Intermixture

Caboose put the foals on the ground and sat down next to a tree, breathing harder than usual. "I'm tired." Caboose stated plainly.

"Generally that's what happens when you run for an hour straight." Church replied.

Caboose yawned. He then glanced at his flank and started to grin. "I got my marky thingy!" Caboose exclaimed, hopping up and down, exhaustion suddenly dissipated.

"What is it? What is it?" Pinkie asked.

Pinkie ran up to Caboose and looked at his cutie mark, her smile spread from ear to ear.

"It looks just like Pinkie’s..." Little Sin said.

"Yeah, but the top is different for some reason." Twilight said.

It was a trio of balloons, the left and right ones were light blue and the one in the middle was pink. But the pink one wasn't a regular balloon. It was the shape of a heart.

"This is awesome!" Caboose yelled.

"Fuck. I want mine now. I wanna have a picture on my ass of me shooting Tivos with a shotgun." Little Sin started.

Enolc looked at Little Sin. "You'll get it when you get it you-"

"I want it now! I want it now! I want it now! I don't wanna wait for it to appear. I want it now!" Little Sin yelled.

"Jesus, shut the fuck up!" Kerzon yelled as he reached for his sword. "How about I burn it on your ass with this? How would that make you feel, fuckronaut?"

"I think it would make me feel like you're a dick."

"I was half expecting your mark to be a dunce cap." Tucker said, looking at Caboose.

"Nice going Caboose." Church said, punching Tucker in the shoulder for his reply.

"Why do you hate Caboose so much?" Little Sin asked Tucker.

"Because he's a complete idiot." Tucker said.

"Your special talent is the same as mine!" Pinkie said, hugging Caboose.

"Your special talent is blowing balloons?"

"No silly, it's throwing parties."

"I am just about to be brilliant!" Caboose exclaimed. "If we both make a party together, we can make it a double party!"

"A double party?" Pinkie gasped. "That is brilliant."

"Jesus Merphy..." Kerzon muttered.

The Cake twins crawled up to Caboose and started playing with his hooves. "Thank you for letting me throw a party for you." The little ones giggled and hugged him as the mares all quietly cooed at the sight.

"I think I've had enough of this mushy stuff." Enolc said.

"It's enough to make you sick." Grif said, dry heaving sarcastically.

"Tell me about it..." Sarge said, before he broke out in laughter. "Oh well, good for him. He’s having a good time."

"Sarge... are you happy?" Simmons asked.

"For a blue?" Grif added.

"Caboose is surprisingly a good kid." Sarge grunted. "He may be blue, but I have a feeling he is all red on the inside."

"He is all red on the inside." Simmons said matter-of-factly.

"That's the spirit Simmons!" Sarge said.

"No, I meant..." Simmons started. "You know what? Never mind."

Pumpkin and Pound both yawned and lay down next to Pinkie and Caboose. "Look's like Caboose ain't the only one who’s plum tuckered out." Applejack said.

"I don't like plums though." Caboose said.

"But plums look sexy." Little Sin said.

"You're right, they really do look pooped." Pinkie said, slowly picking up Pumpkin Cake. "I guess I have to bring them back home so they can go to sleepy-weepy."

"Does this mean that the party is over?" Caboose asked.

"Sorry Caboose, but Sarge n' Enolc need to clean up the barn right quick." Applejack said.

"What? I don't want to clean up." Sarge said. "Simmons! Grif! I order you two to clean up the barn."

"Hey Sarge, I don't know if you noticed but we aren't soldiers right now." Grif said. "We don't have to take any of your shit."

"Besides, Rarity needs my help tomorrow with a client." Simmons said.

"Simmons, having sex for money? Even I have to admit that that is pretty scandalous." Grif chuckled.

"I hate you so fucking much." Simmons muttered.

"Sarge, they weren't the ones that made the party happen here, it was you." Applejack said. "That means it's your job to help clean."

"Dammit." Sarge muttered. "I hate cleaning."

"Don't be a baby." Enolc chimed.

Grif chuckled and started to walk away with Fluttershy.

"Have fun Sarge." Grif chirped happily.

"Let us go Tivos, Simmons. We must be well rested for the work of art we will be making tomorrow." Rarity said.

Simmons and Tivos nodded as Pinkie took Pound Cake and placed him on her back with Pumpkin Cake and dragged Caboose up to his hooves.

"We should get going too." Pinkie said. "Thanks for letting us have the party here Sarge."

"Yeah, yeah." Sarge grumbled.

"Good night Sarge." Caboose yawned.

"Night, Sarge." Little Sin said.

"Night." Sarge said.

The others then followed suit, said their goodbyes and departed the farm. Tucker nudged Rainbow Dash in the side and motioned his head to the others. Rainbow Dash nodded and cleared her throat. "Hey Rarity?"

"Yes Rainbow Dash, how may I help you?" Rarity said.

"I was just wondering if maybe you need any help at the boutique." Rainbow Dash said. "Me and Tucker need to make some bits."

"What about me?" Kerzon asked.

"Him too." Rainbow said.

Rarity raised her brow and stared at Rainbow Dash.

"What do you need the money for?" Rarity asked.

"Well it's just that the Wonderbolts are in town in the next few days and me, Tucker, and Kerzon wanted to go see them." Rainbow Dash said.

"Sorry Dashie, but I don't have any work for you." Rarity said sincerely.

"Oh." Rainbow Dash said sadly. "Does anybody else have anything we can do?"

"You can come by Sugarcube Corner and bake with me." Pinkie said.

"Really?" Rainbow Dash asked happily. "That would be awesome. Thanks Pinkie!"

"No problem." Pinkie said happily.

"Come on guys, we'll need to hit the hay early tonight if we're going to be working all day tomorrow." Rainbow Dash said, taking off straight towards her house.

"Fuck." Kerzon muttered. "That means plenty of Little Sin."

"I don't think Tucker is the best choice for a cook." Grif said.

"The same could have been said about Caboose, but he seems to have done well." Church said.

"Thanks Church." Caboose said groggily.

Soon they all split up and went to their homes for a good sleep. In just an hour, everypony was asleep.

Everypony except for Tivos, who stayed up to think about some things that were on his mind. He opened the front door to the boutique and went outside for some fresh air. He sat down and sighed at the moon as it glistened in the sky. Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him. He didn't bother to look as Rarity came outside and sat beside him.

"It's a beautiful night." She said.

"Yes, it is." Tivos said. There was a short pause.

"I'm really sorry for trying to get information out of you at the cafe. I can understand that it must have been a sensitive subject. I mentioned it to your brother, Kerzon. He even finds it difficult to talk about."

"It's okay." Tivos said. "You were only showing concern for me. Upon thinking about it, I actually appreciate your sentiment."

"So, are you all right than?" Rarity asked.

Tivos shared eye contact with Rarity. "Yes, I'm fine." He said before returning his gaze to the stars.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow than." Rarity said as she got up and walked towards the boutique.

"Wait." Tivos said.

Rarity stopped and looked behind her. "Yes, Tivos?"

"I don't mean to keep you up, but I could use somebody to talk to."

Rarity smiled and sat down beside Tivos.

"You know, we weren't at all much like we are now." Tivos said.

Rarity looked at him quizzically.

"Myself, and the other Sangheili that got here. We weren't always happy... or whatever you would call us." Tivos said.

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked.

"I have a dark past, Rarity. As does my brother Kerzon and all the others that came here." Tivos started. "We all have a history that is written in bloodshed and dishonour."

"What happened?" Rarity asked softly, noticing that Tivos was beginning to open up to her.

"The war is what happened." Tivos started. He looked up at the sky and began remembering the events that occurred. Flashbacks of pain, anger, suffering, blood.

"Do you know what the stallions are? Or what they were before they came?" Tivos asked.

"Do you mean Simmons and the others?" Rarity asked.

"Yes."

"Not entirely." Rarity said simply.

"They're called humans. They are much like your people. Intelligent, literate, kind, peaceful. But my people changed that. Remember when I told you that I joined something called the Covenant military?"

"Yes, what are you saying, Tivos?" Rarity asked in concern.

"Many years ago, my people led very strong religious beliefs. We believed in supreme gods that left us gifts, and if we followed the path that these gods set out for us to follow, our faith would be rewarded threw salvation into the divine beyond, even in death. With this belief we set out to find these ancient treasures that held the key to our salvation." Tivos looked down.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Rarity said.

"That's not it." Tivos started. "It turns out that the ancient treasures we were looking for were not tools of salvation, but were in fact weapons of mass destruction. If we were to use them we would have killed everything in the galaxy. Trillions of intelligent life forms vanquished. We were so dissolved in our faith that we could not see that we were about to trifle with a weapon of unimaginable power. And that's when the humans came." Tivos said sadly.

"And?"

"Our prophets, the San 'Shyuum were supposed to be the arm of the gods, they were the ones who supposedly distributed the god's bidding into the covenant and then left it to my people to perform those biddings. When the humans came, the prophets saw them to be unworthy. They saw them to be the scourge of the gods, and ordered people like me and Kerzon to carry out the extermination of their kind." Tivos stopped and sighed.

"Me and my brother used to be monsters. We killed countless innocent people in the name of a false cause. I carry horrible memories. Memories of pointless killing and suffering, for nothing. I've done horrible things, Rarity. Things you couldn't possibly understand." Tivos looked up at the moon. Images of the events that occurred clouding his mind.

"One time, at the battle of Arcadia..."