“-eutenant! C’mon, don’t you quit on me! Get this crate in the air, NOW! I don’t care if you have to get out and push, get us to a doct-“

”-ssible spinal injuries, as well as severe burns across most of his body.”

“Sweet Celestia, what in Tartarus happened!?”

“He jumped. Saved the foal over there. Building came down a few seconds lat-.”

“-oming to! Quick, ‘old ‘im down!”

WHUMP

”Ah, dammit!”

“Tranquilizer! Get th’ tranquilizer!”

“Got it! Hold him down!”

POP

”Alright, keep holding! Shouldn’t take too lo-“

John woke to the sounds of whispering and ponies shuffling around. Cracking his eyes open, he found that he was in his bed back at the guard station. There were still refugees inhabiting the room, but they were fewer in number than before he left. He assumed that most had been cleared out so that the doctors and medics attending to the injured ponies in the other beds could move about easier.

"By Luna's moon! How in Tartarus are you up already!? That tranq' should've had you out cold for at least four more hours."

He directed his attention to the side of his bed, where a brown stallion in a lab coat stood. He also noticed that most of the heads in the room had turned in his direction.

“Hey *cough* Doc, what's up? How’s the foal?”

Red Cross smiled. “Oh, just fixing your broken flank... Again. The foal's fine, by the way. She suffered no injuries, other than minor smoke inhalation and a few bruises, thanks to you.”

John sighed. “Thank God.” He then took a closer look at the doctor. His mane was unkempt and he had bags under his bloodshot eyes. The lab coat he was wearing was covered in blood and filth. "Jesus, Doc. You look like hell."

The stallion deadpanned. “I was getting ready to head home from a twenty hour shift when one of your boys showed up and whisked me here. I have been awake and tending to ponies for-” He looked up and checked the clock on the wall, “- oh, about thirty hours now.”

John gave the doctor an understanding look. “I know the feeling. My old base commander had a hard-on for putting flight crews on twenty-four hour watches with minimal sleep. As it is, I barely got in an hour before all this shit started. How long have I been out?” He tried sitting up, only to find that his arms and legs were restrained and bandaged up to look like a mummy. “And why am I tied up again?”

The doctor scrunched up his nose in thought. “Only about forty minutes, which is why I am so surprised you’re up. When you were brought in, you weren’t exactly.... cooperative. You slugged your Pegasus friend pretty hard, gave her a good shiner. We ended up having to sedate you. We tied your arms down for good measure.” The doctor then flared his magic and undid the knots around John’s wrists.

“Makes sense.”

...

...

“Wait... Her?"

“Yeah, seems you have an admirer. She refused to go to the Acres with everypony else. She was downstairs with the colt you brought in earlier when they pulled your crispy butt in. Started freaking out when she saw you.” The doctor let out a small chuckle. “Then again, I almost started freaking out. You looked like you had been pulled out of an Ursa turd.” A few giggles were heard throughout the room. “Anyways, you were flailing around and she went to help hold you. Got a hoo- er, fist?- to the face for her trouble.”

John raised an eyebrow. “Jesus, Doc. What’re the damages this time?” Nice way of telling me I looked like shit though.

The stallion waved a hoof, as if dismissing the question. “Nothing I couldn’t fix. First degree burns across sixty percent of your body, second to third degree burns on the other forty, a dislocated shoulder, a gash on your arm, and a few scrapes and bruises. It’s mostly superficial, so everything should heal relatively quickly.” The stallion thought for a moment. “As for the flailing, maybe your subconscious thought you were on fire? I really have no clue.”

John whistled in appreciation. “Well, you’ve saved my ass twice now, so I guess that means drinks are on me.”

Red Cross laughed, then yawned. “Sleep first, drinks later.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” John sat up and stretched. “Well, I guess it’s time for me to get up and do stuff.”

The stallion rolled his eyes. “Normally, I’d tell you to stay in bed for at least another day or two, but I’d be lying if I said we didn’t need the help. You should be fine to move around, just nothing too strenuous.”

With that, John stood up...

...Then immediately sat back down and pulled the bed sheets around him. Cheeks burning, he looked around the room and saw that most of the mares in the room were grinning. Directing a seething glare at the doctor, John raised an eyebrow.

“...Why the hell am I naked?”

John descended the stairs to the main foyer of the station. He had decided to wear his flight suit since the material wasn’t as rough as that of the BDUs. Plus, it was relatively easy to put on without hands. Since he was more concerned about getting out the door earlier that night, he had forgotten to put on his flame-retardant flight gloves. As a result, his hands were uncovered when he entered the burning building, so they had received the worst burns and were currently wrapped up like mittens.

Like the sleeping quarters, there were still a few ponies scattered throughout the room waiting for treatment or consoling loved ones.

“JOHN!”

“OOF!”

Before he could take more than a few steps toward the door, he was glomped by a blur of rainbow and camouflage.

“Ohmigoshareyou-” “-Thankyouthankyou”- “-ok?Whathappened?-” “-thankyouthankyouthank-”

“Girls.”

“-Thankyouforsavingher!-” “-youthankyouthankyou-” “-Idon’tknowwhatIwould-” “-thankyouthankyou-” “-‘vedonewithouther!-” “-thankyouthankyou-”

“GIRLS!”

John clapped a hand over each of the ponies’ mouths and proceeded to lie still until his mind caught up and his torso stopped throbbing.

Gingerly, he pushed the two ponies off him and sat up, mind still reeling from being utterly flattened moments earlier. “Ugh, for cute little ponies, you guys sure do pack a punch.”

“Hey! Who’re you callin’ cute?”

Sitting next to him was a small orange filly with a purple mane and tail. Oddly enough, she was attempting to wear a large mass of charred camouflage fabric that John recognized as is BDU jacket, which caused him to chuckle slightly. “Ah, you must be Scootaloo. I'm John”

The filly eagerly nodded. “Nice to meet you! But... how did you know who I am? I’ve never met you before.”

“Oh, uh...” John thought for a moment. “Rainbow here has told me a lot about you.”

Scootaloo’s face lit up. “She has!?”

“I have?” Rainbow scrunched up her face in confusion.

John nodded. “Yep! She’s always telling me about how awesome you are and about the amazing stuff you can do with your scooter.”

Scootaloo’s grin widened until it literally reached from ear to ear.

But as soon as it appeared, it was gone, replaced by a saddened frown.

“What’s wrong, kiddo?”

The filly ears drooped and she let out a heavy sigh. “I was going to ask if you wanted to watch me do some tricks, but then I remembered that my scooter was under my bed.”

The same bed that was currently in the middle of a large pile of smoldering rubble.

Rainbow walked around John and sat next to the filly, wrapping a wing around her as John reached over and wiped away a tear. “Hey, chin up.” Scootaloo lifted her head until she was looking at John instead of the floor. “A scooter can be replaced,” John poked her in the chest, “you can’t be. Once things are cleaned up around town, I’ll take you to get a new one. How does that sound?”

Her ears perked up and a smile spread across her face. “R-really?”

“You betcha."

"Awesome!... Hey, wait a second. What happened to your hooves? I don't remember them being wrapped up like that."

John held up his arm. "Well, first, they're called hands. Second, they're just bandaged up right now. It was a little toasty when I was coming up the stairs to get you, and I got a little burned. Dr. Cross wrapped them up for me so they would get better faster." He left out the part where a lot of the skin had gotten seared off. No need to give the kid nightmares.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I hope it doesn't hurt too bad."

John chuckled and waved his hand in a dismissing fashion. "This little thing? It's no biggie. What I want to know is are you ok?”

“Um, the doctor said that I had a few bruises from the fall, but nothing else.”

“That’s good. Alright, maybe we can talk some more later, but right now I’d like to talk to Rainbow for a few minutes, and if you're up to it, I have a mission for you.”

Scootaloo stood up and gave a mock salute. “Ooh, what is it?”

“Do you now a colt named Cloudburst?” She nodded rather violently. “Ok, the next time you see him, tell him that I’d like to talk with him. Think you can do that?”

“Of course I can!” With that, the filly sped off, camouflage jacket flapping in the breeze.”

John chuckled and went to get up off the floor, at which point he found himself flat on his back with a rainbow maned Pegasus standing over him.

“Oh no! Don’t think you’re off the hook!”

John cocked an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“What. The HAY. Were you thinking!?” She punctuated each word with a hoof-tap to his chest.

All the heads in the room were now turned in their direction.

“Running off like that! You didn’t know how dangerous Manticores are! You could’ve been hurt! You DID get hurt! Hay, you could’ve DIED! And don’t even get me started on running into a burning building!”

He softened his gaze, and prepared a talk that he’d had a few times before. “Dash, what is my occupation?”

The question caught her off guard. “You’re in the Royal Guard.”

He nodded. “I am, but that’s not my occupation.”

“Well, what is it then!”

“I’m a soldier. Do you know what that means?”

Rainbow shrugged. “You fight bad guys. I don’t see the point of this.”

John held up a hand. “Just hear me out.”

The Pegasus snorted, but otherwise remained silent.

“Yes, I fight bad guys, but that’s still not my job. What I do is protect. I am a barrier between the innocent and the evil of the world. If someone is in need, I help; if someone is in danger, I save; if someone is threatening, I protect. If that means I have to put my life on the line, I will gladly, without hesitation, give my life to ensure safety for others.”

Rainbow’s eyes started watering.

“I did get hurt tonight, but I don’t care. I went out there tonight to save lives, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t try my hardest to save everyone. Unfortunately, ponies still died, but life goes on. The only thing we can do now is remember those we lost and live our lives as best we can.”

As he had done with Scootaloo, he reached up and wiped away Rainbow’s tears, gently caressing her black eye.

“I realize you care, I really do, but I want you to know that as long as there is evil in the world, I won’t stop doing my job, no matter what.”

Rainbow slowly nodded.

“Now, as reimbursement for your eye, how about dinner?”

Her head snapped up, eyes wide in disbelief.

“I’ll probably be busy today though, so perhaps in two days if that’s ok with you?”

“U-um, yeah, sure, two days works for me.” The mare moved aside, then helped John stand up.

“Great.”

Rainbow turned to leave. “Well, I guess I’ll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing.”

John sighed. “Actually, we still need to talk about something.”

The Pegasus turned back around and faced the human. “Oh?”

“Like I asked Scoots earlier, do you know Cloudburst?”

She thought for a moment. “I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that he was that colt in your bed earlier?” John nodded. “Ok, what about him?”

“I hope it’s not too much to ask. I know you said that you’ll be taking care of Scoots, and I don’t want to make it any harder on you. It’ll just be temporary, until I can find some relatives or a proper home for him.”

Rainbow thought hard for a few moments. “It shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve taken care of Scoots before, so both of them will be a piece of cake... as long as the other Crusaders aren’t involved.” This caused John to chuckle.

“Alright, well, if you run into any trouble, and I mean anything, you come find me. If it becomes too much, let me know and I’ll find somewhere else. I’ll also be coming by to check on him every so often to make sure he’s doing ok.”

“Geez, lighten up a bit. It’ll be fine.”

John sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I’m just trying to do what’s best for the kid. I’ll speak with the Princess about it later... Are you sure you’re up to it?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, then moved behind John and started pushing him towards the door of the station. “Of course I’m up to it. I’m awesome, remember? Now, enough lollygaggin’, you’ve got ponies to help.”

John tried to brace himself, but ultimately failed. “Rainbow, I’m being serious.”

“Me too, now get out of here ya big lug.”

“Ugh, fine. Come find me if you need anything.” With that, John strode out of the station.

Taking a moment to look around and get his bearings, he spotted Shining Armor standing next to the airship conversing with some other ponies. Figuring it was a good enough place to start, he walked over to them.

The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon, so the sky was beginning to brighten, revealing a flurry of activity around the station. Despite the exhausted looks from many of the ponies, everyone was helping with something.

Noticing that John was approaching, Shining stopped talking. “Lieutenant, what on Equis are you doing out here? In fact, you should still be knocked out.”

John walked up to the group, which consisted of Ratchet, Lightning, Star, Lieutenant Crimson, and one of the knights, and proceeded to snap off a crisp salute. “Sir, I just wanted to know what our current situation is, and if there is anything I can do to help.”

“Hmm. Well, other than a few ponies in the station, all the wounded have been moved to the hospital. Right now, we’re just focusing on getting things cleaned up. The ponies at Sweet Apple Acres have been cleared to come back, and I’ve got the some of the knights on patrol throughout town to make sure we haven’t missed anything. As for what you can do, go get some rest, you’ve earned it.”

“With all due respect, I just woke up. I’m good to go.”

Shining just stared at the human. “Let me get this straight, ran around town all night fighting Manticores, ran into a burning building and jumped out of a second-story window to save a filly, got your flank burned to Tartarus and had to be tranquilized, only to wake up less than an hour later and say that you’re fine and ready for more?”

John shrugged. “Pretty much. I’m used to not sleeping.”

The stallion shook his head in disbelief. “You are one crazy motherbucker. I wish I had more like you.”

“Well, I can think of at least four others. I’ll have a full report on your desk tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. In the meantime, I was just about to send some teams into town to begin the cleanup. If you’re up to it, do you mind leading one of them?”

“Sure.”

“Great.” Shining turned towards the rest of the group. “Alright, I want Ratchet and Star to take the market district, Crimson and Lightning have commercial, and John and Blackout have Residential. Questions?”

John raised a hand. “What do we do with the debris? And what about casualties?”

“Just pile the debris up on the side of the road, somepony will come by later to pick it up. As for casualties,” Shining sighed, “We’ve got a wagon on standby. Anypony else?” Everyone remained silent. “Ok, get to it. Oh, and before I forget, John, your gear is still on the airship.”

“Alright, thanks.”

The group split apart and John walked over to the airship to retrieve his gear. Sitting down on one of the benches inside the ship, he made sure that everything was in working order before he departed. Upon exiting the aircraft, he was joined by the knight that was part of the group that Shining was talking with.

“So, you are one they call John, it is pleasure to meet you. I’m Lieutenant Blackout.”

The bat pony held out a hoof, which John shook. “Nice to meet you. Gotta say, if you guys hadn’t shown up when you did, we probably wouldn’t be talking right now.”

Blackout smiled, revealing a pair of large, pointy incisors. “And if you not here, town would be flaming pile of rubble.”

John began walking toward the station. He was starting to get hungry, and there wasn’t time to find somewhere to eat, so he was going to get an MRE from his chest and put away some of his gear. “Yeah, well, I’m here, and it’s not. Once all the cleanup is done, lemme buy you a beer, as a thanks for saving my ass.”

The stallion chuckled. “I look forward to it.”

“Tell me if I’m wrong. You are trained to fight in air, yet you fight on ground because your flying machine is broken?”

“Yep.”

“You are very strange man.”

The pair were working to clean up bits and pieces of a former shed that had the misfortune of being in the path of a berserk Manticore. The rest of their work team, a mismatched group of engineers, fire ponies, and guards, were busy picking up all the splintered planks from the fences separating each backyard of the row of houses.

“Says the pony wearing the cloak. Think about it, what would you do if your wings fell off?”

Before the sun had fully risen, Blackout had stopped working to go put on a pair of sunglasses and a large black cloak, complete with hood. When John asked about it, he had said that bat ponies were extremely susceptible to sunburn and their eyes were very sensitive.

“Mmm. You make valid point.”

“Oh! Oh dear!”

The two stopped working and turned toward the elderly mare that had walked out onto her back porch to enjoy a cup of tea.

John looked to his counterpart and shrugged. “I guess that means everyone’s back from the orchard.”

“Da.”

“Well, I’ll go talk to her, be right back.” Blackout nodded as John walked up to the railing of the porch. “Good morning, ma-am. I hope we didn’t startle you.”

She shook her head. “No, I just wasn’t expecting my shed to be gone. When I left last night, everything was perfectly fine, not a penny out of place.”

“Well, we’re trying to clean up the mess as best we can. I did notice that there are a lot of gardening tools in there, and we’ve been putting aside everything that is still usable.” He pointed at a small pile of tools off to the side of the yard.”

The mare smiled. “Oh good. Ever since my husband passed, I’ve been keeping the garden nice and tidy for him. He always loved spending time with his flowers.”

John noticed the small garden of expertly trimmed shrubs and flowers off to the side of the porch. “Well, you have a very beautiful garden, if I do say so myself. It reminds me of the one I had before I came here.”

“Why thank you. Would you boys like a cup of tea?”

John chuckled. “No thank you. I should probably get back to work, though. It was nice talking with you, ma-am.”

“Ok dearie. You just holler if you change your mind.”

John went back to helping Blackout, and in short order the work was finished and all the debris had been moved to a pile out by the road. As the two walked down the path of destruction to find a place that wasn’t currently being worked on, they came to a group of ponies standing by the last hole in the line of fences.

“Ugh, what the hell is that smell?” John covered his nose with a bandaged hand as they made their way past the group and into the backyard.

Blackout’s voice grew somber. “That, my friend, is the smell of death.”

John looked around the yard. “But I don’t see any-” He stopped when his eyes fell upon a large hole in the wall of the house. Wordlessly, he walked through the debris and into the house. He found himself standing in a kitchen, blood running cold. Slowly peering over the counter separating the room, he laid eyes upon a mare, lying in an all too familiar pool of blood.

“That look.” John jumped as Blackout appeared next to him. “You were here last night, yes?”

John nodded, unable to take his eyes off the mare.

“Come, let us get you out of here.” Blackout led him back out the hole in the wall and sat the human down under a small tree in the backyard.

“You ok LT?”

John paid no attention to the ponies looking at him, worried expressions across their faces. When a few of them went to ask him what they should do, Blackout intercepted them.

“The lieutenant needs some time to himself. He will be fine in couple of minutes.”

“Ok, but what should we do now?”

“Go back to station and get wagon. This place needs to be cleansed of death before work begins.”

“He doesn’t know, does he?”

John shook his head. He was standing in the middle of a colt’s bedroom, looking at the wonderbolt plushie in his hand when Blackout walked up beside him, glasses off and hood lowered.

“When will he know?”

He sighed. “I’ll tell him when we get back. I’ve already made arrangements for him to stay with someone. I just hope he can get through this.”

“He will, in time. Come, work is finished. It is time for food and rest.”

The pair left the house and joined up with the rest of their group heading back toward the guard station. Judging from the position of the sun, John figured that it was about 2:00 in the afternoon, so they had made decent time.

John slowly ascended the stairs to the bunk room, the previous night having caught up with him. With a mighty yawn, he pushed open the door to the room and made his way to his bed, only to find a small sky-blue colt sitting at the end of his bed.

“Um, h-hello Mr. John. Um, Scootaloo said that you wanted to talk to me. I didn’t know where you were, so I asked the pony at the front desk if I could come up here and wait for you. I-is that ok?”

John put on his best smile and tried not to show how exhausted he was. “That was very smart of you, and yes, it’s perfectly fine.” John opened his chest and threw in his vest and sidearm. “Ok, sit tight for a second, I’ll be right back. I just need to go find someone.” Cloudburst nodded and John quickly left the room, almost bowling over Lightning in the process.

“Wow, someone’s in a hurry. What’s the occasion?”

“Sorry. Do you happen to know where Rainbow Dash is?”

The Pegasus thought for a moment. “Um, I’m pretty sure she’s with the rest of her friends helping Twilight clean up the library.”

“Would you be able to go get her for me real quick?”

“Uh, sure.”

Lightning turned around and left the station, returning a few minutes later with the rainbow maned Pegasus in tow.

“What’s up John?”

“I was about to have a chat with Cloudburst, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind sitting in on it.”

She pursed her lips and nodded her head, mood becoming somber. “Alright.”

Without further ado, John opened the door and followed her in, leaving Lightning outside to make sure they weren’t disturbed.

Crossing the room in a few strides, John sat on the edge of his bed and pulled the wonderbolt plushie out of one of his pockets and handed it to the colt, causing his face to light up.

“You brought Soarin’! Did you go to my house to get him?”

John sighed as Rainbow took a seat in front of the chest at the end of the bed. “I did. I was helping clean up the mess when I found him. I thought you might like to have him with you.”

The colt looked confused. “Have him with me? For what? Did you see my mommy and daddy there? I haven’t seen them since they told me to go to my room last night.”

John’s breath caught in his chest. How was he going to explain that he would never get to see his parents again; that in one night, his entire life had changed and his family torn apart.

He let out another sigh. “I’m very sorry...”

Cloudburst took the news hard, but after a while he recovered somewhat. When John told him that he would be staying with Rainbow for awhile, the colt just stared at him in disbelief. Scootaloo had forgotten to mention that he was part of the Rainbow Dash Fanclub.

“I can’t believe that I’m going to be staying with Rainbow Dash. The Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow wrapped a wing around the colt. “You bet! We’re gonna have a great time.”

BOOOOOMMMMMMM

Rainbow’s ear’s perked up and John cocked an eyebrow. “There isn’t a storm scheduled is there?”

Rainbow shook her head. “No, and nothing has blown over from the Everfree, I checked.”

“Hmm, I wonder what tha-“

”Cobra-Ops, Cobra-Ops, this is Actual, over.”

John jumped up, flung his chest open, and pulled the radio out of his tac-vest. Somehow, the thing had gotten turned on... and was now receiving a radio signal.

”Cobra-Ops, Cobra-Ops, this is Cobra-Actual, radio check, over.”

John heard the front doors of the station fly open downstairs, but all his attention was directed to the small black box in his hand.

”Cobra-Actual to any friendly forces, respond.”

“Lieutenant Killinger.” John looked up and saw Princess Luna, flanked by Shining Armor and a bat pony, standing in front of him. “Another item has come through the Gates. We wish for you to come with us to investigate.”

”Any non-hostile forces in the area, please respond.”

The Princess gasped and took a step back. Ignoring her, John slowly brought the radio up to his mouth and pressed the transmit button.

“Cobra-Actual, this is Hunter 1-1. Authenticate, Steel.”

”Hunter 1-1, Cobra-Actual. Authentication is, Beast.”

“Copy, Actual. Hold position, recovery team en route.”

”Wilco.”

John put the radio back into the pouch on his vest and slung it over his shoulder. Grabbing his sidearm and rifle, he turned to the Princess. “Take me to them.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait. I've already started on the next chapter, so expect that one to come out soon.