Dawn of a New Day ҉
I blinked my eyes open slowly as my wristband vibrated, urging me to wake up. Regaining blood flow, my other hoof struggled to turn it off in a numbed frenzy. A dreaded sigh of defeat was all I could udder as I fell back motionless. Today was the day I would be earning my keep... No more tech-maintenance, cafeteria-assistant... Even janitor. I would finally be able to hold a weapon capable of killing somepony...
That thought was the most frightening. I couldn't imagine killing anypony, and the risk of being killed didn't help. All the training in the world couldn't free me of the horrors of war. There was always at least one war story of somepony's stuck in my head... And I overheard many war stories around the base. Somepony either losing limbs or their life...
The thoughts followed me out of bed and stayed with me as straightened out the sheets. Readjusting my wristband, I checked the time...
"Six o' four..." I still had time before meeting with the base leader, but I didn't have anything or any job to do seeing as somepony else was now in my place. Before heading out, I stepped in front of the mirror that was hagging on the wall. My yellow mane was a ruffled mess and my hooves didn't do much to tame it. Plus my coat looked much more pale than usual, I didn't think I could get much whiter than this...
After a few more seconds of playing around with my mane, my stomach protested to having breakfast as soon as possible. Being a slave to my stomach, I didn't dare fight it. I walked out the door without a second thought.
I navigated out of the hallways made up of other ponies rooms. After that, it was smooth sailing to the cafeteria. Luckily for me, the line wasn't that long. With no hesitation, I took my place in line. As the line became smaller, I grabbed a tray and glanced at what they were severing for the morning. My search stopped once I got a glimpse at the crew behind the serving stations. The crew leader glanced my way and instantly shot me a grin and waved.
"Falkor!" The orange maned, yellow coated stallion greeted me gleefully.
"Heya Pretztail!" I waved back, happy to see a familiar face.
Out of working with all the crew leaders in the cafeteria, Pretztail was my favorite to work with. Not only was he cool-headed most of the time, he was actually a great pony to get to know. In fact, I got to find out that Pretztail was just a fitting nickname given to him by his close friends due to knots in his tail. I asked him about it one day...
He said something around the lines of "not having enough time to put into making his tail look pretty for the Lunars to shoot at," we both laughed at his joke. I suggested for him to hack it off, however he admitted the drastic change would only make him look even more strange. Mentally agreeing, some tails were better than no tails.
"Grab a seat nearby, I'll sit with ya," Pretztail said as he already fixed my tray with a meal.
"Alright," I nodded, soon searching for an open table close. It didn't take me too long seeing as it's frowned upon to spend too much time in the cafeteria. It didn't help any that these wristbands had a terrible way of reminding you that your time is up. As much as some of you maybe be thinking, it wasn't some kind of concentration camp, this place ran like clockwork and it required ponies to be at their stations when necessary.
I spotted some ponies leaving their table to empty their trays. Wasting no time, I claimed the table for myself. Forking around with my food, my head fell against my free hoof. Pretztail didn't take too long with getting ready. He exited the back room, bearing a tray of food with both hooves. The yellow pony nodded at me as he approached.
"So I hear today is your last day working in the base," I cringed at the words slightly as he sat down next to me.
"...Yeah," a soft sigh passed through my dry lips.
"It's not so bad... You get to see the outside world, the fresh, contaminated air, the overgrown vegetation, not to mention the wild creatures who've adapted to it," Pretztail's words weren't helping at all.
"You know I don't want to hear that now... I just woke up," I rubbed my forehead stressfully as I began eating.
"Sorry, but I'm just sayin'," The yellow colt shrugged, "and I don't want to see you dead either. Besides, you're one of my best workers, and I'd like to see you work behind the counters again," I wasn't sure how to take pretztail's words.
"Uh... Thanks?" I wondered if I was responding right.
"Anyways, I remember my time serving outside of the base... Those were interesting times indeed," Pretztail reminisced.
"Intersting?" In what way, I thought.
"Well... It's a once in a lifetime experience, the sights are breath taking, and honestly... Not all the creatures were terrifying," at first that didn't sound so bad, but that didn't stop me from questioning it.
"...Did anything terrible happen during your deployment?" I asked, putting my fork down.
"Oh of course, it's expected! No pony has gone out and was greeted with just sunshine and flowers," Pretztail took a long drink of his juice before before going on again, reminding me that I didn't pick up anything to drink, "sometimes we happened onto a squad of Lunar soldiers... And other times they found us. And if it wasn't Lunars it was nature itself. I don't think I would be able to tell you all the times I've escaped with my life... But it was well worth it all," that was a tough pill to swallow.
"...You mention 'we', 'us', and 'squad' what do you mean by that?" I resumed eating as pretztail laughed a bit at my response.
"They're not gonna send you out alone Falkor, everyone's deployed in a squad, haven't you been paying attention all these years?"
"...I thought I have, all my training's been done alone," my eyes aimed away in embarrassment.
"You know we have a visual and physical simulator right? Please tell me you do," I tried my best to resist from cringing.
"Yes, but it felt so real, the first time I used it was the last..." Not to mention all the nightmares that followed the nights after.
"It's supposed to feel read, it helps you get used to the real thing," Pretztail's hoof met with his face in disappointment.
"I know... I just didn't have the courage to try it again," I replied, feeling awful about myself.
"And you're going to pay for it now because of your negligence," Pretztail didn't really offer much sympathy to my case.
"Wh-what should I do?" fear started to shake me from the inside.
"There's nothing you can do right now, but just make sure to obey your squad leader when you're out there, it's the most safest path to coming back alive," the yellow pony nodded slowly, "granted, it's not guaranteed, but there's a fair chance," my wristband began to vibrate again. Lifting my hoof, I read that the base leader was ready to see me. There was an awkward silence as I swallowed hard.
"I... I gotta get going," I stood up from my seat, about to grab my tray before Pretztail stopped me.
"I'll take care of that, you just worry about making it there in time," the colt waved me off.
"...Thank you," I left it on the table as I began to trot away.
"...One more thing!" Pretztail stopped me.
"Yes?" I turned to face him.
"When all seems lost, when you find yourself alone, just remember, don't stop fighting..." I only nodded in quick response as I hurried my flank to my next destination.