The Bjorn Identity

You can move in the dark, but you still need a light.

~ Ditzy Doo

I was in really good spirits when Twilight and me got back to Ponyville. She had wanted to stay longer with the Princess, but I couldn't let her, I had to get back and start making my on mark on the world. This was going to be great, and I figured now that I could help out Ditzy, this was going to be the peak of a fantastic day.

I was all giddy and excited when she came in from her shift, and I all but tackled her at the door, and planted a dozen kisses on her before she could wiggle out of my grasp.

"Wow! You sure are in a good mood Bjorn. I guess that means your trip to Canterlot went well."

"It was better than that," I said, pulling her to me, and setting her on her couch with me. "I've got wonderful news. The princess has granted me permission to get employment here."

There was a funny look on Ditzy's face for a moment, as she contemplated exactly what that meant, and then her eyes sprung open suddenly. "That means you can get a job in Ponyville!"

I laughed and tossed my head back. Ditzy kissed me on my neck and cheeks. Her nose was slightly cold, and it tickled my neck, causing me to fall back on the couch.

"Alright! I surrender!" I said, continuing to laugh, as she pounced on me in play domination.

When Ditzy was satisfied with my submission, and she had given me a few kisses for good measure, I Sat up, and wiped away some slobber from the corner of my lips. Ditzy just laughed at me, as I swiped at her with the moist hand.

"There was something else, I found out while I was at Canterlot," I told her.

"What's that?"

“Well,” I said, sliding her off of me and sitting up, “she said that she could give me my memories back.”

“Really?” Ditzy said, getting excited, and bouncing on the couch. “That's great! So what did you say?”

“I told her no.”

Ditzy had a confused look on her face, as her smile faded. Yeah, it's true, I felt like a grade-A asshole right then. I hated seeing her look disappointed. More than anything, I hated feeling like I was being difficult, especially considering all that the ponies in town had done for me, and then here I go and make waves in the flow of their lifestyle.

“I know you have doubts, Bjorn, but if Princess Celestia can give you back your memory, then maybe that's something you should consider.”

“I thought I was ready to learn everything; but I'm not,” I said, making every attempt to sound as assured of my decision as I could.

“Listen, Ditzy, I want to be with you, and as long as I have the past looming over me, I don't think I can ever make new memories, or make a new life. I don't want to know what sort of person I was, and I don't want to remember my life before. I just want to start over... with you.”

“Okay,” she finally said, understanding what I was meaning. She looked relieved, and strangely happy. “So, where do you think you might want to get a job?”

I had to chuckle a little, because it was going to sound stupid, but, “I was thinking I might try getting a job at the post office, that way we could see each other every day.”

Instantly her eyes went wide with excitement. “Oh Bjorn! That would be amazing! You should really do that! I'd love to have you work with me!”

More hugs and kisses ensued. Obviously it was the right choice, seeing as how it was clearly Ditzy approved.

Wiping away more of the Ditzy slobber, I took her by the shoulders. “There's just one thing I want to do. If I'm ever going to put the past behind me, I want to have some closure on the old life.”

“What is it?”

“I want to see where you found me in the water.”

~   ~   ~

It was nearing late evening when Ditzy and I reached the large lake, where she found me. At first, I had a hard time believing that I was found here. There was nothing that could account for it. How I had gotten from my world to a large lake near Ponyville was almost more than I could fathom.

The lake was surrounded on one side by a small group of trees, and so Ditzy and I walked toward them.

“I wasn't far from here,” she said, as she trotted along beside me. “I was making up a few last minute deliveries, and I saw a bright light, and heard a huge rumble.”

A bright light huh? So, whatever it was that sent me here was a bright light, and something that made a large rumble.

“When I got here to see what it was, I saw you floating in the water just up ahead.” She pointed toward the trees, and when I followed her hoof, I noticed a light coming from the wood line next to the lake.

“Huh. You don't say.”

“That's funny, there's some light coming from up there,” Ditzy said. We had walked long enough that it had already gotten dark on us, and this faint light from up ahead had me on edge something terrible.

Like a million pin-points of light suddenly turning on all at once, I was bombarded with isolated memories. Things that had happened, things I had done, and things I had seen; all surging and assaulting my brain with the force of a meteor. But the most shocking thing, was what I said when I turned to Ditzy.

"Keep low, and stay here. I'm gonna go check this out." My forehead felt tight, and I realized I was frowning hard; focused and determined.

Ditzy did as I said, and hunkered down in the bushes, as I crouched along, taking in the light as I got closer and closer. It was as if, every step toward that light opened up newer memories, and locked memories, and things that I had spent the past few days convincing myself that I never wanted to know. And yet, here I was heading straight into them.

For all purposes, I should have been terrified, but my heart was beating normal, and my pulse was not racing. I knew the reason of course, was because I had done this sort of things a hundred times. Call it irony, fate, or some twisted sense of cosmic humor, but as I neared the clearing where the light was, I found there was more I had in common with the fictitious Mason Bjorn, than I ever knew possible.

The clearing was less than two dozen yards away, and I could make out movement, in the darkness. Three people were moving among the light, which looked like a fire from a camp. I was just about to continue moving towards them when I heard the movement behind me. Someone had been out on patrol.

I waited for the sentry to announce his arrival, and true to experience, he didn't fail me.

"Alright, hands up, and get to your feet." It wasn't a loud command, but it was stern, and most certainly, Russian.

Rising slowly to my feet, I felt the barrel of the weapon press into my back, and I used my upward momentum to turn and swiftly bring my upper body around, catching the guard at the forearm, and using my right hand to upper-cut him in the chin, all in two movements, leaving me standing there with his gun, and a freshly unconscious sentinel at my feet.

Looking back to make sure, that the encounter wasn't noticed, I watched to see if more would emerge. When they didn't I drug the guard deeper into the forest, and gagged him with the sleeve from his arm, and tied his hands to a small tree behind him with his belt. It wasn't the perfect thing, but it would serve my purpose.

The guard's nine millimeter hand gun had a tactical light on the end, and I used it give me illumination as I searched his pockets, and trousers. In his front pocket was a folded canvas wallet, identical to mine, and when I slipped it open, I saw the same type of ID card I had, complete with the words феникс yслуги (Phoenix Services), in the top left corner.

There it was. That moment I swore to myself I didn't want. The moment in my current life where I learned that I was a villain. And with that revelation, everything about my past was suddenly unlocked. One big flash of light, and the crack opened the floodgates of memory.

Phoenix Services was a crooked international security firm for hire, and worked primarily in Central Europe and some in the former Soviet Union. What set the security agents apart from other trained special enforcers, were that these guys were usually ex-military, spec-ops and USA intelligence agents that fled with secrets to the other side of the line that could always pay better.

In my case, the pay wasn't just good, it was phenomenal. A Siberian research company had converted an off-shore oil rig in the Kara Sea to a science lab, and Phoenix Services had been hired to head up the company's security. Everything was hush-hush; all part of some project designed to create artificial singularities, and gravity wells. But then, something went wrong, and the whole thing ignited like a tender-box

One minute I'm standing near the generator housing, walking perimeter, and the next armed operatives are infiltrating the rig, with their detonation devices going off, which happened to rupture the cooling tanks on the power generators, sending everyone in a panic.

I could clearly remember rushing up the service corridors to the top, when I was confronted by Gamma Team, and they were shouting, "Security's been breached!"

"Get to the landing platform! We have to evacuate now!"

I rounded the last landing before the final flight to the top, when a shot was taken at me, ricocheting off the metal walls. I was in a low crouch, and pulled my boot knife, and tossed it at the assailant, burying the blade in his shoulder. There wasn't time to screw around, I had to get off the rig; somehow I knew it was minutes from complete detonation, but instead of exploding, there was a huge rush of wind, light, and then a reverse feeling, as if the world were pulling me back as hard as it could.

The landing platform was my final destination. I was heading for the nearest helicopter, but a huge beam of light literally cut through the floors of the rig, out to the open sky, sucking me, the railing, the floor, the debris and anything within a two hundred meter diameter with it.

Pitch black, and cold rushing water later, I was being pulled from the lake here by Ditzy.

These men were from the rig, they were from Phoenix, and while I was one of them, I knew better than to just walk up on them. They were too hard core to care about shooting first or second to the questions.

Turning back to the camp site, I crouched and moved further in, until I was close enough to get a better idea of what was there. Seven men were there. Clearly they had arrived only a few days ago, and were unaware of the fact that they were less than a mile from Ponyville. Their spot being one of the more secluded, which was a good thing. The last thing I needed was Phoenix security goons running havoc through the town.

Moving further in, I heard them talking, some in Slavic, but mostly, Russian dialect.

"I'm going after him. That bastard, Sven; he knows better than to turn his headset off."

One closest to the fire was shaking his head, and rose. "I've already sent Jovan to find him. We should wait, Provich doesn't want us contaminating the place any more than we already have."

Oh shit. This was bad, if they find Sven tied to the tree, they'll know that someone is out here, and worse... Ditzy wasn't far from where Sven was tied. I had to get back to her, and get her back to Ponyville.

Inching back, I started moving away from the camp, when I heard clearly a laugh, and then, "That's the strangest fucking thing I've ever seen!"

Turning back to the camp, I saw to my bewilderment, Ditzy being dragged into camp by who could only have been, Jovan.

"Found this thing wandering around the dark," he said, as he examined her.

Ditzy was wrapped in a net, and bound with rope. She was terrified, and I was instantly on my feet moving directly for them.

"You were told, not to interfere with things here!" one of them said to Jovan. "Provich is going to have our ass for this!"

"What's he going to do? Hurt me with cash?" Jovan let out a guttural laugh, just as I walked up behind him, with the gun at his head.

"он является менее ваши заботы (He's the least of your worries)," I told him, just as I squeezed the trigger.