Lunch

I walked around my house like mad, "And then the fucker just- he fucking tried to stab me with a bayonet!" I assumed the holding gesture of a rifle, "Had me on the ground, and tried to stab me through the chest!"

My guard was on the edge of her seat as I spoke, "Dear Celestia...."

I nodded, "Yeah! I was scared to shit, but then someone breaks the door down, caps the motherfucker, and slammed into him. Bayonet goes flying, and there's my uncle standing over me--"

"So wait- I- ...Capped?"

I rolled my wrist, "Shot em, with a gun."

"Oh, so these things just...throw stuff?"

I sat down across from her, "I told you, little explosion that sends a piece of metal towards where ever it's pointing."

The guard nodded mindlessly, "Then why did it need a knife on the end?"

I just stared at him, "Look...you're missing the point. My uncle--"

"No, you said it just kills people, why put a knife on the end?"

I just stared at the guard, "Look...that doesn't- fuck, you're like my sister."

The guard adjusted in her seat, "I thought you said your world sucked?"

I stopped dead, "It- it does suck, but...I mean, it's not all terrible." I scratched my head and leaned back into my chair, "I mean...my dad taught me how to ride a horse...he taught me to shoot. Before we moved to the island we lived in a big ol' place, lots of families, it was safe.... But, things change, people die, plans change." I held my hands out, searching for the words to express myself, "It was hard...but it wasn't impossible."

The guard just nodded, "I cannot relate at all...."

A short, angry staring contest found its way between us. I was the first to break the silence, "You suck...."

The guard merely looked me dead in the eyes and spoke, "I will if you ask."

You could hear a pin drop. The deafening silence obliterating my concentration. "I think I'm gonna go to the other room...."

The guard just started laughing as I stood up, "Hey...come on...it was a joke! Mostly." She walked after me as I moved to the hut's kitchen, "Don't be like that, I was listening--" she stopped dead as I pulled a knife from the kitchen block, "Hey!"

I ran it under some water and started sloppily cutting back my beard, "What's your problem?"

She just shook her head, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't...that's so gross!"

I could feel my beard slowly coming off, "What's gross about thi-- Aren't you a soldier!? How is this the grossest thing you've seen!?"

She just tapped her hooves, "Changeling guts were kinda bad...but that's just- you eat with that--"

"I eat with a knife, yes. I've eaten with rusty can lids too. It's not a big deal." I went back to shearing my face as my front door swung open, "Shit...." I stopped and waited.

The guard's steps pattered away, replaced by a dainty set belonging to Celestia. "Able...."

"Celestia." I turned to her with my patchily shaven face, "Now's not the best time...."

She just started chuckling, "Well you seem to be feeling better."

I felt the border of beard I'd created on my face, "Better's...not the word I'd use. But yeah, it's amazing how calm I can be when I'm not forced to bend my spine constantly."

Celestia looked away to avoid my gaze, "Indeed...now, I--"

"I know you wanted stories. But I just got through telling that guard about eight." I went back to shaving, "Just ask her."

Celestia peeked at my face as I hovered over the sink, "But...I brought...." She grew slightly sour and stepped back, "I'm sure you have some other stories."

I scoffed, "I could tell you about how I lost my virginity..." I trimmed my beard back to a less retarded degree and turned around, "You seem awfully interested in my sex life."

Celestia had found a seat at the kitchen table, "I- okay, so maybe I was a little unprofessional. But I'm genuinely curious!" she pleaded, tapping her hooves on the tabletop.

I gave her an unconvinced look, "You seriously want to hear about me shooting stuff?" I walked over and crouched down, mimicking a sniper's perch on the edge of the table, "Watching...waiting...and finally...bang!" I slammed the table, causing her to jump, "Because it's either that, or a lot of sitting around waiting for stuff to happen."

Celestia just levitated a pair of sandwiches out, "I'm sure you have something interesting that doesn't involve death...."

I took a sandwich from her magical grip and looked it over, "May- what?!" I opened the apparently meatless sandwich, "Yeah, how about we start with my mother. Who found some magical way to turn hundred year old crap into something edible."

Celestia just stared at me, "Was that...was that aimed at me?"

I looked over the sandwich and set it on the table, "There's nothing to this thing! I've eaten more in a burned out preper bunker!"

"Alright then smart ass, tell me about that!" Celestia demanded, sitting tall at the table, "Go on!"

I sat across from her and tossed the sandwich aside, "Fine! My mother once found a few cans of pre-fall beans, a chunk of caribou roadkill and some stale bread into one of the most delicious meals of my life! I don't know how she...how she did it...but...." I slowly covered my mouth, "...and...my sister.... She would always piss me off so bad...but I.... And my brothers...." I blew a heavy stream of air against the insides of my fingers, "My family...my old--" I stopped myself, my gut starting to twist from the bittersweet memories.

Celestia looked troubled, "Able...are you alright? You said your world was--"

"Hard...my life was...it was hard. But, I guess...." I interlaced my fingers and propped myself up on them, "That was after I left Labrador. Before that...I mean, my family had about thirty living members. Thirty people, that's, that was ridiculous! I mean, even when my grandpa died, he was about eighty, he'd lost an arm, been using a prosthetic." I rubbed my mouth as yet more memories flooded my mind, "I uh.... Shit."

Things grew uncomfortably quiet, "Able, are you--"

I held back a tear, "I gotta go back." I did my best to hold back as more and more memories of my family bubbled up. "Oh my god I have to go back...." I stood up, panic overwhelming my better senses, "I need to go back!"

"Able calm--"

"Fuck you! I- they need me damn it!" I ran to the nearest window, "Maybe I- I could bring them here, I could--"

I was cut off as something pressed against my back, a pair oh hooves wrapping around my chest in an X. "Able...I promise you we'll find a way." Celestia tightened her grip, nuzzling my crown.

I leaned against the wall, my body extremely tired. Recent memories were all of being shot, stabbed, or witnessing some violent act, but just behind those vicious memories lay my childhood, my adolescence, my family. My calm life before coming of age and joining my dad in the fighting. I managed to wiggle myself around and plant my face against Celestia's neck, my voice choppy and fearful. "Oh my god...I- I have to go back!"

"Shhhshhhh It's okay--"

"I have to fucking help them!" I screamed, only getting squeezed tighter for my struggling ,"Let me go damn it!"

Celestia just rested her chin on my crown and pulled me against her body. "It's alright...we'll find a way, I promise."

I devolved into a tearful mess, falling to my knees as the sinking feeling of being stranded filled my mind. "Oh my god I'm so sorry." I cried out, gripping Celestia's back and holding on for dear life. "They fucking need me!"

Things grew quiet as Celestia simply started humming, rocking herself left and right trying to calm my down. I simply held onto her, praying for something to happen, praying I'd go to sleep tonight and wake up back home. I didn't care who I'd have to kill, I didn't care about who I'd have to fight, I just wanted to, I needed, see them again.

I had taken a step back, had a moment of calm. Just enough peace and civility to remind me of home, and to remind me that I might never see it again. For all the hardship, for all the blood, sweat, and tears, it was my home, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It was my struggle, my life, and I would give anything to have it back.