A Soldiers Story: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Descending into the dark depths, John began to formulate ideas about what he wanted to do for the attack. “These ponies have primitive weapons, but they also have magic that acts as a counteractive to their lack of technology. Perhaps I could exploit this…” he thought as they finally reached the bottom floor of the castle.

Looking around, John noticed a table in the center of a dimly lit room. Sitting on two chairs were two other Pegasi. They had a similar uniform to the rainbow haired girl, except one of them was accommodated for male use. One had hair of orange and yellow, while the other had a dark blue hairstyle that reminded John about jocks back at school. Their uniforms looked mostly intact, suggesting that either they had not seen much combat, or they were extremely good. John hoped that it was the latter.

As they approached, the two ponies took note of Princess Luna and immediately got up and saluted her. “At ease Captains. Sit down, we have much to discuss.” Dropping their salute, the two of them proceeded to pull up chairs and sit down in them. Luna and John did the same, both settling in for the long talks ahead of them. “Thank you for coming commanders on such a short notice, but we really need some help in the south,” Luna said, as she rested her hands on her lap.

“It’s no problem Princess,” the fiery haired girl responded, eyeing John curiously.

“What the hell is that… thing? Is it some kind of ape,” the male asked, giving John a rather harsh look.

Well, this guy is going to be annoying, John thought as he frowned at the remark. Luna, noticing John’s frown, quickly responded, “This ape, Captain Sorin is going to help us with our attack. Captains, meet John, a human from the planet Earth.”

John sat up and extended his hand to Spitfire, which she gladly grasped, while responding, “It’s a pleasure to meet you sir. I am Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts. This here is my associate and fellow Wonderbolt, Sorin.”

John moved his hand to Sorin, who showed signs of hesitation, before gripping John’s hand and giving it a hard squeeze to show dominance. Strangely for John, Sorin’s grip felt relatively weak compared to Spitfire and Luna, so he proceeded to squeeze Sorin’s hand harder than before. The moment he did that, Sorin recoiled in pain, ripping his hand from John’s grasp. Luna chuckled and stated, “He sure does have a grip.”

As the pair of four sat down again, Spitfire began to lay down information. “According to our scouts, we have taken a significant portion of the Changeling Army down, effectively causing an 80% drop in their total troop number. We have also received tips that they will attempt one final charge against us; aiming to take over the castle. We cannot allow that to happen. Now, this would have been a piece of cake with the help of the Elements of Harmony, but they are currently split up. Even worse, it has been reported that Rainbow Dash has gone missing, which means-”

Luna then interrupted her when she said, “Loyalty is in the medical ward and is being treated for her injuries. John managed to save her life by bringing her here.”

John thought to himself, “So her name is Rainbow Dash? That is a really pretty name.”

“Is this true?” Spitfire asked, a glimmer of hope sparkling in her eye.

“Well, if she has rainbow hair, then yes, it is true,” John said, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable with the stares, “She was fighting a Changeling in an alleyway and was injured in the process. I managed to get her out of there and bring her to the castle. Although, for the record, I would have done that for anyone.”

After he said that, something completely unexpected happened. Spitfire leaped from her seat; a look of pure joy plastered on her face. She ran over to John’s side of the table, causing John to stand up, anticipating some kind of hit from the mare. However, she then embraced him in a tight hug, shouting for joy, “THANK YOU! OH CELESTIA, THANK YOU!” John hesitantly brought his hands to her back, earning a dirty look from Sorin.

“Um… no problem,” John responded, still confused as all hell.

Eventually, Spitfire did let him go, backing away and smiled sheepishly. “S-Sorry about that. Rainbow is one of my best fliers and a close friend. I couldn't bear the thought of losing her, but thanks to you, I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

After regaining her posture, she returned to her seat and continued to lay down information. “Now, we are expecting a full-frontal assault on the castle sometime tomorrow morning. We will have our earth pony guards being the frontal force, and-”

She was interrupted again, but this time by John, who snorted at the supposed strategy. “Really? You are going to send earth ponies, who, from what I can tell, cannot use magic, which is potentially the strongest weapon you have, to be the backbone of this entire operation? That’s ridiculous! Not only would that be suicide, but that would give the Changelings an easy victory,” John argued.

“Silence ape! You have no idea what you are talking about!” Sorin shouted, angrily standing up, this time insulting the human directly.

Seeing this sudden aggressive stance, John also rose from his seat, responding, “I don’t know what I’m talking about?! I helped organize and design the greatest naval landing my world has ever seen! I know what I am doing, but I think YOU have no idea what you are talking about!” John pointed his finger at Sorin, who was surprised at how aggressive John could really be.

“SILENCE!” Luna shouted, her voice piercing through the shouts of their argument. John recoiled in surprise at the sheer volume of her voice. “Captain Sorin, I understand your hesitation to listen to him, but trust me, he knows what he is doing. Now why don't you stop acting like children and start listening to each other!” John and Sorin looked at each other, anger searing through Sorin’s eyes while a calm collectiveness filled John’s.

“Apologies Princess, I didn't mean to go shouting like that. It was uncalled for,” John apologized, sitting back down in his chair. After a moment, and an angry glare from Spitfire, Sorin eventually sat back down as well.

“Look,” John started as he put his hands back on the table, “I understand that you want to end this battle quickly. Trust me, I know. However, we cannot ignore the fact that earth ponies are simply ill equipped to take on this task.” Sorin began to argue again, but John cut him off, “Let me finish. I have been fighting in my own war for four years. I understand that you want to end the fight as soon as you can. However, a swift victory comes at a heavy price. That price would be even higher if you do not understand what you are getting yourselves into. People- I mean Ponies’ lives are at risk and if we are not careful, some of them may not make it home. That is why we must be careful with our decision making. Casualty numbers aren’t just numbers, they are Ponies who have risked their lives for something greater.”

The room was silenced after John finished his argument. After a few minutes of silence, Luna responded, “Wise words Mr. John. You remind me a lot of my sister when you are speaking. Calm and collective, but fierce and unmoving.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Princess,” Spitfire said, gaining a massive roll of the eyes from Sorin, “So John, tell me, what would you like to do instead?” John paused for a moment, digging through his brain to find idea. He thought back to his preparations for D-Day back in ’44. Suddenly, an idea came to him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the crinkled-up map that he found when he first arrived here. Laying it on the table, John began to lay down his plan.

“Here’s my idea,” John began as he drew arrows and circles on certain areas. “ As you mentioned earlier, they will have one full frontal assault here,” John said as he drew a circle on the street leading straight to the castle, “Now, I’ve seen what unicorn magic can do, hell, it nearly took off my head when I first came here. The type I saw reminded me a lot of a certain weapon that we had back home, the M2A1 (PUT PICTURE HERE).

It was designed to be able to hit things far away and cause tons of damage in the process. That gave me an idea.” John then circled the area just in front of the castle, which was on an elevated position. “We place the strongest unicorns that we got at this position, and we tell them to hit the changelings with everything they got. You see, the changelings are charging up a choke point, which only allows them to move forwards, and backwards. So, that puts us in the perfect position to whittle their numbers using explosive magic.”

John then looked up from the map and pointed at Spitfire, telling her, “Then we can use our air superiority to not only keep them at bay, but to also whittle down their numbers even more. Finally,” John circled the front of the castle finishing off with a strike off the paper, “once their numbers are low, we can charge them using everything we got. Not only will this break their morale, but this should strike fear into the hearts of their soldiers, causing them to either retreat, panic, or surrender.” John then looked at both Sorin and Spitfire, telling them, “If we want this to work, we are all going to have to work together. I believe that if we follow this plan, not only would we minimize casualties, but we would also break the backbone of their army.”

Luna then clapped her hands, a proud grin on her face, “That sounds like an excellent plan! I will brief the troops of this plan. For now, though, please make sure that you rest and be fully prepared for tomorrow's attack. Come John, I will show you to your quarters.” John then stood up from the table, telling both Spitfire and Sorin, “Thank you for listening to me. I hope that we can meet again, but under much better circumstances.” John then ran up to the stairs, proceeding to follow Luna.

After the Princess and the human left, Sorin said to Spitfire, “I don’t like him. Who does he think is, talking to me like that?”

Spitfire scoffed at this and replied, “Oh, don’t be such a sore loser. You are just jealous that he had a better handshake then you. Besides, his logic makes complete sense.”

“Ok, first of all,” Sorin refuted, following closely behind Spitfire as they walked further down into the basement, “I am NOT jealous. I refuse to be beaten by some insignificant creature. Second, although it might make sense, that does not mean that this will work.”

Spitfire then rounded the corner, saying, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say Sorin.” She then opened the door to a medical room. The white room was covered in medical supplies, each specifically placed with care and efficiency. At the center of the room, pushed up against the wall, was a hospital bed with a single occupant. Her wings were muddy and bruised, showing the signs of battle. Her face was covered in multiple scabs and cuts, showing how weak the body can really be. Her leg was wrapped in bandages, some of which was soaked in crimson blood. Spitfire walked to the beds side and gripped the mare's hand. A doctor, who was caring for the injured mare, stood at a distance, giving Spitfire her time with the wounded soldier.

“How’s she doing?” Spitfire asked, silently praying that her tears did not show.

The doctor gave out a long sigh and said, “For all medical purposes, she should be dead. Her wound managed to cut through an artery and severely damaged her femur.” A single tear streamed down her face, almost coming to the verge of bursting into tears. That is, until the doctor continued, “But whatever that alien did, it saved her life. When he injected that serum into her, it managed to keep her heart beating long enough to allow us to patch up the wound and use magic to heal her. If he arrived a moment later, she would not have made it.”

Spitfire gave the doctor a smile and looked at her fallen friend, glad that she would be ok. Spitfire did not even want to think about what would happen if she had died. Standing back up, she gave one last look at the broken mare and exited the room, followed soon by the doctor.

Sorin, being the only one left in the room, gave the mare a devilish smile. Walking up to the bed, he carefully lifted the sheets to be greeted by her naked body. Whistling to himself he looked closer to find the object that he was looking for. Seeing that it was missing, he frowned to himself, but then he smirked to himself again. It is not every day you get to see the fastest mare in Equestria in all her glory. He sat up, deciding that he had to deal with certain “urges” in private. He left the room, telling the unconscious mare, “Sleep well girl. Soon, you will be all mine.”

As he left, he failed to notice the necklace that she gripped tightly to her chest, bearing the letters ‘J’ and ‘L’ on it.