For My Countriesby PhysicsInvers342ChaptersThe Flight for LifeThe New RecruitBreaking RanksChapter 4 [Rough Outline Written Ten Months Ago]The Flight for LifeAuthor's Note This takes place in the Nonbronyverse, so there is no cliche "Brony in Equestria" this time around. Please enjoy this anyway!! The Flight for Life PhysicsInvers342 Presents For My Countries The time from when I was just a kid sitting on my grandfather’s knee, listening to him tell me that I would grow up to be a big strong man, has long since passed. The time from when tensions between states caused a rip in the Union is gone. The moment when North Korea and Afghanistan declared war on the USA has passed. The time from when I signed up for the Air Force, however is still here. Every day passes like the last, with fast paced workflow and demanding tests. Most days pass like the last, melting into one huge existence. But not today. “McKendick! Haul ass and get out here, double time!” I walked out of the carrier’s mess hall and into the hallway, making sure to walk twice as slow as I normally would, just to piss off the ship’s air traffic controller and my close friend, Virgil Accosta. I grinned as I stepped up next to him. For his part, he gave me a glare. “So, what are you doing this fine morning?” I asked in a nonchalant manner, both of us walking towards the stairs leading to the deck. “Growing old waiting for you to get out here. Seriously, do you do that when Cap. Thames calls you?” he grumbled, though his face clearly showed he was holding back a smile. “No, but only because I worry that he’ll try to remove my skin with a thin strip of leather,” I responded. “So what’s your reason for interrupting my morning sludge, anyhow?” “The on-ship engineers told me they wanted you on the deck for some testing. I guess you got something to be proud of- they don’t trust any of the other lugheads on this ship with flying those, as they call them, ‘High-performance Intelligence Jets’,” Virgil said, taking the lead up the stairs. “Yeesh, that’s a mouthful. Can’t they just call them ‘Super-jets’?” I said, shaking my head with amusement. By now we’d reached the deck and started off towards the runway, which was positively frantic with activity and preparations. Given that the ship was an active carrier, there were only so many jets along the side we were walking on. Each one had some sort of customized item on it, whether it was a spray-painted picture on the side, a sticker on the window, or a picture in the cockpit. For us flyers, it was a reminder that we have personalities despite all the conformities of the armed forces. Some of the guys went overboard, putting books or laptops inside (as if they could use them while flying). I had almost nothing inside my own jet- only a set of fine pens and a heavy duty paper notebook for writing down things or the occasional doodle. The only reason it was in there was for after missions to write down how I felt so that I wouldn’t forget my personality. By now we’d reached the Garage, which was our name for the covered hangar that doubled as a work station for the jets. More often than not, it was simply used for repairs. However, it had been off limits for the past few days now, only letting a select few in. of course, word about what was going on got out quickly, despite it being a secret. My jet, along with my notebook inside it, was taken to be upgraded, as I was the only pilot onboard who had a perfect flying record. We were quickly approached by Ken, one of the engineers. Being stuck on a boat for weeks at a time, I ended up learning mast of the crew and company’s names. Even so, I didn’t talk to Ken all that much, but he seemed like a decent guy. “James, good, you’re here,” Ken said, shaking my hand while nodding to Virgil. “We need to move things apace. Follow me.” He started walking towards my plane, but as I began to follow, Virgil grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. “I gotta get back to the tower, so I can’t stick around to fanboy over your plane’s new ‘shinies’. Just don’t buzz the tower with that thing, okay?” Virgil said, eyeing what appeared to be a third thruster on my jet. “No promises,” I laughed, slapping his back. “Just do your job, and I’ll do mine, ya grump.” He shook his head, smirking, and walked towards his post. I jogged over to Ken, who was waiting with crossed arms and an impatient look. “Come on, come on, we’re on a schedule,” Ken griped at me. “Is it as tight as a virgin’s pu-” I started, but Ken put up his hand to stop me. “Not the time. I have to give you a rundown of the new additions and features on here, okay?” Ken said, looking me in the eye. “Fine, shoot,” I replied, now crossing my own arms. “Good. First and foremost, your structure and armor has been upgraded for two reasons, the first to obviously to keep you safe, the second being the need to hold up against higher speeds. You’ll notice the after on the back; it can effectively double your top speed.” “But,” Ken said, raising a finger here and walking over to a table tat was scattered with tools and wires, along with a sleek looking fighter pilot helmet in the middle, “none of that matters without this.” He picked up the helmet and walked back over. “This is a user integration helmet. It reads the face of the user and allows for greater connection to the system. In layman’s terms, it lets you become one with the plane.” I looked at the helmet, then to Ken, then to my jet, then back to Ken. “So you made it harder, better, faster, stronger?” “I-... yes. Yes we did.” “HIT 1, requesting permission to taxi onto runway?” I asked into my comm on my new helmet. To my surprise, the helmet had been tailored to my exact proportions. I guess conformity isn’t everything in the forces. I flinched a little bit when a screen suddenly flickered on in my visor, showing Virgil, who was up in the tower, with his ridiculously oversized headset on. “Hey there, princess! Video links, huh? Next they’re gonna put an oven in those things,” Virgil snickered. “Anyhow, permission granted, you may begin taxi.” I shook my head and began inching the plane forward onto the runway. Slowly, my plane lined up with the arrows pointing to the end of the runway. I waited. “HIT 1, you are clear for takeoff.” “Booyah,” I whispered to myself, gunning the thrusters, accelerating quickly to a speed fast enough to take off within five hundred feet of the six hundred-fifty foot ship. As soon as I hit the air, navigation systems and information began popping up on my visor. This is so like Iron Man, I thought to myself. “Hey, James, try not to push the big red button under the joystick,” Ken said, popping up on my visor as well. “It activates the afterburner on the back, and while it won’t destroy your plane, humans haven’t really been tested to go that fast yet.” “Will do,” I said, shuddering internally at the thought of passing out while going that fast. By now I was far enough out from the ship to start trying some maneuvers. I pulled a tight turn to the left while tilting to the side, dropping the power in the left thruster and adding to the right. ... I did a goddamn barrel roll. Coming out of that, I pulled up sharply, going nearly straight up. I felt blood rushing to my legs as the g-forces kicked in. tensing my muscles and grimacing, I forced my blood to circulate. Feeling light-headed, I leveled off. “I have to say, this handles great, Ken! How’d you do it?” I asked through my headset. I got no response. “Hey, Ken, you there?... Virgil, you o the line?... Anyo-” A scream sounded in my headset, and I froze. “James, get back here, now!” Vigil yelled, popping up on my visor. I felt myself go cold; Virgil never used anyone’s name when directing in the tower, and his urgency now was unmistakable. Shit, I thought to myself. I pulled a hairpin turn and opened the throttle to the fullest extent. “What the hell’s going on?!” I shouted, scanning for the carrier. “Damn Afghans launched a surprise attack! All of the sudden, boom! Nowhere on the radar!” Virgil panted back. “Hurry it up, huh? We need all the support we ca-” A bright flash, along with the sound of breaking glass and another scream on my visor made me flinch. A moment later, the square that had Virgil’s video feed was flashing the message, “Connection Lost”. Dread pierced me like a knife. “... Virgil? Virgil, you there?” I asked quietly, shaking. Silence. I looked down at the newly installed red button on my control panel. I made a split second decision right then. I hit the button. Instantly I was thrown back, and probably would have been killed if I didn’t have a neck bracer. It was all I could do to hold on to the joystick and try not to pass out. I saw the speed gauge read faster and faster every second. I could feel my heart trying its best to keep my blood flowing. Even so, my vision was starting to fade. I flicked my eyes back out the window, and saw one last thing: the carrier, with no sign of the Garage, the deck on fire, and the base of the air traffic tower, surrounded by still smoking rubble. My vision failed, and I succumbed, releasing my breath. Dead... Must... I... dead... I’m... pain... Brain... work... Not dead. I’m... not dead. I feel... blanket... No... Not right. Work, brain... I feel a blanket... Where...? Slowly, I tried opening my eyes, but almost immediately closed them again. It was bright, even more so than I was used to, which is saying something, considering the brightness of the sun off of clouds. I became aware that I was lying on a soft surface- much softer than the bunks on the ship. I stopped my thought process, listening. Birds. And the sound of leaves rustling. Some kind of a squirrel chattering. When you get more better, brain, file that under “unusual”. Speaking of more better... My eyes, although I wasn’t sure on the usefulness of them, were obviously still active, so the next thing to check would be my arms. Okay... right arm first... Slowly, much like my eyes, I moved my arm, and let out an involuntary groan. It felt stiff and sore, but did not feel broken. Next I tried the left, and was met with less pain. Why do I have to be right-handed in this situation? Right then. Now for my le- I screamed, my body shaking violently. Never before had I been in that much pain. It reminded my of a very old quote my grandfather told me many times: ‘You never know what you have until it’s gone’. Goddamn leg... Panting heavily, tears streaming out from under my eyelids, I tried to slow down my heart. Then I heard the footsteps. Thank god, someone else. As they entered the room, I heard a soft gasp from my caretaker, or so I assumed, then they rushed to my side, fairly noisily. “Oh, my, are you alright?” The voice was definitely a female, delicate sounding, like one of those quiet girls on a sitcom. “N-no...” I stuttered out, still breathing heavily. For some reason, my response caused her to gasp again. “You can talk?!” she exclaimed, sounding completely dumbfounded. “Yes, I can bloody well talk. A-accident didn’t rip out my vocal cords,” I replied irritably. What kind of a question is that supposed to be? “I-I’m sorry, it’s just, I-I’ve never seen anything like you before,” she said, sounding abashed. That statement in particular made me worry. “Nothing like me”? I’m not disfigured, am I...? “So... how bad are my injuries?” I asked tentatively. “You were bleeding fairly heavily when we found you. You were bandaged on the wounds, but we weren’t sure about your hind legs, so we left them unbandaged,” she replied, just as cautiously as myself. What the hell? “Hind legs”? Unbandaged? Who the hell is this? The short silence was broken by the voice asking, “Is there anything I can do for you?” “Could you please close the blinds on the window? It’s too bright for me,” I said. She began walking over to the source of the light, making far more noise than she should have been. “What kind of shoes are you wearing?” I asked, since it sounded more like two pairs of feet instead of one. “Oh, but, I’m not,” she replied, sounding surprised. The light began dimming. What...? When the light was barely detectable from behind my closed eyes, I slowly opened them. I was met with the sight of a humble-looking room, made mostly out of wood, a small bookshelf on the opposite end. I turned to the right, where a nightstand was resting, with a book and a few magazines on it. Then I looked to the left, where my caretaker was. I was met with an innocent-looking stare from a pair of oversized, cartoonish, blue eyes. The eyes were a part of an even more innocent-looking equine-like face. That face was colored a soft butter kind of color. The face had a head, and a body, too. The head had cotton candy color hair hanging down like a drape. The body, which I guessed would be at about the bottom of my cage when I was standing, had wings. Wings, for Christ sake. She, as it was a she, had a tail that matched the style of the head’s hair, or a mane, as I guess it would be called. Possibly the strangest part, though, bypassing even the wings, was the flank. She had a picture of three pink butterflies on it. My mouth was hanging open, but I didn’t care. She began to look a bit concerned, and walked a bit closer. I didn’t move. “...Are you alright?” she asked quietly. “I... I...” “Yes?” “What in the-” was all I got out before my vision became obscure again, and I felt like I was falling slowly backwards. “Oh, my!” was the last thing I heard. The New Recruit“Ee she who in dah, den ee paw ow!” “Er yoo er nah ing ls ah pen?” “Es! I ame in ah fter ee screemd.” “Well, I’ll need to investigate. Do you think it’s awa-” “Um, actually, I think it’s a he, not it.” “Fine. Do you think he is awake yet?” “I can go check.” “Please do, Fluttershy.” As my mind slowly began to make sense of the world again, I heard a door to my right open, someone or something walk in, then, close the door behind themselves. The multiple footsteps approached, paused for a moment beside me, then turned around and exited. Now more aware, I opened my eyes. I looked around, noting the same features of the room I had noticed when I last looked around. Well, this is either somehow not a dream slash nightmare, or it’s my first lucid dream in a long, LONG while. Best to test the latter theory first. I brought my arms up, both very stiff and sore, and was about to try stretching them to both sides of the room at the same time when two things happened at the same time: the door to the room opened, and I noticed the color of my forearm. The scene froze in that position, an equine-like creature at the door staring at me with my arms up, while I stared at my arms. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that it was not the same one from earlier- the color of this one was a pleasant lavender, not a soft yellow. This was not, however, my main focus. My arms, normally a polished oak color, were a mottled blueish-greenish brownish-yellow. They were fully bruised which explained the stiffness and soreness. On closer inspection, though, the worst of the injuries were on the top of my forearm, not on the bottom. My biceps were even less bruised. It was then that I realized I had no shirt on, since I could see my biceps in the first place. This piece of knowledge was quickly taken, examined, and filed under “NOT FUCKING IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW”. The good thing was that they wouldn’t interfere with my arm usage too much. Satisfied, I looked back over to the door. Again, the eyes were the first thing I noticed. They just seemed too big to be natural. This time though, the eyes were a violet shade, more of an accent to the color. My eyes drifted further up: this one had a horn. A bloody horn. Not bloody in the sense that it had blood on it like it had stabbed someone, which it looked too dull to do anyway, but... This thing was a goddamn unicorn. And its mane looked like it had been stylist dyed. After a couple of seconds, I decided to break the silence, mainly because she (at least I assumed it was a she- it had a body type that said feminine, along with the hairstyle) was still staring at me. “Can I help you?” I asked, not sure how I should put the tone of my voice. I settled on bored. She (?) blinked, pupils and irises both shrinking somehow, shook her head like she was clearing away something, then gave a small smile with a blush. “Sorry, no- I mean yes- well, I...” she began to stutter out, paused, then recollected herself. Yep, definitely “she”. “Sorry, I’m just a bit excited. I don’t believe I’ve come across anything like you as a species before! I mean, you have individual digits, elongated hind legs, you’re capable of vocal communication in our language, and- This is just such a momentous event! And I’m the first one who gets to be a part of it!” she finished, sounding like a schoolgirl who gets excited over giving makeovers. You know the type, the, “Oh-my-gosh-we-can-like-do-makeovers-and-talk-about-boys-and-stuff-and-be-best-friends-forever!” girl everyone knew in high school. Sounded strange when the subject was about human anatomy and capabilities. “Right... Well, as wonderful as that sounds, everything I’ve seen up to this point is doing a bad job convincing me that this is real. Pardon me while I test something,” I said, bringing my arms back up. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and imagined my arms stretching across the room and touching both walls. I felt nothing but air. Frowning, I opened my eyes. My arms were the exact same length, if a little thicker due to swelling. Groaning, I let my arms fall back down by my side, wincing a bit as they hit the bed. It then occurred to me that I hadn’t actually tried sitting up yet. Tentatively, I moved my arms back, attempting to prop myself up. I pushed up with one arm-then promptly fell back into the bed. I looked back over at the unicorn, who was once again staring openly at me. I raised an eyebrow, mostly to no effect. “A little help, maybe?” I asked in the classic, “stop standing around and help me” tone. She gave a small start, blushed for the second time within five minutes, then trotted over, to use the proper term. “Sorry! I just got distracted by... whatever you were doing,” she said, reaching the bedside. She closed her eyes and appeared to start concentrating. “I was testing to see if it was a lucid dr-” I started saying, but abruptly stopped when I felt myself slowly starting to rise from my hips upward. Without any noticeable physical contact. “What the hell is going on?!” I said, starting to panic. “I’m helping you up,” she said, opening her eyes and looking at me strangely. “With WHAT?!” I exclaimed, looking left and right for some kind of platform that was pushing me up. “With magic, of course,” she replied, once again sounding confused at my question. “What did you expect me to do, lift you up with my hooves, when I ca-” Suddenly she gasped, and I felt the force moving me up disappear, and I fell back down to the bed. Again. “Unless you don’t have magic in you world! That would make so much sense! It would explain the digits on the hands, which would be used more for grabbing than anything else. It would also mean that you walk primarily on two legs, which in turn explains their length, and the-” “I don’t mean to be rude, but being in weird-ass place with a bunch of technicolor talking horses is trying my patience. I don’t know what the HELL is going on, where the HELL I am, or even what the HELL happened, but I’d like to start by sitting up, if that’s not too much to ask for,” I blurted out, my patience actually running out. Seriously, what was with this thing and all its nerdiness? Despite the prelude to my outburst, she did look mildly offended, and, somehow, blushed again. I began to figure that blushing was either more common wherever the hell this is than on Earth, or these horses aren’t used to people being this direct. “Well fine then, Mr. Bossy. Tone it down a bit, will you?” She replied, once again summoning the force that started lifting me up again. “And for your information, we’re not horses, we’re ponies.” “Well excuuuse me for not being politically correct,” I snarked as I began to be eye-level with the pony. “If we’re correcting people here, then my name isn’t Mr. Bossy, it’s James McKendick.” “Really? That’s an... interesting name. My name is Twilight Sparkle,” she replied, a smirk starting to grow on her face. “And if we are correcting, then the proper term would be “ponies”, not “people”.” Yeah, you’re one to talk about INTERESTING names. Of course, it had to be “Twilight Sparkle”. It couldn’t have been Princess Rainbow Shimmershine, that would have been too sophisticated. At this point, I was now sitting up, and a couple of pillows from across the room were flying over, held in some kind of purple aura. I had to assume that it was this magic Twilight Sparkle mentioned a minute ago, because when I looked back over to Twilight Sparkle, I now noticed her horn had the same color around it. She placed them behind me, propping me up. The force then vanished from behind me, and I was placed down on the pillows. Once again, I was intrigued by the eyes of these... ponies. They seemed to be far too big to normal. Twilight Sparkle’s in particular seemed odd, because they had a point in the iris where they split into different colors. That in and of itself wasn’t strange, what was strange was the fact that it seemed to be a solid separation, not just eyes with different colors in them. ...Weird. Definitely not THE weirdEST, but still weird. She noticed I was staring at her, which would be uncomfortable for me if she was a human, but as she wasn’t... yeah, whatever. She’s still an animal. An animal that seems to be capable reading (or misreading in this case) other people’s faces, given that she blushed again. FUCKING. AGAIN. “So...” I began, breaking the silence for the second time, “A good question to start off with is, ‘Where am I’?” Twilight Sparkle seemed to come back to reality when I started talking, and shook her head like she was trying to get rid of a fly. “Specifically? You’re in Fluttershy’s cottage. In a broader sense, on the outskirts of Ponyville. Broader still, in the country of Equestria, and to round it off, on the planet of Equus,” she said, sounding like she was reading from a textbook with a sense of humor. “...Right. I don’t know what any of that means.” “It means you’re in Ponyville, one of the towns in Equestria,” she replied, this time deadpanning it. “Thanks. Next question: How the HELL did I get here?” I asked, hoping to finally get some answers that made sense. Twilight Sparkle looked at me, then looked away. I metaphorically held my breath as I waited for an answer. “I don’t know,” she said at last, and my heart sank. “All we know is that when we found you, you were bleeding badly, you had glass all around you, and you were near a big, gray, metal thing that was burning, and-” My heart must have hit my other organs when it sank, because my stomach dropped a few notches. “Wait, a big, gray, metal thing that was burning? Did it look almost triangular, with a couple of fins sticking up in the back and picture of a flag on them?!” I asked, beginning to panic again. If my jet was here, fine, whatever, but if it was destroyed... “To answer those in order, yes, but the fire was put out, we didn’t want it spreading, yes, it looked almost triangular, and yes it had a flag on it. Why, is this important to you?” Twilight Sparkle said, looking a bit confused. “Yes, it’s important to me! That’s my jet, it’s fully modified and it was just on FIRE?!” I shouted at the end. “It wasn’t just on fire, that was three days ago! What’s a “Jet”, anyway?” Twilight Sparkle replied, backing up a few steps, yet still looking curious. I ignored her question. “I can’t believe this! First test flight and it crashes! Ken is gonna ki-” I started, but dropped off immediately. At that moment, the memory of what had happened just prior to my first blackout came back to me in detail: I saw the smoking pile of rubble that used to be the air traffic tower, the open space where the Garage was, and the deck burning. Ken... I felt a tear fall from my eye. Virgil... In any situation, strong soldiers aren’t supposed to show emotion. Well, looks like there’s going to be some rewriting of the rules now. I threw the blankets off to the side, and tried to swing my legs off the bed, ignoring Twilight Sparkle’s objections. Only, I momentarily forgot what happened last time. I screamed again as the pain in my legs exploded and bright lights flashed in front of my eyes. I fell back to the bed, tears flowing non-stop from my eyes. I vaguely heard the door fly open and another person come in. I continued to cry, not only for the pain, but for my jet, my situation, my friend. Though I had been unconscious for a while, it was not resting, and I began to fall asleep. All I could think was: Why me? Author's Note Beginning Translation: (James was the equivalent of drunk on pain here) Fluttershy: He said "what in the", then he passed out! Twilight: Are you sure nothing else happened? F: Yes! I came in after he screamed. I am so sorry for the delay with this chapter. I hate exposition. I'd like to have somebody else write it for me, but then it wouldn't be me. So yeah. To adress a few things: If the thumbs down are because of the countries I picked in the beginning, well, I'm being politically imaginative. I didn't say Russia, so I'm not totally stupid. I CAN change the countries if you'd like, it's not a problem with me. Also, if you see any problems or errors, PLEASE point them out. I have a high standard for my writing, and I'd like to keep it that way. Breaking RanksWell, this day has not been great. I mean, yeah, there were worse days during boot camp, briefing days, and the like, but I’ve had better days being on KP duty. It started off normally enough- if you can call normal waking up in a too-small bed to the sound of a rooster call to an over-bright sunrise and to have a freakin’ butter-yellow pegasus that caused you to pass out a day ago come in, and introduce itself as Fluttershy, all within ten minutes. If wasn’t so outlandish, I’d say it was nothing more than waking up in a slightly-bigger-yet-still-too-small-bed to the sound of a buzzer to a flat electric light and have a yelling captain that whooped your ass a day ago tell you to get moving, get dressed, and get on deck, all within ten minutes. But it was outlandish. So there was no similarity to the military at all. But not that’s not the worst part. No, the worst part is that I thought Fluttershy’s name was a figurative play on words or something, and didn’t really mean anything. This led to a doubly painful mistake on my part. You see, apparently it's not good for your face and or your internal organs to make her cry. I was propping myself up, having regained some strength, if only a little, when my door opened, and she walked in. “Oh my, you’re awake early, James,” Fluttershy said to me, sounding mildly surprised. “It’s in my system to wake up early, and get work done,” I mumbled, still partially asleep. “That and the rooster outside combined with a sunrise, and you get... wait, how do you know my name?” “Oh, Twilight told me after you were asleep,” she responded, walking across my room with some flowers, which she put in a vase across from the bed, apparently why she came in. “Twilight told you. Yeah, okay, I’ll buy that. While we’re on the subject of names, I don’t think I got yours,” I said, stretching and trying to wake up, but avoiding moving my legs, as so to avoid another pain tsunami. “My name is...” “Sorry, what?” I asked, unable to hear the last part, which was presumably her name. “My name is flutsh-” “Who?” I asked again, a small grin tugging at my lips. “My name is Flutte-” “CHIK-A CHIK-A, Slim Shady!” I said, smiling, if only to myself, for the first time since I arrived in this place- wait, what was it called? Ponytown? For Fluttershy’s part, she jumped a bit and looked confused, which was quite understandable. I suppose that Eminem would be a bit much for them, if anything is to indicate innocence so far. “Sorry, my personal joke. What’s your name? I won’t interrupt this time,” I said, still smiling a bit. “My name is Fluttershy," she said, still looking a little confused, but seemed to let it pass after a moment, but I could tell that it was still on her mind. I giggled. Which would have cost me about 200 pushups, if not more, since I'm not supposed to break at all. However, having both my legs broken put my concentration on a lower priority of things to maintain, plus sitting in a room with a pegasus with pink hair, and having it tell me it's name was Fluttershy... Well, I don't think even the Royal Guards could handle it. She looked at me, more confused than a few seconds ago, and tilted her head slightly to the side. "What?" she asked, plainly and simply. "Sorry, it's just, your name seems a bit odd, doesn't it?" I said, just barely smirking. "Why would it be odd?" she asked, imperceptibly shrinking downward. "Oh come on! It's obvious! You were shy just a couple of seconds ago trying to introduce yourself to me!" I said, starting to gesticulate. "Well, I guess I am a littl-" "And you have wings, too, which I assume you use to "flutter" around," I continued, not paying attention to her quiet response and her continued downward movement. "Well, maybe just a-" "I also noticed that you have butterflies on your backside, and your name sounds like butterfly as well." "I-" "Come to think of it, did you choose your own name for the sake of forging a personality around it? Because that's a little weird, if you ask me." "Eep!" "Also, I can probably come up with a bunch of combinations that still embody your personality. There's, uh, Buttershy, Butterfly, Flutterfly... ooh, Flutter-lie, since you probably gave the name to yourself, and... uh, Fluttershy?" I said, stopping my thought process in matter of microseconds. Fluttershy was on the ground, face in her hooves, shaking, although I couldn't tell what from. "Uh... Fluttershy? You alright?" I asked, trying to lean forward a bit more. At that moment, she lifted her face up, and her eyes were brimming with tears, and some had already fallen. Unnoticed by either of us, a small white rabbit hooped into the room. Fluttershy turned and ran out of the room, a few tears streaming behind her, and choked sobs beginning to come from her. I blinked. Then another bout of pain shot through me, this one in my chest. And I thought that the pain in my legs was bad. "FFffF-fFu-fFu-f-FU-FUTTER-Futtersh-!" I said, trying to form words and breathe at the same time. God fucking damn it! I survive a plane crash into a different planet and I die of a heart attack after it happens!? I gave up trying to call for her, and started trying to hit my chest, only managing weak thumps, and expending more energy than should have been used. Each time I raised my fist, it got a little harder to take in air. finally, my arm slumped down by my side and stayed there, and I waited for the impending, stupid end. Then a bunny hopped onto my chest. It did not look happy with me. I would've picked it up and put it back on the ground, but I had next to no strength, so I just lied there, looking at it. It hopped forward on my chest twice, and looked even closer at my face. Then it grabbed my hair, pulled my head forward, and slapped my face, fronthand-backhand style. For a bunny no bigger than my foot, it had a pretty good smack to it. It let go of my hair, letting my head fall back down on the pillow, my face stinging and no doubt having two red paw prints on my face. Then it hopped back on my chest, gave one, giant leap into the air, and came back down on my chest while kicking it at the same time. All the air was forced out of my lungs, but at the same time, the pain stopped, and I started gasping for air. The rabbit hopped down and sat next to the bed, arms crossed. "Th-than, Th-thank y-you," I coughed out, looking at the side of the bed where it sat. I don't know what compelled me to say that to it- it might have been something to do with the fact that I was in a world where ponies could talk. It made logical sense that others could too. However, it didn't say anything. It just continued to look at me, looking disappointed, arms crossed and now tapping his(?) foot. "W-what? I said thank you, what more d-do you want?" I said, coughing a bit. I pushed myself back up into a sitting position to get better airflow through my body. He pointed to the open door of the room I was in. In addition to being oddly strong, he was also highly communicative. "Okay, I'm sorry that I made Fluttershy cry. Happy now?" I asked. Apparently he wasn't, because he had the same expression on, and pointed to me, then to the door again. Random Access Info: If you ever play Charades here, get this guy on your team. Shut the fuck up, Brain. "I can't apologize to her in person, because I can't move from this bed!" He proceeded to facepalm, then he hopped out of the room, leaving me to wonder what he was up to, because his facepalm wasn't very intention-expressive. I wasn't waiting for very long, because he soon returned, and I shit you not, he was dragging Fluttershy behind him. This was even more impressive since it looked like she was putting up a bit of a fight. She turned her head around a little bit and saw me, and redoubled her efforts, but that little muscle covered in white fur kept going somehow. He gave one last tug, and pulled her the rest of the way into the room. He then hopped over her, and shut the door from the outside, leaving us alone. Fluttershy immediately got up and threw herself at the door to absolutely no effect. "Fluttershy..." *thud* "Fluttershy-" *smack* "Fluttershy, I'm sorry!" I yelled out before she could throw herself again. *flump* That statement caused her to start turning around, but not before she already committed to throwing herself at the door again. As a result, she hit the door with her back, but didn't seem to be fazed at all. Instead, she kept laying on the ground looking up at me with those enormous eyes of with surprise in them. "I'm sorry," I said again, "I thought that maybe you were just putting up a facade to match your name." Fluttershy got up, remaining silent, hiding behind her mane a little bit and still trying to look at me at the same time. I took her silence as an invitation to go on. "I didn't mean to make you cry. Quite frankly, that's just my personality to be blunt and say what I'm thinking, unless I know there are going to be consequences. I didn't know you were that sensitive," I said, finishing my apology to the best of my ability. I felt bad. I really did, but I was used to people brushing off my comments, not bursting into tears, running away, and then having a heart attack. Fluttershy sniffled, then looked me more directly in the eye, her own still a bit wet. "I-it's okay, I guess. I'm not very much of-" "Well, no, it's not really okay!" I replied, frowning. "My job as a soldier, at the fundamental core, is to protect the people against their enemies. Even so, citizens of the nation that provides the enemies are innocent. We aren't supposed to cause unnecessary grief or pain, or we suffer consequences for it. You may not be a person, but I'm assuming you are a citizen." I paused for a moment, letting what I had just said sink in. Damn, Brain, I take back what I said about telling you to shut the fuck up, that was a pretty good speech off the cusp! What would you do without me. Die... Oh yeah... Breaking away from my internal conversation, I focused back to Fluttershy, and was pleased to see an expression change. Wait... That's not a reassured look. Is that fear?! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MAKE ME SAY, BRAIN?! I SWEAR I DIDN'T DO IT, BLAME YOUR MOUTH FOR SAYING IT! "Y-you're a soldier? A-as in s-someone w-who fights? V-violently?" Fluttershy stuttered out, hiding behind her hair again. "Uh... Technically? I guess so? I do more of an aerial combat sort-of-thing that's only sorta violent, becau-" "EEP!" Turning tail, literally, Fluttershy practically flew into the door- which she probably did, on account of her wings- and smacked into it again. She landed upright, but looked fazed. I could have sworn I saw stars circling around her head as she stumbled around a little bit. Then the door opened a crack, and the bunny poked his head in. He looked around, saw Fluttershy, then looked at me and raised an eyebrow... somehow. I shrugged with a non-committal facial expression to go with it. Rolling his eyes at me, he grabbed her mane and led her out, closing the door behind them, leaving me alone again. ... "So what am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?" ... ... "Can I at least have breakfast?" Author's Note Hi, me again. Betchu' thought I wuz ded, din'cha SOHN?! Well, I'm not, and I'm sorry that this chapter was kept from you for so long. I was busy with other things while waiting for inspiration to strike. "No he wasn't, he was procrastinating!" The hell? James?! "No, I'm James' Brain." How the actual fuck are you in my authors notes? "I'm a figment of your own mind, I can be with you anytime I want to be." That's... mildly creepy. But anyway, the figment is right, I was procrastinating, BUT WITH GOOD REASON. I also produce electronic music, and I spent most of my summer finishing an album, and a few other songs as well, including one for this fandom, which I unfortunately cannot share, as it has to remain private for another two months or so. On the other hand, here's my Soundcloud, where you can find my album and new releases on no particular schedule, much like this story. Until the next chapter, keep being bookworms or some shit like that. P.S. If you find any grammatical/spelling errors, please point them out. I prefer to keep my writing at the highest possible quality, so that the only problem you have with the story is the update speed. Edit: So I must have been drunk on sleep or something, because I forgot to put the Soundcloud link. So here's that. https://soundcloud.com/officialflear Yeah. Chapter 4 [Rough Outline Written Ten Months Ago]Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
The Flight for LifeAuthor's Note This takes place in the Nonbronyverse, so there is no cliche "Brony in Equestria" this time around. Please enjoy this anyway!! The Flight for Life PhysicsInvers342 Presents For My Countries The time from when I was just a kid sitting on my grandfather’s knee, listening to him tell me that I would grow up to be a big strong man, has long since passed. The time from when tensions between states caused a rip in the Union is gone. The moment when North Korea and Afghanistan declared war on the USA has passed. The time from when I signed up for the Air Force, however is still here. Every day passes like the last, with fast paced workflow and demanding tests. Most days pass like the last, melting into one huge existence. But not today. “McKendick! Haul ass and get out here, double time!” I walked out of the carrier’s mess hall and into the hallway, making sure to walk twice as slow as I normally would, just to piss off the ship’s air traffic controller and my close friend, Virgil Accosta. I grinned as I stepped up next to him. For his part, he gave me a glare. “So, what are you doing this fine morning?” I asked in a nonchalant manner, both of us walking towards the stairs leading to the deck. “Growing old waiting for you to get out here. Seriously, do you do that when Cap. Thames calls you?” he grumbled, though his face clearly showed he was holding back a smile. “No, but only because I worry that he’ll try to remove my skin with a thin strip of leather,” I responded. “So what’s your reason for interrupting my morning sludge, anyhow?” “The on-ship engineers told me they wanted you on the deck for some testing. I guess you got something to be proud of- they don’t trust any of the other lugheads on this ship with flying those, as they call them, ‘High-performance Intelligence Jets’,” Virgil said, taking the lead up the stairs. “Yeesh, that’s a mouthful. Can’t they just call them ‘Super-jets’?” I said, shaking my head with amusement. By now we’d reached the deck and started off towards the runway, which was positively frantic with activity and preparations. Given that the ship was an active carrier, there were only so many jets along the side we were walking on. Each one had some sort of customized item on it, whether it was a spray-painted picture on the side, a sticker on the window, or a picture in the cockpit. For us flyers, it was a reminder that we have personalities despite all the conformities of the armed forces. Some of the guys went overboard, putting books or laptops inside (as if they could use them while flying). I had almost nothing inside my own jet- only a set of fine pens and a heavy duty paper notebook for writing down things or the occasional doodle. The only reason it was in there was for after missions to write down how I felt so that I wouldn’t forget my personality. By now we’d reached the Garage, which was our name for the covered hangar that doubled as a work station for the jets. More often than not, it was simply used for repairs. However, it had been off limits for the past few days now, only letting a select few in. of course, word about what was going on got out quickly, despite it being a secret. My jet, along with my notebook inside it, was taken to be upgraded, as I was the only pilot onboard who had a perfect flying record. We were quickly approached by Ken, one of the engineers. Being stuck on a boat for weeks at a time, I ended up learning mast of the crew and company’s names. Even so, I didn’t talk to Ken all that much, but he seemed like a decent guy. “James, good, you’re here,” Ken said, shaking my hand while nodding to Virgil. “We need to move things apace. Follow me.” He started walking towards my plane, but as I began to follow, Virgil grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. “I gotta get back to the tower, so I can’t stick around to fanboy over your plane’s new ‘shinies’. Just don’t buzz the tower with that thing, okay?” Virgil said, eyeing what appeared to be a third thruster on my jet. “No promises,” I laughed, slapping his back. “Just do your job, and I’ll do mine, ya grump.” He shook his head, smirking, and walked towards his post. I jogged over to Ken, who was waiting with crossed arms and an impatient look. “Come on, come on, we’re on a schedule,” Ken griped at me. “Is it as tight as a virgin’s pu-” I started, but Ken put up his hand to stop me. “Not the time. I have to give you a rundown of the new additions and features on here, okay?” Ken said, looking me in the eye. “Fine, shoot,” I replied, now crossing my own arms. “Good. First and foremost, your structure and armor has been upgraded for two reasons, the first to obviously to keep you safe, the second being the need to hold up against higher speeds. You’ll notice the after on the back; it can effectively double your top speed.” “But,” Ken said, raising a finger here and walking over to a table tat was scattered with tools and wires, along with a sleek looking fighter pilot helmet in the middle, “none of that matters without this.” He picked up the helmet and walked back over. “This is a user integration helmet. It reads the face of the user and allows for greater connection to the system. In layman’s terms, it lets you become one with the plane.” I looked at the helmet, then to Ken, then to my jet, then back to Ken. “So you made it harder, better, faster, stronger?” “I-... yes. Yes we did.” “HIT 1, requesting permission to taxi onto runway?” I asked into my comm on my new helmet. To my surprise, the helmet had been tailored to my exact proportions. I guess conformity isn’t everything in the forces. I flinched a little bit when a screen suddenly flickered on in my visor, showing Virgil, who was up in the tower, with his ridiculously oversized headset on. “Hey there, princess! Video links, huh? Next they’re gonna put an oven in those things,” Virgil snickered. “Anyhow, permission granted, you may begin taxi.” I shook my head and began inching the plane forward onto the runway. Slowly, my plane lined up with the arrows pointing to the end of the runway. I waited. “HIT 1, you are clear for takeoff.” “Booyah,” I whispered to myself, gunning the thrusters, accelerating quickly to a speed fast enough to take off within five hundred feet of the six hundred-fifty foot ship. As soon as I hit the air, navigation systems and information began popping up on my visor. This is so like Iron Man, I thought to myself. “Hey, James, try not to push the big red button under the joystick,” Ken said, popping up on my visor as well. “It activates the afterburner on the back, and while it won’t destroy your plane, humans haven’t really been tested to go that fast yet.” “Will do,” I said, shuddering internally at the thought of passing out while going that fast. By now I was far enough out from the ship to start trying some maneuvers. I pulled a tight turn to the left while tilting to the side, dropping the power in the left thruster and adding to the right. ... I did a goddamn barrel roll. Coming out of that, I pulled up sharply, going nearly straight up. I felt blood rushing to my legs as the g-forces kicked in. tensing my muscles and grimacing, I forced my blood to circulate. Feeling light-headed, I leveled off. “I have to say, this handles great, Ken! How’d you do it?” I asked through my headset. I got no response. “Hey, Ken, you there?... Virgil, you o the line?... Anyo-” A scream sounded in my headset, and I froze. “James, get back here, now!” Vigil yelled, popping up on my visor. I felt myself go cold; Virgil never used anyone’s name when directing in the tower, and his urgency now was unmistakable. Shit, I thought to myself. I pulled a hairpin turn and opened the throttle to the fullest extent. “What the hell’s going on?!” I shouted, scanning for the carrier. “Damn Afghans launched a surprise attack! All of the sudden, boom! Nowhere on the radar!” Virgil panted back. “Hurry it up, huh? We need all the support we ca-” A bright flash, along with the sound of breaking glass and another scream on my visor made me flinch. A moment later, the square that had Virgil’s video feed was flashing the message, “Connection Lost”. Dread pierced me like a knife. “... Virgil? Virgil, you there?” I asked quietly, shaking. Silence. I looked down at the newly installed red button on my control panel. I made a split second decision right then. I hit the button. Instantly I was thrown back, and probably would have been killed if I didn’t have a neck bracer. It was all I could do to hold on to the joystick and try not to pass out. I saw the speed gauge read faster and faster every second. I could feel my heart trying its best to keep my blood flowing. Even so, my vision was starting to fade. I flicked my eyes back out the window, and saw one last thing: the carrier, with no sign of the Garage, the deck on fire, and the base of the air traffic tower, surrounded by still smoking rubble. My vision failed, and I succumbed, releasing my breath. Dead... Must... I... dead... I’m... pain... Brain... work... Not dead. I’m... not dead. I feel... blanket... No... Not right. Work, brain... I feel a blanket... Where...? Slowly, I tried opening my eyes, but almost immediately closed them again. It was bright, even more so than I was used to, which is saying something, considering the brightness of the sun off of clouds. I became aware that I was lying on a soft surface- much softer than the bunks on the ship. I stopped my thought process, listening. Birds. And the sound of leaves rustling. Some kind of a squirrel chattering. When you get more better, brain, file that under “unusual”. Speaking of more better... My eyes, although I wasn’t sure on the usefulness of them, were obviously still active, so the next thing to check would be my arms. Okay... right arm first... Slowly, much like my eyes, I moved my arm, and let out an involuntary groan. It felt stiff and sore, but did not feel broken. Next I tried the left, and was met with less pain. Why do I have to be right-handed in this situation? Right then. Now for my le- I screamed, my body shaking violently. Never before had I been in that much pain. It reminded my of a very old quote my grandfather told me many times: ‘You never know what you have until it’s gone’. Goddamn leg... Panting heavily, tears streaming out from under my eyelids, I tried to slow down my heart. Then I heard the footsteps. Thank god, someone else. As they entered the room, I heard a soft gasp from my caretaker, or so I assumed, then they rushed to my side, fairly noisily. “Oh, my, are you alright?” The voice was definitely a female, delicate sounding, like one of those quiet girls on a sitcom. “N-no...” I stuttered out, still breathing heavily. For some reason, my response caused her to gasp again. “You can talk?!” she exclaimed, sounding completely dumbfounded. “Yes, I can bloody well talk. A-accident didn’t rip out my vocal cords,” I replied irritably. What kind of a question is that supposed to be? “I-I’m sorry, it’s just, I-I’ve never seen anything like you before,” she said, sounding abashed. That statement in particular made me worry. “Nothing like me”? I’m not disfigured, am I...? “So... how bad are my injuries?” I asked tentatively. “You were bleeding fairly heavily when we found you. You were bandaged on the wounds, but we weren’t sure about your hind legs, so we left them unbandaged,” she replied, just as cautiously as myself. What the hell? “Hind legs”? Unbandaged? Who the hell is this? The short silence was broken by the voice asking, “Is there anything I can do for you?” “Could you please close the blinds on the window? It’s too bright for me,” I said. She began walking over to the source of the light, making far more noise than she should have been. “What kind of shoes are you wearing?” I asked, since it sounded more like two pairs of feet instead of one. “Oh, but, I’m not,” she replied, sounding surprised. The light began dimming. What...? When the light was barely detectable from behind my closed eyes, I slowly opened them. I was met with the sight of a humble-looking room, made mostly out of wood, a small bookshelf on the opposite end. I turned to the right, where a nightstand was resting, with a book and a few magazines on it. Then I looked to the left, where my caretaker was. I was met with an innocent-looking stare from a pair of oversized, cartoonish, blue eyes. The eyes were a part of an even more innocent-looking equine-like face. That face was colored a soft butter kind of color. The face had a head, and a body, too. The head had cotton candy color hair hanging down like a drape. The body, which I guessed would be at about the bottom of my cage when I was standing, had wings. Wings, for Christ sake. She, as it was a she, had a tail that matched the style of the head’s hair, or a mane, as I guess it would be called. Possibly the strangest part, though, bypassing even the wings, was the flank. She had a picture of three pink butterflies on it. My mouth was hanging open, but I didn’t care. She began to look a bit concerned, and walked a bit closer. I didn’t move. “...Are you alright?” she asked quietly. “I... I...” “Yes?” “What in the-” was all I got out before my vision became obscure again, and I felt like I was falling slowly backwards. “Oh, my!” was the last thing I heard.
The New Recruit“Ee she who in dah, den ee paw ow!” “Er yoo er nah ing ls ah pen?” “Es! I ame in ah fter ee screemd.” “Well, I’ll need to investigate. Do you think it’s awa-” “Um, actually, I think it’s a he, not it.” “Fine. Do you think he is awake yet?” “I can go check.” “Please do, Fluttershy.” As my mind slowly began to make sense of the world again, I heard a door to my right open, someone or something walk in, then, close the door behind themselves. The multiple footsteps approached, paused for a moment beside me, then turned around and exited. Now more aware, I opened my eyes. I looked around, noting the same features of the room I had noticed when I last looked around. Well, this is either somehow not a dream slash nightmare, or it’s my first lucid dream in a long, LONG while. Best to test the latter theory first. I brought my arms up, both very stiff and sore, and was about to try stretching them to both sides of the room at the same time when two things happened at the same time: the door to the room opened, and I noticed the color of my forearm. The scene froze in that position, an equine-like creature at the door staring at me with my arms up, while I stared at my arms. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that it was not the same one from earlier- the color of this one was a pleasant lavender, not a soft yellow. This was not, however, my main focus. My arms, normally a polished oak color, were a mottled blueish-greenish brownish-yellow. They were fully bruised which explained the stiffness and soreness. On closer inspection, though, the worst of the injuries were on the top of my forearm, not on the bottom. My biceps were even less bruised. It was then that I realized I had no shirt on, since I could see my biceps in the first place. This piece of knowledge was quickly taken, examined, and filed under “NOT FUCKING IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW”. The good thing was that they wouldn’t interfere with my arm usage too much. Satisfied, I looked back over to the door. Again, the eyes were the first thing I noticed. They just seemed too big to be natural. This time though, the eyes were a violet shade, more of an accent to the color. My eyes drifted further up: this one had a horn. A bloody horn. Not bloody in the sense that it had blood on it like it had stabbed someone, which it looked too dull to do anyway, but... This thing was a goddamn unicorn. And its mane looked like it had been stylist dyed. After a couple of seconds, I decided to break the silence, mainly because she (at least I assumed it was a she- it had a body type that said feminine, along with the hairstyle) was still staring at me. “Can I help you?” I asked, not sure how I should put the tone of my voice. I settled on bored. She (?) blinked, pupils and irises both shrinking somehow, shook her head like she was clearing away something, then gave a small smile with a blush. “Sorry, no- I mean yes- well, I...” she began to stutter out, paused, then recollected herself. Yep, definitely “she”. “Sorry, I’m just a bit excited. I don’t believe I’ve come across anything like you as a species before! I mean, you have individual digits, elongated hind legs, you’re capable of vocal communication in our language, and- This is just such a momentous event! And I’m the first one who gets to be a part of it!” she finished, sounding like a schoolgirl who gets excited over giving makeovers. You know the type, the, “Oh-my-gosh-we-can-like-do-makeovers-and-talk-about-boys-and-stuff-and-be-best-friends-forever!” girl everyone knew in high school. Sounded strange when the subject was about human anatomy and capabilities. “Right... Well, as wonderful as that sounds, everything I’ve seen up to this point is doing a bad job convincing me that this is real. Pardon me while I test something,” I said, bringing my arms back up. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and imagined my arms stretching across the room and touching both walls. I felt nothing but air. Frowning, I opened my eyes. My arms were the exact same length, if a little thicker due to swelling. Groaning, I let my arms fall back down by my side, wincing a bit as they hit the bed. It then occurred to me that I hadn’t actually tried sitting up yet. Tentatively, I moved my arms back, attempting to prop myself up. I pushed up with one arm-then promptly fell back into the bed. I looked back over at the unicorn, who was once again staring openly at me. I raised an eyebrow, mostly to no effect. “A little help, maybe?” I asked in the classic, “stop standing around and help me” tone. She gave a small start, blushed for the second time within five minutes, then trotted over, to use the proper term. “Sorry! I just got distracted by... whatever you were doing,” she said, reaching the bedside. She closed her eyes and appeared to start concentrating. “I was testing to see if it was a lucid dr-” I started saying, but abruptly stopped when I felt myself slowly starting to rise from my hips upward. Without any noticeable physical contact. “What the hell is going on?!” I said, starting to panic. “I’m helping you up,” she said, opening her eyes and looking at me strangely. “With WHAT?!” I exclaimed, looking left and right for some kind of platform that was pushing me up. “With magic, of course,” she replied, once again sounding confused at my question. “What did you expect me to do, lift you up with my hooves, when I ca-” Suddenly she gasped, and I felt the force moving me up disappear, and I fell back down to the bed. Again. “Unless you don’t have magic in you world! That would make so much sense! It would explain the digits on the hands, which would be used more for grabbing than anything else. It would also mean that you walk primarily on two legs, which in turn explains their length, and the-” “I don’t mean to be rude, but being in weird-ass place with a bunch of technicolor talking horses is trying my patience. I don’t know what the HELL is going on, where the HELL I am, or even what the HELL happened, but I’d like to start by sitting up, if that’s not too much to ask for,” I blurted out, my patience actually running out. Seriously, what was with this thing and all its nerdiness? Despite the prelude to my outburst, she did look mildly offended, and, somehow, blushed again. I began to figure that blushing was either more common wherever the hell this is than on Earth, or these horses aren’t used to people being this direct. “Well fine then, Mr. Bossy. Tone it down a bit, will you?” She replied, once again summoning the force that started lifting me up again. “And for your information, we’re not horses, we’re ponies.” “Well excuuuse me for not being politically correct,” I snarked as I began to be eye-level with the pony. “If we’re correcting people here, then my name isn’t Mr. Bossy, it’s James McKendick.” “Really? That’s an... interesting name. My name is Twilight Sparkle,” she replied, a smirk starting to grow on her face. “And if we are correcting, then the proper term would be “ponies”, not “people”.” Yeah, you’re one to talk about INTERESTING names. Of course, it had to be “Twilight Sparkle”. It couldn’t have been Princess Rainbow Shimmershine, that would have been too sophisticated. At this point, I was now sitting up, and a couple of pillows from across the room were flying over, held in some kind of purple aura. I had to assume that it was this magic Twilight Sparkle mentioned a minute ago, because when I looked back over to Twilight Sparkle, I now noticed her horn had the same color around it. She placed them behind me, propping me up. The force then vanished from behind me, and I was placed down on the pillows. Once again, I was intrigued by the eyes of these... ponies. They seemed to be far too big to normal. Twilight Sparkle’s in particular seemed odd, because they had a point in the iris where they split into different colors. That in and of itself wasn’t strange, what was strange was the fact that it seemed to be a solid separation, not just eyes with different colors in them. ...Weird. Definitely not THE weirdEST, but still weird. She noticed I was staring at her, which would be uncomfortable for me if she was a human, but as she wasn’t... yeah, whatever. She’s still an animal. An animal that seems to be capable reading (or misreading in this case) other people’s faces, given that she blushed again. FUCKING. AGAIN. “So...” I began, breaking the silence for the second time, “A good question to start off with is, ‘Where am I’?” Twilight Sparkle seemed to come back to reality when I started talking, and shook her head like she was trying to get rid of a fly. “Specifically? You’re in Fluttershy’s cottage. In a broader sense, on the outskirts of Ponyville. Broader still, in the country of Equestria, and to round it off, on the planet of Equus,” she said, sounding like she was reading from a textbook with a sense of humor. “...Right. I don’t know what any of that means.” “It means you’re in Ponyville, one of the towns in Equestria,” she replied, this time deadpanning it. “Thanks. Next question: How the HELL did I get here?” I asked, hoping to finally get some answers that made sense. Twilight Sparkle looked at me, then looked away. I metaphorically held my breath as I waited for an answer. “I don’t know,” she said at last, and my heart sank. “All we know is that when we found you, you were bleeding badly, you had glass all around you, and you were near a big, gray, metal thing that was burning, and-” My heart must have hit my other organs when it sank, because my stomach dropped a few notches. “Wait, a big, gray, metal thing that was burning? Did it look almost triangular, with a couple of fins sticking up in the back and picture of a flag on them?!” I asked, beginning to panic again. If my jet was here, fine, whatever, but if it was destroyed... “To answer those in order, yes, but the fire was put out, we didn’t want it spreading, yes, it looked almost triangular, and yes it had a flag on it. Why, is this important to you?” Twilight Sparkle said, looking a bit confused. “Yes, it’s important to me! That’s my jet, it’s fully modified and it was just on FIRE?!” I shouted at the end. “It wasn’t just on fire, that was three days ago! What’s a “Jet”, anyway?” Twilight Sparkle replied, backing up a few steps, yet still looking curious. I ignored her question. “I can’t believe this! First test flight and it crashes! Ken is gonna ki-” I started, but dropped off immediately. At that moment, the memory of what had happened just prior to my first blackout came back to me in detail: I saw the smoking pile of rubble that used to be the air traffic tower, the open space where the Garage was, and the deck burning. Ken... I felt a tear fall from my eye. Virgil... In any situation, strong soldiers aren’t supposed to show emotion. Well, looks like there’s going to be some rewriting of the rules now. I threw the blankets off to the side, and tried to swing my legs off the bed, ignoring Twilight Sparkle’s objections. Only, I momentarily forgot what happened last time. I screamed again as the pain in my legs exploded and bright lights flashed in front of my eyes. I fell back to the bed, tears flowing non-stop from my eyes. I vaguely heard the door fly open and another person come in. I continued to cry, not only for the pain, but for my jet, my situation, my friend. Though I had been unconscious for a while, it was not resting, and I began to fall asleep. All I could think was: Why me? Author's Note Beginning Translation: (James was the equivalent of drunk on pain here) Fluttershy: He said "what in the", then he passed out! Twilight: Are you sure nothing else happened? F: Yes! I came in after he screamed. I am so sorry for the delay with this chapter. I hate exposition. I'd like to have somebody else write it for me, but then it wouldn't be me. So yeah. To adress a few things: If the thumbs down are because of the countries I picked in the beginning, well, I'm being politically imaginative. I didn't say Russia, so I'm not totally stupid. I CAN change the countries if you'd like, it's not a problem with me. Also, if you see any problems or errors, PLEASE point them out. I have a high standard for my writing, and I'd like to keep it that way.
Breaking RanksWell, this day has not been great. I mean, yeah, there were worse days during boot camp, briefing days, and the like, but I’ve had better days being on KP duty. It started off normally enough- if you can call normal waking up in a too-small bed to the sound of a rooster call to an over-bright sunrise and to have a freakin’ butter-yellow pegasus that caused you to pass out a day ago come in, and introduce itself as Fluttershy, all within ten minutes. If wasn’t so outlandish, I’d say it was nothing more than waking up in a slightly-bigger-yet-still-too-small-bed to the sound of a buzzer to a flat electric light and have a yelling captain that whooped your ass a day ago tell you to get moving, get dressed, and get on deck, all within ten minutes. But it was outlandish. So there was no similarity to the military at all. But not that’s not the worst part. No, the worst part is that I thought Fluttershy’s name was a figurative play on words or something, and didn’t really mean anything. This led to a doubly painful mistake on my part. You see, apparently it's not good for your face and or your internal organs to make her cry. I was propping myself up, having regained some strength, if only a little, when my door opened, and she walked in. “Oh my, you’re awake early, James,” Fluttershy said to me, sounding mildly surprised. “It’s in my system to wake up early, and get work done,” I mumbled, still partially asleep. “That and the rooster outside combined with a sunrise, and you get... wait, how do you know my name?” “Oh, Twilight told me after you were asleep,” she responded, walking across my room with some flowers, which she put in a vase across from the bed, apparently why she came in. “Twilight told you. Yeah, okay, I’ll buy that. While we’re on the subject of names, I don’t think I got yours,” I said, stretching and trying to wake up, but avoiding moving my legs, as so to avoid another pain tsunami. “My name is...” “Sorry, what?” I asked, unable to hear the last part, which was presumably her name. “My name is flutsh-” “Who?” I asked again, a small grin tugging at my lips. “My name is Flutte-” “CHIK-A CHIK-A, Slim Shady!” I said, smiling, if only to myself, for the first time since I arrived in this place- wait, what was it called? Ponytown? For Fluttershy’s part, she jumped a bit and looked confused, which was quite understandable. I suppose that Eminem would be a bit much for them, if anything is to indicate innocence so far. “Sorry, my personal joke. What’s your name? I won’t interrupt this time,” I said, still smiling a bit. “My name is Fluttershy," she said, still looking a little confused, but seemed to let it pass after a moment, but I could tell that it was still on her mind. I giggled. Which would have cost me about 200 pushups, if not more, since I'm not supposed to break at all. However, having both my legs broken put my concentration on a lower priority of things to maintain, plus sitting in a room with a pegasus with pink hair, and having it tell me it's name was Fluttershy... Well, I don't think even the Royal Guards could handle it. She looked at me, more confused than a few seconds ago, and tilted her head slightly to the side. "What?" she asked, plainly and simply. "Sorry, it's just, your name seems a bit odd, doesn't it?" I said, just barely smirking. "Why would it be odd?" she asked, imperceptibly shrinking downward. "Oh come on! It's obvious! You were shy just a couple of seconds ago trying to introduce yourself to me!" I said, starting to gesticulate. "Well, I guess I am a littl-" "And you have wings, too, which I assume you use to "flutter" around," I continued, not paying attention to her quiet response and her continued downward movement. "Well, maybe just a-" "I also noticed that you have butterflies on your backside, and your name sounds like butterfly as well." "I-" "Come to think of it, did you choose your own name for the sake of forging a personality around it? Because that's a little weird, if you ask me." "Eep!" "Also, I can probably come up with a bunch of combinations that still embody your personality. There's, uh, Buttershy, Butterfly, Flutterfly... ooh, Flutter-lie, since you probably gave the name to yourself, and... uh, Fluttershy?" I said, stopping my thought process in matter of microseconds. Fluttershy was on the ground, face in her hooves, shaking, although I couldn't tell what from. "Uh... Fluttershy? You alright?" I asked, trying to lean forward a bit more. At that moment, she lifted her face up, and her eyes were brimming with tears, and some had already fallen. Unnoticed by either of us, a small white rabbit hooped into the room. Fluttershy turned and ran out of the room, a few tears streaming behind her, and choked sobs beginning to come from her. I blinked. Then another bout of pain shot through me, this one in my chest. And I thought that the pain in my legs was bad. "FFffF-fFu-fFu-f-FU-FUTTER-Futtersh-!" I said, trying to form words and breathe at the same time. God fucking damn it! I survive a plane crash into a different planet and I die of a heart attack after it happens!? I gave up trying to call for her, and started trying to hit my chest, only managing weak thumps, and expending more energy than should have been used. Each time I raised my fist, it got a little harder to take in air. finally, my arm slumped down by my side and stayed there, and I waited for the impending, stupid end. Then a bunny hopped onto my chest. It did not look happy with me. I would've picked it up and put it back on the ground, but I had next to no strength, so I just lied there, looking at it. It hopped forward on my chest twice, and looked even closer at my face. Then it grabbed my hair, pulled my head forward, and slapped my face, fronthand-backhand style. For a bunny no bigger than my foot, it had a pretty good smack to it. It let go of my hair, letting my head fall back down on the pillow, my face stinging and no doubt having two red paw prints on my face. Then it hopped back on my chest, gave one, giant leap into the air, and came back down on my chest while kicking it at the same time. All the air was forced out of my lungs, but at the same time, the pain stopped, and I started gasping for air. The rabbit hopped down and sat next to the bed, arms crossed. "Th-than, Th-thank y-you," I coughed out, looking at the side of the bed where it sat. I don't know what compelled me to say that to it- it might have been something to do with the fact that I was in a world where ponies could talk. It made logical sense that others could too. However, it didn't say anything. It just continued to look at me, looking disappointed, arms crossed and now tapping his(?) foot. "W-what? I said thank you, what more d-do you want?" I said, coughing a bit. I pushed myself back up into a sitting position to get better airflow through my body. He pointed to the open door of the room I was in. In addition to being oddly strong, he was also highly communicative. "Okay, I'm sorry that I made Fluttershy cry. Happy now?" I asked. Apparently he wasn't, because he had the same expression on, and pointed to me, then to the door again. Random Access Info: If you ever play Charades here, get this guy on your team. Shut the fuck up, Brain. "I can't apologize to her in person, because I can't move from this bed!" He proceeded to facepalm, then he hopped out of the room, leaving me to wonder what he was up to, because his facepalm wasn't very intention-expressive. I wasn't waiting for very long, because he soon returned, and I shit you not, he was dragging Fluttershy behind him. This was even more impressive since it looked like she was putting up a bit of a fight. She turned her head around a little bit and saw me, and redoubled her efforts, but that little muscle covered in white fur kept going somehow. He gave one last tug, and pulled her the rest of the way into the room. He then hopped over her, and shut the door from the outside, leaving us alone. Fluttershy immediately got up and threw herself at the door to absolutely no effect. "Fluttershy..." *thud* "Fluttershy-" *smack* "Fluttershy, I'm sorry!" I yelled out before she could throw herself again. *flump* That statement caused her to start turning around, but not before she already committed to throwing herself at the door again. As a result, she hit the door with her back, but didn't seem to be fazed at all. Instead, she kept laying on the ground looking up at me with those enormous eyes of with surprise in them. "I'm sorry," I said again, "I thought that maybe you were just putting up a facade to match your name." Fluttershy got up, remaining silent, hiding behind her mane a little bit and still trying to look at me at the same time. I took her silence as an invitation to go on. "I didn't mean to make you cry. Quite frankly, that's just my personality to be blunt and say what I'm thinking, unless I know there are going to be consequences. I didn't know you were that sensitive," I said, finishing my apology to the best of my ability. I felt bad. I really did, but I was used to people brushing off my comments, not bursting into tears, running away, and then having a heart attack. Fluttershy sniffled, then looked me more directly in the eye, her own still a bit wet. "I-it's okay, I guess. I'm not very much of-" "Well, no, it's not really okay!" I replied, frowning. "My job as a soldier, at the fundamental core, is to protect the people against their enemies. Even so, citizens of the nation that provides the enemies are innocent. We aren't supposed to cause unnecessary grief or pain, or we suffer consequences for it. You may not be a person, but I'm assuming you are a citizen." I paused for a moment, letting what I had just said sink in. Damn, Brain, I take back what I said about telling you to shut the fuck up, that was a pretty good speech off the cusp! What would you do without me. Die... Oh yeah... Breaking away from my internal conversation, I focused back to Fluttershy, and was pleased to see an expression change. Wait... That's not a reassured look. Is that fear?! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MAKE ME SAY, BRAIN?! I SWEAR I DIDN'T DO IT, BLAME YOUR MOUTH FOR SAYING IT! "Y-you're a soldier? A-as in s-someone w-who fights? V-violently?" Fluttershy stuttered out, hiding behind her hair again. "Uh... Technically? I guess so? I do more of an aerial combat sort-of-thing that's only sorta violent, becau-" "EEP!" Turning tail, literally, Fluttershy practically flew into the door- which she probably did, on account of her wings- and smacked into it again. She landed upright, but looked fazed. I could have sworn I saw stars circling around her head as she stumbled around a little bit. Then the door opened a crack, and the bunny poked his head in. He looked around, saw Fluttershy, then looked at me and raised an eyebrow... somehow. I shrugged with a non-committal facial expression to go with it. Rolling his eyes at me, he grabbed her mane and led her out, closing the door behind them, leaving me alone again. ... "So what am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?" ... ... "Can I at least have breakfast?" Author's Note Hi, me again. Betchu' thought I wuz ded, din'cha SOHN?! Well, I'm not, and I'm sorry that this chapter was kept from you for so long. I was busy with other things while waiting for inspiration to strike. "No he wasn't, he was procrastinating!" The hell? James?! "No, I'm James' Brain." How the actual fuck are you in my authors notes? "I'm a figment of your own mind, I can be with you anytime I want to be." That's... mildly creepy. But anyway, the figment is right, I was procrastinating, BUT WITH GOOD REASON. I also produce electronic music, and I spent most of my summer finishing an album, and a few other songs as well, including one for this fandom, which I unfortunately cannot share, as it has to remain private for another two months or so. On the other hand, here's my Soundcloud, where you can find my album and new releases on no particular schedule, much like this story. Until the next chapter, keep being bookworms or some shit like that. P.S. If you find any grammatical/spelling errors, please point them out. I prefer to keep my writing at the highest possible quality, so that the only problem you have with the story is the update speed. Edit: So I must have been drunk on sleep or something, because I forgot to put the Soundcloud link. So here's that. https://soundcloud.com/officialflear Yeah.
Chapter 4 [Rough Outline Written Ten Months Ago]Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
