What is it?

The ponies in the trenches gathered round as the two Lunar Guard's pulled the creature in with them. As it rolled down the wall of the trench and on to the floor, the ponies nearest taking a step back. It lay there, unmoving and face down on the duck boards with thick mud clinging on to it.

"Is it dead?" one Royal Guard asked nobody in particular. A Lunar Sergeant stepped forward and rolled the creature on to it’s back drawing numerous gasps from the crowd.

"Never mind that what’s up with its face?" some pony in the crowd asked as they all stared.

"MOVE IT! MOVE IT! OFFICER COMING THROUGH!!" The crowd parted as the Captain of the Royal guard pushed past the ranks before catching sight of the creature. "WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT!?"

"Unknown Captain. We dragged it in from under that thing" one of the Luna Guard that had dragged Ross in answered, nodding at Unbreakable Shield. The Caption looked down at the unconscious Ross. It's eyes were partly covered by the helmet it was wearing, one of which looked damaged. The face looked almost as if it were fabric and its mouth seemed to lead into a bag on it's chest. The Captain slowly extended a foreleg towards the neck to feel for a pulse.

Without warning it grabbed her leg and lifted its head off the floor. The Captain looked into the large black eyes, noticing that they were like window and could barely see the actual eyes behind them. "Don't.... y... you.... Don-" it gurgled at her before suddenly falling limp, the head slowly laying back onto the muddy boards with her foreleg still in its death-grip.

She managed to get her leg free of his grip after a short struggle with a little flailing of his arm.

"What are we going to do with it Captain?" A Lunar Lieutenant asked.

"We will take care of that my little ponies."

Everpony turned to find Celestia and Luna standing on the lip of the trench. The soldiers stood to attention and the Captain stepped forward "Yes, of course your majesties."

Celestia and Luna were able to get a good look at there savier. Well dear sister that's... not what we were expecting. Luna thought as her eyes followed over the creature laying in the mud from its large, bug like eyes and long mouth to the strange length of fabric wrapped around two of its legs. A blue stallion unicorn with syringe for a cutiemark finally made it through the crowd of soldiers carrying a large tan saddle bag with a red cross stitched on the flap. As he knelt down to the creature, his horn glowed as he slowly moved it up and down it's body a few times.

"Hm… Not good, not good at all" he muttered.

Celestia gently fluttered her wings and landed gently on the boards next to it. "What's happened to the poor thing?"

The Medic looked up at her "It's right lung is puncture and filling with blood. It's rib cage has almost caved in completely and its right er... hind leg is shattered in three places your majesty. We need to get it to a hospital now if it is to survive as the injuries are too much for me to fix." He looked at it's shattered eye, "But that I can fix." His horn glowed and with a cracking, the lense was fixed.

Luna fluttered down next to Celestia before slowly stepping closer to creature and looked down into it's eye's. She lit her horn gently and with it's glow,, she could see it's eyes, they were a dark blue. She almost gasped as she was sure that they looked almost perfectly into her own.

"Sister is there something wrong?" Celestia must of noticed Luna's half stifled gasp.

"No, dear sister, no..." Luna let her horn dim as she stepped back.

"Very well, I will be taking the poor thing to the hospital myself" Celestia said as a soft golden glow surrounded Ross as she gently and carefully lifted him.

Ross was sure he saw a pair of beautiful eye's looking at him…

The doctors and nurses looked at the thing laying on the table, none of them knowing what to do.

"Er... Nurse Redheart any ideas?" one doctor asked. The white mare with a light pink mane stepped up to it. She looked at the face then the helm. Slowly, she reached for it and gently pulled at it. Nothing. She moved her hoof and noticed the small clasps that seemed to be fixed into it's fabric like face and ever so gently undid them, two on either side of it's head. Then with a gentle pull she pulled the helm off and placed it gently on a table next to her.

The fabric of the face extended to under its large coat. "Ok..." Redheart muttered as she looked for a clue. She noticed the thick straps around its chest and the thick long mouth leading into it. She undid them and gently pulled the straps out from under it before lifting the large bag on it's front "O...Celestia!" The bag was surprisingly heavy. Suddenly she lost her grip dropped the bag, pulling it's face to the side and up slightly.

Redheart cringed as she was sure she had just snapped its neck. Checking to make sure she didn’t, she noticed that there was shaven skin where the fabric had been. With shaking hooves, she gently pushed the mask up slowly and pulled it away, revealing an almost childlike face. His skin was pale, almost ghostly white, and as the mask was pulled off completely, brown hair fell down and gently brushed it's ears. One of the unicorn doctors hummed loudly as he walked around Ross as Redheart placed his gas mask and its scrubber and filter systems on the table with his helm.

Those eyes… They were one of the most beautiful things.... a dying mans dreams.... Ross thought in his mind, accepting his fate and that final image. He rolled his head over and was met with a very soft fabric rather than the lining of his gas mask. Ross opened his eyes to find he was in a hospital room. He could feel a tube feeding in to his left arm while his right arm was in a sling, the extra weight on his chest told him he had cast on but it was lighter than the cast he had on his arm once. His right leg felt heavier than normal, another cast. His lung felt...normal.

He slowly brought his head up before sitting up completely and looked around the room. A small window in the right which showed little of the outside world. To his left was the machine that fed a drip into his arm along with a heart monitor and past that was a door and windows with clouded glass. OK, I'm alive. At the end of his bed sat a small table, his trench coat was folded and sat on the table. His white T-shirt sat on the trench coat and the gas mask along with the scrubbing system and helmet sat neatly on on the shirt with lenses staring at him.

Next to them were his black combat trousers with his belt resting on top, the empty scabbard and equally empty holster still attached. Ross looked down to find a form of hospital gown on him. The door opened and when Ross saw what came in, he was sure the painkillers were affecting his mind as there was a white horse with a light pink mane and nurse's hat. On her back was a tray of what apparently was food. His stomach let out a gurgle when he was sure that it was in fact food.

The nurse horse noticed he was awake and smiled lightly at him. "Its rude to stare you know."

Ross was sure his jaw had just fell onto the floor "Sorry... I think I'm as high as a kite at the minute cause...your a bleeding pony." His voice was a lot softer than what was heard through the mask. Ross gently pinched his leg to check he was awake.

The Nurse smiled "Well David, you are pretty odd too."

"How do you know my name?" Ross asked knowing this was a figment of his drug addled brain. The Nurse nodded at his helm and Ross saw his dog tags wrapped around it, the thin beaded chain tied with the two plates of stamped metal with his details indented on them. "Very well..." Ross closed his eyes and heard the clopping of hooves on tiles as the nurse walk up to him.

"Well here’s some food" Ross opened his eyes and gently took the tray off her back.

"Thanks miss..."

"Redheart. My name is Redheart."

"Thank you Miss Redheart" Ross looked down at the tray. Hay, grass, pellet feed and aa apple.

Redheart left the room leaving Ross to his thoughts. This has to be some cruel joke. Side affects or not, he picked up the apple and took a large bite out of it. The apple was fresher than any he had had in his FMPs or ones he had had from the shops.

The door opened again and Nurse Redheart poked her head in. "Excuse me David, but somepony would like to see you if you are feeling up to it."

"Sure, send them in." Last time he was in hospital, nobody visited him. Wait… "Somepony?!"

Redheart smiled as she pulled her head out before walking in holding hoofs with a small, golden pegasus with a light blue mane that was doing her best to hide behind the nurse. "Here Raindrops, you said you wanted to meet him." The pegasus had both wings wrapped in bandages along with her right eye. Slowly, she moved out from behind Redheart.

"H-hello." Her small voice was barely audible.

First a talking horse and now there’s a talking pegasus? I'm off my fucking rocker! Ross smiled kindly towards her, the smile looked out of place compared to his grim uniform "Hello, how are you?"

The pegasus moved from behind the nurse a fraction more. "I'm..OK… thank you...and you?"

Ross gave a small chuckle and a twinge of pain reminded him of his ribs "Well young lady, I've been better but thank you for asking." He gently scooted over and patted the bed "Want a seat?" The pegasus smiled slightly and walked up to the side of the bed. Ross reached down with his good arm and, minding the drip, lifted the small pegasus up onto his bed.

"Wow, your hoof is so soft."

Ross looked confused for a second before his brain put two and two together."Oh, you mean my hand" He said wiggling his fingers while Raindrops stared at them.

"Are your ‘hands’ supposed to be like that?"

Ross smiled as she continued to stare at them in awe. "Yes, I know they’re funny but they are meant to be like that." Ross saw the curiosity burn in Raindrops’ eyes. "You can touch them if you want" Ross said lowering his hand so the pegasus could hold it. Raindrop gently took his fingers in both of her hooves and gently started to examine them. Her hooves were so soft. "Don’t bend them that way please" Ross said as Raindrop bent them the opposite way to the joints.

"Oh, sorry" She quickly pulled her hooves away afraid that she had hurt him.

"Its OK you didn't know."

Raindrop looked round the room and gave a small yelp when she found the mask looking at them. "W-what is that?"

Ross gently took a hoof in his hand "It's OK, its just my gas mask. It's not dangerous."

Raindrop looked at it with curiosity "C-can I have a look?"

Ross looked over to Nurse Redheart "Miss Redheart, can you bring my mask and helmet over please?" She gave a nod and walked over to the table then slid the mask along with it's bag on to her back and took the helmet in her mouth before trotting up to the bed. "Nice balancing skills Miss." Ross commented as he took the helmet out of her mouth.

"Thank you and its just Redhart to you." she said as Ross picked the mask and bag off her back.

Ross handed the mask to Raindrop and smiled as she slowly looked over every inch of it. "So... what do you do with it?" She asked looking at the lenses.

"You wear it like this." Ross took the mask and brought it up above his head before sliding it down. The sound of his filtered breathing met his ears.

"Wow..." Raindrop reached up and gently moved her hooves over his masked face. Ross gently slid the too large helm onto Raindrop's head, getting a small giggle from the young pegasus.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay I'm back at collage now and working wed nights so sorry for any delay

Thanks to flyingfox for helping me

Comment like all that good stuff