“What… the fuck?” I said, staring at the remnants of my best friend’s head. Unable to come to terms with what had just happened, I pushed his body off of me and rolled over to vomit. There was blood, brain, and bits of skull all over my face and shirtfront, so the blast had evidently come from behind Matt.
“Who’s there?” I asked weakly, still laying on the ground.
No answer, just the cold silence of an overcast morning.
“Ohh shit.” I moaned, and forced myself to stand up. The sides of my neck were still bleeding freely from Matt’s nails, and my right calf hurt horribly, but I managed to repack Matt and I’s bags and was in the process of temporarily bandaging my calf when Luna through the trees and landed in front of me.
Looking alarmed, she frantically asked “What happened here? What was that boom I heard a several minutes ago?”
Slowly, I answered “There were some infected guards here rummaging through my stuff. They noticed me and tried to, like, bite me, so I was forced to eliminate them. Then Matt came and… and… agh fuck.”
I threw my head into my hands and tried to think, but I simply couldn’t. Matt’s death was just too much.
“Was Matt the other human? Your comrade?”
“Yes, Princess. He was supposed to be in the hospital, but I guess he walked out and came here. He was infected, and had his sidearm, and shot me, and then tried to rip my throat out with his teeth. I didn’t notice a boom, but judging from what happened, it could have been a magical blast or a gunshot. I doubt severely that it was a gunshot.”
“A gunshot? What is a gunshot?”
“It’s the sound that’s made when a gun is fired.” I said, tiredly.
“And… what is a gun?” Luna said, giving me a look that was a cross between dreadfully curious and hopelessly confused.
“It’s a device that… fuck, uh… it’s a device that fires metal shards faster than the speed of sound with the use of explosives, with the intent to kill.” I slowly turned my head to look at Luna, squinting my eyes and asking “Any other questions?”
Taking my hint that now was not the time, she quickly said “No.” and turned to examine the area. “It would have been difficult for someone to shoot a magical blast through the forest. There are too many shrubs, branches, and tree trunks for anyone to aim properly. They must have been standing relatively close by. Are you sure there was no one there?”
“I’m fairly sure, but I wasn’t paying particular attention.”
“Hmm.” Luna hummed, examining the ground around Matt’s body and hovering some small twigs and leaves around, before saying “It would appear that something very tiny smashed through the canopy above and hit your friend.”
Looking at the sticks and leaves that Luna was levitating, and then above me, I asked “How the fuck would you know that?”
“Well, these twigs are recently broken, several of these leaves were ripped off of the tree instead of falling off, and this particular leaf,”- she hovered a large oak leaf over in front of my face-“has a perfectly circular hole in it.”
“How..” I began, giving Luna the universal ‘what the fuck?’ face, before she cut me off and continued.
“In addition, if your friend was.. leaning over you, and his injury came from behind, along with the remnants on your shirt, then the only possible angles are from above.” She said that last sentence slowly, careful to make sure I wouldn’t react badly to her mention of Matt’s recent death.
“You’re a fucking wizard.” I said, before returning to bandaging my leg. “As amazing as that deduction was, I didn’t hear a single thing, see a single thing, or even feel a single thing, other than Matt’s nails biting into my neck.” I sighed and began to fish around for my shovel. “Besides, I’d like to dig a grave for my friend before we leave. Would you do me the favor and help?”
“Certainly. There is no greater honor than helping to bring a warrior to peace.”
I raised my eyebrow at her in question. “I thought this was a peaceful nation?”
“That doesn’t mean we don’t go to war. We had to defeat Discord’s armies somehow, and repelled countless Griffonian invasions. The few warriors we have every hundred years or so are greatly respected.”
“Oh.” I said in surprise. “Makes sense.”
And so we began to dig, for hours until it was proper for my friend. Once we had finished, we layed him to rest, and Luna carved a headstone out of a nearby boulder. It read ‘Here rests Matthew Barker, Staff Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps, and one of the first recorded Humans in Equestrian history. His death was unjust and his life was short, but he will live on forever in the minds of his loved ones.’
Shortly after, I asked Luna to give me a few minutes alone.
“I look around and all I see is evil
Walking dead disguised as real people
It's kill or be killed 'cause life is not forever
It comes apart and then it falls together
I am what you made me
'Til death do you part
It's the world I've grown to know
Unforgiving and so cold
Take it away
Take it away
I don't want it
It's a life I'm forced to live
I've got nothing more to give
Take it away
Take it away
I don't want it anymore
We're generation dead
We're dead”