Book 1: Loose Ends

The Sergeant was surprised when the monster he and his guards were fighting for over five minutes simply disappeared.
He wasn't complaining. For the whole fight they were playing defence, dodging and taunting the beast, waiting for the backup that was not coming, They would have not lasted for more than five more minutes with the monster. The monster.
It was unusual in the sense that it reminded him of the Minotaur race, their aspect of walking upright and having five digits on their forelegs.

Looking around he sighed in relief that his squad was okay, tired but okay, and surprisingly no casualty's or injury's. It was as if that the monster was holding back, trying to keep the casualty to a zero, alas he removed the silly hypothesis and put his focus on the unconscious earth pony in front of him.

Private Cobalt.

He would be lying if he said that he was not surprised of seeing an earth pony using magic but for the sake of his position he had to stay calm and collected.

"Sir! What must we do ?, An Earth pony using magic ? Do we have to report Cobalt to the princess or must ..."

Interrupted by a raise of hoof from the sergeant. The soldier kept quite.

"Soldiers, are we not friends of private Cobalt ?"

The squad was confused at the odd question, especially at a time like this, but in an unanimous voice gave their answer.

"YES SIR !"

"Then we cannot reveal his secret, you heard the private, not too long ago while he was fighting the monster. He said he would have to leave should his identity be revealed."

One of the the soldiers raised their hoof.

"Yes soldier ?"

"Sir, does that mean we should hide this from the Princess ?"

"Yes we can !," chipped another soldier. "If she can hide secrets from us then so could we!"

The whole squad murmured in agreement.

Wincing internally, the sergeant nodded his head in agreement. No doubt, he was loyal to Equestria and the princess but after interrogating the therestal that appeared to be drugged by Cobalt, spilled everything, shocking the whole squad. Obviously not believing a single word from his mouth, He ordered his soldiers to do a quick search in the library to find anything that supported his tall tale but it only made the situation worse. Although they did not find what they were looking for, they found information equally terrifying and a blow to their Equestrian pride. Equestria, it turns out, was not a pious state at all or perfect that the school books or the princess paints it. They found information that made their blood turn to ice.
The genocide of the Kirins, the disappearing of the crystal empire and even the creation of the badlands.

The sergeant took a deep breath. "So it is agreed then ?"

The squad nodded.

The sergeant rolled his eyes at the sight of Private Golden Opportunity's raised hoof.

"And no, we are not going to blackmail him to buy drinks for us."

"Awwwww."

The sergeant facedhooved. Somethings never change.

The squad was literary a hoof-step away from the exit of the archives, all they had to do was to open the door. But that was the problem. The door did not want open.

"Fudge Sticks," gritted the soldier, prying the door to no avail.

The Sergeant put his hoof on his chin. "It seems that we locked in."

"I think we got a more serious problem than that Sir," responded from the soldier at the back.

"What seems to be the problem private Flash Light ? "

"Can somepony else carry Cobalt, he's heavy."

Before the sergeant could answer, Private Solar heart spoke up.

"Are you serious ?" Scolded the Guard mare , hitting him on the head. "You have been only carrying him for like two minutes."

"Exactly," replied Flash light, becoming more dramatic. "Two minutes of life ...gone... in two minutes !"

The whole squad laughed as Solar Heart hit Flash light on the head again, making him see stars. Fortunately he did not drop
Cobalt.

The sergeant did not like this one bit. It had been twenty minutes since they finally got through with somepony on the other side of the door. They did not open for them nor did they ask who they were, they simply told him to wait with his squad until the medical and backup team arrives.

"Why must we have to wait ? Can't they let us out and then treat us ? Why is there a need for a backup team ?"

He had already told them that the hostiles have been cleared but did not get a reply.

"Something's wrong..."

He recalled the talk he had with his superior, Captain Iron Hoof, before they deployed him and his squad to the library.

"No matter what happens Sergeant, never ever go inside the royal archives, it is forbidden and for good reason."

"Even if someponys life is in danger ?"

"I'm afraid so Sarge, please I am begging you, do not enter the royal archives, it is a serious offence and in fact..." Captain Iron hoof looked around making sure no-pony was listening. "There is even a special unit dedicated to finding and ... punishing trespassers."

The Sergeant stopped pacing around, his eyes widening.

"Those buckers are going to kill us ."

"They gonna fricken what ?!"

"Watch your tongue Private Scorch."

"But Sir ?," questioned Solar Heart."We serve the princess, why would they want to kill us ?"

"Don't say 'they' ," interrupted Battle Scar. "We are going to be killed by the princess's order. By her hoof, all because we know her darkest secrets, the truth. "

"Whoa, hold on a minute Battle scar, you jumping the hay bale," said Golden Opportunity. "Sure, the princess did all of those morally grey acts, but if you looked closely she did all of that to protect Equestria."

"Yeah sure Golds, morally 'Grey'. Wiping a whole race is bucking morally grey ? Are you fricking serious ?". Scorches temper was rising.

The Sergeant watched on as his squad argued. Already two of his squad members were down. He was guilty. Guilty for not listening to Captain Iron Hoof and now his whole squad is going to die... because of him.

"Sir ? "

The whole squad became silent, stunned at the sight of their Sergeant, silently crying.

"I'm sorry squad. We in this mess because of me," said the Sergeant as he rubbed his eyes with his hoof, trying to save his dignity in front of the squad."If only..."

"No, sir," replied Flash Light. "We all agreed to go in to save Cobalt, he is part of the squad, of the family."

Battle Scar grunted in response."Gleaming Knight and Jousting Spear would have done the same."

The Squad nodded their heads, sad of the loss of two friends.

Confidence and determination came back to the Sergeant. "Yes, It seems I have forgotten the values of squad 77... and the promise we made to each other when this squad was created."

"We Fight Together and We Die Together !

"Now listen up Squad I got a plan..."