Shouldn't Be

by Lumadous

Ch 2. Proper Introductions

Once again I woke up in a daze, luckily this time I was in a soft bed with clean sheets over me. I lay there for a moment of two, just soaking in the rays of sun from a nearby open window where the smell of sweet apple pie drifted up to me.

"Glad that dream is over." I said out loud to myself. "It's good to be back home...."

The rest of my sentence died on my lips as I opened my eyes and saw that the small room I was in didn't resemble home at all, it was much more rustic with its natural wood floors and furniture and the open window didn't even have glass in it. I sat up suddenly, hobbling as fast as I could to the door only to find it securely locked, the door not even wiggling in the frame. In a panic I hobbled over to the window and looked out to see if I could jump, and much to my displeasure I saw that I was on the second floor over a patch of bare ground. Not liking the prospect of falling from anymore great heights today I backed away from the window and looked for some alternative way out of the room. I was in the middle of tying together the sheets when a click from the door caused me to whip around to face my captor.

"Well good to see ya up, stranger, you had us worried there for a moment." Said that orange horse from earlier as it trotted into the room with a tray of food on it's back.

I cautiously kept my distance as it trotted over to the bedside table and set the tray of food on the table while a second horse entered through the door I had foolishly put behind me.

"Well I've never seen anything like this." The newcomer said behind me as I jumped in shock, landing on my bad leg causing me to cry in pain and collapse. Halfway to the ground a yellow streak shot through the open door and caught me and gently lowered me to the ground

"Oh you poor thing, did you hurt yourself? Let me help you." Said a third horse who had butter yellow fur and pink mane and tail.

"Careful now Fluttershy, we don't know what it is, it could be dangerous." Warned the purple one.

"He's just a poor widdle thing thats hurt, that's all." The one I guessed was "Fluttershy" said bashfully.

"Now wait one minute here, how'd ya tell it was a he?" Said the orange one, who was still next to the bed.

Fluttershy just blushed deeply and pointed at my groin, and to my dismay I noticed that this entire time I've been prancing around naked, like an idiot. I yanked the remaining sheet off the bed and wrapped it around my waist quickly, the horses averting their eyes and blushing a little as they realized what Fluttershy was referring to.

"Well that still doesn't tell us what "he" is." The purple one said as a book floated out of the saddlebags it was wearing, the cover of the book said, "Beasties, creatures, and animals, the adventurers guide to zoography" and the pages started turning on their own, the purple one concentrating on the book as it sat down and studied the book with ease that a college student would envy.

"Well until then ah guess we gotta fix this critter up." Said the orange one as it fished out a roll of gauze and a bottle of something from the tray of food and carried them towards me in its mouth. Fearful of of how well horses can fix me up I started backing away from them, towards the doors, only to run into another one’s legs, looking up it was much larger and was apple red with an old fashion yoke on its neck.

"Hey Big Mac, you mind keepin’ him still so we can help him?" The orange one asked

"Nope" He said with a deep voice with a familiar southern accent.

With "Big Mac" ensuring I wouldn't run away, Fluttershy and the orange one proceeded to wrap my leg up after spreading that cream on my wound, and they were surprising gentle despite the fact that they had hooves. As they were tying the knot to keep it on the purple one, looking frustrated, snapped the book shut with a "harumph".

"Looks like we're going to the zoo girls." She said, looking disappointed that she couldn't find the knowledge herself. "Applejack you mind tying him up so he doesn't try to run away?"

"No!" I exclaimed, pushing myself away, only to run into Big Mac... again.

"Twilight, couldn't you just ask him what he is?" Asked Fluttershy.

"I would've if somepony told me he could talk." She said rolling her eyes, looking at me now she asks, "So what are you anyways, Mr?".

Seeing all eyes on me I have no other choice than to talk now. "I'm Sergeant Castle of the United States Army, and I'm a human of course."

All of them look confused when Twilight suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "I'm going to have to ask the Princess about this, I'm sure she will be excited about hearing about a new species appearing!".

"While that's all fine and good hun, I think Sergeant here would rather enjoy his supper." Applejack interjected bluntly.

"And my clothes back." I added, getting weird looks from the horses.

"Okkaaayyyy." Applejack said hesitantly. "Oh! Alright." She hurriedly added after a moment or two of thought, blushing as she apparently remembered my earlier embarrassment.

"I'll have Big Mac bring them up later, they're kinda soakin’ at the moment." With that she trotted out the door, leaving me with a very curious Twilight and Fluttershy under the watchful eye of Big Mac.

"So where are you from Sergeant Castle?" Asked Twilight, who had a scroll and a quill floating in front of her, I didn't see where she had gotten them from and I had no clue how she was making them float.

"Ever heard of a place called Virginia?" She shook her head. "America?" Again another shake. "Earth?"

"Earth? That's what the Earth ponies wanted to call this land when they first moved here. They came here from a far off land and they were trying to escape from an impossibly cold winter, only after they worked together where they able to defeat the winter and warm the surrounding land, that's where we get our Hearth's Warming Eve holiday from." Said Twilight helpfully. "I'll have to remember to ask the princess if there's a connection in the next letter I send."

While Twilight was making numerous, and hasty, notes on her parchment I cleared my throat and asked,"How the hell are you doing that, is that some super advanced tech?".

Twilight paused for a moment, giving me a weird look as if I had just sprouted another limb from my forehead.

"Haven't you seen magic before?"

"Sure, but where I come from its all tricks or sleights of hand, there are somethings that have been described as magic in the past but we have found scientific reasons for the majority of them. Finding answers and always pursuing that next unobtainable has always been what has driven my people." I said as she hurriedly wrote notes, I didn't have the heart to tell her that a large number of breakthroughs we had were originally designed to give one side the advantage in war.

"That's fascinating!" She exclaimed, with almost schoolgirl delight. "I can't wait to hear about what kind of advancements your people have made to overcome such a disadvantage!" She paused after that last sentence with a slight blush, embarrassed by her insult that she didn't even really mean. Of course I really didn't care, she had spoken the truth and it has been mentioned a time or two to not piss off your captors, no matter how friendly they seem.

Big Mac, still standing in the doorway, spoke up, "Don't you have a letter to send Twilight? The princess would probably like hearin’ ‘bout this sooner rather than later."

"Ohmygosh, yourrightIreallyneedtogo." She said hurriedly as she rushed out of the room, the parchment and quill following her almost like lost puppies.

Fluttershy, who had been shyly watching me from across the floor seemed to get very nervous under Big Mac's direct stare, finally leaving the room whispering something about taking care of "Angel" whoever that was.

Big Mac took a step closer to me putting his rather large face directly in mine. "I don't trust you, if you so much as lay a hoof on either one of my sisters or my granny, healin’ will be the last of your worries." He said threateningly.

With that he left the room, slamming the door on his way out, and re-locking the door with a definite click. A weird thing to be saying to your prisoner, but if I was in his position I would most likely make the same threat.

Finally alone, I sat on the bed with a tired sigh, how hard did I hit my head? It took some convincing that having a conversation with talking horses was most definitely something restricted to hallucinations. The rumbling in my stomach prevented me from thinking further along those lines as I dug into the stack of pancakes and oatmeal that they had left. At least the hallucinations seem to know how to cook.

---

The Next Day

---

"RPG!" Yelled a soldier I didn't know as I sprinted across the street to an old burned out car, taking cover behind it, hiding from the hail of bullets from down the street.

"Wheres that air support!" I yelled at my radio man there, after he didn't respond I grabbed his shoulder and shook him, only to have his head roll off onto the ground.

The head of my battle buddy looked at me and smiled, "Don't worry sarge, you're here to save us!" laughing as it burst into flames.

Staring at the head in horror I was filled with rage. I turned and returned fire onto the enemies with a bestial shout that seemed to shake me to the core, my enemies, who seemed to multiply as I shot them, continued without even slowing. One of them ran up and jumped over the car, where I intercepted him mid-air and pinned him to the ground, pulling out my tac knife I went to stab him when his gas mask came off and revealed my Sarah.

"I love you." She said as my knife plunged deep into her chest, "I will always love you," her eyes tearing up, "but why did you have to leave, didn't you love me back?".

In shock I jump off her body as her precious blood leaked across the pavement. Stumbling backwards I look at my hands covered with the blood of my love, and looking around I'm surrounded by the bodies of all my soldiers... the ones I failed, the ones that died because I wasn't there to save them. It's all my fault, they're all dead because of me, it's all my fault. That was my test and I had failed, because of me their families, their wives, their Sarahs' would have to live without them. I went to my knees screaming in pain as a thousand bullets ripped through my soul, knowing each and everyone of them was deserved. If I was there, why wasn't I there?! It's all my fault, why them, why not me?

"Its all your fault!" A thousand disembodied voices screamed at me, laughing at me, their haunting face appearing, each one more and more disgustingly disfigured, more bloody, more destroyed, more my fault.

---

I woke up with a cry of pain, jolting myself out of the bed, accidentally shoving the orange pony off the other side. I just curled up onto the floor where I landed and cried, their laughter at my failure following me into the waking world. It was a long while before I even noticed a delicate hand on my head, petting my head in someone lap, making soft soothing noises, trying to shake me out of this hell.

After what must have been an eternity I finally had control of my body again, I sat back up and looked to see who had lent me a helping hand.

"You okay now Sergeant?" Asked a wide eyed Applejack, who wasn't wearing her hat for the first time I've ever seen.

"No, and it's not something to be fixed," I replied with a shaky voice. "and just call me Cass, everyone does."

"Okay," She said skeptically, looking out the window. "well it’s about time to get up anyways, come on downstairs when you're ready for breakfast, you're gonna have a busy day."

With that she trotted out of the room, throwing one last worried look over her shoulder before leaving, and going downstairs, where the sounds of cooking soon started.

It took a few minutes that seemed like an eternity for me to regain the rest of my composure. Finally after my hands stopped shaking I was able to grab the stack of clean and folded clothing from the floor just on the inside of the room and hastily dress, glad to be clothed again. Finally heading downstairs towards the smells of a delicious breakfast, desperate to get away from those dreams.

Comments

[bladespinner4]

Show's lot's of promise. I would suggest editing a little more closer first. But I give it a thumb's up. keep going. Also, a little more detail would be good such as what kind of weapon's he carries specifically. M-16? AK-47? what? In order to attract more reader's you're going to have to give more details. all in all though, I enjoyed it.

[Lumadous]

1085844
I'll keep that in mind, though if you don't mind me askin, where did I start screwin up with the formatin, i'll gladly go and fix the big stuff

:edit: and yeah I know there are probably close to a million i's that are not capitalized, each time I go through i find more of the stupid things....

[bladespinner4]

I noticed in this sentance a grammatical error from the first chapter. "I sat up and wiped out my pistol." I'm pretty sure you ment "whipped." It's just small thing's like that. nothing amazingly bad like that story "Beyblade come's to equestria." I took one look at the discription and puked rainbow's all over my laptop. Anyway, I can see you're still doing a good job, so just read over all the chapter's in edit mode and if you see something that looks messy just clean it up. and make another chapter already! The waiting is killing me!

[Perception Filter]

YOU'RE!!!! DEAR GOD!

[XxX_ArCt1c-S3RB_420XxX]

1085844
if he was an sergeant in iraq,i should guess he had m-16/m249/m4a1

[wirriam]

1091878

OH GOD NOT BAYBLADE!!!!

[King_Krysalis]

soft hand

Don't you mean hoof??

[Lumadous]

1818410
Founds it, fixed, thanks

[Allstar13521]

1818528

It was a long while before I even noticed a delicate hand on my head

It's still there...