The last thing Ray remembered was a massive blast tearing through the jeep as the car flipped through the air. The improvised explosive device packed a bigger punch than the ones they’d seen previously and managed to land the vehicle on its driver’s side, elevating the passenger side up in the air. Ray was pinned to the driver’s side rear door by the weight of his fellow soldier. They shouted something far off and distant as the ringing in Ray’s ears prevented him from hearing almost anything. Gunfire hit the bottom of the jeep. Its armor plating stopped most of the shots and deflected the rest.
A soldier climbed out the upended section from the front-passenger door. His squadmate yelled something to him as Ray looked on, dazed. He heard the solider discharge his weapon. More gunfire hit the HMMVW before the soldier ducked back into the car. He had a bullet-mark on his helmet, which had saved his life.
One of the soldiers was calling someone on the radio. Ray didn’t know who. The voices were too far away. There was a loud buzzing sound heading towards the jeep.
The bottom of the HMMVW was rocked as the armor-plating barely stopped the explosion from breaching the cabin. The car flipped over on its top, trapping the soldiers upside-down. The one soldier who had exited the door fell half outside the vehicle when it hit the ground. Gunfire hit the ground around him as he crawled back inside the jeep.
Ray looked out the window facing down the road in the direction they had been driving. He couldn’t see anyone. Seconds later, several bullets reflected off the sides of the door he had been staring through. One hit the window directly and bounced off. He jumped with each impact.
The soldiers looked around inside the protective shell of their HMMVW. They saw a truck driving up from the far in the distance. It was not U.S. military.
Several more gunshots hit the side of vehicle as Ray started to get his hearing back. He heard the voices of his squad mates yelling at each other, though his mind couldn’t make sense of the words. He was frozen in-place, staring at the truck moving them. In less than sixty seconds, it would reach the vehicle. He spotted several men with rifles and automatic weapons standing on the back of the truck.
“Truck incoming!” Ray shouted. “4 men! 1 driver! Armed!” One of the men pulled out a long slender weapon. “RPG! RPG!” Ray yelled.
“OUT! EVERYBODY OUT!” One of the other soldiers yelled. The doors opened on the opposite end of the cabin. They flooded out onto the side of the road and rolled to a stop on the ground. Ray was having trouble removing his seat-belt upside-down. He released the buckle and flipped over, lying on the ceiling. There was a blast from the truck and Ray had half a second to brace for impact.
The rocket-propelled grenade slammed into the front of the jeep, spinning it around as the front window ripped apart. The open doors on the opposite end now pointed towards the incoming truck. Ray saw the men open-fire. He reached for the door handle and slammed it shut just in-time to see the bullets bounce off the armor. The front door was still open, and the bullets entered the cabin front seats and tore through them like paper.
Gunfire spewed forth from the three squad mates hunkered down on the side of the road. One of the men on the truck spasmed and fell off the side, hitting the ground. The truck veered off to the side as the three men on top opened fire. The one with the RPG was hit as he was reloading and dropped back into the bed of the vehicle.
Ray looked around. Through the explosions and the gunfire, he felt something even more off. “I…I’ve already been here.” He opened the side door and stumbled onto the ground. Gunfire pockmarked the ground around his feet as he ran around the side, weapon at the ready. He aimed at the driver of the truck and opened fire. And waited.
The truck had stopped moving. The men on top stood perfectly still, aiming their weapons at the three squad mates on the side of the road. One soldier was already falling backwards from a shot to his chest armor. Ray looked around. The sounds of battle had ceased.
“Hey!” He yelled. “HEY!” He raised up his rifle and scanned the area across the top of his barrel. “I know you’re out there! Answer me!” He scanned the horizon and then looked back at the frozen scene. He walked around the truck and saw the driver, his features never forgotten. Ray raised his rifle and pointed it point-blank at the driver’s head.
“RAY!” a fierce feminine voice called out from behind him.
“I already killed this man. Let me finish this.”
“You ALREADY finished it!” the regal voice said. “You finished it half a decade ago.”
Ray spun around with his weapon aiming at the voice. He glanced wildly around the desert. “WHERE ARE YOU?”
“Are you going to shoot me, Ray?” the voice said, still hard to identify, but very familiar. It sounded almost like Luna, but more mature. “I’m not going to come out if that’s the case.”
“Just tell me who you are. Why am I here?”
“Your mind put you here. This isn’t a dream. It’s a memory. You’re having a flashback. You’re not even asleep. You’re standing outside your apartment, in the forest.”
“What?” he said. “That’s impossible. That’s never happened to me before.”
“Put the gun down and I’ll show you.”
“But if it isn’t real, then why does it matter if I have this gun?”
“Because I can still be hurt,” she said. “Please put the gun down.”
Ray watched the scene. Looked at the man in the truck, the men standing above with weapons drawn, and felt immense hate for them. He heart tore in his chest as he pointed his weapon at the truck. He screamed in anger as he fired at the sides of the vehicle and across the wheels, watching them pop and explode. The barrel smoked as he stared at the bullet holes and realized he had managed to avoid hitting any of the men. He threw his weapon to the ground and turned around.
The sun ignited on the horizon, casting a corona of brilliance around the white winged mare, standing in regal radiance cast by the light of her own star. Her mane spread high and into the sky, painting the colors of the sunset in pastel hues of soft, welcoming light. The golden colors of her vibrant regalia shimmered with each ray of light, showing a perfect beauty which was impossible on earth. But it was her eyes that made the biggest impression, surrounded by such magnificence and yet so soft and loving.
“I'm sorry, your majesty,” Ray said as he lowered his head.
Princess Celestia smiled. “You don’t have to do that, Ray. You’re not one of my subjects.”
“So I’d have to do it if I was a subject?”
“Ray, you’re staring at a celestial being and the first thing you decide to do is be a smartass?”
“You took away my gun. What else do I have?”
The two walked in silence for a while as Celestia toned down her mane just a bit so it was contained within a mass of shimmering light just behind her. “You know, most ponies don’t give me sass after I’ve made an entrance like that.”
“I’m not most ponies. Or a pony. At all.” He looked around. “I thought I wasn’t asleep,” he told her. “What exactly am I physically doing right now?”
“Walking through a forest, lost in thoughts so deep you might as well be dreaming.”
“These flashbacks have happened before, but I knew what they were. I didn’t go out wandering on my own.”
“They’re getting worse,” Celestia said. She appeared worried. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“I’ll manage.”
“I need you to see a psychiatrist.”
“What?” Ray said and stopped walking in the desert sands.
“Your mind is a wreck. You suppress so many things and when they finally boil to the surface, you get trapped within them. Stop trying to be tough and start being responsible.”
Ray sighed. “I thought I could get by on my own.” Celestia was about to speak when Ray held up a hand. “But I can see that’s not the case. I’ll see a psychiatrist.”
“Wow. That was fast,” Celestia said. “You don’t usually agree so quickly.”
“I’ve had a lot of support from your subjects. Including Luna.”
Celestia’s eyebrows raised. “Do you and my sister have…a thing?”
Ray was silent for a moment. The wind blew around the desert. “Oh hey, I think I stopped walking in real life. Time to wake up,” The desert began to disappear.
“Hey!” Celestia said.
“Sorry your majesty. Important human business to attend to. See you later!”
“You better not break her heart, Ray!” Celestia yelled. “Or you’ll find yourself waking up naked in the mall somewhere! I guarantee it!”
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