From Darkness

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/User has lost sanity

/Initiating Pinkamena defense program...

/Program fail

/Initiating system wipe...

/System wipe fail

/System takeover imminent

/Activating self-destruct protocol...

/5...

/4...

/3...

/2...

/System takeover prevented

/Locating source of solution...

/Source located: user has restarted

/Rebooting...

/Reboot error, data corrupted

/Resuming last intact data file...

Operation: Homeland Security

Location: Canterlot

Date and Time: September 23 2027. 14:08 hours. Day of the Equestrian Takeover

Subject: Shadows

Objective: Protect the citizens of Equestria from danger

What a beautiful day to die...

I lied in the grass, bleeding to death. The citizens of Canterlot scurried about in fright. Some only sparing me a passing glance. Those that offered more, were shot.

The Elites were here, and they meant business. I had heard rumors of a terrorist threat on Equestria, but I never imagined this. People were being brutally murdered all around me. Women and children were lined up and shot. Men were hauled off to most likely be worked to death. Screams could be heard everywhere, that is, if you could hear over the gunfire. The Canterlot security force had definently put up a fight, but we were no match for such a huge force. We had failed, and people were dying.

I just hope Rosa doesn't have to see this.

Rosa, my love. Please let her death be painless. Don't let her see this horror. Don't let her know I died.

The citizens were gone now, and a wall of Elite forces pushed up the road. It was as if they were corralling them into their deaths. Well, they actually were. They even led them to their deaths as if they were animals. These Elites were bastards. They marched up the street, not paying any attention to check the bodies, hopefully they would notice me and put me out of my misery. As they approached, one spotted me. His white, pupil-less eyes stared me down. His brown fur, the fur of all Elites, rippled in the wind with his black mane and tail. A huge smile grew across his face as he sealed my fate. He was going to kill me, not physically, but mentally.

"We've got a live one!" He snarked to the Elite at his side, pointing at me. His friend aimed his rifle at me, and the first Elite pushed it out of the way.

"What are you doing?" The second Elite asked

"I say we have him direct the lines! Kind of ironic don't you think?" The first Elite laughed

The second Elite started suppressing giggles, and said, "Good idea!"

The two hoisted me up, and continued their march, dragging me behind them. My rifle lay abandoned in the street, hopefully somebody could make use of it. What scared me the most was how large the puddle of blood was where they lifted me away, and the streak I left in the dirt as they dragged me.

If I was gonna die, I was gonna die doing something productive. At least, that's what I always told Rosa when she asked me why I work so late. I only wish I had never said that, because now the most productive thing I could do was direct people to their deaths. If there was a woman, she went to the woman's line, straight to the kill zones. If there was a child, it went to the children's line, straight to the kill zones. If there was a man, he went to the men's line, straight to the districts that were already cleared, either to be shot, or worked to death. I didn't think I'd ever cry, but I did that day. The entire experience was blurred through my tears. Though, I can remember the faces of every person I sent. The look of pity they had when they saw the broken man before them, forced to direct others to their deaths. When you are about to die, and you can give somebody a look of pity for a different situation, then you know things are bad. I had to remember their faces, I had to. Not a single one of them deserved to die, so I made it my duty to remember them. That, and I was also afraid I might send Rosa. I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do that, even worse, I wouldn't be able to not bring myself to send her, in fear they might shoot me right in front of her. If Rosa walked up to me, I don't know what I would do, probably break down and cry, even harder. Then cry harder than that for the fact that I would be crying right in front of my own wife. Then cry even harder for all the people that didn't have time to cry, and were shot before they could.

This is fucked up...

Luckily, Rosa didn't come to my line. I didn't know whether to think that was a good thing or a bad thing. Good because she might have escaped. Bad because she might have died wondering where I was, or if I was alive. I wasn't alive, or rather, the Shadows she knew wasn't alive. That Shadows had his mind broken by a horrible event that scarred him for life. This changed him completely, into what I am now. In layman's terms, I wasn't myself anymore. How did I know this? By the time I was sending the last few people to their deaths, I wasn't crying anymore. I had lost all feeling for them, and what scared me the most, was that I didn't know why. How could I not care for the people that were walking to their own deaths? Was it because I had been doing it all day, and had grown numb? No, I was just out of tears. Yes, that had to be it. Well, maybe it was because I was too focused that Rosa might still be alive.

The Elites let me go.

They healed me and told me to head south, where I would find another group of people that they had let escape from their cities. I asked if anybody would be joining me. They simply told me the last thing I wanted to hear, "You are the only survivor allowed to leave Canterlot." That was it, Rosa was dead. Unless she had escaped unnoticed, then there was no chance of ever seeing her again. I slowly walked away, and cried some more. Wallowing in my loss of my home, my wife, my job, and my life.

I headed south, only to be cut off by none other than Princess Celestia herself. I expected her to be sad, to see only one survivor from Canterlot. Instead, her expression was nearly unreadable. Something involving sadness, confusion, and shock, "Come with me, soldier. You need a debrief." she stated.

Celestia grabbed my hands, and lifted me into the air. She flew me to a far away land, a land now known as the Equestrian Republic. She took me to a base, and led me to a debriefing room. When there, she told me I was at BLACK. At the time, I told her this was no time to joke, because BLACK was an old myth that went about the military at the time. She proved it by showing me the operations they had going on inside, and giving me the grand tour. We returned to the debriefing room, where she handcuffed me to the table.

"What? What are you doing?" I asked

"You've seen too much now, you have to work with us." Celestia responded

"I'm not working with a bunch of cowards who refuse to show their faces to fight!" I snapped

Celestia was taken aback, obviously she had never heard somebody look at her agency that way.

"You may make a bunch of advanced tech, but since you're undercover, it's never used! Why make shit that's never gonna get used!?" I continued

Celestia's face grew stern, and then it transformed into a look of sorrow, "There is somebody you need to see...the person who started BLACK." she mumbled, "Send her in!" Celestia called to the door.

The door opened, and Rosa stepped in. Her gorgeous crimson fur reflected the light, and her strawberry blonde mane wrapped around her shoulders. It was styled on the ends to subtly put emphasis on her breasts, which she knew I liked. She looked beautiful as always, until I looked at her eyes...

"WHAT DID YOU DO!" Rosa screamed at me, tears streaming from her eyes

"What?" Was all I could manage

Celestia cut in, "Please, Rosa, he did his best to-"

"NO! NO HE DID NOT!" Rosa screamed, then turned back to me, "HOW COULD YOU LET THEM DIE?"

"They forced me to! Do you think I wanted to direct them to their deaths?" I yelled back

"YOU MONSTER!!!" Rosa screamed, "YOU ONLY CARED ABOUT THE CITIZENS OF EQUESTRIA!"

"What?" was, again, all I could manage

"HOW MANY? HOW MANY ELITES DID YOU KILL TO 'SAVE' THE CITIZENS?"

She...she was mad at me for killing...terrorists...

"DO YOU THINK THEY WANTED TO DO THIS? WHO WOULD? DID YOU EVER STOP TO THINK, TRY AND NEGOTIATE!?!?" She kept yelling

"THEY WERE KILLING US!" I retorted

"YOU WERE KILLING THEM!"

"I WAS A SOLDIER DOING HIS JOB!"

"YOU WERE A MONSTER!"

I was still handcuffed to the table, making it very uncomfortable for the standing position that I somehow got in. Silence enveloped the room, and I looked at Celestia. Her expression showed, that she now saw Rosa's point, and was agreeing with her. This was going to shit.

Rosa's expression turned mildly to sadness, but the rage in her expression still showed plenty. She reached behind her back, and pulled out a pistol.

"WOAH! Rosa, think about what you do next very carefully!" Celestia warned

"I have, and I know exactly what I'm going to do. This world is going to shit. Because of this, the citizens of Equestria will have to go into hiding, and a war will erupt between the Elites and the Equestrians." Rosa responded

"Please, Rosa..." I started

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Rosa shouted

Was...was she right? I think she was...but I hadn't done it intentionally, "I was a soldier following orders! I didn't know that would happen!

"YOU WERE A MONSTER! YOU ARE NOT THE MAN THAT I LOVE!" Rosa put the gun up to the side of her head

"NO!" Celestia and I screamed at the same time.

Rosa pulled the trigger...