Chapters To say it was cold up in the Himalayan mountains would be a drastic under statement. I trudged through snow up to my waist. As I stopped to catch my breath, I unzipped my green-brown camouflage field jacket and moved apart the three winter linings I was wearing, then finally pulled up my light brown t-shirt to check the bullet wound in my stomach. The medical wrap I had put on was holding, and the medifoam was keeping me from bleeding out. For now.
I zipped up my jacket and kept moving. I just need to get over this peak, the evac should be right on the other side. I kept moving, but the closer I got to the top, the more snow there was. I checked over my shoulder for any sign of my pursuers, but I had lost them in the blizzard long ago. Probably thinking I’m going to die in this weather anyway. Looking toward the mountain peak I thought, I just might. Then I mentally kicked myself. No no no no no no, I can’t think like that. I just have to make it over this mountain. One more mountain.
Then by some miracle sent by God himself, the blizzard began to die off as I reached the peak. As I stood at the peak of the mountain, I took a moment to rest and take in the view. The sky was beginning to clear, and I could see the sun going down on the horizon. I was high enough to the point where I was above most of the clouds. It was a nice sight, and I envy birds for getting to see it daily. As I looked across the expanse of white fluffy clouds, I could make out a distant form, swooping through the clouds, performing spins, rolls, and dives. I looked down to the foot of the mountain, where there was a thick forest. That’s weird, there shouldn’t be a forest out in this mountain range. It should still be desolate tundra. I looked out farther, and saw a small little village, that looked peaceful and happy. Doesn’t seem like it’s touched at all by the war. I remember when home used to be like that.
I felt a pang of sadness thinking about home. I had lived in the suburbs of St. Paul Minnesota, roughly 70 miles from the city center. It had been a beautiful place, until the war happened. Don’t think about home, you fool! Concentrate on the mission! Right. The mission. I started to walk down the mountain. I had descended about half a mile from the peak when I began to think something was wrong.
Where was that evac? The helecopter was supposed to be right over the peak. I was beginning to worry. Something wasn’t right. Something just felt, not wrong, but different. The painkillers I hac taken where begging to wear off, and I needed to get my stomach stitched up soon. It may not be bleeding now, but I’m pretty sure it’s not healthy to have a hole in your gut.
I'll just have to make for the bottom of the mountain, then try to get to that village. I began to descend again. It was difficult work, and I had to stop and rest often, on account of the blood I had lost making me feel extremely light headed. As I stopped to rest, I heard a muffled thump from higher up the mountain, than a gradual rumble. That cant be good. Looking up I saw that something higher up had caused snow to begin to slide down the mountain side. As the avalanche got closer, I turned and ran. I’m really in no condition for this. As the avalanche of snow caught up to me, the last thing I thought to myself was, This just ain’t my day….
I awoke with a shiver and a groan. It was dark, and I felt cold all over, and quickly realized why. I was encased up to my shoulders in snow, with just my head and my right arm sticking out. Maybe today is my day. After all, I’m still alive. Looking around I saw I was at the foot of the mountain. I looked into the forest, but something about it seemed off. This whole place seemed off. The world was so colorful. So vibrant. Dare I say cartoon like? I shook my head. I must of just hit my head, or those painkillers are having some odd after affects.
Well, as far as I could tell there was still a hole in my gut, so I better get to some sort of hospital. Provided I didn’t get to turned around in the avalanche, that village should be on the other side of this forest. I began to dig my torso out of my cold snow tomb, and then was able to pull the rest of my body out when I had both arms available. Looking up, I could see the moon high in the clear sky, with stars splayed around it like diamonds. These where the kind of nights I would lay under and watch the stars with Kitty and Crystal.
Katherine. My sister. Kitty was only my pet name for her, but she loved being called it so much. I could still remember her, with light blonde hair, and laughing brown eyes. She had always been so happy, so ambitious. And Crystal. My fiancé. My high school crush and my lifelong friend. She had been there when I dropped out of school to enlist when I was 16, so I could earn money to afford to look after Kitty when our mom died. She even offered to look after Kitty when I got deployed. She was there again when I came home, 3 years later. Scarred physically and mentally, by what I had seen and done. She gave me a home, and help me care for Kitty. I can still remember the night I proposed. I was only 21, but I was sure that I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life, no matter how short or long, with her. She was beautiful. Her light brown hair falling in long curls. She cried when I got down on a knee and asked for her hand. I had worried I messes up or did something wrong, but I could see the smile on her face as she hugged me, and repeated “Yes yes yes yes.” Over and over again.
We were set to be married in September, but September never came. No! Stop it! Stop! Think about Kitty and stop thinking about Crystal! I pulled myself out of the daze, and began checking for if I lost anything. Dogtags? Check. Combat Knife? Check. .44 magnum? Not check. I looked around, but couldn’t find my trusty revolver anywhere. It was probably burried under feet of snow. I checked the medical pouch I had on my belt. One more shot of painkillers and a roll of medical wrap. I better stop getting shot.
Without further hesitation I began to move into the forest. The moon was full, but the conopys of the trees cut off a lot of the light. I stumbled around until I found what seemed to be a game trail. I followed it as best I could in the low light, but had to stop and backtrack multiple times. After an hour or two of travel, I was about ready to leave the trail, believing it was leading my in circles, when I heard what sound like a young girl yelling.
I kicked up my pace a little, and as I got closer, I was able to make out the girl sounded panicked. “Help! Rainbow Dash! Somepony! Anypony! Help!” Somepony? What? I didn’t give myself time to think as I began running. Tree branches whipped my face and eyes, and as I burst through the foliage in front of me, I was met with what might just be the weirdest thing I had ever seen.
I was in a small clearing, and in the moonlight, I could see a small orange filly, with dark pink mane and tail, and are those wings? What? (That explains the somepony) Slowly backing away from a wolf about for times the size of it. To make things better, the wolf was made completely out of sticks and logs. Yep, definitely lost way too much blood. Orange winged pony or not, it still needed help, and I wasn’t about to watch something so young get ripped to pieces by a wolf made up of a pile of twigs.
I drew my combat knife, and before the wolf even knew I was there, I tackled it. As we hit the ground, I slid the blade right into the wolf’s heart. Or where it's heart would of been if it wasn't hallow! This world makes no sense.
I threw the wolf off me and stood up. Ok, if a knife won't work, I'll just have to.... My train of thought was cut off as the wolf jumped at me, biting at my neck. I threw up my arms as it tackled me to the ground, but instead f biting my neck, it caught my left forearm. My combat knife slid out of my grasp as I hit the ground. It slid to stop at the hoof of the little orange pony. She was standing, looking confused and frozen in place.
I was pulled back to reality (or wherever I am) by a sharp pain in my arms. This wolf's teeth may be made out of wood, but they were incredibly sharp. I did my best to keep my left arm between me and the thrashing wooden dog from hell that seemed intent on ripping out my throat, as I reached for anything I could use as a weapon with my right.
My hand fell on a fist sized rock. I quickly grabbed it and started hitting the beast attacking me in the shoulder. On the third hit, I heard the sharp crack of splintering wood, and I felt the jaws clamping down on my left arm release. I threw the wolf off me, and watched carefully as it whimpered and ran away, wooden tale between it’s legs. Looking down at my arm, I could see my sleeve darkening. I’ll take care of that later.
I turned to the orange filly. She looked halfway between thanking me, and screaming and running away. Instead, she said what I expected. “W-Who are you? What are you?” she stammered. Well I was going to ask you the same question.
“My name is Sol.” I answered, doing my best to not kick my self for talking to a multi-colored wined pony that looked like it came directly from some little girls fantasy. “And I’m a human.”
She seemed to jump back a little at the sound of my voice. “Y-you talk?” Well I didn’t really expect blood-loss induced hallucinations to talk, but you are.
“Yea. So, what are you doing out in the woods alone at this time of night?” I asked. Might as well. Wouldn’t want to be rude to my own hallucination.
“I’m not alone. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and I were…” Her face immediately went from slightly nervous to afraid again. “Oh no. You need to help me find them. Apple Bloom was hurt last time I saw them. Please!” she looked up at me with pleading purple eyes. Her expression was so much like Kitty’s when she used to do that, that I found it impossible to say no.
“Ok, fine. Where were they when you before you ran off.” Her ears lifted up and she began to smile.
“Over this way!” she yelled as she turned and ran into the brush. I picked my knife up off the forest floor and began to follow her. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, since she was able to easily slide under most of the branches, while I had to run right through them.
As we ran, I decided I would be the one to break the ice. “So why did you run away from your friends?”
She looked back at me with and undignified look. “I did not run away. I just was trying to lead the timber wolf away from Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.” Timber wolf? Oh the irony burned
“That was pretty brave of you.” I said dryly.
“Well I’m a brave pony.” She said proudly, then came to an abrupt halt. “They should be right up here.” She said as she hopped through the remaining bushes.
“Scootaloo!” I heard to voices call out in unison.
“Hey girls. How are you Apple Bloom?” I heard the orange pony, Scootaloo, reply.
“Ah’m fine.” I heard a second voice say in a slight country drawl. “It’s jus’ muh leg hurts a little.”
“How did you get away from that wolf?” I heard a third voice chime in.
“I had a little help.” she said. I took that as my cue and stepped out of the bushes onto a semi-open path.
Sitting on the path where two more technicolor ponies. One had a white coat with a half purple half pink mane and tail and, a horn? The second was a (thankfully) somewhat normal pony, with yellow fur and a red mane and tail, and a simple red bow adorned her mane. They both looked up at me with wide eyes and mouths agape. I ran a hand through my somewhat short brown hair, not sure what to say. Luckily, Scootaloo broke the silence.
“Girls, this is Sol. He helped me with the timber wolf. He’s a human.” She then turned to me and said, “Sol, this is Sweetie Belle” she pointed towards the unicorn, “and Apple Bloom.” she pointed to the normal filly. As I looked them over, I saw small bite marks in Apple Bloom’s foreleg.
“Umm… Apple Bloom, is it? Do you want me to wrap that bite on your leg so it won’t get infected.?” This seemed to knock the two fillies out of there stupor, because Apple Bloom managed a nod. I reached into my medical pouch and pulled out my last roll of gauze, then preceded to gently wrap her leg with precision that only comes with lots of practice. Way too much practice than what’s healthy for me. I thought to myself as I finished on her leg. “How’s that?”
She looked at it. “B-better. Thank ya.” she stammered.
Sweetie Belle, who had been staring at me as a wrapped her friends leg, began to look around, then said “Girls, can we get out of here. I really don’t want a “Eaten by Timber Wolves” cutie mark.” A what now?
Scootaloo moved over to her friends then said, “yea, we should get out of here, before more come looking for us.” Apple Bloom simply nodded. Seeing that, Scootaloo walked over to her and asked, “Can you walk.” Apple Bloom then attempted to stand, but was careful not to put any weight her injured leg. She began to walk down the path, but was moving slow.
“I’ll just carry you.” I said, then scooped up the small filly in my arms. She squirmed at first, then realizing I had no intention of hurting her, she settled herself into my arms.
“Thank ya again, for helpin’ us an all.” She said.
“Yea thanks. Your really brave yourself, tackling that timber wolf.” Scootaloo said, as she trotted at my side.
“It was nothing.”
Sweetie Belle trotted up on my other side. “You did what?”
“Yea, he just tackled it to the ground, then hit it a bunch with a rock.” Scootaloo said, sounding more like she was showing off her own feat then mine.
“Is that how you got that bite on your…. Thing.?” Sweetie Belle said, noticing my arm.
“It’s an arm, and yea, it bit me once. Nothing more than an oversized splinter really.”
“Oh, Ah’m sorry for using your bandages. You should of used them.” The filly in my arms said.
“It’s fine, I’ve had worse.” I felt a sharp pain in my stomach reminding me that I have worse. I shut out the pain, reasoning that there was probably a doctor wherever these ponies came from. There was a long silence as we continued down the path. I could see the sky getting brighter through the treetops. It’s almost dawn. We must be close to the edge of the forest, because the trees were beginning to thin out.
“Ummm… Scootaloo, can I talk to you?” Sweetie Belle said as she stopped walking. Taking the hint, I kept walking with Apple Bloom in my arms. I heard the other two whispering behind us. I didn’t mind. They had a right to be suspicious, after all, if the positions were reversed, I would be checking to see if I was insane. I probably am, after all I am walking down a path in the middle of a cartoon looking forest while holding a pony that is yellow and red pony as a Pegasus and unicorn follow me. Nothing insane about that at all.
I was once again pulled from my train of thought as I heard a rustling the bushes ahead of me. Suspicious that it was another of those wolves, I veered to the left of the path away from the rustling bushes. Apple Bloom looked up at me and asked "Is something wrong?"
"No, it's just...." the rest of my sentence was cut off as an orange mare jumped from the bushes on the side of the path. She had a blonde mane and tail, pulled back in a ponytail(?) and on her head rested a simple cowboy hat. As she leaped from the bushes, she landed on her front legs, rotating, her back legs pulled against her body. I realized what was happening a second too late.
"Get away from muh sister!" she yelled in an accent similar to Apple Bloom's, then bucked me in the side hard almost causing me to drop Apple Bloom. It hurt, but not as much as the time I was hit by that SUV. As I stumbled back, I placed the filly in my arms onto the ground, then readied myself, just in time. The orange mare bucked at me again, but this time I ducked under the flailing hooves, sticking out my own foot and kicking out the attacking pony's front legs. She hit the ground and I stood up.
"Apple Bloom, you ok?" I asked, looking to where I had set her down, she was fumbling over her words and I started to walk over to her. I caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye. As I turned, I heard a sickening crack as I once again felt myself get bucked in the chest, but this time it felt a lot more like the SUV.
I stumbled back and hit the ground. In an instant I was pinned there. Looking up, I found myself staring into the calm green eyes of a red stallion with short blonde hair, wearing a heavy yoke and had a sprig of wheat hanging from his mouth. A heavy hoof pressed down on my chest, another pressing down on my left arm. "Good work Big Macintosh." I heard the orange mare say. As I looked over at her, I saw the other two fillies come running into view, both looking worried from the sudden commotion. The orange mare stepped out to greet them saying "Girls, your safe!" Sweetie Belle stopped and started talking really fast, while Scootaloo ran full speed past her.
"Get off of him!" she yelled as she jumped full speed at the pony, Big Macintosh, pinning me down. He hardly flinched.
"Applejack! Big Mac! What are y'all doing here?" I heard Apple Bloom ask.
Applejack turned to her "We came here looking for you three. We got half the town looking for y'all!"
"We were just trying to find our cutie marks." I heard Sweetie Belle say.
"An what is that." Applejack said, pointing a hoof at me.
Scootaloo stopped trying to move the hoof pinning me down, and turned to look at Applejack. "HE is a human, and his NAME is Sol. He was just trying to help us get home." I must say, I was happy that Scootaloo was sticking up for me, but I can worry about myself.
“Where’d he come from? What’s he doing here?” Applejack started asking.
“Look, I’ll be happy to discuss where I came from with you, but can we be civilized about this?” I said in a dull voice. So much for good first impressions.
Applejack stared at me suspiciously, then said to Big Macintosh, “Could ya go round up Twi and the others, I think they’ll wanna see this.” He glanced at Applejack, then turned and walked away, which allowed me to sit up. In doing so, I involuntarily cringed. This was not helping my stomach heal. Luckily the medifoam is still holding up.
Scootaloo was giving me a worried look. “Are you ok? Are you hurt? Do you need…” I put a hand over her mouth to cut off the stem of questions.
“I’m fine, just a cracked rib. A day or to of rest and I’ll be fine.” I said, but it didn’t seem to help. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Applejack trotting towards me.
“What where you doing with your…. Things… all over muh sister.” She said in an accusing tone.
I was about to answer her when Apple Bloom spoke up, “Applejack, Sol was jus helping’ me, that’s all. I hurt muh leg and he was gonna carry me back to Ponyvile.” She limped over to the older mare to show her the bandages I had put on her leg. I took this moment to examine applejack more closely. She was well muscled, not as much as Big Macintosh, but muscled. She had light freckles under her eyes, and a tattoo of three apples on her flank.
“Is that true?” Applejack said, turning to me. I nodded, and her stance and facial features changed instantly to a softer expression. “Well then ah’m sorry fer bucking ya like that. An Ah’m sure that when Big Mac finds out about the misunderstanding, he’ll be sorry too,”
I looked at her and gave her a week smile, the massive amount of blood I lost beginning to catch up with me. “It’s fine. I can only imagine what I’d do if my sister had gone missing, and next time I saw her, she was in the arms of some strange creature.”
Scootaloo looked up at me. “You have a sister?” She asked, sounding excited.
I felt the emotion drain from my face, and I suddenly could look at those curious purple eyes. “I’d prefer not to talk about it.” I said plainly.
She just frowned a bit then said “ok.”
“We should get going.” I said, then stood up. I immediately regretted it. The world swam and I felt suddenly really top heavy. “I lost way too much blood….” I mumbled as the world crashed around me.
I woke up with a start, then struggled to remember where I was, but as the vibrant color filled my eyes, I realized 3 things. One, I was still in this world of talking ponies. Two, I was in a cottage I had never seen before, and Three, I wasn’t wearing a shirt. Looking down, I saw my stomach had clean bandages around it, along with my left arm, and there where also bandages around my chest, keeping it stiff so the rib doesn’t heal wrong.
Sitting up, I realized I was in a bed that was far too small for me, with my knees hanging the edge. Looking around the room, I spotted my shirt and coat clean, folded, and sitting on a chair next to the bed. I slipped into my t-shirt and walked to the door. Looking in the hallway beyond, I saw no sign of anyone, or anypony as it would be. I continued out towards a staircase I saw. I heard multiple voices drifting up, so I figured I better figure out who my hosts/captors were.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs I was met by yet another very odd scene. I walked into a room full of bird houses and other random animal care objects. And in the center of the room, laying in a half circle, were 5 ponies. A yellow pegasus with a long pink mane and tail, and a cyan pegasus with rainbow colored mane and tail. There was a white unicorn with a long purple mane and tail that fell in long curls, and a purple unicorn with a strait mane and tail that had a pink highlight going down it. And last but no least was Applejack, sitting comfortably on the opposite side of the room.
As I walked in, the purple unicorn stood and said, “Oh umm… your awake. Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I‘m the librarian at Ponyvile Library.” She looked like she couldn’t decide whether she should be afraid of me or intrigued by me.
“Hullo Twilight.” I said simple. At the sound of my voice, the yellow pegasus bolted under a nearby couch. Shy much? I looked at her quizzically.
“Don’t mind Fluttershy,” the rainbow maned pony said. “By the way, I’m Rainbow Dash. I control the weather here in Ponyvile.” Weather control? That’s cool.
“I am Rarity,” The white unicorn announced, “and I must thank you for helping my sister, Sweetie Belle. I own the local boutique, so if you ever need new clothing, don’t be afraid to stop by, I’d enjoy the challenge.”
“You already sorta know me,” Applejack said “but me and my big brother Big Macintosh own and run Sweet Apple Acres, outside of Ponyvile. He’s really sorry for cracking yer rib.”
I waved a dismissing hand. “It’s fine, I’ve taken worse. Who was it that patched me up?” I said looking at the collection of ponies.
“That was Fluttershy.” Twilight said helpfully.
I looked over to where she coward under the couch. “Well thank you for that, you may have saved my life.”
She just looked at me and mumbled “Y-your welcome…”
There was an awkward silence, broken by Twilight. “I’m just going to come out and ask, how did you get into Equestria?” That must be the country I’m in.
I gave her a sad look and said, “I really don’t know.”
“Well what where you doing before you ended up here?” She asked, obviously eager to know all she could about me.
“To tell you that, I would need to tell you about the state Earth, the place I’m from, is in, and to do that,” I looked around. These ponies, they all looked so innocent. I doubted there had been any really conflict in these lands for years. “I would need to tell you about war.”
Why can I never just go to sleep in this world? Why must it always be being knocked out, passing out, or being drugged by colorful talking ponies?
When I woke up it felt like I was laying on a cloud. Opening my eyes, I realized that’s because I was. What the hell? How is this even… ahh screw it. No point in trying to understand it. Still a little woozy from the spiked punch, I slowly pulled myself to the edge of the cloud I was on. I looked over the edge. Not the best idea. The ground was thousands of feet below me. It was a dizzying drop, and added with the cloudiness in my mind from the punch, I nearly fell. Looking out, I found I floated far out from the small town of Ponyville, which was a small cluster on the horizon. It was early morning.
I backed up and looked around my cloud. It was about 7 feet from end to end. And no way down. That means I’m…. my mind started to panic. I could feel the wave of fear wash over me. I was being held captive. Again.
Blood, gore, slash, stab, fight, kill or die. Memories of the Pit began to force themselves into my head. No, no, no. These are peace loving ponies. They won’t do that. It would appall them to even think about it . The rational side of my brain countered, but the bloody memories wouldn’t stop.
“Are you ok?” The question broke through my revelry. Looking up I noticed for the first time, Twilight Sparkle laying on a cloud, maybe ten feet from my own. Close enough to talk, but far enough to be safe. Next to her, laying on the cloud was the book she wrote all she heard me talking about humanity in. She had probably been reading it, contemplating on all it meant.
“No.” I answered, voice shaky. No use denying it. My face was no doubt pale, and I could feel myself shaking. “Can you get me a block of wood, maybe 6 inches by 6 inches?” I asked, remembering what I had been told about dealing with the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Do something to distract your mind.
“Ok, I guess.” She said, not sure what to make of the request. Then looking up she called, “Hey Rainbow Dash, can you go get me a block of wood?” Looking up as well, I saw yet another cloud, this one had an idle cyan pegasus, with a rainbow mane laying on it, napping. There was a groggy “fine” followed by a blue form falling, to later start flapping her wings as she flew to the distant Ponyville.
“How long?” I ask, struggling to keep the irrational fear from showing.
“About two days…” Twilight answered hesitantly.
Two days. I’ve been a captive for two days, and they haven’t done anything, why would they do anything now. the rational part of me said. Because you can’t fight to the death if your asleep! my irrational side argued. “Why?” I asked, trying not to yell.
“Because, you told us those stories, about how violent and destructive humans are. I didn’t know what else to do, I wanted to make sure you don’t hurt anypony!” She said quickly, trying to justify herself under my fierce gaze. “Besides, I… I… oh look, Dash is back with your wood block.” She said awkwardly, trying to force a smile.
Sure enough, Rainbow Dash popped back above my cloud and hoofed over a small wood block to Twilight, who then floated it over to me. The rainbow pegasus look between us, then said something about scheduling a rainstorm as she flew off. I looked at the wood block in my hand. It was soft pine, perfect.
“What are you going to do with that?” Twilight asked, al past fear gone in a wave of interest.
I pulled my knife from it’s sheath, mildly surprised they didn’t bother disarming me. “Carving. It’s something my dad taught me when I was young, and I do it to calm my mind.” I stared at the blade in my hand. It had a wire wrapped hilt, which shined a dim bronze in the sunlight. The blade itself was simple, one-sided, with a serrated edge the first 2 inches up the blade. All in all, nothing special. But the story behind it…
“Would you mind,” I said, levelly, while I started to carve. “If I told you another story, to pass the time?”
The purple unicorn looked to me, happy with the less ‘hostile’ circumstances. “Sure,” She said eagerly, then added. “is it going to be another story about war and death?” She asked, obviously not as excited about the possibility of more mental images, that no doubt gave her nightmares.
“Sadly, yes. But this one is different. This one is special.” I said solemnly, not looking up from my work, but in the corner of my eye, I saw her ears perk up.
“Why?”
“Because this one, is about me.”
“I was 17 at the time, just finished with basic training, and was on my first tour of duty. I was stationed to defend a base on the frontlines in Siberia. Russia had been attacked early in the war, when it had sided with America during the conflict. In retaliation, Mongolia sided with China, and invaded the southern boarders of Russia, driving back the Red Army and capturing many southern towns.”
“It was the last month of my rotation, so I was ready to go home. Of course that was when something would go wrong. I was on the last patrol of the night shift, and it was about an hour until dawn. The guards were tired and it was almost time to change shifts. I was thinking about the slight warmth of the barracks, how it would be so much better than being out in this freezing cold blizzard. We never saw it coming.”
“They rose up out of the snow, hundreds of them. They had been concealed from sight and thermal scans by the blizzard and snow. The Mongolian soldiers swarmed the base, killing anyone who didn’t surrender, and half the people that did. A stray bullet grazed my thigh, and when I hit the ground I took the butt of a rifle to the head to keep me there.”
“When I woke up, I was tied up on a train back south, no doubt to be put in a POW camp. When we got there, turns out they were as bad as rumored. The cells were hardly shacks, we were fed next to nothing, and you even glance at the wrong person and you get the shit beat out of you.”
I heard Twilight give a little gasp as I re-told the story about my first ans last time as a captive. “One day, I stood up for one of my fellow captives. He was a Russian soldier, I didn’t even know his name. But someone in the camp decided I had enough fight in me to be in the Pit.” A questioning glance from Twilight told me to explain. She was once again writing furiously in her book. “The had given someone high up in this POW camp a sick sense of humor, and combine that with a need to raise moral, you get the Pit. Where enemy soldiers where forced to fight it out with starved wild animals, volunteer Mongol soldiers who want a little extra experience (Those fights were only until the soldier calls it off or the prisoner is dead.) or for a special treat, they’d make us fight to the death with other prisoners, the winner of 50 rounds being promised to be set free.”
“That’s horrible!” Twilight retorted.
“Yea, yea it was. After they got done whipping me for breaking a guard’s jaw, they threw me in the Bloodworks. It was slightly better then my old cell, because there was room for me to get warmed up before a fight. Wouldn’t want me to die out there too fast. I also got an extra blanket, because if I died of hypothermia, they wouldn‘t get there entertainments worth.”
Thinking about the Pit caused the knife to slip in my hand, and I almost cut myself. “My first fight was hardly enough to be called that. I was thrown into the pit and the let out one malnourished wolf. When it jumped on me, I grabbed it’s head and snapped it’s neck. I quick, painless death.” Even though I explained it as that, I still saw Twilight cringe.
“The next few were just as uneventful, and the audience was getting board. So naturally, they got a volunteer. It was to be fist on fist, till he was unconscious or I was dead. Obviously, since I’m not dead, I won. The bastard didn’t even get a punch in.”
“I began to win again, but the Mongol I showed up in the Pit wasn’t happy. And he wasn’t about to let some prisoner make him the laughingstock of the camp, so he challenged me again, but this time, the rules where, we get’s to use a knife, I get to die.” I stared down at the blade in my hand. “This knife. He was going to kill me with it, slowly.”
“Why do you carry it around then?” Twilight asked, also captivated by the knife in my hand.
“To remind me. He cut me up, I was bleeding, a lot. The snow was crimson from my blood, but I didn’t know what to do. I stared up at him, my vision going dark around the edges. I was on my knees, and he had the blade posed to plunge it into my heart, and something in that made me realize, I can’t die here, I won’t die here. I needed to go home, I needed to be with My sister Kitty, and I still hadn’t told Crystal how I felt about her, I had planned to do it in some romantic way when I got back from my tour of duty. I needed to protect them, because if I didn’t, who would?”
“So I grabbed his hand and twisted the knife out of it, the slashed him across the knees and hit him in the temple, knocking him out. I took the knife and went back to the Bloodworks. I carried it with me to remind me of my promise to myself, that I needed to protect Kitty and Crystal. Now I just carry it to remind me of my failure.”
“What do you mean?”
“I failed. I failed them, and they paid the price for it.” I said, trying again not to yell. “But that’s another story for another place. After I got the knife, they decided to release all the horrors they could on me. Wolves, a bear, other prisoners, who where crazed beyond help. The fights kept getting longer. One day I was up for 43 hours strait in the bit, as they sent wolves at me, one at a time, to see if I would get tired. Another time, they had put some hallucinogen in my food that made it impossible to tell what was real and fake. So I killed anything that came at me. I don’t even think I was fighting anyone that day.
“And it got worse. So much worse. I was there for 2 months. Then finally it was time for my 50th and final fight. The high-ups never had to deal with this before. No-one else ever made it this far. When I did, they decided to throw everything they had at me. It was Russian Roulette, 6 bullets in the barrel, and I was the only one playing.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow at the saying. I waved a hand at her in a dismissive gesture. “It was suicide. But I had to keep going. I got no sleep that night. I got little sleep any night. But this night I spent wondering what new horrors awaited me in the ring.”
“I was almost relieved when I came into the Pit to find it barren of all traps and dangers, just a snow stricken plane, surrounded in walls for people to watch from. No one was on the walls today. In the center of the field, there was no army of horrors. Just a firing line. Behind them was the Warden. When I reached the firing line, I stopped, about ten feet away, and waited. The Warden stepped out of line, and started reading a list of charges. I was to be executed as a criminal of war.”
“B-but… you were supposed to be let free if you survived…” Twilight stammered, finding it hard to take in all the murder and deceit at once.
“That was if I survived. And he was going to make sure I didn’t. When he got done reading the charges, everyone I killed in the Pit, he turned and took place behind the firing line, and said for them to precede.”
“W-what happened? Your obviously not dead?”
“Well there was a gunshot, but it wasn’t from the firing line. The soldiers turned to find the Warden had a bullet in his head. Long range sniper. Very accurate, very deadly. Before I knew what was happening, I had turned around and run back to the Bloodworks. When I was in I did my best to barricade the door, and wait. I don’t know how long I waited in there, as I listened to the massive firefight outside. It must be a full scale attack.”
“After an hour or so, the gunshots died down, and I assumed that meant one side had won. There was a banging on the door, followed by it being kicked in. I looked up from where I was huddled in the corner, trying to keep what little warmth I had. There was a young soldier in the door away. He took one look at me and called into the hallway, ‘Hey, sarge, we got another one! He’s looks to be in pretty rough condition though’ I suppose I was. I had cuts, burns, bites, and bruises all over me. Many were infected. I was rushed to the nearest field hospital, then to a real hospital in Moscow.”
“From there, I went home. Kitty was so happy to see me alive. They had both been told I was assumed dead. And Crystal. She was so happy she ran up to me and kissed me without thinking. We had never so much as held hands before. I was happy. So generally that meant something bad was about to happen.”
I finished my telling of the Pit. Looking up I saw an awestruck Twilight. “Wow… Humans are resilient.”
“Yea I guess we are.” I looked around. The sun was beginning to set. Did I really just spend another day talking to Twilight about humanity. At least it got my mind of captivity. Almost. There had still been that fear nagging at the back of my mind, saying I needed to run, needed to escape.
Looking over the edge of my cloud again, I found myself marveling at the beauty of Equestria. So colorful, so peaceful. There where rolling hills from the forest to Ponyville. My cloud floated above a serene lake. Rainbow Dash had rejoined us and was once again napping in a cloud above mine.
I was putting the final touches on the wooden statuette I had been carving. Done. I looked it over then nodded. “Hey Twilight, Catch.” I said as I tossed it to her. She caught the piece of wood with her magic, and brought it closer to examine it. Her jaw dropped and I felt a twinge of pride.
“Where did you learn to do this?” She asked as she stared at the statuette. Staring back at her was a perfect likeliness of Twilight Sparkle, laying down and listening intently.
“My father taught me how to do it when I was young. Since then I’ve gotten better at it, and use carving as a way to calm my nerves.” I stood up and walked around my cloud. I walked to the edge, then turned around and said. “Another thing, Twilight.” I pulled the chain from around my neck, twirled it on my finger once, and sent it hurling across the gap between us.
“What is it?” She asked as she caught it in her magic. Pulling it up to her face so she could read the words imprinted on it.
“Dogtags. Soldiers wear them, so that if they die, fellow soldiers may take there tags so they will be remembered. In case they can’t retrieve the body.” Or its so mangled it unrecognizable. I left that part out, not needing to scar Twilight more. “So then that soldier can be remembered. They are taken from the dead, dying, or those who know for sure they may die, give them to someone, just in case.”
I thought I saw gears turning behind her purple eyes. “Well here you go.” She said as she started to float them back towards me.
I held up my hand. “No, you keep them.” I watched as the gears clicked in her head. As she put together my earlier look of fear, the story of the Pit, and the dogtags together, her eyes widened.
“No, Sol you don’t have to. We would never… it’s only until Celestia can get here. I sent her a letter, and she said she would come when she gets a chance. You don’t have to..”
“And what happens when she gets here? Looks me over? Views me as a threat? I get thrown in jail? I’m sorry, Twi, but I can’t take the risk. I cant be in captivity. The Pit left its mark.” I began to lean back.
“NO SOL!” I heard her yell, but it was to late, I was already falling.
Wind whipped past my face as I dived face first towards the ground. The plan was to land in the lake, then get to the forest so I could lick my wounds, and maybe find someplace quiet to hole-up. Too bad things rarely go as planned.
Above me I could faintly hear Twilight calling for Rainbow Dash to wake up. I expected that. Glancing over my shoulder I saw that Dash was now diving after me. And she was gaining, fast. I need to time this perfectly . Another glance told me Dash was even closer. Not yet, not yet. the water of the lake was getting closer fast. One last glance told me The cyan pegasus was right behind me. Now.
Multiple things happened at once. I spread my body out. It wasn’t much, but it was just enough for Dash to shoot past me. What happened next, there was no way for me to predict. As she shot past me, I noticed a mach cone around her. What…? Dong she moves…
Boom
The air around Rainbow Dash literally exploded in color. The sound was deafening and the shock wave sent me flying though the air, away from the lake and towards the forest. Ok, looks like I’m skipping a step . Then I started getting hit with tree branches.
‘Whack’
Son
‘Whack’
Of
‘Whack’
a
‘Whack’
Bitch
‘Splash.’
I landed not too gracefully in a river that ran through the forest. Well at least I’m not dead. I thought as I pulled myself out of the river. Ouch… defiantly more broken ribs.
What the hell was that I looked up to where a rainbow explosion was now coloring the sky. Whatever . I needed to get going, so I stood and ran into the brush in next to the river. While I climbed through the thick shrubs, branches kept snapping back and hitting my wounded ribs. On second thought, I can follow the river . I headed upstream, staying in the brush next to the beach. Above, I caught glimpses of Rainbow Dash combing the woods for me. Let her try to find me, I’ve played this game before.
I kept moving along the bank, keeping out of sight. I stopped multiple times when I thought I heard someone moving around me. Or would that be somepony? My thinking was cut short by a voice to my left.
“Where is it? I felt it near the mountain, but I looked all over that entire area, and nothing. Maybe Tia was right, and it was nothing…” The voice sounded, soft, comforting. The first thing that popped into my head was It sounds like the night sky. Wait, what? The night sky doesn’t sound like anything. I shook my head. Yep, I’m defiantly going crazy. Then again, world of talking ponies. What’a ya know, I’m already there.
I looked out of the bush to see, laying on the river bank was a purple-blue pony, with a light blue mane and tail. She wore a small black tiara, along with light blue shoes and a black necklace with a crescent moon on it. But it was none of that, nor her cutie mark, which was a black mark on her flank with a crescent moon. What caught my eye, was her long slender horn, and wings.
Something tells me things just got complicated.
Now let’s review. According to Twilight’s (rather extensive) lecture I had gathered that there were only 3 alicorns. Celestia, who controls the sun, Luna, who controls the moon, and someone (somepony?) named Cadance. Now, call me crazy, but I don’t think the goddess of the sun is going to have a depiction of the moon on her flank, so I may be going out on a limb here to say I just stumbled across Princess Luna.
I stood quietly trying to decide what to do, while the lunar princess doodled in the sand with her horn. Option one, I could walk away. I doubt she would even notice. Option two, I could talk to her. I’ve dealt with royalty before. Of course, at the time there were a lot more bullets flying through the air and a lot less time to think. Option three, I could climb inside a hay bale while wearing fake glasses…
*Crack*
Stupid pony world, stop interrupting my narratives! Crouching low, it didn’t take long for me to locate the source of the sound. On the far side of the river, dipping it’s muzzle in the river to drink was a…. something. It looked like a very large lion, with leathery wings that looked to small to actually carry it far, and a scorpion tale. Luna offered a very un-princess like squeak as she was pulled from her subconscious doodling, before quickly clamping a hoof over her mouth as she stood and slowly started backing up. Too late.
The thingy noticed her on the far bank and, unluckily for Luna, it looked hungry. And unluckily for me, Luna was backing up strait towards me. She had lowered her head, and her horn had began to glow an ominous. The lion-bat-scorpion was hardly deterred as it ran strait towards her. Now I was never good at math, but one pony, alicorn goddess of the moon or not, plus one lion-bat-scorpion with sharp claws and teeth and is about three times her size, probably won’t end well. Unless your rooting for the lion-bat-scorpion. Then it will. But frankly I wasn’t, so option 21 it is…
I drew my worn combat knife and started sprinting. Now if I’m fast enough I should be able to get to the lion-bat-scorpion before it get’s to Luna. Oh, Luna. Right. She’s in my way. Thank you senior high track and field and whatever mystical force made it that Luna is only a little taller than a hurtle when she was crouched down. Leaping with all the might in my legs, I was able to land right in front of her, and took two more steps before colliding with the beast.
The lion-bat-scorpion was surprised to be suddenly under attack from a strange creature, and I worked that surprise to my advantage. I slipped in close so it couldn’t hit me with it’s tail, and kneed it hard under the jaw. That managed to make it flinch, but its forward momentum still managed to bowl me over. At that point, my memory became a compilation of punches, kicks, stabs, and the occasional bouts of pain washed away by the flow of adrenaline through my veins. From the brief glimpses I got of the moon goddess, she at first was shocked, but soon recovered as her horn started to glow again.
Right. Scorpion-bat-lion demands full attention. Wow this thing was big. Why is it that in a world of ponies, magical, friendly, talking ponies that recoil at the thought of death by anything other than natural causes, are there so many things that are just out to kill me. Probably compensation for my less than peaceful past. Maybe I could-
Get slammed against the ground so hard it knocked the wind out of me. The beast stood over me, blood dripping from multiple knife cuts along it’s body, and from its snout where I had hit it with my knee. It raised a heavy paw, and I was almost sure I saw it smirk as it got ready to kill me.
“Sorry kitty, dying ain’t on the to do list.” I grumbled as I kicked both legs into it’s chest, causing it to rear up enough for me to roll out from underneath it. Standing quickly, I spun to face it, just in time for me to see it’s tail arcing towards me. I flinched, and the tip of it’s tail stabbed into my left forearm. Without missing a beat, I brought my knife down on it’s tail, cleaving the tip clean off. With a mighty roar and a slight whimper, it retracted it’s tail, which was now dripping with crimson blood and an odd green ooze. Surprisingly enough, my arm didn’t hurt at all. In fact, I could barley feel it. Wait. Shit.
My left arm was completely numb, and the numbness was quickly spreading across my body. This isn’t good. I tried to step back, but I stumbled and fell on the sandy river’s edge. This time when it posed to strike, there would be no resistance, and I would die. Maybe I had given the lunar princess enough time to run. Maybe by saving this one peace-loving pony, I had compensated for all those who I had killed. Yea, and maybe I’ll wake up as a pony. Now my narratives are getting all cliché.
I closed my eyes and waited for the claws to rip into me. At least it wouldn’t hurt. Stupid cheating poison. But instead of claws, I felt energy flash behind my closed eyelids, and when I opened them, I saw a bolt of magic strike the lion-bat-scorpion in the chest, sending it flipping end-over-end and landing in the river with a loud sploosh . It crawled out onto the other end of the river, obviously having enough of fight. With one last whimper it limped off into the forest to lick it’s wounds.
Finding I still had mild control over my right arm, I started dragging myself back to the bush cover, when I was stopped by a now slightly darker purple-blue face popping into my vision. Strangely enough, her mane had also change, as instead of light blue, it resembled a night sky, complete with dozens of stars that gleamed with there own light. Sure, why not. This world doesn’t need to make sense.
“Thou art- err, I mean, you are a very odd creature. I wonder if you are responsible for what I felt.” Luna said, obviously talking more to herself than to me. So obviously I had to interject something to prove I was sentient. Maybe not an extremely intelligent sentient, but sentient.
“Well your not exactly a run-of-the mill creature yourself.” If there was one thing I hated, it was being talked down too.
At the sound of my voice, she gave yet another un-princess like squeak and jumped back out of my vision. Obviously, she didn’t expect me to talk. “Oh my, I didn’t expect you could talk.” Called it! One point for Sol! “May I ask what your name is?” She said as she once again poked her head into my line of sight.
“Yea, my names Sol Knight.” Cliché, I know, but my mother liked the name Sol.
“Oh, well I am Princess Luna, Goddess of the moon.” She said, though she didn’t seem to take much pride in her title.
“Yea, Twilight told me about you and your sister.” I said. Truthfully, I wasn’t in a talking mood. And I was getting dizzy.
“Oh, so you have met with Twilight Sparkle. She is… nice. She has her heart in the right place at least.” I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, nor was I in a caring mood. As I began to find a way to wrap the wound, Luna began saying something about a Nightmare Night. Something about ponies thinking she was going to eat them. Until she took notice of the fact I was bleeding from my side and my arm.
“Oh dear, that’s a lot of blood. Are you hurt?” I gave her my best deadpan look. “Right, of course you are.” She leaned over me to get a better look at my side. “May I?” I nodded and her horn started to glow. “I’m almost sure this should heal your skin. Or at least, it would heal a ponies skin.” Right, how different can I be from a magical talking pony.
Her horn began to glow brighter, and I felt the flesh of my side began to itch and crawl. Then the glowing stopped and I was able to lift my head enough so that I could see my previously wounded side, now all in one piece. If only we had that healing technology back on Earth. Luna looked to me again, the concern on her face was plain as day. “I’m fine. In fact, I’m much better, thank you. Could you do that to my arm please?” I said, trying my best to be formal. After all, I was in the presence of royalty.
She nodded, and repeated the process with my arm. I still could barely move, but at least I wasn’t about to bleed out. “Can you move?” she asked. I tried, and only got a twitch in response from anything other than my head and right arm.
“No, ‘fraid not. That lion-bat-scorpion things poison sure is and inconvenience.” From this I got a chuckle, so I figured I was making progress towards having at least one person in this world not wanting to lock me up.
“Manticore.”
“What?”
“That lion-bat-scorpion, as you described it, is a manticore. It’s poison is usually enough to render a pony unconscious for a number of hours. I’m surprised you are still able to move at all.”
“I have a bit more body mass than your average pony.” I mumbled as I looked into the sky. It was nearing twilight, I’d have to say at least a half an hour left before sundown. Ya, know, if this was a normal place and not crazy pony world.
“You know, you didn’t have to do that.” Luna was also looking towards the setting sun. She sounded distant, as if she was far away.
“Do what? Get eaten by a demonic lion?” Obviously, this pony princess didn’t understand how I worked.
“Manticore. And yes.”
I thought about this for a full 2 seconds before answering. “Because you were in danger.” Really, it was a simple process. I see someone (Somepony?) in danger, I help. It’s one of the things I do that help me live with myself.
“But I was Nightmare Moon. I tried to bring about eternal darkness. Surely Twilight Sparkle told you about that.”
“Yea, I didn’t miss that part of her lecture. I don’t quite see how that changes anything.” I said. Maybe this pony was very confused. She just gave of the vibe that she had been alone in the dark for far to long.
“So you wanted to help me, even though it was none of your problem, and you knew I had been an evil megalomaniac who tried to shower the world in darkness?”
“Yep, pretty much.” I replied. Really I don’t know where she was going with this, or how it was hard to understand.
“You didn’t run, like all the ponies do when I’m around. Or even now after the danger has past.” I once again deadpanned and to punctuate my point, twitched my legs. “Oh right.” she said, giving a sheepish smile.
“But I still wouldn’t of run.”
She seemed truly shocked at this statement. “Why not?”
“Because, you were an evil megalomaniac who tried to shower the world in darkness. Now, as far as I can tell, you are just a normal pony, who is having trouble adjusting back to life around others, especially since there are those who still believe you are evil. As for me, I don’t.” I stated matter-of-factly.
“How can you be so sure?” she asked, and I was sure I saw a gleam of hope in her eyes.
“Because I think you’re a lot like me.”
She was obviously taken back by this. “What do you mean?”
I sighed. This is not something I enjoyed talking about. “Because we’ve both done something in the past we regret, and now there are those who still won’t forgive it.”
Now her look turned to disbelief. “What could you of possibly done that can equate to what I did?”
I gave her a sad smile. “No, it doesn’t equate to what you’ve done. It’s worse.”
And cue completely shocked face from the princess. And cue disbelief. “What could you have done that is worse?”
“I don’t like to talk about it. That’s a story for another time.” In other words, I’d prefer it if I never spoke of it again. “Besides, isn’t there something you must be doing about right now?” I said, giving a meaningful nod towards the sunset.
“Oh, yes. I apologize but I must take my leave.” the lunar goddess said as she began to walk to the river, spreading out her dark blue wings. Then as an after thought, she turned, and I could see hope twinkling in her eyes. “Sol, I was wondering. Could,” She took a deep breath. “Could we be friends?”
I looked at her for what felt like forever. Friends. I hadn’t had friends in what felt like years. “Friends…” I mumbled under my breath.
“If you don’t want to, it’s ok…” she began to turn away and, I could practically see the little bit of hope she had gather begin to shatter.
“Yea. Yea, we can be friends.” She turned around almost instantly, a huge smile adorned her muzzle.
“You mean it? Oh thank you!” and before could protest she had picked me up in her magic and wrapped her forelegs around me in what I could assume was a hug. She then released me, forgetting that I can’t stand up. I quickly crumpled to the sandy beach. She gave me another sheepish smile. “Sorry.”
I waved her off and she turned and took to the air, a noticeable spring in her step. Figures, the first friend I make in what? Three years? Is a talking pony. I’m definitely crazy.
Forget what I said about wanting to just fall asleep in this world. I think I prefer to be knocked out. At least that way I’m not tormented by dreams.
I was in a populated city next to a Chinese military base. I was walking home from work, and it was late at night. All around me, people chattered in Chinese as I walked past. The sun had set only an hour ago, and the streets were lit up with paper lanterns. It was Chinese new year, and I was eager to get home to celebrate it with my family.
Suddenly I heard screaming and explosions, followed by alarms sounding. I began to run. Street after street went by as I raced home. The sound of gunfire and explosions grew closer and closer. I turned a corner and saw my house. I run to it as the street around my was filled with machinegun fire. Dozens of others were scrambling around the street, and many of them were dropped by the hot lead that screamed through the air.
I dove into my house, and found my family huddled in a corner, my wife holding our two children close to her as they cried. I held the three of them as we waited for the fighting to go away. Bullets flew through the house over our heads. Then out in the center of the street, stood a lone figure, clad in metal power armor, holding a mini-gun. I turned the weapon to face me, and I stood in front of my family. The barrels of the weapon began to spin, and the air was soon filled with burning death.
My eyes shot open. No. I wasn’t there. I was here. In talking pony world. Filled with sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes, this whole world felt like it was mocking me.
I felt something tickling my nose, and I blew at it to reveal it was a light blue strand of hair. Looking around, I noticed I was still on the beach next to the river where I had fallen asleep. I also notice that Luna was lying on the beach next to me, one wing draped over me.
I shifted slowly, trying not to wake her, but her eyes opened none the less. “Oh, your awake now. You are a very restless sleeper.” she said, with a hint of sadness.
I shook my head. “It keeps me from forgetting.” I said, then tried my best to change the topic. “What about you? Don’t you sleep?”
She shook her head. “No, for alicorns, sleeping is optional, and is only something we do out of comfort. But I choose not to sleep, so I’m not haunted by my dreams.” I wish I had that option.
I sat up, my whole body stiff. “Well, I don’t have that option.” Wait a second. I sat up. “Hey it appears that poison wore off.” I exclaimed as I quickly jumped to my feet. Or try to at least. I actually only succeeded in collapsing on weak legs,
Half an hour later, we were walking down a path through the forest, me using one of Luna’s wings as a support. She was actually a bit smaller now. “Hey Luna, why do you look different?” I asked, doing my best to make small talk with my new friend.
She gave me a confused look, then looked at her now blue hair. “Oh, it’s because I currently don’t have the power of the moon channeling through me. I can still feel it, but it’s not showing.”
“What?”
“It’s sorta like I took a tarp and through it over it, so that it isn’t so strong, but at anytime I could take that tarp off it and be back to like I was last night.” She said. I nodded my head, still not completely sure I understood.
“Ok, then why-”
“Sol? Is that you?” I looked up. We just had walked around a bend in the path and down the about 50 meters was a lavender unicorn with twigs and leaves in her mane and dark bags under her eyes. Immediately after seeing me she started running and tackle hugged me.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know all that about you and being afraid of captivity. I didn’t mean to drive you to jump. And then when Rainbow Dash accidentally blew you into the forest with a Sonic Rainboom and we couldn’t find you. I was so worried. I though something horrible had happened. I’ve been out looking for you all night? Where have you been!”
Wait wait wait. Too many words. She was beginning to sound more like Pinkie Pie than herself. “I’m fine. Just some minor poisoning.”
“Poison! From what? Are you ok? Are you-” She was cut off by the sound of another pony clearing her throat. It was then that Twilight noticed Luna standing at the side of the path. “Oh princess Luna! I’m so sorry. Why are you here?”
“It’s quite alright Twilight Sparkle. I was here looking for the source of some magical radiation when I came upon your friend here.” Friend. There’s that word again.
“Oh, ok. Well would you like to come back to the library so we can talk?”
Luna suddenly got really nervous. “Uh a maybe another time… I was really just helping Sol get back to Ponyville.”
Twilights ears drooped a little. “Ok. Well will you at least accompany us out of the Everfree Forest?”
“Yes, I would be delighted.” With that, Luna once again helped me to my feet and we were walking down the path again. This time it was me who broke the silence.
“Hey Twilight, is there a house near this forest for rent or sale?” I asked, plans forming in my head.
Twilight thought for a moment, then said “I think there’s an old cottage for sale near the edge of the forest. It’s kind of in bad condition, but it should be pretty cheap. Why do you ask.”
“Because I think I might be here a while, and if I am going to, then I need a place to live. Since nopony seems to want to go near this forest, it would be a good place where I won’t be disturbed.”
“Your staying? Oh good, because I got these ideas for some tests I’d like to run on you since humans aren’t magic. Maybe you could…” What had I just gotten myself into?
*AN: I would like to thank anyone who has taken the time to read all this. I appreciate any comments or criticism. Anything that would make this more enjoyable for the reader. Thank you.
“It’s not a lot, but…” Twilight trailed off.
In front of us was a small cottage, overgrown with thorns and bushes. The windows were boarded up and there were some holes in the roof, along with a faint buzzing sound. It had been a little after noon when we emerged from the forest. Luna had taken her leave, claiming that she was going back to Canterlot to talk to Celestia. After she was gone, Twilight insisted that I go to Fluttershy’s cottage so she could check me over and make sure I was alright. The mare in question almost fainted when we arrived and she saw how cut up and beaten I was, either from fear or shock, I don’t know. I wasn’t sure why everypony so far had been so worried. After all, I didn’t feel anything. But maybe I still had some Manticore poison in my system.
Fluttershy didn’t hesitate in dragging me into her house and lying me down on the couch while she franticly collected medical supplies. Soon she had collected bandages to cover the multiple scrapes I had acquired, and a potion to flush the remaining poison from my system. After that she started tending to my ribs. Turned out, I had fractured 2 more. Yay.
I slowly pushed my way through the thorn bushes, earning a few scrapes for my trouble. As I approached the door, the buzzing got loader. I tentatively gripped the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open…
*Whump *
…only for it to fall inward off rusted hinges. Another thing that would need to be fixed. Looking inside the main room, there was a rotting table, an old stone fireplace on the wall to his left, and three doors. One on the far wall and two on the right wall. As I stepped into the cottage, I notably had to duck to pass through the low door frame, the buzzing got slightly louder.
I walked over and lightly kicked the remains of the table, only for it to crumble even more. Behind me, Twilight was quickly losing a fight with a thorn bush that had snagged her mane. When she caught me looking at her, she blushed and gave a sheepish smile. “Help, please?”
Sighing, I walked over to the lavender unicorn and started hacking at the thorn bushes around her. After liberating her, I returned to my exploration, while she inspected the chimney. “It looks like it might need some cleaning” she called, her voice muffled by the stone around her.
I nodded dumbly as I continued my exploration. I went to open one door, which mercifully didn’t collapse, and peeked inside. It looked like this had once been a bedroom, but the room was devoid of anything except another door, which was already collapsed. Inside was a small closet.
Backtracking to the main room, I found Twilight peeking into the other door on this wall. Following her gaze, it appeared to be a bathroom. Well at least I wouldn’t have to attempt making an outhouse. Twilight trotted in and flipped a knob on the sink. I was very pleased to see a stream of water poor from the nozzle. Yay indoor plumbing.
I moved to the last door and checked inside. It opened to a kitchen, with an old wood stove, a sink, plenty of counter space along the walls. There were cupboards under the counter, and many had doors falling off it. There was a door in the back of the room that lead out of the cottage, and in the corner of the kitchen sat the source of the buzzing. I wasp’s nest was busy and in full swing. Quickly I slammed the door shut, causing it to topple inward, the unexpected weight knocking me to the hard wood floor and earning a laugh from Twilight. After I glared at her long enough, she levitated the door off me and leaned it against the wall.
“There’s a wasp nest in there.” I stated after picking myself off the floor and brushing of my camouflage coat which I had reclaimed from Fluttershy’s cottage.
“You know, you don’t have to live all the way out here. You could move in with Spike and me, or maybe Fluttershy, you appear to need her skills often enough.” Twilight said, obviously not impressed with my new choice of residence.
“No, I don’t need to be a burden to you or any other pony I meet here. Besides, if I’m going to be here for a while, I can’t be relying on the generosity of others.” Twilight huffed and walked out the door. I began to follow her when I realized something. “Hey! What do you mean need Fluttershy’s skills often!”
Twilight just chuckled at me. That is, until her tail got stuck in a thorn bush. Turning around she shot me a look for help. “Er, help, again?” I raised an eyebrow. “Ok, ok, sorry about the comment about you being getting yourself hurt a lot.
“Thank you.” I said as I once again started hacking at the thorn bush attacking the lavender mare. After freeing her, we carefully made our way out of the thorn bushes. Once clear I turned around, making a mental check list of things I would need. Hatchet to clear the thorns, 3 new doors, something to get rid of the wasp nest, and boards to fix the roof. I guess I should also get some new windows for the place.
“How do you plan on getting those thorn bushes out of there without ripping up your hands?” Twilight asked. That’s a good question. Looking down I noticed my hands were already bleeding from where I had grabbed the plants to free Twilight.
“I guess I’ll have to get some work gloves.” I said plainly. Should be simple enough. That white unicorn, umm.. What was her name? Rarity, that’s it. She said she made clothing, right? I’ll just get her to do it.
“Work whats?”
“I’ll explain when we get back to Ponyville. We need to go visit Rarity. She should be able to make some.”
“Ok. She should be happy that you decided to take her up on her offer.” Twilight said as we began to walk in the general direction of the small town. “So what do you plan on doing after you restore this house?”
Hmm… I didn’t really think of that. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. “I guess I’ll do my best to get back to my universe.” Honestly, how hard can interdementional travel be? After all, I already did once and that was an accident.
“Oh, ok. I guess that is the logical thing to do…” She said hesitantly. Shoot. I knew what it meant when women back where things made sense sounded like that, and I’m sure things couldn’t be that much different here. It meant I just gave an answer she didn’t want to hear.
“Why do you ask?” I said, knowing that there was more than just idle curiosity behind it.
And it all exploded out at once. “It’s just, I want to get to know you. I want to learn what your world’s like. How you socialize, how your governments work, how… well there’s just so much! There’s to know.” She was practically yelling with excitement by the end of her little speech. Then she continued, somewhat quieter. “I always wanted to see how much I can know, and now there a whole world of more knowledge. And it could leave any minuet. It’s just not fare.”
While she ranted, I assumed a far away look, thinking of the world I left behind. Sure it had a war slowly ripping itself apart, nations threatening nuclear war, but it also had beautiful mountains, tranquil lakes, and people who didn’t like the war that was burning the planet to the ground. What was it James had always said. Everyone’s good on the inside. Everyone. Besides, what good was I doing on Earth anyway. Just killing more people. Here, at least I could teach Twilight, and any other pony that cared enough to learn from my experiences.
I sighed. I had I feeling I was going to regret this. “Well, I don’t exactly have any leads, so if you wanted I could stop by your house every now and then to talk. You could also do your best to teach me about how things work here.”
At this is where I start regretting it. She stopped and smiled wide “You would do that for me! Oh Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” She yelled while hopping around me in circles. “Oh there’s so much I could learn. Like, what magic do humans use and how they use i-”
“No magic.” I said cutting her off.
“No magic?”
“None.”
“At… all?” she stammered, her face contorted in confusion.
“None at all.”
“How do you raise the sun and the moon then?”
“We don’t” I said as I continued walking.
“Then who does?” She asked, trotting to catch up with me.
“No one.”
“Then how do they move?”
“Gravity, or something like that.”
“So gravity moves the sun and the moon?”
“Pretty much.”
“Why would you believe that?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well it just doesn’t make sense.”
“And a magical unicorn moving it does?”
“Alicorn, and yes.”
“Sorry, but for us, Alicorns, unicorns, pegasi. They’re all just myths. Things that don’t exist.”
“So you don’t have any of that of them? But you know of them?”
“Yea. Myths and stuff. The kind of thing in stories your parents read you before bed. Magic, alicorns, unicorns, pegasi, dragons, ogers, goblins, trolls, minotaurs, all just made up.” I said. Seriously, it was like I was telling a kid that Santa Claus wasn’t real.
Twilight walked silently for a few moments, lost in thought, before finally replying. “Well that explains so much!”
Wait, it does? “It does?” I asked, uncertain on where this was going.
“Well of course. If you don’t have magic, then there’s no magic of friendship. And that would explain why your so hostile.”
What? “What do you mean hostile? And sure there’s no magic of friendship, but we still have friendship.” I replied, putting sarcastic emphasis on magic of friendship.
“So then why is all you talk about war and violence?” she countered.
“Because that’s all you’ve asked about.”
“Ok, then talk about a friend you had back in your world.”
“Fine, I will. I had a friend who’s name was James, and he was probably the best friend I had. Both of us had lived with the threat of war hanging over our heads, so we got along just fine. But he had something that was special. He believed everyone had good in them. He was one of the better influences in my life.” I said, sure that that would prove Humans were perfectly capable of friendship without magic.
“How did you meet him?”
Why always the questions that make hard memories resurface. “He saved my ass at the cost of his left eye and his dream.” I said, hoping if I put enough hostility into my voice she wouldn’t press the subject.
“What do you-”
“I’d prefer not to talk about it!” I snapped and looked away. I heard her mumble something about being hostile again. I am not hostile! I just have some, ok a lot of touchy subjects.
We were just getting to the outskirts of Ponyville. Looking at all the green lawns and fresh gardens next to pastel colored houses, something began to bug me. But what was it? I scanned the area again. Nothing. Wait, that was it! Nothing. Not a colorful pony in sight. Last time I had come through here there had been ponies out and about everywhere. Now the roads where barren. Maybe a holiday. I asked Twilight about it, and her face grew a little darker.
“Oh, well… Some ponies around town don’t really trust you that much.” I raised an eyebrow, and she quickly continued. “It’s not because your human and strange or anything. It’s more of because, well… with you showing up out of nowhere, then disappearing just as fast…” She trailed off.
“Well I didn’t have much of a choice in the disappearing part.”
Twilight gave an awkward smile. “Sorry about that I was just-”
I waved her off, saying “It’s fine. As long as you don’t go around telling ponies I’m a psychopath or anything like that.”
Twilight gave me a shocked look. “Why would I do that. I’m trying to be your friend, not make you look like a lunatic.”
Well maybe because you locked me on a cloud. Instead of letting such things come out of my mouth, I changed subjects. “So where exactly is your friends shop?” I asked, looking around.
“Over on the other side of town, I’ll show you.” The lavender unicorn replied as she started trotting down the road ahead of me. As I followed her, I did my best to create a mental map of the town, for when I didn’t have the assistance of a guide. As we walked along, I did notice a few ponies outside, but they gave me suspicious looks as we walked past. Twilight didn’t seem to notice, or if she did, she didn’t care, so I followed her example and walked on.
Carousel Boutique, to it’s own credit, did look something like a carousel. The light blue walls and gilded roof seemed to display a certain carousel-ness that fit the name well. We walked up to door Twilight raised a hoof to knock. There was a muffled “Just a minuet.” and I heard trotting from the other side of the door,
Said door was then enveloped in a light blue veil of magic as it swung inward. In the doorway was Rarity, looking somewhat stressed.
“Hello and welcome to- Oh, hello Twilight. Oh my, and hello Sol. It appears Twilight has decided to be civil and let you off that cloud.” In my peripheral vision I could see Twilight blushing. “What can I help the two of you with today.”
“I need you to make me something.” I said. No sooner had the words left my mouth did Rarity gasp, pure excitement shinning on her face.
“Oh my, that would be wonderful. I’m so glad you decided to take me up on my offer. I’ve been thinking about something for you, and I was the most magnificent idea for a suit for you, inspired by the suit I made Spike for the Gala and I was thinking-”
I cut her off before she could continue on whatever tangent of thought she was about to go one. “I just need you to make me gloves.”
“Whats?” She said, obviously put down that I wasn’t here for more.
“Gloves. They go on hands.” I answered as I held up a hand, wiggling my fingers for effect. “They will need to be made of a thick resistant material, as I will be using them to protect my wands while doing work.” I explained.
The disappointment left the white unicorns face almost immediately at the thought of the new challenge. “Come in darling, if your going to have me make these ‘gloves’ I will need to take some measurements of your hands.”
I nodded then entered the boutique, ducking my head to get through the door. Inside was messy, bolts of cloth laying around, mannequins of ponies of different sizes with cloth pinned to it were spread around. Seeing me eyeing the mess, Rarity quickly apologized. “Sorry for the mess, I’m in the middle of on order for a customer from Canterlot.”
I nodded and continued inside. Rarity directed Twilight and me into a kitchen area, and motioned for us to sit down. I eyed the chair distrustingly, and chose to sit on the floor. I doubt pony chairs were meant for humans, and I was the right size so that while sitting on the floor I was the same height as Rarity and Twilight. Rarity then floated out an assortment of rulers and other measuring implements.
“So what were you thinking for the colour of these ‘gloves.’” She asked while measuring my fingers.
“A dark color would be nice. There not going to be fore making a fashion statement, just working. Also I suppose it would be nice if they were weatherproof.” I added. Thinking more I also said, “Oh, maybe fireproof as well if you could manage it.”
Twilight gave me an odd look. “What exactly do you plan on doing with these.”
“Building a house of course.” I said. Fire is a very important part of building houses.
Rarity just shook her head. “Darling are you sure this is all you want?” I nodded. “Nothing else?” I shook my head. “At all?” I shook my head again. “Could I just-”
“Nope. All I need is gloves. I don’t have time for to stand still for hours on end while you make measurements and use me as a human mannequin.” I said bluntly.
“Please?” She asked, and put on a pout face that could probably make a mountain hurl itself into the sea. I did my best not to pay attention to it. Damn. Weaponize that and she could have the whole of Equestria eating out of her hand. Or hoof. Whatever. Stupid pony world.
I sighed, giving in to her pouting. “Fine, but another day. I don’t really have time today if I want to get anything done on repairing that cottage before the sun goes down.”
“I might be able to help with that.” Twilight chirped in. I gave her an expecting look and she continued. “I found a spell in a book about creating mannequins. I always meant to teach it to you Rarity, but I kept forgetting.” She smiled sheepishly. Rarity on the other hand (hoof?) was delighted.
“Oh that’s wonderful darling. With a mannequin I could make all sorts of clothing for him! Come, lets not waste time. Cast it, and I’ll get started on making these gloves.” She then stood and trotted back into the main room. I stood and followed, Twilight right behind me.
Turning to Twilight, I waited expectantly. She began by saying “The spell takes about five minuets to cast, but it should work. I‘ll need you to stand still for as long as I’m casting the spell, okay?” I nodded, and motioned for her to begin. I hade stood at attention for half an hour while a drill sergeant screamed in my face, how bad could five minuets be?
I had to say it, didn’t I. As I was enveloped in a lavender glow, it started to tickle. Just enough for it to drive my crazy. I tried my best to ignore it but it was so demanding. Luckily, I was distracted by a certain small filly yelling from up a staircase.
“RARITY! ”
On top of the stair case I could barely make out the small white filly. “Sweetie Belle. I’m with a customer.”
“But you said you would help me with my homework!” Sweetie whined as she trotted down the stairs. That is, until she noticed me standing near the wall. “Sol! Your back. Rarity said you went away and she didn’t know when you where getting back. Me and the other Crusaders were sad because we were going to see if you would help us get our cutie marks. But now that your back will you?”
“Breathe child.” I muttered, then spoke up. “I would, but I need to do some repairs to and old cottage that I’m going to be living in for a while, so I don’t really have time…”
“That’s okay! We could come help you! Apple Bloom is really good at fixing things. She fixed up our tree fort. We could totally help you!”
I sighed. I did need the help. “Well only if you girls really want too…”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS HOUSE REPAIR PONIES YAY! ”
Just then Twilight finished making the mannequin. Besides me stood a perfect mannequin replica of me. “There, now Rarity can make whatever it is she wants to make for you.” I nodded my thanks to her. “I think I’m going to go back to the library and check on Spike. Goodbye.”
As she left I walked over to Rarity, who now was wearing read glasses and inspecting different pieces of cloth. “When will you have those gloves done?” I asked
“In about an hour or so. It shouldn’t be to hard.”
I nodded. “Ok, thank you. How much am I going to owe you for this?”
“Why nothing. This will be a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ gift from yours truly.”
I nodded once again. “Thank you. I’ll be back in an hour or so. Do you mind if Sweetie comes with me”
“No, as long as she’s home early enough to get her homework done.”
“I’ll make sure she’s back a little after sundown.” I said as I turned and walked out, Sweetie Belle at my heels.
“So where exactly are we going?” The small filly asked, looking around. I stopped a few feet outside the boutique.
“Well that depends. Do you know where we can find an ax at this hour?” I said, a small grin creeping it’s way onto my face.
*A/N: Once again, please comment. I enjoy reading comments from readers. So if you like it, are confused or dislike it, comment. I read them all and if necessary I will reply. Thank you*
I grinned maliciously at my target, swing the axe in a large arc, slicing limbs and cutting deep into it’s center of mass. I ripped the blade from it’s remains, then swung again, sending what was left flying. Turning to my next target I swung again, slicing this one in half easily, it being much smaller than the others. I turned to another, this one much larger than most. I stepped forward, swinging with both arms, the blade sinking in deep, the target giving short yelp. Or maybe not, I might have imagined that. All in all, Most. Intense. Bush removal. Ever.
So, maybe I was over dramatizing it, but honestly cutting through thorn bushes with an axe (which was really more hatchet sized compared to me,) is a great stress reliever, but doesn’t make all that great reading material. I had managed to clear the bushes from the front of the house, and was halfway through the bushes behind the cottage. I wiped some sweat from my brow and looked around.. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were both trotting on the roof of the cottage with some wooden planks we had gotten from Sweet Apple Acres repairing the multiple holes in the roof. I was a little skeptical about them being the ones on the roof, but Apple Bloom insisted that she knew what she was doing.
Meanwhile, Scootaloo was running around the yard, carefully grabbing the remains of the thorn bushes and piling them out in front of the cottage. I turned and began to swing once again at mass of bushes. Chop. Chop. Chop. Clang. My entire arm rattled as the axe connected with something a little sturdier than bushes. Quickly, I checked the blade, hoping I didn’t damage it. Sure enough there was a small nick in the blade, which looked like it would take a lot a sharpening to get out.
“Aw, shi-” I started to say, then bit my tongue, remembering there were young fillies around, that really didn’t need to hear what ever creative profanity I could think of. It had taken a lot of convincing to get this axe from Applejack, who didn’t really want to trust that I was mentally stable enough to use such a tool. (Turns out Twilight had had a gossip session with her friends about me while I was playing in the forest with Luna and large lion-bat-scorpions.) Luckily, Apple Bloom was eager to help Sweetie Belle an me to get the axe, along with the boards, hammer, and nails they are currently using to fix up the roof.
Then there was also the mini heart-attack I gave Twilight as I walked past the library with all three Crusaders in tow. (We had found Scootaloo in on our way back from Sweet Apple Acres, who had been going to pick up Apple Bloom to do some ‘Crusading’) She had teleported in front of me and used her magic to snatch the axe from me. Honestly, why did everypony think I was going to go on a massive killing spree.
When we stopped to pick up my gloves from Rarity, I decided it would be best to leave the axe outside as I entered to claim my gloves. She was just putting the finishing touches on a sketch she made detailing an outfit she wanted to make me. It looked like a Tuxedo, but was missing some crucial details. Like pants. Those were definitely important. Of course, Rarity didn’t understand why, so I just said I would explain later when I wasn’t so pressed for time, then took my gloves and left.
The gloves were nothing special. Simple brown fabric, tough, durable, hopefully fireproof. They did the job though, not a single thorn had even scratched the material, thanks to them being expertly crafted. Really, it was almost like she had made them before.
“Hey Sol, what are you doing?” I turned around to see Scootaloo behind me, he tail and mane a mess of twigs and leaves.
“Nothing, just found something.” I said, turning my attention back to the objected that dented by axe. I swung my axe a few times, removing the few thorn bushes surrounding it. The offending object turned out to be a metal pole rising from the ground, topped by what looked like a fountain. I moved to it, setting down the axe and pulling on the metal handle. It was rusted, old, and refused to move. I tightened my grip and tried again, pulling with not just my arms, but my back and legs too. Scootaloo even came over and tried to help by pushing up on the handle with her front hooves, fluttering her wings a little with the effort. Why did these ponies have to be so adorable?
With a horrendous squeal, and a faint gurgling sound, the handle began to move. It moved slowly at first but then began to move faster with more ease. I gave it a few experimental pumps, and was delighted when a bit of water poured out the spout. I put my hand under the stream of water, catching a bit and bringing it to my mouth. It was cold and tasted a bit like iron, but not to bad.
I wiped the sweat from my brow and looked up at the hot sun above. Going from below freezing temperature to this was not fun, and my body had yet to adjust. Looking at the fountain, I was struck with inspiration. I pulled off my light brown t-shirt, which had noticeably more rips in it, not to mention the raking cuts from the Manticore’s claws. I bundled my shirt into a ball and began to pump water from the fountain onto it.
Turning around I saw three pairs of eyes staring at me, tracing the multiple scars that laced my entire torso, including those under the bandages that Fluttershy had wrapped around my chest to help set me ribs and keep the claw cuts clean. I gave the three fillies a sad smile as I wringed out my shirt and put it back on, thankful for the cooling relief it gave me.
“Wh- What happened to you?” Scootaloo stammered.
“War did.” I sighed. “I was at the tip of the spear for far to long, and my body has the proof to show it.”
“Did all that hurt a lot?” Apple Bloom asked, but from how she blushed I guess she found it to be a stupid question.
Regardless I answered. “Yes and no. It all hurt, some more than others. Like here,” I said, pulling up my shirt and pointing short scar along my side, “I was charged with a bayonet. It only hurt a little. But then there was another time where I had my eye gorged out with a spoon. That hurt a lot. It would of healed faster if I could have recovered it, but the bastard ate it.” I shuddered, and the three Crusaders looked visibly sick. “Lucky me, some smart British stem cell scientists were able to regrow it, but I had to put up with a few months of ghost pains.”
Apple Bloom recovered enough to ask “What are ghost pains?”
“Well, basically, it’s when you lose a body part, but your mind is still telling you that it’s there and hurting.” I said. Or at least, that’s how it was explained to me when.
I looked up to Sweetie Belle, who was sitting next to Apple Bloom on the roof, looking very confused.
“Something bothering you Sweetie?” I asked.
“Well, it’s just… I thought you said humans don’t have cutie marks?” She said, a genuine confused face showing through.
“They don’t.” I answered, not sure where this was going.
“Then why do you have one on your back?”
My confusion turned to sad understanding. I didn’t even have to look to know what she was talking about. On my left shoulder blade was a tattoo of an angel holding a smaller angel as they ascended upwards. “Well, that’s a rather sad story.” I looked up again to the sun, as it say high in the sky. Then my stomach growled. I once again looked to the fillies and smiled. “Tell ya what. I haven’t eaten in like, three days, so how about we go into Ponyville and see if I can use my infinite charisma to rustles us up something to eat, and on our way, I’ll tell you about how I got my ‘cutie mark,’ okay?” The three fillies all smiled and nodded, so I walked to the edge of what was now going to be my house and helped Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle of the roof, and we started our way to Ponyville.
After putting up with the expectant looks from the Crusaders for about five minuets, I sighed and began. “Once upon a time, I had two very close friends. They were the only family I had left, and I had grown very attached to there company. They had helped me when I went through a very hard time in my life. They were always there for me, when I was hurt, or mad, or broken, they were always there to fix me. To help me when I felt like I wasn’t enough.”
I glanced at the three fillies that walked next to me, all staring with the same intensity. I sighed and continued. “One day, I had to go away for some work related business. While I was gone, some bad men came and captured them, along with thousands of other people who lived around us. I was furious that such a thing could happen, so I did what I always did. I dove head first into the danger to try and save them. I fought long and hard, injured multiple times, but none stopped me. I kept pushing forward, but when it all came down to it, I failed.”
They Crusaders looked at me with varying degrees of sadness. I talked on. “I failed. I saved thousands, but I wasn’t able to save the two I cared about. When they died, part of me died with them. It wasn’t, and if I could, I would have traded places with them in a heartbeat. But when it all came down to it, they died because I wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t fast enough.”
I stared out at Ponyville as it got closer and closer. I could have sworn I heard a sniff off to my left. “So I had that tattoo put on my shoulder, to remind me everyday to be stronger, to be faster, and to be smarter.” I gave a sad sigh. “I was called a hero after that day. Single-handedly saving thousands, but I didn’t feel like one. I just felt like a failure.”
Apple Bloom looked up to me with a mix of sadness and horror. “But… but you are a hero! You saved all those ponies- err… people. How could you not think of yourself as one?”
I gave a small shrug. “Because I’m alive.”
“What do you mean, ‘because your alive?” Scootaloo chimed in. “Why wouldn’t you be a hero because your alive?”
“Because I’m alive, while others died. Battle after battle, friend and foe alike died around me, and I lived on. It’s almost cruel.”
Scootaloo shook her head. “I don’t understand, why wouldn’t that make you a hero?”
“I guess I don’t know how to explain it. I was guilty. What was so special about me that I got to live and others died.” I looked up and saw we were entering Ponyville. “But enough of that, let’s find someplace to eat.”
Slowly the fillies nodded there heads, trying to process all that I had told them. Looking around, I noticed we had a real problem. I didn’t have any money. “Well girls, I don’t have any money, so unless the currency in this world is hugs, there’s only one thing to do.”
“Become street performers?”
“Sell apples?”
“Ask Rarity?”
I gave the fillies before me skeptical looks, before saying, “I was just going to beg Twilight.” I said as I shrugged, turned towards the library and started walking.
*A/N: I want to apologize right now for the short chapter, I've been a little pressed for time. Once again, thank you for reading, comment, (I read them all) ect. ect.*
"I need you to take your shirt off." Twilight said, matter-o-factly as she scribbled on a clipboard, making a chart of some sort.
After lunch, (A strange sandwich made from daffodils and other greenery, which I decided I would stick to apples after my first bite.) Twilight had insisted that she do some quick tests, seems I was already there. Figuring I should pay for lunch somehow, I agreed.
The CMC on the other hand had quickly fled the scene at the notion of learning on their day off, making excuses to why they needed to leave. Something to do with trying for a zip-lining cutie mark. I shrugged it off as kids being kids. Twilight didn't even seems to notice, rambling about the possibilities of something or another. I had learned to ignore people to smart for their own good long ago.
After telling Spike, a small purple dragon (I stopped trying rationalizing this world a while back) that Twilight had apparently adopted, to clean up the remains of lunch, the lavender unicorn had drug me through the library and into the basement, which appeared to be a laboratory of some sort. Strange machines sat beeping with colorful lights, giving the whole room a strange feeling.
"You what?" I said, raising an eyebrow. For a shut-in egghead, she was making some quick advances here.
She turned to me, setting the clipboard aside. "I have a spell that will allow me to 'scan' in a way, your internal organs, then copy it to a piece of paper, making a life-size diagram." she said, motioning to a piece of paper on a nearby table, roughly the size of my torso. "However, the spell can only see through a thin layer, so to get a more accurate read-out, I need you to take off your shirt."
I shrugged it off as good reasoning and pulled my shirt off over my head, showing my scarred chest and the bandages Fluttershy had wrapped my ribs with. "These bandages aren't going to be a problem, are they?"
Twilight looked up then shook her head, her eyes briefly catching on the many scars adorning my chest. "No, those bandages are thin enough that it should be fine." With that she turned to me, horn beginning to glow. "Are you ready?"
"To be scanned with magic from another universe that shouldn't exist and defies all laws of physics I can think of? Sure." I said, shrugging away the final word. With that Twilight began to focus, her horn glowing brighter. I expected to feel something, but upon feeling nothing, I stood there, body automatically assuming a parade rest.
After about 15 seconds, Twilight turned to the paper, and the glowing ball which had formed at the tip of her horn floated down to the paper, then expanded, consuming the paper. All of a sudden, the purple glow disappeared, leaving a blank page.
"I know you’re the expert here, but isn't the supposed to be a fancy diagram of my insides on that piece of paper?" I said, while Twilight stared at the page with a confused look.
"That doesn't make sense!" she exclaimed, shaking her head and rubbing her eye with a hoof. "That spell is simple, and I haven't messed it up in years! Why wouldn't it work now?"
I glanced around, not sure how to respond. I spotted a pencil and decided to do things the old fashion, no magic way. I picked up the pencil, and started at the piece of paper, all along Twilight ranting about how her spell should have worked.
By the time Twilight noticed what I was doing, I had already done the basic outline of a male human torso. She trotted over to me, and peeked over my shoulder. “What are you doing?” she asked, voice annoyingly close to my ear.
“Making a diagram the way us non-magical creatures do it, with our hands.” I answered, slightly annoyed by her persisting to peer over my shoulder. “Us with no magic need to use some engi-“
“THAT’S IT!” she exclaimed, causing me to jump to the side, my left ear ringing a little from the sudden noise. She then turned to face me, already rambling. “Maybe the spell didn’t work on you because you have no connection to magic. I’d have to run some tests to be sure but-“ I raised a hand, cutting her off, then flipped up two finger.
“Two things,” I said, before she could continue. “First, next time you have an epiphany, make sure your snout is farther from my ear.” I emphasized my point by rubbing my ear. She was about to speak again, probably with an apology, but I cut her off before she could start. “Second, then if your magic doesn’t work on me because I’m not magical, why does it work on Fluttershy or Applejack? They don’t have magic projecting horns.” I said, not really caring about an answer but more to stab a hole in her logic for yelling in my ear.
She took a deep breath, and I prepared myself for a lecture. “Well,” she began, and I relished in the calm before the storm. “Although Unicorns and Alicorns are thought to be the only species of magic, earth ponies and pegasi also have their own form of magic. A pegasus demonstrates that magic every time he or she take flight.” I nodded, finding the information logical, or as logical as you can be when talking about magical ponies. “Earth ponies on the other hoof, have a magic that is more discrete. Their magic is shown through their actions. Earth ponies are generally hardier than pegasi or unicorns, being able to easily lift what a pegasi or unicorn might struggle with. Also, earth ponies find it much easier to grow plants, with their magic naturally bonding with the magic of the plants.” Magic plants aside, this was beginning to sound simple. Unicorns were the officers, Pegasi were the airforce, and Earth ponies the enlisted.
I nodded my hand, then moved on to the next question. “Alright, so I get why ponies have magic, but then why can your magic affect other things. Like that annoying rabbit that hangs out around Fluttershy’s house?” I said, now a little intrigued.
I braced myself for an earful of ramblings, but was surprised when the lavender unicorn turned around and began scribbling on clipboard. “To put it simply, everything in Equestria has magic in it, from the dirt to the clouds, all of it has some degree of magic.” I nodded, stashing the knowledge I just acquired in a mental filing cabinet, then stood a little straighter.
“Ok, then why did your mannequin spell work?” I said, still not convinced.
She hardly looked at me. “That spell goes around the physical form of something, not actually touching or interacting with it. So naturally, it wouldn’t be affected by weather or not the object in question, being you, is magical or not.” I just nodded, deciding it wasn’t worth discussing further. So instead I straightened my shoulders and asked a question a I had a feeling I would regret.
“What now?”
She turned to me, wearing the strangest smile I have ever seen, somewhere crossed between happiness, excitement, and a little bit of anticipation. “Now? Now we test.”
The sun must have gone down by now, and Twilight had tried everything from levitating to teleporting me, and it all ended the same way. Her magic would pass through me like nothing was there. It had been hours now, and Twilight was huffing and puffing from the constant exertion she had been put under for the past few hours.
“I think we can conclude I’m magic proof.” I said, a little concerned about the unicorn who seemed concrete on finding some spell that would work. Twilight looked like she would argue, but just sighed in defeat
“Alright. I think we can safely conclude that.” She said as she scribbled some final notes onto her clipboard, then magically tossed it onto a nearby table top. “Let’s go sit down upstairs. It’s probably about dinner time anyway.” With that she ascended the staircase, with me right behind her.
We re-entered the main room of the library, which had a few small stacks of books spread here and there. Spike was busy walking around, placing books here and there. Upon seeing us enter the room, he turned to address us.
“Hey Twilight, Sol. How did your testing go?” he asked, looking appreciative for the excuse to momentarily stop working, allowing himself to slump down onto a nearby book pile.
Twilight looked like she was about to go into an in-depth summary, I saved the young dragon the time by saying, “I’m magic proof.” Before Twilight could talk the young dragons ear off. Or, at least I’m assuming the scales on the side of his head are ears. Twilight shot me a glare, and was about to elaborate, but it was Spike who saved the day this time.
“Hey, can we eat now? I’m starved.” The purple dragon said, giving Twilight an innocent look.
She looked like she was going to lecture anyway, but gave a sigh of resignation and made her way to the kitchen, and once again the good inhabitants of Twilight’s treehouse where saved from having their ears talked down to nubs.
Spike and I entered the kitchen, where Twilight was setting out food. She had set out a sandwich for herself, a few apples for me, and a plate of gems for Spike. Without a word, Spike and I took out respective spots and began eating.
About halfway through the meal, I stopped, watching Spike as he reached for another gem, and a question began to bother me. “Twilight, tell me. Why does Spike have hands, yet none of you knew what they were when I first came here?” I asked, stopping both of them in the process.
Twilight had stopped, mid-chew, and swallowed, staring at Spikes small clawed hands. The three of us remained quiet for some time, before Twilight broke the silence.
“Let us never speak of this again.”
“Agreed” Spike and I said in unison.
A/N: Alright, I'm back. If you care enough to wonder why such a long delay, or when I'll kick out the next chapter, I'll be posting a link to a blog post explaining. Feel free to yell at me in the comments on the blog. As for this chapter, yea, it isn't the greatest, I think it could be longer, but I wanted to get something out to you guys/girls, and I finally got to express something that has bothered me about almost every HIE story I've ever read. Why do the ponies fave now idea what hands are when there are creatures like Gryphons, Minotaurs, and Dragons traveling freely, not to mention the Steven Magnet(?) from the second episode, so there really is no excuse. Confound these ponies, driving me to rant.
The 5 colorful ponies around me all wore confused expressions. Well except Twilight. The purple unicorn was pulling out a quill, inkwell, and a small leather-bound journal. She looked slightly worried.
“W-war?” squeaked Fluttershy, who Rarity had managed to coax out from under the couch.
“War? What’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking excited. “I bet it’s some sort of challenge. Is it fun?”
I gave her a grave look and shook my head. “Yea, I guess it’s kind of a challenge. But it’s not fun.” The cyan Pegasus seemed to deflate a little at the tone of my voice. I glanced around the room again, trying to think of where to start. At a loss of what to say, my eye fell on the strange mark on Rainbow Dash’s flank. Looking around, I saw all the mares in the room had tattoos of deferent designs on the flanks. What’s with these ponies and tattoos?
My thinking was interrupted by Twilight, who now had readied the book and opened the inkwell, and the quill levitated above the page, surrounded in a sparkling purple aura. A similar aura surrounded her horn. Levitation. Why not? It’s not like this is a land of talking ponies or anything. “I think I’ve heard of war before. In a really old book back in Canterlot.” Come again? One more bad pun and I think I might jump out a window. “It was something that happened long before Celestia and Luna’s time. Long before Equestria was formed.” she shuddered. “I didn’t like that book. It was hard to read, and full of stories of ponies hurting each other, and being generally mean.”
I gave a sad laugh. It was more of a cough, but it got everyone’s attention. “If only.” I said, and 5 horrified looks told me I needed to explain. “If only that was all it was. But it’s more. Much more.” Twilight recovered from her stupor and began to write. “War is people standing against each other, fighting each other, lying, stealing, betraying, hating each other, turning tale and running.” Some point in my speech had hit each of them. I continued. “War is blood, war is plague, war is death. War is killing one another, and continuing even when your friends and loved ones die in front of, next to, and even in your arms. War, war is Hell.”
“I-I think I’m, uhh, going to go check on Pinkie…” Fluttershy stammered.
“Yes, I think I shall go as well. She could probably use my critical eye for the decorations.” Rarity added. I nodded, understanding completely. Why would they want to know about war.
I looked over the other 3 ponies, who seemed intent on riding out the storm. “But war will also bring out a persons true colors. You can never see how strong a man is, until you see them at there weakest.”
Twilight looked up from her notes. “What about friendship? Harmony?”
“Yea, humanity has had it’s fair share of that, too. It will be easier if I just start at the beginning, and do my best to lead you through the rise of humanity.” Three nods told me to continue. I cleared my thought and began to speak. More of lecture, really. I talked at the mesmerized ponies, answering the few questions they had, all while Twilight scribbled ferociously on the paper. I spoke about a few theories on how humanity came to be, then told about the solid facts. For simplicity I started in the 1500’s, shortly after America was found.
I talked for hours. We took a short break around noon (I assumed, provided physics still work in this world.) “Ummm…. What exactly do humans eat?” Twilight asked awkwardly. Well meat is definitely off the menu.
“Apples will be fine.” I said curtly. We ate a quick, silent lunch. After we had finished, The 3 ponies gave me an expecting nod. “In the year 2020, there was a widespread peace across Earth. It was nice, lasting 200 years. Major medical discoveries were made, and it was all over a good time to be alive. But soon human greed and distrust fueled tensions to rise between 2 world super-powers, China and America.”
“And the straw that broke the camels back, was a so simple, it’s almost sad. A pilot was testing an experimental jet. It was going perfectly, but a glitch in the system caused 2 anti-tank missiles to fly off course. By a stroke of bad luck, they struck a Chinese embassy in a nearby town. It killed 1 person. 1 PERSON.” I found myself yelling. The ponies around me were giving me scared looks. I quickly checked my temper and continued. “But the damage was done. America tried to apologize, tried to explain it was an accident. But soon enough there was a full scale invasion on the west coast of America.”
“They still tried diplomacy. But after the massacre at Santa Cruz, the American people screamed for revenge, screamed to avenge the blood of those who had been murdered. In the course of a year, the world was engaged in yet another world war.” I felt my temper rising again as I thought of Santa Cruz. I was only just born when that happened.
The ponies around me could see I was getting angry. “Uhh, maybe we should talk about something else for a while.” Rainbow Dash said, once again casting a worried glance my direction.
“Yea, ah don’t think ah can take much more ‘ave these stories.” Applejack added.
Twilight looked at her notes. We had managed to fill half of her book, with stories ranging from the Trojan War to the beginning of World War III. “Is there anything you want to know?” she asked.
I thought you’d never ask. Anything that keeps me from having to talk about the horrors of war “Yea, a lot actually. First of all, why on Earth, er, well Equestria, does everyone have tattoos on there flanks?” I said, reminded of the earlier question by the sight of the six-pointed star on Twilight’s flank.
“Tattoos? Oh, you mean cutie marks!” Cutie Marks? So a tattoo on there flanks is what those three girls were wandering around a dangerous forest a night for? “Don’t humans have cutie marks?”
“Does it look like I do?” I said quizzically.
“Well I wouldn’t know, your wearing cloths over most of your body.”
Well sorry for not being a nudist . “Whatever, what are they?”
“Well, there a symbol, for when I colt or filly finds out what their special talent is. It shows what they are good at. Most just let it come naturally, but there are some who try to make it happen. Hence the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom.” So it was like puberty with a lot less annoyance.
“Ok, and what about your government?”
“Well It’s Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of course.” Twilight answered.
“Who?” I asked, still confused.
“What! You don’t know who The princesses are? How could you not know them. Every day Celestia raises and lowers the sun, and every night Luna does the same with the moon.” She said, with all the passion of a zealot who just had his religion called fake.
“Nope.” I said flatly.
“Ugh.. Well I starts with….”
“Hold up, if your going to tell the whole history of Equestria, I’m going to go help Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash said, obviously not interested in the history she had probably heard over and over again.
“Right behind ya.” Applejack said as they trotted out the door.
“Well anyway, it’s starts with…” Twilight began to talk about what she called the tale of the ‘Mare in the Moon.’ She told about 2 alicorn sisters who controlled the sun and the moon. She then told about the fall of the younger sister, forcing the older to wield a powerful magic called the Elements of Harmony, using it to banish the rebelling sister to the moon for 1000 years. Talk about harsh.
She then told of how on the 1000th day the younger broke free of her prison, causing Twilight and her 5 friends, one of which being the mysterious Pinkie Pie, who I had yet to meet, to become bearers of the 6 Elements. Rainbow Dash embodied the Element of Loyalty, Rarity the Element of Generosity, Applejack Honesty, Fluttershy Kindness, Pinkie Pie Laughter, and Twilight Sparkle being the 6th, Magic. Sure it sounds cheesy, but this is also a world of talking ponies.
“Well also there was the time where we had to…. Do you hear that?” She said, completely forgetting her lecture. I tilted my head, straining my ears to hear anything out of the ordinary. All I heard was a slight buzzing. “That must be Scootaloo on her scooter.”
Not sure what to say, I just followed her as we walked out of the house. It was getting to be late in the day, and I could see the sun was almost to the horizon. We probably have about another hour of daylight. Looking around, I saw the small cottage was set on top of a small hill, with bird houses in a tree out front, it looked like the ultimate animal lovers paradise.
I looked down the path that headed away from the house, and could see a small figure zooming my way. As it got closer, I saw that the it was Scootaloo on a scooter, using her wings to make her go faster. When she saw Twilight and me standing outside the door, she started going faster.
She came to a skidding stop at my feet and started unleashing question after question. “Sol! Your awake! Are you ok? You just collapsed. Were you sick? Are you better now? Do you want me to-” the stream of questions were cut by Twilight shoving her hoof in the small pegasus’s mouth.
“Yes, sort of, more or less, and no, I don’t need anything.” That seemed to get the orange pony to calm down. “Was there something you needed?”
“Mff.” Spitting out Twilight’s hoof, she continued. “Yea, I came to check on you since it was me and the girls’ fault you got hurt. Also Pinkie Pie says the cupcakes are done.” She said the last part to Twilight, who looked relieved.
“Ok, go tell her we’re on our way.” She said.
Scootaloo nodded and raced off, calling back to me, “Bye Sol, see you later.”
I turned to look at the unicorn besides me. “Where exactly are ‘we’ going?” I asked.
“Sugarcube Corner. We’re going to go pick up some cupcakes.” she said as she levitated a pair of saddlebags out of the cottage and rested them on her back.
“Okay….” I said, unsure. Then again, it’s not like much harm can come from cupcakes. “Where exactly is Sugarcube Corner?”
“Oh it’s in Ponyville.” My purple companion answered as she began to trot down the path.
“Um, I don’t really want to, um, draw a crowd.” I said. I didn’t really like being in front of crowds. I preferred to be far out of sight. Much easier to do things when your unnoticed.
“Don’t worry, you won’t.” Twilight said with a hint of humor in her voice. Great. I have a feeling we are not just picking up some cupcakes . He walk along the trail in silence. Twilight was deep in thought, and I was simply trying to memorize my surroundings.
We arrived at Ponyville soon enough, and I was utterly speechless at the sight. The houses where old style, but at the same time very new. Everything was colorful and full of life. But what really shocked me was how peaceful it was. I had never seen peace like this. My entire life, there was the shadow of the war hanging over my head. There was no war here, no violence. Just peace. Harmony.
Sugarcube Corner looked more like gingerbread house then a real house. It looked like a sugar addicts dream house. As I looked around the empty town, something began to bother me. “You sure we’re in the right place? I asked. “Where is everyone?”
Twilight looked at me expectantly. “Yea we are. Don’t worry about it, just go inside.” Not sure what else to do, I opened the door. It was dark inside, and seemed to quiet. But when I started to back away, Twilight probed me in the back to go forward. I crouched down to get through the low door, and took a step inside and…
“SURPRISE!!!”
The lights flew on and I was tackled to the ground. Looking around, I saw ponies everywhere. All colorful and bright, with cutie marks and party hats galore. I turned my head and found myself face-to-face with a pink pony, with a darker pink main and a tri-balloon cutie mark.
“Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie! Are you surprised? I threw this party for you. It’s you welcome to Ponyville party. I through one for everypony who is new here. But your not a pony. Your like the people on the other side of the Wall! Have you ever-” Her talking was cut off by a white hoof over her mouth.
“Darling, don’t you think we should let our guest up off the floor?” Rarity said, pulling Pinkie Pie off my chest. I stood up and gave her a thankful nod.
“What wall?” I asked, confused that there might be other humans here.
“Oh, darling, don’t mind her, she’s…” She paused looking for the right word. “strange, at times.” This whole world is strange most of the time. I watched as Pinkie Pie hopped around the room, mingling with guests and asking ponies if they are enjoying the party. My eyes fell on Twilight, who was having a hushed conversation with Rainbow Dash in the corner, who then flew out a nearby window in a hurry.
I was about to go see what that had been about when a group of ponies came up to me, looking slightly shy, a little afraid, but mostly awestruck. So much for laying low. I thought as I readied myself for the torrent of questions and introductions that was sure to come.
I spent the better part of an hour answering questions, having ponies introduced to me, and overall just feeling extremely awkward. A little while after she departed, Rainbow Dash returned carrying something in her mouth. I didn’t get a good look as she hurried into the kitchen, followed by Twilight.
Finally I got done talking to the last of the ponies, taking note of her name and profession. Not like I was going to remember it, but I might as well try. Looking around, I found the focus of the party was finally off me. Everypony in the room had their eyes on Pinkie Pie, as she stood on a table rattling off joke. I didn’t get most of them, but that didn’t really matter.
Twilight came trotting up to me, levitating two cups of punch. “I thought you might need a drink after having to answer the same questions over and over.” I took the cup she levitated to me and nodded thankfully. I took a sip of the fruity smelling punch, and found it to be an amazing mix of berry flavors, with something else that I couldn’t put my finger on. “Umm, can we talk someplace a little more quiet?” Twilight asked. As long as there won’t be 10 ponies drilling me with questions all at once. I nodded again and followed her to the kitchen.
As soon as we entered the kitchen, the door slid shut behind us, muffling the noise from the party. Twilights expression changed from the happy smile she had been wearing to a worried frown. That’s a little odd. Then again, in this world, what isn’t? I took in my surroundings. The kitchen was surprisingly modern. Rainbow Dash was standing in the corner mixing batter in a bowl. I didn’t really take her for a cook.
Twilight turned to me. “I’m sorry for this, but it’s just, well, your dangerous, aren’t you?” She asked.
I was utterly confused, and was about to say no, but I thought about the scars lacing up and down my body, and the combat knife at my belt. It’s so obvious, no point in lying. “Yea, I guess I am.”
Twilight gave a sad smile, and I was about to ask what she was sorry about when a wave of nausea hit me like a train. I stumbled against the nearby wall. What’s going on. I thought, desperately trying to think of what happened, my eyes caught on the shattered glass of the cup I dropped.
Poison ! I thought frantically, fighting off the urge to lie down and sleep. Looking at the 2 ponies in the room, their sad expressions on their innocent faces, I realized it was probably nothing deadly. Probably just something to incapacitate. I fell to a knee, bracing myself with my hand. Incapacitate then probably lock up. Clever girls… I thought as I fell to the floor, unconscious.