To End Another War

***2 Days Later***

“Sister, we must talk about this… Human creature.” Luna said as she walked into the room where she and her sister usually talked after daily court was done, even though it had been cancelled for a week now as preparations for their defense took over most of the two alicorns’ time.

“What about him, Luna?” Celestia quietly asked, her attention seemingly sunk into papers spread in front of her.

“Celestia, he has done nothing but lay in his bed for the past two days. The doctors tell me he only stops staring at that wall to eat or be bathed. He has done nothing, and yet he is who the spell brought us.” Luna answered and her sister sighed in response. “Twilight has been asking him every question imaginable, and, for as long as he answered at least, apart from the strangeness of his species and culture there is nothing to suggest he’s a special individual by any means. Cadance tries her best to get him to talk since he found out about his leg, but he simply hums odd tunes, and claims he’s useless. All he speaks of is how he let everyone else down and how he should be dead. Why is he, a crippled and unknown being, the one the spell brought instead of the one we desperately need?”

“Neither I nor anyone else can or could answer that question, and you know it Luna. Why it brought him I don’t know, but the magic of the spell must have had some reason or else it wouldn’t have. Hopefully that reason reveals itself soon, before those ‘horses’ finish celebrating their bloody victory,” Celestia said as she rubbed her temples, which Luna knew was a sign to leave her be. “And I do believe you’re being too cross with him, Luna. Give him some time. Don’t forget that only moments before we pulled him into our world he was full bodied and fighting for his life. Now please, I have a lot to do and need a moment alone.”

Luna felt anger and resent for the human creature as she left her sister's study, but it was soon put down by the guilt that swamped her instead, wondering if it was likely that it was they that may have caused the human to lose his leg or forced his comrades to face their doom. The spell was supposed to pull in the long dead, and instead they got a human that was very obviously still alive and bleeding. If the spell had caught him sooner, could his leg have been saved? And if they got him later, could he found a way to save his fellows?

Celestia looked back down at the papers in front of her, just beginning to sort them out when a knock came from the door. With a sigh of frustration, she opened the door with her magic to reveal Cadance who seemed near panic. Celestia knew that her own appearance was not that much different, a far cry from how she usually was, with her disheveled mane and the stress showing hints of her true age on her face.

“Yes, Cadance? What is you need?” She asked, much sharper than intended.

“Aunt Celestia, what are we going to do about those ‘Horses’? Do we have a new plan?” Cadance asked, in the most panicked voice Celestia had ever heard from her. Not even during the wedding invasion or when Sombra had returned had she heard a voice like that from the young princess. “The spell didn’t work, so now what will we do? That was our resort to give ourselves a better fighting chance!”

“Cadance, calm down.” Celestia said in a tired voice. “Panic will not help us now, and it seems the human that the spell summoned will not either. We didn’t gain what we hoped, but we didn’t lose anything at the very least. Nothing changed. We must simply defend Equestria ourselves.”

“How? The only experienced forces I have to spare is the Crystal Guard, and they’re nothing more than an honor guard. Even if they weren’t, there’s nowhere near enough of them to make an impact.”

“What of the Crystal Empire's regular citizens? Surely, they are more accustomed to war that the citizens of modern Equestria,” Celestia suggested, only for Cadance to frantically shake her head.

“They are accustomed to the horrors of war, aunt Celestia, not waging them. Whatever forces the Crystal Empire had, apart from the Crystal Guard, were wiped out by King Sombra in his madness, afraid of any threat to his power. They are untrained citizens, aunt Celestia, that are still hurt in their way. They aren’t soldiers.”

“Then what do you suggest for me to do?” Celestia snapped, and Cadance flinched “We have few options, Cadance. Equestria is ill prepared for war, and has been for a long time. Its citizens already panic at the mere mention of a serious conflict such as this,” she ended with a tired sigh as her head fell into her hooves. “At this point either I force a conscription and try to stop the Horses by throwing my ponies bodies at them or I keep them happy and in the dark until they are hounded out of their homes. If they’re lucky.”

“You mean they don’t know?” Cadance asked in surprise

“I’ve done my best to make sure the news doesn’t spread. There are rumors of course, but they have no idea of exactly what we face. I’m sure if they did, it would not end well.” Celestia said quietly “Especially if they knew we had no plan. But the rumors are growing every day, Cadance, and I can’t keep it hidden much longer. I wanted to tell them when we had a plan, but we don’t!”

Cadance was quiet as she walked up to the old princess, wrapping her front hooves around Celestia in a caring hug, and whispered into her ear. “Maybe it’d be better if they found out from you instead of another way. They are going to find out anyway, aunt Celestia, you might as well let them know now so that they may prepare. I think you’ll find most are braver than you think.”

Luna quickly made her way to the hospital wing of the palace, thoughts of this kind swirling in her head, knowing fully how useless asking these questions was and yet unable to stop herself. She walked into the human's room where he lay like she had been told, still staring blankly at the bare wall. She sat on her haunches at the end of the human's bed, and sighed.

“Why did the spell bring you instead of a strong warrior? Why bring you, a human, injured in soul and body, when we needed the guiding hoof of a general?” She spoke aloud, not expecting a response. “… Was it our spell that harmed you? And if so, why? Did it cause you to lose your leg? Does the responsibility for it lies with us-” She was cut off by him talking in slow and shaky voice.

“You didn’t hurt me,” he said, finally showing his awareness that someone was in the room with him. During the last couple of days, the human had tuned everything out, until this moment. “I’m sorry. L-Luna was it? I…. I think I was already hurt.”

Luna was amazed. The only interactions she had with him where she actually heard a sound come from his throat, apart from the day he appeared, was when she had visited him one night, drawn by the sound of his screams in his fevered sleep. She had tried entering his dreams, but was unable to do so. The current state of his mind had proven to be restricting and unyielding, barring the entrance to his dreamscape with metaphorical iron bars, and what she had managed to see by peeking through them would have been enough to haunt almost anypony else. Yet now here he was, talking to her when even the friendliness of Twilight Sparkle and the soothing, unmitigated compassion of Cadance had failed.

“What do you mean, human?” Luna asked, leaning forward in anticipation.

“John,” the human reprimanded her, softly. “My name’s John. I’m sure it wasn’t you. I… I don’t remember that much, but I’m sure.”

“What do you remember then? John. What’s the latest event you remember, John?” Luna asked, the name rolling strange upon her tongue.

“I remember... I remember seeing my best friend killed. He was right next to me. Fighting, yelling, and screaming curses and profanities at the germans, like me. Fighting the good fight, for the spirit of liberty, and all that.” His tone seemed more bitter before softening back to what it was before, almost as if he found trouble with the words he’d just spoken “Just like everyone else. Then he went silent and he took a step back or… or fell backwards, leaning on the wall of dirt behind us. I didn’t even notice it till I asked him a question, and didn’t get a response. He just laid there. I don’t even know how long it had been. I don’t know when he died. Now that I’m here, I’m glad I didn’t take his dog tags so his family can know...”

His expression was blank and unmoving as he paused for a moment while he breathed deeply to calm himself. Except for his eyes. He squinted and blinked a few times, holding back the physical proof of his pain that threatened to emerge, before continuing on in a haunted voice.

“I remember being hungry, thirsty, and tired. Oh God, I was so exhausted. I also remember a message, someone giving it to me. His face is just… it’s just a wild blur in my mind. I remember running. Running through gunfire and exploding shells, then stepping on something hard underneath the brush, followed by a boom right below me. I.. I went through the air, I remember that now. Then the landing, face first. It hurt, but… it wasn’t my head that hurt, I think. Everything hurt, but there was something else as well. I remember crawling to a tree after trying to stand only to fall on my left side. Everything fades after that. I only remember smelling gunpowder and thinking of home before…before it all went black.”

Luna sat quietly, her own experiences with the horrors of the battlefield telling her to wait, to give… John a moment to collect himself. She sat and said nothing, giving only the comfort of a listening ear and a friendly presence.

John sighed, his whole body deflating before he continued. “Then all of a sudden there’s a huge flash of white, a loud ringing noise, and this weird warm feeling before the blackness came again.”

He moved his head to look at Luna, tears finally welling free in his eyes, with a near heartbroken look on his face. “I don’t think you caused me to lose my leg. I don’t know anything besides that I’m a cripple, and that I failed every single one of my friends, still stuck in that forest. I failed at the one thing I volunteered to do. It was my job, they were my brothers, and I failed them.”

Luna felt her own heart skirt at the pain of that declaration. Many of the words and terms he used were a complete unknown to her, but the underlying feelings, the tragedy, the loss, were all too familiar to her, even if faded by the long passage of time.

“You aren’t useless. From what I understand you were put in an impossible situation, yet despite that you didn’t hesitate. You attempted to do what had to be done for the sake of your fellow soldiers. Whether you succeeded or not… that is secondary. You did your best. I think… I think you might be able to help me and my sister after all,” she blurted out and… John’s expression changed into a look of confusion.

“How? How could I possibly help you? I’m just a crippled soldier. I can’t even walk anymore. You said so yourself that I wasn’t who you needed or wanted. I’m here by mistake. I’m alive because some mishap miracle.”

Luna mulled over the human's words for a minute before speaking again. She spoke the first thing that popped into her mind, driven by bitterly gained experience, trying to give not comfort but purpose. “Perhaps you aren’t exactly who we need, but… perhaps the spell had a reason to bring you instead. We just don’t know why yet.” She looked at the hu- John, she mentally corrected herself. He looked unconvinced, but the unfocused stare was gone, for now at least.

“The doctors say you can try and walk with crutches,” Luna continued firmly before he could revert to his old behavior. “You won’t know if you can help unless you get out of this bed and try.”

He seemed deep in thought for a moment before reluctantly nodding.

“Alright. I’ll give a shot at the crutches at least. It beats having the nurse bring me a bucket every time,” he said as he sat up and threw his blankets and sheets off of himself. He reluctantly looked at the stump that the doctors had rebandaged after stitching together what was left only three days before. His stare threatened to become foggy again, lost into pain he could do nothing about once more, until Luna used her magic to force him to look away. He didn’t complain like he normally did when forced to move by magic, but simply looked at her with a troubled expression.

“You will do this. Repeat that to yourself.” She said firmly, and she left to tell the doctors to go ahead with supplying him with crutches and helping him walk before this brief surge of courage left him again, atrophied by the loneliness of his thoughts. She stopped at the door. “My condolences for your losses. All of them. But I have to make sure that my ponies face as little of the torment that you have. And perhaps, just perhaps, you’d prefer it if you could stop somepony from seeing their own best friend die. I wouldn’t say this if I didn’t believe you had the strength or the courage. But first…”

Willpower glinted in the back of tired eyes. “Walk,” John finished for her.