The Lost Soldier

Ray and Rainbow Dash spent the rest of the week in doing their own thing. Rainbow Dash would be adjusting the weather of Ponyville to what the weather factory had assigned her (and then nap) while Ray traveled between Cloudsdale and Ponyville in the balloon, helping other ponies out to the best of his ability. When the sun fell low in the sky, the two would return to Rainbow Dash’s house where one would be waiting for the other outside of the cozy building made of clouds. The two would sit outside and simply talk to each other. They talked about how their day was and something funny they may have encountered, but move on to more personal topics. When the sun dropped below the horizon, the two would head inside the house and usually call it a night..

By the time the end of the week had rolled around, Ray was simply strolling through Ponyville, quietly reviewing some things in his head mentally. He was just passing Twilight’s library, where she was cleaning one of the windows. The purple unicorn had noticed him and greeted the human with a friendly smile..

“Hi Ray! You look busy,.” she said sarcastically and with a laugh. Ray snapped back to the “real” world.

“Oh, uh, hey Twilight. What’s up? And shouldn’t Spike be doing your cleaning of the library for you?”

“I can take care of the library myself too! Studies may be important, but I would like my home to be clean too. Besides, Spike has been worn down from the things occurring as of late. I’ve decided to let him wind down and take a break for a while. And let him eat sapphires and ice cream...”

“Sounds like fun. I wish I could join him,” Ray said, which earned another giggle from Twilight.

“Well, you should know that the spell to send you back to your world is ready for you at any time,” Twilight suddenly remembered. “Just in case you need to go back for anything!” Ray froze up somewhat, but relaxed a moment later.

“That was quicker than I expected,” he said. “I guess I’ll just have to pack and say goodbye to a few ponies before I leave.”

“Wait, you want to leave? My friends and I figured you’d stay for a while longer,” Twilight responded, obviously astonished.

“I can’t stay Twilight! I mean, I wish I could, but I have a job to do,” Ray said, holding back his emotions. “A duty to myself and my home. I can’t leave them.”

“What about Rainbow Dash?”

Ray sighed. “I shouldn’t have gotten close to her. It’s my fault, but she’ll get over it. She may be mad, but she’ll understand and after that, I’ll just be a distant memory.”

“Don’t talk like that Ray!” Twilight shot back. “You saved her life! You saved a lot of ponies while you’ve been here and you’ve become our friend!

“But she will remember me as the guy who left her.” Ray said, miserably.

“Then don’t just leave her! Just say good bye!” Twilight argued, her voice slowly raising in tone.

“I can’t! I don’t know what might happen.” Ray slid his hands into his pockets.

“Over these past months I have seen you face nearly impossible odds without any sign of fear. You charged into the Everfree Forest and took on the Changling Queen for crying out loud, but when faced with this little thing you turn and hide? Why?”

“I should go pack.”

“Ray-!“ Twilight began.

“See you in about half an hour.” Ray said slightly strained.

“Ray, wait!”

“I can’t because I can’t bear seeing my friends suffer!” Ray growled suddenly.

“And I don’t?”

“I’m just trying my best to protect my friends, and it still isn’t enough.”

“Ray, if you would just listen-!”

“No, you listen! You don’t know what it’s like to lose someone you care about. You don’t know what it’s like to try so hard to save someone’s life, but they still die. You haven’t looked into someone’s eyes when they die; when you were talking to them seconds ago and then they are gone.”

“Then don’t go back Ray!” Twilight almost yelled. “If you’d just stay here, then you wouldn’t have to deal with the same amount of death and danger you do in your world! You wouldn’t have to hurt us either, especially Rainbow Dash!

“And spend the rest of my life wondering if my team is out there, dying, while I sit here and do nothing to help.”

“What, you have no trust in your own team to take care of themselves? If they’re as good as you are, then they should be fine. It sounds like your making an excuse just to leave!”

“But I’m-”

“You know what, FINE!” Twilight shouted, her frustration boiling over. “LEAVE! I want you back here in thirty minutes so I can send you away just so I don’t have to see the cowardice in your eyes! It almost sounds like you want to go back to “help your country” by killing others!” Ray was taken aback by that. “The least you could do is just say good bye to the one who’s cared for you the most around here since you’ve come here!”

Twilight walked through the door to the library.

“Twilight...” Ray said softly.

“Thirty minutes,” she said with tears in her eyes. The purple unicorn slammed the door shut.

“Great...” Ray muttered. He turned around and walked away from the library without pressing the problem further. Now he’s hurt one of the friends he was trying to “protect”, but he still had a job to do. Ray would probably kick himself for it later, but he knew it was for the best.

“Hey Ray!” someone said right in Ray’s ear, snapping him quickly from his thoughts.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash... You startled me!”

“Whatcha up to?” the blue pegasus asked with an innocent smile, slowly following Ray.

“Just walking,” Ray lied.

Rainbow Dash gave the human a look.

“Alright, what’s up? Are you okay Ray?”

“Of course Rainbow Dash,” Ray said with a smile.

“No it’s not Ray, what’s wrong?” she asked again.

“It’s fine Rainbow Dash, really.”

“Ray, I think both of us know that isn’t true.” Rainbow Dash placed one hoof on his shoulder reassuringly, “You trust me right? What’s wrong?”

Ray took a shaky breath. “I’m just worried about my team. I can’t help them from here. They’re my family, the ones who I’ve lived with for over two years..”

“I’m sure they’re fine Ray! From what you have told me, they are very capable. Listen, I have to go fix something. Derpy managed to set off a lightning cloud and now it’s floating towards Cloudsdale. I’ve got to round it up safely, so see you tonight,” She said and flew off.

“Yeah, see you…” Ray muttered with a small smile, but he knew the pony didn’t hear him. His smile faded away as he started walking towards the hot air balloon.

“Rainbow Dash’s cloud house,” Ray said to the balloon bluntly.
Ray had no intention of saying goodbye to anypony, he could never bear to be the cause of their pain. That was the reason he was always willing to sacrifice his life for every one of his friends. As soon as the balloon touched down, the young man was sliding over the edge and racing into his close friend’s house. He quickly gathered his belongings and returned to the balloon, ordering it back to the library.

The air rushed through the basket, sending chills down Ray’s spine. It wasn’t so bad on the way up. It was difficult to make out any ponies on the ground below; they looked like little dots on a graph moving about. Ray sighed. This unique place was probably the best place to ever be, but yet he knew that staying here wasn’t meant to be. He had his world and the ponies had theirs. But was Twilight right about him? Did he like killing people?

“...highest accuracy in sniper training, and at least one hundred confirmed kills already...”

Ray shuddered at remembering what he said. That can’t be true. It was all for the good of America, right? He jolted forward as the balloon hit the ground, almost as if sensing Ray’s deep thought and trying to snap him out of it. Recollecting himself and climbing over the basket again with his bags, the soldier walked into Twilight’s library.

“Twilight?” He called. “I’m ready to go!”

From the floor above, the bookworm slowly walked down the stairs, obviously in no hurry. She wasn’t crying, but her eyes were somewhat bloodshot and she wore a facial expression of deep disappointment. This is exactly why he wanted to leave now.

“Fifteen minutes,” she said. “You’ve only been gone fifteen minutes. I guess you didn’t say goodbye to anypony?”

Ray simply shook his head and Twilight sighed.

“Let’s just get this over with. The sooner you’re gone, the sooner I can tell my friends that you’re really just a coward.” That bit Ray right in the ass. He hadn’t thought of it like that, but now that Twilight had said that, perhaps leaving and knowing they would hate him was worse than them being sad, but Ray felt he probably deserved it for thinking as he did.

“I’m going to need to concentrate so please be quiet while I perform the spell.”

Ray nodded. As Twilight prepared herself for the spell, the library door opened again and Rainbow Dash flew in. His heart shrunk to the size of a pea.

“Hey Twilight, can I ask you something?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Oh, hey Ray! What’s going on?

Ray stood still, terrified. Twilight laughed coldly.

“Hi Rainbow Dash! Really want to know what’s going on? Maybe Ray can tell you, or maybe he’s too much of a coward to say anything!”

A sick feeling manifested itself in Ray’s gut as Twilight took the low jab.

“Ray… What is she talking about?” Rainbow Dash slowly asked. Ray’s answer came a loud silence.

“Ray told me he wanted to leave and go back to his world,” Twilight scoffed. “Without
telling any pony.”

A hurt look came across Rainbow Dash’s face, “Ray, why?”

“I…”

“I thought we were friends.” Rainbow Dash’s voice was rising slowly. Ray lost the will to speak. The rainbow-maned pegasus floated in front of Ray, searching for an answer to his silence, but he had put on his best poker face at that point.

“Why Ray?!”

Nothing.

“You know what? Fine! Just leave, okay?” Rainbow Dash yelled on the verge of tears. “I would have understood if you just said goodbye!”

And with that, she raced out of the library. Ray bit his bottom lip hard and turned back to Twilight, who was shaking her head slowly at him.

“Celestia was right about you after all...” Twilight simply said, dumping more salt into Ray’s wound.

“What have I done...?” Ray asked.

“Let’s just do this,” Twilight replied, obviously finished with her slander.

Ray clenched his fists, “Just get it over with.”

Twilight closed her eyes and her horn started to glow. Slowly, the middle of the room began to light up, purple magic swirling around. Ray watched in miserable silence.

“RAY!” a voice called from downstairs. Ray turned his head towards the basement door where Spike came running up holding a photo. “You forgot this!” The baby dragon held the photo up to Ray. It was a picture of the target he was assigned to take down just before he entered Equestria.

“Thank you Spi-”

Ray was blasted forward and smashed into the wall. He fell to the ground, but tried to grasp an understanding of what had just occurred. His ears rang and his vision was only filled with purple smoke, which began to clear quickly. He couldn’t see Twilight and Spike was knocked out next to him, but there was a third figure in the room. This wasn’t a pony however. It was human and holding something. The smoke cleared enough to show it was Ray’s target and he was holding an AK-47.

Abu Shabal.

The target looked around and when he saw Ray, a cruel smile formed on his lips. He grabbed Ray by his neck and hauled him up from the floor until his feet were dangling off the floor.

“Where am I?” the Arab man growled into Ray’s face.

Ray tried to speak but was still dazed from what he could only assume was an explosion. The fact that he was being held at the neck didn’t help either.

“Ehsria,” Ray spat, trying to say Equestria.

“America? Allah akbar! For he has delivered me to the land of my enemy to destroy them!”

“No… wait, I- I didn’t say America! I said-” Ray was dropped onto the ground.

“Sure American.” Abu’s voice was dripping with scorn.

“Wait...” Ray murmured.

His target raised the rifle to Ray’s head. At that moment, his life flashed before his eyes. Missions, his former life, Cassandra, Rainbow Dash. All passed by his eyes as he looked down the barrel of the Russian-built rifle. Ray closed his eyes and heard a loud bang, but nothing else happened. Ray opened his eyes. The Muslim man, his rifle, and the fired bullet were all frozen in a purple glow. Both humans looked over to Twilight, who was standing up, holding Ray’s target with her magic and eyes concealed in a white light.

“Get... Out... OF MY HOUSE!” she yelled. The enraged unicorn pulled the other person through the nearest window in the library with all her might. He was sent through with a crash of glass and skidded across the ground, coming to rest some several hundred feet away from the library.

Ray dropped his bags on the floor and pulled out the first thing that felt like a gun. The Five-Seven. The soldier aimed the pistol towards the window and walked towards Twilight. Her magic had worn away and her eyes had returned to their normal shade of violet. She heaved her chest up and down from the exhausting spell and form that had just occurred. Ray knelt down beside Twilight and the unicorn fell over on her side, but he was there to catch her.

“Aagghh Twilight wake up!” he said.

“Wai- Wha...”

“Twilight! Someone from my world was brought here, what happened?”

“What happened...?” she asked.

“You brought in the target I was sent after before I came to Equestria here! What happened?”

“Oh... I got distracted... I heard Spike and I looked and... This is my fault!”

“Twilight, stay focused. He’s going to be causing a lot of harm now. You need to help me and get as many ponies out of the town as possible! Do you understand?”

Twilight didn’t seem to be on the ball though. “Ray... I’m sorry! Oh, all those mean things I said to you!”

“Twi, it’s okay-”

“No, it’s not okay! I started yelling at you and hurting you all because I got upset that... I didn’t want to see my friends, especially Rainbow Dash, crushed like that!”

The unicorn lost it at this. She curled up and sent herself into a stream of loud crying. Ray took a deep breath, remaining calm.

“Twilight, listen. You need to get a hold of yourself and save the apologies for later. We need to save as many ponies as we can and I can’t do it without you.” At this point, Ray seemed to be breaking through to Twilight. “Wake up Spike and help me, please.”

Twilight slowly regained her ground and nodded. Ray returned the nod and went back to his gear, continuing to be weary of the window his target had been sent out of. He took out the M4 and put the sling around his body. Gunshots began to break out and Twilight and Ray hit the floor although none came through the library. At that same moment, Rainbow Dash came bursting through the door as if trying to avoid any stray bullets.

“Ray?!” she asked. “Are you all okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. I just need to deal with my friend. Look, you need to help Twilight out by getting as many ponies to the outside of town as possible, as quickly as possible.”

“Got it, but Ray-”

“No ‘buts’ Rainbow! Just do it!” Ray ordered as he ran out the door.

“Ray, wait...” But he was gone. Rainbow Dash swore to herself and looked over at Twilight and the coming-to Spike.

“You okay?” Twilight asked Spike, who replied with a groggy nod. “Good. Stay in the basement and don’t come out until we come back for you.” The baby dragon, without questioning it, obediently went back down the stairs he came from. Twilight closed the door and locked it.

“Let’s go.”

It wasn’t hard to find him; all Ray had to do was follow the gunshots and screams. He took cover behind a house, ponies dashing and scrambling to get away from the crazed gunman then peeked out from behind it only to almost get hit in the face with a few bullets.. Unfazed, Ray squeezed off two rounds from his pistol, merely to serve as an attention-grabber for his target. He did manage to hit the target, but the small rounds had a minimal effect on the protected target.

“Every pony run! Get out of here!” Ray shouted.

He waited until he heard the AK-47 cease firing and popped out of cover hoping to catch his opponent while he was reloading. Unfortunately, Ray only saw his target dive behind a building. The American then dashed across the street to see if he could go around the building and flank him. When Ray got around the building, however, the target was nowhere to be found. A window shattered and Ray pivoted around, bringing his carbine up, but with some difficulty. He then realized that there was a strange numb feeling in his upper arm, but ignored it. He ran back towards the street, trying to get across again to confuse the target, only to hear another gunshot. Ray fell to the ground, his unsecured sidearm sliding away. He looked at his arm and leg and pieced together what happened.

“Idiot!” Ray mentally scolded himself “He must have broken into a building and waited for you.”

There was a large wound in his right upper arm and his left knee. Ray tried to sit up with the carbine, but a powerful round punched him in the gut and Ray fell right back down, unable to lift the carbine. He recognized a .357 revolver in the hands of his enemy which approached him slowly, laughing. Mentally, Ray was more embarrassed that he had been so easily fooled than he was in pain.

“That was pathetic American!” the target taunted. “I was expecting a bigger challenge from ‘America’s Best’.”

“Please don’t hurt anypony,” Ray pleaded.

“Anypony? Ha! You are weak, already delirious from pain. Sure, I see ponies, but obviously from the nearby farm, no?”

“No… You’re not… In… America…” Ray panted.

“Oh stop it, you already told me what I needed to know. Any last words?” The target grinned.

Ray whispered something inaudible.

“What?” Shabal said as he leaned closer.

“You… Should… Have…”

“I should have what?” He teased, kneeling down near Ray

“Disarmed me,” Ray murmured as he pushed the revolver to the side and plunged his knife into his target’s neck.

The other man recoiled in shock as he desperately struggled to hold the gushing red liquid spilling from the wound in, but to no avail. He fell backwards and squirmed about until enough blood had leaked out to end his life. Ray’s mission was accomplished and allowed himself a weak smile, content.

“I have to go and find Ray,” Rainbow Dash declared to the group of ponies migrating away from Ponyville.

“You’re going to go back there?” Somepony in the crowd said.

“Yes, I need to, I’ll come back and tell you all when it is safe,” she said and shot back into town Rainbow Dash quickly flew over the town, scanning for her friend.

“Ray!” she called several times as she passed by various parts of the town. Finally, she spotted Ray and his “friend” on the ground, both lying in their own blood and their eyes closed. Ray had one arm extended away, clutching something in his hand.

“Ray?” She landed next to him “No…” But Ray stirred.

“Mmm? Oh, Rainbow Dash. I was hoping you’d be here sooner,” Ray said weakly but smiled all the same. Rainbow Dash looked shocked at what he’d just said.

“Don’t scare me like that Ray! Look, about earlier, I’m... I’m sorry.

“It’s… It’s okay. I understand,” Ray responded.

“No really, I shouldn’t have acted like that…”

“Its fine Rainbow Dash, you had every right… to be… angry…” Ray panted.

“But your my friend Ray. I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

“You’re my friend too and I should have said good bye,” He countered

“But-”

“But nothing. Please, I need you to do something.”

“How can I help?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“You have to go get help,” Ray answered.

“But I can’t just leave you here!”

“Remember Rainbow, I’ve-”

“Been through worse,” Rainbow Dash finished, half smiling, but still very much concerned. “Got it...”

“Exactly,” But what Ray didn’t say was that he had received immediate medical attention those times. “And I need you take this too.” Ray tried to lift his arm but couldn’t. Rainbow Dash trotted over and Ray opened his hand.

“Ray… I can’t.”

“Please, I don’t want it to get dirty.” He let out a tired chuckle.

Rainbow Dash took the picture of Cassandra from him and tucked it under the nearest window sill to hold it there. “Okay, it’s safe there... I’ll be back in a flash!” And off she went.

“And thank you.” He whispered.

Ray waited one minute, which turned to five, and at ten minutes Ray’s eyes grew heavy. The pain had faded away now and all that mattered was if Rainbow Dash was fast enough. At least he had finished his mission and protected his friends. Fifteen minutes and Ray’s eyes closed.

“We have to go back for him! He’s dying,” Rainbow Dash pleaded.

“Oh, I’m not going anywhere near that thing!” a doctor shouted.

“Ray killed it! It’s safe, you have to believe me!” Rainbow Dash begged.

“Do you know for a fact that it’s dead?” a mare said from somewhere in the crowd.

“Please…”

“I’ll go with you miss,” A brown stallion with a thick Trottingham accent said from the crowd.

“Are you a doctor?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“Yes I am, and I have seen far worse than that human. I’ll be back in a blink of an eye! If I come back and prove that the other human is dead, will you help ‘Ray’ in the hospital? There is only I so much I can do without equipment.”

There was a mumble of agreement from the initial doctor.

“Very well then, come along Miss Dash,” he called and started to rush back into town with the blue pegasus.

“By the way, I never caught your name,” Rainbow Dash said as they sped towards the hospital for some supplies.

“Names are highly overrated these days. But then again, how would we identify each other? I know some species use numbers but that’s boring, and that’s a bit like a name if you ask me…” Rainbow Dash never got her answer as the stallion prattled on.