Castle of Glass

The 7 year old unicorn sat on the floor, playing with an old wooden train set. It had belonged to his father when he was a foal, and now it belonged to Redpoint. On the front, a picture was taped to the smokestack. It showed the maroon unicorn with his jet black mane on the back of a steel gray stallion, his own black mane acting like a cushion between his scalp and his son's front hooves. He hadn't seen his father for a while, but Redpoint was convinced that he was coming home from his job soon.

DING DONG! The doorbell to the house suddenly rang, and Redpoint, running up to the front door, yelled, "Coming!" However, when he opened it, he didn't expect to see a light gray stallion sporting an impeccable blue uniform and white cap standing at the door.

Without letting the new pony speak, the maroon colt called, "Mom, somepony's here to see you! At least, I think so."

The stranger let out a little chuckle as a cream mare with raspberry-colored mane said, "Well, who is it?"

Roseluck trotted over to her son with a beaming smile on her face, ready to greet whoever was at the door. When she got there, though, her heart sank and a chill ran through her spine. "Oh no…" she whispered, backing up into the hall perpendicular to the one she just came out of. "Please, Maneluke… not Quick Scope."

"Mom? What's wrong, Mom?" Redpoint asked as the pony known as Maneluke knelt down to the colt.

"Son… do you know who I am?" The young unicorn nodded his head, saying, "Yeah, you work with my dad!"

Maneluke sighed and stood back up into a rigid stance. At this point, some of the neighbors had come out and were watching the whole scene unfold. "Miss Roseluck… Redpoint…" the Marine said, "we regret to inform you that Quick Scope gave his own life to protect his squad members from a grenade thrown into the bunker they were defending. Our prayers are with you and your family, and we give you our sincerest condolences."

Ponies from all over the neighborhood ran over to the house as Roseluck began wailing. However, in the midst of all the chaos, Redpoint stood there with a look of shock on his face.

When his voice came back to him, he brushed his jet black mane from his face and managed to utter, "Y-you're lying… my dad's alive! He promised he would come back!"

Maneluke knelt back down to Redpoint's level, putting a consoling hoof on the colt's shoulder. "Redpoint…" he explained, "I'm not lying. I'm very sorry, but promises like that aren't always kept when ponies go to war."

Tears formed in Redpoint's eyes. He threw the Marine's hoof off of him and ran to the back door of the house, running through the living room and knocking a vase over on the way. It hit the ground, and the glass shattered, sending the smooth, blue stones onto the floor like a raging wave from the ocean. The colt had disappeared into the forest behind his house before either Maneluke or Roseluck was able to reach the living room. The Marine ran into the woods after Redpoint, afraid of what he might do.

Redpoint sat at the edge of the riverbank, levitating stones and throwing them into the river as hard as he could. How could something like this happen? It wasn't fair for his father to die so soon! He lifted up a particularly large rock and threw it directly in front of him. SPLASH! The water launched itself at him, causing his mane to droop over his eyes. As the colt tried wiping his soaked mane from his face, a chuckle came from behind him.

"Go away! I want to be left alone!" he yelled, not even bothering to look back. When familiar hoof laid upon his shoulder, the maroon unicorn brushed it off and looked back to see Maneluke through his black mane. The Marine didn't chuckle this time, but rather, he sat down on the ground next to Redpoint.

"Your father was a great soldier, Redpoint." he said. "He made sure that there weren't more casualties than were needed that day, and we are all eternally grateful."

"I don't care!" retorted Redpoint. "My dad promised he would come back, and he never breaks his promises!"

He threw another stone into the water, daggers shooting out his eyes. He was never as mad as he was now, not even the time when the bully across the street took his favorite hoofball card.

Maneluke sighed. "Kid, there's something that we Marines say, something we all take to heart. All of our lives are like a castle of glass. They are precious and fragile, and even the tiniest crack could shatter it."

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Redpoint, his voice laced with anger and confusion.

"This moment is a crack in your castle of glass." explained the grey stallion. "You need to find a way to properly fix it. With glass, you can't just seal up a crack with some plaster. It'll be imperfect, it won't be the best. Find a way to patch it up perfect, kid, or you'll find your life falling to pieces." With that, he stood up and left Redpoint alone with his thoughts.

The sun was going down, leaving only a small window of time for Redpoint to reach his home before it got too dark. He got up and began to trot away before looking into the river one last time. When the unicorn saw his reflection, he saw his still blank flank. Anger rose back up in him as he realized his father would never see the day he would get his cutie mark. He screamed aloud and accidentally cast a teleportation spell. Before he could catch himself, Redpoint disappeared in a burst of red light.

THUMP! The colt hit the wooden living room floor, dazing him. When he came back to his senses, Redpoint looked around the room. He finally realized where he was as he noticed a wooden box sitting on the table that hadn't been there before. He tried to get up, but a sharp pain in his right hind leg prevented him from doing so. The maroon unicorn bit his hoof to stop himself from yelping, then started to crawl over to the table.

Eventually, Redpoint had made his way to the box and gotten it down onto the ground. He stared at it for a second, inspecting it. There were no visible marks except for an engraving of the insignia for the United Equestria, and the box seemed to be made of mahogany. Satisfied with his inspection, he opened it up. Inside was a bronze crosshairs, his father's cutie mark, that hung delicately from a ribbon that displayed brilliant hues of orange, yellow, blue, and purple. The unicorn couldn't believe his eyes. Right before him sat the Medal of Honor, awarded to his father for going above and beyond the call of duty.

"Dad… no! It's not fair!" shouted Redpoint as tears began making their way down his face. It wasn't fair that his father had to be awarded this medal in this way. He didn't want to believe this horrible truth, but the reality had begun to sink in: he wasn't ever going to do anything with his father again. No more trips to hoofball games, no more running around in the woods, nothing. As his vision blurred from the tears, Redpoint stamped his hooves on the ground, then rooted himself in front of the medal and its wooden box.

It was at this time when he knew how to fix his castle of glass.