Ice Cream.
Is there anything better than ice cream?
Even when it’s bad it’s good enough. It’s soft and cool and oh so sweet!
If I had enough ice cream I could forget anything!
Opening her eyes slowly from her brief meditation on her vantage point above the battle, Sliver saw that her side was winning for once. The daily sight of the field of red and raw flesh no longer even phased her. She was bothered only if the blood and flesh belonged to somepony she knew.
Casting her gaze for another target, she carefully slipped off the leather covers of her razor sharp shoes, spread her wings, and dove into fray. She cast furtive glances into the sky around her for enemy fliers, never once losing sight of her target.
As she approached her prey she readied her legs with the specially designed shoes. The blades were on the inside edges so that if she held all four hooves just right, her body would form a tunnel of sharp edges that could cut a pony along both sides and allow her to fly away before the pony even knew they were dead. In aerial combat they could even allow her to sever the wings from another flier.
Sweeping her wings back to gain speed in her dive, she ceased checking around her and focused solely on her target. It was risky but there were no other fliers near her at the moment so she could afford to take the chance.
The air building up in front of her, she hit her victim at the exact angle she’d planned for. As luck would have it the pony in question was an earth pony that was drinking some water quickly from his helmet on the ground. This allowed her to approach at a lower than normal altitude.
With a keen whisper, the blades did their job. They sliced through the earth pony just at the shoulders and haunches. Blood sprayed outward and swirled in her wake. The earth pony fell to the ground screaming as Sliver rose at high speed banking back the direction she’d come.
Another bloodwake! Awesome! she thought Have to tell Baker about that.
Beating her wings a little, Sliver landed back in the mouth of the cliff-side cave where she was protected from attack. This was her last flight of the day so she carefully slipped the leather guards onto her shoes and walked silently into the back of the cave. She passed her replacement as she entered the side of the cliff.
Walking down the stairs in the back of the cave, she was led down into the main chamber, then out the back of the cliff to the waiting sea of tents that stretched as far as her eyes could see. Following the hoof painted street signs she quickly found the market.
Damn. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until just now. her stomach grumbled in response to her thoughts.
Trotting through the rows of stalls she found the one she wanted - seasoned and roasted vegetables. They would be expensive but her latest bonus had given her meager purse a boost enough to afford some luxuries for a while.
In short being a good killer paid.
Devouring her meal with enthusiasm, Sliver brushed her face off with her hoof and got up to head to her tent.
On the way she passed the teaching tent and, after removing her blades, briefly played with the children outside it. This was a daily thing for her as her shift always ended right in line with the class break. The teacher had at first been hesitant to let her hang around but found that despite her normal military exterior Sliver and the children enjoyed the time together and both were better for it.
Someday... thought Sliver Not gonna happen any time soon. No as long as I’m on the front lines. By the time that’s done I will likely be dead or too old to have kids. ‘Course there’s always enough orphans to adopt...
Reluctantly she left the children behind and continued on to her tent.
Morning brought the usual stiffness that came with combat and sleeping on only a bed of straw. Stretching, Sliver could hear her joints creak all the way out to the tips of her wings. Groaning a little she did some quick exercises before putting on her blades and stepping out of the tent.
Walking slowly towards the market Sliver noticed ponies passing by her. The camp was always abuzz with somepony doing something but over the years of the conflict, and due to the resulting families that had grown up here, it had become almost a small city that bustled with activity at all hours.
Sliver avoided eye contact with most everypony. For the most part she didn’t socialize unless it was something special for her unit or one of the two or three close ponies she knew personally. She didn’t see much point, and she saw how the other ponies looked at her when they thought she couldn’t see them. The mixed looks of horror, disgust, and pity were always enough to set her on edge. She knew what she was and she wasn’t afraid to show it when necessary. But still there was a tiny twinge of pain inside her heart every time she found somepony treating her like so much dung they buried in the pit toilets.
Her day on watch was about average. 14 kills, 3 wounded, 1 scared to a panic so much that the pony ran faster than she'd ever seen a pony run. She couldn’t even catch up with him using her fastest dive.
As was most of the time, she slept in silence and without dreams. Or at least she didn’t remember her dreams. When she did remember them, her dreams were filled with a myriad of images swirling around her. Some gruesome visages of her victims, but often enough they were balanced out by thoughts of her parents who had long since passed during the years of the conflict.
The conflict....not ever sure what that’s about any more. Sliver thought walking back from the cliff. She knew it was important to fight for her side if only to protect everypony but as for the larger picture she shrugged it off. Not something a flier like me needs to think about.
Once again she found herself in front of the learning tent. She paused and watched it’s patched sides flap in the light breeze. Like most of the tents it had been mended repeatedly. Some resources were always hard to get.
Smiling, she watched the young colts and fillies file out of the tent opening toward her as she carefully removed her blades and set them out of the way near the side of the tent.
Midway during the the play session, nearby ponies stopped in their tracks looking up at the sky above them. Curious, Sliver quickly followed the young ponies’ gaze to see an absolutely enormous shape falling from the sky towards them.
No! There’s no way! thought Sliver in alarm There’s no way they found one!
With an earth shattering sound, that was more vibration than actual noise, a mid sized dragon landed in the space between Sliver and the teaching tent.
Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Sliver swore in her head The squads are all on the front lines!
Wasting no time, Sliver leaped behind the dragon and bucked hard at the knee causing the leg to buckle. The dragon roared and swiped in rage at Sliver. Despite her speed, the dragon caught her across the flank with a rake of it’s claws. Reeling in pain Sliver jumped out of reach.
The foals. I’ve got to get to my blades! Sliver thought between waves of pain. Yelling at the kids to get back into the tent Sliver took stock of her foe.
Pushing the pain into the back of her mind, she once again leaped towards the dragon. As the beast went to swipe at her again she used her wings to change direction mid-leap and landed next to her blades.
Roaring incoherently, the dragon beat it’s wings and leaned in to bite her. The jaws dripped caustic bile that steamed when it hit the ground. Ducking the first bite, Sliver focused on getting her blades on.
C’mon! C’mon! Stupid buckles! she thought ducking another bite. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a single colt cowering in fear next to the side of the tent. Oh shit. Don’t notice the foal...don’t notice the foal.
True to the nature of the universe, the dragon noticed the young morsel within it’s reach and immediately changed it’s goal. This gave Sliver the split second she needed to get the blades on her hooves and launch herself at the dragon.
Dropping only her left hooves, she draw a line of blood up the side of the dragon’s snout and through it’s right eyeball. She narrowly avoided the snapping jaws as the dragon tried to pick her out of the air.
In the air now, she turned and dove for another pass at the beast. Lining up on her target, she found that the dragon had itself taken to the air during her turnaround.
It’s probably going to try and dive at me. she thought sizing things up in her head At least he’s away from the tent.
Beating her wings strongly, she quickly caught up to the dragon. This neatly prevented the dragon from starting a dive. Swooping behind the dragon she dropped all four hooves and cut the dragon up the length of the tail. Without skipping a beat the dragon turned on itself and snapped it’s jaws, biting the end of her tail clean off.
Screaming in pain, Sliver dropped several meters while trying to adjust to the change in her flight abilities - the shortened tail reducing her maneuverability considerably. The dragon didn’t waste any time and dived immediately, roaring in response to her screams.
Rolling on her side and beating her wings, she narrowly missed being eaten. The dragon's claws scarred her flesh as she passed.
Where is everypony?!? she thought frantically. In a blink she mentally counted out all the flyers and realised that every one of them would be occupied on the front lines. All alone. Crap. Story of my life.
Her counting cost her the advantage as the dragon rose up behind her and batted her sideways. Tumbling from the sky, and reeling from the pain, she righted herself only to find the dragon bearing down on her from above.
She couldn’t get out of the way fast enough so she did the only thing she could. She closed her wings and fell like a stone with her nose pointed towards the ground.
Dragon and pegasus fell towards the ground. The dragon was so close she could feel the heat from it’s breath on the raw flesh of her bleeding tail. At the last moment, with the ground looming, she pulled up.
The dragon did not.
Circling back, she took stock of the situation to find the dragon shaking it’s head and getting up into a sitting position.
Oh come on! she thought Stay down you bastard! Dammit! Can’t let it get those kids!
Still slightly stunned, the dragon was shaking it’s head to clear it. Seizing the opportunity, Sliver dove sharply and dropped all four hooves in an attempt to slice the dragon’s neck.
She stuck. Or, more precisely, her front blades found themselves stuck in the dragon’s thick hide just behind the jaws.
Without missing a beat Sliver started repeatedly raking her hind hooves and blades against the neck. Cutting deeply and causing the dragon to bleed profusely as she quickly severed the main veins and arteries.
Got you asshole! she thought triumphantly still trying to free her front blades I hope nobody got hurt.
Not aware that it was dead, the dragon reached both claws up behind it’s head and scraped Sliver off. It cast her to the ground in a heap of mangled flesh and feathers.
Not even aware of her body, Sliver opened an eye and watched the dragon fall to the ground in a pool of blood. The last sound she heard was the voice of a small foal behind her.
“Thank you Sliver.”
Sliver was surprised to open her eyes. She felt no pain but also could only see white.
“Sister! She’s awake!” said a voice to her left.
“I see Luna. Sliver can you hear me?” said a voice to her right.
“I....where am I?” Sliver asked still unable to focus.
“Could you please sit up when you’re ready?” the voice to her right asked.
Sitting up, Sliver found that the white she was seeing was part of an endless sea of clouds. Looking to her right her eyes focused on a white figure with a flowing colored mane. Slightly stunned by what she saw she looked to her left to find a dark blue figure with a concerned look on her face.
“Holy....sisters!” Sliver stammered before quickly bowing and averting her eyes “Your Holiness!”
“Rise please Sliver.” said Princess Celestia softly “You bow to nopony here.”
“Indeed Sliver. Rise.” agreed Princess Luna.
“Umm...where am I?” asked Sliver cautiously, still not quite comfortable looking directly at what she had always thought was a myth passed down by her ancestors. “Is everypony okay?”
“The ponies you worked selflessly to save are just fine. You however...please look here.” answered Celestia motioning to a nearby cloud with her hoof.
The surface of the cloud became shiny in the center and a scene appeared before her. She saw the dragon she had just dispatched being dragged away by several ponies. The teacher ushering all the foals away from the area physically unharmed. The remaining space was covered in red.
Suddenly, she noticed that the red pile of flesh at the lower edge of the picture was her. She recognized her blades dripping with blood and her head, or what was left of it, hanging at an impossible angle.
“But....I’m dead?” she asked after what seemed like an eternity.
“Death of the body does not mean death of the pony.” said Luna calmly “We are all more than just the pony flesh that we inhabit.”
“So...what happens now?” Sliver asked “I mean...where do I go from here?”
“Well...anywhere really.” started Celestia “You have a couple of immediate options. First - you could be reborn in your own time on your own world. Second - you could go somewhere that you could rest for a while before moving on. Third - you could ask to be judged and placed according to your life.”
“That last one is not as heavy as it appears my dear.” continued Luna smiling “I don’t think you’ll be found lacking.”
“I don’t understand.” said Sliver “I’m just a simple soldier.”
“You are far from simple.” chided Celestia “Throughout your adult life all you thought about was protecting those around you. And in the end, when it all came to a head, you chose to make the ultimate sacrifice. Your last thoughts before you faded were of the fate of those around you. That is an incredible strength of spirit. Know that very few ponies have such strength within them.”
Sliver suddenly felt an immense swell of emotion inside her. In moments she was crying openly, unashamed of the tears flowing down her face. Celestia and Luna reached in and enveloped her in their wings. And endless time later the tears stopped flowing.
Sniffling slightly Sliver backed herself up slightly so that both princesses were in front of her. “I choose to be judged.” she said simply.
Looking at each other and smiling the princesses said in unison “You have already been judged and found wanting for nothing in your spirit. Do you have any requests before we send you on your way?”
“I...I want to be a teacher.” said Sliver “I want to inspire children. To teach them. I don’t care where. I don’t care when. I don’t even care if I fly ever again.”
Nodding Celestia said “So be it. Stand up please!”
Standing proudly Sliver stretched her wings. The princesses stood on either side of her extending their wings to touch at the wingtips forming a circle around her.
“Close your eyes.” Luna said softly as her and her sister’s horns started to glow.
Closing her eyes Sliver felt a warmth spread from her hooves to her mane. In a moment a swirl of both light and darkness enveloped her and suddenly she and the princesses were gone.
Somewhere....a lavender and white pony was born with bright eyes and a bright future.
Author's Note
Like many things I'm never sure where my ideas come from. This is just something I wrote literally over the weekend. Sliver wouldn't let me sleep until I got her story told.
Notes; Cleanup editing done 5/19/2017. Nothing really changed story-wise.
