ghosts in the wind
...we just keep fighting
Previous ChapterI returned to that dark pit in my conscious but this time I was a white liquid body and before me was all the things that went wrong in my life, images of my past failures or immoral justices I had committed, the horrors of war and bloodshed filled my mind and I could hear laughing, all the people I knew appeared before me laughing at me for my weakness then a man wearing a red cape, a crown, green and purple eyes, and grey skin walked up me
"hello" he said his voice sounding old and battered "I can make you stronger, I can help you over come these great tragedies from ever happening in the future, all you have to do is give into me" he said and my feet started changing to black crystals "good" he said as it reached my chest but it stopped "what-" the crystals exploded off of me and I grabbed the mans throat and brought him closer, I looked him dead in the eye as I squeezed making him choke before he dissolved into black mist and quickly left my presence.
I close my eyes and then I was called by some unseen voice that had a calming feel to it "john, what a peculiar name" it said and I twitched opening my eyes. Blue skies, that is all I could see, I clenched my hands feeling the soft grass blades in my grip, I breathed in the air and the smell of corpses and smoke was replaced by clean air, birds chirped and squawked in the background. I pulled myself up and saw that I was in a lush field next to a couple of daisies, I stood up and all my equipment was with me and I had full cash (6000$) I picked up my AK12 and saw that was in good condition as always
'this is heaven huh? I did always want to see green fields of grass' I thought and I looked around and for some reason I saw a cut off from the grass that led to a holey land scape of dirt and rocks, I just shrug and decided to sit down and enjoy the calk serenity. But all good things come to an end. A shriek filled the air and I was up in a minute,
"unhand me you brutes!" a British up class sounding woman yelled from what I'll call the dust bowl, I got to the edge to see a boy run off after yelling but didn't get that good of a look at him and I hopped into a large hole surrounding me in darkness.
I land on my feet and I turned on a light on my head gear lighting a passage way that led deeper into the abyss, I walked with my gun raised and primed, the women's cries reminded me of the engineers making me double my effort with one thought in mind 'never again'.
I was now sprinting down the tunnel till I saw a light then I slowed down to see that I was on a ledge and my targets were human dog hybrids and the woman was some horse human hybrid, I blinked before pulling out my L115, three of them was talking to the woman while larger more brutish looking ones worked with gems, I scoped out the area and saw a break in guards around an exit and I mentally marked that as an escape route and I counted at least 77 big dogs and I saw that the three talking were smaller than the others so I think they were the leaders, after figuring things out I pulled out my knife and picked up a rock which I bounced in my hand then I threw it at a stack of gems making it spill and the dogs groaned before a pug looking dog barked an order and they started to clean up.
Taking the distraction I slid down from my vantage point behind a dog, he turned around and I drove the blade into his neck and I ripped it out leaving him to gurgled on his own blood, the work dogs were busy and the three I was after had their backs to me, I got to the biggest one and I kicked his leg putting him on his knee's then I plunged the blade in his spine and I whipped it out to slit the surprised one next to me then before the last could call for reinforcements I tackled him to the ground with a hand on his mouth and my right closing his esophagus and he thrashed around as he looked at me fearfully till his movements lost force till he stopped and I sat up, the dogs were almost done so I walked over to the gagged and still terrified pony woman and I ungagged her and she screamed.
I stood up with my AK12 and I started mowing down targets and I saw a shadow loom over me and I elbowed the dog behind me and I blew a part of its head off, I round house kicked another in the head stunning him and I executed him as he laid on his hands and knee's, I grabbed the woman's arm and I ran toward the exit and into another tunnel, I looked over my shoulder to see them freaking climbing the walls and ceiling as well as the floor, I shot a burst into the massive hoard of dogs and I heard a click so I switched to my P226 and pulled off a head shot before running full speed with the woman in tow, I could smell fresh air and I saw a light at the end of the tunnel but a searing pain blossomed in my left leg making me fall, I looked to see a dog biting my leg so I shot him and I looked to the woman
"run!" I yelled at her and she did just that and I started to limp as I reloaded my rifle.
Rarity escaped the diamond dog tunnel and saw the worried faces of her friends, she was quickly pulled into a hug that she returned, when they let go Rainbow Dash spoke first
"how in the hay did you get out rarity?" she asked and then Rarity remembered the stranger
"somepony rescued me, he was bitten in our escape and told me to run, I never even got to see his face..." Rarity said muttering the last part
"you mean you left somepony down there!?" Dash asked and started to run at the entrance till she heard loud noises coming from the hole along with screams of agony.
I walked out of the hole firing my AK12 into the dogs piling them up, I was covered in cuts and my leg was still bleeding as I limped to freedom, I was covered in dog blood from when I used my knife speaking of which, I whipped the blade across the neck of one that got too close for its own good and I put my boot on the face of another and I filled him with lead and then I was completely out of the hole and I smiled at my victory and I pulled out a semtex sticking it to the chest of one and I kicked him into the hoard and I turned around then booked it as it exploded covering the field in gore and the dogs retreated
"go to hell with the lot of ya'!" I yelled over my shoulder before ducking a clothes line
I rolled to my feet with my rifle raised at the five new patrons "I did not safe that woman to be attacked by pony woman, so stand down and I'll be on my way and forget about this" I growled then I noticed the one I saved "first you nearly get me killed and now you turn on me?" I said and I huffed as I stood and I put away my weapon "goodbye forever lass" I said and I turned around only to see armored men
"relinquish your weapons beast" the head of the group ordered
"why am I the bad guy!?!" I yelled then the one I saved came up to me
"you certainly are not! he was the one who saved me guards" she calmly answered and they glared at me one more time before leaving to god knows where.
"Thanks" I said turning to her and she smiled
"well I can't have my hero taken to the dungeons with out a reward..." she said and kissed my cheek
"uhhhh, thanks I guess?" I said wiping my cheek
"you guess!" some dragon boy said, he was about as tall as a ten year old and had scales that were purple and green and he had fins for ears,
"I'm touch phobic, she just made my skin crawl in the not so good way" I said
"can you take off the skull mask please?" a purple one asked, she had a lavender coat (as in fur) and purple hair with a pink highlight, she also had purple eyes, a horn, she was wearing a purple T-shirt and blue jeans, I pulled down my mask to reveille my cleanly shaven face and my blue eyes "your not a pony!" she gasped
"yeah, I'm a human" I said
"why are you so tense?" a cyan one asked, she had rainbow colored hair, magenta eyes, wings, a cyan sweat shirt and navy blue shorts
"my parents beat me to be quiet, along with my drill sergeant" I answered
"your parents hit you?!" she asked surprised and I nodded and I heard growling
I whipped around with my gun pointed at a dog, I lowered my gun and the dog tilted its head and sniffed me, I smiled as it sniffed my hand and I scratched it behind the ear
"I've never seen Winona be this trustin' before" one of them said with a southern drawl, I stood up and Winona joined my side the purple one was muttering to her self, the yellow one was hiding behind, the cyan one the dragon boy had jealousy written in his eyes, the orange one was looking me up and down, and the one I saved was standing idly but one was missing...
Pinkie pie: HI!!
Author:*falls out of chair screaming*
....oh wait she was next to the purple one "can I get your names?" I asked
"Twilight Sparkle" the purple one said idly
"I'm Pinkie Pie!" the pink one yelled
"Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in equestrian!" the cyan one bragged
"names Applejack partner" the orange one said with a tip of her Stetson
"F-fluttershy" the yellow one said and they all looked at her
"speak louder shy" Rainbow Dash ushered but I waved her off with a hand
"I heard miss shy fine" I said and they blinked
"well, I'm Rarity and this is spike" the white one said pointing at dragon boy who huffed as I gazed at him before I was blinded by a flash of light giving me a sense of vertigo, when it stopped I fell to my hands and knee's and purged my system with what little food I had in my stomach
"what the hell?" I choked out as I stood up uneasily then I got a book shoved in my face making me slip on my mess and fall on my sorry ass
"humans are only myth but how are you real?" Twilight asked me
"well I died to begin with" I said and all movement in the room stopped to look at me
"what?" they all asked me as I stood up
"I died then came here" I said with a shrug "my world was hell, we had stopped one war then the whole planet went to war with an alien threat called a cryptid, my team got swarmed and we were slaughtered" I said and I looked around "were are the towels?" I asked and twilight pointed to a closet and I opened it only for a bird to come out in a burst of flame, I was on my back with my pistol aimed at the bird which then flew out a window "That looked like an freaking-!" I yelled before twilight calmly cut me off
"phoenix yes, I thought spike returned him to the forest..." she said glaring at the drake
"he keeps coming back! sorry for being for a great care taker" he retorted
"so mythical beasts, horse people, where in the Sam hell am I?" I asked
"your in Equestria silly!" pinky answered with a smile painted on her face
"so I am gone..." I clap my hands together "that means I can start a new life! now where can I get a job that hires ex-military..." I thought out loud as I grabbed a towel and walked back into the room to see them smiling "you are all very scary looking" I commented as I started to clean my mess
"you could work in the library!" twilight recommended
"I like books, but I'm better at physically challenging things" I said "where should I put this?" I asked
"you can throw it away, there's a trash can in the kitchen" twilight informed me and I left them.
When the man left the girls all turned to one another "we need to slow this down, we don't even know his name" twilight whispered
"its John" they all turned to rarity "when we were escaping I got a look at his dog tags, they read Garrison, John. specter squad" she recited
"dog tags? why would he wear something made for...well...dogs?" rainbow asked and before anyone could answer her they all heard a loud bang coming from the kitchen. They ran into it to see John with a knife wound to the side pointing one of his weapons at a thief that was bleeding from his throat
"stay down this time" John said as he held the wound with his left hand.
"Stay down this time" I said at the dead thief, as I was trying to throw away the towel I saw a thief going through some silverware, I wrestled him and he pulled a knife stabbing me, he thought I was down but I pulled out my P226 and shot his neck and here he Is bleeding on the floor. I put my back to the wall of the kitchen and slid down it and I checked my wound and saw that it was bleeding pretty bad "it never ends does it? where's the hospital?" I asked but fluttershy was already at my side
"somepony get some water and towels" she ordered and the others left to follow her orders
"so what do you do for a living?" I asked
"um, I take care of animals" she said
"that is a good job being a vet, before I joined I was mechanic" I said and then I chuckled "and now I'm a weapons specialist with a kill count of 357, no family, my wife's dead, and specter squad is dead and her I am, dying from a lucky stab because I underestimated my opponent" I said and chuckled darkly "life works in funny ways miss shy" I said with a shake of my head and the others came into the room
"twilight can you knock him out?" fluttershy asked and she nodded and I faded into that dark part of my mind that haunts me.
