In the quiet of the morning, Crystal walked out of our bedroom, wrapped in her fuzzy pink robe. She looked over at me with tired eyes. “How long have you been up?” she asked.
“Just before the sun. It was early enough that it seemed silly to go back to bed. I’ve just been working on my stretches.”
She nodded and started rummaging around the kitchen with her magic.
I rose from my spot on the floor and trotted over to nuzzle her. She returned it, though there was still timidity there. Not that I blamed her. It had only been about a week since she’d lived being Dread Knight. “How did you sleep?”
“Better. A lot of the details are starting to get fuzzy. I mean… not fuzzy enough, but it is something. Are you mentally prepared for today?”
“Not particularly, no.” All returning veterans from the war were required to complete a mandatory month of reintegration before even being considered for duty. My time was coming up soon and I’d be finding out today whether I had progressed enough. The most likely outcome was that I had not.
Crystal set a hoof softly on my shoulder. “It is just a milestone, not a final judgment. Are you sure you don’t want me to be there?”
“I do want you to be there, but I’ll be fine. I know you’ll be here tonight. Go to your appointments and we’ll talk all about our days this evening.” I lifted a hoof to touch hers but she flinched away.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s okay. I understand.”
“I still get mixed up with them being your hooves and my hooves and all that they did. Just…” She leaned in and kissed me softly. “I know your lips are wholly innocent.”
We shared another soft kiss and then she went back to her rummaging. “I need tea. Strong tea,” she muttered as she went about making it.
“You could consider going easier on your responsibilities now that you have a husband home and underhoof.”
Crystal laughed and shook her head. “No, no, I can’t. I can’t shirk them now. Not when we’re about to truly be tested. Perhaps you should shirk yours and come with me? We could use an advisor like you.”
“I’ll think about it,” I said before starting back into my stretches. My wing had initially improved quite steadily under Winterspear’s care… then the progress leveled out. She wasn’t saying it, but I suspected this was as good as it was going to get.
It didn’t take long before our small condo was filled with the pungent scent of some kind of horrifying tea. If it had been any stronger, I would have questioned why the paint had not yet fled the walls.
Still, despite the odor, I was thrilled. One of the things I enjoyed most since arriving home was just watching my wife go through her morning routine. She had her own habits that she followed now. We were still reintegrating as a married couple. When I left, she’d still been a filly in some respects. Now she was all mare.
There was a knock at the door. Crystal called, “Come in, Winterspear, it isn’t locked.”
“Good morning, Crystal, Silent,” Winterspear said as she pushed the door open. Her nose wrinkled at the smell. “Oh, or maybe not. Is it an anise hyssop tea morning?”
Crystal waved a hoof at her. “Just nervous. It is a big day for you and Silent, plus Wallflower and I have our meeting with the general. Then I have Sunset Coffee… Why don’t ponies schedule these things on different days?”
My ear flicked curiously. I was still getting accustomed to my wife’s doings and there were a ton of doings going on. She met with General Winddancer and the elite of Canterlot somewhat regularly.
Parallel to that, her career had truly taken off. Far more than just having a successful couple of niche romance books. One interesting outcome from that was the fact we were apparently wealthy now. Not ‘doing well’ or ‘married to the daughter of a rich pony,’ either.
No, Crystal had made some very savvy business decisions while I was gone and most of them had paid off. Not that I really cared about bits, but it was at least one less worry in our lives.
Winterspear laughed and trotted over to nuzzle Crystal. “Why won’t you listen to Iridescence and hire an assistant? If you had a Raven or Willow—”
I snorted at the name. Both mares turned, glared at me, and then Winterspear went on, “As I was saying, if you had a Raven you could avoid days like this.”
Crystal shook her head. “I’m not a princess. It feels so pretentious.”
“So hire Dot, then it’s just working with family.”
My wife laughed and looked at Winterspear. “Hire Dot, really? She can’t even manage her own schedule.”
“Okay… yeah… point taken. We’re lucky if we can ever get her away from the Memorial Garden or the co-op. You know what I’m saying.” She stabbed a hoof at me. “Hire him.”
Crystal tapped her lip with a hoof. “Yes… yes… That would be great. He’d have to do what I tell him. Respect the chain of command!”
I laid out on my belly. “I refuse. I already answer to enough mares in my life. The mares in this house are under my domain.”
Winterspear’s ear flicked. “Since when?”
“Since I got back.”
“Riiight… alright, smelly, get up, shower, and put your uniform on. We’re going to meet Orchid early and go over your statement.”
My statement? “What?”
“Your statement about what happened with Mindful Soul.”
“I already gave a statement.”
“Yes, now you’ll have to give it orally and… look, just do as you’re told, okay? This will go a lot smoother. Shower, dress, and hurry up. I’ll help Crystal get her dress on in the meantime.”
Crystal tapped Winterspear on the nose. “I’d hire you, but you’re too bossy.”
Winterspear huffed. “I am the oldest; I have domain over all ponies in this house. Let’s get you dressed, too.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Crystal said, levitating her mug behind her as she trotted back into the bedroom.
My nose wrinkled at that. I was a major. They should all listen to me. I pulled myself up and headed to the guest shower. Smelly… She was smelly!
☾
Radiant Orchid and Winterspear stood next to me, smoothing out my mane and making sure my uniform looked perfect. It already did, of course, but for some reason they seemed nervous.
I was, too. This was not where I imagined a medical review would be. We were in a military courtroom. Orchid had said it was just because it was rarely in use so it had been repurposed for this.
That didn’t change the fact that there was a three-pony panel sitting behind the judge’s bench, royal guards at each door, and two tables. Everything was set up just as if this were a court case.
Mindful Soul was sitting at one of the tables, flipping through a file. She had a few more stacked beside her.
A royal guard that looked like a foal to me came over and said, “Major Knight, they’re ready for you.”
Orchid nodded and we made our way to the table opposite Mindful’s. Winterspear stood a bit further back behind us.
The three ponies behind the podium were in uniforms. Uniforms that looked like they’d never seen strife. They represented each of the branches of service: the Royal Guard, the Army, and the Navy.
I looked at the placards that sat in front of them and didn’t recognize a single name. Two colonels and a naval captain, and I didn’t know a single one of them.
The one in the middle, the red-grape-coated Army colonel behind the Merlot placard, looked down at me. “Major Knight, thank you for coming today. As you know, it is a requirement of all returning veterans to complete the designed recovery program, as outlined, before being reintegrated into our services.
“We’ve reviewed your case and feel that your recovery has not progressed to a point where we can recommend you for duty at this time.”
That was no surprise. Orchid had warned me that this outcome was the most likely by far. She’d said to take it gracefully and accept the new plan, which would just be another month in the program. I was fine with that, although I was getting tired of the rigid daily schedule.
“I understand, sir,” I replied, keeping it simple.
The colonel nodded and continued, “In light of your recent extreme failure to comply with your recovery plan and previous indiscretion with following orders outside of military command, we also have concerns that we’ll be unable to ensure your success in our standard plan.”
My ear flicked ever so slightly. They had access to my medical records, which meant they were aware of what happened with Captain Alastair. Of course, those records had been doctored slightly to include an order from the princess, but everything else was there in all its horrid detail.
That fact didn’t sit right with me, though. That incident had nothing to do with my recovery from the war. Who are these ponies to judge me on one mistake? To call back to something when I've changed since then?
Orchid cleared her throat. “Colonel, Major Knight has had an exemplary career since that misstep. His service in the war is without question. There is no evidence of non-compliance other than this one case and I think we can all agree it was an extremely emotional situation far outside of what anypony would consider normal.”
“Be that as it may, he failed to comply. He disobeyed his counselor and used his relationship with his sister to get the outcome he wanted, violating her position—”
Anger flared in my breast. Liar!
Keep your mouth shut, Silent!
“All due respect, sir, he did nothing of the sort,” Winterspear interrupted from behind us. “I am capable of making my own decisions and Dr. Soul’s statement fully supports that I was the one that chose to disobey her orders, not Major Knight. If anything, he was complicit in my actions.”
“I’ve read Dr. Soul’s notes and I’ll remind you of your place, Warrant Officer. You being here is a courtesy. You’re not his case worker. Speak when you’re spoken to. Major Knight clearly has several issues, including one with following orders. If he is to be restored to duty and represent the Equestrian military here at home, we must be certain he will do so based on our criteria.”
Their criteria? What did that mean? What did this fool think we’re going to do? What did he know of soldiers and soldiering?
“As such, Major Knight, it is the decision of this board that you be placed on indefinite medical leave until such a time where your new reintegration team feels you’re suitable for command once again… if such a thing ever occurs.
“Should you fail to comply again, even once, you will receive an immediate medical discharge. Do you understand? Have I made myself clear?”
What was going on? Indefinite leave? Orchid had never even said this was an option. I looked over at her. The shock was clear on her face.
This was an ambush, and we knew how to deal with an ambush. The heat within me surged to the boiling point.
“Major Knight, answer me.”
My nose wrinkled and I took a step towards the panel. “I understand, sir.”
“Good, I wan—”
“I understand that while I and thousands of other ponies were at war, officers like you sat here in your comfortable little chairs and made cute little plans on what to do with ponies like us.”
“Silent…” Orchid whispered.
“Major! You are out of line. You—”
“Hush!” I ordered harshly and the colonel did so, sitting back as I approached him.
“I am glad you’ve had success with your little reintegration plan. At least I assume you have if our fine military keeps letting you do it, but let me make something clear to you, all three of you.”
I set my hooves on the judicial bench they were using to separate themselves from me and rose to my full height. They actually trembled under my stare. Some officers they were. Nothing but a bunch of cowards that dared to sit in judgment of a real warrior.
“You don’t know a thing about suffering and pain. You don’t know anything about reintegration or what it is like to come home injured. Your success is based on nothing.
“You’ve dealt with a trickle of soldiers coming back. How many at a time? Twenty, fifty, a hundred tops? Wonderful. You can take a hoofful of ponies that left the war early and help them get back to their lives if they jump through your hoops.
“Do you realize what is coming, though? I don’t think you do. This war is almost over and you’re going to be dealing with thousands of me. Thousands, all at once. Ponies that were there the whole time. Ponies that have seen horrors you can’t even imagine.
“Are you going to put them all on indefinite leave if they make one mistake? Are you going to discharge the troublemakers? What then? Discharge them all into the populace? You sit here all high and mighty, but you’ve got one major flaw in your strategy, Colonel. Do you understand?” I slammed my hoof on the bench. “Answer me!”
Colonel Merlot’s lip quivered and he stammered, “And what is that?”
I plucked the major pin off my uniform and tossed it into his lap. “I am, at this moment, failing to comply. By your own words, even a minor infraction would lead to an immediate medical discharge.
“I welcome that immediate medical discharge. Congratulations, you now have zero authority over me. I’m not going to see my new reintegration team, I’m not going to wait on them to decide I’m able to represent our proud military in the way you want.
“You’ve just put a combat veteran with serious issues outside of your reach. Well done. Wait until it’s one thousand or two thousand. Perhaps a whole brigade? Good luck, Merlot, you’re going to need it.”
I turned around and found Orchid and Winterspear staring at me in horror. No surprise there. It was time to leave, so I headed towards the door.
“Major Knight! Stop immediately!”
I kept walking.
“Stop! Halt! That’s an order.”
We didn’t have to take orders anymore. Certainly not from pathetic officers like them. As I got near the door, the two guards briefly made eye contact with me.
“Do not let him leave.”
I tensed up, preparing to fight. Nopony was going to stop me from leaving this mockery.
To my relief, the two guards both looked the other way, clearly unwilling to challenge us. We pushed the doors open and walked out into the street.
“Silent! Silent, wait!” Winterspear called as she galloped out behind me. “You can’t do this.”
“Already did,” I replied as my hooves started me in the direction of central Canterlot. Where were we going?
“Orchid is trying to smooth this over, but you can’t just talk to them like that. They’re colonels.”
“Sure I can. They stayed here while I fought, and they presume to judge me and ponies like me. I’m not going to go through their hoops anymore.”
My sister flapped her wings and flew around in front of me. She set a hoof on my chest. “Silent! STOP! You can’t… I mean… you… you need help.”
I nodded. “I do, desperately. I agree completely. They can’t help me, though. They’re a bunch of cowards. Where were they when I was with the Harmony? Where were they when I was at Dreyri River?”
Winterspear just stared, her mouth hanging open.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ve had enough of this. What was I trying to get back to, anyway? I was a guard and they forced me into the army.”
I casually pulled my uniform jacket off and tossed it over her back. “See you later. Tell Orchid not to bother fighting for me. If the military wants me, they can send an officer worthy of my respect to ask. See you at home.”
Without waiting for her reply, I trotted around her and continued on my way. The hair of my coat was still bristling. Impulsive decisions weren’t really my style, but those ponies were wrong. They should be trying to help ponies, not pushing them around like bullies. Tin soldiers with a tiny bit of authority.
Winterspear let me go. I think the shock was proving too much for her. I’m sure the ramifications of what I’d done would hit me hard when the anger passed, but for now, I felt righteous and free.
It was over. My career, my commission, and everything I knew best. Not that it really mattered. I had Crystal Wishes and my family. That was all that counted now. Let those officers twist in the wind when my brothers and sisters in arms returned.
My initially aimless trek eventually led me to a place I’d never visited but had heard much about since my return. It wasn’t far from the palace and to most ponies, it would not be a site to intrude upon lightly. It was a place for ponies like me: the Harmony Memorial Garden.
It was a quiet, unassuming place. A solemn place that had not been designed with Canterlot flair or a goal to impress. The ponies that had been on the committee to plan and maintain it were the spouses and family members of soldiers lost when the Harmony went down.
They had taken the sacred charge most seriously. The whole garden had been laid out in six different beds, each shaped like the petal of a flower. In each individual bed, all the flowers shared a similar color. One bed was purple, another orange, and so on through the spectrum.
The focal point was in the middle. A white marble monolith that stood proudly above the beds, reaching for the heavens. Its square base bore the names of the ponies killed the day the Harmony was destroyed, inscribed forever.
Over time, more names had been added below the originals as others were killed in the war. Eventually, there were too many names for the first base to handle. The monolith had been raised and a second, wider base had been placed below it… then another… and another… Hopefully that would be the last.
I settled onto the ground in front of the monument. If I didn’t belong in the military, then where did I belong? My gaze fell on the monolith, looking through the names. Eventually, I found the one I was searching for: Russet Rook.
“Well, Russet, I doubt you ever imagined ponies like us would end up like me. What now, buddy?”
He didn’t answer. There was nothing but the gentle sound that flowers made when being swayed by the wind. This was an excellent place for a garden. Peaceful, calm, and just the right location to catch some of the breeze.
The whole thing was a tasteful marvel. Had I fallen in battle, I would be proud to have my name here. Fortunately, I hadn’t, but unfortunately, it was starting to seem that it is sometimes harder to survive. Where was the monument for the survivors?
My gaze took in the whole garden as I contemplated that idea. As I did so, my eyes were drawn to an orange, three-story building that stood just beyond the short white fence marking the memorial perimeter. Orange in Canterlot? The elites must have loved that.
It was an intriguing sight. What was a building like this doing in Canterlot and why was it here of all places? An investigation was in order and I’d found no answers here, anyway. My hooves took me closer and a smile crossed my face. “Of course,” I said softly as I read the sign over the door.
I went through the double glass doors of the building and found myself in a comfortable lobby. The walls were painted a soothing light blue, the couches were an inoffensive off-white, and the floor was a rich, dark hardwood.
A round reception desk stood in the center of the room where a young mare stared at me with a surprised look on her face.
I walked over to her. “Hi, I’ve heard you help veterans and their families here.”
She nodded, a little dumb founded. “Y… Yes, sir, Major Knight, sir.”
“Mr. Knight is fine. I’m a veteran, do you think you could help me?”
The mare eagerly nodded. “If we can’t, nopony can, but we can because we never give up. Ever.”
She reached over and picked up a clipboard before setting it in front of me with some paperwork.
“Could you fill this out please, sir? I mean… I know you are you, but, procedure. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course,” I replied before starting to fill it all out. She just stared at me as I did it. Once I was done, I pushed it back to her.
She smiled. “Welcome to the Flower Foundation, Mr. Knight.”
“Thank you, glad to be here.”
Holy hot damn... Wing and Trigger are both so proud! Way to tell it to those buckin' deskwarriors!
I've a feeling this is going to go poorly for those in charge, and with a possible reintroduction of shining armour. Who knows though. Either way an enjoyable chapter
I'm trying to picture Silent's expression throughout that entire dressing down he gave the officers, and the best I've got is this small, seraphic, smile that in no way touches his eyes.
That was an awesome sight to behold. Well done Silent!
It seems that Stupid Honest Mouth has grown up...
Really? He didn't munch on any enemies?
Dread, darling, you're pulling his strings so beautifully!
I think you wished to use plural here, Silent...
Well, a marvelous work, again! This can give birth to truly grand repercussions. Oh, and I cannot wait and see Crystal's reactions to all of this! :cackles with glee: Bravo!
He's still a knight of the moon and a warrior. Just not a guard or soldier anymore. My guess is that Ferrel and Luna are not done with him yet. And Luna must not be back from haven yet.
<flame on>Pretty dangerous discharging a veterin with that many problems, but that happens in real life all the time. Sometimes as a result of trauma. Also veterins get hurt, mess up and are dishonorably discharged all the time and then can't get the help they need which is a terrible injustice that should be rectified. If you have seen combat nothing should take your elegibility for veterins benefits away. Drug use, crime, dishonorable discharge, nothing. The VA in the US needs its rules radically simplified. Its very very hard to determine who even qualifies for what benefits. And it is congresses fault.<flame off>
My, my, my...I can't say I'm surprised Silent Knight finally had enough. He's right though. Those that stayed behind have no idea what horrors he went through...and they presume to know what's best? He's just one pony. What happens, as Silent Knight said, when they have to face thousands like him? One mistake and they're on indefinite medical leave? I can't see that ending well.
But...I am glad Silent knows he needs help and he might be getting it... the way HE wants it.
Excellent chapter as always Anzel!
Wow... you are really a good writer. However I just want to know... Did you deliberately set Silent Knight out to be extremely unreasonable here? Not siding with either parts of the parties in this chapter, but while those deskwarriors are clearly unreasonable in their own demands, it seemed as though they just want a beacon of hope and victory for the military to display. This would certainly raise morale and technically help rehabilitation as the Dragoons were at the forefront of every conflict at the war, so it would help bolster confidence in the troops that a person who led other through such horrors also needed rehabilitation and their methods worked for him. As such, is it a deliberate move on your part to make it that Silent Knight chose not to notice that part and walked out of it?
Then again, I may be totally overthinking things and reading too deeply into the story
P.S. Moar Pls
...wow. That's...this story is just full of surprises. Flower Foundation, huh? This seems like the kind of thing Crystal had a part in creating, given her basically leadership role in her support group over in Crystal's Hopes.
Way to stick it to the man Silent Knight! Something is off about those members of that board...Either way, SK did what he thought was right.
I liked how that one paragraph just after that altercation, SK was referring to himself as "we". His anger and frustration brings out Dread Knight...
The problem now is that he'll have far less help than he would have before, and he needs all the help he can get.
I can't help but wonder what he'll even do with himself now. On one hand, he was trained basically from birth to be a Royal Guard, so he basically has nothing to fall back on, but on the other hand I don't know that he could ever have gone back to that either, holding a sword and wearing armor again.
Those officers were doing the best they could with what they've experienced this far, so you can't exactly blame them when they see what's happening with Silent Knight. He was right, they'll be dealing with a lot more ponies like him coming home soon and will need to change or bend certain procedures, but from what we've seen it's hard to say that they were wrong about Silent.
7539717
7539722
Just to offer a countervailing perspective, what did those officers do wrong? They were all colonels or captains, meaning they put 25-ish years into the military. They haven't been to war, but let's be fair, there's only been a war for the past three years or so. Do you know how often colonels and lieutenant colonels get sent to war?
Answer: Not so often. You only need so many O-6s in a combat zone before it gets too crowded, and even if they were sent into the war, they're field grade officers; their place is in the tent at the back of the army figuring out how to keep everyone fed and pointed in the same direction, not on the front lines killing griffons.
So, from this panel's perspective, you have a disoriented and badly traumatized veteran skipping medical appointments. His case worker's recommendation is to keep him on medical leave. What do you do?
You keep him on medical leave, because that's what the doctor said. If you go against the doctor's recommendation and Silent ends up killing himself or his wife or some random griffon who steps on his tail in the street, whose fault is that? Now, we can all say that Silent would never do that, but those three officers don't know that. They can't know that. They only know what's in the case file, how the soldier is acting, and what the doctor says.
It is true that militaries struggle to reintegrate large numbers of soldiers returning from combat. They aren't really set up for it, and planning for it is usually on the backburner because frankly they need to plan to win the war first. I've seen this in real life -- I've seen the system fail. But what I've never seen is an individual officer or NCO fail to show care or compassion for a returning warrior. The failure is always in the process and the support structure.
Now, obviously this is Anzel's story and he's not obligated to base it on real experiences. But he's done an exceptional job so far of relating Silent's experiences with those someone might experience today, returning from war (with the obvious caveat that this is a fantasy story about magical ponies).
Edit: Addressing an additional point, Silent's obvious contempt for officers who haven't been to war.
There's an informal 'cool guy' rank structure in the U.S. military that exists alongside the actual rank structure. It's fluid, but it's goes something like this (from least cool to most cool, using the Army here for example's sake):
Support troops (i.e. loggies, finance, the band, etc)
Support troops that are combat oriented (i.e. military police)
Combat Arms (armor, artillery)
Infantry
Infantry with tabs (i.e. Ranger, sapper, etc)
Air Cavalry? (these guys are flyers and are kind of hard to slot)
Rangers
Special Forces conducting FID
Special Forces conducting CT
+ one rank for anyone who's actually been deployed
Think of it as an inverted pyramid. There's a whole bunch of people in the top ranks, fewer as you get closer to combat (with the exception of grunt infantry of whom there are a trillion), until you get to Special Forces units with only a few dozen people in them.
You can't translate ponies in a fantasy story to real equivalents, obviously, but it's safe to say Silent would be somewhere beyond the ranks of Special Forces in this scale. He gets to look down on everyone, regardless of his rank. They're all fobbits to him.
I've learned something over 15 years of war -- it's easy to fall prey to this desire, to look down on the people who are further from the battle than you are. But that doesn't make it right. The cook who never gets within earshot of the front lines is still playing a critical part in the war effort, because guess what SF dudes? Without him and the loggies and the truck drivers you'll starve to death.
TLDR: Looking down on someone just because they didn't happen to see combat is counterproductive and a sign of narrow thinking.
Oh. I forgot what happened to Russet. :c
What an emotional chapter.
"I redact my previous order so as to validate the one I'm giving now!"
Hah!
So, who is this mystery mare who's managed to so effectively tame the dread Silent Knight? I must know!
(Oh, relax, Crystal! I phrased it way at way on purpose. /winkyface)
7539735 sounds like you truly understand, bro. As a Marine vet, I can attest to just how bad it can be, especially for those of us trapped under the V.A.'s thumb...
7539767 I think this is the wake-up call that the military needs. If they can just discharge a higher ranked officer based on a few minor missteps, then the system they represent is deeply flawed.
Everything about this medical hearing was either unintentionally or intentionally flawed, from holding it in a "repurposed" courtroom to the attitudes of the Ponies in charge. This was not going to end well. If the OIC's couldn't recognize that now, then when would they?
In the end, it seems like they even if they wanted to use SK as a symbol for returning soldiers, they set an unreasonable high standard. Adaptive, empathy-driven care is what is called for.
7539767
Everything that you said is true, but you're not taking into account the way they're treating Silent.
They choose to handle his case in a military courtroom, sitting behind the judges podium. They set it up like a military tribunal or trial. That's not how you handle a medical review. OR delicate issues of mental health.
Silent doesn't even recognize their names. You're absolutely right that colonels and generals don't generally see combat. But if Silent hasn't even heard of them, then you can bet that they've never even been out in the theater of operations. That's not necessarily their fault mind you, and shouldn't necessarily be held against them. But it's clear that they have no idea what these soldiers have been through.
They give the expected answer that Silent is not ready to rejoin the military as of yet. which is certainly true. But then they continue on to levy a harsh 'punishment' and additional requirements. They blindside the patient and his therapist. They disregard statements and information that conflicts with their conclusions. And they go out of their way to paint Silent in the worst possible light.
Silent / Dread Knight is completely correct when he calls this an ambush.
And he knows exactly what you have to do to turn an ambush around.
I'm guessing that these Colonels really do believe their doing the right thing... They want to make sure that the military maintains it's 'proper' appearance and behavior. And they probably figured that by coming down harshly on such a well known figure, they'd set an example for all of the troops that follow behind him. Behave properly or else. Noble intentions perhaps, but very poorly thought out or executed. And that's giving them the benefit of the doubt, and assuming that they're not just tin pot dictators and control freaks.
And now Silent has reversed their ambush. They've made an example of Silent all right... But not the one they wanted. This is going to have some serious consequences in how the returning troops are handled...
What will Luna think? Or his old guard friends I wonder?
7539735 I agree with you 100%.
7539767 I think the biggest issue SK really had was their execution. They acted like they were better simply because of their position, which, in this world, means they are likely officers of high rank because they are noble birth, not because of experience. Anzil's military does have elements of the feudal system in it.
Just wait till the Princesses hear about this. I doubt it just be Luna ticked off. Heck they did this not just to a vetran but a high ranking, and famous one. THE ONE WHO HELPED BRING AN END TO THE WAR. This will be a PR disaster. yeah a bunch of highly infulencal ponies are going to be breathing down these officers necks. I think demotions or discharges are in their future.
great chapter with SK flipping his metaphorical finger at the "man"
i do want to see what happens next when he meets luna and his wife
Love it.
7539767 Oh, I'm glad you're here with these insights. It's cool to have an inside perspective.
This was a massive screw up by everyone involved, and I'm including Silent in that.
The review officers messed up so badly in ambushing Silent like this. He should never have been allowed in that room without his team knowing what was coming so that they could prepare him. Beyond that, this was about the worst of any possible veteran for them to give the appearance of screwing over, beside being practically the hero of the war he has so many connections to the upper levels of the military and government up to and including both princesses and the ponies that directly serve them.
Even if all of those connections don't have direct power over this decision and the ability to override it, it's still picking a fight with someone who has a very significant allies. Imagine in the US system the military hero spouse of a Senator getting treated like this and ending up storming out of the room with their commission in tatters. There would be a hell to pay, even if that hell had to come through unofficial channels. It'll be a miracle for these guys if they're still on their current assignment once everyone above them reacts to today's events.
And then there's Silent. I think that his reaction here was a massive overreaction, but what I'm really wondering about is the consequences for Crystal. If she is directly working with the military on the reintegration effort, it is entirely possible that he just insulted and stormed out of the room on three ponies that have a working relationship with his wife, potentially in designing the very system that he just threw over while he was leaving.
Now, it's possible that this will accidentally help her, maybe these three officers are not cooperating properly with the overall effect. But anything like that will be an incredibly lucky turn on events.
7539767 Are the officers involved in medical reviews always so high-ranking, or was this some sort of "shuffle around until you find ranking officers for the review" error in judgment? Because they were certainly conducting the review as if it were a courtmartial, and showed every sign of interpreting their brief as if they *were* actually court-martialing Silent. Which would make sense if they were more used to sitting on courtmartials than overseeing medical hearings.
Reflexes can kill - Silent's reflex is to fight through an ambush, and once he perceived himself as being ambushed, his reflexes drove him to charge right through the senior officers. He even physically approached and intimidated the members behind the bench, and was probably lucky he didn't go any further. His inner dialog was becoming disturbingly bifurcated in that moment as well.
They're not wrong that Silent is desperately unwell, and a potential danger to himself and others. But they did everything possible wrong in trying to deal with the fact that he was still badly unprepared for reintegration. My god, you don't spring surprises on a combat veteran with hair trigger reflexes and raging PTSD.
1) Silent Knight gets better at this new cult foundation.
2) Silent Knight leads a coup and sets his wife on Canterlot's throne.
3) Silent Knight becomes a mercenary (who has a mouth but his name is silent, so he doesn't use it much).
Bring it on!
Honestly I wanted Silent to punch them. But I'm glad he didn't, that wouldn't have ended well. I find myself giddy at the thoughts of what might happen next.
Loved it!
I greatly commend Silent's bravery in confronting the three colonels for what they did.
7539767 You said it yourself that reality and fiction do not always relate. There is nothing wrong with getting excited over Silent coming out of his mind and speaking his piece.
As for real world parallels, I have a few personal ones that could be discussed involving evaluations of those who served in combat from those who did not understand it. However, those tales have little place in the world of cartoon cathorses.
Heh, love the fact that he leaves the official reintegration via the military, and goes immediately to the civilian organization that more or less does the same thing.
Since it was Silent Knight, and how closely Luna and other high ups keep in touch, those colonels are going to have a lot of explaining to do. And he's right; soldiers who have only seen the war behind a desk should not make decisions on people (ponies) that they have no true way of understanding. It's a good thing this happened now; there's a chance to fix the problem before they get slammed.
7540127 That's the point on which I disagree. "You weren't there, you couldn't possibly understand" isn't a mature or reasonable position in this context. Combat isn't a sacred mystery, and it can't be treated as such, especially not in a medical fitness review. It shouldn't take blood on the hooves/hands of the members of the evaluation board to recognize that zero-tolerance stances on incidents, punitive attitudes towards patients, and the use of therapeutic programs as punishment methods are all grossly inappropriate standards for the situation in question, and really, almost all similar medical contexts. That isn't even empathy, that's simple cold logic.
7539767
What do they did wrong? They treated him worse than dog. Simple you do not help people/ponies with intimidation. The military courtroom? Leaving one appointment just slightly before end being "extreme failure to comply with your recovery plan"? Bringing up the Alastair? Completely Ignoring what Winterspear have to say? And giving him such a high punishment, that in the end would more bad than good? (Yea, tell mentally unstable person/pony that his next little misstep will cost him a job) It's basically blackmailing! And accusing him that he is not able to follow orders, while all he did last 2 years was following orders to butcher anything in front of him?
They were arrogantly blind and just ignored what was in front of them. They didn't want to help him. They just wanted to be done with him so that he doesn't cause any problems. And as I have said they chose to do it in a way they overwhelm the poor pony with how strong and important they are so the victim just bow down his head, sticks his tail between his legs and begs for mercy.
PS: You don't need to be in a war to not to be a d**k and have a f*****g common scene.
Other that that "f**c you all meter" was god damn high this chapter and I loved it. That's how you shove imaginary middle finger to someone's face! Go Dre-... Go Sil-.... Go Knights! Go!
7540150 Yeah, you're right. I was a little emotional when I wrote that. But from the way I see things, these guys had absolutely nothing to temper their decisions, and if they did, they chose to ignore it.
Silent Knight's case is an extreme; he was on the front lines for almost the entire two years of the war. I agree that Silent needed to stay on his reintegration program, stay on medical leave, but what they were ordering was unreasonable. The indefinite part i can understand, but make a single mistake you're gone? By the way Orchid reacted, nothing like this had ever happened before.
It sounds like they were more interested in punishing him for one (or two) instances of insubordination rather than his recovery. Because Silent is just the tip of the spear; a lot of other soldiers are going to be exactly like him. There are going to be other instances of insubordination during rehab, but rather than with any sort of care, they just simply strike down on it. And since they are going to be overwhelmed, soldier's are going to stop trusting the system and do exactly what Silent did and just say 'screw you, you don't know what it's like,' and then not get the help they desperately need.
Am I the only one who noticed the odd plural wording?
7539750
I didn't see any we's when he was only talking about himself, just the other soldiers about to come back.DISREGARD, I'M A MORON AND YOU'RE RIGHTI see what 7539767 is saying, and that would have made sense under less outrageous circumstances. If it were Orchid keeping him on leave, that would be completely correct, and Silent was annoyed, but expected and ultimately had little issue with that. I could even understand indefinite leave, and I get the feeling Silent would too if reminded just how extreme a case he is and they came from the angle of empathy rather than whipcracking. Much as he wants to be back on duty, he knows very well that putting unstable ponies on duty is an awful idea. You're also right that non-combat personnel shouldn't be denigrated like Silent did. Were it staffed by cooler and less overtly hostile heads, he probably would have simmered a bit but accepted it.
And that's the thing, because this time, that's exactly what happened. Keep in mind, this is a military where sociopathic nobility officers are a thing, and a marked problem in the past. I seem to recall a certain pre-Russet officer try to send Luna's personal guards off to murder random dragons for fame and glory. It was getting better before the war, but it's very, very easy to believe that during it, the ranking nobles stayed home and re-solidified their power and numbers in the deployed army's absence. The fact that they completely ignored the statements of both his sister and his counselor, if they even read them at all, and tried to yank him away from his counselor entirely (quite possibly the only counselor he's ever been on particularly good terms with) and swap in their own hoofpicked team of randos...well that makes it a bit more likely that those ponies were themselves a large part of the broken system.
Silent walking out on them is going to suck pretty hard. But it may well have sucked worse if he hadn't, and the fact that he went straight to the civilian aid bodes surprisingly well for both him and the soldiers who look up to him. It wasn't "f*ck you I don't need any help", it was "f*ck you, I need help from someone who actually gives a damn".
Luna is not going to be happy about that
And it seems that in the time of an ambush even on the homefront that the Dread Knight takes the reigns. I wonder how long it'll be until Crystal sees the dread knight?
7540095 Silent Knight becomes a full-time test-subject for Runic's experiments.
Think about what went down a bit more, I have to wonder if the press is going to have a field day with this. From what we've been told they've been reporting on what has been going on in the war, including about Silent and his force. Dread Knight the war hero resigning his commission in disagreement about how returning veterans are reintegrated could be spun up into a massive scandal.
(insert low, disgruntled, slightly constipated grumbling noise here)... Am I reading this wrong? I thought he volunteered due to feelings of guilt about the Alastair incident being used as an excuse for starting the war and due to having seen active combat beforehand.
Apart from that, this is excellent.
7540457 he volunteered as a guard, because at the time they were never even supposed to fight, they were there as advisers.
Come to think of it, how successful have the reintegrations actually been so far? We don't know.
Think about it; at what point have we seen actual statistics or even been treated to a success story? The only one we have is Thunder Tumble, and even then, we've only seen him at Red's birthday party. We have zero evidence that the reintegrations have been working at all; everyone that's come back could still be in rehab, for all we know.
Sorry ya'll, but that's it: No punchline today.
7539949
I was thinking something along those lines. You know that word is going to go through the lines and reach the press. Only, by then, it will be a different sort of beast because rumor mutates as it passes from one person to another.
I'm with other people and wonder what Luna's reaction will be when she returns from Haven? I know she'll want to help Silent but aside from that, I don't know.
"...send me an officer worthy of my respect..."
inb4ShiningArmor
7539767
Understand your point, been through decompression myself, several times. It depends where you are and what you've seen. However from my own experiance officers are not fit for purpose for the most part, with the exception of a few. This was showcased in this chapter in bulk. Silent could've handled it better. And I've seen people not showing care or compassion for people returning, with the exception of Padres officers aren't generally trained to deal with that type of situation well and they didn't handle it well.
Edit - also they're OF-5 in an OF 1 to 7 Scale, so it's not hard to believe that Colonels don't weird as much power as the ones we're used to, but there were more colonels in this story so far than we've seen the majority of the way through this universes continuity in Nordovar so who knows.
7540239 I think the author was going for a "Luna/Nightmare Moon" vibe here.
See, Silent Knight and Dread Knight live in the same body and are essentially the same person, but Dread Knight is a different part of Silent. Dread came out and took dominance because Silent couldn't handle the stress and the killing.
When Silent said we I damn near shit myself because I knew he was acknowledging that he AND Dread were doing this together, if that makes sense.
Also, I hope those colonels don't keep pushing and pressuring, because they don't want to see the part of Silent that bargained with dragons to kill hundreds of gryphons.
Hah! I love it, partially because only Silent would use the word "fled" in this sentence.
Nooo!! I want to knooow! Please Crystal update!
Great comeback there, Silent. I think "your face is smelly" is the next level up for you.
HOLY. FREAKING. EPIC!! Besides the chicken florentine crepe I got from iHop this morning, this line is the best thing to happen today. AWESOME!!
Oh good, he got himself some help!
I'm not supposed to know what this place is, right?
right?
7540311 oh I whole heartedly agree. Luna is going to go ballistic and send somepony to the moon. Her first and favorite guard getting thrown out of the mitary for a tiny infraction, heads are going to roll.
Not to mention Silent is going to get a talking to as well foe walking out.
On another note, I hope that Princess Luna doesn't overreact to what transpired with Silent at the meeting here.