I snapped my head over to where Matt was laying; dread filling my heart as I saw flecks of blood accompanying his cough. That was NOT good. A quick glance told me that the ponies were also alarmed at Matt’s coughs. Swearing and deciding that the ponies were a lesser threat right now, I slung the rifle onto my back and kneeled next to my friend. I examined him, but nothing obvious told my why he was having this coughing fit. Maybe it was just a cold? I thought to myself, ‘Damn, I wish I had taken that medical class when I had the chance.’
The purple pony –Twilight- took a few steps forward and said in shaken voice “Is... is he alright?”
“Does it fucking look like he’s alright? He has a chunk of shrapnel imbedded in his leg and now he’s coughing up blood for God knows why. Don’t take another step closer!” Noticing that she was slowly walking forward, I drew my M9 and aimed it at her, motioning for her to stand back with her companions.
Turning back to Matt, I set my M9 down on the ground. I decided to remove his tactical vest and see if there were any wounds on his chest, cursing myself for not checking it earlier. I had been so distracted by his leg wound that I forgot to see if he had been hit elsewhere by the shrapnel, which was usually the case. I ripped the vest open and scanned his chest for any marks or cuts, but there was nothing wrong. There were no holes in his shirt and after double checking, no holes in his vest either.
‘This makes no sense,’ I thought to myself. “How could he be coughing up blood with no chest wounds?”
The purple pony took a step forward and said “Look, we don’t know who you are, or what you are, but it’s evident that your friend needs help. Let us take him to our hospital in Ponyville, so that we can get him some urgent care.”
That really didn’t sound like a bad idea, but how could I trust them? I had evaded capture by enemy soldiers, encountered a… ghost or a demon of some sort, and then woken up to find myself falling through the forest. None of that added up, and it was really making my head hurt. After scanning through a few potential explanations to my situation, my desperate mind settled on the most logical outcomes. The entire time, I was thinking ‘Could I have been captured by the Soviets? If so, they’ve got to be keeping me on sedatives, making me have some crazy ass dreams. Or maybe I’m hallucinating? Maybe these talking multicolored ponies are actually the Soviets, trying to peacefully get me to surrender… Yeah…That’s definitely it…’
I turned around slowly, unslinging the SCAR to point it at the three “ponies” in front of me. “How about fuck you?” I stated. “Matt and I are obviously not going to make it out of here, so I’m going to take as many of you bastards with me as I can.” I aimed the rifle at the lead pony, the purple one, and began to squeeze the trigger, but there was no gunshot. I glanced at the rifle, cursing when I noticed that the safety was on. Flicking it off with my thumb, I prepared to fire again.
There was a really loud clop sound, like someone’s knuckles connecting with a human skull, and my vision went black.
As I came to, my first coherent thought was “Ow,” in response to my throbbing headache. When I opened my eyes, I saw a wooden roof above me, along with wooden walls and a very, very uncomfortable wooden floor. Looking around, it appeared that I was in a library, unlike any library I’d ever been in. It was roughly circular, with bookshelves lining most of the wall and an entryway into another room, along with a staircase leading to a second floor. Turning my head, I noticed that the floor had rings on it, spanning the entire room, almost like the inside of a giant tree. Thankfully, all of my gear was piled in the corner, with my Barrett and Matt’s SCAR balanced precariously on the top. I heard a clip clop sound coming through the entry way behind me, and a surprised voice coming from non-other than that purple pony from before.
“Oh, you’re awake!”
“Ugh.” I grunted, holding my head in my hands. This headache was really bad. If I can feel pain like this, then I must not be hallucinating. I turned to the purple pony and asked “Where am I?”
“Well, right now you’re in the Ponyville library. We brought you here after Rainbow Dash knocked you out. Don’t worry, your friend is currently in the hospital, and later on I’ll take you down to see how he is.”
“Well that’s good, I guess,” I said. I suddenly realized that I didn’t remember her name, even though she told me back in the forest, I think. Everything was hazy, and I really don’t know what I was thinking by waving the SCAR around and assuming the ponies were Soviets. “So... I’m sorry for being so horrible earlier, with the shouting and cursing and all. What was your name again?”
She laughed and said “Well, I’m surprised you can remember anything at all. Don’t worry, it's fine. You were understandably distraught over your friend’s injury. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’m the librarian. My assistant Spike should be around here somewhere, he helps me run everything.”
Right as she finished, a small purple reptile with green scales walked down the stairs, saying something about gems. When he reached the bottom stair, he noticed me, and said “Whoa Twilight, that’s a really weird animal. It doesn’t have any fur!”
“Jesus, are you a dragon?” I asked, forgetting any resemblance of manners that my mother taught me.
“It can talk!” He exclaimed, looking shocked. “And… yeah I’m a dragon, not to mention Twilight’s number one assistant!”
He sure looked proud as he said that. “Well, it’s nice to meet you too,” I muttered, wanting to hurry up and go to see how Matt was doing. “Can we go and visit my friend now?”
“Oh, well sure,” said Twilight. “Since the rest of the girls are at the Sugarcube Corner, how about I take you to meet them after visiting your friend?”
“Uh...Well sure, I guess.” Looking down at my blood and mud stained hands, I decided I should probably clean up a bit before seeing Matt, and ESPECIALLY before meeting anybody new. “Is there anywhere I can wash this crap off before we leave?” I asked Twilight, who nodded and pointed through the entryway into what I assumed was a kitchen.
As I scrubbed my hands and face, I thought about this crazy world I had found myself in, and of that… thing that brought Matt and I here. As if on cue, I looked up and saw that ominous face staring at me from the wall. I jumped, gasping and reaching for my sidearm out of shock. Fortunately, it was piled with my other gear, preventing me from putting some holes in the side of the wall.
“Oh come now, aren’t you happy to see me?”
“Um…” All I could do was stare, my face slowly turning into a scowl.
“I’ll assume you aren’t, then. Well that’s fine for now. I might as well drop the whole ‘dark and gloomy’ façade, since I’ve really only come here for my own benefit.” His smoky face twisted into a Cheshire grin, making me dread what he was going to say.
“First, there’s a good chance that I will keep you here for the rest of your pathetically short human life, just because it amuses me.”
Fuck. As interesting as this place is, I would much rather go home to my brother and sister. I didn’t get a chance to spend Christmas with them, because my mission against Commissar Markov cut my leave short.
“And second, I would like to delightfully inform you that your brother and sister are dead.”
“Wait what?” Dread and sadness were already filling my heart, but were also mixed with an equal amount of hate for this being.
“Just kidding! Hahahahaha!” As he laughed, his smoky face faded away, leaving nothing behind but the wood grain.
‘What a bastard,’ I thought, rubbing my eyes as I turned away from the sink. ‘Regardless of what kind of monster he is, that’s crossing the line.’ As I walked into the library part of the building, Twilight looked up and must’ve noticed my facial expression before I had a chance to fake one, because she immediately asked if something was wrong.
“No, I’m fine. Just thinking about home,” I answered, not wanting to delve too deeply into what happened. Plus, it wasn’t a total lie, either. After what the ghost-specter-thing had said, I really wanted to go home.