Ponyville, 4:30 PM
Phillip stared through the window of his second floor room at Ponyville General. He sat on the edge of a rather tiny bed, not caring that the frame was practically begging to some unknown bed god for help in bearing a weight it was not crafted for. He had been allowed to keep his flight suit on, as there were no patient gowns large enough for him. Dried blood lined the collar of his suit, as did a few cuts along the arms and legs from smaller debris that had entered the aircraft. For the pilot though, he couldn't help but be transfixed by the strange town outside. The view offered him an indirect line of sight towards the center of the town, where a large, dome topped tower stood. Along the street leading up to it, he saw a vast array of ponies milling about on errands as street vendors began to pack up their stalls for the day. Large ponies, small ponies, ones with horns, others with wings, some with none of those features. They were as varied and random as they could get, yet Phillip knew somewhere in the back of his mind that they were just ordinary people. Well, ordinary ponies.
His brain was still trying to cope with the sudden shift in local life around him, even after hours of extensive examination by a group of doctors and nurses. Seeing the creatures in doctor coats and nurse outfits drew hard parallels to Phillip's own world, and a few of the staff even reminded him of some of the medical staff back at his air base.
The thought of his air base pulled Phillip's mind off the bewildering world around him, plunging it into despair as a new reality set in for him;
To the rest of the 98th Bombardment Group, and soon to his beloved Holly-Marie back home, he and his crew were dead. His aircraft wasn't going to be among the ones counted upon returning from another successful mission. For all intents and purposes, Phillip and his crew didn't make the cut, and their fates had finally reached them. None of them were going to reach that magical number of twenty-five missions complete, and none of them were returning stateside. None of their faces were going to be used in helping sell war bonds, and their names were going to fade into obscurity.
As far as the United States military was concerned, Phillip Hutton, Jason Brown, Jacob O'Hare, Dan Wiskowski, Mark Hagerty, Stephen Bush, Dean Jefferson, Jorge Olivias-Marin, Antony Woods, and Alvin Edwards were Killed In Action over German occupied territory.
Phillip looked down at his now clean hands, watching them shake slightly as tears began to well up in the corners of his eyes. As the crushing realization he came to set in, another one decided to join the dog pile of self-deprecation;
He had failed in his duties as an Officer. These epiphanies were only coming hard and fast to him because he had nothing to occupy his mind with. He was alive, when he shouldn't have been. Bush was alive, but barely as far as he was concerned. He had failed the others in bringing them home.
Was I in the wrong position? Were we over the wrong target? Did that fighter pilot intentionally miss the cockpit? Was there something different we could have done to not have ended up here?
His mind raced with the countless what-ifs and other potential scenarios, slowly inducing a self-doubt filled madness within him. He had been left to his own devices, and yet he wished he had something to take his mind off things. As it stood, there wasn't much in terms of entertainment, aside from a small plastic bookshelf that held some books that had clearly seen better days. The bed and singular chair that also occupied the room were made of the same plastic material. The plastic was dense, albeit cheap, meant to last and clearly not meant to be broken apart under force and used for self-harm.
Besides, it wasn't like Bush and himself were in the intensive watch section of the hospital, no, not at all.
Part of Phillip's still rational mind was surprised, shocked even, at how fast the doubt and fear had set in, but the rationality was overruled by a quickly growing sense of survivor's guilt. So much had happened so fast within the past twenty or so hours, and Phillip's mind was desperately trying to sort through the images and events that led up to him sitting in a room within a hospital that had been built by colorful, talking ponies, in a world completely different from the one he left behind.
As he looked up from his hands and back outside, a soft knocking at his door could be heard. Phillip looked over his shoulder towards the door, his episode of manic self-deprecation and self-doubt coming to a crashing halt as he pushed the train crash of negative thoughts under the figurative rug.
"Come in." he called softly. A moment later, and the door opened to reveal a purple colored mare with a lavender mane and lavender eyes. Phillip noticed that she was built different from the other ponies he had seen; She was slightly taller, her frame more defined. Unlike the other ponies he observed, she had both a horn and wings, meaning she had to be someone rather important on this world. Standing up from the bed, which gave a strained groan of relief, Phillip made eye contact with this new arrival. She stared back at him, not in a hostile way, but in an inquisitive, curious one.
"Good evening, sir. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle," she began.
A Princess, huh? Should I be saluting?
Without hesitation, Phillip stiffened to attention the best he could, and saluted the Princess before him.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Princess. I am Captain Phillip Hutton." he said, wincing as his muscles screamed at him to stop standing so rigid. Twilight raised a hoof to cover a giggle that escaped her muzzle.
"Please, there's no need for formalities here, Phillip. You needn't push yourself just to show me the respect expected of my position." she said, waving a hoof to dismiss his salute.
She's well-spoken and casual? Huh...
"Apologies, ma'am. Force of habit." he said curtly. Twilight nodded in understanding.
"I understand, I have a brother who also serves. Sometimes his training overrides his civilian side." she said with a fond smile as she approached the nearby chair. With a flare of her horn, Twilight moved the chair over to the side away from the window and seated herself within it. Once comfortable, she smiled warmly and gestured for Phillip to sit with her.
"Please, relax." she said sweetly. Phillip hesitated a moment, but rounded the front of the bed to sit down opposite of Twilight. The bed groaned under his weight again, screaming internally as it begged for the sweet, sweet release from the weight put upon it. Silence filled the air between the two of them. Twilight's eyes darted slightly from time to time, looking over Phillip in that curious stare. He looked away the best he could, his brain not wanting to stare too long to fully comprehend the creature before him. The way she looked was eerily human, but in a more exaggerated, friendly way. The rational part of Phillip's mind broke through the tense silence, and he was the first to break the ice.
"So...why have none of you quarantined me or ship me off to be poked and prodded?" he asked, his mind assuming that's how things normally should have gone, if those science fiction comics he used to read were any indication. Twilight gave a bemused chuckle before giving her answer.
"Well, it's because of me. I have prior experience with humans, but most of Equestria doesn't. After your crash, I debriefed the teams of guards that had arrived to close off the crash site on what to expect. They were confused at first, naturally, but I reassured them that I knew what I was talking about." she explained, her smile never leaving her lips. "If anything, it's strange for me to see a human in Equestria, let alone two of them." she added. Phillip felt a bit of relief come over him as he listened to her explanation.
"So I have you to thank, then?" he asked simply.
"If you would like to." Twilight teased playfully. "But I do have a few questions for you, Phillip." she continued, her tone slightly shifting to a more serious one. "Explain to me what brought you here. What events transpired?" she asked, her horn flaring again. Phillip jumped in surprise as a quill, ink well, and parchment manifested in mid-air next to Twilight with a slight poof! He slowly raised a finger, pointing to the newly manifested materials.
"Did...where..." he stumbled. Twilight looked to the parchment and quill a moment before giving another short laugh.
"My apologies, magic is second nature for me. I often forget that non-magical beings aren't used to suddenly seeing things pop into the world or move on their own." she said. Phillip blinked a few times as his mind registered the word 'magic'.
"I mean, I've seen some magic tricks back home, but those were just smoke and mirrors." he said dismissively. He would've tried to debunk what just happened, but considering where he currently was and his present company, rationality declared that it would be a lost fight and the debunking train of thought was promptly removed from the rails. Twilight gave a knowing smirk before she continued speaking.
"Well Mr. Hutton, magic is very real here. Maybe you can experience more of it in the future." she said as her quill dipped into the ink well. "Now, I would like to hear your story." she pressed. Phillip looked away and to his hands, his fingers curling into fists on his knees as his mind began to organize a timeline for him to explain.
Not too much detail. Keep your guard up. For all you know, this is some weird experiment the Nazis are doing to you.
Cautiously, Phillip began to speak.
"We...we had taken off from our airbase pretty late. After meeting up with our friends, we flew to our objective," he began. Flashes of the flak field filled his minds' eye. He remembered seeing Hootenanny Hoedown being practically decapitated. Engine fires assaulted his memory, tumbling airframes cascading down around him as bodies were briefly illuminated by the roaring infernos of falling bombers. Phillip could feel himself begin to shake, his voice hesitant to continue.
"A-after we uh...lost some friends, we lost more..." he trailed off. Now the night fighters were taunting him. Their green and white tracers broke the night sky into an orchestra of cascading death. His eye twitched as he heard the chugging of auto-cannons filling his ears, followed by the rattling of both friendly and enemy machine guns. Fire continued to surround Phillip as his hands clenched harder on his knees. The horrific fight for survival in the night sky continued to play out in his mind, the trauma of it rapidly closing up his throat as he watched Jason be killed again.
Twilight lowered the quill and parchment as Phillip went completely silent, watching as his body shook. He wasn't making eye contact with her now, rather he was staring at his hands. No, not at his hands, past his hands. He wasn't in the room with her currently, he was lost in the memory playback.
"Phillip..." Twilight said softly, reaching a hoof to gently rest on his right hand. Almost immediately, Phillip snapped his head up to look at her. Twilight jerked back slightly, removing her hoof as he stared at her. He continued to shake, his eyes wide with beads of sweat on his forehead.
"A-apologies, sir. Perhaps it was too forward of me to ask you for so much information." Twilight said sheepishly as she magicked away her quill, ink and paper. Standing up from the bed, which whined with relief for a second time, Phillip moved to the window and kept his back to Twilight.
"Give me some time, please..." Phillip mumbled over his shoulder. Knowing better than to push for more information, Twilight nodded and stood from the chair. She returned it to the corner from where it came and made her way to the door. Looking back, Phillip kept his back to her.
"I'll be coming to see you and Stephen regularly. I wish you both a speedy recovery." she said, trying to give her wishes in the softest voice possible. Phillip didn't respond. With a soft sigh, Twilight opened the door and departed the room, leaving Phillip to his own devices yet again.
* * *
As Twilight departed the room, she was met by one of the doctors, a male earth pony. She recalled his name was Electrocardiogram, but had insisted that everyone called him EKG for short. His cutie marked matched the printed strip of a heart beat to boot.
"How is he?" EKG asked simply. Twilight sighed as she facepalmed herself, pulling her hoof along her face to stretch it a bit.
"He froze up. It was my fault though, I went straight for his side of the story." Twilight admitted. "He didn't get past the second stage of the story." she added as her and EKG fell in line beside each other as they walked away from Phillip's room. "But from what I can tell, his side lines up with Bush's side. They were on a mission, and things went wrong." she continued.
"I guess there's no other way to simply put it for now." EKG said as a nurse stopped him for a moment with a clipboard. His head leaned forward a moment as he took a pen into his teeth to sign off on a paper. With a nod, to the nurse, he spat out the pen and the nurse walked off as he and Twilight resumed their talk.
"We haven't experienced trauma of this caliber before, but I'm sure with some time and patience, he will open up." EKG added as the two walked past the nurses' station.
"How's Bush?' Twilight asked, changing the topic to the other survivor of the crash. EKG stopped a moment to rub his eye with a fetlock.
"Human anatomy bewilders me. It's way to similar to primates we have here, but it's still strange. From what I can tell, he has some minor internal bruising, but nothing too serious from what I saw. He's got fractures in his left forearm, so he'll need a cast for it. He's still in shock though, he hasn't stopped shaking since his arrival. We'll keep an eye on him for now." EKG ranted off. "It's a good thing you've experienced humans before, Princess." he added.
"I can only imagine what would be happening right now if I hadn't gone through that adventure." Twilight said playfully. EKG chuckled softly before responding.
"Care to elaborate on said adventure?" he asked. Twilight shook her head slightly, waving a hoof dismissively.
"Oh, no, I don't want to bore you with the smaller details. Just another adventure to save the day, really." she said. "Besides, you have other patients to check up on." she added. EKG smirked and nodded, looking down one of the other hospital wings.
"I suppose I should be doing my job right now." he said with a smirk. "Anyways, thank you for stopping by, Princess." he said, giving a slight bow to her. Twilight returned the gesture.
"Please contact me immediately if anything changes in their condition." she said. EKG said that he would and turned to walk away. Twilight did the same, but stopped and turned to look at EKG. "Oh, doctor?" she asked, a look of slight discomfort on her face as a new question surfaced within her mind. EKG stopped and looked back a moment.
"Ma'am?"
Twilight wasn't sure how to phrase the question at first, but it needed to be asked.
"What of the, uh...bodies?" she asked. EKG stared a moment, his eyes widening in realization as to what she was asking about.
"The bodies...o-oh! Yes, uhm, we're arranging a removal team soon. We're still trying to get the one out from the nearby tree line. Poor guy was-" EKG began, but Twilight raised a hoof to stop the doctor before he went into the grisly details.
"That's good enough, doctor. Just, please let me know when they've been recovered, I'm sure Bush and Phillip would like to see their friends properly buried." Twilight said somberly as she turned to leave the hospital.
"Of course, Your Highness." EKG called after her.
* * *
Screaming. Burning. Straining. Crashing. These sensations pummeled Phillip relentlessly as the nightmare continued. He could feel his bones breaking on impact, his skin melting as the fires chewed away at his being. His throat was thrashed from the endless screaming. His muscles ached as he fought so hard to save himself, his crew, and his aircraft. He could feel the muscle and skin sloughing off his skeletal frame as his finger bones fused to the control column. His teeth cracked under the pressure of straining himself.
The world outside was a mess of shooting stars that suddenly turned into cannon and machine gun rounds. The night sky was shattered by a technicolored light show of green, white, and red tracers that seemed to stretch on for eternity as they raced across the night sky. The beauty of a star shower was lost in this instance. As he fought to stay live, Phillip looked over to Jason, who sat slumped in his seat. Suddenly, the corpse lunged for the pilot, Jason screaming an anger and pain, this shattered cheek and jaw clicking in place as the sinew snapped and cheek muscles went taught.
"You...killed...us..." hissed the corpse, its exposed eye rolling in its shattered socket. Phillip tried to defend himself from the monster that wore his friend's skin, but he break his hands free of the control column. The beasts' clawed hands beat into Phillip, the jagged nails tearing away any remaining flesh that wasn't scorched. Fire continued to envelope the cockpit, and Phillip could hear his crew screaming in agony as their world became nothing but hellfire. Outside the windows, Phillip could see the rolling green hills of Equestria below, and the monster took notice too. Gripping into Phillip's exposed wrist bones, the maddened beast pushed the column forward.
"We're going down...we're going down...we're going down..." it chanted maddeningly. "We're going down, we're burning, we're dying, we're dead!" he continued as the peaceful rolling hills raced up to meet the falling aircraft. "WE'RE BURNING, WE'RE DYING, YOU-"
The damning accusations were violently cut off as the nose of the B-17 impacted solid ground, and Phillip's world went black before his reality came rushing back.
* * *
Phillip screamed bloody murder as he sat upright, the bed beneath him finally caving in from the sudden shift in weight. With a heavy whump!, the mattress fell through the bedframe onto the floor. This didn't bother Phillip, he was too busy scrambling for the nearest corner in the moonlit room. His eyes were wide in absolute horror as he fought for air, staring into the farthest, darkest corner of the room.
They stood packed into the corner, their charred and clouded eyes staring accusingly at him. Phillip could smell the sickeningly sweet odor of cooked flesh, could hear their broken bones sliding together, could see the splinters of bone peaking through the charred flesh. They said nothing, but their stare condemned him.
A moment later, and they were banished as the room door flung open and the light switch was flicked. EKG and one of the night nurses were panting heavily, their eyes looking around the room for Phillip. After a moment, they found him, curled up in the corner, bawling like a child.
Phillip didn't know it, but this wouldn't be the last time he saw the phantoms.