The Shadows of War

Rainbow Dash's point of view

I sat there. He was asleep again in his bed after I had gotten him home. I still felt guilty as I looked at him. What could have possibly happened to someone to do THIS to him? He spent two hours after we got him to the hospital and woken up crying. A fully grown soldier... when I was nearly twenty, I didn’t cry like that until my grandpa passed away! But he was hurting badly all the time.

He could try to hide it, but as a former Wonderbolt and a reservist, I was trained to spot the tiny things. He twitched at the slightest movement. When you reached for anything resembling a firearm, such as a broom, he would tense up. When I had been chopping things up for a salad, his eyes had never left the knife unless he spoke. And then his eyes never left mine.

And his eyes... Celestia, his eyes were scarier than Fluttershy using The Stare! They saw RIGHT THROUGH me, like he was always looking at something far away. I thought he was awesome for being a soldier but now... I just felt sorry for him.

Finally shaking my head, I muttered “Get it together, Dash. You promised to take care of him, and you NEVER let your friends down. And if you want him to be your friend, you better not let him down. Lets see...”

Heading out, I closed the door quietly, turning the light off as I did so. Heading back to the kitchen, it only took a few minutes to get together the ingredients for a daffodil sandwich, although I would usually just have a protein shake. Attacking the bread and flower sandwitch with gusto, I munched both on it and my problem.

How to get through to him? I had done two semesters of Psychology in school, along with a full term of health classes as was required to get my coaching degree (A major plus if you wanted to work in the wonderbolts) and had gotten passing marks, but I had NO idea of what was wrong with him. A masters of health indeed! The papers I got from Time Turner were of little use to me.

Still, I glanced over them. Twilight was right... reading was not just for Eggheads. Stuff like this was for freaking brainiacs.

Trauma, paranoia, depression, PTSD, all commonly found in soldiers returning from the war. Wait a minute... says here that while he exhibits antisocial tendencies, he is a bit too proud to shy away from something that scares him. I wonder... Maybe this IS a job for Pinkie after all! She knew how to put together a party for any occasion. I bet she could get a nice quiet one together with all of us... that might help...

Smiling, I knew what to do. It was late, but Pinkie burned the candle at both ends. Although I usually found her annoying, she was of invaluable help when it came to planning... anything really. If she had been in the war, I would have laid good odds on her planing a party that the gryphons would never forget. She had a mean streak in her when you hurt her friends. Or broke a promise. Poor Silver Star...

Heading for the phone, I picked it up and dialed for Sugarcube Corner. It only took one ring before her cheery voice came on, with just a slight edge of sadness.

“Hey Dashie! Whats going on? Is Steeley okay?”

“Yeah, he's all tucked in. Listen, can you plan a party for-”

“Yes.” That was all that came from the other end.

“Pinkie... I didn’t say what for.”

“Silly! You need a party for Steel Wing. It needs to be quiet because bright flashes and loud noises would freak him out and then he would get upset and probably freak out again so badly that he would have to go to the hospital and them Time Turner would be REALLY really mad and take him away and then he would go far away and we would have to travel really far to throw a sorry-for-freaking-you-out party and that is ALWAYS loud and he would freak out again and-” she said in one breath.

“Yeah yeah yeah. So can you do it? I was thinking... Hearth Warming's Eve is in a few days... I was thinking we could ask AJ if we can hold a big but quiet party out at her place. All of us gather out at Sweet Apple Acres, enjoy some sweet... delicious... cider...” I said, mouth watering. I LOVED AJs cider so much. There was never really enough of it though.

“Dashie? Are you drooling over cider again?”

I paused. “No.... okay, yes. But I bet he will like it too. So is it doable?”

There was some silence. “Dash, we have known each other for years. I can plan ANY part. And the party will be LEGENDARY.”

I paused, staring at the phone. “Pinkie?”

“LEGENDARY! Night dashie!”

The phone clicked dead, and there was the beeping tone of the disconnect. Pinkie was always a spaz. But she knew how to cheer people up ninety nine percent of the time. It was the other one percent that was my worry. Still, Applejack and Big Mac would probably be willing to help. Assuming that everything went well, this could go a long way to getting Steel Wing to talk about his problems, if that would help. If not, then I would just have to try something else.

I would get this. I was Rainbow Dash. I always won.

I stared at the defeated remains of the sandwich. It really was a good meal to think over. Still, my bed called. Tomorrow was a busy day. Looks like it was going to be Hearth Warming Eve at Sweet Apple Acres.

My bed called to me now though, and I would need to look at the problems again with new eyes tomorrow.