Nothing is Over

The guards at the clearing were cleaning things up for the night, when they noticed something laying along the edge of the clearing. Slowly walking over, they saw a pony, a pegasus pony. The guards stare wide eyed as they recognized the pony.

"Oh shit, is that Firefly?" One guard mutters.

"Wait, if Firefly's here, who took the cart?" Another one questions. A collective gasp fills the clearing

Captain Stonewall clears his throat." Fan out. Stop every wagon and chariot you see. He couldn't have gotten far." He turns to one of the guards." Corporal, how long ago did the wagon drivers head back?"

"About fifteen minutes ago, sir."

"Crap, ok. Contact the barracks in town. Let them know he's still out there, most likely heading there now."

"Yes sir." He salutes and runs off.

"What a mess." Stonewall mutters.

Even though Trottman planned to head back to Canterlot, early next morning; Pinkie insisted on throwing a Welcome to Ponyvillle party. Even then, none of them were really in the mood for a party, with the previous couple of days events.

Sarge and Trottman were exchanging stories from their times in the guard. Rainbow Dash had a particular interest in Trottmans stories of the Berets.

"So, the entirety of Phoenix company was marching into one of the cities. I think it was Eagleton, anyway there was a bridge we had to cross to enter the city. Now Marble's team was taking lead, and right as they get to the middle of the bridge. Their lieutenant stops the whole line, walks to the edge, and starts pissing right into the river below." They all laughed. Pinkie was rolling around on the floor crying laughing. "Another time I saw some uni-" Trottmans cut off as Sarge's communication band starts vibrating. He excuses himself to go answer. Trottman eyes him as he leaves." Anyway, I saw this group of unicorns try to earn their wings, by jumping off the barracks with their rain ponchos."

"Ouch."
"Oof. "

A few seconds later Sarge returns. "That was the forest patrol, they found his body." The girls' emotion seem to drop a little." In fact, he knocked out a guard and stole his armor and a wagon." Their expression turned to confusion.

"Well, he is resilient." Trottman says

"You. You knew he was still alive. You trained him." Sarge snaps back

"Did you really think the training wouldn't include 'how to escape a cave'?"

"Aw come on." Pinkie jumps in" you two were getting along so great!"

Sarge laughs" Don't worry, he won't get away this time."

"If you guys couldn't get him before, what makes you think you can get him now?" Twilight asks.

Trottman points a hoof to her. "Exactly, so what is your mighty plan. You gonna send in more guards after him. You gonna go door to door looking for him. Just what ever your going to do just know that I'm probably the only one who has a chance against him. That's not because I commanded him, it's because he trusts me. You see, I'm the closest thing to a family he has left, after what his real family did to him."

"Sweet Celestia, where do they find you ponies?" Sarge says to himself.

"Oh and one more thing you should take into consideration. What you and everypony else call Tartarus, he calls home." With that Trottman turns and leaves, leaving seven stunned ponies.

Marble successfully snuck into a small line of guards, making their way back to town.

'Why am I doing this? Why are they doing this? I cant turn myself in, because that would be a disappointment to the berets, but I can't keep running.' He's lost in thought when the whole line stops causing him to almost hit cart in front of him.

"What's the holdup?" A guard yells behind him. Peeking around the side, Marble sees two guards making their way up cheacking the guards and wagons.

'Ok stay calm, Marble.' He says in his head, while stealthily grabbing a rock and hiding it under his hoof.' You can do this.'

The two guards finally reach him. They give him a suspicious glance over, while Marble does his best to remain as calm as possible. Just as he thinks they're about to move, they noticed the holes in his armor for wings.

"Halt! You there!" They yell. Marble reacts by throwing the rock at them and running towards town. The rock hits one of the guards in the helmet knocking him over in a daze. The other guards unhitch themselves and peruse him. Realizing he's about to be overwhelmed, Marble makes it so his cart takes up the entire trail. With Marble weaving back and forth, the gaurds can't close in on him.

"S-Stop! Hey!" A guard yells, clearly running out of breath. "Damn, this one's fast." Further down the trail Marble sees light, granted its almost night. The closer to the exit he got, the further behind the the chasing guards got. As he was about to exit, he saw something that made his heart sink. Just outside the forest, was a massive barricade full of guards. Picking the lowest wagon, Marble takes his chance and jumps.

He clears it but his wagon, he was pulling, didn't. A loud Crash followed as his wagon collides with the other. Marble is thrown free as the hitch breaks off snagging his bag flinging off. He lands hard with a THUD, as his helmet rolls off. Groaning as he gets back up, he sees several guards rushing up to him. Getting into a defensive stance, the first two guards charge. The first gets bucked away into a pony holding a lantern. The pony loses his grip and the lantern flies towards the wrecked cart. The second lands a hit across Marble's muzzle.

The girls and Sarge followed close behind Trottman as he made his way through Ponyville hoping to run into Marble.

"Ugh, this is hopeless." Rainbow complained." How are we ever going to find him." She got her answer a massive fireball erupts over the edge to town.

"Found him!" Pinkie Pie yells as she points towards the explosion.The group took off in a full gallop towards the fire.

Marble stumbles as the guard lands another hit across his face. The heat from the fire singes his back, but was keeping the guards from all rushing him. The guard rears back to buck him, but Marble slides out of the way landing two hits into the guards side. A sickening *Crack* is heard from the second hit. He falls to the ground clenching his side as Marble sets up a defensive position against the next guards. He looks up into Marbles eyes only to see a cold stare that spoke pain, fear, and sadness.

Diving to the right, Marble dodges the guards swing from his sword. He returns by kicking up dirt into the guard's face. He spots a board off a cart. Swinging low, Marble knocks the guard's forelegs out from under him; causing him to face plant into the ground. Suddenly, Marble is hit with a magical blast sending him flying into a nearby wagon. (not the flaming one ) As Marble is dazed from the hit, the guards close in. Seeing he's being surrounded, Marble responds by rushing behind the wagon he flew into. 'Better to have three fronts than four.' He thought to himself. Peaking into the back of the wagon, he spots a crossbow and a quiver of nine bolts. Silently cursing to himself, he grabs the bow and bolts and prepares his final stand. The guards, seeing that he's boxed in, decide not to make the same mistake as last time.

"Marble!" A familiar voice calls through, followed by several other familier voices. "Marble!" Peeking out from behind his cover, Marble spots Trottman, the girls, and further back Sarge with all the guards." Marble," trottman begins," this needs to stop. Look around, Marble. All of this is because of you. Come on out Marble, let me fly you back to Hoofington."

"...."

Twilight decides to speak up." Marble, we know your scared and confused. Just stop all, and come out. We can end this tonight."

"You can't possibly understand what I'm going through! "They all recoil from Marble's outburst." What I've been through! If you all understood it, you would have to have been there. To see your friends blown apart. Watching your team, that became your family, die in your lap, crying and screaming in pain! To spend six years of your life, living in a hellhole, where every step could cost you a leg or two! Then after going through all that, coming back to the real world, and seeing those maggots waiting at the train station! Protesting all of us, spittin', calling us foal killers and vile crap! Who are they to be protesting us, unless they've been there to know what the buck they're protesting! Over there, we all looked out for each other! Back here, we're no better than a piece of trash on the road. I thought Equestria was about happiness and forgiveness, I guess I thought wrong. Those pricks don't give two shits about us. They didn't care when Starboard had his legs blown off. They didn't care when Ortega landed into those spikes. They didn't care when That shell landed in Mac and Onyx's hole. They didn't care when half of Lt. River's face was blown off! They didn't care about any of us! "

Tears begin to form in the girls eyes, as they hear the pain in Marble's voice. The guards knew the war was bad, but their minds couldn't process how nightmarish it truly was. "Marble," a guard calls out," what will it take for you to come out? What to you want?"

"You want to know what I want? What I want is what all us other vets from the war want, what all those who spilled their blood defending Equestria would have wanted. That is, to be welcomed back. Sure, this war bucked us up but still; even after the nightmares we went through in the war and how everypony treated us when we got back, we still love Equestria and are still willing to lay down our lives to defend it. That is what I want." With a sigh, Marble slumps down against the wagon, mumbling to himself, tears forming in his eyes. Just loud enough for the girls to hear. "Sometimes when I wake up, I don't know where I am. At nights, I close my eyes and I'm back in the damn jungle. The jungle, with all the mud and blood, and the barking machine guns. Sleeping at night there, you had to pray that the centuries stayed alert, praying that a griffin didn't slit your throat while you slept." Marble is taken by surprise as he is suddenly wrapped in a hug. Looking down, he sees it's a weeping Fluttershy.

"Sometimes, all anypony needs is a hug." She says softly. Marble was about to respond, but he was hit by a stun spell, shot by a guard. "Eep!" Fluttershy squeals, before rushing back over to her friends.

"Was that necessary?" Trottman asks." Stunning him like that."

"W-what's going to happen to him?" Fluttershy asks.

"Well, I going to take him up to Canterlot, where he will receive some far treatment. Some of the guards up there know what he's been through." Trottman replies