Two Sister's Tower, Canterlot
Captain Martin Walker looked out over Canterlot on a balcony on the Princess's tower. It reminded him of what happened before he came to this world, how his life took a turn for the worst and most importantly, what he had done. He had planned doing this ever since he was told of the plan to take him to Canterlot. He knew that he could never be forgiven by for his actions by anyone, not even himself. He was ordered to leave the Dubai upon finding survivors and when his team found survivors, but he wanted to play hero and they continued on. Now he was going to do what he should have done on that tower all those weeks ago.
Three Weeks Ago
Burj Khalifa, Dubai
"Someone has to pay for your crimes Walker... Who's it gonna be?" inquired Colonel John Konrad as he walked behind a painting depicting the white phosphorus bombing of The Gate, conducted by Walker himself.
"John... is that you?" asked Captain Martin Walker, tired and beaten.
"You tell me."
"I'm done playing games John." said Walker, sternly.
"I assure you, this is no game." replied Konrad. Walker walks around the painting and towards a chair that Konrad is sitting in on the end of the balcony. Upon reaching the chair, he turned it around to find the decomposing corpse of John Konrad, a bullet hole in his head and a M9 in his hand. Walker stares at the corpse, mouth agape as his whole world comes crashing down. He kneels down and grabs the pistol before standing up and switching it to his right hand.
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"It seems reports of my survival have been greatly exaggerated." mocked Konrad, noticeably more alive than the corpse Walker was staring at.
"This isn't possible..." Walker uttered breathlessly.
"Oh I assure you, it is." responded Konrad.
"How?"
"Not how. Why? You were never meant to come here." Konrad reminded as a voice echoed through Walker's head, his voice.
"We have our orders; leave the city, radio Command from outside the Storm Wall. They send in the calvary, we go home."
"What happened here was out of my control." Walker responded, defending his actions.
"Was it? None of this would have happened if you had just stopped. But on you marched and for what?" scolded Konrad.
"We tried to save you." bargained Walker.
"You're no savior, your talents lie elsewhere." as Konrad said those words, Walker hears sounds in his head. Glass shattering and sand rushing into a room, the screams of Riggs as he burned alive, Lugo frantically trying to revive Gould, and the drone of gunfire as Adams and Walker massacred civilians. The most heartbreaking of all are those from the Gate.
"THIS IS YOUR FAULT GODDAMN IT!"
"Stop right there Lugo!"
"HE WOULDN'T LISTEN!"
"We DIDN'T have a CHOICE!"
"HE TURNED US INTO *FUCKING KILLERS*!"
"This isn't my fault." Walker muttered.
"It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him. And if the truth is undeniable, you create your own." More sounds rush into Walker's head, but these he had never heard before. And a picture in his mind appeared. One of the bridge, where he had to decide the fate of a civilian who had stolen water and a soldier who had killed the civilian's family. Only, instead of there being two people dangling from ropes, scared out of their minds. There were two corpses, long dead and decomposed until they were unrecognizable.
"What the hell happened?!"
"I don't know, he just stopped moving."
"Walker, snap out of it!"
"I get it, we have to choose." his own voice echoed in his head.
"The truth, Walker, is that you're here because you wanted to fell like something you're not: a hero."
"LUGO!" Walker yells at Lugo, who is holding an AA-12.
"You left ME to DIE!" Lugo spat back. A flash of white revealed that it was just a soldier in heavy armor.
"I'm here because you can't accept what you've done. It broke you."
In his mind, he saw the image ruined his mind, the straw that broke the camels back, if you will. A radio, its batteries pulled out and long left to decay. And yet, Walker heard a voice come from that radio; Konrad's voice.
"You needed someone to blame, so you cast it on me. A dead man. I know the truth is hard to hear Walker, but it's time. You're all that's left and we can't live this lie forever. I'm going to count to five, then I'm pulling the trigger." warned the projection of John Konrad in Martin Walker's mind, pointing his pistol at Walker.
Walker rubbed his scarred and damaged, both physically and mentally, head and said "You're not real. This is all in my head."
Konrad briefly aimed away and retorted "Are you sure? Maybe it's in mine. One." before taking aim again.
"No! Everything, all this, it was YOUR fault."
"If that's what you believe then shoot me. Two."
"I.. I didn't mean to hurt anybody." stuttered out Walker, seemingly giving up.
"Nobody ever does Walker. Three." scolded Konrad. Walker raised his pistol and begins to aim at his reflection. "Four." Walker began to point his pistol at his own head, but suddenly aimed at Konrad and fires. Konrad drops his pistol and it shattered on the ground, as if it was made of glass. "It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him."
"Stronger than you were." mocked Walker, letting out a breath.
"Whatever you say, Walker." Konrad himself began to break down, his body segmented like the spiderweb of breaking glass. "No matter what happens next, don't be too hard on yourself. Even now, after all you've done, you can still go home." Konrad shattered into pieces and Walker returned to reality. "Lucky you." are Konrad's final words to Walker as the projection faded away.
Walker looked around and walked to the edge of the balcony, past the corpse of the real Konrad, and leaned on the railing. "What now, sir?" asked one of the final members of the 33rd Battalion.
"What?" asked Walker, surprised by his visitor.
"The men are asking, what do we do now?." the soldier elaborated.
"We complete our mission." responded Walker, coldly.
"And what mission would that be?" asked the soldier.
Walker groaned in frustration, turned and ordered "Just get me a goddamn... radio?". However when he turned, he saw nothing. Walker picked up a radio and reported "This is Captain Martin Walker, United States Army. Requesting immediate evacuation of Dubai. Survivors... One too many." before walking inside.
However shortly before reaching someplace to sit down, he collapsed. Exhaustion appeared to be catching up to him. The world around him faded to black as he blacked out.
???
Walker awoke in a place he didn't understand. Last he knew, he was on the top of a building in the middle of a desert but now, he was staring up at a wooden celling. There was a horse neighing somewhat more than usual. But at least who ever found him had the kindness to at least put him in a horse stable. He struggled to his feet and checked himself over. His head and nearly his entire body was bandaged.
He steadied himself on a bedside table and walked to a door. He thought it was odd for a stable but thought nothing of it. He opened the door and the neighing stopped gradually. He looked to the side and saw a cream pegasus and a purple unicorn with wings. The unicorn stepped forward and approached him, neighing something. "Stay the hell away from me." He collapsed to the ground and began crawling away. Eventually he hit a wall and the unicorn touched its horn to his head.
Shortly Before
Fluttershy was talking to Twilight about the bipedal creature they had found in the Everfree. "The dear appears to be a primate but I've never seen anypony like this. He appears to be dehydrated, has multiple burns and a whole list of other injuries. I don't even think Mr. Bear could suffer through whatever the poor dear has been through."
Twilight responded. "Do you think he'll pull through, Fluttershy? He obviously is either part of an intelligent society or some kind of pet. The... clothes, or armor, he wore are obviously aren't natural."
"Honestly Twilight, I don't know. I'm sorry but I've never seen his kind before." Fluttershy's eyes shrunk and Twilight looked at where she was looking. The creature had awoken and walked through the door.
Something overcame Twilight and she stepped forward and said "Hello, are you alright?" It grunted something and fell backward before crawling back towards the wall. She continued forward and eventually summoned a spell that allowed her to translate languages. She touched his head and entered his mind.
There was the grunting but it eventually cleared into the Equestrian language. It was male but Twilight couldn't decipher anything else. There was also an image, though it was blurry but there was noticeable orange and yellow with large blobs of gray. "-e -ave -r -rd-s; loc-te -urvi-rs, -eave the ci-, -dio Command -om outs- the Storm Wall. They send in the calv-ry, we go home."
There was the sound of wind and the image grew clearer. It was still blurry, like someone with glasses looking without them. The air smelled like pungent garlic. The sound was crystal clear; the crackle of fire and the repeated press of hoofsteps.
"Why?" croaked a voice coming from a tan shape with a blackened face.
"You brought this on yourself." responded the voice from the first memory.
"We were helping, ugh...." groaned the second voice.
"What?" After a few beats, he uttered "Oh no!"
Now the scene was full of color; of blues, purples, and greys. However, the most prominent color was red.
"Are those.... civilians?" asked a new voice.
"Where'd they come from?! There's no camp here!" outburst another.
"They took them from the Nest..." stated the first voice. The scene cleared... and it was gruesome. The same creatures Twilight had found were scattered around, burned alive. The host focused on a large one and a small one, presumably a mother and child. Slowly, the edge began to fade to black, signaling that the creature was waking up.
"That hotel back at the storm wall! NO! No, no, those can't be the civies that got kidnapped; It's not possible!" pleaded the fourth voice.
"YEAH, it is! That's why Gould stormed this place. He didn't want the Gate; he was trying to rescue his people! THIS IS YOUR FAULT, GOD DAMMIT!" yelled the third voice.
"Stop right there, Lugo!" intervened the fourth.
"BUT IT IS! HE WOULDN'T LISTEN!" responded 'Lugo'.
"WE DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE!" yelled the fourth voice.
"HE TURNED US INTO FUCKING KILLERS!" screamed Lugo.
"THAT'S ENOUGH SERGEANT!" yelled the fourth.
For a few moments, 'Lugo' yelled "No", while the still unnamed fourth ordered "Control yourself!"
Their argument was broken by the first voice stating "We need to keep moving."
"What!?" yelled Lugo.
"Reinforcements will be here any second; we need to keep moving." explained the first voice.
"Walker, you're not even-" stated the fourth.
The first voice, now identified as 'Walker', intervened saying "We need to make these bastards pay for what they've done. Now, are you with me or not?"
The image in Twilight's mind was engulfed in blackness. The creature had awoken.
"Do you remember when the storms started
Epilogue
Falcon-1 had searched Dubai for days and had finally arrived at the Burj Khalifa. "Command, this is Falcon-1. We have just arrived outside the Burj Khalifa. No sign of Captain Walker. Hold on, we found something. Out." The Captain of Falcon-1 walked towards a body outside the front entrance. He rolled it over, and discovered corpse in badly damaged body armor. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was Martin Walker's. "Command, this is Falcon-1. We found him. Captain Walker is K.I.A, repeat, Walker is dead. Appears to have been dead for a while. Maybe, maybe he.... never mind." he said, brushing a thought from his head. "Negative, no survivors found. Dubai is a no-man's-land. We are pulling out, repeat, we are leaving the city."
