A Heart as Red as Love

by sharkray24

Life is a War

I was standing in the middle of darkness, nothing but pitch black all around me, yet there was light, so bright it made my white coat gleam. It was almost like moonlight, it WAS moonlight. I looked up and saw Princess Luna standing in front of me, her star filled mane shimmered and her shoes sparkled. She looked at me in a loving but stern look a mother might give her child. “Greeting Miss Reeda Heartly.” She said.

I bowed and said, “Hello your highness. Am I dreaming?” I knew that Luna had the power to visit ponies in their dreams.

“In a sense.” She replied, and before I could ask anything else she said, “Come with me and I will show you something.” I stood up and followed her; soon the black faded and began to look like a forest. The forest had dead trees, thorny vines, bushes of black roses, and a beautiful view of the night sky and all the endless stars.

We walked silently through the silent forest. Finally we came upon a cave. Luna stopped, “You go first.” She said, “And then tell me what you find.”

“Ok.” I said. I took the lead into the dark cave; it was moist and dank, not from water. It felt stickier, almost like blood. I looked at my hooves and saw a stream of red liquid on the floor. I was spooked at first, then realized that it wasn't blood. It was just, red water. I continued on until I heard what sounded like moaning. I turned to Luna who just stared at me blankly.
I went towards the moaning and found a dark blue Unicorn in an Equestrian military uniform. He was wounded sitting against the cave wall and holding a hoof over his side. He looked over to me with a blank look in his eyes. “Help…me…” he managed to get out faintly.

I looked to Luna who said “Tell me what you see.”

I was puzzled, “A wounded Equestrian soldier.”

“I see.” She said, “Well you’re a nurse, you can help him.”

“But this isn't real.”

“Who told you that?”

I stared at her for a few seconds, then I turned back to the soldier, “Alright,” I said, “Where’s the wound?” He slowly lifted his hoof from his side revealing a deep hole, sticking out was a little bit of a spear. “Well firstly, take off that armor.”

“Yes ma’am.” He replied and took off his chest plate. Underneath he had a white shirt to prevent chafing from the chest plate. He had silver dog tags hanging around his neck; the name read “Martin Marcher.”

“Ok Martin.” I tell him, “I’m going to pull out the spear head, but before I do that…” I grabbed his shirt in my hoof and rip it off.

“Why did you do that?” he asked dazed.

“I need something to stop the bleeding.” Before he could say another word I had pulled out the spear head quicker than Rainbow Dash on her fourth glass of Pinkie Pie’s “Super-Secret Recipe Soda”.

He winced in pain and moaned, “A little warning would be nice.”

“If you know when it’s going to happen all you can focus on is the pain. Now tell me about yourself Martin.”

“I’m a Military Recorder; I keep records of everything that goes on in the camp. I’m usually not supposed to see action, but Charlie ambushed camp.” He started to cough up small drops of blood.

“You are one lucky soldier.” I inform him, “It was a near miss with your liver. But that’s not the only thing you've gotten lucky with if I’m correct.” I sort of smirked at the little joke.

“What do you mean?” he said, “Being drafted at age sixteen?” What I did next sort of surprised him, I grab his legs and looked between them, “What are you doing?” he said.

“Yup, no testicular problems, she had a luck guess.”

“What are you talking about?” he said sort of nervous. I continued working on the wound without answering his question. I was wrapping the wound when he asked a strange question, “Are you a pony?”
“What?” I say taken aback

“I mean, you don’t have a face, and your body looks like liquid silver.” He said.

“You are suffering from blood loss, you are probably hallucinating.” I inform him, “and one more thing.”

“What?” he asked. I lifted my hoof and bonked him on the head. “Ouch! What was that for?” he asked.

“For knocking-up your fifteen year old marefriend and leaving her to fend for herself.”

“How did you know about that?” he stammered.

“I just kno-” I looked back down at the wound which was starting to bleed through the bandage. “Oh crap.” I worked hard to treat the wound.

Suddenly three Equestria soldiers appeared at the entrance to the cave. “We found one in here!” one of them shouted. The other two had medic uniforms and carried a stretcher with magic. They lifted the wounded pony onto the stretcher and started to trot away. “Wait! What about her?” Martin cried weakly.

“Who?” asked one of the med ponies, “There’s nopony else in there.”

“You have some major blood loss, you are probably hallucinating.” said the other.

I stood and watched as they carried him off. I turn to Princess Luna and she looks down at me with caring eyes. “Life is a constant war. Every fiber, every cell of our being is constantly trying to overcome the others in order to keep us healthy. Every heartbeat pumps blood through our veins that gives oxygen to all our organs. Every breath we take fuels the oxygen-rich blood, and every breath out releases toxic gasses from the remainders. Every step we take wears away at our bone’s cartilage, every time we eat; we are giving different supplies to our different cells. Every second, nay every instant, we have the possibility of dropping dead, and it could happen all because one soldier is wounded. Reeda Heartly, what I will tell you now you must remember for as long as your fight continues, ‘Don’t surrender, keep fighting, stay on the battlefield of life. You are destined for great things.’.” at that Luna glowed the color of moonlight and disappeared in a shining flash. And I felt darkness closing in on me.