and

Redhat started to put his gear. it had been a rather hard day of practice, and was finally about to gain the ability to retire. "So... Praetorian, when should I show up tomorrow?"

"At seven of the clock. We'll spar a bit, then go for a short march, about five hours or so, then we'll have a bit more general exercise, then have another sparring session."

"Sounds fair is suppose... when do you expect I’ll be able to leave?"

"Five o'clock, I suppose." Praetorian shrugs. "It'd really be a bit better if we had more ponies here, but I suppose we'll have to make do with what we have."

"Again, sounds fair... though more ponies would be nice."

“Well, we can't change that," says Praetorian. "Would be nice to have a wall, and a proper fort. But we don't have either of those, so we'll make do."

“Well those are on the list of things to be done, but as things stand, if a group of more than a few badger ponies would end us."

"That's as may be. But I'd ask you to stop spreading that around. We'll manage come badgers or Discordants."

"You know, the discordants are organized... they lack the brutish rage of the badgers. If they show I can promise you, as things currently stand, we'd be dead."

"I've served on the frontlines before, son. If they show, we'll give them a bloody nose."

"What if they've done the same? And, one would assume a group of them would at least have every pony in their ranks be in armor, and for the record, I am not you, son."

Praetorian sighs. "Fine. You want to despair for your life? Despair for it, then. But if they come, I intend to kill every single one of them, and I won't die alone. The Discordants aren't some invisible force, all-knowing and all-conquering. They have weaknesses. And you will only help them by going on about how we'll all die if they come."

Redhat sighed and gave him a look. "Sorry, my dear captain, just I feel if nobody is pointing out the obvious issues, they lose their sense of urgency."

"Yes, so saying that we'll all die to somepony who agrees with your ideas is the right way to go about it."

“If you're so afraid of death, then why join the military?"

"Because one with a spear is more capable at protecting himself."

"Protecting yourself? Put that out of your mind. You're here to protect the other ponies, not yourself."

"A military's job is to kill in the name of whoever hired, or forced you to join;Saying otherwise is a lie."

Praetorian slaps Redhat across the muzzle. "You are wrong. I may not have the luxury of quantity here, but I'm damned if I'll give up quality, too. You will shape up, or get out."

Redhat winced a little at the slap. "Oh... Did I offend? I'm sorry, I thought it was a guard’s job to guard and a soldier’s job to slay"

"A guard's job is to protect the civilians from themselves. A soldier's job is to protect the civilians from others."

"Then tell me, are those discordants who attack villages, and slay mares and foals soldiers?"

"No. They're barbarians."

"No, the badgers are barbarians, those creatures are just as intelligent and developed as us, just more cruel."

"Intelligence does not stop a being from being a barbarian."

"They are organized. They are as much a soldier as you are. and regardless, what if somepony who was in charge of you, a commander, a king, a duke, told you to kill somepony random in the street. No reason given. Just go and kill. Would you? A good ideal soldier would."

Praetorian glares at Redhat. "Have you got nothing inside that head of yours? Haven't you been listening to what I've been saying? They kill innocents. Ipso facto they are not soldiers. If somepony who was in charge of me told me to kill somepony for no reason, only an unstallionly pony would do so."

"Then you just defected, you committed treason and you disobeyed a direct order. good job."

"You have no understanding of military discipline, do you?"

"I've got a little lesson for you. This fort needs a moat. You're going to dig it.”

"The act of tyrants are done by stallions like you and me, who, given a spear and a shield, will do whatever they're told."

"More babbling. Go on. Get to digging."

"I will not question my captain, regardless of the order."

"Good. Get to digging. How many more times do I have to tell you this?"

"You aren't a very jolly one now are you?"

"Time's a-wasting."

Redhat starts to walk off. "God, and I thought we were getting along swimmingly"

and

Morning Dew let out a muffled cry as she shifted in the bed, feeling stabbing pain run up her legs yet again.  The pain just wouldn’t go away, no matter which way she twisted or turned, and it was almost impossible to lay still.  She sniffled and clenched her teeth as she flexed a knee.  There was a lot of blood too, but her hooves hurt too much to bring them up to look at them.  Was she going to be okay?

“Just relax now, Ms. Dew, everything is going to be quite alright,” the slender earth pony remarked calmly, “I’ve seen much worse than this”. What he hadn’t told her was that the “worse” cases he had seen were when he had access to superior medical facilities than he currently possessed. Nevertheless, Case Study felt that the could control the problem with what he had at hoof. The bleeding wasn’t as bad as it could have been; the main blood vessels in the leg remained unsevered.

Among the plants he had gathered, he had worked with some of them to produce ground-up pastes and extracts that would help to sanitize wounds and numb pain. In theory, at least. The stallion pulled the lid off of a glass jar filled with clear liquid. “Now hold as still as you can, Ms. Dew, the pain will go away soon,” he remarked before grasping a cloth to soak the fluid mixture of anaesthetic and antiseptic in. After a few seconds of wetting, he pulled it out and pressed it to the wound before wrapping the entire assembly in an outer, dry cloth. He repeated the process with the second leg. “It may take a few minutes for the hurting to completely subside, but you’ll make it.” He offered his hoof to squeeze if she felt the necessity to express her suffering until then.

Fear managed to work its way through the pain on her face as he moved to apply the bandages, and she winced and cried out as each was applied, eagerly accepting his hoof to squeeze.  She was panting and breathing a hundred times a minute as he finally finishes applying the bandages, and it took several full minutes for her to begin calming down.  The pain was definitely getting better, but wasn’t completely gone.

Study’s facial expression remained steely and unchanged throughout the event, but that didn’t mean he lacked sympathy. He simply felt that he could be more efficient by suppressing his emotions during medical procedures. “I’ll let that sit for a while until the bleeding stops. You’re certainly going to need stitches, but it shouldn’t require too many. I’ll do what I can to reduce the pain further in the meantime.” As he attempted to clean up the blood that had already stained the bed, Case Study tried to get Morning Dew’s mind off of her condition, “So, you’re one of the farmers here now? Was that your profession before coming to Duskfields as well?”

The mare dried some of her tears on the pillow under her head and made another small sniffle.  “That-that’s right.  I was pa-art of the group that arrived recently.”  She blinked and thought for a moment.  “I was a farmer back home too.  A-a place called Glittergleam.”

“I’m certain your services will be well-appreciated here. Working the fields is both a difficult and commendable job. I believe Mr. Temperance seeks to turn farming into the main economic venue in this territory, so I’m sure you’ll have no problem keeping work,” Study answered as he grabbed a list of notes he had written about what plants and other supplies he had in his inventory, “Let me know if the pain gets any worse, and I’ll apply more anaesthetic.”

“Uh... it-it still hurts some,” she said, testing a leg for an instant before halting the motion.  “D-did you say something about s-stitches earlier?  Is that going to h-hurt?”

He raises his eyes from his papers, “Your wound is too deep to heal naturally, so stitches will be in order. Now, now, don’t let fear of pain bother you, as I’m currently working on making a more concentrated pain-killing formula than what I have already used.” He rubbed his sharp chin with a hoof, “I do have something that might help calm you and relieve excess stress.” Case Study reached over and grabbed a bunch of flowers with his teeth. They were violet with yellow specks across each petal. After pulling the leaves and colorful parts off, he offered a stem to Morning Dew. “Chew on this. The juices within it should help. Just try to relax and let me worry about what to do next. Don’t be startled if you start to feel a bit sleepy.”

“O-okay,” she said, accepting the stem with her mouth.  She set to chewing on it immediately, eager for any sort of relief.  After a few moments she imagined she could already feel it  taking effect, but it had to be her imagination.  “Th-thank you.”

A few minutes later, she was definitely feeling something.  She just wanted to shut her eyes and forget about everything.  That sounded like such a great idea that she did, and soon enough she was in a light sleep, oblivious to whatever further treatment the doctor had in store for her.

and

Cream Puff is at her improvised kitchen, working on some fresh flatbread.  Her glorified campfire isn’t really built for real baking yet, but she’ll make do.

Praetorian walks over to the cook, shield and spear slung. “Excuse me, miss...uh, miss. You got any food going?”

She looks up from her pan and gives him a smile.  “Cream Puff, hun.  And I sure do!  Mostly sammiches until I get a real kitchen, though.”  She flips the breads over so they can finish cooking.  “What can I get you?”

“Just plain bread will do fine, miss Cream Puff,” says the soldier, with an ever-so-slightly gruff tone to his voice.

She quirks an eye at him.  “Just bread?  How can I keep a soldier strong and fit with just bread?  How about some eggs on it, or some tomato jam?”  She starts digging through her supplies, looking like she’s not going to just take ‘bread’ for an answer.

Praetorian shakes his head. “No, just bread will do fine. It’s what we got while on the march.”

She laughs, then favors him with a smile.  “Hun, you aren’t on the march right now.  And I’m not leaving anypony to just bread as long as I’m running the kitchen, no matter how improvised it is.  Your job is to protect us, and my job is to make sure you have the energy to do so.  So.”  Her smile fades from her eyes, but stays on her lips.  “What can I get you?”

“Well...” Praetorian ponders. “Maybe...Maybe a bit of dried fruit as well?”

The smile returns to her eyes as she returns to her pan and removes the flatbreads from it.  “You want that like a sammich, or do you like eating piecemeal?” she asks as she starts looking for whatever fruit they have.

“Uh, piecemeal,” says the soldier, hoping he got it right. Civilians and their foods. He’d never understand them.

She nods and soon returns her attention to him, a bag of dried fruit on her wing.  She scoops up a few pieces of fresh bread to join the fruit, then motions for him to take a seat.  “Hope you aren’t too busy to sit while you eat, Hun.”

“...No, no, I’m not too busy,” says Praetorian as he takes the seat. “Did...Did you want to talk about something?” He quirks his face at Cream Puff.

“Well, you’re new, so I don’t know you.  I like to get to know ponies, makes it easier to cook for them.”  She points a wing at his spear.  “Been carrying that long?”

Praetorian looks where she’s pointing, and nods. “I’ve been in the military for my sixteen years, and got my diploma. That’s why I’m here now. Sort of a retirement, without the dullness that it typically brings.”

She nods and follows him, handing him his food once he’s seated.  “No real plates yet, sorry.  Want to use your shield?” she sits across from him, still looking friendly.  “Probably why they put you in charge of that guy with the hat.”

Praetorian nods, and slides the oval shield off his back. “Redhat. He’s not the easiest of ponies to deal with, no. Still, I’ve known some ponies who were worse than he is, and we managed to get them in shape.” He shrugs, and takes a bite of the bread, chewing thoughtfully.

She chuckles.  “I bet, heh.  Saw him working on the ‘moat’ earlier.  Sounds like he needs discipline.”

“He’ll definitely need it,” says Praetorian, “especially if we do have another badger pony come. He thinks we’re all doomed already.” The unicorn snorts. “If we had any other choice, I’d get rid of him, but we don’t.”

Puff nods and takes a bite of bread as well.  “Hmm... needs just a little more salt.  Anyway, I’m sure you’ll get him sorted.  I’ve never heard of the badgerponies being organized enough to doom even a small settlement, but I’m not a militiamare.” she says with a wink.  “I’m just a chef who wanted the space to make her own food and bring my own brand of happiness.”

“You do make good food,” says the soldier.

She gives him a warm smile in response.  “Thanks!  I should be, I’ve been at it long enough, heh.  I can’t wait until we have room for a real kitchen.  And a few cows.  And more crops.  There’s always something more, you know?”

“I suppose,” replies her guest. “I’m not really used to anything other than bread and the occasional fruit.”

Puff gives him an almost predatory look and grin.  “I’m going to take your pallete on a journey, hun.  This is no soldier’s mess, this is my kitchen.  I’ll accept when you don’t like something, but you are not going to get away with just fruit and bread next time.  I take my job as seriously as you take yours.”  She smiles for a few moments, then blinks and facehoofs.  “I can’t believe I never asked your name!”

“Praetorian, miss Cream Puff,” says the soldier with a smile beginning to form on his face.

“Praetorian, huh?  Sounds like military is in your blood then.  And just Cream Puff, or even Puff.  I’m not real big on formality, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” she says with another smile.

“Hmm, no, I don’t think I would have noticed if you hadn’t told me,” Praetorian says with a hint of a laugh in his voice.

Puff laughs and stands up, finishing her bread.  “I think we’re going to get along just fine, Praetorian!”

“Perhaps we will. Perhaps we will.”

“Want any more bread or fruit, Hun?  This’ll be your last chance to get out of here with just those to eat.”

“No, I think this’ll keep me for a short amount of time,” Praetorian says, still smiling. He stands up. “I think I’d better go, then, and savour these last few moments alone.”

She nods and waves him off with a wing.  “Don’t let me keep you then.  And don’t be afraid to ask for seconds if you’re hungry!  Take care!”

Praetorian nods, and still smiling, leaves the pegasus to her duties.