Parallel

Chapter 20: Shadows of the Past

I was sitting in a chair.

It wasn't just any chair, though.

Before I went to basic training me and twenty other people were hauled away on a flight. When we landed in Texas we were all herded to a hallway exiting out of the airport. This hallway had an office on the right where I caught my first sight of a Military Drill Instructor. Just by looking at the guy I could tell he was a total hardass. He was shorter than me, but he looked like he could tear the armor from a tank with his teeth if he really wanted to.

Looking back, I realize it was the way he carried himself.

This hallway was also lined with chairs; stiff wooden things with no arm rests.

As we were pushed into this hall the Drill Sergeant came out screaming his head off for us to plant our asses on those chairs.

Naturally, we did what any high school kids confronted with a screaming man with military experience would do.

We listened to him and planted our asses on the chairs.

We were yelled at to sit with our backs straight and our hands on our knees, and we did so without hesitation. The drill instructor returned to his office and left us out there for an hour. By the time he had returned my back and my rear were starting to ache, but I had not moved an inch out of fear.

I remember that chair to this day.

It was the chair I was sitting in after my world had turned white.

In fact, my world was still white. The only things that seemed to exist were myself and the aforementioned seat. I sat there, staring at my feet and contemplating exactly how I had ended up there.

"It's strange, isn't it?"

I looked up, and standing a few feet in front of me was Twilight. It appeared there was some type of surface under us, but it blended in with the rest of the whiteness surrounding us.

"What is?" I asked.

"All this."

There was a long moment of silence following that. We just stared at each other, and that felt like the only thing that needed to be done.

Eventually I cleared my throat, "So... nice weather."

Twilight only giggled and trotted a bit closer to the bench, "The pegasi really outdid themselves this time. Even the ground is clear."

"Are you real?"

She only smiled, "You tell me."

"I don't know. Maybe I'm dead. Maybe I see you before I die because I..."

I hesitated to finish the sentence.

When she realized I wasn't going to keep talking she sighed and shook her head, "Careful, a mare might get hopeful if you start talking like that."

"Ha, you're so buried in your books all the time I didn't think you would notice I was interested."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, I'm not that bad. All the blushing and the lack of protest to the nuzzling made it pretty clear."

"So what now? We just sit here and talk?"

She trotted closer and jumped onto the bench. After a moment of adjusting herself she laid down with her head on my lap. I rested my hand on her mane and she closed her eyes.

"I guess so. Tell me about Clark."

I broke my gaze away from her to look into the endless white. She probably knew what she said bugged me, "How do you know about him? The only person I've ever told is Doc."

"You're the one who decided I'm not real."

"Right, but I don't know how magic works. I could be passed out and you could be in my head."

She clucked her tongue, "Busted."

"Am I in a coma?"

"No, but..."

"The word 'but' isn't very reassuring to me at the moment."

She opened her eyes and looked up at me, pulling my gaze back to her with her magic, "I need you to trust me William. Now, tell me about Clark."

"Clark was... he was my best friend." There was no flash, nothing went completely black, there was no dramatic scenery change.

It was almost like it clicked into place, like someone had pressed the play button on a remote somewhere. All around us was the scene of a desert, and a few yards away were Clark and I. Clark, as I had expected, was dragging my happy dehydrated ass across the desert. "We met in basic training, and we even got sent to the same base. When our orders came up we both even ended up deployed to the same squadron. It was almost like..."

"Like God was trying to keep you two with each other."

I laughed, "Something like that. You guys have God in Equestria?"

She smiled softly, "Something like that."

The other me collapsed into the sand, and Clark was screaming at me to get up, but I couldn't hear him.

"What happened to him?"

"Our convoy got ambushed. I can't even remember how we got away, but we ended up walking through the desert trying to get back to our FOB. We walked for miles, eventually our exhaustion caught up to us. I was the first to collapse, and Clark wasn't strong enough to carry me back. The taliban found us, and... they captured us."

The scene changed again.

This time it was that interrogation room.

I had seen that disgusting fucking place in my dreams far more than I wanted to.

And it was right in front of Twilight.

I didn't want her to see this.

I didn't want her to see this part of me.

She pushed her muzzle into my side gently, "It's okay William."

"No, it's not."

I saw them put the gun against Clark's head, and I saw them pull the trigger.

I gritted my teeth.

"It will never be alright."

"You blame yourself for his death."

"If he'd left me..."

Twilight leaped atop me and wrapped her hooves around me, "Don't think like that."

"I like to think that I'm alright, but..." I returned the hug and buried my head in her mane, "But every time I wake up from that, every time that I remember it... I think it should have been me."

"William..."

"Did you know when I was getting your medicine to you through the veil I tried to take charge of the group?"

"What?"

"I almost got Rarity killed, if it wasn't for Dash and Fluttershy... I blanked, and it was all I could do to try and save her. I remembered the gunfire, and I remembered Clark's death. I remembered it all like it had just happened. Christ, I'm surprised I can even point a gun straight anymore without putting the barrel in my mouth."

Twilight pulled slightly away and locked her eyes with mine. "I want you to listen to me William."

"So you can say you're sorry?"

She shook her head, "No, so I can make a promise to you. You are our friend, and friends help each other and take care of each other. I want you to know that we'll always be there if you're going through a rough spot. Human, pony, whatever else we take the form of, we will always be by your side."

"And what do you get out of this deal?"

"The same thing in return."

"... It's really that simple?"

"William, I can speak with conviction when I say that nothing is ever simple. However, I can also say that a promise made by one of us is worth more than any treasure you could find."

"Ha, that is the cheesiest shit I've ever heard."

"Oh shut up."

When my eyes snapped open the first thing I did was gasp for air. My vision was blurred and I couldn't make out where I was at, but I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, "Thank God you're awake."

My vision started to clear, and the first thing I saw was the girl latched to me, Tammy. "Hey to you too. Thanks for the helping hand."

She pulled away and blushed, "I wasn't sure it would work. I had no idea what I was dealing with. I can't even remember what I did."

I smiled, "Well you weren't exactly human at the time. I was gonna make a joke about how your pony version beat you to the punch, but I guess it WAS you."

"I... wha... I don't even..."

"I think until we understand how these worlds are connected we won't be able to figure something like this out no matter how hard we try, so maybe you should just jot it down in your notebook."

Tammy nodded solemnly and let out a sigh, "I guess I can let it go for now, but I'll be studying and experimenting very soon. We're gonna figure this out if it takes us decades!"

"You're a bit scary when you get all academic."

I noticed we were still in Tammy's makeshift arena, so I couldn't tell how long I'd been out after I got nailed by the elements.

"Oh oh oh! He's awake he's awake! I need to get in on this!"

The sudden weight of another person knocked the air from both of us, and the poofy hair was enough to identify the culprit, "Hey, Phoebe," I grunted.

"Come on everybody, don't just stand there! He's okay! Group hug!"

Surprisingly, the first to approach and attach herself to the three of us was Felicia.

Hot on her heels was Robin, "We were so worried for you, Dear. Tammy's spell was so dangerous, but I couldn't talk her out of it."

Alice wasn't far behind, a huge grin on her face.

"Come on Rachel!" shouted Phoebe, "You too, don't be a grumpy pants!"

"I don't do hugs."

"Rachel," said Felicia, "Please."

"Dammit, fine."

With that, Rachel joined us, and the group hug was complete, except...

"Where's Cammy?" I asked.

I felt a hand ruffle my hair, followed by a rather enchanting laugh. I rolled my eyes to the top of my head and saw Cammy crouching down to me, just outside of the group, "Right here," she said softly, "I'm glad you trusted me. You did good."

"What about Discord?" I asked.

Cammy clucked her tongue, "He got away. He was pretty pissed off though, so I think we set his plans back some."

"Good, it's better than nothing. Now, can everyone get off so we can get out of here?"

"I'm okay with that," said Tammy, "I need to dismantle this place, and we all deserve some rest after this."