Lonely Among Us

Chapters

Chapter 2 - The Beauty and the Beasts
Chapter 3 - Double Effect Principle
Chapter 4 - Stranger in Strange Land
Chapter 5 - Strange New World
Chapter 6 - Ordinary Routine
Chapter 7 - The Storyteller
Chapter 8 - For The Greater Good
Chapter 9 - Shadows and Symbols
Chapter 10 - Paradise Lost
Chapter 11 - Heroes and Demons
Chapter 12 - The Art of War
Chapter 13 - Force of Nature
Chapter 14 - Knight Fall
Chapter 15 - Blaze of Glory
Chapter 16 - Que Será Será
Chapter 17 - Dying Changes Everything
Chapter 18 - What a Wonderful World
Chapter 1 - To be or not to be...

Chapter 2 - The Beauty and the Beasts

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Chapter 3 - Double Effect Principle

Meanwhile, back on Earth - James was touring the giant facility he entered earlier.

Inside of the building was like a tomb - apparently, some scientists died at their posts, skeletons were lying everywhere.

“What the hell happened here APE? This can’t be the work of the virus,” I asked, with a confused voice.

“No, sir, assessment of probability suggests more ‘drastic’ measures were taken by the last survivors - probably carbon monoxide or other gas was used as the means of mass extermination,” APE responded with his typical, emotionless analysis.

Looking at the skeletons, I managed to mumble to myself, “Lucky bastards…”

It took me another two hours, to locate all the things I needed - during that time, I managed to explore a good part of the facility - surprisingly, even after all this time most of it was still functional.

Finally, I arrived at the machine I was looking for - I could only hope it was in a similar condition as most other hardware in this place.

“Cross your fingers…” I said more to myself than to APE, as I turned on the experimental reactor. There was a hell of a lot of weird noise coming from that old thing, but after a few minutes, it was up and running.

“EXCELLENT… What a beautiful sight!” I quickly entered the passcodes I located earlier and gained access, then set every one of 1000 variables to precalculated values.

As soon as I hit the ‘Enter’ button, the lab computer sounded the alarm, knowing something was wrong, “DANGER! Possible quantum level collision detected!“

“Yep, I know all about it…” I said out loud as I pushed the ‘OVERRIDE’ button.

“All right… APE, are we all set?”

“Yes, sir - if you still want to proceed-” as I predicted, APE tried to persuade me one last time to reconsider my decision - but my mind was set.

“YES I DO!” I shouted as I hit the ‘Init’ button.

***

A few seconds later, the test chamber was filled with the brightest light I’ve ever seen. Even at a distance, you could feel the warmth coming from it - just like the sun on a cloudless day… in the middle of the Sahara!

I started walking towards the chamber, ignoring all the warnings and alarms generated by my body, as well as lab computers. The energy was bombarding me, the closer I got, the tougher it became - about 10 meters from my target, I felt a sharp pain in my knees and fell to the ground.

“Warning! Energy overload! Primary systems impaired, switching to core function mode!” this was something, I did not expect.

For the first time in hundreds of years, I felt fear - I knew I had to reach the chamber for my plan to work, but my body was shutting down just meters from the destination… If I didn’t make it, the explosion would probably not be enough...

“No No NO! Not when I am so close… ARGGHH!" I shouted to myself. "Move your ass you bastard! Come on!” I managed to slowly get up.

The room was spinning, I was barely able to stand - test chamber was just a few meters away, but from my current perspective - every meter was more like a kilometer.

Clenching my teeth, I started to walk again, very slowly - watching my every step...

ZAP!

5 meters from my destination, I was struck by an energy discharge and lost my strength once again - this time my HUD shut down as well. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get up - I started to crawl, as my skin began to melt and carbonize right before my eyes.

Every move was causing me extreme pain, the heat from the chamber was tearing at my body like sandpaper and razors - I managed to crawl for a few more seconds, but about two meters from my destination I lost my strength.

I felt like flatlining, my vision was a blur - every muscle in my body was crying with pain. “...must go on… must… argh…” I collapsed, I was done - out of power and of will to fight. I closed my eyes in defeat...

When I thought all was lost, suddenly - a distorted voice sounded in my head, “Transfer.ng emer...cy pow.r! Yo.. Can d.. It si.!” immediately, I felt an energy rush - I had no idea where APE managed to find the energy to transfer, and it wasn't much - but it was all I needed.

“Thanks, buddy - I owe you one...” I said as I pushed myself to the chamber with the rest of my strength.

All I can remember is bright, light and pain… excruciating pain, and after a few seconds, which felt like an eternity, I mercifully passed out - hoping, to never wake up again...

Chapter 4 - Stranger in Strange Land

I woke up confused, my vision was gone, and my whole body hurt - all I could hear was a jumble of noises.

“What the… where am I…?”

“Hey! He is awake!” I could hear something talking above my head, but I still couldn’t see anything.

“Well, well what have we here? I've never seen a creature like this one,” said somebody with a deep voice.

Suddenly my eyes spotted a dot of light, then another, and another - before I knew it, my vision started to come back, but when I saw the things that were talking above my head I thought my eyes were still playing tricks on me.

“Damn, and I thought I was ugly… hmm, I can understand them - I’m either dead… or this universal translator thing in my head is actually working…” I thought to myself.

Since I didn't know what was going on, I decided to play it nice... For now. “Hello, where am I, who are you?” I asked with a diplomatic voice.

“My name is Hurk - leader of diamond dogs, you are in our lair - what are you?”

“Name is James Gastovski, species human, or rather what’s left of one…" I scanned my surroundings, but all I could see was a dozen diamond dogs, around me. "Hmm… is this the afterlife? Am I in hell or something?” I asked calmly.

There was a moment of consternation, after which Hurk responded in his deep voice, “Well, as far as I know, this is not the afterlife, is it hell? Only if you won’t do as I tell you. HA, HA!”

It was then I realized my hands were chained to the bed I was lying in - and to my surprise, I didn’t have the strength to break free.

“So, what do you want from me?” I asked calmly.

“Simple - you will mine diamonds for us and we will let you live, how does that sound?” Hurk asked with a grin on his face - probably hoping for some fight.

“Crappy,” I answered with indifferent voice while, scratching my chin, “but I guess - for now - I have no choice.”

The leader of the dogs was definitely surprised by my attitude, he ordered to unchain me. “OK, rules are simple - you do what we tell you, and meet the daily diamond quota - you get food and water, if not…” Hurk pointed at one of the guards.

WHAM!

A huge whip landed on my left arm - it hurt like hell, but I didn’t show it. “... If not I get a massage from your guard?” this time, I definitely got the doggies irritated because soon I felt another whip - even stronger than last one - still, I kept my posture.

“Tough guy, huh? This was just so you get the picture, what the punishment is around here,” Hurk said with irritation in his voice. “Now, follow me - and no funny business.”

We walked for a few minutes, it was obvious we were underground. As much as I wanted to rip Hurk’s head off, I counted at least a dozen guards. Since my nano-abilities were still absent for some reason, I couldn’t risk open conflict just yet…

***

Finally, we arrived at a medium size chamber. It was sparkling - looking at the ceiling you could almost feel like looking at the clear sky at night - it was beautiful. I quickly noticed I wasn’t the only ‘worker’ out here…

“Dogs, and now horses? What the hell is this place? Disneyland?” I thought to myself, more confused than before.

“OK, here we are - take a pickaxe, and one of the empty carts and dig as much as you can, here is your ration of water,” one of the guards gave me an old rusty water flask, “for every full cart you will get another. No diamonds, no water - understood? If you don’t know where to dig, ask the white mare over there - she is our local ‘expert,’” Hurk laughed pointing at one of the prisoners, then left the chamber.

I stared at the tools lying on the table - they were all rusty and barely holding together. Apparently one of the guards didn’t like the fact that I was picky about picking my pickaxe and cart, as I felt the sharp pain of the whip against my back.

I turned to the guard, staring at him with my cold eyes. “What was THAT FOR?” I asked calmly, yet menacingly.

Apparently, he was hoping for a different reaction and for a moment didn't know what to do, but he has quickly come to his senses. “NNOO SLACKING OFF!” he shouted with a bit of hesitation in his voice.

I kept staring at him for a few more seconds… and then turn away to pick up my tools without further comments - only to realize that both mares were looking at me curiously.

“You! BACK TO WORK!” the guard shouted to them, with more confidence in his voice this time, and both quickly complied.

When I approached the wall we were mining, I noticed that the bigger mare was using the pickaxe… without touching it.

“What the… those things are robots? Is she using a tractor beam or something? Damn, I really could use APE assistance right now...” I thought to myself, as I started to dig.

After a few minutes, I was able to take a good look to my 'companions' - both had their eyes locked apathetically on the wall we were mining, I could see a lot of bloody lacerations from multiple whippings - the bigger one was crying softly, the whole time.

***

Some time later - when I was about to fill my first cart - I heard a loud noise, as it turned out the smaller creature passed out from exhaustion.

“WATER! Bring my sister some water... PLEASE!” the older mare begged the guard. But he was either one of those ‘rules are rules’ types, or simply too stupid to understand the gravity of the situation. He just kept repeating, “Cart no full, no water! Back to work!” definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed.

I still had my water, and since I was mining a spot between two horses - my chain was long enough to allow me to reach the kid, so I took the initiative. When I got closer my blood began to boil, I could see multiple bloody lacerations on the young body, she was in bad shape.

“Sick bastards…” I said to myself, trying to calm down.

I had poured some water onto the young mare, and fortunately, she has begun to regain consciousness. When she saw me up close, she immediately began to shake - it was obvious she was scared of me.

“Don't worry kid - I won't bite," I said as calmly as possible with a little smile, "Here. Have some more water,” I gave her my flask.

She hesitated for a moment, but her thirst got the best of her, and she grabbed the flask. As she was drinking greedily, I felt the strongest whip yet. The hit, caused me to lose my balance and fell on top of her. This frightened the young lady, her horn light up like a Christmas tree and then I felt a weak jolt of energy striking my body.

“Hey, my HUD… ?” I ignored the pain guard was causing me, as I noticed my HUD flashed before my eyes for a second.

“Kid, what did you do?!”

“I… didn’t… mean to…” she answered quietly with a frightened voice.

“No... I mean - can you do that again? Please, this is important!”

“I… can… try…” her horn started glowing once more, and I felt another - stronger - jolt.

A few seconds later my body was in the air - apparently, Mr. Guard didn’t understand, why his whip wasn’t working and decided to try a different ‘technique.’

“You stupid pony not listen! Pony must listen or be pain!” he was yelling at me - definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed… I mean c’mon, do I look like a fucking pony? Seriously?

I just lay there, looking at the yelling guard with irritation on my face when suddenly... I heard a beautiful sound. “APE reboot complete - APE unit available.”

“Finally, good to have you back friend,” I said out loud, adding to the guard's confusion.

“Thank you, sir,” APE responded with standard politeness in his synthesized voice.

“OK… now that the pleasantries are over… WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!” I shouted, this time inside my head.

“I’m sorry, sir, but apparently our ‘attempt’ failed-’

“Yeah, no shit…”

“-but it drained all nano-systems of power. Until a few seconds ago, even emergency systems were out.”

As I listened to my assistant, I got up slowly, looking at the guard with the ‘please forgive me, sir! It won’t happen again’ posture, and the idiot bought it. When I got back to the mining wall, I heard a quiet ‘Thank you…’ from the older mare - I quickly nodded in acknowledgment and began to talk to APE inside my head again.

“Status report.”

APE responded as a litany of damaged systems flooded my HUD, “Extreme damage to most systems, core function mode... Limited nano-strength and speed available, but 5% power only - I recommend we wait a day or two for additional regeneration.”

“All right, sounds like a plan, and then...” imagining the look on Hurk’s face put a huge smile on my ugly mug.

***

I was snapped from my daydream when I heard one of the guards shouting at the filly. “Your cart is almost empty again! You think we will waste our resources on someone as useless as you?! You know the punishment…” as he said the words, I had noticed the kid retreated to the corner, covering her head with her hooves, and shaking uncontrollably.

Soon I realized why… the SOB pulled a giant whip out of his backpack!

“Probability indicates we are going with plan 'B.' Am I correct, sir?” APE interrupted, analyzing the situation.

“Oh… you know me too well,” I responded with an amused voice, as I grabbed my chain. My skin had started to glow red, as I cracked the shackle on my legs, then quietly run behind Mr. Guard, who was about to lash the kid.

Before he could act, I grabbed his weapon. “Hey, don't be like that - why don't we show the kid how to dig properly, instead?”

As he turned around in surprise, I put a grin on my face and added, “Pay attention young lady, you do it like THIS!” Split second later, his head slammed the nearest wall, cracking it in the process and revealing some diamonds.

“That’s what I call ‘teaching by example’” I said with a smile while looking at the motionless dog’s body.

After what I did there was no time to lose, and no turning back.

“You OK, kid?” I asked calmly - it was obvious she was still scared, but she nodded. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here,” I said as I cracked the shackles around the young filly’s legs.

In the meantime, my favorite - ‘You pony mus listen!’ - guard was on his way, with his spear aiming at me… BIG MISTAKE.

CRACK!

I had turned around with extreme speed as my fist connected with his jaw - a second later, teeth flew everywhere - and he flew a good three meters back as well.

“See kid? That’s what happens when you don’t brush at least twice a day,” I added with an amused voice.

I had picked up the guard’s spear and quickly ran up to the older mare who was trying to free herself from the chains. By then, we could hear more guards on the way.

“Allow me, ma'am,” I cracked the chain right before her eyes. “Do you know how to get out of here?!”

“Ye... Yes! But there are many diamond dog guards on the way, we will never make it...”

I clenched my fist producing, very audible ‘CRACK!’ sound, “Leave them to me! Just tell me which way!”

She was still hesitant for a moment, but soon answered, “There, that path to the left!”

“OK, grab your sister and stay behind me! This is gonna get bloody...”

***

We quickly ran left, then right, left, left… “I really hope you know where we are going,” I said with a hint of doubt in my voice.

“I… do… trust me, darling. We... Are close...” she responded, trying to catch her breath at the same time.

She was right - soon I could see the exit in the distance, there was only one minor problem - or rather two dozen minor problems, with spears and armor - forcing us to stop.

Diamond dogs were looking at us with anger in their eyes - they thought they got us...

“I’ll ask you nicely once, AND ONLY ONCE - OUT OF OUR WAY,” I said calmly with as intimidating voice, I could muster.

The effect was predictable, they started laughing - hard. Finally, one of the dogs stepped up. “You no go anywhere! STUPID PONIES NO GO-”

“Pony… Pony?! PONY?! For FUCK SAKE! DO I LOOK LIKE A PONY TO YOU?! ARGGH!” I shouted as I kicked him so hard he flew ten meters back, hitting several of his companions on the way. Then my fury kicked in, “So all of you got a death wish? Fine! COME GET SOME!” I shouted as I charged at the group, burning with rage.

From the hunted, I turned to the hunter right before their eyes. Using my enhanced speed, I was inflicting deadly strike after strike. Their arrogance quickly turned to horror, as their number was getting lower with every second.

Three of the dogs had run towards the mares at the back, but before they could do anything, I threw one of the spears with so much force that it went through all their bodies and impaled them to the wall.

“Stick around guys! The party just getting started…” as I gloated, I let my guard down for a moment - second later, I felt a spear penetrating my back, and tearing up my insides - before I knew it the spear was sticking from my belly. “Argh! Hell!” I shouted - more from anger than pain.

I quickly grabbed the smiling bastard who got this lucky shot (or rather, thrust) and snapped his neck, then I pulled that damn thing out of me, and shoved it into the heart of another charging mutt.

By then, there were only 3 dogs left, but I was losing power fast. I knew I had to act quickly - I picked up the knife from one of the bodies and jumped the nearest guard.

His spear hit me in the right leg, but not before I sliced his head right off sending red liquid on his remaining companions and myself. As I stood up, covered in blood - I glanced at the remaining dogs with angry eyes, holding a bloody knife in my right hand. “Do you wish to engage?!”

They finally realized they don’t stand a chance - quickly looked at each other, and decided to run deeper into the hive. “Damn, I was hoping for ‘none shall pass’ not ‘run away!’" I said with an ironic voice, "oh well... You ladies OK?”

Both mares were fine physically - or at least not worse than they were before - but were looking at me with uncertainty in their eyes. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” I said calmly, without giving it a second thought.

***

When we stepped outside it was night, the sky was clear - thanks to moonlight I quickly realized we were on top of a mountain, in the distance some lights were blinking. I had thought we were finally safe when a gigantic rock struck my skull.

For a moment, I lost my balance and fell to the ground. When I had tried to get up, I saw him - it was Hurk, leader of the dogs, and he was mad with anger.

“YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!” he shouted as he began smashing my skull, with another giant rock - over and over again.

By then, the loss of blood had taken its toll - my super strength was gone, I tried to protect myself, but it was clear that Hurk had the upper hand.

The older mare was trying to get the dog off me, but it was no use. “RUN! Get your sister to safe-” my speech was suddenly interrupted by the stabbing pain, as a huge knife went through my chest.

The taste of my own blood filled my mouth, my lungs felt like they were filled with hot needles, I was fighting for every breath - but it was a losing battle - a few seconds later, I collapsed from exhaustion.

“You should have listened to your friend here when you had the chance!” Hurk shouted as he grabbed the filly.

Her older sister tried to stop him - but he knocked her to the ground, and stepped on her so she couldn’t move. I was lying behind him still impaled by his knife, bleeding out.

“Any last words before I tear you to pieces you little whore?!" the younger mare's eyes widened with fear - she didn't make any sound, but it was obvious she was terrified. "No? Fine, let’s go!” with that, Hurk started to pull the filly by her front and back hooves at the same time, literally trying to rip her in two. He took his time, enjoying every scream.

In the meantime, I tried to pull the knife out of my chest but didn’t have enough strength even for that. “Damn it… APE emergency power,” I said with a pleading voice, but the only answer was “None available.”

Suddenly, sharp jolt of energy shoot through my body. The older mare must have seen what her little sister did earlier, and with a final act of desperation, she used her power on me, the same way. It worked - I looked at her and smiled as I pulled the knife out.

“OK, that’s enough. Good night you little… ARRRR!” Hurk shouted as his own knife went through his right paw, slicing it off completely. As he growled in agony, he dropped the young mare to the ground.

With a crazy sounding voice I said, “Let me give you a hand...” before he could respond I jumped and knocked him to the ground. He was still struggling, but I was burning with rage, my nano-skin bright red again - indicating strength mode.

“ARGGH!” I shouted as I began to pummel his head into the ground. He tried to protect himself, but every time my attack hit one of his arms, it broke it in another place, soon he was screaming from pain.

After what seemed like an eternity, I realized I was hitting the rocky ground instead of his head. I snapped out of my rage, only to see his limp body lying in a pool of blood. His head was no longer there, only some bloody mush remained. I was covered with blood, dirt and brain matter…

I took a look at two mares, who were watching me with horror in their eyes.

“Well, it’s finally over - you ladies OK?” I asked with a calm voice, for a moment there was no response.

Finally, after a few seconds of silence and still shaking a little, the older mare answered, “As well as can be expected, I guess…" suddenly she stopped and glanced at me nervously. "But are you OK, mister? You are bleeding badly!” her voice sounded concerned.

“Nah, it's just a flesh wound,” with that, I got up, only to realize she was right - I was bleeding like a stuck pig, moreover - I could feel getting lightheaded. “Seriously… I... Will be… fineeeee-” I hit the ground and blacked out.

For a moment there was silence - Rarity and Sweetie Belle were just standing, scanning the scenery…

“Sis, we can’t leave him here...” Sweetie Belle said with a weak voice.

Rarity replied, “I know darling, but I can’t carry you both-” she stopped when she saw one of the cranes they used to put the diamonds into. “OK, I got an idea!”

Chapter 5 - Strange New World

When I had regained consciousness everything was pitch black, and the place I was in, was completely silent. “Hello? Anybody there?” I asked, confused.

At first, there was no response, but then I could make out a quiet whisper coming from somewhere.

“...help… please help...” that’s what the whisper was saying.

I quickly stood up and shouted, “Where are you? What is this place?” but all I got back was another whisper calling for help. A few seconds later, my vision returned - but even then, I didn’t know where I was - all I could see was a cramped corridor lighted by torches, I could tell that it was long - I couldn’t see the end, I decided to investigate.

I had walked for some time, passing what looked like prison cells - all empty, all stained with dried blood. “What the hell is this place...”

The whispers returned, then - this time, followed by loud screams. “I recognize this voice… I’m coming, hold on!” I had shouted loudly and began to run.

I don’t know for how long I had run - maybe only a minute, maybe more - but with every passing moment I could hear the whispers getting louder and louder. Finally, I arrived at the end of the corridor - only to be stopped, by giant steel bars.

“Arg… what the…? Why can’t I break this?” I had said with frustration, as my efforts to destroy the obstacle were met with resistance.

Suddenly, somebody had switched on the light in the cell directly in front of me - then I saw what was pleading for help all this time, it was them - the same mares I rescued earlier. Their bodies were pinned to the giant table, few diamond dogs gathered around them with various tools in their hands. “Help up… please…” the older mare begged me, but with bars in the way - I was powerless.

One of the dogs had noticed me and grinned, then without saying anything he gave a signal to the rest of the pack - and the horrors began.

First in line was the older mare. Her screams filled the room, as the dogs started to torture her. While one of the bastards was cutting off her back legs with a rusty hacksaw, two others were smashing her front hooves with sledgehammers.

“HELP! PLEASE! AAAAA!” she screamed from the pain, as her first hoof hit the floor. I was trying desperately to break the bars - but nothing worked, all I could do is watch, useless and powerless to stop it.

A few seconds later her body was covered in her own blood, both back legs were gone, front hooves turned into mush - she was shaking, her voice transformed from screams to silent whispers, “... Help…”

“I can’t… I’m sorry…” I answered, my voice cracking from the pressure.

Finally, one of the guards pulled a knife, and mercifully slit her throat - but before she passed away, she managed to whisper, “...my sister… please…”

I took a look at the younger mare - she was only meters away, forced to watch everything - she was crying, and shaking, her breathing was shallow and rapid from fear.

Then tortures started again. “AAAaaa…” was all she managed to scream before her voice broke down - but in her eyes, I could see excruciating pain.

“NO! You bastards! ARG!” I shouted, trying desperately again to do something - anything, to break those damn bars. “I’m gonna kill you! I’m gonna kill you all! Sons of bitches! Stop! ARG!” I shouted even louder than before, as I began to bang my head against the bars.

Suddenly a loud noise and white flash of light struck the entire scene - and there was silence.

“What…? What happened?” I said with a confused voice, shaking from the experience.

“Who is this creature who holds so much pain inside?” said some calm, deep voice.

Slowly, the bright light faded away, revealing a blue pony with a sparkling mane. “Who are you? What’s going on?”

“My name is Luna - I am the Princess of the Night. You are currently asleep, my dear subject, I felt the need to intervene when I saw your dream,” she responded calmly. “It would appear you are about to wake up… perhaps we shall speak again. Farewell.”

“You mean, that was a nightmare? Wait-” I was interrupted by a bright light again - second later I woke up in a comfy bed.

***

The room was dark, I couldn’t see much.

“What the hell was that… wait a minute,” I stopped talking as I felt something on my left side. “What do we have here…” as I had started to examine the fluffy object, the night turned to day right before my eyes! I was stunned, I’ve never seen anything like that before.

Now the room was bright, I could see I was in some sort of a bedroom - outside, the birds were starting to sing. As I was scanning my surroundings, the door opened, and the familiar white mare stepped in. Only then, I realized that the ‘fluffy’ thing lying in bed with me, was her younger sister!

“Err… It’s not what you think!” I shouted as I saw the older pony galloping towards me. I expected a fist (or rather a hoof) to the face but instead got a strong hug. “You are alive, darling! Oh, thanks sweet Celestia!”

“OK, this is getting awkward…” I said with a confused voice. “Err… why is your sister in my bed…?”

My question brought a faint blush to the cheeks of the white mare. “Oh, I am sorry darling but after our… unfortunate experience, she was afraid to go to sleep. She only agreed if you were by her side… I hope that is… not a problem?” she asked with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

A puzzled expression quickly landed on my face - she knew me for an hour, and she let her younger sister sleep next to me? This felt weird, to say the least. “I guess it’s not a problem, but why would you let her sleep, next to a complete stranger?”

Tears of joy started running down her face as she responded, “Because you are a HERO! You saved our lives! Most importantly, you saved Sweetie Belle...” The mare had finished her speech and then hugged me again, even stronger than before. I was stunned and didn’t know how to react.

After what looked like an eternity - I finally got back to my senses. “Miss, I’m no hero, I’m just your average nano-enhanced soldier - well the only ever built, but still… Everyone in my place would do the same,” I said, trying to throw a little joke, to lighten up the mood.

“I… have no idea what you are… but for me you will always be a hero...” the mare responded calmly, wiping tears from her eyes. In the meantime, another pony entered the room.

“Um… Rarity... Is our patient feeling… better?” the yellow mare asked with quiet, uncertain voice.

“Oh, where are my manners - I completely forgot to introduce myself! My name is Rarity, and my little sister's name is Sweetie Belle. Back there, is my friend Fluttershy,” she said, pointing at the yellow mare.

“Captain James Gastovski, a pleasure to meet you all,” I responded with a calm voice, “although I wish the circumstances were a bit different. As for the question - yes, I’m feeling better, thank you.”

Fluttershy slowly approached the bed, looking a bit uncertain… then she hugged me gently and with a soft, quiet voice said, “Thank you, for saving my friend…”

All the hugging felt awkward... But surprisingly good at the same time - probably because I didn’t have any physical contact with another being in last 300 years. “OK, one rule from now on - please, no more hugg-” I didn’t even finish as I felt another hug, this time it was from Sweetie Belle - who finally woke up.

“You were awesome! You kicked those dog buts without breaking a sweat!" the kid shouted with excitement, "You were faster than Rainbow Dash and stronger than Applejack, you are MY HERO!”

“OK, enough! Ladies, you have some very weird ideas about me... Trust me - I am NO HERO.”

“Well darling, if that makes you uncomfortable, then I am sorry, but it is just how we feel…”

“I can understand that, but-” before I could finish, four more ponies burst through the door.

***

“Rarity! Sweetie Belle!” they all shouted, happy to see their friends. Sweetie Belle jumped out of bed to greet them.

“Finally some peace and quiet,” I said to myself as I hid from the crowd under the blanket. "APE are you there? APE? Hrmph, he must be offline again.”

A second later I felt the gentle poke, followed by the question, “So you are the one who saved our friends?” when I removed the blanket, I noticed the question came from the pony with purple fur.

“Let say yes...” I replied, showing a little irritation.

“On behalf of all ponies gathered here, I would like to thank you! Is there anything we can do for you?"

“Perhaps… I would like-”

I was interrupted by a pink mare. “A PARTY?!” she screamed enthusiastically.

I looked at her with irritation and replied coldly, “NO! I don’t do parties.”

Apparently, pink pony didn’t like my answer very much - she started jumping around my bed with anger in her eyes... Or craziness or... Whatever that was. “WHAAAATTT??!! Everypony like parties! I will make the party you’ll never forget! There will be confetti, cupcakes…” she was jumping around and babbling about some party like there was no tomorrow… I felt I needed to get out of there ASAP.

I got up from my bed. “Err… sorry ladies but I need to get some fresh air…” as soon as I took the first step, I lost my balance for a moment and landed on all fours, but got myself up again quickly. Suddenly the room went silent, and everyone was staring at me, with horror in their eyes.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, not understanding what's going on.

Finally, after a few seconds - blue pony said, “I think moving is a bad idea… I… those wounds look nasty.”

I had glanced at my shattered body and realized I really looked like crap. I was covered with dried blood, battle wounds were clearly visible - including two holes: one of the spear and one of Hurk’s giant knife - hundreds of smaller lacerations covered my back and chest.

This was also the first time, I was able to see the damage my suicide attempt did - most of my skin was melted or carbonized, all support systems were either destroyed or heavily damaged - I was one giant mess.

I put a weak smile on my face and said, “Well, I guess I won’t be winning a beauty contest anytime soon. Now if you excuse me…” and then I limped downstairs.

***

I sat outside on the grass, birds were singing all around me - after 300 years of silence, the sounds of nature were lovely and soothing. Resting in peace, I took a look around - for the first time I saw this land in the sun - it was beautiful. I could see some houses in the distance - probably the rest of this village - there were mountains, a forest, rivers, and lakes... Seemed like a really nice place to live.

Suddenly I noticed someone next to me - it was the purple mare again. “May I join you?” she asked gently.

I replied, pointing at the grass next to me, “Sure...”

“Rarity told us what happened, I… we would like to apologize, we didn’t realize things were so severe,” she said with an uncertain voice.

I smiled and replied calmly, with some embarrassment, “I don’t see any reason for you apologizing to me. Nah, I should be the one apologizing. It’s just… damn… you see - the last time I talked to so many creatures at once, was a very long time ago - and even back then I wasn’t what you would call a ‘social person.’ I simply felt overwhelmed a moment ago, needed to catch some air - sorry about that.”

Purple mare put a smile on her face as I continued, “Look, you asked me if you can do something for me - how about answering a few questions…? As I’m sure you realize by now, I’m not exactly from around here...”

“Gladly! Actually, I wanted to ask you some questions too! Ooh, and my name is Twilight Sparkle” she said with an enthusiastic voice.

“Captain James Gastovski, a pleasure to meet you. OK, this might sound a bit weird, but could you tell me - where am I and what are you…? I guess this isn’t the afterlife is it?” I asked calmly.

For a moment Twilight was confused, but then she replied calmly, “As far as I know, this isn’t the ‘afterlife.’ This land is called Equestria. As for who we are… many creatures live here, we are ponies - earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns.”

“Unicorns… Wait... Don’t tell me you can do magic…?”

“Of course! Look…” Twilight quickly charged her horn and turned nearby rock into an apple. My jaw dropped.

“So Rarity was using magic to hold that pickaxe…” I thought to myself.

A few seconds later I heard a familiar voice inside my head, “APE reboot complete - APE unit available.”

“About time! Sleeping on the job again? ... Oh, I said that out loud didn’t I?” I asked the confused Twilight. “APE go to speaker mode and introduce yourself, so I won’t sound like crazy, talking to myself.”

“Yes, sir. Hello Mrs. Twilight Sparkle, my designation is an Artificial Person Emulator, APE for short. I am captain’s assistant, a pleasure to meet you,” APE said with his synthetic voice.

Twilight still looked a bit confused, but soon responded calmly, “Um… a pleasure to meet you too APE.”

Without further ado APE started talking like there was no tomorrow, “Sir, I was able to analyze the data we gathered and I think I know some more about what is going on here - the ‘magic’ those creatures use is actually quantum level manipulation, similar to what our own nano-tech is doing,” both me and Twilight were listening attentively. “However, energy index of this world is 3000% higher than back on Earth, I would theorize these creatures evolved to take advantage of this fact-”

“Wait,” I interrupted,“ are you saying… their bodies are capable of naturally using that quantum energy?”

“It would appear so, sir. They must have evolved with these capabilities.”

I was stunned If APE was right, that meant every pony in this land was magically powered - or rather - quantum powered.

Twilight was listening with excitement, as soon as APE finished talking, she asked, “Are you implying, you were able to actually simulate our magic using technology?! I need to look into that! Just imagine the possibilities we could…” she stopped talking when she realized I was glancing at her with a cheerful look in my eyes.

“You are the local egghead or something?” I asked with a smile.

Twilight’s face suddenly turned from a smile to irritation as she responded with an angry voice, “I BEG YOUR PARDON?!”

“She definitely is!” the blue pony I met earlier, suddenly interrupted our conversation.

“RAINBOW DASH!”

“What? Everypony knows it’s true!”

I quickly stepped in trying to calm matters. “Whoa! Whoa! Sorry, no offense intended! Allow me to rephrase… are you a local... Scientist?”

Before Twilight could say anything, Rainbow Dash interjected, “She is! She is also the 'Princess of Friendship'!”

“RAINBOW DASH! That’s enough!” Twilight finally interrupted “and yes, you can say I’m interested in science and research.”

“Obsessed, would be more like it!”

Twilight gave her an annoyed look. “That’s why I would like to ask you to meet me some time later, so we could discuss what your… assistant said and plan some research, without interruptions from OTHERS,” she again glanced at Dash with irritation.

Before I was able to respond, I had noticed the other ponies walking out of the cottage.

“By the way, name’s Rainbow Dash! The fastest flier in all of Equestria! And there stands Pinkie Pie and Applejack,” Rainbow said, pointing at her friends.

“Captain James Gastovski, a pleasure to meet you all... Fluttershy, Rarity - thanks for patching me up - I will go now.”

Everybody looked at me with confused faces.

“Go where, darling? You are hurt!” Rarity said with a concerned voice.

Fluttershy confirmed her friend’s opinion, “Rarity is right… you should stay…”

“Sir! The ponies are correct. We are in no shape to travel.” APE said out loud, causing some confusion.

“That was APE - my assistant... Twilight will explain, anyway… I don’t want to be anybody’s burden.”

“Um… you are not a burden… you saved our friends… I would like to help you regain your strength," said Fluttershy with her quiet, insecure voice, "if that is OK with you?”

I was torn - on the one hand, I didn’t want anybody’s help - after all, I fended for myself for the last 300 years - on the other… I must admit, it was good to finally talk to someone other than APE, and Fluttershy seemed like a nice person.

“OK, I will stay on one condition - I don’t want to be lying useless in my bed all the time, I want to help with something. I will need to regenerate until morning to regain my strength - but after that, I should be fine enough - do we have a deal?” I asked calmly.

Fluttershy had smiled and responded quietly, “OK…”

“Me and Sweetie Belle have to go soon, but we will visit tomorrow, if that is ok with you, darling?” Rarity asked with her charming voice, and I nodded in agreement.

Soon after that everybody left, leaving me with Fluttershy.

“Um… would you like something to eat?” she asked with her shy voice.

I smiled and responded calmly, “No, thank you - I'm afraid, my stomach still needs to regenerate some more - and besides, my body is self-sustaining anyway" my response confused the yellow pegasus. "But tomorrow, I should be able to eat something - oh and by the way, thank you for patching me up, and for not trying to talk to me like others did - I'm just overwhelmed at the moment, I hope you understand.”

Fluttershy put a smile and responded with her calm voice, "Of course... I can only imagine what you are feeling right now..."

I don't know why, but there was something about her… something that made me feel... At ease.

“Thank you... Perhaps I will go to bed now, I need to let this body of my heal some more,” I said calmly, and she nodded - probably feeling this is the best idea for the time being.

Chapter 6 - Ordinary Routine

That night the nightmares had returned, but they were different this time - I could see images... Equestria was burning, chaos and destruction everywhere, dead ponies lying left and right. I was looking at the horror through my eyes - but I couldn’t control my body. It felt like I was working on autopilot, just walking and observing.

I was fully healed, my skin glowing red, I felt the power. I was strolling through the ruins of Ponyville, looking around - suddenly I noticed a group of ponies, hiding from something. It was then, I realized they were hiding from me. “Targets acquired,” I shouted, pointing my particle cannon at the poor creatures. They tried to run, but it was no use - one by one they were struck and killed - every last one of them, including foals.

I noticed another group hiding inside the abandoned house - this time flamethrower was my weapon of choice. I had blocked the exit, and without showing any emotions - fired the flames inside the building. Soon screams filled the house. The ponies had dashed towards the exit, but I just held the door, they were begging for mercy - screaming something about children, but I just ignored them - instead, enjoying every scream they made, as they were burning alive.

My real self, watched the actions of my 'alter ego' in horror - I tried to stop him, but I was powerless - it felt like watching a horror movie from the perspective of the main villain. When it was over, I noticed another pony crying in the corner of a nearby building - this time I didn’t shoot right away. Instead, I approached the creature.

“No… NO! RUN!” I tried to scream, as I realized it was Fluttershy.

She was holding the body of one of her friends, tears were flowing from her eyes, when she asked, "Why… why…?” I didn't have the answer.

For a moment we just stared at each other… but soon the silence was broken. “Target acquired,” my 'alter ego' said with emotionless voice, and then my gun discharged. Suddenly, I regained control - I had picked up Fluttershy's body - hoping for a sign of life - but her cold eyes told me, it was too late - she was gone.

"No... What have I done," I embraced her dead body as tears of horror started flowing from my eyes. "I'm sorry... So sorry..." I mumbled with a cracking voice.

Suddenly everything went white - Fluttershy’s body disappeared, and I was no longer standing in the ruined Ponyville. “Wha…? What’s going on?!”

“We meet again, captain,” Luna said with her calm voice. "Don't be alarmed - it was just a nightmare."

My mind was slowly beginning to comprehend her words - still, I felt terrible from what I just experienced, and my hands were trembling. It took me a moment to respond. “I remember you - Princess... Luna, was it? But I don’t remember introducing myself - how do you know who I am?”

“Twilight Sparkle has reported your arrival - as well as the fact, you had helped save the element of generosity herself, for which we are grateful,” Luna answered with stoic voice.

I was even more confused than a moment before. “What do you mean I save ‘element of generosity’? I don’t understand.”

“We mean, the one known to you as Rarity - she is one of the Elements of Harmony.”

“The 'Elements of Harmony'? OK, I’m confused… let’s leave it at that for now, shall we?”

Luna nodded in agreement. “Very well, In fact, we would like to discuss a different matter - your dreams, or shall we say nightmares.”

I was embarrassed, my dreams were always vivid - especially the nightmares - and now, somebody other than me had seen them... I could only imagine what she thought of me at that moment. “What is there to discuss? They’re just that - nightmares, I had them ever since I was changed… Of course, then, there were people there instead of ponies, but I guess the change in scenery explains that part.”

Luna approached me and - to my surprise - put a smile on her face, this definitely wasn't the reaction I was expecting. “You can try to deceive us, but you should not deceive yourself, captain - such dreams are the creation of extreme guilt.”

Staring at the ground, I responded with irritation, “What do you know about guilt...”

Her smile quickly faded away. “Unfortunately, more than you realize… but perhaps it’s enough for now. Farewell, my dear subject - we shall speak again.”

“WAIT! DON’T!” I shouted as I woke up, only to realize that scared Fluttershy was standing next to my bed.

“I… didn’t mean to… I just… brought you breakfast,” she said softly with her shy voice.

Without thinking, I grabbed the yellow pegasus and hugged her - after what happened in the nightmare, I just couldn't control myself. Fluttershy was confused, but she let me embrace her anyway - after a few seconds she asked calmly, “Um… are you ok?”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t yelling at you - I just had another nightmare, I’m so glad to see you are fine...” I responded with an embarrassed voice, trying to hide tears of joy flowing from my eyes.

“A nightmare? Oh goodness… I hope you are all right?” Fluttershy asked with her calm voice.

“I’m now…”

***

We ate the breakfast, while not required - my stomach was fully capable of digesting it… or anything for that matter (yup… even my goddamn belly was nano-enhanced...) - surprisingly, pony food wasn’t as bad as I expected, I actually enjoyed it - Fluttershy was a great cook.

After breakfast, I had helped Fluttershy feed her animals. I learned we both have the love for various creatures, and for some strange reason - they like us both as well.

“All done…” Fluttershy commented when we finally finished feeding last of her 'pets'.

“You are a druid or something…? I mean, you are great with animals.”

“Oh… It’s just my gift I guess - but I don’t think it’s anything special,” Fluttershy responded calmly.

I put a smile on my face and said, “Except that it is… I don’t mean to embarrass you, but, to be honest - you are the kindest person I’ve met,” Fluttershy blushed a bit when she heard my words. “If we had more people like you in my world, perhaps we could have avoided everything that happened...”

“What do you mean?”

When I realized what I said, my smile faded. "I'd rather not talk about it right now - it's a painful topic... Anyway, what do we do now?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Well… I need to visit Ponyville, to buy food for the animals, you can accompany me if you like…”

“Sure!" I shouted with an enthusiastic voice, as the smile returned to my face, "I wanted to visit that town of yours for some time now, lead the way!”

We quickly packed the necessary stuff and went in the direction of Ponyville.

***

We arrived a few minutes later and went directly to the market. I realized everybody was staring at me and whispering between themselves - I guess I can’t blame them, after all, I was something they have never seen before. But then I heard something disturbing (thanks to my enhanced hearing - of course).

“Perhaps he has something to do with the missing…” one pony whispered.
“Yeah, I heard he killed the poor diamond dogs after they surrendered…” another responded.

I didn’t let them know, I was hearing their conversation… It was a bit alarming - but I guessed that every town has a few gossiping idiots.

Finally, we arrived at the pet food shop. “It will take a few minutes - you can wait here, if you want,” Fluttershy said with her calm voice, and I nodded in agreement.

I stood there just looking around - this market was pretty big for a town of this size, they had everything a man… or a pony would need… it kind of reminded me of the markets we used to have back home, before the war - those were good memories.

“You gotta be kidding! Three bits for this crap? I’m not paying more than one!" I heard someone shouting from behind the corner, I went to investigate - two fillies and a stallion were arguing over the price of something.

“Hey! You drank it, you have to pay for it!” said the kid with a pink mane and orange body.

This angered the stallion, who grabbed the filly by the neck. “Or what? You gonna call your favorite, Rainbow Crash to the rescue?”

My blood was boiling - if there was something I couldn't stand, it was child abuse - that, and the stench of peeled fresh cucumber, yuk - I decided to intervene, “Hey, what’s wrong with your cutie mark, man?” I said calmly.

“Wha…” stallion dropped the kid and glanced at his own flanks. “What are you talking about, looks fine as always…”

“Odd," I scratched my chin - pretending to be surprised, "I thought a guy acting like that towards children should have an asshole as his cutie mark,” I said putting a little sarcastic smile.

After hearing my words, the stallion was stunned for a few seconds, while two fillies kept giggling. Finally, his brain rebooted. “WHAT?!... Wait a minute - you must be our local freak, everypony is talking about! You are far from home, buddy - so you better beat it, before something bad happens to you!” he said, trying to sound intimidating - of course, I laughed inside.

I was about to respond when I saw Sweetie Belle and Fluttershy coming from around the corner. “Oh, James, here you are, I was… oh… hello Hoops...” suddenly Fluttershy stopped talking and looked to the ground.

“I should have known!" Hoops shouted with a grin, "You are a friend with Klutzershy! Two local freaky friends! Ha! Ha!”

I glanced at Fluttershy and noticed a tear begun to form in her eyes - she was obviously hurt by what that idiot said - that was the final straw. I just went on autopilot - my right arm grabbed the stallion pegasus by his mane, and pushed his muzzle to the ground with such force that he was unable to breathe.

"Mhh… MHHH!" he had mumbled while trying to break free - but with adrenaline raging through my veins, there was no way. Then he tried to buck me with his hind legs, but since I was already pretty much healed, I barely felt anything.

Fillies were watching my actions with fascination in their eyes - Fluttershy on the other hand just froze, she couldn't say a word - but I could see in her eyes she wanted me to stop.

“Not so cocky against someone who can defend himself, are you?” I said with an irritated voice, as I lifted him in the air by the throat. “You can call me any names you want - I don’t give a damn… but Fluttershy is the kindest person I’ve met, and I will not let a TRASH LIKE YOU, bully her!” I shouted, looking into his eyes.

By then, he was scared shitless. I could feel his pulse - his heart was pounding like there was no tomorrow. “This is your only warning - say or do something like that again, and I swear - will find you, and then...” I crushed his throat strong enough to block the air intake. "Do we understand each other?"

With horror in his eyes - he quickly nodded in agreement. I lowered my grip strength, finally allowing him to breathe. “GOOD! Now, pay the kids what you owe them, apologize to Fluttershy and get the hell out of my sight.”

He did exactly what he was told - quickly paid for the drink, mumbled “I'm sorry…” to Fluttershy, and then flew away as fast as possible.

“Thanks for the help mister. That was awesome! Sweetie Belle was right about you” filly with pink mane shouted with excitement.

“Yeah! If it wasn’t for you, who knows what he would do!” added the other one, with a pink bow on top of her head.

“Well, what did I tell you? Captain that’s my friends - Scootaloo on the left and Apple Bloom on the right” said Sweetie Belle, pointing at the two fillies.

“Pleasure to meet you… I’m just glad I was able to assist, now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go help Fluttershy.”

As I had turned around, I noticed Fluttershy was still staring at the ground, with a sad look on her face. We had quickly packed the animal food, and started walking back to her house - Fluttershy was quiet all the time.

Finally, after some time I decided to break the silence. “Look, um... I'm sorry if I upset you," I said with an embarrassed voice. "I just can't stand bullies."

“You didn't... It’s just… you can get in trouble for what you did," Fluttershy sounded sad, yet concerned at the same time, "I… I just don’t want you to get hurt because of me… I… I am not worth it.”

I smiled and replied calmly, “I doubt anyone in this world is able to really hurt me - and if you worry, I will go to jail, then... Well, I say putting that bully in his place was worth it,” she blushed a bit hearing my words. “But don’t worry - I doubt Mr. Hoops will report this incident - people like him rarely do - trust me.”

***

As we arrived at Fluttershy’s house, I noticed two pegasi guards waiting in the front, next to some carriage. “James Gaz-tozki?” one of them asked.

“Gastovski,” I corrected him, “That’s me.”

“Good day, sir. We were sent by the Princess - she would like to talk to you ASAP,” the other guard said with a stoic voice.

Fluttershy put a surprised look on her face, “Princess wants to see you? Oh my… that’s a real honor.”

My experience from Earth taught me to always be cautious - for all I knew they wanted to cut me to pieces - for 'science,' or to see if they could steal the nano-tech. I decided to do a little test. “And if I refuse…? Do you have orders to bring me by force?”

My question confounded the guards, as well as Fluttershy - it was obvious they were all surprised. After a moment of silence, one of the stallions replied with an uncertain voice, “Um... No sir, but-”

I interrupted before he could finish, “If she doesn’t want to bring me by force, then that's fine - we can go... If that’s ok with you Fluttershy?”

“Of course! Talking to the Princess is an honor and duty, you must go,” she responded with an excited voice. I nodded in agreement and went for the ‘pegasus taxi’ - or whatever this carriage-thing was called.

Some time later we arrived in a city known as Canterlot.

Chapter 7 - The Storyteller

The city was located behind the castle walls - all the buildings looked very nice and clean - I could see a lot of ‘top brass’ ponies walking on the streets. Not really my kind of place, but it looked nice enough.

As we got closer, my head started to hurt. “Argh… APE can you do something about that damn headache?”

“Sensors indicate elevated power levels in this place, that might be causing it, sir. Unfortunately, nano-tech still needs more time to learn to adapt as efficiently as on Earth,” APE responded with his usual ‘charming’ voice.

“Great… I wish I had my ibuprofen with me… or my vodka...” I grumbled.

A few minutes later we arrived at our destination, my guards led me to some kind of reception room, full of ponies - the same ‘top brass’ I saw earlier.

“Please wait here, while we get the Princess,” one of the guards said, and I nodded in agreement.

At that point, my headache got very bad. What’s worse, I noticed, everybody was staring at me - it was uncomfortable, to say the least. Then they started whispering - of course little did they know that with my enhanced ears, I could hear most of it from where I was sitting.

“...oh my, what a weird creature...”
“...look at his outfit - no style what so ever…”
“...how come is this thing allowed to Canterlot? That is an outrage if you ask me...”

Usually, I wouldn't care if someone was gossiping about me - especially if that 'someone' was from 'higher class' - my opinion of those types was so low... - but at that moment, their whispers were aggravating my headache - I snapped.

“ENOUGH!” I shouted, probably producing at least 120 dB. “Would you all kindly stop staring at me, and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS?!”

My outburst didn't silence the whispers - on the contrary, now even more horses were commenting my behavior between themselves. “I’M ARROGANT?!" I shouted again after hearing a comment from a classy mare, "I’m not the one slandering your name behind your back, lady! And YES, I can hear everything you said about me from this distance!” my angry words finally ended all conversations about my person.

I closed my eyes from pain, and said to myself, “Finally some peace…” as it turned out - I spoke too soon…

***

“May I join you?” asked, a soft but confident voice.

By then, my head was hurting so much, I didn’t even bother to open my eyes as I answered with irritation, “...be my guest… this is a public bench anyway…”

I had hoped that the person, who joined me would sit quietly but… no such luck. “So… what’s your business in Canterlot if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I have no idea, I was called by the Princess, and now she makes me wait… damn royalty - reminds me of home, and our politicians...” I answered grumpily.

“I assume, you don’t like royalty very much, do you?”

I don't know why, but my headache started to subside a little. “I don’t like most politicians, royalty or not - all they bring is chaos, destruction and - of course - taxes... At least that’s how it worked in my world."

My interlocutor answer calmly, “I see… perhaps you will find our ‘politicians’ different, I hope you are willing to give them a chance?"

“Sure, that would be a pleasant surprise…” I finally opened my eyes, my head still hurt - but not as severely as a few moments before.

“You seem to be in great pain,” the stranger said to me.

This time, before I answered, I finally took a look at my companion - she was a huge white mare, biggest pony I’ve seen so far, her quadruple-colored mane was constantly in flowing motion.

“Yeah… It’s that damn headache - I don’t know why, but since I arrived in this city, my head started to hurt like hell…” I answered more calmly than before, “interesting hairstyle, by the way.”

The white mare smiled and blushed a little. “Thank you, but I meant the pain you hold inside of you, I can feel it - perhaps you would like to share it with somepony?”

For a moment I hesitated to answer - I mean, talking about something like that to a total stranger, I’ve just met? And who the hell was she anyway? On the other hand - I must admit that somehow I enjoyed our little conversation…

Finally, I replied with a calm voice, "Unless you have been living alone for last 300 years, with nobody to talk to, no purpose whatsoever, cursing your every passing moment of existence and knowing there is not a damn thing you can do about it… I’m afraid you will not understand."

Suddenly my companion's mood changed, her smile was gone - replaced with an expression of astonishment. She replied after a long pause - her voice sounded very sad, “I may not know, what you went through captain, but I would still like to hear it - as there is a pony, that went through similar ordeal… or shall I say - I put her through it.”

I didn't expect that kind of answer, I was shocked - but curious at the same time.

“I dare not ask her, how it was like, but perhaps I could talk to you about it...?” my companion inquired with an uncertain voice.

It took me a while to process what I heard, then I responded with a demanding voice, “Wait a minute… how did you know who I am? Who are you?”

“I am Princess Celestia - I am the one that called you here. I must apologize for not introducing myself earlier, but I was hoping this would ease our conversation,” she replied with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

“Another princess…? I thought Luna called me... Well, I feel insulted,” I said with ironic voice and put on a little angry expression on my face, “... On the other hand, I guess I insulted you somewhat earlier, when I made an ass of myself - while talking about royalty, so... If that’s fine with you, perhaps we can call it even?” I added, trying to lighten the mood a little.

“Very well,” Celestia responded, as a smile returned to her face. “Please follow me - I would like to continue this conversation elsewhere.”

***

We walked for a few minutes through the private part of the palace - it felt like I was in a museum - paintings, and artifacts everywhere. I must say the place was very nice. Finally, we arrived at the inner palace garden, there was a table waiting for us - with a teapot on top.

“Tea?” Celestia asked.

“Sure, why not - although I prefer coffee myself” I responded calmly as she poured a cup. “As for the question you asked earlier, I guess we could talk about it - but first, I need to ask you, who were you referring to when you said there is a pony here who went through a similar ordeal as myself? I would like to meet that person and perhaps talk to him.”

“Not ‘him,’ captain - her, and I believe you've already met.”

For a moment I was lost in thought about who she meant, but my brain quickly put two and two together. “Something tells me you mean Princess Luna, am I correct?”

“Yes… 1000 years ago, she was possessed by evil, and I was forced to send her to the moon. She returned to us, only a few years ago. Since she is an alicorn, she didn’t die - instead, she was trapped there... All alone for all this time..." Celestia paused for a moment and took a sip from her cup, while I looked at her with a stunned expression on my face. "I know she will not admit this to anypony, but she is still hurt inside - to help her I would like to understand her experience,” when she finished her speech, I could see sadness on her face - it was obvious she regretted what she did.

A moment of silence was suddenly interrupted by an electronic voice, “Curious, sir. If what Princess said is true, that would mean ponies are as close to immortality as we are.”

Celestia looked at me confused. “Great entrance APE, making an ass of yourself like a true pro," I shook my head and facepalmed. "Princess, meet APE - Artificial Person Emulator, my personal assistance - and occasional pain in the ass. He is built inside of my head - so if you find me talking to myself, that usually means I talk to him.”

“Usually…?” Princess inquired curiously.

"Well, if I'm drunk enough, then the 'philosopher' mode kicks in, and I really talk to myself - about the sense of life, death and other stuff like that," we both smiled - although I think Celestia thought I was joking.

***

For the next half an hour I told her the story of my life - about Earth, WWIII, etc. - finally the topic she was waiting for the most, arrived. “...after they died, I was alone. For the next few years, I tried searching for survivors but found none. Then…” I took a sip of my teacup, to wash my throat, “I began to lose my mind.”

Celestia waited patiently for the next part, I could see the anticipation in her eyes. I took another sip of tea and continued, “Frankly - I decided to end my miserable life. First, I put a bullet through my brain… only to wake up a few hours later fully healed, then I cut off my head entirely... Only to wake up a few weeks later with a new one," I struck a thinking pose, "Hmm, to this day I don’t know if my body regrew new head or was it the other way around. Anyway... There were many more attempts, but I don’t want to bore you with the details. The last one brought me here,” as I finished talking, I felt my headache was back, I also sensed an adrenaline rush going through my veins - something was wrong, but I tried not to show anything.

After hearing me out, the princess's mood changed again, for about a minute she was just staring into her cup in silence - but her body language told me, she was hurting inside. “Do you think… my sister…” she asked with a sad voice.

“I think we both know the answer to that question, Princess - or rather the probability. Be honest now - if it was you trapped there - wouldn’t you try to end the suffering?” I replied calmly, I could see this wasn’t the answer Celestia was hoping for, but I didn't believe in all that ‘everything will be alright / it’s not your fault’ bullshit.

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, the Princess finally spoke again, “May I ask if you still have those thoughts, captain? Do you think my sister still does?”

Somehow this question was unexpected, and out of my comfort zone, what's worse - my headache was intensifying. I felt another rush of adrenaline as I responded, “I don’t know about your sister, Princess - to be honest, you should probably ask her yourself, as for me - yes I do,” I could see a surprise on Celestia’s face. “This is not for me, I never wanted to be immortal, I’m just a simple man... Damn this headache...”

Suddenly Celestia's mood changed again as she put a smile on her face. “Perhaps fate wants you to be more than that?” she asked calmly.

“Like what?”

“A hero in this world, just like you were to yours.”

By then, my headache was killing me again, and my adrenaline levels were very high - something was wrong, and I knew it. “You know what?! FUCK FATE!” as another adrenaline rush shoot through my system - I lost my self-control and shouted loudly, “I’M NO GOD DAMN HERO! What the hell am I supposed to do?! Live here, with you for eternity?! NO! This is not my… world… what the-” I stopped when I realized my body was glowing.

Suddenly APE sounded the alarm, “Danger! Energy overload - emergency release in 5..4..3.”

“OH SHIT! GET DOWN!” I shouted as I pointed my arms into the air, away from any castle structures.

ZAP!

Pure energy began to shoot from all weapon systems on my arms and head. Plasma discharge was so violent, it was shaking my entire body from left to right, as I desperately tried to stand my ground. Fortunately, I was able to aim outside of any structures, directly at the sun.

“What the HELL?!" I shouted when I noticed the sun started to follow the movement of my arms. "APE emergency shutdown! NOW!”

“Unable to comply, energy discharge is spontaneous, sir. I cannot-”

Before APE could finish his sentence - I had noticed an energy sphere surrounding me, it was Celestia. With her abilities, she tried to help - and it was working. After a few seconds, energy flow stopped - but not before one final jolt went through my entire body knocking me out.

Chapter 8 - For The Greater Good

I woke up in comfy bed - this time for a change, the room was very bright. My body was killing me, I felt like I was hit by the truck or worse - my skin was burning, and my head felt two sizes too small for my brain.

My vision was still a blur, but I could make out some figures around my bed, talking.

“... It was HIM? I thought only you and Luna could do that…” the voice sounded familiar… Twilight Sparkle?

“Apparently it is no longer true - his powers are equal to our own, if not greater… but also, very chaotic,” I realized, this time it was Celestia.

“Indeed - we shall be glad my sister was nearby, as the consequences could be far worse,” this was definitely Luna's voice.

“What are you going to do?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know… but it is obvious something needs to be done - because presently, he is a danger to Equestria," Celestia responded, sounding concerned, "also - I am afraid he might have been involved in... Certain other affairs.”

“What is she talking about?” I said to myself. I didn’t like where their conversation was going - I decided to join in.

“What other ‘affairs’?” I asked calmly, as I sat up in the bed.

Celestia sighed loudly. “For some time now, we were getting reports of ponies, dying publicly in unexplained circumstances. I examined their bodies myself and found out that, everyone had traces of powerful magic at work," the princes said with stoic, yet still, very concerned voice, "powerful enough, to completely replace the victim’s own magical essence - killing him in the process.”

“But what does that have to do with me?” I asked confused.

This time Luna answered, “Only a few creatures we know of, possess such strong magical capabilities, to kill another being in public without being seen or leaving a trace - even fewer, have the ability to do that by forcing its own magical aura over somebody else's-”

Luna was interrupted by her sister, “Only us, Discord, Sombra and few other individuals, can do something like that - but we already checked them all out, their magical signature simply doesn’t match.”

I didn't like where this was going at all - I was accused of being many things, but never a murderer - and it hurt. “Let me get this straight… you think I killed those guys? How could I? I arrived four days ago! And two of those days I spend in Fluttershy’s home, recovering from my injuries,” I said, with an angry voice.

“But are you sure about that?” Celestia asked calmly.

I gave her an annoyed look. “Huh? Of course… I stepped into the quantum chamber in my world, and then woke up in diamond dogs lair.”

“But you don’t know how much time had passed before you woke up - do you?”

“Well, let's see… APE, check logs from internal chronometer and tell us how much time has passed between me, entering the chamber, and waking up in those filthy mutts lair.”

There was a moment of silence, but then APE gave me the bad news, “Unable to comply, I am sorry sir, but logs from that period are not available - log system was shut down due to damage."

“Lucky me... That still proves nothing-” I was interrupted by knocking on the door.

Quickly, a guard had stepped in, gave Celestia some envelope and left, alongside Princess Luna. I could see Celestia's face had saddened, as she read something inside. Finally, after a minute of silence, she gave me the envelope. “Unfortunately, this confirms my fears, captain.”

It was some kind of a report. I could see the header stated: ‘Magical profile comparison chart for subject JG and victims.’ The paper was full of mathematical analysis, charts and other stuff. Below all the technobabble, I finally saw a single statement which pierced through my soul like a hot needle: ‘Average probability assessment: 85%.’

“Impossible…” I said with barely audible voice, as depression struck me down.

For all these years, I did what had to be done - all the killings were for the greater good, or to save the life of the innocent. Occasionally, I felt regret - sometimes even long periods of remorse struck my mind, but in the end, I knew that I killed because I had to. But now - if this was true - then for the first time I was responsible for the death of someone innocent, and what’s worse - I didn’t even remember it...

After what seemed like an eternity, Celestia broke the silence, “This doesn’t prove that you are guilty, captain, but… you do have a problem with controlling your magical - or shall I say ‘technological’ - abilities, and with such powers unchecked-”

I interrupted her before she could finish. “I can fix that - APE, adapt our nano-tech, so no such uncontrollable outburst of energy can ever happen again,” I order - only to be shot down.

“I am sorry, sir, but I am unable to comply. According to my analysis, the outburst happened because nano-probes had tried to directly assimilate this world's quantum particles. Since the local particles contain 3000% the amount of energy, the Earth counterpart does, it caused self-sustainable cascade reaction. Adaptation is possible, but it will take months.”

APE response angered me - my damn technology was enough to make me immortal, but it couldn't adapt to some new quantum particles - it felt like someone's idea of a bad joke. “So what’s your recommendation, then?! I sit on my ass and do nothing, while my body burns this place to the ground?!”

“Sir, I would recommend total isolation for the adaptation period,” APE responded calmly.

It took me a moment to realize what APE just suggested. He was right, of course, I was a threat to Equestria, but the perspective wasn't pleasant - after 300 years of isolation, when I finally found somebody to talk to - I was to be sent away. I glanced at Celestia, and realized what she was thinking about - this was bad. “You want to put me there, don’t you?”

She closed her eyes and responded with a heavy heart, “I… I don’t want to do this, but I don’t see any other choice for the time being-”

“Your Highness, you can’t be serious!” suddenly Twilight who has been listening to the whole time, jumped to my defense. “After what happened to Princess Luna, I cannot believe you even consider, sending someone else there!”

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE! I don’t like this any more than you do, but…” they started to argue fiercely. I took this opportunity to check my situation.

This damn power outburst had damaged me again, but I still was in pretty workable condition, with about 20% power. I looked around and quickly realized I was in one of the castle’s towers, I could see the lights of Ponyville in the distance.

Then it struck me - there was a place I could hide, and not be a danger to anyone - the Everfree forest. Fluttershy told me - it’s not well mapped, and ponies don’t go there often - she also mentioned there are many caves there - including some, that go deep underground - all I had to do is find one.

For a moment I thought, about asking Celestia for the approval, but when I saw her and Twilight still arguing my survival instincts kicked in - it was now or never.

“...you don’t know if he is responsible, how can you-” Twilight was suddenly interrupted by the sound of breaking glass, as I jumped out of the window.

***

My jump was far from perfect, I started to spin in the air, and the ground was getting closer and closer. I managed to say, “Oh shi-” as I landed... Flat on my stomach, with a loud 'thud' sound. “Ugh… this is gonna leave a mark.”

As I stood up, I heard Celestia shouting from the tower window, “Guards! Catch him!”

There was no time to lose - I ran as quickly as possible towards Canterlot’s giant waterfall, passing garden attractions, and statues. I was about 500 meters away when some pegasus guard had knocked me over - and then two dozen more ponies joined him. None of them was a match of course, but I didn’t want to hurt them too badly - they were just doing their duty after all - so instead of using brute force, I set my build-in particle cannon to stun and started shooting.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Three guards were lying on the grass stunned from pain, the rest was trying desperately to hold me down, but it was no use - with a combination of strength and precision, I was knocking them down - one by one. Still, more and more kept coming. Soon, I was surrounded by about 40 angry horses.

“Oh, I don’t have time for this, sorry guys…” I said and then released, a single spherical blast that knocked them down, all at once.

I quickly got up and glanced at my handiwork: all the guards that just a moment ago surrounded me were now lying in agony - some were only stunned, others were burned, a few were bleeding. “...that was a bad idea…” I thought to myself, but since there was nothing I could do - I started to run towards the waterfall again.

About 50 meters away from my destination - I felt a powerful blast to my legs and fell down. When I turned around, I saw another guard - a unicorn - standing above me, holding me down with his magic.

“That’s far enough! Surrender in the name of Celestia!” he said with a confident voice.

“Sorry friend, no can do... Look - I don’t want to hurt you, let me go,” I asked gently when I saw the Princess in the distance and more guards on the way.

“Never!” he responded, increasing his grip.

“For fuck's sake - why all of you, have to be so stubborn… Very well, you want to do it the hard way... SO BE IT!” as I finished my sentence, I released another powerful energy blast.

While it did break me free of his magical grip, it didn't knock him out. He was still standing above me with an angry face, trying to hold me down with his hooves. We started struggling.

He shot me a few times with his magic, causing some minor damage. I tried to get him off with my strength, but every time I did, he just jumped back at me - stubborn bastard. Celestia and her guards were closing in - it was now or never - I finally decided to shoot back... Only to realize he was protected by some energy shield.

“Shields holding, eh? Let’s try this!” I shouted as I had grabbed him and sent energy directly through my hand. As predicted - his shield couldn’t stop that. He was still struggling through the pain - I must say, I admired his determination - but his power was fading fast. Finally – after a few more seconds, I was free.

Suddenly I heard a scream coming from a distance, “SHINING ARMOR! NO!” it was Twilight. Only then, I realized that while we were struggling, we were sliding downhill - and now, were only a few meters from the precipice! I already stopped my motion, but the stunned stallion was still going - out of control.

Time stood still - thousands of scenarios were playing in my head - my brain processing them one by one. The conclusion was always the same - I made a wrong choice, I messed up - and now, an innocent person was going to pay for my mistake...

As a soldier, I've made many mistakes - some only costed a lost military hardware, others costed the life of my fellow troopers - but to my knowledge, I have never taken the life of the innocent, and I wasn't about to start that day. "Hold on!" I shouted and milliseconds later - jumped to the rescue.

I quickly realized I didn't even calculate the jump - it was all instinct. As I was flying through the air, time slowed down again - I could see Shining Armor was starting to fall down, his lower body was already below the ledge... Getting lower and lower…

“GOTCHA!” I shouted as I grabbed the stallion’s hoof. On his face I could see horror mixed with confusion - he definitely didn't expect the rescue would come from me.

I had to use both hands to hold him, and now we were both slipping down. “HEY! Help me, dammit, and hold on!” I shouted to him - he understood and grabbed my left hand tightly.

My right hand quickly let go and went behind me - trying to hold on to something. And it worked - I had grabbed some object, and it started to pull us back. Only after, we were both on the safe ground, I realized that I was holding to Twilight’s horn the whole time. Celestia and her guards were only meters away.

“Run…” Twilight said, with her soft voice, while hugging her brother.

I thought about it for a moment, I was only meters away from the precipice, I could probably make it... But I decided not to. “No, this is enough,” I shook my head.

Twilight was confused and surprised. “But… why? She is going to…” she asked, with tears in her eyes.

“Twilight…" I shook my head again and responded with my eyes closed, "I don’t want to be the cause of any more deaths or suffering, you almost lost a relative because of me - what do you think, she'll do if I escape?”

“Probability indicates, a full-scale pursuit will be ordered,” APE responded to my question.

“Exactly - and there will probably be casualties… No, this ends here,” as I responded, Celestia’s guards were already all around me. “I surrender.”

Twilight didn’t say anything, but I think she knew I was right - she just put her head down, and stared at the ground, as tears were flowing from her eyes.

***

I was taken to the ‘departure point’ - as we arrived, I could see some contraption: in the center, there was a spherical pad, surrounded by something that looked like a few gyroscopes merged together.

“Please, step on the pad,” Celestia asked - or rather - commanded, with a firm voice and I complied. She had begun to charge her horn, but before she could discharge it, a blue blur landed in between her and me - it was Luna… and she looked angry.

“SISTER! We don’t believe what We are seeing! Stop this foolishness right now!” she shouted with anger, catching Celestia off guard.

After a moment, the Princess of the Sun responded - calmly but firmly, “Luna, step aside - this has to be done.”

Luna didn't comply - on the contrary, I could see that Celestia's comment, only fueled her anger. “NO!" she shouted with her 'royal voice' "We shall not allow this! As only We know what awaits him there!”

Both sisters were staring at each other - Luna with anger, Celestia with confusion - I knew she didn’t want to hurt her sister, but I could also see, she was determined to do what she planned - I decided to step in.

“Princess… please, let it go,” I said to Luna with a calm voice - now she was confused.

“But… my sister is planning to-” she started to speak, but I interrupted.

“I know… but as I explained already to Twilight - I prefer this, over being the cause of more suffering and deaths… It’s logical.”

“Logical?! This isn’t logic! This is insanity!”

I sighed loudly and responded with some sadness in my voice, “It is painful, but it is logical - as someone once said: ‘The needs of the many outweigh, the needs of the few.’”

It took a moment for the blue mare to process what I just said, she opened her mouth a few times, probably trying to put forward some counterargument, but deep in her heart, she knew I was right. Finally, after some time had passed, she responded with sorrow in her voice, “Or the one... We… I believe I understand."

Celestia was listening calmly to our conversation - surprisingly, she had shown no emotions. “I am sorry this has to be done, but… I am glad you understand the reason - and I sincerely hope this is only temporary.”

“I do understand - but that doesn’t make it right. I’m only willing to do this to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, nothing more. And by the way, do you remember, our little chat earlier and what I said about politicians?" Celestia put a puzzled expression on her face. "I’m sorry to say, there was no pleasant surprise - you act in the same way as the rest of them. Now, do your thing, and let’s get this over with.”

Princess glanced at the ground with shame and hesitated for a moment. Suddenly, her horn started glowing, the intensity increasing with every passing second. Then energy discharged from it, and hit the first gyroscope ‘thing,’ then jumping to another, and another, in the end - hitting the pad I was standing on. Two seconds later, there was a bright flash…

When my eyes adjusted, I had found myself on the gray surface of the moon - my body was burning, as it tried to adapt to the lack of oxygen.

“Alone… again...”

Chapter 9 - Shadows and Symbols

After sending the captain, to the moon, Celestia had hoped everything would get back to normal… or as normal as could be expected - unfortunately, it was not to be. In the following months, Equestria’s troubles just kept piling up. Random pony deaths still occurred, but what’s even worse, magic ‘holes’ - places where magic was nonfunctional - started to form, disappear and then re-appear, all over the country.

“Twilight! Darling stop, please!” Rarity shouted to the purple alicorn.

“Oh, hi Rarity… Look, I need to hurry for my train - what’s on your mind?" Twilight asked, but in reality - she already knew the question.

“I think you know the answer to that, my dear… It has been three months - how long does Celestia intend to keep him there?”

Twilight looked to the ground, she knew she didn't have the answer to that question. “I don’t know… every time Luna or I try to talk about him, she immediately changes the subject… I guess she got her hooves full with the current crisis," she answered with resigned voice, "In any case, I doubt he will return anytime soon - I am sorry.”

Rarity didn't respond at first, but deep inside she was furious - to her James was a hero, he not only saved her and her little sister, but he was also a friend to Fluttershy, and defended her from that bully Hoops - how could Celestia do this to him?

In the meantime, Twilight’s train arrived - before she was able to board it, Rarity finally spoke her mind. “This is… this is an OUTRAGE if you ask me!” she shouted angrily.

“Rarity, I know how you feel - but for now, there is nothing I can do…” Twilight responded with a sad voice, as she boarded the train.

She knew precisely how Rarity felt - while she and Fluttershy were hit the hardest by the news of the captain’s ‘whereabouts,’ Twilight herself was also hurt deeply. She knew he saved her brother when he didn’t have to and surrendered willingly to save lives. Since even after his departure, ponies were still dying in unexplained circumstances - both she and Celestia knew, he was not responsible for the deaths, they suspected him of earlier. So why didn’t she want to bring him back? It didn’t make sense…

***

When Twilight arrived at the briefing room - everypony else was already there, waiting for her. “Alright, since Twilight is here we shall get started,” Celestia said. “Captain, report.”

“I am afraid we got more bad news. Three more ponies died from this weird magic, and we still weren’t able to identify the culprit. What we can say with near certainty, is that captain Gastovski is not responsible,” Shining Armor said, hoping for some reaction from the Princess relating to James, but she remained stoic, “we also got reports of another weird magical shifts - apparently magic stopped working in the center of Manehattan for two hours yesterday, then returned to normal, similar thing happened in Cloudsdale and Appaloosa. I’m afraid we still can’t explain it, your majesty-”

“What we do know,” Luna interrupted, “is that these magical shifts or ‘holes’ are getting stronger - at first only unicorn magic was affected, but now pegasus flying powers, as well as earth ponies stamina is too.”

“But how these ‘holes’ are formed,” Twilight interjected, “or how they work, is still a mystery - they seem to be localized phenomena, but other than that we don’t know much.”

Celestia stood up, and walked towards a window in silence… everypony knew she was under a lot of pressure to sort this out and yet - she couldn’t find any answers. Finally, she asked with her stoic voice, “Do you think he could do any of those things, from the moon?”

There was silence - everypony knew this was next to impossible, even Celestia herself wouldn’t be able to affect Equestria directly from that distance. “Your Highness,” Twilight responded, “this is impossible… whatever is happening, the answers lie somewhere here.”

Suddenly, another pony revealed himself from the shadow of the room, he was a black alicorn, his cutie mark was a gray shuriken on a black background, he was wearing a ninja-like outfit and carried two swords on his back. “She is absolutely right my dear Tia."

***

“SHADOWDANCER?! But that’s-” Celestia couldn't believe her eyes.

“Impossible? Hardly… that’s your problem, Tia. You always use temporary solutions to permanent problems - Sombra, Discord and ME,” the voice of the black figure was chilling, and his eyes were full of menace.

“Enough! Whoever you are, you are speaking to the ruler of Equestria! Show some respect!” Shining Armor demanded as he drew his sword.

“I admire your spirit, but your lack of respect for MY persona saddens me… perhaps a little lesson will fix that?” Shadowdancer said with a grin on his face, and then a bolt of black magic hit Shining Armor directly to the chest, sending him to the nearest wall.

“BROTHER!” Twilight shouted in horror, as she saw Shining Armor lying motionless on the floor. “YOU MONSTER!” she tried to charge her horn, but Celestia stopped her.

“What do you want Shadowdancer?” Celestia asked with unrest in her voice.

The black figure went slowly to the nearest window, turning his back towards the Princess. “I am here, to take back what you have taken from me. And I am not alone Princess, we are ALL back - the Clan of Shadows is reborn! And this time we will make sure there are no interruptions to our plans!” he said calmly with a chilling voice.

Twilight - who was still near her unconscious brother - stood up and inquired angrily, “Who are you…? Why did you attack my brother?!”

"Twilight Sparkle... Is it? Don’t worry… he is only stunned - this time. And who am I? Hmm, I guess, I am not surprised you don’t know - Celestia made sure of that. Do you know the story of pony unification?” Twilight nodded to confirm - only to be interrupted abruptly, “No, you don’t! Or at least you don’t know the whole story - perhaps it is time to introduce your student to that forbidden part of the history, my dear Princess?”

Reluctantly, Celestia agreed and started talking, “Before the unification, most ponies lived in small communities, without anybody ruling over them, but there were exceptions - one of them was a country ruled by the ‘Clan of Shadows’ - Shadowdancer here, was their leader.

“They were a group of unicorns who only accepted the strong - those who didn’t pass their ‘initiation’ test were forced as slaves to the rest of their community. They also enslaved others - especially earth ponies, seeing them as lower life forms,” Celestia sighed heavily.

“They were the only pony nation that not only refused unification - they officially opposed it! Threatening to start a war at every opportunity. This finally happened, by the time Luna and I became the rulers of Equestria.

“During that brief war, many ponies died, many others were enslaved, but in the end Clan of Shadows was defeated and Shadowdancer killed… or so we thought. I ordered that history wiped forever, so no other ponies would ever try, to follow their ‘ideals.’”

Shadowdancer put a sarcastic smile. “As you can see, the reports of my death were greatly exaggerated - we were just waiting for the right moment to act. The first time we tried to strike 1000 years ago with Nightmare Moon,” he pointed his hoof at Luna, “but we didn’t know the true power of the Elements of Harmony back then, so she lost-”

“It was YOU?!" Luna suddenly interrupted his speech, "The voices… We knew they sounded familiar but... YOU?!”

“Yes… actually, I must commend you, my dear Luna - you were extremely resilient! We had to brainwash you slowly for months before you cracked… I was actually looking forward to having you by my side,” Shadowdancer responded calmly, with a sincere voice. “Anyway, as I was saying, the Elements of Harmony saved you back then Tia… but not this time.”

“We shall see about that!” Celestia responded with irritation.

“Oh… but we already have… all those magic ‘holes’ you witnessed, all the 'accidental' deaths - didn’t that gave you any clue?” Shadowdancer answered with a mocking voice.

“You did this? You killed those ponies? Answer ME!”

The black figure shook his head. "Those who died did it willingly - they were our own people, part of the clan - they were willing to become our test subjects."

"Test subjects for what?" Twilight inquired.

Shadowdancer replied with a grin, “We are draining Equestria of its magic, or rather we are making it incompatible with your people. Thanks to the Tree of Harmony, soon none of you will be able to use your powers. Our people sacrificed themselves, to make this possible."

For the first time in millennia Celestia look really scared. If what he said was true, then soon Equestria would be defenseless. “YES… ironic is it not? The same instrument that saved your precious country many times over will be its doom this time!”

“NO! I won’t let you!” the Princess tried to shoot her magic, but to her horror - only a few sparks came out of her horn. Luna tried as well, but with the same effect.

“Hrmph, fools! It’s already over - your magic is GO-”

BAM!

Twilight managed to fire her horn just fine, hitting gloating Shadowdancer, and sending him across the room.

***

There was no time to lose. “Twilight QUICKLY! You must get to the tree of harmony! Undo whatever they did!" Celestia shouted as she used her physical strength to hold Shadowdancer down. Twilight didn’t need to be ordered twice, she jumped out of the window, just as the clan followers broke down the door to the meeting room.

“Stop her! Stop that alicorn!” Shadowdancer shouted, and then all hell broke loose - many unicorns on the ground started shooting. Twilight was dodging incoming fire the best she could, but finally one of the shots hit her wing.

“ARGH! OH NO!” she shouted to herself as she crash-landed in Canterlot’s castle gardens.

With her wing injured, It was obvious she will not make it to Ponyville, not to mention the Tree of Harmony. What’s worse, she could already see ponies running in her direction - some of them were wearing royal armor, but she knew they were probably Shadowdancer followers.

“OH What to do?! What to do?! Think Twilight thi-” suddenly, she realized she was near captain Gastovski's ‘departure point’ - she saw no other options, she quickly jumped onto the pad and started charging her horn. It was difficult - the power drain was beginning to affect her as well.

“Almost there… ARGH!” Twilight shouted when one of the guards knocked her to the ground.

“Surrender Princess! There is no way to run!”

“Except… UP!” she discharged her horn into the gyroscope-like thing.

“Missed me, you stupid mare! What did you try to-” guard stopped and quickly jumped off the platform when he realized what she did.

A second later, a bright flash of light occurred, and Twilight passed out…

Chapter 10 - Paradise Lost

Twilight was slowly regaining consciousness, her body was numb from cold, and her lungs were burning as if someone has poured hot Tabasco in there. “Hello...? Where... Am... I?” she asked confused, fighting the pain.

“You… my dear princessss are on the mooooon,” said the familiar voice, "I was hoping she’ll send Lunaaaa but… I guess someee company is alright.”

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, her vision was still blurry, but she could make out something standing above her. “Captain…?”

“Well, who did youuu expect? You loook thirsty... Here drink something,” I passed the bottle to the alicorn, and she took a sip.

“... … … *cough* … … *cought*... … *SIGH* wha… what is thi..is...” Twilight whispered as she was gasping for oxygen (or whatever gas was in this place).

“BAH! Ethanol of course… 98% - purest fuel in the universe if youuu ask mee,” I answered giggling. "And THE BEEEST anti-depressant too."

Twilight took a look at me and put a shocked expression on her face. “You… are drunk?!”

“Yup... I’m on a vodka diet, I’ve lost three days already!" I answered with a giggle but Twilight was not amused - her purple eyes were staring at me with frustration, “...ehh you gonna staaare like that the whole time…? FINE… APE, engage the sobering program."

“Sobering in progress ... ... ...” a few seconds later APE added, “sobering complete.”

I clutched my head with both my hands and sat down on the cold lunar ground.

“You OK?”

“Yeah… it's just hangover - sobering program can make me sober, but it doesn’t prevent a hangover headache - I’ll manage… what brings you here anyway? You took Celestia’s favorite toy or something?” I asked with an ironic voice.

“No… oh... Where to begin - a lot has happened since you were sent here…” during the next 10 minutes, Twilight told me everything that happened during the last three months, her story would put a lot of Earth's conspirators to shame, “... I barely escaped, but others were probably captured, please help us.”

I was listening with fascination and some dark satisfaction. “So, what you are saying is that the 'know it all' Princess will get her ass kicked?” I said with some amusement in my voice. “She deserves it if you ask me.”

“You were not listening to me - it’s not about Celestia…” Twilight shook her head in frustration and got up, “This, Shadowdancer - whoever he is - wants to rule over whole Equestria no matter the costs! I need to do something, will you help me?”

“Sorry, but the last time I had helped some of your people, I got sent here," I responded with a sarcastic voice, "and even if I wanted to, there is no way back to the planet, yet.”

Twilight didn’t like my answer at all her face quickly tensed - I could see she was angry. “How can you say that?!" she shouted, "I know Celestia did wrong by sending you here but-”

“YOU KNOW NOTHING!" I interrupted angrily, making Twilight take a few steps back, "Nobody can understand… Oh wait, actually I take that back - Luna can, but then again, so what...”

I sat down on the ground again, staring at the faraway planet and trying to calm myself down. “I’m just… disappointed, disappointed as hell,” my voice was filled with frustration.

Slowly, Twilight approached and sat down next to me. “With Celestia?”

“With her, you, Luna… with all ponies - you are not much different than humans, you fear what you don’t understand, you are quick to judge, slow to learn.”

“That’s not true!” Twilight tried to protest, but I just ignored her.

“At first I thought you were different, that you would not make the same mistakes we did… but - if that’s true - then what am I doing here... Or you, for that matter?” I replied with disappointment in my voice.

For a moment Twilight tried to counter… but I could see she couldn’t find the words. “Hard to argue with that argument, is it? And this really is sad…”

My speech caused something to break inside her. We sat in silence for the next five minutes. Twilight was just staring at the ground, soon I could see the water forming in her eyes. “Please… I beg you… help me… somehow,” she mumbled as she began to cry.

I glanced at her - helpless, crying, begging for my help... This brought back memories - of another girl, on another planet. She also begged me to help her - but I failed, miserably. To this day, I remember her stare as life was escaping her body - her eyes pleading for me to do something, anything… but I was powerless. All this technology, and power and I couldn’t do a goddamn thing. That day I swore to myself, that the next time I'll have the chance, I'll do everything in my power to set things right.

And yet... One part of me just wanted all ponies to suffer - that small voice in my head started to whisper that I should be glad, that they'll get what they deserve. That little voice, was the projection of all of my pain and anger, and it grew louder with every passing moment - classic battle of good against evil was going inside of me, and the dark side was winning - it proved beyond any doubt, that I was damned.

***

“I almost forgot – here,” Twilight interrupted my daydream, as she took two envelopes from her saddlebag, and handed them to me.

“What’s this?”

“It’s from Rarity and Fluttershy… they wanted me to ask Celestia to send you those - I guess I didn’t have the chance...”

The first letter was from Rarity:

Dear James, my HERO - I am very sorry to hear what Celestia did to you… This is an outrage! I will do wherever I can to persuade the Princess to bring you back as soon as possible - frankly darling when I heard what happened, I was so angry I wanted to ride directly to Canterlot to give her a piece of my mind! But Twilight stopped me (poor thing - I am afraid she got ‘the message’ I intended for Celestia… including all the yelling - I will have to make it up to her, and apologize somehow).

I am sure, you didn’t do any of those things they accuse you of, hope to see you soon.

Forever your Friend
Rarity

P.S.
Once you are back - I am planning to make you a fabulous tuxedo! It will be worth all the wait - I promise.

"Hmm, predictable..." I said with an indifferent voice.

"What do you mean?" Twilight inquired.

"Only that this letter was predictable - my bet is on Stockholm syndrome or something - I saved her once, and now we are 'friends forever'? What a load of crap!” I answered with an irritated voice.

Twilight's jaw dropped - she was obviously shocked by what I just said. "How can you say that?! Rarity really does consider you a friend! You have no idea what she went through..."

"I believe you - the problem is, that's all because I saved her - her mind thinks I'm some kind of hero..." I answered grumpily with a sarcastic smile. "Let me ask you this - if she or you, would have met me in different circumstances… I don't know, during a party, or some social gathering - do you seriously think, we would become friends?"

Silence filled the air again, Twilight didn't respond. Instead, she started staring at the ground - her face switched from sad to depressed.

The second letter was from Fluttershy, immediately after I pulled it out from the envelope I noticed something odd… the piece of paper had many strange stains on it, and the ink was smudged.

Dear James, I… I don’t even know what I want to tell you in this letter. I tried again, and again to write something meaningful, something cheerful, but I know, no words can alleviate your pain.

I don’t understand how Celestia could do such a thing... We all heard the accusation of course - but I will never believe them! I might have known you only for a few days, but I KNOW you would NEVER do any of those things!

I guess what I’m trying to say is… I’m sorry… so sorry… I’m sorry for what has happened, I’m sorry I couldn’t prevent it, but most of all… I’m sorry that I can’t convince Celestia to bring you back… I’m sorry for being so worthless and useless...

Twilight told me she will keep trying to convince the Princess to bring you back, I hope… NO! I’m SURE she will be able to succeed where I have failed…

Somepony who failed you in the time of need
Fluttershy

Suddenly, I felt a gentle poke. "Captain?"

"Uh... Yes?"

"You were staring at that letter for last 15 minutes. Is something wrong?"

"What...?" only then, I realized - I read that letter over and over again.

I had known Fluttershy only for two days - but during that time, I learned she was unique - she hid her emotions under her mask of shyness, only revealing herself to her true friends, she was also the kindest and most caring person I've met - she accepted me right away, even though I was so different.

My 'dark side' was whispering, that her letter was the same as the one from Rarity, that Fluttershy didn't know what she was writing about, but was it? I couldn't decide... I was stuck in a loop.

I took another look at the letter, and suddenly clarity struck my soul - I realized that those strange 'stains' on the paper, were actually teardrops - Fluttershy teardrops. Even though she knew me for only two days, she considered me a friend - her suffering was proof of that.

"Fluttershy, you naive little thing..." I mumbled when I felt something hit my arm. "What the...? Oh great..." I quickly turned my back to Twilight, trying to hide what was happening to me.

"You OK?" she asked with a concerned voice and started to approach me.

I was fighting myself, but it was a losing battle. "It's just... It... Fluttershy..." then it happened - I cracked and for the first time in a few hundred years - burst into tears. Seeing this, Twilight - who was now next to me - put her right wing over my shoulder and hugged me gently, then she began to cry herself - we were both weeping heavily.

I don’t know for how long I was embarrassing myself, but finally, after some time passed, I broke the silence. “*Sniff* Some tough guy I am… crying on your shoulder, huh?” I said trying to lighten the mood a little.

Twilight put a smile and responded softly, “I think we both needed it.”

I got up and wiped away my tears - my mind was never so clear, I knew what had to be done. "Alright, I'll help you - come with me."

***

We walked for a few minutes until we reached my ‘hideout’ - a small underground cave. We went inside through the airlock. The structure contained what I was able to build in the last three months - using my nano-tech, and all the knowledge I compiled during 300 years of my journey.

On the left there was a huge mainframe, calculating something, a constant hum could be heard from the computer. On the right, I kept my chemistry lab - vials and flasks were everywhere, further down - there was a power station and other machines.

Twilight, couldn't hide her excitement. “Wh… what is this place?!”

“Well… you didn’t expect me to sit on my ass, for the next 1000 years, did you?” I responded with a smile. “Thanks to what you have shown me earlier, and my nano-tech, I was able to build all this.”

“But HOW?” Twilight inquired.

“Simple - watch.”

I picked up a pile of moon soil, few second later energy field showed up and… FLASH! Instead of the dirt - I was holding two bright red apples in my hand. I handed one to Twilight.

“MAGIC?! But… but...” she looked shocked.

“Quantum level matter to energy conversion actually, but yeah - you call it magic. We’ve been over this, already - I don’t understand why you are so shocked.”

“It’s not that - I knew you could do quantum… something, but I thought the magical energy was limited to Equus, that’s why Luna could escape the moon, only when stars were in alignment, restoring her magic temporarily...” Twilight responded with her analytic voice.

“Not at all… technically speaking - and I’m not that technical on this subject - some kind of quantum physics is used in both cases. Every place has different particles and requires a slightly different process to make it work. That’s why I nearly burned Canterlot to the ground - my nano-probes were not able to adapt to very powerful particles found in Equestria…”

I stopped for a moment to take a bite of my apple, Twilight also started to eat, listening to me curiously. “Anyway, as far as I can tell, your people simply adapted to the particles you have on the planet - unicorns the most - your horn, can, in essence, do naturally, what I do with nano-tech.”

I took another bite. “I think this ‘Clan of Shadows’ must have found a way to manipulate this process…” I struck a thinking pose when an idea hit my mind, “hmm… could you, try to do some magic?”

Twilight tried, but only small sparks came out of her horn - sad expression appeared on her face again. “This is pointless… I can’t do anything without my magic, I'm useless...” she said with sorrow in her voice.

“Hmm APE, would it be possible to adapt some of our nano-tech to help?” I asked calmly.

“Theoretically, it should be possible. However, we would have to-”

“Spare me the detail, just tell me how long would it take?”

“Probability assessment suggests a few hours - but we would have to run some tests on the Princess first.”

Twilight who was listening to our conversation asked with a confused voice, “What exactly do you want to do to me…?”

“Well… if I’m right - we could use some of my nano-tech to fix your magic… if you are willing to try-”

Before I could finish, she shouted with excitement. “OF COURSE!”

Her mood was already improving. “Good. But I have to warn you - this is experimental. And there may be risks,” I informed her calmly.

“I understand. Let’s proceed,” she responded, and I could see a smirk of excitement on her face.

***

For the next few hours, we were running test, after test, after test. Twilight was forced to constantly try to use her magic - with every try, her enthusiasm was being slowly replaced with frustration.

I was monitoring my computer's screen, when the progress bar, finally hit 100%. “OK, that’s it - mapping is complete."

“Finally, ugh...” Twilight responded as she collapsed from exhaustion.

“OK. APE, prepare the modified nano-probes. ETA?”

APE responded with his usual precise calculation, “8 minutes 22 seconds, please stand by,” then we waited.

I could see Twilight was nervous, but excited at the same time, and while I didn’t show it, I was actually curious myself. After exactly 8 minutes and 22 seconds, a hypo pistol was ready. “Finally… OK, this may sting a little,” I said as I injected the Princess. “Done… come on outside, time to test this.”

For the first few minutes nothing seemed to have changed, Twilight still couldn’t use her magic - only small sparks were coming out of her horn - with every passing moment her frustration was growing.

“APE what is going on? Shouldn’t it be working, by now?” I asked concerned.

APE responded calmly - as always, “Perhaps our mapping procedure was incorrect, further tests may be neces-”

“Argg… it’s just pointless!” Twilight interrupted, with anger and disappointment. “I can’t do this… I just…”

BAAAAM!

Suddenly, her horn discharged, hitting me directly into the chest and sending me into the air. A 'deja vu' moment struck me when I realized I was flying out of control... Again. "This is gonna leave another mark..." I managed to say, as I crashed on the nearby mountain.

A few seconds later Twilight teleported right in front of me. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

“Uuu… that was something! Some power you got there!” I responded actually giggling a little. “Don’t worry, this will regenerate in a few moments - in the meantime, I suggest you test your magic some more.”

And she did exactly that - for about 10 minutes she tried many spells, and all worked perfectly. I could finally see a smile on her face, the good old Twilight was back. We both returned to the hideout in a good mood.

***

“Earlier I told you there is no way back to the planet yet, well... That’s not exactly true.” I pointed at one of my contraptions. “I present you the Fast Travel System or FTS. Still a prototype, but it will have to do."

"What is it exactly?" Twilight asked.

“Well, this thing allows you to travel... FAST - that’s how we’re gonna get back to Equestria. Technically, it's a micro-wormhole generator. Normally I would run tests for a few more months, but it doesn’t seem we have the time,” she nodded in agreement, and I started to calibrate the machine.

“Twilight… let’s make one thing clear - you want my help, fine. But we are doing this my way, that means - there will be blood, and there will be deaths,” I informed her coldly.

It took a moment for Twilight to respond, she obviously didn’t consider this until now. “I… understand,” she finally said with an unsure voice.

“Have you ever taken a life? I don’t have a problem killing bad guys… Hell, I enjoy it - this is one thing that never gets old he, he…” she gave me a worried look. “Ahem, anyway - realize this: I may be the one man army, but I'll still need help - that means you must be willing to KILL... Are you?”

I stopped for a moment and glanced at her, only to notice her smile was gone and she was staring at the ground again. I knew from experience that killing wasn't something that comes naturally to most people, and Twilight wasn't exactly a trained soldier either - I didn't know what to expect. “If it comes to that… I will not hesitate,” she finally answered, but her voice sounded very reluctant.

“I hope so… all right, get some sleep. I need to calibrate this contraption and gear up - there is a room with a bed, downstairs - second door to the left,” Twilight nodded in agreement and went to bed.

"Rest well, Princess - you gonna need it..."

***

In the morning, I replicated some breakfast for Twilight, and after she ate, we discussed our strategy. The plan was simple: we will teleport to the Tree of Harmony, undo whatever Shadowdancer did, and when princesses regain their magic - we will help kick that bastard's ass - simple… in theory.

APE was processing the final checklist. “All system check, weapons check, ammo check, nano-probes check, vodka check-”

“Vodka?” Twilight interrupted and gave me her annoyed look again.

I responded, smiling sarcastically, “WHAT? That’s the most important item on that list!” she shook her head in disbelief, but let it go.

“Coordinates have been set to the Tree of Harmony, ready to proceed,” APE stated with his electronic voice.

“OK... Ready?” I asked Twilight one last time, and she nodded. “All right then. Engage!”

A bright light surrounded our bodies, and seconds later - we were teleported into the unknown…

Chapter 11 - Heroes and Demons

The sound of static was slowly fading away, then stopped entirely for a moment, only to be replaced by the sound of the howling wind.

“I think we made it… but something doesn’t-”

I was interrupted by Twilight’s scream, “Yaaaahhh! I don’t feel my hooves!”

A second later I was finally able to regain my vision - there was good and bad news:

Good news: we did it, we were definitely on the planet, and Twilight did have her legs were they supposed to be.

Bad news: we were nowhere near the Tree of Harmony, in fact... We were few hundred meters in the air - falling FAST. “Twilight! Flap your wings, NOW!” I shouted.

“Wha…?”

“Your legs are fine - transporter put as in the air! FLY!”

In the meantime Twilight finally opened her eyes, and realized our situation - by then we were just meters from the ground. “Arghhh!!” she put her wings into overdrive, but it was too late, at this rate, we would never have slowed down in time.

“OK, plan B!” I yelled as I grabbed and pulled her close to my chest. I could feel Twilight's heart pounding like crazy, then the sound of branches breaking on my back started.

SNAP! … CRACK! … BAM! … … THUD!!

We finally landed - I was lying on my back with Twilight on top of me - fortunately, my body managed to absorb most of the impact energy. “Ugh… you OK?” Twilight asked, stepping off my chest.

“Yeah… more or less…” I responded calmly - my back hurt like hell, and few ribs were probably broken, but it would regenerate in a matter of minutes. “I guess that’s what you get for skipping beta testing… where are we anyway - APE?”

Twilight had responded, before APE managed to analyze the situation, “I think this is Everfree forest…”

“The Princess is correct - apparently coordination system still lacks precision, I will make a note on the TODO checklist,” APE responded - calm as always. “According to the guidance system, we are 2 kilometers southeast from Ponyville and 3 kilometers from our original destination.”

“OK, let’s go see the Tree then, it’s not far,” I said, and Twilight nodded in agreement.

***

We walked slowly, Twilight was in front guiding me. This forest was not like the rest of Equestria, it was pretty much like the tropical jungle in South America - tall trees obscuring the view of the sky, branches of plants so thick, that you could not see more than 10 meters in front of you and sounds of wild animals all around us… After being stuck on that silent pile of gray rock, for the last three months - I actually enjoyed the vivid experience, but I could tell Twilight was pretty nervous - watching every step she took, and scanning her surrounding constantly.

Finally, after about two hours - we arrived at the tall staircase that led down to the Tree of Harmony. “This is it? Hmm, I thought it would be bigger...” I said, trying to lighten up the mood a little.

Twilight glanced at the tree for a moment. “Looks pretty normal at this distance...” she responded more to herself than to me.

After a moment, we continued towards our destination, the Princess was still cautious, so I managed to be a few meters in front of her. About 20 meters from the target, I felt a tearing pain.

ZAP!

“Argh… what the…” I was struck by a force-field that just revealed itself around the tree. It was a powerful thing - it ripped some flesh of my left arm in the process.

“Are you OK?!” Twilight asked with a concerned voice.

“Yeah… no… problem…” I responded, trying to hide the pain - fortunately the wound started to regenerate already - emitting a light glow, “however, this force field might be problematic to bypass - any hints APE?”

“Negative at this time, sir, this is the strongest force-field, we encountered so far - the magnitude is of the scale, unknown energy source-”

As luck would have it, APE was interrupted as some energy beam struck the shield - powering it up... And sending all of us 10 meters back in the process. “... Correction - energy source is probably external - energy beam came from the vicinity of Canterlot,” APE finished as if nothing happened.

I got myself up slowly. “Ugh... Something tells me this - Shadowdancer is powering that thing with his own magic,” Twilight nodded in agreement. “All right, APE engage the adaptation program anyway - perhaps there is a way around it. In the meantime, however, there is nothing we can do here,” I said with irritation.

For a moment, we were lost in our thoughts, to be honest - as a strong believer in Murphy's law I wasn't surprised that our original plan failed, but I could see Twilight was more distressed. “I guess we are going with plan 'B'” I said calmly breaking the silence. “We should check out Ponyville before going to Canterlot.”

Twilight responded with indifferent voice while poking at the ground with her hoof, “I guess so…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought we could somehow fix the Tree of Harmony, and get this over with," she said - still staring at the ground, "but now… I am just - worried I guess.”

I gently lifted her chin, so we were looking eye to eye. “Don’t be - we will have this mess cleaned up in no time, that’s a James Gastovski guarantee!” I responded with a smile - my speech improved her mood a little, and she put a weak smile on her face as well.

Then we went to our new destination - Ponyville.

***

Some time later, we emerged near the road leading to Ponyville town hall and were slowly walking towards the center. The village looked deserted - on most buildings, the lights were out, but signs of recent fighting were present: some homes had broken windows and doors, others had them wide open, here and there blood stains covered the ground. The smile Twilight had on her face earlier, was gone now - replaced by confusion and horror. I tried not to show my emotions, but the fact is - I was scared as well... Scared that my new friends were dead, that I was too late - that I failed again.

Suddenly, we heard someone shouting in the distance, from the general direction of the train station, “I said move it!”

Slowly, we made our approach, going into full stealth mode (surprisingly Twilight was pretty good at it, for some reason). Soon, we saw what the noise was all about - residents of Ponyville were being marched to the train station, they were all connected by a huge chain. With a magical aura gone, they were all weak, and thus walking very slowly - even at a distance, we could see that many were struggling under the weight of their restrains.

Ten big unicorns wearing black robes were guarding the captives. Apparently, some of the ‘overseers’ were not satisfied with the speed and were constantly shouting at the slower prisoners, as well as occasionally using their magic to inflict some pain.

My blood was boiling in my veins again - the view brought back memories from the war - bad memories. “Bastards…” I said, clenching my fist.

“Oh no… what should we do?” Twilight inquired with a worried voice.

"Hmm, I think I will try talking first..." I said as I put a grin on my face. “Please wait here and observe - intervene only if the situation gets out of control, OK?” Twilight nodded in agreement.

I slowly approached the rearmost guard - he was a good distance from the rest, looking strong - with a menacing face. When we approached some bushes, the expression on his face suddenly changed to surprise, as he felt a stabbing pain in the back and saw a bloodied piece of metal exiting through his rib cage.

A few seconds later, a second guard went down, the same way - but to get the next bastards, I had to reveal myself to the prisoners in the column, and hope they won’t blow my cover. I approached the rear of the cavalcade and passed near the first few captives. When they saw me, their eyes went wide - I don’t know if it was from horror, excitement, fear or confusion but what’s important - they didn’t make any noise.

Finally, I arrived near the third and fourth guard. Those two, were on the same side of pony column, near each other - chatting. “Excellent,” I said to myself when I saw we were approaching some buildings - perfect place to quickly hide the bodies.

Their chat was cut short, as I assaulted them from above. Stallion on the left was first. My knife went directly through his head, ending his life before he knew what hit him. His buddy tried to react, but before he could say anything, his head made 270 degrees turn with audible 'SNAP' sound. “Sweet dreams,” were the last words he heard before closing his eyes forever.

As I was hiding the bodies behind the building - I could see the prisoners were shocked, some were fighting themselves not to vomit at the sight they saw. Fortunately, they were able to control their urges.

Suddenly I heard a voice in front of the column. “You!” and for a moment I thought I was discovered - but fortunately, the guard was yelling at someone else...

“Walk faster, you stupid mare! You are slowing everypony down!” the guard shouted and then shoot his magic at somebody.

“Leave her alone, you brute! Don’t you see, she can’t walk any faster?!” somebody else was arguing with the guard fiercely. The voice sounded familiar…

“Fine! Then she dies here! She is useless anyway!” the guard shouted again as he unlocked the chain on someone, preparing the pony for execution. I was observing the situation from about 60 meters away, planning my next move at the same time - when the guard lifted the prisoner with his magic, I was paralyzed momentarily. It was none other than Fluttershy. Her body was beaten and bruised, bloody lacerations and burn marks, covered her fur - at a distance, it looked like she was in bad shape.

"MAXIMUM SPEED!" was the message that restored my senses, I was running as fast as possible, and time seemed to slow down - at the moment I had one single goal - nothing else mattered.

“Hold on Fluttershy! Just hold on!” I shouted to myself inside my head.

As magic around her was getting brighter and brighter - she began to close her cyan eyes - when they were about to close completely...

CRACK!

The sound of breaking bones filled the air, as I impacted the guard - his shattered body was sent 15 meters away. For a moment, his companions just stood there, stunned. Since the plan I worked on moments ago, had fallen apart like a house of cards - it was the maximum damage mode from now on. “ENOUGH SUBTLETIES! Fluttershy hide! Everybody else - GET DOWN!” I shouted as I began to discharge my weapons.

BAM! BAM!

Two bastards hit the ground before they could say ‘kaboom,’ however the remaining three quickly hid behind the prisoners and using them as live shields - started to discharge their horns at me.

“Fucking cowards, that’s how you wanna play it? FINE!” I shouted as I jumped ten meters into the air, landing between two surprised guards. Before they could react, I swung my blade, slicing off the head of the first attacker, and the horn of the second one - causing him to wail on the ground in pain.

“Stop whining! You only lost a horn. Your buddy lost his whole head, and you don’t see him crying that much!” I said half-seriously, with a smile.

Suddenly I hear a voice of the remaining guard, “Hey you! Move, and I break her neck!” when I turned I realized he was holding one of Ponyville residents by his magic. There was no clear shot, and he was too far away for a ‘run and kill’ tactic.

Looking into his eyes, I rubbed my nose and responded calmly, “Let her go now, and I won't kill you.”

“Ha! Sure… I tell you what we're gonna do - I’m gonna board the train, and you are gonna back off - or else that whore-”

POOF!

Suddenly, a purple aura of magic teleported the captive out of guards grasp. “Took you long enough…” I said with a smile, as I saw Twilight hovering above us. “Now… where were we-”

BAM!

"DIE! DIE!" I was interrupted by a powerful blast of magic - the guard was discharging his horn like there was no tomorrow... Well actually he was right - at least in his case.

Twilight quickly landed between the prisoners and me and established a shield, protecting the captives from any collateral damage. Thanks to her intervention I was able to take my time. I began to walk towards the guard, slowly - looking into his eyes.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

His energy was hitting me continuously, but I ignored it, ignored the pain, ignored the damage - the target was acquired, and I was in no hurry. With every step I took, I could see his confidence fading away - replaced by panic.

"ARG! What the hell are you!" he shouted discharging his horn one last time. Before I grabbed his head.

Looking into his eyes - I responded with a smile, “My squad-mates back on Earth nicknamed me 'BASTARD MAN' - unfortunately, since others are watching all I could show you is this,” with that I twisted his neck, with the loud CRACK! It was finally over.

***

A few moments later Twilight landed next to me - shocked… but not as much as I would expect her to be. "You said you will talk to them!" she shouted with irritation.

"I did, with my blade,” I responded with a grin. “The boys said they're very sorry and that they'll never do it again."

Twilight gave me her ‘annoyed’ look again and shook her head, but let it go quickly - we both knew that in reality, there was no way diplomacy would have worked here.

I turned to the prisoners. “Everybody, all right? Let’s remove this. Twilight, help me out here,” I added, while I started to break the chains - one pony at the time. It took a few minutes, but we freed everybody - they were weak, but happy nevertheless.

Soon all the Elements of Harmony gathered around Twilight and me. That is - all but one. “Where is Fluttershy?” I asked, concerned, before I noticed her standing alone, behind a nearby tree, weeping heavily.

“I hope you are not crying because of what I did…?” I asked to embarrassed voice. I could remember how she reacted when I threatened that bully Hoops, and now, she witnessed how I killed a few ponies, right before her eyes. “I’m sorry, but I there was no other-”

"No… I couldn't... Couldn't save them... They came for me and..." she interrupted me, with a cracking voice. "I... They... Killed some of them! It's my fault… my fault..." It was then, I realized most of the blood on Fluttershy's fur, wasn't hers. “I'm so weak... First I endangered my animal friends... And now everypony else… I’m useless.”

I sat next to her and put my arm over her shoulder. "I'm so sorry... If I only got here sooner..." I said with a sad voice, trying to hold off tears. "I know this won't make you feel any better, but it wasn't your fault - sometimes bad things happen, and there is nothing you can do about it - trust me... I know.”

"No! I should have done something! They were counting on me, and I failed them... Just like I failed you..."

I put a weak smile and shook my head in disagreement. “Fluttershy… you have no idea what you are talking about - if it weren’t for your letter I wouldn’t be here,” she looked at me with a hint of confusion in her wet eyes. “When I read what you wrote, I knew you were suffering yourself - perhaps even more than me. You cared - like only, a true friend does. You gave me strength - and I... *sniff* I almost let them kill you today... I'm sorry, so sorry *sniff* ... I *sniff* damn it, I can't...” I snapped and hugged her tight as tears of joy began flowing out of my eyes, onto her shoulder.

“Fluttershy, never think of yourself as useless or weak, you didn’t fail me - you helped me, and thus - you helped everybody we saved here today. I'm sorry, I just wasn't there when you needed me...” I said with a breaking voice.

She was still confused, but she didn’t resist my hug, on the contrary - she embraced me as well. No words were exchanged, but we both forgave each other.

While we were crying on each other shoulders, I could see the rest of the ‘gang’ in the corner of my eye - they were watching us - with smiles on their faces. This really was embarrassing - but I didn’t care, it felt so good…

***

After a few minutes, I finally spoke with a calm voice, “Feeling better?” Fluttershy nodded, and when we walked back towards the rest of the ponies, I could see a small smile back on her face.

“Well, you two, ‘lovebirds’ are finally finished?” Rainbow Dash asked with a giggling voice. Fluttershy blushed a little, while I gave a menacing look to the blue pegasus. “Ahem... So as I was saying - we can’t get any reinforcements, no pegasi are able to fly since the Clans of Shadows took over-"

“That’s why we brought these,” I interrupted, showing a hypo gun to everyone, "with this, I was able to fix Twilight’s magic - it should also be able to restore other pony's abilities.”

“You mean… I would be able to fly again?! Gimme!” Rainbow shouted with excitement - I injected her right away.

“This may take a few minutes - I should do the same to the rest of you, it won’t hurt.”

Soon all the elements were injected, and after a few minutes, their abilities started returning to normal. Everybody who was injured also got a dose of healing nano-probes.

“OH YEAH!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she shot up to the sky. Others were also happy - even if they didn't show it so ‘vividly.’

“Watch it Dash! That technology may be unstable!” Twilight said, but Rainbow just shrugged it off and continued to do barrel-rolls in the sky. “Ugh! Typical Rainbow Dash… Fluttershy, do you know of Discord’s whereabouts? We could really use his help right now.”

Fluttershy shook her head, as her face turned from smiling to sad. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. Some of the guards… they…”

“We overheard them gloating on how they captured Discord, with the help of a ‘repellent stone’ or ‘crystal’ or… something,” Rarity said.

Twilight’s eyes widened. “If this is true, then it is bad… Very, very bad!“

“What is this… repellent stone?” I said.

“It is a mineral, with a potential to completely block certain types of magic in its proximity, no matter how strong,” Twilight sighed. “Without his magic, Discord would be an easy target.”

“You know, we could use something like that against Shadowdancer.”

“Except, it is one of the rarest minerals in Equestria,” Twilight said. “I have no idea how they got their hooves on enough of it to trap Discord, nor do I know where to get any.”

“Well, that shadow asshole said, he was planning this little coup for a thousand years, right? Perhaps, they were stockpiling it all this time.”

“Maybe,” Twilight said. “In any case, I doubt we can get our hooves on any.”

“Bummer… Well, anyway, we need to redistribute the nano-tech ‘serum,’ to as many ponies as possible - we need all the help we can get,” I said firmly.

Twilight shook her head. “First, we need to find out if similar guard convoys were sent to the other cities in Equestria.”

It was then, I realized that one of the guards was only injured - I cut off his horn, but didn’t finish the job. “APE find me that hornless bastard before he gets away too far,” I ordered. “Please wait here, I better do this alone.”

***

It took a few minutes to track him down, he was close to the Everfree forest when I saw him. “Ahem… ahem… leaving the party so soon?” I said with a grin. “OK, enough of this - tell me what I want to know and you will be free.”

“NEVER! Long live the Emperor!”

“Oh come on! Your friends were just DYING for a conversation - besides the alternative is not very pleasant I’m afraid, well... Not for you anyway,” my grin got even larger - but he still refused to talk.

“As you wish…” I grabbed him and extended my blade - ready to slice some of his flesh when suddenly Twilight appeared.

“NO! Stop!” she shouted with an angry voice.

“What…? We need information, and he doesn’t wanna talk.”

“That doesn’t make it right to torture him!”

This time, I gave her an annoyed look. “You got a better idea?”

After a moment Twilight responded calmly. “No, I don’t - we will simply have to continue without that knowledge.”

Now I was confused, she wanted to put the future of Equestria in possible jeopardy to save the life of that bastard? “I can’t believe my ears!” I shouted angrily. “You want to risk the lives of your friends for HIM?! Did you forget what they did?! One of them almost killed Fluttershy a few minutes ago!”

“I know! But the end doesn't justify the means,” Twilight responded firmly, “and revenge is not justice!”

She did have a point - to some extent, I did understand what she wanted to tell me - on the other hand, she was risking a lot of lives for her ideals... “Fine, get the hell out of here you bum!” I shouted to the confused guard. “Send my regards to Shadowdancer, and tell him I’m coming for his sorry ass.”

He quickly departed into the forest. And we returned to the train station - without exchanging a single word, on the way.

“So, did you catch him?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“Um-” Twilight began to talk, but I quickly interrupted her. “I’m afraid he got away.”

Rainbow shouted with irritation, “WHAT? You said you will handle this!”

I was tempted to just spill the beans and tell her exactly what happened, but after glancing at the agitated Twilight - I bit my tongue. “Look - he got away, case closed,” I answered firmly. “Right now we need to focus on the plan. We will split into three teams:

“Rainbow and Fluttershy - since you two can fly, you will take the serum to Cloudsdale. Hopefully, they didn’t send their guards there yet.

“Pinkie and Applejack - you will go to Appleloosa, and other cities were strong earth ponies live, try to inject as many as possible.

“Rarity, Twilight and me, will go to Canterlot.

“Any questions?”

There were no more questions, but we discussed the plan in more detail for the next hour, or so, then we departed - hoping for the best.

Chapter 12 - The Art of War

Myself, Twilight and Rarity took the train, the guards wanted to use to transport the prisoners. Since the trip was going to take a few hours, Rarity and I started chatting to pass the time.

“... OK, but tuxedo? I’m afraid that won’t work - my armor is integrated into my skin,” I said calmly, as we were discussing the content of the letter Rarity sent me earlier.

“That’s OK darling, we can always think of something else… trust me - I will make you look fabulous no matter what it takes!” she spoke with a smile on her face, almost in a trance, as she smashed her hooves together.

I realized, that for the first time since I met her - we had a chance to talk freely. I quickly learned that she really does speak like a 19th-century lady all the time and that I don't know crap about fashion - guilty as charged on that. It was odd, but I actually enjoyed our silly small talk - not something I usually do. Also, her affection felt real - no Stockholm or whatever syndrome at all - the more we talked, the more I felt like an idiot for what I said to Twilight earlier.

While Rarity and I chatted, Twilight was sitting quietly, staring out the window. “Ahem… I don’t know about you, but I am famished! I will go to the cafeteria and bring us something to eat,” Rarity said calmly, leaving Twilight and me alone.

Perhaps she really was hungry, or maybe she noticed me and the Princess were avoiding looking at each other for some time now - in any case, she was gone.

***

Few minutes had passed - finally I decided to break the silence. “I told you, this will be bloody,” I said coldly, “I don’t understand why you’re mad at me.”

Twilight responded with an indifferent voice, “I am not mad… I am worried.”

“Worried? In what sense?”

There was an awkward silence once again, I could see Twilight was looking for words. Finally, she responded with a shaky voice, “I just don’t understand how you can enjoy…” the alicorn stopped before finishing her sentence.

“...killing? That’s it? That’s what you are worried about? You think I’m some psycho who will go on killing normal ponies once all the bad guys are dead?” I asked with a hint of irritation in my voice.

Twilight didn't respond, but her face said it all - I guess I can’t blame her, I mean - if somebody I knew would enjoy assassinating people, I would probably be worried too.

I sighed loudly and started to explain in a calm voice, “Yes, I do enjoy what I do… I won’t deny it. For me, every bad guy I take out means, I saved ten, twenty or one hundred lives he would have killed… And I always enjoy the look on their faces… But I never took the life of anybody innocent, and I don’t plan to - so don’t worry.”

“I am sorry, but that doesn’t make it any better - I still cannot comprehend how enjoying something like that is possible,” Twilight responded with a sad voice.

I started staring apathetically at the ground, I knew exactly what she meant - many years ago I asked myself the exact same question, and the answer wasn't pleasant. Finally, I responded with a heavy sigh, “I hope you never will, I really do - because that means you haven’t seen enough atrocities of war to be forced to ‘adapt.’ Do you think I was always like this?” I said with a soft voice “No, before the war I was pretty much like Fluttershy…”

Twilight gave me a surprised look. “You? Like Fluttershy? This is hard to believe.”

“I know, right? Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about the kindness of course. But I was an introvert, I always preferred the company of animals instead of people, and I was shy as hell.”

Twilight finally snapped out of her sad mood and was listening to me with interest. It was obvious she was surprised by what she was hearing.

“Then the war started, and I… saw it all - the death, destruction, pain,” my heart was starting to race again, those were bad memories. “Somebody once said: 'The first casualty of war is innocence' - sad, but true. Every few days we witnessed war crimes committed by every side of the conflict. With time my rage grew stronger and stronger… One day we were ordered to ‘clean sweep’ a ‘rebel’ village - except as it turned out, there were no rebels there - only civilians.”

An expression of shock appeared on Twilight's face. “You mean, you…?!”

“NO! Me and my squad refused - but HQ just sent another one. We tried to reason with them… but they just started shooting civilians right in front of us, laughing as they did! It was then, I snapped - I just couldn’t take it anymore… I killed them, and… for the first time I felt… satisfaction - because I knew I rid the world of pure evil. Yeah, I know this sound like philosophical BS, but...” I stopped for a moment, when I realized, I was covered in sweat and shaking a bit.

“Anyway… we were captured, judged and sent to death... Imagine our surprise when instead of the rope, we got a proposition from UNDF - they were looking exactly for people like us - people who would do what's right," I sighed heavily. "But... Victory costs - with every battle we fought, I was changing a little more, until I become what you see before you right now. I could either learn to enjoy what we did or go crazy."

As Twilight saw my body’s response, she sat next to me and put her wing on my shoulder, then responded with an embarrassed and sad voice, “I am sorry... I guess I didn’t realize what you went through...”

Another moment passed in silence as I tried to calm down.

“Twilight, you actually remind me of myself when I was young - an idealist. You see the world as it should be, I, on the other hand, see it as it is. I understand why you didn’t want me to torture that guy - but I can only hope, that when the time comes, you will be able to put your idealism aside for a moment and act, even against your moral judgment.”

She wanted to respond, but before she could - Rarity returned to the train car, with a cart full of food. “Cafeteria on this train is awful! This is the best food I could find I am afraid.”

While we ate, I realized we were getting close to the city.

“I think it’s time - get ready,” I said calmly.

As we passed the city gates, I engaged the train breaks and then we all teleported - deep into the unknown…

Chapter 13 - Force of Nature

We emerged, in the back alley - not far away from the train station. By the time we arrived, it was near noon. Canterlot was actually in better condition than Ponyville - there were very few signs of fighting, most buildings were intact - some were even opened for business - however, one thing was very conspicuous - slaves.

All ponies - except the guards from Clan of Shadows - were wearing shackles on their hooves, some were apparently allowed to go by their usual business, while others (especially earth ponies, from what I could tell) were forced into manual labor, under the supervision of Shadowforce overseers.

Both Twilight and Rarity were staring at the scene, with horrified faces. “This is just awful!” Rarity said with a concerned voice.

“Yes… but it’s also an opportunity - look,” I used some of my ‘magic’ to create shackles similar to the one other ponies were wearing. “Here put that on your legs.”

Hearing my suggestion - Rarity's eye twitched. Then she gave me the scariest facial expression, I've seen in years. “I BEG YOUR PARDON?!” her eyes were piercing my soul and gnawing me to the bone.

I took me a moment, to regain my composure. “Look... Twilight and I, won’t be able to just blend in. Everybody knows her, and my body also stands out from the crowd. You, on the other hand, may be able to fool those idiots into thinking you are a slave like the rest of the population - that should give you free range of motion inside the city.”

“But those shackles are rusty - they will ruin my fur...” Rarity responded with her soft drama voice.

“Rarity...”

“FINE! Fine… give me those things *smack* Oh, this is so uncomfortable,” she again complained with her soft voice.

“Those are slave shackles… what did you expect?” I responded with some amusement and turned to Twilight. “Is she always like this?"

Twilight smiled. "She is."

"Well, I am sorry that some of us do have standards!" Rarity responded with irritation.

Both I, and Twilight were trying hard to keep from laughing - Rarity was definitely weird at times, but I guess that's why her friends loved to have her around. "OK, OK - no offense intended," I said with a smile. "Back to the matter at hand - you can unlock the shackles by pushing this button. Take one of the hypo pistols - there should be enough doses for 100 injections at least.”

“I understand, I will go to get help from some of the royal guards I know-”

“It would be best if we could find Shining Armor” Twilight interrupted. “His skills would be handy.”

“Perhaps we can - APE how is the scan going?” I asked calmly.

APE responded with his synthesized voice, “ETA 105 seconds.”

We waited, hidden behind some tall bushes, observing the city. We noticed that most guards weren’t paying a lot of attention to the populace - sure, the overseers were shouting at their slaves and zapping them occasionally, but the rest of the guards were more interested in talking to each other, and yawning from boredom…

Finally, we were snapped from our daydream by APE, “Scan complete.”

“OK, let see it.”

A holographic 3D map was projected in front of me, marking the approximate location of enemy forces.

“About 800 enemy ponies have been detected in the whole city - as you can see, most forces are located near the palace. On the other hand, areas here and here are relatively clean of enemies.”

“OK, now try to locate Shining Armor," I ordered APE, and turned to Twilight. "Thanks to our little ‘struggle’ before I was sent away, I have his magic signature in my database - you see,” I explained… although after looking at Twilight’s and Rarity’s faces, something told me they didn’t really know what I was l talking about.

“Target located - match probability 96%” APE finally responded, highlighting one of the buildings on the map, “curious, there are many more friendly pony signatures nearby, but very few enemy guards-”

“Those are royal guard barracks,” Twilight interrupted, "perhaps they locked up the royal guards in there? But that wouldn't make sense...”

"Actually, it would - in their current state, the royal guards don’t pose any threat anyway, and the Clan can have them under constant supervision using minimal resources,” I responded as grin started to form on my mug. “If we could deliver our serum there, we would have one hell of a backup.”

“I am on it, darling! First, I will try to reach my friends - then with their help-”

Rarity was suddenly interrupted by voices coming from the nearby alley - we quickly went to investigate.

***

“I said STOP!” one of the guards shouted to a white earth pony.

“W-what do you want? I didn’t do anything.”

“Then why are you sneaking in the back alleys, he?” the guard responded with an intimidating voice. “What do you have in that bag?! Show me!”

As he levitated the other pony’s saddle bag, some items fell out to the floor, including: rope, lock picks and something that looked like explosives. “Spear and shield as cutie mark... You are a guard, aren't you? I thought we locked up all of you - what were your orders?!” the guard shouted, as he started to thrash the other pony with his magic.

“BUCK YOU! I won’t tell you anything!” the earth pony tried to fight back - but without his normal strength, it was to no avail.

“That’s the spirit! I love when you go down fighting! But when I’m done with you, you will-” suddenly, a swift noise interrupted his speech.

SWISH...

"James Gastovski - knife to meet you,” I said as I stuck my blade through his heart.

As I pulled my blade from the dead guard’s body, I asked the shocked earth pony calmly, “You OK?”

“I… yes, thank you… YOUR HIGHNESS!”

“Nah… you can just call me James.”

“I think he meant Twilight, darling,” Rarity responded with a little giggle.

The earth pony was still shocked. “Your Highness! We thought you were trapped on the moon!”

“I was, but thanks to the captain’s help, I was able to get back - as I understand it, you belong to the royal guards?” Twilight inquired with her soft, calm voice.

“Yes, your Highness. I was sent by captain Shining Armor, to get supplies that would allow us to escape. I guess I was too careless…” the white earth pony responded with a shameful voice.

It was pretty obvious his morale was low - I guess I can’t blame him, this plan was pretty hopeless - even if he got the supplies back to the barracks. “You were brave to venture as far as you did,” Twilight said, trying to cheer the guard up.

“Enough! Look, we don’t have time for this - if you are one of the guards, then it’s time for your medicine,” I responded firmly and injected the pony before he could react.

As we dumped the body into the nearby sewer - we explained the plan to our new friend. He was to accompany Rarity and protect her. “I understand, I was able to get out using the secret passage - we can get in the same way, without anyone knowing.”

“Excellent - here,“ I said as I handed him another vial of nano-probes, “that should allow you to inject 100 more ponies - so about 200 total. Choose wisely.”

The royal guard nodded and then turned to Twilight. “Your Highness… pardon my question but, what are you planning to do?”

“We will try to reach Princess Celestia and Luna - if they manage to regain their magic, then - hopefully, we will be able to fight Shadowdancer and his soldiers.”

“Please be careful your Highness! The Shadowforce - as their soldiers call themselves - are the most ruthless fighters we’ve seen, they won’t hesitate to hurt you-”

"A stab to the brain, makes ruthlessness go away," I interrupted with a grin - making both the Twilight and the royal guard look at me with a weird expression. "OK... Perhaps that was a bit lame... Anyway, don't worry soldier - we know what we are dealing with here."

Soon guard's strength was back - and with it, his spirit. Shortly after, he and Rarity left for the barracks - leaving Twilight and me behind.

***

“I think we should enter here,” I said as I pointed at one of the palace towers, “according to the scan there are only a few guards on the way," Twilight looked at the map and nodded in agreement.

“The alicorns are located here - hmm... The throne room, under the watchful eye of Shadowdancer I bet. One thing I don’t get is why there are four readings,” I said a bit confused.

“The fourth one must be Cadance - she is my brother’s wife, and the ruler of Crystal Empire,” Twilight responded.

“Excellent! More alicorns, more firepower!" I said with a smile - Twilight on the other hand just shook her head in disbelief at what she just heard.

It took a while to get near the tower as we had to sneak to avoid the guards. When we arrived at our destination, it was slowly getting dark - I guess Shadowdancer took control of the sun, upon himself.

I was looking at my scanner, waiting for the right moment. “OK, now - quickly!”

Twilight and I, flew up to the balcony on the last floor. “Good - I think we weren’t spotted,” I said quietly.

We quickly entered the tower, it was some kind of storage room - full of old books, and stuff. We were about to open the door that led to the inside of the palace when suddenly I got a painful headache - the same kind I got last time I was near this place.

“Ugh… my damn head, APE what the hell is going on,” I asked as I grab my head from the pain.

“Unknown. However, I am detecting some unidentified energy source nearby - it may be interfering with-” APE was interrupted, as I heard something I didn’t expect to ever hear again.

“Danger! Energy overload in progress!”

“Impossible! We adapted!" I shouted to myself with horror.

“Danger! Energy overload - emergency release in 5..4..3”

“Twilight, you must get out of here-” before I could finish, it happened just like the last time - energy discharged violently from my body.

I tried to control it, but since I was inside a building this time - it was more difficult. Energy beam was cutting through the tower walls like a hot knife through butter, at this rate, the whole structure could collapse at any moment.

Twilight was trying to do the same thing Celestia did last time. She did manage to create an energy bubble around me, but was struggling to keep it from collapsing - I could see the stress on her face as time went on, she was getting weaker, and weaker.

“APE do something! Emergency shutdown!”

“Sir, I can collapse the beam, but-”

“DO IT NOW!” I shouted with an angry voice, interrupting APE’s speech.

“But-”

“NOW! FOR FUCK SAKE, NOW!” I shouted again, as I saw Twilight was about to pass out from exhaustion.

“...acknowledged, initiating emergency shutdown…”

A few seconds later the energy beam disappeared, and I collapsed from the pain. I felt like my insides were on fire, my body was literally hot - some of my skin carbonized, some falling off. My vision was a blur, and I was breathing heavily, but it was finally over… or so I thought.

“Phew… that was a close call-”

BOOM!

Before I could finish, a massive energy blast emerged from my body, hitting the roof of the tower. The last thing I remember was the sound of the collapsing roof…

Chapter 14 - Knight Fall

I woke up lying on the floor, facing the ceiling. My whole body hurt like hell, especially the head.

“Ah, I see you're finally awake,” somebody said, with a deep voice.

I sat up, only to realize I was in some kind of a holding cell. The small area above me was flashing directly at my body, creating a sphere of light around me. Outside that light, I was surrounded by pitch black darkness. “Ugh, damn head - let me guess... Shadowdancer?” I said calmly.

“I see you know about me.”

“Of course ‘your Highness’ - although judging by your actions, perhaps I should say ‘your anus?” I responded with irritation.

My head felt like it was about to explode, what’s worse, I was feeling… uneasy - I just couldn’t explain it, but something was not right. “What actions, would that be?” Shadowdancer's voice snapped me out of my daydream.

“Hmm… let me see: enslaving people, killing the innocent, taking the life force from everybody who you find ‘unworthy’ - should I continue?”

Shadowdancer slowly approached my cell - looking into my eyes with a smile. His stare was cold and intimidating, by all accounts - he looked like one mean SOB. “Captain… all I do is for the good of my people.”

“Oh… you have no idea how many times I heard that before, and it always ended the same way - with death and destruction.”

As I spoke, another headache hit me - but this one was worse than anything I ever felt. I clenched my head and closed my eyes. “APE, somebody - make… it… stop…” I said to myself. But there was no response, instead - I could hear whispers…

“Embrace the clarity… see the truth…”

“I realize many said similar words, but in my… or should I say - in our - case, they are sincere. All the Clan ever wanted was to make ponies strong,” Shadowdancer spoke in his calm, dreadful voice. “The question is - what part do you want to be in all this?”

Fighting the pain, I barely noticed his question. “Uh… what do you mean?” I asked with a breaking voice, as the whispers were getting louder - each one piercing through my mind like a hot needle. Whatever battle was going inside my head, it was obvious I was on the losing site - still, I tried to hold my composure.

“I see potential in you," Shadowdancer's reply brought me back to reality again, "potential I hadn't witnessed in anyone since Luna a thousand years ago - the Clan could use someone like you.”

That was unexpected, to say the least. This bastard wanted me to become one of them? I shook my hurting head in disbelief - only to be interrupted, by more damn whispers...

“...he is too dangerous…”
“...cannot allow ... To disrupt the balance...”
“...no other choice…”
“...forever…”

Only this time, I could recognize the voices - Celestia and... Twilight? “Yes... See the truth,” Shadowdancer’s words snapped me from my pondering once again.

“You... You are messing with my head.”

“No. I’m just using my magic to show you THEIR memories.” As he said those words, darkness disappeared revealing the alicorn princesses just a few meters away from me, each of them chained to the wall.

Twilight was there too - her bruised body lay on the floor, covered with cuts and lacerations, she was unconscious and breathing slowly. “What have you done to my friend?!” I shouted angrily.

“Nothing - you did all this.”

“W-what?!”

Shadowdancer sighed and responded calmly, “Don’t you remember? Your lack of control made the tower collapse on both of you, it took my guards a few hours to dig you out, she was barely alive when they found her. She is slowly recovering.”

When the memory got back to me, I quickly took my eyes of shattered Twilight's body - watching her in this state, was hurting too much. The rest of the alicorns were in bad shape as well, with bruises and lacerations covering their bodies.

“And the rest of them? They look like they went through hell.”

“That’s what you get for trying to leave my hospitable care. Neither Tia nor Luna knows when to quit so, after their failed escape attempt, I had to teach them a lesson,” Shadowdancer smiled. “A painful one.”

As I looked at the other alicorns, I could see sadness and despair on their faces, I was sorry for them… that is - until my eyes reached Princess of the Sun. I was still angry at her for what she did to me, the sudden rush of adrenaline I felt - was the proof of that. To see her like this: helpless, apathetic, heartbroken - felt surprisingly… good. As I watched her, my anger grew.

Suddenly, another headache struck me again - this time the pain was so intense I fell onto my knees - my head was full of alien sound and images, all jumbled up together - one second I could hear laughter, and the next screams of terror - my mind just couldn't comprehend what was happening. “What are you doing to me…” I asked with a weak voice, as the pain and confusion overwhelmed me.

“I told you - with my magic I can read and transfer memories of others. I’m trying to show you the truth.”

“Which is what exactly?”

“That they are not your friends," Shadowdancer pointed at the princesses, "they never have been, and they never will! For them, you are the same as me, and countless others - you simply don’t fit in their perfect little world!" he shouted with an angry voice.

“You think Celestia sent you to the moon because of your power control issues? Or that she believed you killed those ponies? Please… she could have helped you control your magic herself, and she is experienced enough, not to jump to conclusions based on one piece of paper," Shadowdancer shook his head in irritation, turning in the direction of Celestia. "But you would have been, a force she could never fully control. A force as strong as her, yet different in every way - she couldn’t bear that. Our little Princess never liked sharing power.”

At this point something was boiling inside of me - he was obviously lying… or was he? He was right at least in one thing - Celestia could have never hoped to fully control me, and with the skill she has, she could have probably helped me manage my power surges… Fluttershy and Rarity also mentioned they couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to bring me back, even after I was cleared of the charges.

“No… Twilight would have said something-”

“She is the same as the rest of them! They are all using you… trying to reshape you into their own image, just like they did with Discord," Shadowdancer interrupted me, with an angry voice. "True, they allowed him to stay in Equestria… but only after they broke him! Those, they could not break - were all killed or banished.”

“No… I… this is impossible, impossible… impossible…” I mumbled to myself.

In reality, I was terrified - with every passing moment he was making more, and more sense. Celestia’s reaction I could understand, but then there was Twilight and our chat on the train - was she worried about me… or was she worried that they may not be able to control me after this is over? My mind was overwhelmed, but slowly the emotional part of my brain was starting to win, over the rational one.

“You are still struggling… I’m sorry, but you have to see more,” Shadowdancer said calmly, as his horn began to glow.

FLASH!

This time I could actually see images… conversation recorded by the eyes of one of the ponies, Twilight I think. She was trying to convince Celestia to bring me back, but her request was denied.

“He is too dangerous Twilight, I sense dark powers inside of him. I am responsible for the good of this country - I cannot allow one individual to disrupt the balance that took ages to build. I have no other choice but to banish him forever,” Celestia said with calm, emotionless voice, “I know this is not easy, but I need your support on this matter, it’s for the good of Equestria.”

“I… understand, your Highness,” Twilight responded with a sad voice.

FLASH!

The images I saw were the final straw. She knew… they all knew! They never intended to bring me back... That small voice inside my head that whispered "They are guilty..." all this time, suddenly become loud like a scream - no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't fight it anymore - I cracked.

“Argh! Damn you, Celestia! Damn you all! WHY?!" I shouted with a frustrated voice, but they didn’t react - Shadowdancer’s magic must have shielded them from our little conversation. "What did I ever do to deserve this...” I was on my knees again as tears of despair began flowing from my eyes.

“Now you understand that things are not what they seem to be - our little princesses here are, actually, little tyrants - hiding under the masks, they have blood all over their hooves,” Shadowdancer said as he dropped the bubble of silence revealing our presence to the rest of the alicorns. "They deserve to DIE!"

***

"...kill them... Kill them..."

The words kept ringing in my mind, as my crying eyes glanced at the princesses again. My sanity screamed to keep on fighting, not to give in... But as my anger grew, that voice was quickly fading away. When I looked at Celestia - all I could see, were months I spent on the moon - loneliness, pain, insanity... And now, I knew she wanted to keep me there forever. There was no denying it - I hated her! I hated them all for making me suffer!

Gradually, I began to regain my composure. “How…? They are immortal, are they not?” I responded with a chilling voice.

Shadowdancer responded with a smile, “Alicorn immortality is a bit overrated - we age slowly, and heal wounds quickly - but we can still die. And now with the power of the Tree of Harmony, under our control - the princesses are as mortal as anypony.”

Time passed slowly, I was just sitting there - staring at the pool of my own tears on the floor, thinking… I glanced at the princesses, one last time, and they glanced back at me - except for Twilight who was still unconscious. In their eyes, I could see something I haven’t seen before - fear. I'm not sure if this was the fear of death, of me, or of the fate of Equestria but it was there - consuming their souls.

Finally, something snapped inside of me, and my mind was set. I got up and approached Celestia slowly, looking into her amethyst eyes. I tried to draw out wrist blade, embedded into my right arm, but it didn’t budge - probably damaged by the falling tower's roof, earlier. I quickly switched to my other side - this time there was no problem. As the blade slipped out of my left arm, I - unknowingly - put a grin on my face.

“NO! He is manipulating you! Don’t give in, whatever he said ‘tis all a lie!” Luna tried to reason with me, as she struggled with her restraints.

I stood next to Celestia, looking into her eyes. “Is it true? Did you really want to leave me there forever?” I asked calmly, trying to give her last chance to explain herself, to deny the accusations. But to my surprise, she only nodded - confirming everything and then closed her eyes, waiting for inevitable.

Time stood still - I hesitated for a moment, but then, the memories came back - the pain, the loneliness, the madness... "ARGH!" I shouted as I punched my left arm at her chest, piercing her heart. As she passed away, all I could see was a single tear coming from her eye onto the floor, followed by some blood from her wound.

Luna and Cadance both stared in shock. “Sister…? SISTER! NO!” Princess of the Night screamed and struggled with her chains frantically - as I approached her.

“WE SHALL KILL YOU! YOU SHALL BE CURSED FOR ETERNITY! HOW COU-” her screams were interrupted when my blade hit her angered heart. "TRAITOR..." was her last word before she died. Even after she passed away, her cyan eyes were staring at me, with hatred.

Cadance was next - she didn’t scream, she didn’t beg, she just sat quietly, waiting for death. I didn’t waste any time. Before she knew what hit her, my blade was inside her chest. To my surprise - she clung to her life the longest, looking into my eyes all the time. Her expression was just asking ‘Why...?’. However, as her life faded away - so did any residues of guilt that were left in me.

Finally, it was Twilight’s turn. She was still unconscious, her body damaged and bruised, she was barely holding to life as it was. For a moment I hesitated, after all - it was the same alicorn that held my head on her shoulder when I cried and fought by my side in battles. But then I realized she was also a traitor, she knew all along that I was to be sacrificed - and she didn’t say a word - her betrayal hurt the most. I quickly did what I had to - she didn’t even wake up, she was just lying there in peace…

It was done.

***

“Congratulations captain, I know it hurts you now, but trust me - you did this country a favor,” Shadowdancer spoke as he opened my cell.

For a few more seconds I just stood there, looking at the corpse of the alicorns. I expected to feel some guilt - but to my surprise, there was nothing - no emotions whatsoever. “Now, I’m offering you the chance to join us,” somehow, Shadowdancer’s voice was no longer as scary as before.

“Assuming I want to - then what? What are your plans for Equestria now, when they are gone?” I asked calmly.

Before answering the question, he led me to the nearby table. The familiar teapot and cups were waiting for us - apparently, Celestia was not the only one fond of tea. We sat down and - as he poured some of the liquid into the cups - he started talking.

“Equestria… everyone out there thinks we want to rule it. Simple logic, I guess, but the truth is - we don’t," Shadowdancer said calmly while sipping his tea. "You see, my followers and I believe, that only the strong can survive. I think we both agree, Equestria is currently full of weak ponies - years of Celestia’s rule made sure of that. All this, peace and tolerance for imperfection… this has got to stop!”

“How?” I asked, intrigued.

Shadowdancer responded with a smile on his face, “Simple - aside from Canterlot, we are going to leave this country alone, in its current - 'without magic' - state, and wait.”

“For what?” I asked confused, as he took a sip from his cup.

“For the others, to clean it for us. Equestria had made a lot of enemies - changelings, minotaurs, diamond dogs - they were all forced to either adapt or leave - now… they will have their revenge!”

I was shocked by what I just heard - was he serious? “Do I get this right? You want this country torn apart? What will that accomplish?”

“It will filter the strong from the weak - the strong will always survive, and only they will be allowed in our new society. In the end - our enemies will accomplish in months, what would take the Clan, years.”

As I took a sip from my tea cup, I realized I was no longer shocked, moreover - his plan actually made sense. During the WWIII, some nations did similar things - letting the enemies do their dirty work... But this was morally wrong... Or was it? I wasn't sure anymore… “You do realize you will lose most of your lands, right?”

“Yes, but sacrifices have to be made… and we will retake everything back in the following years.” he finished his tea and responded calmly, “let me show you my vision of the world,” moments later, his horn started to glow, and suddenly everything went dark again.

Then images started - he has shown me a vision, of the great country. The society of the strong, able to protect itself from changelings, griffons, minotaurs and even dragons. There was no hunger, no poverty - even the slaves were treated fairly. Only those who opposed the state were punished severely. After what I have been through on Earth, after witnessing the fall of democracy and all the atrocities of war - I must say, I could understand his point of view… It wasn’t perfect, but what is? I couldn’t believe I felt that way, but, I could live with it. Perhaps years of fighting, had changed my view…

My daydream was abruptly interrupted when extreme pain shot through my mind again - for a moment everything went black...

...stand by…

I could hear a hushed voice talking to me. “Huh? Stand by, for what?”

A few seconds later, my vision started to come back - it was a blur at first. All I could see was a jumble of colors. When my vision cleared, I realize I was standing on sandy land, with a lot of recently dug pits - the air was filled with an awful stench.

"What do we have here..." I said to myself as I approached one of the craters.

The stink was getting stronger, the closer I got - when I finally arrived... I almost puked at the sight - I saw mutilated pony bodies, lying in - what appeared to be - a massive grave. It was large enough to accommodate at least one hundred cadavers.

"Dear God... Those pits - can it...?" I asked myself, as I quickly sprint to the next crater. It was also full of rotting corpses - mares, stallions, foals - everyone mixed together. Wherever I went, the situation was the same - there were hundreds of those pits and thousands of bodies. The view reminded me of prison camps we liberated back on Earth - of the graves we always found nearby. It still scared me - no matter how many times I've seen it.

Suddenly, a flash of light blinded me momentarily, and then a faceless figure appeared before my eyes. White aura was emanating from its body. When the light faded, I realized it was carrying the beaten body of a familiar yellow pegasus. "No... Get away from me! I don't want to see this!" I shouted with a terrified voice, but my mind refused to listen - forcing me to stare at the broken body of my friend. She was still alive - but barely.

Seeing her like this, caused something inside of me to break - this image was like a hot needle stuck inside my brain - deep enough, to push the 'reset' button on my moral compass. Suddenly, the faceless figure transformed into Shadowdancer. “The weak must perish!” he said coldly, as he took out one of his swords…

***

“NO!” I shouted as my vision was abruptly interrupted. I was back in the throne room. Shadowdancer was holding his head in pain while I was panting heavily, covered in cold sweat, and shaking uncontrollably.

“How the hell could you even consider his ‘offer’?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" I shouted inside my head as I curled up to the ball.

Rocking back and forth I mumbled to myself, "You are not a murderer you idiot! What were you thinking! Don't understand... No sense... You're not like this... Not like this..." I was confused and tired, my mind was on the verge of collapse. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

I don't know if this was one of those God's interventions - or just pure luck, but somehow, somebody must have actually heard my screams for help - because a few seconds later, a beautiful sound filled my head. “Systems rerouted, ready to proceed," it felt like hearing the voice of a long forgotten friend, or Pachelbel's Canon for the first time.

As soon as my HUD got back online - it was finally revealed why my head was hurting so badly. “DANGER! Brain hormones levels at 500%, filtering program engaged!” That bastard was literally messing with my brain - with so much chemical imbalance, he could have convinced me to kill my own mother. Other than that, my HUD was showing me certain other health bars - all glowing red, my blood pressure was 5 times above normal, power levels critical, aside from my melee weapons, I was defenseless.

It took me a while, but I finally came back to my senses. “You really are a persistent little thing,” Shadowdancer said with an irritated voice.

“You have no idea - and now that I know your plans, nothing will stop me,” I responded angrily. “GENOCIDE! Plain and simple - you are planning GENOCIDE, you sick fuck!”

“So what if I am?! Weak contamination must be cleansed! And it will!”

“Here is the problem - one of the friends I got here is one of those, you would call ‘weak’" I said calmly, as I got up, "and the hell will freeze over before I allow you to touch her!”

I was mad with anger, adrenaline was flowing in my veins, my body glowing red. As I looked at the Shadowdancer, all I could think of was Fluttershy - I was not going to let that bastard hurt her.

“… friend? Do you think she will still be your friend after she finds out, what you did to her princesses?” Shadowdancer asked with a mocking voice.

His words pierced my soul like a hot dagger. I glanced at my hands, my left blade was still extended and bloody - no matter how hard I tried to deny it - he was absolutely right. Fluttershy would never forgive me, I could see her sad face, crying and asking ‘How could you...’ - the million dollar question I didn't have the answer to.

Before I responded, I tried again to draw my right blade - this time it worked without a problem. “You know - you are probably right,” looking at my blades again I smiled weakly. “But… if you think that changes anything, then you are an idiot. Even if she doesn't consider me a friend - I will protect her, and others like her, from the likes of you - she deserves it.”

“The weak deserve nothing! You are just a fool with a death wish,” Shadowdancer growled, as he drew his swords. “It’s time to put you out of your misery.”

“I may be a miserable, misplaced, suicidal bastard, but I’m not an idiot. I saw one world burn because of people like you, and I will NOT let the same thing happen to another. You’re a disease… and I’m the cure. BRING IT ON BITCH!” I shouted as I jumped into the fight.

***

SMASH!

BOOM!

BANG!

And other sounds of fighting soon filled the room. I quickly realized this guy was not a pushover - he was fast, smart and experienced, both his katana-like swords were flying with tremendous speed. My nano-tech might have given me similar precision and speed, but it was obvious I lacked experience.

“Hrmph!” he shouted, as he used his magic to send one of the swords behind me. That was something I didn't expect, I managed to block both sides for a few moments, but then...

“Argh... Damn it,” I felt the deep cut on my right thigh, SMASH!then the left, SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! then I fell on my back, as multiple locations on my body started to shot pain. After that, I was just protecting myself desperately - but to no avail.

“ARGH!" I shouted as his first sword pinned me to the ground, “...son of a… ARGH!” followed by another. The second one pierced my chest.

Looking at his handiwork, Shadowdancer asked with a surprised voice, “How can you still be alive?”

“...I’m a combat machine you idiot - I got backup systems…” I responded, drowning in my own blood.

He pulled one of the swords out of my body, and standing above me with a grin said, “Let see if you have a backup for your head!”

There was nothing I could do, but watch - of course, I had known from experience that this won’t really kill me - but before I would have regenerated, Equestria would be gone. “So where are those friends of yours now, eh? Who is going to save you? We could have ruled this world together! But I guess it's too late for that now.”

As I heard some movement in the distance - I put a smile on my face and responded, “You guess wrong dead wrong.”

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Three shots hit Shadowdancer, sending him directly at one of the big pillars - breaking it in the process. “Took you long enough,” I said with a weak voice and a small smile.

Shadowdancer slowly got up. “Ugh… wha…? You?!” he shouted with a confused voice, as he saw what hit him.

For a moment time stood still, Shadowdancer was puzzled and shocked. “Your magic - that’s-”

“Impossible…? Hardly," I said, interrupting his speech. "Twilight and I anticipated, you may try messing with my brain - so I was prepared. My right blade was disabled for a reason..."

"What are you saying?!"

"Let's just say that my body was designed to kill or heal at the same time - I’m THAT GOOD!”

Shadowdancer asked with anger, “You did this?! You restored their magic?!”

“And that was with my left hand!” I responded, with a grin on my face.

“ARGH! DIE!” he aimed his horn at me, but before he could fire...

BAAAAM!

Another shot hit him - this time, concentrated energy threw him out of the room - through the window.

Chapter 15 - Blaze of Glory

“Finally, some peace and quiet…” I said as I pulled his blade out of my body. In the meantime, three alicorns approached me.

BAM!

Suddenly, as I got up - I had felt a shot of energy and was sent flying through the air. “LUNA! What are you doing?!” Celestia shouted to Princess of the Night.

When I got up again, I could see that Luna was still glancing at me with hatred, Cadance and Celestia, on the other hand, looked a bit confused. “Seriously?! What the hell? I restored your power so you can shoot me?!” I shouted with an angry voice.

The expression on Luna's face quickly turned from anger to embarrassment. “We are sorry, we… I couldn’t control myself...”

“I guess that after that unfortunate 'business' we had earlier you have the right to be angry..." I said with embarrassing voice, "although... It's good to know I’m not the only one with anger management issues,” I smiled, trying to lighten the mood, and it worked - only then I realized someone was missing. “Wait… where's… TWILIGHT?!”

She was still lying unconscious on the floor. Fortunately, those idiots left her saddlebag on her. “What are you doing?” Cadance asked, seeing me snooping through Twilight’s bag.

“Looking for... This,” I responded and shown her the hypo gun. “We were using this to temporarily restore magic on ponies, but it can be used to heal as well.” With that - I quickly adjusted the nano-probes and injected some of them into Twilight’s flank. A minute later, her body started to emit a light glow, from where the wounds were.

“Wakie, wakie…” I said calmly.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes. “Ugh… my head.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling...”

“What… happ… Celestia, Luna, Cadance! You are all right?!” Twilight shouted with excitement.

Cadance responded with a smile. “We’re fine Twi, thanks to your friend.”

“I'm so glad you're all OK, but... What is this?” Twilight shouted, pointing at the Cadance’s chest wound. “BLOOD?”

An awkward silence filled the room. “Um, yeah, about that,” I responded with an embarrassed voice again, “I kinda had to kill all of them for a few minutes - sorry...”

“You stabbed them?!”

“Um... Not only them…” I said, pointing to Twilight own chest, “you were unconscious, so you don’t remember. Hey! Don’t give me that look! No harm was done, they got their magic back, and nano-probes fixed the wounds. No pain, no gain-” my speech was interrupted when we heard a loud banging on the door.

BAM! ... BAM! ... BAM!

“Speaking of pain - some is about to break through the door, prepare yourself!” I said with ordering voice, then quickly injected myself with all the nano-probes we had left. “Damn… daddy could still use some more medicine... APE, systems check.”

“Power at 28%, environmental adaptation at 87%, all primary systems regenerated and functioning within normal parameters.”

BAM! … BAM! … CRACK!

The doors felled to the ground and about a hundred Shadowforce soldiers rushed through. They were standing with their horns charged, trying to intimidate us. “Now… what do we do…?” Cadance asked with a concerned voice.

“Protocol OMEGA.”

"What does that mean?"

I put a grin on my face and clenched my fist, producing audible ‘CRACK!’ sound. "Kill everything! Every-THING! Kill. Kill! KILL!” then it started.

***

Cadance put up a shield - Luna, and Twilight were shooting everything they’ve got from behind it. Celestia and I, on the other hand, took the front line - she took the sky, I took the ground.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

I set my particle cannon into the rapid mode and was firing at every bastard in front, while Celestia was using her charged attacks - constantly charging and discharging her horn, with devastating effect - sending enemies flying through the air.

Of course Shadowforce troops were also shielding themselves and firing frantically - first, they tried to penetrate Cadance shield, but she stood her ground, then they tried concentrating on me, but I just used my speed to jump out of the way (mostly anyway), and shoot back with a vengeance. Finally, they concentrated their fire on Celestia. Using her magic she established a shield for herself, but I could see that fighting and defending at the same time was wearing her down quickly. Suddenly some of the shots penetrated her defenses hitting her wing in the process. She crashlanded… in the middle of the Clan of Shadow forces.

“CELESTIA! NO!” Twilight shouted with a frightened voice, I could see she wanted to help, but her hooves were full at the moment. Without thinking much, I jumped to the rescue, only to notice Celestia lying on her back, in the corner of the room - fighting about a dozen unicorns with the rests of her strength.

SWOOOSH! I landed impaling two soldiers in the process. “I just dropped by to say FUCK YOU!” I threw the bodies at the crowd, knocking several attackers to the ground.

I quickly turned to the Princess. “You defend, I attack!” she nodded in agreement and established another shield.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

“AAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!” I yelled with a crazy sounding voice, as I was shooting everything in front of us. The battle continued like that for another minute or two, we took out about one hundred bastards, but more and more just kept coming.

I quickly glanced around trying to assess the situation - Cadance looked exhausted and ready to pass out at any moment, Twilight and Luna were covered in sweat and panting heavily - with each discharge they needed more and more time to recharge their horns. Celestia and I were no better off - her shield was almost gone, and I was running out of power for my canon.

“Enough of this shit! Time to get personal!” I shouted as I jumped into the crowd extending my blades.

SWOOOSH! - one bastard down SWOOOSH! two down SWOOOSH! three…

CRACK! I felt a sharp hit to the head and lost my balance for a second - that was all they needed.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

This time it was them firing at me. Few were holding me with their magic, while the rest just kept discharging their horns. I wasn't going to go down that easily. “Is that all you’ve got? SWOOOSH!” I shouted as I impaled one of the bastards holding me, “you’ve got NOTHING! HAHA! SWOOOSH!”

But the fact was - I was running out of power and damage were multiplying. I stabbed the last of the unicorns holding me down, and with the rest of my strength, I pushed myself back to the corner where Celestia was - just in time to witness her shield collapsed.

Time slowed down, we were all injured and tired. I stood between Celestia and the rest of the Shadowforce desperately swinging my blades. In the corner of my eye, I could see that Cadance was lying unconscious on the floor in the opposite corner of the throne room, defended by bruised Twilight and Luna - themselves, surrounded by dozen angry attackers. Suddenly few unicorns knock me off my feet and were thrusting spears in my damaged body. “WHERE THE HELL, ARE THOSE REINFORCEMENTS!” I shouted in frustration as pain shot through my systems.

***

Suddenly I heard a sound of glass breaking, followed by a familiar voice, “Hey! Get off him you freak!” Rainbow shouted as she kicked one of the guards standing on top of me.

A moment later, a swarm of pegasi flown into the room, led by a mare with yellow fur and orange tail. Royal guards - led by Shining Armor - burst through the other door, a few seconds after that.

“OH YEAH! That’s what I’m talking about!” I shouted with a grin, as I threw myself into the disorganized crowd again. This time they didn’t know what hit them, with the joined forces of pegasi, royal guards and the alicorns - Shadowforce troops were dropping like flies. Even so, they didn’t want to surrender - which was fine by me, since I was having a ball.

SWOOOSH! “That stabbing chest pain - was me.”

SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! “I could kill you with kindness, but the knife is faster.”

SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! “Knife knowing you...”

SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH...

As I pulled my blade from the latest victim, I realized that was the last of them. “What… over already? Damn... Good time never lasts,” I said with disappointment.

The scene was a massacre - about 200 Clan of Shadow soldiers were lying dead, blood was all over the place. I looked like a butcher, after a full shift. “Whoa… um, you OK?” Rainbow asked with a concerned voice.

“Yeah, that’s not my blood... Not most of it anyway. What took you so long?” I asked with a hint of frustration.

“Long story - let's just say we had to kick some flanks on the way. Oh, and don’t worry, Fluttershy is OK, she is helping with the wounded outside,” I nodded with a happy face and then quickly went to the princesses who all gathered nearby.

The rest of the ‘gang’ - except Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash - was with them already. “...and then, a train full of earth ponies arrived! Shadowdancer's guards didn’t know what hit them,” Shining Armor was reporting the situation, “in any case, their forces are disorganized.”

“That’s good to hear captain, but one question remains - where is Shadowdancer?” Celestia asked calmly.

Shining Armor shook his head in frustration. “I’m afraid, we don’t know your Highness - we are looking for him but-”

Suddenly the dark figure teleported to the middle of the room. “Looking for me?!” Shadowdancer shouted as he discharged a sphere of energy, pushing everybody 10 meters away. Then he just stood there with a menacing smile.

***

Celestia and Shadowdancer stood eye to eye. “Shadowdancer! It’s over! Surrender your forces and restore the power of the Tree of Harmony!” Celestia demanded with a stoic voice.

“You may have injured me… but I’m not beaten yet! Time for you to see my true form! HA HA HA!” as he spoke, a powerful beam of energy, from the Everfree forest, hit his body - charging it in the process. We could see him growing right in front of us!

“Captain! Catch!” Twilight shouted as she threw me another hypo gun - she must have packed some extra, without me knowing. "Good thinking, Twilight..."

Suddenly, the energy beam stopped… revealing Shadowdancer’s new form. He was twice the size of Celestia now, his body covered with a magical aura. He stood on his back legs, wielding two giant swords embedded into his hooves, both blades shining with energy. “Show me what you’ve got! En garde!” he shouted and then hell broke loose again.

Since I needed to regenerate - alicorns went first. They were discharging their horns, at the intruder - but he was just laughing it off. No visible damage could be seen. Pegasi joined quickly - Rainbow Dash and The Wonderbolts charged at him with maximum speed, but only bounced off his body with frustration. Royal guards were having no more luck - their spears and swords were unable to penetrate his magical aura.

“OK, playtime is over. Time for all of you to die!” Shadowdancer shouted as he discharged another spherical shockwave of energy. This time it was powerful - some guards were killed instantly, others were lying on the ground in agony. Celestia - who was closest to the blast - was thrown 10 meters back. When she stood up, burned skin, cuts and lacerations were visible on her body.

“Regeneration cycle complete,” finally the message I’ve been waiting for sounded in my head. “Damn this was slow,” I shouted with frustration, charging my weapons. “Hey! Why don't you pick up somebody your own size?!”

Shadowdancer turned around with the smile and just stood there - looking into my eyes, waiting for my move.

BAM! BAM!

I discharged my cannon, two times. “Direct hit, no damage,” APE reported.

“What? Power to maximum!”

“Ready.”

“Ha ha! Eat this!” I shouted with a grin.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

“Three hits, no damage.”

“Damn... What's going on?!”

APE responded with his analytic voice, "The shield around Shadowdancer's new body is apparently able to absorb incoming matter and energy, sir."

“Recommendations?” I asked, hoping for some pointers from APE, but I was shot down quickly, “None presently, sir.”

I just stood there shocked, while Shadowdancer was approaching my position. He was in no hurry, he took his time - looking into my eyes. "Err... All right, we'll call it a draw," I said just as Shadowdancer grabbed me by the neck.

“Little worm… your magic or technology or whatever is useless against me - I draw power directly from the Tree of Harmony now!”

Before I could say anything, I was sent flying through the air. I stopped on the nearby wall, cracking it in the process. “Damn… I really liked that rib-” GRAB “Oh shiii-” CRASH! Another flight, another wall cracked.

“How do you feel now?! Not so quickly anymore, eh?” Shadowdancer said, grabbing me again.

GRAB ... THROW! … CRACK! … GRAB ... THROW! … CRACK! That was the theme for the next few minutes, Shadowdancer concentrated on me alone, ignoring the others who desperately tried to inflict any damage - to no avail. Then he started his speech...

"For a thousand years I was planning all this,"

GRAB ... THROW! ... CRACK!

"Living only on hope, that one day - the Clan of Shadows will prevail,"

GRAB ... THROW! ... CRACK!

"I won't allow anything to stand in my way!"

GRAB ... THROW! ... CRACK!

"Least of all - some freak like you!"

GRAB ... THROW! ... CRACK!

The bastard was using my body as a sledgehammer, breaking everything there was to break in the throne room. When he was done, I was lying in the pool of my own blood. Most bones in my body were broken. HUD was red from the warnings.

“Ah, this was refreshing - however fun doesn’t last forever, does it? There is work to be done. And to think you could have joined me, and be by my side - I bet you regret your decision now.”

“F...uck you…”

“It is amazing that after all, I have done, there is still some fight in you! But it ends here, the elements can’t save this world - and with you out of the way,” he said calmly while raising his swords, “I won’t have any more troubles. Goodbye.”

Before he could act, however, I tried one final desperate attack - with all the power I could muster, I thrust my right blade into his abdomen - causing a minor scratch. Shadowdancer didn't like that at all. "Arg... You little bastard - take this!"

SWOOSH!

"AAaaaaa!" I shouted from pain, as he sliced off my right hand.

That was it, I was done - my body was broken, my will to fight shattered and for the first time I could remember - I didn't know what to do. I was just lying there in pain. "You know - I was planning to cut your head off - but watching you helpless, is so much more fun," Shadowdancer said with amused voice, "let's do something else instead!"

SWOOSH! … SWOOSH!he made two deep cuts into my abdomen - slicing through my insides in the process. I tried to scream, but my lungs were filled with my own blood - only soft gurgle escaped my mouth. “Say hello to your friend!” Shadowdancer shouted, as he threw my body at the resigned crowd, which by this time stopped even shooting at him.

***

I landed with a splash… my innards spewed out onto the floor. I was bleeding badly, my blurred vision started to slowly fade away - but not before I realize the ‘gang’ gathered all around me - even Fluttershy, who joined earlier to treat the wounded. They all looked in horror at my mutilated body - Rarity was the first to puke, followed by Twilight and Rainbow Dash - I can only imagine how I looked from their perspective…

Ironically - the always timid Fluttershy was the first to approach me. She took some bandages out of the first aid kit she was carrying and started to patch me up sobbing softly in the process. At this moment I felt like a failure - everybody was counting on me, and I let them down, and now - one of the ponies who would probably die because of this, was trying to help me - I just couldn't bear it. "I... I'm sorry Fluttershy," I said with a distraught voice, "please... Leave me be - I don't... Deserve your help."

Ignoring my request - she responded softly, "We know you did your best to help us, captain - now, let me help you."

I couldn't stop her even if I wanted to. Watching her and the rest of the helpless ponies - made me analyze the situation again. "Damn it, man - you can't let it end like this... Think! There must be something you can do..."

Suddenly, I heard Shadowdancer talking in the distance. “I told you that the elements won’t save you Tia and now...”

“The elements… damn it - if we could only use that power-" suddenly a 'eureka moment' struck my mind. "Oh shit, how stupid I am.”

I could still hear Shadowdancer gloating over his victory, he kept telling Celestia and the others what he will do, how he will make them all suffer - this bought me some time.

“Twil..ight,” I managed to say with a fading voice.

She approached me slowly, still terrified by the look of my mutilated body. “Lay still, don’t move - you are… hurt,” she responded with a sobbing voice, trying to comfort me.

“There is no time… you must use the... Elements - that's the only way.”

"We can’t he is blocking-”

I interrupted her speech. “List..en you are all inoculated... With nano-tech - all the elem..ents are here, and he is constantly powering his bo..dy with the energy from the Tree..." I stopped for a moment trying to catch my breath, "I... Can adjust the na..no-tech to use that power against him - it should work, b..but I will have to inject you with my own nano-probes," I responded with struggling voice.

In an instant - Twilight's face went from apathetic to excited, but then returned to the former a second later. "But, what will happen to you? Don't you need them?" she asked with a concerned voice.

"I will be in pain - but... This is no..thing, compared to the pain of letting that b.. Bastard wing," I responded with a cracking voice. "There is no time to argue."

Twilight hesitated for a moment, but she knew that was our only chance. "What do you want me to do?"

I folded my left blade and moved my hand close to Twilight's chest. "Just give me the word - this will sting ‘a little.’" As she closed her eyes and nodded - my left blade pierced her rib cage pumping whatever nano-probes I had left in her bloodstream.

When others, saw what I was doing - they tried to pull her away, but Fluttershy - who heard our conversation - stopped them. “Trust… me…” I said with a weak smile as my blade popped out of her chest. She felt it, felt the pain - but embraced it, without making a sound.

As soon as my blade was out of her body, it started. With nano-probes way beyond the minimum level - I began to lose control over everything. My body was convulsing, my left side felt cold as ice, while the right felt like it was on fire. My vision started to fade away, but not before I noticed the change, my injection did to Twilight - her body was shining with new energy and her horn sparkled like a Christmas tree. “Go… get him…” I said to her as my power faded, and I passed out.

***

In the meantime, Shadowdancer was still talking with the rest of the princesses - gloating constantly. “We will find a way to stop you!” Celestia shouted angrily into his face.

“Please… your ‘hero’ is dead, who is going to save you now?” his speech was suddenly interrupted by a bright flash of light coming from behind.

FLASH!

“The Elements of Harmony!” Twilight shouted with an angry voice. She and the rest of the elements were floating in the air in battle formation - ready to kick Shadowdancer's ass.

“IMPOSSIBLE! NO! DIE!”

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Shadowdancer tried his magic, but shields around the mane six didn’t budge.

Twilight put a smile on her face, and said with intimidating voice, “You might have disrupted, the power of the elements - but you underestimated, the strongest magic of all - the magic of friendship! And with the help of our new friend, we shall defeat you!” then she and the rest of the elements, discharged their power.

“UGH… I WON’T LET YOU WIN!” Shadowdancer didn’t give up - instead, he established a shield, and discharged his magic against the elements. “ARGHHH!”

Somehow the power created by the battle was giving me strength, even with all the damage my body took, I not only regained my consciousness - I was actually able to get up and was quickly regenerating.

The battle was fierce - neither side was letting go, both alicorns were showing signs of fatigue. Suddenly Shadowdancer drew his swords and began to slowly approach the position of mane six. "It appears we are at an impasse," he said calmly. "Let's try something else!"

They tried to push him away, but their power was fading. “I… can’t hold it much longer girls… I’m sorry,” Twilight said with a weakening voice.

“Time to test your 'immortality' Princess! Any last words before I cut your head off?!” Shadowdancer said as he hung over Twilight with his sword, ready for the final strike. "No? Then, goodbye!"

In the desperate attempt to do anything - as he swung his sword, I fired the final charge remaining in my left cannon - hitting Shadowdancer in the right hand - creating a blinding flash and a cloud of dust in the process. A second later, I felt a wet sensation hitting my face. "Blood...? No..." I said to myself in a weak voice - imagining the worst.

The scene was still filled with dust - I could neither see Shadowdancer, nor the mane six, but I feared the worst - my mind was filled with images of Shadowdancer showing Twilight's bloody head to everybody. The mere thought was making me sick to what was left of my stomach.

Suddenly screams filled the chamber. "AAAgghh!" seconds later the cloud of dust settled, and the smile returned to my face. The one screaming was Shadowdancer - he was on his knees, holding his bloody head in pain.

I quickly realized why, and shouted with amused voice, “Haha… get a medic on the horn!” As luck would have it - my shot pushed his own sword against his horn - slicing through it like a hot knife through butter.

“No… NOOOOOOO!”

“Scream all you want, you son of a bitch! Twilight - finish him!” I shouted to the Princess - she didn’t have to be told twice. A second, later a flash of light filled the chambers blinding us all.

“Equestria wins… Fatality!” I shouted with a weak but amused voice - as a peaceful silence filled the room...

***

When the dust settled again, we heard the movement from the nearby pile of rubble. Shadowdancer was still alive, lying hornless - his body impaled in many places by pieces of metal, from the destroyed palace pillar. We all approached him slowly. Thanks to Fluttershy's earlier treatment, I managed to put my guts back inside, but I was still very weak. Twilight and Luna needed to help me move.

“Fools… you think you won?” he said calmly as he spat some blood, “no... You just doomed this world.”

“What are you talking about?” Celestia asked concerned.

Shadowdancer put a weak smile on his face. “Tia… without me the power of the Tree will collapse on itself,” Shadowdancer answered with weak but amused voice. “I did it on purpose - If the Clan of Shadows can’t be in charge of ponies, then there will be no ponies left! Haha *cough*.”

“Sir, I can confirm that the sensors we left near the Tree of Harmony, are reporting weird activity,” APE interrupted.

The expression on Celestia's face changed to a shocking gaze. “How do we stop it?! Answer me!” she asked with a demanding voice.

Shadowdancer responded with a weak grin. “You can’t... By killing me, you… kil...led… y..our...self...” those were his final words - he was gone.

For a moment we all looked at his lifeless body, but I quickly broke the silence. "What the hell are we waiting for? We need to get to the Everfree ASAP!" my shouting snapped everybody of the daydream. Without further ado, we jumped into the nearest chariots and flew towards the forest, hoping we get there in time.

Chapter 16 - Que Será Será

We were minutes away from our destination, Everfree forest was getting closer and closer. I was flying along with Twilight and Fluttershy - still weak, but regenerating.

Fluttershy gave me some more first aid to stop the bleeding - she was pretty skilled with this, If I didn’t know better, I would say she is a local nurse. “Does it still hurt?” she asked, with her quiet voice.

"Nah... I've been worse," I responded calmly - of course, in reality, my body hurt pretty badly. Suddenly, our ride hit some turbulence, an abrupt shift in position caused me to clench my teeth in pain.

Seeing my reaction, Fluttershy smiled. “You are a terrible liar captain.”

"Guilty as charged,” I chuckled.

We both laughed for a bit, it felt good and relaxing. On the other hand, Twilight was like a rock, only staring at the horizon with a worried face. “We will figure it out Princess, don’t worry so much.”

She shook her head in concern. “I can’t control myself… what if… what if we can’t stop it?” her voice was trembling.

“I don’t know - I try not to worry with things I have no control over,” I responded calmly.

“This helps?” Twilight inquired.

I answer with an amused voice and a smile, “Well… usually not," this made Twilight to put a weak smile as well - while she was still far from 'OK,' at least her mood improved a little.

A few minutes later we arrived, what we saw was pretty grim. The force field around the Tree was visible to the naked eye, inside a storm-like activity was going on, creating an effect that looked like a giant plasma lamp. The energy was constantly bouncing between the Tree and the shield. We could see, it was getting worse with every moment.

“What’s going on in there?” Twilight asked, concerned, the smile she had on her face a few minutes ago was gone now.

Luna replied with a stoic voice, “It seems, the Tree is dying-”

“Please, stand aside," Celestia interrupted, "I will try to stop this,” she began to approach the Tree.

“Wait! I would not recommend getting too-” I tried to warn her but was too slow.

ZAP!

Celestia was shot by a bolt of lightning, sending her good 10 meters back, and turning her white fur to the shade of gray. “Wow… I thought I was the only one with a death wish in this group…” I said with an ironic tone, while helping her up, “there is no way in hell, any of us will be able to walk through this force field as it is...”

For a moment we were all lost in thoughts, trying to figure out what to do next - Cadance was the first to come up with an idea. “Perhaps… suppression spell?” she asked softly.

“We can try, but this will require the power of all of us,” Luna responded, “captain, you must stand back while we perform the spell.”

I did as I was told. I moved about 30 meters away, as the alicorns took position around the target. Soon their horns began to emit an intense light that concentrated directly above the Tree of Harmony. Energy sphere was forming, getting bigger with every moment. Suddenly, it enveloped the force field. It was then, I realized - this was the same spell, Celestia used on me, during my power outburst.

It seemed to be working! Energy levels inside began to drop, and the storm like activity started to die out. “It’s working! Keep it up!” I shouted with encouraging voice. As it turned out, I spoke too soon.

“Warning! Instability detected,” APE announced with his indifferent voice. When I heard the communicate - I glanced at the alicorns again - they were struggling, sweat running down their bodies, it didn't look good.

Suddenly, APE delivered another announcement, “DANGER! Cascade reaction detected! Alicorn’s force field collapse is imminent! Level 4 discharge predicted.”

“Level 4?! Oh shit! Everybody get down!” I managed to shout right before…

PPPPPOOOOWWWW!

Alicorn’s sphere collapsed, producing a giant energy discharge. The princesses were sent flying in all directions, the rest of the ‘gang’ was pushed to the bottom of the stairs leading to the Tree chamber - fortunately, they were far away from the explosion, and only felt it ‘lightly.’

“*cough* *cough* Is everypony alright?!” Rainbow was first to shout.

“I think so darling, although my beautiful mane will require a week of spa treatments after this,” Rarity answer with her usual dramatic voice. The rest quickly followed - all, except the princesses. We immediately began the search.

***

“There!” I shouted, pointing at the white alicorn, lying in the pile of rubble, her body was injured, but she was alive. We found Cadance nearby in similar condition. Fortunately, we quickly located Twilight and Luna as well.

“You OK?” I asked Celestia calmly - but looking at her, body it was obvious she was not.

“No, we have failed," she responded with a weak voice, "we must try something else.”

“Hold your horses… err OK, that sounds weird when you say it to a pony... I mean, stop.”

“You want us to quit?!”

“Not at all! But we need to analyze the situation, before proceeding. Otherwise, we may end up blowing ourselves up.”

Reluctantly, she nodded in agreement. “OK, APE - tell me what the hell is going inside that thing, and how to stop it.”

APE responded with his analytic voice, “According to analysis, there is a cascade interference effect in progress. Causing systematic power rise.”

“So the shield is deflecting the Tree energy, which in effect causes the energy to build up because of wave interference effect?”

“Yes, sir, however, the force field is showing signs of instability - when it collapses, there will be a massive energy release - enough to destroy most of Equestria in the process.”

For a moment, time stood still, as all of us digested what APE just said. I broke the awkward silence, “APE… this can’t be that powerful!”

“I am afraid it is, sir. This ‘Tree of Harmony’ seems to have a vast power store. The cataclysmic size event is inevitable-”

Celestia interrupted with a fearful voice, “How do we stop it from happening?!”

“There is one known possibility - controlled energy release, unfortunately, to do that we need to get inside the force field.”

“Any ideas how to do that?” I inquired calmly.

“Perhaps… The force field has been weakened by the earlier attempt. According to my calculations, combining the force of alicorn magic in one single point may weaken it further. It may be enough, to allow us to walk inside. Once there, I could force our body to absorb and discharge the energy the same way that happened twice before.”

This wasn't exactly a pleasant perspective - I knew it would hurt a lot, but no pain no gain. “OK, let’s get this show-”

APE interrupted my speech, “Sir, I must point out that we are heavily damaged, at 12% power - we may be able to get in, but I estimate only about 7% chance of success. Moreover, energy levels inside are about 10 times higher than in the quantum chamber on Earth. The probability of total systems failure is extremely high.”

For a moment silence filled the chamber again. For the first time in years, I felt uneasy... I didn’t want to die. It wasn’t the fear of death - I just realized that for the past few days I felt more alive than during the last 300 years, but there was a job to be done. “Anybody got any other ideas?” I asked calmly but was met only with silence. “OK then - 7% is more than zero, I think we should proceed - I will need your help with-”

Luna interrupted me. “What does ‘total systems failure’ stands for?” she asked concerned, “this is some perverse label for the death, isn’t it?!”

I sighed heavily. “That means, whoever goes inside that force field is probably not coming out alive. Now if you please-”

“NO!” Twilight interrupted, “there must be some other way!”

“I am afraid there is no time, Princess Twilight Sparkle," APE responded calmly, "I estimate the shield will collapse in 17 minutes.”

“Will I be able to pass through the shield in its current state if we use the same technique?” Celestia asked.

“Possibly, but I am afraid the chances of success will be equally bad, and the probability of death-”

APE response was interrupted by my angry voice, “What the hell are we discussing here?! You can’t be serious!”

“CAPTAIN JAMES GASTOVSKI!” for the first time Celestia used her ‘royal voice’ on me, “I am the leader of my subjects! I will sacrifice myself to protect them if I have to - and, it seems, in this case, it is sadly necessary.”

“Bullshit!" I shouted with anger, causing everybody - but Celestia - to stare with disbelief, "This world needs you, all of you. Me? Not so much. I’m offering you the best way out - why the hell do you resist?!”

For the first time, I saw Celestia angered - her calm smile was gone, and her amethyst eyes were burning with rage. “WATCH YOUR TONGUE CAPTAIN! You are speaking to-”

“Suicidal goddamn horse?!” at that moment my rage kicked in as well, we were both staring at each other with angry eyes.

“ENOUGH! This discussion is OVER!” she shouted and teleported me away.

Everybody was stunned. “Sister! What did you do?! Where is he?” Luna asked concerned.

“I teleported him away from here - now, help me open the passage when there is still time-”

Suddenly a loud THUD sound from my landing interrupted Celestia’s speech. In her weakened state, her teleportation spell put me only a few hundred meters away from the chamber, and I was back already. “Now you pissed me off!” I shouted as anger consumed my mind. “You want to do this the HARD WAY? FINE!” without further ado, I discharged my cannon at the Princess - with the intend to stun her.

Celestia took a direct hit - energy could be seen shooting through her body, but to my surprise, it wasn’t enough to stun her. Instead, she just clenched her teeth and responded with her own magic sending me a few meters back. “STOP IT! This is MADNESS!” Twilight shouted to both of us, but we just ignored her and then we both went full throttle!

Celestia was trying to use the same technique she did when we were fighting Shadowforce. She established a shield and was charging her magic. I, on the other hand, was less creative - just shooting my cannon and dodging. Other alicorns were just watching in confusion and horror at two mad entities, trying to overpower one another.

Finally, I was able to knock her shield out and hit her wing, but she crashlanded right on top of me! Now we were fighting hand to… hoof - with no one having the obvious advantage. Our bodies were becoming more bruised and bloodied every with passing second.

“ENOUGH!” Twilight shouted as she, Luna and Cadance used their magic to separate us and hold us down. “CALM DOWN EVERYPONY!”

Twilight was holding me, while Luna and Cadance were holding Celestia - we both tried to struggle against our restraints, but after a minute we realized we were too tired. Just then our senses started to come back. “What got into you two?!” Twilight asked with a disappointed and confused voice.

This was awkward, and we both knew it - what got into us… that was a good question, with no obvious answer. For a minute me and Celestia looked at each other in silence, staring at our bruised bodies - all we did was wasted precious energy and time, and for what? Finally - I spoke, “I’m sorry… I don’t know what got into me… *sigh* but I still think I’m the logical person to go there - why will you not let me?” I asked looking into her amethyst eyes.

She was hesitant, it took her a moment to respond with a sad voice, “You already helped us a lot, even after what I did to you - I… I just don’t want you to suffer anymore because of my actions… or inactions,” when she finished talking, I noticed some tears flowing lightly from her eyes.

Silence again filled the chamber as I approached the sad alicorn, and sat next to her. “Guilt is a poor advisor… trust me, I know. I may not condone your reasons for sending me away - but I can understand them, and I forgive you, OK? No hard feelings,” I said with a confident voice and a smile.

Upon hearing my forgiveness Celestia smiled weakly as well - almost as if some burden was lifted from her heart, it was clear she felt terrible for what she did to me. “But look at this objectively: I’m just a freak, a corpse walking, a guy who should have died 300 years ago. I don’t belong here - we all know that. Even so, I may be able to do here what I failed to do back home - make a change,” I continued.

The Princess closed her eyes again. “I believe, you already did that captain. Objectively, if it weren’t for you, we would probably be either dead or enslaved, and Equestria would be burning - and now you are willing to sacrifice your life for us - why? You owe us nothing,” she responded with a sad voice.

“I don’t have to, I’m just trying to save some friends - that’s all the reason I need,” I said with a smile, “we are running out of time - if I fail, you can always try yourself - but right now, I need your help to get started, will you do it?”

Again, it took a moment, but - with a heavy heart - she finally nodded in agreement. When I turned around, I realize that the rest of the alicorns, as well as the Elements of Harmony, were listening to our whole conversation. “I guess... This is goodbye - nice knowing you all,” I said with a stoic voice.

Then the sobbing began. First Rarity, then Fluttershy, then the rest - even Rainbow Dash shed a tear. “Oh, don’t give me that - just wish me luck, I’ll need it - besides, there is still a chance I will survive-”

“1.37% to be exact, according to calculation,” APE interrupted, making everybody sob even more.

“Hey, that's my lucky number!” I said, trying to lighten up the mood. “It will be fine, really - I need to go now... Take care,” I left quickly, trying to hide my own tears - I always hated goodbyes, but this one was the hardest of them all.

***

I approached the shield, which was becoming more unstable every minute - this was good because it reduced the power needed to get me through, on the other hand, it also reduced the time we had.

“We are ready,” Luna said with a stoic voice - but I could see she was also holding back tears in her eyes.

“Let’s do it. Concentrate your powers in front of me like we discussed. Once the release starts, do the same on the part of the shield the energy hits.”

Alicorns quickly charge their horns and did what they were told to do. Soon, the force field began to destabilize in that area. “We… are at maximum... Captain…” Celestia announced.

“OK... Que será será… ARGH! Damn!” I shouted as pain shot through my body - this shield might have been weakened, but passing through it still hurt like bloody hell.

Finally, after a few more seconds I was in… and quickly regretted I didn’t let Celestia be the hero this time. It was hell - temperature was very high, power spikes were bombarding me every few seconds, hitting different spots and either burning or ripping off, pieces of my body.

“SHIIIIIT! ARGH! APE… GO… I CAN’T TAKE THIS FOR LONG.”

“Affirmative, starting procedure… standby-”

ZAP!

APE was suddenly interrupted when a bolt of lightning thrown me against the shield. “ARGH! SMASH! AUU…” I shouted from pain.

“Captain! Are you OK?” I heard somebody asking.

“Yeah… I’m just ZAP! ...dandy ZAP!” I responded while taking the beating from energy discharges. “ARGH! Now I know how Roy Sullivan felt ZAP! … APE! How much longer for fuck's sake?!”

“Ready. Emergency release in 5...4...3...2...1.”

I thought it couldn’t get any worse - I was wrong. As concentrated energy shoot through my body, I felt the pain I have never felt before. "HOLY SHARGGGGGG!" being cooked alive, in hot Tabasco, with your skin removed, would have probably been the closest approximation.

But it was working, concentrated energy penetrated the shield and was being shot outside - finally lowering the power level near the Tree. Still, I had to keep this up for as long as possible, moving as little as possible - otherwise, I risked collapsing the force field entirely, with cataclysmic consequences.

“Warning! Overheat in progress!”

“...no ...shit… ugh!” I shouted as I fell to my knees. I barely managed to stabilize my energy discharging arms against the nearby rock.

It was then, I noticed what was happening to my body in the meantime. My skin was literally boiling - in some places, as the water evaporated it begin to carbonize and fall off, in others, it looked like it simply melted away leaving bloody red flesh behind. My body was also reaching extreme temperature - at this point, the odds of success didn’t look good.

“APE… how much longer…” I asked weakly.

APE responded with distorted voice - probably damaged himself from experience. “Ab..b..out 196 sec...ds”

“No way in hell... We will last that long… alternatives?”

APE took a moment to respond, and his voice sounded even worse now, “Ttot..l absorption… overload… explossssion… minimum... Dist..ce.”

I knew what he was talking about, instead of channeling energy, I could try to absorb as much as possible - using my body as one giant energy store. The problem was, I wouldn’t be able to hold my body together for long, and explosion of my sorry ass, would be as bad as the cataclysmic explosion we are trying to prevent - but I had an idea.

“APE switch to absorption mode,” I ordered, but there was no response. “APE? Switch the mode!”

A few seconds later I heard an extremely distorted answer, “Atemptiiiing to switch... Staaaaaand byyyyy… Attempting to… stand…”

As APE struggled to comply with my order, my vision started to get blurry, and I was losing feeling in the lower parts of my body - it was now or never. Suddenly APE reported success, “Swittttch completed… emergency shut…” and then went offline - along with my HUD. From that time forward, I was alone - without control of my body nano-systems anymore. I could only hope I did the right thing.

***

Quickly the energy beam stopped, and my body began to glow, absorbing the power. At this point, as my internals were being transformed into a giant quantum battery - the pain was indescribable - making me shake violently.

“What are you doing captain?!” Celestia shouted with a concerned voice.

I answer weakly - with all the remaining strength I had, “Princess… the shield will soon collapse - once it does I... Need you, and the others to… send me to the moon.”

“I beg your pardon?!”

“I’m absorbing energy… after the shield collapses… my body will become unstable in a matter of seconds - you must send me away before I explode…”

She didn’t respond, but I was sure she understood. A few seconds later I was glowing red, from all the energy I had inside me, mercifully - I could no longer feel anything below my neck, and my vision was one giant blur.

Then it happened, the force field collapsed, sending a moderate shock wave. Immediately, I could hear hissing and crackle coming from my body - the noises were getting louder with every second. Fighting the inevitable, I said with a fading voice, “What are… you waiting for? Do... It...”

“Let’s begin!” Celestia responded, as my vision turned to black.

I could still hear them doing their magic… but something wasn’t right - it was taking too long. “Hold on everypony, the suppression spell is working!”

“...suppression spell? Oh, you stupid, stubborn bit-”

FLASH!

The bright light was the last thing I remember before passing out…

Chapter 17 - Dying Changes Everything

*BIP* *BIP* *BIP* The sound of alarm clock hit my ears like a stray bullet. After a few seconds of struggle, I finally located the off switch.

Yawning heavily, I had rubbed my confused eyes and started to scan my surroundings - I quickly realized, I was in my house, lying in my comfy bed. The clock was telling me it was 05:45 in the morning. “Man, what a dream… I really need to drink less,” I said to myself while slowly getting up.

I quickly turned on my computer standing on the desk and went downstairs to make some espresso. “Another boring day… oh, hello Mrs. Cycow - how are you today? Hungry and grumpy as always I bet?” I said to my cat, who was waiting for the usual morning food and petting. I quickly put her food on the floor and returned to my laptop to check the news.

Gas is going up again [...]
Another terrorist attack in [...]
Prosecutors to question the president over a political scandal [...]

"Same thing, different day," I said to myself with bored voice, after reading the news. "I wish for once - they would write about something interesting-"

Suddenly, I had interrupted my own speech when I noticed something odd - looking through the window, all I could see was intense white color. "What’s going on? I better check this out."

But as soon as I opened my door, a shimmering flash of light blinded me instantly, and my ears began to ring.

***

When my eyes adjusted to the light - I could see I’m not in my house anymore. Instead, I was on the battlefield, lying next to the corpses of several soldiers wearing the same uniform as myself - combat was raging all around!

As I had slowly regained my hearing, I realized someone was shouting to me, “Soldier! We need that C4 NOW! Move it!” it was then, I noticed I was carrying explosives in my bag.

I quickly ran towards the voices - adrenaline was flowing through my veins, I could feel the bullets flying centimeters from my body, but I just focused on my objective - there was no fear. Suddenly it all changed...

BAM!

I felt it… felt the bullet entering through my back and escaping through my chest, leaving behind one hell of a hole. The force of the impact caused me to lose my balance and fall down hard to the floor. As blood was leaking out of my body, my vision began to blur… The last thing I remember were muffled voices...

“Don’t give up!”

“Fight!”

“We need you!”

Then, another flash of intense light struck me...

***

This time, when I regained my vision - I saw a bed with some figures standing around it, sobbing lightly. The scene was blurred, the only thing visible clearly, was the bed itself and the life support system connected to some patient - constantly beeping with the rhythm of his heart.

“We did all we could, but... His wounds are severe,” said the person wearing a white coat.

Other figures were all looking at the shattered patient's body, with eyes full of tears. “Will he make it?” one of them asked with a sobbing voice.

“I’m afraid, I don’t know - only time will tell.”

I could not recognize the face of the patient, or the others, but an overwhelming sense of deja vu struck my mind - something about it felt disturbingly familiar. As I stared at the person lying in bed it happened again - a flash of intense light blinded me, and everything disappeared...

***

The sound of motion slowly filled my ears - when my vision returned I could see I was in something that looked like a train wagon. “Finally, took you long enough,” somebody behind me said calmly, with a familiar voice.

As I turned around, I was momentarily stunned. “What the hell?!” It was me! I was standing in front of myself - staring confusedly.

My counterpart broke the silence, “Surprised? I guess I would be too. I mean, come on. Seeing myself talking? Uff ‘am I crazy’ - I would ask? To answer that - yes, you fucking are," he said with a smile, "but I think you know that already. And that’s not the reason you see me.”

At first, I was just standing there with my jaw open - saying I was confused would be an understatement. It took me a moment to regain my composure. “No, it’s not that… I was just surprised how ugly I am!" I responded with amused voice, "I mean damn! Look at that awful mug!”

We both laughed for a bit, suddenly a small bar suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “Drink?” my counterpart asked with a smile.

“Always!”

He quickly poured some vodka, and we sat down at the table. “You probably wonder where you are, and who I am-”

“You are me - obviously,” I interrupted and then took a sip from my glass.

“Yes and… no," he responded calmly, "I’m you - but to be more precise, I’m the part you hide all the time under that damn mask of yours.”

His words were confusing me. “I don’t know what you are talking about, ” I said, taking another sip of my glass.

“Oh, you can lie to everybody, but not to yourself," my counterpart responded with an irritated voice. "I’m the part that feels… the part you wanted to disable completely.”

My confusion only grew, I had no idea what he was talking about, and my memory was foggy. “To be honest, I don’t remember much - only bits and pieces," I answered when I recalled the scene with the hospital bed. "What happened to me? Am I... Dead?”

My counterpart poured some more alcohol into our glasses. “Before I answer that, first tell me what is the last thing you do remember.”

I struck a thinking pose and tried to query my mind - at first, there was nothing, but then my memory started coming back - piece by piece. “I remember a weird dream - there was WWIII, I was a soldier, I died… then become some kind of freaking walking terminator or something, then I tried to off myself,” I took another sip of my vodka, “and then… damn, I woke up in some wonderland, with ponies instead of people.”

“That’s all?”

“Well, no… I do remember some fighting, kicking some bad guys ass… I have some blurred memories of some explosion or something… and then walking up here," I finished talking, and took a final sip of my glass. "Now, how about you answering my question - am I dead?"

He quickly finished his glass and responded calmly. “Well… it's more complicated I'm afraid - you see, that ‘dream’ was actually a reality, it all happened,” my jaw dropped again as I heard the words, “and now, while we have this pleasant conversation - in the real world you are lying somewhere, dying.”

I was stunned again for a few seconds but then responded with a smirk. “Come on, you are pulling my chain… so what - I’m some T-800 on a planet populated by ponies? HA!” I laughed in my counterpart face.

“Of course not!" he said as he put a smirk of his own, "T-800 was a cyborg, you are just nano-enhanced - not the same thing at all. But other than that..."

I tried to respond, but suddenly my memories started to come back to me - my suicide attempt, saving Rarity, befriending Fluttershy, fighting Shadowdancer… “But, this means I died… right?” I asked with a nervous voice.

He didn't answer my question - instead, he gave the sign of silence, and then everything went quiet.

***

We just sat there for a minute - not exchanging any words, suddenly I could hear a muffled sob, followed by some whispers and more cries. The voices were a jumble… I could not tell who exactly was sobbing, but I was sure, there was more than one person out there. Finally, I broke the silence, “I ask again - am I dead?”

My counterpart stood up from his chair and slowly walked towards one of the train windows. "You will have to decide about that - what you hear are your friends waiting for you, begging that you wake up," he responded calmly while staring outside. "This ‘train’ we are on, will stop soon - at the terminal, there will be two doors - one on the left, and one on the right. Choose the left, if you wish to finish it all… choose the right to get back to your friends.”

“I see… You know my choice - let’s get this over with,” I responded with a stoic voice.

My doppelganger returned to the table and was glancing at me with his calm eyes. “If I knew, this would be over already," he said and poured some more vodka into our glasses, "I don’t know because deep in your heart, you don’t know either.”

“I knew for the last 300 years.”

“True, that’s why you tried to hide me - you felt so bad, you preferred not to feel anything at all. But now?”

“What?” staring indifferently at my half-empty glass I took another sip, “Nothing has changed-”

“BULLSHIT!” suddenly my counterpart angrily struck my hand - sending my glass flying to the nearest wall in the process. “Stop trying to lie to yourself! Everything changed! You are not alone anymore!" his voice was full of irritation. "We both know you didn’t want to die when you entered that force field-”

“So what - I had a moment of doubt," I interrupted with grumpy voice, "but I made up my mind.”

“I see I have no choice," my companion shook his head in annoyance, "why do you always prefer the hard way?”

Before I could say something, Fluttershy suddenly appeared before my eyes. She was in bad condition - her eyes swollen from tears. She was sobbing lightly. Soon the images of Twilight, Rarity, and others followed - all were very sad and crying - begging me to wake up. “You son of a bitch! You are trying to manipulate me!” I shouted with anger. “They will get over me - everybody will!”

My counterpart seemed unmoved by my outburst. “True, but do they have to?” he responded calmly, “You were suicidal because of the pain of being alone, with no purpose - but now that's changed. You can be happy… or at least you can try to.”

I wanted to counter, but every time I opened my mouth a flash of recent memories struck my head. Deep inside I knew he was right - my death wish didn't come from nowhere, it was the attempt to stop the pain. At the time, there was nothing left for me to do - Earth was dead, and I was just a walking sign of the past. But now, it was different - still, I wasn't sure what to do. "They don't need me... I would still be an outsider - a freak."

"Don't you get it? You being a freak is what saved this damn world!" my companion responded firmly. "If it wasn't for you, and your abilities - your new friends would probably be dead by now."

"Oh yeah... I'm a 'big hero'" I responded with irritation, "give me a fucking break."

My counterpart put a smile on his face and staring into my eyes said with satisfaction, "As long as you put your ass on the line for the just cause - you are a do-gooder, like it or not. If the recent events prove anything - is that this world could use another good guy."

Staring at the ground, I shook my head again - I was looking for good counter-arguments, but the fact was - there were none. No matter how much it hurt, he was absolutely right - I was a fucking do-gooder... And hated it. My mind was looking for any way out to convince myself. "But... What if this is my only chance to die? What if, I will be stuck there forever?"

"This place has so much quantum energy, that sooner or later you will find a way to kill yourself if necessary," my companion responded with a calm voice. "But right now, a whole new world awaits for you to explore it - and I bet that sooner or later more bad guys will show up for you to deal with..."

Suddenly the train started to slow down and then stopped. “We arrived - come on,” my counterpart said, and we disembarked.

***

The terminal looked deserted. Demolished empty chairs were everywhere, all the vending machines were broken, and the floor was littered with trash. I think this was the ultimate representation of my state of mind at the moment. “So did you make a decision?” my companion inquired.

“I’m still thinking," I replied calmly, "but, to be honest, I would like to see the gals again.”

"They are an interesting bunch aren't they?"

“Yeah... Especially Fluttershy. She reminds me of... You know who.”

We strolled for a while, talking and joking. The longer we walked, the cleaner the terminal became - as did my mind. Finally, we arrived at the exit. Immediately, I noticed something was missing. “Wait a minute - I only see one door, what the...?” I said confused.

“OK, so I lied about the choice - in reality, you are alive, and you are coming back,” my companion said with a smile, “I just tried to make you realize you don’t have to be miserable anymore.”

“You are a fucking bastard, you know?!” I responded with an irritated voice… however, in reality - I wasn’t that surprised...

“I'm you - remember? What did you expect?" he said with a grin. "Now go and try to be happy for a change!”

What was there to do… I opened the door and stepped in. The white light quickly surrounded me and then everything went quiet...

Chapter 18 - What a Wonderful World

I woke up, and it was the same old story all over again - I didn’t know where I was, and my body felt very weak. “Damn, why is it so dark in here…”

My ears slowly adjusted to my new surroundings and I was able to hear some muffled voices… “...even though I knew him only for a short time - I can tell you I never met a more courageous person in my life...”

Someone was talking outside, the speech sounded like a eulogy. “Hmm, sounds like somebody is getting... Oh, don’t tell me...” I stopped and quickly examined my surroundings. No wonder it was dark, I was in a coffin.

"Ha! My own funeral... Wait, what the hell is that?" I realized my body felt weird - I was wearing something. "Rarity, you really did that tuxedo after all, eh? Crazy girl..."

In the meantime, I realized that the outside voice sounded familiar. “...and so with great sadness, I bid farewell to our hero - we shall not forget him,” Twilight finished her speech, her voice sounded depressed.

"Hmm, I have never been to any funeral here before... Perhaps I should wait a little longer, and listen to what others have to say,” I said to myself.

“Thank you, Princess Twilight Sparkle… Now I would like to say final words," that voice I could recognize anywhere - it was Celestia. "The person we say goodbye to today wasn’t one of us, he was from a distant place - so different from Equestria that, when he first arrived I was afraid. Afraid he will disrupt the balance that took us centuries to build - I choose the easy way out - I sent him away," her voice sounded full of shame.

"When he returned, even though he owed us nothing, he fought for our freedom, making the ultimate sacrifice in the process. I, the Princess of the Sun want all of you gathered here to know that if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t be here today.

"Neither myself nor my dear sister, nor anybody else from the royal family was able to stop the Shadowdancer at the time, we succeeded only because of the actions of this one hero - and for that, he should have our eternal gratitude. Farewell, captain - may you find peace in death.”

“Not bad speech Princess, not bad at all," I said to myself, as a tear of joy formed in my eye. "I guess it's time."

BAM! BAM! BAM!

I hit the casket lid a few times, and a moment later everything went quiet. I could only imagine the look on pony faces at the time. A few seconds later the silence was broken. “OPEN UP THE CASKET, HURRY!” I could hear Celestia voice, mixed with the crowd commenting loudly.

Seconds later, noises started coming from the casket - followed by loud CRACK. When the lid was finally lifted - I sat up while my eyes adjusted to the sunlight again. When my vision finally returned I realized they were all there - the princesses and the girls - as well as numerous other ponies I haven't seen before. The crowd was huge. "The reports of my death are gravely exaggerated," I said with a smile while trying to step out of my coffin.

Suddenly the world started to spin, and everything went black again - apparently, I wasn't as healed as I thought. "Hey... Who turned off the lights..." I managed to say, before hitting the ground. The last thing I remember is someone shouting, “Somepony call a medic...”

***

*BIP* … *BIP* … *BIP* … *BIP*

I woke up in a comfy bed again - vital signs monitor was beeping slowly. After a quick scan of my surroundings, I realized I was in the room, I escaped from before being sent to the moon, I also noticed it was the middle of the day and that I wasn't alone. "Ahem," I said to the guard sleeping in the corner of the room - but there was no reaction.

“AHEM!” I tried even louder, but still nothing, “HEY! You alive?”

Finally, he woke up and began rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Umm… ye… oh my! You are awake!” his eyes went wide - he looked like he saw a ghost. “I'm going to inform the Princess right away!” before I could say anything, he ran out of the room.

Utilizing the moment of peace I tried calling my assistant, “APE, you there? Reboot or something," but there was no response - he was still offline, "damn always sleeping on the job.”

Suddenly, the door opened loudly and excited Celestia and Twilight ran inside. “Oh boy, here we go again...” I said to myself - predicting the awkwardness.

Twilight was the first who got near me. “CAPTAIN! YOU MADE IT!” she screamed with a happy voice while hugging me strongly, “we… we gave up hope…” she added and then started crying.

I tried to lighten up the mood. "Yeah... I got that part from the funeral and all."

"No... I meant after that."

“Huh? How long was I out?”

This time, Celestia responded to my question - with her usual calm voice, “More than three months, after you collapsed.“

This time - my eyes went wide, it took me a few seconds to process what I just heard. “Three months?! Hmm - I guess Rarity would say, I needed my ‘beauty sleep’ or something,” my words made both alicorns smile. “There is one thing I wanted to tell you the whole time,” I said calmly to Celestia.

She put an expression of interest on her face. “Oh? What would that be?”

I breathed deeply - taking in as much air as my lungs could handle. “You are stubborn… ugh! I don’t even have a proper insult!" I shouted with an angry voice. "What the hell were you thinking?! Do you realize that by not sending me to the moon, you have put the safety of whole Equestria at…" I stopped when I noticed both alicorns giggling softly. "I will regret this question but - why are you laughing?!” I asked with an annoyed voice.

Celestia turned to Twilight and lightly shook her head. “OK Twilight, you win. I really didn’t expect him to be this obstinate,” Celestia commented with a smile, and then turned back to me. “Oh, and you are welcome.”

I don't know what was more annoying - the fact that they anticipated I will bug them for not listening to me at the time - or the fact that they completely ignored what I just said. Looking at Celestia with an irritated face, I asked angrily, "Don’t you realize what you did?”

“Yes, I saved a friend. Just like before - he saved me and countless others,” she responded with a smile, using against me - the same argument I used a few months ago.

"I don’t know if I should thank you, or scold you… don’t get me wrong - I appreciate that I’m alive, but the cost of possible failure was so great... I wasn’t worth the risk.”

Celestia took one of the chairs and sat down next to my bed. That gentle smile was still on her face. "I think, I finally understand why you like Fluttershy so much - both of you have very low self-esteem," she responded with closed eyes. “After what you did for us, trying to save your life was worth the risk, captain. I had believed our spell should be enough, and thanks to the Elements - it was.

Twilight - who in the meantime sat next to Celestia - took over. "You see, once the force field collapsed, the girls and I regain our powers. With combined forces, we were able to purge the energy out of your body.”

My head was still shaking in disagreement - but deep in my heart, I was asking myself: what would I do in their place... And the truth was, I would have probably try to save them as well. "OK, but let's make one thing clear - I'm no hero, got it? I did, what had to be done - nothing more."

"Isn't that the definition?" Celestia responded with an amused voice.

I put both of my hands on my face - I didn't know if she was irritating me on purpose, but I didn't want to play this silly game anymore - I surrendered. "Fine, call me what you want. But don’t think this makes us even - for saving Equestria, you owe me a favor… and a drink.”

“Agreed... But what kind of favor would that be?”

“I will let you know when I need one - right now, I need to get out of this bed.”

***

We walked for a bit, my body was still rather weak - but at least my right hand managed to regrow. Celestia asked Twilight and me to her ‘tea party’ - where we discussed the last months - and what I missed. "...that's how we managed to 're-calibrate' the power of the Tree of Harmony," Celestia said while sipping her tea.

"I see, you had your hands... Or rather hooves, pretty busy... However, I was wondering - what should I do now... Got any pointers?"

Instead of Celestia - Twilight responded to my question with an excited voice. "Come back to Ponyville! You can stay at my castle - plenty of empty rooms there. I still want to talk to you and APE and do some research! Please say yes!"

I put a smile on my face and turned towards Celestia. "Is she always this excited about research, or is it about me?"

"Captain!" Twilight responded with a hint of irritation.

"She usually is - that's just her way," Celestia added with a smile.

"Princess! Not you too!"

Both Celestia and I giggled for a moment, while Twilight was staring at us with an irritated face. "Oh, don't be like that Twilight - there is nothing shameful in being excited about your hobbies, besides - my memory stores a lot of research back from Earth - it would be a good idea to put that data to good use," when Twilight realized how much research potential my technology had - her face quickly turned to excited again. With her eyes wide opened, she looked like a kid in a candy store.

"Still... I will need a job," I struck a thinking pose and began wondering what would I be good at - with my knowledge, I could do a lot of things - but I quickly went for the simplest one. "Need anybody assassinated, Princess?"

To my pleasant surprise Celestia responded with a smile, "Not presently, but if something comes up - I'll let you know," her answer made Twilight choke on her tea. I only smiled - it was good to know, Celestia had a cheerful side as well.

"But seriously, please know that, for your services to the country, you were granted a lot of bits - and the government will pay for the house of your choosing - that's the least we can do,” Celestia responded calmly.

“I guess some money could be useful. Thanks.”

Our tea party lasted for a few more minutes. I wanted to visit Luna, but she was resting after her 'night shift,' and I decided not to disturb her. Finally, Twilight and I said our farewells to Celestia and then took a chariot to Ponyville.

***

The trip took about an hour - since this time there was no immediate danger, I just relaxed, admiring the beautiful land I helped to save only a few months ago. Trees, grass, and lakes below us, the sounds of pegasi foals playing in the clouds, the view of earth ponies plowing the fields - it was all so soothing, so peaceful, that a huge smile formed on my face. That is… until something caught my eye.

“Twilight… what the hell is that?!” I asked with irritation, already knowing the answer.

Twilight responded with a smirk. “Oh, that? That’s your statue.”

My head started shaking from side to side, as I covered my eyes in frustration. “The horror… I don’t want no statues… ugh. The horror...” Twilight only smiled and chuckled softly.

A few moments later we landed in the center of Ponyville. As soon as I stepped out of the chariot, everybody started glancing in my direction. Soon, a crowd began to form. “Captain, you are alive?!” somebody said with an excited voice. A second later I felt a sharp poke in my back.

“He is real!” some other pony shouted, and then the horror began.

"LOOK! It's HIM!"… “Would you give me your autograph?!”... “Me first!”

The ponies rushed me! Happy faces hungry for the piece of their hero were closing in for the autograph. I was surrounded, there was no place to run - my worst nightmare came true, I became a celebrity! Funny as hell, it was the most horrible thing I could think of.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I reacted. “PONIES! PLEASE! NOT TODAY,” I shouted loudly, “please, I just woke up from a three-month sleep… I need some rest and relaxation, OK?”

Surprisingly, the crowd listened to reason, and soon Twilight and I were alone again.

“Now that this is taken care of, please come with me,” Twilight pointed her hoof at her castle. I knew she informed our friends I woke up, and that they were to wait for us there.

We arrived a few minutes later. It was the first time I saw her place up close, compared to the rest of the buildings in Ponyville it was huge. When Twilight opened the door, the cold air hit my face - the temperature inside was perfect for my taste. “The girls will be here shortly - please make yourself at home, I will be right back,” Twilight said as she pointed to one of many rooms. As soon as I went inside the lights went out.

POOF!

“SURPRISE!” the mane six shouted, as Pinkie Pie fired her party cannon.

“You knew the whole time didn’t you?” I said with a grumbling voice to Twilight, who in the meantime teleported into the room.

“Of course!” she responded and put a paper party hat on my grumpy face.

A few seconds later everybody in the room was hugging me, one by one. Soon, my mood improved to the point, that I decided to give this celebration a chance. “OK, fine, I guess this ‘partying’ thing can’t be that bad… can it?”

“BAD?! Parties are the best!” Pinkie shouted as she jumped around me, “repeat after me: ‘LIFE IS A PARTY!’ ‘LIFE IS A PARTY! ...’”

And so it went on until midnight… I must say it was pretty nice for the most part, although, Pinkie behavior was making me nervous - randomness is not really my thing.

After the party, for the first time in years, I had a happy dream. “We see, you finally slept well captain,” said a calm voice, coming from the blue alicorn.

“Oh, hello Princess. Yeah, this… this was a pleasant dream,” I responded with a smile, “sorry I didn’t come to see you, but Celestia told me you were resting after the night, I didn’t want to disturb.”

“We understand,” she responded calmly… but her voice sounded a bit abnormally.

“Is there something wrong?”

When Luna silently landed near me, I quickly noticed that her face had an uncertain look. “We would like to ask you something… personal, but we are afraid how you will react,” she said with embarrassed voice.

Her question was a bit unexpected, but I responded with a reassuring smile, “Princess… after all, we’ve been through a few months ago, you can ask me anything.”

“We thank you, the question we wanted to ask is… how… how did you manage to fo… forg...”

Luna was searching for words, I could see the pain on her face - watching her inner struggle I was able to guess the question. “How did I manage to forgive your sister for what she did to me? That’s the question, isn’t it?” Luna didn’t say anything - only nodded her head slightly, as a single tear formed in her eye.

“Hmm, this is simple, yet complicated at the same time..." I got up and started staring at the beautiful dreamland in the distance. "Do you know why I had those nightmares? There were two reasons - the first one was the fear of failure.”

I sighed heavily, as memories of my past suddenly filled the dream - while unintentional, the visualization allowed me to express my inner pain to Luna more directly. “With all my powers, all the technology - I couldn’t do anything, to save my world. I tried... The best minds of the time tried and yet, we still failed," the images of people dying from the virus flashed before our eyes. "But it was I, who was forced to witness it all. A few months after the last people died, the nightmares begin.”

Soon the images faded away, I sat down in front of Luna, staring at the ground. “However the nightmares were powered by the second reason - the fear of myself, fear of what I have become-”

Luna interrupted me with a surprised expression on her face. “We don’t understand… you feared yourself? But why? You didn’t become evil like…” she stopped before finishing, as another tear formed in her eye.

“No, but I knew I was going mad… the isolation was taking its toll off my mind... My worst nightmare was that I finally found some survivors, only to be chased away by them, when they realized what I was. Then… enraged, full of energy - with no controls of my actions I... Killed them all..." suddenly the dreamland around us started to visualize that nightmare - both of us could see my 'alter ego' killing other people without mercy.

I expected a horror in Luna’s eyes, but instead her face was filled only with sadness. She not only felt my pain, she understood it - we might have been different outside, but I could tell that our fears were very similar. “When the power outburst happened, and I was sent away, I was angry at first. But then, when my nightmares returned, I realized why Celestia did it," I said calmly. "If I was scared of myself, I could only imagine what she must have felt when she saw what I was capable of.”

Luna shook her head and responded nervously, “But that doesn’t make it right!”

“You are right, it doesn’t - and don’t get me wrong, I still think she made a mistake, but… I can understand the reason.”

For the next few seconds, we sat in silence just staring at the ground of the dreamland - I could see Luna wasn't satisfied with my answer. “Look… I know for a fact that Celestia regrets what she did to me AND to you, perhaps you should just talk to her about it? After all, everybody makes mistakes. I know I do.”

Luna lightly shook her head. “We… I don’t think I’m ready for that - but I would like to talk to you more often... If you are willing?” she asked with a hint of embarrassment.

“Ha… I was actually looking forward to talk some more with you. Perhaps we will be able to help each other,” I responded with a smile.

For the first time since our conversation started, Luna put a smile on her face. "I... I would like that," she responded with an uncertain but happy voice.

“Excellent! Together, we should be able to formulate the plan to overthrow Celestia, and send her to the moon herself!”

The Princess’s jaw dropped when she heard my words - it took her a moment to realize I wasn't serious. “Ugh... You really need to work on your sense of humor,” I added with a hint of irony.

“We… I shall try... And please - call me Luna,” she responded, as the smile returned to her face. We chatted for the next hour.

When I finally woke up - the sun was climbing over the horizon - painting the sky above Ponyville with crimson and gold. I could hear birds chirping outside my window - looking at the beautiful sight, and listening to the sounds of nature made me feel a bit closer to heaven.

“Looks like the start of a nice day,” I said to myself with contented voice - for the first time in ages, I was happy...

Chapter 1 - To be or not to be...

Author's Note

Version 1.1 – I put it through Reverso and Grammarly, and fixed a TON of annoying grammar mistakes. It should be a lot more readable now :unsuresweetie: (I’m 100% sure that there are more errors in there, but at least the major ones should be mostly gone).

Changelog:

2018-09-16 - version 1.1:

Fixed a lot of grammar mistakes with Reverso and Grammarly
Added a missing explanation about Discord and made a few other edits

Chapter 1 - To be or not to be...

Have you ever thought about immortality? It’s funny, we all took death for granted, everybody thought that someday, he or she would be pulled from this world. Some believed that there would be an afterlife, others, that there would be nothingness, but everybody thought that, sooner or later, death would get them all. Well… I thought so too.

My name is James Gastovski, the last man alive, cursed with ‘life’ - to forever suffer for the crimes of humanity.

***

Einstein once said, “I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth - rocks!” actually, he was wrong - I guess even genius can sometimes make a mistake… in reality, there won’t be a WW IV - or any other for that matter - because nobody is left to fight it. Except me, that is…

You see... During WW III, I was a soldier, a captain actually - working for the United Nation Defense Forces - UNDF for short. We were a small undercover group of independent people that had one goal: to stop this bloody war at all costs. We weren’t on anybody’s side - we were the ‘balancer’ trying to show world leaders that victory was impossible and that they should stop fighting.

We were actually doing a pretty good job! Many scientists joined our cause, seeing how futile this bloodshed was, and since we were ‘borrowing’ technology from all sides of the conflict - we were the most advanced army in the world. Still, we needed a ‘game changer’ - something that would give us a final advantage over other ‘players’...

Then, I made the worst mistake of my life - I volunteered to become that ace in UNDF sleeve. Well... OK, ‘volunteered’ may not be the best phrasing - in reality, I got KIA, and thus became the best ‘material’ for the job. My body was transformed - pumped full of highly experimental technology, I couldn’t even pronounce. When they activated me, they were pretty shocked I retain my original memories - or so they said.

At that moment - I was happy. I became a superhero! Super strength, speed, regeneration, hell - doc Kleiner (our leading ‘egg head’) even said, that my systems were self-sustaining and adaptable, so I could gain new abilities in the future (and the bastard was right of course - as always). If I only knew then, what fate had in store for me…

***

My enhanced body finally gave us the 'edge' we needed. We were ‘this close’ to ending this thing when - in one single day, all hell broke loose.

A synthetic virus was released to the atmosphere and started wiping the earth of all animal life. It gave no symptoms until it was too late, and was nearly undetectable.
Of course, it was designed to target only the 'enemy' of the certain nation - but it quickly mutated (surprise, surprise) and started to hunt down its creators too ('poetic justice' I guess).

After 6 months - world powers were on their knees, and the war officially ended.
After 12 months - with about forty percent population dead, world economy collapsed.
After 18 months - all known humans and animals were infected and dying…
After 24 months… there was only silence.

I had watched my friends die one by one - and waited for my turn… but it never came. My 'super body' adapted and killed off that little bastard - leaving me, the last man on Earth.

***

At first, I had searched the planet, hoping to find some survivors, but as years went by, I realized - I was alone.

The only reason I didn’t go mad, was my assistant - the Artificial Person Emulator or APE for short. On the one hand, he was something I could talk to, on the other - he really was a pain in the arse sometimes - just imagine having Mr. Spock inside your head - no emotion, just pure logic.

10 years after the world had died, I lost all hope and... Put a bullet to my head - only to wake up after a few hours like nothing happened.

After that, I tried every known method of suicide there is - even quartering, but my body just kept adapting and regrowing. Hell, I even jumped into an active volcano once, but 1200°C only carbonized my outer skin - took me a month to climb back up.

But today - after nearly 300 years - I think I finally found the way. If you are reading this, then hopefully - I’m finally resting on the other side. For whoever finds this - let it be known, that humanity got what it deserved.

This is captain James Gastovski - last human alive, signing off.

“What do you think APE?” I asked, pointing at the letter, I just finished.

APE responded with his synthesized voice, “I am not sure sir, don’t you think that ending is a bit… harsh?”

“Nah. They - or rather we - got what we deserved. The continuous power struggle for nothing, electing morons to lead... I won’t change my mind on this subject” I folded the letter and put it inside the waterproof envelope.

“That is, of course - your prerogative sir. However, isn’t that note hurtful to your former friends?”

“APE… I didn’t say that all humans were bad. There were many examples of good people - UNDF was full of them, but humanity as a whole? Give me a break...” I responded, waving my hand in irritation, “anyway, we have to get going - I will leave the time capsule here - it should be far enough to prevent any damage to it, right?”

“Yes, sir. According to my calculations, the capsule should be safe at this distance.”

I put the round cylinder into the prepared hole. “Alright, there is nothing left for us here - let's go.”

***

During the next three hours, I walked towards my goal - passing monuments of our once thriving civilization. Houses, stores, and skyscrapers that years ago thrived with life - now all falling apart, wild plants growing everywhere, reclaiming the land, humanity once took to build their megacities.

Since the animals paid the price, for our stupidity - everything was silent, you could hear the wind occasionally, but other than that it was quite like a tomb.

Finally, I arrived at my destination - the 'Tesla Labs.' The huge round bunker housed a prototype piece of technology powerful enough to manipulate matter at the quantum level - if my calculations were correct, it should have been capable of converting my body to pure energy – nano-tech or not, it was doubtful anything can survive that.

When I force opened the rusty security door - warm stale air hit my face, with a loud hiss. “Let’s get started.”