Regrets

Austra gave a yawn as he sat up from the bed. Surprisingly, no nightmare made him sweat like a spring fountain in the winter. He gave a sigh of relief and told himself to not think about it. He went into his bag and digged through it to see if he can find a clean pair of socks. While digging, he found something very familiar, actually two things. Both of them were Desert Eagles, with a deep black color scheme on it. He looked at it as if he hasn't held these in a very long time. He took one of them and cocked it and looked down its sights. Things start to transition into memories.

He sees a stallion in uniform, taking some shots at some targets, hitting the mid with most of his shots right on the bullseye, very pleased at the outcome.

"I see you are pleasing yourself, Kommandant," jokingly said the Germane stallion. He had a blonde spiky mane, with a matching tail. His dark blue eyes gave him a look of appreciation, as they have been with each other for a few years.

"Well, Adalric, it’s been awhile since we’ve gone on a mission, been like four years, hasn't it mate?" Austra chuckled.

"Well, since ya been drawing on them papers for all those years, I would think you lost your touch." Adalric smirks.

"Ah, piss off, you probably have worse aim than me, lad," he laughed. Adalric gave him a look like it was a challenge.

"Bah! Gimme your gun then, let’s see who has the besser ziel"

"Mixing your English and Germane words makes you less serious when ya claim something." Austra looks at him with a smile. Adalric looks at him with a "shut up" glare while smiling. A shot rings and Austra comes back into reality with Fluttershy peeks her head in, a bit scared that he has a weapon.

"U-um.....B-breakfast is ready, come out whenever you are D-Done aiming your....G-Gun."

"S-sorry, las, didn't mean to make you scared," he says while putting both his guns in his holsters on the belt, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"I-it’s fine, just.....not in here, OK?" she murmured. Austra nods and walks with fluttershy to the table, which already had pancakes laying on it, with a mixture of berries on top. He looked at it with confusion, giving Fluttershy her attention.

"Is something wrong?" she said worryingly.

"N-no, it’s just... I’ve never really had pancakes before." He said scratching his head in embarrassment. Fluttershy questioned it in her mind at first, but gave him a warm smile.

"Oh, well, it isn't really that bad, you should try it." She blushed a bit. He sat down, took a fork and took a bite. The taste was like magic, it gave a wonderful flavor to his mouth. He then scorched down the food, kind of like a pig at a farm house. Fluttershy watched in amusement and confusion. Austra noticed this and coughed in embarrassment.

"Heh...been eating mre's before i got here, pretty much anything tastes better, sorry about that," he said.

"Oh, I don't mind, I just didn't expect you to like my type of cooking."

"Nonsense! This is the best food I have ever eaten, las. I mean it," he said with a chuckle. Fluttershy smiled and blushed for being flattered. Then somepony came barging in, it was Twilight trying to catch her breath.

"T-Twilight, what's wrong?" Fluttershy says worryingly.

"The....*huff* Boutique...its....*puff* on fire!" she screamed. Austra stood up quickly while Fluttershy gasped in horror.

There was a smell of burnt wood, and curtains soon turning into ashes as there was a bunch of ponies, just staring at this with disbelief. The fire ponies are trying to cease the fire with all they have, but it looks like it will take awhile. Austra, Twilight, and Fluttershy made it when they heard a commotion to their left, a fire pony pushing back a white unicorn, with Blue eyes, who seem to have water streaming down her face as well, Her cutie mark resembling three Diamonds.

"Unhand me! I need to get my sister! she is still in there!" she cried.

"We will get her as soon as we can, ma'am, just stay put and-" he was cut off by a scream which everyone looked to see that she was still alive. Soon, Austra ran through the crowd. First it was this filly gonna get smacked by a wooden object, now it's a fire? This is starting to piss him off now. "Sir!" A stallion said, but soon had to stop the others from going in as well. Austra busted through the door and started to frantically look around, nothing but flames and ashes, it was boiling hot in there, but he needed to find this pony. He then went upstairs, where more flames started to get more intense. It transitions back to everypony, even the fire ponies were silent, hoping both would get out alive. A minute has passed, until they hear a crash through the window, showing Austra landing on his side, protecting whatever he was carrying in his arms. He got up slowly, and walked towards the white unicorn mare, carrying a filly, who resembled her sister a bit, but with a mixture of pink and purple in her mane. He puts down her down, her eyes watering down her face at the sight of her sister.
"Sis!" she cried out, and jumped onto her with a hug, sobbing on her shoulder. Austra dropped to the ground sitting there, coughing like crazy. A firepony walked up to him and gave him a mask breather. He took deep breaths into the mask, trying to regain as much oxygen to his lungs as much as possible. That fall hurt like living hell, he fell from the top floor, but he still stood from it. Which he is relieved he actually didn't get hurt for once while doing something heroic and stupid.

"What you did was brave, for that, I can respect," he said boldly to him.

"What...caused the...fire..." Austra said, getting to the point.

"There was gasoline trailing from the back of the boutique, this was all planned," he said sadly. Soon, Fluttershy and Twilight ran through the crowd, they saw how Austra ran in there with all his courage.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" screamed Twilight, a bit angry but also a bit worried. "It isn't wise to run at the danger!"

"Las, I am not letting somepony get killed in a fire because some asshole decided to play arsonist today!" he growled back. "Think what you want, I did what was right!" The crowd started listening to the argument, it was like having a married couple argue for hours.

"You are a living pony too! What if you never came back out of that fire!?"

"Guys, please! Stop this!" said Fluttershy, loud enough for both of them to stop bickering. "What Austra did almost gave me a heart attack too, but does it really matter when he saved a life of a filly!?"

"She is right, darling, and I appreciate it, mister," said the white unicorn with a smile. "I know formalities aren't good at the moment, but my name is Rarity." Austra nods and looks at both Fluttershy and Twilight.

"Look, I understand how you both feel, but I will not sit here, and let innocent civilians get wounded or killed, I can't live with myself if I just don’t try..." he said a bit calmer. Twilight looked at him, still a bit worried, but she understood what he meant.

"I'm sorry, I was just worried, it was just so sudden, and..." she looked at him with saddened eyes. "it was good to see courage every once awhile, especially someone from the military, I give you my gratitude for doing the right thing." He sat there looking at both of them with a blank stare, they remind him of some ponies he had in the military. The similarities were surprising to him, which caused him to look down in pain. Not the pain from the fire, but emotional pain that tears through the heart.

"Are you OK?" Twilight asked, raising her hoof to touch Austra. He got up quickly and walked past them, they stared at him trot away with his head down.

"Something is troubling him, Fluttershy, I just know it..." Twilight said quietly, but enough for her friend to hear.

"From the way he is acting...I can agree..." she said, looking at Twilight.

Austra was then looking at the sun with saddened eyes. What was this feeling? Why did he keep feeling it? These questions were already answered, but he kept repeating them. It was something that has been haunting him for all these years. The one thing he felt ever since that fateful day when him and his comrades got a mission. He saw his friends face, that showed depression. That one feeling that has kept him from walking in a straight line in life. That one feeling...is regret.