//------------------------------//
// Calm or Angry? 
// Story: The Wise Soldier 
// by Justasimplename 
//------------------------------//

	The lion/bat/scorpion hybrid finished roaring and charged at me. I immediately dropped my M4a1 and shot my right hand towards my HK45c. I almost succeeded in drawing it but I wouldn't have been able to do as so in time so I jumped out of the way, narrowly dodging the creature. Once I hit the ground, my left hand went to the GSH18 strapped to my left leg as my right hand was now pinned to the ground by accident.

Once out, I drew a bead on the creature's head with the Russian pistol. Nothing says fuck you like a good bullet to the face. "Wait!" Fluttershy yelled. What in the hell is she thinking? Oh, wait. Animal caretaker. I almost forgot about that. 

Standing up, I passed the pistol to my right hand and pointed it up in the air. Gun safety people. Always practice it no matter what.

Fluttershy flew over to the lion. "Oh you must be mad that we're invading your territory, little fella" she said in a loving voice. "I'm sorry that we did that but could you let us pass right through?" The lion nodded and swatted her out of the air with one paw, sending her flying into a tree. So much for that idea.

I immediately took aim again and fired a round, hitting it in the face. Too bad the 9mm round wasn't even close to being powerful enough to faze it as the lion creature started charging again. I fired another round, this time grazing it's face which only pissed it off even more than it currently was.

The instant it closed the distance between the two of us, it swatted the pistol out of my hands and grinned at me. My hands went down to my HK45c but it swung it's other paw at me. Not wanting to die, I immediately cancelled my action and jumped to the left seeing the paw narrowly missed me. It saw this and prepared to bite me. 

Once again, for the second time that day, I felt adrenalin course through my veins. My heart raced and time slowed down again. I was a god again.

Now any sane man would try to get out of the way but I was already too close to it. Instead, I headbutted the lion as it's jaws neared my head. When my helmeted head made contact with it's nose, a loud crack sounded through the air, telling everyone that it's nose was broken.

Reeling it's head back, the lion screamed in pain. Before it could try anything, I decked it in the face with a left hook before throwing a right hook at it's midsection. It recovered quickly before it swung another paw at me. I redirected the aim of the manticore's swing so that it missed me before I sent a punch to it's upper arm/foreleg and kicked it's left leg. The kicked worked and managed to knock the lion off balance a little but it fell to the ground when I kicked it in the chest. Once on the ground, I punched it once in the face and once in the torso/midsection area. 

Then something hit me in the back and I felt a pulling action on my vest. Turning around, I saw that it's scorpion stinger had gotten stuck in my vest. It must have tried to use it's tail on me. Looking back at the lion, I punched it again in the face and the chest. 

Pulling out my HK45c, I took aim at it's face. "Wait!" I heard Fluttershy yelled. Everyone, including me, looked at her like she was crazy. It didn't help that she was bleeding from her head.

"Are you fucking joking?" I asked her.

"You don't need to kill it" she said. 

"What?!" I yelled. I looked down at the lion. "This lion tried to kill you and me!"

"That manticore was only defending it's territory" said Fluttershy said. "We were trespassing." 

"It still-" I started saying but stopped when I realized something. It was defending it's territory. Plain and simple. It had done nothing wrong. Trespass on a military base and its inhabitants will shoot or arrest you. Do the same with an animal's territory and it will attack you.

I looked down at the manticore and saw that it was ready to cry. Funny, it was easily bigger than me and probably outclassed me in weight size but here it was, on the ground and ready to cry. I close my eyes and shook my head before I stepped away from it. Now free, the manticore rose to its paws and ran off.

I breathed in and out, practicing my deep breathing techniques. My heart returned to normal levels and I lost the feeling of my adrenalin rush. Slowly, I holstered my HK45c and walked over to where the GSH18 had fallen, picking it up. I holstered it too, before I went to where I dropped my M4a1 one. Picking it up, I dusted it off before I exchanged the half empty mag for a new one. The one that was previously in it had been partially expended from stopping Twilight & her friends and stopping the timberwolves. Then I removed the suppressor and tucked it back into my vest. 

I walked over to Fluttershy and pulled out my IFAK kit. "That was brave of you" I said to her. The source of the bleeding on her head was a rather nasty gash. I also noticed that she had a bunch of nasty scrapes and bruises across her back that were most likely from when she was sent flying into a tree. I did my best to remove the bits of splinters, bark, and small sticks stuck in her gashes and scrapes when it came to dressing her wounds. I wasn't a corpsman but I could fix the basic problems. 

"Disinfectant" I said to her to which she answered with a whimper. Unlike other SEALS/grunts/jarheads/etc, I had iodine in my IFAK. How and why? That's for me to know. Opening the tiny three ounce plastic bottle, I dribbled small amounts of it onto the gashes and then the gash on her head. She bit her lip from the pain but stopped after a few seconds. Taking out the bandages, I finished up on her injuries. 

"Thank you" said Fluttershy. 

"You are welcome" I said while packing away my IFAK.

Holding my M4a1 in my hands, I walked back over to the Spetnaz's corpse. That feeling of sadness pang back in my being. If that manticore didn't interrupt me, I would have just left his body here. Taking out the throwing shovel, I started digging a hole. Ah, this brings me to good old times. Digging trenches and holes as a punishment or exercise.

After the hole was deep enough, I lifted the Spetsnaz's corpse and buried him. After filling the hole, I fashioned a cross out of two sticks. Soldiers deserve better. 

After taking my rifle back in my hands, I started walking back to Ponyville. The entire time, the six that accompanied me tried to coax a conversation out of me but I stayed silent. I had no desire to talk. 








Once we were backed to Ponyville, I returned to the damaged crystal bench, the one that was in front of Twilight's structurally unsound castle, and sat down on it. Time passed. Other ponies passed by. I was bothered. I ignored it. 

Until now. "I'm sorry." That voice. It was Celestia. I turned to see her still injured face. "I see that you have a few new additions to your arsenal." My hands tensed around my rifle. I looked away from her and continued looking forward.

What or who next? "One dead. How many more?" I asked. "The deadliest soldiers in all of my world's history. Nine in total, one alive, one dead, and seven unaccounted for."

"I did not know of these consequences" said Celestia.

I took both hands from my rifle and laid them on my lap. "And look what it did."

Then someone new appeared. This pony was also an alicorn, kinda like Celestia. However, she was different as she was shorter, blue, and looked younger. She wore similar, but differently colored, pieces of jewelry similar to Celestia's. She was most likely another princess of this world. "Was this the creature that assaulted you?" she asked.

"Yes" I replied.

She gave me a scowl. "I did not ask you, creature." She spat at my feet. "I see neither use or intelligence in you. Leave so that I may speak with my sister."

Me? An insolent creature? "Insolent? I am insolent?!" I said while standing up, towering over her. Like Celestia, she was much taller than the normal ponies and was only shorter than her equal by a few inches. However, she was still shorter than I was, barely reaching my neck if you didn't count her horn. 

"Luna" said Celestia. "Don't tempt him."

Luna decided not to take her sister's warning. "Now learn your place or I will teach it to you" she threatened me. I blinked before scowling at her. She smiled. "Good now-"

Her speech was interrupted when I lifter her up in the air with my right arm by her throat. "You learn your place!" I yelled in her face as she choked. "Me being insolent?!? Your fucking sister tore me out of my fucking home, away from my family, friends, and home!" I reached down and drew my newly acquired GSH18 with my free hand, pointing it at her face. 

Celestia took a cautious step forward. "Please, Luna was-" I pointed the pistol in her direction and fired a round. It didn't hit her but the round severed a small lock of her hair. Like all previous experiences with gunshots, she clutched her ears with her hooves.

I aimed the pistol back at Luna's still choking face. "Next time, leave me the fuck alone or I will put a bullet in you!" With that, I dropped her to the ground and she took in precious breathes of air with her regained ability to breath.

I sat back down and holstered my pistol. "And remember, twenty of your guards weren't able to disable me and your world's magic doesn't work on me."

Celestia sat down next to me. "That was uncalled for."

"And her actions weren't?" I asked.

"True but she's just stressed from the foreign issue at hoof" said Celestia. "The one that you're not assisting us with. We've already suffered forty-five casualties."

She's still pressing this issue on me? "The bloodiest war in my country's history led to over four hundred thousand total deaths. That was only my country." I looked down at Luna who was still choking a little. "By the time the war ended, the estimated number of deaths ranged from sixty to ninety million."

Luna got back up and looked at me, incredulous at my words. "Ninety million deaths?!?" she croaked out. 

"Ninety million" I said, confirming her words "You simply do not remove a person from their home without any transgressions. I served in my country's military to protect my country not someone else's."