Spitfire arrived at the West Delamare garrison three weeks after her expulsion from the Wonderbolts, just as Blazing had ordered. Before she could ring the front door bell, a plank slid open revealing a slot where a guard’s eyes glared at her. “Etheren sul marto?” he said.
“W-what?”
“Actuvratan atos aqil.”
“I’m sorry. This must be the wro-”
“Ah! I’m just messin' with you toots. Commander Wings told me you’d be coming here.” the guard promptly opened the door and motioned her inside.
“Does Commander Wings know you’re hitting on random mares who come by?”
“What, random? I thought you were his wife.”
“How does that make it better!?”
“Just head inside!” As Spitfire quickly walked away from the rude guard, she looked back and saw another guard walk up to him and give him a good sucker punch. That made her smile.
Through the doors was a hall of artifacts, paintings, and photographs all relating to the history of Delamare. Such as the sword of the captain of the garrison who fought in the Gryphon - Equestrian War. It was in pieces and therefore unusable, so it was placed behind glass on fine red silk for all to see. His light blue military uniform was also on display along with his armor next to it that he would've worn over it. There was an obvious hole in the chest piece and in the uniform shirt from where he had been stabbed with a pike. The droplets of red on them sent chills down Spitfire's spine.
Spitfire proceeded to the front desk. Behind it was a thin, white-fur, dark red-mane earth pony in a grey uniform like the rest of the guards in the garrison. Behind him, many guards and workers went about their business quite loudly, and this stallion at reception didn't seem too pleased, as he looked rather tired. He looked up at Spitfire and asked, "Name and business?"
"Capta- I mean, Spitfire. Here to meet with Commanding General Blazing Wings." she replied.
"Oh right. You." He stated rudely. "Go down the hall behind me and take a right. Then go up the stairs to the fourth floor. His office is the door at the end of the hall."
"Thanks."
Spitfire proceeded as instructed to the fourth floor and to Blazing's office door and knocked. Blazing opened the door and greeted, "There you are. You're early." He let her in. Blazing's office was huge. It was the size of a luxury apartment. Like the hall leading to reception, the office was full of decorations, including Blazing's own armor, polished and without a single scratch on it. There were several bookshelves sorted mostly alphabetically.
"Nice office you've got." Spitfire remarked. "So what're you having me do?"
"For the next while, this'll be your office too. So I'm glad you like it."
"Wait. My office? You're having me do secretary work!?" Spitfire exclaimed.
"Not exactly." Blazing calmly replied. "You're going to be sifting through entry papers and resumes."
"For what?"
"For entry into the Royal Guard. The Air Guard, to be specific."
"How is that not secretary work?"
"I'm not asking you to get coffee and donuts. I'm asking you to do what you used to do. Look at entries into the Wonderbolts, that is."
"Fine. I'll do your paperwork for you. Like a secretary."
"Entry officer, actually."
Spitfire's desk was on the opposite side of the room from Blazing's. A three foot high stack of papers was already there for her. Spitfire took the first paper. A resume stapled to an entry paper. A nineteen year old pegasus stallion named Stone Bridge was seeking entry into the Air Guard. His entry paper listed some medical information such as allergies, current and past illnesses and injuries, average blood pressure, that sort of thing as well as some statistics like wing power. His resume stated experience, education, and family. Spitfire's heart skipped a beat when she saw under Family was Next of Kin. Several names were listed. His fiance, his two little sisters, and his half brother. In this line of work, death was something everyone faced. Spitfire knew this, but wasn't used to it. The Wonderbolts were technically a branch of the military, but they never officially trained for or saw combat.
Spitfire's job wasn't to allow or deny entry, rather, she was to check for all required information and stamp it accordingly. Then Blazing would receive the papers, verify, stamp them, then send them to the Adviser of Defense of the Royal Adviser Council. They would then verify the papers once again, then send a copy back to Blazing to archive. Blazing or a garrison captain would greet several accepted entries and get them to their assigned locations and duties. The last part used to be Spitfire's job back in the Wonderbolts.
Several hours of this process went by. Two new stacks of entries came in during that time. The papers were back to standing three feet high. At around 9:00 PM, Blazing dismissed Spitfire, and she flew back to Cloudsdale. It was a long, hard day. Spitfire could not sleep with the thought of this being what she had become for the next few... who knew what? Weeks? Months? Years?
Three days of this passed. Barely a word was spoken between Blazing and Spitfire despite working in the same room. Spitfire was terribly bored and frankly a bit upset. She would've gladly taken janitorial duty, but this was just... odd. In fact, this was technically a promotion. Ponies with this job usually had a higher pay grade than regular guards. Entry officer was slightly over Major in pay. And Spitfire was paid. Of course, it was nothing like the million bit salary she got as a Wonderbolt like on a sports team, but for anyone else in the military, this was quite a lot. But this still didn't change the fact that this was a punishment. It was tailored just for her. Blazing knew her ambitions, hobbies, and such. It wasn't fair! There was no room for any pleasure. This was worse than any grounding she got as a child. This was like cutting off her wings!
Blazing was standing by the huge window that looked out onto a stretch of open, green, land. He was just standing there. Not a care in the world. Wasn't he supposed to be doing his job!? Spitfire had had enough. She didn't care about pay, she didn't care about getting an even worse punishment. She was a Wonderbolt through and through, and she would not be made a fool of like this. She stood up out of her chair.
"Agh!" Blazing grabbed at his chest.
Blazing looked out into the empty field. Not moving a single muscle. Never blinking. Spitfire was focused on his appearance and actions, but what she didn't see was what was going on in his mind.
Memories flashed through Blazing's mind at extreme speeds. Memories of his childhood, memories from a few moments ago, and memories that weren't even his. The memories began to bleed into each other. Suddenly his fifth birthday party became his fifth birthday party in the middle of the ocean surrounded by dead bodies. A memory of playing on the swings turned into him suspended in the air as ponies with melted faces laughed at a chicken eating blue pumpkin seeds. A memory of his mother hugging him turned into him struggling to break free from shackles. Then his mind stuck to one memory. A heart attack.
"Agh!" Blazing grabbed at his chest. He gasped for air. He began twitching uncontrollably, he fell over, then he started speaking complete nonsense. "Nothing is sacred. This is blizzard nine eight lumber. Lizard outing. M-M-Mom?" Then he started mumbling, then screaming, then mumbling again.
"Help! Help!" Spitfire screamed. She rushed to Blazing and tried talking to him. "What's going on!? W-what is this? Can you hear me!?" Two guards rushed into the room.
"What happened!?" one said.
"I don't know! I think he might be having a heart attack!"
"Medic! I need a medic! You! Go get a medic!"
"Yes sir." the other guard obeyed. He ran out of the room. Blazing continued twitching and clutching his chest, but now his mouth started to foam. He was having a seizure too! Through his mind raced thousands of memories. However, the heart attack was always present. He heard his mother and siblings screaming his name!
The other guard came back with a zebra mare. She was holding a small, wood box with engravings on it. Without a word, she rushed over to Blazing. She opened the box, and inside was a mortar and pestle and several herbs. She immediately began crushing and stirring the herbs together. "Where's the daybloom!? No no no!" she began to panic.
"What's daybloom!? What's going on!?" questioned Spitfire.
"He's having a mental collapse! I need to make an antidote!" the zebra replied. "Daybloom is an ingredient I need!"
"Isn't daybloom rare?" one guard said.
"Indeed it is." said the zebra.
"If it's rare, how are we supposed to get it?" Spitfire asked.
"What about that florist that comes around here?" one of the two guards said. "I saw her downstairs."
"Go get her!" The zebra mare shouted. With little else to do, she explained what was happening to the guards and Spitfire. "My name is Zarra. Blazing sometimes has these instances where his memories collapse and blend into each other. Weird stuff like this tends to happen, though I've never seen a collapse this bad. We need that daybloom now!"
A minute later, the guard brought back a earth pony mare with white-pink fur and a red mane. She had a big crate of flowers in hand. "Oh dear Celestia! What's happening to him!?" she screamed.
"Shut up and help us!" Zarra shouted.
"I-I have some rare flowers." She muttered. "Here." She slowly set the box down next to Zarra.
"Do you have any daybloom!?"
"Right there."
As Zarra chewed the daybloom to a pulp, Blazing, still seizing and having a heart attack, seemed to rest his head as his eyes met the florist's. Just for a moment. It was as if he knew she just saved his life. He then returned to seizing.
"What's your name?" Zarra asked the florist while stirring the herbs with the daybloom.
"Flora Scent." Zarra poured hot water into the mortar with the herbs and stirred.
"Well Flora. You've just saved a life." Zarra dipped her index finger into the mortar, and slid that finger across Blazing's forehead. In a few seconds he stopped seizing. Zarra took this opportunity to spill the rest of the mixture down Blazing's throat. A few seconds later, he fell unconscious. Then in another few seconds, he gasped and sat up.
"What happened!?" he exclaimed.
"Calm down Blazing. You had a mental collapse." Zarra said.
"A... mental... oh." Zarra helped him up. "So you actually did get more daybloom like I said. I told you this could happen again."
"Actually," said Zarra, "Flora here got the daybloom, just now. If it wasn't for her, you'd be dead."
"Is this true?" Blazing asked Flora.
"Uh. Y-yes. If it had been any other day, I wouldn't have had it."
"Thank you. Thank you so much. Alright. Spitfire, guards, dismissed."
"Blazing," Zarra said, "I have to get you to the infirmary."
"Right. Right. Do whatever you have to."
So Zarra lead Blazing to the infirmiry, the two guards went back to what they were doing, and Spitfire packed up and left for Cloudsdale. She wondered what would become of Blazing. She knew that anyone with a disorder or disease this crippling could never hope to be in the military or in a position of authority. What happened? Why did it happen? How did it happen? These were questions on Spitfire's mind. She felt ashamed for assuming that Blazing was looking out that window to be lazy. Maybe this mental collapse thing caused all that. Whatever the case was, she decided to keep coming back.
A few days later, Blazing returned to work at the garrison. While he was making his way to his office, he ran into Flora Scent. It turned out she was delivering flowers for the garden Blazing had set up during his time as garrison captain of West Delamare.
"Hello there." he said.
Flora turned. "Oh hi! I'm glad to see you doing well."
"Same here. I mean, glad I am. Look. I wanted to thank you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here."
"I know, but I feel like I really didn't do anything. All I did was be here."
"Well. I'm thankful you decided to bring daybloom on the day you did. And I'm glad you brought flowers for my garden."
"You're welcome."
"Listen, Flora was it? Would you like to... well... go out for lunch? I wanted to thank you personally." Flora giggled.
"Sure. Why not? When?"
"I'm free at twelve. Uh... you?"
"Twelve works."
"Uh good. See you then.
Flora and Blazing went their separate ways. Blazing thought about what had happened that day. He couldn't remember much. But one thing he did remember was locking eyes with Flora. It may have been just for a second. But in that second, he saw many things. He saw her emotions, her thoughts, her very soul. And he saw his mother. She had a hand on Flora's shoulder. Thinking back on it made him smile.
