A Soldiers Story: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

John staggered up the cracked stairs, his brow covered with sweat and blood. He and the wounded mare had finally made it to the castle. Its towers loomed over them, providing shade against the setting sun. As he sprinted up the steps, he looked down at the mare in his arms and noticed that she had fresh tears in her eyes, accompanied by fear. “Don’t worry,” John reassured her as the pair reached the final steps, “we are almost there!”

The man rushed to the front entrance of the castle, running past deceased guards, still gripping their spears tightly. John threw open the doors as he ran into the throne room, the rainbow haired girl, gripping tightly to his shirt. The throne room had obviously seen better days. Beautiful pieces of stained glass were scattered across the room. Banners and flags lay scattered among the floor. The thrones themselves laid in surprising condition. One of the thrones was gold, bearing the image of a sun on top of it. The other was as dark as obsidian, bearing a crescent moon on top of it, similar to the sun throne.

John rushed inside, noticing light coming from another door to the left of the thrones. He heard the mare beginning to gasp for air. He had seen this too many times before. She needed help. NOW.

He threw open the doors to enter a long halfway, packed to the brim with ponies They looked at him with shock, awe, and a little bit of fear. John took off his helmet as he let the girl lay down on the ground. Her eyes looked at him in fear, her bloody hands still gripping tightly to his uniform. Looking at her, John remembered how every friend, every comrade, and every brother looked at him before their deaths. They pleaded to him, begged him to not let them go, to not let them die. But every time, he let them slip from his grasp.

But not this time.

He would not let her die.

Bringing his head up, tears starting to trickle down his face, he shouted into the awed room, “MEDIC!” He let his hands travel down to the wound on her leg, blood still gushing out of it. Applying pressure to it, he heard the mare grunt in pain. Seeing this, John shouted even louder. “I NEED A GODDAMN MEDIC OVER HERE! NOW!” He looked over to see torn cloth strewn across the floor. Grabbing the white piece of cloth, he began to wrap the wound up as best as he could. “Come on! You are going to be ok! I need you to keep fighting for me ok?” John told her as ponies began to spread out to give the pair space to work. She began to close her eyes, her hand slowly falling limp. Reaching into his pocket, John pulled out a shot filled with morphine. Taking the cap off, John stabbed it into her leg, causing her to jolt back awake. “Come on! You have to stay awake!” John told her as the morphine worked through her body.

She then looked at him, tears of pain filling her eyes, and spoke in the most heartbreaking voice possible, “H-Help Me.”

John looked at her, his own tears streaming down his face as he looked back up and shouted in an even louder voice, “MEDIC!”

It only took a couple of seconds for the supposed medics to arrive. They rushed into hallway, causing the crowd watching them to back off even more. As they approached the pair, John reached into his chest and pulled out a simple necklace. It was given to him by his mother before he was sent off to war. It was a simple chain necklace, but at the center of it was the letters ‘J’ and ‘L’, John’s initials. He took it off his neck and placed it into the palm of this mare. She looked at it, showing a few glimpses of happiness . When the doctors finally arrived at their location, they placed the girl onto a stretcher and began to carry her down the hall to another pair of doors.

Giving a huge sigh of relief, John placed his hand over his left breast pocket, only to feel something inside. Curious, John reached into the pocket and pulled out a necklace with a pendant at its center. The necklace itself was made of gold, its brilliant shine dancing across the room. The pendant itself was of a white cloud, harboring a lightning bolt of red, yellow, and blue. She must have put this in my pocket while I was rushing her here, John thought as he twirled the necklace in his hands. Then he began to smile, putting the necklace through his head, letting it slide down to join his dog tags.

After sliding on the necklace, he heard another pony approach him. Turning his head, John came face to face with Iron Will and another pony who he had never seen before. This new pony had hair that seemed to defy the laws of physics, but John ignored that. In fact, John was fascinated by the twinkling stars in her hair. He then heard her say, “Is this the one you wanted us to find?”

Looking to Iron Will, he heard him say, “Yes,” as he extended his hand out to John to lend a helping hand, “yes he is.”
Grinning, John grasped the hand, lifting himself back to standing position, taking his time to take a closer look at the two. It appeared that he was taller than both, Iron Will standing at a proud 5’9 while the starry mare was slightly taller than Will, standing at a proud 6’0. However, John still stood taller than both, coming in at a whopping 6’4. The starry mare had a horn on her head, just like Iron Will, but she also had wings, just like the rainbow haired girl that he saved.

John looked at the both of them, feeling glad to be in some familiar company, before saying, “Sorry about that back there. I had to make sure that she was ok. She looked too young to die.”

The starry mare quickly dismissed the apology, replying, “No, don’t apologize. In fact, we should thank you. If you did not help her, then she would have surely died, and our nation would be doomed.”

John pondered this new information, bringing his hand up to his chin. So, she WAS important, John thought as he continued to think, it is a good thing that I helped her then. He then replied to the mare, “I would have done it if it was anyone else.”

John then held out his hand to the mare, introducing himself. “I am John Lee, commander of the 1st Infantry Division of the United States Army. I presume that you are the leader here?”

The mare gave him a warm smile and gripped his hand, replying, “Yes. We are Princess Luna, and we oversee this quadrant of the battlefield.”

A warrior princess? John thought as he continued to shake her hand, I have never heard of one of those before. He then bent one knee before Luna and kissed her hand, responding, “Then it is an honor to meet you in person, Princess.”

Luna blushed at the gesture, due to never receiving it before. Her sister had received this gesture many times before, but she had never received it herself. “Thank you,” she said as John slowly rose to his feet.

The three stood there in silence for a while, slowly comprehending everything that had happened. Luna broke the silence by telling John, “Follow me.” Obeying her, John began to walk back towards the throne room, opening the door for her. As they walked, Luna began to ask questions, “So, John. You say that thou are from this ‘United States’. Tell me, where is this nation?”

“Well,” John answered, scratching his head as they walked, “from what I have gathered, I’m not from this planet. Hell, I might not even be from this galaxy.” Luna took this new piece of information in, thinking, I have never seen a creature like him, and his body appears to be immune to any of my mind-probe magic. Perhaps he is truly telling the truth.

As they walked, John began to tell Luna about his home world. He told her of the majestic mountains in Colorado, the mighty Mississippi River, and the looming skyscrapers of New York City. She seemed to be interested, but when John began to mention his role in the Second World War, he immediately got Luna’s attention.

“Hold on, are thou telling us that your world has gone through not one, but two world wars!”

“Yes,” John replied, a grim look on his face, “the first world war ended 27 years ago. We thought that that one would be the worst war the world had ever seen. How wrong we were.”

“I have a proposal for you,” Luna said, stopping just behind a large pair of doors behind the throne. “Our kind has not experienced a true war for thousands of years. Hence, we are ill equipped and prepared for battle. However, you seem to be fully prepared for dealing with war.”

John looked at her curiously and responded, “Yes, that is true. What are you getting at?”

Luna sighed and turned to John and asked, “I am asking that you lead the final assault to protect our city.”

John simply stared at her in shock and awe. “Me? Leading? I-I am honored your majesty, but why me and not you?”

Luna sighed and said, “I am worried about the safety of Loyalty, the element that you managed to save. I am going to stay behind to give support to my ponies who are sheltered within our castle walls. I will offer medical support to them, especially to Loyalty.” She then turned and placed a hand on John’s shoulder. “Look, I chose you because of who you are and what you can do. You are the most equipped for this position. You have had previous leadership experience, and you can kill efficiently. Besides, you have inspired our soldiers, and given hope to my ponies.”

John simply stared at her in shock, fully processing this information. Panic began to take over his mind. He had never felt this panicked since he was given command of the 1st Infantry Division. However, John was better than that. Taking a deep breath, getting a grip on his brain, John looked back at Luna and responded, “Ok. I’ll do it.”

Luna smiled and leaned in and gave him a soft peck on the cheek, causing them to turn into a bright red. Luna then opened the door to reveal a staircase, leading down into the pitch-black basement. “Hurry,” she said as she used her magic to illuminate the stairs, “we don’t have much time.” John brought his hand to his cheek, grazing over the place where Luna had kissed him, causing a dopey smile to form on his face. He then followed Luna down into the basement, to prepare for the upcoming assault.