Das Wiederaufleben

“So, you need any help unpacking or anything?” Scootaloo asked her new recruit.

Hermes turned to her with an appreciative grin. “No, thank you.” He said. “I didn’t bring any personal effects.”

The orange mare nodded. “Alrighty then. I’m gonna head to bed and tomorrow we can look into who exactly this neo-Nazi group is.”

“Oh! That reminds me!” Hermes cried. “Sergeant Nacht Fang didn’t do a very good job of explaining what a ‘Nazi’ is.”

Scootaloo chuckled. “Long story short: Bad guys. Like... Really bad guys.”

“In what way?”

“Well, they were a political faction that took control of Germaney in 932, led by a mad pony named ‘Herr Führer’. In 939, they started World War II by invading Poland, which forced Equestria and Prance to declare war on Germaney as Poland was allied with them at the time.” Scootaloo explained. “Germaney’s allies, Japon and Haytaly, also declared war. They started out really well, handing Equestria and their allies their collective asses on a silver platter, but we eventually came out on top. After Herr Fuhrer committed suicide in his bunker, we found these massive prison camps dotting Nazi controlled territory. It turns out these camps were used to execute an ungodly amount of unicorns and others who Herr Fuhrer declared ‘undesirables’, like gays, gypsies, Slavs and political dissenters. They herded inmates into these giant chambers for ‘showers’ and then flooded the room with toxic gas.Then they dumped the bodies in a mass grave or cremated them in massive furnaces. The total death toll was around eleven million, with around six million of those being unicorns.”

Hermes stood there wide eyed. “E-Eleven million? How could the Germane ponies allow something like that to happen? I find it hard to believe that Sergeant Nacht Fang would come from a place like that...”

“Hey!” Scootaloo snapped. “Don't even think about lumping Fang together with those monsters. Aside from location, the only major remnants of Nazi rule in Fang's home country are museums dedicated to the atrocities they committed!”

The changeling gulped. “F-Forgive me, comma-... Scootaloo... Still... I find it disgusting that anyone would try to mimic an organization like that...”

“Buddy, you're not the only one.” Scootaloo said with a sigh. “But if I've learned anything during my time in the military, it's that ponies will do deplorable things for no other reason other than they can. And because they can, they think they have to.”

“T-that’s a bleak outlook.” Hermes stammered. “I'd like to think that there are at least some good ponies out there, who do the right thing out of a sense of duty and that you, the sergeant and the lieutenant are among them”

Scootaloo sighed and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Hermes, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: I'm no saint, and neither is Fang or Marks. We're soldiers, instruments of war. We kill ponies. Who's to say what we fight and kill for is any better than our adversaries? They honor a call of duty just as we do, the only difference is the end goal. War is rarely about right and wrong, black and white. It doesn't determine who's right, war only determines who's left.”

“Us versus savages who are trying to replicate the actions of monsters who systematically murdered eleven million ponies. I'd say that we're the good guys in this case at least.” Hermes stated, trying to lighten the mood.

With a smirk, Scootaloo let out a slight chuckle. “Heh. I said ‘rarely’, didn't I?”

Hermes smiled.

“Get some sleep, buddy.” Scootaloo said with a grin.

As she made her way down the hallway, toward her own sleeping quarters, she passed Fang’s room. She toyed with the idea of seeing if the bat pony had recovered after her panic attack earlier, but thought it best to leave her be. A little way further, she encountered Mark’s room. Her face scrunched up as a rich, musky smell wafted into her face like a stone wall. “Eurgh. Marks, when’s the last time you cleaned your room?” She muttered under her breath, shaking her head and making a mental note to kick his plot in the morning.

Ignoring the foul odor, Scootaloo went onwards to her chamber. The door was unlocked just as she had left it (She didn't keep anything worth stealing inside). Her journal was still on her desk from last night, and while she had plenty to write about, her brain was too addled with exhaustion to bother. She disrobed her uniform, leapt onto her soft mattress and wrapped her hooves around her pillow, eager to let the warm embrace of sleep enshroud her.

A sudden burst of heat made the young mare’s eyes pop open. Her brain tried to wake itself up from its drowsy state, only to find herself within some sort of black abyss. The crackling sounds of a roaring inferno could be heard, but all Scootaloo could see was darkness.

A shiver went down the young mare's spine as she felt like she was being stalked by an unseen hunter lurking in the shadows, just outside of her view.

Scootaloo turned around and gasped as two giant, violet eyes transfixed their gaze upon her. “Wha-!?”

The next thing she knew, a red beam of light pierced her bosom.

With a loud gasp, Scootaloo shot up from her bed, gasping for breath as she tried to calm her nerves. She placed her hoof over her heart and felt it pound inside of her, as if trying to escape the confines of her chest. “... Just a nightmare...” She thought out loud as her gaze fell upon the digital clock on her nightstand.

5:58 A.M.

Well... Since I'm up, might as well go for my morning fly. I think I’ll let Fang, Hermes and Marks sleep in a bit. They could use the rest after yesterday's events. Scootaloo thought as she climbed out from underneath her sheets.

After stretching out her back and wings for a few seconds, the orange mare went to her closet and grabbed the black tank top she always wore when she worked out. Scootaloo pulled the garment over her head and weaved her wings and hooves through it.

With her training garb equipped, Scootaloo quietly cantered out of her bed chamber, only to find Fang seeming to be trying to sneak into her own room. “Psst! Fang!” She whispered, causing the cobalt colored mare to almost jump out of her skin. “What are you doing up this early? And why are you out of your room, at this time?”

Panic setting in, Fang urgently fumbled her words to think of an excuse. “Oh! Uh… S-S-Scootaloo. I, um….” She looked around hallway as her brain worked furiously to make up a reason as to why she was out of her room. “I-I vas just….. v-v-visiting ze little filly’s room.” She lied. Scootaloo looked her up and down. The night pony’s mane and fur were all matted and tangled, and she carried a funky smell with her as she simply stood there, shifting on her hooves as if being interrogated by her mother. Scootaloo just nodded in understanding.

“Oh, I see.” She said, until she noticed Fang’s bedraggled look. “But…. why do you look so messy?” Her muzzle crinkled as the stench hit her. “And you smell all funky.” Fang hissed a Germane swear under her breath as she tried to come up with yet another excuse.

“Uh…. v-v-vell…. um….. d-d-don’t tell Marks or Hermes, but….” She looked away, playing up the shy filly act to try and deflect Scootaloo’s suspicions. “I-I’m coming into heat. A-And I need my medication.” She forced herself to blush, adding to the act. Scootaloo’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh, Fang. I…. OK then, I understand.” She chuckled nervously. “Sorry. I, uh… yeah. I won’t tell the guys, I know how much the heat cycle worries you.” Fang bit her lip. She hated lying to Scootaloo, but she just couldn’t tell her what she’d been getting up to last night. At least, not on her own.

“D-Danke.” She nodded, slipping into her room and holding her tail tight against her plot as she disappeared into her chambers.

Shaking her head, Scootaloo tried to forget the encounter that had just occurred. The heat cycle was something Scootaloo hated to think about, and she could only imagine how much Fang abhorred it.

Once Scootaloo had pushed the encounter to the edge of her mind, Scootaloo resumed her trot to her favorite flight path. As she did so, she passed the training gym, which bizarrely had its lights on.

“Huh?”

She peered inside the window to see Hermes going to town on a punching bag hanging from the ceiling. The kid's got nice form, she thought to herself.

Silently, Scootaloo slipped inside of the gym to get a closer look. She could hear the grunts of exertion coming from the young changeling, and if he had sweat glands, Scootaloo was certain his chitin would be shimmering with moisture.

“Aren't you a busy bee?” Scootaloo called out cheekily, causing the changeling to stumble and face plant into the ground.

“S-Scootaloo?” He stammered as he got back up. “You startled me!”

“I noticed.” She teased. “How long have you been down here?”

“Three hours, give or take”

Scootaloo's eyes widened. “Yeesh! Do you bugs even sleep?!” She exclaimed.

“Of course. I got a whole two hours!”

Scootaloo wanted to press on, but she honestly didn't think Hermes would have appreciated her asking volley after volley of questions about his physiology.

“I saw you giving that punching bag a good pounding and thought I’d get a closer look.” She said, curtly. “You’ve got good form, kid. A nice one-two.”

Hermes blushed. “T-Thank you, Scootaloo. B-But... I-I still have room for improvement...”

Scootaloo let out a soft chuckle. “Of course you do, kid. You’re not a god.” She said as she nudged his shoulder. “You remind me a lot of myself when I first joined up with the forces.”

“I-I do?”

With a smirk, the orange mare nodded. “Eeyup.” She declared as she flicked out her wings. “I would constantly sneak out to give these puppies a good workout. I could never train enough. One hundred push ups, one hundred squats, flying two kilometers. I nearly died of exhaustion before I even left boot camp.” Just then, a sinister idea crossed Scootaloo’s mind. “That gives me an idea, kid.”

Hermes cocked his head.

“Let’s go for a fly. Just you and me”