A Promise Not Forgotten

The troops of the 104th battalion moved up on the right flank. My squad, the 32nd, moved up the center giving suppressing fire. The enemy had a good hold on the sky scraper, how the police let things get this bad, I have no clue. We managed to clear the street of revolutionists. The city was in full riot, and many people organized into small terrorist groups. This was it, the long awaited revolution everyone keeps talking about. I just never thought I’d see it. We formed small counter-terrorist groups; many had members of the army or police force.

The captain walked up to me, “Lieutenant, take your troops and advance on the tower, sweep it out one floor at a time. Lethal force is authorized.” The man walked away to give orders to other squads leaving me with my own.

“Alright, you heard the captain, let’s move!” I said, picking up my assault rifle and moving toward the entrance of the building. The tower was barely standing. Time seemed to slow as I looked up at the behemoth that was missing chunks from attempted bombings. How a man can bring himself to attack his own country like this escapes me. I can understand a revolution, but this is murder on a grand scale. Few of the tower’s windows were still intact; many people threw themselves out when the bombings occurred. The remaining windows were shot out when the terrorists shot anybody who walked through the street below. They weren’t after a new peace, or government, they were after blood.

We entered the tower to a wall of barbed wire and gunfire. Most of my squad was shot and immediately killed. Two others and I were left, there was no way we could advance any further, and no way out or the revolutionists would kill us. One of the two was shot in the leg, “Jenkins, wait here with Hernandez. Radio in for backup, tell them to wait outside till my go.”

“Yes, sir!” The man replied. I always like Jenkins, no matter what the situation was he managed to stay calm and collected, and always was able to follow orders.

I slowly crawled from cover to cover. There were five terrorists hiding behind the makeshift barricade. Easy targets if I could get in undetected, but that’s easier said than done. Moving without a sound is hard, but when you are carrying a bag full of crap and tons of gear in random pockets it’s even harder. I had to lose some weight, so I dropped my bag and some of the smaller bags attached to my belt. Much easier.

Quickly examining the barricade that was nothing more than overturned tables and sand bags with barbed wire stuck on the front I saw an opportunity. The guard’s attention was drawn away from the door to a bomb that was set off in an adjacent tower. From inside we could hear the loud creaking and breaking of metal beams while concrete fell to the street below, crushing anybody unlucky enough not to run in the right direction. I moved to the side while the loud shifting of the other tower masked my movements. Quickly slipping around the barricade I could see the five men. Five targets, five shots, five kills. Bastards killed almost my whole squad. I should have known not to walk in like that.

In my moment of revenge the creaking came to a brief stop, then a cracking and smashing sound. The other tower had been knocked over and was falling into the one we were standing in. I ran back to Jenkins and Hernandez, “We have to move, NOW!” I yelled. Jenkins figured out what was happening and we both grabbed an arm of Hernandez. Hoisting him up we ran from the tower. Boulders fell from the sky like rain. Many small stones pelted us but thankfully no larger ones did. The creaking of the two towers could be heard throughout the city. Looking back I could see the giant towers falling… in our direction. There was no escape; the behemoths were coming down right on top of us.

“Lieutenant, it’s been an honor serving with you.” Jenkins said, accepting our fate.

“Likewise, Jenkins,” I said just before the tower came down.

I sat up in the bed gasping for air. I was absolutely covered in sweat. Twilight sat next to the bed, “Are you ok? You looked like you were having a bad dream.”

“Yeah, fine… God, that was quite the nightmare,” I said getting a grip on reality. Somehow the dream made me want to stay in Equestria even more. Sure there was war here too, but on earth, I could actually see how the whole system could devolve into a revolution. If that happened nations overseas who hated us Americans would take that opportunity to wipe us out. Somehow one simple dream made my life here completely fathomable.

“Do you need anything?” Twilight asked, hoping to be helpful. She really was kind, that mare.

“Glass of water?” I asked.

“Sure,” She said walking out of the room.

I didn’t notice spike who sat at the end of the bed, “Hey, Aidan.”

“Hey, Spike. What time is it?” I asked rubbing my head.

“Ten twenty six.” The dragon replied. I guess I never took into account that our ways of telling time could be different. Luckily they weren’t.

Twilight walked back into the room levitating a glass of water over to me.

“Thanks, Twilight,” I said chugging the whole glass in one go. “Any news on the manticore’s killer?”

“Noting yet, we are all keeping an eye out for anything strange,” She replied.

“And Celestia?” I asked.

“She sent Colin to help make sure Ponyville is safe, he will be here later this afternoon,” She replied.

“Good,” I said getting up from the bed. I looked over my set of armor and sword on the floor before putting the armor on and sword on my back. I really liked this armor; it made me look like one of the guards. The ponies that were stopped being afraid because they recognized the half-sun half-moon painted on the chest plate. I assumed that it symbolized the princesses’ personal guard, the high up ponies. It was mostly white to match the fur of most pony guards

I walked through town aimlessly, just following Twilight wherever she needed to go for the day. “How about lunch, Aidan? I’ll buy.” Twilight offered.

“That sounds nice,” I said with a smile.

On our way to the restaurant we met up with Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy. “Awesome armor, Aidan!” Rainbow said flying over and taking a look at my gear with pinkie in tow.

“Thanks,” I said amused by her enthusiasm.

“Wow! You are a member of Celestia’s personal guard?” Pinkie asked.

“I guess, I didn’t really know what it meant, honestly,” I replied. “Is it important or something?”

“Important?!? Only the best of the best get in! And you don’t even know what it means!” Rainbow practically yelled in my ear.

“Well, I guess I did something right then, huh,” I said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Want to join us for lunch?” Twilight asked.

“Sure!” Rainbow cheered.

I looked over to Fluttershy who cowered a bit, “What’s wrong, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, nothing, I just… I’m worried about what killed that manticore,” She said shyly.

“Don’t be, I’m here to make sure nothing bad happens,” I said with a smile.

“I can understand the roundhouse kick into a tree, but seriously? Dismemberment is just uncalled for, Dan,” The raspy voice said.

“It tried to eat me, so I took its arms. Fair trade, right?” Dan asked.

“Hardly…” He replied.

“I’m gonna call you Carl for now, now be a good boy Carl and don’t question me,” Dan mocked.

“Just get close to Aidan, we need him for my plan,” The raspy voice commanded. Really his underling had no authority, he had to do whatever the voice commanded. Doesn’t mean he can’t be snide though.

“What do you need him for, you already have me!” Dan complained.

“He is the one Prophet needs, not you,”

“Aww, I’m mildly insulted,” Dan said sarcastically. “So whats the plan Carol?”

“Wait, I thought I was Carl?”

“Well now you’re a Carol,” Dan said.

“Im not even a woman!”

“You’re bitching like one! Now get back into the kitchen and make me a sandwich!” Dan said, thoroughly enjoying this.
“First you wait until night, and then you get Aidan and Colin alone,”

“Why do I hate that name already?” Dan asked.

“No reason,” The raspy voice lied.

“Ok, then what?” Dan asked.

“Chances are that they will try to kill you. Murder of manticores is frowned upon even though they are predators,”

“That makes no sense at all! Just kill the damn monsters!” Dan said, not understanding the customs in a world not his own. “So I can’t just waltz in there and kick some doors down?”

“No, or things could go horribly wrong. The Elements of Harmony are in there and if provoked could end us both. That’s not a good thing,”

“Oh, darn,” Dan said slightly upset.

The ponies and I walked around town doing whatever they needed to. We killed a lot of the afternoon like this.
“Oh come on! We heard that you OUTRAN a squad of FLYING gryphons!” Rainbow pleaded.

“I did, but I still don’t see why a race is necessary,” I said hoping to dodge the public spectacle.

“Just do it!” Rainbow said flying up to eye level with me.

“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “How far?”

“Yes! Two laps around sweet apple acres!” Rainbow said happy with her success.

“Oh, great, this will be fun,” I mocked while following her down the road.

Rainbow flew ahead to Applejack’s farmhouse.

“Hey, AJ!” She said to her friend. “Aidan and I are gonna race! Wana watch?”

“I’d love to, sugar cube,” She said. I always kind of hated that she said that. It might make ponies think she thought she was better than other ponies.

I stood ready at our makeshift starting line next to Rainbow Dash. She was completely confident she could beat me, I’ll have to prove her wrong.

“Ready. Set. GO!” Pinkie yelled as she bounced around excitedly.

Rainbow shot past me as I began running. I’ll give it to her, she is fast, but not fast enough. I quickly caught up to the multicolored blur and sped past her. The look on her face was priceless! It was a mix of surprise and anger and just ended up looking stupid. She didn’t like it one bit and pushed to catch up with me. I was the first person to lose an arm wrestle to a pony; I won’t be the first to lose a race to one. Actually, come to think of it, I’m probably not the first person to lose a race to a pony.

We sped past trees and curved around bends, we were actually pretty evenly matched. It seems so weird to see me doing all this amazing stuff; I guess Vis gave me more than I thought. That’s weird too, I don’t even know the guy yet he does so much for me. For now I’ll just say that he wants to aid the second coming of the humans, and unify Equestria.

There it was, the finish line. We were on the second lap and weren’t giving an inch to the other. We kept shooting challenging glances to each other. The darkening path made it harder to see where I was stepping. It was close, too close to tell who won. We both shot past the finish line fast enough to blow the others away. Physics in this world are weird, Pinkie actually took off like a kite after us.

Rainbow and I walked back to the group of ponies watching, which had grown quite a bit. About twenty or thirty were there. Apparently things like this didn’t happen often and were a big deal. Among the crowd I spotted Dr Whooves next to Derpy. Maybe the community got their relationship right. Lyra and Bon Bon were also in the crowd. Everypony was excited to hear the results from Twilight who was watching next to the finish line.

“So who won Twi?” I asked walking up panting.

She smiled when I used a nickname for her, “It was a draw actually!” Twilight said excitedly.

“A DRAW?” Rainbow asked surprised. She looked away displeased.

“Oh, it’s not that bad Rainbow,” I said looking down at her.

“I HATE losing,”

“Nopony lost! Look at it this way, either we both lost” –She shot me a disappointed look- “Or we both won,” I said trying to cheer her up.

“I never lose! But that doesn’t mean you can’t win too,” She said with a smile.

The sun was going down now, I’d wager that it was around eight or nine. Colin was among the ponies in the crowd and walked up to me, “Damn, dude, you were going fast!”

“This is gonna kick the shit out of me tomorrow,” I said. We both laughed at the stale humor.

“Wana go get some cider or something? I heard you love it,” He said with an odd smile.

“Oh God no, I don’t ever want to drink that stuff again!” I said rubbing my eyes. I was still pretty tired from being awake and adding a race on top of that was a bit tough.

We laughed even harder at the thought of me getting drunk. We went back to the main group and mingled with the ponies there. We just hung out and talked, it kind of turned into a casual party after the race ended. It was a good night for me; I got to meet a few more ponies. Nothing bad happened.

We passed most of our time just goofing around with the ponies; they were just like normal people, just ponies. Really, I could get used to this, if I haven’t already. Twilight invited us to stay at her house tonight, but she left before us. Colin and I were the last to leave the party. We were walking back to the library to go to bed when something ran past us. With the manticore incident fresh in mind we both ran after the beast Colin holding his sword and me holding my revolver. We didn’t take the time to take off out armor earlier so we were set to fight if need be.

We chased the beast through the trees on the edge of Ponyville where it finally stopped. I quickly discovered it was a human, nothing was shaped like that. And with the possibility of Prophet helping him I couldn’t rule out his speed which rivaled my own. I am still faster than he, Colin was trailing behind. He was getting tired and I took that chance to tackle the man to the ground. I caught one glimpse of his face.

“What the fuck…”