The Lost Soldier

Hi all, sorry for the delay, the original for this chapter was terrible so thanks to jd0896 for getting me to rewrite it.

Ray felt himself being dragged across the ground, so kept his eyes shut as to give his captors the illusion that he was still unconscious. He reached out with his other senses to try and assess the situation by finding out where he was or where he was going. The first thing he noticed was he could hear at least five sets of footsteps. It was difficult to tell seeing as ponies had four legs, but Ray had adapted quite well and was confident in his estimate.

“Okay, one on five. Easy enough,” Ray thought to himself.

Besides the hoof steps, the only other things he noticed were the occasional hiss for a Changeling and the smell of smoke in the air. He then realized he was being gripped by hands. The Changelings had probably searched his memories for other people to take the form of. Whom they took the shape of, Ray could only fear. Before he could think any further, he heard large doors opening. Ray remembered that the palace had large doors and assumed that he was there, but he couldn’t be sure until he opened his eyes. He then felt a slight bump as the ground beneath him transformed from the rough blacktop of the street to polished floors.

“You’re still sharp as ever Ray,” He congratulated.

He heard another set of doors open and the hands gripping him released him, tossing Ray to the floor.

“Ray…”

He couldn’t risk a twitch, but he knew that voice. Being a sniper, he had been trained to control his body from making sudden movements, but that didn’t stop his heart rate from increasing. The stakes had just gotten higher. Now it just all came down to waiting for the right time to strike, probably when the Changelings felt they were in control of the situation the most, when they really weren’t.

“Ssss,” one of the Changelings hissed.

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

“Okay, here we go Ray. Time to switch on.”

He heard a slight shuffle to his left and assumed his would-be executioner was there. Ray snapped his eyes open and exploded upward and to the left, shoving the familiar barrel of a CAR 15 to the side and delivered a swift punch to the throat. Ray noticed that the Changeling had decided to take the form of an Israeli operator whom Ray had previously worked with. He turned and wrapped his arms around the other operator’s head and wrenched it to the side. There was a satisfying snap as he finished the rapid movement and the specialist let the operator’s lifeless body slump to the floor.
Ray was still unarmed and noticed the other three sets of footsteps belonged to unchanged changelings that had his equipment. Before they could react Ray drove his boot into the closest one’s face. He then registered two bright flashes of green light and turned to see two more Afghan insurgents, one with an AK-47 and the other with a Dragunov SVD. Ray’s equipment was on the floor.

Ray rolled and came up inside the guard with the AK-47 and delivered a strong blow to his head, rendering him unconscious. Meanwhile, the other guard was having trouble maneuvering the long gun in such a close quarter’s engagement. Ray easily stepped into his guard and swept out the insurgent’s legs. Ray then caught his opponent’s wrist that clutched the Dragunov and tried to remove the weapon. Ray found however that he couldn’t remove it easily and simply broke his opponent’s wrist to do so. The rifle now wretched from the Changeling, Ray aimed it and fired a single shot to his head. Upon death, the rifle fizzled into nothing and the Changeling turned back to its original form.
Without a weapon again, Ray frantically looked around and found his equipment on the floor. He dove for it and found his pistol. He jumped to his feet, pointed his firearm at the misshapen alicorn, and shouted, “Don’t move!”

She did the exact opposite however; she charged him. He squeezed the trigger twice, only to watch two dark green flashes deflect both of the rounds from their path. Ray feathered the trigger until his pistol was depleted of ammo and the sniper had to roll away to dodge his target. The queen turned to charge again, but this time Ray was ready. He flipped the pistol around in his hand and stood in her path, waiting. When Chrysalis was close enough, he sidestepped slightly and smashed the pistol into the side of her head. One of her legs flailed as she lost balance however and kicked Ray in the chest, knocking him down. The pistol was flung away.

The operator got to his feet only to have to brace himself quickly for a third charge by the Changeling queen. The biggest Changeling pinned Ray to a wall and forced her horn down towards him. The specialist was able to grab her horn with a free arm, but the compromised position allowed Chrysalis to overpower him and touch her horn to his head.

This time was different. Instead of rushing to a random memory, this process seemed to have been looking for a specific memory. Immediately, Ray was thinking about all of his friends and teammates. He knew what memories the queen was going after and he tried to think of other things, but to no avail. Chrysalis found Ray’s memories about Cassandra. They returned to reality and Ray found himself staring at the queen, who had a smug look on her face. He braced himself against the wall and shot forward with all of his strength, sending both of them tumbling forward.

At the same time, there was an explosion. The queen collided with Ray as they both began to roll around closer to one of the palace’s balconies. Ray managed to shove Chrysalis off, but still found himself sliding towards the balcony. The railing had apparently been ripped off, so there was nothing stopping the skidding soldier from plummeting to the ground. He somehow managed to grab hold of the edge with one hand, the rest of his body hanging over the six story drop. From the corner of his eye, he caught Chrysalis smashing into a building further into the city. He took hold of the platform with his other hand and pulled his head over it. Ray could see most of the other ponies recovering from the explosion. They were dazed and confused, but were okay. The sniper pulled himself up completely and sat back onto the balcony, taking note of where Chrysalis crashed and inhaled deeply.

Ray heard hoofsteps behind him and snapped his head around to find his friends standing behind.

“You sure showed her Ray!” Applejack cheered.

The operator stood up. He walked towards his equipment and retrieved a new magazine from the pile, slipping it right into the pistol.

“Not yet.” The six gave him a curious look upon that statement being said.

“Ray, what are you going to do?” Twilight asked.

“I’m going after her” Ray replied, cocking the slide of his firearm.

“It’s ok, let the Royal Guard handle it” a male pony off to the side said. He was standing next to another female alicorn.
Ray assumed that was Shining Armor.

“No, I doubt any of them have as much combat experience as me. Besides, I am ready now; it would take time to assemble a group of enough ponies to take her on.”

What Ray didn’t mention was that this was personal now. He knew he shouldn’t because it was personal, but Ray couldn’t stop himself.

“I’m going with you this time Ray,” he heard Rainbow Dash say. Ray quickly spun around to her.

“No, it’s to-“

“I’m not sitting this one out again Ray. I’m going with you.

The look on her face told Ray she wasn’t ready to be dissuaded. She was ready.

“Fine, but stick close and be careful.”

“Of course! I am the best flyer in Equestria. I can take care of myself!” She said with a scent of haughtiness.

“Even the best make mistakes.” Ray said, a bit softer and taking a deep breath.

“Oh yeah… Sorry.” Her cocky attitude vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

“It’s okay,” Ray said as he inspected his M4 carbine and his other equipment. He picked out the rifle and set it against the wall.

“No one touch this,” He said as he set it down.

“Will do Ray,” Twilight responded with a nod.

“You may want to check on Celestia.” Ray indicated the dizzy princess, to whom which Twilight galloped over.

“Come on, let’s go.”

Ray and Rainbow Dash quickly descended from the palace and went for the area where Chrysalis had supposedly fallen. Ray settled into a speedy jog with Rainbow Dash flying easily behind him. It only took a few minutes before the two came up to the road where the operator suspected the queen would be.

“From here on out, we’re going slower. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. We’ll be checking each building until we find her, okay?”

“Got it,” came the reply.

Ray silently approached the first building. He went up to the door and knocked.

“Hello? Any pony in there?” he called.

“Yes,” a quiet voice replied.

“Okay, stay in there. Someone will come by and tell you when it’s safe.”

“Okay!”

Ray proceeded down the street and repeated the process. Eventually, he came across a building where he got no reply.

“Stay close. If I tell you to run and get out, do it,” Ray said in a flat tone.

Before Rainbow Dash could reply, the door was already being kicked in.

“Clear!” he shouted and quickly shot up to the second floor. Rainbow Dash flew through the door and followed him, increasing her speed slightly to keep up with the infiltration The second and third floors resulted the same as the first, but the fourth floor was different. When Ray reached the top the stairs, he paused slightly and quickly fired four times. He had shot four Changelings who had hostages.

“Are you okay?” Ray asked the four former hostages.

“Y-Yes, we are! Thank you!” one replied gratefully.

“Are there any more?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Okay, get downstairs and lock the doors and windows until the Royal Guard arrives. Let’s go Rainbow Dash” he said
and quickly ran back down the stairs.

“If I forget remind me to tell Shining Armor that any changelings inside the buildings are most likely still there.”

“Sure, but what happened to ‘slow is smooth, smooth is fast?’ ” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“By fast, I meant rushed. If you rush you forget-” he began, but suddenly choked on his words as he stepped back
onto the street. He touched his hand to his hand in disbelief. In the street was no pony, but a person. That person was Cassandra.

“Ray? Are you okay?”

“No,” Ray said as he mentally checked himself.

Rainbow Dash turned to see what he was looking at and when she saw it, her mouth dropped open. Standing on the street was Cassandra.

“Ray, who is that?!”

“Cassandra…” Ray replied softly as he walked forward towards her.

“No, get away from her!”

Ray ignored her and kept walking towards Cassandra. Rainbow Dash went up to him and yanked on his arm in an
attempt to stop him, but he just pulled away. A dark green wall spontaneously appeared, separating the soft blue pegasus from Ray and trapping him inside with “Cassandra”. Rainbow Dash bucked at the shield and shouted at Ray, but he heard nothing as he walked on forward.

“Cassandra?” Ray asked.

“It’s nice to see you too Ray,” she replied.

Ray went up and hugged his friend but felt something cold press against his chest.

"My dog tags are around my neck, so then why-“

Ray snapped back to reality, suddenly aware of who the dog tags belonged to. One of Cassandra’s arms left the embrace. .

“Ray, look out!” Rainbow Dash yelled in vain.

Ray saw his friend’s arm raised over him. Almost instinctively, he shoved Cassandra forward and grabbed her arm. In
the hand of the traitor was a knife. A look of shock came across Cassandra’s face, allowing Ray to ram his other elbow into her face and tripping her over. He tried to pull the carbine into play, but Cassandra recovered surprisingly fast and Ray was forced to dodge the knife instead. He attempted to hit her with the stock of his carbine, but she grabbed it and yanked it out of his grip. She then lifted the carbine above Ray, freeing the sling, and tossed it away. Ray shot forward as she tossed it and delivered several quick blows until he heard the sound of glass shattering again. Pieces of the green shield began to fall around the two as Ray drew his sidearm and took aim at the stunned imposter.

“This time, don’t move,” Ray growled and warily approached Cassandra.

“What? Are you going to kill me Ray?” she asked. “I was your friend.”

“You’re right. You were. You’re not Cassandra and I am not going to kill you,” Ray replied and spun her around. He pulled both of Cassandra’s wrists behind her back and pulled her to her feet.

“Nice job Ray,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew up.

“Thanks,” Ray said, searching for a ziptie in his vest.

Cassandra’s hands were lit up by a green fire and Ray recoiled backwards. The fire had been hot, but not hot enough to harm him. It was more of a surprise technique. He looked up and saw Cassandra was pointing something at him, which Ray realized was a pistol. There was a green muzzle flash and Ray jerked backwards, tripping over a small pile of rubble. She pivoted to aim at Rainbow Dash, but she was far quicker than Cassandra and tackled her to the ground. Ray blinked in shock, but quickly recovered and looked around to get a sense of what just happened. He saw Rainbow Dash holding her own against Cassandra, but it probably wouldn’t be long until she got the upper hand. His pistol had also been flung away, out of sight. Ray turned and saw his pack was close by. He jumped up and ran towards it. Sliding down to his knees, he scooped up the bag and opened a small pouch in it. He pulled out an item, the third thing the real Cassandra had given him the day she died.

“Move!” Ray shouted, holding the Five-Seven in a one handed grip.

Rainbow Dash jerked away into the air and Cassandra turned towards him. The report of the pistol filled the street as Cassandra jerked backwards; blood and brain matter sprayed out of her head. Then silence, the only noise Ray heard was his own heavy breathing as he stood there. He knew that who he had just shot wasn’t the real Cassandra, but it still hurt him. Rainbow Dash landed next to him.

“Wow, that’s…” the rainbow maned pony gulped. “Messy… You okay?

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied.

“I meant your shoulder.”

Ray had forgotten about the wound somewhat. He was pumped full of adrenaline and couldn’t feel it yet, but he knew that wouldn’t be true for long. He examined his shoulder and found that it was more burned than a regular gunshot wound and it was bleeding a little, but all in all it was not that serious of a wound.

“Yeah, it’s not that bad. See it’s not bleeding that much,” Ray said as he got out his first aid kit from his bag and holstering the pistol.

First, the operator cleaned his shoulder of blood and doused it in water from his canteen. Then, he pulled out a bandage and wrapped it around carefully. Pain began to sting Ray, but the cool water from the canteen soothed the charred skin for a moment.

“See? Nothing to it!” Ray lied. “C’mon, let’s head back to the palace. We’ll need to report we got the queen.”

“Yeah… Let’s get out of here,” Rainbow Dash agreed as Ray put his materials back in his bag. Both took their time back to the palace.

And that’s Chapter 15! Hope you enjoyed, and as I have asked before if you think you can make a picture that would go good as a cover for this story, please contact me. Thanks!