Wind Slash sniffled as she fastened the last strap securing her armour. She placed her helmet on her head, the enchantment changing her appearance to the uniform white and blue. The mare looked into the bathroom mirror, her altered appearance failing to hide the tear trails under her eyes.

She had no clue as to why she felt so emotionally torn, the human’s words cutting her deep. The night before had seemed like a dream, Wind Slash able to remember every detail as she had drank little alcohol. Corporal Stevens had seemed so confident and bold when he was speaking, Wind having found herself quickly becoming intrigued with the human’s personality. As the night had gone on the curiosity had morphed into attraction, the human acted so different to any other male Wind had met. She had eventually worked up the courage to confess her attraction to him after she had followed him to his room, Stevens proving to be quite accepting on her.

Wind sniffled again as she stared at the mirror, a sad excuse for a guardmare staring back at her. Her initial assumption that Stevens also found her attractive had been shattered, his words this morning making that very clear. Was it because she was a pony and not a human? Wind knew that many ponies looked down upon inter-species couples; maybe it was the same for humans?

The Corporal sighed with her eyes looking down as she left the bathroom to head out of the room door. If it was true then she would never get to experience the thrill that she had last night again. A part of her could understand where Stevens was coming from but another longed for the experience to blossom into something more.

*Thunk*

Wind Slash fell back onto her rump as her helmet made contact with a solid object. The mare looked up, Stevens standing in the doorway looking down at the startled mare. His face was covered in blood and his intimidating armour was covered in dirt and grime.
“Wind Slash,” Stevens began, his voice strained, “I had a talk with a friend of mine and he gave me some friendly advice regarding us. Please just let me explain why I said the things I did…”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

After Nigel had explained to Warm Hearth the circumstances surrounding the shattering of her window and provided ample compensation he re-entered the dining room, sitting down at the table to resume his breakfast. Every eye in the room was focused on him, the Commander paying them no heed as he continued to eat his toast.

Mister Nigel,” the awkward silence was broken by Bleak Horizon, “why did you attack Mister Stevens?” Nigel paused his breakfast to wipe the corner of his mouth with a napkin, looking down at the colt who had sat down beside him, the young pony looking up at the Commander with his eyes filled with confusion.

“Mister Stevens and I had to have an adult talk Horizon,” Nigel answered, “a talk that Mister Stevens didn’t want to have. By tackling him out of a window he was forced to listen to what I had to say and thanks to that talk some problems that he was having will hopefully go away.”

Horizon stared at Nigel sceptically, the grey colt narrowing his aqua eyes as he dissected the offered answer. Nigel put on his best poker face as he squared off against the child.

“Okay,” the colt relented “as long as Mister Stevens is happy after his talk then I’ll let you off.”

‘I don’t think he will be,’ Nigel thought as he grinned at Horizon, the colt nuzzling the Commander’s armoured leg. The Commander continued to eat, the rest of the room following his example when it was clear that no further information would be shared. The three guard privates, Tornado, Gust and Feathers all had moved to a table away from the Commander, all three ponies watching him with nervous looks. They were new guards, all three passing training barely a month ago and they felt like they were incredibly under-qualified to deal with such creatures.

A few minutes after Nigel’s explanation the sound of something descending the stairs outside of the room floated through the open door, everyone turning to look at the doorway.

Stevens entered and sat down at a table, the ponies and changelings gasping at his blood-covered form while the other wraiths paid no attention, all of them secretly happy that someone had finally taught the Corporal a lesson that was long over-due. Corporal Wind Slash also arrived a moment later, the guard sitting down at the same table as Stevens with a smile on her face.

“You seem rather cheerful Corporal Slash,” Nigel commented as he feigned ignorance, “did you sleep well?” Wind Slash blushed as she reached over the table to snag a piece of toast from the plate belonging to Stevens, the human voicing no objection much to the surprise of the room.

“Well, me and Stevens…” she trailed off, unsure how to break the news to the others, especially her subordinates. Private Feathers however had it covered, the mare smirking as she solved the problem for the Corporal.

“We all know what you two go up to; we could hear it from our rooms last night” Feathers grinned as Wind’s blush deepened, the mare attempting to hide her face behind a stack of napkins. Stevens still didn’t say anything, choosing instead to take another bite of toast. He resembled a zombie, his mind appearing to be blank as he repeated the same action robotically.

“Don’t be so embarrassed Corporal, I’m fairly certain that most of the girlish squeals came from Stevens,” Nigel said, causing all of the wraiths except for Stevens to burst into laughter.

Corporal Stevens at first looked like he was going to reply before he stopped and looked down dejectedly at the half-eaten piece of toast in his hand. Wind noticed this and the mare left her seat, choosing one next to the Corporal as she patted him on the armoured back with a hoof.

“Don’t act so miserable Stevens, after all we’re going to spend the entire day together like you promised and we’re going to have so much fun!”

Wind Slash missed how the Corporal’s frown deepened, the mare too preoccupied with nuzzling his shoulder affectionately as she giggled. Nigel shot the rest of the room a smug look before he placed his helmet on his head, the red optics coming to life as he stood up from the table.

“On that note I think it’s time to hit the town,” Nigel suggested, marching towards the door with Horizon walking beside him and the rest of the group in tow.

“Onwards, for the glory of the UIP!” he shouted, goose-stepping out of the Inn into the street.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I have come to the conclusion that the locals are not ecstatic about our presence Commander,” Boland voiced through his helmet speakers as he glanced at the various creatures staring at the group, the majority of them ponies.

“I don’t care; all we have to do is remain civil. We don’t have to make friends with them Sergeant” Nigel replied, the Commander spotting an ice-cream parlour a few stalls away. He looked down at Horizon, the clot leaning against Nigel’s right leg as the foal shivered from all of the curious looks the group was receiving.

“Hey Horizon,” Nigel addressed the foal, Horizon looking up at him, “would you like an ice cream?”

The colt’s scared expression changed into a smile, the young pony nodding happily at the question.

“Yes please! Can I have a Strawberry one Nigel?” he asked, Nigel’s helmet nodding at his question.

“You can pick whatever flavour you want Horizon” the Commander answered as he headed towards the shop, the colt trotting joyfully beside him. The rest of the group consisting of the five wraiths, the three changelings and the four guards moved to a couple of benches to the left of them, all of the ponies sitting on them quickly leaving as the strange bipeds approached. Everyone sat down, awaiting the return of the Commander and the foal.

“Hey,” Private Tornado asked the seated wraiths, “what’s the deal with that colt, why does he act like the Commander is his father?” None of the wraiths responded to the pony’s question, the changeling, Mirror, looking at them before she sighed and turned to the pony guard.

“Bleak Horizon treats Commander Chalmers like a father because Horizon’s parents were killed by Diamond Dogs. The dogs had a bunch of ponies as slaves in a mine and the Commander killed all of the dogs before burying Horizon’s mother.” The four Pegasi all paled at the thought of what an effect such an experience would have on a child.

“He didn’t kill all of the dogs,” Corporal Smith spoke up, “Corporal Watts and I got a few as well, filthy slavers.” This comment earned Smith the attention of the four ponies.

“You really hate slavers that much?” questioned Private Gust, the Stallion still shaken, “I don’t like the idea either, but to go so far as to just kill them doesn’t seem right.”

Smith let out a snort at the Gust’s query, “What’s not to hate about them?” he replied, his grip on his rifle tightening. “It’s one thing to kill a being, at least then they get some peace from the troubles of life. With slavery it’s nothing but prolonged torture, the consequences continuing even after the slaves are freed, if they’re freed at all that is. Just look at Horizon, that colt is only about seven years old and witnessed the violent deaths of his parents; I’m surprised that he’s even able to act like he does now, considering.”

“Even when Changelings capture ponies for food,” Nestor stated, the changeling receiving unpleasant looks from the four pony guards, “the pony is sleeping though it the entire time. We used to need to do this to survive,” Nestor removed a vial from his bag as he said this, puncturing the top with a fang “now we can just use these vials. From what I understand of Diamond Dogs they only use slaves to mine for gems. At least we had a reason for what we had to do.”

At his explanation the guards’ harsh looks softened, their admittedly short time spent around the changelings having convinced them to feel less hatred for the love-reliant creatures. Gust looked at the vials that Nestor and Mirror held, the changelings drinking from them as the wraiths simply stared back at any surrounding ponies stupid enough to stare hatefully at the group. Gust then looked over at Reflection, the changeling the only one not drinking from a vial.

“Why don’t you need to drink stuff like they do?” Gust asked the changeling, gesturing towards Nestor and Mirror. Private Tornado stared at his colleague like he simple.

“Are you serious?” Tornado asked disbelievingly. “Are you telling me that you haven’t noticed that the changeling and that strange human over there,” Tornado pointed towards Jacobs, the human clenching his fist and raising a middle-finger in return, “are constantly fawning over each other? She’s probably just feeding off him, thought why anypony would love a changeling is beyond me.”

Everyone looked at Reflection, expecting the changeling to become upset with the pony’s words. Reflection however just grinned at Tornado and stood up on her hind legs on the bench, her head level with Jacob’s helmet. Without saying a word she kissed the base of the helmet before running her small red tongue up to the top with a sultry look on her face.

Both Gust and Tornado’s wings extended sharply, Murray falling off the bench as he laughed at the pairs’ reaction, all of the other humans and changelings in various states of amusement. Feathers looked at her two male comrades with a disproving glare.

“Males” she muttered, the two Stallions blushing hard as they tried to push their wings down with their hooves with no success. Jacobs removed his helmet to wipe the changeling saliva off it, leaving himself open to attack. Reflection, who was slightly high off the sudden increase of attention capitalised on his mistake by invading the surprised human’s mouth with her tongue. Jacobs after a few seconds of surprise responded, grabbing the back of the changeling’s head with a hand as he pulled her in deeper, much to the shock of the guards and the surrounding civilians.

“What in the seven flaming circles of Hell?”

Reflection and Jacobs broke apart at the sound of the Commander’s surprised voice, the pair as well as every other being at the benches rotating to face him.

Standing a couple of meters away was the Commander covered in ice cream with Horizon at his side, the colt’s single cone of strawberry forgotten as the two looked upon the scene in front of them. Jacobs hastily re-attached his helmet as Reflection sat back down sheepishly as she attempted to make herself as small as possible. Nigel switched his gaze from the pair that he had caught in the act to the two guard Stallions, the ponies’ wings still straight up in the air.

“I leave you alone for five minutes to get an ice cream for Horizon,” Nigel said, the crowd of civilian ponies that had all been watching the spectacle looking fearfully up at him, the Commander already having established a reputation with his earlier assault of Stevens on the street.

“When I come back I find one of my subordinates making-out with his changeling lover in public surrounded by a crowd of” –Nigel scanned the crowd of onlookers, the computer systems in his helmet calculating the number of ponies- “seventy-three ponies. Judging from the condition of two of our guards you put on quite a show, entirely un-appropriate for such a public place. Do you know what I have to say about it?”

The Commander directed his attention towards Jacobs and Reflection, both beings slowly shaking their heads nervously.

“Carry on!” Chalmers exclaimed, much to the shock of everyone witnessing it, “it's stuff like this that makes me love my job! Well, that and the fact that I get paid a boatload of money but still, good on you!” The Commander turned to Horizon, picking up the foal while making sure the colt’s ice cream didn’t fall off the cone.

“Let’s leave these guys alone Horizon, I think I saw a toy shop further down the road.” Horizon let out a cheer, the Commander humming merrily as he carried the ecstatic colt down the road.

“Shouldn’t one of us be following him?” Private Feathers asked, the mare looking between the Gust and Tornado, who were still having trouble with their wings and Corporal Slash. The two stallions would be more of a burden in their current condition and Corporal Wind Slash was looking at the human she was next to with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Feathers let out a sigh as she left the group to follow the human Leader; evidently she was the only one who still was capable of doing her job.

“I better get promoted after this” she mumbled to herself under her breath, following the shouts of alarm coming from up ahead.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Griffonia - Soaring Heights Castle

“So it is agreed then, the Equestrians must pay for the lives of our soldiers that they wasted in their folly.”

Emperor Kestrel looked across the table, various generals from both the Griffon and Minotaur Empires seated around it nodding in confirmation.

“Do the Zebras still refuse to commit their troops?” The Emperor inquired to his High Commander, Commander Talon. The large griffon stood up, his form covered in metal armour as he saluted his Emperor.

“The Cowards wish to not risk another war,” he said hatefully, “they fear that we will draw the ire of the daemons if we once again march on Equestrian soil.”

“Preposterous!” Emperor Kestrel responded, “The monsters would never aid the Equestrians against us, such foul beasts would never work with such soft creatures. The Equestrians have proven that their military forces are incompetent. We trusted them with our soldiers and we paid for it dearly, it is time for the Equestrians to learn that they cannot expect us to just forgive them!”

The surrounding creatures let out a hearty cheer as they raised cups filled with various liquids, the Griffon Emperor smiling as he joined them, already planning his post-victory celebration in his mind.