Lonely Among Us

When I had regained consciousness everything was pitch black, and the place I was in, was completely silent. “Hello? Anybody there?” I asked, confused.

At first, there was no response, but then I could make out a quiet whisper coming from somewhere.

“...help… please help...” that’s what the whisper was saying.

I quickly stood up and shouted, “Where are you? What is this place?” but all I got back was another whisper calling for help. A few seconds later, my vision returned - but even then, I didn’t know where I was - all I could see was a cramped corridor lighted by torches, I could tell that it was long - I couldn’t see the end, I decided to investigate.

I had walked for some time, passing what looked like prison cells - all empty, all stained with dried blood. “What the hell is this place...”

The whispers returned, then - this time, followed by loud screams. “I recognize this voice… I’m coming, hold on!” I had shouted loudly and began to run.

I don’t know for how long I had run - maybe only a minute, maybe more - but with every passing moment I could hear the whispers getting louder and louder. Finally, I arrived at the end of the corridor - only to be stopped, by giant steel bars.

“Arg… what the…? Why can’t I break this?” I had said with frustration, as my efforts to destroy the obstacle were met with resistance.

Suddenly, somebody had switched on the light in the cell directly in front of me - then I saw what was pleading for help all this time, it was them - the same mares I rescued earlier. Their bodies were pinned to the giant table, few diamond dogs gathered around them with various tools in their hands. “Help up… please…” the older mare begged me, but with bars in the way - I was powerless.

One of the dogs had noticed me and grinned, then without saying anything he gave a signal to the rest of the pack - and the horrors began.

First in line was the older mare. Her screams filled the room, as the dogs started to torture her. While one of the bastards was cutting off her back legs with a rusty hacksaw, two others were smashing her front hooves with sledgehammers.

“HELP! PLEASE! AAAAA!” she screamed from the pain, as her first hoof hit the floor. I was trying desperately to break the bars - but nothing worked, all I could do is watch, useless and powerless to stop it.

A few seconds later her body was covered in her own blood, both back legs were gone, front hooves turned into mush - she was shaking, her voice transformed from screams to silent whispers, “... Help…”

“I can’t… I’m sorry…” I answered, my voice cracking from the pressure.

Finally, one of the guards pulled a knife, and mercifully slit her throat - but before she passed away, she managed to whisper, “...my sister… please…”

I took a look at the younger mare - she was only meters away, forced to watch everything - she was crying, and shaking, her breathing was shallow and rapid from fear.

Then tortures started again. “AAAaaa…” was all she managed to scream before her voice broke down - but in her eyes, I could see excruciating pain.

“NO! You bastards! ARG!” I shouted, trying desperately again to do something - anything, to break those damn bars. “I’m gonna kill you! I’m gonna kill you all! Sons of bitches! Stop! ARG!” I shouted even louder than before, as I began to bang my head against the bars.

Suddenly a loud noise and white flash of light struck the entire scene - and there was silence.

“What…? What happened?” I said with a confused voice, shaking from the experience.

“Who is this creature who holds so much pain inside?” said some calm, deep voice.

Slowly, the bright light faded away, revealing a blue pony with a sparkling mane. “Who are you? What’s going on?”

“My name is Luna - I am the Princess of the Night. You are currently asleep, my dear subject, I felt the need to intervene when I saw your dream,” she responded calmly. “It would appear you are about to wake up… perhaps we shall speak again. Farewell.”

“You mean, that was a nightmare? Wait-” I was interrupted by a bright light again - second later I woke up in a comfy bed.

***

The room was dark, I couldn’t see much.

“What the hell was that… wait a minute,” I stopped talking as I felt something on my left side. “What do we have here…” as I had started to examine the fluffy object, the night turned to day right before my eyes! I was stunned, I’ve never seen anything like that before.

Now the room was bright, I could see I was in some sort of a bedroom - outside, the birds were starting to sing. As I was scanning my surroundings, the door opened, and the familiar white mare stepped in. Only then, I realized that the ‘fluffy’ thing lying in bed with me, was her younger sister!

“Err… It’s not what you think!” I shouted as I saw the older pony galloping towards me. I expected a fist (or rather a hoof) to the face but instead got a strong hug. “You are alive, darling! Oh, thanks sweet Celestia!”

“OK, this is getting awkward…” I said with a confused voice. “Err… why is your sister in my bed…?”

My question brought a faint blush to the cheeks of the white mare. “Oh, I am sorry darling but after our… unfortunate experience, she was afraid to go to sleep. She only agreed if you were by her side… I hope that is… not a problem?” she asked with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

A puzzled expression quickly landed on my face - she knew me for an hour, and she let her younger sister sleep next to me? This felt weird, to say the least. “I guess it’s not a problem, but why would you let her sleep, next to a complete stranger?”

Tears of joy started running down her face as she responded, “Because you are a HERO! You saved our lives! Most importantly, you saved Sweetie Belle...” The mare had finished her speech and then hugged me again, even stronger than before. I was stunned and didn’t know how to react.

After what looked like an eternity - I finally got back to my senses. “Miss, I’m no hero, I’m just your average nano-enhanced soldier - well the only ever built, but still… Everyone in my place would do the same,” I said, trying to throw a little joke, to lighten up the mood.

“I… have no idea what you are… but for me you will always be a hero...” the mare responded calmly, wiping tears from her eyes. In the meantime, another pony entered the room.

“Um… Rarity... Is our patient feeling… better?” the yellow mare asked with quiet, uncertain voice.

“Oh, where are my manners - I completely forgot to introduce myself! My name is Rarity, and my little sister's name is Sweetie Belle. Back there, is my friend Fluttershy,” she said, pointing at the yellow mare.

“Captain James Gastovski, a pleasure to meet you all,” I responded with a calm voice, “although I wish the circumstances were a bit different. As for the question - yes, I’m feeling better, thank you.”

Fluttershy slowly approached the bed, looking a bit uncertain… then she hugged me gently and with a soft, quiet voice said, “Thank you, for saving my friend…”

All the hugging felt awkward... But surprisingly good at the same time - probably because I didn’t have any physical contact with another being in last 300 years. “OK, one rule from now on - please, no more hugg-” I didn’t even finish as I felt another hug, this time it was from Sweetie Belle - who finally woke up.

“You were awesome! You kicked those dog buts without breaking a sweat!" the kid shouted with excitement, "You were faster than Rainbow Dash and stronger than Applejack, you are MY HERO!”

“OK, enough! Ladies, you have some very weird ideas about me... Trust me - I am NO HERO.”

“Well darling, if that makes you uncomfortable, then I am sorry, but it is just how we feel…”

“I can understand that, but-” before I could finish, four more ponies burst through the door.

***

“Rarity! Sweetie Belle!” they all shouted, happy to see their friends. Sweetie Belle jumped out of bed to greet them.

“Finally some peace and quiet,” I said to myself as I hid from the crowd under the blanket. "APE are you there? APE? Hrmph, he must be offline again.”

A second later I felt the gentle poke, followed by the question, “So you are the one who saved our friends?” when I removed the blanket, I noticed the question came from the pony with purple fur.

“Let say yes...” I replied, showing a little irritation.

“On behalf of all ponies gathered here, I would like to thank you! Is there anything we can do for you?"

“Perhaps… I would like-”

I was interrupted by a pink mare. “A PARTY?!” she screamed enthusiastically.

I looked at her with irritation and replied coldly, “NO! I don’t do parties.”

Apparently, pink pony didn’t like my answer very much - she started jumping around my bed with anger in her eyes... Or craziness or... Whatever that was. “WHAAAATTT??!! Everypony like parties! I will make the party you’ll never forget! There will be confetti, cupcakes…” she was jumping around and babbling about some party like there was no tomorrow… I felt I needed to get out of there ASAP.

I got up from my bed. “Err… sorry ladies but I need to get some fresh air…” as soon as I took the first step, I lost my balance for a moment and landed on all fours, but got myself up again quickly. Suddenly the room went silent, and everyone was staring at me, with horror in their eyes.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, not understanding what's going on.

Finally, after a few seconds - blue pony said, “I think moving is a bad idea… I… those wounds look nasty.”

I had glanced at my shattered body and realized I really looked like crap. I was covered with dried blood, battle wounds were clearly visible - including two holes: one of the spear and one of Hurk’s giant knife - hundreds of smaller lacerations covered my back and chest.

This was also the first time, I was able to see the damage my suicide attempt did - most of my skin was melted or carbonized, all support systems were either destroyed or heavily damaged - I was one giant mess.

I put a weak smile on my face and said, “Well, I guess I won’t be winning a beauty contest anytime soon. Now if you excuse me…” and then I limped downstairs.

***

I sat outside on the grass, birds were singing all around me - after 300 years of silence, the sounds of nature were lovely and soothing. Resting in peace, I took a look around - for the first time I saw this land in the sun - it was beautiful. I could see some houses in the distance - probably the rest of this village - there were mountains, a forest, rivers, and lakes... Seemed like a really nice place to live.

Suddenly I noticed someone next to me - it was the purple mare again. “May I join you?” she asked gently.

I replied, pointing at the grass next to me, “Sure...”

“Rarity told us what happened, I… we would like to apologize, we didn’t realize things were so severe,” she said with an uncertain voice.

I smiled and replied calmly, with some embarrassment, “I don’t see any reason for you apologizing to me. Nah, I should be the one apologizing. It’s just… damn… you see - the last time I talked to so many creatures at once, was a very long time ago - and even back then I wasn’t what you would call a ‘social person.’ I simply felt overwhelmed a moment ago, needed to catch some air - sorry about that.”

Purple mare put a smile on her face as I continued, “Look, you asked me if you can do something for me - how about answering a few questions…? As I’m sure you realize by now, I’m not exactly from around here...”

“Gladly! Actually, I wanted to ask you some questions too! Ooh, and my name is Twilight Sparkle” she said with an enthusiastic voice.

“Captain James Gastovski, a pleasure to meet you. OK, this might sound a bit weird, but could you tell me - where am I and what are you…? I guess this isn’t the afterlife is it?” I asked calmly.

For a moment Twilight was confused, but then she replied calmly, “As far as I know, this isn’t the ‘afterlife.’ This land is called Equestria. As for who we are… many creatures live here, we are ponies - earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns.”

“Unicorns… Wait... Don’t tell me you can do magic…?”

“Of course! Look…” Twilight quickly charged her horn and turned nearby rock into an apple. My jaw dropped.

“So Rarity was using magic to hold that pickaxe…” I thought to myself.

A few seconds later I heard a familiar voice inside my head, “APE reboot complete - APE unit available.”

“About time! Sleeping on the job again? ... Oh, I said that out loud didn’t I?” I asked the confused Twilight. “APE go to speaker mode and introduce yourself, so I won’t sound like crazy, talking to myself.”

“Yes, sir. Hello Mrs. Twilight Sparkle, my designation is an Artificial Person Emulator, APE for short. I am captain’s assistant, a pleasure to meet you,” APE said with his synthetic voice.

Twilight still looked a bit confused, but soon responded calmly, “Um… a pleasure to meet you too APE.”

Without further ado APE started talking like there was no tomorrow, “Sir, I was able to analyze the data we gathered and I think I know some more about what is going on here - the ‘magic’ those creatures use is actually quantum level manipulation, similar to what our own nano-tech is doing,” both me and Twilight were listening attentively. “However, energy index of this world is 3000% higher than back on Earth, I would theorize these creatures evolved to take advantage of this fact-”

“Wait,” I interrupted,“ are you saying… their bodies are capable of naturally using that quantum energy?”

“It would appear so, sir. They must have evolved with these capabilities.”

I was stunned If APE was right, that meant every pony in this land was magically powered - or rather - quantum powered.

Twilight was listening with excitement, as soon as APE finished talking, she asked, “Are you implying, you were able to actually simulate our magic using technology?! I need to look into that! Just imagine the possibilities we could…” she stopped talking when she realized I was glancing at her with a cheerful look in my eyes.

“You are the local egghead or something?” I asked with a smile.

Twilight’s face suddenly turned from a smile to irritation as she responded with an angry voice, “I BEG YOUR PARDON?!”

“She definitely is!” the blue pony I met earlier, suddenly interrupted our conversation.

“RAINBOW DASH!”

“What? Everypony knows it’s true!”

I quickly stepped in trying to calm matters. “Whoa! Whoa! Sorry, no offense intended! Allow me to rephrase… are you a local... Scientist?”

Before Twilight could say anything, Rainbow Dash interjected, “She is! She is also the 'Princess of Friendship'!”

“RAINBOW DASH! That’s enough!” Twilight finally interrupted “and yes, you can say I’m interested in science and research.”

“Obsessed, would be more like it!”

Twilight gave her an annoyed look. “That’s why I would like to ask you to meet me some time later, so we could discuss what your… assistant said and plan some research, without interruptions from OTHERS,” she again glanced at Dash with irritation.

Before I was able to respond, I had noticed the other ponies walking out of the cottage.

“By the way, name’s Rainbow Dash! The fastest flier in all of Equestria! And there stands Pinkie Pie and Applejack,” Rainbow said, pointing at her friends.

“Captain James Gastovski, a pleasure to meet you all... Fluttershy, Rarity - thanks for patching me up - I will go now.”

Everybody looked at me with confused faces.

“Go where, darling? You are hurt!” Rarity said with a concerned voice.

Fluttershy confirmed her friend’s opinion, “Rarity is right… you should stay…”

“Sir! The ponies are correct. We are in no shape to travel.” APE said out loud, causing some confusion.

“That was APE - my assistant... Twilight will explain, anyway… I don’t want to be anybody’s burden.”

“Um… you are not a burden… you saved our friends… I would like to help you regain your strength," said Fluttershy with her quiet, insecure voice, "if that is OK with you?”

I was torn - on the one hand, I didn’t want anybody’s help - after all, I fended for myself for the last 300 years - on the other… I must admit, it was good to finally talk to someone other than APE, and Fluttershy seemed like a nice person.

“OK, I will stay on one condition - I don’t want to be lying useless in my bed all the time, I want to help with something. I will need to regenerate until morning to regain my strength - but after that, I should be fine enough - do we have a deal?” I asked calmly.

Fluttershy had smiled and responded quietly, “OK…”

“Me and Sweetie Belle have to go soon, but we will visit tomorrow, if that is ok with you, darling?” Rarity asked with her charming voice, and I nodded in agreement.

Soon after that everybody left, leaving me with Fluttershy.

“Um… would you like something to eat?” she asked with her shy voice.

I smiled and responded calmly, “No, thank you - I'm afraid, my stomach still needs to regenerate some more - and besides, my body is self-sustaining anyway" my response confused the yellow pegasus. "But tomorrow, I should be able to eat something - oh and by the way, thank you for patching me up, and for not trying to talk to me like others did - I'm just overwhelmed at the moment, I hope you understand.”

Fluttershy put a smile and responded with her calm voice, "Of course... I can only imagine what you are feeling right now..."

I don't know why, but there was something about her… something that made me feel... At ease.

“Thank you... Perhaps I will go to bed now, I need to let this body of my heal some more,” I said calmly, and she nodded - probably feeling this is the best idea for the time being.