Sunshine in the trenches

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"AAAAAHHHHHHH"

Two people of different species started to scream at the sight of one another, there was both confusion and fear in the scream. Both Merlin and the horse then immediately jumped into a combat stance after they were finished screaming at each other for no reason. Merlin decided to take the initiative by attacking first, so he went for a jab with his bayonet at the horse's throat. Pulling his entire body forward, he went for it with a yell. But that ended up in failure as the horse dodged it so quick, that he believed that he had teleported.

The horse attempted a counter-attack by attacking Merlin in the stomach by bucking him, but Merlin was quick-witted as to realize what the horse was planning to do. As soon as the horse turned around and pulled his hind legs up, he pulled back his entire body and jumped back a step. This slow but careful battle went on, both of them not leaving each other sight as They were carefully watching each other moves. During their combat, a shout was heard.

"THE ENEMY IS CHARGING, PREPARE YOURSELVES!"

This went unnoticed by both, as they were concentrating on each other. Making sure that none of them were to make a move on each other. As Merlin still had eyes on the horse, he noticed something about it. Despite it being orange and having a spikey mane and tail, it had wings.

Is this a pegasus? Merlin thought, was this horse one of those ancient divine creatures from the old ages? One of those beings that valkyries ride during the Viking era? This makes Merlin have so many questions about this place.

Then all of a sudden a beast hopped into the fray. both Merlin and the pegasus looked up to see a beast looking at them, with his mouth open, letting saliva out. Before both of them could react, the beast had pounced at the pegasus, claws opened and mouth open for meat. Merlin just stood back flabbergasted at the situation at hand, what were these things, who are they, and those were just only a pinch amount of questions! Merlin saw the pegasus struggling to get off the beast's grasp, and saw the beast trying to open his mouth to eat him alive.

After what felt like minutes, Merlin had decided to act. Raising his weapon at the scene, he suddenly realizes something, who does he hit?

If he targets the pegasus, that leaves trying to get bucked by a horse out of the table. But on the other hand, if he leaves the beast alive that could very well mean his death, as the thing looked carnivorous, making him look like a piece of meat on the table, ready to be eaten. After a final decision on the matter, he pulled his rifle up, loaded it, and fired.

BANG

The beast screamed as he took a bullet to the head and then fell over dead. The pegasus looked at the corpse in shock as it fell off him, and then looked back at his rescuer.

"You... Did you kill him?.."

Merlin's eyes widened now, did that horse just spoke? "Wait a minute, so that guy who was bringing the supplies, this is him? I've been talking to a horse this entire time without noticing?! Merlin clutched his head in anger and confusion as the pegasus looked at him in confusion. They then both heard sudden footsteps coming from behind them.

"Zappy! Are you alright?!" Merlin turned around to the sound of the voice and saw another horse. This time he had a grayish brown, he stood taller than the pegasus Merlin had saved, and the most unique feature on him was his mustache. He had a sort of French mustache on him, which seemed very bizarre, as horses do not grow facial hair. He also had a cap and uniform that looked very much like a British officer would have. The mustached horse had a couple of other horses behind him, but they didn't matter to Merlin anyway.

The officer tried to run to Zappy but was stopped by the bipedal thing standing in front of them. The officer and the thing stood in front of each other, not leaving each other gaze. But soon Zappy decided to break the silence.

"U-Uh yes sir, I'm fine!" He replied with a salute, looking a bit nervous at the situation right now. Then again, everypony looked nervous. There stood in front of them was what looked like an ape, except it didn't have much hair, and it stood tall, really tall...

Merlin is usually considered a calm and collective guy, and he always saw some situations that were either crazy or insane, but still maintained composure. But this... Is just bonkers. This situation, this entire thing, was enough to make any other soldier in the British army lose their mind, probably to the point where they would pull a gun on themselves and shoot themselves in the head. Nevertheless, Merlin would always, and still, face adversary in the name of the British Kingdom.

As Merlin was about to explain himself and the situation he was in, suddenly, out of nowhere a horse comes from the left-field and tackles Merlin to the ground, rendering him useless to do, well, anything. He struggled to get his captor off him, but it only ended with him getting a hard punch... By a hoof.

"I got 'em, Sir! Where do you wanna put this one?!" The horse pulled up the dazed Merlin who couldn't see straight for the life of him.

The officer was completely stunned by one of his soldier's actions and then sighed. "Go tie that one and put 'em by the cages."

With the order given, Merlin's captor was now taking him to the cages to be interrogated. The officer looked over the battlefield, and saw bunches of corpses scattered on the ground, his troops were now picking up their fallen allies to be taken back to their families. While the beast's corpses were to be burned.

On that note, the officer replied while wiping sweat off his forehead, "Quite a day, isn't it?"

"What in the world is even happening..."

Merlin thought as he was still trying to convey this entire thing into his head.

Merlin remembered being in the battle of Passchendaele, where he and his fellow soldiers were about to capture the German's strategic points.

Now, he is tied up, in the middle of a field, where he was fighting in a battle, with HORSES! Against those beasts that looked like wolves, but even uglier! And worse of all, He is now tied up by those Horses, who he had fought with!

Out of everything that has happened to him, from the battle of Passchendaele up to here, this was considered the worst thing happening in his entire lifetime.

Just what in the entire goddamn world did I do to deserve this? All I did, was being a good soldier, following orders, doing my kingdom proud, and this is the thanks I get? It was clear that Merlin was angry at this turn of events.

He looked around at the area, so far nothing out of the ordinary. Except for the talking horses. The camp was filled with them. Some of them looked over in his direction, some with curious looks, others with fear. It's been only 5 minutes and he's already being looked at like some kind of jester, ready to perform some tricks and make a fool of himself.

Two guards with spears were standing by the gate of the cage, checking to make sure he's not doing anything funny. He noticed that one of them would get a little tired, as one of them nearly snoozed off to sleep. It was honestly quite hilarious that he saw his fellow guard waking him up by slamming him on the head with his spear. Nevertheless, his situation right now was big.

He was trapped in a cage, in an unknown location, filled with horses that are probably readying his execution. If he doesn't do anything and just sit there like an idiot, it's possible by morning, he'll be somewhere worse than a cage. But he couldn't do anything, the moment he tried to tell the guards to unbind him and let him go, they just snorted in response. So he was, in what most would say, a fucked position.

As he was lying in the cage, he suddenly heard someone familiar.

"Sir, Please with all due respect, That ape had just saved my life from a diamond dog. can't you just let him go?"

Merlin turned to the sound of the voice, and to his surprise, he saw it was the pegasus that he had saved recently. He got up off the floor and got a little closer to hear what was going on over there.

"Now I understand that the ape had saved you Zappy, but that doesn't mean we can fully trust it."

"But sir, if he was on their side, he would've just killed me on the spot and ran to the other side and murdered the rest of us! I saw what he did to the diamond dog sir, he shot it with one bolt from that weird crossbow he has!"

Merlin had been listening on into the conversation, it appeared that the pegasus is now pleading to the officer for his freedom, which he is hoping would work. And the mention of the bolt and crossbow, he didn't call it the rifle and bullet, which means that the technology here is quite in the middle ages. Also, did he just called him an ape?!

Soon the officer and the pegasus and a couple of other horses were heading towards him. Merlin had to prepare himself, so he can probably explain himself without having a horse to tackle him from the sidelines. The grey-brownish horse had soon reached the front of his cage and looked up at him with a stern gaze, to which Merlin replied back with a gaze of his own. The pegasus was off on the sidelines just nervously witnessing the staring contest. Finally, the officer gave a response,

"Can you speak?"

Merlin was taken back a bit at the sound of the officer's tone, it was gruffly yet kind, sounded like his own officer back at the British army.

"Yes sir, I can speak."

The officer was also taken back a bit. Not many captured enemies had that kind of tone, usually, they would just snort or just be enraged. But then again, diamond dogs weren't the smartest bunch.

"I see, so that means we could get on with the easy part. What is your name?"

"Private Merlin Shuffle, of the 54th British infantry brigade."

The officer looked at him with a curious eye, he was an infantry soldier? He looked over to his stenographer, to which he got a shrug in response. That's strange, he doesn't remember gaining any more troops to his force. Also what the heck is the British Infantry brigade?..

"I see, so you're a soldier. That would explain why you were on the battlefield. But that begs the question, what are you?"

Merlin gave a questioning gaze. "What am I?"

"Yes, while we understand that you're an ape, we haven't seen an ape such as yourself. Are you a newly evolved species?"

Merlin was boiling red under that statement. He gritted his teeth in anger but kept it hidden as to not anger his captors.

"No sir, I am not an ape, I am what one would call a human."

"A hooman?"

"No sir, A human. H-U-M-A-N." he had to pronounce the word human to a horse, this was possibly considered the dumbest thing in his life.

"A human you say?" The officer gave a thinking look, before looking back at him.

"So what was a human like yourself doing at the battlefield Mr. Shuffle?

That was certainly a question he was asking himself. What was he doing there, why did he join the battle when he could've just run away?

"Sir, I'll admit, I don't honestly know, I just happened to be there. And I decided to help you all out, seeing as I was also being attacked by those beasts."

The response he gave was truthful, and it conveyed a much better chance of him being freed.

The officer started to think. "That would explain why he had saved Zappy."

"See sir? I told you he was on our side!"

Merlin and the officer turned to the pegasus who had interjected into their conversation. Zappy looked proud at the fact that he was right for once!

Merlin looked over to the pegasus, who is still leaning towards his side. Which was strange, considering they once fought. Had that beast not intervened in the battle, one of them would've ended up dead. As Merlin was still looking at him, Zappy continued.

"Now while I admit that he kind of freaked me out and made me go into my super awesome self-defense mode, he did prove to be a valuable ally. He shot that stupid diamond dog in the head with his sick crossbow!" Zappy replied with an eccentric tone and lots of body movement.

Merlin however was just standing there looking bewildered. "What the fuck did he just say?" Super awesome self-defense mode? Sick crossbow? "Did this pegasus take too much coffee before battle?" He looked over to the officer, who was currently sighing at the pegasus's choice of words. "Jeez, this guy has it rough huh?"

Zappy noticed his officer's look and chuckled nervously. "So anyway, I believe that it could be good to uhh, have him help us out."

The officer looked at both Zappy and Merlin, before coming to a conclusion.

With yet another sigh he asked, "Merlin will I have your word, that if I free you, you will not harm my troops?"

"Yes sir, I won't do anything that is considered harmful." After all, it's not that he wouldn't, he couldn't. He was surrounded by god knows how many infantry soldiers, and the moment he would make a move, he'll just be tackled to the ground again and back into the cage.

"Alright boys, let 'em out." The guards obeyed the officer's order and opened the cage. Merlin stretched before slowly walking out of his cage, finally, some ground to move his legs. One of the guards then walked up to Merlin with a knife and with a quick slice, his bonds were removed. "Thanks." The guard responded with a nod.

Merlin turned around to see Zappy smiling at him, He looked down and just stared at him "What a weird fella." He acts so friendly that it's a little concerning. Merlin wasn't really a friendly type, he was just used to being alone and being that one guy in the back. That being said, being around someone as energetic as him, it could cause problem to his mental state.

"Heya bud! My name's Zappy, in case you didn't know! We met on the battlefield, and you saved my life! so put 'er there!" Zappy showed an open hoof to give a hoofshake.

Merlin just looked at the open hoof and just shook it. "Might as well go with the flow." He said while sighing to himself.

"Ahem"

Merlin and Zappy looked at the officer, while he was trying to get their attention.

"Well, now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, Merlin, do you need your supplies?"

That's when Merlin remembered, his supplies! When they took his rifle and things away and threw him in a cage built for monkeys! "Ah yes sir, I would love to have them back, as they are essential for me."

"Right, come this way, it should be somewhere there." The officer was now taking Merlin and Zappy to one of the tents where Merlin supplies were held up. As they were walking towards it, Merlin started looking around, there were tons of carriages located there, and soldiers picking up crates from those carriages. Merlin then looked to the right and saw what appeared to be a training ground. Two soldiers were there sparring with each other, but what caught him off guard was that the two soldiers were holding swords by their bare teeth.

"Ooo, I see you have an eye for a good battle." Merlin turned his head to see the pegasus talking while also looking at the spar at hand. "Yea Ruckus and Fire have a competitive thing going on, I heard that the score is currently 73-26. Fire keeps losing because he's always quick and doesn't realize Ruckus's defense. While Ruckus maintains coolness and swiftly takes out Fire in a snap!"

"73-26? That's 99 spars they did!!" Merlin turned back to the battle, now suddenly having a keen interest in it.

Fire slowly started readying himself by scraping the ground like a bull would, while Ruckus was over there, standing tall and mighty, ready to take on Fire's strike. The battle began as Fire moved as quickly as possible towards Ruckus, while he went into a combat stance. The first strike appeared, but unfortunately, it was the final strike. The moment Fire's blade and Ruckus's blade met, Fire's blade immediately turned into tiny pieces of shards. Merlin saw the entire thing and his face went into complete shock.

However, Fire didn't count himself out. After his blade broke, he dropped the hilt and turned on his hinds legs, and attempted to do a buck at him. Ruckus, however, noticed and was very quick as the dark grey pony, also turned on his hind legs and did a counter buck at him. They both charged up their kick and...

BAM, THUD

Merlin couldn't tell what just happened, but it looked like the dark grey pony won. Fire was somehow across the other side of the stadium, on the ground, and eventually conceding. The battle had ended, and Ruckus was the winner.

Merlin had so many questions... Like what happened to Fire's sword? How did the kick push another horse off by like 10 meters? Or how they were holding their swords with their TEETH?!

While Merlin was still trying to figure it out, Zappy was charting something down. "Looks like it's 74-26 now." After that, he placed the piece of parchment into his pocket and looked at Merlin, who was still shocked at how the battle had transpired.

"You good?"

Merlin turned to him, "Uh yeah, kind of."

Zappy then grinned at him, "I bet where you came from, stuff like this doesn't happen right?"

"Yea... It doesn't."

"Oh? So you like, didn't understand what just happened?"

Merlin in response just shook his head. "Not a clue."

...

"You mean... You don't know how magic works?"

"..Excuse me?" That was Merlin's first response. "Surely you're joking? Magic? As in, like witchcraft stuff?" Merlin heard many tales of magic before, but those were all just fairytales he heard from when he was a child. Magic wasn't real, it's just a thing that old people say in made-up stories.

"Witchcraft stuff? No, no, Magic isn't used for evil stuff, Though it does happen in some parts." Zappy whispered that last part.

"Wait what was that last part?" Merlin couldn't hear it and he looked at Zappy with a suspicious eye.

Zappy shook his head and continued. "Magic is basically nature itself, it's in the air, the ground, even the sea! We use magic for building things, growing some crops, and other sorts of wonderful things!"

That... Doesn't make sense. Merlin already had enough trouble trying to stay calm at the fact that he was with talking horses, but with magic on the field now. That's definitely gonna cause some trouble. For now, he'll have to-

AHEM

Merlin and Zappy both jumped in surprise and turned to see the officer staring at them with a look saying "I'm waiting here." They then both followed him into the tent where Merlin saw his service rifle, the Lee Enfield mk3, sitting on a table. What was behind his rifle was a horse.

He had a very short formal hairstyle, as it was combed back. He had a pastel-tan-colored skin on him, A brown mane and tail, And he also wore glasses!

But what caught Merlin's eye was on the backside of the horse, he saw a tattoo on him. The tattoo was a wrench along what looked like to be a builder's cap. Was that imprinted at birth?

He decided to get some answers, Touching Zappy's shoulder, he asked, "Hey, why does that horse have a tattoo on the back?"

Zappy's eyes were wide open as soon as he got asked that question, but it wasn't just the question that made him go wide eye, it was the fact that Merlin had called a pony a 'horse'. The officer and the pony who was just called a horse turned their heads to Merlin in shock. The officer spoke in his grizzly tone.

"Merlin! Did you just call him a whorse?!" Merlin turned to the officer in confusion.

"A what sir?"

Zappy then interjected, "A whorse, you just called him a whorse!"

Merlin was still in complete confusion.

"Aren't all of you horses?"

"No, we are not whorses! First of all, we aren't mares! Second of all, it's completely rude to call somepony that!" The horse in glasses replied, with an angry tone and an angry look.

"Wait a minute, did they just thought I called him a whore?" Merlin facepalmed when he got to that conclusion.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to call all of you a 'whorse'." he did a shallow bow in apology. He didn't like to apologize for something he was completely misunderstood for, but in order to keep their guard off them, he had no choice.

"Sigh It's alright now, I suppose."

"Pardon me, but Woods, might I ask why is the ape out?" The pastel-colored pony asked.

Merlin looked back at the horse in glasses in anger, while the pony just completely ignored him.

The officer, now Merlin know as Woods sighed and said, "First off, he's not an ape, he is what is known as a Human."

"A hooman?"

"No, a Human. And he is known as Merlin, right?" Woods turned to Merlin, asking for confirmation if his name was correct.

"Yes, that is correct, sir." He then turned to the engineer and saluted.

"My name is Private Merlin shuffle, of the 54th British infantry Brigade."

The engineer backed up a little in surprise at the soldier's greeting. "Well uhh, greetings Merlin, my name is Wrench Bolts, I'm the army's engineer in this regiment.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Wrench, and once again, I apologize for offending you by calling you a whorse."

Wrench smiled at the young man's kind word, but then asked him something. "That kinda begs the question, why did you call us that?"

Merlin only looked at him with a straight face. "Well uhh, truth be told, back where I came from, we had animals- SPECIES, we had species like you!" That gave everyone a suspicious look on their face.

"And they were, uhh domestic and what was different about them was that they are taller than all of you and they didn't have the ability to speak." Merlin ended his sentence while looking at everyone around him, they were quite intrigued about it.

"So I was kind of wondering if all of you aren't called uhh, the H-word, then what are you?"

Woods then stated, "We are ponies."

"Ponies, sir?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"I see..."

Ponies. Talking ponies. That's something new.

"I also have one more question, where exactly am I?"

Everyone, or everypony, to their case, looked at each other than at Merlin.

"You're in the Everfree Forest. Were you lost somewhere on the way here?"

"The... Everfree Forest? Is that somewhere in France?"

They looked at Merlin with a confused look. Merlin just sighed "Okay, this is clearly getting nowhere."

Merlin then responded, "Is there a map I could take a look at?"

Wrench then went to the back of the tent and brought out a large piece of paper. "Here ya go."

"Thank you." Merlin then took a look at the map, and his entire face went into confusion, then shock. There was no France or Germany on the map. Just different cities and towns! No Passchandele, no River Somme, just other things like Canterlot, and Ponyville!

He started to breathe out of pace as he tried to search for a location that he could actually recognize, but no luck. The officer noticed his fast breathing.

"Merlin, are you alright?" He then heard a tiny response.

"Where am I? Where am I?"

It was clear he wasn't taking this thing all right. He could hear the pain in his voice. The officer then ordered a guard to act. "You! Bring some water now!" The guard hastily responded as he galloped to a nearby water station. The officer then turned back to the British as he tried to comfort him. "Breath Merlin, breath."

Soon Merlin started to slowly calm down, he needs to stay calm and remember that he will always face adversary. He went to a nearby bench in the tent and sat, trying to calm his breathing and control himself. Soon, a pony appeared with his water and the officer took it and gave it to Merlin. "Here, water." Merlin took the drink and began chugging it down, after finishing, he thanked the officer and the guard and sat in silence.

After what felt like minutes Merlin stated, "It appears I'm no longer in Belgium... But rather, somewhere else entirely. Which would make kind of sense considering there weren't any talking hors- ponies in France or Germany." He then looked down in sadness, after realizing he had left his comrades, his country, and more importantly, his family.

But he will have to grieve later, for now, he needs to think about how to survive in this world. It's clear that there are things in this country that are willing to eat you alive... Like those beasts, he saw on the battlefield. Which reminds him, what were they?

He decided to ask, "Um excuse me, sir." The officer looked at the boy.

"Yes, Merlin?"

"I'd hate to ask, but what were those beasts on the battlefield." He pretty sure he heard something about a 'Diamond dog' but he just wasn't sure. After all, it came from Zappy's mouth, so he could've said something else that is considered dumb.

"You mean the diamond dogs?"

"Yes sir, what are they?"

"Well, they aren't smart things first off, hehe." He chuckled at his own joke, then continued.

"The diamond dogs are what some would say a.. 'Ravenous bunch'. They tend to live in caves where they would find diamonds and all that. But now things are turning, a little severe." The officer looked away in the thought of the past.

"How severe sir?"

Sighing, Woods said, "We are currently at war with them..."

War. The very word that makes Merlin shudder. The very idea of killing others for political needs is just utterly disgusting. And now it seemed like he was part of it, how perfect. It was bad enough to be a part of a war that had killed hundreds of thousands, but now another war? After he was killed in his last one? This makes him believe that fate wanted him to suffer.

He wasn't gonna question it though yet, probably because it involved politics and he was not one to indulge in that. He looked back to what he was after, his rifle and his supplies. "Excuse me Wrench, but do you mind if I had my rifle back?" Merlin pointed at his gun on the table.

Wrench turned to him, "Oh! you mean this." He hands him back his Lee Enfield while looking troubled holding the weapon properly. "That sure is a strange weapon, compared to our crossbows and bows. What is it?"

Zappy spoke, "OH! That's the thing that saved my life! It's that weird crossbow Merlin uses and fires that weird thing that puts a hole in the head!"

"I think he meant a bullet, but close enough." Merlin just let what he said go. He went ahead and checked how many bullets were loaded in it.

"10 bullets, all right."

The Lee Enfield was a great rifle. Having a quick and smooth bolt action and a 10 round magazine clip, and an impressive rate of fire. After checking his magazine, Merlin strapped the gun over his shoulder, making it prepared to use in case of an emergency. He then told the officer, "I'm also gonna need my supplies sir, might I ask where they are?"

"It's in the back."

Merlin went in the back and grabbed his supplies. While checking if he has everything in there, Wrench turned to the officer and said,

"Well, now that that's out of the way, what are we gonna do with Merlin, Woods?" Wrench asked.

The officer looked at Wrench. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it not that I don't mind having an ap- Human, in our army. It's just that he came in outta nowhere, doesn't understand what's happening, and appears to be lost when he's supposed to be somewhere in... Belgium correct?" He turned to Merlin for confirmation. Merlin nodded.

"So we have a human, who is on a completely different army, from a completely different nation!"

Everypony (and one) looked at each other after realizing what Wrench means. Merlin was an outsider in this war, he's not meant to be here. So that leaves the question for Woods, will he bring him into the war? Or will he take Merlin back to where he came from, which to Woods seems impossible since Belgium is something unheard of here in Equestria.

"To be truthfully honest, I don't know what to do with him. But since he has helped out and saved one of my troops, I have decided that he'll get the option to choose." Woods turned to Merlin. "Merlin, you get to choose, you can stay in the army and help us fight against these diamond dogs, or you can be taken back to a place called Ponyville, where they'll help you rest and get some meals."

Merlin looked stunned at the moment, he didn't know what to do, everything just seems to be going in his favor, but he just wasn't sure...

On one hand, He can go back to this Ponyville, and just relax and just live his life how he wanted to live it. The question was, did he really want it? An easy life? Abandoning his duties as a soldier? He regretted the fact that while he's here, many of his comrades were dying on the field. He went to this place, while his brothers are struggling to push the Germans back. He hated it. He hates war with a burning passion, but leaving these people to go to the frontlines while he's just back there relaxing is just disgusting to think about.

"You fought valiantly, but unfortunately, this is where your story ends."

No.

He's wrong. This is not where his story ends.

After a long decision, He looked at the officer with a determined look. "Sir I have decided until I can somehow find my way back home, I will join the army and help you push back these beasts to where they came from." He ended that proud statement with a salute.

Everypony there looked surprised at the decision, and also the look on his face. Woods just looked at him with a stern gaze, and then chuckled. "Well, this sure is quite a day..."

Zappy looked at his superior and was surprised, "Did... You just laughed sir?" Him, laughing? That was saying as if asteroids were hitting the ground!

Wrench then looked back at Zappy, "You do know he has emotions too right?"

"U-Uh, it's not that I'm saying that he doesn't! but... It's quite rare to see that ya know?" Zappy smiled at the sight of his Officer chuckling.

"Well, I guess that settles it, Welcome aboard Private." The Officer raised up a hoof for a hoofshake, Merlin raised up his hand shook his hand... Hoof.

"All right, well, it's getting dark now, so I suggest everyone get some shut-eye." The french mustached pony then went out of the tent to head back to his bed.

Merlin and Zappy were just about to head out when they heard Wrench, "Well, I also have to sleep as well. Oh and one more thing." He turned to Merlin, "Welcome aboard."

Merlin turned around and said, "Thanks." Before turning back.

After a couple of minutes outside, Merlin had set up his sleeping quarters in one of the dugouts here in the trench where they had fought. Nopony saw him, cause he was on the other side of the trench. Just as he was about to lay down, he saw an orange figure standing outside of his dugout.

"Who's there?" Merlin pulled up a lantern to see who is the perp in his little room. He soon sighed to find out it was none other than Zappy.

"Hey Merlin, I just came to uhh, say goodnight." He looked around to find his Dugout is a little small than the other ones.

"Oh, well goodnight then." He immediately turned off his lantern and was getting in his bed.

"W-Wait!"

Merlin turned to Zappy who just shouted. "What?"

Zappy looked down. "Uh, I just wanted to ask you something."

"What is it then, spit it out, I don't have all day."

Zappy nodded at Merlin's demand. "Um, When you saw me and the diamond dog fighting, Why didn't you shoot me, instead of him?"

Merlin looked at him as if he just said an insane question, "What do you mean?"

"Well I mean, we were fighting before the dog came at us, so why didn't you?"

Merlin sighed. "It was because he could've killed me if I had shot you, so it was natural instinct ok?"

Zappy only nodded at the statement, it appeared that Merlin only cared for himself than others' well-being.

"But also."

Zappy looked up to find Merlin speaking again.

"I saw that you were struggling, and it reminded me of my comrades back in Belgium who also struggled. I saw that you were just a young boy, trying to just survive this war, just like me. So I didn't want to see someone died at the hands of the beast." Merlin had said it with sincerity since he spoke it from the heart. He never really cared about anyone (or any pony) much, but he saw the fear in Zappy's eyes when he was attacked. And it reminded him of himself back when the war started.

"I see..." Zappy looked at him with a smile.

"Well, goodnight Merlin." Zappy then turned around and left.

"Goodnight Zappy."

And with that, Merlin closed his lantern and went into bed. He wondered what was gonna happen tomorrow.

But he just left that problem to tomorrow him. As soon as he went to bed, he only had one response to this entire thing.

"What a day..."

And with that, he went to sleep.

To be continued...

Author's Note

Here another chapter for yall! Sorry If it took a while, I had a lot of stuff going on, but I'm back on it!

This chapter mostly involves Merlin talking with the horses- I mean ponies. But there is a fight scene I put in there and it depicts a scene where Merlin will eventually fight things that has magic.

But anyways, That's all for now. See you next chapter!