Once A Shadow - From the other side

Aggh, I feel like shit. Not surprising, considering I got stabbed in the back of the neck. As I slowly opened my eyes,I found myself somewhere completely different then where I last was. Even so, this place still seemed familiar. I finally fully opened my eyes to find myself in a hospital room, with noone there. Suddenly I heard a voice from the hallway.

"He's awake, someone get a doctor!"

I looked around the room, trying to make out where I was. I held out my hands, and- Wait a fucking minute, HANDS? I reached for a mirror on a bedside table and pointed it to my face. I was human again! My face became a mix of joy and shock as A doctor came into the room.

"Oh good, you're awake. You're quite lucky is what you are. A few more minutes and we would have lost you." he said cheerily.

"Wait, what the fuck happened to me?" I said nervously.

"Your jet crahsed into the desert, and you were rushed to the infirmary. How are you feeling?"

"To be honest? I feel like complete shit."

He laughed. "Well, I'm sure you're well enough to get out of bed. Your uniform is on the table there, I'll give you a minute to get dressed and clear your thoughts, and then you're going to see the Major for your debrief."

I got up and got dressed in less than a minute, and then walked over to the window to clear my head. What happened to me? Is this even real? Was my whole life in Equestria just a dream? Oh god please don't let it come to that, I've been through far too much in that world for it to be fake. And yet, everything seems so real. The sky, the sun, the trees outside, all of it seems real. As I walked out into the hallway, the doctor came back.

"Ah, I see you're as fit as a fiddle. Well, a scratched and non strung fiddle anyway. Just follow me, I'll show you to the Major's office."

After walking through the somewhat familiar hallways of the infirmary, we reached Major Fitzgerald's office. Sure enough, the major was as lively as ever (at least for someone his age).

"Daniel, thank god you're okay. How are you feeling?" he asked concerningly.

"Truthfully? I feel like crap, some sleep will probably fix that though."

He laughed. "Good to see you're still in one piece, but unfortunately sleep will have to wait."

"I have a question," I said "what the fuck happened?"

"Yes, I was about to get to that. Doctor Halls, you're dismissed." The doctor left the room and Fitzgerald sat down at his desk. "Officially it was a mishap during a training exercise, the affected families will get the usual compensation package along with a letter of condolence from their superiors."

"And unofficially, sir?" I said asking the obvious question.

He sighed. "It was the Russians, trying to cripple our F-18 development project. Even after the Cold War they still have the fucking balls to try and be better than us. Wedgetail, Falcon and Viper died in combat. Vulture and Hawx survived the attack because they DIDN'T listen to orders and had live ammo with them. I'm sorry, but there wasn't anything else we could do. We scrambled reinforcements to the area, but by the time they got there most of you had gone down. I'd take you to Wedgetail's grave but we have bigger problems right now."

"How so sir?"

"After the initial attack, the Russians sent in an infiltration team to sabotage the rest of the project. Knowing how thorough the Ruskies can be, they'll be sending in a clean up crew to eliminate any remaining members of the project, which means they'll be coming after you and me. Right now this base is on high alert, but I don't think that'll stop them too much. I'll get you a vest and a gun for later, but right now I'm guessing you'll be hungry. I assume you remember where the Cafeteria is?"

"I have a vague memory, but I'm sure I'll manage." As I left the room, I was about to turn the corner when I swear I saw what looked to be a dark robed figure. I tried to get a better looked at the figure but he walked out of my sight for a split second and was gone. Figuring it was just my mind playing tricks on me I kept walking all the way to the cafeteria. Only a few people were there, including Hawx and Vulture.

"Hey Daniel, over here!" Vulture cried out. I walked over to them and took a seat, while Hawx slid a tray with some food over to me. "Well, well, well. Didn't think you'd make it. How you coping?"

"It's not easy, but I'm coping well enough. How are you?"

"We're fine. Man that was some major shit you pulled on Fitzgerald, crashing into that other jet. You went down pretty hard, I'm still amazed you weren't killed."

"Yeah well, you know us pilots have the luck of the devil."

"Ha, ain't that the truth. Come on, eat up, I'll take you to where you'll be sleeping. Luckily for you you'll be bunking with us, so we'll have your back."

I sheepishly finished my meal and got up to follow Vulture. The room we were staying in was pretty standard, a few beds, clutter lying on the floor, posters on the walls and a mini discoball on the ceiling that lit up when you turned the light off. How quaint. "Here we are, home sweet home. Your bed's in the corner over there. If there's anything you need, just ask us. Me and Hawx are heading over to the firing range, so you'll have some time to make yourself comfortable. We'll pick you up later tonight for a party in the main hall, so make sure you're presentable. See ya 'round Dan'."

As I sat down on my bed, I kept thinking back to the good times I supposedly had in Equestria. God, I still can't believe that it wasn't real. My relationship with Spitfire and the Wonderbolts, my fights and near death experiences, the entire few month life there, all of it was fake. I reached out and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. At least my love of whiskey is still real, thank god for that. I spent the next few hours reminiscing about the good times of the life I never had, until my thoughts were interuppted by the sound of something crashing in the hallway. Another crash was followed by a scream, which I then realised something was terribly wrong. I cautiously peeked through the doorway into the hall to find Doctor Halls and a soldier dead, both with a bullet in their heads. I examined the bodies, none of them had a clue as to what had happened. I grabbed a pistol on the soldier's body and quietly approached the corner before hugging the wall. I popped part of my head around to find myself right behind a group of Russian soldiers, completely unaware of my presence. I couldn't understand what they were saying but it seemed like they were giving out orders, as all but one of the group headed off in another direction. After they had turned the corner I fixed my attention to the remaining soldier right next to me who was still unaware of me. I grabbed him, put my gun to his head and dragged him around the corner, covering his mouth to make sure he did not say a word.

"Do you speak English?" I asked. He didn't reply. I pulled back the hammer of the pistol and asked again. "English motherfucker, do you speak it?"

He nodded. "Yes, I speak english, please don't hurt me."

"I won't, at least if answer my questions. Where are they going?"

"To the main hall, there's a party going on there, and they were hoping to catch them unawares."

"Okay, that seems good enough. Sweet dreams asshole." I said as I suffocated him, knocking him out. I grabbed his rifle and searched his unconscious body for ammo. The gun was an AK-74U with a silencer and red dot sight, and even though I'd never used one before, as the saying goes: 'there's a first time for everything'. I went through corridor after body filled corridor, following the Russians until we had reached Major Fitzgerald's office. Suddenly, shots rang out, followed by one of the russians sprawling onto the ground. Just then Fitzgerald cried out, taunting them.

"You yellow bellied ruskies! Come get some ya commie punks!" I never thought he could be so violent, although you probably don't get to become Major by sitting there doing nothing. I checked my rifle to make sure it was loaded, peered round the corner and let rip. Within seconds the Russian squad was down and out, and Fitzgerald stepped out of his office.

"Well, shit! I owe you one Daniel, no doubt about it. Now that we have those guys out of the way, we need to put the base on full alert. I was about to do that, but then those godamn ruskies showed up. Care to do the honors?" he said pointing to a big red button on a wall.

"With pleasure." I said, smashing my hand onto the button. Alarms filled the airways as red light started up all over the base. At the same time, Fitzgerald walked over to a microphone on his desk.

"Attention all units, this base is under attack and being put under lockdown. All men head to your lockdown stations, and all non-military persons head to your designated evacuation areas. The ruskies are here boys, time to flush 'em out!" He switched off the microphone and grabbed an M16 from under his desk. "Come on boy, time to show you how a texan fights!" I nodded and followed him as he charged out of his office and down the hallways to the armoury.

When we got to the armoury, we found some troops at their posts, including Hawx. "Hey Daniel, Texan, so glad you could make it!" he called out.

"Good to see you too soldier." the Major said. "We're here to help secure the armoury from the Russians, as the F-18 backup blueprints are archived here. Gear up boys, cause I can hear 'em coming!" And sure enough, about a minute later, they arrived. Chaos ensued. Wall were covered with bullet holes, the floor was covered with bodies. How the fuck did the Russians manage to sneak so many people in undetected? Did they dig a fucking tunnel all the way from Moscow? As the fighting continued, more and more of us went down. Now there was just me, Texan and Hawx. Just then, Vulture cam around the corner with an M240, and mowed the fuck out of the rest of the Russians. However, after waving at us with a smug look on his face, a bullet went straight through his head.

"FUCK! Man down! I'm coming Hawx!" I yelled as I charged down the hallway and round the corner to his body. Not thinking ahead, I blindly came round the corner at break neck speed, and got clotheslined by a Russian. He then climbed on top of me, pulled out a knife, and took off his mask. The Russian turned out to be Necro Fillyiac, the necromancer from my supposedly fake life in Equestria. Suddenly everytthing around me faded, until there was nothing left but a neverending white plain, with noone but me and him.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that. Myabe I should have just killed you instead of giving you that hallucinogen."

"Wait, You're alive?" I said with confusion. "How?"

He scoffed. "It takes more than that to kill me, your knife barely went into my skin."

"Well, next time I'll be sure to stab you in the eye." I said as I kicked him off. Now I may not have been able to beat you as a pony, but I'm human now, and I can kick your ass much harder than I could before. Prepare yourself, I'm about to open up a can o' whup-ass."

I charged in with my left fist, landing an uber-solid blow to his jaw. I then showed no mercy as I continued to beat him punch after punch and kick after kick. Good thing I learned kickboxing in high school. He foolishly attempted to stab me with the knife he had, which I easily disarmed him of. Turning the knife on him, I started slashing him. Finally he opened himself, tending to a wound on his face, and I stabbed the knife right into his eye. As he fell to the ground, the white world started to fade. as did I. Here we go again. Why is it that every time I face these fuckers, I get knocked out?