New Life, Same Soldier

Jones was laying in a bed, restrained and blindfolded. From what he could see behind the blindfold, which was not much, it looked like lit room with varying items. He had quickly taken to quietly talking to himself instead of thinking. "Door's probably behind me or to the side. How do I get out?"

Talking to himself, coming up with ways to escape that would probably never happen, he heard the open. Quickly shutting his mouth, a familiar voice said, "Been talking to yourself again, Henry? You really should stop doing that." He didn't respond.

"Still not talking to us, huh? If you did, all of this would be easier. Tell us some things, we might consider removing the restraints." Whoever it was turned and walked out, shutting the door.

"Who are these people, and what do they want? I need a way to get out, find some answers." Just as he was pondering different ways to acquire a weapon and escape, he felt strange sensation. His body began to tingle, starting from his head going down to his toes and returning to his head, like something was scanning him. He had felt this before, but this time was different. It was essentially the same, but painful instead of numbness.

His head began to hurt, starting at a dull ache then eventually becoming a pain similar to someone sticking a grenade in your ear and letting it go off. His chest was next. It was the same as his head, but it came in pulses instead of a gradual increase. His arms and legs did the same, and he began to spasm. Starting at a twitch, it quickly became a series of violent jerks. The bed was moving along with his movements, like it was on wheels. The door flew open.

"He's having a seizure! Somepony help me!" The voice was strangely feminine.

After a minute, his seizure stopped and through the blindfold, there was a blinding white light, then pitch darkness. He said out loud, "Is, th-this how I-I d-die?"

He felt his eyes jerk open, only to be met with what he recognized as a blindfold. The voice spoke again. "Quite the opposite, in fact Mr. Henry. You have been in a coma for the past few days, since Twilight Sparkle and her friends saved you and your dog. You just had a seizure while one of our unicorn nurses was scanning you for unusual activity, and apparently that's what you needed to wake up."

He was confused about many things. "Where am I?"

She responded quickly. "The hospital in Ponyville."

"Why am I blindfolded and restrained if this is a hospital? Is this a mental hospital?"

"No, this is a medical hospital. The 'blindfold' and restraints is because during the first night here, after Ms. Fluttershy began sleeping by your dog, you went crazy and tried to claw your eyes out. Apparently the sedatives we use on ponies when they have episodes like yours was too strong, and put you into a comatose state. The 'blindfold' is actually bandages to keep your eyes protected and the restraints are in case you had another episode."

"Who are you?"

"I am Nurse Redheart, the one who admitted you after Twilight and her friends brought you in."

"I think I remember them, but I don't remember you."

"You were unconscious when you were brought in, but woke up soon after being placed in a bed."

"Is Rocky alright?"

The nurse was confused. "Rocky? Oh! Your dog, yes he's perfectly fine. He's staying at Ms. Fluttershy's house for a while. What a strange wound he had though. We closed the wound and got the metal out, but he'll need to stay off of it for a few days." She paused for a minute. "May I ask you a few questions about where you're from?"

He considered it. "Get these bandages off of my eyes, then we'll talk."

"Yes, of course. Just a moment, you might feel a pinch." The was a slight sting in the side of his face as the nurse used a scalpel to cut the bandages loose. He could see again, though the quick increase in light blinded him. The clean white walls didn't help.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just a little bright."

"I apologize, Mr. Henry. If you would like to begin, may I ask you those questions?"

"Yeah, just a minute. Let me take everything in."

"Just say whenever you're ready."

He took a moment to look around the room. White walls, a lamp and stack of books sat on the table next to him. No windows, save for the small one in the door typical of hospitals. "Alright, go ahead."

"Thank you. Now, what are those strange things your dog- uh, Rocky, was hurt by?"

"You don't have guns?"

"What are 'guns'?"

I didn't think so. "Guns are weapons where I'm from - please don't ask how they work, really don't feel like trying to explain that to you now - that, when you squeeze the trigger, assuming you prepared it properly and it's in good condition, will fire small pieces of metal and seriously injure or kill someone or something when hit by the metal. It'd be easier just to show you if I had mine with me."

"Deadly weapons? Why would you have something like that? Are your people at war?"

"You know, I'm not totally sure how to answer that. On Earth, we're at war so often, it's hard to tell when one starts and when one stops."

"Oh. W-well, thank you for answering my questions." She was obviously startled. "I'll be leaving now. Would you like me to bring Twilight and her friends to see you?"

"I guess go ahead and bring them here, but I want to be left alone to think for a bit."

"Yes, I will do that. Goodbye!" She blurted out the words and quickly left.

Twilight was sitting quietly at her desk studying for whatever she felt necessary to study when a knock sounded at her door. "Spike, would you get that!?"

"Sure!" Now to the door. "Just a minute!"

She heard the door open and whoever was at the door start speaking to Spike. "Twilight, it's an orderly from the hospital! She needs you to come down there!"

Twilight saved her spot in the book and quickly went downstairs to find an unfamiliar nurse standing in the doorway, as if requesting permission to enter. "Why do you need me at the hospital?"

"Well, Mr. Henry had a seizure-"

Twilight cut her off. "He had a seizure?! Why didn't say so?!"

"Ms. Twilight, don't panic. He is out of his coma and doing well. Better than expected, actually."

"Well, that's good at least. Sorry for interrupting you."

"I suppose it's okay, since you apologized. I may have done the same thing if one of my friends were in his place."

"Well, I guess I should go then. Where are the others?"

"Probably already there or on their way."

"Okay, thank you." She turned to Spike, who was standing idly by the door. "Can you hold down the fort for a while?"

He saluted and sarcastically said, "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

She rolled her eyes, got her saddlebags, and gathered some things inside of them, including some more books for Henry. You can never have too many books. She turned and teleported to right outside the hospital.

When she appeared, she had miscalculated and landed in a frightened yellow pegasus's lap inside the waiting room. "Eep! Twilight, what are you doing?!" Even her yelling voice was quiet.

Her face turned red, embarrassed. "Sorry, Fluttershy. I was in a hurry to get here and miscalculated my teleportation spell."

"It's okay. I'm actually still waiting on the others. You want to sit?"

"Yeah, thanks." She placed the saddlebags on the floor in front of her chair and sat. She heard claws clacking on the tile floor behind her. As she turned to investigate, a large, wet tongue slapped her face and slid upwards, then retreated back to the source. "Ahh! What the hay?!" She turned and saw Rocky balancing on three legs, the other held up to his chest in a sling.

"Uh, Fluttershy? Why is his leg in a sling?"

"Oh, it's just that I when I stayed with Henry that first night, my mind slipped to Rocky and I asked about him. Henry said that his leg had been broken and didn't heal correctly, so I broke it again made sure it would heal properly. He didn't enjoy it, though; I had to get Dash and AJ to hold him down."

"That was nice of you, Fluttershy. I'm sure Henry would appreciate what you did."

A voice came from behind them. "You can ask now. He said you could come in." They hadn't heard the nurse approach and she'd waited for them to finish their conversation. "If I see the rest of your friends, I'll send them back there."

"Thank you, nurse, please do. Let's go see how he's doing."

Henry was sitting upright in his bed, waiting for Twilight to come in, thinking about what he would say. As if on cue, two ponies walked in: Twilight and Fluttershy. He could tell the latter was nervous near him.

"Fluttershy, don't worry. I won't flip out again."

"Oh, um, okay." She changed the subject quickly. "I did something for Rocky while you were asleep."

"What'd you do?"

She called Rocky and he hobbled into the room. "I broke his leg again so that it could heal correctly. I thought I should help you with that, even though you aren't...uh, um- n-nevermind." She apparently didn't want to think about that night.

"You really didn't have to, but thanks. Really." She blushed and it was Twilight's turn to speak. He then noticed the saddlebags on her back.

"Henry, assuming you'll be in here for a few more days, I brought you some things."

He sat up straighter as she unloaded her bags. At first, he thought was just books, but what came next surprised him. It was his desert camo, though he really had no need of it, pistol holster, with the weapon inside, his boots, and the knife made of Manticore bone he'd found in the Everfree. Only then did he notice with slight embarrassment that he'd been dressed in fresh clothes. Where did these come from? Oh God, please let it not have been a mare that had to dress me.

Twilight answered, "Rarity made those, she got measurements while you were out, and it was the doctor that you originally spoke to."

He was shocked. "Were- were you reading my mind?"

She looked at the ground, looking guilty. "Yes, actually. I'm sorry."

Before he could answer, the door opened and revealed Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Henry. Took you long enough to wake up. I wish my naps lasted that long."

He leaned over, a bit painfully, to Twilight. "Please tell me she's not always like that."

"Well, she usually is unless you get her in a strange mood."

"Damn."

Dash spoke again. "So, I'm going to need a nickname for you. Every one of my friends have nicknames I call them by." She hovered over to him and whispered, "I've heard you mumbling to yourself when you were in that coma, and you kept calling yourself 'dumbass,' so that's what I'm going to call you."

"Uh... How about no? That's actually an insult where I come from."

"And some of the nicknames I have for friends are offensive to them, but it's all in good spirits. Yours is unique though."

"I don't mean to be rude to you guys, but why do you keep going on like I'm your friend? I don't mean anything, I just don't understand. You saved my life a few days ago and I've only spoken with two of you, and Fluttershy's was longest conversation I've had since I came here!" He'd accidentally raised his voice.

Twilight and Dash were shocked, but Fluttershy's eyes began getting watery. Oh shit. Please don't... Oh God, please don't let her- The dam burst and she began crying. Cry...

"Shit... I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything." He reached out to console her, but she jerked away. Dash pushed the two out the door and climbed on top of him, pressing her nose against his.

"Listen, buddy, I don't know what you've been through, but nopony, not even me, gets to make Fluttershy cry and just apologize like it was nothing. I don't care what you're thinking, but I'm giving you one chance to take that back." She backed up and began moving to the door. "If you know what's good for you, you'd better take it."

She opened the door and found the hallway empty. "What? Where'd they go?"

Jones was saddened by what just happened. He couldn't stand making Fluttershy cry once, let alone twice. "Just... please, leave. I want to be left alone for now."

She turned and could see his sadness. She walked back over to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "No, I'm not leaving. I don't do good with the mushy, emotional stuff, but I can sure as heck try." She turned and looked at him. "Now, tell me everything that happened."

Dash sat and listened while he told her about his time in the Everfree and his time in the Marines. He told her every detail and every emotion he went through. By the time he was finished, she'd pulled a chair up to the side and Rocky managed to climb onto the bed and rest his head on Henry's leg. He'd been silently crying for an hour now, and it was almost dark. She sat with him, trying to get a good look into his eyes.

She felt genuinely sorry for him. She didn't realize he'd been trying to get her attention. "Hey, Dash?" His voice was quiet.

"Huh? Sorry, I was just... Trying to take it in." There was a long pause. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"I was just wondering what you were going to do now."

"Well, I was just planning on resting up then trying to find a way home."

She couldn't believe what she heard. Voice raising slightly, she said, "What? You're serious? So it's just, 'Oh, hey, thanks for saving me and my dog's lives, I'm just going to leave and find a way back to my world!'? No, that's not flying with me, Dumbass."

"Well, what do you want me to do?"

"I thought you should stay a while, maybe think about staying for good?"

"You got a crush on me?"

"Hah! In your dreams, Dumbass." She leaned closer and lowered her voice even though it was just them and Rocky. "Hint: I swing for the other team."

"Oh... Well then..." Another pause. "Why would I want to stay here?"

"Get away from all that fighting back in your world. Other than the occasional crisis where the fate of Equestria hangs in the balance, it's a pretty peaceful world. Haven't had a war in over a thousand years."

"Wow. That... That is pretty tempting. I do want a break from all of the fighting and killing. I'll consider it. Thanks Dash. I like you better when you aren't an arrogant bitch."

"Woah, don't even go there, buddy! I am arrogant, I admit that, but I am not a bitch!"

"I was just kidding. We are friends, aren't we?" He was smiling again, tears gone.

"Smart ass..." She got up and walked to the door. "You humans have a horrible sense of humor."

"And you have a horrible ability to predict the future."

She was about to protest when the door flew open to reveal another nurse. "Ms. Dash? Where did she go?" Jones pointed to the door. The nurse pulled back the door to show a cross-eyed Rainbow Dash. "Oh my! I am terribly sorry, Ms. Dash, I had no idea you were there! I just came to tell you visiting hours were over."

Getting most of her vision normal, she said, "I was just leaving," and stumbled out the door leaving behind a laughing human, a sleeping dog, and a confused nurse.