CHAPTER 15

Hello again, everypony. I'm back with a new chapter, and a little earlier than I had anticipated. I'm sure you were all looking forward to more action and some answers following the events of the last chapter. The answers will come soon, but not now. For now, Drake needs to decompress after what has happened, so we will see how that goes. I hope you like this chapter, loyal readers. Enjoy, and please review.

"Are you sure this is the same pony?" Captain Steele asked. I reached out and took the glass of gin and ice in a shaking hoof, and brought it to my lips. I took a long drink. I felt an involuntary twitch of my entire upper body.

"It was her, Steele." I stated. "I swear to fucking Hell that was Pinkie Pie." I felt tired, like I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep. Screw the mission. I just wanted to sleep through it.

"Maybe...it was some pony who made herself look the same as this Pinkie Pie." Masada offered. I slowly looked at the Bitsraeli soldier. Her eyes betrayed her concern at my condition, and possibly the gravity of the situation. She looked away.

"It was her." I whispered, and took another drink of the gin.

"You said you killed her, LT." Captain Steele said. He placed a hoof on my shoulder and leaned toward me, like talking to a foal, or as if to try and make me believe his next statement. "It couldn't have been her if you killed her."

"It was her cutie mark. I remember it, Steele. I remember her eyes, her cutie mark, her mane." I felt myself drifting away, like you do when you're having a daydream. "It's been...burned into my memory all this time...I couldn't forget her..."

"Then she was still alive." Steel concluded. "She survived and..."

"Bullshit!" I exploded. Masada and the other soldier in the room jumped at my outburst. The SpecialOps captain didn't move an inch. "I fucking killed her, captain! I run her through and slit her fuckin' throat from ear to ear! I watched her bleed out. I saw her in the morgue! She's dead!" I was shaking. Not just trembling, but shaking like a pony freezing to death.

"Understood." Steele sighed. "I believe you. No matter how screwed up it sounds." He stepped away from me. "I'm going to have the original body exhumed for ID tomorrow morning. You get some sleep, Lieutenant. You need it." All I could do was nod and raise a hoof in a wave. He walked out of Twilight's house, his subordinate behind him, and the room was silent for a few moments.

"This is...strange, isn't it?" Masada finally asked. I looked at her a moment, having forgotten that she was in the room.

"How's Dashie and Budder?" I asked back.

"They are alright, Drake." She replied softly. "Rainbow Dash, she was very upset by this. Princess Twilight, she take Rainbow Dash to her room. They have been there all night."

"Upset." I repeated. "You have no idea...how...upsetting this is." I whispered. I tried to pour myself some more gin, but I was shaking so badly now, I couldn't. The Bitsraeli soldier sighed, and stomped over, grabbing the bottle from my hoof and pouring half a glass of the stiff drink.

"You should not drink like this." She said. "It is bad for thinking."

"That's why I'm doing it." I said matter-of-factly.

"What is your history with Pinkie Pie?"

"I ain't drunk enough to say." I muttered angrily. "My sister..."

"She is upstairs with her friend." Masada stated. "She too was upset, but by your...condition."

"Yeah...she takes care of me." I muttered.

"I can see that." Masada nodded. I raised the glass and paused, my eyes catching on the faded pink scar on my foreleg. I took the glass in my other hoof and stared at the old wound as I took a drink of gin.

"That scar..." The sergeant said in a low voice. "This...Pinkie Pie, she gave you that scar."

"Yeah." I replied. "Straight through the leg. I was..." Another drink. "I was protecting Dashie from her. She was going to kill Rainbow Dash. For no reason. She was...crazy...full-on, batshit psycho. Sergeant, she fought like a demon...but I killed her. I killed her, and it was over. And now she came back...I don't understand, sergeant. How could she come back?"

"Strange things happen." She said calmly. "You know this. And this is one of those strange things."

"No shit." I whispered. She sighed.

"We do what we must." The sergeant said stoically.

"Hm?"

"It is something my people say..."

"It comes from your war...when you were establishing your country, right?" I returned, remembering my military history.

"Yes. And it is how we have existed this long." She stated. Her blue eyes stared into mine. "When in a bad situation...with no escape, you can only do what you must. You must have faith. That is why you have to suck it up...and do what you have to." I looked into her serious face for a moment.

"You just tell me...to suck it up?" I queried.

"Yes...I...did." Masada replied tersely. "Without regard to rank. It is the way of our army."

"And I agree with it." I grumbled. "Puts things in perspective when an NCO tells you like it is..." She smiled and cocked her head almost arrogantly. I started to take a drink from my glass, but noticed almost mournfully that it was empty. Masada scoffed, grabbed the bottle, took a small swig, then poured me a little more.

"Go easy on the alcohol, Lieutenant." She advised. "You have much to do tomorrow. We need our team leader." She smacked her lips. "And this drink tastes like pine cones." I started to take a drink, but instead, sat the glass down on the table next to me. Masada gave me a quick smile of approval and nodded dutifully. "Thank you, sir."

"Don't ever worry about me not doing my duty' I said calmly, leaning back in the chair, staring at the dark wooden ceiling. "I've always done my duty. The end of the day, I'm just a soldier..." I said, reflecting on my life.

"No, you are hero." The sergeant corrected me. "And a good officer. I am just a soldier." She grinned. "And a good one."

"I'd believe it..." I chuckled. "What it takes to be a good soldier..."

"Anypony can do it, but few can." Masada quipped. I thought on that, on what she meant by it. It. The one and only thing that had hung over my head through the years rolled over my mind like a storm cloud. The one trap of being a good soldier. The one regret...

"Twenty eight..." I whispered coldly. I looked to see Masada staring into my eyes. A look of understanding came over her, and she scoffed then nodded lightly.

"Fifty seven." She said back. It was then that I realized that this was a professional soldier, a pony who has seen combat, most of it probably clandestine. She had killed twice as many enemy combatants as I had. She had seen the same horrors and violence that I had, and been in the blood and the guts and still, this NCO looked up to me. In her country, thousands of miles away, this young soldier considered me a hero.

I had to do what she said and suck it up. I had to keep doing what I do best. I was getting older...getting tired and worn out, and I couldn't do all of the things I once did. My job was almost over. I had saved lives. I had stopped wars, broken criminal rings and destroyed evil. Now, it was up to a new generation to follow in those hoofsteps, to continue trying to make the world a better place. And apparently, to some of them, I was a hero, somepony to emulate. I felt the weight of it, but it wasn't a burden. It was probably how a teacher feels when they see their students going out into the world and becoming great. Was I really a hero?

"Get some sleep, lieutenant. We need you tomorrow." Sergeant Masada stated. She started to leave, then turned back to me. "I am...sorry you had to see your enemy return. I can only imagine how you feel."

"She's dead at least." I remarked. I shook my head. "How she came back, I don't know, but she's dead now...again." I sighed heavily, my body needing sleep. "Just gotta find the other killers now. Make some sense of this shit. Ugh...I'll see you tomorrow, sergeant." She nodded, and walked out of the room. I stood and reached for the glass of gin. My hoof stopped an inch from the drink, and I decided against it. I had to go upstairs and check on Dashie.

A fairly deep chapter, huh? I think that finally, after all of this time, Drake is beginning to learn and accept how important he has been to so many ponies, and he's starting to figure out what his life has meant. And no, there will be nothing "going on" between Drake and Masada. Just as Drake reckoned, ponies like Masada, Rusty, Shadow, Budder and others he's inspired and led are the new bloods, the future of everything he's lived to accomplish. Remember that the lesson of this entire series is that all things come full circle. That will play into the finale of this story as well, but I will give no spoilers as to what that means. I will try to have the next chapter up later tonight or tomorrow afternoon. Until then, thanks for reading! -Drake