Song of the Unknown Soldier

All I remember is a bright light, searing heat and an impact.

???'s POV

I woke with sun streaming into my eyes, rustle of branches and noises of assorted small animals. I was in a forest, a big one if my ears did not lie to me. That was because I could not hear the sounds of civilization and the tree spread was not that thick so I was somewhere is the outside edge of this forest.

I tried to think about how I knew this but I could not think of how, I wrecked my mind to find why. But I could not find anything. Absolutely nothing. As of this moment, my personal memories were as blank as a slate. I could talk, walk, breath and eat, but I did not know who I was, or even scarier, what I was. In order to fix this, I started to think of a name, any name.

And a memory came to me. “Welcome to the Shadows... That isn’t a good enough name... operative code-named Shade reporting in...” Shade.. Shade. Yes that will do for now.

As I slowly got to my feet and glanced around the thick underbrush and green, leafy trees. I heard something moving around behind me, something big. I immediately panicked and spun around in order to find out where the sounds were coming from.

Again the sounds behind me. My instincts told me to turn around and so I did. What I saw made me swear, “Oh, shit.” It seemed to be a pack of wolves made entirely out of wood and green energy, about eye level to me. My instincts told me to run, and I did not argue.

            I sprinted for my life, ducking trees, vaulting fallen logs, until one of those... things pounced on me. I rolled over onto my back and let experience take over. Push on chest, use momentum against it, flip it off me, jump up, curb-stomp its head. I quickly took stock of my situation, four more wolves, no weapons, barely any chance. Then I glanced down and saw a sharpened log that used to be a tooth, and smiled.

            Grabbing the stick, I swung it like a baseball bat and heard a solid “thwack” as it connected with one of their heads. I looked at what damage I had made and saw that there was a noticeable dent in it’s eye. So to be nice, I finished it off with a well placed jab to the head. At that strike it crumbled into the branches, logs and twigs it was made up of. I looked at the remaining three, and they seemed to back up, scared? I smiled the smile only a psychopath could pull of and said, “Bad doggie, time to be put down,” as I stalked towards the rest of them.

After those wolves - to put it loosely - were taken care of, I started my walk towards, wherever the hell I was going. After one or two minutes I heard some voices.

“Everypony stay here.”

“Do not try to flee.”

“If you run or resist you will be killed,” I heard, along with other sounds of struggling. My combat experience kicked in as I slid into a bush. “Wait, I’ve done this before.” I said out loud.

“I heard something! Go check it out.”

After they said this I panicked and crouched as still as possible while a, horse in armor? reached into a bush and pulled out... a small, orange... Pegasus?! After some exchanged words and kicking, the soldier picked up a spear and held it up, about to impale the small pony.

Then I acted.

Scootaloo:

The Pegasus was Scootaloo, for who else would I be, and I am scared. The Solar Empire was cracking down on rebellion, and Ponyville was a hive of it. But of all days, today there was a raid on the town. my reasons for hating them doing it today was because it was my birthday. My birthday! You do not attack somebody on their bucking birthday! I was beyond pissed at this point. But it did not matter, because guards were chasing me. I’d like to think of myself as a fighter, but I am not one.

I ducked into some bush just as they rounded the corner to look for me. In the background ponies were resisting being shoved into cages and in some cases killing the soldiers, only to be ended in front of their families as an example.

And then there was a sound, a small, but telling sound coming out of the bushes next to me. And the soldiers heard it too. They rushed towards her hiding place yelling, “I heard something! Go check it out.” One soldier must have seen the telltale shaking branches, caused by my sheer fright, reached in and pulled me out.

“I got a live one over here,” the gold and blue armored earth pony yelled to his companions, “and it looks ripe for execution.”

They all laughed and dragged me over the execution area. A platform that all the cages could see. As one of the soldiers grabbed a spear and brought it up to impale me.

I started to pray. Pray that the one of revolution’s leaders, and my personal hero, Rainbow Dash would swoop in to save me and the day. Pray that I may live another day in Equestria. But alas, that did not seem to be the case as the soldier lifted his spear and got ready to bring it down on me.

Instead, a shadow passed over my face and a shout was heard. What I saw shocked me to the core.

Shade’s POV

            In my 23 and a half minutes of memory I have learned something. I hate seeing innocents suffer or be killed. So I act, not thinking of my own safety, just the safety of the civilians around me. And in this case, some bully soldiers are about to execute an innocent child. At least I think it is innocent, but that is beside the point.

            The platform is ten yards away, there are nine soldiers in my way, all have their backs turned to me. I smile, this will be easy. I creep up towards the first soldier, letting my training and muscle memory work its magic. Producing a simple hunting knife out of my coat, I flip it so the point is in my fingertips. I pull my arm back and let the knife fly and at the same time I reach forward and grab the first unicorn's head. Then I twist it. Hearing the satisfying snap of a spinal column, I look up to see where my knife hit.

            It was a perfect shot, right at the base of the spear, slicing its tip off and continuing into the pony that was holding its neck. The pony shouts a dying cry before falling to the left of the little orange Pegasus that was my target for protection.

“Yippee-kai-yay, mother fuckers,” I muttered under my breath as I pick up the sword from the fallen unicorn and the soldiers tried to get over their shock of me appearing there, blood already on my hands.

I smiled in response, than, I charge