I yawned as I came around. Sunlight was seeping in from the window and warming my still bare body. I leaned over and looked to her clock, it was 9:28am. I muttered a quiet curse to myself as I tried to get up but found that Fleur’s head was resting on my left arm.

She looked absolutely stunning in the morning. Somehow her mane was able to reflect the sunlight partially and blinded me. I shut my eyes and looked away, a blur of light temporarily tainting my vision.

I laid back down beside her and very slowly began to wake her. “Fleur… Fleur” I whispered as I gently gave her a nudge. She stirred a little then awoke peacefully. “Morning” I said with a smile which she returned.

Without saying another word I slipped my arm out from under her and proceeded to get dressed. “Where are you going?” she asked and I chuckled.

“I have to get that wagon back to Sweet Apple acres before Applejack freaks out and thinks something bad has happened. Actually that would be pretty funny to see” and followed my statement with a small laugh as I pictured Applejack in a frantic mood. She probably cared about that godforsaken wagon more than she cared about me, but can you blame her? I’m just an animal to her.

“Will you be back?” she asked and I nodded. She stood up and quickly trotted over to me. “Promise?” she asked and I leaned forwards, giving her a quick peck on the lips.

“Promise” I told her with a smile as I fitted my boots on then proceeded out the door of the house. I looked both ways, jeeze this day seemed perfect. Like nothing could possibly go wrong.

As I walked down the streets I noticed ponies were scarce. Usually they were out and about at this time but I guess not today. I eventually made my way to the wagon, which was empty, and smiled. I had forgotten to get the payment for the goods. Oh well, I could just have it put on Fancy Pants’ tab.

I began to ready the wagon for departure when suddenly Applejack rushed over to me. “DALE! HURRY WE NEED YER HELP!” she yelled. I chuckled, well at least I got to see her in a frantic mood.

“Need a hand?” I joked but she didn’t laugh from the shitty pun.

“Yah gotta help us. Trixie has summoned some demons again” she informed me and I raised an eyebrow then remembered, Trixie’s sentence ended today.

“And this is my problem how? You took my guns away from me, kicked me outside in the barn, consider me a dangerous animal and… if only you knew what irony was” I chuckled and she let out a sigh.

“Ah never thought yah were an animal. I took yer guns away fer the safety a muh sister. Same goes with why yah were in the barn” she told me. If it was any pony else I would have called them a cock-sucking liar but she was the element of honesty or something like that.

“Well regardless… You threw away my guns so I can’t help you” I told her as I grabbed the wagon tongue and began to pull it along. It was extremely light compared to what it used to weigh with all the goods on it.

Applejack opened one of her saddle bags and offered me my Desert Eagle. “Ah never threw it away. Just hid it. Now please, can yah find it in yer heart tah forgive us and help save Equestria?” she asked. I smirked, save Equestria? Was she for real?

“Yeah… no thanks, I’ll pass” I told her and continued to pull the wagon along. She wouldn’t leave me alone though.

“Dale, yah can’t just leave us in darkness. Yer a hero, heroes don’t walk away” she pleaded. I closed my eyes and let out a quiet laugh but made sure she could hear it.

“I’m not a hero. Just a dangerous animal, remember?” I told her.

“AH NEVER THOUGHT YAH WERE AN ANIMAL!” she yelled but I paid her no mind and simply walked away with the wagon. Everyone gets theirs, that’s the saying right?

As I walked through town I started to notice things I hadn’t before. There were burn marks on buildings, windows were smashed and still above all else there wasn’t a soul on the street minus Applejack and myself.

She kept trying to pester me into helping her but I wasn’t going to give. After I reached the city limits she left saying that she was going to try and help and that it was something I apparently didn’t understand. Not after all I had been through. Sure at any time I could have just left but where would I go? No-pony would actually let me live with them, no-pony that I knew of anyway.

After two hours or so I arrived back at the farm and parked the wagon. Big Mac was working away in the tree fields. I guess the news hadn’t reached Ponyville yet. I walked up beside him and grabbed a bucket. I picked up the apples while he bucked them down.

“Guess you ain’t heard yet, huh?” I asked.

“Heard what?”

“Trixie let out some Demons again. They’re terrorizing Canterlot and I guess no-pony can stop them” I informed him. He stopped bucking and turned to me. I placed one last apple into the basket then looked up at him.

“Yah gonna stop em?” he asked but I shook my head. “Why not?” he asked and I chuckled. Was he for real too? Why not?

“After the way I got treated here, you’re not seriously asking why I’m not gonna help… are you?” I asked rhetorically but he nodded. “Man! I got kicked out of the house, my guns taken away and I get fed leftovers that are usually cold… I have no bedding, no washroom no… never mind, you get the idea” I told him. He placed a hoof on my shoulder and gave me a serious look.

“Yah weren’t treated unfairly. We were just being precautious. Yah would wake up screamin an roaring, knockin things over in fear that somethin was tryin tah kill yah in yer sleep. Course we’re gonna take away yer guns” he told me. I raised an eyebrow.

“That was five years ago. I’ve changed but you still won’t let me in the house or give me my guns back” I told him but he just shrugged.

“Ah don’t know tah tell yah. Truth is Applejack is kinda like the mare a the house, yah know?” he asked and I nodded. “Yah gonna help or not?” he asked but I shook my head. “What would Sergeant Smith D. have done?” he asked me and I looked up to him with a rather agitated look.

He couldn’t pull this one on me. Not now. “If I knew that they would’ve treated me like this in the first place…” I trailed off in anger. I was torn between conflicting emotions inside myself. Fleur was in Canterlot. She was a smart mare though and she wouldn’t go out on the streets.

But that’s not what was bothering me. The old saying ‘How does this make you any better than them’ played in my mind. I stepped back from Big Mac then walked away. He followed me closely and I looked back to him.

“You shouldn’t follow me” I told him coldly but he didn’t answer. I walked towards the Everfree and he still followed me like a bad habit. I wanted to tell him to just piss off and leave me be but I couldn’t. He was one of my only friends.

I walked through the Everfree with Big Mac. He’d constantly ask where we were going but I didn’t answer. Eventually I found what I was looking for: Betsy.

When things had started to head south I hid her in fear of what might happen to her. I never told any-pony where I put her and had never once came back to her though despite no maintenance over the past few years, she still looked rather fine.

I walked over and opened the driver side door then sat in the seat, leaving the door open. I slid the window back and rested my feet in the window way as I began to relax but Big Mac seemed content on bugging me.

“So this is it huh? Yer just gonna sit back and let everything go wrong?” he asked and I nodded.

“Eeyup” I replied casually. I closed my eyes and pictured myself on a sunny beach but Big Mac shook me out of it.

“So what about everythin yah care about?” he asked and I chuckled.

“Ain’t got much to care about. Betsy seems fine and I guess that about sums it up” I told him. He frowned, he could read me better than I could.

“What about her?” he asked and I sighed. How the hell did he know about Fleur? I had planned on using Betsy to go rescue her from Canterlot but I guess Big Mac read me like a book.

“How do you know about her?” I asked and he snickered.

“Same way yah know about every-pony else. Muh sister an her friends are great at finding things out ain’t they?” he asked and I chuckled to myself. It’s true. I usually got the three crusaders to find things out about ponies for me. In exchange I’d help them with their needs which usually included getting things from up high where they couldn’t reach or helping to further build their clubhouse.

Big Mac began to rummage around in the Humvee, picking through various things. “Hey, don’t touch anything. You might break it” I told him. I guess he must’ve found what he was looking for because I didn’t hear him rummaging through the truck anymore.

I felt a piece of paper… photo material, land on my face. I groaned as I opened my eyes and looked to the photo. It was the photo, the one with Jackson, Jonas, Elijah and I in front of Betsy. A tear came to my eye and I quickly wiped it away.

I pulled the dog tags from around my chest and held them in my palm as I looked down to them with self-disgrace. This wasn’t me, I was better than this. Wasn’t I? I felt Big Mac place a hoof on my shoulder. “If you can’t find any-pony to do it for… do it for them… and for her” he told me.

I looked to him with a smile. “I’m not a hero Big Mac… never was and never will be. Just a soldier, no more, no less. I have a promise to keep… and besides, it’s what Sergeant Major Smith D. would’ve done. What I should’ve done in the beginning” I said with a smile.

My smile faded as I realized I was a little short on weapons. The M134 would do fine as long as I was in the Humvee but other than that I was a little empty handed. I looked into the back seat. Elijah’s AA12 rested in the back.

I knew he had an ammo belt filled with two or three drum magazines but that still left me feeling a little short. I snapped my fingers as a thought came to mind. “Whatcha doin?” Big Mac asked as he watched me begin to look around in the truck.

“Jonas always stashed his Glock in the truck, ‘In case of emergencies’… now where the fuck did he put it. He would always dick around with it at the worst of times” I muttered as I looked around.

‘Jonas you idiot’ I thought to myself. I kind of felt bad for cursing a deceased friend of mine but at the moment his mischief was starting to agitate me. He couldn’t have just had it in a hip holster or something, no he had to have it hidden somewhere.

I crawled down to the floor and began to feel underneath the seat of Big Mac. “Whatcha doin?” he asked curiously. Finally I felt it. The cool feel of Jonas’ Glock. ‘Why the hell would he have a gun underneath the seat? We weren’t gangsters or something, we were allowed to have our weapons in holsters. It would be a mystery that I would never unveil.

I ejected the magazine and checked it. It was loaded. I slid the magazine back into the gun and cocked back the slid then released it. “Alright Big Mac… let’s go ‘save the day’” I said with a bit of sarcasm in my voice.

Author's Note

Well I gotta get back to work, an hour lunch break is really pushing it, even if I am concussed and am supposed to be taking it easy because "Evan your back is fragile and you need to take it easy on yourself" yeah anyway. Hope you guys and gals liked the plot twist, I'll try and have another one out after I get home from work