The Lost Soldier

Hi all welcome back for chapter 3 .

Ray lied his head back down onto the pillow on the couch, his thoughts wandering about what had happened over the past few hours. This was, by far, the strangest thing that had ever happened to him. He also had a chance to examine his injuries more thoroughly: He looked at his left arm, which was in a sling, and he felt a bandage around his head. Aside from those, the only injuries left were cuts and bruises, so he figured he was in pretty good shape compared to most other times he was hurt. Ray decided to test his uninjured limbs as well to see if he could still move. He slowly turned and stood up off of the couch. His legs were a little stiff, but other than that, he was perfectly fine and his right arm was almost completely unharmed. Ray then checked around to see where his equipment was. He still had a silenced .45 pistol in a thigh holster and a 10 inch Gerber combat knife in a sheath attached to his shoulder, but he was curious as to where the rest of his stuff was.

Ray walked over to the cabin’s door and opened it, he then ducked through the short hole and came across six ponies, three of which he knew.

“Oh, Ray! I didn’t know you were up and walking. I thought you fell asleep after the princess left,” Twilight said.

“Yeah, well I hate being cooped up against my will. The only time I like to be still is when I want to be, otherwise I’m quite active. Anyways, I have yet to be introduced to these three ponies I haven’t met yet.”

“Oh, sorry. My apologies,” said Twilight “This is Applejack.” The purple unicorn nodded to an orange pony that was wearing a Stetson. Her blonde mane and tail was tied back with two scrunchies.

“Howdy,” Applejack greeted.

“Nice to meet you,” Ray replied.

“This is Rarity,” Twilight motioned towards a white unicorn that had a styled purple mane. She was obviously a very well-pampered pony.

“Pleasure to meet you Ray.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Ray replied

“And finally this is Pinkie Pie!” Twilight motioned to a pink pony whose mane didn’t seem styled at all. It looked like it had its own thing going. She also had a peculiar smell of cotton candy.

“Hi there mister,” she started in a bubbly manner. “You suurrre do look funny in that strange outfit of yours.”

The other five ponies shot looks at her and she quickly corrected herself, “Er, I mean they look nice...”

Obviously, they still didn’t trust Ray because he was from a violent species and they didn’t want to see how quickly he would anger. Luckily for them, but little did they know, Ray was a very nice calm guy. He just needed to earn their trust, which he knew from experience is hard if they feel you are a very large threat to them.

“It’s fine. I guess I do look kind of strange in my uniform. However, I’m wearing this because it might save my life.” The ponies looked confused and Ray assumed they did not know the concept of war. “Well I’ll just say it’s a kind of protective measure, sorta like a hardhat.”

“How does it act like a hard hat? It looks like any regular material besides the strange pattern on it,” said the inquisitive Twilight..

“It makes it so that anyone that wants to try to hurt me can’t see me as well because I blend in with the environment.”

“Oh, okay. That makes sense I suppose,” she replied.

Ray noticed that Twilight seemed to be the only one talking, but it only made sense because did seem to be the smartest of the bunch so she would probably be clever enough to diffuse a tense situation.

“Anyways,” Ray said, trying to change the subject before any other questions on the matter arose. “Does anypony know where all my stuff is? I have some really expensive gear in my backpack that I don’t want to lose.” Rainbow Dash gave him a suspicious look and he knew that by that, they knew what kind of “stuff” he had brought with him or at the least Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight did.

“What kind of stuff?” inquired Rainbow Dash.

Ray knew that the answer to this question could either help earn their trust or make them more suspicious of him. If he straight out said weapons, that might not help much, however if he was too vague it would also make them suspicious.

“I brought some tools that I use for my job.”

“And just what exactly is your job?” Rainbow Dash shot back, which triggered looks of shock and panic from the other ponies.

Ray knew he shouldn’t tell them his job until they trusted him more so he quickly hatched up a brilliant plan to change the conversation. Ray began to take a step to the side and “accidentally” snagged his foot on an inconveniently placed rock and tripped over. He let his head hit the ground and another wave of pain shot through his head. Showing immediate concern Fluttershy shot over to him.

“Are you okay Ray?”

“Yeah, I think so.” His trick seemed to work and the other ponies forgot about what the conversation they had just been having was about. That tends to happen when a supposedly violent being gets hurt and might get angry. “Anyways, how about my stuff?”

“Oh, it’s just over here,” said Twilight, heading off towards the forest Ray had jumped into.

“Well I’d best be goin’. I got a lot of work at the farm and those trees ain’t bucking themselves, ya know?” Applejack told the group.

“Yes, I have some orders to finish back at the shop so I believe I can’t come with you ponies either!” added Rarity.

“Yeah, and I have something I gotta work on too!” said Pinkie Pie exclaimed, rather cheerfully.

“Umm Pinkie, I don’t think you should…” Twilight began, apparently knowing what the pink pony was up to.

“Oh, no worries. It won’t be a problem,” Pinkie said with a wink.

“That’s not what I meant…” Twilight said, but Pinkie was already shooting away back towards Ponyville.

“What was that all about?” asked Ray, obviously not aware of Pinkie’s strange ways.

“Oh, it was nothing. Just Pinkie being... Pinkie,” said Twilight in a slightly worried tone. “Well, here we are.”

They approached the edge of the forest and Ray saw a tree with his parachute hanging off of it. Directly below it was a camouflaged bag, which he picked it up and slung it over his right shoulder before realizing something else.

“Uh, where will I be staying while I’m here in Ponyville?”

“I have a room in my basement under my library. You can stay there for the time being,” Twilight informed him.

“Oh, well thanks Twilight!”

Ray wanted to check his equipment as soon as possible in addition to feeling oddly tired, despite having been out for an unknown amount of time.

“I’m really tired right now and I could use some rest. Mind if we start heading over there now?”

“Sure, let’s get going then. See you later girls,” Twilight told the two pegasi. She then took Ray along towards the quiet little of town of Ponyville, leaving her two other friends by the forest.

“Well, he seems rather nice...” Fluttershy said.

“I dunno ‘Shy, I don’t like the looks of him. I think he’s hiding something and I don’t trust him one bit... Look, I’ve got to get a little practice in. I’ll see ya later.”

And with that, Rainbow Dash was gone.

Hey guys as before im accepting criticism and ideas for future chapters, im hoping
for at least 30 chapters, if you send in an idea then I will mention you at the end of the final
chapter that includes the idea just in case it spans multiple chapters.