I stood at attention with my friends lined up left of me. Colonel Starfire paced back and forth, her expression looking like she sucked on a lemon. Things were not looking bright for this offensive, we seemed to have reached a stalemate. The Zebras had fortified five key locations we had plans to take. The key locations were in a general square formation around the central most important location. Unfortunately, divide and conquer wasn’t an option.

“We attack one place, they reinforce the other, we try to attack the place with less numbers its reinforced by another. Every time we try and take one objective at a time we get pushed back.” The Colonel snarled and kicked a nearby chair to the ground. I understood her frustration, she kept losing ponies in her assaults.

“What about a five-pronged assault?” Flag turned his head to look at the Colonel.

“I want to but spreading ourselves thin doesn’t help us out.” The Colonel sat on her haunches, she looked down and I noticed a few strands of hair sticking out of her bun. There were bags under her eyes, how long had she been up?

“Mam, if I may?” I raised a hoof.

“Speak” The colonel grunted.

“Has Captain Heavy Arms made any suggestions regarding the five-pronged assault?” My father knew how to hit enemies where it hurt. If anypony had an idea it was him, but at the same time I know my father hadn’t made the best first impression by blowing off the Colonel at Ironshod. True enough the Colonel fixed me with a withering look. After a few seconds she looked away, and rather begrudgingly she pointed to the center of her command tent. The tent itself housed several terminals and other equipment manned by several ponies. However, a huge table at the center dominated the tent. The table was something I’ve heard off, but never seen. A holographic tactical map, it used data transmitted through a satellite to recreate an almost perfect replica of the battlefield. It took everything from terrain and weather into account and simulated it on the table. Despite myself, I was excited to see it in action.

The Colonel walked towards the far-right side and hit an unseen button. The table lit up in a blue grid, a holographic bar showed up floating a foot off the table. The bar slowly filled up loading the necessary data to recreate City 6. After two minutes the bar filled and the table materialized City 6, each skyscraper rising about three feet upward. The skyscrapers were mostly concentrated at the center of the slice of pie that was City 6. The Colonel walked around the table and waved her hoof over the map removing the skyscrapers. She then hopped on the table and trotted to the center. She pointed her hoof at four different buildings that floated up around her. She took a few steps back and pointed to a last building that floated up at the center of the original four forming a square.

“Captain Heavy Arms suggested we launch four simultaneous attacks.” She struck the four outer buildings with her hoof and they turned red. She then walked up to the center building, “while we attack each site, he wants a small team to launch an assault on the central target. With the small team acting as the smallest force, he predicts the Zebras will spare reinforcements from one if not all the sites to eliminate the threat.” The Colonel raised her hoof and drew a line from the upper right building to the central building. Following her hoof, a dotted line appeared ending in an arrow pointing at the central target building. “He wants a separate force, one big enough to make a difference, to reinforce the building that send reinforcements.” The Colonel trotted off to the side of the five targets and tapped one of the buildings. A command window appeared, and she hit several commands to bring up a pony head with a helmet over it. She pushed it to the far upper left building and the building turned green. “His plan, put simply, is to create the false sense of stalemate. Which ever of the targets send reinforcements. We will send a separate force to bolster our own numbers and push through the weakened defenses.” The Colonel waved her hooves and all buildings returned to their original place. She hopped off the map standing next to us.

“That seems like it could work,” I didn’t see a problem, seemed simple enough.

“Yes, except the small force has no chance of surviving long enough to demand reinforcements.” The colonel rolled her eyes and trotted to a desk at the right corner of the map. She parked herself in the seat behind it and rested her head on her hooves.

Well, I hope nopony here hates me for this but, “I volunteer my unit.”

“What?” The Colonel crossed her hooves on her desk and raised a brow at me.

“My unit is mostly comprised of Rangers, we have the best chance of survival.” I pointed to Lemon and Flag respectively for emphasis.

“You also have two other ponies, MY ponies I might add. I won’t risk their lives, so you can play hero.” The Colonel glared at me.

[Smooth Rambler] “Mam, I led these ponies here, I guided them through an ambush against superior Zebra numbers and armor. I believe in these ponies, all I ask is you do the same.” I puffed out my chest and stood at rigid attention.

“…” The Colonel gave me a stare that could melt my armor, her eyes bore into my soul. I felt as if she was scanning my soul for any deceit or uncertainty. To be fair, I was uncertain about a lot of things, but I believed in my father. If he said this plan could work, I believed him without question.

“I don’t see many other options open to me, every day we get bogged down and our other fronts are pushed. I fear a full encirclement might happen if we delay longer. I have not received news from the other fronts, every report is the same, bogged down in vicious street to street fighting.” The Colonel tapped her hoof on the table. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, she reached for a mug on her table and lifted it up to her lips. She glared down at the cup immediately, “Ugh, Somepony get me more coffee!” She banged the cup on her desk.

“Fine, if you want to act as the proverbial bait, be my guest. I don’t much like sending ponies into such dangerous operations.” The Colonel stood and walked around her desk and offered me a salute. “I will task you with causing as much havoc as possible within the Zebra ranks.”

“Understood mam, we won’t fail you.” I saluted in return, my team followed my lead with quiet stoicism.

“I hope so, now go get some rest, I predict the operation will start in two days. I’ll be pouring over the details with Captain Heavy Arms.” The Colonel sighed, “you’re dismissed.” Everypony filed out after me to stand outside the tent.

“Okay, I know I volunteered you for a very dangerous mission. But I think this is the right call.” I immediately trotted up to face everypony. I felt bad, I really did, I know everypony here put their lives in my hooves. I even told myself I couldn’t make mistakes to get these ponies killed. But I just complicated everything by requesting the most dangerous task possible.

“Valiant I told you I trusted you to make the right call, and that Lemon and I are here to support you.” Flag looked to Lemon.

“I know after everything that’s happened you’re doubting yourself, heck I probably would too after going through this much. But despite that, you’ve persevered, you keep pushing forward. So, don’t start doubting yourself now. If you believe we can do this, I’m willing to believe it too.” Lemon placed her hoof over her heart, opened her helmet and gave me her warmest smile.

“I’m not one to run into impossible fights, but if you think we can do this, well shit you got us through the ambush. I think you can handle being at odds.” Rose gave me a lop-sided smirk, “besides, I’m starting to think you just act all innocent for the mares.”

I choked on my own tongue at that, “I, I don’t, even, it’s not an act okay!” I coughed loudly and opened my helmet to let the fresh air in. “Look I’m still getting used to this whole in charged thing okay?” I glanced towards The Rangers tent. “My father is just used to ponies taking orders from him. Me? I was used to being ordered around by everypony.” Ugh, my mind was drifting to less than pleasant days of my childhood. I hated the days the young squires were schooled with scribes. They always poked fun of the smallest of us, the only reason I was spared most of the bullying was because they knew who my father was.

“Who’s your dad?” Rose asked innocently enough. I paled and fuck me for letting that slip.

“Uh he’s…well he’s Captain Heavy Arms.” I muttered and scuffed the ground with my hoof.

“Oh? I didn’t think family members could be in the same unit. You know, familial ties under fire and all that. But you guys are Rangers, I don’t really know how you work.” Rose thankfully talked herself out of further questions I had no idea how to answer.

“Y-yeah were a breed of our own alright,” I shook my head, “but that’s not the point, he’s used to ponies just doing things his way. So, I’m asking you if you’re okay with this. I don’t think I can be the pony that can go do something dangerous and drag ponies into it because of my rank.” I wasn’t my father, honestly, I wasn’t sure who I was these days. A hero, a Ranger or just some naive pony way in over his head.

“Were with you kid,” Flag looked to everypony and they nodded their agreement. Well except Trapper, he remained silent this whole engagement, he just looked to his hooves and let the conversation pass him.

“Trapper?” I walked up to him.

“You’re in charge here Valiant, I don’t want to cause any trouble.” Trapper rubbed his left foreleg.

“You’re not being insubordinate if I’m asking you Trapper. How do you feel about this decision? You’re going to be just as involved in the fighting as the rest of us.” I gestured towards our friends.

“Well,” Trapper looked up to me and he frowned, “I don’t like it, I mean this in the best possible way Valiant, but.” Trapper avoided eye contact, but his scowl seemed to deepen. “I’m not a Ranger, I’m not walking in a suit of power armor that can withstand almost everything the Zebras can throw at you. Neither is Rose, I don’t mean to say I speak for her. But she’s just as vulnerable as me when it comes down to it.” Trapper wouldn’t meet my gaze. I sat on his words for a moment, what could I say to that? He was right, and to be honest I don’t know how courageous or willing I’d be to take this mission if I didn’t have my armor. If it wasn’t for my armor I would have died a few times over now.

“Trapper your right,” Rose snapped me from my thoughts, I looked towards her stepping up to us.

“I’m not sure how this is going to end, but then again in war nopony knows. Maybe we go and die on this mission. Or maybe we stay here, maybe Zebras come and attack us at night in a surprise attack and we die then.” Rose’s speech was bumming me out, I couldn’t imagine what it was doing to Trapper. “Point is, you need to ask yourself Trapper, how do you want to die? Do you want to die another day in another battle? Or do you want to try not to die doing something worthwhile to the war effort?”

Trapper looked between me and Rose, his face confused and downright frightened. He almost died three times now. I don’t blame him for being the way he is right now, dealing with one’s own mortality was different for everypony. These days I seem to stubbornly refuse death, at least when my ‘condition’ isn’t acting up. I don’t want to die, I don’t think anypony does. Trapper looked no different than me when I first decided to help at the E.C.Z. He bit his lip, and he couldn’t look at Rose in the eye. He didn’t seem to look at anypony in the eye. He kept battling with his own emotions, his own experiences probably screaming at him to choose self-preservation over valor.

“I-I don’t know okay!” Trapper practically screamed, several ponies around the camp looked at us. “You’re asking a lot of me right now.” Trapper gasped for breath and stepped away from us, “I’m not sure I can do this okay!” Trapper did a one eighty and ran from us disappearing into the chaos of the camp.

“Thanks for your support Rose,” I put a hoof over her shoulder.

“You’re welcome, but I did this for all of us.” Rose turned to us, Flag opened his helmet and nodded towards her.

“Trapper is a nice stallion, no question about it.” Flag rolled his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. A useless gesture while in armor, but as far as body language goes? I got the awkward feeling he was giving off. “He doesn’t seem like the best pony to have under fire you get me?”

“I don’t get it, I mean he was scared sure.” Trapper was just scared, everypony had a right to be in a battlefield.

“Valiant, Trapper is deafly afraid of combat,” I looked to Lemon, her statement was obvious, but what pony wasn’t? Well I guess Flag and my father were different.

“Well yeah, what pony isn’t?” I don’t get it what were they trying to say?

“Look what were trying to say is, maybe it’s best if Trapper stays here,” Flag stood up and left the conversation.

“Flag is right, Trapper should stay here, he honestly would be better suited for the Colonel’s command staff.” Rose turned and went her own way as well.

“Lemon? What do you think?” I looked to her.

She sighed and seemed to maul her words over. “Trapper has been through a lot, like Rose he’s been in this war most of his life. He’s seen things we haven’t, and I bet Rose has too. Look at them both, some ponies adjust to war. Trapper doesn’t seem like he’s adjusting.” Lemon left it at that and walked towards the Ranger tent. I was left alone with my thoughts, Trapper wasn’t adjusting. I thought of what I knew of him, when I first met him and when I talked to him through the radio during the battle at Ironshod. What was I missing? I was scared, when the Zebra Behemoth destroyed our transport and Trapper was injured I froze seeing Trapper injured. If it wasn’t for Lemon I would probably be dead for freezing like I did. If anything, Lemon seemed more courageous than most of us. But then if Trapper wasn’t adjusting that brought up a frightening question. A question I was afraid to ask aloud to anypony at this point, at least anypony that witnessed my breakdowns.

How was I adjusting? I never killed anything until a few days ago. My heart clenched, and my throat went dry as I thought of the ambush outside the Princess Shield. Up until then my hooves were clean of any type of blood, I never so much as even hurt a radroach. Now with more kills than I could count under my belt, and a few brushes with death, where was I mentally? I looked down to my hooves, the motor sensors of my armor were very sensitive. They had to be to able to judge the amount of strength we applied while wearing them. So, when I saw my hooves visibly shake, I got my answer.

I wasn’t fairing much better than Trapper. Just thinking about the ambush had me shaking in my hooves, and it took every ounce of willpower not to think of Strider, bloodied and lying on the snow telling me to run. I didn’t sleep anymore, not like I used to, a few hours of rest are all I dared and needed these days. Sleeping meant the dreams had a higher chance to turn to nightmares. Nightmares that turned to schizophrenic episodes and voices haunting me for my every failure. I couldn’t even tell myself if I was getting better or worse. Well just another reason to dump the command of four ponies to me, right Flag? Well nothing to be done about it, scribes had a saying, no use crying over a broken terminal. I had to adapt and now that I thought about it, maybe I needed to ask ponies in charge how they dealt with these things. With that idea firmly planted in my head, I closed my helmet and made my way to the Ranger tent. My father would want an update on my situation.

Walking into the Ranger tent was both comforting and terrifying at the same time. The tent held several tables with armor pieces and Equestrian engineers running repairs on power armor frames. Rangers worked with the engineers helping them better understand their power armor preferences. They modified their armors accordingly, as was Ranger tradition. At the far end of the tent was my father, his armor was next to the table he was hunched over. Several ponies worked on it while his eyes scanned whatever was on the table.

When I took my first steps into the tent, several Rangers looked at me with mixed opinions. Some nodded their hellos, others glared and returned to their work, and some simply chose to ignore me all together. I didn’t think a few days would be enough to forgive my blatant disregard of orders. Still, I found comfort in seeing Flag and Lemon in their own place left of my father. The two diligently working on their armors. Seeing as Lemon looked fine I took it as a good sign that she wasn’t in trouble. I walked up to my father and saluted him, hoof to the side of my head.

“Wrong salute Knight.” Well, already off to a great start and I got to add failing to properly salute my superior to my growing list of failures.

“Sorry,” I put my hoof to my heart and straighten my stance.

“Don’t worry, its good you know the Equestrian salute.” My father waved away the mistake, I shifted nervously to the engineers.

“Don’t worry about them, they’re so into power armor they’re in their own little world.” My father’s lips twitch upward slightly.

“Yeah, father about Knight Lemon,” I glanced at the unicorn in question.

“Yes, I know she’s a unicorn and no I don’t particularly mind. If she can operate the armor efficiently, then I have no problem allowing her to continue doing her duty to the order.” That was a relief, if a bit anti-climactic. I always pictured my father as a traditionalist, but then again out here in the field traditions weren’t as important as necessity. Every power armor counts when there were so little of us left.

“Right, well I guess I should give you my report.” I cleared my throat and collected my thoughts.

“Don’t bother, Crusader Flag filled me in, he said he couldn’t be specific, but he told me were trapped here.” My father’s stormy blue eye stared me down, though his expression remained neutral I still felt like I was disappointing him by just standing before him.

“Y-yeah, this shield isn’t going down until this war is won.” I closed my eyes, unsure how to proceed from here.

“Well, this is my fault.” Okay I was not expecting that out of my father.

“Sir?” I made sure he saw my incredulous look.

“I got too entangled with the ponies here, now everypony here is determined to help save the empire.” My father sighed and rubbed his temples. On closer inspection, he had bags under his eyes and his trimmed mane was disheveled.

“Sir, have you slept at all in the last twenty-four hours?” I stood up and rested my forehooves on the table.

“You and every other pony keeps asking.” My father rolled his eyes and gave an uninterested hum.

“So…no?” I raised a brow at him.

“No, I rested an hour before you were spotted on the highway above us.” My father waved my concerns away, “more importantly I was contacted by Colonel Starfire saying she accepted my proposal…” My father looked up to me. “I take it you had something to do with that?”

“Yeah, I volunteered my unit for the job.” That caused my father to freeze. He looked at me, but I couldn’t gauge his reaction, like always his muzzle was neutral. His stare bore into me and seemed to strip away every layer of my defenses, seeing what kind of pony I was.

“Do you understand the risk?” That was easy, the risk was I would die.

“Yes sir, I’m prepare to not come back until the mission is a success.” I puffed out my chest and gave him a confidant smirk.

“Then you don’t understand the risk.” My father sighed shaking his head. I quickly deflated with an incredulous look on my face.

“Your death isn’t the only concern, not even that of your team. If you fail, the Zebras will simply hold as they have and force a stalemate. More lives lost, the entire mission is hinged on the success of the small team. If you mess up, if you die. A lot of ponies will die because of you.” Every word felt like a turn on a wench squeezing my throat shut. Breathing almost became an issue right then and there.

“I- I understand sir,” Did I? I just got told I held not just my squad’s life, but the entire 12^th and 8^th regiment’s life in my hooves. So, you know, no pressure.

“The 8^th regiment has some ponies I think might be able to do the job, you should remain here instead.” My father looked back down to his papers. Wait what? Remain here? I don’t think I have that option. I raised my hoof, glancing down to the PipBuck hidden beneath my armor.

“I can’t,” the words escaped me before I even registered them.

“What?” My father’s eyes snapped to me, his eyes narrowed, and his jaw visibly set.

“I can’t, I have a special objective from High Command.” I didn’t stutter, that was a bonus.

“Don’t forget your allegiances Ranger, were here to help these ponies, but you are my subordinate under my command.” My father pointed his hoof at me and I almost flinched, almost.

“Sir, I understand, but I really don’t have a choice, due to mission sensitive details I can’t explain myself openly. But please know I’m doing this for every Ranger here.” I stood up straight and met his intense gaze. I needed to do better, I needed to see how ponies in command acted and my father was practically giving me a hands-on lesson. Show strength and conviction, self-doubt is the undoing of your units’ confidence. Trapper’s fears gave me the strength to stand up against my father. I needed confidence, and the will to get a frightened pony like Trapper to trust me. To give him the courage he needs.

“Hmph, I guess Flag wasn’t making a mistake giving you command of this mission.” My father sighed, then he looked at me with something akin to pride. “If you insist, then I will trust you with the fate of this operation. If you can hold on to that will. I believe we might capture this city in a weeks’ time.” My father tapped the table and I finally looked down to the actual papers he was going over. Several satellite pictures demonstrated the target buildings. While a map of the city was below said pictures. My father had several notes of squads and strike positions around each target.

“So, what’s so important about the targets?” I looked at one of the pictures, it was overhead, so it was difficult to make out details. But on the rooftop several Zebras had set up heavy guns, and what I could only guess as artillery. One of the batteries had a long barrel angled into the sky with a crew of three Zebras hanging around it. The target itself was surrounded by a wall, how high was anypony’s guess. Near the front of the building the wall had two towers one at each corner and two where the gate stood. Though more like once stood. Repeated assaults had at the very least left their mark, the corner towers had their rooftops blown clean off. Though it looked like Zebras had erected sandbag covers on the ruins and turned the towers into machinegun nests. The towers meeting at the front gate were completely collapsed leaving rubble in their wake. That the walls were still relatively intact was a wonder of its own. The road before the target building had been battered, lots of craters indicated heavy bombardment. The other three sides looked about the same, craters along roads and collapsed buildings. If I had to guess the 12^th and 8^th regiments had used these buildings as garrisons to launch their assault. Too bad the artillery pieces rendered them to rubble.

“The five buildings control the city defense protocol, all five together are needed to raise the walls.” My father tapped the map and made a triangle around the city.

I’m sure I’m missing the bigger picture here, but I might as well ask anyways. “Why do we want to raise the walls with the Zebras inside?”

“To cut them off from reinforcements, unlike us they don’t seem to have any type of air support. We can still air lift reinforcements from the 6^th regiment.” My father waved a hoof gesturing outside the map. “They are currently awaiting the wall being raised to be air lifted into the city. With them strengthening our numbers, we mop up the remaining Zebras.” That sounded like a sound enough plan, but if the attack on Ironshod taught me something, it was that every plan seemed to go awry when executed.

“Okay so I figured I’d ask. But how are the Zebras sending reinforcements to one another?” I looked at the same picture as before. The beauty of one choke point to defend was you only needed to point guns at one place. But, that also meant your one exit was blocked.

“That’s the kicker, there’s a private tram system connecting all five targets underground.” My father glared at the map.

“No wonder they can reinforce one another so fast” I muttered.

“Well the plan is simple enough, all you need to do now is come up with your own plan of assault.” My father hopped off the table and walked around it to me. I meanwhile let out an internal scream of sheer terror. I didn’t even have a plan, and two days to plan? That wasn’t as generous as it sounded. I had to run this plan by the Colonel and my father. Both had to approve it. Otherwise back to the drawing board. Shit, I wish my father had at least given me an officer’s rank, at Lieutenant I only needed to run the plan by the Colonel. Barring an outright refusal, I was good to go. But now I had to find a plan that worked for two very fundamentally different ponies. Well so much for getting a wink of sleep today.

“Valiant, I’m counting on you, make us proud son.” My father patted my back and left the Ranger tent. I turned to watch him leave. I felt a smile tug at the corner of my lips, a chance to make him proud. That’s all I could ever hope for. Well the added other pressures kind of ruined the moment a little. Okay a lot, but still the thought was enough to get me thinking. I bid farewells to Lemon and Flag, exited my armor by the designated area, and followed my father outside.

“Sir, I wanted to ask if I could get a table, and awning and,” my father held up a hoof cutting me off.

“I’m going to stop you there, you have to go through the Supply Core to get what you need. They’re at the east end of the camp.” My father pointed me the way and walked away, then stopped. He glanced at me and gave a knowing look, like he was in a joke I clearly wasn’t. “Good luck by the way.” He walked away disappearing into the various ponies moving around. Well that was just icing on the cake, a chance to prove myself to him and a good luck? I think my luck was starting to turn for the best.

I went east as instructed and found the Supply Core, what followed next? That was truly something not even the cruelest of Zebra could come up with. I arrived at the Supply Core tent and was told I needed to wait in line. There were five officer ponies ahead of me, and when the line moved up, a pony in officers digs cut in front of me. when I raised a hoof to give him a piece of my mind, he pointed to a sign hanging on the tents far wall.

‘Officers get priority over Non-com officers.’

So, I bit my tongue and fumed silently at the injustice. For whatever reason the line despite being five ponies long, moved so damn slowly! Finally, when my turn arrived I told them what I wanted. Before I could even get the word table out of my mouth they gave me a stack of forms to fill out. So, I did, in which three more officers came in while I did paperwork. So, I was forced to wait in line, again, finally after what seemed like an hour, I turned the forms in. I was promptly given another set of forms, turns out the previous ones were simply to put me in the system and keep track of my allotted supplies! Fine, I took their forms and filled out two pages for each individual item I needed, including the ridiculous three-page form for a pen! With that done I returned to- son of a bitch five more officers lined up before me! I gritted my teeth and parked my ass down in line…again! Another hour must have gone by and I was at the desk again. I turned my forms in and was promptly told I would need to wait a minimum of seven fucking hours! For a table, a freaking pen, awning, and a god damn set of tools!

I left the supply tent quite steamed to see the sun setting. Celestia’s nonexistent balls I spent the entire afternoon in there! Wanting something to eat, I asked a pony where the food was being served. They pointed me west…to the other side of the damn camp! I suppressed a groan and made my way there. By this point I was sick of lines. So, despite feeling kind of scummy about it, I dropped my name and my new celebrity status got me to the front of a significant line. I got served some beans, not from a two-hundred-year-old can, apple juice, and some sliced green apples. I found a nice spot without many ponies. When I sat down, a speaker hanging from one of the tents poles came to life.

“Sergeant Valiant Knight, please report to the Supply Tent.” Without further explanation the message cut off and returned to playing music. I looked at my delicious food with sadness and abandoned it there. I walked clear across the camp, again, but not that I was bitter about it, and made it to Supplies. I entered to another fucking, cunting, shit eating line! I shamelessly tried my name and all it got me was a sideways glance from the officer ahead of me. So totally not ready to go back, get my power armor and demand my supplies at gunpoint, I waited. I got to the desk and the pony told me I didn’t specify where my supplies were to be dropped. My eye twitched and I opened my mouth to politely tell them where I needed them.

The desk pony just as quickly tossed me more forms. I pressed my lips together in a forced smile and went to fill them. This time only two ponies got in line ahead of me. I handed the pony my forms and he sent me on my way. I returned to the Mess Hall to find it closed as food stopped being served at 2400 hours. A helpful sign was hung outside the tent.

‘Mess Hall closed till 0600, late night patrols coming in request rations from the Supply Core.’

“FUCK!” I shouted at the top of my lungs! As it turns out, yelling in a mostly quiet sleeping military camp got everypony in the immediate area riled up. Several ponies dropped to the ground and pulled out side arms. Spotlights lit up and swiveled around the camp. As if to make matters worse, an alarm blared, and the entire camp was raised on high alert. A spotlight swiveled my way and fixed on me, after a few minutes everything died down and I was left with quite a few angry ponies glaring at me.

“Uhm, sorry just dealing with Supply Core troubles.” I had apparently said the magic words, because every murder intent stare turned to pity, and I was let off easy.

Feeling rather humbled I walked back to the Supply Tent to request some rations. I ran to a line exiting the Supply Tent, as to my, of course turning luck. Seven of the night patrols of four ponies each had returned to get rations. My lips quivered, my left eye twitched and I felt a foul curse build up in my chest. The pony ahead turned to me, he reached into his saddle bag and produced a pillow. He handed me the pillow, “first time dealing with the Supply Core?” he gave me a smile. I nodded yes, I didn’t trust my mouth to not just let out another high-volume profanity. I took the pillow and screamed into it, that done I returned the pillow and thanked the soldier kindly. After another hour, this time I counted if only to stave off boredom, I made it to the desk. I asked for rations, any rations, and if they handed me another form? I was ready to just eat the forms and tell the desk pony to go bite the end of a Zebra rifle. Instead he mercifully handed me some rations and I thanked Celestia for this small miracle.

I returned to the Ranger tent, the night guards told me where I could find myself a cot. South of the camp I found the barracks, a huge awning with several cots laid out beneath, I found an empty cot and laid down eating my rations in silence. I took deep calming breaths and let the day’s frustrations go. [Bat Pony]

I awoke at exactly 0500, I was up and feeling rested and fed. First thing I did was get to the Ranger tent, I was happy to find my supplies set and ready for me to use. A table under a spacious awning and a frame where I could place my power armor to work on. I retrieved my armor from inside the Ranger tent, placed it in my new frame and started making plans. Lemon arrived and asked if I needed any help, I gladly took her offer and asked her to run a few errands to the command tent for information. She returned with a map, a satellite picture of our target building, and a time table of when the attack was to commence. I had to think of everyponies talents, Lemon from my short time seeing her in combat had great reflexes. She also seemed well suited for bombardment, her launching grenades to hit the retreating Zebras was impressive. She could lead her shots and conserved ammunition above shooting at everything and anything.

Flag was a steady shot, he seemed the most skilled among us when it came down to it. Though I had yet to really see Trapper or Rose shoot. That brought its own set of problems, Rose and Trapper couldn’t be on the front line of fire. Rose was our medic, she would stick close but behind cover. Trapper was our radio pony, assuming he did decide to come, I certainly wouldn’t force him, but if he came he would need to stay with Rose.

Ugh, this was hard, I grabbed the photo and gave it a good look. It didn’t have the perimeter wall like the other four targets. The rooftop was reinforced with sandbags and three artillery pieces. A frontal assault seemed like suicide. With a thoughtful hum, I looked to those artillery pieces. Then I glanced at the map and patted at a skyscraper just south of the front entrance. Just eyeballing it, maybe a hundred meters or more between the target and the skyscraper. I looked back to the picture and noticed several boxes stacked by the artillery pieces. Those boxes had to be the munitions used for the batteries. I smirked, don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?

After several hours of planning, getting through supplies, and getting my plan approved. I was able to relax and work on my power armor. Supplies restocked my missiles, and I was up to 24 on a six-cylinder launcher. My minigun was freshly restocked, and I got my armor cleaned for the operation tomorrow. All and all, I had my day freed up for the rest of today. Which looking at the sky was maybe four more hours before I turned in early.

“Hey Valiant?” Trapper approached me, standing just outside the awning.

“Trapper, hey are you okay?” I went to stand before him.

“Yeah, I’m fine, well no, I guess I’m not.” Trapper sighed and shook his head.

“I need to confess something to you, something I kept pretty well guarded.” Trapper scuffed the ground with his hoof. His eyes downcast and his voice sounded noticeably strained after each word. “I’m a coward,” Trapper squeezed his eyes shut, tears trailed down his muzzle.

“Trapper, being afraid doesn’t make you a coward.” I lifted a hoof to comfort him, but he just stepped away from me shaking his head adamant of his confession.

“No! Damn it, when you found me. When you helped me, back in the E.C.Z, I ordered my squad to that place to hide.” Trapper’s frame started to shake, sobs escaped him, and he looked to me eyes wild and pleading. “When the Sergeant was shot, he was reaching out for me, for me to help him, to pick him up.” Trappers legs began shaking as well, he slowly slid to the ground resting on his haunches. “I ran, I was so afraid, I turned and told everypony he was dead. I ran and everypony just followed. When I found the building, I told everypony to hide.” Trapper sniffled and wiped his eyes desperately. “Then they found the building and I told them to not shoot! To let them go unmolested. It didn’t work, one of my squad mates shot anyway and got us into that fire fight. I didn’t even fire back, I was on the ground desperately trying to get help.” Some ponies glanced at us, but none moved to help or even say anything. Most just got this look of apathy, a look that said this was an everyday occurrence.

“Trapper, you’re not a coward, you did what you thought was right.” I tried but he just shook his head furiously cutting me off.

“No, I am a coward! I never fired my weapon, not even once! Worst when you got everypony to charge, I didn’t. I stayed behind ducking for cover while better ponies than me acted! Damn it I don’t deserve this confidence you place in me! I’m a coward and a failure. Everypony was right!” Trapper laid on the floor and put his hooves over his head. “Everypony said I was a coward, that I would never amount to anything. That I didn’t serve because I would just run and hide at the first sign of trouble.”

“Trapper you can’t have been fighting all this time without firing your rifle once?” It made no sense, how would nopony notice that?

Trapper let out a bitter laugh, “I’m a radio pony, when I ducked and covered nopony even asked. They just assumed I was protecting my radio.” His laugh slowly dissolved to mournful sobs. “I am a coward, I never should have joined, better ponies than me have died when a coward like me is left alive.” Slowly and Shakely Trapper returned to his hooves. “I should just, I should just request maintenance duty.” Trapper regained control of his breath, he wiped furiously at his muzzle, each wipe followed by a subdued sob. “I can’t endanger you, or Rose, I endangered enough ponies.”

“Trapper, I had no idea this is how you felt, and I’m sorry.” I put both my hooves on Trappers shoulders.

“I know this fear, and I still have it, and all this time I can’t explain why I kept trying. Why I still fought.” I bore into Trappers eyes, like my father I tried my best to look past his defenses and look at the pony inside. “Cowards are those who refuse to do anything in the presence of evil.” I offered him a small smile. “Cowards are those who let their fear stop them from doing what needs to be done. Trapper you made it this far.” I took a deep breath, “so please make it a bit farther, trust in me, give me a chance to let you find your courage. Give me a chance to be the pillar in which you can become the pony you want to be.” I did not flinch, I did not blink, I bore into his soul seeing a good pony struggling with oppressive fear. A pony I could relate to, a pony who unlike me didn’t have a friend to help him become a better pony.

“Valiant, what if I let you die too? What if I just run away again?” Trapper broke our stare and looked down rubbing his foreleg with the other.

“Then run, and make sure Flag, Lemon, and Rose survive. Like you made sure your squad ran when it was near extermination, make sure they run too.” I didn’t want to die, I didn’t want to be left to die. But I wanted to believe in Trapper. Nopony believed in me but Strider, if I could do that for Trapper now? Well maybe I was an optimist, but I’ve been there. I’ve been scared with nopony believing in me. My father was always neutral. He never encouraged my actions or condemned them unless I got in trouble. Strider believed until the very end. I owed it to him to believe in others, no matter my own short comings.

“Valiant I’ll just get you killed, I’m not worth the trouble.” Trapper’s sobs finally calmed, now his voice was just cracked and tired.

“I… I feel I got Strider killed. He was my best friend, and I feel I got him killed.” I don’t think I ever said that aloud, I thought it, I felt it in my heart. But I never confessed it to anypony. Why let it out now? I guess two hurting souls might find comfort that they aren’t alone in their failures. Trapper looked to me, his eyes red from crying. He smiled! Thank Celestia he smiled and put one of his hoofs over mine.

“I, I don’t want to be afraid anymore Valiant.” Trapper’s voice carried an air of positivity instead of feudality. My words reached him, they had to, to convey such change in tone.

“Me too, I choose to believe in you Trapper, so please believe in me and let me show you I can be a leader worth following.” The light shone clear as day in Trappers eyes, a sense of purpose filled him as he threw his hooves around me and gave me a hug. I chuckled and returned the gesture, I admitted pride filled me seeing Trapper believe in me. I wonder if Strider would have been proud of me? Trapper disentangled himself from me and stood straight with a crisp salute. He left to prepare for the battle ahead, they were wrong, everypony was wrong about him. He could overcome his fear. If I could overcome my fear Trapper could as well.

With Trapper and the question of whether I was going to be a pony short answered. I went to Colonel Starfire to petition my last bit of supplies. She gave me a lopsided smirk and gave me some papers with her signature on them. I got the supplies I needed in less than an hour, hah, take that bureaucracy! I spent the remaining of my time tuning my armor and then hanging out with my team in the Mess Hall.

“Hey Rose, are you a trained psychiatrist?” My question got everypony there looking at me funny. Even Trapper, who returned with un-needed apologies to the team. Was it really that weird a question? I know, I know I’m the crazy pony, but I just wanted to know.

“Well, not through former schooling, after my husband’s death I got training from the M.O.M.” Rose shrugged and bit down on an apple she floated to her mouth.

“Wait the M.O.M offers psychiatric help?” That was news to me, I admit my knowledge of the Morale Ministry was sketchy. Seeing as how they became the secret police of sorts; the public available information was mostly a front.

“Yeah, they deal with W.S.D cases whenever ponies suffer from it. But seeing as we couldn’t start pulling ponies from the front willy-nilly. They began training medics to deal with it. It isn’t some in depth course, but its enough for us to help and if we deemed it necessary, to remove a pony from active combat.” Rose sipped her juice and gave us a half-hearted shrug. She really was like Flag, relaxed and carefree.

“So… you think you could help me? you know, not be as afraid?” Trapper tapped his hooves together looking down.

“Well, I can help in the sense of helping you stay calm, but you have to make the effort to overcome your fears Trapper.” Rose crossed her hooves and leaned on the table finishing off her apple.

“That sounds good to me, if anypony needs Somepony to talk to, I’m all ears.” Lemon wiggled her ear for emphasis and gave us all a beaming smile. You know, I wondered how she kept such a bright smile sometimes. There was a certain strength of will that a pony had to have to smile when so many ponies couldn’t.

“Well, so long as you don’t go rooting through my noggin, I think I might need to take you out to dinner doc,” Flag smirked and winked at Rose.

“Hah, nothing there to root for,” Rose winked back at Flag. We all laughed as Flag made a dramatic pained noise and put his hoof to his heart.

“She got you figured Flag,” I smirked, payback for the Vertibuck tease when Lemon was being nice to me.

“Jeez, when did you start ganging up on a pony kid? I think I’m starting to be a bad influence on you. Your dad ain’t gonna like that.” Flag laughed and banged his hoof on the table. I thought it about and couldn’t help the laugh.

“Captain Heavy Arms does seem like a strict pony.” Rose muttered her hoof to her chin.

“Well,” Flag rolled his eyes, “he was kind of like Valiant when he was young.”

My ears perked and leaned towards Flag, more about my father? Yes please! I knew so little about his past. When I asked as a kid he just brushed it off saying it wasn’t important. Even my mother didn’t tell me much, said my father was just as sweet then as he was now. Something I had a hard time believing, my father looked as sweet as gravel.

“Heavy Arms was always trying to help ponies, still is really. But I guess he kind off had more piss and vinegar back then. He used to rush head into fights. If he could blow it up, he was the first to try it.” Flag’s tone was becoming increasingly nostalgic. The smile on his muzzle that of Somepony remembering the best years of their lives. It had come to my attention then, I didn’t know much about Flag. I just knew him as my dad’s only friend and closest partner. I wanted to ask more about his past but given our company it was something that would have to wait.

“That doesn’t sound like me,” I raised a brow, I didn’t consider myself one to rush into fights.

“Kid, you got your cutiemark by standing up to bullies. You and your dad are the same, whenever a pony needs help. You charge in, sometimes halfcocked sometimes with a plan. I can honestly say your old stallion has gotten wiser, and a lot calmer over the years. But he’ll still help a pony if he can.” Trapper gave me an encouraging smile. “Kid if you keep taking this path, you might be the next Captain of our unit back home.” Flag winked at me and shrugged. Wow, me Star Paladin of the order? That was certainly something to think about. But at the same time, was that what I wanted? I mean I became a Knight, so this had to be the natural progression of things, right? I would want to become Star Paladin, like my father. Right, like my father, duty and honor, serve and protect, and my son to grow up under my shadow. I suddenly didn’t like the comparison between me and my father. I don’t know what I wanted at this point. I wanted to be a Knight for so long that now that I’m here I’m kind of lost. If I’m being honest with myself, this war has so quickly consumed my time and effort, that I never gave thought to my future. What happens after the war and we go back home? What comes then, do I follow my father’s footsteps and maybe by some crazy miracle I become Elder?

“Kid?” Flag waved his hoof before me, I blinked and looked around at everypony looking at me.

“You zoned out there for a second, you alright?” Rose looked me over with critical eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine just… just got lost in thought is all. Don’t worry not hearing voices or anything.” I gave them a lopsided grin.

“Well so long as you’re alright, I’m going to turn in.” Flag stood and stretch, his bones audibly popping.

“Yeah,” Lemon stifled a yawn, “big day tomorrow, we should all get some rest.” Lemon stood up and moved to pick up her trey with her magic.

“Yeah, I need to be at my best, see you in the morning everypony!” Trapper looked way too excited to sleep, our pep-talk earlier must still be powering him. He jogged out of the tent ahead of everypony.

“Yeah see you guys tomorrow, can’t get shot at without a good night’s rest,” Rose hopped off the table and levitated everyone’s trays to a nearby trash can.

“Rose I got room in my cot for one more.” Flag walked out with Rose next to him and elbowed her side while wiggling his eyebrows.

“Ah Flag, my snoring would just scare you away.” Rose laughed and pushed him away with her hoof. I saw good friends, I totally didn’t see what Lemon was talking about him liking Rose. Lemon and I gave each other a hug and left to find our cots. I think I had one of my best sleeps so far that night.

The morning arrived, or rather we rose before the sun did. At around 0500 the twilight of the night was still shrouding the camp in darkness. But the artificial lights cut through the dark and made it day for everypony there. I entered my armor, neatly parked outside the Ranger tent. My systems powered up and my PipBuck’s sorting spell picked up the extra equipment.

[ELECTRONIC BINOCULARS]

[SIGNAL JAMMER GRENADES 6X]

The grenades were something I had read about in an old Equestrian Military magazine. They emitted chaff, aluminum strips scattered in the air. They jammed everything from radar to communications for a few minutes. If things went according to plan, and they rarely did, but a pony can hope, can’t he? I would be able to get those Zebra reinforcements on our position faster than my father or Colonel Starfire imagined. I waited for several minutes, watching the camp bursting with activity, units were gathering together and talking among themselves. Transports rolled out of makeshift hangars near the northern end of the camp. Radio ponies barked into their receivers and relayed the response to their officers.

“You ready Knight?” I jumped slightly, my father came up to me. He was in his armor shined and glistening against the camp lights.

“Yeah, just another day on the job huh?” I gave him an awkward smile, that was a terrible joke.

“Heh,” my father chuckled, then again, my mother did say he had a bad sense of humor. “Yeah, time to earn that pay check.” My father patted my back and I tried not to buckle from the strength. I think if I had it would have ruined the moment.

“Think I can get hazard pay for this?” I grinned up to him, I don’t think I would ever not feel like a colt around his massive size.

“Make it through and I’ll pay you myself, good luck soldier.” My father nodded and left to a gathering force of Rangers in front of the Ranger tent. I just traded banter with my no-nonsense father, the Zebras could eat shit. I was feeling just about ready to take them all on by myself. Flag arrived, and I proudly told him of my banter with my father.

“Hah, he does have a shit sense of humor.” Flag laughed, I stuck my tongue at him. Hey, I took my bonding where I could get it! Lemon was next, and she had an extra saddle bag with the Ministry of Peace logo on it.

“Extra medical supplies, Rose said if this plan of yours is gonna work she’ll need the extra hooves.” Lemon looked to Flag and raised a brow. “Doesn’t that Machine Rifle get in the way?” As part of my brilliant plan, I had Flag replace one of his machineguns with a machine rifle.

“Nah, ain’t the first time I carried one, don’t worry about me.” Flag waved a hoof at her. Rose promptly arrived with Trapper next to her. Trapper looked somber, but there was a certain strength of will in his eyes.

“Sorry about being the last ones to arrive, Trapper and I had a little chat, help him get through this.” Rose nodded towards Trapper.

“Don’t worry everypony, I won’t let you down, I promise!” Trapper stood at attention.

“Good to hear soldier,” I nodded and walked to stand before everypony gathered. “Alright we know our roll and we know the risks, everypony stick to the plan. We can do this, I know we can with all of you by my side. Nothing is going to bring us down.” I stood straight and put my hoof to my heart, “Semper Invicta!”

“Semper Invicta!” Everypony chanted our words of victory. I moved to the transports and asked around for any still available. We got directed to another of the armored armadillo type transport. The driver and gunner welcomed us inside and we hopped on. We tumbled out unto the street and everypony quietly waited for the ride to be over. It seemed like a ritual these days, before every operation we would all retreat into our selves and prepare. I looked around seeing what everypony was doing. Flag was like a stone, he was unmoving in his armor simply staring ahead. Rose was with Trapper, a little book floating in front of her. She was reading quietly from it and Trapper had his eyes closed his lips moving every so often. I looked at the cover and the book read the word of Faust, a pony I never heard off.

“Were here! Everypony out, and don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.” The driver laughed, and the back of the transport opened. We stepped out into the city, and the driver wasn’t kidding, we barely got off, and the transport had already started to drive off. Here we were, standing before the husks of pony civilization once again. I looked to the Skyscraper we got dropped off by, it was as generic as it came, clear windows and grey concrete walls. The lobby was visible from here with the glass windows all shattered. I walked into the lobby and from my position I could make out the target building. I looked around, found some stairs and moved to the second level. My squad followed quietly, their eyes searching for immediate threats. The second floor had its left wall be a long road of windows, some were broken others were not. The carpeted floor had bullet casings and the adjacent wall had bullet holes riddling it.

I grunted and led my team to the third floor, it looked about the same, minus less bullet holes and spent casings. This proved as good a place as any. I sat on my haunches, opened my helmet and dug out the binoculars from my saddle bag. I held them up to my face and looked at the target building. It was maybe five stories tall, with a windowed front, however metal shudders had descended covering said windows. This was clearly a civilian purposed building. No walls, and all those windows made it shit to hold. But with the shudders, plus the fortified position on the roof, it made for a decent fortress. I looked at the yard before the entrance. Zebras patrolled the outside, several risen concrete platforms lined up next to each other in rows of three across, and two ranks deep. The remnant of plants stuck out where the Zebras had fortified those places with sandbags.

“Something isn’t right,” I put down my binoculars.

“We haven’t even started,” Trapper swallowed a lump in his throat, I looked at him and gave him a comforting smile.

“I mean there appears to be less numbers than anticipated, at least on the outside.” I looked down my binoculars again zooming in to the front entrance. Metal shudders blocked the entrance, meaning the place was in total lockdown. Hmm, getting in might pose its own problems. If my plan was going to work, we needed to get inside.

“Think the rest are inside?” Lemon sat beside me.

“No, if they are it wouldn’t make sense, they need to defend the outside, if their enemy gets inside it’s practically over for them. We hold the advantage in close quarters combat.” I put my binoculars away and rubbed my chin in thought.

“what if they got those heavy guns set up inside, like at Ironshod?” Lemon looked to me. That was also a possibility, it’s been a few days, they had to have started adjusting to Ranger presence. “True, we’ve been here for about a week now. They had to have started to adjust, so what gives with the small numbers outside?”

“So, we sticking to the plan” Flag asked?

“Yes,” I closed my helmet and looked at my internal clock, “attack starts in less than an hour. Let’s get into position, Flag start at the fourth floor. The rest lets get street side,” I closed my helmet and jogged out to the streets below. Everypony did as told and we made our way down to the adjacent building. I hugged the wall and peeked around the corner. I waited for Flag to confirm he was in position, I looked back, opened my helmet and gave everypony a confident grin. “We can do this, everypony work together and well get through this alive.” Lemon nodded, Rose tipped her helmet and gave me a wink. Trapper took a deep breath and gave a sharp salute.

“Alright, I’m in position, whenever your ready kid.” Flag grunted over the radio.

“Copy,” I closed my helmet and looked at the clock. In 3, 2, 1.

[0700]

“Commencing operation.” I rounded the building and began a crazy sprint across the street. Here’s hoping for once things don’t go to shit.

Level Up: 7

Perks Added: Sharp Eyed: You got an eye for the details, so much so you could shoot a Griffins talon off a trigger! S.A.T.S now cost 5% less to use and can target more specific areas.

Author's Notes:

Part 1 is up and ready! This was a character heavy chapter, so sorry for the lack of action. But I needed to flesh out the characters a bit more. I wanted to show Valiants gradual change and how hes handling being in charge. I also have a soft spot for Trapper, he’s the type of person that wants to do good. But he is struggling with coming up with the courage to do so. He’s almost a mirror of valiant. What Valiant could have been if he didn’t have Strider in his life.

I also want to point out, Heavy Arms isn’t a neglectful dad, or more specifcially he isn’t the best when it comes to being a father. He’s a soldier through and through, a natural born Ranger. So his interactions with Valiant are like he was talking to another soldier. Not becaues he’s a bad person, just he doesn’t really know how to properly socialize with his owns on. Morning Dew, if anything is a pony who soften him up over the years. He can crack a smile, and he enjoys reminiscing with Flag about their past. Something I eluded to in chapter 3 I believe.

So I hope people aren’t too hard on an ultimately socially awkward pony lol. He’s almost like the pony in that recruitment poster. You too can be a Steel Ranger. To the ponies under his command, and the order in General they see him as the exemplar image of a Ranger. But that is what sort of isolated him from other ponies. They treat him with reverence and as a soldier. Aside from Flalg, someone who clearly looks past rank and status to the pony inside, nobody else just normally acted as if he was just a person.

When you get put up on a pedestal most of your life, that tends to make for a lonely life. So Flag and Morning Dew, and Valiant to a certain extent are the anchors in his life that make him into a person. He just isn’t emotionally equipped to properly act like a father to his son. However he is very much concerned for his son, much like any father. But i digress, don’t want to give away too much about old Heavy Arms. He has his role to play and further character development to go through.

Also as a fun bonus, if anyone here can guess where Heavy Arm’s name is from? you get the great prize of being right! That’s really the best reward anybody in the internet could ever have.