A Soldiers Story: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

The sword cut through her exposed leg like a knife slicing through bread. Rainbow Dash screamed in pain as she was violently thrusted against the wall by the changeling. She gazed down at her leg in shock as she watched blood seep out of the wound. She slowly began to slump to the ground, laying against the brick wall behind her for support.

She gazed up at the changeling, her eyes dilating in fear, as she brought her hand down to her bloody wound. The changeling’s sword rose high in the sky, threatening to strike the mare down. Her breath began to quicken, as fresh tears sprung from her eyes. Her entire life flashed before her eyes, from the first time she flew, when she met her friends, to when she finally joined the Wonderbolts. “P-Please... don’t do this,” she begged, trying to get the changeling to stand down. However, the changeling continued to raise his sword, preparing to cut her down. She closed her eyes, curled up against the wall, and accepted her fate.

“CRACK!”

Suddenly, the changelings head was hit with something hard, causing blood to erupt from the other side of its head. The changeling’s eyes temporarily widened with shock before loosing all signs of life within it. The body slowly crumpled to the ground, dropping his sword at her feet. Opening her eyes again, she looked in awe at the body, as she watched blood seep out of its head. “W-What happened?” she thought to herself, “I didn’t hear any magic being charged, and that hole looks too small to be done by an arrow.”

Looking to the entrance of the alley, she immediately found the culprit. A bipedal figure stood at the entrance, holding some strange type of stick, with smoke slowly rising from the tip of it. She could not tell who, or what, it was, due to the low light in the alley. The being approached her, quickly rushing down the alley to her side. Suddenly, a light illuminated from its chest, revealing a sight that she never expected.

She could instantly tell that this creature was not a pony, due to its lack of a muzzle. Its face was masculine, with bright silver eyes and a small cut on his right cheek. It wore a green helmet, hiding some of its dark, blond hair. The creature quickly put that strange stick on his back once again. Quickly looking over her once, it grabbed onto her and began to pull her out of the alley. She shouted in pain as she felt her leg being dragged across the rubble.

Suddenly, sunlight pierced through her eyes, indicating that she was out of the alley. The creature suddenly stopped dragging her and moved to face her once again. She looked down at her leg again and saw the wound in a better light. She shook in fear as blood seeped out of the wound, seemingly at a much faster pace. The creature seemed to notice her shaking and dropped down to one knee and gave her a warm hug. She tensed up at the sudden contact, but she eventually began to feel the pain fade away, her fear disappearing with it. Suddenly, the creature spoke to her in a very soft, but soothing voice, “Shhh… it’s ok. You're safe. Everything is going to be ok.” She buried her head on the male’s soldier as she simply concentrated on breathing.

As she sat there, hugging this strange male, she began to feel something that she had never felt before. Her heart throbbed in her chest, and the wound slowly drifted away from her mind. She gazed into his eyes and felt a sense of safety and security, something she had not felt since this entire ordeal began. Her mind began to focus on the feeling of his strong hands on her shoulder, ensuring that she did not fall over. It reminded her of her own father when she had a nightmare.
It was incredibly comforting for her. She let out a long sigh, further melting into their hug.

Unfortunately for her, this blissful state could not last forever. The strange stallion parted from the hug and appeared to give her body a once over. Now, Rainbow Dash had always called herself, “hot” or “sexy”, but she never had a stallion look at her like he was now. As he gazed over her body, checking for any hidden wounds or cuts, she could not help but blush. She knew that he was just checking for any other injuries, but she couldn’t help but imagine… dirtier motives.

The strange being looked at her again and appeared to be in thought. He looked at her leg, reminding her of her damaged leg. The pain came back, but it was duller and less of a nuisance. “Do you think you can walk?” the stallion asked her, gracing her with his silver eyes. Rainbow looked back down at her leg. She attempted to move the appendage, only to be greeted with a sharp pain.

She screamed with pain, fresh tears forming in her eyes. However, those strong hands grabbed her soldiers again, bringing her close to his chest. Her tears lightly soaked his shirt, as she gripped him tightly. She buried her head in his chest, seeking comfort for her pain. She heard his voice pierce through the cloud of pain, as he said, “We’ve got to move. This is a dangerous spot to be in.”

Suddenly, this strange being lifted her up into his strong, welcoming arms. Rainbow gripped onto his shoulders tighter, as to not fall off. “Hang on,” the stallion said as he dashed down the street, towards the castle. The world around her began to fade away, all sense of feeling going with it. Her eyes began to slowly close, slowly slipping into the haze of unconsciousness. .

Rainbow Dash’s eyes fluttered open, allowing the blinding light of the room to encase her. Struggling to adjust to the light, her surroundings slowly began to become clearer. She appeared to be in a white hospital room. Her bed looked nice and clean, covering her presumably wounded body. Curiously, Dash lifted her sheets to check the damage for herself. Much to her surprise; she did not look half bad. Her entire left thigh was wrapped in bandages, dried blood proving that there was indeed a wound there. Her breasts were also covered in bandages, although she did not know why, but she assumed that it was just for privacies sake. Other than those bandages however, she was completely exposed.

Dropping the sheets back down, covering her naked body, Rainbow continued to look around the room. On her right was a beautiful window, overlooking Canterlot, which was still heavily damaged. The memory of that battle caused her to wince a bit. She never truly realized how incredibly lucky she had gotten. If that create- no, if that stallionhad never arrived, she would have died, cold and alone.

Speaking of him, I never did ask for his name, did I? Rainbow thought as she smiled to herself.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened, and Rainbow instantly recognized the mare. Her white fur and her red cross cutie mark identified her as Nurse Redheart, the nurse in Ponyville. "She must be here to help with the wounded," Rainbow thought as the nurse walked around the room. She appeared to be looking for something, checking in drawers and cabinets. Smirking to herself, Rainbow decided to pull a little ‘prank’ on the white nurse.

Right when the nurse began to reach for something in one of the higher cabinets, Rainbow Dash shouted, “HEY!”

Nurse Redheart, surprised by the sudden noise, let out a yelp and fell onto the floor, sending little cotton balls cascading off the cabinet. The nurse franticly looked around the room, looking for the source of the noise. However, when she noticed that Rainbow Dash, who was now giggling and laughing, was awake and she instantly frowned.

“Rainbow Dash! That was very rude of you! I could have gotten hurt!” Redheart shouted at her, causing the mare to laugh even harder. The nurse sighed at her antics, sitting back up and moving to the bed. She then began to poke and prod at Rainbow Dash at seemingly random places, instantly annoying the mare.

“Hey! Cut that out,” Rainbow grunted, annoyed that she was now the one being targeted. Redheart continued to poke and prod at her in random spots before giving her a soft hit on the head, which caused Rainbow to softly say, "Ow."

“Are you done?” Redheart asked, looking at her patient with a tad bit of anger in her eyes. This caused Rainbow Dash to flinch a bit, her ears folding down onto her head.

“Y-Yeah. Sorry Nurse.” Redheart sighed as she moved across the bed and slowly began to work on Dash’s injuries. She lifted the sheets back up and started taking off the bandages on her leg, which revealed a nasty wound where the sword had pierced her, which Rainbow winced at.

“How are you feeling?” Redheart asked as she began to wipe off some of the dried blood from her skin.

“Ugh, not too well,” Rainbow Dash responded as she felt a sudden wave a nausea wash over her, seemingly from looking at the wound. Redheart walked over to a cabnet and grabbed a bottle of water. Walking over to the nauseous mare, she handed her the drink, which Dash drank down greedily. Once she finished downing the liquid, she asked her, “How long was I out?”

“Three days,” Redheart replied, returning to the wound with a damp cloth, “give or take a couple of hours.” She then dabbed the wound with the cloth, soaking up dried blood. Once the blood was removed, Dash could clearly see that the wound had healed up nicely. Although there was still a cut, it had stopped leaking blood, leaving only a nasty scab.

“How bad was it?” Dash asked, flexing her leg a tad bit, no longer feeling the sharp pain.

Nurse Redheart sighed, pulling up a chair to her side, before replying, “You got incredibly lucky. The sword had almost hit the main artery in your leg. If it did, you would have surely died.” Dash shuddered a tad bit, not realizing how incredibly close she had gotten to dying. Redheart then continued, “Even then, where you did get hit caused enough damage. By the time you got here, you already had lost a ton of blood. To be honest, under normal circumstances, you probably would have died either way.” Dash looked at the nurse with a mix of relief and fear, further amplifying her feeling of narrowly avoiding death. However, what the nurse said next made her heart flutter a bit.

“However, whatever that… human put into you, it managed to keep you alive long enough for us to heal you. Also, whatever he gave you seemed to have combined with our magic and it is healing you at a much faster pace than normal. With that, you are doing far better than what we have projected, and you should be able to leave in two weeks.” Redheart then redressed her now clean wound with some brand-new cloth. “Do you think you can walk?” Redhead asked her, standing up from the chair. Rainbow tested her leg, swinging it over to the cold floor. She applied pressure to it, anticipating the pain to appear in her leg, just as it had earlier. However, the only thing that she felt was a strange numbness in her leg.

“Yeah. I think I can,” Rainbow replied, fully standing up with the support of her wings. She was then thrown a hospital gown by the Nurse, who was giving her an embarrassed look. Confused, Rainbow looked down at herself and noticed that she was practically naked.

“Put some clothes on before you go out, ok? Your friends will be waiting for you,” Redheart said, before exiting the room leaving Rainbow Dash to change in peace.

Rainbow Dash was about to put on the gown, when she felt something bump against her chest. Looking down, she saw a strange necklace hanging from her neck. Curious, she removed it from her neck and took a good long look at it. The necklace was very simple in design, with chainmail holding the entire thing together. However, at what she assumed to be the bottom of the necklace, was the letters “J” and “L”. Suddenly, another memory rushed into her head, bringing her back to that day.

Rainbow Dash was close to death. She had loss all sense of feeling. She couldn’t see, talk, or feel. Hell, she was barely able to breath. She was enclosed in darkness, trapped within her own mind. She wasn’t exactly sure how close she was to the threshold of death, but she knew that she probably didn’t have that much time left. Being in this place felt like she was gliding through water. Soon, she began to see a light slowly approach her, beginning to engulf her entire vision. Her breathing slowed down, as she prepared to take her final breath...

"MEDIC!"

A loud voice boomed into the darkness, as Rainbow Dash eyes opened sharply with surprise. She felt a very sharp pain in her leg, and she cried out in pain. Her eyes fluttered back open, revealing that she had somehow ended up at the castle. Looking down at her leg, she noticed that it was hastily wrapped in a white cloth, which began to soak up with blood. Her tired eyes looked up at the human. His eyes were filled with relief, with a slight tint of fear.

At that very moment, something changed inside of her. The pain from her leg disappeared once again, as her heart throbbed harder inside of her chest. As she stared up into his eyes, she knew that she didn't want to leave him. She was tired, sure, but she finally had a reason to keep up the fight. She had to keep fighting... for him. She lightly gripped his shirt, and brought his head down where he could hear her. She looked up at him and croaked out in a weak voice, "Help me."

The creature took a moment to fully process what she had said, before his eyes widened and he shouted, "MEDIC!" As he directed some doctors over to them, Rainbow reached under her battered uniform and pulled out her Element of Harmony. Seeing his breast pocket, she slipped the pendant into the small pocket. The human looked at her, seemingly not noticing what she had done. As the medical team approached them, the human pulled out a small necklace that was hidden underneath his uniform. He seemed to pause and look at it, but then he reached down and placed it in the palm of her hand.

As she was placed onto the stretcher, her eyes widened with surprise. As the doctors carried her off to the medical ward, she smiled softly and brought the necklace close to her chest.

Closer to her beating heart.

Rainbow Dash twirled the necklace in her hand, fully realizing how she had gotten it. "But why?" she asked herself, "Why did he give me this? She had given him her necklace as a sign of trust and compassion. Perhaps that's what he meant by it. Giving off a dreamy sigh, Rainbow slipped the necklace around her neck. She shivered a tad bit as the cold metal touched her fur. Slipping on the hospital gown, she took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

She could only hope, that her savior was safe as well.