Pony by Day, Mercenary by Night

Chapter Seven

“Scorch, a-are you s-sure that that’s a good idea?”  Fixer tentatively asked.

After hours of trekking, Zeta squad had decided to rest and make their present location their new campsite.  They were all sitting around a campfire with their helmets off, grateful for the rest they were receiving after spending a good part of the day navigating an alien forest.  Misha opened a crate full of alcohol and was busy downing bottle after bottle of Brandy and Absinthe.  Farshot had walked off to clear his head, Ghost and Kad were lounging around, attempting to cook some of the food they had salvaged from their ship, and last but certainly not least, Scorch had rolled up some of the blue flowers they had stumbled upon into a roll and was attempting to light one of its tips in the campfire.

“…!”  Ghost cried out in anger.  The stress from crash landing on an unknown alien planet coupled with the frustration from not eating throughout the entire day and present difficulties he was having trying to cook something finally resulted in his rather unexpected outburst.  All of Zeta squad looked at him in shock.  They too were under stress, and it seemed that tensions were building.  The disapproving stares his colleagues were giving him were only fuel for the fire of ire that had built up inside Ghost.

“…?!”  He vehemently asked.  “…!” He yelled at Scorch while threateningly sticking out his index finger.  Scorch was rather taken aback by this, he was too shocked at this new development to come up with one of his usual witty responses.  Ghost then turned to Misha.  “…!”  He yelled.  “…!”  He yelled at Misha for a good portion of an hour, venting the frustrations that had built up throughout the day, Misha however, was drinking throughout Ghost’s entire lecture, and was simply too inebriated at this point to care.  Ghost then turned to Farshot who was standing protectively in front of a cowering Fixer.  “...!”  Ghost began.

“Don’t pull that shit with me Ghost” Farshot interrupted, his eyes full of rage and defiance, his voice calm and collected, yet seeping with rage.  “We’re all tired and tense after that walk we had.  Crash landing on an alien planet isn’t the least stressful thing to do, but hey, we’ve been through deeper shit.  So don’t pull this crap.  We’ve had to skydive from thousands of feet in toxic atmospheres while avoiding SAMS on the way down.  We’ve had to defend bunkers and towers from countless waves of enemies.  Our friends, the men we had just eaten breakfast with, dead at our feet, an enemy bullet through their head because they unintentionally walked in front of you and took the shot that was meant for you.  Hell, there was even that one time we had to climb UP a fucking mountain, while avoiding enemy gunfire and explosives just to GET to the battle!  We’ve had to do so much other crazy ass shit, and you’re freaking out over this?  This shit is nothing!  We’ll only come out stronger or better somehow in the end, we always do.”  He finished.

“…” Ghost said.  He had a headache at this point; he grabbed some nearby fruit and walked off, into the forest to clear his head.

“Dayum” Scorch piped up, finding the courage to speak after Ghost had left.

“Scorch, shut the hell up” Farshot said.

“Farshot is right Scorch, be quiet.  I know Ghost was a little out of line with his little rant.  In fact, some of the things he brought up against you guys and said were detrimental, were in fact beneficial and in alignment with protocol.  We all need to vent every now and again, but still, I think someone should go follow him to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”  Kad began

“Hang on.”  Scorch interrupted “I thought you said that it’s against protocol to address us as anything other than our registration numbers while we’re on standby.”

“We’re not on standby.”  Kad retorted.  “We’re on guard duty now.”

“That’s some bullshit.”  Scorch said, scowling as he crossed his arms, his expression brightening when he remembered the alien blunt in his hands.  “Meh, whatever” Came his reply.  “I’m gonna go smoke this shit now” He walked back towards the campfire, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder plate.

“Oh no you don’t” Came Kad’s voice.  “Use of narcotics during duty is in violation of code”

“Kad, we’re mercenaries, we don’t follow any codes anymore.”

“Still, I’m pretty sure I’m the boss in this situation”

“Who the hell made you boss!?”  Came Fixer’s response

“Well it’s definitely not you, Misha is intoxicated, Fixer is not the best suited for leadership, no offense”

“None t-taken” came the whispered response

“And Farshot’s not much of a leader.”

“He’s right” Assented Farshot.  “So, glorious leader, what do we do now?”

“Simple Farshot, as I just said, someone needs to go after Ghost to make sure he doesn’t do anything against regulation and end up making us wanted criminals again.  So, I’ll go after him, you and Fixer will watch Scorch.  If he tries smoking the blue flowers, break his legs.  Misha passed out, so he probably won’t be a bother for a few hours, he’ll be a bitch in the morning though with that hangover of his.  I’m going after Ghost, mind the camp while I’m gone” Kad ordered shortly before he disappeared into the surrounding brush.

Meanwhile, Canterlot

Celestia’s mouth was agape, she had seen quite a few strange things in her long life, but the state of Luna’s room and the state she had caught her and ‘Blue Cross’ in were undoubtedly one of the strangest.  She slowly lifted her jaw back to her mouth and slowly began to make words.

“Luna, would you care to explain what happened here?”

“Well sister, we were having fun”

“Oh, what kind of fun Blue Cross?” Sev asked Rex while raising his eyebrows suggestively.  Celestia and Luna decided to turn and face them, Celestia, hoping to find out what actually transpired and Luna, trying to see how ‘Blue Cross’ handled the sitation.

“Not that kind of fun Blackstar, we were playing with food.”

“Oooh, kinky, didn’t think you were into that kind of thing.” Came Sev’s response, who at this point had a huge grin on his face.

“NO! Not like that!  We were having a food fight.”

“Oh” Came Sev’s response, he immediately deflated, so to speak, and returned to his formal attitude.  The solar princess raised an eyebrow to her younger sister after hearing this and began.

“I know that after your visit to Ponyville all those years ago you’ve tried to have fun, but don’t you think this is a bit much Luna?”

“Sister, we hardly ever have had chances to have fun.  Most of our subjects are still afraid of us, even after we showed them that we are not evil.  We needed to relax somehow, and Blue Cross noticed this during his examination.”

“Speaking of which” Celestia cut her off.  “How did the examination go?  Luna, we will discuss your behavior later”

“Very well,” Luna said, looking dejected, however; she brightened up when she began speaking about Rex’s examination.  “Sister, Blue Cross cannot use magic, however, he was perhaps one of the most skilled doctors we have ever seen.  Even without the use of magic, he severely outclassed and outperformed most of the doctors we have here.”  Rex donned a smug look on his face as she said this.  “We believe that he is qualified to be a member of the royal medical staff.  In addition to this, we have decided to take him under our wing, so to speak, and have decided to make him our student in magic.” Luna finished.  Celestia looked skeptical as Luna said this.

“Luna, are you sure you want to do this?”  She asked “Teaching a student is not as easy as it sounds, there is a proper technique to it.” She said.

“We are aware of this sister,   But we believe that we are ready.  After all, it only seems fair, thou has Twilight Sparkle, we have Blue Cross, is there something wrong with this?”

“Luna, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Sister, we are old enough to make our own decisions.”  Luna said with a huff, she then pouted and crossed her forelegs over each other.  Both mercenaries actually felt a tugging at their hearts at this sight.  Sev found that he could not stand looking at a sight this adorable for much longer, and was fighting the urge to outright hug Luna.  So, he decided to speak up.

“Princess, if I may interrupt.” Sev began.  Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“Continue” She responded.

”Well Princess, don’t you think that experience is perhaps one of the most effective teachers?”

“Well, yes but.” Celestia interrupted

“Well then, wouldn’t one of the most effective ways to teach your younger sister, be to have her go out into the field and experience what she wants to do?  Figuratively speaking that is.”  Sev continued, at this point, pacing around the room.

“Blackstar, I appreciate your input.” Celestia began, only to be interrupted by Luna.

“Sister, we agree with Blackstar, how dost thou expect us to get better at teaching, if thou never let us teach?  Besides, we have already taught Blue Cross levitation!”  Celestia groaned in exasperation at this, and rubbed her hooves to her temples and finally consented.

“Fine Luna, you may teach Blue Cross in the magical arts, however, I still expect him to do the job he was hired to do.” Celestia finished

“Yay!” Luna exclaimed while leaping in the air a few feet.  She quickly realized what she had just done, a blush evident on her face as she came down.  She then proceeded to trot up to Celestia and hug her while saying “Thankyouthankyouthankyou” repeatedly.  Celestia found that she could not breathe in Luna’s vice-grip of a hug and promptly began struggling against her younger sister.

“Luna” Celestia began, her voice strained from being held in a death-hold “Would you please be so kind as to release me?”

“Oh, sorry” Luna giggled, the blush returning to her face as she set her sister down.  Celestia took a few deep gasps, grateful to be able to breathe again, and bade Luna and Blue Cross a good night before she made her way out of Luna’s room, Sev following behind her as she left.

“So, what do we do now Princess?” Rex asked

“Blue Cross, we would like it if from now on that thou call us Luna.  We prefer that our friends do.”

“Friends, Pr-I mean Luna?”

Luna suddenly donned a sad look.  “Oh, we are sorry, we did not mean,-is were we too soon?” Luna was beginning to panic.  One of the few ponies who she thought she had a chance of becoming friends with was peaking to her, and she had just rushed things.

“No, no LUNA, there is nothing wrong with what you just said.  In fact, I’m always happy to make new friends” Rex said, and the edges of his mouth were slowly curving upwards into a smile.  Luna looked up as he said this, a smile, evident on her face.

“Doth, doth thou really mean that?”  She asked

“Yes Luna.  But my previous question still stands, what do we do now?”

“Oh, right.” Luna blushed as she looked around at the state of her room; the walls were stained in chocolaty brown, crumbs, icing, and custard everywhere.  She hadn’t noticed it until this point, but the smell was overwhelming.  The scents of sugars and chocolate tantalized her senses as they slowly drifted up her nostrils.  Her horn began glowing a dark blue, and with a flash, the room was suddenly clean.

“I’m assuming that was magic.” Rex said

“Thou art a fast learner” the sarcasm in Luna’s voice so thick, one could cut it with a knife.  “Regardless, on to the next lesson, illuminations spells.”

Meanwhile, Sev

“Well Princess, that was interesting to say the least.” Sev bgan

“I couldn’t agree more” Came Celestia’s reply

“So what do we do now Princess?”

“You will have to be fitted for a set of armor.”

“Princess, with all due respect, I’ve seen the armor the royal guards wear, it’s some of the worst armor I’ve ever seen.”

Celestia was not amused by this; she simply raised an eyebrow and said “Well Blackstar, this armor was crafter by the greatest blacksmiths Equestria has to offer; would you care to explain where you have seen better, and just what exactly is so bad about the armor at the castle?”

“Well Princess, I hope you realize that gold is not only heavy, but rather malleable as well, so it makes a poor material for not only armor, but weapons as well so I really hope that the  armor your guards wear is only gilded at best and not actually solid gold.  In addition to that, the build of the armor is flawed in and of itself; I’ve detected three structural weaknesses taking a glance at the front of the armor alone, not even properly examining it either Princess, just a GLANCE.  In addition to that, my younger brother, we nicknamed him Fixer, was a genius when it came to repairing and building things.  He could probably make better armor out of mere tin and copper.”

“Talk is cheap Blackstar.”

“Princess, if you want, the next time he comes to Canterlot, I’ll talk him into making some armor to test against the things your guards use.  In fact, while we’re at it, how about we make this a bit more interesting?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow at this and donned a grin, ‘Blackstar’s’ brother couldn’t hold a candle against the royal blacksmiths, she had won this bet already, her mouth slowly formed a devilish grin as she said “I’m listening”

“Well Princess, how about the loser of this friendly wager we have going on, has to-“

Meanwhile, Ghost

Ghost was navigating the forest; he had just left the camp that Zeta squad had made.  How dare Farshot tell him off?  Well, the sniper was probably right, the stealth expert had no right to complain, they had all been through worse after all.  Ghost felt bad at having yelled at his squad, he was about to yell at Fixer, and it took Farshot, FARSHOT THE ANGRY ASSHOLE OF THE GROUP to calm him down.  That probably served as some type of indication as to just how bad he was back there.  “…” He said to himself.  He silently began to make his way back to the camp; he was stopped however, by a noisy trudging following the path he had made.  Only one member of the squad could be so obvious with his presence while following someone, well, one member besides Scorch, the team heavy gunner.  The bear of a man was noisily trudging down the trail Ghost had left behind so he could find his way back to camp should he get lost.  The sound of crunching leaves and branches being pushed aside as obvious as Ghost thought possible.

Meanwhile, Kad

‘This forest, should be leveled, there should be some kind of regulation on these branches’ “OW!”  Kad yelled as a branch smacked his exposed face. “Should have worn my helmet, note to self, keep helmet on at all times during missions, I wonder if I broke protocol by taking it off while we were sitting around the-”  Kad was then cut off by a  lion-like roar and a scream that came from off the path that he was traversing. ‘Crap, what to do’ Kad thought to himself ‘protocol states that I put the mission first, but dad always said to do the right thing, even if it meant breaking a few rules.  I promised him I would always do what I thought was right.’

Flashback, four years ago; Detroit, Michigan

Kad was on leave, four years of duty as a super soldier entitled him a moth of leave.  He came back to his home.  ‘Home, what a strange word’ he thought to himself ‘I haven’t been here in years, yet I feel like I belong here’ He knocked on the small door, now easily towering over its top, a reminiscent feeling washing over him.

“Wh-who is it?” came a shaky response from behind the door, Kad recognized the soft voice from behind the door, it had lost the melodious sound it produced when he last heard it in person five years ago.

“Mom?   It’s me, Kad.”

“Kad?” The door opened to reveal a small woman; moist spots under her eyes coupled with the redness and puffiness of them made it clear that she had been crying recently.  Upon seeing the face of her son, she quickly gasped and ushered him inside the house.  He made sure to duck his head as he entered; it became second nature to him, hitting his head on every doorframe for the past moth had taught him that that doorframes are painful.  Joy washed over his face nearly instantly upon seeing the inside of his old home, and the sides of Kad’s mouth slowly curled up, if only slightly.  Nostalgia washed over him as he saw the sate of the house, it was just as it had been five years ago, nothing had changed, aside from some new furniture.

“Hi mom, it’s been a while hasn’t it?” Kad asked

“Yes dear, it has, come inside; your father will want to see you.” Kad followed his mother to her bedroom, and in it, laid his father, the once strong man, now beaten and bruised on his bed.

“D-dad?”  Kad asked, genuinely shocked at seeing his father, the strongest man he had ever known was lying in a bed, a cast on his arm, bandages on his face and upper torso, a large bruise on his forehead.  “Dad?!  What happened to you?!”  Kad yelled as he rushed to his father’s side, the normally stoic faced soldier was now filled with shock and grief to see the man he had idolized and looked up to as a source of hope and strength in such a state.

“Son?  Is that you?”  The man asked

“Yeah dad, it’s me”

“Holy shit you’ve grown, wish I could have been there to have seen it.”  The bear of a man that was Kad’s father spoke, a sad smile growing on his face.

“Dad, it’s not your fault, but what happened?  Who did this to you?”

“Heh, you should see the other guys.  I might be old, but I’ve still got some fight in me.  A couple of thugs were mugging an old lady, well, I did the right thing, and I roughed em up a bit, not to say I got away unscarred.  As you can see, they got me pretty good, I got them worse. Then again, three versus one was hardly fair.”

“Dad, why?  Why did you do this?  You’re old, you can’t do things like this anymore.”

“Because son, it was the right thing to do.  Didn’t I teach you that all those years ago?”

“Yes, but dad, you were young and healthy back then!  You’re way to old to be doing this kind of thing anymore!”

“Son, you’re never too old to do the right thing, and don’t you forget that, besides, what do you think I should have done?  Just stand there and let the lady get mugged?  Run and call for help?  By the time any help would have arrived, the lady’s bag would’ve been stolen!”  Kad, defeated at this, sighed, knowing his father had won.  “Anyways son, I have some bad news, I was coming back home from the doctor’s when I helped the old lady.  Kadmos, I have malignant cancer, the doctors found tumors all over my body, and I have a week at most to live.”  Kad had fallen to his knees at this point, and was weeping at his father’s side, the man he once thought to be invincible, a paragon of strength and justice, was dying, and he, a super soldier, could do nothing about it.  He was stronger than most other humans, faster, and smarter, he had overthrown corrupt alien regimes, stared Death in the face and come back to tell the tale,  stopped countless terrorist plots,  and saved countless lives, yet he was powerless to help his father, the man he looked up to the most.  He was openly sobbing, his face buried in the sheets next to his father’s chest, when a coarse hand placed itself on the back of his head.  Kad slowly looked up to see his father’s face, no longer smiling, but with a resolute look.

“Kadmos, I want you to promise me something”

“A-anything dad.”

“Kadmos, I want you to promise me that you will always do the right thing, no matter what the cost, be it breaking rules, fighting with a friend, or even your own life; you must always do the right thing.”

“I-I promise dad.”

Return to present time

“I promise dad” Kad said as he rushed into the foliage hunting for the source of the sound.

End chapter-

Well, that’s that I guess, so, for the approach to Ponyville, we have one vote for stealth, any other votes? For or against, list your opinion here.