Twilight, Soldier of War

Five years after arrival

Twilight set comfortably in the breakroom; it was the closest one could get to R&R on the army base. It wasn’t Equestria but it had air-conditioning, a TV, and at least one book Twilight hadn’t read for the fifth time. She was off duty so for once she didn’t need to ware her combat gear, and her muscles were quite thankful for that. You can get use to how uncomfortable the gear is, but even after five years, wearing armor for a full twelve hour shift still left her exhausted and just wanting to sink into a hot bath.

She inwardly groaned to herself. Why did she have to think about that? Now she really wanted a nice hot bath. Damn water rations. She tried to forget about it and just focus on the T.V. program playing in front of her. Being stationed in a town that barely qualified as an over guarded supply depot— oh let’s send one of our most valuable soldiers to guard a supply depot, because, for some reason, the locals think that Rats are going to attack a town in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere— she had all of three channels to choose from: The twenty four hour propaganda channel, the old black and white reruns, and of course, the weather channel.

Twilight chose the weather channel. There was something she found fascinating about predicting the weather. Perhaps it was due to Equestria controlling its weather and never letting it form on its own, or perhaps—

A small crumpled up piece of paper bounced along the floor, landing a foot from Twilight’s feet. She gritted her teeth and tried to focus on the TV, but from the corner of her eye she could see both Nadia and Davis peeking from around a corner, Nadia’s head was just above Davis’.

“You missed,” came a hush whisper from Nadia.

“These things are not exactly aerodynamic.”

“They’re paper balls, and she’s like five feet away!”

“Yes, and that’s why you need to be quiet before she hears us.”

Twilight could only give a sigh as another paper ball flew past her vision and missed her completely. She knew what they were after. This wasn’t the first time they had come up with some kind of trick to get her to use her magic, but right now she really didn’t want to. Part of it was a little out of spite for how childish they were acting, but the other was the simple fact that she was tired. For some reason those two still hadn’t figured out that using magic makes one more tired.

“That’s it, move,” Nadia demanded, almost forgetting to whisper.

Twilight did her best to ignore the sounds of shuffling while those two played their little ‘game.’ Not much to Twilight’s surprise, the first ball Nadia threw landed in her hair. With a single hand she pinched the ball out of her hair, and with just the smallest amount of magic she tightly wrapped the ball in a shield. Without looking she flicked the ball back, and smiled when Davis gave a cry of pain.

“Right in the forehead.”

“Our cover’s blown, retreat!” Nadia cried and dragged the squirming Davis away.

Twilight lend her head back and thought, ‘Finally, I can relax.’

“All personnel, report outside the barracks immediately,” The intercom echoed throughout the room. “I repeat, all personnel report outside the barracks immediately.”

“Damn you Murphy.” Twilight cursed under her breath.

The more than fifty soldiers that guarded this town stood in front of the barracks, waiting. Twilight spotted Teagan and Skyler near the back and took a spot between them. Commander Cotreau stood on a raised platform at the front of the group, along with several more officers as they talked among themselves.

“Any Ideas what this is about?” Twilight asked.

Skyler gave a shrug and said, “If we are lucky, it’s simply redeployment orders to another base.” He hung his head before adding, “We’re never lucky.”

“Its bad news whatever it is.” Teagan said. “Look at the way Cotreau moves his hands as he speaks; he only does that when it’s bad.”

Twilight never paid much attention to human body language. There were far too many slight subtlety compare to that of ponies, making it difficult to grasp the language for someone not born into it. But when Twilight thought back on the times when Cotreau moved his hands when he spoke, she came to a simple conclusion. Fuck.

The other officers with Cotreau stepped aside and allowed him to address everyone. He let his eyes sweep over the crowd and waited for the last bits of conversation to die down. “At approximately 17:28 yesterday the Commonwealth launched a surprise naval assault on the city of Huron. At 20:00 the city officially fell. For those of you who don’t understand the severity of this, allow me to spell it out for you. Now that the commonwealth controls Huron they are within strike rang of every major cities—including the capital. However, we believe there goal will be to assist their forces in breaking the southern line. This cannot be allowed to happen! I don’t need to tell you just how bad things will get if that happens. H.Q. is pulling everyone not on the lines to help retake the city.” Jackson and Kennedy squad will be remaining here on guard duty; everyone else is to ship out to Brightwall immediately. Dismissed.”

Twilight set on the roof of a half ruin building, her plasma rifle laid lazily in her lap. It had taken four hours to break through the wall —an ancient stone structure that had wrapped the city since Osana still used swords and spears, and now it was mere rubble. Her eyes drifted up to a tattered Commonwealth flag that had, for a time, marked the conquest of the city. It showed the slowest of a lion rearing back on Its hind legs, but the way the front two legs were positioned gave the impression of a rat—or so she had been told. She didn’t see it. She always found it funny how humans could see shapes in things that were never there.

She could hear the ongoing fighting farther into the city, but for the moment Twilight’s part was done. She had shielded legions inside her barrier even as the enemy seemed to make it their life’s purpose to destroy it, but for many of them their purpose came to an abrupt end. Yet all Twilight could focus on was the scores that fell outside the protection of her shield. She took a swing of water to soothe the dryness of her throat as she continued to watch the burning fires in the distance. With her thirst sated she rose to her feet. She needed to regroup with her Commander Cotreau; she was sure they were looking for her.

“Commander, you have to let me go.” Davis said, his voice sounding desperate.

Twilight stepped around a corner and draws five pairs of eyes on herself. They stood in the rubble filled streets far from the front line, but close enough to be on guard. “What did I miss?” She asked stepping forward.

Nadia was the first to answer. “Davis wants to go to the east side orphanage, because apeartly he got word that some kids never made it out of the city,”

Davis looked directly at Twilight as he pleaded his case. “Whenever a disaster happens the kids know to take shelter in the orphanage’s basement. There’s enough food and water to last them a week. If they are anywhere in the city it will there.”

Commander Cotreau held his helmet under his arm and rubbed his eyes with the other. For once he looked his age. “The east side is still crawling with rats,”

“I understand, but if they find them first… you know they don’t take prisoners,”

Silence dragged on, the only sound was the ongoing battle, but finally Cotreau nodded. “Take Twilight with you. The rest of us still need to help clear buildings. We will meet up with once we are done here, but, Davis, if the kids are not there.”

“I understand, sir.”

Davis took off at a sprint toward the east side with Twilight in tow.

The fires eased the farther into the east they ventured. The path was long and the slow. Each shadow seemed to hold unseen dangers as the two stuck to back alleyways to avoid enemy squads rushing to fortify their new defensive line. It had taken nearly an hour of tediously slow travel before the colorful building of the orphanage came into view. Small pops still sounded in the distance, sounding more like fireworks then a gunfight.

“The basement door is in the storage room,” Davis said over his helm’s privet ratio. Twilight nodded. They raced across the road from the ally they hid in; Davis took point followed closely by Twilight, their weapons pointed down and ready to respond if needed.

The orphanage was trashed. Chairs and cabinets were tossed over, and doors were kicked in when the rats had cleared this place. “Do you think they are still here?” asked Twilight.

“Possible, stay alert.”

They moved away from the large open area of the entrants and down a hall way to the storage room. They moved slowly as not to draw unwanted attention. Davis held up a fist and halted their movement. “What is it?” whispered Twilight.

“Listen,” was the only replay.

Twilight did so, turning out the quite hum of an old building.

Thud, thud. Twilight could hear it now. It was soft but growing loader. Footsteps. Davis opened the closet door and motioned for Twilight to follow. They waited as the footsteps grow closer and another voice could be heard in the distance.

“This is Alpha Three, still no sighting’s here. Are we sure these reports of activity are accurate? There’s nothing out here…Understood. I’ll keep looking.” Twilight looked through the crack in the door. The solider was standing with his back to the hallway and his rifle hung lazily in one hand. Davis set his rifle against the wall and pulled a knife from a side strap.

Twilight gave a nod and moved to cover him. Davis opened the door just enough to squeeze his body through. He stepped lightly with each step precise as to avoid the sound. The solider moved away from the hallway and out of Twilight’s line of sight, but Davis was already on him. With one burst of speed he drove his knife home, straight into the back of the soldier’s neck. As if on reflex the soldier’s gun fired into the ground as his body spammed were he stood.

Twilight rushed to Davis’ side and tossed him his rifle. “Shit! They are going to be on us any minute now. We have to get out of here for now,” Twilight said.

“NO! We have to find the children.”

“Davis, we can’t help them if we are dead.” Twilight was quick to counter.

“We don’t have time to argue about this! I’ll draw them away and you find the kids.” Without giving Twilight a chance to argue he turned on his heels and raced down another hallway.

“Davis!” Twilight gave a cry in frustration. Apart of her said to run after him, but she knew that would make his distraction meaningless. She sent you last massage over her ratio and headed for the basement. “You damn idiot. You better not die.”

The sign on the walls led her to the storage room door in little time. She took the stone steps down into a large open room. Shelves stood in rolls and fill with the various supplies that she assumed an orphanage needed for its day to day operation. She walked in deeper and called out, “Is there anyone here?” unsurprisingly she got no response. She didn’t see another door, so she wasn’t sure where the basement entrance was.

If wasn’t until she hears the small pattering of feet and whisper of voices that she could follow. Behind a stack of wooden barrels was a metal plate door set into the floor. Twilight set her gun on the ground and with one arm pulled open the door. Six pairs of looked back at her. With slow moments she removed her helmet and smiled down to the children. Her hire was in a bun and bits of it stuck out like a case of bed head, but the sight managed to get a giggle from some of the younger children. “I’m here to get you guys out of here.”

The gunshots were loud and each one brought a whimper to the children, but from what Twilight could tell they were on the other side the building. She kept a quick pace down the hallway with a roll of kids following close behind her. “Stick close,” She called over her shoulder. She stopped at a cross hallway and quickly checked the left and right path before waving to kids to run past her. The exit was dead in front of them.

“He’s on the Westside! They have him cornered let’s get over there, move it!” voices called from the left path and stomping feet where fast approaching. They were on them in moments.

Without hesitation Twilight summoned a shield with one hand, surrounding her and the fleeing kids. “Run!” she called. “Don’t stop.” With her other hand she fired at the three solders that stood in the hallway. One feel to a lucky shot, but with only one hand her accuracy was poor.

Plasma rounds impacted on here shield but she barely felt it. “It’s the witch! Fall back!” one of them yelled. Then remaining to soldiers took shelter behind the hall doors. She held her fire to save what little ammo she had left.

Static blurred over her ratio, but she heard a distance coughing sound. “T-Twilight,” Davis spoke. “Tell Nadia I won’t be able to finish that game with her.”

“Davis, Where are you? The kids are safe. Tell me your location I’m coming to help.”

“Don’t worry she’ll know what I mean.” The ratio went dead. Twilight cursed under her breath. Her attention was quickly draw else were as a grenade rolled toward her.

Standard frag grenades had fallen out of favor within modern warfare. They could still injure or even mama someone, but with the increased layers of protection solders wore they not an instant killer that they once were. Their replacement, however, had solved that problem. Known has the chaos grenade, Twilight watched the thing bounce into the air and hovered there. In moments a small covering in the center popped off while it spun rapidly in place. Thousands of tiny balls shot out in every direction each strong enough to punch through metal.

To Twilight it was the equivalent of killing her shield with bug bits, but she knew that even bugs could bring down an animal. She dropped her gun to the ground and put both hands into her shield, pouring as much magic into it as she could. Bug bites or not she could feel her shield creaking in spots. It lasted only ten seconds but to Twilight it feel far longer. The spent grenade fell to the ground, giving Twilight a moment to catch her breath, but only a moment.

The two soldiers from before emerged from the hallway and fired into Twilight’s drained shield. She looked to her gun where it lay on the ground. If she tried to reach for it she would need to take power away from her shield. It would only be for a few moments, but she doubted her shield would last that long, though as it was she wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep it up all ready her arms were starting to burn from overuse.

Pow. Pow.

Two loud shots came through the window and one of the solders dropped to the ground. The other one barely had time to realize what was going on when two more shots sent him flaying back against a wall. The entrance burst open and Osanen troops poured through. She let her shield go and fell on to her hands, gasping for breath.

“Primary target identified, secure the area. Lance Corporal Sparkle, We’re here to extract you back behind friendly lines.” The lead solider said.

“So, how did you find me?” Twilight asked as she rose to her feet.

“Commander Cotreau informed Command that you can gone ahead to help extract civilian. Command disagreed with that.”

‘I see,’ she thought. ‘Using me as bait to force Command to clear this area. They can’t have their star solider dying on them.’ Behind her helmet she could only smile. “There should have been a group of children running to the direction you came from.”

“Don’t worry, they are safe. We sent someone to escort them back.”

Shots in the distance brought Twilight back to focus. “Damnit! Davis is still in danger.”

“Understood. I’ll dispatch a squad to find him.”

“Fuck that!” Twilight countered. She grabbed her gun from the ground and took off running.

“Lance Corporal, stop!”

Twilight didn’t listen, nor did she stop for the Osanen soldiers that followed after her. “Davis,” Twilight called over her ratio. “Talk to me!” no answer. She rounded the last corner, nearly running into the wall from her speed. At the end of the hall two rats were trying to break down a door. One was trying to kick it in were the other just watch.

Twilight didn’t slow her speed. She focused her magic into her left hand, and while she didn’t have much magic left for what she planed she didn’t need much. She thrust her arm out and the rat trying to kick the door in froze, like his body was paralyzed. She jerked her arm to the side and his body exploded outward as a shield rapidly expanded. The other rat hit the ground moments later as her escort provided covering fire.

Twilight burst through the damaged door with ease. “Davis!” What had once been a class room was just as trashed as the rest of the building. The makeshift barricade of table was pushed aside and Twilight was able to jump over it with little trouble. Davis set against the wall to the right of the door. His helm was off and one hand was held to his stomach over the reddish patch of medical foam, trying to keep his blood from pouring through.

Twilight knelt in front of him and took off her helmet. “You idiot! You god damn idiot!” She screamed.

Davis just smiled. “Yeah, that’s me idiot to the last.” Twilight grabbed at the medical bag that lay next to Davis. “Don’t bother, I’ve taken everything I can in there, but based on the pain I’m guessing something vital got hit.” He coughed in to his free hand and looked at the blood that was left behind. “Oh yeah, definitely something vital got hit.”

Twilight took out bandages and did her best to stop the bleeding. Other Osanen soldiers had arrived but no one moved to help. If was as if she was the only one who hadn’t reached the conclusion that Davis couldn’t be saved. “Twilight,” Davis spoke up after a minute of fruitlessly trying to stop the bleeding. “When you get back home pet one of the ponies for me.”

A small smile broke on Twilight’s face. “Come on don’t be ridicules.”

His voice grew weaker but he kept talking. “I’ve never seen a pony in person before, but if I had one I would name him Hopscotch.” His eyes slowly closed and his hand went limp.

“Davis?” Twilight slowly shook him; her voice weak. “Davis…came on…open your eyes.” She shook him harder. Nothing.

Twilight leaned her head back and screamed.

In one of the few buildings that were not either burned down or looted to the frame was a small bar that went by the name Table Flippers. Twilight, Skyler, Teagan, and Nadia set at a table with a bottle of whisky that Nadia had managed to fish out in the center. Cotreau was off filling out the after battle reports.

There was little in the way of small talk with everyone more content to just drink. “Did he say anything before the end?” Nadia asked.

Twilight swirled her glass and watch to liquid. “Just to tell you that he wouldn’t be able to finish that game with you.”

Nadia placed a hand over her face and took in a deep breath. She held it for several moments before release. “Like that maters anymore.”

“What game?”

“Chess. He was one of the few people I found who were any good at it.”

Teagan reached out and took the bottle to refill to own glass. “I kind of evea him.” He draw everyone’s eyes at that. He took a sip of his drink and elaborated. “He died protecting the children. He got to choose how he died, and I don’t think he regretted it.”

“No,” Nadia agreed. “I don’t think he regretted it at all.”

“Not all of us are going to have a glorious death, but at least some of us get to choose how we go.”

Skyler rose his glass into air. “To Davis!” it wasn’t much as a toast, but it was more than enough for everyone.

Another solider stepped up to table. “Excuse me, but there is a call for Lance Corporal Sparkle.” Twilight didn’t move just sipped her drink and stared at the poor private. “It’s mark urgent.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and rose from the table. She followed the private to a phone that had been set up farther into the bar. “This is Twilight.”

“Twilight can you hear me?” a familiar yet cheerful voice asked.

“Rolland.”

“Twilight, it’s good to hear your voice again.”

“Rolland, this call was marked urgent. What’s going on?”

“Oh sorry about that, I had to do that to get in contact with you.”

Twilight took in a breath and let it out slowly, making sure it was heard over the phone. “Rolland, this is not the best time for a social call.”

“Sorry, I’ll get to the point of my call. To make thing quick, I think I know how to send you home.”

***

The warm spring air Blew through Twilight’s hair and brought warmth to her in spite of the cold graveyard around her. A week had passed since her return home, and despite her rough first day, it had been peaceful. Her friends had taken turns spending time with her, as if they thought taking their eyes off of her would make her disappear. Rarity had even made Twilight a whole wardrobe that she claimed was fashionable yet simple. The black button up shirt and matching pants she was currently wearing was testament to that, while it’s wasn’t her jumpsuit it definitely would do.

Her recon armor she had left at her parents had been sent to Celestia to hold on to. She still had to go retrieve it, but it surprised her how easily she could come up with an excuse not to do something.

Rainbow Dash had been gone on a weeklong tour with the other Wonderbolts, but she had sent letters—along with most of Equestria. Celestia and Luna had finally made her return public and ponies were sending their support in abundance.

She was more surprised not to be hounded by paparazzi, but she suspected that was more due to an unseen army of guards that circled Ponyville like a net. Of course that was only a guess. The only guards she had seen were Tweetle-dumb and Tweetle-de, the unicorn and pegasus guard that watch her from the edge of the graveyard. Not their real names of course, but she found that funnier than their real names, and it’s not like they spoke. They just watched her like some special need children…it was creepy at times.

She brought her attention back to the reason she had come. She had known for some time about her gravestone, but today was the first day she had built up the courage to come take a look. Before her a statue of her ponyself stood with outstretched wings. On the base from where it stood was a plaque that read.

“In memory of Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.

May her example inspire friendship for generationd to come.”

“An example of friendship, don’t make me laugh.” Twilight muttered to herself. A burst of air hit her from above. She glanced up to see the all too familiar streak of blue pass over head. She waved to Rainbow Dash as she circled around for a landing. Tweetle-dumb and Tweetle-de barely gave Rainbow a second glace, though Twilight wasn’t too surprise about that.

“Welcome back, Rainbow, I didn’t think I would see you until tomorrow.”

Rainbow trotted up. Her Wonderbolt outfit was gone, but still kept the goggles on top of her head. “Today was basically rap up, nothing the others couldn’t handle without me. So why are you hanging out in this gloomy place?”

Twilight nodded toward the statue. “Just having a look at the legacy I left behind, but it seems that friendship is all I was remembered for.”

“Hey come on,” Rainbow was quick to argue. “You can’t judge your whole legacy by just one plaque.”

Twilight placed her hand on Rainbow’s head and patted her, rubbing her hand into Rainbow’s mane. Rainbow giggled at the touch and pushed her hand away after a moment. “What was that for?”

Twilight shook her head. “Nothing,” She answered. “Just remembering something. Your right, this place is too gloomy. Let’s head back into town.”