The Shadows of War

“You know what the funny thing is?”

I looked at Blaze. I knew this was a dream. Dream Dancer sat off to the side, keeping an eye out. The Nightmare Watcher was dressed in a uniform as befitted the circumstances, and the rifle across her lap was only part of the disguise. Blaze, however, was unaware of this, as she was only part of the dream.

“What?” I asked, looking at her. Blaze smiled at me.

“No matter what, we were always friends. Bitter cold, soaking wet, it didn’t matter. You and me, we are both so alike. Both working factory lines, both saving up to go to college... both of us got drafted for the same shitty war. But in the end, there is one difference between us, and one thing that I just cant get over...”

Nodding, I looked down. “You weren't there at the end. You had to go. I had to stay. You didn’t have someone else die to save you.”

She got up and nodded. “I wasn’t there. I hope you can forgive me for that. And I hope even more... you can forgive yourself. It wasn’t your fault...” she said, fading as she walked away. I looked over at Dream Dancer. She nodded once and said “It's time for you to wake up. Keep trying... you are healing slowly.”

The world around me faded.

I awoke slowly. For a moment I was confused, as my surroundings were not Rainbow Dash's spare bedroom nor the hospital. Both of them I was rather familiar with, but this time, it took me a few moments to figure out where I was. I was in one of the two guest rooms in Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack's place.

Slowly, I recalled the events of yesterday. I had saved two lives, risking my own. I didn’t feel heroic... despite their thanks, and the look of gratitude in Big Macintosh's eyes, I had only done what anyone would have done. I did what I was trained to do. I put others before self, and I did so without thinking. The thought provided no comfort to me however, only a hollow sense that maybe I for once had not messed up badly. Maybe I could earn the goodwill that had been shown to me.

Looking out the window, I could see that it was dark out. The day after tomorrow would be Hearth Warming Eve, and there was a lot to do. Decorations needed to be set up, pies needed to be baked, invitations sent out, and I had been told under no uncertain terms that I would be attending this particular social gathering. According to Applejack, when you save someones life, you owe it to them to let them seek to repay you. Four times I had begged off, but had been rebuffed. It was easier to give in than fight it, and I had reluctantly agreed to comply only after she said it would be a small, quiet gathering. My biggest problem was securing gifts.

It was about seven in the morning, although my tired mind still recalled it as Zero Seven Hundred, or One Past Late. It was an ironic twist of speech, in the Equestrian Army it refered to the start of the day being at Zero Six, no matter the light, and that you needed to be fifteen minutes early no matter what. That means that one hour later was one hour PAST late. Whatever idiot came up with this system had been cursed bitterly every day in boot camp, and many weeks afterwords. Griping was healthy, however, and when the enlisted men were happy officers tended to get nervous. It meant we were up to something.

I Headed out to the kitchen, but as I walked through the living room a soft cough startled me. Whipping around, I saw the young yellow mare, Applebloom, sitting in a chair with a mug of hot coco. She looked tired, and dark circles under her eyes spoke of a lack of sleep. She blushed at me. “Ah, sorry. Ah didn’t mean to startle ya.”

I sighed, going into the kitchen and pouring myself a mug of chocolaty goodness. Thinking for a minute, I dumped a marshmallow in it, glad that Rainbow was not around to give me a disapproving glance at eating a chunk of pure sugar. Walking back over, I stuck another chunk of wood on the fire and sat down. “Its fine... I startle easy I guess. You don’t seem to have had much sleep.”

She looked at me, mouth open, before closing it. “Ah guess not. Mah sister and brother got to bed allright, but ah couldn’t sleep. Ah never been chased by... by timberwolves before. Ah kept thinking they were gonna get me whenever ah closed mah eyes. Ah know its silly but.... ah've never been so scared in mah whole life!”

Taking a sip, I looked across at her. For once, I knew EXACTLY what someone else was feeling, having felt it many times before. It was the only aspect of combat I had really gotten numb to, the constant terror. You learned to get over it by making jokes, or playing cards, or doing any of a million other things, pretending it didn’t bother you until it actually didn’t. The knowledge that each moment could be our last kept us lively for a bit, but then when each moment proved to NOT be our last, it got old quickly. Still, I nodded at her.

“I know what you mean. And no, It is not silly at all. Its called Fight or Flight. At least, among gryphons it is. It is an instinct to either turn and defend yourself, or to run away. Us ponyfolk lean more towards the flight instinct.”

She looked at me. “But y'all didn’t hesitate to start shootin! And then ya went hand to claw with them!”

I smiled, looking into the cup. I smiled only to hide a grimace as a moment of the smell of the timebrwolf crept into my memory. “Thats because I was trained. Camp Hoofington, just outside of Coltifornia. Ponies go in Here, Soldiers exit THERE. Alot of good people learned how to fight there.”

“So why didntcha run though? There was six of 'em and only one of you!”

“Well, yeah, I kinda wanted to. But you were in danger, Applejack too, and a lot of my old stuff kicked in. I don’t really like to talk about it, though...” I said, triying to stop my hands from shaking. Besides the embarassment, a lap full of burning liquid was not top on my list of priorities for the morning. Digesting my medication was. Still, the meds were doing their job, and I was slowly calming down. And talking about it was supposed to help.

She took a sip of her own before saying “Sorry... me and mah big mouth sometimes don’t get along... ah don’t mean to pry.”

“Its fine. It took me a lot of training to get to be able to do that. I got knocked down a lot, but I got taught how to get back up. I didn’t always jump at shadows...” I said, trying to smile at her. I wanted to say something, to help, but for the life of me I didn’t know what. She was young, but I had been too, at the start of the war. She had to be... sixteen? Seventeen? “Look, being afraid is natural. What you went through was scary. Hell, I was scared! But you learn to work past it eventually. I’m not gonna tell you all my stories though... your brother would gut me alive.”

“Eeyup” came the sleepy reply as the large red farmer walked past, yawning. He silently headed to the kitchen after the duosyllabic utterance, heading for the coffee. “Applebloom, don’t bother him fer details. What'd Granny Smith teach ya about mindin' yer own business?” he growled, taking a deep draft of the piping hot liquid.

“Its fine, really. Not as bad as what Rainbow did when we first met” I said, nodding at him. “Morning. So, what's the plan for today?” I asked, looking between him and Applejack as she came in, glaring at Big Mac and nudging him aside to get at her share of the coffee. Eyeing it, she snapped “Big Mac, what'd ah tell you about refiling it after usin' it all?”

He looked back and forth warily. “Eeemmmm... sorry? Ah was about ta do that.”

She sighed and got to work. “Alright, ah got my shopping sorted out fer now, 'cept for Rarity. She's so fru-fru, ah don’t know what ah'd get her. Probably fancy imported mud. She wont touch nothin local.”

I chuckled. “I know a couple of guys in Zebracity. They might be able to shove some from the Sacred Pits of Zerina into a Holding Vessel, and ship it home.”

At that, Applebloom snorted into her mug, spewing hot coco across the rug. Howling with laughter, she doubled over as I grinned. Big Mac looked confused, and Applejack raised her eyebrows. I looked at her.

“The Sacred Pits of Zerina are the erm... well you see, FERTILIZER is a sacred part of Zebra culture. And the best stuff comes from the Sacred Pits. And a Holding Vessel is pretty much just a bucket.”

For a moment, Applebloom and I held our breaths, before Applejack put two and two together. Chuckling, her brother and her shook their heads. “Yah mean you can get somma yer buddies to ship home a pail of-”

“Yep. “

At that, she broke out laughing too. Everything was fine after that, and breakfast was sorted out shortly.

The weather had settled outside, and I was getting ready to go. As I was pouring over my duffel bag in the spare bedroom, looking through my clothing, I spied my Army jacket. I still had a full uniform, a dress uniform, and a few other odds and ends from my time in the military. Thankfully, nothing in there sent me into a psychotic breakdown, and I was able to get my jacket on without help, although it took a few tries to stuff my senseless wings through the holes. I cringed as I heard a few feathers snapping. There was no way I could take care of that myself, but with how bad my face looked, I figured no one would care about a few broken primaries, and it wasn’t like I could fly anyways.

As I turned around, pulling my gloves on, there was a knock on my door and the voice of Applebloom saying “Can ah come in?”

I walked over and pulled the door open. She stepped back, eyes flicking to the chevrons on my shoulder before saying “Oh, yer ready ta go? Mah sister said I was ta go out with ya. Rainbow Dash is workin' right now, gotta make sure the weather's gonna be perfect for Hearth Warmin' eve tomorrow. So... can ah go out with ya for yer shoppin?”

After a few moments of consideration, I nodded. “Yeah, sure. I don’t really know my way around anyways, I assume you know where things are here in town?”

She nodded energetically. “Ah can get tha truck, unless ya think you can drive it” she said, smiling at me as we headed for the door. I shook my head.

“Nope. Never learned until I went into the army, and even then, all I learned how to drive are jeeps. I don’t much like driving, although I don’t mind riding along.”

As we headed out, Applejack called “Y'all take care now, ya hear? Dash'll have my flank if ya get in trouble here.

We both nodded, and were on our way, Applebloom taking the drivers seat and myself loading up in the passenger seat.

The drive to Ponyville didn’t take long, with the weather being a bit clearer today. I imagined that the Pegasi Weather Teams in charge up top would probably settle for sporadic clouds and light snowfall so that Luna's moon could gleam ouside for Hearth Warming's Eve night. All in all, I did actually find myself looking forward to it. Even though I would most likely not know most of the individuals there, I looked forward to meeting Rainbow Dash's friends. She had helped me a lot, and I owed it to her to do my absolute best to make sure I didn’t ruin things for her.

Finally, we pulled into the parking lot for Golden Bits Bank, Ponyville's first and largest bank. It was a very cold morning, and the front of the bank was inviting. There were two trucks of the type used to haul delicate things, totally covered. To my eyes, they looked like they were the type we used in the army when you were concerned about bullets spraying at you. Whoever owned those, they were probably being used to bring in money for the busy shoppers.

Walking in, the bank was a bit lively, people in lines to get their money. Yesterday was delivery day, so it made sense that everyone would be here now. With it being the last minute to buy gifts, everyone would be in that extra rush, so I stood at the end of one of the lines for a teller. I was a bit nervous, hoping that my account had enough in it to get the gifts I had in mind. I waited nearly half an hour as the line inched forward.

That was when something pricked the back of my mind. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something seemed... off. It was mostly little details that stood out to my hyper-awareness. A janitor that had been cleaning the same spot for the last ten minutes, checking his watch. It was nowhere near a standard shift change time. There was a mare with a violin case, she didn’t carry herself like an artist. Her eyes were hard, and calculating as she kept looking around. Two stallions, looking to be twins, each with an identical duffel bag. It only took another five seconds for it to click. Delivery day was yesterday, and there were two armored vans outside today. Two vans, four people acting oddly. Then the clock ticked to noon.

As the two stallions reached into their bags, my heart nearly stopped. As with the wolves, time seemed to stretch on and on, lengthening until my heartbeats were seperated by hours instead of moments. I heary myself yelling something at Applebloom as I shoved her down, and sprinted at the two stallions, pushing protesting people aside just as the stallions each pulled a Thompson Submachine gun from their bags, loaded with a drum magazine, my mind noted.

There was a curse from a security guard somewhere behind me and a gunshot, followed by a yell. Meanwhile, the two stallions turned in my direction just as I tackled both of them, forcing them to the ground, one under each arm. Screams erupted around me as time resumed to its standard rate of movement, and I wrestled the gun from one, smashing him across the chin and knocking him out cold as the other one drove his fist into my side, swearing.

“NOBODY MOVE! GET DOWN!” came the mare's voice, and a shot pinged off the tile next to me. Driving my knee into the fork of the other stallions legs, I ripped his gun away too, rolling behind a table and kicking it up, providing me a bit of shoddy cover. The other stallion rolled on the ground, vomiting and groaning from his agony.

“COME OUT! GET OUT HERE OR I START SHOOTING!” screamed the mare. I ignored her for the moment, looking up high to where there was a mirrored ceiling. My mouth curved up in a grin as I saw the instant tactical advantage. Usually only Pegasi looked up to identify threats. I still had it. Still, although I could see them, taking them out would be more difficult. For the time being, I had to stay put as another shot rang out and a bullet glanced off the marble next to me. From the sound of it, it was an M1911, a standard service pistol I was well familiar with. She had fired... two shots? Or was the first one hers as well, making it three? Where was her accomplice, the janitor? Were there others? A million million aspects of the field of battle filled my mind.

The first thing to do was take stock of what I had. I had two Tommy guns, each loaded with what I assumed were full drum magazines of either forty eight or sixty rounds. I could see the enemy fairly well with the mirrored ceiling, and there were roughly twenty or thirty civilians, including Applebloom in the line of fire. I had them panicked, meaning they would be both prone to mistakes unpredictable. Taking the initiative was not always a good thing. Where was Applebloom?

Scanning the ceiling, I tuned out the yelling as I looked for her. There were two yellow mares in the crowd... but... There! A ribbon in red hair, that was her right behind the janitor, who was now hefting... something nasty. Was that an automatic rifle, or a carbine? Despite the “A gun is a gun is a gun” motto most soldiers had, this time it was important. An Automatic rifle could tear me in half, whereas I could risk a single shot fired by a lowly crook. Unless he was an ex soldier like me... so many things to consider. Then my mind kicked in, and I started to think.

For the first time since getting out, my mind was clear and calm. I knew what I had to do, I had a MISSION, and I had clear objectives and knowledge of my zone of operations. Two tangos, both armed, and about fifteen or twenty feet from me. A plan formed in my mind. The first threat was the janitor. I needed to do this without killing, as I couldn’t make a mess in front of civillians. The easiest way to do that would be if I could fly. I used to fly fast enough they would not have had a chance to nab me, but I could hardly get off the ground anymore. The moment I poked my head out from behind the table, they would splatter me across the wall. The solution was obvious as I slowly stood up, hands up and empty, looking at them. “I surrender!”

The room was dead silent as everyone stared at me, and the mare narrowed her eyes. “Get down! Get down now and lay down on your face!” she said, as I slowly walked from around the table.

Looking at her, I nodded as I said “Just don’t hurt anyone. I won't stop you... just leave them out of it okay?” I said, slowly laying down. “Just don’t hurt them...”

She sneered. “Yeah, whatever. Shifty, cuff him! Use the cuffs off that guard.”

The janitor, Shifty, nodded and came over while she pulled the recovering stallion twin off the ground. “Go and empty the tills, then get your brother out to the van” she said as Shifty cuffed my hands together behind me. Applebloom was leaning against the wall next to me, and looked afraid, her eyes wide. As Shifty walked away, I leaned over to her. “You okay?”

She didn’t react, and I nudged her. Her head whipped around, and she said “Whatter we gunna do? Ah heard tha janitor one say they were gonna shoot us when they left!”

I nodded. “Yeah. Don’t worry though... we're gonna stop them. But I need a hair pin.”

She looked at me sideways, before we looked back at the robbers that were emptying the tills. She pulled a pin out of her pocket and pressed it into my hands, and I began employing the most useless skill that had been taught to equestrian soldiers: How to pick locks on manacles and cuffs. The gryphons didn’t bother with prisoners, they either shot or ate us. Sometimes did one and then the other. I had never been good at it, but luckily, these were simple.

Applebloom nervously bit her nails as she watched me work, and I could see that she was on the verge of panicking. I had to calm her down.

“Shh, don’t worry. When I tell you to, you need to make a clicking noise. I cant really do one good, but I heard you making one when your brother wouldn’t give you what you wanted for dessert. Just do a double click.”

She didn’t reply, so I shouldered her a bit. “Hey! Remember what I told you? Fear is good. It tells you when you are in trouble. But you gotta learn to work past it. I need your help. If you don’t, people here are gonna get hurt. Are you with me?”

She gulped and nodded. The cuffs silently came off, and I nodded at her as I shifted them to make them still look like they were secure. The next second, if I hadn’t known it was her, I would have thought someone was sliding back the action on a pistol.

Instantly, I put a guilty look on my face and adjusted my hands as all three of the robbers turned around, guns up. “What was that! Who did that!” yelled the mare, looking around nervously. I had been right, my stunt earlier had her panicking a bit. I fought back a grin as I looked up at her. Moments later, she walked over. “You got a gun or something?” she said, standing over me. “Fucking soldiers... get up!” she commanded.

I slowly rose to my feet, keeping the popped open section of the handcuffs hidden, and tried to look innocent, or rather, fake trying to look innocent. She lowered her gun a bit and reached forward to pat me down. Just as her buddies glanced at each other, I made my move.

Stumbling forward, I knocked into her, sending her back a couple of steps and putting her right between myself and her cohorts. Dropping the act, I pulled my hands free of the cuffs and grabbed her right hand, snapping it shut around it, and ducking to the left, using her to counterbalance me as one of her friends raised his gun, trying to get a shot off. She cussed and yanked hard, pulling me aside just as he fumbled a shot and it plinked off the tile behind me. Pulling back, I jumped forward, causing her to prone on her rump as I threw my gun at the one who had his up, twisting and spinning, sending her into the other one. With all immediat threats disabled, I took a moment to re-evaluate the situation, and found it to my liking.

First, I kicked the one lying by himself, sporting a lump on his forehead, in the ribs hard. With him groaning, I pulled on the handcuffs, slapping them around the ankle of the one the mare was tangled with. I had been taught that in an emergency, doing that to prisoners was sometimes more effective than putting each of them in seperate manacles, as either one trying to get up would be confounded by the other one being connected to them oddly. A moment to admire my fine work was all I had before my world flipped, two strong hands throwing me to the side. The fake janitor was up and moving, and as I looked at him, he picked up the handle of the mop, breaking off the head of it and twirling it. I recognized it... it was the same things we were taught with pugel sticks.

“Good job, comrade, for messing up my retirement” he rumbled, standing there and waiting for me to getup. About then was when I noticed the one detail about him that would have been useful: A slightly less faded patch on his jacket (Which was, as it happens, the same color as mine), where it looked like some chevrons had been removed. Three at least, maybe more.

Getting up, I shook my head a bit, and recalled my hand to hand training. “Hey, I just wanted to make a withrdrawl from the bank so I could go shopping for friends. Why rob a bank right on the holidays?” I asked, trying to use a bit of banter to deflect his attention.

He didn’t fall for it, instead coming at me with one end of the stick, a blow that would impact me on the side of the head if I didn’t dodge. Luckily, hours of sparring with Blaze had taught me to dodge when something is about to hit you. I ducked under it, and put my arm up on his as I moved in, giving me a better understanding of how he was moving. With one hand on his arm, I could easily predict and, to a degree, control where his weapon moved.

Grinning, he said “What were you? Mud Grunt?”

I nodded as I wrapped my arm around his then, locking it, and punched at his gut, something he easily blocked. “Yeah... First Infantry. What were you, a deserter or a traitor?”

He grunted as I landed a stinging slap on his thigh, before he twisted hard, causing me to cry out as he reversed the armlock and twisted my arm behind me, hard. This was what we in the trade called a “Submission hold” due to the fact that you either submitted, or got your arm broken.

“AUGH! DAMMIT!” I swore as I stomped hard on his foot. The pressure released as he howled in pain, the sound of a few crunches indicationg crushed toes as I broke free, grabbing the stick on the way and snapping it over my knee, tossing the bits away and facing him, rubbing my shoulder. “I fought a gryphon tougher than you! At least she left me something to remember her by!” I snarled, fury rising up in me. I stepped forward to press my attack... and my Snipers focus betrayed me. A hand wrapped around my ankle, causing me to fall forward. Instantly, I was wrapped in two VERY strong arms, and he grinned into my face, inches from me. “I was in the rangers, runt!” he bellowed, before twisting me around... and freezing. Behind us, there were at least ten officers with guns out, two with rifles, all trained on us. As our blood settled, the sounds of the sirens outside became apparent, and Silver Star scowled.

“Stand down! Let him go and get down!”

Never before had I been that happy to see the man, even if this was only the third time I had seen him. But that didn’t help as the hold around my neck tightened. He was a ranger, and that meant he didn’t know how to lose... and my vision was moving from the “Swimming black dots” to the “Everything is going gray” stage. I had to do something fast... so I did all I could think of. I collapsed.

The shift in weight was just enough to throw him off, and a moment later there was a single shot and he fell off of me, howling in agony as he clutched a red hole in his shoulder. The police cleaned things up after that pretty quickly.

A few minutes later, I was sitting off to one side as police detectives took pictures around the bank, and Silver Star was glowering at me, but doing his job. Applebloom was talking to him, telling him what had happened, while I tried to be as invisble as possible. My heart was still pounding, and as I looked down at my hands, they were once again shaking uncontrollably. Even when I balled them into fists, they shook like rattles. My breathing was a bit pained, and noises seemed a bit loud to me. Everoyne else had been sent away after quick questioning, and most had left without trying to make a withdrawl from their accounts.

Finally, Silver Star walked over to me. “The report Applebloom gave to me checks out. Unfortunately, Miss Bloom is NOT authorized to handle you, so thats a citation for breaking your parole again. Of course” he said, sneering, “I doubt you will get in any trouble. Princess Sparkle always loves her broken toys. So, mind telling me what you were doing in the bank?”

I looked up at him and swallowed a couple of times. My nerves were acting up, and I felt a bit ill after the fight I had been in. Why had I been at the bank? “I was gonna make a withdrawl from my account so that I could go shopping for presents.”

He looked at his notes, scribbling something. “Presents for who? Not like you have any friends” he said, scorn in his voice. At that, my heart fell. I had friends! Didnt I?

“HE DOES TOO!” came the indignant voice of Applebloom. “Ah call him a friend! So does mah sister and Rainbow and lots'a others! Just cause YOU don’t have any friends don’t mean-” she started, before a soft voice cut in. “And Me, Mister Star. I would call him a friend to this bank. A bank, which I might add, makes a generous donation to the police department every year to ensure that things like this don’t happen.”

Looking up, I saw a mare with a bright yellow mane and a white body, the mark on her upper arms gold on scales. Even I recognized her. This was Miss Golden Bits, the owner of the mint in Canterlot and the manager and owner of most of the banking system. Without a doubt, she had nearly as much influence on worldly affairs as any princess, due to the fact that two words from her mouth could easily crash or fix the economy for years to come. And she was smiling at me.

Walking right past Silver Star, who sputtered, she knelt a bit in front of me. “What is your name, Soldier? You WERE a soldier, right?”

I nodded, looking into her golden eyes. Finding my voice, I said “Y-yes ma'am.”

She smiled again. “No need to be formal. Thank you for stopping the robbers in my bank, and doing it WITHOUT making a mess” she said, shooting a dirty look between Silver Star and the bloodstain on the floor. He huffed and walked away as Applebloom watched us. “On behalf of the bank and myself, I wish to thank you for rendering assistance. Without you, they probably would have robbed this bank and made off with a few thousand bits at the least, more if they got the vault, and a good many ponies would have gotten hurt.”

Staring at her, I just nodded dumbly. “Nothing to it... I just did what anyone... would have done, I guess” I said lamely.

She giggled, a soft sound like running water. “Oh, no need to be modest! Thank you again. But there IS a mare outside who is trying to get inside, and I think she will be wanting to see you. Expect to hear from me in the future, Mister Wing!”

She left, going over to talk with the police again as Applebloom pulled me up. “C'mon, lets go. Ah think its Rainbow outside. And ah think she looks a mite upset...” she said as we walked out the door. At the bottom of the steps to the bank, Rainbow stood, glaring at me. I had stormed a beach less terrifying than her. I could feel my earlier energy fading, and a sense of drowing surrounded me. Still, I forced it aside as I walked out.

The cool air helped a bit as I walked down towards her, and finally I was before her, my heart beating at a normal rate, and she stared at me. The moment I opened my mouth, however, smacked me, hard. With a sob, she grabbed me up, leaving me dizzy as she pulled me closer.

“I heard on the radio about the bank! Dammit, don’t EVER do that to me again! Applejack told me you were going to the bank and I heard gunfire inside when I got here to meet you!”

Shocked at her reaction, I just stood there while reporters and cops stared at us. Finally, Rainbow pulled back and looked me in the eyes. “I can't leave you alone at all, can I? Don’t ever do that again...” she said, reaching down and holding my hands.

For a moment, I just looked at her. Silver Star's words echoed, that I didn’t have any friends. My own, that no one could care about me. Applebloom's eyes. My actions to save her, twice. And the fact that someone cared enough about me to slap me for being in danger.

A moment later, I had both arms around her and tears going down my face, with a smile etched across it. There were snapped pictures, but for a moment, it was just her and me, and for the first time since a foxhole had taken the last one from me, I had someone I could rely on totally and completely. I could count on her to have my back. I silently let tears of joy fall down her back as we held each other.