The Raiders and The Princess

by FIRE FLASH 3

Chapter VIII: More talking

Chapter VIII

So there I was, sat there, all alone. Only Twilight lying next to me, using my thigh as a pillow. I was still sat there sewing up the shirt she had torn perfectly in two.

Though she wasn't bare chested, I could see her wings moving spontaneously a few times. The funniest thing was to see her nose twitch now and again. I must admit, if she was someone I had known at school back in Bordeaux, I would have definitely have asked her out.

Even with if she did have wings.

The one thing that I was beginning to ask myself was where had my team mates gotten too. They hadn't been gone long but as soon as I heard the air raid siren, I began to worry. I was well aware that the japs only bombed Henderson during the day but I wasn't the one to believe that the japs only bombed the air field without going after a few other ground targets.

A few times I got up to take a look around. The outside was calm with only a few ambulances driving past at full speed carrying whatever wounded they had picked up. I saw one guy walking along the main road of the camp. His left arm was missing and he didn't seem to have any bandages or pressure around the wound he had sustained.

I watched him walk roughly another five or ten meters before he collapsed. It was strange. Before collapsing, he stopped, then he sort of... half turned before collapsing to the ground.

I saw a few guys run over to him before carrying him away out of sight. As I turned my attention back to the road, I saw more wounded arrive. Dozens of wounded marines, pilots, MP's... They were all there, walking in a row. A bit like a POW march. A row o soldiers walking, limping, vomiting, crying... dying men. All of them marching in the direction of the field Hospital. Or as we call it, the MASH.

My attention was immediately brought back to Twilight as the sound of her mumbling entered my hearing. I slowly realised that she didn't seem to be saying anything directly be she seemed to me grunting in pain and would sometimes yelp.

I tried to wake her up but she seemed way too far into her dream/Nightmare to even stir. So I sat back down, and continued sewing her shirt back together. The loud thunder and rumbling of engines passed above the shelter. My guess roughly... ten to fifteen meters from the ground.

No one jumped in to the shelter. Not even my friends. Twilight's shirt was finished but the growing number of roaring engines began to make me worry. I got up and took a look outside through the observation slits. I saw two American fighters fly overhead. P-40 Warhawks or F4Fs, if I'm not mistaken, followed by a formation of five Japanese fighters. Oscars. They came up behind the two American aircraft and opened up in short burst of machine gun fire. It only took three or four burst to cause one of the Warhawks to fall out of the sky without any smoke or explosions.

The other aircraft tried to break away by making a sharp left turn. But in vain. The Japanese expertise of aerial manoeuvres proved to be above anything that the American pilot could manage. The Japanese were prepared for combat. I'm pretty sure that the American pilot was nowhere near as trained in dogfights like the Japanese were.

He tried valiantly, veering left and right in a bid to escape his pursuers. But, eventually, resistance from the pilot came to an end. His craft became still, allowing a Japanese pilot to line up behind him.

It took only one burst.

I watched in aww as the dogfight came to an end, and the Japanese planes broke off. I drew my attention back to Twilight who was now rocking and rolling around on the floor. She was muttering incessantly, crying at times. I knelt down beside her, trying to the calm her down. She clawed at my shirt, pulling me down into her. I began to shake her worriedly, in the end, I began to shake her really hard. Only to have the biggest shock of my life.

As I continued shaking her, I suddenly noticed a purple glow under me. I only got a glimpse of an energy shock wave that blew me up into the air, pinning me to the palm tree ceiling of the shelter. When I opened my eyes again, I saw Twilight's eyes open too. She blinked a few times before sitting up. She then looked up at me with a curious look.

“Errr... what are you doing up there?” She asked in a voice that would make you go 'aaawwwww'.

“The hell if I know. One minute I see you having a nightmare so I try to wake you up. The next, I find myself stuck like this to the ceiling” I said, motioning at the ceiling I was now attached to. Twilight looked down at her hand, realising that there was an aura surrounding it. She lifted her hand up to her face, and she smiled.

She slowly began to laugh aloud. Her hand still glowing. It was no evil sort of laugh, more over, it seemed to be a happy laugh. I watched as she continued to laugh in girlish glee before interrupting her.

“Sorry to bother you in your moment of... well I don't know, but could you get me down now! Please...” I pleaded. She looked back up at me, blushing in embarrassment. It took mere moments for the restraints to let go. Unlike the soft landing I was expecting. I fell flat on my face.

“Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry” She blurted out, coming to my side and turning over on to my back. She looked down at me and... “I'm really truly sorry but I thought everything that had happened yesterday was a dream. I'm still quite surprised to have my magic back, well not exactly my magic...” She continued talking, but all of her words were muffled. I could only look up at her, trance fixed by the woman above me. She was wearing the other shirt I had got from the MASH, in which I had cut slits in the back to allow her wings to come through. Allowing them a bit of room to move. And there she was, kneeling over me. Her face of pure beauty, the wings spread out behind her and the sunlight shining through the cracks in the roof. It was there and then that I understood.

I was staring straight at the face of an angel.

I shook my head to clear those thoughts away. I have no idea why I couldn't pull my gaze away from her, but I did manage to pull myself away before the whole situation became weird. The conversation coming back into my mind, Twilight ended her tale by giving me a small smile.

I smiled back, sitting up against the wall. Twilight sat down against the opposite side, and we just... sat there. I tried to avoid eye contact but... I don’t know if you've ever had the feeling where you've looked at something and that you're intrigued by it that even when you do take your eyes off it, your eyes always fall back onto it.

Twilight looked at me but didn't avert her eyes like I was. Instead, she seemed to have a look of needing to say something. Her mouth would open, but close as if she was about to say the right thing.

“L-Lou?” She asked in a squeaky voice. I looked up at her, letting her know that she had my full attention. “I-I don't know how to say this...” she paused for a moment, taking a look round to make sure no one was looking. “I h-had a dream.”

“Well, Twilight everyone has dreams. Unless you don't normally” I replied in a confused tone.

“Nononono its not that, its the fact that I had a strange dream.” She said “A really strange dream” She continued. I was now starting to wonder what she was talking about.

“Go on”

“Well, it had Mark, Jack and Tomy in it.” She said, looking at me worriedly. I raised an eyebrow, Twilight understood my reaction and decided to continue. “It wasn't an erotic dream” she pointed out, making me roll my eyes. 'As if she was going to start having naughty dreams about my friends even though she'd only just got to know them' “And in this dream, I was lying next to all of them And...” she paused again.

“And...?” I asked.

“And they were telling me their thoughts, their memories, their lives” She said, waiting to see my reaction. I didn’t do anything in response, but my mind was beginning to work out what she had just said. “I don't know why I had that dream. But it was as if I was actually with them, in the place where they had found me”

“Found you?” I asked.

“Yes, they found me. Well... sort of. I first met Tomy while at a strange place with huge navy blue machines with massive blades” I immediately recognized the description of the Navy aircraft at the airfield. 'But that doesn't make sense, she's never been to Henderson.' “I then met Mark in that place you brought me when I first met you. It had loads of doctors running around. At least, I think they were doctors.” 'The MASH!' “I then met Jack last on a beach with inside some sort of metal box. There were railings all over and huge metal beams all around me. Jack pulled me out of the whole and carried me back to some place, through the jungle.”

“And they were speaking to you directly? Calling you by your name?” I asked, starting to become more and more intrigued with her tale.

“N-No, they just told me their lives. I was very surprised but I couldn't seem to say anything. He had taken away my voice. So all I could do was listen.” She said.

“He? Who's 'He', Mark, Jack or Tomy?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you” She said, looking down in sadness. But I continued giving her the look of pure interest, finally she broke her shell. “He calls himself the shadow. He's some sort of creature from Equus and who has a strange obsession to haunt my dreams.”

“So you can't stop thinking about him” I stated, she shook her head.

“No... He really is there, inside my head. He controls my dreams from my world I think. He's the one who sent me here. Who gave me this body and took away my magic. He's the reason I can't sleep properly” she said, looking right at me in the eye.

The truth was all she said. I could tell that by the way she told me her story. Unless she was actually putting a spell on me and she was actually an evil sorceress who wanted to take over the world?

Nah! Way too far fetched for a French guy like me to come up with. Well... almost.

“How long have you had these dreams again?”

“Well the ones with your friends-” I cut her off by raising my right eyebrow. Giving her a questioning look that plainly said: 'Mes amis? Ne sont-ils pas les tiens aussi?' “Our friends” she corrected herself. “-Just now 'she continued'. While the ones with that... thing, ever since I came here to your world.” I had noticed that she did seem to suffer from some form of nightmare, but I needed more details. So I pressed on. Asking more and more questions about her dreams. The ones about Tomy, Mark and Jack were quite interesting. If what she had told me was accurate, then they might have really been at the airfield.

I took a look outside, the air raid siren had long since gone. And yet, I was starting to get worried. My friends still hadn't returned and the thought of Twilight's visions being true were starting to play over and over in my mind.

I pray to... the farthest reaches of the Earth that they'll be all right.

Whether they were okay or not, I felt helpless just... waiting here. Hoping that they'll come back sooner or later.

Twilight continued telling me her tale of events of when she was working in her library on a machine that would allow her to observe other worlds and document them. In all sounded realy amazing, I could almost imagine what it's like over on her world. But soon, she began urging me to help her get home. She expressed the importance of getting back and fighting 'the Shadow' out of her home.

I repeatedly told her that there was no chance of any of that for the moment. I expressed the dangers of the outside world, the enemy was everywhere. I then pointed out the fact of her wings and meter long tail that, even when standing, touched the ground.

These new body parts were going to make it a lot harder to move around freely. Wearing a rain coat worked but the shape of her wings were still visible. Not to mention that wearing a rain coat out when it was 25-30°C would bring up suspicion.

The fact was that there was no longer a chance of being able to get her out without being spotted. The other problem was that she was the only girl in the camp and as soon she came out into the open, the entire camp would stare at her with wide eyes, as for me. I had the same problem.

The staring problem.

I found it really hard not to look at her. Her body was unique. Like I had said, she was roughly a meter fifty, her body, when we first saw it, was flawless. No spots, no extra growths, no tumours, no nothing. Even with the wings and the tail, she was beautiful. The thing that I couldn't look away from was her nice rounded ass.

I never usually looked at women's asses that much and yet, here I was, staring at hers as if it were some sort of holy object. She had a perfect hourglass figure, the likes of which I had never seen in my entire life as a man. Sure at my school there were a few girls who caught my eye, but Twilight...

She reminded me of the stories of Venus. The god of beauty and love.

“So what do we do now? I mean...” She trailed off, spreading her wings to prove her point. “I don't know what ponies will think of me if they saw me with these.”

I sighed, looking up at her with a 'I'm really sorry' sort of look. “I'm sorry Twilight, but I'm afraid that we can't have you seen, especially with those wings.” I said to her, her only response was to let her head fall.

“So what are we going to do? I mean... what if someone finds out?” She asked. The idea of someone else finding out had already crossed my mind. I had in fact tried to imagine what the reaction would be if I told Colonel Sanders or my own commanding officer.

Evans Fordyce Carlson.

He was the one who allowed me to join the Raiders back in 41. At the time I was refused countless times, until one day, I ran right into Carlson after an unfortunate accident with some coffee. You see... I was one day at the cafeteria getting some coffee, me and a few others had just completed a 10 mile run for the early morning sport. And here I was, waiting to get some coffee and guess who shows up? Carlson and his men.

I was totally unaware of his presence and then I grab my mug full of coffee, one of Carlson's men pushes me forcing me to spill at least half of the cup all over his shirt. I stand there, feeling like a real bum, Carlson never looked down at what I had just done he just starred right through me.

The guy who had pushed me was still laughing his head off and I don't know why, but I spun around and gave him a knuckle sandwich. The whole room fell silent after I struck him to the ground. I turned back to Carlson, expecting my his fist to collide with my face. Instead, he stood there, smiling. He then held out his hand to me and said “Welcome to the Raiders, son”

“So what do we do? We said that we wouldn't allow me to be seen by your real officer.” She said, and that shocked me.

“I don't know...” I trailed off, I didn't know what else to say. At first, the fact that she was a girl was blocking us from doing most of our normal duties, but now... Now that she was a confirmed extraterrestrial, I didn't know what to even do now that she had me believing that she was a princess. But deep within me, I began to feel strange.

“Twilight... I know this must be taking a large toll on you, but...” I trailed off, feeling kinda bad for what I was about to say.

“Hummm?” She hummed.

“I mean, I know that you must be wanting to go back to your world as soon as possible. I'm sure your husband is probably missing you” I said, lowering my gaze to the floor. Twilight sighed inwardly.

“I... I don't have a husband”

“HUH!!??” I said loud enough for those outside to hear me. “You're not married?” I asked, surprise clear in my voice and on my face.

“No, and no coltfriend either.” She responded, Coltfriend? Must mean Boyfriend. How can she NOT have a boyfriend, nor a husband for that matter?

“How comes?” I ask.

She looks away for a few seconds, probably trying to find the answer herself. “I... I never found anyone who was like me.” She finally said. “Everypony I ever went out with always said I was way too studious. Or that I spent too much time worrying than enjoying.” She shrugged.

“I can't see how... you've been calmer than anyone I know around here.”

“Oh come on, look how calm you are.” She gestured at my entire body with her hands. “I mean, ever since I woke up and got to know you, you've been extremely calm, especially walking through that jungle.” She said, smirking at me. I returned it with one of my own. “You're like a knight in shinning armour. Like you're not scared of anything.”

“Nah... I'm no knight in shinning armour, just plain and simple marine.” I said, turning my attention to the floor. “I'm not brave either...” I suddenly became distant at that moment, looking off into the distance. “I'm... I-I'm scared” I chocked out. I turned my attention back to Twilight to see that she bore a look of confusion on her face. “I'm scared Twilight. When we were walking through that jungle, back to here. I was shaking with fear.” I finished.

“I suppose its normal, I'm sure you want to go home too, and see your wife.” She said, a look appeared on her face for merely a second. It appeared to be disappointment.

“Like you Twilight, I'm single. I don't have a wife.” I stated. Another look came across Twilight's face that seemed to be relief. But it disappeared just like before.

“How comes?” She asked, I chuckled at the question I had asked about a minute ago.

“Never had the time really, and no one really ever caught my eye.” I replied, giving her a small smile that she returned. “Anyway, as I was saying before we took this side route... you can trust me and my friends to be there to help you. No matter what.” I emphasised a lot on that last part of my sentence. “But you must promise to not use your... your... magic out in the open. Only in here and during the day.” She nodded in understanding. I then took her hand in mine and squeezed it. She looked at me with a confused look. “But please stay here at all times. I don't want you getting lost or anything of the sorts. You are under my protection, remember?” I asked, and she nodded a small smile on her face.

“While we're alone Twilight, I would like to tell you something that... well... I've needed to tell you since we became friends two nights ago.” I said, causing her to frown a bit. “Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not very sure how to get it out. That's all.” This sentence caused her frown do deepen. I took in a few breaths, praying that I wouldn't make her sad or make her want to blast me 'jusqu'en enfer'.

After a few more deep breaths, my eyes locked with hers and I stared into the infinite violet of her irises. “I'm scared of you, Twilight.” I finally said, her frown soon became a look of worry and wonder. “I mean... ever since we found you with your wings, tail and your voodoo magic. Since then, you've shown to us that your more powerfull than anything we've ever seen.” I said finally breaking eye contact. “For all I know, you could be some evil witch from Hell who has come to bring the world to its knees. You radiate power Twilight. More than you show.” Twilight's gaze never faltered, she continued to listen intently to what I was saying.

“I fear you, Twilight. As do the others... I'm pretty sure that you are not evil Twilight, otherwise, I severely doubt that we would still be here now. But I needed you to understand that you scare us sometimes, especially with your magic.” I said, still keeping my gaze to the ground.

“Lou... I'm really sorry if that's what you feel. But I promise that I'm not here to harm anypony... sorry anyone. I promise that I will not use my magic on you ever again. It was only because I was startled this morning.” She said looking at the floor as she tried to convince me that she wasn't going to harm anyone.

“Promise?”

“Promise” She replied with one of her cute smiles that was tugging at my heart.

“I will try and convince the others too, but I do have one last thing to say.” I said looking straight into her eyes. “ Ever since I was entrusted with your safety, I've been trying my best to stay away from you. I didn't want to have you join my group. I openly opposed the whole idea.” As I said this, a clearly visible hurt look crossed Twilight's face. “Even now, I'm trying my best not spend so much time around you.” I continued. “I don't even want to know you, because...” I sighed taking a long breath as I brought my gaze back to hers. And in that moment, I looked right through her. “... Because you resemble my friends in some way.”

A clear look of confusion came across her face, as if she could see it. “You have the same character and personality of my friends long passed.”I lowered my gaze and continued. “I can't bare to look at you seing how you act so much like them... I... I-I... I want to see them again, Twilight. But unlike my dreams, they're not here any more. And every time I look at you...” I could feel tears running down my cheeks.

“... All I see is them.” I chocked out. “Benny, Pavlov, Johan, Noël and so many others. And I can see them all through you. But even though I'm trying to avoid you. I'm still trying to comfort you because, in my opinion... You need someone that you can count on. And even though this isn't your home. Me and the others are going to try our best to make this as close to home as we have tried to make this place our own.” Twilight continued to look at me, though the hurt feeling was still on her face, she now appeared to be smiling a bit. “We'll try our best to make you feel welcome, Twilight. Even if we need to start saying 'Everypony' and other terms that you have switched around.” I said trying to give her a convincing smile.

“Do you really mean it?” She asked giving me one of her innocent big eyes.

“Sure, I want you to feel as welcomed as we can, and if using pony terms is the way to do it, then that's how we'll do it.” Twilight's smile grew wider and wider with every word. “And one other thing, welcome to the family.”

With those final words, Twilight threw herself onto me and pulled me into a large hug to the point that I lost my balance and we both fell over onto my back. Even as we laid on the ground, Twilight continued to hug me until she sat up on my legs. It took her a few seconds to realise that she was placed in a rather precarious position. Though I was usually okay with this happening with the wounded. The fact that I was lying on the ground and that SHE was sat on top of me, wwweeellllll... You can hopefully understand what is going on through my head. We both blushed, and Twilight got off of me and sat down in her little corner, giving me a little squeak of a 'sorry' as she went away.

I got up slowly and took a look outside through the vision slits, it had been a while since Mark, Jack and Tomy had gone missing.

“Where have those idiots gone t--” I began to say to myself only to be cut off from a voice coming from behind me. I turned around to see Mark followed by Jack who was followed by Tomy. They all appeared to warn out, Jack and Tomy slumped onto the ground on either side of the shelter. Mark who was the only one standing stood there, in front of me, breathing heavily. “Ah, there you guy's are” I said just as they finished entering the shelter. “I was starting to get worried. So... where did you go?” I asked them, well... at least mark who was still standing as if waiting for me to sit down.

“We don't really know.” Was the only answer he was able to get out before he too, fell to the floor, grunting in pain as he slid down the wall. I thought about asking again, but... the main thing was that they were safe and that was all I cared about. Well, for now at least.

The rest of the afternoon was spent by doing the usual cleaning of weapons and other stuff. We usualy did a munitions count, since we received so few supplies we had to contend ourselves with stealing ammo or trying to use Japanese calibres. Though they rarely if ever, worked in our rifles. I had though of giving Twilight my 45, believing that it would be a good idea. Unfortunately, the munition shortage has forced me to keep the weapon and just pray that nothing bad happens.

I couldn't remember what day it was, nor the date. Over these last few days, I've lost track of time. I think we were a Thursday. Or was it a Friday? Either way, the sun was going down behind in the distance. Night was coming, and tonight the Japanese didn't hesitate to unload the three nights worth of shells 'sur nos tronches'. That night, something strange happened. As the bombardment continued, through the flashes, we noticed Twilight's terrified face.

And either out of fear or sympathy, we all huddled up close to Twilight and brought her into a strong hug. We all looked up at the sky as shell after shell, and explosion after explosion, we all began to pray out loud. To which ever god we believed in or not. Though I do not believe that these prayers were for the divine. In fact, I believe that they were just out of despair.

And so we sat there, under the fury of our captors. We were at their mercy and believe... the japanese aren't playing with us, they were using their powers as victors to slaughter us in the most beautiful way possible.

Comments

[Mkchief34]

I noticed I was not following you because of this story.

I am now following you.

[Silentwoodfire]

If I recall correctly, the Japanese fell to hubris and get their asses kicked in due course.

[FIRE FLASH 3]

8122370 It wasn't a problem, I hope you still enjoy the story.

[FIRE FLASH 3]

8123261 I wanted to show the self-confidence of the Japanese in this story, but I'm not that good of a writer to express something like that when it only talks about the USMC

[FIRE FLASH 3]

8125773 Thanks, I'll try and keep up to your expectations.

[p61blkwidow]

man what a great story! i hope lou nthinks about b going on a recon patrol as a cover for helping twilight reach the portal or if that does not work maybe discord and the doctor can come up with a way to get twilight and the squad into equestria. i know you have taught that out already ,and what makes this such a fine story it is because we really care aboutevery pony and every person, that is what makes this such a great story!!

[FIRE FLASH 3]

8127637 Well I don't want to spoil anything, and there a few more chapters until we reach that part of the story.

Though I'm glad that you enjoy my story so much