Splinter Cell: Target Lost

"You know, you never really told us what Sam did at Fourth Echelon, Harper." Twilight noted as the helicopter slowly descended upon the Enhancer base.

"Sam's a tactical genius... in most cases, I should say." Harper told them. "He's got this idea that the smallest events can be tied together to uncover the true underlying threat.  He calls it 'chaos theory'."

"I wonder what would happen if he met Discord..." Pinkie thought aloud.

Harper let out a short chuckle. "He'd probably chat it up with him and finally feel accomplished.  Or something along those lines."

"Hey, pretty pink princess, we're at the ball now.  Pick up your dress and get moving." Kobin said. "Also, please tell Charlie to stop having me fly everyone everywhere.  They have more pilots, and I have my own life to live."

"Sorry that people don't recognize you have a life, Kobin.  I'll spread the word." Harper joked. "Also, I'm pretty sure the only princess on this copter is Twilight here."

"Just get off my copter, pony boy."

Harper sighed, partially because it was not Kobin's copter, and partly because everyone was intent on calling him these dumb names.  He saw that some of the ponies had their gear shift during the flight.  Charlie had given them old pieces of equipment, headsets with mics and a big, old optical HUD glass.

"It's not much, but it'll do.  They're tough bits of kit, so they shouldn't break on you.  Just make sure not to lose them," he had told them.

"Rainbow, Flutters, you think you two could scout ahead?  See how many tangos we got in there.  Also, watch out for traps.  I'm sure the Enhancers have been awaiting our arrival, and have prepared a ton of them."

"Sure.  I'll breeze through there and get some good recon in, then be back in a flash." Rainbow said, flying ahead.

"Um... maybe we should go slow and steady to avoid the traps." Fluttershy suggested.  Nobody heard her.

"Twilight, Rarity, do you think you two can disarm the traps you find?  I mean, all you'd have to do is teleport them out here."

"Sounds simple enough." Twilight said.  Rarity gave a prudent nod in agreement. "I believe I could try that... if Trixie can do it, so can I, right?"

"Good," Harper said. "Applejack, you're with me.  Pinkie..."

The pink pony blinked at him twice. "Yeah?"

"Do whatever it is you do.  I'm betting you could create some good distractions, so try that, but if that's too dangerous, stay out of sight.  Got it?"

"Okie-dokie lokie!" Pinkie said in the highest vocal range possible.

"All right." Harper said. "Charlie, you read us?  We're Oscar Mike."

"Loud and clear, Harper." Charlie replied. "Try not to die."

"Will do." Harper replied.

The group moved in, with Rainbow flying far ahead, and Fluttershy following quickly after her in fear of being left behind.

The cave entrance slowly transformed into metal walls as they traversed down it.

"Harper, I'm seeing three guys up ahead." Harper heard through TACCOM. "I'm also seeing a couple potential traps off to our right."

"All right.  We'll take care of the guards, you just keep me posted.

"Wait!" Rainbow whispered. "Another guy just walked in!  I think it's Byron!"

"Already?" Harper asked. What was he doing so close to the entrance to this place?

"Yeah, that's got to be him!  He's giving those other guys some kind of device..."

"What's it look like?" Harper asked, peering around a corner he had just gotten to and seeing the scene. "Never mind, they're in my sights."

"I'll go farther ahead, then." Rainbow replied.

"If we could just slow down for a second..." Fluttershy said.  Rainbow didn't hear her.

"Look, if that dumbass Harper comes down that hallway, use these." Byron handed them some strange looking guns. "These guns have got special bullets to contaminate the BACs in his system.  One shot is all you need, and he's a goner in minutes."

"Wait a minute," the Enhancer objected. "What if Harper gets his hands on these?  Wouldn't it kill us, too?  Wouldn't kill you?"

Byron thought for  second, "Well, yes, but these are the only things that will kill him.  If you want to keep your life so badly, just don't get killed!"

Then, Byron walked off.

"Damn it!" Harper said, ducking back behind the corner. "I can't get spotted once, or I'm dead!"

"Tough gig, buddy." Charlie said. "Man, to think, if you would've never taken that shot..."

"We would be in a worse situation then, Charlie." Harper finished.

"Right." Charlie said. "Well, if you do get spotted, you'd better hope those guys can't aim."

"I doubt they'll miss." Harper said, losing hope.

"Well, it's not like you need to shoot them, Harper." Twilight said. "All you need to do is use magic."

This was true, and Harper knew it. "Well, any suggestions?"

"Well, if we can get you over to those wires over there" --Twilight pointed to them as they both peeked past the corner. "then we could use those wires to shock them.  I'll show you how."

"Sounds like a plan." Harper said.  He crouched down and began the slow walk to the wires.  He stepped into the light for a second and could feel the eyes of the Enhancers nearly spotting him before he faded back into the darkness of another shadow.  After that, a light blocked his way to the wires.

"Here, I'll distract them, then you can go." Rarity said.  She levitated a nearby pipe and tossed it across the room, where it made a loud clang as it hit the ground.  The Enhancers turned their backs long enough for Twilight and Harper to sneak past.

"Damn it!  We know you're here, rat!" one of them shouted.

Harper kept quiet has he reached the wires.

"Here, watch this."  Twilight said.  She focused her magic and drew out some of the electricity running through the current. Then, she tossed it at one of the nearby guards and watched as he jolted a bit and fell to the ground.

"So basically a high-powered taser, then." Harper said. "Huh.  I think I get it."

He saw the other guard returning to  the room and quickly replicated the spell Twilight cast.  He wrapped his hands around the wire and drew out a ball of electricity.  He threw it like a baseball at the guard and it hit him square in the chest, making him shutter in shock and fall to the ground.

"That's that." Twilight said.

Harper became instantly curious as to what these guns were that Byron handed out.  He took one up and found it to be no different from any ordinary gun.  Unloading the clip, he found inside some strange green-colored bullets.

"So this is what what will kill me in one shot, no matter what." Harper murmured. "To think death can be wrapped in such a small container..."

"Harper, are we goin' or not?" Applejack asked, breaking his concentration.

"Yeah.  Sure." Harper said.  He quickly pocketed the bullet and kept moving.

"You know, if you didn't want to kill them, then you should've just brought a regular taser, Harper." Charlie said.

"I have a feeling that BACs can just absorb that insignificant amount of electricity." Harper replied. "Honestly, we can't really know, can we?"

"Noooooot necessarily." Charlie replied. "I did get a sample of it to the lab boys.  They called them something like 'bacterial converters'.  Basically just sucks up energy like radiation and, now that I think about it, electricity and converts it into some unknown thing.  They're still working on what that thing is.  Anyway, you're probably right on that."

"Wait, you got a sample of it to them? When did that happen?" Harper asked.

"When I somehow snuck a needle into your skin and withdrew some of it from your blood, obviously." Charlie said sarcastically.

Harper sighed.  This was not his concern right now.

"Jeez, this escalated quickly." Rainbow said. "I'm seeing six guys in the next room, Harper.  They're on stairs leading up a floor."

"All right, this where teamwork matters, folks." Harper said. "We'll split up and throw their attention around a bit."

Harper flipped down his goggles and saw two at each end of the stairwell and two patrolling the middle.

Harper came with a plan immediately.  "All right, I say we--"

Before he could finish, there was the sounds of kicking, braying, and clanking metal.  It all happened so quickly, Harper didn't know exactly what just went down.

"What the--?!" Harper shouted.  He noticed each of the ponies standing next to a fallen guard.  Rainbow seemed to have kicked the two at the top down the stairs, while the Pinkie had magically produced a cannon out of thin air that knocked the two guards at the bottom up the stairs.  The two in the middle seem to have had their head knocked together, possibly through Twilight and Rarity.

"Harper?  What's going on?"  Charlie said, worried.

"Nothing... it's just the efficiency I'm noticing in this group." Harper said.  He never had such a large task force to work with, and looking at it all, it was quite surprising to him. "We're heading up a floor.  Hopefully, there will be more to discover ahead."

"All right.  Keep me posted." Charlie said.

Harper nodded to the ponies, and they nodded back.  They reformed their groups and moved up the stairs out of the rock walls of the caverns into what seemed more like a facility, with white washed walls and bright blue bulbs illuminating the area.

"No darkness.  Shame." Harper said quietly to himself.

Harper as about to take a step forward, when a voice hissed, "Wait!"

Rarity stepped forward, and took out some perfume.

"Is now really the time to freshen up?" Harper asked.

"While I do enjoy some good perfume, that is not the case here, darling." Rarity said.  She sprayed the fine-smelling contents of the bottle into the air in front of them, revealing many red lines of light crossing every which way.

"Electrical tripwires... Nice catch." Harper remarked.

"I do have an eye for detail." Rarity said, bobbing her hair for effect.

"So, how do we get through?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm betting they hooked this up so if the power went out, the alarms in this place would go off." Harper assessed. "EMP's out of the question, and they can't be removed.  I suppose we'll just have to try to avoid them.  There's got to be some way through these... there always is."

"WHEEEEE!" Pinkie shouted.  She rolled and ducked and somersaulted around the beams without setting off a single one of them.  Then, she hit the button on the other side and shut them off.

Harper froze up.  He thought for sure that with that kind of recklessness, she'd set off the alarms in no time.  Instead, here they were, walking through with no problems at all.

"Pinkie, how on earth did you do that?" Harper asked her.

Pinkie simply laughed and started jumping down the hall.  Harper sighed, knowing an answer would be the last thing he'd be getting out of her.

***

Sam couldn't recall how he got into this room, being bound to this metal table, probably because the Enhancers were a rough bunch, knocking him out before bringing him to this place.  He had been sitting here for a minute or two, waiting.  He struggled against his restraints the entire time, hoping for escape.

"Hello?  Is this on?  Oh good, it is." said the echoing, projected voice of Wilhelm.

Sam said nothing.  This was obviously an interrogation, something to make him spill some kind of beans he didn't know he had.

"Mr. Fisher.  Let's see here... your case file says you've been in your business for a decade.  Personally, I'd say it's probably longer than that.  Over a dozen completed missions and successful assassinations to your name.  Leader of Fourth Echelon, took down the Engineers, stopped the Blacklist, and 'secured the presence of security for the nation'..." Wilhelm took a second to laugh at this. "What a joke!"

Sam knew this was only the tip of the iceberg.  If this is all they had on him, they had nothing.

"One child: Sarah Fisher.  Not recorded where she lives, but I'm guessing I could find that out--"

"What do you want, Wilhelm?  Government secrets?  Launch codes?  What's your prerogative?" Sam asked.

"Oh, so you do talk." Wilhelm said in a condescending tone. "Isn't that nice?  Well, I thought I'd read off the major points in your life to you before forget all of them.  At least, that's the assumption Masters had when he thought of stuff like this.  You know, things including gratuitous amounts of pain?  Anyway, it doesn't matter.  I suppose if you're up, we'll just get started on the procedure."

Sam heard the whirring of machinery and was blinded by the bright lights the snapped on around him.  Some metal behemoth descended upon him and he felt a million needles inject some unknown contents into him.  Then, it was over.

"Well, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Wilhelm asked. "Let me get you a lollipop for being such a good boy."

"What the hell did you do?!" Sam shouted.

"Oh, nothing.  Just took a little bit of this and a little bit of that and said, 'Hey, let's put this in someone and find out what happens.'"

Sam let out a blood-curdling shout as he felt something protrude from his shoulder.  Looking over, he could see a dark crystal had broken his skin.

"Sombra, you do have quite the touch of detail, don't you?" Wilhelm asked. "First one right where he can see it!  Haha!  Ohhhhh-ho-ho... So, Sammy boy, let's say you and I have a little chat, hm?  Or do you what more spiky appendages?"

Sam practically roared at him. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!"

"Even with all those strategies against interrogation, I knew you'd give in to this kind." Wilhelm said. "Remember that job a few years back?  The only one in your case file that's missing, because you covered it up?"

"I have no idea what you're TALKING ABOUT!" Sam said, trying to make an excuse as another crystal broke out of his leg.

"Oh, I think you do." Wilhelm said. "And you're going to finish that job... or you will die slowly and painfully.  I'll check back with you in a minute or two.  Just a reminder: those crystals will keep.. 'appearing' while I'm gone.  Here, I'll even put up a timer until they kill you.  Good-bye, Sam."

Sam was silent, breathing heavily through the pain before the silence was interrupted by another shard erupting through his left arm.  Through all this pain, he endured.

***

Harper and the group kept moving down the hallway.  Suddenly, the loudspeakers squeaked around them and they jumped into a circle, facing all directions.

"Hello, this is a message from your wise leader," they heard Byron say. "As you all know, Fourth Echelon has launched an attack on our base.  Operative Harper, if you're hearing this, turn back now.  I'd hate to be in the crossfire between you and your true worst enemy.  So what do you say you end your little siege and go home, letting this true criminal pay for his crimes against you?  Think it over.  Take your time."

"Listen to this guy." Harper said. "Trying to pin this all on some other sucker.  He knows what's coming to him."

"Thousands of years of jail time?" Fluttershy asked hesitantly.  Harper didn't respond.

"I must say, this kind of building design is unusual," Twilight remarked, looking at the metal walls surrounding them. "I'm surprised we haven't come up with it."

"You live in a castle made of crystal." Harper said flatly. "What makes this place so special?"

"Not sure.  I guess it's the simplicity of it." Twilight said with a shrug.

"Trust me, darling, this walls are far too dull and boring for a princess." Rarity said.

"I dunno.  It looks pretty sturdy to me." Applejack commented. "All metal walls... I can't believe there's so much of it in this place.  I ain't seen so much metal in my life."

"That's probably because you farm apples for a living," Harper noted.

Pinkie examined the walls for a little more than a second. "Meh. I've seen shinier."

"Why are we talking about this again?" Rainbow asked.

"Yeah, why are you guys talking about that?" Charlie asked over TACCOM.

"It's because we haven't been interrupted yet, until you spoke up." Harper said. "Speaking of which, that is strange we haven't been interrupted until now.  Charlie, you're not picking up any signals, are you?"

"I'm picking up multiple readings down the hall.  There must be at least a few dozen guys there.  no way you can take them on all at once.  They seem to be just... waiting."

Harper thought for a moment. "I have an idea.  It's crazy, but it just might work."

Charlie sighed. "I hate that cliché!  Even though I have no idea where that reference is from, I hate it so much!"

Harper shook his head. "Let's at least try to stay focused here, Charlie.  Now, listen up!  This will only work once..."

***

Byron hated waiting, and Harper wasn't giving him any answers as to his offer.

"All right, that's it!  I offer him one act of kindness and he ignores it!" Byron roared.  He stormed up to the nearest Enhancer underling.

"You there!" he shouted. "Get word around that the operative is coming here.  I want at least half a hundred of you rounded up and guarding our front door!  If Harper comes through, you catch him, you hear?  I want to kill him myself!"  he pounded on the wall and spooked his underling, who then quickly nodded and ran off.

"Pesky varmint." Byron cursed. "Thinks he's going to get his friend back?  Ha!  I'll tear out his throat out with my own two hands before he gets a chance of even seeing him!"

"Byron."

The stern voice of his older brother made Byron flip around and face him.

"What!?" he shouted. "Can't you see I'm busy monologuing, brother?"

"Calm down." Wilhelm replied, holding up a hand and walking off to his right. "I just got some good news."

"Harper accepted the offer?" Byron asked hopefully.

"No," Wilhelm said, "and he never would.  You sounded too desperate."

"It will happen!" Byron shouted. "Harper will fall!  Third Echelon ruined my life, and now, I'll ruin his!  Revenge will be the sweetest and coldest of dishes, like a frozen dessert in the winter!"

"Yes, yes, it will be," Wilhelm assured, "but right now we have other concerns.  You know my negotiations with Sam?"

"Yes!  Did he accept our offer?"

"I'm getting the feeling he didn't have a choice," Wilhelm said with a smile, "but beyond that, Sam has agreed to our terms.  His task will start immediately."

"OH!  This works perfectly!" Byron shuddered with anticipation. "If Sammy boy goes and finishes his work, maybe I can finally see Third Echelon's remnants finally be snuffed out!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Wilhelm said, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "We have yet to see the outcome of his work."

He noticed the gathering Enhancers. "I take it you've made plans, then?"

"With slight deviations as of right now, but yes, I have." Byron replied. "As soon as Harper opens that door, he's as good as ours.  We could kill him right there, and it'll be over!"

"No!" Wilhelm shouted. "No, you will let Sam carry out his mission.  We want to create as much emotional distress in them as possible.  We do need something to feed the Changeling Queen now that's she's gotten bored with consuming love."

Byron hesitated. "Fine.  But I get to kill whoever lives."

"Good.  I'll get the area set up for him; In the meantime, you will prepare a place for the ponies."

"I know the prefect place," Byron said, laughing with lunacy in his voice. "I'll get Sombra in on it immediately.  He'll know how to take them down."

"Wondrous.  Let us do this, brother!  We will bring the oppressors down!  We will have our wishes granted!" Wilhelm held out a crooked arm to his sibling.

"Yes, we shall!" Byron said, gripping his brother's hand and shaking it.  Then, they went their separate ways to prepare their places.  This would be the end of all things, and they would finally succeed.  Not only that, but to do so, they would hardly have to lift a finger.

***

Harper and the group hid at every corner they approached.  Each time they peeked past the corner, there was no one to be found.

"I thought there you said there were a ton of Enhancers.  Where are they all now?" Twilight asked loudly, in case anyone was hearing.

"Maybe they all ran after Harper kicked their leaders' sorry butts back in Equestria." Rainbow suggested with a fake smile, also loud.

"Sam's signal is still here, so they wouldn't just leave him in this facility and run." Harper explained slowly and loudly, as if explaining something to the mentally challenged. "We just saw Byron a few minutes ago!  There's no way he would just up and leave, nor would he have the time!"

Harper saw a door ahead of them and pressed the button to open it.

"As for the rest of the Enhancers, they may as well be right behind this--"

Harper noticed the look of shock on the ponies faces and turned to see his hypothesis become true.

"-- door."

The Enhancers pointed their guns, all forty or fifty of them (there wasn't time to count), at Harper and the ponies.

"Harper!  Harps!  Harpy!" Byron tried out different names as he pushed through the crowd. "Good to see you finally made it! Why not have a seat while you're here?  No?"

Byron turned to his group and ordered, "Put the ponies in that special room on Floor C."  Twelve of the guards rushed by and scooped them up, leading them away.

"Harper!  Do something!" Fluttershy called out, almost sounding actually worried.

"Where are you taking them, Byron?!" Harper shouted in a faked angry tone.  Byron didn't notice it.

"Somewhere where I don't have to worry about them." Byron replied simply. "As for you, I have plans.  Big plans!  You and your buddy Hastings are going to be reunited in the afterlife!" Byron laughed loudly, turning around and holding his hands up high.  Suddenly, he dropped them and turned his head back to Harper. "But you don't believe in such things, do you?  An awful shame, really.  But no matter!  Whatever end you may be greeted with is out of my hands.  Gentlemen, please escort Harper to Sam, just as he wanted.  Take him away, I said!  NOW!"

Harper was restrained, with two Enhancers holding him and four others aiming their weapons at him.  He didn't know what to do.  He'd gotten careless, and this was the result.  He hoped that his plan would work despite the circumstances.  the idea was to get caught, and be imprisoned in the same area, then take the Enhancers down form the inside out.  now it seemed like he had just given away the upper hand due to poor planning.

He was tossed in a room and heard the metal door shut behind him.  The chair was was seated in released him, and for a brief moment afterwards, Harper thought he could see that it was made of human flesh until it disappeared before him.

"Oh goody!  Now the real fun can start!"  Byron said through the intercom.  Harper looked around and saw many boxes standing around him and towering over him.

"What is this place?" Harper asked. "More importantly, how did you know--"

"-- that you would go through that door?  A Thermopylae plan, my friend.  You had no other point of entry, so I prepared troops right in front of that door."

"Not what I was going to ask, but okay.  You know, I'm pretty sure that the Spartans in the narrow space of Thermopylae planned out their position quite well." Harper replied.  "And we were the ones in the narrow hallway."

"You're no Spartan, Harper, I assure you of that." Byron told him. "We'll see if your 'tactic' works as you meant it to.  Now, Sam, I do hope our agreement holds through the battle?" Pause. "Oh, Good.  Let's finish what you started then."

"What's going on?  I don't understand..." Harper asked.

"Seriously?  You haven't figured it out yet?" Byron asked. "Oh, the drama!  Perhaps Sam will tell you before shooting you in the head, Harpy!  I have other things to attend to, so let me know when one of you dies, okay?  Buh-bye!"

"Sam, what is wrong with you?" Harper asked over TACCOM. "This is insane!  Why would you, of all people, want to kill me?"

"I really don't, Harper, but if I don't at least fight you, I'm going to die." Sam replied. "Listen, these guys injected me with this stuff that could kill me whenever they decide to trigger its effects.  If I don't give in, they'll kill me anyway.  So either you and I duke it out, or I die and you fail this retrieval mission.  Got it, soldier?"

"That still doesn't answer my question." Harper said. "You'd die knowing it would never be recorded, and it doesn't seem like you really care about preserving your life.  So why do you really want to kill me, Sam?"

Sam kept silent as Harper advanced.  A shot rang out and narrowly missed Harper.  Harper heard the click of a reloading gun echo through the room.

Sam sighed. "It has to be done."

***

The ponies were dropped off in some big white room with only one defining detail: a speaker on the center of the ceiling.

"What is this place?" Rainbow asked.

"Ah, little ponies!" Wilhelm announced. "Good to see you made it in time.  The King and I thought you wouldn't make it!"

"Truly," Sombra added simply.

"I hope you like the room I got you.  I've heard that all who'v entered it never once left a complaint!  That might be because anyone who stayed in it is dead, but no matter!  Please, enjoy your stay!"

Twilight immediately smiled and disappeared in a flash.  In another flash, she reappeared in the room.

"A teleportation block, just like before," Twilight explained. "We're stuck."

Suddenly, the floor began to open up slowly.  As in, incredibly slowly.  Underneath the floor were crystal spikes.

"Oh, how traditional!  Impaled by foul invention!" Wilhelm said in glee.

"Ha!  No problem!" Rainbow said. "Three of us can fly, and I'm pretty sure we can keep the others off the ground."

"Is that so?" Sombra asked.  The crystal spikes began to grow, their sharp points rising slowly.

"In due time, those spikes will close off all the space in this room." Wilhelm explained. "Fortunately for you, that won't happen for another, oh, ten or fifteen minutes.  I'd suggest you prepare your good-byes now, before it's too late."

The intercom clicked off, and all that was left was the sound of sharpened crystal stalagmites getting taller.

***

Harper rolled from cover to cover, dodging shots as he went. "Sam!  Why the hell do you want to kill me?  Also, why are you the only one with a gun?!"

"I already told you, Harper!" Sam said as he reloaded one more. "You have to die!  It's the only way to stop this!  As for the gun, it is only a means to an end, Harper!"

"You're sure it's not just a weapon?" Harper asked, quickly moving closer to Sam. "And what do you mean 'stop this'?"

"Harper, your only orders are to lay down and die!" Sam shouted, clicking his next clip into place. "There will be no briefing!"  Sam shot once more as he saw Harper peek out from behind cover and missed by a millimeter.

"I see you're not marking me for death!  You must care a little bit!" Harper shouted.

"Marks don't work on people like you, Harper!  You're too unpredictable!  The fact that you kept closing off communications during missions doesn't help me predict what to do to kill you, either!"

Sam shot two bullets into Harper's cover out of anger. "What do you mean 'people like me'?" Harper asked.

"That's classified information, soldier!  Just like the kind that got you into Third Echelon!"  Sam shouted back.

Harper peeked out from his cover and felt as a bullet ripped through his face mask, nearly breaking his skin.

"I thought we were friends, Sam!" Harper shouted.

"I wish we were, Harper.  Then I wouldn't have to do this."

Harper saw as Sam chucked a grenade out and as it landed by his feet.  It exploded, sending Harper flying across the room, hitting a wall and falling down.  Harper groaned weakly, feeling his magic flow as he repaired his wounds.  He got back into his crouching position and kept moving.

"You're not gonna kill me like that, Fisher!" Harper called out.

"Who said that was supposed to kill you?"

The voice was uncomfortably close, and Harper turned quickly and tried to hit Sam, who was only a foot away form him, but Sam blocked him and grabbed his arm, breaking it.  Harper struck with his non-dominate hand and hit once, staggering Sam.  It was a ruse, however, as Sam punched Harper in the face, knocking him to the ground.  Sam aimed his gun at Harper's head.

"I didn't think it would ever have to come to this, but now I know that you know too much.  You've seen too much.  You do too much.  It's time to put you down." Sam said.

"But... why...?" Harper asked, breathing heavily.  He magically started repairing his arm right before Sam stepped down on his neck.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way," Sam said. "But even I know what you did that got you into Third Echelon.  And I know what it did to you."

Harper's eyebrows lowered, and he sent out a magic pulse that threw Sam off of him.

"I don't know what you heard, or where you heard it, but whatever you heard is a lie!  I didn't try to get into Third Echelon!  I didn't try to do anything!" Harper roared.

Sam picked himself up and dusted off his gear. "I know you didn't, but getting into Third Echelon isn't why I want you dead.  It's because of what you know, what you and Hastings found."

"What, on our mission in Afghanistan?  What we found was a bunch of garbled nonsense!" Harper defended. "Pages upon pages of complete bullshit!  I read the whole thing, and there was nothing special about it!  What we found were merely notes from an insane person!"

Sam laughed. "You really do have no idea what you found?  I'm going to truly feel bad about killing you, then."

Sam took out his karambit and rushed Harper.  Harper quickly took out his own knife and blocked it.  The two held their places, Sam trying to break through Harper's defenses, and Harper trying to stop Sam's powerful attack.  Their blades had met and they were held at a standstill.

"What you found were hypnotizing documents.  They seemed like one big, garbled message, but really, you were reading how to be an unpredictable killer.  You may not have known it, but you are the most deadly thing this planet has... and the only thing it take is the keyword to activate you."

"Oh yeah? And how do you know?" Harper asked.

Sam sighed, and Harper felt him back off and away from him.  They both lowered their knives to show they were done fighting.

"You used to believe in a god, you know.  Your mother took to a church every Sunday, just like a good little Christian.  I read it in your file."

"I've never believed in god!  Why are you saying that now?" Harper asked.

"That's the problem, Harper!" Sam shouted. "You grew up believing in a god!  You even wore a cross around your neck when you joined the army!  I could show you the pictures if I had them!  But after that mission with Hastings, when you were forced into the ranks of Third Echelon, you suddenly stopped believing.  From my records, everything went according to plan during that mission, so it wasn't trauma that changed you.  It wasn't some random act.  You read those documents, and you were brainwashed."

"What do you mean?  And what's the trigger word?" Harper asked.

Sam ignored his questions and continued. "Third Echelon found out about your 'ability', and they offered you death or a job working for them.  They planned to use you, then when they were done with your abilities, they would dispose of you.  It seemed you were kept in check, though.  That is, until that one day, when Hastings died on a mission.  You went into a rage that endangered your very life and put the entire mission at risk."

"I was upset that my friend had just died!" Harper exclaimed.

"I understand that you think you had some empowering anger.  I've felt that rush myself." Sam explained, calming Harper a bit. "But the fact is, your heart rate skyrocketed when that happened.  I've got the data straight out of Third Echelon's database, and your rate was beyond what a normal human could handle, nearly three times as fast.  You should've died from exhaustion right then and there, but somehow, your body subconsciously knew how to make it work, and you did this without even having to think about it." Sam shook his head. "That may have been rage, but it's obvious that you had been triggered."

"By what?  Nobody said a trigger word!" Harper argued.

"And that's the fascinating part about you, Harper." Sam replied. "Your trigger word is something you can set off, just by thinking about it, and with the brainwashing of those documents, this always happened when you felt you had no other choice.  This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for one small detail."

"And what is that?  Is it the same reason you want to kill me?" Harper asked.

"Harper...let me remind you that you could take on a whole fucking army and win.  There's no undoing how your brain has been changed because of what you read.  Now, with your magical capabilities, you'd be unstoppable." Sam explained. "The reason that this was a problem was, after Hastings died, you started to investigate what happened to him.  Do you see where this is going?"

"No!  And I don't see how that has anything to do with this!" Harper admitted.

"Sam, I don't see enough killing!" Byron sang into the intercom. "Shoot him!  Shoot him before he kills you!  Stop leading him on to your doom!  For god's sake, I step away for five minutes, and you go and do this!"

"Harper..." Sam sighed.  "The truth is, on that day, the one who killed Hastings... was me."

Harper froze up.  He didn't know what to think.  Suddenly, he remembered his thoughts before, one of precision and finding the one responsible, making him pay.  Now, he couldn't think of what to do.  There were no available options.  Suddenly, he knew what his trigger word was.

His one belief, the one he told himself he believed in every single time he was endangered.  Harper didn't believe in a god.

"I believe in revenge." Harper said, almost downtrodden.  He felt as he rose into the air, magical bolts covering his entire being. Holding his head in his hands, Harper asked, "Why?  Why did you do it?"

"Harper, Hastings was brainwashed, just like you were!  I knew that you two would be sent after me once Third Echelon was out for my blood.  At the time, I thought it was the only way to survive, just as I thought killing you would solve things this time around."

Harper rose higher and higher until he was a the direct center of the room.

Byron shouted, "Dammit, Fisher!  You were supposed to kill him, not activate him!  Do you know what you've done?! You've just ensured the deaths of every person in this facility!"

At that point, Harper flew down at Sam and kicked him into a wall.  He punched him in the gut multiple times before tossing him across the room.  Sam fell on his back on the other side of the room, and Harper met up with his body in seconds.  Harper began choking Sam.

"YOU CAN'T KILL ME!  NO ONE CAN KILL ME!" he shouted into his face.

Sam was struggling to breathe. "I know I can't kill you, Harper!  I also know that I won't live.  Either you kill me, or Byron does!  It doesn't matter either way.  You would be triggered in either case, so I am laying down my life to keep the rest of Fourth Echelon safe.  I may have killed Hastings, Harper, but that doesn't mean I felt good about it.  I thought there was no choice, that it was the only way... but now, after fighting the Engineers, I know..."

Sam coughed and wheezed and Harper crushed his throat. "You have more choices than you think....  There's always... options..."

Harper knew his choices, and he could see them clearly.  Precision was unnecessary.  Stealth, unneeded.  He had all his tools at his disposal, and now there was only one thing left to choose.  Kill Sam, or spare Sam.

Harper felt his internal battle raging as he looked down upon the killer of his best friend.  "SAM FISHER!" he announced, his voice becoming split into a god's raging voice. "You killed Hastings... You lied to me... You kept the truth a secret... You will pay for everything you've done to me!"

Sam closed his eyes and prepared for death.  Surprisingly, though, he was stood up on his feet, and he could feel the pain of Harper's previous attacks being magically nullified.

"But not today." Harper finished, letting Sam go.  For a second, it seemed like it was peaceful, that there were no more problems in the world.  Then, a crystal burst out of Sam's chest.

"You think you can defy me?!" Byron roared angrily. "Idiot!  I make the rules here!  If neither one of you will kill the other, I'll just end you both myself!"

"Sam!" Harper shouted just before another crystal shot out of his leader's skin, this time at his stomach.

"No, get back!" Sam shouted, enduring this pain as multiple crystals ripped through him. "Stay away from me!  God only knows what these things could do to you!  GAAH!" He screamed in pain as more crystals appeared. "If I die... it doesn't matter!  Just stop the Enhancers... while you still have a chance!"

"Sam, NO!" Harper shouted as he watched Sam's body fall to the ground, writhing in pain.

"That's it, Harpy!  I'm done sitting around waiting!" Byron shouted. "I've wasted enough time trusting others to kill you!  Time for you to die!"

Harper heard TACCOM crackle. "HARPER!  What's going on?!" Charlie shouted on the other end of the line.

"I need a copter, NOW!" Harper said. "Sam's in trouble!  He's turning into a big ball of crystal!"

Harper teleported Sam out of the facility, somehow learning this in a millisecond under all the stress he had going right now.

"I-I'll see what I can do!" Charlie said hurriedly.

Harper saw Byron jump through the observation window and land in the center of the room.  Harper immediately ran at him, brandishing his knife.  As soon as he got close enough to hit him, though, he received a punch moving a the speed of sound and was sent tumbling back.

Byron laughed. "Harpy, Harpy, Harpy... don't you know what I am?  I'm an Enhancer!  I am no normal human!  If you challenge me, you're spelling your doom!"

Byron moved faster than Harper could perceive, hitting him straight up into the air before jumping up and smashing Harper back down into the ground.  He let out unrelenting laughter.

"Don't you see, Harper?  All the magic in Equestria can't help you now!"

Suddenly, a blur moved past Byron, and Harper stood behind him, standing tall.  Harper twirled his knife around as Byron felt blood run down his cheek.

"I don't need magic to kill you." Harper said. "You move as slow as a snail.  You want to fight, now that you've got your VACs?  Go ahead."  Harper turned to face him. "I'll cut every last one of those things out of you!"

Byron frowned deeply, gritting his teeth before putting on a crazed smile. "I may be slow... but I'd like to see you dodge this!"  Byron quickly pulled out his gun and fired it.  Time slowed as Harper turned and saw the bullet fly by his face.

"It doesn't matter if I miss now; One good hit and you're dead, Harpy!" Byron shouted, taking cover.

"You're using that special ammo you created to infect me, yet you can't aim the gun to shoot me with it? Pathetic." Harper asked, a slight laugh following his question as he climbed the boxes.

"You brought a knife to a gunfight!  You're the pathetic one!"  Byron shouted, getting up and searching the room for his target.

"A knife is all I need!" Harper shouted, dropping from above.  He narrowly missed Byron, who jumped off to the side and kicked Harper in the face when he landed.  Harper rolled over onto his back, reeling in pain before jumping up onto his feet and wiping the stream of blood from his mouth.

"DIE!" Byron shouted, lifting his gun at him.  Harper reacted to this quickly, ducking behind the cover of metal crate before hearing several  shots.  Then, nothing.  Harper was confused.  If Byron had reloaded, he certainly couldn't tell, but maybe he had only shot off enough to fool him.

"I know what you're thinking: Did I shoot five shots or six?"  Byron asked. "Classic stand-off."

"Five.  You're not reloading." Harper said confidently.

"You sure about that?" Byron asked.  He gave no hints as to which was the right answer.

Harper knew he'd have a happy trigger finger if there were bullets left, and if there weren't any, he couldn't take him down from this range anyway.  He tried his luck with the boxes again, scaling them, knowing Byron would miss even if he had one more bullet in the chamber.

Harper quickly scuttled up the side of the boxes before seeing Byron slip in the last bullet to his clip.  Harper had only heard deadly silence, as he saw Byron quickly run over to the side where he was climbing.  The first shot missed, hitting somewhere near his leg, as did a second and third impatient shots.

"C'mon!  Get down here and face me like a man!" Byron shouted to him.  Harper noticed how close Byron was to the side of the boxes and jumped off, hoping to catch him off his guard.

However, Byron aimed up at him and fired off three quick shots, knowing this was Harper's only choice.  Time slowed as Harper dodged to the left of the first, the right of the next, and realized bullets were pretty damn fast.

The last shot hit him in the shoulder, and Byron saw the bullet sink into Harper's skin.  Harper landed on the ground with a loud thud.

"I did it!" Byron shouted victoriously. "You're dead!  I've killed you!  Haha!"

Harper couldn't hear him clearly.  His vision was blurred, and a tone played in his ears, deafening him.  He struggled to stay up, but managed to find the one bullet he stashed in his pocket.

He lunged at Byron in one last, desperate attempt to finish his job, trying to force that pill of a bullet down Byron's throat, but Byron fought back, holding Harper's arms away from him.  He managed to bring out the last of his power in that moment, forcing Byron to swallow the metallic death.  Byron stood shocked for a few seconds before stepping back and shooting Harper in the chest multiple times, not knowing where he was aiming.  Harper felt the BACs in his system go mad, and after a few seconds of unrelenting pain, he fell down and lay still on the floor, with Byron doing the same.

***

The room of spikes was much fuller now.  The crystals were nearly to the point of stabbing the ponies, but they kept to the ceiling.  Rainbow held up Appejack, Fluttershy held up Rarity, and Twilight held up Pinkie.

"Guys," Rainbow said, "If we don't make it out of this alive, I just want you to know--"

"We're not going to die!" Twilight said. "I'm sure Harper will come get us, just like in the plan!  Sombra may have trapped us in here with his magic, but that's no reason to give up hope!"

Applejack sighed. "Face it, sugar cube: He ain't comin', and you can't teleport outta here, just like last time.  "

"Yes he will, just give him time!" Twilight argued. "He can't be gone!  He's going to get here, and everything will be all right!"

They kept to the ceiling for a bit longer before Pinkie sighed. "I'm hungry.  Did anyone bring snacks?" she asked.

"Is now really the time?" Twilight asked her.

"Well, if I'm gonna die, I at least want a full belly." Pinkie said.  She noticed how close the spikes were getting to her face. "I wonder what these taste like..."

"I wouldn't risk it, Pinkie." Rainbow suggested. "That thing would probably cut you up if you tried to eat it."

"Logic, shomic.  I'm eating it if it's the last thing I do!" Pinkie announced,  She took a bit of the crystal, chewed it for a few seconds, then her eyes widened.

"Mmmmmmm!" she hummed, taking another bite of the dark gem. "Tastes like Maud's rock candy!"

"Wait, really?!" Rainbow asked. "Lemme try it!"

She nipped  bit off of one of the nearby spikes and chewed on it for a second. "Hm.  Not bad!  I'm starting to think we could just eat our way out of this."

"Rainbow, Pinkie, you're geniuses!" Twilight announced.

"We are?" they asked in unison.

"Of course!  We can just eat our way out of this!  C'mon, girls!" Twilight half-ordered.

They started chewing their way through the crystal formations.  Pinkie ate a lot faster and a lot more comically than the rest.

"See?  I always told you that eating gratuitous amounts of sweets is the correct course of action when you're stressed!" Rarity said. "Now what do you have to say about my seven empty tubs of ice cream, hm?"

"I'm pretty sure those two things ain't the same thing."  Applejack replied, using the tip of a spike as a toothpick.  They had finished off the spikes, and now all they were left with was an empty room.

"But now what do we do?" Twilight asked.

"Does it matter?  We're safe!"  Rainbow laughed. "I'm just glad we're alive!"

"We're out of danger for now, sure," Twilight agreed. "but what is Sombra gets more of those spikes going in this place?  We can't just keep eating them forever.  We need a way out of this place."

Suddenly, the lights went out, and were replaced by red, flashing ones.

"WARNING: Energy spike detected on Sub-Level A.  Releasing door locks." said an automated voice. "Please make your way calmly to the nearest exit."

The doors of the cell opened up and the girls stood there in confusion for a second.

"Well, what are we waitin' for?" Applejack asked. "Let's get outta here!"

She and the others ran out the door into the hallways, where the alarms continued.

"WARNING: Energy levels exceeding nominal values.  Please exit the facility immediately." the automated voice told them.  Twilight noticed the red exit signs leading the way out.

"Well, at the very least these guys are the safer kind of criminally insane people." Twilight muttered. "C'mon!"

The six rushed towards the exit signs before the ceiling collapsed in front of them.

"WARNING: Facility structures breached.  Please hurry to the nearest exit."

"What does it think we're doing?"  Rainbow asked. "C'mon!  The exit can't be far!"

The automated voice went on a loop repeating "WARNING, WARNING, WARNING" throughout the halls of the place.  The six kept moving, walls falling down around them, revealing large rooms and cavern walls.  Eventually, they reached a complex where the Enhancers were working, frantically trying to shut down the whatever was creating the spike.

"What's happening?!" one shouted to another at a terminal.

"Byron rigged this whole place to blow!  It's gonna be a fucking catastrophe if we can't override the self-destruct set this place!" the one at the terminal shouted.

"Run!  Just run!" many Enhancers shouted, sprinting out of the place.

"C'mon, c'mon!" On of them at the terminal shouted. "Work with me, dammit!"

The terminal he was working at exploded, sending the Enhancer flying across the room and into a wall, where he suffered dozens of bone fractures and passed out, soon to die.  The rest panicked.

"It's no use!  Get out of here!  It's all over!" one of the survivors shouted.  Most of them escaped, but one stayed behind.

"Sir, we have to move!  Your brother's system can't be shut down!" an Enhancer said, trying to pull the last one away from the computer.

"You can run from your fate, soldier, but I'm staying, no matter the cost!" Wilhelm roared at him. "Make sure as many people as possible get out of here, you here me?  I should be the only man left behind!"

"But, sir--!"

"Go!" Wilhelm shouted.  The Enhancer waited a bit longer, and Wilhelm reasserted his order. "GO!"

The Enhancer quickly ran off, leaving his leader to his own end.  the walls crumbled and the ceiling threatened to give way on the leader.

"We have to get out of here!" Rarity screamed.

"Not without Harper!" Twilight ordered.

"Twi, this is INSANE!  Forget Harper!  There's no time to go back and get him!  We don't even know if he's alive!" Rainbow argued

Twilight hesitated on this. "We might not know if he's alive, but that shouldn't stop us from finding him!  He's our friend, and we're going to get him back!"

Charlie's voice suddenly ringed in their ears. "Guys, it's turning into a nightmare down there!  What the hell are you doing?"

"We're staying!" Twilight shouted. "We have to get Harper!"

"Look, little pony, I don't know if you noticed, but saving him would be impossible," Charlie explained, extremely worried. "That place will collapse on itself any minute now!  Even if you find Harper, it doesn't matter, because you'll all be dead!"

The ceiling cracked, giving a final warning to those below it.

"I'm not going to let it end this way!" Wilhelm shouted. "Byron, you may have been an idiot and died, but that doesn't mean you had to take everything with you!"  He tapped frantically away at the keyboard.  The automated voice continued its mantra.  He noticed the ponies.

"What are you doing here?!" he shouted at them.

Twilight began, "Well, the cell doors opened and--"

"Nonononono, what are you doing in the facility still?!  Can't you see this place is going to crush anyone still in it?!" Wilhelm shouted. "You need to get out before you're flattened to multi-colored pancakes!"

"What?  I thought you wanted us dead!  You had Sombra trap us and nearly kill us!"  Rainbow shouted.

"Well, you look fine to me!" he shouted. "There's no time for this, just get out of here while you have the chance!"

"We're not leaving without Harper!" Twilight announced the billionth time.

Wilhelm sighed as he typed faster and faster. "Sector Three!  He's in the storage area there!  If you want to find him, that's the place!  Just hurry and--!"

Suddenly, the wall cracked again and the fell.  All of them winced at the nothing that met them.  They opened their eyes and saw nearly four dozen Changelings holding up the ceiling.  Chrysalis stepped out from one of the adjacent doorways.

"Hold it there!" the Queen told her subjects. "I don't want anypony to die here!"

She suddenly turned to the six. "I may hate you, but that's no reason for you to perish.  As much as I don't want to say this... you need to go save your friend."

Twilight nodded and said, "Thank yo--"

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE THE TIME FOR POLITE MANNERISMS?  GO!" the Queen shouted, and the six rushed off into Sector 3, with a bunch of Changelings following them.

They reached the storage room to find it in a mess, with huge boxes toppling over and blocking their way.  They could see Harper through the cracks of the boxes, lying on the ground.  Twilight strained with her magic to move the heavy boxes aside, as the other five rushed over to his limp body, also noticing the other on beside his.

"Harper, get up!"  Rainbow shouted, nudging him with a lot more force than he'd be comfortable with.  Pinkie rushed up and started shaking Harper uncontrollably.  "WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUP!" she shouted.  Harper didn't move.

"What's wrong with him?" Twilight asked.  She flipped the body over and their faces went immediately into a state of shock, worry, then slowly into understanding sadness.

"No... no!" Fluttershy shouted. "He can't be!  He couldn't be!  Harper?"

Her voice was unheard by the body.

"HARPER!" she sobbed, laying her head on his chest and crying.  Her friends crowded around her and put a hoof on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.  Applejack took off her hat and covered her heart with it.

The facility was impatient, and reminded them of their predicament.  It shook and broke, and the Changelings struggled to keep the place in one piece.  Fluttershy fooled herself into hearing a faint heartbeat, clinging onto life.

"We'll take them both out of here.  It's only right." Twilight said.  The Changelings had already picked up Byron's body before hearing some message the the six couldn't hear.  They quickly flew off with it in their holed hooves.

"But he killed Harper!" Applejack shouted angrily.

"And Harper killed him.  So what?  You think we'll all be fighting about it in the afterlife, so we should start taking sides now?" Twilight asked. "There's no point anymore.  If you won't help me, I'll do it myself!"

Twilight weakly tried to pick up Harper with her magic, but she couldn't lift him.  She sighed and tried getting his body onto her back.  It was a fruitless effort.  The rest gave in, lifting Harper's body onto their backs, carrying him collectively.

They made their way out, just barely avoiding the collapsing halls.  They passed by Wilhelm, who strained back tears in his eyes as he typed, still trying to shut down the self-destruct in the final seconds he had.  Sombra stood nearby, creating crystals to try and rebuild the breaking structure, but the gem supports didn't help.

Upon their exiting, they found nothing but the cold snow at the top of the mountain.  The cold wind whispered in their ears, telling them of how they failed.  Dozens of Changelings flew out of the caverns, each of them looking no worse for wear.  Their Queen flew out as well,  with Sombra following behind.

"Charlie, we need to get out of here! Like, NOW!" Rainbow shouted.

"The retrieval team should be there in a few seconds, just hold on!" Charlie shouted.

"This is Echo Three, coming in for pickup." the pilot said. "Watch your heads, peop-- er, ponies."

The ponies could see the helicopter descending to them.  Suddenly, the mountaintop let out a groan and an explosion near the top of it sent a chunk of rock flying, nearly hitting the helicopter.

"Holy shit!  LZ is too hot!  I can't get in for a landing!" the pilot shouted, working to regain control of his helicopter.  Another explosion followed, then another, and the entire mountainside decided to become a one big explosion.  Of course, the ponies were tossed off, as well as the body of Harper.  Twilight and Rainbow managed to catch themselves in mid-fall and regained flight capabilities.  They took off, picking up Rarity and Applejack, who then caught Pinkie and Fluttershy, who had forgotten she was a pegasus again.

They managed to maneuver into a snowbank near the bottom of the mountain.  The ponies each popped their heads out of the snow, one at a time.

"Did we all make it?" Applejack asked.

Twilight looked around and did a headcount. "All are accounted for."

She sighed in relief before realizing they were not all accounted for.

"Where's Harper?!" she asked, frantically searching the snow for him.

Nopony said anything.

"Oh, don't tell me we dropped him!" Twilight said.

"Well, it was big explosion..." Rarity noted.

"Hey!  You guys still alive?  C'mon, talk to me!" Charlie asked, incredibly worried.

"We're all fine, Charlie.  We just lost Harper in the explosion." Twilight told him, surprised at how easy it was to say that.

"Not a problem.  I'll track him down for you.  Seems he's a little bit farther down the mountain.  A little bit of a walk from your position, but it's not too much of a problem.  Sending you the coordinates."

Twilight saw a little blip on the eyepiece.  She and the others followed the direction down the mountain.  Harper had landed somewhere at the base of the mountain, in the snows below.

Twilight noticed that despite that fact they were moving, they weren't getting any closer to Harper's location.

"Um, Charlie?  Is it just me, or is Harper's location... moving?" Twilight asked.

"Nope.  He's looking completely stationary on this end." Charlie replied. "Why, what's the deal?"

"Nothing!" she replied quickly. "It was nothing."

"Harper's dead, all right?  He won't be moving anytime soon.  The equipment's old, that's all.  Probably just malfunctioning a little.  you're on the right course, just keep going."

Twilight and co continued without argument.  They would find out soon enough what fate Harper had come to meet.

When they got to the point where Harper was supposed to be, they saw nothing but the trees and snow and dirt, all collectively filling their vision.  Harper was nowhere to be found.

"Charlie, are you sure this is the place?" Twilight asked.

"If the tech says yes, than I do too." Charlie replied.

Twilight sighed and kept moving around the area.  Snow, loosened by the explosions, turned into a quasi-blizzard around them, shrouding their vision.  They pressed on, eventually drawing upon a figure in the storm.

They found him, walking slowly forward, trying to escape the snow.

"Harper!" Twilight shouted, excited to see him.  When she got closer, though, she saw just how broken and battered he was.  His state was more desperate and weak than she had ever seen him in.

"Harper, say something!"

He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.  She gasped when she saw his face, which had been bruised and broken, with one of his eyes seemingly missing.  He looked like a walking corpse.

"Celestia have mercy..." Twilight said, both disgusted and surprised to see Harper like this.

"Did... did we... win?" Harper asked, choking on nearly every word.  A bit of blood appeared around his mouth when he spoke.

"That doesn't matter!  You need help!" Twilight exclaimed. "Look at you!  You look even more dead than before!"

"Death... is not something... I usually concern myself with..." Harper said, turning his head to the sky.  He fell backwards into the snow.

"Harper!" she shouted, rushing over to him.  The others gathered around, watching anxious of what his condition was.  the snow calmed down a bit, increasing the visibility surrounding the area.

Harper coughed a few times and wheezed before looking up at the sky from his place on the ground.

"But I am going to die here, aren't I?  I'm lucky I could even think to counteract that microbial poison Byron had...  and now, it looks like that doesn't even matter," he said, finding humor in his own words.

"Harper, don't you go dying on me!"  Rainbow said. "An awesome guy doesn't deserve to die!  Stay with us!"

Harper nodded to her, then turned his eyes to the yellow pegasus. "Fluttershy... I broke my promise... I... apologize..."

Fluttershy couldn't think of anything to say, so instead she let the water in her eyes develop into tears.

"I'm so sorry...  I never even got a chance to really know you all...  and now, it's too late..."  Harper said, with a weak voice. "I think... it's time..."

"Guys, the chopper's there!  Get Harper on, NOW!" Charlie announced.  They could hear the whirring blades of the machine descending, removing the now from the area, and landing next to the ponies.

"You hear that, Harper?  The chopper's here!  You're going to be okay!"

Harper said nothing, his eyes fixed on the sky, but nodded a little to show he was still alive.  A loss of blood and energy, however, knocked him cold.

***

Harper quickly opened his eyes and shot up.  He breathed heavily, his every exhale echoing in the empty space he found himself in.  His body was in one piece, still functional.

"Greetings, Harper.  Welcome back."

He turned all around, looking for the what was clearly Luna, as this was her voice he heard.  After turning every direction, he noticed her appear in front of him.

"Where am I?  Is this... is this a dream?" he asked, standing up.

"In a way."  Luna replied.

"So it is or it isn't?" Harper asked.  Luna didn't reply.  He looked around in a full circle to see nothing of his surroundings.

"You won't find anything here.  This is an empty place, devoid of memories." Luna told him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Luna looked him in the eye. "Your mind has forgotten all the times you lived, hence the name 'brainwashing'.  However, your forged memories you know are false have been rejected from your mind.  In the end, there is nothing left."

"But I remember them, don't I?  The ponies... Byron... Wilhelm..."  Pictures of those he mentioned appeared around him. "And Hastings, too."

"You do retain memories of facts on who others were, but tell me, Harper... who are you?"

Harper opened his mouth to speak, but found he knew nothing about himself.  His name was the only clear thing in his mind.

"I... I am Harper..." he said. "I avenged Hastings... saved Sam Fisher..."

"Those are the facts." Luna told him. "But I'll ask you once more... who are you?"

Harper was confused. "What do you mean?  This is who I am!"

"No, Harper.  It is not." Luna told him. "You are  nothing but the product of your experiences... but how can you be a man if you can't remember what your experiences were?"

"I still don't understand.  I know who I am!" Harper argued.

"Really?  Tell me, then... what is your first name, Operative Harper?"

"My first name is... it's..." Harper struggled with the question of self-identity.  He should know this!  it was common knowledge!

"What were the names of your mother and father?"

"Their names are... hrrrgggg..." Harper didn't know this either.  What was going on here?

"What made you join the army in the first place?  When did you meet Hastings?"

"I... I don't know!"  Harper shouted. "I don't know, I don't know, I DON'T KNOW!"

Harper saw anxiety, anger, sorrow, confusion, and all of the anguished feeling spin around him. "I... I... can't remember..."

"Harper, one does not just forget the name of those who brought them into this world.  So then tell me, Harper... How can you be a man, yet only have lived half a life?!" Luna demanded.

Harper's eyes dilated at the question.  He didn't know how to answer.

"GGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

He fell to the ground after letting out his anger.  Suddenly, he controlled his mental breathing and sat down.

"Luna... who am I?" he asked.

"Harper... don't you see the answer?  I found it to be easy in your case." Luna said.

"I want to know the answer, Luna.  Who am I?" Harper asked, with much desperation in his voice.

"It doesn't matter who you are, Harper..." Luna told him. "Only who you are going to be.  You have retrieved your mind from the hypnotism of those documents, and now, you can be whoever you want to be.  So the real question is... who will you be?"

Harper lifted his head up and looked above him, to the open skies, the last memory he knew he had.

"I will be loyal.  I con't leave any man behind, nor let him suffer as I have.  I will be honest, both to myself and to others.  I will be kind, treating all people with the respect they deserve.  I will be generous, giving what I can to those who need it more than I.  I will laugh, and I will enjoy life to the fullest.  Basically, what I'm trying to say is..."

He closed his eyes in peace. "I'll try to be a good friend, and as soon as I am one, I will never stop being a good friend for as long as I live."

Luna smiled. "Then you will have to learn to be this person.  Luckily, I think the ones who have seen you for who you are can help you with that."  She began walking off.

"What's that supposed to mean?  And where are you going?"

Luna sighed and shook her head, a small smile appearing on her face. "Sorry to say, Harper, but... this will probably hurt.  A lot."

***

"CLEAR!"

The medic shocked Harper awake, reviving him.  Harper coughed and wheezed and shot up, only to feel the pain of his everything tell him that was a terrible idea.  He fell back down on something soft and fluffy.  It was then that he realized he couldn't see out of his left eye.

"Well, that was quite the reaction." the medic said.

"Well, at least that idiot's awake." Charlie said.  He stepped to the side of the bed. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Harps."

"Thanks." Harper wheezed.

"Took quite the tumble, didn't you?" the medic said. "Nearly broke every bone in your body, and half-blinded yourself in the process.  You'll be lucky if you'll be able to stand after all of this."

"Uuuuuugh..." Harper replied.

"Well, I'll take that as a 'Thank you for the help, Charlie.  Really saved my ass back there.'" Charlie said, changing his voice to be lower, imitating Harper.

"Sure... let's go with that." Harper said.  He saw he was nearly in a full-body cast, with only one of his arms and one of his legs available for movement. "How the hell am I still alive?"

"Also, great bedside manner, doc," Charlie commented. "How about you leave this to me?"

"Suit yourself," the medic replied, leaving out the doorway.

"Well, I'll just tell you what they told me: It's a miracle you're still alive, Harper." Charlie told him. "Everyone is saying that, even Sam."

"So I take it he's alive, too?" Harper asked.

"Yup.  Thankfully, those crystals were nothing more than overblown glass shards, or he would've had a real problem.  Honestly, the stuff in his system was more aesthetically scary than actually deadly."

"Huh." Harper grunted.

"So, yeah, he's doing okay.  Got cut marks everywhere, but he'll heal with maybe a scar or seven scattered around on his body." Charlie told him, taking a seat on a nearby stool. "How you holding up?"

"Other than the body that would be hurting like all hell without painkillers and nearly dying, I think I'm doing pretty good," Harper summed up.

"Good, because I can't get that bunny who's biting into your arm to stop," Charlie told him.

Harper looked over in shock to see a small, white bunny sinking its teeth into his bandages.  Luckily, it couldn't get through them.

"Yeah, that yellow pony, Fluttershy, tells me he's doing that because you ended up making her cry.  Seems to be doing it of its own volition."

"Great..." Harper replied. "How are the ponies, anyway?"

"They're holding up well." Charlie replied. "They're sending over diplomats from their world to make a peace treaty."

"Hm.  Politics." Harper commented no further than that.

"The whole thing with Hasbro isn't going so well, though.  The changelings they gathered escaped as soon as the Enhancers attacked, and we're still trying to root out the last of them from the homes of unsuspecting horse fanatics." Charlie told him. "As for the Enhancers themselves... I don't think they're going to try to stage an uprising or anything, but we're still keeping an eye out for trouble."

"So everything's... normal?" Harper asked.

"That's hardly the case for most people, but relative to you, I'd say yes," Charlie told him.

"So it's over, then..." Harper stated, without a doubt.

"Yep.  It's over."

They sat quietly for a few moments before the door was slammed open.  Charlie flew off of the stool.  Harper could see, even through the multiple bandages exactly who was there.

"ChaaaaaarLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"  Sam shouted.  He walked over to him and picked him up by the collar.

"Oh, hi Sam!  Didn't think you'd be up and about so soon, much less enraged because of something I totally didn't do!" Charlie said nervously.

'I don't know what kind of mind you have, but for god's sake..." he turned to show him the new addition to the stealth suit. " A PONY TAIL IS NOT A REGULATION-FRIENDLY MODIFICATION!"

"Seriously?  That's the 'sick mod' you were thinking of earlier?" Harper asked.

"I thought it'd go over well with some operatives, but it seems we have some haters..." Charlie said as Sam pinned him against the wall.

"Charlie, I swear to god, if you don't get this damned thing off of this suit in FIVE MINUTES, I will start breaking some regulations myself.  do I make myself perfectly clear?" Sam asked through his teeth.

"Understoodsirwon'thappenagainsirsorrysir." Charlie said all too quickly.  Then Sam put him back down on the stool.

"Good," Sam told him. "As for you, Harper... get well soon, alright?  The last thing I need is one less operative hunting Changelings."

He didn't wait for Harper's response, exiting the room as quickly as he could.

"Yeah... Sam isn't too keen on having you back, Harper.  He's still a little uncomfortable, thinking you might still be that hard-wired killer in disguise."

"That's understandable," Harper said nodding his head.

Charlie slapped his knees and stood up. "Well, anyway, I gotta get back to work if I don't want trouble, so... yeah.  Good talk."  Then, he left the room.

Harper rested his head.  It was all over.  Everyone was safe.  Life was going to be good.  He wasn't sure how people would respond to all of ponykind, but he was sure it'd all work out in the end.  Now was the time for resting, not thinking.  And so, he did just that.

However, the world didn't wait on one man's rest.  No, it had to keep moving, just as it always had.  Nobles met political figures.  Princesses met leaders from around the world.  Pony-kind met mankind.  Continuing ever forward, the two species were met with an uncertain, yet bright, future.