TICK

'What did that dream mean?'

TICK

'Was that a dream or a vision? No, it couldn't be a vision. Our vacation already ended, that's thanks to me since I ended it early, I just said I didn't feel well but it was really because of the dream.'

TICK

'It couldn't be a dream either, I haven't seen anything like that since I was young. Perhaps symbolism?'

TICK

'What's worse is that it's been repeating itself, every night I have it now, every time I wake up I feel even more pissed, it's like I'm some shell filled with skills and capabilities, I just won't use them because... I have too much to lose.'

TICK

Aiden looked at the clock while he had a break through 'I'm not The Protector because I'm chicken shit, when I was younger what did I really have to lose? I have a whole entire family that depends on me to be there for them... Parents always look back and ask what's so different about them that changes who they are, in reality it's because we're scared. That means in order to bring the fire back you would have to fuck with the thing I live for, messing with my family equals The Protectors return... Is that what ponies are waiting for?'

TICK

A big stack of papers were plopped down onto Aidens desk, this caused him to jolt out of his thoughts, he looked up to see his long time partner, White Light.

"You wouldn't believe how amature the new guys are, they can't even surpass ten push ups. This new generation has seriously got me thinking about what's gonna happen after we're gone?" White Light took a seat on the other side of the desk.

Aiden rubbed his face to bring himself one hundred percent back to reality "Yeah, I wonder sometimes...." He paused before speaking again "Can I ask you a random question?"

White Light smiled "Well, ya kind of already did but yeah, shoot." He said before leaning back into the chair some more.

Aiden sighed "I know ponies don't directly ask this each other but are you guys expecting something big to happen?" He asked with slight hesitation.

White Light stared at his best friend and boss with slight confusion "That is random." He said before inhaling and exhaling a deep breath "Could you be a little more descriptive, like something big as in good or not so good?"

"Something bad, something that you guys think would bring me out of retirement." Aiden went a little more in detail.

"You want me to be honest?" White Light received a small nod from Aiden "Yeah, yeah we do. I mean let's be serious, you have a family and families are great and all, that's why I have one myself, but they're weaknesses. Enemies typically go after their main targets families instead of the actual pony because they know it hurts them more, they do this to bring their prey to them instead of them having to waste energy finding the prey." He explained.

Aiden bit his cheek while nodding "I see... I agree with you. The real question is am I anyponys enemy?"

White Light shrugged "I dunno, it all depends on if you've pissed off anypony that has skills to challenge your own."

Aiden tapped the table with his fingers "Huh, in recent memory no. I mean when I was young I was talented at pissing ponies off, now... nopony doesn't really have anything against me, I've got a pretty clean record."

"Don't worry about it then, the only time to worry is when something actually does happen, that's when you need to go ahead and sharpen your tools once more Aiden." White Light said before standing up and heading for the door, he stopped before leaving "Also, not to be mean or anything, I definitely think you should consider doing your old training again, it wouldn't hurt and it would definitely appeal to your older self." He said before exiting the room.

Aiden exhaled before looking at the clock 'My older self huh? I can't disagree to that, I could definitely use that exercise."

Aiden stopped running and leaned onto a tree in the ourskirts of the Everfree Forest, he took in deep breaths to regain his stamina "Holy shit" he looked down at his watch and saw he's only ran three miles so far "How did I do fourteen miles every morning? No wonder why I was ripped, I ran fourteen miles and wasn't even tired, after running I'd even do the push ups and pull ups." He looked up the tree he was currently leaning "The pull ups..." He shook his head after remembering how he used to do things, he took off once more with a small bit of dedication he had left over from the past.

After his little exercise Aiden went home to cool off, he was welcomed by the sight of his daughter taking her daily yoga class, Aiden had hired a personal yoga instructor for her. Aiden was currently drenched in his own sweat and he knew he needed a shower. After taking a shower he descended the stairs and saw his daughter doing what he assumed was the downward dog but he was upset to see the instructor leading her back into his pelvis, it looked way to perverted to be just yoga. Aiden was going to leave it be but he remembered what White Light had said, appeal to the older Aiden.

"Stop." Aiden all of the sudden blurted out to the two, his daughters smile suddenly dropped and the male instructor all of the sudden had a guilty look on his face "Just fucking stop, I know you're twenty and you're looking into having a good time but do that shit outside of my house and if you don't like that rule then move out." He told his daughter.

Victoria looked at him with a surprised look "I-I-I" she wasn't sure what to say since he never talked like in front of her "I mean I'm not a virgin and I've done this stuff before but I didn't know you had a problem with it."

Aiden's eye twitched "I didn't want to know that. I honestly couldn't care any less about what you do in your free time but do not disturb my day, do not disturb my house, go disturb his." He said before pointing at the instructor.

Victoria stood up, slightly nervous "U-umm... Okay." She said before getting her instructor and leaving the home.

Aiden sat down after she left and held his head in his hand "Now I just feel like a dick." He said before sighing "What the hell did the old Aiden do? I mean I spoke my mind when I was younger but I wasn't really an asshole about it. I could've just said stop and left it at that but that sight just pissed me off and... I don't know, lost it? Is that what a normal pony would call it?"

Ten at night

The front door opened to the silent home, Victoria entered the house quietly and planned to go upstairs until a all to familiar voice caught her attention.

"Victoria? Come sit with me." Aiden instructed her.

She cursed silently under her breath before sitting beside him, she was caught off guard by her father hugging her close to his chest.

"I'm sorry for being so rude to you earlier, it's just that at the end of the day you're still my baby girl, I care about you and I just don't want to see you do dirty things. I know I've let thing slide in the past but recently I've had I guess what you would call a wake up call, I'm trying to be who I once was before, I'm trying to come out of retirement." He explained to her.

Victoria nodded "It's okay dad, I figured you were stressed out or something. At the end of the day I can't be mad at you since you've given me a perfect life, most ponies my age have been kicked out by their parents but you still willingly house me, you even give me everything I ask for still. It's okay dad." She said before nuzzling into his chest "I'll always be a daddy's girl." She enjoyed her fathers warmth.

Aiden smiled "Go ahead and get some sleep, it's pretty late and way past my bed time." He said before letting her go.

Victoria kissed him on the cheek "Goodnight dad, love you!" She said before going up the stairs.

Aiden sighed "Okay, now that's out of the way it's time to get down to business, what no pony knows is that The Protector is already back out of retirement." He said before slipping on his jacket and exiting out of the house.

Aiden sat on the bench that was still in the middle of Ponyville, it was the same bench he officially met Twilight at, he remembered he sat there because he had a good view of a lot of buildings. It was almost pitch black outside, the only lights were a few street lamps that were scattered across Ponyville, but Aidens clothing was so dark he looked almost invisible.

The local bar was busy tonight and Aiden knew it, he was just waiting for something to happen, his predictions were still good but that skill has to be used when you own a business. As Aiden was getting comfy he saw a somewhat skinny stallion get thrown out of the bar doors, a large stallion soon stepped out and picked up the skinny one, he started going to town on the rather young looking stallion "Well, I guess that's my call to action." Aiden stood up and calmly walked up to the two and stood in front of them, he made sure to have a mask on that covered up to his nose "Hey," he got the big stallions attention "stop." He said with a rather calm tone, you would almost think he wasn't serious.

The rather buff stallion chuckled before going back to town, a few other stallions walked out and watched, they cheered the stallion on.

"If you don't stop then I'm gonna have to beat your ass in front of all your buddies." Aiden warned the stallion.

The stallion stopped and let go of the smaller stallion "Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? I'll put you in the ground you mask wearing pussy." He tried to scare the human.

Aiden chuckled "I'd like to prove you wrong, throw a swing and I'll show you what I'm made of." He said with confidence.

The big stallion huffed before he threw a punch towards Aiden, he dodged it and took ahold of his arm. Aiden quickly threw the stallion off balance when he swept his hooves out from beneath him, the stallion regained balance quickly and managed to land a hit into Aidens gut. The wind was knocked out of him for a second before a familiar rage began to rise "Oh, now I'm not gonna be nice anymore." He felt a few old feelings come back to him before catching a punch, he quickly threw the stallion over his shoulder and onto the ground, this caused the small group of stallions emit a sound of awe. Aiden quickly pinned the stallion to the ground by resting his knee onto his chest, Aiden began pounding punches into his face, he got a few response hits into his torso but Aiden eventually caught the stallions arm, out of pure instinct Aiden wrapped his leg around the arm for leverage, the stallion tried to fight against him but couldn't get his arm free, Aiden now felt no mercy and used momentum to break the stallions arm over his leg, this caused the stallion to start yelling in pain. Aiden still had no mercy for the stallion and started to pound punches into his face once more, each punch packed more power after every swing, the stallion was soon out cold and Aiden finally stopped when he noticed his own knuckles began to ache.

Aiden huffed when he stood up and looked at the small crowd "Who's next?" He asked the group. All of the stallions shook their heads after taking a second look at their buddy. Aiden smiled under his mask before having a question be blurted out towards him.

"Who are you?"

Aiden chuckled "Call me The Protector." He said before walking away from the crowd. 'The fire, I felt it. Everything about that whole situation felt... Right. Yeah, The Protectors back!' He thought this before walking back to his home, he felt extremely tired due to old age and the lack of consistence in his old exercise. 'This old dog happens to already know a few tricks.'

Author's Note

Wow, so many splits in this chapter... Am I rushing? Please tell me if I'm rushing because that's the problem I'm trying to solve.