“Uh… Light Dasher?” The mare turned around and began walking backwards in front of Star Grazer.

“Yeah? What’s up?” She tilted her head to the side and crossed her eyes for a brief moment.

“Uh…” He hesitated and Light Dasher squinted her eyes suspiciously. “Uh… Are you alright?” She giggled at this.

“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be alright? We took down that group of griffins, no sweat!” She was relishing the memory of victory.

“Well I mean, you did take down that giant griffin by yourself… you also had this terrifying look in your eyes. A few ponies hear noted that you were “feral” and “insane”. I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t going too…” She glared at him as he began to retreat. They both stopped and she took a step closer to him. He steeled his resolve and began to speak. “I just want to make sure you don’t… uh… Hurt yourself! Yeah that’s it! Hurt yourself…” A faulty smile crossed his face. Light Dasher stared into his eyes for what seemed an eternity. She suddenly perked up and smiled.

“Ok!” She turned around and continued walking.

Note to self: Don’t piss off Light Dasher. Also reassure the troops she was not going to kill them.

They had to climb uphill to reach the way point were the rest of the army is expecting them. The trek was hard especially for the stallions pulling the cart of supplies. They grunted and snorted as they used all their strength to climb up the steep hill. The cart groaned as it slowly ascended the rocky path. An hour passed before they reached the top of the hill. The hill overlooked a small clearing in which the other groups were waiting.

Star Grazer led them down the side of the hill to the small camp where they were greeted warmly. Star Grazer instructed his troops to go ahead and relax. They did so without complaint. He walked over to the officer’s tent. Several high ranking ponies stormed out of the tent.

“Corporal Star Grazer reporting for duty, Sir!”

“At ease corporal. You know you are late. We will be heading off in about an hour. What kept you and your troop?”

“We were ambushed by griffins’ sir. It seems that they are stragglers from Canterlot.”

“Well I see you have managed yourself…” Star Grazer swore he saw him roll his eyes.

“Well in all honesty sir, we had casualties and would have had more if we weren’t saved sir.”

“How many dead and wounded corporal?”

“Well sir two are dead and one is wounded. There were five griffins there. One was particularly large but one of my troops took it down…” He shuddered at the memory.

“Who? Corporal. The point of a briefing is to tell me everything you know!” Shining Armor seemed annoyed and furrowed his brow as he looked over the map that lay on a makeshift table.

“Light Dasher, sir! She single handedly took down two griffins, one of them was the large one.” Shining Armor turned to look at Star Grazer. His face showed he was not amused.

“Very well. What do you recommend we do?” Star Grazer looked at him quizzically.

“Sir?”

“What should we do about Light Dasher?” Shining Armor stared at Star Grazer. It made him feel uncomfortable.

“Um… Sir? I'm not sure what you mean.”

“Well. She has proven herself both in training and in combat. From your report she excelled and far surpassed any expectations previously stated. So it’s your call. Should she be ranked up to Corporal and command the troop with you? I need new ranking ponies who can do their job right! I feel she can do that. How about you?” Star Grazer was at a loss for words. That must be why the officers stormed off…

“Oh! Well if it were up to me then yes I would allow her to rank sir!.”

“Would you be willing to share command on your troop with her though?”

“Well yes of course!” He smiled at Shining.

“Good! You and Corporal Light Dasher will be taking the Food and Weapons cart with you this time. Also you will lead in case another ambush is waiting for us up the road again. Be ready to leave in one hour and take your pick of five other troops. They will be your commanding team until further notice.”

“Sir yes Sir!”

Star Grazer told the story of what happened in the tent to Light Dasher. She paced back in forth as she listened intently to the tale. When Star Grazer finished she looked up.

“So I'm a Corporal now?” She had an intense look on her face that said she was serious.

“Yeah. Same rank as me. We also have to co-command a group of five or so ponies to travel with the carts ahead.” She rubbed her chin then turned away from him.

“Do you know what this means?”

“No…” Should I be worried… I feel I should be worried right now…

“Well do you want me to tell you?” So this is how I die huh? A crazy, unpredictable, and seemingly emotionally unstable, mare is my end? You know, it almost seems fitting.

“Y-Yes…” She turned around to face him. Their eyes met and he saw what he thought was a twinkle.

“It means… We celebrate!” Star Grazer breathed a sigh of relief as she skipped toward a large brown tent that was pitched in the far corner. She returned a few seconds later with two considerably large mugs and a smile. Star Grazer dead panned.

“You can’t be serious? We have a mission to go on in less than thirty minutes!” Her smile wavered as she attempted to pass him the mug. “We have to be on watch for enemy activity Light Dasher!” She gulped down the entire mug and sighed.

“That’s why I got us both apple juice with cinnamon sticks!” This pony is crazy… Huh, but you know? I like it! Star Grazer smiled and accepted the mug and drank. The sweet, tart, liquid rushed his taste buds with a wave of sensational cinnamon spice.

“Whoa! This is good! Where do you learn to make these drinks?”

“My granny was a chef in her hay day cooking for the homeless shelter. She earned her cutie mark that way!”

“Huh. So she is a good chef and she taught you your skills?”

“Eyup! The recipe is originally for a, what she called, “Bit Friendly” Jam. For a cheap jam it sure was good! All I do is water down the recipe a bit or add more juice.”

“Well that is certainly interesting. I'm not much of a cook myself though. The best I can make is a splendid cup of tea!”

“You should make some tea for me one day! I’d really like that!” Star Grazer blushed and tapped at the dirt.

“Yes of course! Gladly.” He looked up to her. She was blushing too.

This stretch of forest was a lot brighter than the previous. The trees were spaced farther apart and the road was coated with freshly grown grass. Small bushes and weeds grew to the side of the road and small flowers bloomed in the trees. It was a very pastoral scene. Star Grazer decided on staying with the group they had. Light Dasher wanted to remove Blueblood but was denied by Star Grazer.

“Why does he have to come?” She whined as she carelessly fiddled with a spear.

“He is a good friend of mine and it would be rude to take everyone w had before except him…”

“But he is annoying and fussy. Just another Elite! No offence.”

“None taken, but he is my friend. Please respect him as such.” He sighed and trotted up ahead. She looked down at the ground and sighed. This was going to be a long walk.

It was around evening when they stopped at the second waypoint. Star Grazer’s group did not encounter any sort of trouble save for a rabbit that refused to leave until Blueblood gave it a carrot. They set up the three tents that they had and built a small fire. Blueblood used his magic to keep the smoke from rising too high. The seven of them sat around the warm fire. Star Grazer looked up to the stallion across him. He had a red coat with a black mane. He wasn’t actually muscular but well-toned. The pony looked at him.

“Hey.”

“Hey. You know I never got your name. Actually I never got anyone’s name here for that matter.” The red coated stallion spoke up.

“I'm Baron. Ruby Baron, my friends call me Barry.” He smiled then shivered as a gust of wind blew in. He shuffled closer to the fire.

“I’m sure you know but I'm Star Grazer. How about you? What’s your name?” Referring to the orange Pegasus mare next to Baron

“I'm Fluttery, it’s nice to meet you.” She smiled and waved a hoof at Star Grazer.

“Nice to meet you how about you…” The other two ponies had gotten up and left for the tent.

“I'm Light Dasher! I'm sure you knew that but yeah, I'm light Dasher!” she waved at Baron and Fluttery.

“So Baron-“

“Barry” He corrected Star Grazer.

“So Barry… Why did you join the army?”

“Well it all started with the griffin attack…”

The five them talked, laughed, and enjoyed each other’s company the whole night. It was like a scene from one of Star Grazers adventure books. This is nice. Just sitting by the fire, talking with new friends, is this what it is like to be normal? The night soon turned to day. The five hardly got any sleep and evidence of it was on their faces. The sun was just rising when they decided to sleep only to be awaken by the arrival of the army an hour later.

“Listen Star Grazer, it’s good that you were getting to know your troops but this is a war we are in. I hate being strict and mean but I can’t have you slacking off. At any moment we could be attacked and if you are too tired you’re as good as dead! Don’t let this happen again. That is all dismissed.” Shining Armor seemed very tired. Almost as if he hadn’t slept all night himself.

“Oh my goodness is he all right?!”

“What is that thing?!”

“It’s coming toward us!”

“Move! Move! Move! Get the civilians to safety!”

"The warning is true...

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