Steve and Scoots

Chapter 3- Base Attack

Sorry for the long wait, I just started work and my energy has been drained and my time has been limited. Hope the wait didn't irritate you guys.

Once again, thank you RainbowDashEpicness for helping with the story. Also, I’d like to thank Fernin for helping me make this story more accurate with his story/dialogue ideas and advice on the military. I hope it is now somewhat accurate. Anyway, enjoy:?)

Once I opened the flap to the tent, I realized the hell-storm that had hit us.  It was still mostly dark out, the light that was present mostly came from weapons fire, and a few, large lights that were still working. I assumed one of the main generators had been hit with a mortar of some kind, which led to the near blackout conditions.

I couldn’t tell how the insurgents had gotten into the base, but their presence was all too noticeable, seen in the fire and explosions that rattled the small base.

“Jesus Christ.” I muttered as one of the insurgents exploded in an apparent suicide bombing, taking a few American soldiers with him. I looked down at Scootaloo, who was in my arms watching the whole thing play out. Even though it was hard to get a good look at her eyes as I was looking down onto her head, I could only imagine the terror that showed in them.

“Charlie, where are the others!?!” I shouted. Charlie looked around and pointed to a group of soldiers that were huddled behind a wall of sandbags.

“Over there! I can see Chris!”

Once I also saw Chris’ ginger hair, which was poking out from under his helmet, I nodded and then looked back at Charlie, “I’ll be there in a minute!”

With that, I quickly took Scootaloo over to a small bunker that was roughly fifteen feet from our tent. It was lined with sandbags and was about five feet underground, providing ample cover for anyone who wanted to shoot at the enemy from within.

I got in and put Scoots down in the corner. There were two soldiers, who were already inside the bunker. They looked at us with great shock, their eyes wide and mouths agape. Even with the chaos that surrounded, they couldn’t seem to take their attention off of the little, blanketed mare that I had just placed down.

I looked up at them, “Don’t you dare tell anyone about her, and don’t you let her get hurt!”

They both nodded before they snapped out of their momentary trance and got back to their job of shooting the enemy. Once I was sure she was as safe as she could possibly be, I stood up and looked down at her as she held the blanket around her.

“Stay here, and no matter what happens do NOT leave this bunker.” I ordered before I turned and began to make my exit from the shelter.

“Steve! Wait what are you doing!?! Steve!!!” Scootaloo cried out as I exited the bunker. Just by listening to her voice I could tell that she was crying, and that alone made me want to turn around and wrap my arms around her tightly. I wanted to be there to protect her, to fight off any evil that would come her way. But I couldn’t, at least not now.

I sprinted over to the wall of sandbags that the rest of my unit was positioned behind. Once I reached it, I crouched down next to Charlie, my rifle pointing over the sandbags, eyes scanning the landscape. Charlie looked down at me from where he was shooting.

“Is she in the tent?”

I shook my head. “No, in the bunker.” He nodded. I took a quick glance back at the bunker where I just left her. “She should be safe in there.”

“Let’s hope so.” He replied before he returned his focus to the battle.

I looked around to see Davis and Chris firing like mad, both using their hyperactive nature to their advantage to dish out as much pain as possible, at the enemy.

Next to them, Butch was much more sparing with his firing, only doing so when he was absolutely sure that he had a clear shot at one of the bastard’s head.

Brad was also firing his weapon, though he seemed keener on scanning the base for injured soldiers that he could help. The battle was too intense to risk exposure at the moment, but once the gunfire settled down he would have to find as many injured soldiers as possible.

Ben was also present and firing his rifle, but he was the quietest one of the group. He never did speak up much, even when he was shooting. The rest of us always swore and screamed like banshees, but he didn’t, he just did his job.

Captain Shore was shouting over a radio to the captains of other units.  He was cursing in frustration as his eyes scanned the base to see if there were any better vantage points for us to use.

Before I fired a shot, I glanced back over my shoulder to the bunker. I sighed and turned away, knowing that I needed to focus on the battle rather than Scootaloo.

But I cared about her too much to NOT be concerned for her.

“Clint! Rolle! Gomez! I want you three to get behind that vehicle! We need you to help out that group over there.” The Captain said, pointing to a truck where a few soldiers were huddled behind. Not only that, but it seemed like that group of men was getting the most attention from the insurgents, as the bastards kept trying to shoot at them.

Davis, Chris and I all nodded and turned to our right. The truck was about twenty feet away and we knew that it was vital that we cover as much ground as possible.

“Cover them!” The Captain shouted back to the others, who all were still in the middle of firing their weapons.

“You’ll need to hurry, otherwise the fuckers will see you!” Butch shouted without taking his eyes off of his target, which was an insurgent that was running over towards a truck. He had what appeared to be a trigger mechanism in his hand. Before he had the chance to detonate himself, Butch fired two rounds into the suicide bomber’s head, killing him before he hit the ground.

“You three go now! Give them cover!” Captain Shore shouted. On cue, Chris, Davis and I all sprinted over to the truck. It may have only been about twenty feet, but when you’re running for your life; the sound of bullets whizzing by your head, it seems like an eternity.

We were almost at the truck when I heard what sounded like a bullet hitting flesh, followed by a blood-curdling scream. Davis and I looked over to our left to see Chris fall over, eyes clenched shut and hand over his side. We both stopped and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him as his legs helplessly dragged behind him.

Once we were almost behind the safety of the vehicle, a bullet hit the ground right by my foot. Once we got Chris behind the truck, Davis stood up and began to shoot in the direction that the bullet had come from.

Meanwhile, I quickly started to look Chris over. Blood was spreading over the left side of his torso. I wasn’t a medic, but it was clear that Chris had been shot right underneath his armpit. The round must have hit his lung because I could tell that he was having trouble breathing. Blood began to dribble out of his nose and mouth. His eyes were wide as each breath seemed like a war in itself. I quickly pressed my hands onto the wound to slow the bleeding, but it was clear that he needed Brad’s aid if he was going to make it.

“Davis!” I shouted as I continued to put pressure onto Chris’ side.

A few moments later Davis was back over with us. He knelt down beside me with a smile on his face.

“I got the bastard between the eyes.” He then looked down at Chris His smile faded and his eyes went wide once he saw the condition our friend was in. “Holy shit.”

“We need to get Brad over here, stat!” I said.

Davis nodded and turned in the direction of the others. He shouted Brad’s name and told him to get over to help Chris. I then made my way over to the other end of the truck, keeping my body low to the ground, until I had a great vantage point to fire from, while still remaining covered.

I saw a pick-up truck speed by with a group of insurgents on the back. It stopped in the center of the base, the men that were sitting on the bed of the vehicle hopped off and started to run off in different directions, screaming and firing at will. A few moments later, the pick-up itself detonated, sending shrapnel in every direction. I ducked behind the truck just as shrapnel whizzed by.

I then picked myself back up and crawled back to my previous position so that I could take aim at the insurgents, who were now being shot left and right. I was able to take down one of them about twenty feet away. I could hear gunfire and explosions all around me, but my focus was solely on the insurgents, and stopping them from continuing their rampage.

I heard some footsteps come up from behind me and turned around to see Brad skid to a stop right beside Chris. Once he was there, he immediately began to work on seal Chris’ wound long enough to get him proper help.

I turned away, not only to focus on my job but also to forget about Chris’ predicament. Lord knows I couldn’t keep thinking about that when my own life was on the line. I had a hard enough time doing so since I was still worried about Scootaloo.

I looked around to see that most of the insurgents were being pushed back or outright mowed down. I let out a sigh of relief, as it seemed the enemy was finally being subdued.

Once twenty minutes had passed without enemy fire, soldiers began to come out from their cover to start preparing for a possible second attack. But for now, the violence was over.

I let out a sigh and turned to see Brad still hunched over Chris’ limp body. Chris’ eyes were still open, but his face was pale, the only hint of red on his person was from his hair. I saw Captain Shore and the others run over to us.

Captain Shore got down to look over Chris, who was still on the ground, blood gushing out of him and his eyes were now half-closed and tired looking rather than screaming in pain.

“Private Gomez, look at me.” He commanded. Chris might have been out of it, but hearing his commander make an order still made him turn his head towards the source of the voice.

“Sir he needs medical attention, now!” Brad said with a tone of desperation.

“Then why don’t you give him some!?!” Captain Shore asked and Brad shook his head. “You have equipment, don’t you!?!”

“I do, but it isn’t enough! He needs more than I can give him; he needs to get to a hospital! Even then I’m not sure if he can be saved! He’s bleeding out too quickly, sir!” Brad ended that statement in a whisper, as if he wanted to hide the truth from the still somewhat conscious Chris.

Captain Shore grabbed his walkie-talkie and began asking for a MEDEVAC, either a ground vehicle or a helicopter, off of the base for Chris. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one to call for one, as the dispatcher on the other end told him a fleet of helicopters was heading over to pick up the wounded.

The rest of us would have to stay and prepare for the possibility of a second attack, but Chris needed immediate medical attention. This necessity for Chris to leave was solidified when I saw the medical tent ablaze about forty yards from where we were sitting behind the truck.

About ten minutes later, a group of medical helicopters appeared and stopped about fifty feet away, waiting for the injured to be brought to them. The sand around us began to blow as the choppers neared the ground. They normally wouldn’t land so close, but space on this tiny base was limited.

Brad, Charlie, Ben and myself all took hold of Chris and brought him over to the helicopter while Captain Shore, Butch and Davis ran alongside us, trying to reassure Chris as he began to fade out of consciousness.

“You’re here man, you’re going to be fine.” Ben said as we reached the bird.

“Don’t you…fucking…lie to…me.” Chris whispered.

“We aren’t lying, dude, you’ve got to have faith.” Charlie said as he gave Chris a reassuring pat on the shoulder. But even I could see the uncertainty in Charlie’s eyes. He knew Chris wasn’t in good shape, and even his kind words and prayers wouldn’t change a damn thing.

Once we helped Chris into the MEDEVAC, we gave him some reassuring good-byes and “stay strong” before the door shut on him. We then turned to the Captain, looked at us with the upmost seriousness.

“Men, we need to prepare for another attack. The suns coming up soon and I want every weapon primed for action."

"Wait, Captain. Do you really think there will be another attack? I mean, we made them look like idiots. Why would they want to risk their own lives against us after we fucked them up so handily the first time?" Butch asked.

"I don't know. But would you rather we stand around like fucking dumb-asses with our pants down? Private, don't question me, I'm above you. Remember that." Captain Shore growled and Butch bit his lip and looked away.

"Now then, as I was saying, I want fighting positions to be strengthened, and I want water, food and any other supplies you can get your hands on distributed. Understood?”

We all nodded and gave a “yes sir” before jogging off as the helicopter that held Chris, as well as a few other injured soldiers, lifted off the ground and flew away.

While the others went to a large tent to arm the vehicles, I decided to head back to the bunker to make sure Scootaloo was all right.

I told Charlie let the others know that I’d be right back once I checked up on her. He nodded and jogged over to help with the preparations. Sure the attack wasn’t definite, and we still weren’t sure if it would happen, but preparation was vital. It was better to be safe than sorry.

I walked over to the bunker. Thankfully, it was, for the most part, untouched. Only a few scattered bullet holes were embedded in the stone and sandbags.

When I got inside, I saw that the two soldiers from before were, once again, staring blankly at Scootaloo. Now that the distraction of the battle was over, they had all of their attention back on the small, scared looking cartoon filly that lay in the corner of the bunker with her hooves over her ears, her wet eyes closed, and the blanket almost completely covering her. Only her mane and eyes were clearly visible under the blue cloth. This little bit of her head, however, was bizarre enough to freak out the two men.

I thanked the two men and told them to head out, as well as keep quiet about Scootaloo’s presence. I wasn’t sure if that would be possible to keep them quiet, but it was worth a shot. They snapped out of their momentary trance and climbed out of the bunker to help the others.

I got down onto one knee and looked down at Scootaloo. I saw the glitter on her cheeks from her tears.

“Scoots?” I nervously asked.

She looked up from under the blanket with her big, violet eyes as if to prove to herself that I really was standing in front of her rather than just an illusion.

Once she confirmed my presence, she jumped towards me and slammed right into my stomach, nearly causing me to lose my balance. Her hooves wrapped around my abdomen as she cried into my chest.

Scootaloo looked up at me with her sad eyes as tears streamed out of them.

“I…was afraid…that you…were…going to…die.” Scootaloo said through her sobs.

“I’m not dead Scootaloo, I’m safe, see.” I began to pet her to prove my solidity, “I’m right here in one piece.” I muttered while I hugged her. She pressed her face into my shirt and continued to cry, that was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen in my life.

“I was just so worried.” She said with a sniffle before she looked up at me, “When I heard those scary noises, they reminded me of what happened yesterday before you found me and...I heard the screams out there...it was too much for me.”

I grimaced, remembering the fright in her eyes when I first saw her, brought on by the bomb that had gone off in the village. She now had that same terrified look in her big eyes, and it broke my heart.

“Why did you leave me like that?” she whimpered.

“I couldn’t bring you out there with me, it was too dangerous.” I answered harshly. “And I’d never be able to live with myself if something happened to you.”

“But why did you go? Why couldn’t you stay with me in this place?” she rolled her head all around to indicate the bunker.

“It’s my job to fight.” I said before letting out a small sigh, “I don’t have a choice, I can’t ditch my fellow soldiers when they need me.”

Scootaloo let out a small, defeated sigh, “I guess I understand. But…I was still scared that…you wouldn’t come back and…I’d be stuck here alone.”

“Even if something did happen Scootaloo, Charlie would be there for you, as would Brad and Davis. You wouldn’t be alone, you’ll always have someone here for you.”

“But I want you to be there for me Steve.” She said with a small sniffle before she turned away from me. There was an awkward pause as we both sat in the misery-filled atmosphere of the bunker. I sighed and picked her up, re-wrapping her in the blanket that had since fallen off of her.

“Come on, let’s get you back to the tent.”

I carried her out of the bunker and brought her back to our tent, careful to not let anyone see her by covering her up with the blanket so only her face was visible. Also the fact that most soldiers were preoccupied with preparing for the possible second attack, and paid us no heed, helped us get back to the tent undetected.

Once we were back in the tent, I gently put her down onto the bed, took the blanket off of her, and sat beside her on the mattress. I then placed my hand onto her shoulder. She initially drew back and let out a startled hasp before she realized it was just my hand. She then relaxed a bit, but her face still showed sadness.

I felt terrible for leaving her alone like I did, but I wasn’t sure what else I could have done. After all, I needed to fight, and we couldn’t get her off of the base so I did the only thing I could, and that was keep her as far away from the battle as I could.

She finally spoke up, “You said your daughter was like me?”

I was a bit confused about this question, after all this really wasn’t the time to discuss my deceased daughter and her similarities to the orange filly in my arms. But then when I looked into her face, I knew Scoots brought it up to move on to a less depressing subject. Or what she saw as less depressed.

Sure, thinking about my daughter made me miserable, but it also made me feel good. Thinking about Amy’s smiling face always made me feel a mix of happiness and sadness.

Plus, talking with Scootaloo was almost exactly like talking to my daughter. The same innocent nature, and the same determined nature.

“Yeah, she was just like you.”

“Really? How?” She asked, suddenly more alert and less depressed, something that made me feel better.

“Well, she was a tomboy. She loved competition, and she looked up to women soccer players like you look up to Rainbow Dash…and she looked up to Rainbow Dash. She was like your human clone, except with brown hair instead of purple.”

Even if I wasn’t looking directly at her, I could tell that Scootaloo was smiling at being compared to my daughter. She also let out a small chuckle at the end when I mentioned how Amy looked up to Rainbow Dash, and she snorted at the comment I made about their hair color.

“He-he, yeah that’s me all right. It sounds like your daughter was pretty cool.” She said.

“Yeah, she was. You two would’ve been great friends,” I said before pointing to my armband, “Actually, she’s the one that gave me this as a way to remember her.”

Scootaloo looked back over to my right arm at the band that had her image on it. She suddenly looked embarrassed, yet flattered at the same time. Such is the expression of a celebrity who only recently discovered their fame.

“I still can’t believe I have my face on something like that. I’m not even on the Wonderbolts and I have things with my face on it!”

“What can I say, you’re famous here.” I said, which made her grin.

“That’s totally awesome.” She said it with some enthusiasm, but I couldn’t help but feel that given better and less-violent circumstances, Scoots would have been even more enthusiastic and happy about it.

There was another small silence. I knew that I would have to leave her again so I could help the others out, but part of me didn’t want to. Part of me wanted to help her feel better, or at least leave her on a high note.

That’s when it hit me.

“Hey Scoots, I was wondering if you could sing me the Cutie Mark Crusader theme song you did at the talent show.”

Scootaloo’s ears perked up at that suggestion.

“Really? You…you actually want to hear that?” She asked excitedly, which made me smile as I gave her a confirming nod. She then looked confused,  “But…but I’m not a good singer. I learned that the hard way, or do you want to hear me so you can laugh?”

Scootaloo looked down at that last statement, pawing her hooves on the floor sadly as she remembered that embarrassing night. Even though everypony thought they were doing a comedy skit and their reputations weren’t too damaged, it was still humiliating.

And yes, I knew that she wasn’t a great singer. Hell, she wasn’t even a halfway decent singer. But I had to get her mind off of everything from that morning, and getting her to sing about her and her friends seemed like the best option.

So I smiled reassuringly, “You’re not a terrible singer Scoots, and I’m not going to laugh at you. I just would like to hear you sing, that’s all.”

She blushed at the compliment. “R-Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay…” She cleared her throat and began.

“Look, here, are three little ponies

Ready to sing for this crowd

Listen up, 'cause here's our story

I'm gonna sing it…”

She suddenly stopped. I looked at her to see that she had a sad expression on her face. I suddenly realized that singing the song would remind her of her friends, the friends that she was so far away from, and would make here realize how much she missed them.

I needed to help her, but I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. Suddenly, I did the first thing that popped into my head.

I continued to sing the song from memory.

“When you're a younger pony

And your flank is very bare…”

Scootaloo looked up at me and gave me a weak smile, which I returned.

I know it must have been an odd sight. After all, most soldiers didn’t break out into song unless it was rap or rock music. Not that I cared, though. Hell, I’d throw on a dress if it were the only way to cheer her up. That’s the impact her sad face had on me.

Scootaloo seemed to brighten up. I think that she was still upset, but she seemed determined to continue singing. Perhaps to feel like her friends weren’t worlds away; that she was singing with them.

“Feels like the sun will never come

When your cutie mark's not there

So the three of us will fight the fight

There is nothing that we fear

We'll have to figure out what we'll do next.”

Even though her pitch was VERY off, I enjoyed listening to her sing. It wasn’t ever day I had the chance to sing with a pony that reminded me of my daughter, let alone in Afghanistan.

As we continued to sing, I knew that her mind was no longer on the attack from that morning. I was relieved to know that she wasn’t as upset as she had been when I first got back into the tent. Not only that, but the innocence and fun nature of the song was just the pick-me up I needed. I always assumed that was why songs from “My Little Pony” made me feel better, because of their upbeat style.

We both continued to sing, with much more emotion and power, to the point where we were both almost screaming out the lyrics. Scootaloo put more and more energy into each note; it looked like she was attempting to impersonate Joan Jett.

Except, of course, Joan Jett had a great voice, and Scootaloo didn’t.

Eventually we reached the end of the song. As those songs have helped me deal with the terrors of war before, it did this time as well.

Just then we heard someone enter the tent. Scoots and I turned to see Charlie and Davis walk in.

“Dude, is everything all right?  I could’ve sworn I heard a couple of cats dying.” Charlie said, looking around for the missing cats.

I shot Charlie a glare, which made him raise his hands in confusion. I turned to Scootaloo, who was giving Charlie a look that showed how insulted she was.

“Funny, I thought I smelled a dead cat when you showed up.” Scootaloo said to Charlie, which shocked all three of us. I didn’t really expect Scootaloo to have such a quick comeback, but that didn’t stop me from laughing like an idiot. Charlie turned a deep shade of red after being told off by the young pony.

“Very funny.” Charlie said while Scootaloo just gave him a big smile, almost like she was trolling him.

“Listen Steve, I’ll watch Scootaloo for you if you want to head out there.” Davis said, pointing over his shoulder towards the exit of the tent.

“You sure?” I asked and Davis nodded.

I looked back down at Scootaloo, who seemed to have a little bit of sadness in her eyes at hearing that I’d be leaving.

“Scoots, I’ll be back in a little bit, I just need to help the others outside.”

She seemed upset that I had to leave her again so I got down onto one knee and put my hand under her chin so I could look her in the eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

Scootaloo didn’t say anything before she gave me a small nod. I leaned over and gave her a quick hug and kissed her head, earning a small smile from her.

Again, I’m not sure what she thought about my fatherly affections for her, but every time I saw her I was reminded of Amy, and I couldn’t help myself. When I broke the hug, she gave be a small smile, which made me feel less awkward about the sudden father-daughter relationship I had with her.

It truly was just like Amy was right here with me.

I turned and walked out of the tent with Charlie, leaving Davis and Scootaloo alone. As we headed over to the arsenal tent, Charlie turned to me, “You do realize your fatherhood is showing right?”

I sighed, “What am I supposed to do? Even before I met Scootaloo she reminded me of Amy. Now that she’s here, I can’t stop seeing her as my own daughter.”

“I feel you man. I know if I met a kid that reminded me of my nephew, I’d feel the same way.” Charlie said, as he didn’t have kids of his own and his nephew was the closest thing he had to a son.

Charlie put a hand onto my shoulder and looked my in the eyes, “And we’ll get her out of this mess safely. I promise you that.”

“Let’s hope that keeping that promise is possible.” I said as we reached Butch and Ben, who were busy equipping and arming vehicles and weapons. Brad and Captain Shore were elsewhere, helping retrieve injured soldiers and determining whether or not they could be treated on the base or if they needed more extreme treatment methods. Other soldiers were busy re-enforcing fighting positions for future defense.

Ben handed a large box full of ammunition to Butch before he turned to Charlie and me. Butch also turned to us with a very serious look on his face.

“Well, well, well. The king has finally arrived to help the “commoners”.” Butch snarled, clearly agitated by my absence.

“Where the hell did you go Steve?” Ben asked as he walked over, wiping his hands off on his pants to get the dust off.

“Checking our tent.” I answered. “Making sure no damage was done to it.”

“That’s very professional,” Butch sneered. “Checking your personal shit when there’s a threat of another attack on this base. Truly a shining example of the U.S. Armed forces.”

“Butch shut the fuck up. Like you didn’t take a break from your job to look at your reflection not a moment ago.” Ben spat back. For being the quietest member of the group, he always seemed to lock horns with Butch, maybe because they both took their jobs so seriously, but in different ways.

“I can’t help it that I’m sexy.” Butch said with a wink.

“Whatever.” Ben pointed at me with a very serious look, “Steve, don’t let the Captain find out you ditched us for such a trivial reason.”

“Yeah.” Butch said as he placed the box onto the back of a truck, where other soldiers started to grab the weapons. Butch picked up an M4 and held it up, “If he finds out, you’ll wind up with one of these baby’s up your ass.”

He let out a laugh. Classic Butch, even after a battle he still was his smart-ass self.

“He won’t know,” I hissed. “Besides, it was more than that. I actually had to check something important.”

“More important than helping us out after an attack?” Butch asked. “We can’t afford anyone sitting out. Where’s Davis?”

“He’s busy.” I spat back.

“Oh for the love of Christ.” Butch groaned as he got back to his work.

“Can’t you guys be productive and actually help us out? It’s hard enough that we’re one man short now that Chris is out.” Ben added as he walked over to another box and began to take out shells to re-load the gun on one of the IFVs.

I sighed and started to walk over to help out, but one thought now was running through my mind.

"How and when am I going to reveal Scootaloo”

I knew that I had to tell at least those who were in my unit about her. It wouldn’t take long for one of the soldiers that saw her to tell others, especially those two in the bunker. But how and when I was going to do so was still a question I had yet to answer. Even though the battle had ended, for the time being, I still felt anxious as these thought flooded my head.

For the rest of the morning I helped the others prepare everything from trucks to weapons for battle. The sun began to radiate off of the back of my neck as the time neared noon. Or at least I think it was almost noon. In my mad scramble that morning I left my watch in my tent. Not much point in keeping time during a fight. Especially when twenty minutes seems like twenty hours.

“So a VBIED was how they got through the gate?” Charlie asked and Ben nodded.

“Yeah, what are you blind? We were right by the destroyed gate when we were shooting at the fuckers. Didn’t you notice the big van that was turned into a God-damned fireball?” Butch hissed.

“No, I couldn’t see it around your fat, fucking head.” Charlie growled. Butch smiled and shook his head.

“What an original comeback. Next time, why don’t you just say you were blinded by my greatness?” Butch held his hands out with an arrogant gleam in his eyes. “That would be a valid excuse after all.”

“I was blinded by your Texas-sized ego.”

Butch shot Charlie a look. “Fuck you Catholic boy.”

“I’ll pray for you.” Charlie said with a mocking laugh, which only made Butch angrier.

“Shut up before I shove that cross you wear up your ass.” Butch pointed to the necklace Charlie was wearing, but Charlie was laughing too hard to notice.

Butch then walked off. Ben punched Charlie in the shoulder. When Charlie looked at him, Ben shook his head disapprovingly.

Because the base was smaller in size, the entrance gate, where vehicle checks took place, wasn’t too far away from the main base. In fact, as soon as the gate was entered, one would be on the base. Once it was destroyed, a swarm of insurgents flooded the camp. Butch and Ben said how even before Charlie and I got outside, several of the cars that the insurgents rode into the base were already used as VBIEDs and were detonated.

The reason that there was so much paranoia about a second attack was because of the lack of knowledge of this attack. No source of Intel gave us any indication about it happening. We were caught with our pants down, so to speak. Now everyone on the base was worried about the possibility of another wave of insurgents attacking us later in the day.

Even if it proved for naught, we had to be prepared for the worst.

Once we were done prepping weapons and vehicles, I told Charlie that I was heading back to the tent to see how Scootaloo was doing. He nodded and told me that he’d come up with an excuse if Captain Shore asked for me.

I walked back over to the tent and entered to see Scootaloo sleeping on the bed. Davis was sitting next to her, looking over his gun as if he were trying to spot anything that could cause it to malfunction at the wrong moment.

“Davis, how is she doing?” I asked. Davis looked up from his gun and gave me a nod.

“She’s fine. A bit tired, though. She fell asleep about an hour after you left. Before that she kept asking about you, asking if you were going to come back and if you were in danger. She really cares about you man.”

I smiled, “I know.”

I thanked Davis and he left. I walked over to the bed and sat down next to Scootaloo. As I watched her sleep, I had a sudden flashback to my last night with Amy. The night before I was deployed and would have to say good-bye to her forever.

***********************************************

“Come on sweetie, it’s almost mid-night.” I said as Amy sleepily leaned against a pillow at the other end of the couch. Her eyes were starting to close while she watched television. We were both trying to spend as much time together as possible before going to bed since I was heading out to Afghanistan the next morning.

Amy argued earlier that day with Carol about staying up later. She reluctantly agreed and, just like that, Amy and I spent the entire night watching late-night television, including two episodes of “My Little Pony”, which included “The Show Stoppers” and “Sonic Rainboom”, which we were in the middle of watching.

“Come on Dad, can’t I stay up for a few more minutes? I can’t go to bed without seeing Rainbow Dash pull off a sonic rainboom.” She asked with the closest thing to puppy-dog eyes a young girl could give.

I nodded, “All right, but once this episode is over it’s off to bed. No “ifs”, “ands” or “buts”, got it? ”

She grinned, eyes still showing her sleepiness, before she turned back to the television and continued to watch the ending of the episode. It’s not like I wanted to go to bed either. If I had the choice I’d stay up all night with Amy. Unfortunately, our eyes were getting heavy and it was becoming a battle in itself to keep us awake. Only when Rainbow Dash pulled off her feat and the living room illuminated in a brilliant spectrum of colors, did both of our eyes shoot open and our tiredness leave.

I could see Amy grin as she watched Rainbow Dash save Rarity, win the young flier’s competition, and meet the Wonderbolts before breaking out into her fan-girl “omygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!!” moment.

Amy was beaming as she watched her favorite character make such an accomplishment, and I couldn’t help but smile as well. Eventually, the episode ended and I turned off the television.

“Time for bed.” I said. Amy turned and gave me a pleading look and I just shook my head, “no excuses. You need your sleep.”

“I’ll just take a nap tomorrow like RD does.”

I laughed and turned the television off, “You can take a nap tomorrow Scoots…” I looked at her with a smile that showed I was teasing her, which made her pout and look away from me, her arms crossed in defiance against the nickname. I then finished my statement, “…but you still need to sleep tonight.”

Amy rolled her eyes and pushed herself up off of the couch. I walked up the stairs to Amy’s room, passing Carol as she lay in our bed watching the local news. She gave me a smile as I passed by the open door.

Once I got into Amy’s room, I walked over and pulled down the covers. She slid into the bed and then she reached up and gave me a big hug, which I returned.

“Get some sleep Amy.” I muttered as I leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. I stood up and started to walk out of the room when she called out to me.

“Dad wait!”

I stopped and turned around to look at Amy. I smiled, “Yeah?”

“As I was watching that cutie mark crusader episode I was wondering…where are Scootaloo’s parents?”

I was about to answer when I stopped myself, realizing that even I didn’t know. I shrugged, “Couldn’t tell you, but Apple Bloom doesn’t have any parents in the show either, at least none we know about.”

“But she has a family.” Amy muttered, “Scootaloo doesn’t have any family. She doesn’t have anybody.”

“She might, maybe the writers just haven’t put them into the show yet.”

Amy nodded.

“I hope you’re right.” She let out a sigh, “If she doesn’t, I really feel bad for her.”

“I’m sure she’s fine, she’s only a cartoon character after all.” I said half-heartedly. After all, this was before she was anything more than a cartoon character.

With that I shut off the lights and smiled, “Good night Scoots.”

Amy surprisingly didn’t seem annoyed by her nickname that time and simply smiled, “Good night Dad.”

With that, I turned and left her room, gently closing the door behind myself.

***********************************************

I snapped myself out of my daydream when I felt something moving under my hand. I looked down to see Scootaloo waking up. She looked up at me, circles under her eyes and smiled, “Hey Steve, you’re back.”

“Of course I am.” I answered with a smile. I scratched her on the head and she chuckled. Just then, as I looked into the little filly’s face, I remembered the question that Amy asked me.

“Where are Scootaloo’s parents?”

I swallowed and my mind had a quick fight over whether to ask her the extremely personal question or not. Such a question could upset her, or not. I could ask it, or just let it go and have her tell me when she felt the time was right. In the end, my curiosity overrode my common sense.

“Hey Scoots?” I asked. She looked up at me with an expectant smile. I bit my lip anxiously, hoping my question wouldn’t cause her to become upset again. After all, seeing her tears flowing that morning made me fell like I had just stabbed somebody right in front of her.

I bit the bullet and finally managed to ask, “Can you…what…what are your parents like?”

When I saw her smile fall and her eyes go from happy to mournful and sad before she turned away from me. When I saw two teardrops land onto the bed below Scootaloo’s face, and heard a small sniffle. I mentally punched myself.

“God-damn it Steve.”