The Rays of the Moon

        The shadow I stepped through felt like a doorway. I was surrounded by a claustrophobic blackness, before walking into an open meadow, with a hospital in the distance. I moved forward before I saw the armored mare, still facing me. She beat me to the first word. “You’ll have to excuse the transport, only way to get you here quickly. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check how the battle is going.”

        She stated to make another portal. I moved in between the two. “NO, not until you tell me your name.”

        He moved her head to the side. One ear folded in curiosity. “I would have thought saving would be nice enough. Instead of a name, how about a promise. You’ll be in the hospital at least two days, I’ll come visit.” I tried to protest, but she melted into a shadow behind her. I silently cursed as I walked to the hospital.

        I went to the front office and rang the bell several times, warranting confusion from the duty nurse. “Yes, may I help you?”

        I looked around, the waiting room was empty. “Yes, one check in, from the ongoing battle of Stalliongrad.” he looked at me for a minute and nodded, running back to the back room. I figured that I would get called up when a doctor freed up. I heard some noises from the back room. A hushed conversation, the dialing of a phone, and finally a gasp.

        The doctor came through about a minute after that, with a small layer of sweat on his forehead. He motioned towards me, and I followed him to a room. He picked up a needle and put out his hoof. “Now Mr.Nights, we’ve been told by your superiors that you have at minimum a few broken  ribs, and maybe some magical burns, after seeing you walk, I’m in a mood to agree. Any comments?”

        I looked at him like he was crazy. “What do you mean sir? I feel great!” I moved up to show him.

        He pushed me back down in a gentle manner. “Have you seen yourself?” I shook my head. He moved a mirror in front of me. I almost retched. My dark brown fur was matted with dried blood. Parts of my fur were burned to the skin, and a part of my skull was showing through my burned fur. I shook my head, too tired to worry about it. The doctor moved the mirror with a red tinted glow. “Now here’s a shot to put you to sleep. The lack of pain is probably a side effect of an adrenaline flood. I’m giving you fair warning, this will hurt like a bitch when you wake up.” I sucumbed to the doctors words and stuck out my hoof. In one second a needle plunged into my fetlock. In two seconds my vision blurred. In three seconds blackness overwhelmed my vision. I didn’t count to four.

        I woke up several times. The first was a vague blur before another needle was jammed into my system. The second time was more of the same. The third one was in a private room tinged purple. I fell back asleep without a needle jammed into my hoof. I fell into a natural slumber. The last time I woke up there was a few things I didn’t think were there last time. I saw a bunch of armor sorted on a small table. A book sat on a chair, a bookmark hooked into the middle. I rolled to the side and a jolt of pain went through my body. I didn’t move until the pain subsided, then I summed up my feelings on the situation. “Fuck.” I looked around my bed, hoping for some sort of pain meds. There were none. “Fuck.” I leaned my head back, slowly to keep from hurting myself.

        I almost moved when I heard the voice. “Well, I don’t think I heard a pony talk like that with me in the room for twenty years.” I didn’t want to move, so I let the voice keep its own company until it talked to me. All was quiet for a few moments. “Oh, you’re chatty when you’re sick aren’t you?”

        That was a question, so I answered it. “No.”

        “Are you only going to respond when I ask you a question?”

“Yes.”

        I heard a sigh, and a bit of movement. I felt my bed slowly moved to being upright. I winced from the pain of moving. I then saw who I was talking too. Her coat was a deep blue, like a midnight sky. She stood taller than some stallions, and wore it well. Of course, she also had this look on her face like I should be in awe. In her defense, it was Luna, ruler of the nation. In my defense, I really didn’t give a shit at the moment. I went back to being quiet. She looked at me expectantly. SHe sighed again and folded up her wings. “This isn’t right. I’ll return in a moment.” She turned around and walked away leaving me to my thoughts.

        I sat still and tried to get back to sleep, but I couldn’t. So I was forced to it and think about everything. I lived again. The thought was accompanied by a wave of euphoria. I had beaten the odds, and managed to live through the battle again. I moved, and thought of trying to get ahold of my other squadmates, but something in me made me stop thinking about that. I tried to locate something to do, but the only thing near me was an ancient Daring Do book. It was hardly a challenging read, that, and I think moving my hoof would cause a large rush of pain. I heard the clopping of hooves outside and a hushed conversation. After a minute of talking Luna walked through the door accompanied by another pony.

        He was short, like the size of a foal short. He was wearing a labcoat covering his entire body. He walked up to me and extended his hoof. “Hello there, I’m Quiet thoughts. I suppose your Distant nights?” I looked him over. He entered trying to establish control by showing he already knew my name. He was a doctor of some sort, I guessed psychologist. I nodded, keeping from moving too much. He smiled. “I’ve been told to ask you a few questions.” He sat down in the chair opposite me, keeping eye contact. “How are you doing right now.”

        I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Well, I’m currently hurting like I just got blown up by a huge magical blast.” I lay there for a minute, watching as the psychologist hastily levitated a pencil over and began taking notes, as soon as he was about to comment I spoke again. “Oh wait, ... I was.”

        Thoughts sat there a moment, unused to sarcasm apparently. Luna was quietly snickering in the corner. He recovered enough to ask his next question. “It said in your earlier psych reports you have a girlfriend, how’s your relationship with her?”

        He just stepped on a landmine. I would’ve punched him if I could move. I calmed down immediately afterwards, I really just stopped caring. “Oh, it ended a while ago. I mean, after the night of tears, it would’ve turned into necrophilia, and that just isn’t right.”

        I laughed, a short, bitter laugh. “Ha, who said she was on our side? Glittering clouds, solar guard of the Purity division. She stayed with Celestia.”

        The scratching resumed, and Thoughts slowly moved upwards. “Well Mr. Nights, I think that’s all I need. Thank you for your time.” With that he walked out, Luna in tow. I sighed, I just bombed the psych evaluation.  I would probably get discharged with full honors, but I would still be sent home. I sat there again doing nothing.

        Luna came back after a minute or two, a large pile of paperwork levitating beside her. She sat down beside me and started filling it all out, not telling me what was going on. I didn’t deal well with being out of the loop. I rolled my head over to see her. “What’s with you being here? I doubt you visit every wounded pony in the war.”

        She smiled, which scared me. “Actually, I have. Every combat wounded has gotten a visit by me. Counting you I’ve visited one pony.”

        I shook my head. “Whoo, go me. First injured in a war. How was the report the psychologist gave me?”

        Luna looked at me with mild surprise on her face. “He said you were... um.” She looked through her files and did air quotes. “Ill-suited to do anything more emotionally taxing than sorting cans.” I snorted with laughter and immediately regretted that decision. Pain welled through my head and slowly dissipated throughout my body. Luna looked at me. “I however, have a different opinion. I think you seem to have gotten a giant kick in the pants. I won’t offer you revenge, but I’ll offer you the ability to keep your job.”

        I cut her off right there. “Stop building up suspense and tell me the offer.”

        She huffed at me. “Fine. I’m need a pony to make a squad. Not big, five, maybe six other ponies. You get funded by me, and get pointed where you need to go. You would be the leader.”

        I looked at her. I opened my mouth, closed it again, then said what was on my mind. “Are you high right now ma’am?” She looked like I punched her. “You see a pony, in bad mental condition, who just got blown up and think ‘oh he’ll make a great leader’. Ask one of the ponies who lived. I’ll join the squad if they want me. ”

        She sat there for a minute. “Nights, you just almost died. Know that that singular fact just saved your life.” I scoffed a bit. She kept talking. “You are the only survivor of that battle, discounting two mares who are currently at a briefing for the armies they command. You managed to live, and when I found you didn’t hesitate to try and head back to the fight, so you are my first choice.”

        My brain took a minute to compute this new information. “Wait, when you found me? You mean to say you have been sneaking out to fight during a war? Princess, with all due respect thats stupid! If you die the whole nation will fall apart.”

        Luna took more offence. “QUIET!” I screamed in pain. The full force of the Canterlot voice vibrated the bed, moving my injuries to open one of the scars and clack the broken bones together. Luna moved to my side much faster than I anticipated. “Sorry, sorry. Here, let me help.” Before I could voice a complaint, a horn touched my chest. My wounds slowly closed, and my bones healed up a little bit. When the magic ended I could move a little bit, and didn’t feel like I got shot. I moved out of bed and rolled my hooves around.

        After stretching out muscles that hadn’t been used in at least a day. It felt good. I turned to Luna. “Now I can’t refuse your offer. Alright, I’ll lead your squad.” I sat back down before I remembered one of the passing remarks in our conversation. “Wait, what do you mean the only survivor?”