The Defector: Prologue

The booming commands of the captain jolted me out of my light slumber. On instinct, my eyes shot open and I jumped out of the cot with haste before moving and stopping just in front of it. I snapped to attention and stood, facing forward. I could hear the hurried shuffling of bare hooves on concrete as the soldiers around me did the same. In ten seconds flat, the entire platoon was at attention, eyeing the pony in front of him with a blank stare. I - the only human in the entire Equestrian Army - was in the direct center of the room, opposite a black-furred, thin pegasus named Thunderlane. His striped mohawk that he normally wore fairly long had been cut short to match military guidelines. He was wearing a white t-shirt and black boxer briefs, same as the rest of us.

The captain began walking down the middle of the room slowly, inspecting each and every soldier along the way. While he was checking the first stallion in my row, I caught Thunderlane’s gaze and held it. He stared at me with battle-hardened amber eyes that hadn’t blinked once since he had awoken. We both nodded to each other slightly. We knew what today was; the day that everyone was given their final assignments. With the war officially over, Equestria no longer had a need for a large standing army. So, they began reassigning the soldiers who had either enlisted willingly or been drafted, going through them platoon-by-platoon. Very few would remain in the army itself. The most likely options were either transferal into the Royal Guard, or being sent home.

And now, it was our Unit’s turn to break apart.

In a matter of moments, Captain Shining Armor had reached the center of the room. He started to his left, as always, and began eyeing Thunderlane’s cot with an investigative gaze. After a good thirty seconds, he nodded and turned to me, repeating the process. I counted down the seconds in my head. One one-thousand… Two one-thousand… Captain Armor’s inspections always took exactly thirty seconds. He was rather punctual when he wanted to be. It was one of the many reasons the entire company respected him; he would bullshit and joke around with us all day, but he could be a leader when the situation called for it. This was one of those situations.

Twenty-nine… Thirty!

I waited for the captain to nod and move down to the next stallion. But he didn’t. He continued inspecting my cot… no… me. He was just staring at me. I chanced a direct glance at him, and saw a concerned look on his face. Almost… pitying. I could feel my mouth go dry, as if I had eaten an entire bag of cotton balls. In one sitting.

“Is… is something wrong, sir?” I asked, trying to mask my nervousness under a veil of professionalism.

“N-no, Sergeant,” the unicorn replied, seeming nervous himself, “Nothing at all. At ease.”

I nodded curtly, shifting my posture as ordered. I could barely make out a sigh as he walked off to the next soldier.

I had served with Shining Armor long enough to tell when he was lying. It didn't happen often, but when it did, you knew. Something was wrong. I felt my heart sink as he continued his inspection. His expression was burned into my mind. I turned my gaze back over to Thunderlane, who was giving me a worried look. He had noticed it too. A quick glance to my left and right revealed that pretty much the entire platoon had noticed, and the atmosphere in the room had changed for the worse because of it. Flash Sentry, the orange-furred, blue-maned pegasus corporal in the cot to my right, had completely broken attention and was staring at me in shock. Only the captain's loud throat-clearing snapped him back.

“Everypony dress and form up!” he commanded. After hastily donning our army fatigues, the entire platoon marched over in unison, forming two wide semicircles around the captain. The stallions in front took a knee to allow the second row of us to see our commanding officer unobstructed. I stood toward the center of the second row, in between Sentry and Thunderlane.

“As you all know by now,” the captain began, his tone strictly professional, “This will be our last day as a whole Unit. This time tomorrow, some of you will begin your crossover into the Royal Guard to finish out your contract. Others will be given the privilege of returning to civilian life. In a moment, I will tell you your assignments,” he held up a thin wooden clipboard before continuing, “But I feel I must remind you that these assignments are permanent. If you are transferred to the Guard with me, that’s where you’ll be until your contract is up. If you’re discharged, you turn in your gear and hop on the train tomorrow morning.”

“Now, with that out of the way…” Captain Armor turned his gaze to his clipboard and began going down the first line, finding and calling names. He went from his left to right, giving each stallion his assignment.

Guard… Discharge… Discharge… Guard… Discharge...

The captain completed the first row of soldiers, and started on the second. I paid attention to each and every assignment, noting where all of my comrades were going. My uneasiness dissipating for a moment, I wondered whether I would end up in the Guard or discharged myself. I couldn't go home if I was released, but I was confident I could find somewhere to stay. Maybe one of the guys would take me in until I could find an apartment or something…

“Sentry, guard…” the captain called, pulling me out of my thoughts. I waited, listening for my name to be called and my post to be assigned.

“Th… Th-Thunderlane, discharge…”

Wait… what?

The apprehension and confusion in the room rose so quickly you could almost see it. He skipped me. We all waited - holding our breath - for the captain to realize his mistake and go back. To read my name out and tell me my fate. He didn’t, though. He continued down the line, the last few stallions all being discharged.

“Alright, that’s that,” Captain Armor said after reading the last name. His tone was irregular, his voice cracking every few words, “We’re done here. You’re all dismissed. Feel free to walk the base, finish up any business you may still have here. Just be back for chow at noon, and don’t get into any trouble until then.”

If my mouth had been cotton before, it was the fucking Sahara now. He skipped me. He willingly skipped my name. Just what the hell was going on? I tried to say something as the captain turned to leave, but my words caught in my throat. I couldn’t speak to save my life, which I felt was actually at stake.

“Captain Armor!” a youthful voice to my right called out, coming from Flash Sentry’s muzzle.

Shining didn’t turn around, but he stopped and glanced over his shoulder, “Yes, Corporal Sentry?”

“With all due respect sir,” Flash’s fear was evident in his tone, but he kept it professional. More so than usual from him, “I believed you missed one of us.”

The white unicorn turned his gaze away from us, shutting his eyes tightly and sighing in exasperation, “No, I didn’t miss anypony, corporal. You’re mistaken.”

“Then what about Blackburn, sir?” A different voice, Thunderlane’s, spoke up next. A few more soldiers from both lines murmured in agreement.

“It’s none of your concern, private,” the captain adopted a new tone at that: anger. An emotion we had never seen him in off of the battlefield. Even when he was angry, it was never directed at his own men, but always towards the enemy. Hearing it in this setting sent a collective chill down our spines, and Thunderlane’s professional demeanor began to noticeably break down when he spoke again.

“B-but, Captain…” he stuttered.

“I’m not having this discussion, Lane!” Shining barked back. He shot an angry look our way, making the entire platoon jump, “Just drop it. Now, dismissed.”

Thunderlane gave a curt “Yessir,” and the formation broke up hastily. Everyone but Flash Sentry and myself returned to their cots and began taking inventory of their gear. The two of us just stood there a moment, staring at each other worriedly.

“Sergeant Blackburn,” Captain Armor was suddenly right up next to us, addressing me. Flash and I snapped to attention at once, turning to our commander as he continued, “Come with me. We need to talk.”

I shot a glance at Sentry - who had resumed looking at me with a concerned eye - before nodding at the captain. I tapped Sentry’s shoulder with an open palm, breaking him of his semi-trance, and motioned with my head for him to join the others. A subtle way to let him know I was alright. Which I didn’t believe for a second, myself, but I didn’t want the boys worrying about me. Not until I knew what the hell was going on, anyway. As Sentry was returning to his cot, Shining Armor led me through a nearby door, which opened out to the rest of the military base.

The base - known as the Joint Branch Headquarters and constructed fifty miles west of Baltimare - served as the main deployment base of both the Equestrian Army and the military air force. Every infantry soldier, pilot and combat engineer had gone through the JBHQ at some point in their service. The only military branches that weren’t based out of here were the navy and the Royal Marines, who had their own base near Las Pegasus.

The JBHQ compound was basically a giant airstrip with a dozen or so buildings to the east, not including the aircraft hangars. The barracks for our platoon was built right at the edge nearest the airstrip, and was the closest building to it. There were several other barracks buildings nearby, most of them multi-story. Further east was the mess hall, which was just a re-purposed hangar bay from the base’s early operations long before the war. Beyond the mess hall, it was administration buildings and training facilities going right up to the edge of the nearby forest.

As I walked silently with Shining Armor, towards the large administration building that doubled as the officers’ quarters, my gaze wandered to an all-mare platoon that was doing a final, symbolic jog around the entire base. They were singing a pony-themed marching cadence I didn’t recognize. Looking at them brought back memories of my own basic training, and then Ranger School. I remembered jogging down a dirt road in the middle of a rainstorm with my old platoon, singing Oh Hail Oh Infantry the entire mile. I let the images run through my head for only a second before it I was reminded that I would most likely never see any of them again, a thought that instantly brought my mood back down.

I quickly shoved the memories out of my mind, but my gaze remained on the mares running along the front of the mess hall. Trying to turn my thoughts in a different direction, I began focusing on the mares themselves. They were all wearing tight-fitting army fatigues in a newly-issued camouflage known as “Everfree Flecktarn,” named after the Equestrian forest that inspired the colors and the German camouflage that inspired the pattern. The mares had no weapons or gear aside from their uniforms, so there was nothing to break the lines of their curves. Most of the girls were fairly petite, but I could pick out several with generous assets. I allowed my eyes to wander a bit.

“Enjoying the view, sergeant?” Captain Armor asked jokingly, pulling my attention to him. He was looking back at me over his shoulder, a smirk on his face.

“Absolutely, sir,” I replied, a smirk crossing my own face as well.

He scoffed a bit at that, “You know, Blackburn, I think you’re the only human in existence that’s weird enough to find my kind attractive.”

Thoughts of past… interesting conversations with my old Ranger platoon invaded my mind, but I didn’t dare correct him.

I watched as the platoon of soldier-mares rounded the corner of the mess hall, cutting of my line of sight. My fun over, I turned my gaze back to Shining, who had also resumed looking forward as we neared the administration building. I quickened my pace a bit until I was at his right side. We continued on in silence for a moment, until it was broken by the now somber-looking captain.

“Now, I know you must have some concerns,” he began, “And rest assured, they will be addressed in time.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, sir,” I paused for a moment until I received permission to continue, “Where exactly are you taking me?”

“To the Admin building, floor seven,” the unicorn replied, which gave me pause. Floor seven was reserved for the top Army brass. Why the hell was he taking me there?

“Why, exactly?” I voiced my inner concerns as we reached the building. I opened the door, and we both stepped inside and began the trek down a hallway as our conversation went on.

“Somepony… important wishes to speak with you.”

“Who, sir?” I asked as we reached an elevator. Captain Armor hit the button, and the doors opened immediately. We stepped inside, and he hit the button that took us to the top floor before turning to me with a sly smirk crossing his face.

“The tippy-top of the list, Burnsy,” he answered, using one of the many nicknames I had acquired over the years. I had to think for a moment before it finally clicked in my mind who he might have been talking about. Even then, I still didn’t believe it.

“No way… It can't be…?”

Shining’s smirk grew wider just as the elevator stopped and the door slid open.