Soldier Abroad.

“WHAT THE HAY IS GOING ON!”

I had only a few words to say to him before my I allowed my mind to slip into unconsciousness.

“Help...her”

As my head dropped to the floor I couldn't help but smell a small bit of ozone in the air. The smell didn’t persist very long, as it was soon overpowered by the smell of my singed uniform.

“What happened to her?!”

I didn’t feel tired anymore. I saw a blazing white light coming from the corner of the sprang up from my recumbent position.

“What have you done to Fluttershy!?”

Nothing would come out of my lips but a wimpy squeak.

“I...”

She commanded again, knocking books off the shelves and pushing my helmet back with a strong blast of magic

I had to muster the energy I had left in me to simply stand back up. I slowly pushed myself up against the wall and leaned on my rifle to keep myself from slumping back to the cold floor. I could smell my vest and uniform burning. I had to tell the unicorn what happened or she might decide to attack me right there. When I met her eyes, they weren't just filled with rage. They were dripping tears that singed the wood burned into the floor. I raised my hand to attempt to convince her not to blast me again.

“She’s been hurt badly...I came here to...find help for her.” I looked back over to Fluttershy. “She needs help right now. I can only do so much with first aid”

As her aura started to die down, Twilight rushed to her downed friend. Her horn glowed a gentle purple, and slowly covered her friend in a similar aura. I could see the magic beginning to concentrate toward her wing.

“Can you help her?” I whispered as I slowly slumped back down towards the floor.

“I don't know very much about restomancy,” she said, “but what I can do is stop the bleeding momentarily.”

It was amazing. Her magic lifted the bandage off her wing without her fallen friend so much as flinching. The bloodied wing was covered in magic, but not for long as the magic seemed to seep into it. As promised, the wound stopped bleeding. Twilight, however, seemed undaunted.

“You’ll have to carry her”, she said without looking in back at me

I raised an eyebrow after the unicorn. “Why?”

“I can’t keep her wound from bleeding and teleport her to the hospital. You’ll have to carry her. That is unless you can teleport?”

“That’s really not an option.,” I said from the corner of the room. “I’m covered in blood here., both mine and Fluttershy’s. There’s no way I can walk through here without causing an absolute panic.”

“You’re right...I didn’t consider that.” After saying that, Twilight seemed to concentrate harder. “Ok. I’ve got it. Come over here and put another one of your bandages on the wound to keep it from bleeding. This will only take a second”

Using the butt of my rifle as a crutch, I slowly made my way over to Fluttershy’s side. Her wing was soaked in blood. Its once elegant feathers drenched and matted down. Her face was contorted in pain as if, even in her sleep, she was unable to escape the pain. Pushing back the guilt, I grabbed my last bandage from the first aid kit on my vest. I nodded at Twilight. She slowly let her magic recede and the blood began to flow again., though not as bad as when she was first shot the blood still soaked through the fairly small bandage.

I looked back at twilight and asked.  “Just what exactly do you plan on doing?”

“I’m going to turn you into one of us temporarily.”

I took a moment to let those last few words soak in. “What...”

“I’m going to make you into a pony for a short while. It’s a fairly complex spell. Give me a moment.,” she said matter-of-factly. She never even gave me a chance to argue. Not that I would object; this was the only real option.

“Do I get a choice as to what I’m going to look like?” I asked inquisitively.

“Not really,” she said, “the spell takes the qualities of the subject, and adjusts accordingly.”

Twilight closed her eyes tight in effort and her horn glowed a bright purple again. Gradually, it became more intense and changed to a brilliant white. I tied the bandage to her wing so that it would not come lose after Twilight’s spell began. I stood to face her and a blue ribbon slowly began to wrap around my feet. It snaked its way up my body. When her spell had finally engulfed me it began to heat up and intensify until the formerly blue ribbon of magic sparkled with a brilliant glow. I could feel my limbs shifting, though I felt no pain. I didn’t dare look down to see my body being transformed. The spell suddenly exploded outward in a flash of light and magic, knocking books off of their shelves. I fell to the ground in a heap and attempted to get my feet under me only to realize that I didn’t have feet anymore. Furthermore, instead of two hands with five fingers., I now had two hooves. I stumbled like a newborn colt to get on all four legs.

“Well this is interesting?” I said shakily as I outstretched my hoof to observe my new body.

“You don't make a half bad unicorn.” Twilight levitated a mirror over to me. “If I may say so myself.”

I looked into the mirror to be greeted by a desert brown unicorn. The spell had even managed to shift my vest so that it fit my new form. I also noticed something very interesting: A mark with two crossed rifles had been stamped onto my flank.

“You’re going to need a name,” Twilight said as she moved back to Fluttershy to reapply her magic.

“What do you think about Bolt Action?” I asked.

“Sounds fine” she said flatly as her spell began to take effect again. “Now pick her up quickly, she needs professional help.”

After a bit of running through back alleys and avoiding detection, we finally made it to the hospital. We were greeted by a look of shock from the nurse sitting behind the main desk. I didn’t give her that chance to snap out of it on her own.

“We need a medic!!!”

“A what?” she responded

“Get us a doctor, now!” I shouted, “she doesn’t have a whole lot of time! She needs a doctor right now!”

“O-Ok Bring her this way!” the nurse stammered

She pushed open a door and led us to a gurney. I laid the poor pegasus down slowly and the nurse wheeled her off towards the E.R. As we were running down the corridor, we were joined by a bespectacled brown pony adorned in a bleach white lab coat.

“What happened to her?” he asked.

I responded as calmly and as clearly as I could. “She has a bad puncture wound at the base of her wing. She’s lost a good amount of blood and her pulse is very weak.”

He looked back at Fluttershy “Very well. You two stay here. We’ll take good care of her, I promise,” he said as he and the nurse pushed through the another door.

I stood there with Twilight, unable to move again. Oh god. What if she doesn’t make it.?

“NO! She cant die! I won’t allow it!” I screamed while unceremoniously dropping to my new haunches

Twilight responded by reaching out to my shoulder, then sharply drew it back as she realized that my uniform and coat was still slick with her friend’s blood.

“She’ll be fine” she assured me. “She’s much stronger than you might think.”

“...”

“I’m going to go get the others. You stay here and wait for her.”

I simply sat there, unable to move again. How in the hell could I be called an officer? I was supposed to help people. To protect people. Yet, here I was standing numb in a hallway, having put one of most gentle beings in this world in the E.R. I trudged back to the waiting room. I took my seat and stared down at my blood-soaked uniform.

It may as well have been days since Fluttershy went into that operating room. Then I saw movement. The doctor emerged. He looked slightly pale but wore a stoic face. That was never good. Never had I seen a doctor with a flat face carry with him good news. He talked to the nurse behind the counter for a bit. She then gestured at me and he slowly shuffled over.

“Excuse me sir?”

“Yes?” I responded

“You were with Fluttershy earlier today correct Mr...”

“Bolt Action,” I stated

“Well, Bolt Action, I have good news and bad news”

My heart sank into my stomach. “What’s the good news, doc?”

“Fluttershy is in stable condition and has a very good chance of pulling through thanks to yours, and Twilight’s quick actions.”

“And the bad news?”

“She’s going to be in a good bit of pain for a long time.”

“What?” I asked again. I hoped I’d heard him wrong.

“Whatever had hit her struck her base wing bone. My medical magics can fix many things, but her wound struck many vital areas. The wing may be healed but it will take a long time for her to fully recover. It may even be permanent.”

I simply slumped back into my chair at the sobering notion of that word. Permanent.

“She may want to have someone in the room,” he said in a caring tone “she seemed absolutely terrified when she came to”

“Where is she?”

“She’s in room 21 on the second floor” he said. “The door should be open. If not, get one of the nurses up there to help you.”

“Thank you, doc” I said as I made my way toward the stairs. If there’s nothing else I could do for her. Maybe I could give some comfort to her so that she doesn’t have to spend the night alone. As I opened the door to the second floor, I realized something. I was still covered in my blood soaked uniform. I looked around for a while before finding a room with a sign that said ‘Stallions’ on it. I soon realized that this task was going to be more difficult than I had initially thought it was going to be. My hooves were of no use to me, as they couldn’t grip the zipper that held my uniform together. I kept on thinking, and ended up staring down at my zipper, puzzling for ways to get it down. I kept concentrating on it until something odd happened. My zipper, and horn, glowed a very faint yellow.

“What the hell...”

I tried again simply focusing on the zipper and envisioning it going down. It did. I was amazed at my new found ability. I experimented even further with it by focusing on taking off my uniform. Sure enough, it did just that. I then levitated my clothes onto my back and headed back toward my original goal.

19.

20.

21.

I reached out slowly to open the door, but hesitated for a bit. What if I scared her even more than she already was? It may not be very comforting to have the person who put you IN the hospital be the only one to stay with you. I had to push these thoughts aside. I steeled myself for what might come, and I pushed the door open. She was in her bed. Her face was still contorted in pain and she slowly looked over to me; her eyes widened in horror. I felt my heart drop into my gut.

I did this to her.

This is my fault.

I slowly approached her bed. Her face did not change. I fell back on my haunches. I tried to open my mouth to say “I’m sorry,” but nothing escaped my mouth. I let my gear fall to the floor. My rifle clacked against the cold tile. I looked at the cold, blackened steel of my rifle then back to her as tears began to roll down my face.

“I’m...so sorry.” I said between sobs

I don't know how long I sat there, imagining of the ways that I could have avoided this.

“Don’t cry,” Fluttershy whispered,

I looked up with tears still rolling off my cheeks. “What?”

She looked at me now, not with horror, but with compassion. “Please. Stop crying. I told you before that this was my fault.”

Her voice sounded so kind to my ears, but my heart wasn’t ready to accept them. “But. I'm the one who put you here.”

“Oh no,” she said, “ I-I was the one who  followed you throu-*cough* *cough* the bushes.”

I stood up and sat down in the chair facing her bed. “Hey now. You shouldn’t even be awake, let alone talking.”

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “At the very least...I’m not alone in here. I don’t like sleeping away from my home.”