Chuckling to yourself you think to yourself
"Well I hope that fire doesn't hurt anything important in there"
closing the distance to your black but slightly rusty mailbox you reach for the latch again and tug it open. Reaching in and grabbing the contents without a second thought you start to make your way back to your porch where you usally like to sit down and read through your mail. You let your mind lingers on the past and a memory start's to play in your mind.
"Ah hell"
you groggily mumble to yourself. Reaching out to rub your eyes your hand is suddenly stopped about six inches from your bed that you just realized you were laying on.
"THE FUCK!"
You blurt out in surprise now fully awake you open your eyes only to be momentarily blinded by the sterile light of a hospital room. You also notice that not only are both of your arms are restrained but also so are your legs and even some across your torso. thinking to your self in a rapid tirade of thought.
"OK, I'm technically safe. I'm in a hospital room obviously but I'm pretty well tied down... wait was I captured by the enemy they were withing a half day ruck of our positions. The enemy... hold on... OH SHIT! That Hind launched missiles at them then tried to go after me. Fuck, I hope they at least had a chance to run before the missiles struck home."
The sudden rush of strong emotions also brought with it a elevated heart rate by the sound of the beeping machine next to your bed. A muffled voice outside your room caught your attention.
"Its awake! Hurry get Twilight!"
Followed by the sounds of what seemed like a horses gallop
"Why would they keep a horse in a hospital?... Could have been a large service or guard dog"
You say to yourself. You gave up trying to get out of your restraints after the 20th attempt when your wrist and hand lost feeling due to the handcuff getting twisted in on itself and locking up for about 30 minutes. Soon after you got the handcuff untwisted and feeling returned to you hand and wrist muffled voices caught you attention once again.
"Um Twilight I don't think this is a good idea, also I didn't have enough time before you came and got me to feed Angel you know how he gets if he doesn't have his breakfast. So it would be best if I could go and feed him real quick just so he doesn't get too angry with me ill meet you here later."
another voice chimes in, this one easier to hear and more confident sounding than the other.
"Fluttershy your not going anywhere." you see a purple glow out side your room. i know you are scared of this new creature but please this is important. I need your specialties with animals in this situation. A wondering self proclaimed scholar hears explosions off the path he was traveling to Ponyville, go's to investigate it and he finds no creators of from said explosion or smoke or debris or even a fire. But what he dose find is this unknown creature unconscious bleeding from what we think is his head. For all we know this creature could have magic on par with discord, and you know how he liked to make thing explode"
The quieter one Fluttershy you presume responds to Twilight in her barley audible voice from behind the door.
"I Understand that Twilight but why did you have to choose me for this and not a brave pony like Applejack or Rainbowdash."
Twilight the owner of the more confident voice retorts back
"I know Fluttershy but listen to me, they dont have the skill with animals like you do. Applejack is only good with farm animals and the only animal Dash is ok with is Tank. I didnt want either of them here because they both can have temper sometimes and what if one of them would have angered this creature and it dose have magic like Discord we would have a disaster on our hooves. That is one reason why i choose you to come along and not them, i need you to act as a moderator and or a translator if this creature is feral. Just act brave if not for me but for all of Equestrian."
FLuttershy taking a deep breath says
"Ok Twilight, ill do my best to help... umm you can put me down now please" Twilight giving what seemed to be a embarrassed laugh says "oh, right sorry Fluttershy. lets get going."
The purple glow disappears as the hospital room door starts to swing open. You start to mentally prepare yourself for a interrogation but what you saw next no amount of mental preparedness could have saved you from what you saw next. what laid before you was a five foot tall purple unicorn and a butter yellow pegasus standing in the doorway. One showing the face of intrigue while the other one having her face partially covered by her mane tried desperately to hide her expression of fear. With the silence in the air only being broken by the rhythmic beeps of the heart monitor you are currently connected to. After a minute of the rhythmic beeping the three of you just stare at each other in amazement, shock and fear. Surprisingly it was the shy yellow one to break the silence turning to what you guessed is Twilight and stating in a near whisper.
"Twilight i have never seen a creature like this before in my life"
Twilight Building off that.
"Neither have I FLuttershy. I've checked all volumes of 'Real and Mythical creatures of the Everfree' twice and there was nothing that matched this ones description. Maybe I missed something let me double che-"
cutting her off as you speak up for the first time since they opened the door
"Water" you say in a stern voice. Taking a second to remember your manners you add a "please" in a softer tone than before.
What you saw next will forever stay with you, you saw the purple one, Twilight looked to your restraints and state.
"you know I was against that tying you up like that and leaving you there until you woke up. But that was the only way the the Ponyville clinic would keep you under their care. I mean how did they expect you to get a drink if you are literally chained to a bed?"
Before you could ask them about the restraints you followed Twilight's gaze to a paper cup sitting on your bedside table. the cup was wrapped in a purple aura and began to levitate to the sink close to the entrance of the room you were currently staying in. More purple enveloped the faucet turning the water on and filling the cup, turning the water off and floating the the now filled cup back to your table. With pure shock and awe your mouth works faster than your head and you ended up blurting out
"How the hell did you do that!?"
Fluttershy hearing the tone of your voice and reacting jumps behind Twilight. Twilight now showing a con fused expression simply states.
"Do what? all I did was fill your cup up with some water with my magic '"
You keeping your expression of fear reply with a voice of fear.
"Yes that, the magic thing! How'd you make that cup float without touching it?!"
Twilight now gaining the look of someone in pure astonishment starts slow like she was explaining something to a child.
"It was just a simple levitation spell. Every unicorn foal learns it, actually its one of the first of many simple spells that we teach young ones when they are in school. But before continue and go on a rant about the fundamentals of magic and the developing aptitude of young unicorn foals we need to ask you a few questions..."
The notion of them asking you questions snaps your mind into action and defaults you to your training
"Ask your questions but you'll only get this from me. Name, R. Rank, Private First Class. Serial Number, 2725685692. Date of Birth Aug 16th 1998. Is your nation allied with the National Coalition Forces? I'm guessing not since I'm not being skinned alive then thrown in a vat of acid?"
Both of them go from confusion when you were listing off your POW information to horrified expressions when you mention the acid bath. Twilight is the first one to compose herself enough to form a reply.
"Sweet Celestia no! We do not skin ponies alive nor do we dump them into acid, that's barbaric and inequine! If that is what the National Coalition Forces are doing to each other then they will not make allies or friends with the Equestrian nation. What is your relation with them?"
A sigh of relief escapes your lips, thankful that you are not getting a acid bath today and since this so called Eqestria is at worst natural or non partisans.
"They are my nations sworn enemy. A war has been raging for a few months now. Me and my battery made landfall near the front lines last month. We've been pushing them back for the most part but lately the progress has been slow, almost standstill-ishly slow. Now whenever we make head way or gains it devolves into trench warfare and a stalemate was declared a few days ago. The last thing I remember was one of their old attack helicopter attacking my batteries emplacement and then came after me damn near killed me with a missile, then I was out. Speaking of which how long have I been out and was anything found with me or anyone else alive or... not?"
Twilight pulling out a quill and ink from her bags at the beginning of your explanation starts to jot down what seems to be everything you say. Then reply's when you are done.
"The pony that brought you here left yesterday after his weeklong stay, so just over a week. From his accounts he heard an explosion of sorts and decided to check it out he found you by literally slipping in your blood that was pooling around your head. He saw that you were still breathing he did his best to wrap your head and then began to carry you here since it was the best medical facility in this area. I had Rainbow Dash and her weather team to do a sweep of the area where he found you and all they were able to come up with was a strange looking saddlebag and some kind of strange metal stick other than that whatever you were waring when he brought you here. Also I'm going to undo some of your restraints so you can drink, you have shown no hostile tendencies to me or fluttershy here and I'm thankful of that but please understand that i am more than capable of putting them back on if my decision was made to hastily."
You see no reason to 'act hostile' towards these to and if it meant getting some water in your system you'd agree to almost anything at this point. You acknowledge the treat with.
"Understood all I want to do at this point is drink some, put on my uniform, get out of this poorly fitting hospital gown, head back to base to tell my chain of command what happened and to let the families of my battery know what happened if what you say is true and you found no one else."
Twilight nodding her head and then using 'simple telekinesis' to undo your restraints. As soon as your arm is free you grab the water cup and greedily down it. This startles them for the second time in the span of an hour and Fluttershy who was peeking out from Twilight side somehow manages to jump completely behind Twilights tail. Raisning an eyebrow to this you blankly say'
"What? this is the first thing I've had to drink in over a week, now i need to know the time frame on when I'm able to start making my way back to my base. To be honest they probably have already considered me KIA, MIA or a deserter."
Fluttershy peaking up from behind Twilights tail speaks up.
"Oh why in Equestria would you want to go back? Not to be mean but where you are from sounds horrible."
You putting down the now empty cup and then letting Twilight release the rest of the bindings sit up and try to take a few wobbly steps. Looking back to Twilight she now has another scroll floating Infront of her scribbling what you'd guess a diagram of how you stand. She takes a few looks at you then at the scroll then sates.
"I've got to know are you a tree dwelling species and is that how your species usually trot? "
You looking at her then making your way to the closet where your gear is stored you remark on their questions.
"I have to go back, as far as I'm aware I am the only survivor of my battery I need to bring closure to the families who have lost loved ones it is a sad duty but a important one. I also swore an oath to protect the week and to protect my nation nothing will stop me from completing that goal. I stood up from the crowd of onlookers when my nations leaders asked for protectors and volunteers. I stood up and said 'Ill defend that wall, I will take the sleepless nights and the bullets and the bombs so the ones who cant can live a free and happy life. Ill see the horrors that war brings so children don't have too ill be my nations defender. So hopefully one day my nation wont need me.'"
Coming to the closet labeled 'patients belongings' you open the door and are greeted by the sight of your gear. you squat down and start to do inventory outload.
"Boots, check. Socks, Check. Underware, Check. Undershirt, Check. Helmet, Check. Armor, Check. Tactical harness, Check. Mags times twelve, Check. Weapon, Do a weapons check and that's good, check. Trousers, Check. now blouse... hey did yall happen to have my blouse. Oh and yes Twilight was it? My species was tree dwelling about 400,000 years ago and yes this is how 99 percent of us walk. And before you ask the other 1 percent either uses crutches or are wheelchair bound... And one more thing were called humans not 'creatures' and since were talking about what we are what exactly are you and how do you use magic?"
Twilight who hadn't stopped writing the entire time you have been speaking looks up at you and starts off.
"We are ponies, specifically I'm a unicorn and Fluttershy here is a Pegasus. Unicors and alicors are the only two races of ponies that can manipulate magic like what you saw. We do it by channeling Equeses natural magic to a point using our horns and we use our thoughts to guide it to do out biding simple in theory much more difficult in practice. I'm guessing that strange cloth that Rarity was infatuated by was yours? She was extremally interested in the pattern and insisted on taking it back to Carousel Boutique to reverse engineer the pattern and clean it for you since half of it was covered un your blood and debris. She is our local towns master seamstress so it is in good hoofs I'm sure you can tell her you story and name... Oh sweet Celestia have I been so rude as to not ask for your name?"
You finding this somewhat amusing you just say.
"Seriously? I've been down and out for over a week and yall didn't go through my stuff to try and find out anything about me? I mean come on i had 5 form if identification on me."
Fluttershy coming completely coming out from behind Twilight replies.
'We didn't know if you were feral or not so we decided to be respectful if you weren't feral and not touch your stuff as much as possible... Rarity on the other hoof decided not to be respectful. in my defense I did tell her it was a bad idea."
You slightly annoyed at the aspect of a pony that you havent even met has your blouse and is now trying to reverse engineer the camo pattern state.
" As long as i get it back that will be fine, But yall can call me 'R' since most people can pronounce my actual name right anyway"
Twilight turning to go.
'I'm almost positive you'd want to be underway as fast as possible so ill take you to Raritys then to were we found you and you can be on your way. well conversate more on the way to Carousel Boutique then to were the pony that found you heard the explosion maybe with you there well find more evidence of were you came from"
you turning to Twilight simply state
"Sounds like a plan, you lead ill follow"
As the three of yall begin to walk out the hospital room you think to yourself
"Dont think now, rely on your trainning youll make it through this and get home. Your probably going to see alot of shit that im not going to understand fight it now, process it later"