8pm, 4th Blazing, 1009ALB
I look up from my cards as the door creaks open, closes, opens again. Then Rose walks in. It's a little thing, but subtle tells like that are a good way to catch imposters out, assuming any get past the gates. They're also very annoying, especially when ponies keep coming up with new ones on the spot and thinking that means everypony else knows through some sort of hive mind...
Expectedly, she trots over as soon as she drops off her saddlebags on her bunk. "Hello, Victor. Minty, Steward."
I respond with a nod and a huff, more over the state of my cards than anything. Minty manages to wave without dropping her cards everywhere or revealing them while the sergeant is too focussed on his cards to notice, or at least is acting that way. Given the depressingly small number of Marian in his pile (and mine), it could be either.
Giving my cards a last glare, I drop them on the table. "Fold, and out for the night."
Minty and Steward nod and go back to their staring contest as I scoop the remaining eight Marian of the half Bit I started the game with back into a pocket and get up, joints twinging.
"You didn't have to do that, you know." Rose says as we move away.
"I vas about to drop anyvay." I reply truthfully. "Minty has had all the luck tonight."
"Hmm. Good thing I got back late then." The cream-coated mare observes.
"How have things been for you?" I ask.
She lifts her left foreleg, twisting and flexing it. I can still see where the stitches were, but only just. "Godfrey says the break's healed enough for me to go back to light duties tomorrow, and I should be back at full by the end of the week. I took the chance to let Mum know I'm not dead in person."
"Letters?" I question half rhetorically.
"Four, counting the one she posted just before I arrived." Rose says, rolling her eyes. "I wish they wouldn't send notices to family for training accidents like that, Mum always thinks I'm on my deathbed."
"Vaste of paper too." I agree. "They live in the outskirts, so vhy not simply come to you, if she thinks you're dying?"
"Because Dad at least has some sense, when he's not trying to get me into gardening. He talks her out of it." Rose answers with an exasperated sigh as she pulls her privacy curtain out the way and drops onto her bunk. "But anyway, how's the section?"
I sit on my own across from her, not quite sure how to reply. "Vell... Nopony is dead."
"That's a good start." She comments dryly.
"Jetsam is still beating herself up over it." I say with a gesture to her leg, deciding to take the scenic route to the topic.
"No surprise there. For being fifteen, she knows her stuff, but I don't think she's ever really hurt anypony before. She'll get over it." Rose replies with a shrug. "Thanks for the flowers by the way, they were delicious."
"Aside from that, ve caught another spy trying to get into the citadel." I procrastinate.
"What's that? Four now?" Rose asks.
I nod.
"Well, good to see those blood tests are working." She says.
"Makes them almost tolerable." I grumble.
Rose glances around the room. "How's Star Sweeper settling in?"
"She's started putting a zone of silence around Murkie vhenever he's reading. Personally, I take that as a good sign." I say before adding; "I don't think he's noticed yet."
Rose casts an impressed glance at the brass-coated mare currently writing a letter nearby. "She can hide her field? She's better than I thought..."
I shake my head. "No, he just never looks up."
Rose smiles, but it's soon overtaken with worry. "I know when you're avoiding something Victor, what's the m-" She pauses and her red tail flicks as she looks behind me. "What's happened to Soapy? Her bunk's been cleared."
And there it is. "She... Vas discharged."
Green eyes blink and ears twitch with worry. "Discharged? It's wartime, how did she get a discharge?"
That's a bit of a sore spot for me. I was supposed to retire in three days when the bucking war started. Instead I got reclassified as an Immune. Sometimes I think the world hates me.
"She got pregnant." I reply slowly. "She-"
"What." Rose interrupts flatly.
"Your ears vork." I reply equally flatly. "She told us three days ago, Godfrey spotted it during her checkup."
"Why didn't he-" Her ears flick, the tail lashes. "Buck. Of course he didn't tell me. Still, Murkie visited yesterday. He seemed to be off his oats, but I put it down to a squabble or something. Why didn't he tell me?"
There was one, but she and I both know how quickly Murkie bounces back from those. "Ve agreed it vould be best if I broke the news."
"You shouldn't have had to." Rose says crossly. "I understand it was sudden, but she could have dropped by."
"To tell the truth, I think she vas scared to." I say, thinking back to the conversation. She had been flustered, no doubt, but then being told you're going to be a mother isn't exactly something to take lightly.
"Afraid to tell me." The mare sags somewhat, ears twisting back. "The rest of them too. Afraid to be in front of me when I'm angry, probably."
"You're being silly." I chastise. "Yes, we're all a little scared of you, but that is good. Respect alvays has an element of fear to it. Fundamentally, it's the same as how a teacher maintains order."
"Except you." She comments.
I shake my head, feeling my mouth twitch upward at one corner. "No, me too, only for different reasons. They don't vant to be chewed out, except Sveeper maybe; she's still a little full of herself, vhich says something about either her or her drill sergeant. But me?" I huff amusedly. "I know you could shove my teeth down my throat, if it came to it."
"I'd never do that." Rose replies automatically.
"Every Pony has a breaking point." I say. "But that is neither here nor there. Ve all agreed it vould best that I tell you."
"Which just means you're the least scared." She points out.
"No!" I say firmly, shaking my head again. "Murkie offered first."
"Murkie offered-" she blinks, "Ok, fine. I take your point. Why you then?"
I glance around the busy barracks room. Nopony seems to be eavesdropping, but... "Maybe we should go outside?"
Rose follows my gaze and nods. "You're right, this is getting into private stuff."
Quietly, we head to our usual secluded spot on the northern ramparts, just where they meet the body of the palace itself. Despite being quite late now, it's midsummer and so the sun is still up and the air is reasonably warm.
Rose doesn't waste any time. "Well, why you?"
I shrug, resisting the urge to light up that comes with the lingering smell of the most recent gardener to have come past. "You know me best, and Murkie... For all his good intentions, he vould have pushed the wrong buttons."
I can almost see her imagining it, a suspicion confirmed when she winces. "Good point. But if it wasn't me that was the problem, why didn't Soapy tell me herself?"
"I cannot read minds, and he didn't ask, but at a guess? I think she vas vorried you vould think she vas a coward."
Rose gives me a questioning look. "Why would I think that?"
That catches me a little off-guard. "Have you not heard? Think about it; vhen the Changelings attacked the city, she hid. When Tirek came, she hid. Admittedly, so did I, that is vhy ve are alive now and the rest of our old unit isn't. The only reason she vasn't sacked before vas because-"
"Because she's good at field medicine. I know, she splinted my leg." Rose interposes. "Sometimes I wonder why she isn't- I mean, wasn't working for Godfrey, even if she did drop out of medical school."
Not really having an answer for that, I shrug. "Anyvay, now along comes a var and oops, she's pregnant."
"No, I suppose that doesn't look good." Rose agrees.
"Especially not vith the rumours you apparently missed." I say. "Mares who get called up dropping out of basic that vay."
Rose's ear flicks. "Plenty of married mares have been getting the papers, it's inevitable some of them would have been trying in Windy, got called up and didn't know yet."
"A few, yes. But this is more than a few, apparently. As I said, it's hearsay." I admit.
"You believe it though." Rose says.
I glance over her head at the peaks of the Canterhorn far above us and think I catch a glimpse of somepony climbing the path we take on the weekly route march. "I don't believe how many they're saying, but I can see how it could be true in some cases. A guaranteed out vithout needing the guts to take one of the other vays?"
Two shades of red mane shift as she shakes her head, glaring at the idea of it. "That's sick. Sick and utterly irresponsible. They put everypony in that much more danger by refusing to do their part, but what about the foal? Imagine growing up knowing you were only born because your mother was a coward who wanted an easy out."
I cock my head, mulling it over. It doesn't take long. "To quote our ginger friend: Stuff that. Does your sister Carrot care vhy she vas born? Or vill she, vhen she's old enough to really understand? She's the youngest, and often the youngest is an accident, especially with a gap that big. I'm sure I vas."
"You complain enough to make it sound like you care." My one friend says teasingly.
I roll my eyes. "I see no reason to pretend the vorld is better than it is, and it has not seen fit to prove othervise. But I vould never deny others their chance."
"I suppose so, but it still feels jolly rotten." Rose insists. "Either way, I don't see Soapy doing that. She was worried, but..."
"No." I agree as she tails off. "I don't think she did. That's vhy she vas so scared when she found out, I think."
"Because she thought we would think she was a coward?" The other earther replies.
I nod.
"Ancestors' sakes, I'll have to go to her house and talk this out with her tomorrow, if I get the chance. It's not fair to let her stew in that." Rose mutters, rubbing her forehead with a pastern. Then she sighs. "Goodness knows what she was thinking."
"She probably vasn't." I comment. "She's only been married a few moons, it vould hardly be the first time a young couple couldn't vait out heat."
"She might even have thought it was safe. You can feel when you're on heat, sort of..." The mare shrugs. "I'm not really sure how to describe it to a stallion. I assume she was taking her suppressants?"
"I'm probably too old to ask about that," I admit, "but she didn't smell like she vas skipping them."
"Steward didn't call her out on it either, and he did when Sure Sights was skipping, even if she did turn out to be allergic to the tablets." Rose observes. "They do make it harder to tell, and it's not exactly easy to begin with. If Soapy just waited out Windy... Well, you can never be entirely sure, even with..."
I think she's blushing under her coat. What's surprising is that in all the years I've known her, I've never seen her do that before.
"I'm fifty-six, I know vhat you're talking about." Then I push the topic along. "Ve both seem to agree she vasn't just trying to run avay, so there is little more to say."
"Yes, anything else would be wild speculation." Rose agrees with a firm nod. "Hopefully I can set things straight tomorrow. I assume none of the rest of the section are holding any grudges?"
"I don't think so." I say after some consideration, tapping my hoof against the ancient masonry. "Nopony's talking about it much. Vhen she told us though... I don't think the twins gave it any thought beyond chivalric romance and Minty vas openly sympathetic. I'm not sure about Star Sweeper, she's too new, but Murkie; He looked vorried."
"But you don't think he's holding it against her?" Rose asks.
"No, he vasn't angry, just vorried." I confirm, shaking my head. "The captain wasn't so sympathetic though. She took Soapy to her office and, well, some of the shouting came through the door. Soapy got out as soon as she could after that and I vould not be surprised if it vas vhy she did not come to you."
It didn't take her long to pack, and it wasn't like there was much debate over her fitness to serve.
"I'm not Captain Barstow." She says.
"No, but you aren't Rustle, either." I counter before softening, just a fraction. "I think she vould have run from the section leader at that point though, not the mare behind the braid."
"Maybe... Perhaps I should bring her something tomorrow? It might help break the ice. You've known her longer than I have, what does she like?" Rose asks.
I think for a moment, watching as the distant hiker makes another appearance. I hope they're a Pegasus, or they'll be getting very cold when the sun goes down. "Coffee vould be a good bet. Or spices, she likes Hindian food vhen she can get it... I don't really know her tastes vhen it comes to anything else."
Rose winces. "Eech, that's not cheap, and it'll put a dent in my ration card, but ok."
"There's always Snake Oil." I say.
"I need the money more than the coupons and besides, I don't exactly trust her sources." She replies.
I hum my agreement. The only reason I mentioned her at all was to make sure Rose had enough perspective.
"Did anything else big happen while I was out?" The small mare, just barely tall enough to meet regulations, asks after staring over the battlements for a while. "Princess Celestia gone mad, the moon turned into cheese?"
"No, I left the vorst for last, unless you vant to hear the contents of Murkie's latest comic." I say dryly, suppressing a chuckle.
"I thought you said Sweeper was silencing him?" She queries.
"Hearing one is enough to know them all." I grumble, flicking my ears.
She chuckles. "Perhaps, but that might not be quite fair to the authors. They're clearly rush jobs, I'll agree with you on that, but it takes creativity to come up with weird gadgets and aliens."
"Oh, there vas one thing." I say. "Pommel von the pool for vhen you vould be back."
"There was a-" She begins before rolling her eyes. "Of course there was a pool, there's always a pool."
"You might vant to get in early on Minty's one." I observe.
"Hmm..." She scratches at her side thoughtfully. "First of Windy next year I think, in the evening."
"I said Minty vas running it." I point out.
She laughs again and makes a nudging gesture without actually touching me. "Well, don't you go pinching my slot."
"I vouldn't dream of it." I reply as the moon crests Crook Peak, outlining it and the hiker stood upon its summit.
Author's Note
I realise it's been a long time since Prologue, so have a quick short I put together that stemmed from a lore conversation on the EaW discord and a broken main PC. One might note the change in tense and the lack of footnotes or referral to the reader...
Congratulations, you've invaded someone's mind, you monsters.
