Second Wind

The night itself was easy enough. At some point during the party, Rainbow Dash had returned inside, and was standing with Applejack now. Vinyl kept her distance, but she would constantly look you over. Rarity obviously took notice of this.

"My, Darling, aren't we popular?" You examine Rarity. She isn't upset. Not in the least.

"Yeah, I think they have a crush on me." Rarity laughs.

"Is that all, Darling? Is that why they insist on following you?" You rub the back of your neck.

"Yeah. They're both good friends, ya know? I'd hate to hurt their feelings by telling them to back off, ya know?"

"I've got an idea darling. Call them both over here." You cock your head in confusion. "Never question a lady." You turn off towards Vinyl, who was closest to you. You reach her in little time. She was leaning against the wall next to the restrooms, smirking at you.

"Well well, if it isn't my favorite human. Whatcha doing?" You signal her to follow you.

"Follow me, Vinyl." She smiles her half smile.

"To Tartarus and back." You work your way to Rainbow Dash, who was actually surprisingly difficult to reach. She was on the complete other side of a wall of ponies, who were too busy laughing and enjoying the music to pay attention to you. You start to gently push your way through the crowd, uttering an apology for every nudge you give.

"Excuse me.....sorry.....pardon me....." Vinyl, on the other hand, wasn't as forgiving.

"MOVE.....GET OUTTA MY WAY.....Shove me again, watch what happens....." After a few more pushes, you unveil a path to Rainbow Dash.

This ballroom really was extravagant. The ceiling was very high, and ordained with many chandeliers, which were currently dimmed. The ballroom itself was a very large circle, with a stage at the northern most arc of the circle, while tables with food sat on the west end, and the restrooms on the east end. Rainbow just happened to be at the food as you approached.

"Hey, Dash?" She spins around, eyes lit up.

"Aaden! Hi!"

"Do you think you could follow me, please?" Rainbow Dash looks behind you, at Vinyl.

"Of course Aaden." With two ponies in tow, you decide to walk around the crowd to Rarity. On your walk there, you begin to feel dizzy. You can hear voices, and almost see the ballroom change over. You can't make out any solid shapes or figures, and it fades away just as quickly as it comes, but it's still enough to keep you on your toes. You shake your head, and get near Rarity. She addresses Rainbow Dash and Vinyl first.

"Now, darlings. It has come to my attention that you may have a crush on Aaden?"

"Rarity, no, I mean, I do, but I would nev-" Rarity shushes her.

"I'm not mad at either of you. In fact, I have an idea. Aaden is quite the..." She looks over at you. "...infatuating type, is he not? How about this: leave him with me for the rest of his training, and then one week when we get back, and then I'll send him to stay two weeks with each of you. I feel that is the best thing to do. Rather than argue like fillies would, we shall do this like mares, and let Aaden decide. After all, we all ultimately want Aaden happy, right?" Rainbow Dash and Vinyl nodded.

"Very well. As I said, I will not let this situation fall into chaos. Which of you would like to have Aaden first?"

"Rainbow Dash can have him first." Vinyl speaks up. You both look at her surprise. Rainbow Dash seemingly bursts with joy.

"Then it is settled! Aaden, darling, does this sound okay with you?" You give her a concerned look. She leans in and whispers to you.

"Darling, you have nothing to fear. If you just do this, they'll leave you alone for good when you choose me."

She has a good point.

"Alright. We'll do this, and it'll be fun. Hope you mares can accommodate me."

"Are you kidding?! OHMIGOSH!" Rainbow Dash hops up and down excitedly.

"I've gotta find things for us to do, to go-" Her smile fades. "I've gotta clean!" She then groans. You watch as Vinyl and Rainbow Dash immediately disperse back into the crowd in excitement. The feeling of dizziness and the blurry environment return to you. You throw your arm out, and catch Rarity's back.

"Darling? Are you okay? I thought they weren't serving anything harder than wine tonight?" You shake your head.

"Not drunk. Something doesn't feel right." You blink several times, restoring the ballroom in your vision, but the dizziness decides to stay. You felt like you were going to cry. Not because of pain or anything, but because you could feel your eyes becoming really wet. You had to blink several times to clear them. You then decide to use your hands to try and wipe them, which causes a problem. You watch as a memory starts to project itself out of your eyes once more, this time without Celestia's help.

You hear the music stop in the room, as does the laughter and conversations of the other ponies. You can't see them as the memory begins to take shape, but you know that everyone in the room is staring at you, waiting to see what else you have done in your life. You can't remember anything in your life that you would be ashamed for them to see after they figured out the mercenary role in your life. But that's just it. You can't remember.

The scene begins to materialize.

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The complex was very dark. You followed the head slaver down the hall, and into a dark, dungeon like room with a girl chained to the wall in a provocative position. The slaver laughs.

"You have 1 hour. Have fun, big boy." He turns around and leaves. This girl couldn't have been older than 8. As soon as he leaves, you run over to the girl.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" She shook her head.

"No, not yet...I wanna go home..." You nod your head.

"I'm going to get you out of here. I promise. Now, this next part is going to be scary, but I need you to trust me. Okay?" She nods her head again. You fumble around with the lock, picking it with ease, freeing her. "Close your eyes tight. No matter what you hear me say, no matter what you hear, don't open your eyes. Okay?" She nods again, her eyes closed. You open the dungeon room door, and yell out into the hallway.

"GUARDS! HELP! SHE'S ESCAPED!" You look over to her, and whisper-shout to her. "Eyes closed." You watched as two guards and the head slaver walked in the room, and saw her off of her chains. You picked up the steel chair behind you, and walked behind them. As soon as one of the guards reached for her, you swung the chair at him, the legs hitting the back of his head, sending him to the ground with a grotesque cracking noise. You then grab the other guard from behind, wrap one arm around his neck, and immediately knock him unconscious. You throw him on the ground, and grab the head slaver.

"More guards will come." You smile.

"Let them." You pick up a chain from the wall, and wrap it around his neck, choking him. You decide to pass judgement on this man. A head slaver. He has sentenced many to a life of slavery and rape. He has raped and killed many, his self. Then again, there was no such thing as a plea of innocence in your court.

Guilty.

You lift him up. You had him on his knees, and the chain around his neck was almost like a puppet string. You picked your foot up, and you kick him in the back of the head as hard as you could. The chain acted as a stop. You hear a loud cracking sound. You let go of the chains, and watch as the head slaver falls, twitches, and dies. You feel it was fitting that he would die in chains. You walk over to the little girl, and gently take her hand.

"Follow me. And no peeking." She was entirely too young to see the now bloodstained room. She did as she was told, covering her eyes with one hand, and holding your in the other. As you left this dungeon-like room and entered the dark hallways, you quickly checked the other rooms in the vicinity. No other slaves. Just her. You pass by a puddle, and examine yourself. You were dressed in complete combat IMO combat gear, a theme of orange and black. You notice you were wearing a duster over the armor, and a gas mask with what appeared to be orange LED illuminated lenses, completely hiding your eyes and making the lenses glow a bright orange. They were more for show than anything else, but it also scared any enemy you had to come across in your line of work. You make it out of the basement.

"Alright little one. Stay here for just a second, let me make sure that it is safe." You pull out your handgun, and leave the girl in the room by the basement. As you walk out into the foyer of the mansion, you hear someone yelling.

"OH SHIT! IT'S HIM!"

"STAY CALM, REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING!" You see that the human traffickers had called for help. Help that was familiar with what you did to these people. You throw yourself against a wall, and hold your handgun close. You lean out, aim down the sights, and fire three shots. Two connect with the same trafficker that shouted, ending his life. You watch as the two others take cover, one behind a soda machine, the other behind a marble pillar. You slide a grenade off of your belt, and roll it like a bowling ball towards the one behind the pillar. You throw yourself back behind the wall.

"FUCK!" You hear him shout.

Boom.

You peek back around the corner. There is the lifeless body of the man who shouted, the freshly dead man from behind the pillar, and the one trafficker behind the soda machine, who was oddly still alive. He was injured, but alive. He was shaking violently as he was reaching for his radio.

"Hello? Is the situation under control? Answer me, God damn it." You smile under your gas mask, and walk your way over to him. You pick up the radio.

"Oh yeah. The situation is all good here."

"Good. Then we have no need to come help you. Jackass." You put the radio down, and aim your handgun at him, firing one shot into his skull, killing him as well. You go back to the girl, and lead her out of the mansion, and through the marshes surrounding them. The walk was a quiet one.

"You said you live nearby, little one?" The girls nodded her head.

"Yeah. They took me from my home only just last night." You noticed you were still holding her hand. You looked down at her, and she looked back at you.

"Mister? Are you angel?" You smile again under your gas mask. They always think you're an angel.

"Yes little one. I am." She smiles in excitement.

"And you're taking me home?" You nod your head, and she smiles even wider. "And they won't try to hurt me again?"

"No little one. I'm sure they'll get the message here soon." You think about how they'll react when they find all of the bodies.

"Thank you Mr. Angel." You both are now in a forest, and it was starting to get late. You noticed she was starting to lag behind, wiping her eyes with her free hand. "Mr. Angel? I'm sleepy." You remove the duster from yourself, and pick her up, wrapping her in it.

"Sleep. When you awake, you'll be home."

"Will you still be there?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I must save others, too, little one." She smiles, and cuddles up in your duster, quickly falling asleep. You continue walking with the girl in your arms. You soon exit the forest, and come upon a village. The rural United Kingdom was completely different from the rural United States, but beautiful all the same. As you walk through it's sleepy streets, you hear a door open, and watch as a young woman walks towards you.

"Is that..." She becomes wide eyed, tears forming.

"Yes. I got to her before they hurt her. They will not be a problem anymore." She looks up at you with pleading eyes. You gently hand over the duster-wrapped child. She cradles her, and looks up at you.

"What do you want? Money?" You shake your head.

"No. I don't want anything." She smiles at you.

"Oh, come now. Food? At least let us give you food."

"I'm sorry ma'am. I don't want it." Out of the corner of your eyes, you watched as a bunch of Labrador puppies followed their mother around. You saw a pitch black one, the runt, straggling behind, but still trying. You almost cannot handle the cuteness. "Are those your puppies?" The young woman nods her head.

"Yes. Would you like one? We've been trying to sell them."

"Actually, yes. I'd like the runt." The woman smiles.

"Ah, yes. That's Pepper. Quite the loving one." You trade the girl for the puppy named Pepper. You pick him up, and he seemingly takes to you immediately, not minding leaving the village. You turn your radio back on, and hold it up to your mouth.

"I'm leaving the village now. Payment is in tow."

"God damn it Locke. You're going to get yourself killed, either by these traffickers, or by the IMO themselves." You look down at your new puppy. You got a good feeling that this is the best payment you've ever received.

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Your eyes start to readjust to the sight of the ballroom. You can see ponies smiling all around you. Celestia is now standing beside you.

"I apologize, my Guardsman. I suppose the magic was still active." She is also smiling. You look out into the crowd. You can almost see the hearts in Rainbow Dash's eyes. Vinyl was doing her half smile, but her eyes were half lidded and tinted with lust itself. Rarity came over, and kissed your forehead.

"You really are good with kids, darling." You climb back to your feet.

"Yeah, I guess I am." You return the kiss. You look around the room, watching as ponies went back to their conversations. The music started back up.

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"See Tavi? See how hot he is?" You ask. Octavia laughs.

"While he is attractive, he also appears to be quite the hero. And you say he'll be spending two whole weeks with us?

"Oh yeah. And hopefully he screws my brains out. Maybe I can get him to screw you too." Octavia blushes.

"You're incredibly too fast with these things, Vinyl."

"He better not be too fast."

"Vinyl."

"Alright, alright. I'm done." You take a drink of the wine you had helped yourself to. In a brief moment of seriousness, you were actually nervous about having Aaden at your house. Where would he sleep? What does he eat? Will he like you? Do you do anything that would give him reason not to? You continue to ponder these thoughts as your glass of wine soon completely empties.

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You can't believe it. Aaden is coming to live with you for two whole weeks. For two whole weeks, you will get to see those eyes. You have two whole weeks to try and impress him. Fast flying? Maybe some aerobatic techniques? What about cooking? You know he likes spicy food, and you spicy food, so maybe you could do something with that! Your mind refused to settle when it came to thinking about him. You were in love, and you didn't care to admit it anymore. Aaden was like exactly zero stallions you had ever met. He was so different. Maybe that's what attracted you to him. It didn't help, watching all of these memories of him.

All of these heroics, they put you in awe. They made you feel humbled by his presence, but that was the thing. Aaden was the humble one. You know if you did stuff like that, your friends would never hear the end of it. But not only did Aaden not brag about it, he chose to act as if he was normal. He felt remorse. Maybe that's what got you. You weren't sure at this point. What you were sure of, is that he is going to be sharing your bed with you. You never liked being too forward and fast, but you've been in this Fluttershy-like daze for long enough now.

You had two weeks to show Aaden that you loved him. And you intended to out do Vinyl and Rarity both. Combined.