Regrets

The trees whistled while walking to the cottage with somepony kind enough to allow him to stay with her. Though she was a rather timid creature, Austra did sense some courage from her presence. Not to mention, she had the most beautiful eyes he has ever seen, it's like she popped out of a fairy tale story. They continued to trot while he noticed those gang ponies near the entrance of the forest, talking to each other. "Oh, boy," he thought to himself, realizing he scared the living shit out of one of them and broke another one’s arm. They didn't notice him at first, but as soon as they looked up, they gave terrified, yet angry looks at him walking.

"Strange....they would've said something nasty to me by now...," Said Fluttershy in a confused, yet relieving way.

"Must be troublesome to walk home everyday and see these bozzo's hitting on ya, eh?" asked Austra.

"It...isn't so bad, at least they aren't hurting my animals or harming anything..." She said as she walked near her door and tried to open it, then she heard a whistle from one of the gangsters near the forest. Fluttershy sighed as she readied herself for a flirt joke.

"Hey, toots, you should probably stay away from that creep and hang out with us...," He says with a grin. "’Sides, I think the big guy wouldn't last a second in bed." The gangsters laugh as Fluttershy enters her cottage, Austra right behind her with a glare looking back at the smirking group.

"I'm so sorry you had to hear that....they have been doing this for a month," said the timid pegasus shyly. "I can't do anything because if i defy them, they will do something horrid to my animals, I don't want that..." She started to form water in her eyes at the thought of that.

"So they threaten others to get what they want? Doesn't this village have authority?" Austra asked. Fluttershy just looked at him and shook her head. "I see....but why didn't the princess do anything? she is a ruler after all..."

"Twilight is freshly new to her spot as a princess, but she did try to stop them, they just....pulled out a gun on one of our friends..." she said sadly. Austra didn't like this, even a princess got threatened by these wannabe gangbangers? He figured this was once a peaceful town, full of happy smiles and great people, like his friends in the military. He suddenly felt a vision come on again, this time showing him and his comrades entering a base, then flashed to them shooting and running, then flashed over to a mare laying on her stomach with fearful eyes, looking straight at Austra. "Help me..." said the mare. Austra then went back into reality, realizing Fluttershy was trying to say something.

"Austra? Are you OK?" She asked in a worried tone.
"...I'm fine,” he said simply to her. No, he wasn’t fine, he felt like he was gonna fall to the ground, and die of complete stress. She slowly nodded until she looked down to see blood coming from Austra's suit.
"Oh my, you're bleeding!" she said more worried than ever. she quickly went to him.
"No, really, I am fine..." he said reluctantly, but soon felt the pain from the wound he got earlier today. She carefully took off his jacket and asked him to remove the vest politely, he does so and she gasps from the big wound on his side.
"What even happened?!"
"These....wooden wolves went chasing after me...one of 'em took a swing at me," Austra calmly said.
"Oh, you poor thing! Here, let me get new bandages...." She then quickly trotted to her basement, He assumed she went to grab bandages.

Austra just sat there, thinking of that vision he saw. He felt guilt run through his veins, the sorrow he feels is a heavy burden he doesn't want to feel, but....how could he? He left his team in there to die, remembering their faces as he ran out. How could he have been such a coward? How could he do such a thing? Why was he even alive at this point? These questions floated around his head until Fluttershy came back with bandages and some medical supplies.

"Here...let me help you here..." she said calmly. She started to get to work on his wound, putting on those ointments that usually sting, but he showed no reaction to it, then she started to skillfully wrap the bandage around his side.
"You seem to be skillful in the art of medicine, that’s an amazing feature," he pointed out.
Fluttershy blushed a little and said, "Thanks, I mostly deal with animals every once awhile when they need it, but I make sure ponies are OK too."

"Well, I appreciate it, ma'am," he said respectfully.

"Please, call me Fluttershy, I don’t mind," she says kindly. "Also, I am very sorry you had to deal with those big bad wolves, Mr. Austra..."
He said nothing, though he found it odd why she would apologize to him if a wild animal attacked him.

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you do...?" Asked the shy pony. Austra didn't want to answer that, those painful memories would always rush to his mind, but looking at those innocent eyes, he couldn't help but feel comfortable saying it to her.

"....I am from the Equestrian military, we mostly stop groups of terrorism and other parties that cause harm to Equestria," he replied.

"Oh my...must be a tough job...I can never pull myself to do such tasks..." she said shamefully.

"Don’t beat yourself up about it....me and my friends dealt with things a normal civilian couldn't handle..."

"Where are your friends now?" She asked. Austra grew silent, staring at the pegasus and her teal eyes. He was not in the mood for discussing his deceased friends. Not at a time like this.

"I....feel kind of tired, where is the spare bedroom?" He quickly said, avoiding the question.

"I-It's next to my room-" she was interrupted by the sudden movement Austra made when she told him the location. She thought it was best to not provoke him.

Austra laid in the bed staring at the ceiling, feeling the sour taste in his mouth thinking about the military camps he endured with his friends, he just couldn't stop thinking about it, which annoyed him. He tossed to his side with an angry, but saddened glare at the wall he was now glaring at. He kept his eyes for awhile until he finally felt his eyelids overlap his eyes, and started to dream.