Chapter 5 - Preparations

Dusk walked through the streets of Manehattan, the sun's rays dying around him. He had been walking for hours with no direction, purposefully losing himself in the bustling city. His hooves hurt from walking, his muzzle was wet from crying, his heart broken from his flashback. He felt broken, defeated. He continued to walk, tiring himself, hoping that he would pass out on the pavement. All of his carefully built walls had been torn down. Every effort to keep the outside world away, failed. He had built these walls, constructed these defences, strengthened them over years of hardship. The years he had spent alone, without Jet. And they had fallen faster than he could have imagined. A combination of Petal's flirtatious comments, and the flashbacks of his time with Jet, left Dusk's heart open to the world's evil.

He had built these wall against shallow ponies like her. They were there to protect him. He hated shallow ponies with a passion, a glorious, fiery passion. Once upon a time this wasn't the case. He had had a crush on a mare in grade six, he loved her with all of his heart. She was shallow, though. Preferring to go for ponies who looked like stallions. Dusk was a late bloomer, and still looked like very foalish until the end of grade seven. His crush had told him to get lost, that he wasn't what she was looking for. He wasn't good looking, he wasn't nice. Everything she said was a lie, but it stung Dusk. Before she had done this, she had used him. She took what he offered, his undying loyalty, and abused it. Used it to get what she wanted. It was that day that he built another wall. One to keep out shallow mares. He wouldn't risk having his heartstrings plucked by a pony who didn't deserve his love. He was afraid of what mares like that could do to him. He met that fear with rage, and portrayed it as hate.

Yet still he walked on. Still he stood standing. Some part of him not willing to give up because of one measly comment and an event that had long since passed. He had come this far, why give up now? Dusk had been depressed before, he knew what it felt like. He knew that he could not hope to beat it by living in his past, by reminiscing about times of yore. Jet was really the only pony in Equestria who truly understood him. He had left, leaving Dusk in the dark once more. Jet was Dusk's guiding light, and he needed him more than he ever thought. Before Jet, Dusk had been avoided by every single pony in the school. He thought he would never have a friend. That was why Jet was so special. Because Jet didn't care about what Dusk had done, he saw him for who he was.

He wiped the tears from his eyes and broke into a gallop. He galloped down the streets of Manehattan, a scowl of determination plastered on his face. He would not give in to the darkness that festered in his heart. He could not, for it would be the death of him.

As he galloped, he thought of nothing but what lay ahead of him. How he was going to deal with Petal on Monday. What he would say. She had flirted with him, and he had overreacted. She was innocent, but Dusk still felt hurt that she could not take him seriously. It was not enough, however, to warrant his wrath. She had done nothing but misinterpret his actions. Why should he be angry at that? Maybe it was because, at that moment, he had let his walls down for her, and she had stabbed him in the heart. What reason would she have for doing that, though? She did not know him well. It was like letting a baby play with a house of cards; something was bound to go wrong.

He decided he would explain to her what had happened. She deserved that. He couldn't let her worry about something so trivial.

Dusk got home at around 6:30, hooves and body aching and damp from sweat. His mother yelled in surprise as Dusk came through the door.

"Dusk, where were you!" Dusk's mother yelled. "I hope you didn't do anything wrong with that mare you met."

"Mum, I'm only 13, do you really think I'd do anything like that?" Dusk said.

"I know you wouldn't, Dusk. But a mother has to worry," Dusk's mother replied.

"I'm going to go wash up, I smell like a pig," Dusk said.

"You should probably do that, you look like you've been swimming," Dusk's mother replied, a little disgusted.

Dusk walked into the kitchen a while later. He levitated an apple from the fruit bowl on the table, not particularly peckish. He then walked to the basement, where he found his father doing hoof-stand pushups.

"The one thing I don't get," Dusk said, taking a bite from his apple, "Is if we don't have much money, how do we have all this equipment?"

Dusk surveyed the room he had become so familiar with. On one wall were different exercise machines, out dated by a few years, but still functional. On the other wall was an assortment of weapons Dusk's father had collected over the years. Alongside these weapons was his father's guard armour, a large gash running down the left side of the chest plate. Whatever had given Dusk's father his scar had cut right through the metal of his chest plate.

Dusk's father flipped over onto his back and jumped onto his hooves in one quick motion.

"When I was discharged, my boss gave me one million bits as cut off pay," Dusk's father said. "I spent about a quarter of it on the equipment here, the house, and your schooling. the rest of it is in a safety deposit box in Canterlot."

"I guess that makes sense," Dusk said, finishing his apple.

"So then, why are you so late, Dusk?" his father asked. "You didn't go and, well, you know."

Dusk looked at his father blankly and said, "Dad, do you really think I would do that?"

"True. You're not that kind of pony," Dusk's father replied. "So, if that's not the case, what is?"

"There were some... complications at the end of the date," Dusk said. "Some stuff she said to me triggered memories of Jet. I just lost myself in the city while I let the memories flow."

"Oh, Dusk. I know how you feel," Dusk's father said. "I lost many of my friends in the Pony-Griffon Wars. I have some horrific memories of those times."

"You never really told me how you got your scar," Dusk said, turning his attention to the armour displayed on the wall.

"I guess you're old enough to hear that story," Dusk's father said.

Dusk's father levitated two seats into the middle of the room and beckoned Dusk to take one.

"Take a seat, Dusk, and I'll tell you about how I got my scar," Dusk's father said.

"We'll have to cut through here, sir," Gravity said.

"Through the forest? You've gotta be kidding me, Gravity," Clipper said.

Gravity and Clipper were two grey earth ponies, both built, both toting arm blades, and both wearing the earth pony issue elite armour.

"Gravity has a good eye, Clipper. That forest will let us flank the griffon's position," Dusk's father said.

"Flames is right, guys. Let's go," Dasher said. "I'll get my pegasi into the air and scout ahead, Flames."

"Roger that, Dasher," Flame said, as Dasher called Tornado and Blitz into the air.

Tornado and Blitz were heavily built pegasi, wearing pegasus issue elite armour. They were armed with hoof blades that were concealed behind their vambraces. These weapons were favoured by pegasi because of their speed. Both Tornado and Blitz were sky blue pegasi, with white manes. These where not their natural colours, though. They were camouflage dyes.

Dasher, however, was a little bit different. He was sky blue, like Tornado and Blitz, but this was his natural colour. His mane, however, was distinct. It was every colour of the rainbow, and would not dye like mono-colour or bi-colour manes. Dasher had to resort to other means of concealing his unique appearance. He was also wearing standard elite pegasus armour and toted the hoof blades.

Dusk's father was one of two unicorns in the unit. The other unicorn was a dark green, wearing the unicorn issue elite armour. He had two crossbows strapped to his back. Dusk's father stood beside him, wearing his unicorn captain's armour. He had a crossbow strapped to his back, and had dual pegasus hoof blades.

"What's the plan, Flames?" Sparks asked.

"We wait until we have more intel," Flames replied.

"So we just sit on our flanks and wait for Dasher to get back?" Clipper asked.

"Eeyup," Flames replied.

"I hope Boulder is gonna be okay," Gravity said. "He took quite a hit in the last engagement."

"He'll be fine, he took that fall for Night," Sparks said. "Besides, Boulder's an earth pony, they heal fast."

The unit was down two ponies, a unicorn and an earth pony, but they were too far in to pull out. 7 elite guards were sufficient for the operation Flames' unit was carrying out. The unit's previous engagement had seen Night ambushed by four griffons. He had sustained heavy injuries by the time Boulder had smashed through two of them. The other two overpowered Boulder and where at his throat when Dasher came from above and stabbed the two griffons in their necks. Night and Boulder had been carried out by pegasus carriage.

Dasher, Tornado, and Blitz flew back to the group. They landed hard, panting.

"We've got trouble," Dasher said.

"What do you mean by trouble?" Flames asked.

"Griffons. They saw us, they're coming this way," Dasher replied.

At that moment, a griffon let out a shriek, landed on Clipper, and began to tear at his face. Another griffon flew out from the the treeline and took a swipe at Sparks with his claws. Gravity went into action, using his arm blade to knock the griffon off of Clipper. The griffon landed hard on it's back and attempted to scramble into an attack position. Gravity reared his arm blade and impaled the griffon through the jaw, into its head. The second griffon attacking Sparks made several flurried swipes before backing off to prepare itself. Sparks used the small amount of time to stun the griffon, pull out his crossbow, and out a bolt through the griffon's skull.

Ten more griffons leaped from the trees, breaking off and attacking each pony. Four of the griffons surrounded Dasher and began to close in on him. Dasher looked unarmed, his hoof blades retracted and concealed behind his vambraces. One of the griffons leaped at Dasher's throat, and Dasher flew into action. He ducked out of the way and brought his hoof up into the griffon's abdomen, activating his hoof blade. The blade sprang forth from it's casing, and speared through the griffon. The blade retracted as another griffon went at Dasher. Dasher went prone and swept the griffon of of its legs. The griffon fell flat onto its stomach, and Dasher flipped onto his feet. He activated his hoof blades and cartwheeled over the griffon, impaling him. Dasher followed the cartwheel through and slashed down the front of the third griffon, slicing its face and throat open, a spray of blood covering Dasher's face. the crimson spray disoriented him for a second and the final griffon leaped upon him, pinning him to the ground. Dasher punched the griffon in the face, knocking it off his chest. Dasher rolled onto the griffon and stabbed it multiple times in the chest before finally cutting its throat, more blood covering Dasher's coat. Dasher looked up from his final kill to see Flames slide under the legs of his attacker, flip onto his hooves, and buck the griffon into Clipper's readied arm blade. Clipper flipped the arm blade around and slashed at the griffon attacking him. The griffon blocked his attacks and stabbed its claws into Clipper's abdomen. A face of excruciating pain appeared on Clipper's face as the griffon tore his guts out and discarded them. Clipper fell forward, and the griffon tore his throat open for good measure. A smile of satisfaction appeared on its face for a second, but was wiped clean as Flames jumped onto the griffon's shoulders and broke its neck with a single twist of his thighs. Six of the ten griffons now lay dead, alongside Clipper.

Gravity's griffon leaped onto him and grabbed his head. The griffon applied a huge amount of pressure to Gravity's temples and crushed his skull, blood and greymatter spraying in different directions, spattering the griffon's face. The griffon leaped from Gravity onto Sparks' back and tore a huge gash down his back. Sparks screamed in pain as the griffon tore at his back muscles. The other griffon attacking Sparks swiped at his face, and tore a part of Sparks' muzzle off, along with an eye. Flames leaped onto the griffon and stabbed it in the temple using his hoof blade. He pulled out his crossbow as the griffon fell and planted a bolt in between the eyes of the griffon mounted on Sparks' back. Sparks fell to the ground, his breath shallow as Flames ran to assist Blitz and Dasher. Tornado lay in several pieces, torn to shreds by the griffon that had attacked him. Dasher and Blitz now fought in tandem against the final two griffons.

Flames saw that one of the two griffons was larger than the rest. He was quite obviously the leader of the pack. Blitz and Dasher spun in a quick motion, both of their blades contacting the griffons. Blitz's blade sliced through his griffon's throat like soft butter, spraying blood in every direction. The griffon leader saw this and screamed in rage. It kicked Dasher into a nearby tree, winding him, and grabbed Blitz by the throat. It squeezed Blitz's throat, its sharpened claws slicing through Blitz's neck. His head came off, spraying the griffon in blood.

The griffon let Blitz's body drop and it turned its attention to Dasher, who was slumped against a tree, dazed. The griffon closed in on Dasher, taking its time, savouring the moment. Flames snapped out of his shocked trance and leaped into action once more. He ran for the griffon, who turned at the last second, swiping upwards. The middle claw of the griffon cut straight through Flames' hardened armour, cutting into his coat. The blow knocked Flames onto his back, blood seeping from the gash. The griffon, knowing Flames couldn't retaliate, closed in on him slowly.

A smile appeared on its beak as it took its time to savour its kill, completely forgetting about Dasher.

The griffon raised his claw, reeling for his final blow.

Flames put his hoof up in a defensive position, waiting for the killing blow.

It never came.

Instead of a sharp pain, a warm spray contacted Flames' hoof.

He looked over his hoof, and saw Dasher's hoof blade sticking through the griffon's chest. Dasher threw the griffon to the side and offered Flames a hoof.

Flames grabbed Dasher's hoof and hauled himself to his feet. He then rushed over the Sparks.

Sparks had stopped breathing.

Flames checked his pulse.

Nothing.

"BUCK!" Flames screamed, punching the ground.

Flames looked around, the severity of the situation finally dawning on him. Every pony in his unit lay in pieces around him. Dasher was the only one intact.

"Oh buck..." Flames trailed off.

Dasher put a hoof on Flames' shoulder.

"Come on, we have to get out of here before more griffons arrive," Dasher said.

"We can't just leave them here," Flames said.

"We can't do anything about it," Dasher said. "We're too far behind griffon lines to get a pegasus lift."

"We can't leave Sparks here..." Flames said.

"You have a very special somepony back home, Flames," Dasher said. "Don't you think Sparks would want you to get back to her safely?"

Flames didn't reply.

"Come on, we're getting out of here," Dasher said as he grasped Flames under the arms and took flight.

"We arrived at the forward outpost an hour later," Dusk's father said. "The ponies in my unit were found a day later. They were buried in the Canterlot memorial."

Dusk looked shocked. It was the first time his father had ever openly talked about what happened during his service. He had no idea of the horrors his father had faced. Compared to his problems, Dusk felt pathetic for feeling down about Jet. At least Jet was alive. At least Dusk assumed he was. Dusk heard a small sob come from across from him. He looked up and saw his father weeping into his hoof. Dusk got up and hugged his dad. He had never seen him like this. His dad was the strongest, most impenetrable pony he had ever known. Yet here he was, the same pony, reduced to tears.

Dusk extended his hoof, held it there, then withdrew it. Should he hug his dad? Should he just sit there? With friends it was easy, but this was Dusk's father. Dusk legitimately no idea what to do.

"Sparks was my best friend," Dusk's father suddenly said. "I just left him there. Left him to die."

"Dad..." Dusk trailed off.

"Dasher saved my life. I owe him that. But sometimes I wish it had been me who was left behind, not Sparks," Dusk's father said.

"Dad, it wasn't your fault," Dusk said. "I'm sure you did all you could to save Sparks. If you hadn't killed those two griffons, Sparks would have been in more pain."

"I guess I know that, Dusk." his father said. "I just feel as though I failed him."

"I know how it feels, dad," Dusk consoled. "Every time I think about Jet, I think of what I could have done differently. Sometimes it's just better to step back from the line of fire. Take a breath."

"You're right, son," Dusk's father said. "It's in the past. There's nothing I can do but let his memory live on."

"He was a hero, dad. You all were," Dusk said.

"Were we, Dusk?" his father asked. "So many ponies and griffons died in that war. How could murderers like me be heroes?"

"It was the price to pay for peace, dad," Dusk said. "You killed those griffons so that ponies like me could live without ever having to know the horrors you faced. I respect you dad, for what you did. Even if it wasn't moral, you did what you had to do to protect the ones you loved, and there is nothing more valiant that that."

"I may have killed to save my loved ones, but so did the griffons. They fought for that reason, too," Dusk's father said. "If I am a hero for murder, then they should be as well. You should always respect your enemy, Dusk. If you can't respect those you fight, you cannot respect those you love."

"Dad..." Dusk trailed off, again.

"Dasher retired a few years later, when the war ended," Dusk's father said. "I wrote him letters during that time. In one of them I wrote, 'Dasher, you know as well as I do that I miss the guard's life. But when I hold my son in my hooves, I know I've made the right choice'."

Dusk didn't say a thing. His father had given up the only life he knew just for his son.

"I thought you were discharged for the wound," Dusk said.

"That was the reason they discharged me," Dusk's father said. "But I left early. I couldn't go back into the field, knowing what those griffons had done. I was most at risk of seeking revenge. I couldn't command a unit anymore. I, and the guard council, was worried that I would endanger the lives of my fellow soldiers to seek revenge."

Dusk's father levitated a small box over from the wall and opened it. Inside were nine ID tags. One from each pony in his unit. Six of them had K.I.A engraved into them.

"Night didn't survive the griffon attack, he died in hospital," Dusk's father said. "You know what happened to the others."

"Brazen Gravity, Stone Clipper, Mossy Boulder, Midnight Sparks, Dawn Flames, Amber Night, Cloud Dasher, Fire Blitz, Sky Tornado," Dusk read aloud.

He picked up his dad's ID tag, the one that had 'Dawn Flames' stamped into it. He looked at it for a second. It was a small piece of metal, with his dad's name, date of birth, and unit number stamped into it. Dusk placed it back into the box.

"This is a part of my history that I never want you to live through, Dusk," his father said, closing the box. "I train you in here for self defence, and as a way of helping you stay fit."

"I know that, dad," Dusk said.

"Promise me, Dusk, that whatever happens, you will never join the royal guard," Dusk's father said. "You should never have to see the horrors I have witnessed."

"I promise, dad," Dusk said.

"Good," Dusk's father said. "Now then, I can smell dinner."

Author's Note

I found this song on youtube. It reminds me of Jet's departure.

Line of Fire - Junip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWo4f4sZs9A