Jaze rolled out of bed, and quickly got dressed. He had a lot of work to do before the Cye returned and he was anxious to get to it. He knew that he needed to work on his skills with the sword again. Despite being injured, he should have been able to land a blow. He looked at Sairugi, leaned against his night stand. Like when he had been an assassin, he found he could no longer sleep unless the sword was within reach. It disturbed him that he had reverted to his old habits so quickly. He thought long and hard about how he could improve himself in the time given to him. He needed opponents to sharpen his skills, but he did not know where to find them on this peaceful world.

The assassin strapped the sword to his belt and left to make himself a quick breakfast; hoping that a full stomach would help him think. He soon noticed that somepony was already up and cooking. Trixie had taken to getting up early to make breakfast before he could even force himself to rise. He hated that she was doing this for him, but she said that she would not stop. He was grateful, very much so, but he still felt like he was taking advantage of her. When he had said as much, she had merely smiled and said that it was just one way that she could help him. Resigned to his fate of having her do this kindness for him, he had stopped arguing and just let her have this.

He tried to look at things from her perspective; there was nothing she could do to avert the coming storm so she was doing all she could to help him prepare. After think about it that way, he could not help but accept her offer. It did not hurt that she was a much better cook than he was.

“Good morning, Trix.” He got a nose-full of something that set his stomach to growling, “That smells great, is it ready?”

“It will be in a minute.” Trixie looked into his eyes, causing his stomach to do a flip. He wanted so badly to confess his feelings for the purple-eyed unicorn, yet he was afraid to push her away. She would not feel the same, he thought sadly, why would she? I’m not even a pony; she would just think I was sick. These cheery thoughts in his mind, Jaze took his place at the table as Trixie placed the food before him. Before they could start eating, however, a knock came at the door.

“It’s open!” Jaze called out, reluctant to leave his food. He heard the door open and into the kitchen stepped, Dash and Applejack.

“Howdy there, Jaze.” Applejack said as she pulled up a chair.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Dash said as she, too, took a seat and smelled the food, “Smells tasty, can, we?” A glare rose from Applejack, but the growl her stomach produced expressed her own silent wish. She gave a blush at the unexpected noise.

Jaze gave the two a smile, “Help yourselves, we have enough food.” The two eager ponies pulled plates over to themselves and dished themselves so of the meal Trixie had prepared. As they dug in, Jaze watched his two friends. The four ate without a word until Jaze’s stare became too uncomfortable for the orange earth pony.

“What is it, sugar cube?” She asked nervously.

“What did you two need from me?” the soldier replied calmly.

“Who said we need anything?” Rainbow replied defensively, “Can’t we just come over to see our friends?”

“Before the sun is up? And before you ate breakfast? I doubt it.” Trixie had picked up on their lie and her curiosity was piqued.

“Yer righ’, we do need t’ ask ya sumthin,” Applejack sighed remorsefully, “We was wonderin’ if ya could train us to fight.”

Jaze’s eyes narrowed, “What?” His voice had the same icy quality that it had when during his fight with Trixie.

“We want to learn to fight, like you.” Dash responded, failing to pick up on her friend’s mood change.

It was not lost on Applejack however, “What’s wrong, sugar cube?”

Jaze’s mind was struggling against itself. On one hand, they could provide him with the opponents he needed to recover his skills. But on the other, he didn’t want to start them on the path of a warrior. It was a terrible path to walk and he did not want to expose these two, so young and innocent, to the terrors that it involved. The three ponies watched as Jaze grappled with his mental dilemma. His mind would start leaning one way, then quickly make a one-eighty and go the other.

After several minutes he finally said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

“Why not?” Applejack asked him, a look of disappointment.

“Because you are too young, that is why I can’t teach you.”

“You’re no older than us!” Dash said in indignation.

“Only physically,” the scarred assassin sighed, “look, let me put it this way. Why do you to want to learn to fight?”

“To help ya, and everypony else. Yer doing what ya can, an’ we jus’ want t’ do our part.”

“Yeah, not to mention the fact that it is so cool. I mean, you were out there, taking out the bad guys. That is so many levels of cool. Not mention a great cause; we just want to be a part of it.”

“So you want to do good in the universe? You want to be the ones to go out and meet evil head on?”

“Yeah, Ah guess ya could say it like that.” Applejack wore a confident smile.

“Yeah, that’s what we want. We want to be defenders of the innocent, like you.” Dash wore a smile that bespoke her pride at finding such a noble answer.

“Those are childish notions that lead to good people dying foolish deaths.” The ponies all looked at Jaze in shock. Even Trixie could not believe what she had heard.

“What do you mean, childish? Isn’t that exactly what you do?” Dash asked as her anger rose.

“Yes, that is what I fight for. What you don’t seem to get is why you learn to fight.”

“Then tell us, wise old soldier that you are.” Dash sneered, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“One learns to fight with one purpose in mind, to kill. Not for any ideals, not to help the ones you love. Learning to fight is learning to kill. That is what you both are failing to grasp.”

“Ah could kill…” Applejack started, but her face was telling the true story.

“Really?” Jaze asked, scorn creeping into his own voice, “You could look into someone’s eyes and watch their terror as the stroke of your blade extinguishes their life? You could do that?” He drew Sairugi and set the sword in front of the farmer, “Prove it. Take that sword and kill me. If you can show me you are willing to do that, then mayhap you can be taught.” Applejack stared at the sword; then picked it up, holding it awkwardly between her hooves. She looked at Jaze, then back to the sword. She began to shake, and then dropped the gleaming weapon at his feet.

“Ah can’t, Ah jus’ can’t.” Tears were in her eyes as she truly realized the horror of what the assassin had been through.

“I know, Applejack, I know.” He gave her a comforting hug, whispering softly in her ear, “That is what being a warrior is about. What you felt is the greatest danger to a fighter, not the battle and most certainly not the opponent. I just don’t think you two could handle dealing with that on a daily basis. You are both too pure. Please, let these foalish notions pass from your minds.”

“But that’s not fair!” Dash cried out in resentment, “You’re her friend. How could you expect her to kill you?”

“I knew that she wouldn’t, but I needed her to know what it felt like to hold somepony’s life in your hand. Stranger or friend, the feeling is the same. You two cannot handle that.”

“What do you know?!” Dash said in a fury, “I could be twice the fighter you are!” She dove at him, her hoof held high to deliver a blow to his face, wings beating to add force to the punch. She hoped that knocking him cold would make him reconsider his foolish choice; she knew she could do anything she set her mind to.

Jaze raised a hand, pushing her blow away from his body as easily as one would a gnat, grabbing her hoof in the process. Dash suddenly found herself off balance in the air, a position she rarely found herself in. She saw the punch coming in under her foreleg, but in her awkward pose she could do nothing to stop or avoid it. The hit was debilitating; it caused her foreleg to go numb. Jaze used the fist under her leg and the hand on her hoof to pull her from the air and pin her to the ground in one fluid motion. Then next thing Dash knew, Sairugi was pressed to her throat. She looked into Jaze’s merciless eyes and froze.

“Jaze…” Trixie started, but was silenced by a glare from the soldier.

He fixed his eyes to Dash again, “This is why you in particular aren’t ready. You let your feelings interfere far too easily. An enemy will try to goad you into making mistakes, and your pride makes you far too susceptible to their mind games.”

Dash was glaring death at the human holding her, “I could learn not to let them get to me. Besides, didn’t you let the Carn guy get under your saddle?”

Jaze stood up, “And look where it got me. Carn escaped, Equestria is on the verge of invasion, and now I have to try to lead three thousand soldiers in her defense against as many Cye as Carn can bring. By letting emotion rule me, I caused all this. Do you see?” He helped the pegasus to her feet, “Emotion can’t be part of your battle, not until you have won.”

Dash hung her head in defeat, “I get it, but…”

“No buts.” Jaze cut her off sharply, “You both are just not ready.”

“Jaze,” Trixie said in a calm voice, “teach them.”

“Why should I?”

“Because a teacher learns as much from their students as the students learn from the teacher.”

“I know that,” Jaze stared at the ground, “but I’m letting my emotions rule me in this, too. I just don’t want any of you to have to fight; it changes people.”

“We’re going to have to change regardless. The trails ahead need to be met, and these two are willing to meet them. Teach them what you can. You know that they’re going to meet these challenges head on; give them the skills to come out alive.”

Jaze sighed, “I just can’t say no to you, can I?” he looked to the two ponies in front of him, “Fine then, I’ll train you two. But you have to do what I say, when I say it. I’m trying to impart years of hard work and dedication into a few weeks. So no arguing, understood?”

“Yessir!” The two excited ponies said in unison.

“Alright then, let’s get going. I have feeling we have a long day ahead of us.

“Here, try this.” Jaze tied the piece of rebar to Dash’s hoof, “Is that better.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t feel like it’s gonna fall off anymore.” She replied thoughtfully, “But I can’t put my hoof down comfortably.”

“That’s fine; we need you to toughen up.” He glanced to Applejack, “That knot still holding?”

“Yep, but Ah think that Ah’ll need a break from holdin’ it up soon.”

“C’mon Applejack, you should be used to this kind of thing.” the soldier mocked.

“Ah am, jus’ not used to holding my hoof in the air few awhile.”

They had borrowed the large steel bars from a small stash at the Ponyville Construction Company to approximate swords. They then wrapped them in several layers of padding to hopefully stop them from breaking bones and causing serious injury. But they still hurt enough to make one wary of getting hit, which was exactly what Jaze had wanted. He had not told his apprentices yet, but the rebar was much heavier than an actual sword of equal length

“Well, tough it out. You girls wanted to learn swordsman… uh, swordsponyship, so this will be just another part of the training.” He picked up his own piece of rebar and held it away from himself; showing them that he was going through the training as well, “The first thing I have to teach you is this: ‘there is no honor in a fight’. You are both athletes and so you have ideas about fair play. Drop them, all they will do is get you killed.”

“What do you mean?” Dash asked in confusion.

“Think about this, if learning to fight is learning to kill then it stands to reason that anything that achieves that goal should be used. Don’t withhold a blow from behind because you want to be fair; the only thing you need to worry about is dispatching your opponent.” Jaze cast his eyes to the ground, “This is a bitter lesson to learn on your own, so please take it to heart. I know.” He looked back up at the two, “Besides, it is far easier to kill someone when they aren’t looking at you.” The soldier was impressed; both of them had not reacted to his mention of killing beyond a terse nod. Who knows, he thought with a wry smile, these two may actually make decent fighters.

It was odd for Jaze, trying to teach somepony how to fight. He had to alter a lot of the basic stances to fit their four legged stature, and moving was awkward at first. But the two quickly adjusted to the odd shuffle needed to maintain balance on three hooves. After two hours of learning where and how to strike various parts of the body and how to defend against those strikes Jaze helped them to untie their hooves from their “swords” and gave them a short break. As they stretched their sore arms, the assassin began thinking of ways to give them a weapon that they could store when not in use, but still have it be easily accessible in battle. They can’t just have the blade tied to their hooves, thought Jaze; that would get in the way, a grin passed across his face, unless…

Jaze called them back over to him, “Alright, now were going to work with the other hoof. Balance is essential to swordsmanship; even if you don’t use your other hand often just doing some training will teach you to guard both sides of your body. And that is a mistake a lot of novices make; failing to guard both sides.”

After getting the rebar strapped to the proper hooves, Jaze stood back and held his own before him, “Now come at me!”

“What?” the confused ponies asked in unison.

“I said, come at me. The fastest way to improve is by actually fighting. We won’t be trying to kill each other, but the fighting will help you build your stamina.” He gave them a confident smirk, “C’mon, you know what you’re doing. Just try and land a blow on me. Just don’t aim for the head; that might kill someone. Now come on, and fight me! Dash, you first.”

“Okay…” the nervous pegasus replied. She stepped forward, nervous but determined to prove herself to Jaze. They stood sizing each other up for a moment, before Dash rushed forward with her bar held high to strike. Jaze parried the blow and reached out with his own bar to strike at her exposed ribs. She skipped outside his range and his swing went wide, exposing his side to a vicious counterattack from the cyan blur that rushed forward to take advantage of the opportunity. Jaze jumped back and thought in wonder, damn, already she’s learning to show no remorse. She has the heart of a soldier, no doubt.

As the battle waged between them, Jaze became more and more impressed. Dash was already a skilled fighter, if a little unpolished. He could tell as she managed to land a strike on his knee that she could easily become an excellent swordspony if she kept her head on straight. Her only problem was pride. When she had landed the attack on his knee, she had exclaimed in victory giving Jaze a chance to lash her on the shoulder.

Slowly, the assassin could see that she was getting tired. Sweat poured from her face, and her sides heaved as she fought for breath. Dash’s swings were getting slower and carrying less force. Not to mention she was getting frustrated; she had only managed to land one blow while the human had landed three. Her swings became wild, not particularly aimed at any spot. He needed to boost her confidence but he could not see how.

“Remember, don’t catch a sword with yours. Turn it aside, it will help you stay fresh and give an opportunity to counter.” He instructed, still searching for a way to help her.

“Got it…” she huffed as she swung her bar upwards trying to catch him off guard.

That upwards swing must have been awkward, Jaze thought as he avoided the blow, wait, upward! “C’mon Dash, I am I not good enough for you?”

“What?” she asked as she swung again.

Jaze easily dodged, “You’ve yet to give it your all! You have a big advantage on me and you still haven’t used it. C’mon, show me your best.” He began a savage assault, forcing her to shuffle backwards quickly. She was being overwhelmed and she knew it. What could the advantage that the soldier was talking about be?

Jaze watched as first confusion, then understanding played on her face. She quickly unfurled her wings and took to the air above him. She ascended out of his reach to let herself catch her breath. At least, that was what the assassin thought she was doing. Like a bolt from on high, she came down at him; putting every ounce of force she could muster into her next blow. Jaze was knocked off balance as the cyan juggernaut blew past him. She quickly turned around for another pass. It was Jaze’s turn to be on the defensive as Dash continued to rocket passed him, lashing out with her weapon as she went by. Jaze had no chance to counter as before he could regain his balance she was already gone, turning around for another swing. On her next pass, Jaze stepped in front of her and brought his bar down at her. She managed to block the blow, but unable to continue passed him as she had been.

When she started to fly backwards to escape what she believed a trap, Jaze held up his hand, “That’s enough for now. That was a good idea to do a fly-by like that, but don’t rely on it exclusively. There may be times when you’re too cramped to fly, so you need to develop your abilities on the ground. But never forget that are a flier, and that gives you a huge advantage over any opponent stuck on the ground.”

“Right…” Dash landed, out of breath and exhausted, but pleased by her performance.

“Give me a few minutes to catch my breath then we’ll go a round.” Jaze told Applejack as he set his rebar “sword” aside.

“Not pro’lem,” she said, also out of breath. Jaze saw that she had been practicing while he had fought with Dash. Her dedication made him grin with pride. They really were applying their all into learning to wield a sword.

Grin still in place, Jaze strode over to a nearby stream and splashed his face with water to cool off. He ordered the two ponies to take a drink, and brought the cool liquid to his own lips. His arms and chest were already sore from his mock battle and he was not looking forward to the next. After his hands stopped throbbing from Dash’s final assault, he stood up and beckoned to Applejack.

“Alright then AJ. Round one, fight!” This time Jaze started the fight, coming in with his sword held high to strike down at her shoulder. She dodged to his left and swung at his legs, trying to knock his legs out from under him. The assassin took a chance and jumped over her swing, landing just as her swing passed by. He swung at her foreleg to make her lose control of her weapon, but she danced nimbly out of reach and countered with a strike at his chest. Jaze was forced to catch the bar, causing his already sore hands to cry out in agony. Applejack had the advantage of watching the fight between him and Dash and had learned many of his tricks.

Applejack wore a grin, she had a surprise for the soldier. The orange pony reared up on her hind legs and delivered a powerful downward strike. Again, Jaze was unable to turn it aside and was forced to catch the blow. It caused him to stumble and gave Applejack time to swing toward his stomach in a vicious attack.

The silver-eyed assassin jumped back, well out of reach. His hands were numb from the blow and he was having trouble keeping his hands on his weapon. He had not expected her to have quite that much power already. She took the chance to launch several more blows at him as he struggled to regain his composure. He parried the blows and launched his own attack.

The battle waged back and forth, neither able to gain dominion over the other. Applejack tried to land another staggering blow on the soldier and reared up in preparation. As she brought the bar down, Jaze spun away from the blow. Before she could recover, the soldier had planted his foot on her weapon and his own was at her throat. They stayed locked in that position for a moment until Jaze stepped back and let Applejack lift her weapon from the ground.

“That was a good thought,” the soldier said proudly, “throwing all your weight and strength into one blow. But a trick only works once, then they’ll know to expect it. Don’t rely on your strength alone, you will have to move in battle if you want to stay alive. Flow around your opponent and look for gaps in his guard; that’s how you will beat someone with the least chance of injury to yourself.”

“Ah got it, Jaze.” The orange earth pony answered tiredly.

The worn-out warrior checked the position of the sun, “I think that we can stop for today. But before you go there is something that I need to say.” He plopped down on the grass and beckoned for the two ponies to do the same.

“What’s up, Teach?” Dash asked as she sat across from Jaze.

“Yeah, what ya need t’ tell us?” Applejack took a seat next to her cyan friend.

“What I said before, about foalish notions of justice, don’t ever lose sight of those ideals.” He said softly.

“But Ah thought you said…” Applejack looked confused.

“I said that they were not reasons to learn to fight. The sole purpose of fighting is death, but ideals will make you that much more deadly.”

“What do you mean by that?” Dash now wore a mask of confusion.

“If a soldier is fighting because he is told to, there is every possibility that he make break and run when things get tough. But if his friends, family, or the one he loves is in danger or he truly believes in what he is fighting for, then he will never stop until he is dead, or his foe is. Having an ideal will give you something to cling to in the evil days ahead.”

“Ah’ll ‘member that.”

“But what about what you said about no honor in a fight?” Dash asked.

“There isn’t honor in a fight, but there is honor in what you fight for.” Jaze stared at the ground, “There are also lines that you will find that you can’t cross, and that’s fine. Don’t try to push yourself past what you feel is right. If you do that, you will be no different than Carn.”

“And what lines can’t you cross?”

“Honestly Dash? I don’t really know, I haven’t found them yet. They have to exist; at least I hope they do.” He seemed uncomfortable not knowing how far he could push himself.

“Don’t ya fret none, sugar cube. Yer not evil like that Carn feller. Yer only killin’ t’ help folks, he seems t’ do it ‘cause he likes it.”

“Thanks Applejack, but where do I draw the line? How far can I go before I’m just another killer?” He heaved a heavy sigh, “That question haunts me to this day.”

“Jaze, I have a question, and I want you to answer honestly.” Dash said as she stared at the scarred soldier.

“I’ll try,” He said cautiously, “but there are some things that are too personal.”

“It’s nothing personal; I just want to know if you were taking it easy on us.” Applejack perked up, curious herself.

He gave them a little smirk, “Yes, I was holding back a little bit.”

“Land sakes,” Applejack whispered, “that was you going easy? And that Carn feller still has you worried?”

“He had the advantage on me because I was angry, that won’t happen again.” Even when he said it, he didn’t believe it. He still felt that Carn had too much power on him and he hoped that his training with the girls would be enough to get him into shape to do battle with that fiend once more.

“Anyways,” Jaze said as he clapped his hands together, “it’s getting late and we’ll want to be up bright and early tomorrow so we can do this again. We’ll do what we did today, only in reverse. Just come by my house in the morning; we’ll have breakfast and then get to work. And Dash? I want you to work with Applejack on her farm when you can, it will help you get stronger.”

“Got it.” the two eager ponies responded.

“The next day, we’ll ditch the weapons and do some hand-to-hand, er, hand-to-hoof exercises.”

“What fer?” the apple farmer asked.

“You’ll need to know how to defend yourself if you ever get caught without a weapon.” Jaze explained, “A skill that some ponies,” he looked pointedly at Dash, “lack.”

“Yeah Jaze, about that,” she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, “I’m sorry, that was stupid.”

“Everypony does stupid things when their scared.”

“I’m not scared!” she protested loudly.

“Really,” Jaze gave her an unconvinced stare, “you’re not scared of the fact that your home is about to be invaded by thousands of machines that feel no remorse and have only one goal, to kill every living thing?”

“No, I’m not.” She could not raise her head to look at the soldier.

“Dash, everypony gets scared. That’s a part of being a soldier, and there is no shame in admitting your fear.”

“I know, but…”

“Don’t worry; the cavalry’s on its way. We humans have a habit of turning bleak situations into a total success.”

“And we’ll be there to help.” Dash said as she finally raised her eyes to meet the assassin’s gaze.

“I don’t know what help you could be. There won’t be much call for swords in days ahead.”

“Why not?” the two ponies asked together.

“This is a modern conflict; guns and bombs and other weapons will be used. Trying to run up on the Cye with a sword will just get you killed.”

“Then why are you bothering with this?” Dash asked, confused by his actions.

“Carn wants to fight me again. And this time, one of us isn’t walking away. I want to ensure that isn’t me.” A look of dark anger adorned his scarred face that sent shivers down Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s spines, “And I plan on making him pay for every ounce of suffering he has put me, my friends, and the rest of the galaxy through.”

“Jaze,” Applejack whispered worriedly, “Don’t ya lose yerself in hate fer that Carn feller.”

“I’ll try not to, but you have no idea how hard it is. Every bad thing that has happened to me in the past six years can be traced back to him.”

“Jus’ think a’ it this way; if he hadn’t started this little scuffle, we never woulda met. For that, at least, ya should be grateful.”

“I never thought that way before. Even so, I won’t fool myself into thinking that makes up for the literally millions of innocent human lives that he has cut short. For that, and more, he will pay.” His anger filled his eyes once more, causing another shiver, “That is a soldier’s promise to you both, he will pay.”

Jaze was stretched out on the couch, waiting for Trixie to get back from her magic lessons with Twilight. His muscles were throbbing from the hard work out he put them through. Dinner was done, and now he was just waiting for his friend to return so he could eat. Friend, the soldier was not sure if he should call Trixie something as paltry as merely “friend” any more. His feelings for her were so much more than that now.

To make matters worse, he felt like he was being untrue to Evelyn’s memory with his feeling for the blue unicorn. He was so confused, both by his own feelings and what he needed to do about them. He wanted to share his secret with her, but at the same time he was still scared that she would hate him for it. He enjoyed her friendship and did not want to risk losing it. Add that to the fact that the soldier didn’t know what was going to happen in the days to come and he was well and truly confused about his whole situation. He would have continued to stew in his unhappy thoughts, if Trixie had not showed up.

“Hey there spaceman, I’m back.” She called as she walked into the dark room, “How was the training?”

“Tiring and painful.”

“Was it fun?”

“Wasn’t supposed to be fun, but it did serve its purpose. I hope.” He shrugged, “Any way, food’s done now. So let’s eat.” They sat at the table and to make short work of the meal Jaze had prepared. Despite the hard day he had put into training, the soldier had still managed to make a decent meal.

After dinner and clean up, Jaze and Trixie took to the roof of their house to watch the stars. It had become a nightly habit of theirs and the young soldier very much enjoyed the conversations that they had in their own little world on top of the house. As they watched the stars twinkle above them, Jaze thought back on his life. The choices that he had made and how he had become him. As he looked to Trixie, he realized that he had fewer regrets than he thought he should. The only part of his life he wished he could change would be to have saved Evelyn. Ah, a voice in his mind whispered mockingly, but if she was still alive would you have come to Equestria at all? Or perhaps, would you be somewhere else, probably fighting for your life this very instant? To stop the introspection, Jaze looked once again to Trixie.

“What’s on your mind?” He asked, for she had a look of screwing her courage to ask a question.

“I just wanted to know,” she said hesitantly, “what it’s like, up there.” She pointed to the starry sky above.

“You mean in space?” the unicorn nodded, “Well, it’s very cold.” The two shared a long laugh, and Jaze was glad for the break from the constant worry that had been building inside him since yesterday. “Seriously though, it is beautiful. You have no idea, it’s dark and quiet, and then when you look around and see the vast field of stars around you,” he sighed as the memories washed over him, “and then you see a sun rise from behind a planet and it is simply stunning.”

“What is the most beautiful thing you’ve seen in your travels?”

Your eyes, his heart wanted him to scream, but he went with “This may sound morbid, but a Cye ship exploding as seen from the ground.” She fixed him with a stern look, “No, I’m serious. With all the electricity it puts off, followed by the lights of the radiation hitting the atmosphere and the meteor shower of fragments as they burn up. It is beautiful, and it does hurt that it means we won another battle.”

“I hope that I get to see it someday, if it’s as stunning as you say.”

“You will, but we have to go through a lot of ugly first.”

“Oh gods,” she whispered, horrified, “I didn’t mean…”

“I know,” Jaze said with a meaningful smile, “don’t worry, we’ll get through this and you’ll get to see the sight of your life.”

“I believe you.”

“Hey, Trixie? There’s something I want to ask you.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Well, I was wondering if you… no, it’s stupid. Forget it.”

“No, what is it? I promise I won’t laugh or anything; so just tell me.”

“Okay, I was wanting to know…”

“Yes?”

“If you could… teach me magic.”

“Oh, that,” she sounded disappointed for some reason, “is that all?”

“Yeah, I know it’s stupid. But now I have this ability and I don’t understand it. I want you to help me learn to use magic.”

“Twilight’s better with magic than I am. Maybe you could ask her.”

“But I want you to teach me.” Jaze blushed, “I mean… we live together so it would easier for you than Twilight. B-besides, weren’t you the one that said that teachers learn from their students as well?”

“If it’s that important to you, I’ll do it. But don’t expect to learn a lot from me quickly; I’m still a student myself.”

“That’s fine, I’m just happy to have you teach me.” They fell silent as the stars danced above them. Jaze could not help but feel a little sad. Soon there would be soldiers walking around Equestria and he would no longer be able to enjoy his time as he wished. He was soon to be a soldier again. He slid himself a little closer to Trixie, he wanted to enjoy this while it lasted. They sat for what felt like a few minutes, but it was closer to two hours. When Trixie gave a yawn and a stretch, Jaze asked if she wanted head to bed.

“Not as long as you’re awake. I’ll be fine; it’s just that casting magic like we did today really wears me out.”

“You could lean on me for awhile, I don’t mind.”

“Another duty of a friend?” She asked with an amused smile.

“Absolutely,” he said with a grin.

She yawned again, “I think that I’ll take you up on that.” She leaned against him, and a small thrill went through the young man. He had not expected Trixie to actually do this to him. He sat in shock as she snuggled in close. “You’re a lot more comfortable than I thought.”

“Thanks,” he said with a laugh, “I’m glad that I’m comfy.”

“Um-hm.” She muttered.

“You know, what day I would love to take you up to see space. It’s so beautiful and peaceful; I know you would love it.” He looked to the unicorn leaning against him, “Trixie?” She must have been tired; the blue unicorn was fast asleep. The soldier smiled as he watched her softly snore against his shoulder; she seemed so peaceful. He felt his eyes grow heavy and soon he too was asleep, with naught but the stars above them.