The Lost Soldier

Sorry for the short chapter hope you enjoy! Also a quick shout out to Lightning Flicker () for the support he gives me. Thanks man :).

Ray struggled to free his hands, but they were effectively pinned. His legs were free, but he couldn’t do anything with them as the insurgent was kneeling on his back, putting the knife to his neck.

“Say goodbye… Human.”

Ray waited for his impending death, but it never came. He felt the weight of the insurgent on top of him get lifted off, abruptly. The knife was no longer near his neck. Ray looked up and saw a grey pegasus ramming the insurgent into a wall. He fell over unconscious and the pegasus folded its wings. This was Derpy’s friend who had saved Ray.

“Thanks a lot. I’m glad you showed up when you did.” Ray said as he got to his feet and took out his pistol.

“No problem. Help others in need, y’know? ” he replied.

Ray shot the insurgent in the head, causing the pegasus to flinch away momentarily.

“I’m Ray. And you are?”

“Uh… My name’s Saturn.”

“Nice to meet you Saturn,” Ray said courteously. “I assume you know Ms. Derpy?”

“That I do,” the grey pony said as another grey pony, this one cross-eyed, peered from around the corner.

“Okay, well both of you stick close. I’ll try to get you two to the edge of the city so you can get out, but I’m mainly trying to distract that large swarm so that my friends can get the Elements of Harmony.”

“Are you sure? We could try to get out on our own,” Saturn replied.

“Yeah, it’s fine. If something happens to me though I want you two to book it ok? Don’t try to play any heroics.”

“Sure, come on Derpy. We’re getting out of here,” Saturn said after a short pause.

“Okay!” Derpy said a little too loudly as she trotted up to the duo. Ray stepped out of the alley and quickly swept the street with his carbine.

“Clear, but not for long. Let’s go!” Ray whispered as the two stepped out onto the street. “You guys go that way and I’ll be right behind you.” Ray motioned his arm down the street.

Without waiting for confirmation from them, Ray walked the opposite way to check and see if the swarm was still following. Ray would have been relieved on any other occasion if he had lost them, but this time Ray sighed with relief when he saw they were headed in this direction. Next, Ray stormed into a large and structurally unsound like an insane man. Finally, he placed his lone block of C-4 on a wall and made sure it was ready to be detonated.
The buzzing of hundreds of tiny wings began to fill the air. Ray sprinted out of the building while taking the suppressor off of his carbine. He slowed his pace to a slow walk once out of the building and fired the remainder of his magazine towards the swarm to grab the attention of them. The loud reports got their attention more than their dropping comrades and they surged forward with renewed vigor. He turned towards Saturn and Derpy, who were cautiously walking up the street, while exchanging the empty magazine for a fresh one.

“Run! Now!” Ray yelled as he pressed the button that chambered a round.

Ray caught up with the two pegasi and they flew slightly above and ahead of him, headed away from the swarm and
the damaged building.

“In here!” Ray said and the two pegasi dove into the building. Ray let the weight of the carbine fall to the sling and he pulled out his detonater. He checked outside to see the swarm of Changelings near the building that had the C-4 set up in it. He pressed down on the detonator.

Wump!

A section of the building blew out first and then the rest of it toppled over and crushed a large part of the swarm. Shrapnel and debris were blasted out from the collapse, landing in the streets and sides of buildings as nearby windows were blown out.

“What was that?” Derpy asked with the renowned look of hers.

“An explosion. Come on, we gotta get moving again.” Ray replied in a terse manner.

The three stepped back out into the street. When they saw the destruction, Sature and Derpy could only manage a “Wow.”

Ray decided to call Twilight via radio and see if her friends got to the Elements.

“Hey, Twilight? Did you girls get the Elements?”

A short pause.

“Twilight?”

“You’d better come back,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I will… I’ve faced worse,” Ray replied.

“I guess I’ll have to ask about that later too,” Rainbow Dash thought as she turned to meet up with her friends. They faced the door into the tower and opened it. When they did however, they were stunned to find it was filled with even more Changelings. Much more than before and overpowered the six ponies. The Changelings marched them back towards the palace. As they walked, shots and an explosion were heard in the air.

“Ray!”

Rainbow Dash tried to fly away in the direction of the shots, but two changelings grabbed her forelegs.

“Hey! Let me go!”

She kicked a Changeling in the head, making it dizzy, but more came to put her under control. They hissed and
dragged her the rest of the way to the palace.

“It’s okay Dash. I’m sure Ray is fine,” Twilight said in an attempt to reassure her friend.

“Okay, change of plans. I’m getting you two out of here, then going after my friends,” Ray told the two pegasi.

“I’m sure Derpy and I can get out on our own. Don’t worry about us.” Saturn replied.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll get you two out.”

“If you insist…” Saturn sighed.

“Okay, just keep quiet and follow me,” Ray said crouching against a wall.

The trio crept towards the edge of the city where there was the large drop off. Ray figured the two pegasi could just fly away safely, leaving Ray to find his friends. They turned down another alleyway.

“One more Changeling… you two stay back. I’ll take him,” Ray murmured.

He unsheathed his knife and crept forward towards the Changeling searching through some discarded boxes. He was right behind the Changeling when he heard something crash behind him.

“Whoops…” Derpy said apologetically as she knocked down a trash can.

The Changeling turned around and Ray lunged forward for the kill. The Changeling blocked the knife-holding arm and touched its horn to Ray’s head, bringing it into a distant memory.

Ray was standing out in the oppressive sun, quietly melting under his BDU’s balaclava mask and combat gear. He stood up and ignored the heat, keeping an eye open for potential threats. Ray and other members of Task Force Spartan’s best team stood around in a loose perimeter, watching out for anyone who wanted to put a stop to the opening of a new Afghanistan school.

“Boss, mind reminding me why we are here, guarding a school opening? Shouldn’t the army or the marines be doing this?”

“Well, the President thought it was important for American troops to guard the new school opening. I do admit that we do need to put a good face on Americam’s over here in the Middle East,” 2nd Lieutenant Tania Meinke said. Tania was Cassandra’s replacement after she was killed.

“Hey boss, I got a shady character over here.”

“Shady? How so?”

“Well… bulky clothes in hundred degree weather, something in hand. My guess is suicide bomber.”

“Alright then… H-How are we going do this?” Tania asked with a slight worry in her voice.

“You’re the boss…” Ray said roughly, but the softened his voice. “But if you ask me, I can take him down non-lethal, no shots fired. Won’t spook the kids and we can interrogate the bomber for intel.”

“Thanks Ray. I know I won’t ever be half the leader Cassandra was, but I’ll do my best.”

Ray paused for a moment.

“It’s okay. I’ll be there to help when you need me,” Ray replied. He began to approach the potential bomber.

Ray chose a path that would look random and began to close the distance between him and the suspected terrorist. A moment later, he was right behind the middle aged man.

“Show me your hands, slowly.” Ray said in Dari.

“Why mister, I did nothing wrong.” came the reply in English.

“Hands. Now.” Ray said, switching back to English.

“Okay mister, okay.” He started to slowly raise his hands, but suddenly bolted in the direction of the school.

“Oh no you don’t!” Ray snarled and ran after the bomber. He quickly tackled the bomber to the ground.

He confirmed that a detonator was in his opponent’s left hand. For one frightening moment however, Ray saw his opponent’s thumb rise up above the button. Ray shot his hand forward and broke the small appendage. He then snapped his opponent’s wrist and snatched up the detonator. Relieved, Ray severed the cord that connected the button to the suicide vest.

“Clear!” Ray called with a small sigh to himself.

A collective sigh of relief came over the radio after Ray said the best word possible when dealing with explosives. Tania rushed over and put a plastic zip tie around the would-be bomber’s wrists.

“Nice job Ray.” Tania said with a smile.

“All in a day’s work” Ray replied, giving a thumbs up.

Ray now stared into the eyes of that same person with the bulky clothes, detonator, and all. He felt a brief moment of terror, which he quickly suppressed.

“Both of you run!” Ray yelled grabbing the suicide bomber and dropping the knife.

Without hesitation, Saturn and Derpy both bolted for the edge of the city. Ray knew that they would never clear the blast zone unless it was reduced. He hooked his right leg around the bomber’s leg and pulled toward him, while simultaneously pushing him down on the chest. Ray grabbed at his hands, desperately trying to get to the detonator. No sense in dying without trying. At the same time he placed his body over the explosive vest. He clearly saw his opponent press down on the button.
They say that you can’t hear the explosion that kills you and in truth Ray didn’t hear a sound. The only thing he noticed was a harsh green light, followed by a softer and brighter green. Next thing he knew he was smashing through a wall. He came to a rest in another room, wondering why he wasn’t dead. Ray then noticed his watch was glowing a light green.

“What was it the princess said? It protects me when I do a brave act?”

Ray was still shaken up from the impact with the wall, but it beat being dead by a long shot. He tried moving however, but his limbs wouldn’t obey his commands. The last thing Ray noticed before slipping from consciousness was several dark figures warily approaching him from the hole in the wall he had created.

“You won’t get away with this! Ray is still out there! He will stop you!” Rainbow Dash growled towards the Changeling queen.

“Yeah, he’s one of the best fighters from his world!” Applejack added.

“If any pon- Er, anyone can stop you, it’s Ray!” Twilight concluded.

“Oh really?” Chrysalis replied, cheekily smiling.

Just then the door to the hallway opened up. Five Changelings entered, two of them dragged an unconscious Ray between them. The two dragging him had explored Ray’s memories and both were now two different Israeli Special Forces operators armed with CAR 15s.

“Ray…” Rainbow Dash tried to get to Ray, but the two operators aimed their carbines on her and she reluctantly backed away. The three regular Changelings were dragging Rays various equipment with them. One of the Changelings made a hissing noise towards the Changeling queen.

“No, I don’t need it. You can kill it.”

One of the Israeli operators raised their CAR 15 and pointed it at Ray’s head.

“NO!” Rainbow Dash leapt forward, but was swatted away again with the butt of the other operator’s carbine. Rainbow Dash could only watch in horror as the operator squeezed the trigger.

Editor’s note: Hey guys I am JULIE! I am a friend of Akkura and talk to him on a daily basis. The way we are going to do this now is when I FAIL TO edit a chapter, we send it to Jd to fix it properly. We send it through our triangle and work out as many kinks and details as possible for your enjoyment!
-signing out: Kenseirabbit (AKA JULIE)

That was actualy Jd...
-Akkura