A Broken Flame

A Broken Flame

By Luckyfanisaac and Applefai

Dream Sequence 1.001

The colt coming out of his trance rested his forehead on his legs and cried into his hooves, his tears renewed.

“What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?” He asked out loud to himself.

"Hey, it'll be alright, we'll protect you." White Gaze said as she nudged the young colt. "The name's White Gaze, and this little spitfire, is my niece Blonde Heart."

"I-I'm Private Blaze." the young colt said, trembling in a red fire and mumbling.

"I'm sorry sweetie, what was that?" White Gaze asked.

"I'm Private Blaze." The colt said, still trembling, but now audible.

"Hey come on, a hero like you deserves a drink." White Gaze said, nudging him towards a drinking fountain. White Gaze poured Blaze a drink of water and Blaze started to calm down with the fire of red surrounding him dissipating making him return to his normal red coat.

A soldier then comes in to check on the survivors, he is a green earth pony ironclad in armor with a minigun attached to his side. He has a finely groomed black beard and sapphire eyes.
He gives out a few blankets, passing out the blankets towards the survivors, when private Blaze notices him and immediately stands up to salute him. The soldier saw this and approached him.

"At ease, soldier." He says. His voice is gruff and hard, but a tinge of kindness hides in his voice. "I need you to follow me, someone wants to talk to you." He said, Blaze cowering and shivering a bit before taking a step.

The soldier waited patiently for Blaze to follow him and once Blaze was next to him he turned around and headed back down the corridor. They walked down the dusty cemented walls. Dirt was coming down from the ceiling as heavy artillery was heard overhead. This part of the barracks was quickly constructed out of fast drying cement and cement cloth that was outside of a buried Sakatorian spaceship and were part of the dugout The Sakatorians made to bury the ship. The Sakatorians buried the ship to use as a bunker to protect the locals and to hide from the enemy.

They passed by some cleaned citizen rooms that were part of the buried Sakatorian spaceship. Then they went into a hallway passing by the crew quarters that was now used as a barracks and then they finally arrived at a room that was at the front of the ship.

(Basic ship outline)
(What the spaceship looked like when it was above ground.)

The soldier leads Blaze to a door and gently knocks on it.

“Come in.” says a wise commanding voice.

The soldier opens the door and they both walk in to find a Sakatorian Sergeant in platinum regal armor with a silver cape. The Sergeant is a unicorn that has a blue almost gray coat with a blue mane and a black and blue tail with robin eyes.

(Sakatorian Sergeant Cerulean was in charge of evacuating citizens.)

“Ahhhh greetings Private Pine and what brings you to my chambers?” Sergeant Cerulean said with grace and elegance.

Private Pine saluted. "Sir, I brought the private you requested." He put a hoof on Blaze's shoulder. "This is the one responsible for the evacuation."

Sergeant Cerulean came up to Blaze and looked at him. "Might I have the name of the hero who saved these ponies?" Cerulean asked.

"It's….Burnt Blaze…..sir." Blaze said, stammering a bit in his words.

"Tell me, why do you stammer, you should be proud." Cerulean asked.

"I couldn't save them all, I'm a failure. I couldn't get them to listen in time. I need to learn how to make ponies listen to me." Blaze said, lowering his voice.

"Hmmm, I can probably help you with that. Squad Fire Chip, the best of the best, they'll help you with evacuation training and crowd control training." The sergeant said as he sat in his chair. "But Blaze, you can't save everyone, there'll be times you have to let go, that doesn't mean you failed." The sergeant said as he signed papers.

“Well that was what my teacher Elektrona told me. That I was a failure for not saving everyone.” Blaze explains.

Cerulean was furious, his eyes flared up and his nostrils flared. "I'll have to have a talk with your teacher. He should be praising your bravery, not belittling you." Cerulean said as he finished writing. "If he ever does it again, don't hesitate to notify me and I'll see that he's demoted and stripped of any authority." Cerulean finished.

"Oh you don't have to do all of that." Blaze weakly said, afraid of what'll happen if his teacher finds out he ratted him out starting to hyperventilate.

"I know I don't have to, I want to. Because that's no way to treat a hero, and don't worry, I won't mention your name in the report." Commander Cerulean told him as he filed the report.

Burnt Blaze was escorted back to his barracks where Blaze climbed up on his bed and went to sleep.

The next morning Blaze woke up bright and early and reported to the station commander Cerulean told him to go after a quick breakfast. There he met with the squad Fire Chip.

"Ah, there you are, welcome aboard, I'm Commander Woodchip." A stallion came up to Blaze, extending his hoof for a shake. His voice is bold and his eyes are hardened, his mane is caramel with a strip of red. Blaze cautiously grabbed his hoof and Woodchip vigorously shook it.

A smaller soldier came by and stood next to him, her coat was a light pink and her mane was golden yellow. "Go easy on the hoof shake commander." She then turned her attention to Blaze. "Welcome to the squad newbie. My name's Strawberry Lemonade. Don't let his voice and eyes fool you, he's a big softie." Strawberry Lemonade said, pointing a hoof to her commander.

The commander chuckled a bit as he let go of Blaze's hoof. "It's true, but I must ask you, soldier, where are your armor and weapons?" Commander Woodchip asked.

Blaze saluted him and answered. "Sir, I have a self-defense laser and shields to protect me, but they are only twenty-five percent effective because it takes an abundance of magic to use." Blaze answered a little nervously.

"Don't be nervous, son. I won't hurt ya." Commander Woodchip said, patting Blaze on the back. "Go to the armory, there I advise you to purchase some armor and a second weapon along with some ammo." Woodchip said as he pointed Blaze in the right direction.

Private Blaze then headed to the armory to get suited up. He entered the armory where a gruff stallion met him.

"Hello there, how may I help you?" The armory clerk said as he greeted Blaze from behind the counter. He was a heavy stallion with a blue coat and a white mane.

"I need armor with a lot of magic reserves and that matches the armor of squad Fire Chip." Blaze said as the clerk went into the back after Blaze spoke.

A few moments later the clerk returned with the armor, it was ebony in color with red markings, this particular set was male armor. "Here ya are, tons of magic reserves and weapon mounts to handle heavy weapons." The clerk said as he laid the armor on the counter. "Anything else?" The clerk asked.

Blaze suites up, the armor weighing him down just a smidge, but not enough to be a liability. He immediately opens the bottom left corner and fills the reserve with Paralox magic from a magic storage device hanging against a wall. He then attaches the minigun and tests it by charging it up and firing a low charged bolt at a target in the armory.

“No, I think these will do.” Private Blaze replies.

"Wait." The clerk calls out as he pulls out a helmet and puts it on the table. "You should take a helmet." The clerk said before he left.

"Oh, ok. But I'll need it modified to fit around my cyborg eye piece." Blaze said while looking at the helmet.

"No worries, mate." The clerk said who pulled out an angle grinder, he put the helmet in it and eyeballed the measurements and then started cutting causing sparks to fly as he cut out a hole in the helmet.

"There you go." He says as he gives the helmet to Blaze.

Blaze then takes the helmet and tries it on, it fits snugly around his cyborg eye piece. He pays for the helmet and then heads down and rejoins his squad who are entering a transport to venture back out into the field.

Blaze enters the transport, taking a seat inside. A mare comes up to him without her helmet. "Hello newbie, are you ready for your first day?" She asked, her voice gruff and raspy.

"Yeah." Blaze answers in a hushed tone causing her to ask again.

"I didn't hear you, are….you….ready?" She asked more pumped.

"YEAH!" Blaze answered back in a hushed yell, but still audible to please the mare.

"Name's Cream Soda, it's a pleasure to have another member, and the brave soul who saved those ponies to boot. You did great." Cream Soda said, patting him on the back and pushing him forward a bit and then putting on her helmet.

The rest of the squad enters the vehicle and closes it. The vehicle lurches forward as they are escorted by tanks into the war torn land. They are taken to the outskirts, sticking to the shadows as enemy ships fly overhead.
They spot a citizen getting mowed down by a plane as they look for food and shelter. Blaze turns his head, horrified at the scene. Commander Woodchip places a hoof on his shoulder.

"This is the reality of war, it's sad and horrific. We can't save everyone. No matter how hard we try." He says as he sees the planes leave. He then turns to his team.

"OK LISTEN UP, WE HAVE TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE THE PLANES RETURN, SEARCH FOR AS MANY SURVIVORS AS YOU CAN AND BRING THEM HERE!" he commanded as the door opened.

“Yes sir!” They all replied as some of them put on their helmets.

The team storms out and searches the buildings and anywhere survivors might hide, whenever they find them they treat their wounds then evacuate them orderly as Blaze notes on how Private Soda and Private Lemonade act towards the citizens about getting them to safety.

While they searched, Blaze pulls out bandages from behind his head from his pocket storage and hands them to Private Soda as they bandage up a few civilians that got cut on some rubble and glass.

A little filly comes up to Private Soda clutching her stuffed animal ape. "Please, help us." She pleaded.

Private Soda patted her on the head and said, "We're here to help, try to stay calm. Now tell me, are there any more survivors in this building?" Cream Soda asked, turning her head away from the filly.

"I think there's some in the far back, towards the loading docks." The stallion that she was tending wounds for said.

"Thank you, we'll go check." Cream Soda said as she finished patching his wounds. "BLAZE, YOU'RE WITH ME AND PRIVATE LEMONADE YOU HANDLE THE REST OF THIS LOT!!!" Cream Soda shouted as they walked towards the back of the building passing by the remains of the enemy projectile. It had come in through the roof at an angle and landed near the stockroom causing Soda and Blaze to navigate their way through the remaining shelves, walls, and the doorway that led to the back room.

Once they reached the back, what met them was civilians under rubble, debris, and smashed crates which littered the room and made it difficult to navigate through the room.

"Alright newbie listen up, we're all equipped with an energy gun, now set it to non-lethal and send out a small blast of energy." Private Soda said as she did the motions, resulting in a civilian being freed from a crate that was atop of him.

"Ok, got it." Blaze said as he completes the same motions as Cream Soda and fires, freeing more civilians in the process.

Cream Soda approached a civilian and asked how many ponies were in there. The civilian coughing from dust and smoke said there were five more ponies in the stock room unaccounted for, and that they were caught by surprise when the projectile hit separating them.

Blaze, not even thinking; fired his gun, clearing a path to the other civilians, he calls out to them causing a slight echo as he runs from corridor to corridor. Smoke clouded his vision as he searched. He could hear faint screams as he ran towards them, he sought the screams out as he kept searching.

Blaze had come to a few areas where he had to fire his gun to get through. "HELLO!?" Blaze called out listening for a response as he fired at overturned crates.

"H-hello, please help!" A voice called out weakly, Blaze made his way to the voice only to see a stallion under a metal beam. His cyborg eye read the room and determined that the beam was too heavy to lift, and that it wasn't endangering the civilian. The eye suggested the laser and pointed out where to cut.

Blaze pulled out his laser and activated it, the laser put out a steady red beam and Blaze started to cut the beam where his cyborg eye had indicated.

In about three minutes Blaze had freed the civilian and escorted him to the rest of the group where Soda just finished patching up one of the civilians.

"There's still three more ponies down at the loading dock." A mare said as she was waiting for the evac to start. Blaze took it upon himself to go get them and ventured to the location.

Blaze came to the loading docks where massive amounts of rubble had fallen, he heard faint pings of metal on metal, following the sound Blaze saw three ponies, one was banging a pipe that had fallen on him gravely injuring him. Two ponies laid beside him, dead. Blaze made sure by checking their pulse and sure enough, the bodies were dead to the touch. Blaze turned his attention to the wounded pony and lifted the pipe off of him, he had a punctured lung and several broken ribs. Blaze lifted him up and carried him to the evac area.

Blaze approaches Soda and the civilian she was bandaging up and asks, “Are there any more ponies?”

The civilian told him, “There are some more employees on the top floor in the office when the enemy projectile hit.”

"Got it. Soda, I'm going upstairs to get the rest of the civilians out." Blaze said to Soda as he went upstairs.

Once he got to the door it was blocked by something on the other side, Blaze turned around and reared up his back hooves as he bucked the door in. He rushed inside to see the employees trapped under tables, tiles, and rubble with the ceiling nearly close to collapsing. Blaze looks at his watch on his cyborg eye piece and sees they have ten minutes remaining so he calls for backup on his radio on his cyborg eye piece.

“Can I get some help up here please?” he asks into his radio.

Downstairs Soda and Lemonade just loaded the last citizen in the transport, they told the driver to wait as they responded to the call and headed upstairs.

Once there, they see Blaze struggling to remove rubble from a trapped stallion because he was worried that it may be load bearing. Soda, jumping into action directs Blaze and Lemonade on which pieces to move and in about two minutes, they were able to get him free.

Lemonade starts bandaging him up. "Don't worry we're here to help, are there any more employees here?" She asked.

Coughing from the dust the stallion spoke. "Twelve in total, including the manager." He said as Lemonade finished.

Soda and Blaze, hearing this took off in search of the others, they were struggling as the floor threatened to collapse, they called out only to be met with silence as they searched, worried for the worst.

Soda and Blaze find one more civilian and struggle to free him, he is buried under so much debris that two ponies aren't enough to get him free.

Eventually they cut away the beam and drag him out, the stallion coughs and gags as he tells them there are eleven more ponies in the building.

"We're gonna get them, don't worry." Soda told him as she gave him some water and then handed him off to Lemonade to round the citizens up.

Soda and Blaze searched for the ponies, calling out to them only to be met with silence. Fortunately they found them in the ruins of the break room, but unfortunately three were dead, four were in perfect health and trying to help four other ponies who got trapped under rubble. They help get the ponies out, only to be alerted to some cowering under their desk, some of which were pinned under them.

Blaze and Soda started to move the debris, but struggled due to the rubble threatening to collapse at a moment's notice. Once they finish getting out the trapped ponies, one of the healthy mares comes up to them.

"The manager's still in his office." She said as Blaze nodded and took off. Coming to the manager's office Blaze kicked the door down only to find him trapped under five metal beams. Thinking quickly Blaze whipped out his laser and started cutting, sparks flew from the metal beam, causing the manager to freak out a bit.

"Don't worry, I'll have you out of here soon, if you could back up a bit, I can get you out."

Doing so, the manager leaned back as far as he could as the last metal beam snapped. Lemonade came in to see what was taking Blaze so long, seeing the cut beams she helped Blaze remove the beams and pulled out the stallion.

As they worked, enemy vessels could soon be seen outside, forcing them to put up their shields as they started to get the rest of the civilians out. Commander Woodchip gives out orders to fire upon the vessels and the tanks take them down one by one. Shells and lazers whiz by as each side fires at each other, both determined to end the other's life.

Soda, Lemonade, and Blaze start escorting civilians from the office to the transport as fast as they can, Blaze having his shield up like an umbrella surrounding the citizens as they are fired upon. Bullets and lasers were bouncing off the shields unable to penetrate them as the onslaught continued.

Blaze fires his weapons, dealing with ground troopers and walking tanks as he, Soda, and Lemonade protect the citizens. Soda, Lemonade, and Woodchip help out, taking out ground troops by firing their weapons as they evacuate the area, Woodchip takes a bullet to the shoulder, but still pushes on as he fires his guns. Bullets and lasers continue to whiz by as walking tanks join the troops in the assault, an aircraft hovers overhead as the soldiers scramble to get the civilians to the transport.

Woodchip continued shouting out orders and the tanks kept firing at the airship determined to knock it down.

The airship kept firing at the tanks, the squad, and the civilians. The ground troopers fired at the squad determined to spill some blood. Soda and Lemonade covered Blaze and the civilians as they made their way from cover to cover.

Soda focused her attention on clearing out a path so they could get a clear shot to the transport, she orders Blaze to lead them since he has heavy duty armor and stronger shields than them. Blaze nods and leads the way, the civilians following behind him.

Blaze comes to a troop blockade as he tries to get to the transport.

"Halt, remain still and nobody dies." An officer ordered, guns drawn on Blaze.

Blaze fires his guns at the rogue army and they get launched in the air clearing out a path knowing that they would be killed if he didn't, no matter what the enemy said.

They head forward after clearing the area, but the rogue army advances, forcing them back a bit so they have to backpedal a bit to get clear shots. Blaze fires his machine guns, taking out soldiers and pushes the troopers back once they get across the street.

Blaze is able to push the rogues back as they storm forwards with Soda and Lemonade bringing up the rear. Blaze and the squad hold the position as one of the tanks is finally able to penetrate the enemy shields, taking out countless enemy soldiers. Their tanks finally take out the airship that was firing down on them and it crashes down, taking enemy soldiers with it in a blazing inferno and knocking down the walking tanks since they were underneath the airship for cover.

Blaze and the civilians hunker down as he shields them from the onslaught. Blaze, through his cybernetic eye, sees an opening and Blaze rushes the citizens to the transport, shielding them from the left side as he guards the right. He then tells them to storm in when he then comes across a mare citizen that is trapped under rubble that requires about one thousand two hundred foot pounds of force to lift.

Seeing this Blaze stopped, "Don't worry, I'll get you out." Blaze said as he got ready to lift.

"Don't worry about me, just go." The mare said she had a red iron coat with a gray mane and blue eyes.

"I'm not gonna leave you, I'll have you out in a jiffy." Blaze said as he lifted the rubble with ease and helped the injured citizen to the transport while carrying her on his back. He then enters the transport and the mare gets off his back as Soda and Lemonade help the remaining civilians outside.

As the tanks keep firing, Cream Soda, and Strawberry Lemonade fire at the enemy, the team and the citizens get in the transport as the last enemy is shot down and Soda and Lemonade rejoin the group inside firing back at the ground troopers as they walk up the transport ramp backwards.

The transport starts it's trek back home, sticking to the shadows as the team sits exhausted and battered from battle.

On the ride home. The mare that Blaze saved walked up to him. Her wounds were wrapped up in bandages causing her to limp.

"Excuse me, sir. I just wanted to thank you personally for saving me, I thought I was a goner, but you're pretty strong." She said with a smile.

"I was just doing my job, miss. No thanks are necessary." Blaze said, stammering and blushing, rubbing his left arm with his right hoof and looking down at the floor to his right.

"Still, thank you. Might I have your name?” She asked.

"It's Burnt Blaze miss." Blaze said.

"Thank you, Burnt Blaze." The mare said as she kissed his cheek causing him to blush and then she returned to her family.

As the mare left Lemonade and Soda teased him a bit for blushing.

"Ohhhhh, looks like you got an admirer." Soda says as Blaze tries to hide his head behind his hooves.

"Hmm, perhaps she likes you, but who wouldn't, you're such a cute little colt." Lemonade said as Blaze just tried to hide his blush behind Lemonade’s arm since hiding behind his hooves didn’t seem to work and since she was sitting on Blaze’s left side.

Lemonade and Soda just giggle as they pat his back. Lemonade eventually wraps her right hoof around Blaze. "Hey, you did good on your first day, we're all proud of you." She said, giving Blaze a hug.

“As am I!” says Woodchip’s booming voice.

Woodchip comes over and sits adjacent to them as he speaks, "Private Soda told me you were doing great while she was bringing the civilians in. So how does it feel to save all these ponies?" He asked.

"It feels great, I feel pleased since there were minimal casualties, but I wish there were none." Blaze said as he remembered the ponies he saw dead.

"Hey." Commander Woodchip placed a gentle hoof on Blaze's shoulder. "Don't fret over it too much, we did what we could, no need to be hard on yourself. We can't save everyone, all three of us know that first hoof." Commander Woodchip said as Blaze perked up a bit at hearing his kind words.

"I was also a little embarrassed from the praise and kiss I received from that mare." Blaze said as he blushed. Lemonade and Soda giggle again as Blaze covers his cheeks in his hooves.

Woodchip chuckles, “You might as well get used to it because praises like that will be common in this type of work.”

“Yes sir!” Blaze responds nervously as he hides in Lemonade’s arm again feeling a bit shy. Lemonade just giggles and scratches him behind the head and then behind his ears.

“Ahhhhhhhh,” he sighs glowing a soft yellow. Causing Lemonade and Soda to giggle more as they start to glow too being paraloxes too. Lemonade glowed a red pink color while Soda glowed a yellow color.

Lemonade giggled as she rubbed Blaze's head. "You know, you could be our stress relief toy if you want." She said, causing Blaze to blush.

"I like that idea." Blaze said as he nuzzled deeper into Lemonade's arms. "If that means I get more head scratches, I'm game." Blaze continued as his tail started to wag.

Soda and Lemonade giggle as they keep cuddling him and scratch behind his ears. Soon Woodchip alerts them. "ALRIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH, WE'RE HERE!" He shouted to get everyone's attention. "Y'all can do that later, after we get the civilians secure in the bunker.

Soda and Lemonade we're dismayed as Blaze let out an audible "awwwww." But he swiftly got up, put his helmet back on and aided in getting the civilians off the transport.

The civilians checked in using lines, there were four lines in total, one for the stallions, one for the mares, one for the children, and one for the elderly. They walked in a single file as they got registered and scanned, their info from their name to blood type was written down and put in a computer with an online backup.

After a long wait of getting registered, families were reunited as they got shown to their rooms. Unfortunately all the good rooms were taken up by previous survivors so the new ones were given rooms of cold stone and concrete. Dust filled the rooms as they were built roughly and fast but they had outlets for heaters and all the necessities for healthy living.

Blaze helps escort some survivors to their rooms, even helping them dust it out. After that and getting the rest of the civilians checked in, Blaze checks in with Woodchip to see if he needs to do anything else.

“Is there anything else for me to do Commander?” he asks.

"Nah, I think that's it. You can go put your armor away." Commander Woodchip responds as he himself finishes his tasks.

"Oh, ok. May I go hang out with Private Lemonade and Soda?" Blaze asks as he unbuckles his helmet for easy removal and then takes it off.

"They're busy with paperwork and filing it away at the moment. They won't be available for a few hours so I'd appreciate it if you don't bother them right now." Woodchip responds, his choice of words harsh, but kind.

Blaze lays his ears flat and lets out an audible, "awwww."

Woodchip looks at him and throws a hoof around him. "Hey don't be sad." He says as he tries to cheer him up. "Hey, why don't you help me with the task of going to the survivors and checking on them and seeing if they are all okay." Woodchip asked, inviting Blaze to assist him.

Blaze agrees and heads off with Woodchip to find the new survivors after he drops his helmet off in his room, laying it on the bed as he and Woodchip go to the rooms with the new survivors.

They find some of them in their rooms shaking in fear. "Alright newbie, consider this a learning opportunity." Woodchip says as he pulls up a ponies file on his wrist communicator and sends it to Blaze's communicator. "This is one of our comfort doctors, his name is Seph, I want you to go find him and bring him here."

Blaze looks at the file as he looks at his commander. "But, can't you help them?" Blaze asks as Woodchip shook his head.

"No, I don't have the training. We need ponies who specialize in this line of work. So please, go get him, I'll stay here and make sure they don't go anywhere." Woodchip says as Blaze nods in understanding and leaves.

Blaze searches for the comfort doctor hoping to find him and his team all together instead of scattered. After a while of searching he finds them on duty on the other side of the shelter comforting other survivors from the last escort. He approaches them and then tells them that there are some new civilians that need some comfort on the other side of the shelter towards the new section on the west side.

"Sure kid, just let us finish up here ok?" Seph said as he continued to aid the patient he was working on.

"Ok." Blaze said while he went to sit in the corner.

Once the doctors finish reassuring their current patients, giving them some encouraging advice, and even a hug or pat on the shoulder as they gather their equipment and then head over to the new ones following Blaze.

Blaze takes them into the room that Woodchip was watching like a hawk. Blaze says that these survivors were from a shopping center and that most of the employees got hit and a few civilians got minor injuries.

"Here they are, Woodchip and I were making our rounds when we saw them like this." Blaze said, concerned for their well being.

"Ok kid, leave it to us." The head doctor said as he brought out an aluminized blanket and draped it over one of the shaking ponies while his team was doing the same for the others.

"Hey, it's all right, you're safe now." Seph said to his patient as he rubbed her back.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Blaze asked as he watched.

"Yes, find the most troubled and alert one of us." Seph said as he finished comforting one civilian before giving the directions to the common area.

Blaze then helps the doctors find the most troubled citizens and helps comfort them. One of the survivors was the mare that he rescued, she was trembling and mumbling.

"Found one." Blaze said alerting Seph who takes control and starts talking to her.

"Hey, it's ok. We're here to help." Seph said as he talked to her, the mare stayed silent. "My name's Seph, might I know yours?" He asked as he introduced himself.

"It's Iron Boulder." The mare said softly as she untensed just a bit.

Blaze overheard that the mare that he rescued was Iron Boulder from helping Seph comfort her. Her mom, a mare with an orange coat with a lime mane and blue eyes, ran up to Blaze and grabbed him, squeezing him tight as she held him with her big, round, huggable body. Thankfully his armor protects him from the bone crushing bear hug that she gives him, but he still gets the wind knocked out of him.

The mare swings him around while repeating the words "Thank you thank you thank you!!!" Causing Blaze to blush and get dizzy from the rapid momentum.

Once the mother stopped swinging him around and got his breath back, he took a minute to regain his composure. "It was nothing ma'am, I was just doing my job." Blaze says, trying to stay modest as he blushes from the praise.

"Nothing my hoof." The dad, a stallion with a dark red coat with a gray mane and green eyes, says as he comes up. "That's nonsense talk, son. We thought she was a goner being trapped under so much rubble. So it's not nothing to us." He got choked up a bit as he looked at his daughter and sniffled a bit as a tear ran down his cheek. "Thank you so much for saving my baby girl." He said as he hugged Blaze.

Doctor Seph then calms down the huggable mare by placing a hoof on her shoulder. "Alright ma'am, could you please put Blaze down?" He asks which she nods and does so as the doctor checks on Iron Boulder.

Doctor Seph then gives her a full checkup on her injuries and documents them down in a file, giving Iron Boulder a cherry lollipop when he's done.

Blaze then helps the doctor comfort the rest of the family. Another member of the family drew their attention, she was a shy gray mare with a curly black mane with blue eyes that was really shaking near a wall of the room in the fetal position.

Blaze approaches her slowly and sits with her. "Hello, my name is Burnt Blaze." He said as he placed an aluminized blanket over her. He starts stroking the back of her head. "Might I have your name?" Blaze then asks, only for her father to interrupt.

"Her name is Round Boulder and she's very shy and is often the quiet type." He says as he sits on the mat next to Blaze. Round Bolder gets nervous and scoots away from Blaze.

Blaze then tries to gently approach her again this time while crouching down. Round Boulder nervously backs farther into the wall trying to avoid him. Blaze then lays flat on his stomach, wraps her right arm over himself and tries to give her a hug by reassuring her. After a while Round Boulder warms up to the affection and starts rubbing her right arm along Blaze’s back and then eventually behind his head.

The Doctor then notices that Round Boulder is calming down and tells Blaze to keep doing what he’s doing as he continues to check on Iron Boulder and her family. Blaze just agrees and keeps enjoying being petted. He blushes a bit, feeling like a dog or cat, but is just happy to see a smile on Round Boulder's muzzle. Round Boulder then scratches behind his ears and underneath his chin causing Blaze to start wagging his tail and he starts glowing yellow again.

The father is surprised by this and asks the doctor what it means? "Hey doc? Is this normal?"

"Yes, us paralox’s glow a certain color when we are happy, each paralox has a different color for each emotion.” Seph said, answering the father's question.

“He’s part of the alien fleet that has come to save us?” the father asks as he marvels at the sight.

“Yes he is and so are the rest of the staff here.” the doctor replies, giving Round Boulder a lollipop.

"Alright, the family has calmed down enough. Blaze, say your goodbyes and best wishes so we can comfort another family." The doctor said after a while. Blaze reluctantly gets up and reassures the family that he will be here if they need him and gives Round Boulder a hug goodbye.

Round Boulder hugs Blaze rather closely and doesn’t really want him to leave. Blaze hugs her back as he doesn’t want to leave her either, but he has other families to comfort and check on. Eventually they get her to let go just when Blaze was confident he might fall asleep in her arms. Blaze and the doctors go on to comfort another family as he waves goodbye to Round Boulder.

After a long day of that and several other head and ear scratches and cuddles and after having lunch, Blaze goes over to check on other survivors, specifically White Glaze and Blonde Heart. He heads to find the survivor hang out area wanting to show off his new armor to White Glaze and Blonde Heart.

He finds them in the common area where all survivors can talk, hang out, play, or eat. Blaze noticed three other ponies leaving with saddened looks on their faces as a pile of bits lay at the center of the table.

Blaze approaches them just as they wrapped up a poker game. "Hey, you guys. How are you two getting along?" Blaze asked as he sat down.

"Oh, hello Blaze. We're getting along just great, and you?" White Glaze asked as she placed the bits in a bag of hers.

"I'm great, I'm part of a really nice squad and got a nice uniform. The commander is really nice and the other privates are." Blaze paused as he blushed before finishing. "Really nice too."

"Hmm, you do look quite handsome in that armor." White Glaze said before Blonde Heart started talking.

"Oi, it sounds like ye have a wee crush on ye fellow squad mates." She said, causing Blaze to blush a deep red and try to hide his head in his armor.

"I do not." Blaze said, stuttering a bit as he tried to hide his blush.

"Oh yes, ye do, just come out 'n say it. Come on, let's see that blush." Blonde Heart said while trying to make Blaze uncover his face.

"That's enough, Blonde Heart. If he doesn't want to talk about it then let him be. Sit down." White Glaze said, putting a stop to Blonde Heart's teasing. She giggles a bit. "Sorry about that Blaze." She said while she finished putting the bits in her bag.

"It's ok." Blaze softly said as he slowly uncovered his face. He sees the cards and chips on the table and gets curious. "So what were you two doing?"

"Oh, we were just playing a poker game." White Glaze responds.

"Want to play with me?" Blaze asks, wagging his tail in excitement.

"Well, it's a game for older ponies and I don’t even let my niece play. At least not the betting version." White Glaze said.

"It's a shame too, I could see their calls right away." Blonde Heart said as she sipped on a juice box.

"Oh, then how about a different game, like King’s Cross so me and Blonde Heart could play?" Blaze suggested.

"Oh, Ya don' have to be so formal, you can call me Blondy, all my friends do." Blonde Heart said, making Blaze blush and tear up a bit.

“We’re friends?” Blaze asked sincerely, not expecting this.

“Of course we are!! We owe you our lives for saving us and we are looking out for you.” Blonde Heart responds with a warm smile.

Blaze then smiles back with a happy, hopeful smile. "Thank you, Blondy. That really means a lot to me.”

'Maybe I can make some friends here after all!' He thinks to himself.

White Glaze then gets out a deck of cards and shuffles them and then passes them out. "Ok, the name of the game is king's cross." She deals out the cards, seven to each of them. She then places the remaining cards in the middle and four cards surrounding the deck. Blaze goes first, then Blondy, then White Glaze.

After a few minutes, Blaze stands victorious just as private Soda and Lemonade come in, they sit down next to Blaze and ask if they could join and play a round or two. Their armor is still on, as they haven't gotten a chance to take it off yet. They start playing again as they each make as many turns as they can until they have no more valid plays.

After a while, Blaze wins again, with his friends congratulating him. Soda and Lemonade then turn to Blaze. "Hey, Soda and I are about to go and do some target practice, would you like to join us?" Lemonade asks Blaze, inviting him to which he agrees.

Blaze gets up and says goodbye to White Glaze and Blonde Heart, giving a hug to both of them before he leaves. "Thanks for the game." He says as he starts walking between Soda and Lemonade.

They head over to the guard's quarters to do some target practice. Blaze tries to fire, but unfortunately has trouble hitting his target. Soda talks him through it, helping him out as he practices.

"Just relax, don't tense up and take a deep breath." She says, straightening his posture and helping him aim. "Try using rockets instead of your self defense laser." She encourages him as he nods and takes a breath.

He switches his weapon to the rockets at low power and aims at the wooden target. He fires and does well with a close up target, the rocket exploding on it, blackening it with soot. He smiles as Soda pats him on the back.

"Nice job, now let's get some distance." Soda said as she asked Lemonade to bring the target farther away about five feet. She fiddles with the controls and the target moves back five feet.

Blaze then uses his cyborg eye piece to target it, finding the optimal angle of where to fire, he then fires his rockets at medium power hitting the target with ease as it scorches the wood.

Soda and Lemonade clap in approval as Lemonade brings the target even further back, Blaze then sets the rockets to full power and fires and it hits the target with ease but after a few misses and from a bit knock back.

Soda comes up and helps him target better. "Just relax, don't get too eager, take a deep breath and focus." She says as she adjusted his posture and straightens his leg.

Blaze does as she instructs him, he takes a deep breath as they then try again and Blaze is able to hit the target full on.

Soda then tells Lemonade to set up a few more targets so Blaze can practice, Lemonade does so with targets coming out from both sides of the wall and Blaze using the techniques Soda had taught him and starts to hit them one by one.

They go back and forth a few times with Blaze hitting the targets that Lemonade sets up with Soda giving him a few pointers whenever he needs them.

After a few minutes of this Soda and Lemonade then challenged Blaze to hitting the targets with them, calling for a contest. If he won, he'd get cuddles from both of them. Hearing the terms made Blaze blush bright red as he nodded in agreement.

Blaze uses what he was taught and shot at his targets, Soda and Lemonade did the same as they started racking up points. "Hey, you're a fast learner." Lemonade said as she shot her target. Soda staying laser focused on hers.

After about an hour Blaze won with a total of one hundred points to Soda's and Lemonade's fifty. Blaze wiped his brow as he holstered his weapon. The targets all fell in ruins as the dust settled down on the target range.

"Well, you won fair and square." Lemonade said as she and Soda put away their weapons.

"Say why don't you join us for dinner and come to our barracks afterwards?" Soda asked as she invited Blaze to dine with them and to come to their room. Blaze eagerly accepts as he wags his tail excitedly causing the two mares to giggle.

They all headed to the cafeteria where a special meal was prepared. The menu consisted of two boneless chicken breasts stuffed with spinach, artichoke, and butter. Their mouths watered as the smell assaulted their sense of smell. Blaze gets a glass of mango juice with his meal while Lemonade opted for a glass of strawberry lemonade with a strawberry garnish, and Soda gets a cherry cream soda with her meal.

They make their way to an empty table and Blaze takes his seat in between the two mares with Lemonade on his left and Soda on his right. About a few minutes after they started eating, they begin to talk about the mission that morning, how cute Blaze is, and how he did a good job working with them and the survivors.

"You really did great out there for your first day, sport." Soda said, budging Blaze slightly as he cut his chicken, the filling oozing out on the clean white plate as steam escaped from the meat.

Blaze then takes a bite, the juice dripping down his chin and some filling sticks to him getting his muzzle dirty. Lemonade sees this and couldn’t help but to clean his muzzle by taking a napkin and gently scrub his mouth with it. This causes Blaze to blush bright red while Cream Soda tries to get Lemonade to stop knowing she has a caring mother personality.

"Come on Lemonade, can't you see you're making him blush, cut it out." Cream Soda says as she cuts into her chicken.

Lemonade snapped out of it as she blushed a bright red. "S-sorry Blaze, I just couldn't help it, you're just so cute." She explains as she pinched his cheek as she apologized, not realizing what she had done after she had finished cleaning his muzzle.

Blaze just blushes a deep red, unsure how to process it as he looks at his chicken with a small smile on his face. He just sits there for a few minutes trying to process it in his mind as he sips his drink and takes another bite of his chicken, promptly using a napkin to wipe away the butter, juice, and crumbs that were left behind.

Finally Blaze worked up the courage to ask the question that was plaguing his mind ever since the end of the mission, he took a deep breath and nervously asked. "How old are you, Miss Lemonade?" His words were almost lumping in his throat. He was wondering if she was close to his age ever since Blonde Heart put it in his head that he might like her, she was right but he wasn't going to tell her, he'd never hear the end of it.

Lemonade giggles and strokes his mane. "It's rude to ask a lady her age, sweetie." She responded, teasing him a bit causing him to blush.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I meant no offense." Blaze stutters a bit as he tries to apologize and tries to explain himself.

Lemonade giggles as she rubs his head. "Aw, it's ok. I'm not offended, I was just teasing you a bit." She says as she takes a drink. "I am one-hundred and thirty six years old, Cream Soda here is one-hundred and thirty eight, and Woodchip is four-hundred and forty eight years old." Lemonade said after she swallowed her drink.

Blaze droops his ears down in disappointment, unsure if Lemonade would consider him with such a huge age gap since he is only around nineteen years old.

Lemonade sees his sad eyes and brings his gaze to meet her eyes. "What's wrong, you look upset, hun?" She asks curiously.

Blaze looks deep into Lemonade's eyes before speaking. "It's just that you look younger, I thought you'd be closer to my age of nineteen." Blaze said, disappointment in his voice.

Lemonade couldn't help but coo at his remark, finding it sweet as she kissed his forehead causing him to blush and his hearts to flutter as he touched his cheeks as he smiled sweetly.

Lemonade and Soda giggle as they continue to eat their dinner and drink their beverages. They continue to talk about their day as they eat.

Soda put down her utensils and turned to Blaze. "What made you join our squad?" She asked, causing Blaze to slow on his eating as he collected his thoughts.

Blaze then sighs and starts to speak. "I didn't choose this squad, I was randomly put on here but I'm glad I ended up on your team. I was assigned to your team to learn about the dark realms and how they had fallen out of harmony from Sergeant Cerulean after my ex teacher had told me I was worthless, that I should have been able to save all ponies in the last solo evac I attempted." Blaze's ears drooped at this memory, remembering the verbal and sometimes physical abuse he suffered from his old teacher. He took a sip of his drink and continued. "After he told me all of that, Private Pine summoned me to see Sergeant Cerulean and I told him about my problems, he arranged a transfer. And now I have been told to join your squad to learn about evacuations and creating revolutions to help with the war effort."

Lemonade and Soda hang on with baited breath and with tears in their eyes, they both throw their arms around Blaze, hugging him to comfort him.

"Oh sweetie, we are so sorry to hear that." Lemonade said as she held him tight.

"I am too, if I was there, I'd give that teacher a piece of my mind." Soda added as she held on tight, sandwiching Blaze between her and Lemonade.

Blaze blushed, tears swelling up in his eyes as he embraced the hug. "It's ok, I'm glad we met, and I know things are gonna get better.”

The trio got back to eating, cleaning off their plates only leaving a few crumbs behind.

After they finish eating, they all take their trays and carry them to the cleaners, they put their dishes in a tub of sudsy water and then they show Blaze the way to head to their shared barracks, walking with him side by side.

They get there after at least two minutes of walking, Lemonade opens the door and enters. Once they all enter, Blaze, Lemonade, and Soda take off their armor and place it on mannequins that are used to keep them up and offer a quick dress change in times of need.

Blaze tries his best to fit his armor on the mannequin but ends up just putting it neatly on the floor next to it since the mannequins were meant for adult ponies. Lemonade and Soda then hit the showers telling Blaze to make himself at home.

Blaze opts to clean his armor as he waits, rubbing a cloth in small circles to remove any dirt and grime that may be riding on his armor. Once he is finished he then heads to his room to put his armor away and get some clean pajamas after he takes a quick shower in his bathroom.

He exits the bathroom with his teeth brushed and his red short sleeve pajamas on. He puts his dirty clothes in the hamper and then heads back to Soda’s and Lemonade’s shared barracks to discover Soda laying on her bed reading a guard training book wearing some short gray pjs and Lemonade brushing her yellow hair in the bathroom wearing some silky purple short pjs which Blaze found attractive. He couldn't help but blush and stare at her.

Lemonade greets him, snapping him out of his trance as she continues brushing her hair as Blaze just stares at her with his mouth open with red cheeks.

"Are you ok, you're redder than a lobster?" She asks only for him to say he’s fine as he tries to hide his blush in his left arm which Lemonade giggles at and finds adorable.

Lemonade then puts her brush down and leads Blaze over to Soda’s bed, pulling on his hoof as she offers him to sit in the middle of them so they can both snuggle him.

Soda puts her book down, bookmarking it by dogearing the page, then puts it on her nightstand on the left side of her. She then sits up from her laying down on her stomach position and turns to lay her head on her pillow laying on her right side. Blaze then gets up on the bed and snuggles up to Soda as Lemonade squeezes in on the bed.

Soda starts stroking his back, sending chills up his spine as Lemonade massages his head behind his ears. Causing him to sigh in bliss and close his eyes. Blaze rests his head underneath Lemonade’s chin as he enjoys the affection. Lemonade's chin gently pressing on his forehead.

Lemonade and Soda then start to compliment how cute he was as they shower him with love and affection. Lemonade then starts rubbing his left cheek as Soda hugs him as she rubs his belly. Then she started to tickle him, causing him to laugh.

“Ahhh hehe he he,” he cries which also caused the girls to giggle too.

Blaze then switches to laying on his back so Soda can have better access to rub his belly. Lemonade then pets him under his chin as he starts to glow with yellow colored flames surrounding his body. The girls giggle as they start glowing too. Lemonade glowed a red pink color while Soda glowed a yellow color.

As they held Blaze in their embrace he looked upon them to see their skin lighting up as the crackling flames entered their body’s. With small breaths they took in the flames and devoured them until the fire covering Blaze ceased to be.

Blaze thought to himself that they were really close now, as what they just did symbolizes close friendship and unity.

"Does this mean we're friends?" Blaze asks to confirm this.

Soda and Lemonade look at him with caring eyes as they both stroke his cheeks. "Of course it does." Lemonade said as she Eskimo kissed his muzzle.

"We will always be there for you and we'll always look out for you." Soda says as she pets his mane.

Blaze soon lets out a yawn, his eyes start getting heavy as he begins to feel sleepy and falls asleep in between Lemonade and Soda.

Lemonade and Soda couldn't help but to coo at the sight as Lemonade kissed his left cheek. “Sleep well little one.” Lemonade says as she covers him up in the blankets.

Soda then kisses his forehead. “Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” She says before planting another kiss on his left cheek. “We won’t let anybody hurt you anymore.” With that they all fell asleep with happy smiles on their faces.