The Artist Rifleman

Slowly marching through the rain David trudged through the mud, his hard leather boots working well enough to keep out the sludge, his worn clothes weighed heavy on his shoulders wet and muddy like he had just crawled through no man’s land. Four years, four years of trench warfare had left him unfazed by the harsh weather striking cold through him like a rifle round, marching forward towards the dimly lit village before him he walked along against the weather, his rifle in his left and slowly tremors rattling his free right hand.

Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity rushed through the pouring rain sprinting as hard as the rain towards the library, the dark grey clouds masked Luna’s night sky hiding the bright light of the moon that would have lit their way. A bright flash of lightning illuminated the village for a moment before the deafening thunder shook the sky, clearly the pegasus’s were making up for lost time the pony’s thought. Making it to the library, Rarity nearly broke the door off its hinges instantly rushing inside as Applejack and Twilight made it inside standing by the door. Twilight’s hands were on her knees as she panted for air, Applejack placed a hand on Twilight’s back speaking in a slightly worried voice. “You alright Twi?”

Leaning up, Twilight straightened her posture as she replied in a revealed voice panting heavier after each word. “Yeah just out of breath, who knew Sugar Cube Corner was so far in the rain.”

Hearing a deafening shriek, AJ and Twilight looked up to see Rarity drenched from head to toe. “Ahh my mane, My beautiful mane! It’s ruined! Ruined I say!”

Flapping the rain off her hat AJ spoke unimpressed by Rarity’s display, “It’s just a bit of rain Rarity, just grab a towel and dry yourself off before you catch something.”

Giving her a glare that could cut a diamond, Rarity responded in an outraged tone, “Just grab a towel! it’ll take hours to fix this!”

Ignoring their bickering Twilight turned to the door to shut out the cold coming through it. As she began to close it another lightning strike lit up the sky, spotting a figure out there in the rain. Twilight held the door shouting out into the street, “Come on, get inside! It’s only going to get worse!”

Watching the strange figure move slowly towards them, she waited impatiently for whoever it was thinking they must not have heard her over the rain, another flash and thunder Twilight saw the figure go down on the ground unmoving in that brief moment. Turning to the others Twilight shouted over their bickering, “Girls! Give me a hand, someone is out their!”

Without another word they rushed out the door back into the rain charging towards the grounded figure, picking him up. Applejack and Twilight slung his arms around their necks as they dragged him off towards the open door of the library lighting their way. His head dropped down to his chin resting against his chest, his hat falling from his head landing in the mud like his rifle. Dragging him off towards the giant tree before them, his feet dragging behind them as Rarity grabbed his hat and the long wooden device by his side.

Getting him inside Twilight’s home they dragged him in front of the fire laying him on his back, looking down at him they saw he was covered in mud, his face was completely obscured, the only thing they could make out was his stuttered frozen breath. Twilight turned to the unlit fire beside him a purple glow emanating from her horn launching into the fireplace instantly igniting it into a roaring fire, returning her gaze to him, Twilight spoke to her friends and herself in a panicked tone not noticing the difference between him and them. “We need to warm him up!”

Unfastening the webbing of bags wrapped around his body, Twilight tried to pull them off him as Applejack sat him up, pulling on his bags they tugged his unconscious body from side to side until Rarity dropped his hat and rifle on the floor beside them. Seeing him sway from side to side barely staying upright as they pulled him about she used her magic to undo the applets holding his bags in place, next was the belt wrapped around his waist over his trench coat, this was far easier in comparison to the bags until the corned that came from his holster snagged around his neck. Placing it with the others they began unbuttoning his coat, upon touch they felt how cold it was making their hands seize up on contact, pulling that off they saw the dry brown woollen dress tunic silently deciding to leave it on him as it wasn’t wet or cold.

Leaving him by the fire they all went off to do separate things. Applejack took his coat over to the coat rack by the door as Twilight headed towards the kitchen to fetch some water, Rarity on the other hand stayed by his side looking over his clothes, they seemed to be some kind of uniform. Looking over to his hat she began whipping the mud off it thinking it was such a shame for a uniform even one she didn’t recognize it be tarnished in such a way, feeling something stuck against his hat she pulled the hard lump off it’s front at first she thought it was a small stone or scrap of bark, but upon hearing the back end of a badge drop she realised she was wrong. Holding the muddy lump up to the light, she saw faint patterns shining under the smeared filth coating it, whipping it away she saw the ornate engravings upon the bronze badge becoming entranced by its elegant design. Two heads one behind the other both wearing helmets similar to the royal guard with the inscription “Artist Rifle” beneath.

Calling out to the others Rarity spoke with a curious tone, “Twilight, Applejack, come have a look at this.”

Holding up the badge a purple glow surrounded it as it floated over to Twilight as she walked back into the room with a bowl of water and cloth, eyeing up the insignia she spoke as she crouched beside the unconscious man, her tone was as confused as Rarity’s “What do you think it means?”

Looking over his clothes Rarity saw the same wording stitched onto his shoulders above another stitched insignia. It had a black background with two gold strips that curved down in the middle, “Maybe he’s an artist?” Rarity said, unsure of herself.

Gently dabbing the wet cloth across his face Twilight’s expression slowly turned to shock as she saw the face she was unmasking, her voice was stuttered as she spoke being full of alarm as she called out to the others in the room, “G-girls, can you come take a l-look at this?”

Walking over to Twilight they saw the foreign face of the man beneath them, frozen in place. Applejack spoke her unnerved tone as clear as Celestia's day “Twi do you know what he is if it’s even a he?”

Whipping away more mud twilight spoke “No. I’ve never seen anything like this before not even in books”

Kneeling down, AJ saw what she thought was green fur on his hands but upon touching it felt wet and cold, fearfully her hand tensed, slowly she pulled on the saggy green glove revealing a pale white hand. After Twilight finished washing his face she saw how he looked, his nose was small compared to a pony’s, his mane short and unkempt being a dark brown like the ruff stubble on his face.

Leaving him by the fire Twilight began searching his pocket much to the dismay of the others Rarity voices her concern, “Twilight dear, do you think that’s a good idea? We don’t know what he is. He might not take kindly to you rummaging through his things.”

Twilight didn’t even look up as she replied unfazed by her concern “If he wakes, I’ll explain that I was looking for anything that could tell us who he is.”

Unbuttoning his jacket she saw a green knitted vest over a blueish-grey shirt but the thing that court her eye was not his clothes but the metal objects hanging from his neck, one looked to be a long calendrical whistle while the other had two disks hanging from it, one was brown and the other was red. Lifting them up she saw the writing stamped on them, she didn’t understand what the numbers meant but she could read the mantle above them “David J Mason.”

Standing up Twilight moved over to his bags announcing to the others what she had learned “His name is David Mason, hopefully we can find something more in these.”

Walking over, AJ voiced her concern “You're playing a mighty dangerous game Twi, we know nothing about this man.”

Opening his bags Twilight spoke with a slight degree of excitement rushing through her voice “I know, that’s why I’m doing this!”

Sitting down Twilight began searching his bags and found many things: a bayonet, cigarettes, matches, and bullets. Out of all these the only one she recognised were the matches but before she opened another she found a magazine, stopping on the magazine she admired its cover calling over the others even Rarity admired its cover. The title was large and bold simply reading “Blighty” with the writing at the bottom saying “pictures and humour from our men at the front” the picture was of a man dressed like the one beside the fire with a blond woman clinging to his arm as they walked through what looked to be open country.

Coming up from behind, AJ handed Twilight a book, its cover was hard with slight tearing across its front cover, looking up Twilight asked in a curious tone “Where did you find this?”

Sitting down beside her, Applejack spoke with a huff knowing all too well that Twilight wouldn’t have stopped until she found something “It was in his coat.” Motioning over to the coat rack by the door.

Twilight didn’t pay much attention to AJ as she opened the book announcing what it was in an almost triumphant tone. “It’s his diary!”

Rarity’s eyes almost lit up like stars to gossip as she spoke in an excited voice “Well go on, read it!”

Applejack interjected trying to be the voice of reason “Now ya’ll know this isn’t right to read another pony’s dairy.”

Twilight again waved off AJ concern “But that’s it he’s not a pony this could tell us what he is!”

Before Applejack could say another word Twilight started to read it out loud “28th of July 1914, I have decided to keep a journal of my time at the front so when I am old and grey I can remember the glory I won and the country I fought for, war has been declared and I, my brother’s and every man I know has answered the call. Tomorrow we march to sign on to fight for king and country. Mother dearest is worried about the battles to come, but the draft man said it’ll be over before Christmas and besides I won’t be alone, my brothers will be there to protect me, we've got six months of training and then we’ll be trained men able to withstand anything. Father understands, he’s done his service for the empire fighting overseas but still mother worries, father says it’s good it’ll make men out of us for the good of our great nation we must be strong like the men that came before I only hope I make him proud.”

Flipping the page Twilight continued “29th of July 1914, the signing office was packed tighter than the local pub on Friday night after a good pay, men were signing left right and centre many of them younger than I, I’m 24 and yet I see men in their 30’s coming in droves and teenage boys begging to join only dragged out like cattle, me, jack, and john have all signed up hoping to become officers by the end of the year. I heard one of the men saying the king wishes 100,000 men to sign up, but it looks like a single county could give the king his wish three times over, it didn’t feel like we were going to war it felt more like a parade of British spirit before we knew it the 6 in the evening the cheers of the men drowned out the bells of church mother gave us a right thrashing for that but we didn’t care we were going to be men of the king the, pride of the empire”

“30th of July 1914, to say mother is mad is an understatement she found out Gordon has joined as well, mother did not take kindly to find her three sons joining the war but we were men and it is our right, but to find her fourth-youngest son had joined to had sent her barmy Gordon despite how old he acted was still a young lad 17 and still willing to join he says; “We’ll die if he isn’t there to keep us safe!” So we took him to nags head for a few rounds to dull the pain before we get it I thought, but still coming home drunk in the dead of night mother’s scorn was as harsh as ever. I don’t think father’s laughter helped.”

Twilight had to stop reading for a moment as she and others laughed before continuing smiles on all faces present “31st of July 1914, the men came out in droves to fight for king and country and they did again as we marched off with the men, father had finally managed to calm mother down somewhat but that didn’t stop her from trying to keep us home, we would miss her but this would be good for us, we would return home as heroes of Britain. Marching off to war spirits were as high as the cathedral that sat on top of the highest point of the midlands, we were all waving and flapping our caps as we passed the homes we were going to protect the wives and daughters waved off and kissed their husbands. Even saw Phil leaving his house ready for the war before I could say a word to my friend Lucy saw me she even gave me a kiss much to the anger of her brother god I was going to miss her we had always been friends maybe we could be more after I return but after her cherry kiss I had to walk with Phil by god he was mad anyone would have thought I did worse with how mad he was but a dear friend he was and a dearer friend his sister was I probably shouldn’t have told him that but what’s done is done.”

Rarity gave out a soft ahh to the romance in his words as Twilight continued “5th of august 1914, me and my brothers have been assigned to the Artist Rifles it’s a proud day for us, this will be the fast track to becoming an officer for all of us, the men have taken kindly to us we may not have grown up with the most money but all of us were all educated going to Oxford even Gordon despite only starting the year before. The higher-ups seem to take particular interest in me after I said I worked in the postal service while in Oxfordshire. We spent the days bayoneting hanging sacks and aiming our shots. The commander told us this would not be like fighting the jerry’s and I shouted back saying “Of course not we give the sacks too much credit.” Got a good laugh out of the men but a glove to the back of the head. He wasn’t mad but I was out of line. later on one of the men pointed a bayonet at another man, god I thought father had a foul mouth but this man was something else.”

Unaware to Twilight, AJ had moved around her snatching the book out of her hands saying firmly “That’s enough Twi, we know who he is and what he does.”

Much to Twilight’s irritation she had to agree she wanted to read more leaving a book unfinished was like pinky not finishing cake just not right, leaving at that they turned in for the night leaving the man by the fire Twilight wanted to write a letter to the princess’s but she had no clue what to say, he had not been violent or anything he just collapsed outside her house.

1

Waking up the next day the three ponies and small dragon that had slept through everything that happened last night, they found David still asleep by the cold burnt-out fire Spike standing behind purple furred legs of his guardian as he spoke slightly scared of the unconscious form before him “W-what is that?”

Looking down at him Twilight replied in a soft voice trying to calm the purple dragon “His name is David, he passed out last night in the rain so we brought him in.”

His eyes are not breaking from the unmoving form “Is… it… dangerous?”

Rarity spoke, placing a hand on the back of the dragon's head instantly making him feel more relaxed as her tone sounded almost romantic as she talked about military men “He’s a soldier, I doubt he would do anything, besides you're a dragon, I’m sure you can protect us. Now why don’t you help me make breakfast.”

Feeling like a knight in shining armour, Spike marched off with Rarity towards the kitchen, Applejack and Twilight went back to David his breath was shallow and his body was still. Kneeling down beside him she placed a hand on his head, Twilight checks his temperature finding him to have a mild fever, a sudden loud bang came from the kitchen startling them as Rarity shouted out to them, “Sorry, dropped a pan.”

Looking down to David Twilight and Applejack both wondered why he didn’t wake from that bang, turning her back on him twilight picked up his rifle holding it across her chest with the barrel pointing towards the wall lined with books as she spoke in a bewildered tone, “Wonder what this is? It’s heavy for its-” Twilight’s words were cut off as her finger pulled the trigger firing a shot into the wall destroying one of her precious books right before her eyes as her ear rang to the loud bang.

Before she could drop the rifle in her hands David shot up from his back standing to her right, he grabbed his rifle breaking it from her weak grasp as he elbowed her to his left knocking her to the ground, before she even reached the hard wooden floor he had turned the rifle round to her pointing directly at her as he pulled the bolt handle loading a new round into the chamber as the casing fell to the ground. Applejack just stood there terrified of what she saw as Twilight laid on the ground looking up in sheer terror to the man above her, this was the first time she saw his eyes they were a deep blue staring straight into her they reminded her of nightmare moon only worse these eyes held no emotion. In a single blink, those eyes changed they were scared, his rifle rattling in his hands struggling to keep it pointed at her while his breath sharp and stuttered endlessly as he stood above her, closing his eyes he dropped his hands lowering his rifle to his left side as he raised his right rubbing his eyes. Turning his back to her he leaned his rifle against the fireplace with a light clunk as he let it go, falling back he hit the wall slumping to the floor removing his hand from his face he saw the unending tremors shaking his hand they wouldn’t stop they refused to stop. Twilight and Applejack just watched as he took hold of his right hand in his left in an attempt to stop the shaking, as they watched him they saw his face he looked afraid and ashamed as his hands slowly fell into his lap and his head drooped down.

Applejack walked over to Twilight helping her up as she spoke in a caring voice “You alright sugar cube?”

Looking up to AJ Twilight cleared her throat “Yes just didn’t expect that. Do you think he’s ok?”

Applejack looked over to him, his slumped form did not bode well for his well being “Ad dunno Twi maybe you should get Redheart.”

Warily Twilight approached him placing her hand on his forehead she lifted his head up getting a better look at his face but she as she did she noticed his fever didn’t seem to be any better, letting go of his head instantly dropped it’s only support taken away from him as she spoke still gazing upon his unconscious face “Maybe you're right I don’t if she can do anything but she knows more about medicine than me.”

With that she disappeared in a flash of purple sparkles that quickly fizzled out of existence as she teleported away, turning towards the kitchen Applejack decide to help the others make breakfast she knew she was going to need it but as she did she saw Rarity and Spike standing in the doorway watching the whole thing both wearing a worried expression like a hat.

It didn’t long before Twilight teleported in with nurse Redheart she was carrying a white medical bag that matched her fur as Twilight spoke guiding her to the I’ll man resting in her home “He’s over here, now he’s quite different from your average stallion.”

Chuckling softly, nurse Redheart spoke “All stallions say that but in truth...” her light blue eyes widened in shock as she saw the strange being before her somewhat warily as she approached him.

Opening her medical, she took out a flat stick, her shaky hands almost afraid to touch him, prying his mouth open she stuck the stick into his mouth placing it on top of his tongue looking inside. After a moment nurse Redheart jumped back terrified scurrying back across the floor pointing at his unconscious form as she spoke in an almost shriek of a tone “Teeth, his teeth!”

Helping her up Twilight asked “What? What’s wrong with his teeth?”

Standing up Redheart spoke her jittery voice struggling to form words “H-h-his t-teeth… their… th-they're… sharp… he’s a m-m-m-meat-eater…”

Taking a step back from him Twilight instincts instantly complied her to flee but she stood her ground, he could have killed her she was at his mercy and he chooses not to he choose to leave her be, fighting her instincts she stood her ground, she knew he was sick he could be dying passing out repeatedly was clearly a sign that he wasn’t well even to pony like her. Standing her ground she determinedly spoke her mind “Nurse Redheart please, he needs help.”

Not breaking eye contact with the uncontentious man nurse Redheart spoke her voice still filled to the brim with fear “But… b-but… what if he attacks me… what if he eats-”

Twilight placed a hand on Redhearts’ shoulder comforting her somewhat as she spoke in a firm but soothing voice “He won’t, he didn’t to me and he won’t to you, he’s hurt, he needs your help, you’re a nurse and he’s your patient.”

Remembering what she is, she spoke her voice, still fearful but stronger and more willing. “You're right, but we need to get him to the hospital. I don't know what I’m doing, I don't even know what I’m looking at.”

Smiling Twilight walked over to him with nurse Redheart using her magic to teleport them to the hospital. In a purple flash of magic that comes out from her horn the three of them disappear leaving Applejack, Rarity and Spike behind.

A few seconds later they heard a scream “Applejack!”

Grabbing her hat Applejack sprinted out the door finding Twilight and nurse Redheart standing above David laying on the damp ground. Applejack's voice was confused and panicked “Twilight! What’s wrong, why aren’t you at the hospital?!”

A look of sheer shock and terror was as clear as anything on Twilight’s face as she spoke in a frantic voice “I don’t know, it should have worked!”

A flash of light blue and rainbows landed beside them “Twilight what’s wrong, why were you…?” Rainbow dash’s voice trailing off as she saw the man beneath them.

Frantically speaking Twilight thought of a solution on the spot “Rainbow, good timing, help AJ carry David!”

Rainbow dash’s wore a bewildered expression that matched her voice “Who?”

Pointing down to the man on the ground Twilight almost screamed “Him!”

With that Applejack and Rainbow dash carried him one on either side of him wrapping his arms around the back of their necks as they dragged him off towards the hospital.

2

A few hours later nurse Redheart returned with a paper folder in hand guiding them to a single room in the hospital. Entering they saw to the right of them pressed up against the wall was a few armless chairs, of the left wall was a wide-open window letting a cool breeze of fresh air in, in the centre of the room pushed up against the far wall was a bed David was laying in, to his left was another armless chair with his jacket folded over it’s back while a bedside table was pressed against the right of his bed.

Nurse Redheart spoke in a low tone to the ponies behind her, “Miss Twilight, I think you should take a look at this.”

Walking over to the bed they saw David under the white bed sheets still unconscious, lifting the sheets nurse Redheart exposed his bare chest revealing a slew of horrors. His body was covered in scars, the largest of which wasn’t a scar but would defiantly become one, the right side of his chest was blistered dry and cracking while other deformities were smaller and older. There were two of these scars, one in his left shoulder the other in his abdomen a few inches below his ribs on his right side. Placing the folder on the bedside table, nurse Redheart reached over gently taking hold of his left side rolling him over and exposing his back side, revealing a whole new slew of horrors, the small scars on his front went straight through to his back while the main bulk of his back was covered in small scars ranging from an inch in length to several.

Twilight’s eyes widened in shock to what she was seeing as the others sat down across the room, but before she could speak nurse Redheart opened her folder, handing over speaking in a low tone “There's more…”

Looking over the sheet she saw it was an x-ray of his chest, she could make out the bones of his rib cage and what looked to be lungs, looking up to the nurse she spoke in a bewildered tone “What am I looking at?”

Taking the x-ray back nurse Redheart pointed to a large white mass extruding out from behind his breast bone. “I don’t know, for all my years here I’ve never seen anything like this. This looks to be his heart but there's something else underneath it, at first I thought it was his heart but it’s two thirds the size it should be.”

Before Twilight could speak the loud brash voice of Rainbow Dash cut her off “So Twilight are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

Looking over at the blue and orange pair sitting with their backs against the wall, Twilight answered her call, her voice unsure of her words. “I don’t know, we found him last night in the storm passed out. All we know is his name is David Mason and was fighting in a war.”

Eyeing up Twilight Rainbow dash spoke “And how do you know that?”

“We found his diary.” Applejack said bluntly, still annoyed they read it.

Holding in a laugh Rainbow Dash sniggered as she tried to form words through her laughter, her cheeks swelling as she spoke “He keeps a diary. What kind of stallion keeps a diary?”

A sharp painful slap on the arm quickly shut Rainbow Dash up as she turned to Applejack beside her as she almost growled to the sudden physical act “What was that for?”

Looking her square in the eyes AJ tone clearly unhappy with Rainbow’s attitude “Time and place Rainbow, he’s in hospital with Celestia knows what’s wrong with him.”

Meeting her with more attitude Rainbow Dash spoke, raising her voice “He’ll be fine Twilight can just whip up a spell and send him on his way.”

Twilight eyes hung low as she broke the bickering between the two ponies “I don’t think I can, I tried teleporting him here from the library and barely made it out the door.”

Hearing a wheezing groan they all turned to the man in bed crowding around it they saw his groggy eyes half opened as he tossed and turned against his pillow, throwing the sheets off him he tried to get out of bed much to the shock of Rainbow Dash and Applejack. This was the first time they saw the scars lining his chest. Quickly Twilight pushed him back down to the bed, her tone frantic and shocked “What do you think you are doing!?”

Half awake he replied this had been the first time they had heard his voice. It was tired and weak befitting a man at death's door, his accent took them by surprise, they expected something else, something rougher, but what they heard was almost the exact opposite. His voice was well-spoken having a lingering roll on the r in his pronunciation more akin to the nobles of canterlot but unlike them, there was a distinct lack of arrogance in his calm demeanour. “Getting out of bed, I must get back to the front… I must get back to the war.”

Hearing this nurse Redheart and Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as Rainbow asked “What war?”

Laying back down his eyes closing he let out a soft chuckle. “What war? The only war, the Great war”

They all just stood there around his bed in shock at his words as he began to drift off again, but before he could a dry violent cough shook him awake, as it began to subside nurse Redheart put a stethoscope on his chest staying away from his blistered right side. Listening to his heart and breath she took it off his chest speaking in a low tone. “There's something wrong with your lungs and your heart has an irregular beat.”

Rolling his head over towards her, his eyes nearly closed as he replied his voice as weak as before. “My lungs are still healing. I was a tad low in gas attack, took in a breath or two of chlorine before I finally got my mask on. As for my heart, there is nothing wrong with it, if you check my disc you’ll find in my report I was born with two.”

After a few minutes of silence, the same thoughts were running through each and everypony’s mind that was present, what kind of attack involves gas, his disc being connected to some report somewhere and his two hearts did all his kind have two why would they have two. Twilight was the only one who had some idea of what he was talking about. The numbers on those discs around his neck must match a document with all his details but the other things she had no idea she racked her brain but still she had no clue of what he meant.

Tossing and turning his head swayed from side to side as his eyes granularly opened, after a moment of looking around at the strange creatures before him he sat up his head leaning back on the pillow as he looked up to the ceiling above them as he spoke in a low tone “That’s it, I’ve finally gone barmy.”

With all eyes on him, Twilight spoke not understanding his words but guessing he was referring to his sanity “I assure you you're still quite sane.”

Lowing his head he took in the sight before him each one as strange as the other as his eyes jumped from one form to another he saw how different they were from one another, he noticed they were all women and all naked apart from the fur covering them. They all appeared similar in size and shape apart from a couple of differences like the lead one being slightly shorter but looking taller than she was by the purple horn coming from her head that matched her fur and eyes along with the darker hair that ran past her shoulders, at first he thought it down to her knee but saw it wasn’t hair but a tail.

Looking over to the others he noticed the orange and blue one looked similar supporting a more athletic build, on both of them he saw the outline of muscles more so on the blue one. The orange one had blond hair and green eyes while wearing an American hat that he could only describe as a cowboy hat while her hair and tail were both tied into ponytails. The blue one was strange even for them. Her hair was shorter than the other looking like she had barely brushed it before getting into bed but the strangest thing of all wasn’t the pink eyes or the rainbow pattern that continued down to her tail but the two blue feathered wings coming out her back.

Next was the nurse who had white fur and pink hair that she hid partly under a white hat, upon looking at her pink tail he saw the red cross standing out against her white fur on her flank. Doing a double-take on all the girls he noticed they all had colourful symbols on their flanks: a bundle of red apples on the orange one, a cloud and rainbow in a lightning bolt for the winged one and a purple star with white stars for the purple one.

Feeling a bit insecure too the way he looked at them they felt like he was a hungry predator eyeing up a meal or a perverse stallion staring at them for other deeds but with them being naked he kept his eyes off their breasts only catching them in the corner of his eye as he looked at them trying to be as modest as he could for the naked women before him.

Bringing her hand up to her mouth Twilight coughed bringing his attention to her as she spoke acting as the leader. “I’m sure you’ve got plenty of questions for us but I’d like to ask you a few first.”

Rubbing his eyes he spoke with a groan, “And they can talk, how am I not insane?”

Crossing her arms Rainbow Dash snorted a response out “Well that was rude.”

Turning to her Twilight shot back “Easy Rainbow.”

Just the glare that Twilight shut Rainbow up as she went back to the man in the bed, “Sorry about her, element of loyalty and all. So back to our questions you said something about a war, can you tell me about that?”

Looking up to her he spoke his voice was still and cold, speaking in a distant tone like he wasn’t talking to her, “It’s not just a war, it’s the great war, the greatest war ever fought, three years over four hundred miles of perpetual warfare.” He didn’t even give them the numbers or the horrors he had endured and yet he could see the shock on their faces. Hearing the pounding of shells in his head he raised his right hand up rubbing his temple, after a moment he lowered his hand seeing uncontrollable tremors shaking his hand again.

Seeing this AJ spoke in a worried voice. “You alright there friend?”

Slowly closing his shaking hand into a fist he spoke, “Yeah just shell shock, it’ll pass.”

Watching him closely Twilight asked almost afraid of the answer “Shell shock? What’s that?”

Looking up from his hand he spoke, “I don’t know, all I know is it’s caused by repeated high-velocity shell impacts, at the Somme I heard over million of shellings in a week if anything was going to give me the shacks it would be that it”

Still hoping to satisfy her curiosity, Twilight asked another question. “You said something about having a second heart, is that normal for… actually we don’t know what you are.”

Adjusting himself on the bed he sat up a bit straighter as he replied in a still tired tone. “Human, I'm human and no normally a man is only born with one, gave the doctors quite a shock I’ll tell you that.”

Feeling somewhat satisfied with his answers, Twilight still wanting more answers to her long list of questions. “Do you have any questions for us?”

His voice was straight and direct like his answer “Only three, what are you? Where am I? And how do I get back?”

Placing her hands on her hips to his bluntness she answered “We’re ponies, I’m Twilight a unicorn that’s Applejack an earth pony;” she said pointing over to the orange one “and that’s-”

Before she could finish, Rainbow interrupted, announcing herself with her voice full of pride “And I’m Rainbow Dash, a pegasus, the element of loyalty and the best flyer in all of Equestria.”

Getting a disapproving glare from both Applejack and Twilight they heard an annoyed groan come from David, “Great, we got an RFC wanna be.”

Looking at him with a sharp pink eye, Rainbow replied in an agitated voice “I’m no wanna be, I'm the best and I know it, besides what’s the RFC?”

His answer was plain and simple “The Royal Flying Core, best flyers the world has ever known, nicknamed the aces of the sky.”

Intrigued by his words Rainbow and Twilight both wanted to know more but he was still owned answers so Twilight gave them to him. “As to your other questions, you're in Equestria, ruled by the alicorn sisters as for getting you back to the front as you call it I don’t know.”

Leaning back on his pillow he said a single word that summed up his life and in a low clear voice almost tired of life he said it “Bugger.”