The Lost Soldier

Hello all you readers! Akkura (and jd896) here with another chapter, hope you enjoy!

The two friends walked back to Twilight’s library in silence. Rainbow Dash had many questions she wanted Ray to ask. She turned to ask him her first one, but the look on his face told the pegasus that he was in deep thought. She thought it best to talk to him at a later time.

They soon reached the library and the two approached the door. Ray, who had ceased his brooding, slowly grasped the handle of the door, took a deep breath and opened it. All the ponies that were in the library when Ray left were still inside. They all flinched for some odd reason as the door suddenly swung open. They all turned to watch Ray and Rainbow Dash enter the library. For a moment, it was quiet, so Princess Celestia took this to her advantage.

“I’m sorry Ray,” the princess began.

“It’s ok ma’am. I know you are concerned for your subjects. Any good leader would be.”

Ray remembered how Cassandra would always make sure her team got home safely, taking care of them before herself. Ray had to blink to hold back the coming tears.

“You forgot these too,” she continued, levitating a picture and a pair of dog tags towards Ray with her magic. He grasped them and the magic wore away.

“Thanks…”

There was another deafening silence. Celestia tried to change the subject.

“You know, you two seem to be quite fond of each other,” she said, somewhat teasingly. “Rainbow Dash, why don’t you show Ray around Cloudsdale? I’m sure he’ll enjoy it very much.”

Rainbow Dash shifted a bit awkwardly.

“With all due respect Princess, uh, how exactly is he going to get up there? I mean, he can’t exactly fly you know.”

“If I remember correctly, I believe Twilight owns a hot air balloon. Am I right in saying this Twilight?”

“I do Princess!” the purple unicorn said, nodding. “I wouldn’t mind letting Ray borrow it.”

“Please, if you could Twilight, retrieve it for us.”

“On it!” Twilight said, trotting off to another part of the library.

“Right, but Ray still can’t walk on clouds either unless he’s going to fly that giant balloon around Cloudsdale which I’m sure would be a bit of a problem,” Rainbow added.

“Allow me to take care of that,” the princess said. She placed her horn on Ray’s head and a dim light glowed around Ray’s body for a brief moment. Celestia then pulled her horn away.

“What happened?” Ray asked uncertainly.

“I just cast a spell to allow you to walk on clouds of course.”

Ray was somewhat shocked at the sudden generosity, but decided not to question. The princess was right in saying they were fond of each other. He had saved Rainbow Dash’s life twice and had been good friends since. He turned towards the soft blue pegasus who had a big grin on her face.

“Oh, you’re going to love Cloudsdale! There’s so much to see, so much to do!” Rainbow exclaimed. Ray chuckled a bit.

“I don’t really know what to say but thank you Princess. I just hope this doesn’t carry over to my world, heh.”

Ray briefly thought about himself jumping out of an airplane and smashing into a cloud.

“I don’t think anything will happen if you go back,” Celestia told him. “I must be going now. Luna can’t run the kingdom by herself in Canterlot of course!”

The ponies all started to bid Celestia farewell as she started to glow white.

“Oh yes, and Ray. I just want you to know my opinion about you is different than when we initially met,” Celestia informed Ray.

“Heh, thank you. As I said before, you’re lucky I came here. I’m one of the ‘better ones’.”

The princess grew brighter until the room flashed with a bright light. Just as quickly as she had entered, she was gone. Silence resounded again as Ray started at the picture he had taken from Celestia. He put it in his pocket before he could shed any more tears. Twilight walked back into the room, levitating a big basket.

“Oh, Princess Celestia left?” Twilight said, a bit disappointed.

“Yeah…” Ray said quietly.

“Ray… are you, uh, okay?” Fluttershy asked with concern.

“I just need a moment and I’ll be fine…” he replied.

“Ray, I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say that we’re truly sorry for you loss…” Twilight said. “If there’s anything we can do for you while you’re here in Equestria, just ask us please. We would be more than willing to help.”

The other five ponies nodded in agreement. Ray then remember he wouldn’t be staying here forever. He would have to return to his own world at some time.

“Thanks for the offer, but I feel I should be the one offering you help. You six have given me the opportunity to show to Celestia that I’m not a violent person; that I’m not like most other humans. Thank you all.”

The six suddenly grouped around him and embraced him in a group hug. Ray tried to return it as much as he could.

“So what do we do now?” Ray asked.

“OH, I KNOW! PICK ME! PICK ME!” Pinkie Pie squeed, jumping up and down, waving her hoof around. Ray couldn’t help but laugh.

“Alright, Pinkie?”

“YAY! Alright, here’s a good one. Let’s all go on a nice picnic together!”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Sure then. It’ll be nice to relax a little bit,” Ray said, but then he was reminded of something in the back of his head. “Actually, you girls go on ahead. I’ll catch up in a little while.”

“You sure ‘bout that hun? We don’t mind waitin’ for ya,” Applejack said.

“I’m sure. Please, go on ahead. I insist.”

“Hey, I can come with you,” Rainbow quickly said.

“No, it’s fine. Go off with your friends. I don’t need to interrupt your plans.”

“It’s not like you’ve gone and done that before,” she teased.

Ray couldn’t help but grin “I’m fine. You go to the picnic. I just need to do a few errands and then I’ll stop by the picnic.”

“Fair enough…”

Ray exited the library and started on towards the Everfree Forest. The first thing he wanted to do was to inform some pony that there were three unconscious unicorns in a clearing in the forest although he probably should’ve done that earlier. He then wanted to retrieve the parachute that was probably still stuck in the tree that he got caught on upon first entering Equestria. He thought he would be up walking around in the clouds sometime in the near future, so he figured he would be able to enjoy himself a lot more if he had the parachute. Lastly, Ray wanted to clean his rifle again. The soldier would have done this first to save time, but he wanted some time to be alone and think.

Ray soon approached the area where the dead unicorn, the one he had killed, still laid. Police ponies were around the scene, but permitted Ray through. He knelt down next to the body and closed its eyes.

“I’m sorry… I had no choice,” he said as if talking to the unicorn. Ray sighed and stood up again. “I need to know who’s in charge of the police force around here.”

An earth pony in the group turned towards Ray. He had a blue coat of fur, a jet black mane, and yellow eyes that matched gold.

“I would be in charge of the police sir,” he responded. “Anything I can do to help?”

“I just need to inform you there are three unicorns in a clearing in the Everfree Forest who were also responsible for kidnapping those ten ponies,” Ray said. He took out a map he borrowed from Twilight and was able to indicate the clear to the police pony. “Are you able to retrieve them?”

“Of course we can. I’ll send two of my colts out. Twirl! Rain!” Two more ponies, pegasi this time, turn towards the two. “There’s a clearing about 15 minutes to the north. Possible suspects have been knocked unconscious. Go check it out.”

The two nodded and quickly flew off towards the forest.

“Thanks a lot.” The police pony nodded and Ray walked back to the forest, walking along the edge until he found the tree he was looking for. Up on a decently high branch was his parachute. At first glance, it looked like it was completely intact, but Ray decided that he would wait until he got a closer look before he could consider it as being in good condition.

Ray started up the tree, climbing up its trunk until he was at the same level as the parachute. He removed the entangled parachute from the tree’s branched, allowing it to float gently to the ground. He started to climb down, but then he thought about jumping off instead. He was able to walk onto a thick branch and steady himself there. He pushed off the branch with his legs, propelling him into the air. He fell towards the ground and as he hit it, the trained soldier rolled his entire body forward, performing a roll.

Happy he was still able to do such a basic roll, he turned towards the fallen parachute and began to inspect it. Thankfully for Ray, the parachute was not damaged, meaning he could reuse it at a later time. Ray folded it up quickly as he had been taught to do so several times. Ray tested it to make sure the release for the main and reserve parachute worked. Satisfied, Ray started back towards the library. On his way back, he was stopped by Lyra and Bon Bon.

“Hello… Stranger… I just wanted to thank you for saving me,” Bon Bon said.

“Oh, it’s fine. It’s just another day at the office,” Ray responded.

“You know, I never caught your name. Do you mind telling us?” Lyra asked.

“My name is Ray. I’m just a soldier from another world.”

“Ray… I like that name,” Lyra commented. “Yes, thank you for saving my friend. If it weren’t for you, she’d be still stuck in that forest.”

“Really, it was no trouble. If you two don’t mind however, I need to get somewhere. We can talk again another time.”

“Oh, I understand. Bye!”

Ray walked past the two ponies towards the library once again. Once he had made it back, he immediately went downstairs and placed his parachute down with the rest of his gear. He took out his rifle from his bag and returned upstairs to clean it. He disassembled the parts to the gun and placed them on the table in the middle of the library. He quickly cleaned it and reassembled it, only then to find his friends coming back from their picnic.

For some odd reason however, the reality of the last few days suddenly caught up to Ray right there. In the forest, Ray only got four total hours of sleep. He was accustomed to getting little sleep while on missions, but when he wasn’t on them, he could barely manage more than a day without sleep. It was odd how he was able to stay awake and alert on missions, but the exact opposite would be true off these missions. He took his rifle and, without saying a word to the ponies, walked down the stairs again. Before he knew it, he passed out on his bed.

Ray was unsure of how long he slept, but he guessed it to be a few hours. He shot up awake when he heard the door to the library being opened violently. Ray grabbed his rifle without thinking, completely alert. Twilight walked down the stairs and froze when she saw Ray with his rifle in hand.

“Uh, Ray…? What are you doing?

“Oh, sorry Twilight. You startled me.” Ray said as he set down the unloaded rifle “Are you okay? You look frustrated.”

Twilight shook her head, realizing again what was on her mind.

“Well, yes. I was just informed my brother, Shining Armor, is getting married!”

“You should be happy for him then! Not getting mad about it!”

“Well, yes I know, and I would be, but it wasn’t my brother who told me he was getting married.”

“Ah, I see.”

“It was an invitation to the wedding. What’s more I have no idea who he’s marrying!”

“When’s the wedding?”

“Two days. I also have to supervise the preparation as requested by him and Princess Celestia. I actually came here to pack up and get ready to go to Canterlot.”

“Well, seeing as I wasn’t invited, I guess I will be seeing you in two or three days,” Ray said, lying back again.

“Oh, sorry Ray. I’m sure you can come. Shining Armor is a reasonable pony.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I don’t want to intrude or cause a scene. I mean I’m sure the ponies in Canterlot haven’t seen a human before.”

“Are you sure? You can even come as my own guest if you’d like!”

“I’m sure.”

Twilight sighed. “Well, I guess I can’t dissuade you. I’ll see you in a few days,” she said, turning to walk back up the stairs.

“If you need anything, just call me over the radio, okay?”

“Oops, I forgot I still had that. Do you want it back?”

“Nah, keep it. You can use it to communicate with me.”

“Alright, see you when I get back then.” Twilight said, walking up the stairs. Ray had the whole library to himself.