Twilight entered a large room that curved around the center of her castle and looked at the stacks of frames sitting on folding tables with a sigh.
Lighting her horn, hundreds of nails floated up into four rows and angled their points towards the wall, before shooting forward and embedding themselves into the crystal.
Twilight then levitated the stacks of frames as she walked down to the far end of the hall. She began hanging the frames by hand as she walked to the other end of the rows.
Three hours later, Twilight hung all but three of the frames. Walking back to the center of the hall, right in front of the door, she pulled out three more nails and drove them in by hand.
Hanging the last frames, she sighed again before a flash summoned some incense and burner. A quick flare of magic lit the incense, and the smell of sage filled the room.
One final application of magic and words became engraved above the frames.
Sitting down on the floor, Twilight stared at the frames.
Spike found her later that evening still in the room.
“Twilight, I…” He started, before trailing off, seeing his mother figure sitting on the floor, her ears pinned to her head and her wings hanging on the floor.
Spike followed her gaze and saw the frames, all with a picture, a name, two dates, and a black strip of fabric on the top right and lower left corners.
His eyes rose to the words that were engraved above the portraits.
‘ALL GAVE SOME, SOME GAVE ALL’ were engraved above the rows of pictures.
Spike, realizing what this room was, sat down next to Twilight.
The pair sat in silence for a few moments before Twilight spoke, her voice was thick with emotion.
“The three at the top were friends of mine.” She said, gesturing to the pictures at the top. These stood out, as rather than Equestrians, they showed three humans, one female and two males.
“The girl was a friend from high school, as good as my sister. We went into the Army together. Her name was Ashton. She was a communications specialist that was working with the provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan when her convoy was struck with a roadside bomb. All three soldiers in the truck were killed.” Twilight said. “The two males were members of my team. The one on the left was a fellow Green Beret, and the one the right was an Air Force TACP that was assigned to my team. It was their first combat mission. We had dropped in advance of Coalition forces advancing into Iraq. We had just hit the ground about twenty minutes prior when we were hit by Republican Guard forces. Private First Class Henry Smith, he went down first. Sniper round to the neck. Jazz and I took out the sniper while our medic Sanchez tried to save Smith. He got winged by a round and had to patch himself up.”
“Senior Airman Joe Bailey.” Twilight said with a tight smile. “He was a character. Always cracking jokes in our downtime. He spent plenty of time getting to know all of us. He listened to some of the guys from another team that had just come missing a man. He was a compassionate soul, that one. He had just called in an airstrike when a burst of machinegun fire walked across his gut.” Twilight shook her head. “He was dying and he knew it. He told us to get the hell out of there. Pulled his dog tags off and put them in my hand. He called in an airstrike right on top of himself.”
Twilight now had tears running down her muzzle. “He had a wife back home. They had been together for about three years at that point.” She said. “After the flyboys unleashed hell on the position, four of us went to try and find him. Through some miracle, his body was still there and in one piece. We called for extraction, and once they got there the lead elements of an armor battalion had started arriving.” She said.
“My team was sent back to the States after that for some counseling and R&R.” Twilight continued after a moment. “Then came the hardest part, visiting the families.” She said, her voice cracking with emotion.
“Bailey’s wife was a wreck. It turned out she had gotten pregnant just before we deployed. I sat there for the better part of an hour holding her while she wept. As much as I wished I could say something, anything, to make things better, I couldn’t.” She said as Spike wrapped his arms around her.
“I did tell her that we would make sure she and her child were taken care of. Not by the Army, but by the team. Most of us were single anyways and had more money than we knew what to do with. About a month after we got home, we had set it up that her mortgage was paid off and we helped her set up a nursery.” Twilight said. “She was stunned by our generosity and asked why we would do that. We told her that we will always take care of our brothers and their families. A few months later, all of us were at the hospital when she gave birth to beautiful baby girl.” Twilight smiled. “She named her Joanne Jaycee. After her father and me. I asked her why, and she said that I made sure he came home to her. I visited often, and made sure that they were doing okay. They knew about my transformation back to Twilight and little JJ was always loving playing with her uncle turned aunt. Before I came back, I set her up a trust fund. By the time she is grown, she will be set for college or whatever she wants to do.” Twilight finished.
Spike smiled. “Sounds like you did good Mom. That little girl will know that her dad was a hero and saved his friends. There was something that I had heard during one of the memorials a while back. ‘There is no greater love than a man who will lay down his life for his brothers.’ I think it fits here.” He said.
Twilight smiled and nodded. “It does. I kept the photos to remember them. As I will do here.” She said, motioning to the walls. “Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. I know that they still have versions on Earth, but I still took the time to write letters to each and every one of their families. Pointless I know, since I can’t send them to them, but it helps to ease my conscience.” She said.
“I think that is great. Even if there is no one to give them to, it shows that you care enough to take the time to write them.” Spike said. “In fact, the next time you have to write one, or if you still have some to write, I will help.” He added.
Twilight pulled back to look at him.
Spike sighed. “The both of us are going to be around a long time.” He said. “I might not be immortal like you and the other Princesses, but I will get to know a lot of the ponies under your command, just like I know you will. Plus since things have calmed down, many of them will be starting families here. There will be wives and husbands and children that will need to be comforted to know what happened to their family members. I know it will be hard to do, but I want to do it. Alongside you.” He explained.
Twilight smiled before hugging the drake that had truly gone from just being her assistant to her son.
“Thank you.” She said simply, before the pair lapsed into silence.
After a while long Twilight fell asleep, the emotional toll sapping her strength. Spike carefully scooped her up and carried her to bed. Pulling off her boots, he tucked her in, and with one last smile at the warrior alicorn, headed to bed himself.
Author's Note
I wrote this story to help deal with the emotions that have been brought up by the tenth anniversary of the loss of one of my brothers-in-arms. On 10 June 2007, Airman 1st Class Eric M. Barnes was killed by an IED while leading his supply convoy through Iraq. He was an excellent Airman and would have been one hell of a leader. RIP Brother, you will never be forgotten.
