Ghillie in the mist

Twenty-three hours before the wedding.

     I was leaning against the balcony in Luna's chamber, looking over all of Equestria. The sunset was marvelous, breathtaking. I had never actually taken the time to stop and watch the sun disappeare, and the moon rise. I was in basketball shorts, an old OU T-shirt, and some black sandals. Yeah, I was most likely the sexiest beast in the world. I my right hand, I held a bag of sunflower seeds, constantly spitting the shells into an old plastic bottle in my left. I never dipped, the seeds just tasted good, and it gave me something to do. A patter always emerged. Split, separate, crunch, spit, repeat. Split, separate, crunch, spit, repeat. Split, separate, crunch, spit, repeat.

     The only problem was that there wasn't an unlimited amount of seeds. Well, there probably is a sunflower plant somewhere, just nopony knows its potential worth. Them being herbivores, they would make a killing. "Maybe I should quit the killing business, become a sunflower farmer?" I smiled and shook my head. I wasn't a farmer, sure, AJ could teach me, but I know how to kill. It's what I know. And I was planning on staying behind the scope until a bullet ripped through me. I sighed as I spit another seed into the cup. I heard four hoofs hit the ground behind me.

     I smiled. "Hey, Lu."

     "How did you know I was there?" She asked, walking by my side.

     I put my arm around her. "Whenever you're waiting on one thing, one can learn to make some senses less sensitive, while making others more. I heard you."

     She shook her head while smiling. "I'll never understand you."

     "Never have to understand me." I bent over, placing a kiss on her cheek. "You just have to love me."

     She smiled even more. We stared into the sky. The stars and constellations shining bright. She looked over at me. "Do you see it?"

     "See what?" I looked back into her eyes.

     "The new alignment? I was going to make it tomorrow, but I just couldn't wait." She said with a giant smile.

     "Sorry, Lu. This is the first time I've ever really studied the stars. They just look like a million shiny dots to me."

     She started walking back to the room. "Follow me." I complied, spitting the last few shells into the bottle, putting the cap on, and leaving it on the counter.

     She started using her magic to move the stars on her ceiling around. "What are you doing?"

     "I changed the sky, haven't arranged my ceiling yet though." She said, she was placing the stars in specific locations. She stared at it deeply, then smiled. "Done!"

     I looked at the ceiling. "Still just a bunch of dots."

     She punched me in the shoulder. "Look closer!"

     I strained my eyes. "Still dots."

     She rolled her eyes. "Here, allow me to help." She levitated the news clipper from when I was highly drunk. "Remember this photo?"

     I laughed. "How could I forget?"

     She used her magic to connect some of the dots. "See it now?"

     I looked at the news clipping, then the false stars. "Oh okay, I see it now. Very nice! And you can just do that?" I asked.

     "Do you like it?!"

     I laughed. "Love it, Lu." I turned and walked back to the balcony, finding the arrangement in the billions of stars. I laughed to myself. "How long will it take your science gurus to find the new arrangement?"

     "About two hours. I had to move the stars as well, they at least saw those."

     "They're that quick, huh?" I said. I sighed. My mind suddenly shot to an image in a dense jungle. A small town. Three houses and a warehouse, along with a gass station, and a road leading to a major highway about five miles away.

     "'Ey, Michael? You seein' this shit?" George rang through the radio in my ear.

     "Yeah, two black vehicles. Each containing four people." I replied. My sniper tucked into my shoulder.

     "If they stop at the drop off, we'll be right behind them. Make sure noone sneaks out the back door."

     "Have I ever?" I said in a cocky voice.

     "Just don't miss." He said. I laughed.

     The two vehicles stopped. Right in front of the warehouse. Six men and two women, all in suits. "George, targets going in. Right on time." I said. My pulled back the M40's bolt.

     "We're ready." George came over. I watched as him and the rest of my squad entered the building through the roof. Once the last Marine fell in, I could only wait. That was the most horrific part of any mission. The waiting. You never know what could happen to you or your buddies in the passing seconds... or minutes. "Open fire!" George yelled. Flashes of light came through the windows of the warehouse.

     "Michael! Backdoor!" George screamed.

     I swung the sniper around. "On it." I replied. The door burst open. I readied to pull the trigger, but was taken back at what I saw. A women. She was running as fast as she could. Fear in her eyes. A briefcase in her left hand, a glock in the right. She had long black hair, past her shoulders. She looked back at the door, firing a round back at the warehouse. Then, in mid-stride, a red hole suddenly appeared in her head. She collapsed to the ground while the briefcase continued to slide. A pool of blood and brain matter surrounded her head.

     "Did ya git 'er?" George sounded over.

     "Yeah, I got her. Was she the only one?" I asked as I pulled the bolt for the sniper, ejecting the casing.

     "Yeah, she's th' only one." He said.

     I looked at the door, Ben walked towards the dead female. He ignored her, grabbing the briefcase. He then looked straight into my scope. "Michael!" He yelled. But it sounded much too close. "Michael!!" He yelled again, his voice slightly... feminine. " MICHAEL!"

     "Michael!" Luna yelled, waving a hoof in front of my face.

     I blinked multiple times, trying to sink in what just happened. "Yeah..."

     "Michael, you've been staring off to the sky for half an hour! What's wrong?"

     "I..." What did happen. "I-I don't know." I replied, trying to be as honest as possible.

     She wrapped her warm hooves and wings around me. "Michael, what's wrong?"

     I sighed. "I think I just had a flashback of Earth. With my squad."

     "Was it a good flashback?"

     "With what I do for a living, not a chance in hell it would be a good flashback."

     She wrapped me tighter. "What happened?"

     I returned her embrace. "I really don't want to talk about my past, Lu. It's all history."

     "We have to learn from history, history repeats itself, so we must study it to prevent the bad things from happening again."

     "Lu, trust me on this. It's all the same. I end up putting a hole in someone's body, and the life is sucked from them. Not much else to it."

     She placed her head in my chest. "I just.... Michael, you realize that I am immortal, right?"

     I scratched behind her ear. "Yeah, why?"

     "That means someday, be it by age, or combat. You will die..."

     "I've got around sixty to seventy years left, I think that's more than enough time to spend with you." I said with a smile.

     "I know, but what am I going to do when you're gone?" Her eyes looked up into mine.

     "Let's not worry about that right now. That's the future. We don't know what it holds. Life could throw us a curveball, and I end up living less than normal due to the environment. I may live a touch longer. We don't know." I placed a soft peck on her lips. "I never look back, it distracts from the now."

     She pulled me onto the bed. "Michael, I have to return to the night court, would you like to join me?"

     "Of course." I said. "Just let me grab something more... appropriate to wear."

     "But of course." She said.

     "Luna! You must tell us who the groom is!" A yellow stallion yelled. He wore a tux.

     Luna just shook her head. "You will all learn tomorrow. As of now, we want to keep it to just a few ponies. We don't want him to be trampled."

     I sat at my desk in the corner, cleaning the AR. I smiled to myself. "Like they could get me to talk though." I mumbled under my breath. I looked up to see the court was all pleading for Lu to give up her secret somepony. Save one. He eyed me cautiously, like I was going to try something. I shrugged it off, not the first to look at me like that.

     "Princess! How do we know he is protected as is?" He pleaded. "We could easily dispatch our guards!"

     She just smiled. "I am certain he can care for himself."

     I smiled back, pulling out my iPod. Putting in the buds, I hit shuffle, landing me on a rather hard hitting Skrillex song. I leaned forward, cleaning every speck of dirt and dust off the rifle, while the bass pounded my ears. The song switched, an old song by the one and only, Eminem. I mumbled the words under my breath, the words that would send a peaceful nation such as Equestria, into anarchy. The song ended, and I completely forgot about my surroundings. All I was worried about was the rifle in my hands, and the guitar that started to fill my head. I smiled. One of the only songs by Nickleback I like. I started to sing the song out loud.

     "If everyone cared and nobody cried

If everyone loved and nobody lied

If everyone shared and swallowed their pride

Then we'd see the day that nobody died."

     My earbuds were then violently ripped out of my ears. "That's amazing!" A voice yelled.

     My eyes shot up at the court. "Who the fuck did it!" I looked around. "Who took out my music?"

     A stallion stood, his horn still glowing. "I did, I just h.. "

     I stood from my desk, quickly approaching the stallion. "Nothing fucks with my music. Nothing!"

     "Wait! I was ju..."

     My hand grabbed his mouth, forcing it shut. I leaned in, looking into his yellow eyes. "Do you understand me when I say, nothing touched my music?" He nodded. "Good. Now. Continue what you were saying."

     I released his mouth. "That was amazing, where did those words come from?"

     I shot him a deadly look. "It came from my music, which you rudely ripped from my ears." I turned and started back for my desk. Only to feel my muscles locked. I looked down, seeing a black aura of light. I looked back to see Luna's horn brightly glowing.

     "You aren't exactly making a good name for your species, Mr. Johnson."

     I gave her a weird look. "Where the hell did that come from?"

     She cringed, only for a second, but I noticed. I felt a blast of magic hit my face. I turned to see a blue stallion standing up in his seat. "You will not curse at our princess!"

     I tried to break free from the prison, with no success. "Luna, release me." I said. I tried reaching for the assassin's blade.

     "I know what you will do, I ha..." she was cut off by a blast of magic hitting me in the side. The same blue pony.

     "You will not demand our princess to do anything! And you will refer to her as Princess Luna." He demanded.

     I looked at Luna. "Luna, it is my right as a citizen of Equestria to defend myself if I am attacked by a pony wishing to harm me. I demand to exercise this right."

     She looked confused. Then nodded. "Don't do anything stupid." And the magic released me.

     As soon as I was free, I rollled to the right, evading a blast from the blue unicorn. I grabbed my blade, but first grabbing a cuo from a nearby table. I hurled it towards his horn, with successful contact to his horn. He cried in pain as I quickly closed the distance between us. Before he knew it, I had his horn in my left hand, with a leverage point that I could easily snap it off. My right hand had the blade right under his throat.

     "Apologize." I said.

     "Buck you!" He grunted.

     I applied pressure to the blade, drawing a drop of blood. "You are not in the position to be arguing. Apologize. Now." I said, twisting his horn slightly.

     He screamed in pain. "Alright! Alright! I apologize!" He screamed. I let him fall to the floor, placing the knife back in it's proper place.

     I sighed. "Luna, I'm going to walk around the castle, cool off a bit." I walked over to her.

     "Okay."

     I had a devilish smile. "Here, have some fun with the court." I leaned in, placing a kiss on her lips. I released, winking, and walking out of the room. Right before the door shut behind me, the whole court burst into an uproar. I smiled even more.

     I made my way towards the throne room. Nopony in sight. Not even a guard. Not really the best security. I looked at the throne. You can obviously guess the thoughts going through my head. I made my way towards the massive seat. Let's see the world from her point of view. I thought to myself.I sat down in the chair, which by the way is incredibly comfortable. I looked out. The murals were lined to where I could see them all at any time. I shook my head. Well, when you are the ruler of a country, I guess you get what you want, how you want it.

     I closed my eyes, leaning back. In less then twenty hours I would be marrying a princess. It was just a lot to take in. My train of thought was cut off by a echoing voice down one of the halls. My curiosity got the best of me. I stoof up, setting out to find the source of the voice.

     I started walking down the hallway to the dining room, with no luck. I then decided maybe it was coming from near Lu's room. I headed up in that direction. No luck. I sighed, straining my ears for the noise. I decided to check on the area near the six's rooms. As I neared, the voice got louder and louder. I drew my pistol as I rounded the corner, quickly putting it in the holster when I saw a pink fluffy mane.

     "Pinkie, what are you doing up this late?" I asked, making my way towards her.

     She looked at me with a tear in her eye. "You don't even know, that's the worst part. And I'm not sure, sure, so I can't tell you."

     "Pinkie, what's wrong?" I asked, brushing her fluffy pink mane.

     She sniffed. "Well, I have a bad feeling that Mr. Maine is going to do something very evil tomorrow, but I'm not sure."

     I looked at her in confusion. "Pinkie, who's Mr. Maine?" She just pointed at the ceiling. I shrugged it off. "Don't worry, Pinkie. Nothing bad is going to happen."

     She looked up at me. "Pinkie promise?"

     I laughed. "Pinkie promise." I replied, doing the appropriate motions.

     Her tears vanished, and she was once again smiling. "Okay! Goodnight, Mikey!" She said before bounding off to her room.

     I stood straight up. So, Sub isn't the only one that thinks something bad's going to happen... Nah, it's nothing, just a coincidence. I thought to myself. My train of thought was cut off by a magic tug. I turned to see a pink alicorn behind me. "Yes... Cadence?"

   "Michael, is now a good time to talk?" She asked.

     "Now is actually perfect. What's up?"

     She sighed. "I have a bad feeling about tomorrow..." she said, trailing off.

Three... "Really? Why's that?" I asked, crossing my arms.

     "I don't know, I just.... I feel tension, a lack of love between two ponies. Their bond is about to seperate, but I can't figure out who." She said. She quickly put a hoof out. "It's not you and Luna though, I can assure you that."

     I let out a sigh of relief. "Alright, if you find anything, I'll be the first to know, right?"

     She nodded. "Yes, of course. I had my wedding completely ruined by an evil queen... I don't want yours to end the same way."

     I shrugged. "It won't, her head is no longer on her shoulders."

     Her eyes widened. "You were the one that..." she put a hoof over her mouth.

     I rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah, it was kinda my job t..." I was stopped by a brutal hug.

     "Thank you for ridding Equestria of that filth!" She said. I returned her embrace.

     "It's my job." Is all I said.

     "That's two more that know something fucked up is going to happen." Sub rang out.

     "Really? I didn't know you could count that high!" I replied as I altered the dream world to be a giant city with tall skyscrapers.

     "Fuck you. What I'm saying is, something's going to go down! There's no doubt about it!"

     I continued to raise the buildings into the air. "Nothing is going to happen, dammit!"

     "You even think something's going to happen because I think something is going to happen!"

     I sighed. "Then what do you think is going to happen? Any ideas?"

     "Well, the small pink one said something evil, and the large pink one said thag bonds would be broken."

     "That doesn't help me. At all. Pinkie is... well... Pinkie. And Cadence is all about love, how could she tell if something's about to happen?" I readied myself for the jump onto the highest building.

     "Well she is an alicorn, they seem to be much more powerful than the unicorns."

     "She was taken down by a bug queen... she's not as 'powerful' as you think." I extended my legs with a massive force, launching me thousands of feet into the air.

     "Still an alicorn, which means she has ties to something major."

     I gently landed on the building. "She's tied to love, if I remember correct. Love isn't major."

     "Don't lie to yourself, Michael. Love is very powerful. Look what happened when you lost love for your father. You became a killer."

     I looked up into the sky. "Fuck you!"

     "And now that you love that stupid pony, you are fighting tooth and nail to protect her and you."

     I started to jump onto the next building, when I heard something behind me. I whipped around, forming an Uzi in each hand. "Lu..." I said, dropping the weapons.

     She approached me slowly. "Michael, I don't know how to say this... but..  I don't feel right about the wedding."

     "What do you mean?" I asked.

     "I just... something's wrong. Very wrong. I know it is. But I don't know what it is."

     The metallic voice rang through the dream. "Told you mother fucker!"

     Luna was taken back a bit. "What was that?"

     I gave her a gentle hug. "Luna, meet Sub, Sub, Luna."

     "Fuck you, bitch!" He rang out.

     "You think y..." I cut her off.

     "Lu, he's my subconscious. You won't be able to do anything to him."

     "Damn straight!" He yelled. The dream started to slowly collapse in the distance.

     "Fuck you Sub, anyway Lu, what do you think's going to happen?"

     "I... I don't know. It just feels big. Very big."

     "What's the matter, bitch? Can't see into the future?"

     I shrugged. "Well, before he can go any further, I'm going to end this dream quickly." I formed a large .44 magnum, putting it to my temple, and pulling the trigger.

     The colt placed his hoof on the book. "Wait, so whenever he doesn't like a dream, he kills himself!?"

     Scootaloo smiled messed up his mane. "I never understood it either. But that's what he did."

     "Grandma, how do I know this isn't just some made up story?" He asked.

     "Well, for one, I was there. I saw all this happen. And two, some of his gear still sits all around the house."

     The young colt looked at the fireplace. "Was that one of his things?"

     Scootaloo nodded. "That's his Barrett, the most destructive tool he ever owned. And let me tell you, it's loud!"

     The colt started to jump up. "Can we shoot it?"

     She shook her head. "No, even if I wanted to. The bullets and magazine are hidden somewhere, that only three other ponies know."

     He sat back down in Scootaloo's lap. "Grandma, whatever happened to him?"

     She smiled. "We'll just have to read and find out, won't we?"

     He nodded. "Sounds like a plan." He paused for a minute. "But what did happen at the wedding?"

     Scootaloo sighed, a tear forming in her eye. "Something very bad did happen, but Michael ignored all the warnings, wanting to prove Sub wrong."

     "So what happened?"

     She looked at the young colt. "Let's find out." Scootaloo braced herself to read the book. She knew she would barley be able to control herself. She still didn't understand how somepony could just do something like that.