Today marks day five of the war between the Griffon Kingdom and Equestria. Shining Armor has been under a lot of stress. He's been promoted from captain of the royal guard to the commander of a majority of their armed forces.
“Alright men, listen up!” Shining Armor walked the ranks of his soldiers. Only about one fourth were seasoned veterans, the rest were fresh recruits who just recently got out of boot camp. “Operation False Hoof is a go! Squad A through H will be giving a frontal assault on the hill. If we are successful in claiming it, squads I through K will advance and fortify the hill.” Shining Armor took a deep breath and looked over the shaking greenhorns. “I'm not going to lie to you, this will be a nasty fight. Many of you will lose your lives during this assault. There is very little cover and the only way to the hill is head-on.” A low murmur could be heard amongst the soldiers.
“No cover?”
“Celestia watch over me...”
“This is suicide.”
“Good thing I'm in squad J.”
Shining Armor sighed, “I will be leading the charge and will be stationed in squad A, which will be in front. Remember, as we gallop towards that hill, think of your loved ones back home, every second you start losing hope in yourself on the battlefield, the chances for the survival of your loved ones drops twice as much! Men! We are not going to let the Griffons keep that hill, am I right soldiers?!” Shining Armor bellowed.
“Sir yes sir!” Every pony roared simultaneously. With their morale boosted, they were ready to run through hell once more. Shining Armor placed his helmet securely on his head and shouted,
“Move out!” Shining Armor began trotting up to the ridge-line to see the carnage that took place just beyond it. For as far as they eye could see, griffons and ponies were dying. In the distance, was a very large hill, that was where the griffon's forward base was. They controlled both land and air bases, Shining Armor was in charge of attacking the land while Celestia commanded the pegasi to assault the air base.
Shining Armor raised his hoof, signaling to his squad to get ready. He then lowered his foreleg out in front of him and began to charge, his squad immediately followed behind.
Shining Armor focused on moving forward, not bothering to engage griffons that could easily be avoided or quickly pushed aside. He was withing throwing distance of the hill when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a stallion curled up in a ditch. Shining Armor put aside his objective and ran into the hole,
“Soldier, what are you doing?!” He yelled, “get out there!”
“I-I-I can't!” the soldier closed his eyes tightly and put his hooves over his ears, “I'm too scared to move! If I move out of this spot, I'll die!” tears began flowing down his face, “just leave me here!”
Shining Armor looked at the sad excuse for a soldier before him. The first enemy a warrior will ever face is his own fears. It attacks their mind and makes soldiers give up on their duties. Shining Armor had seen many breakdowns in his lifetime, but something about this particular stallion reached out to him.
“What's your name, rank, and mark soldier?”
The stallion just rocked back and forth, his voice trembled, “H-h-hammerhead, squad C, private first-class...”
“Your mark, soldier?”
“C-c-carpenter's m-mallet...”
“Private Hammerhead, listen, I know that you're scared for your life and it's easy to let that take over your mind. Fear is a powerful force but you need to take that power and form it into something you can use. Think about your loved ones, they fear what will happen to you today. They want you to live. Every soldier that dies today increases the chances of our mission failing. If we fail, the griffons will push forward into Canterlot. They will slaughter everyone without mercy. You have the ability to choose your fate. Do you want to others to suffer because you decided to give up and die?
Hammerhead shook his head.
“If you don't save yourself, you can't save anyone! Now stand up soldier!” Shining Armor ordered.
Shining Armor's words traveled straight to Hammerhead's heart. He was right. He won't be of any help to anyone if he's dead. He was about to thank Shining Armor when he saw a large figure behind him,
“Sir, look out!” Hammerhead screamed.
Shining Armor only turned halfway before his world went black and all sounds ceased.
***
Hammerhead lazily opened his eyes, he waited for them to adjust to the dimly lit room, “S-sir, where... what happened?”
“Shut up, pony!”
Hammerhead's eyes shot open when he heard the foreign voice. When his eyes finally focused, he saw that he was in a cave surrounded by large feathered creatures.
“You pony scum are now prisoners of the Griffon Kingdom.”
Hammerhead's heart began beating faster as the words echoed in his head.
“It appears to be that we've caught a small fish that attracted a bigger fish while it was still on the line. We've got ourselves a soldier and a pile of worthless garbage.” The griffon mocked.
“General Flesh Ripper,” Shining Armor spat at the griffon warlord.
“In the flesh.” Flesh Ripper bowed.
“What should we do with them, sir?” a griffon soldier approached Hammerhead and yanked him up by his mane.
Flesh Ripper looked down at the two ponies and smiled wickedly, “we're going to break them. Take them to the holding cells!”
The four griffon soldiers saluted to their general and picked up Shining Armor and Hammerhead.
Hammerhead could feel the rough rocky floor scraping against his legs, his eyelids began feeling heavy as the dim cave slowly faded to black.
Hammerhead awoke as he was thrown against the wall of the holding cell, nearly knocking the wind out of him. He gagged, desperately swallowing air to fill his lungs. Three of the griffons walked away laughing, they couldn't wait to see them suffer. However, one stayed behind. Hammerhead couldn't see him very clearly, but he didn't sense any anger or hatred in him.
“I'm sorry...”
“Wha- *wheeze* what do you *cough* mean?” Hammerhead struggled to form a sentence.
“I'm sorry that you have to go through this. I hate you. I hate everything about you and your kind, but I do not believe that even a creature such as yourself should ever be forced to kill your friends.” The griffon sighed.
“What are you *hack* planning on having us do?”
The griffon tossed a dagger into their cage, clanging on the floor in front of Hammerhead, “General Flesh Ripper wants to break one of you. Only one is allowed to leave.”
Hammerhead looked at Shining Armor, unconscious on the floor, a dark liquid formed a small puddle around his head.
“Whoever wants to leave this place, must kill.” The griffon slammed the cage shut and a click could be heard as he locked the door and walked away, “you have two hours to make your decision. If one of you isn't dead by that time, both of you will die.”
Why didn't they just kill them both? Did they not realize that they've captured a pony general? Hammerhead was glad that they weren't killed immediately and decided to take advantage of this fortune. He still had a chance to live and he wanted to take it.
Hammerhead picked up the dagger with his hoof, the torches on the walls reflected off of the blade. He looked at the dagger and then looked to shining armor.
He didn't want to die. He didn't know what he'd do with himself once he was free but he knew that he'd be alive. That's all that matters. He walked over to his commander and shakily raised the dagger. Hammerhead took a deep breath, ready to bring the blade down. However, he found that he couldn't command his arm to move.
His lips began to quiver as he realized that he couldn't do it. He wanted to live, but what did he have to live for? Everypony in his life has called him a coward. They were right every single time. He'd always run away when things got tough. He lost his only friend because he was too afraid to stand up for him. This was his one chance to make up for living his entire life in fear. Now, he was done running,
“It's time to be a hero.” Hammerhead dropped the dagger and shook the unconscious unicorn, “Shining Armor. Sir, wake up!”
Shining Armor opened his eyes, “Private Hammerhead? What's going on? W-where's Cadence?!”
“Princess Cadence isn't here, sir. We're prisoners of war, remember?”
“Yea...”
“Sir?”
“What is it, Hammerhead?”
“While you were sleeping, I-" Hammerhead gulped. "-was going to kill you.”
Shining Armor's eyes widened and quickly put some distance between him and Hammerhead, “what?!”
“Flesh Ripper intends to make us kill each other. Only one of us is allowed to leave and if one of us isn't dead in about ninety minutes, we both die,” Hammerhead looked down to the dagger on the floor, “However, when I tried to lower the dagger, I realized that I don't have anything to live for.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If I were to kill you and make it out of here alive. I would be living the rest of my life as a coward. I would live my life with the guilt of killing someone just to get away from death.”
Shining armor relaxed a bit. He wondered what Hammerhead was getting at. What is he talking about?
“I realized that this is my chance to be a hero. You have a life to live and soldiers to lead. You must take my life so that others will live.”
“Have you lost your mind, soldier? I'm not going to kill you.” Shining Armor barked.
Hammerhead tossed the dagger down in front of shining armor. “Do it.”
“S-stand down, Hammerhead.” Shining Armor choked, “As your superior, I order you to-”
“You must do it.” Hammerhead stood up on his back legs and stretched his arms out, “you have to do it.”
“I can't do this. It is my duty as captain of the royal guard to see to it that as many ponies make it out alive as possible. Take my life, it's my duty to-”
“Remember what you said to me?!” Hammerhead yelled, “If you can't save yourself, you can't save anyone. That's what you taught me. It is your duty as captain to save lives. How can you do that if you're dead, sir?”
Shining armor picked up the blade with his magic. The blade shook as Shining Armor struggled to concentrate on levitating the dagger. Shining armor's whole body quivered in fear.
“Don't be afraid. Everything will be okay. Go to your family.” Hammerhead brought his right hoof to the center of his chest, “right here. That's where you have to hit me.”
Shining Armor's face was streaked with tears. The pony in front of him had grown from a foal into a stallion right before his eyes, “I'm... sorry...” Shining Armor thrust the dagger into Hammerhead's chest, following him as he sunk down to the floor.
“It's... okay... *sputter* I'm... I'm just glad that I could *hack* do something for someone else...” Hammerhead's breaths became very shallow, “go... l-lead E-Equestria to...” Hammerhead let out a long sigh as all the air in his lungs was released.
“Hammerhead? HAMMERHEAD!!!”
***
“Hey, Bright Light, c'mere, check this out.” Delicacy called.
Bright Light went up to his friend at the window of the barracks and saw a unicorn with a sad look in his eyes, “isn't that Shining Armor?” He asked.
“Yea, rumor's been going around that he killed someone.”
Bright Light scoffed, “Well, as a soldier, that's not surprising.”
Delicacy shook his head, “No, what I mean is that ponies have been saying that he was captured during Operation False Hoof a few months back and killed a prisoner from squad C just so he could be free.”
“No way... that's not true.”
“Well, just look at him. He certainly seems like there's something bothering his conscience.”
Bright Light looked closely to see that something about Shining Armor did seem suspicious. Whether the rumor is true or not, something must've happened.
"Maybe the other one sacrificed himself? So that our army can still have a commander?"
Delicacy shrugged, "I dunno, that's a pretty brave thing to do. I know I wouldn't be able to do that."
The two continued to watch Shining Armor until he disappeared out of their line of sight. Bright Light turned to his friend, "well, it's a good thing he's alive."
Delicacy nodded, "Yea, if he had died, we'd be losing this war right now."
