Angel of War

by Commander Ry

Amongst Strange Company

The world was dark, an empty void without noise, without feeling, without thought.

Then there was sound, a series of low and high tones that turned into mumbling, then into a conversation.

“Applejack, what are you doing here at this hour?”

“Keepin’ my eye on this here varmint.  Makin’ sure it doesn’t try nothin’ sneaky.”

“I really don’t think that’s necessary.  The poor thing almost died after you bucked it across the Everfree Forest.”

“Don’t you give me that look Twi.  That ‘poor thing’ almost hurt Dash, and I won’t stand for it.”

“Yes, but maybe if Rainbow Dash hadn’t tried to tackle it…”

“Well, yeah… Anywho, what did the princess have to say?”

“Nothing much, just that we should talk with it, learn about it, befriend it if we can. Or at least build a relationship with it that isn’t founded on us attacking it while it was injured.  She agrees with me that this creature isn’t much of a threat.”

“If ah remember right, that thing attacked Rarity first.”

The world went dark once again, and stayed that way for some time.

(X*X*X*X*X*X)

Sound returned once more.  A continuous beep could be heard along with the sound of other machines.

Casey's mind began to reboot as his body slowly woke up from its deep sleep.

'My alarm clock sure sounds funny.'

Light filtered in from the lamps on the ceiling, temporarily blinding him as his eyes fought to bring the world into focus.

"What a weird ass dream," the pilot mumbled as he rolled over, coming face to face with a pink blur.

His mind, not fully awake, curiously tried to figure out what could possibly be pink in his barracks. As his sight focused he made out a set of eyes, a snout, and what appeared to be an explosion of hair.

“-GAAAAAAAASP-“

The confusing pink blob let out an unnaturally long gasp as it jumped into the air.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, Twilight it's awake!"

Casey could now tell it was an animal of some kind as it bounced out of his room.

"What in the world?"

Casey rolled back over to his other side, attempting to quiet his alarm clock, only to find a heart monitor in its place. A quick glance around the room assured the lieutenant that this wasn't his barracks but a hospital... Or at least something that resembled a hospital room. Suddenly seven horse-like creatures trotted into the room. Like a slap to the face, Casey remembered everything. The ejection, him crashing into a tree, his broken ankle, and these... these things! They had attacked him!

The air force officer bolted upright in his bed, immediately receiving a long streak of pain throughout his body, causing him to wince.

"You really should stay lying down," said a white coated pony wearing a nurses’ cap.

Casey's eyes steeled as he watched her check the monitors to the left of his bed. He moved to grab his gun only to find that his hands were restrained, not that it would have mattered.  A glance down told him that both his gun and knife, along with most of his gear, had been taken from him. This glance down also explained to Casey why he was in so much pain. Most of his body was either broken or at least badly beaten.

"How are you feeling?” The purple unicorn called Twilight Sparkle stared at Casey with truly sorry eyes filled with hope.  “I'm so sorry for the injuries, but you see, Applejack was only trying to protect Rainbow Dash. We got you to the hospital as soon as possible though, and Nurse Redhart here says you will make a full recovery."

The human didn't see this though. He was too busy trying to rationalize this whole experience.

'I was shot down over Korea. I-I must have been captured. Then this whole thing is just a drug induced hallucination. Didn't command say that North Korea was experimenting with drugs and interrogation? Like truth serum, but on LSD. Dammit, I really wish I hadn’t of slept through that briefing. That’s gotta be it though, they’re trying to confuse me, get me to talk; well they’re not getting shit outta me'.

The young man’s mind, weak and broken from this whole ordeal, latched on to the only logical explanation it could invent.

Casey's thoughts were interrupted by Twilights request for information, simply proving the officer’s theory.

"So, what's your name?"

With that his training took over once again. Jonathan M. Casey wasn't scared or confused anymore.  He had a rational explanation for what was happening, something he HAD been trained for. He was captured by enemy forces, and currently being interrogated.

"Umm, can you understand me? What. Is. Your. Name?" asked the purple mare once again in a courteous yet firm tone.

Casey's blank stare was replaced with that of understanding and hatred as he belted out words that were drilled into his head for just this occasion.

"Second Lieutenant Casey Jonathan M., 944th Fighter Wing, United States Air Force. Four-Five-Six-Four-Two-Two-Niner."

The seven mares looked at the pilot with confusion and worry. They had not expected such a harsh tone or long response to such a simple question.

“What did it say?” asked the rainbow-maned pegasus, transfixed by the humans hateful glare.

“Oh oh, I know,” exclaimed the pink mare, now currently jumping around the room.  “It’s a guessing game- I love games!  How about Broken Bill? Or Hateful Hank? Oh oh I know, Evil Monkey! Evil Monkey!”

Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes at the pink ones antics.  Her gaze had now turned back to the injured human, looking at him expectantly.

“Do- do you know where you are?” she asked.

"Second Lieutenant Casey Jonathan M., 944th Fighter Wing, United States Air Force. Four-Five-Six-Four-Two-Two-Niner."

Casey’s words were met with a confused frown from the purple unicorn.

“Now sugar,” said the orange cowpony, obviously annoyed at the tone the young man had taken with her friend.  “That’s not the question we’re askin’.  You best answer the questions we ask of you.”

The pilot turned his gaze to rest on the pony with apples on her flank, giving her a glare that clearly read “fuck you”.

“It’s ok AJ,” Twilight said, turning to Applejack.  “I don’t think it understands what we are saying.”

“It understands us alright,” piped up the rainbow maned mare.  “Don’t you remember it yelling at us in the forest? It at least understands enough of our language to answer a simple question.”

“Hmmmmm” Twilight scrunched her nose at this.  Turning back to Casey, she restated a previous question but with much more force this time.

“Do. You. Understand. Me?”

"Second Lieutenant Casey Jonathan M., 944th Fighter Wing, United States Air Force. Four-Five-Six-Four-Two-Two-Niner."

The magical mare humphed at this.

“No, do you understand what I am saying?”

"Second Lieutenant Casey Jonathan M., 944th Fighter Wing, United States Air Force. Four-Five-Six-Four-Two-Two-Niner."

“No, no, no,” exclaimed the purple unicorn, obviously frustrated with the man’s lack of cooperation.

“Yeah buddy, you better start talking!” the cyan flyer flew right up to Casey’s face. The pilot tensed.

‘Here is where things get hard... where they get violent’.

Before he could mentally prepare himself, a sharp beep drew his attention.  His heart rate had spiked just slightly according to the small screen depicting a jumping line.

“All right girls, that's enough” said the white caped nurse, her tone firm yet soothing.  “You’re stressing the patient out, and it needs time to rest and recover.”

“But this thing hasn’t even begun to answer our questions!” complained Rainbow.

“Now Dash,” Twilight commented, eyeing the pegasus.  “Redheart is right. We can continue this later.  It needs its sleep.”

With that, Rainbow Dash groaned and the seven began to make their departure.

“We’ll be back later,” said the purple mare, giving the officer one last look of sadness and sympathy.  “I hope we can actually converse then”

Casey smiled smugly to himself as the seven trotted out of the room.

‘LT CASEY: 1, FUCKED UP KOREAN COMMIE PONIES: 0’

(X*X*X*X*X*X)

It had been four days since the human had found himself in his strange reality; four days of bed rest, sparse questioning, and watching the heart rate monitor.
Casey was proud of himself; he had withstood their interrogation thus far, saying nothing but those nineteen words, much to his captors displeasure (especially the purple one). Yet, he was confused, for four days they had come in every few hours; sometimes all six, sometimes just two.But never had they done more than politely question him. He was never tortured, never threatened, unless you count the rainbow ones attempts at intimidation, in all honesty Casey found her more entertaining than intimidating.

This was not the way POW’s were supposed to be treated by the North Korean Army. Where was the pain? The agony? The evil fat guy with the car battery? The more he thought about it, and thinking was really all he was capable of doing, this hallucination torture theory just wasn’t adding up. But if he was wrong, then that would me that he was being cared for by magical colorful ponies. And quite simply, that was crazy.

In order to avoid these crazy logical thoughts the officer instead built profiles of everyone and everything. As his training directed.

The lieutenant was being kept in a rather small hospital room; it was a private white room, with pink trimmings and a lone fern in the corner. To his left was a series of medical equipment, Casey could make out the familiar jumping line of the heart rate monitor telling him continuously that he was not yet dead. To his right was a small cabinet and a window, the curtains were always down so what was beyond said window was a mystery.
The medical staff consisted of what seemed to be only two ponies; at least only the two ever came into his room.

There was a male pony, who appeared to be the doctor. He was brown, wore glasses, and was friendly enough. He would come in once a day read the human’s chart, check up on his progress, and attempt to make small talk. Over the last few days however this doctor seemed to have become more and more put-out with the airmen’s lack of response.

The second pony on staff was Nurse RedHeart, Casey observed she was white with a pinkish mane, wore a nurse’s cap, and conducted herself with dignity and professionalism. She didn’t seem interested in the officer other than doing her job, which entitled monitoring his vitals, administering pain killers, and feeding him (for some reason Casey noted that he was fed a strictly vegetarian diet).
Then he had his captors.

First, there was the purple unicorn named Twilight Sparkle. She appeared to be the lead interrogator, and often made references to personally knowing the “princess” which told Casey that she held a very high rank or at least held the most pull amongst her peers. Although her leadership style was very laissez-faire and she would often defer to the others and be quite open to suggestion. She was perhaps the smartest pony the lieutenant had met (not that he had met many ponies) as she never attempted the same approach twice, she always asked different questions, and she was the only one to actually analyze the nineteen words that Casey spoke. She had actually determined the pilots name as “Jonathan M Casey” and figured out he was in some sort of guard or military-esqe service. Because of this, the airman was extremely wary around her and her very polite ways. He also noted that although she was extremely perceptive she was prone to bouts of great agitation when she couldn’t get questions answered or more information from the young man. He fondly recalled one day that Twilight grew so frustrated she magically flung the fern around his room because he refused to answer “Are you from Equestria?”

This brought up another point though, magic. The pilot observed that unicorns were able to produce a rather strange glowing energy that could manipulate objects around them. As he could not answer what this energy was or where it came from he chose rather to ignore it and write it off as ‘just more crazy shit that I’m hallucinating.’

Next there was the orange pony Applejack, She was a very simple and straightforward individual. She did not like Casey and did not attempt to hide her dislike. Casey was the most at-ease around “AJ” as she was really the only one that behaved the way the lieutenant imagined captors were supposed to. She also seemed to be an individual of significant rank and a leader in her own right, the pilot assumed that she was second in command as Twilight often consulted with her. Unlike Twilight however, Applejack was much more uninvolved, she asked the same questions over and over and never attempted to change her approach. She never let her emotions show except in her tone of voice and seemed more than willing to simply walk away from the officer when he refused to cooperate. He also observed that she would religiously wear a brown Stetson atop her head and spoke with what appeared to be a rather southern affliction..

Then there was the brightly colored pegasus named Rainbow Dash. Of all of them, Casey had her profiled the best. She was egotistical, brash, physically skilled, lived in the present, and instantly assumed she was in control of every situation. She acted before she thought, and never hesitated to act. Basically she was the stereotypical fighter-jock, for nine months Casey had lived and trained with this type of personality while learning to fly. As such he found Rainbow extremely humorous and easy to manipulate. It always brightened his day when she would streak into his room, fly right into his face, and demand information with such helpful questions like “ARE YOU A SPY?!?.” Frankly, other than irritating the purple one, the only other amusement the young man could find was pissing of the blue flyer.

The fourth of the six was a butter yellow pegasus named Fluttershy. Like her name suggested, she was very… shy. Casey honestly didn’t know what to make of the timid pony. Whenever she did come into his room (and her appearances were quite rare) she said nothing, stood in a corner, and attempted to hide behind her pink mane. She seemed utterly terrified of him and the pilot found this fear extremely adorable if not a little bit concerning. The best he could figure was that Fluttershy was a sort of civilian advisor whose job it was to observe the other interrogator’s actions and report on their conduct. But this of course was simply speculation on a hallucination.

Next there was the white unicorn Rarity. Like Fluttershy she seemed positively terrified of the human. Unlike her yellow friend though Rarity’s fear struck Casey as much more personal. Fluttershy seemed to fear him because he was different; Rarity’s fear seemed grounded in that he was evil. The only logical explanation the pilot could come up with for this was that she was the only one he shot at, and almost killed. Despite this fear however, Casey noted that she was very articulate and ask very specific questions. She did a very good job of masking her fear and most always seemed in control of any given situation. Her regal appearance lead the Lieutenant to assume that she was a political figure of sorts, or perhaps part of a noble ruling class.

Lastly, there was Pinkie Pie. She was a bubbly pink pony who desperately wanted to throw the young man a party. Casey hated her.  He would dread the moment she would walk into his room, he despised her voice, her eyes, her hair. Hell the young man had even begun to develop and unusual fear of the color pink. Now he disliked Pinkie not because she was mean or malicious, quite the contrary, she was perhaps the nicest and happiest individual Casey had ever met. She didn’t even really attempt to interrogate the pilot, as her questions usually bordered along the lines of “What kind of cake is your favorite?” No Casey hated her because she would talk to him, and once she started, she would keep going, and going, and going… for hours. It didn’t even faze her that the lieutenant didn’t respond to her questions, she would just keep at it, talking about everything and absolutely nothing. When she was in his room he couldn’t think. Her words made very little sense and were impossible to follow for more than 30 seconds and it was even less possible to just simply ignore her as her bubbly nature seemed to draw the whole room of focus onto her. Casey imagined that Pinkie Pie was insanity in its purist form. He admitted though, out of all of them she was the best at her job. On numerous occasions the officer had almost cracked under the verbal assault of the pink menace; considering it better to give his captors all the information they wanted if it meant that Pinkie Pie would never talk to him again. He remembered two days ago Pinkie had been talking to him for five hours about balloons. In order to make it stop Casey had started screaming and didn’t let up until nurse Redheart came running into the room and removed the pink pony while mumbling something about “protecting the sanity of her patients”.

As the young man was reliving the traumatic experience in his head, he heard the sound of hoof steps outside his doorway.

To his immense displeasure both Twilight Sparkle and Applejack proceeded to enter his room.

‘Great another round of “fruitless pony questions!” I wonder if I can get the purple one to burst into flames again, that was pretty cool’ as the pilot mused he remembered another time that he angered Twilight so much that she literally caught fire. He had of course pissed himself out of fear, but he had to admit, it was the most excitement he had since he was captured.

Before he could start exploring the nature of combustible ponies though Twilight Sparkle began to speak.

“Hello Jonathan, are you willing to talk with us today?”

The fact that she addressed him by his first name made his skin crawl. But it was his own fault, so he stuck with his old standby of angry glaring. ‘Maybe if I try hard enough I could shoot lasers into her smug pony skull.’

Twilight sighed at the his silence “Well I guess there's always tomorrow”

Applejack snorted at her friend's words.

The unicorn gave a sideways disapproving glance at the orange pony before continuing.

“I come bearing good news! Nurse Redheart said you only have one more day of bed rest and then we can start getting you back on your feet. Of course there will need to be some physical therapy, and we don’t fully understand your anatomy so there will be a few days of observation to make sure you're fully healed. But in maybe a week's time, and a little cooperation on your part, you can be fully healed and we can take you to meet the princess!” Twilight looked at the man with nothing but joy and hope.

This hope was quickly murdered by Casey’s hateful glare.

Applejack chuckle “Twi ah don’t think it rightly cares about meeting the princess.”

Her excitement fully deflated Twilight sighed once again “Well, ok. But because of this we have decided to remove your restraints.”

With that Applejack tensed “Twilight I still don’t think this is such a good idea-“

“AJ it’s been four days, we have made no progress getting to know him and he has in no way shown that he is a threat to us since the incident in Everfree, he doesn’t trust us, and we need his trust us if he is ever going to open up to us.” Twilight lectured as she undid the first restraint holding the pilots right hand. “In order to get trust we must give it.”

“Sugar cube I understand what you’re saying but-“ the orange pony was cut off by the unicorn.

“AJ I need you to trust me.” half way through undoing the second restraint Twilight looked and smiled at the cowpony.

Caught off guard Applejack stuttered before finally grumbling “fine, but ah don’t like it one bit.” she proceeded to mumble something about educated unicorns and trust issues.

With that Twilight giggled a “thank you” and proceeded to undo the last restraint.

Finally able to move his arms Casey proceeded to rub his wrists where the bonds had held him for four days.

Twilight smiled once again. “Have a good day Jonathan, behave yourself and tomorrow maybe we can give you a tour of Ponyville.”

With that she left the room and Applejack followed her, half way through the door though AJ’s Stetson covered head stopped and turned around. She brought a hoof up to her eye and then pointed at the young man. Casey returned the gesture with a left handed salute. Applejack raised an eyebrow before leaving the room, the door clicking behind her.
Now alone, Jonathan M Casey looked at his free hands and smiled like a young child who had just stolen a cookie jar. 

~(Commander Ry: For those of you who have favorited or started watching this, thank you. For all of you who comment, every bit of criticism and opinion helps, honestly. Special thanks to my editors: shadowdemon137, Bass, and "she-who-prefers-not-to-be-named".)~