On the Front
The sun is bright today, thought Astro, Celestia had a good nights sleep.
The Leutenant walked out of the mess hall, a belly full of rations and his mind on high alert. It would take a few minutes before he and his squad would be back up to snuff, after all, good food was a comfort they could hardly afford these days, and today's lunch had been great. The going would be sluggish for the first few minutes, but Astro had been with this squad for the past eighteen months, he knew them well enough. Ration his eating, don't rise too fast, don't gulp the milk, the Leutenant knew every trick in the book to make sure he was at top shape to start his patrol, but that didn't help him today, cramps began to set in.
Not that Astro was complaining, he was used to nearly every aspect of military life by now. His whole life, all twenty years, had been spent doing some sort of service in the Equestrian Military. He had even met Princess Celestia and Princess Luna on a few occasions. and only a couple of those times was he in close proximity.
A slight whistle came through the ruins of the former naga outpost. The trees swayed with a strong gust coming from the west, might mean a storm later, which was hard to believe as there was not a cloud in the sky, but the Leutenant had seen enough days like this one to know they could go south in an instant.
While the naga were not known for their military strength, Astro had to admit, they were strategic geniuses, or at least the person who had designed this outpost was. The fort was nestled right on the edge of a cliff overlooking a valley that held a gap in the mountain range. The mountain was to their back and a river flowed right beside it. They had even designed a chute system that allowed them to quickly deploy forces in the valley, or retreat in the event they were overrun.
They base itself was huge, over four city blocks of buildings. While the naga had designed it to be housing for a full regiment, which was a lot smaller in the naga military, Astro's regiment had only filled up a quarter of the intact structures. That's why there needed to be patrols within the facility, the place was just too damn big for them to cover just by living there. Granted, he was no seven foot, magic resistant, humanoid, reptilian human fighter. He was a six foot two, magic wielding, battle tested changeling fighter.
Astro look up into the ruins, scanning for any trace of changeling activity, he found none. No surprise, the regiment had only been in a few scrimmages since they moved here, and that had been about a year ago. His squad had been fortunate enough to suffer no casualties at any point during their deployment, and he intended to keep it that way. Once or twice he had come close to losing a man, but he had only saved them through his quick thinking and extensive protective training. That's the kind of reaction his teacher had expected of him, and he offered no less. Shining would have been proud.
Finding today no more likely to yield an attack than any other day of the year, Astro's eyes swept along the path he was leading his squad on, the one that led right through the center of the outpost, his mind wandering to what brought him here to begin with; the changeling war, the need to expand borders, the recapture of Canterlot and the freeing of Celestia, his enlistment in the military, his father...
Astro's father was a bit of a mystery to him, and almost everyone else for that matter. He literally came out of nowhere, the day after the first strike against Canterlot, he showed up at the palace. No one knew him from before the attack, no one knew how he got into the city or even how he got past the changelings, one moment the steps were clear, the next, he was walking up, asking for Celestia. He was stoped at first, but when the guards failed to move their limbs to stop him, they figured they should let him in. From the stories, he emerged from the palace to charge at the changeling hoard.
He met Astro's mother shortly after his arrival, she died giving birth to Astro soon after. He grew up in the war torn city, keeping a dagger tucked into his pants in case he ever needed it. He watched his father go off everyday to fight for him, knowing from the stories around the city that he would face off against countless changelings to come out on top. Despite the danger in the city at the time, Astro had actually had a good relationship with his father. He had made time whenever possible and devoted it to raising Astro.
Astro's memories of his father were very vivid in context, but that's as far as his memory allowed. He could remember his father in great detail; the shining white armor that stood him out from the rest of the soldier, the way he stood tall and proud whenever Astro was scared, he could even remember his voice, full of confidence and resolve. The one thing that he could never call to mind about his father was his face. In memories, he appeared in such detail, he could remember every muscle, but when he concentrated on the face, it was a blur. In addition, whole spaces of conversation were wiped out whenever anyone would say his name.
"-do about it, Sir?"
Astro snapped out of his day dream. He had not even noticed that his squad had stopped, there was a tree down in the middle of the path. He turned his head to Leutenant Daze, Squad A's magi. He stuttered, "Huh, what was that?"
"The tree, Sir," he responded, "should we try to cut it up, or just go over it and report it later?"
The tree itself did not present itself as a threat, nor was it a major blockage, it was just a convenience issue. This was one of the only trees in the area, the naga did not exactly care for their gardens.
"Let's just go over it," he replied, "then I'll give the cleaning crew a hand."
The squad scrambled over the tree while Astro stood on top, keeping watch while the soldiers pushed each other over in their clunky armor. Once the group was over, they set out about twenty feet before stopping and turning around towards the tree.
Astro stood stiff as a board in front of everyone. He brought his hands in front of him, bringing them together along with his mana. He closed his eyes, picturing the spell he wanted to craft. This was a luxury he did not have in battle, and it was one he enjoyed. Shining had always taught him to savor these moment and to make use of them, for they come few and far between on the front lines.
He felt like a blacksmith, shaping a great sword that would remove the tree just as effectively as it would an enemy. A battle sword would be huge, hastily constructed, and would use more resources than was nesessary. He did not want a battle sword, not by a long shot. He wanted to craft a fine blade. It would still be large, but he would take his time to make it. Every bit of mana used in it would go exactly where he wanted. His blade would be a balanced combination of precision and raw power, after all, he did not want to destroy the whole outpost.
Astro took in a deep breath, raising his chest along with his clenched right and his left foot. Pivoting back on his right foot, he brought his fist over his head, as if winding up for a pitch. His eyes snapped open, focused on his target, the branches of the tree. He brought his fist forward and his leg down as a jet of flew from his knuckles directly at the branches. The fire consumed the leaves in an instant, and the smaller branches followed shortly after. The onlookers could hear the outline of a dragon's roar as the flames flew from seemingly nowhere.