Chapter 7
“Well, any readings now?”
“Sir, we are picking up faint readings, they’re unlike any we’ve ever encountered before.”
“Can you trace it, can you find a trail?”
“It will take a lot of work, but yes, I believe we can find a way to follow the signal.”
“Good, let me know the moment you find out anything.”
“Yes sir, I will do so.”
*****
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
“Ugh, my head, make it stop.” Charles was awoken by an annoying beeping sound that only served to agitate the major headache he was having. He placed his right hand over his face and rubbed at his forehead, he then removed his hand and slowly opened his eyes to the view of what could only be described as a hospital room. He was in a large bed with white sheets, his clothes were gone and replaced with a hospital gown, the smell of disinfectant wafted in the air. He then noticed his left arm and right leg were wrapped up in the places he was bit, his shoulders were also wrapped up, the bandages came up and over his shoulders where they met more wrappings around his stomach. He also noticed wires hooked up to him and to the infernal machine that was giving off the offending beeping noise, a heart monitor.
Just then, a unicorn stallion with a dark yellow coat and a brown mane and tail walked in, his cutie mark looked like a green x-ray screen with a bone on it. He was wearing the standard doctor’s coat with a stethoscope hanging around his neck and a pair of glasses rested on his nose. Charles carefully sat up as the doctor approached. “Ah good, your awake, I didn’t think you’d wake up so soon after the amount of blood you lost. You are a very lucky stallion my boy.” Said the doctor in a friendly tone. “I am doctor Stable, I will be overseeing your recovery while you’re here.”
“Wh-where am I?” Charles asked weakly, still feeling worn out.
“You’re in Ponyville hospital my boy, don’t you remember what happened?”
Charles struggled to remember. “I-I remember……screaming, and……these wolf things.”
“Timberwolves Charles, those things were called timberwolves.” The doctor informed. “You’re lucky to be alive after an attack from those things. Captain, you can come in now.” The doctor called out to the hall way from over his shoulder.
Captain Lightning Thrash then walked in with two other ponies with him. One was a little shorter than the captain. He had bat like wings, slited irises, grey fur with blue streaks running down his legs, a thunder cloud grey mane and tail with blue and white streaks through them that looked like lightning, his mane was done up in kind of an afro style. His cutie mark was the one Charles saw before blacking out, a full moon with dark clouds around it. On his left foreleg was a kind of metal tube that came up half way up his leg to an orange orb gem in a glass casing, followed by a hose that ran up to his back to a small metal back pack, it looked like it was designed to suck in air and move it through the hose, to the gem and out the tube. He was wearing the standard gold armor as well as the other pony.
The other pony was a unicorn stallion, just as tall as captain Thrash. His coat was very unusual, it was Russian blue camo, waves of blue and white mixed together in a strange fashion. His mane and tail were black with light blue edges. His cutie mark was a white star. On his front right leg was a tattoo of a parachute behind a Pegasus wrapping it’s forelegs around a planet and the words ‘That Others May Live’ on the planet. On his other leg was another tattoo in red ink saying 'Brothers The End'. Around his neck was a pair of dog tags, on one was a name, Pyro. The other had a set of numbers on it. Finally, instead of gold armor, he was wearing light armor where the design was similar to a uniform back on earth, it was like an airman battle uniform.
Captain Thrash spoke up. “Charles, good to see you still among the living, I suppose you have these two to thank for that.” The captain said as he motioned to the two new ponies next to him. “This is private Black Cloud….” He motioned to the pony with the bat wings. “…And this is specialist Stunner, he’s a part of the specialist division here in Ponyville. He’s the one who managed to patch you up a bit before you bled to death and brought you to the hospital, and Black Cloud here is the one who scared off the timberwolves with his flamethrower there.”
Black Cloud looked up at Charles then quickly looked down with a small smile. Stunner then stepped forward. When he spoke, he sounded like a surfer dude or something. “Nice to meet you, sorry I wasn’t there when we were supposed to meet you your first day here, but I was busy with a rescue, some fool unicorn tried a teleport spell for the first time and ended up a few feet up in a tree. Too scared to try and get down on her own, I was around at the time so I just helped her out.”
Charles listened to the unicorn’s explanation then turned his attention back to the other pony, Black Cloud. He just stared at Charles before the captain saw this. “Private Cloud here doesn’t say much, he’s good in a fight but rather shy and not easy to make friends with, he is a genious though. Had a unicorn help him make that flamethrower of his there, the gem inside is a rare fire orb, in the right conditions, it can emit a flame. He figured out how to make the orb create the flame and harness it into his weapon there.”
Stunner then stepped in. “He seems to have taking a liking to you, he’s been following you around all day when you first came in to sign up for the guards, he’s the one who informed me that you had gone into the Everfree forest, I followed him in to find you and he started using his weapon to scare off the timberwolves.”
Charles became curious about something. “How long was I out?”
The captain informed. “Almost a day and a half, it was two days ago, counting today, that you went in there and it is now around midday. You’re lucky they came around when they did. What were you doing in that forest anyway?”
“I……I just needed some time alone sir.” Charles looked away from the captain as he answered.
“So I heard, the girls you saved told me all about what happened that day. I suppose I can’t get at you for going in there since you didn’t know about that place. For future references, that forest is called the Everfree forest and is home to many dangerous creatures, timberwolves are just one of the many things that live there. Anyway, you have others here that would like a word with you so we’ll be on our way. You take it easy now private.” The captain then led the other two out of the room.
“Other visitors?” He asked as he looked at doctor Stable.
“Of course, since you’re awake, you can have visitors now and there are a few who would like to see you. One moment please.” The doctor then left the room as well. After a minute, princess Celestia and Shining Armor came in.
“Princess, captain, what are you doing here?”
Celestia spoke first. “I came to check up on you, Twilight wrote to me about the events that happened the day you signed up to join the royal guard in Ponyville and I just had to come by and thank you personally for saving her and her friends. ”
“Same here, you saved my little sister after all.” Shining said.
“I was only doing what I thought was right.” Charles responded.
“And those actions saved lives Charles, you’re a hero.” Celestia said. “I am grateful to you for what you did, you have proven that you truly belong with the royal guards for your act of bravery.”
“You’ve got some guts taking on timberwolves like that.” Shining complimented. “Are you sure you don’t want to be anything more than a private?”
“Like I said, I am no leader, I’m fine with the position I have in the guard.”
Celestia gave a smile. “Very well then, I just wanted to come by and personally thank you for your actions.”
“Same here, I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you saved my little sister Twilight.” Shining stated.
“We’ll leave you to recover now, but you should know that the girls wish to meet with you now and give their thanks as well. And just so you know, your past has been made clear to every pony here in town.”
Charles tensed up at this. “WHAT, what do you mean my past has been made clear?!”
Celestia recoiled a bit at his shouting but regained her composure. “Well, you did practically shout out about how your parents are the ones responsible for what happened to you at the party Pinkie Pie threw for you.”
Charles slumped at this. “Great, just great.”
Celestia, not sure what to say from there, decided now would be a good time to leave. “Farewell Charels, take care of yourself.”
“See you later private Charles.” Shining gave his goodbye.
Charles looked back up to see them leave. As soon as they were gone, the six ponies, who’s lives he saved, walked in and gathered around him with smiles on their faces. Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash on his right, and Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy on his left. Twilight was the first to speak. “Hey Charles, glad to see you-“
“Why did you follow me?” Charles cut her off with his question as he kept his eyes looking down so as not to make eye contact.
A second passed before she answered. “We were worried about you, after what you said about what your parents did to you…..well.” She didn’t know what to say from there.
Charles looked at Twilight. “If you knew that forest was dangerous, then why did you come after me, I can take care of myself.”
“Like I said, we were worried about you.”
“So you put your selves in danger just for me?” He asked a little louder.
Applejack then cut in with a bit of a scowl. “You shouldn’t have gone in that forest in the first place ya know.”
Charles then turned his attention to Applejack. “Hey, it’s not like I asked you to follow me in there, you chose to go in there and put yourselves in danger, now because of me having to save your sorry hides, I’m in the hospital.”
Rainbow then interjected with a scowl of her own. “So WHAT, are you saying you regret saving us?” While all this was going on, Fluttershy started cringing while the others looked on in worry.
Charles turned to Dash who was now hovering in the air. “OF COURSE NOT, I may not like having to be stuck with others, but I’m not about to let someone…..or somepony die just because I don’t like them!”
“So WHAT, NOW you’re saying you don’t like us?” Rainbow asked again.
“I…..” He stopped, now that he thought about it, these ponies he’s been meeting has been nothing but nice to him, not once has he been insulted or yelled at or spit on or beaten. Sure he’s gotten a few odd looks, but that was it. “So…..are you saying that you all like me?” His voice softened .
Applejack answered again. “Of course we like you sugar cube, why else would we have worried about you when you ran off like ya did.”
This confused him more. “How could you possibly like me, I insulted her…” He pointed his finger on his good hand at Rainbow Dash. “I yelled at her…” He then pointed at Pinkie Pie. “And I yelled and cursed at her!” He then pointed at Twilight. “Not to mention how cold I’ve been acting to all of you, how can you all possibly like me?!”
Twilight answered again. “Because you need a friend, with everything you’ve been through, you must be in a lot of pain. Friends help each other with their pain, friends look out for each other and are there for one another when they’re needed.”
“How many times do I need to say it before you get it, I don’t need anyone!” Charles exclaimed.
“Oh really, like you didn’t need anyone when you were about to get eaten by those timberwolves?” Dash pointed out.
Charles turned his attention back to Dash. “Again, I wouldn’t have been in that position if you all hadn’t followed me in there.”
Applejack then interjected again. “And we wouldn’t have followed you in there if you hadn’t gone in there in the first place!”
Twilight then interjected. “WILL YOU THREE JUST STOP IT ALREADY! You’re going in circles with this!” She shouted which caused Applejack and Rainbow Dash to recoil. Charles just looked at her. “Charles, you need us, you don’t know anything about our world, you proved that when you flew off into the Everfree forest without knowing what dangers where in there. You’re lucky it was just a pack of timberwolves that you had to face.”
“And how do you think this makes me feel Twilight, all my life the only one I could count on and trust is myself because everyone else wouldn’t lift a finger to help me. Now here I am, stuck in a world I know nothing about, being forced to have to put my trust in a total stranger.”
“Charles, I know this isn’t easy for you, but you CAN trust me, I promise I will do everything I can to help you learn about this world. You can trust me, you can trust us.” She said as she laid a hoof on his lap.
Charles looked down at her hoof then back to her with a solemn look. “I….” He looked away again. “I don’t know if I can.” He admitted.
Fluttershy decided to chime in. “Charles, if you don’t mind me saying, maybe it’s time you just let go of the past and forget about what happened…if that’s all right.”
Pinkie agreed. “Yeah, it was your parents that did all that mean stuff to you, not others.”
Rarity then chimed in. “From what we can understand about what you said, it was your parents that betrayed you and did what they did to you, no pony else is responsible.”
Rainbow then spoke up. “Yeah, just forget those jerks and move on.”
“Charles.” Twilight called to him to get his attention. Charles turned to meet her gaze only to see the sweetest smile Twilight could give. “I promise we’ll be there for you when you need us, you can trust us.”
Pinkie spoke again. “We Pinkie promise.” Then all together, they chanted. “Cross our hearts and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in our eye.” As they said this, they first made an x over their hearts, flapped their forelegs like wings, then put a hoof over one of their eyes.
Charles just looked at all of them with a raised eyebrow. Pinkie explained. “That was a Pinkie promise.”
Rarity continued. “And no pony breaks a Pinkie promise.”
“So no matter what, if you need us for anything, we’ll be there for you.” Rainbow said with a smile.
Charles was at a loss for words. He just didn’t know how to respond to all this. These ponies made it perfectly clear that they were actually willing to help him no matter what. “I….I don’t know…..what to say…..I.” He couldn’t finish, he was actually overcome with emotion that he just couldn’t speak.
“Charles.” Fluttershy had called to get his attention. “We know it won’t be easy for you to put your trust in us so suddenly, just take your time, we can wait.” The girls all nodded.
“Um…..sure, ok, um……..thank you.” Was all he could say to this.
Twilight spoke again. “We’ll let you rest now, I hope you feel better soon. If you want, I can start teaching you about our world tomorrow when I come to visit. Would that be ok?”
“Sure…..that would be……nice.” Charles was still trying to understand all that was said to him.
“Perfect, then tomorrow, I’ll come by with some books for you to read and I’ll help you along. For now, get some rest, you’ve had a rough time already.” With those words, the girls all said their goodbyes and left Charles to think.
Could he really put his trust in them, they made it clear that they just want to help him. Every pony he’s met, even the guards, have been nothing but accepting of him, how could he not have seen it, would it really be so bad to trust someone other than himself for once? It wouldn’t be easy, but those mares pointed out that they knew this too and were willing to wait for him to get to that point. This was all too much for him to take in at once, he is just going to have to sleep on it for now and hope to figure this out tomorrow.
*****
The next day came after a peaceful nights rest for Charles since the heart monitor was removed from him yesterday after his visits. The sun was just now rising over the horizon to start the day. Charles let out a yawn as he stretched his unwrapped arm up. A nurse walked in, pushing a cart with a tray of food for breakfast. She had a white coat with a soft pink mane and tail, her mane was tied in a bun, her cutie mark was a red plus sign. “Good morning Charles, I’m nurse Redheart, how are you feeling this morning?” The mare asked.
“Ok I guess, my arm, leg and shoulders are still sore though.”
“That will go away soon. I hope you like your breakfast.” Nurse Redheart then set a tray with food on it. “I’ll be back shortly to take the tray from you when you’re done, do you need anything else before I go?”
“No thanks, I’m fine.” The nurse left and Charles ate up. The nurse returned shortly after and took his tray. Charles’s mind was still a buzz with everything that happened yesterday. He still wasn’t sure about what those ponies said, but they sounded so sincere it was impossible to think otherwise. “Maybe I really can trust them. I just need to be careful, that’s all.” After a while of nothing to do but think, Twilight came in with a pair of saddle bags full of books.
“Good morning Charles, feeling any better today.” She greeted with a big smile and a cheery tone.
“I’m still sore in the places I got bit by those……timberwolves were they?” Twilight gave a nod.
“I brought a few books that can help you learn some things that will be important for you to know.” Twilight informed. She opened her bag with her magic and levitated a book out and moved it in front of Charles for him to take.
Charles took it in his hands and held it up to get a better look. “If you have any questions about it, just let me know.”
“Thanks Twilight…..I…really appreciate this.”
When Twilight gave him a smile, he could swear he heard another squee like when Fluttershy smiled at him for letting her help him when Angel bit him.
Before he could get started though, 2nd Lt. Carbon entered with an earth pony following him in. This one was standing slightly taller than Carbon. He was wearing blue and black dragon scale armor. His fur was white and his mane and tail was black. He had no cutie mark but there was a symbol on his right shoulder, it was an outline of a cross with strange symbols that could only be described as ancient or foreign writing, a black bodark insignia. On his back were a pair of kukri machetes sites.
“Charles, good to see you up, hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Carbon answered.
Twilight answered for him. “Not at all Carbon, what brings you two by?”
“Sorry for the intrusion, but 1st Lt. Shadow Fang here wanted to come see the new recruit for himself, he heard about what Charles did and wanted to meet him.”
“So, this is creature called a human that every pony is talking about? Doesn’t look so impressive to me.” He spoke with a heavy Russian accent. “If you ask me, you were fool for taking on timberwolves on your own.”
Charles looked to Shadow fang. “Well it’s not like I had a choice, Twilight here and her friends would be dead if I hadn’t stepped in when I did.”
“This is true, you did save ponies from death.”
“And we are very grateful to him Shadow Fang, so I would like it if you didn’t insult him.” Twilight defended.
Shadow Fang then turned on Twilight. “And you were fool for following him into forest, what were you thinking you foolish mare.”
“That’s enough Shadow Fang, I didn’t bring you here to insult any pony, you wanted to meet Charles, now you’ve met.” Carbon intervened.
“Hmph.” Was Shadow’s response.
“Sorry about him, he’s not exactly the sociable type.” Carbon informed.
Charles then realized something. “Say, are you related to Duskfang and Dawnfang?” He asked Shadow Fang.
“HA, those two, hardly, is only coincidence that we three have Fang as last name. They are nothing compared to me.” Shadow Fang scoffed. “If you excuse, I have duties to perform now. I suggest you toughen up if you want to be guard private Charles.” He said private with a mocking tone. Shadow then turned and left the room.
“Sheesh, what’s his problem?” Charles asked.
Carbon informed. “He’s from Stalliongrad, a country far to the north from here, he was experimented on as well like you to create super soldiers, it worked, but not how they expected, so the project was scrapped, but they kept him around because of his abilities.”
“So what can he do, what sort of enhancements does he have?”
“He’s a werewolf.” Twilight closed her eyes and shuddered after she answered.
Charles looked at her with wide eyes. “What…..a…..a WEREWOLF. YOU have GOT to be KIDDING, a REAL WEREWOLF! But…..they’re just a myth…..they only exist in scary stories and horror movies!”
“Isn’t that what you said about unicorns and Pegasai to the princesses?” Twilight said with a raised eyebrow and a smile.
Carbon began to inform. “Thankfully, he’s the only known were wolf. From my knowledge, there used to be real ones a long time ago, but they died out somehow, now, Shadow Fang is the first pony made were wolf. You saw that symbol on his shoulder right?” Charles nodded. “That symbol lets him transform whenever he wants, it glows red before he changes and he becomes this huge wolf beast. But it comes at a cost, when he changes back, he is very exhausted and becomes temporarily psychotic. I think I’ve said enough, I’ll let you two get back to your study session. Charles, I want you to concentrate on getting better so you can start your job as a guard, understand.”
“Yes sir, I understand.” Charles said.
“Good, have a good day Ms. Sparkle.” Carbon gave a wave and left.
“Well, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started.” Twilight said with a smile, eager to begin her role as teacher for Charles.