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by The Boss

Rating: teen
Tags: Main 6, Cheerilee, Gore, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Original Character, Trixie
Length: 8389

After seven years, Shield Dasher is back on Equestrian Soil. Seven years since he left without saying goodbye to his adoptive parents, and his sister. Rainbow Dash.

After seven years, Shield Dasher is back on Equestrian Soil. Seven years since he left without saying goodbye to his adoptive parents, and his sister. Rainbow Dash. Now he returns, wounded and scarred from battles won long ago, to make up for the time he lost and the time he has left.

But all is not as peaceful as it seems, will our hero be forced back into the breach.

Most likely...

(Well, I've never had a story featured before. This is a nice feeling. Thanks guys, you're the best.)

Now with more Action!

Published 2013-11-15 11:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-20 09:00:47 UTC

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The small town of Ponyville bustled as usual, ponies went about their daily lives as they did everyday. They managed their stalls and purchased their goods, fillies and colts played in the school yard. They screamed and shouted at each other, enjoying the games that only they knew. In the fields, farmers moved about harvesting their various crops and preparing them for storage over the winter. It was to this backdrop that he arrived, looking tired and hungry he trotted towards the town. His light brown fur was covered in dust, as was his greying mane. His back was strong, an olive green duffle bag sat upon it. His left, lonely green eye scanned the road ahead, while the socket that had held the other was covered by a leather patch.

As he walked, he looked at the playing foals. They were happy, and innocent. In the end that was all that mattered, they hadn’t seen what the stallion had seen, or known what the stallion had known. He smiled faintly before continuing to walk, hoping to find his sister in this cheery town. It had been seven years since he had last seen her face, for all he knew she could have moved on. If that was the case, he would find a place to rest for the night and continue on to Canterlot. Hopefully they would be more accepting of him here than in Applewood, his blood boiled as he thought of the city.

“Bucking maggots.” He growled, the thoughts were shaken from his head as he tripped on a root and stumbled a bit. From that point on he paid attention to the road, occasionally looking at the scenery or hearing the birds chirp. His hooves made contact with the cobble stones that made up the towns streets, he was getting closer. The ponies of the town glanced at him every now and then, it wasn’t everyday they had a visitor looking like him visit the town. He paid them no mind, until he realised he needed directions. His eye wandered around until they fell on a stall selling apples, he slowly made his way over. Selling the apples was an orange mare and a stallion that was slightly bigger than he was, they looked like decent ponies.

The orange mare looked up and saw him, she didn’t even bat an eyelash at his missing eye.

“Howdy! Interested in buying an apple family apple?” She asked, the stallion looked at the apples and nodded.

“Yes, ma’am. I think I would. I’ll take a red and delicious if that would be alright?” He asked, the mare nodded.

“Okay, that’ll be two bits.” He lowered his bag off of his back, when he turned the mare got a good look at his cutie mark. It was a battered looking shield with two spears crossed behind it. “Quite an intrestin’ mark you have there mister…”

“Shield.” He replied, he shoved something in his bag trying to get at his wallet and a grey steel helmet fell from it. “Sorry.” He picked it up and put it back in the bag before finally finding his wallet. The orange mare must have seen the large dent on the right where his eye used to be, he pretended she hadn't and pushed the two bits towards her. She looked at him for a moment before taking the bits and handing him his apple. “Thank you, could you perhaps give me some directions?”

“Uh, sure, ah guess.” She replied, shaking off her initial shock at seeing the size of the dent.

“Thank you, ma’am. I’m trying to find a pony named Rainbow Dash.” Shield said, the mare raised an eyebrow.

“What do y’all need to see ‘er about?”

“I’m an old friend, I heard she lived here but… that was a few years ago.” The mare scowled, in actuality he was her brother. He doubted she had told anyone about him, probably because he wasn’t her real brother, just adopted. She probably thought he was dead, it had been years since he had written to her.

“I know where she is, but I can tell y’all is fibbin’.” The big red stallion looked at Shield now, glaring. Shield didn’t wilt though, he had seen worse from the hipsters in Applewood. “What’s yer business with her?”

“My business with her is my own, if you don’t want to show me fine. I’ll find her myself.” Shield took the apple and put his bag back over his back. The orange mare watched him, she could hear him grumbling something. “Bucking maggots.” He trotted away, ponies got out of his path as he did. Not wishing to anger whoever he was further. Shield took deep breaths, calming his nerves. He had hoped this town would have been more helpful, but wasn’t surprised that he had been proven wrong. Not many ponies were accepting of others, despite what Sunny kept saying. At least he knew Rainbow Dash was here in Ponyville, and barring any radical personality changes, it would be easy to spot her home.

Shield continued onwards until he came upon the town library, it had been retrofitted into some strange castle/public library hybrid. He knew this to be the home of Princess Sparkle, when she was coronated he had been overseas. He’d never seen an actual picture of her, all he heard was that she was an Element of Harmony. Whatever those were, they were supposed to be the best of the best. He didn’t really pay attention to news like that, he didn’t even know the names of the other element bearers, that type of news was what his old commissioned officers would care about. Stallions like him only cared about news that pertained to supplies and casualties, not many ponies knew it but the perfect world they lived in was often only inches away from destruction.

Shield shook himself from his thoughts, the less time he spent thinking about what was and wasn’t right the more time he had to look for Rainbow Dash’s house. Would she even recognise him? Seven years is a long time to be away from one another, would she even care? He hadn’t said goodbye the night he left, he hadn’t hugged her or kissed her or told her he would miss her. Would she hate him for that? He had been called to duty, he had no choice, but still he could have done something. If only he had been a better brother. Shield looked around the town, none of the ponies wanted anything to do with him. He sighed and turned down a random street, trying to find the home of his sister.

As Shield trotted along he came upon a bridge that went over a river, he stopped on the bridge and looked into the water below. The fish within were trout and other normal fish, how odd it seemed to him. In his travels he had seen coy fish the size of foals, and yet he knew the names of these common fish better than any other. His eye watched the fish for a few moments before a new reflextion joined his in the water. He looked at it’s owner and sighed, not the pony he was looking for.

“Oh hello…” The white unicorn mare said, he nodded and looked back at the fish. A feeling of nostalgia washed over him, it seemed so similar to how it had been when he was younger. Before the time when he had been taken in, or needed taking in. When his true mother and father would take him out on a picnic, and his dad would teach him the names of different fish. “I’m sorry if I intrude, but may I ask you a question?”

“You just did, ma’am. But go ahead.” He said, not taking his eye off of the fish.

“Why do you where that patch over your eye?” Shield looked at her then and sighed, he brought his hoof up and flipped the patch up. The place his eye had been was now sewed up, it still was still a grizly sight. “O-Oh, I see. Sorry. I thought it was a fashion statement of some sort.”

“Not your fault, ma’am.” Shield replied, looking back at the water. A serenity seemed to fill him as he did. “Glad it happened.”

“Why?”

“You don’t want the details, and I don’t feel like opening that can of worms again.” Shield stated, the mare nodded. “I’m Shield Dasher, by the way. Most ponies call me Shield.”

“Rarity.” Replied the mare, Shield nodded to the name.

“Well, that’s for sure. Not many other ponies talk to me so openly.” said shield, taking in the moving tails of the fish. “Not since Sunny called us back.” He looked up at the castle on the side of the mountain.

“Sunny?”

“No one important, to me anyway.” Shield said the last part coldly, Rarity could see something in his face was different from any other pony she had seen. “Well, been nice chatting with you Rarity. I gotta go, there’s someone I need to talk to. An old friend.”

“Of course.” Rarity didn’t feel compelled to pry into his life as she normally did, another odd thing about him she noticed. He walked the rest of the way over the bridge and towards the center of town, his bag clinking and clanking on his back every so often. If he was going to find the prismatic pegasus, he would start from the center and make his way to the outer circles of town.

The first few minutes were fruitless, but he knew he’d find her eventually. He had to. Every step he took was another step towards his goal, he would go to the ends of the earth if he had to. He swore he could hear her voice, so much older and more intelligent.

“So when you want to go higher you tilt your wings like this…” He looked up, he could see her. He hadn’t been paying attention and he had found her, with her was a small orange filly he had seen running about on the playground hours before. Was she her filly? No, Dash would never get herself into trouble like that. “When you want to go lower, you tilt them like this…” She was teaching the filly how to fly. Dash, a flight instructor? Faust help the poor foal who was assigned to her. Shield watched her and the orange filly for a few more minutes, not realising the time going by.

(Play this now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5qhNRmMilI)

“Rainbow Dash?” Asked the orange filly.

“Yeah squirt?”

“Who’s that?” The filly pointed at Shield, Rainbow Dash turned to see where she was pointing. Her eyes widened as they landed on him.

“Scoots, call it a day? I just remembered I need to talk to someone very important.”

“Okay!” The Orange filly took off, leaving Rainbow Dash to stare at Shield. She trotted forwards and poked him with her hoof.

“Shield?” She asked, poking him again. “Is it really...really you?” A smile crossed Shield’s lip, the same smile he had had when he would play with her and she would do something absolutely adorable.

“Hey Dashie.” Was all he could say in reply, no other words came to mind. Rainbow Dash, for all her boasting and self promoting, the mare who controlled her emotions so well, grabbed Shield in a massive hug. Shield dropped his bag and returned the gesture, feeling wetness run down his neck. He could tell she was crying, and he was close to following her. He had thought she would be angry, bitter, that she would hate him.

“You’re alive…” She repeated the phrase over and over again, as if stopping would cause him to up and die.

“Shh shh shh, it’s okay Dashie. I’m home now.” It didn’t matter that it was in public, or that photos were being snapped, all that mattered was making up for all the lost time. All the missed birthdays and hearths warming eves. “I’m home, and I’m not going away again.” Shield felt himself begin to break, seven years, seven long, lonely years. Shield began to cry, realising the gravity of his own words. “I’m home, for good.”

Leading Edge

Two Days Later

Shield sipped a cup of coffee as he lounged in Dashie’s kitchen, the pegasus had not fallen asleep in the two days he had been here. The beds were too soft, they brought out the worst of his nightmares. He hadn’t told Rainbow about it though, it wasn’t her cross to bear. Since he had been back he had learned so much about her, she was an element of harmony, had been accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy and was teaching a young filly to fly. It made him proud to know that she had grown so well without him, and then he remembered that he had missed all of those moments.

He sighed and took another sip from his cup, looking at the rising sun in the distance.  Shield heard Dash come into the room despite her efforts to remain stealthy, he let out a soft chuckle.

“You can’t pull that with me Dash.” He heard an exasperated sigh and Rainbow Dash walked over to the chair across from him, upon seeing his bloodshot eyes she took on a look of concern.

“Shield, did you sleep last night?” Shield shook his head and took another sip. “Shield you know what can happen if you don’t get enough sleep, I don’t normally play egghead but when it comes to your health… I won’t lose you again, Shield.”

“I’m fine Dash.” Dash pointed at his wings, they had seen better days.

“If you don’t get some sleep that’s gonna be permanent. Please, Shield just do it.” Shield looked at her for a moment. “For me?” He sighed and nodded, Dash smiled and watched him climb the steps to the guest room. When she heard the door close she began to clean up the kitchen, to her surprise Shield had not only cleaned his used cups but everything from the icebox to the kitchen sink. It was eerie, considering Shield had been the closest thing to a pig that a pony could be. When they had cleaned his room after he left they had to hire an entire crew, now the was kitchen sparkling when he was finished with it.

Rainbow Dash was perplexed, but shrugged it off. He hadn’t slept in several days, it made sense he would clean the dishes to have something to do. Right? The kitchen was the least of her concern’s however, Shield seemed distant. As if part of him was just off in another place, it unnerved the prismatic pegasus. He hadn’t really made any jokes as he had done when she was a filly, he hadn’t smiled much either and his remaining eye seemed to have a depth to it that went beyond anything she had seen before. His face was sunken, and his ears seemed to twitch about as if something was following him.

“What’s wrong with you, Shield?” She asked herself, the clock on the wall chimed and reminded her that she had to go to work. Dash trotted up the steps to the upper floor and then to her room, she could hear Shield snoring as she passed his room. “At least some things don’t change.” She chuckled.

After combing her mane and going about her other morning rituals Dash left the house. She was absolutely quiet so she wouldn't wake Shield. She was going to have to talk to her friends later, and tell them the whole story. They only knew Shield as one of her friends from flight school, Applejack had already taken a disliking to him. Hopefully clearing the air would change that.

[♠]

”Lieutenant! We got thirty Griffons on our six!” The words echoed through Shields head as he tossed and turned.

”The Saddle Arabians are blasting us out of the sky! We need to pull out now!” Shield knew that voice, but he couldn’t put a face to it.

”SIR! WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS!” That was his voice, the images were starting to come back. ”If you can’t make the choice I will!”

”I-I”

”Bucking Canterlot boys! Come on! We’re pulling out of here!” Shield could see it forming in his mind, it was getting clearer and clearer.

Shield dodged a massive blast of magic fired from the Saddle Arabian Capital below, he and his flight had been lead off course by their incompetent excuse for a flight lead. Now the Griffons and the Saddle Arabians were making it near impossible to escape. The flight of three pegasi had left the flight leader behind, they would get killed if they kept following his orders.

“What’s the plan sarge!” Shouted the pegasi to his left, Corporal Light Wing. Shield looked around for a moment, the spells being fired at them were exploding at a set height. The gears in his head turned and a light bulb went up in his head.

“Fly on the deck! Avoid the casters and try to get the griffons to crash into the buildings.” Shield ordered, his flight looked at him with shocked expressions. “You want to die here!” Another spell exploded close to them, the others shook their heads. “Good! Follow my flank and stay tight! Lets thread the needle!” Shield and the others angled their wings down, avoiding spells coming up from the large city below them. Shield lead his crew through a narrow street, flying inches over the shocked heads of Saddle Arabian Civilians.

The Griffons on their six dropped down as well, seven were slammed by the spells still flying from the ground. They tried to imitate the flight of Shield and his crew but failed miserably, smashing into Saddle Arabians on the ground or getting caught on balconies.  Shield smiled as he saw that now only four remained, before quickly turning his head back forwards. He barely had time to dodge a cart that was being pulled by a lanky Saddle Arabian. Sparks flew from his armor as it grinded over the top of the cart, Shield sighed as he saw the end of the street ahead. There was a group of enemy pegasi, they had cleared the street and hovered directly in front of the flight.

“Plan!?” This time the shout was from Private Leading Edge.

“Drop low on my command!” Shield shouted back. “We’re gonna kiss the ground!” The Griffons were starting to catch up, Shield had to time this perfectly. Crossbow bolts flew towards them, but miraculously they missed. When Shield saw the shocked eyes of the Saddle Arabians he said a quick prayer. “NOW!” The group dropped again, to the point where they were they were only inches from the ground. The remaining Griffons crashed into the shocked Saddle Arabians, sending them flying.

“Pull up!” Shield ordered, Light Wing and Shield began to climb. Leading Edge began to ascend as well, but Shield saw what was coming. “PULL UP!” Leading edge was too slow, a spray of blood signified the young private’s impact with a building. “FAUST DAMN IT!”

“He would have died instantly, sir.” Light Wing said as they climbed out of the range of the Saddle Arabians. Shield nodded slowly and sighed.

“From now on, no one gets left behind.” He said firmly, Light Wing snorted in affirmation.

[♠]

Shield woke up to the sound of the front door closing, he looked at the clock and saw the that he had been asleep for five hours. He grunted a bit and got out of the bed, he put on his eyepatch and stumbled a bit. Shield walked to the door to his room and opened it.

“Dashie? That you?” He called down, there was a brief moment of silence.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Dash’s voice called, slightly surprised. Shield exited the room and walked downstairs, Dash was in the kitchen with several bags of groceries. She smiled at Shield as he came in. “You sleep alright?” Shield nodded before grabbing a bag and putting it’s contents away.

“Yeah, I slept fine.” He lied, shaking the image of the blood spray from his mind. “What about you, how was work?”

“It was okay, had some rouge clouds from the Everfree fly in but nothing too bad.” Dash finished with her groceries and looked at the clock. “Hey I was going to meet my friends later, want to come?” Shield looked thoughtful for a moment and shook his head.

“Nah, they’re your friends.” Shield noticed Dash’s face droop a bit and sighed. “On second thought, I guess it could do me some good to get out of here for a bit.” He gestured to the house, Dash hugged him tightly.

“Thanks.” She said before releasing him, Shield tossled her mane and nodded. “We were going to meet up at the library, you know where that is right?”

“It’s kinda hard to miss.” Shield replied, walking to the coat closet for a moment. He opened it and looked in, his bag was on the floor and open. “Wonder what the security looks like over there.” He pulled out a necklace with two metal tags hanging from it, as well as an eight pointed hat Dash had learned was called a ‘Cover’. It was similar to the hat she had worn when they had watched the dragon migration, but had an emblem stitched into the  front. It was a faded eight pointed sun with an anchor behind it, wings sprouted from the anchor in an odd fashion.

“Why do you care about security? Twilight already knows I’m coming.” Shield shrugged and adjusted his cover. After that he put the strange necklace around his neck.

“Because, they may know you’re coming…” Shield paused and coughed a bit. “But they don’t know I’m coming. From the looks of it those guards are just out of basic.” He and Dash started walking towards the door, the strange necklace clinked as he moved. “They’re bound to get antsy when I show up.” Shield opened the door and let his sister exit first, then closed the door and locked it with the key she had given him. He stretched his wings and smiled a bit, an idea had formed in his head. Dash seemed upset, maybe he could remedy that? “Hey Dashie?”

“Yeah?” Dash turned and saw the grin, Shield gave his wings a massive flap and took off into the air.

“Race ya!” He rocketed past Rainbow Dash and towards the small town, Dash smiled and took off after him. She actually found herself having a hard time catching up, which didn’t surprise her. Shield had always been faster, though he often eased back a bit to let her win. Shield dropped low to the ground, lower than Dash had ever flown. He weaved through trees and bushes with ease, even with only one eye.

Dash caught up to him and flew at a safer altitude above him, as they got closer to the town Shield tilted his wings up and soared over Rainbow Dash.

“Its been a while since we did this!” Dash said excitedly, Shield smiled and laughed.

“Remember when you were learning to fly? This was the only way I could get you out of the house!” Shield came up alongside Rainbow Dash smiling, the town was getting even closer now. “Glad to see you grew out of that fear of heights!”

“I wasn’t scared of how high we were, I was scared of hitting the ground.” Dash retorted, Shield laughed again. This was the Shield she remembered, telling stories and laughing.

“Alright, slow up. We’re going into a residential zone.” Shield said over the wind, Dash nodded and flared her wings to slow down. Shield was still ahead of her even at the reduced speed. “Alright, here it comes! The final push!” They flew down mainstreet, getting the attention of the guards at the Library/Palace. Dash flared her wings to slow down for a landing, but Shield continued on like a bolt of lightning. Right as he was about to hit the boundary that indicated the no fly zone he started flapping backwards, his muzzle was now inches from the boundary.

He dropped to the ground and rolled his neck, Dash landed next to him and looked at him with an awed face. The guards stared at him as well, though more out of curiosity than awe.

“Lets go meet your friends.”

[♠]

DOG TAG COLLECTED

Surplus and Surprises

Getting through security had been easier than Shield had expected, at least these recruits were better trained than most. He had still be scrutinized more than he liked, but at least they were thorough. For Canterlot boys anyway. They still used spears, which struck him as odd. Contrary to popular belief the actual Equestrian Military had upgraded to crossbows and cannons nearly a decade ago. They still trained with swords and spears, but using them on the battlefield was viewed as a last resort. A resort that Shield had used many times during his tour of duty.

The armor the guards wore, as well as their stature, just seemed so old to him. It was most likely something to do with the nobles in Canterlot. They would care more about the guards’ style than they would his actual combat effectiveness.

“Shield.” Rainbow Dash shook him from his thoughts. “We’re here.” The pair stood in front of a closed door, it was elegantly decorated with gold insets and white paint. Shield eyed the door for a moment and suppressed a growl. Sunny had most likely paid or this with bits that could go to his fellow marines overseas. With the money it had taken to make the door they probably could afford enough fire powder to stock an entire artillery division. He shook off that anger though, he was here for his sister and he wouldn’t ruin it with one of his angry rants.

“Okay, so who am I meeting?” He asked, Dash smiled and looked at him.

“Well there’s Pinkie Pie, she’s random. Don’t try and figure her out or you’ll go insane.” She explained. “You’ll know her when you see her. Then there’s Fluttershy, she’s well…”

“Shy?” Shield finished.

“Yeah, again you should be able to recognise her pretty quick. Next is Applejack, she runs the orchard outside of town.” Shield looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Orange earth pony, blonde mane?” He asked, Dash blinked and nodded. “Met her on my way into town.” He stated. “Didn’t exactly go well.”

“Well, she didn’t say anything so I’m sure she’s cool with you.” Stated Dash. “Okay that leaves two, Twilight or…” She did air quotes with her hooves. “Princess Sparkle. She doesn’t like that though, so Twilight’s fine.” Shield nodded, making a mental note. “The last one is Rarity.” Shield perked up at that. “I take it you met her too?”

“Yeah, had a bit of a chat with her. Seemed alright to me.” He replied, shifting his weight a bit. “Okay, anyone else?”

“Well, there’s spike. He’s like Twilight’s little brother, though technically she hatched him so does that mean he’s her son too?” Dash trailed off.

“Wait? She hatched him?” Dash nodded. “Okay, whatever. I’m not gonna question alicorn biology.”

“No she… Nevermind, she can tell you herself. Lets just get in there.” Dash knocked on the door several times, Shield straightened up out of instinct. Despite his retirement, he still walked and talked like a soldier when it came to meeting new ponies. The door was encompassed in a lavender glow before it was pulled open. The smell of fresh cooked pastries wafted out and made Shield cringe. Instinctively he reached to where his right saddlebag would be to grab his gasmask, only to sigh in frustration as he found that it was not there.

Dash and Shield entered the room, the door closed behind them. Shield smiled a bit as he took in the decor, it was simple and utilitarian. Something he liked. A spiral staircase rose up to where the Princess’ bed was, on the floor was a table with papers organized neatly and books arranged alphabetically. The only real decorations were the bust of General Hurricane and the carpet on the floor. It was currently occupied by five mares and one lizard thing. They were playing a board game, which seemed like an odd activity for a princess. Shield actually found it rather endearing, she took time out of what had to be a busy schedule to play a game with her friends.

The Princess looked up from the board and spotted the two, a confused look came over her for a moment before she shrugged.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” She called out happily, the other mares looked up as well. Rarity was the first to spot Shield. He easily identified them, his military mind adding their names and faces to its memory.

“Hi Twilight.” Rainbow Dash replied, walking towards the group with Shield behind her. “I hope you don’t mind, he’s an old friend of mine.”

“Not at all! Make yourself at home…” Twilight replied, trailing off.

“Shield.” Shield finished the sentence for her before nodding to Rarity. “Miss Rarity, good to see you again.”

“The pleasure is mine, Sir Shield.” Rarity replied, she then looked at Rainbow Dash. “I didn’t think you two knew each other…” Rarity trailed off as Dash sat down with her friends. Shield looked around the room, searching for something in particular.

“Looking for something?” Twilight asked, he paused for a moment and shook his head.

“Nah, just a bit thirsty is all, ma’am. I’ll be fine.” He replied, still looking about. The princess nodded and went back to her game with her friends. His eye fell on a picture on the desk. The princess as a unicorn was standing next to a smiling Captain Shining Armor. The very sight of the stallion made Shield’s blood run hot. The princess knew the stallion that had extended his tour three times, the stallion that had kept him from his sister, the one responsible for so many of his friends deaths. He tore his eye off of the picture and instead looked at his sister, the smile on her face as she talked to her friends calmed the fire that had started.

Shield smiled genuinely and banished the thoughts of Shining Armor to the deepest part of his mind. He cantered over to his sister and sat down next to her, just listening to the way she addressed her friends. More importantly it was how she listened to her friends, she didn’t interrupt as much as when she was younger, and when she did it was for a legitimate reason. As the evening turned to night, Shield began to zone out.

”We need air support!” A voice echoed through his mind, Shield pushed it down into his mind aswell.

”Faust damn it! Cover the left flank!” The images started to come, the became clearer and clearer and were about to become real.

“Shield?” He was snapped back into reality by Rainbow Dash. “You okay? You kinda zoned out there for a bit.”

“Yeah… Yeah I’m fine.” Shield replied, slightly dazed. “Sorry, just thinking. What’d I miss?”

“I asked if you had any plans now that you’re back in town.” Rarity answered, Shield thought for a moment before the answer came to his mind.

“I had two idea’s really…” He explained, looking around the group. “I had a friend in the corps who got me a Surplus Dealer’s License before I retired. I was thinking of starting a surplus store, maybe. Just a thought.”

“What’s a surplus store?” Asked Applejack, the others looked at Twilight for an answer but she shrugged and gestured to Shield.

“Well, the Equestrian Military makes more supplies than it should sometimes. That supplies is called surplus. Surplus can be anything as big as airships to as small as tooth brushes.” Shield started. “For example, about a decade ago, they phased out the ballista and brought in the fire-bolt. Rather than destroy the ballistas, they sold them to collectors in auctions and such.”

“Oh, I get it!” Twilight exclaimed. “You buy the surplus from the government at auction then mark it up and sell it at retail!” Shield nodded and smiled. “But, who would by a ballista in Ponyville?”

“Well that was just an example. There’s all sorts of books, winter gear, farm equipment, hell I could probably get my hooves on some old fore-blades.” Shield answered, then sighed. “But before I can do that I need money, that’s where the other plan comes in.” The ponies in the room raised their eyebrows, Rainbow Dash especially. He hadn’t really said he wanted to do in detail, and that was something Dash desperately wanted to know.

“What’s that?” Applejack inquired.

“Well, not all of my time over there was spent in the trenches. During down time I started taking a class.” Shield said. “I ended up getting certified in Advanced Historical Instruction.”

“W-What’s that… If you, uh, don’t mind me asking…” Fluttershy asked, the girls looked at her and smiled. The timid pegasus rarely talked to strangers, it made them smile to see her come out of her shell.

“Teacher.” Shield said flatly. Rainbow Dash perked up at this.

“Shield, no offense, but you aren’t exactly good with foals.”

“I taught you to fly alright, didn’t I?” Shield shot back with a chuckle, the girls stay silent but started to question just how well Rainbow Dash and Shield knew each other. Dash sighed and nodded.

“Wait. You taught Rainbow Dash how to fly!?” Pinkie asked in a loud voice. Shield and Dash looked at each other, an unheard conversation seemed to pass between them before they looked back at the group.

“Yes.” They said simultaneously.

“That’s kinda why I brought Shield with me…” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “He’s… Well he’s my older brother. My parents adopted him before they had me.” The girls stared at the two in shock.

“W-What?” Twilight stammered, staring at Shield. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because…” Rainbow Dash began, but her words failed her. “Because…”

“Because she thought I was dead.” Shield finished her statement, he wasn’t sure if it was accurate but he didn’t care. The mares turned the attention away from his sister and onto him, he didn’t mind though. “She thought I died.”

“Why?” Fluttershy asked. “Why would she think you… d-d-died.”

“Sunny doesn’t like the public to know what goes on outside the borders, so she doesn’t let us send mail home.” Shield said with contempt. “Add that to extended tours and you can see where that can happen.”

“Extended tours? But my brother told me everypony comes home after a year.” Twilight asked.

“Well they don’t. At least not in my division.” Shield said bitterly. “Getting back to what we were here to talk about. That’s why she thought I was dead.” He looked at his sister for a moment before wrapping his wing around her. “But, I’m not dead, and I intend to spend as much time with my sister as possible.” The way Shield spoke seemed to quell anymore questions for the time being.

“So…” Pinkie said, breaking the silence. “A teacher?”

The New Teacher

Shield and Light Wing charged towards the Saddle Arabian line, firing their crossbows like mad. They were joined by dozens of other marines, laying waste to the enemy. The order had come in hours ago, Princess Celestia had made a deal with two Saddle Arabian royals, their father’s throne for the gold and gem deposits within their borders. Shield and the other’s had contemplated refusing the orders and defecting, but that would create more problems than it would solve. Their loyalty to their ‘Beloved’ ruler had long since crumbled away, and many of them would kill her if they received the chance.

Shield, despite his distaste for the mission, shot to kill. He knew what would happen to him if he died, Shining Asshole and his merry band of bucktards would leave him to rot. Shield let out an angry roar as the two side’s met, he dropped his crossbow and drew his knife. A Saddle Arabian tried to tackle him but fell short and landed on the ground in front of Shield, seconds later Shield drove his blade into the enemy’s gut and continued to charge forwards. He slashed the throat of another enemy soldier, then delivered a punch to his throat.

Shield could feel his anger begin to rise, he turned into a predator on the battlefield, killing every living enemy he could find. He snapped his wings open and took to the sky, then dodged an anti air spell cast by a unicorn mercenary standing on top of a house. Shield descended on the merc like a hawk, grabbing his head before slamming it as hard as he could into the roof of the building. Another unicorn merc teleported onto the roof and fired at Shield, the marine used the corpse of the dead unicorn as a shield before bolting towards the living one and driving his blade into the unicorns chest.

The unicorn stared at him for a moment, shocked by the stallion that stood before him. He had wild green eyes and was drenched in blood, the last thing the unicorn thought was ‘I should have never messed with a marine.’. Shield pulled the blade from the unicorns chest and let his body slump to the ground. The terror that had been present in his eyes was enough to snap Shield out of his trance, he looked around him. Light Wing had disappeared, probably on his way to the capitol building, Shield stared at the two corpses. For the first time in a long time, he felt sick. The Saddle Arabians had hired mercenaries from his homeland to fight with them, what was more, these mercenaries couldn’t have been older than Dash would be.

Shield sat there for what felt like an eternity, then felt something touch his shoulder. The marine turned his head and found himself staring at an indigo hoof, then everything faded out.

Shield woke up on Rainbow Dash’s couch, the early morning sun shined on his face. He rubbed his eye as the dream began to fade from his memory, then got up and walked to the kitchen. Today was a big day, his first day at a new job. Miss Cheerilee was gracious enough to offer him a position, he would teach the older foals while she taught the younger ones. Shield made himself a cup of coffee, then grabbed his lunch from the ice box.

When he had done that he ascended the steps to Rainbow Dash’s room and peeked in, she was still asleep. Shield silently made his way over to her bed and pulled the covers up, she snuggled into them and let out a soft sigh.

“Love you, Dashie.” Shield said with a smile before leaving the room, he closed the door as quietly as possible and went downstairs. He thought about the past week, since they had told Rainbow Dash’s friends Shield had been assaulted with a barrage of questions. Most of which he declined to answer. Twilight had stopped by several times to talk with him. Shield was, at first, livid when he found out that she was related to Shining Armor, but quickly suppressed it. She couldn’t have chosen to be related to such an asshole, and she seemed nice enough by herself.

He had met one of the students he would be teaching, Scootaloo, through Rainbow Dash. When she had learned that he was Dash’s brother she had been skeptical at first, but relatively accepting. That was not the case when she also found out that he would be her new teacher. Shield chuckled at the thought, foals never seemed to change. It brought a smile to his lips, a sense of happiness welled up in him. He had fought and bled for them to maintain their innocence, and that made it worth it in a sense.

Shield put his cover on and hung his tags around his neck, then walked to outside. He opened his wings and took to the sky, his destination was on the other end of town which gave him a few minutes at a leisurely pace. He flew higher than most other pegasi, almost as high marines would normally fly on a bombing run. When he had flown far enough he started to descend until the building was in sight.

Shield landed outside the school and walked towards the door, he could hear Cheerilee getting ready within the building. He pushed the door open and entered smiling. Cheerilee was carrying a very heavy box towards what would be Shields classroom, Shield quickly moved over and grabbed it from her before she could hurt herself.

“Oh! Mister Dasher! I wasn’t expecting you to be here for another hour!” She chirped, happy to not have to carry the box any longer.

“I woke up early and decided to get an early start.” Shield replied, not really seeing how the box was heavy. He walked into his classroom and was surprised at how well furnished it looked. The classrooms he had seen were far more bland and empty. “Anything else that needs to come in here?” Shield asked, setting down the box and poking his head out into the hallway. Cheerilee shook her head and smiled.

“No, but thank you.” She replied, Shield smiled in return and turned back to the box. He reached for his combat knife but sighed as he remembered that it was still in his bag at home. He grabbed a pair of scissors that sat on his desk, he stared at them for a moment. The image of the unicorn from his dream flashed in his mind, Shield clamped his eye shut and forced the horror filled face away. He cut the box open and peaked in, there were a dozen or so note books and a large globe. He pulled the globe out and placed it on his desk, he turned it a few times before going back to the box.

Shield set the notebooks out on the student’s desks before moving to his own and eyed the globe again. His eye landed on a small country, Greneighda, how many of his brothers had been killed there? He couldn’t count. He sighed and walked to his seat, then relaxed and waited for the school to start. He started to nod off, his mind drifting off to a darker place.

Shield stood at the end of a row of graves, he was covered in mud and dirt. Around his neck was his own dog tag necklace, along with another that contained nearly thirty others. Each of the others had a small stain of blood on them, their owners lay buried in the dirt a few feet away. Shield looked down at the last tag on the necklace and shook his head, the poor bastard hadn’t even been out of basic a month. Shield turned away from the row of graves and put his helmet on, silently leaving his brothers.

“Mister Dasher?” Shield snapped awake, Cheerilee was standing in front of him. “I’m sorry to wake you, but school will be starting in ten minutes.” Shield shook his head and put on a fake smile, the dream still fresh in his mind.

“Thank you, ma’am. Would be pretty embarrassing if all those foals came in here and found me asleep.” He replied, sitting up straight. “What should I be expecting out of them.”

“Well, most of them are relatively level headed, but…” Cheerilee trailed off. “Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle have a bit of trouble with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.”

“What kind of trouble?” Shield asked.

“Well, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara tend to pick on them because they don’t have cutie marks yet.” Cheerilee explained, Shield let out an annoyed grunt.

“What kind of disciplinary actions am I allowed to take with these two…” Shield asked, thoughts of corporal punishment entering his head.

“Nothing too extreme, please. But I wouldn’t mind you putting them in their place.” Cheerilee, leaning in as if not wanting anyone else to hear. Shield nodded, understanding her and clearing his throat.

“You got it.” Shield adjusted his cover until it met the Marine standard. “I’ll take care of it.” Cheerilee smiled in response.

“Great! If you need me, I’ll be right across the hall.” With that Cheerilee left and Shield stood up, the minutes passed and he could hear the students begin to line up outside the closed classroom door. When the bell rang the students opened the door and flooded in, they quickly rushed to their seats, chatting away. Slowly they began to notice that Miss Cheerilee had not greeted them and one by one began to quiet down.

“Good morning.” He said in a calm voice. “My name is Shield Dasher, and I will be your new teacher.” Nervous faces went through the entire classroom. “Miss Cheerilee has passed you on to me so she can begin teaching the younger foals. I’m sure that if you want to talk to her, she will be more than happy to oblige you. After class of course. If you have any questions now’s the time to ask them.”

“Are you a pirate?” Asked a colt with a trottingham accent.

“No, I’m not a pirate.” Shield replied, the colt raised his hoof. “Yes I’m sure.” He said smiling.

“Why didn’t Miss Cheerilee tell us?” Asked a raspberry colored earth filly.

“This was rather last minute, but rest assured you are in good hooves.” Shield said reassuringly. “Now lets set some ground rules here. I expect you all to show respect to each other, failure to do so will result in a punishment I deem fit. I hear anything about you kids pulling stuff after school, rest assured I’ll look into that as well. Aside from that it’s pretty basic, do your work, get good grades, we won’t have any problems.”

A young, painted colt raised his hoof.

“Are you a pirate?” He asked in a thick trottingham accent. Shield chuckled and shook his head.

“No, I’m not a pirate.” He replied. “Now, let’s begin the lesson for today. Who knows about Hope Valley?” The foals were silent for a moment before a white unicorn raised her hoof into the air.

“Uhm… Wasn’t it the first unified city?” Shield nodded.

“Very good, miss…”

“Sweetie Belle.”

[♠]

“So what have we learned?” Shield asked as he finished the lesson, the sun was lowering in the sky and soon the class would be dismissed. Sweetie Bell raised her hoof, she had been participating the most today. Shield had remembered that she was Rarity’s sister, which only surprised him more. She was extremely knowledgeable for a filly. “Let’s let someone else answer this one…” Shield said, looking over the classroom. A pink filly with a tiara was very poorly hiding the fact that she had not been paying attention. “Diamond Tiara, why did the Hope Valley settlement fail?” She perked up and looked around nervously.

“Uh… Uh… because the ponies there were…” She started. “They were blank flanks?” Shield shook his head and pointed his hoof to where he had clearly written on the board why the settlement had failed.

“Incorrect, they failed because the land they settled in was…”

“Too dry to grow crops.” The class replied, Shield nodded. The bell rang and the students began to rise from their seats.

“Now I want everypony to leave their notebooks on my desk, I’ll get them back to you by tomorrow.” He said, the ponies complied. As they filed out the door, Scootaloo stayed behind.

“Mister Dasher?” She asked, Shield looked at her and smiled.

“Hey, you only have to call me that during class.” He said, Shield put the notebooks in a saddlebag he had found in his desk. “What’s up, kid?”

“Why was Rainbow Dash so upset when she saw you?” She asked, Shield shook his head for a moment.

“She wasn’t upset, Scootaloo. She was happy.” He explained walking to the door with her behind him. “I was far away for a long time, she was happy to see me again.” Scootaloo sighed and hung her head a bit. “But just because I’m back, don’t think she has any less time for you.” He looked at the clock. “Speaking of which, it’s about time you head home. If you see RD along the way, just tell her I’ll be home before dark.”

“Okay.” Scootaloo replied before rushing off to do whatever it was foals did after school. Shield looked into the classroom he had just left, his eyes fell on the globe again. Greneighda, the hell of it all ran through his mind for a moment. He pulled his eyes off the globe and closed the door to the classroom, when he turned to leave he found Miss Cheerilee closing her own room. She turned and smiled at him.

“So? How was your first day?” She asked, Shield shrugged.

“Different from what I expected. Most of the classrooms I visited were bombed out or just a tent.” He replied, Cheerilee didn’t know how to respond to that statement. “The kids were good, no trouble from those foals you told me about. I’d say it was a win.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it!” Cheerilee chirped, still processing what he had said. “Normally after the day ends, I go to this nice little tavern in town. Care to join me?” Shield raised an eyebrow. “Simply as co workers, nothing else. I swear.” Shield mulled it over for a bit, then nodded.

“Sure, I could use a good drink. Didn’t even know there was a bar in town.” He responded, putting the saddle bag with the notebooks on.

“Excellent, let’s go.” With that, Shield and Cheerilee began to walk into town. Shield thought he noticed something flying over head, but when he looked up he found the sky was clear. He shrugged it off, it was probably nothing.

Memories

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Side Chapter: Одной искры

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Punishment

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Nightmares

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Discussion

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A Bad Moon Rising

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Beware The Fury of a Patient Mare...

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