Armor grit his teeth together. Taking a deep breath to steady his quivering hooves, he leaned out of cover again. Much to his fortune, a griffon had done the same thing, but was targeting a different doorway. Shining squeezed the trigger over and over until he saw the griffon’s body spasm and collapse to the cobblestone.

“Hostile down!” he called out, slipping back into safety to reload his weapon.

The engagement continued for a few more moments, followed by another call of, “Enemy down!” Somepony else had taken out another opponent.

Chewing on his lip, Shining Armor recited a mental prayer in his head. Two down, two to go… They could win this. Just as he popped out to fire again, a cacophony of gunshots erupted down the street. He watched in awe as shards of glass flew out from a storefront and the griffons fell under a hailstorm of bullets. From the broken windows, the other ponies from his squad jumped out into view.

“Clear!” Shining shouted back to his squad, leaving cover to rendezvous with the others. He smiled as he spotted Fleethoof stumbling out of the store to check the griffons. He breathed a huge sigh of relief, thankful they had shown up when they did. Better late than never.

Fleethoof looked up at Shining when he approached, a grim look on his dirt-covered face and a fresh dent in his helmet. “Is this everypony that’s left? Who’s in charge of this squad?”

“I am now,” Shining Armor said, glancing back at his squad as they closed the distance. “They’re a recon team from 2nd Company, sent to find us. Their CO was picked off when we heard the shooting way back.”

“The company was heading up towards Asgard,” one of the ponies from 2nd Company spoke up. “There was only a small force here, so the captain thought most of their troops were holed up at the capital.”

Shining Armor looked over every pony standing on the street. Something was wrong here. There was one pony too few. His eyes narrowed as he searched each face, seeking the one that was missing. Then it hit him.

“Where’s Captain Phalanx?” Fleethoof met his gaze, the pegasus’ blue eyes darkening. The grave expression on his face told Shining Armor the whole story. His heart wrenched in his chest and plummeted into his stomach. The captain was gone. “Oh…”

“We have to get out of this city, meet up with 2nd Company,” Fleethoof said aside to him. “But that sniper’s got the city locked down. We can’t get out unless we get rid of him first.”

“I can take care of that.” Shining Armor turned around, surprised to see the smaller blue unicorn he had pushed to cover stepping up to the plate. The pony wore the cockiest grin Shining had ever seen on his face, but the stallion had stood his ground with him to help the others flee. “The name’s Shot, Sharp Shot. Corporal, 2nd Company, and it’d be my pleasure to make that griffon dead.”

Shining Armor had to keep himself from laughing at the sniper’s demeanor. He was acting like he had just volunteered to deliver a letter next door, not hunt down a crack shot griffon. Fleethoof looked downright skeptical.

“That griffon’s a good shot.”

“I’m a better one,” Sharp Shot remarked, waving his rifle in the air.

“We don’t even know where he is.” Fleethoof’s remark troubled Shining. They didn’t know where the sniper was shooting from. He turned his gaze upward, looking around at all the tall buildings in Midgard. The shooter could literally be roosting anywhere. Suddenly, their slim chances of survival felt even slimmer.

“That’s why it’s your job to flush him out. You just start making your way out of the city. When he shoots, I’ll find him, and I’ll get him.”

Shining Armor looked down again just in time to meet Fleethoof’s questioning gaze. He was looking to him for his approval. All he could do was roll his shoulders in a shrug.

“We don’t have much option,” he pointed out.

Fleethoof scowled, clearly displeased with the lack of alternatives. “All right, Sharp Shot. Let’s see what you can do. What do you need us to do?”

“Just start running. I’ll find a good spot and cover you.”

Before either of them could get another word in edgewise, Sharp Shot was already hauling flank down the street. Shining had to admire the smaller pony’s tenacity and courage. That just left him and Fleethoof to determine their own courses of action. Okay, Shining Armor, it’s your time to shine… he thought, psyching himself up. You’ve been waiting for this day your whole life. All your training is gonna pay off now.

“Okay, Fleet. You wanna go one way and we’ll go the other?” he suggested, wearing his confident smile to hopefully drive his assurance home. They were in charge now, and as much as the notion made Shining Armor shake in his horseshoes, he had no choice. It was time to buck up and act like a stallion. “Keep him distracted until he’s gone. We’ll make for the north gate, and you head to the west, where we came in. You can pick up Sharp Shot then, and we’ll all meet up back at Asgard.”

Much to his delight, Fleethoof’s steely eyes narrowed and he nodded once. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Shining breathed a sigh of relief. If Fleethoof agreed with his plan, then he had double assurance that he was making the right call. The academy had prepared him for every eventuality he could possibly end up in, but learning theory was one thing. Putting it into practice was an entirely different story.

“Shining, watch yourself out there,” Fleethoof said suddenly, catching him off guard. “You’ve got a family to go home to.”

Shining Armor looked at the pony standing before him. In his blue eyes, he could see the determination and loyalty of a great leader—but he could also see the worry and concern that took the heart of him. The times they had mutually saved each other’s lives… This could very well be the last time he ever saw his friend.

He acted on pure emotion alone. His hoof shot out, grabbing Fleethoof by his uniform and pulling him into a tight embrace. Shining felt Fleethoof’s hooves wrap around his back, squeezing him gently in return. No words were exchanged. None were needed. He had all the confidence in the world in his friend’s abilities.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m always careful,” he replied once they pulled apart again. He flashed a wide smile to the pegasus. “You take care of yourself, Fleet. You’ve got others to look after now.”

“You do too, my friend. Now go! We’ve got your backs!”

With a curt nod, Shining Armor glanced back at his squad and waved for them to follow him. He took off running down the street bound northward just as thick raindrops began to pelt the earth. The city was deathly silent without the sounds of combat, the unfamiliar quiet making the tight urban streets feel that much more claustrophobic. Other than the soft patter of rain hitting the cobblestone, there was nothing to be heard.

The crack of a gunshot rang out clear as a bell from a ways away. The sniper was firing on Fleethoof’s squad. Shining Armor’s gut twisted into a knot. He ran with all the speed and strength his body possessed, pushing himself to his limits as he led his squad down the long intersecting streets of Midgard. They were in a block of large apartment buildings now, the tall structures providing cover from the sniper.

They took a corner, running down a wide road towards a towering church. They hadn’t been out of the apartment block for more than a minute before he heard another crack, swiftly followed by a sharp snap as the high caliber round flew past his head, shattering a decaying wooden barrel on the side of the street. Shining Armor yelped and stumbled, recovering a few steps later and hustling faster than ever.

“Keep moving! Don’t slow down!” he called back to his squad just as another bullet went wide, missing them entirely.

The squad ducked behind a long building, taking cover from the sniper. Shining took a moment to get his bearings, listening as the sniper fire resumed. He must have been targeting Fleethoof now. Where in the name of Celestia was Sharp Shot? Somepony was bound to get killed sooner or later.

After a quick check of his compass, Shining took off down a road, calling out, “Come on! This way!”

The cold rain started to fall harder, almost creating a solid sheet of water to push through. His uniform was soaked through, dampening his coat and sending a chill through him to the bone. He shook his wet mane out of his eyes, breathing hard with every clop of his hooves against the stone road. His lungs and muscles burned, but he pushed on, leading the squad down several more winding roads and then taking a turn onto a large thoroughfare. Down the way he could see the large gates, opening up to the northern plains of the Griffon Kingdom.

“We’re almost there!” he shouted in encouragement to his soldiers as they ran for the exit. “Just a little further!”

The shooting had become progressively more frequent, but was no longer in their direction at all. They must have been out of the sniper’s sight. Shining swallowed hard. That meant he was focusing all of his attention on Fleethoof.

Please, Great Alicorn, protect them… Save them…

Another shot rang out, followed almost instantly by another—and then silence took the city once more, just as the ponies reached the destroyed gatehouse. Shining paused beneath the massive stone arch, straining his ears against the rain. He had to hear one more shot—just one more to confirm if the sniper was alive or dead.

The minutes slipped by. No more shooting was heard. The sniper was dead.

Please be alive, Fleet… he thought. Turning away from the ruined city, Shining Armor ran out of Midgard and down the road with the rest of his squad.

“Where are we going, Sergeant?” one of the ponies asked.

“To Asgard,” said Shining, shouting above the downpour. “We’ve gotta regroup with the army. We’ve got a war to get back to.”

“But what about the other ponies, sir? They’re still in the city.”

“I know! I know…” Shining Armor did his best to ignore the pang in his heart. “But there’s nothing we can do. They’re halfway across the city by now. By the time we got there, they’d have moved on, and we’d be the ones left behind. There’s more of them then there are of us. They can look after themselves. Besides… they’ve got a very competent leader.”

I’m not betraying them… Shining Armor told himself over and over as they marched down the road toward Asgard. I’m not betraying them…

Asgard was truly a sight to behold. The massive capital city sat like a monument to griffon power and perseverance. But as commanding as the city was, the colossal Equestrian army that dominated the fields just outside the gates proved to be much more impressive. Shining Armor counted himself lucky to be part of such an intimidating force. The sense of unity and strength it gave him to be amongst the mass of soldiers was a far cry better than the alternative. He almost felt bad for the griffons staring down at them from their high walls.

“Okay, Sarge. Let’s try that shield spell of yours again,” one of Shining’s soldiers shouted out.

Shining Armor rolled his eyes even while a smile made its way over his face. When he had regrouped with the other companies, he had learned that many of 2nd Company’s higher ranking officers had either been killed or wounded. Captain Aegis had placed him in charge of his own platoon. The responsibility came with great burden, but the more time he had gotten to spend with the soldiers milling about outside Asgard, the more he realized that it was everything he had ever hoped for.

“All right, all right,” he murmured, rising to his hooves and facing off with his soldier. He rolled his head, stretching out the muscles in his neck and shoulders. “Go easy on me, colts. The arcanate isn’t easy to deal with.”

The group of soldiers burst into a riot of laughter. “Go easy on you, Sarge? I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“That’s the kind of talk I like to hear.” Shining grinned, tensing his stance. “All right, let’s go, Private.”

The unicorn opposite of him charged up a spell, his horn glowing weakly in its diminished state. Shining waited, eyeing the soldier cautiously. He had to time this perfectly…

The pony released the stun spell, a thin bolt of electricity arcing through the air towards him. Shining Armor’s eyes snapped wide open. He strained to activate his magic, feeling an unseen force tugging at his mind as if trying to wrestle him to the ground. He fought past the resistance, his horn glowing with transparent rose light. A force field matching his magic’s aura color surrounded his body, sealing him in a protective bubble. The stun spell glanced off harmlessly, but even the most basic defensive magic made him wince. A sting of pain stabbed through his temples as he struggled to maintain his spell against the draining effects of the arcanate.

Another soldier stepped up, shooting a similar spell at Shining Armor from a different angle. Shining shifted the majority of his focus to his side, deflecting the spell again. Beads of sweat broke out across his forehead. A third soldier drew his sidearm, shooting the bubble shield once. The bullet disintegrated on impact, leaving the caster unscathed. Shining, however, was feeling the effects of prolonged magic use in the aether devoid land. A wave of nausea hit him like a brick wall and an uncomfortable dizziness and unbalance shook him to the core.

“Damn! You’re getting good at that, Sarge!” the soldier commended, tapping on the bubble with a hoof. “I bet that’d be powerful as hay if we weren’t in this Celestia damned place.”

Shining grunted, shouldering the burden as long as he could. He grinned widely, despite the headache threatening to split his skull. “T-Thanks.”

“Let’s give it one more test.”

“Huh?”

Shining looked up in surprise as the soldier began charging his stun spell again. This time, however, he was directing it at another soldier. His mouth dropped open. He didn’t even know if his spell was strong enough to cast around another pony. But he had no choice, not when there was a lightning bolt suddenly streaking towards his ally.

With a grunt and all of his mental prowess, Shining Armor sent the magenta shield wrapping around his comrade. Again, the spell deflected into nothingness, leaving the pony within unharmed. Shining groaned under the stress. His legs nearly buckled beneath him. His spell dissipated into thin air as his magic died out, leaving him panting for breath and his brow damp with sweat. Around him, his soldiers clapped their hooves together, whooping and cheering for their commanding officer.

“That’s incredible, Sergeant!”

“I don’t think anypony could use that much magic out here!”

“You’re one hay of a fighter, Sarge!”

A wide, triumphant grin split Shining Armor’s lips. He could feel hooves patting him on the back and helping tug him back to an upright position. Somepony levitated a canteen to him, which he happily took and drank greedily from. The cool water sloshed down his throat, chilling and refreshing him from the inside. Ever since his ponies had discovered his latent abilities to cast spells under the effects of arcanate, they had been pushing him, challenging him to use it more and more potently. Each time he did, they would shout and encourage him on, and even though he had nearly collapsed twice performing his spell, the bonding it had created between them was worth the price.

“So how can you do that anyway, Sarge?” one of the soldiers in his platoon asked him once during dinner. “How is your magic so powerful?”

At the time, he had just shrugged and said, “I guess it just runs in the family.” Now he was beginning to believe his own excuse.

“Hey! The princesses are coming back!”

That one simple cry from somewhere in the throng of soldiers sent everypony into a frenzy. They rushed to watch the gates, as they had done every day since the ceasefire and negotiations had begun. While it was driving everypony mad, it had given Shining ample time to practice his shield spell and get to know his allies more. He and Private Gladius shared stories about their little siblings; Gladius was the oldest of three colts, and a hero to his younger brothers. At night, he would join Pilum, Centurion, and Blunderbuss for a game of poker. He spent time talking about growing up in Canterlot with stallions and mares from both coasts of Equestria, and listening to their stories of their foalhoods.

When Shining Armor looked around at the excited ponies searching for their princesses, he didn’t just see a mass of uniform soldiers anymore. He saw faces, names, families… Living, breathing ponies he had come to know. They were his ponies. They were his friends.

“See ’em yet, Sentry?” he called up to the orange pegasus flittering overhead.

“They’re coming down the road now, Sergeant Armor!”

Shining Armor squeezed his way through the crowd of his fellow warriors, eager to catch a glimpse of the princesses. It had become something of a ritual to observe their expressions whenever they left the delegations. Very few details had been released to them, but it had become a company routine to try and guess what had happened based off their reactions. Smiles meant progress had been made. Frowns were less encouraging.

On this day, Shining felt what little hope he had for any progress die a slow, painful death. Celestia looked forlorn, unable to look up at the ponies as they passed by in their chariot. Luna’s face was contorted in a furious scowl. Things had obviously reached a melting point up in the fortress.

From the princesses’ procession, Shining Armor caught sight of a couple pegasi flying out over the crowd. One in particular caught his eye. A flash of crimson darted right over his head, making the sergeant do a double take.

“Fleethoof?!”

But the pony was long gone and out of sight. Shining scoured the sky with his eyes again, desperate for one more glimpse. If he had seen his friend…

No. It’s probably just my mind playing tricks on me…

The crowd began to part, allowing Captain Aegis to step in amongst the throng of infantry. Shining Armor approached slowly, noting the way the officer’s tail drooped and his ears lay flat against his head. The look in his eyes didn’t promise the prospect of good news.

“Fillies and gentlecolts… I am sorry to say this, but there is no other way to put it,” he began, pausing to take a breath and let the crowd simmer down. “King Alaric has ended negotiations with the princesses. As of today, the war will resume.”

All around him, cries of disappointment, anger, and frustration rippled through the ranks like a pebble dropped into a still pond. Pockets of similar shouts of disdain broke out across the bulk of the army. The other officers were spreading the bad news too.

“Well, what do we do now?!” somepony shouted out from the crowd.

“We wait until tomorrow,” Captain Aegis explained calmly. “At dawn, we resume fighting. Spread the word to your soldiers, your brothers and sisters… Everypony is to be ready for the worst first thing tomorrow morning.”

The soldiers slowly began to disperse, still muttering and cursing under their breaths while some screamed profanities at the sky. Shining Armor pushed his way through the rabble to Aegis’ side. He had to know more. He couldn’t just accept that was fact and go tell his ponies without more information.

“Captain, what happened up there? Why did it all fall apart?”

Aegis huffed, spitting indignantly on the dusty ground and popping a cigarette in between his lips. “Alaric wants a war. He won’t rest until he’s satisfied. The princesses tried their best, but he’s impossible to deal with. Feathered bastard…”

“Well, what do we do? How are we supposed to fight the griffons when they have a clear advantage over us with those walls?” he asked.

Aegis pulled Shining Armor close, pushing his head down low. He took a swift glance around before lowering his muzzle to his ear. “Listen to me, sonny. You didn’t hear this from me, but Captain Stratagem said she’s been working on this secret plan of hers. I’m gonna get all the details later, but if it works, we’ll have the city by nightfall tomorrow. Just get your ponies ready for a doozy of a fight. Can you do that for me?”

Shining chewed on his lip as he mulled this new information over. He wanted direly to know what this secret plan was, but right now, all he could do was trust the word of his commanding officer. He gave a vigorous nod of his head.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good lad. Now go. Get ’em ready.”

Turning tail, Shining Armor pushed his way back towards where his platoon had set up camp. If they were needed to be ready for combat, he was going to make sure his ponies were the finest in the army. But first, they had some preparing to do…

That night, Shining Armor spent most of his time sitting up in his tent cleaning and oiling his gun for the umpteenth time. He had done it so many times now that his hooves had begun to work on autopilot, polishing each part with practiced strokes. His eyes flickered over the shiny metal, watching the way it glistened in the orange lamp light while his mind replayed the day’s events and agonized over the possibilities of tomorrow.

After he had told his platoon the disheartening news and ordered them to prepare for anything, he set to work on getting himself ready. His eyes darted over to his kit resting on the ground near the tent’s opening. His magazines were filled and ready to go. His sidearm was cleaned, polished, and loaded. He had even gone so far as to procure a couple hoof grenades early, just in case. He was ready.

Outside, his ponies had been busy preparing as well. Weapons were checked, canteens were filled, and letters were written and shipped out. He was proud of the initiative everypony had willingly taken on. Come hell or high water, they would be ready.

Now in the early hours of the dark morning, everything was silent and still. Only Shining Armor remained awake, replacing the final few pieces of his gun and checking the action. Everything slid smoothly together, just waiting to be put to use. Smiling at his handiwork, he set the gun down gently beside his bedroll and lay down across the ground, staring up at the drab green tarp of his tent with blank, distant eyes.

The quiet gave him time to let his mind wander. His thoughts flew far away, back to Equestria. He thought about his family: his parents sleeping soundly in their home in Canterlot, and of his sister, no doubt now settled in at Ponyville. He made a mental note to go visit her once he returned home. He thought about his friends from high school and the academy, the ones that had been lucky enough to become castle sentinels. He wondered if they thought about him, out here fighting a war, and wondered if they were jealous that he was actually seeing some action. The idea made the corners of his mouth curl up in a little smile.

His mind drifted back to high school, before the Royal Guard Academy. He thought about Cadence, and the last time he had seen her. The smile slowly slipped off his face as the memories played in the back of his eyes like a movie. Their graduation day… She had told him about going off to finishing school to become an ambassador for Equestria. He was heading to basic training. He knew in his heart what that meant. It had broken him at the time. All the words left unsaid haunted his mind like ghosts…

He remembered the way she smiled at him, the way her hooves felt tightening around his back as they embraced that one last time. His heart fluttered in his chest, and the smile returned to his face. He could recall the exact way her voice sounded when she had said goodbye… the tone, the inflection, everything. He would have to seek her out once he returned home as well. There was lost time he had to make up for.

Boom!

The ground beneath him shook so violently, Shining Armor sprung to his hooves. What was going on? Was it an earthquake? Did the Griffon Kingdom even get earthquakes? He grabbed his gun, jamming a fresh magazine in with his magic while tossing on his kit and pushed his way out into the cool morning air. The dawn sun was just peeking over the horizon, throwing golden-orange light across the city of Asgard.

That was when Shining Armor realized it wasn’t just the sun illuminating the city. Bright orange flames flickered from the ruins of the large gatehouse as billowing black smoke rose to the heavens. The walls of Asgard, which had once been the very definition of impenetrable, had been blown apart, reduced to little more than an obstacle course of charred stone and twisted metal.

Around him, the rest of his platoon, and the rest of the army, rose quickly to see what had happened. Nopony looked like they knew what had happened. Nopony looked like they really cared about the why. Shouts and cheers of victory rang out loud and proud from every soldier in the army. A wide grin took residence on his lips. They had their opportunity. It was time to take the city.

“Move! Move! Keep your hooves moving!”

Shining Armor’s command was the simplest he could think to give. Stay alive. He clambered over the smoldering debris of what had once been Asgard’s main gate, the powerful, resilient structure now nothing more than charred pieces of stone strewn across the field. He and his platoon rushed into the city behind another company, dipping and dodging gunfire left, right, and center. Many of the griffons at the first tier of the city had been killed in the ensuing explosion, but the survivors made it clear they weren’t going down without a fight.

Shining led his platoon down the road as the company ahead branched off around the district, picking off any survivors brave enough to make a stand. To his surprise, the second gate was obliterated as well, as was the third, and the fourth, and every gate after that! Whoever had sabotaged the city had done an amazing job at leaving the griffons’ defenses in shambles.

“Keep to the sides! Heads down, eyes up!” he shouted above the strident gunfire. Moving as fast as he could along the streets, Shining took cover behind a fruit stand, using it as a makeshift bunker to lay down some suppressive fire for the rest of the platoon as they advanced up. He picked off two griffons in the air, watching as they hit the ground with satisfying thuds. Blunderbuss ran up beside him, helping to pick off the griffon forces as they swooped down over the invading Equestrians, raining bullets down on their heads from above.

He grit his teeth and ducked his head down lower as the overhead gunfire smacked into his cover. Pieces of melons and otter fruits rained down on his head as they absorbed the impact of the bullets. A line of pegasi troops rose from the mass of ponies in response, clashing with the griffons in midair and taking their attention away in. It was enough to buy them some breathing room.

Shining Armor concentrated his fire on the soldiers coming down from the upper levels of the city to engage them, taking time to steady his rifle on the stand. Each shot he took found its mark in another griffon’s chest or head, crumpling them like they were made of straw. Blunderbuss had settled for a more broad spread of shooting, scattering the griffon formations where he could. The rest of the platoon had worked their way up from cover to cover, taking the griffons down as they came closer, each side pushing a little closer together.

“Okay, let’s move up!” Shining said, patting Blunderbuss’ shoulder.

Both stallions leaped over the broken stand and made a mad dash down the street, running past the lines of their hunkered down allies. Another wave of griffon forces made their way down the ramp towards them, forcing Shining Armor to grab Blunderbuss and tumble behind the a nearby wall. Bullets bounced off the ground where they had been standing, chipping the cobblestone streets and edges of the wall. An orange blur landed beside them, and Shining exchanged a nod with Flash Sentry.

“Got a plan, Sergeant?” Flash asked while shoving a new magazine into his rifle.

“Yep. Frag!” he shouted, leaning out from cover to lob a hoof grenade with his magic, the aura carrying the explosive across the distance to land at the feet of the griffon squad. A cloud of smoke consumed them, and as it cleared, only the singed bodies of the birds were left lying in the street. “Move up! Rush the gate!”

There was a lull in the griffon forces as Shining Armor’s platoon led the charge up the ramp, leading the rest of 2nd Company up behind them. A large force of pegasi flew over the walls to the second level, already engaging the griffons there. Shining only stopped when he had a clear shot on a hostile in the air, his teammates helping pick off any enemies in front of their advance. For the bulk of the griffon army, the capital was surprisingly lightly guarded. He had been expecting massive formations of troops to greet their enemy at the gates. As it stood, the fighting was barely worse than Skyfall.

The second level was cleared with speed and ease. 2nd Company pressed ahead to the third level, and then the fourth within a matter of an hour. The fighting began to turn much less traditional and more guerilla. As he had fought in Skyfall, Shining led his platoon through the buildings, killing the griffon snipers and marksmen lying in wait to ambush the rest of the army while the company pushed its way to the higher levels.

Running past the demolished towers on the fifth level to the sixth to rejoin the advancing company, Shining Armor finally saw why there was a predominant lack of griffon resistance. Two large structures lay in ruin, blown to smithereens by powerful explosives. The sickening stench of burning flesh and burned gunpowder hung heavy in the air on this level. These must have been the griffon barracks… he reasoned, noting the piles of charred and disfigured bodies strewn about the wreckage. Whoever did this really took a toll on them…

“By Celestia’s sweet flank…” Centurion muttered, looking over the grim scene with Shining. “The griffons don’t stand a snowball’s chance in Tartarus after this sorta devastation. Hot damn…”

“Yeah, but I think we just won the war,” Shining Armor said, looking up at the citadel towering over the city. “Well, maybe not yet. Come on, we still have a tyrant to deal with!”

A large amount of gunfire erupted up ahead across the expansive military plaza. 2nd Company was trying to push its way up to the final level of Asgard—to Alaric’s stronghold—as a plethora of black-dressed griffon elite soldiers began struggling back. Dense barricades had been set up, and the griffons were fighting tooth and nail to keep the ponies out of the castle. Both sides were suffering considerable losses bottlenecked on the narrow ramp way.

“We gotta fight our way through that?” Blunderbuss pointed at the grisly scene, shaking his head. “Nuh-uh. I ain’t that stupid.”

“Is there any other way?” Flash Sentry questioned.

Shining Armor took a moment to assess the situation, looking around for another solution. The ramp looked like the only way up to the top level—unless they had learned how to fly. Or knew somepony who could.

“Yeah, I got an idea.” Shining pointed up to the wall surrounding the seventh tier. “Flash, can you get up there and toss a rope or something down? We could scale the wall and get the drop on them.”

Flash Sentry looked up at the high wall and nodded, his eyes alight with fire. “You got it, Sergeant!”

Once he and the other pegasi was gone, Shining and the rest of his platoon made their way over to the wall. He paced nervously on the ground, constantly glancing up at the walls. They waited, and waited. Nothing happened.

Come on, Sentry… Come on…

Shining Armor immediately felt regret stab him straight through the heart. What if Flash had been caught? What if he was hurt, or dead? He had just sent his ponies to their deaths. He sucked in a deep breath, holding it in his lungs until they burned for oxygen. No. He had more faith in them than that.

“Heads up!”

Shining Armor looked up just as a coil of rope hit him in the head. He stumbled backwards in shock, looking up at the waving pegasus on the wall with a wide grin. “Well done! Okay everypony, let’s do this!”

He wound the rope tightly around his front hooves, tugging at it to make sure the hold was secure. The snug fit of the coarse rope against his fur felt like a safety net as he put his rear hooves on the wall and began pulling himself up step by step. The process was slow and arduous, and every time he heard the snap of a bullet he was convinced he was going to die suspended in midair. No unicorn should die in the air! he thought, the notion encouraging himself to work faster.

A glance down confirmed that his team was following him—and that he was about halfway up the wall, at least thirty feet in the air. Swallowing back the bile rising in his throat, he turned his gaze back up to the sky. He had to keep going.

Don’t look down, Shining… Don’t look down… Just think happy thoughts… Twily… Cadence… Fleet… Dammit, why couldn’t Fleet be doing this instead of me? He’s the one with wings!

The sound of something hurdling through the air suddenly came whistling down near him. A flaming barrel collided with the wall a short distance away, sending a tremor through the stone as the gunpowder within exploded. Shining clenched his teeth so tight he bit his tongue, his hooves scrabbling at the rope to keep himself held in place as it swayed violently. Below him, he heard a couple of screams. Chunks of stone flew around him, the dust and debris threatening to choke him and send him plummeting to an untimely demise.

“Keep climbing! We’re almost there!” he shouted back, not daring to look behind him for fear of losing his nerve. This job was proving to be more and more dangerous by the minute.

Hoof over hoof, Shining Armor worked his way up and up and up until his hooves finally grasped the edge of the wall. Flash Sentry grabbed his other hoof, hoisting him up to safety on top of the wall. Shining exhaled heavily, breathing deep and slow to combat the spinning vertigo he was suffering. He heard another pony make it to the top, then saw Centurion step past him and vomit. He didn’t like heights either, it seemed. Lending a hoof to Flash, they pulled the rest of the platoon up one by one. Once everypony was up, Shining was able to see three bodies lying at the base of the wall, splattered and smashed against the ground. They had fallen when the wall was attacked.

Shoving his grief down for the time being, he whistled to his ponies and led them down the wall to where the destroyed gatehouse waited, along with the griffon troops. From their elevated perch, they could see the positions the elites had taken behind debris. They were holding back 2nd Company, keeping them in check. Not for long.

“Give it to ’em, colts!” Shining shouted and unloaded on the exposed griffons.

The wall lit up with gunshots from Shining’s platoon. Under the unyielding assault from behind, the griffon forces were cut down rapidly, the remaining survivors quickly becoming overwhelmed by the advancing soldiers from the front. 2nd Company cheered as they stormed the courtyard. Shining Armor watched with pride. In amongst the troops, Captain Aegis looked up at the young stallion with a nod.

“That was one damn fine plan, Sarge,” Centurion complimented him, slapping his back with a hoof. “Just don’t ever make me climb a rope again.”

Shining Armor chuckled and reloaded his rifle. “No promises. Now come on, we’ve got a fight to finish!”

Storming into the grand vestibule of Asgard’s citadel felt surreal, like a dream. Shining Armor gazed around the enormous structure, eyeing the dark stonework and domed ceilings. Stray gunfire echoed down the spacious corridors branching off in either direction, but the foyer itself was quiet. 2nd Company had done a fine job of clearing out any resistance at the entrance with proficiency.

“Sergeant Armor.” Shining turned to face a dirt-covered Captain Aegis addressing him, a cigarette clenched tightly between his teeth as he exhaled a heavy cloud of smoke. “That was some bucking good work out there, sonny.”

Shining Armor saluted his officer. “Thank you, sir.”

“Drop that, son. Celestia damn, you know how many griffons would give their left wings to grease an officer? I bucking swear... What I do need is for you and your platoon to sweep the second floor while I take the rest of the company through the ground level and clean up the rest of this bird crap. Think you can handle that?”

“Yes, sir.”

Aegis tipped his head in a semblance of a nod and tossed his burned-out cigarette to the floor. “Good. I expect to see you back here tonight. I don’t need anymore dead heroes.”

“Don’t worry, sir. I don’t plan on getting killed. Not today at least.”

Aegis uttered a husky laugh and headed down a corridor after a squad of ponies, leaving Shining Armor to his task. He looked back at what remained of his platoon. Twenty-six of the finest ponies he could have asked for, all of them somepony special. He vowed then and there to get them all home.

“Well, you heard the Captain! Second floor! Let’s move, platoon!”

The soldiers chanted a ‘hooah’ and marched up the stairs with their leader, splitting up down the two corridors leading out of the foyer. Shining Armor took half of his soldiers down the right wing, sweeping the hall with practiced movements and rehearsed tactics as they weaved through the castle. Halfway down the corridor, two doors flew open on either side of the squad. Griffon elites swarmed out on either side of them, ambushing the ponies and trapping them between two inescapable fronts.

Shining Armor had just a split second to process the trap. Guns were raised on his surprised ponies. The griffons had them dead to rights.

Dropping to a tensed crouch, Shining focused his magic against the arcanate’s waning pull. His horn sparked to life the moment the griffons pulled their triggers, gunshots erupting like explosions in the cramped corridor. Flash Sentry flinched and covered his face with his hooves. Centurion just closed his eyes, waiting for death to claim him.

Nothing came.

Shining Armor grunted as he struggled to maintain his shield around the dozen ponies, the bullets bursting into clouds of sparkling dust on impact. The griffons recoiled from the sight, taken aback by the sight of the magic barrier.

“Return fire!” commanded Shining, dropping his shield abruptly. The ponies immediately opened fire on the startled griffons, cutting them down in a bloody swath in a matter of seconds.

“That was some fast thinking, Sergeant,” Flash remarked, helping the trembling Shining Armor back to his hooves. “You all right?”

He nodded his head once. “Yeah… Yeah, I’m good. Come on, we need to keep moving.”

The corridor rounded a corner near the edge of the castle, winding around the side of the structure. Tall glass windows overlooked Asgard and the plains down below. Through the thin glass, Shining watched as the Equestrian army swarmed over the city, smashing through what remained of the griffon forces. Most of the city was burning, leaving the enemy no place to hide from them. The sight—a sight Shining had thought would please him—only made his heart ache. So much suffering in so little time… But they had a duty to do.

A door beside him burst outward abruptly, catching Shining Armor off guard. A solid mass collided with him and he grunted, his assailant sending him tumbling backwards straight through a window. He heard and felt the glass shatter against his back, the sharp shards slicing at his uniform and skin as the ground disappeared and gravity took over. Shining reached out with flailing hooves, praying for anything to break his fall. He caught something soft out of blind luck. His sudden rapid descend came to a halt with him dangling in the air high above the cliff face of the Asgardian mountains.

With his heart slamming into his ribcage from within and his lungs inhaling deep drafts of air, Shining Armor took in the danger he was in. He was hanging perilously over certain death, the curtains from around the window clutched in between his scrabbling hooves and clenched teeth. Gunfire had started back in the hall. His squad was fighting something. A weight was holding onto his legs, trying to drag him down. Turning his gaze downward, he saw a griffon with a bandaged wing grasping at his fetlocks. The razor-like talons cut through his fur, scratching into his skin and sending shocks of electric pain up his leg.

Glaring down at his enemy, Shining Armor’s hoof swatted at his hip, aiming for his pistol. The griffon let go of one of Shining’s hooves, drawing a wicked-looking curved knife. Shining saw the steel shine brilliantly in the sunlight and felt his blood run cold. His hoof bumped the edge of his holster, but swung away as the griffon took a swipe at him. He felt the blade cut away a small patch of fur from his flank. Bringing his hoof back for another pass, he managed to grasp his pistol and slide it out of its home, aiming half blindly as the griffon swung his talon at him again.

The gun went off and the bullet struck the griffon in his shoulder, making his squawk in pain. The grip on his hoof loosened, and then vanished entirely. Shining heard the scream and watched as the griffon plunged down the cliff, flapping his crippled wing in a dire attempt to save himself. Time seemed to slow down. He stared at the display until the griffon’s form finally crashed against the rocks, blood splattering messily around his broken corpse.

“Hang on, Sarge! We got you!”

Shining Armor looked up and felt relief wash over him while Centurion and Flash Sentry pulled him back up into the safety of the castle. He spat the musty drapes out of his mouth, coughing and gasping for air. He was half-tempted to kiss the floor, he was so happy to be back on solid ground.

“We’ve got gunfire up ahead!” Gladius called back from further down the hall.

Shaking off the tremors running through his body, Shining Armor gathered himself up off the floor and tore down the hallway like a bat out of hell. Sure enough, following the corridor round another corner, gunshots could be heard coming loud and clear from behind a pair of large doors dead ahead. He charged the doors, his horn illuminating and flinging the doors open as the squad charged into the fray.

The doors opened up to the throne room of the castle. The large chamber was made of the same dark stone as the rest of the citadel, with red carpets covering the floors. An ostentatiously ornate golden throne sat on a pedestal at the other end of the room. Across the space, the rest of the platoon had started engaging the griffon elites holding the throne room. Bodies already lined the floor. They had apparently put up one hell of a fight.

“Hey, it’s the others!”

“Let’s lend ’em a hoof,” Shining said, bringing his rifle to bear and dropping two griffons with a quick burst of gunfire.

The griffons cried out and tried to maneuver behind cover from both fronts. None existed, leaving the failing griffons always exposed on one side or another. In a state of desperation, the griffons began shooting at anything that moved. Bullets snapped past Shining’s head, forcing him to duck behind a colonnade while returning fire.

Although the sounds of combat were deafening, nothing could block Shining Armor’s ears from the wet smack of a bullet striking flesh, followed by the guttural sound of a choking cry. His head snapped over and could feel the blood drain from his face. Gladius was falling backward, a hoof grasping at a hole in his chest. He hit the ground with an audible thud and ceased moving. Gritting his teeth, Shining emptied the rest of the bullets in his magazine to cover his rush over to his fallen comrade.

“Gladius!” He looked down at the wounded pony, grabbing his uniform in his teeth and dragging him back behind cover. “Stay with me, Private. Stay with me!”

Gladius coughed up a mouthful of blood, the viscous red fluid dribbling down his chin. He stared up at Shining Armor, gasping for breath and lifting a quivering hoof to his platoon leader. Shining swallowed back a lump in his throat, taking his friend’s hoof in his and squeezing it. He watched Gladius’ eyes dilate and glaze over, and then his grip on his hoof went slack. The pony died without a word. His aching heart wrenched in his chest.

Clenching his jaw, Shining turned on the griffons, chambering the first new round in his gun and letting his fury fly in a stream of gunfire. One by one the griffons dropped dead until none remained standing. The throne room was torn asunder, blood staining the carpets darker shades of red.

Shining Armor lowered his weapon with a hard exhale and trotted across the floor at his own pace, studying the layout and decor of the room. Each body he passed was studied closely, looking for one casualty in particular. The rest of his platoon began flipping over the face-down bodies for identification.

He scowled, muttering, “Alaric’s not here…”

“How did he get away?” asked Flash Sentry, scratching his head. “There’s no other way out of the city.”

“Not that we know of. He probably had some secret passage or tunnels or something to escape.” Shining Armor tried his best to not let the frustration and disappointment tarnish his mood. “We’ll find him sooner or later. There’s only so far he can run. Besides, we have Asgard now. This war is over.”

“Not yet,” Centurion noted with a hum in his voice.

Shining scrunched his forehead in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“In traditional warfare, a fight isn’t over until the enemy captures the capital.” He pointed with his hoof up at the ceiling. “A capital is considered captured when its flag is taken down.”

Shining Armor followed his friend’s gesture up to the vaulted ceiling. A grin split across his face. He was actually going to capture a city.

“Well, what are we waiting for then? Let’s end this war!”

“There’s some stairs over there behind the throne. I bet they’ll take us to the roof.”

Shining didn’t need to be told twice. In a white blur, the stallion was sprinting across the throne room, leaping over debris and bodies to a spiraling staircase just behind the throne. Taking the steps two at a time, he worked his way up and up, his ears pricking up upon hearing the thundering of hooves right behind him. They were following him. His grin widened. He had successfully led a military assault against the capital of a powerful nation. He was riding the high of battle and triumph.

The tower of stairs came to an apex at a high spire above the citadel. Nothing was in sight, save for the flagpole standing high above the city, and all of the kingdom. The black banner of Alaric’s reign flew nobly in the wind that rushed about the tower. Shining Armor eyes it with rabid dissonance, then walked over to the edge of the tower. From the parapet, he stared down at the tiny figures of the Equestrians overrunning the city. His eyes sparkled with pride and he smiled.

Pegasi began to flutter around the tower, cheering as Shining and his squad surrounded the flag like a gang. A couple began snapping photographs, the flashes bursting brilliant light while Shining grasped the rope with his magic and pulled—slowly. Inch by inch, the flag descended down the pole. The mass of soldiers on the ground far below became a clamor of victorious shouts as the flag disappeared from sight. Once it was within reach, Shining Armor reached up and grasped the material of the flag with his hooves, memorizing the texture of the woven fabric. His eyes narrowed and leered at the family crest, reviling everything it had stood for. He thought about the sacrifices the ponies he knew and cared about had made. He thought of the lives lost and the blood shed. All around him, the other ponies leaned in to lend their hooves, grabbing at whatever parts of the flag they could reach. And then they yanked with all their might.

The flag ripped away from the pole, folding in on itself and crumpling to a mass of cloth on the floor. The shouts below grew more fervent and loud. Standing atop the highest point of the Griffon Kingdom, seeing the world from Alaric’s eyes, Shining Armor watched the morning sun hover in the eastern sky, casting a golden glow across everypony in Asgard. The light that had once blinded the tyrant king now bathed his enemies in the radiant warmth of victory and exuberance.

“We did it, everypony…” Shining Armor sighed happily, the indomitable smile of a champion perched upon his lips, the life burning in his cerulean eyes, and the sunlight making his white coat sparkle with silver highlights. “We won…”

“Sergeant. Hey, Sergeant. Wake up.”

Blackness turned to bright sunlight in an unexpected instant. Shining Armor groaned, rubbing the sleep from his aching eyes. It took a couple rapid blinks to adjust his vision to the daylight, but when his eyes finally settled, he sat up and saw Flash Sentry leaning over him. Shining looked around slowly, analyzing the wooden cart filled with ammunition he was lying in. That was right, he had caught a nap in the weapons cache. The long road from Asgard back to Skyfall had taken its toll on the battle-weary stallion.

“Where are we?” he asked, his tone muddled and groggy as he stretched the tenseness out of every muscle along his back.

“Skyfall, Sergeant. We’re just coming up to the city now,” said Flash, leaning over the edge of the cart as it rambled down an uneven road, swaying and rocking to and fro.

Shining Armor groaned again and rolled over onto his belly, then rose to a sitting position. Sure enough, the familiar walls of Skyfall were coming up fast. Up ahead, the majority of the army filed into the city while they brought up the rear.

“So you’re famous now.”

“Huh?”

“They published your picture in the newspaper, Sergeant Armor.”

Shining Armor was truly perplexed. “What are you talking about?”

Flash Sentry smirked a half-cocked smile and reached over, grabbing a newspaper and passing it to him. He unfolded the thin paper, turning it till he found the front page. The headliner announced the end of the war, with a grainy black and white photograph of him lowering the Asgard flag accompanying it.

“Everypony knows you’re a war hero now, Sergeant.” Flash Sentry smiled a tad wider. “You earned it.”

Shining gave a crooked grin and tossed the paper aside. “We all earned it, Sentry. I’m just ready to get back home. Three months away has made me pretty homesick.”

“I hear ya…” Flash Sentry acceded. “I miss Equestria too.”

“You got somepony to go home to?” Shining threw a sideways glance at his companion, raising a brow curiously.

“Just family and friends. I don’t have a special somepony if that’s what you mean.”

“Don’t have a special somepony yet, you mean,” he corrected the pegasus with a chuckle. “You’re a war hero too. I bet you’ll be getting some attention yourself once you tell a few good stories.”

Flash Sentry made an elaborate gesture of rolling his blue eyes. “Well, it won’t be half the attention you’re going to be getting, Mister Front-Page-News. I bet you could even get a date with royalty now.”

Shining Armor felt his cheeks flush with warm. The faintest traces of a smile turned the corners of his mouth while visions of Cadence flashed before his eyes again.

A wide grin made its way across Flash’s face. “Hey, maybe I could get a princess too.”

Shining laughed and said, “Oh yeah, maybe in an alternate universe. You know, I—”

An inexplicable explosion caught the immediate attention of both stallions. A second explosion rang out ahead within the city, followed by bursts of heavy gunfire. Shining Armor exchanged a look with Flash Sentry. They grabbed their weapons, loaded them, and leaped from the cart, taking off sprinting down the road toward Skyfall. All around them, the other soldiers had followed a similar train of thought, all grabbing guns and running towards the sounds of combat and carnage.

“What the hay is going on?!” Shining demanded to know.

“Sounds like the griffons aren’t giving up without a struggle,” Flash Sentry muttered.

“They must’ve taken the city back when we were heading to Asgard.” A dark thought suddenly dawned on him. “Oh buck… Our boats are still on the shore.”

Flash Sentry looked back, meeting his eyes with a terrified gaze. He understood what that meant too. If the griffons had taken Skyfall back, they probably destroyed or sabotaged their ships too. They’d be trapped in the Griffon Kingdom.

“We’ve gotta get in there, Sergeant!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice. Come on, double time!”

The demolished gates of Skyfall passed by around the two stallions. They hurried as fast as their hooves could carry them across the expansive courtyard of the government district, leaping over the fallen bodies of griffons and ponies alike. Some looked to Shining as if they had been there for a while. How long ago did the griffons take the city back? he pondered briefly.

A majority of the Equestrian army had pushed its way down to the fourth tier. Gunshots and fighting were much more clearly audible up head as he and Flash bolted down the ramp to the next level. Everywhere he looked, the bodies of the black-garbed griffon elite soldiers lay strewn haphazardly around. Realization dawned on Shining Armor. The griffons left fighting weren’t the actual army. They were the diehard loyalists of Alaric’s regime, preferring to eat a bullet than lay down their arms.

When a bullet snapped back Shining Armor’s ear, he was more than happy to oblige that choice. He clenched his jaw and dove into a roll behind a stack of barrels. Leaning out of cover, he let loose a burst of gunfire into a couple griffons perched up on a roof. He motioned to Flash Sentry and the two took off down the road again. A window next to him exploded outward and a griffon was hurled outward onto the street. Before he could get up again, two ponies from within gunned him down without mercy. Shining sidestepped around the body and continued on his way.

The resistance didn’t seem very large by the way the army was advancing so swiftly through the city, but the fighting was no less intense than any he had become used to. What they lacked in numbers, the griffon elites made up for with raw skill. Unfortunately for them, raw skill didn’t stop a bullet. Shining Armor proved this as he put two shots into a griffon’s chest, storming to the next ramp and proceeding to the third level.

Distant explosions rang out all of a sudden, much too far away to be a part of their combat. Shining furrowed his brow, trying to place the sound. The lower gate of Skyfall disappeared in a gigantic eruption, stone and griffon corpses flying everywhere as they came tumbling down. Several structures around the lower levels of the city vanished in clouds of dust as well, crumbling like stale gingerbread houses. He looked fixedly out at the sea, spotting two massive ships floating just off the coast. The Equestrian flag flew proudly from their masts while another volley of cannon fire smashed into the shattered city, routing the griffons right up into the wall of Equestrian troops.

Shining Armor smiled so wide that his cheeks began to ache. Reinforcements had arrived to bring them home. Rowboats were already launching from the sides of the warships and were making their way hastily to the shore. From his vantage point, Shining watched as a group of griffons flew out to engage them and were cut down over the crushing blue waters with ease. The griffons were fighting a losing battle.

“Come on! We’ve got ’em trapped!” Shining shouted above the din of battle. “Push them till they break! Fight your way home, everypony!”

Battle shouts resonated from the weary soldiers, all ready to go home. One more obstacle in their way wasn’t going to stop them. Shining Armor took the lead of the ponies pushing forward, popping two or three rounds into each griffon foolish enough to step out and face them. Above his head, pegasi danced around airborne griffons, the deadly aerial combat sending bodies crashing to the ground all around him. They were halfway across the large third-level market district, and the griffon resistance seemed to be faltering.

Gunshots reverberated from up ahead, yet none of the bullets came their way. The other Equestrian troops… Shining recognized. All the remaining enemy soldiers were now sandwiched between a rock and a hard place: namely, two fronts of one powerful beast of an army. Soldiers swarmed forward ahead of him, rushing through buildings to clear them and end the fight as quickly as it had started.

That was when Shining Armor caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye. He averted his gaze from the fight long enough to see a squad of griffons rushing away down a side street. His eyes narrowed. He would be damned if he let any amount of them get away if he could stop them.

“You four ponies, with me,” he called, pointing out four soldiers and taking them along with Flash Sentry down after the griffons.

The ponies pursued the avians down the narrow streets of Skyfall, weaving between buildings and in and out of alleyways, following whatever glances they could catch of their foes. They seemed to be working their way around the edges of the battle, just barely skirting actual combat. The gunfire had begun to slowly fade away. The fight was coming to a close.

Just when Shining was about to lose hope in his hunt, the squad rounded a corner and he saw the griffons running into a house. The door slammed shut behind them. They had them now.

“Get some guns on that house,” he ordered. “They won’t be getting away this time.”

Shining Armor took cover behind an overturned cart. Flash Sentry came to a crouch beside him. The other soldiers found their own refuge spaced out around the front of the building, their weapons leveled on the windows and door.

“Griffons! By the authority of the Equestrian Royal Guard, I order you to come out and surrender!”

The small plaza was silent for a while. Despite his command, nothing happened. Shining licked his dry lips, tasting faint traces of gunpowder and sweat on his skin and in the air. His nostrils burned with the smell of it.

Then a pane of glass from a window broke outward. Shining saw the barrel of a gun poke out and made the connection before the first shot was even fired. The bullets smacked harmlessly into the dense wood of the cart. He heard his teammates opening fire on the griffon on the first floor, even as more fire came from the house. He poked his head up, resting his rifle on the cart for balance while putting round after round straight through the windows at his opponents.

The gunfight was intense and wild, but was over as fast as it had begun. Not a single thing stirred from within the house. Shining frowned in confusion. He was sure he had counted five griffons going in. They had only seen three in the fight. Where were the others?

“Move up. Breach and clear.”

At his order, Flash Sentry sprinted up to the door, taking position on one side. Once he had made it safely, Shining ran over to join him, followed closely by the others. He gave the nod to the pegasus and he kicked the door in. The soldiers rushed into the cramped little home, sweeping wide across the entryway and living room. Shining Armor paused, hearing a muted thump around the corner that led to the rest of the house.

He held up a hoof, stopping his team and crept towards the corner. His heart beat fast and strong, his hooves flexing against his weapon. Just as his shoulder touched the next doorway, he spun around with lightning-fast speed. The next thing he knew, he had a gun pointed in his face while shoving the barrel of his rifle into the face of a crimson pony. It took Shining Armor’s mind a moment to register everything, and when it did, he became aware that he knew the pony.

“Shining Armor.”

He recognized that voice. He knew that face and those blue eyes and that messy blonde mane.

“Fleethoof?” Shining gave an incredulous chuckle and both ponies lowered their weapons. “I can’t believe it! It’s really you!”

Fleethoof locked just as relieved to see him. “I can’t tell you how good it is to see you again, my friend.” His eyes glanced past Shining Armor. “All of you.”

“I saw you at those summit meetings in Asgard, but I lost you after that,” he said, still beaming with delight. “I thought you’d been lost.”

“I saw you taking down the flag at Asgard. I thought you were gone too!”

Both ponies laughed, and then turned their heads up when gunshots came from upstairs. Shining’s eyes narrowed. There were still griffons alive in the house. His gaze dropped, meeting Fleethoof’s once again. A smirk crossed his lips at the prospect of fighting side-by-side with his best friend again, his practiced hooves loading a fresh magazine into his weapon.

“You got my back?” Shining asked. Fleethoof just grinned and reloaded his gun as well.

“As long as you’ve got mine.”

Both soldiers made their way toward the stairs, marching swiftly up them. The second floor was little more than a narrow hallway and two doors. Shining Armor ran down to the furthest one while Fleethoof took position at the closest. They exchanged a look and nodded.

Shining Armor brought his hoof into the center of the wooden door at the same time as his partner. Both came crashing inward with a shattering of wood. Three griffons occupied the tiny bedroom. Relying solely on reflex and instinct, he brought his rifle to bear, putting two rounds into one griffon, and then the next. The third was running for the window, his wings folding flat to his body as he dove out through the glass. Shining studied the dark feathers and cold onyx eyes as the griffon disappeared into the air.

Alaric… That was Alaric!

“Buck! Alaric got away!” he swore, slamming his hoof into the windowsill.

“Move!”

Shining had only a moment to register his friend’s order before he was out the window, his wings shooting out as he took to the sky. He watched with wide eyes and high hopes as his friend took off after the tyrant king.

“Go get him, Fleet!” he shouted after the pegasus, then turned as the other soldiers came running into the room. “Fleet’s gone after Alaric. We have to follow them. We won’t let this son of a bitch get away this time!”

With nothing short of mad determination, Shining Armor flew down the stairs and back out into the streets of Skyfall. The fighting on the ground had all but ended now, but the war in the air raged on. The pegasi were carving through the griffon troops, yet it was still an unmediated mess of combat. Without cover or direction, each soldier circled and dove around one another, wrestling between life and death. It was a spectacle of beautiful chaos to behold.

Shining Armor ran blindly through the streets, his head and eyes turned skyward to catch any sight of Fleethoof and Alaric. For what felt like eons he just ran and ran, scanning every face and fur color, looking for red. And then, there! A streak of crimson in the sky caught his attention. Fleethoof was grappling with Alaric in midair, the two exchanging blows whilst struggling to get the upper hand in the fight.

He sucked in a deep breath and brought his rifle to bear. The shot was far—possibly the furthest he had ever tried to take. With other pegasi and griffons darting in and out of the way, his aim had to be perfect. If he could get one good shot off on Alaric, he could help Fleethoof put an end to this. His eyes focused, pupils dilating while his hoof flexed against the trigger. An opening passed by for a brief second…

And then Shining saw Alaric claw along the length of Fleethoof’s body with his talons and all of his equipment fell to the earth. In the next moment, Alaric had sent his foe spiraling through the air with a wicked punch and was fleeing out of sight once more with Fleethoof in hot pursuit. Shining spat out a curse for missing his chance and rushed over to where he had seen Fleethoof’s belongings fall. He leaped over a couple of bodies, weaving through an alley and then another alley before stepping onto a smaller road. Fleethoof’s saddlebags hung limply from a store’s sign, most of the contents spilled out across the cobblestone.

The ground was littered with most of what Shining thought was junk. A couple canteens, a map of the Griffon Kingdom, a compass… all basic stuff for a soldier’s kit. He looked back up, scrutinizing the hanging saddlebags with diligent eyes. There was definitely something left in one of the pouches, putting visible weight down in the bag. Biting his lip and straining a little, Shining Armor caught the bags with his magic and brought them down to the ground.

Inside, he found a small, beaten up journal.

“Sergeant Armor!”

At Flash Sentry’s call, Shining Armor turned his head up sharply, and instantly wished he hadn’t. Fleethoof was gliding downward through the air, wobbling unsteadily in the air. Splatters of blood trailed behind him as he fell. From where he stood, Shining saw the entirety of his friend’s descent, and watched as he crashed headfirst through a window into a building. Without a word, he slipped the journal into his own saddlebags and galloped to where he saw Fleethoof go down.

“Sergeant, there’s no use going to help him,” Flash Sentry muttered grimly. “He was coming in too fast, and he was bleeding. A crash without any sort of buffer at those speeds would’ve probably broken his neck or killed him on impact.”

Shining Armor said nothing, though his glare was harsh and biting. Flash recoiled from the intensity of his officer’s glower, biting his lip timidly.

“Fleethoof is one of my best friends. I’m getting him out of here. End of discussion.”

“All right, Sergeant. I’m just telling you not to get your hopes up. Nopony could’ve survived that.”

Shining shook his head. “You don’t know Fleet.”

The structure Fleethoof had crashed into looked like an apartment building. Kicking the front door down with an especially brutal blow, Shining rushed up the stairs three at a time. Four apartments occupied the second floor where he had crashed. He broke down the doors one by one, searching through each to no avail until he came to the last one. Fleethoof had to be inside.

Oh please, please let him be all right…

The apartment was a modest two-room set up. The lounge and kitchen area were immaculate, and the window intact. The bedroom was another story. Pushing through the door, Shining felt his guts turn inside out. Shards of glass were sprayed across the carpet all over the place. A nightstand had been knocked over and bloodstains spattered the floor. The opposite wall from the window had every picture knocked off of it, the photographs lying scattered in disarray. And lying in the debris of what had once been a dresser was an unmoving Fleethoof.

“Fleet!” Shining cried out, dropping by his friend’s side in an instant. He gently lifted the pony’s head, cradling his limp body in his gentle hooves. “Fleet! Can you hear me? Fleet? Fleethoof?”

In a state of panic, he started to check his wounds. The blood was seeping from a gunshot wound in his left wing, his red feathers stained and sticky with his own blood. Shining could see fragments of the white bone jutting out of his injured appendage. He winced, not daring to imagine the pain he must have endured on his way down. The stallion’s entire body was bruised and cut up, a few stray shards of glass still lingering in the lacerations from the crash landing.

But despite his fears, Fleethoof’s chest continued to rise and fall gradually.

“He’s still breathing. Unconscious… just unconscious. His pulse feels okay. Fleet? Wake up, Fleet!” He looked at Flash Sentry over his shoulder. “Go get a medic, now!”

Flash Sentry nodded and bolted out of the apartment again, leaving Shining Armor to care for his fallen friend. He ripped a strip of his uniform sleeve off with his teeth, wrapping the makeshift bandage around the injured wing with care in an attempt to subdue the bleeding.

“Hang on, Fleet. I’m getting you out of here… I’m getting us home…”

Twilight Sparkle stared mouth agape at her brother. Shining had paused, taking a long sip of his drink. The cool liquid and chilling memories sent a shiver down his spine. He returned to the world once the echoes of warfare faded away in his mind, turning to his sister with a sigh. The look in her eyes was a mixture of shock, horror, and fascination that he didn’t know how to decipher.

“Fleet survived… obviously, heh. We all sailed home right after that last fight,” Shining Armor said in conclusion, wrapping up his tale. “We never did find Alaric, but he wasn’t really our concern anymore. He was out of power and his rule had been toppled. He wasn’t a threat.”

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?” she asked, the tone in her voice stinging Shining. She sounded confused and betrayed. “Why did you keep it all such a big secret? I thought we could tell each other anything?”

Shining Armor swallowed hard, accepting his mistake and the raw feeling of guilt it brought with it. She was right. He should have told her. He had no reason to hide it, even if his intentions had been good. He had been wrong.

“I didn’t want you to think I was some sort of cold-blooded killer… And I remember how upset you were when I left for basic training. I didn’t want to get you thinking about how I could’ve been lost again.”

Twilight leaned across the table, capturing one of Shining’s hooves between her own. The soft contact made the stallion look up briskly. Their gazes locked, and Twilight smiled a delicate little smile.

“You’re my B.B.B.F.F., Shiny. You’ll always be my hero, no matter what you do.” She laughed softly, patting his hoof with her own. “Besides, I feel much better knowing my big brother is a capable soldier. Now I don’t have to worry about an incompetent Captain of the Guard.”

Shining Armor rolled his eyes. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Twily.”

“You know I’m just teasing! But I really am glad you chose a desk job over marching into battle.”

Shining dropped his gaze a tad and let that thought process in his mind. He had given up a lot when he accepted his prestigious position. He no longer got to see the world, or train with his soldiers like he used to, or go out to the front lines. He had become a bureaucrat, dealing with the paperwork and politics behind the scenes of the army façade. None of it gave him that true rush that being part of the infantry did.

But then he remembered all that he had gained: a decent house in a quiet district of Canterlot, a world-renowned reputation and honor, a chance to lead a normal life while also making a difference in his soldiers’ lives. He thought about Cadence and the relationship they had been rekindling since his return home.

And even though he never marched into foreign lands anymore, the fate of Equestria still rested squarely on his shoulders. His decisions meant everything to the army. His commands and orders were heeded like the gospel. Hell, it was his hoof that redacted the sensitive information Skyfall received and approved their missions. He might not have been in the action anymore, but he was the one that made it happen.

He had come such a long way from those distant nights of laying awake in uncomfortable cots in the academy, worrying and dreaming about an uncertain future. He knew who he was. He had found his place in the world.

A crooked smile tugged at the edges of his lips. “You know, Twily… sometimes I am too.”