A Promise Not Forgotten

The few wisps of black fog diminished as I stood there in shock. Mendax was gone, and with him our only true ally. Celestia and Luna were friends, but they never told us the complete truth until we demanded it. To top it all off, Vis, the one I thought we could trust above all was still hiding things. If I am this supposed ‘Great and Powerful’ that is to reunite Equestria again, one would think that the truth would be told.

“NO!” I screamed as I watched Mendax fade. Something inside me knew he was more than just a voice, more than just Prophet’s friend; I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

Colin stood looking at the ground as his bow comprised of pure light faded away. “Did he talk to you too?” He asked me.

“Yes…” I fell to my knees, not knowing what to do next. Everyone has one of those moments when the reality of a bad situation sinks in. The feeling sank as looked where Mendax was, still not able to believe he was gone.

Colin walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, we will make it through this.”

“We have to, I promised remember,” I said with determination. If this is what I’m to live up to then so be it.

“You and your promises…” Colin said looking to Dan.

“We should get him to Ponyville. At least he can still heal,” I said getting up from the ground. I walked over to Dan who was still knocked out cold. By this time he was fully healed, whatever powers he had it was more than mine. I looked over my friend, damn am I glad he isn’t dead. “Grab his legs.”

“Sure,” Colin said grunting from picking up the big man. He was bigger than Colin and I put together, not fat, just big. Me being skinny as hell wasn’t much of an addition anyway, so it was understandable.

Having the powers I did ensured carrying the unconscious man was at least tolerable. Over the long distance we walked back to Ponyville, Colin had to stop. Without bizarre super strength powers such as mine, he couldn’t carry Dan all the way in one attempt. “Hey, what was that bow you pulled out?” I asked.

“Honestly? I have no idea, It just kind of happened. I was just really, really angry, and all of a sudden I felt a surge of heat from my chest that spread out to my fingers. First there was a roar, but then, all I could hear was my own heartbeat. And before I knew what I was doing, I shot that arrow. It was weird, but still pretty awesome right?” He said, excited at the sudden apparition of his own strange powers.

“Yeah, I mean, how many people can pull a bow out of their ass like that?” I joked.

“Hey. When Dan stuck his hand in you, what did it feel like?”

“That’s a little bit weird to ask. It felt like, well, a hand being stuck into your chest. There really isn’t a better way to describe it.” I looked down at the hole in my armor. “Something tells me that Mendax planned you to knock out Dan though. Dan seemed to be waiting for something when he held me,” I said. Colin looked down at the ground.

I looked down too and saw Dan waking up. “Colin, you are an asshole…” He said in an unpleasant tone.

“Nice to see you too!” Colin said in response.

“Come on, Dan, Ponyville isn’t that much farther. I don’t want to carry your ass all the way,” I said pointing back to town through the thick forest. Dan slowly got up and cracked his neck a few times before talking.

“Wow, you don’t look different at all, aren’t you like nineteen now?” Dan asked.

“What? I’m fifteen, we have only been here for about a week or something,” I said.

“Huh, that’s strange, there’s a time difference. It’s been three years back on Earth.”

“Fuck me!” I said. “And that makes you?”

“Twenty three, thanks for remembering,” Dan said with a smirk. I really loved the guy. He had the perfect level of understanding and sarcasm. “You’re pretty quick for still being fifteen, Mendax give you a little boost too?”

“Nah, Vis did.”

“Vis?”

“Apparently a good friend of Mendax. He is the one that helped us get close to the ponies, but still wants to remain hidden, so don’t talk about him.” Colin looked away in deep thought again. Mendax must have told him something really important, I will have to ask later.

“Hey sorry about goin’ Wesker on you, must have fuckin’ hurt! But hey, you did break my knee and smash my skull.”

I looked down to my side to see if my revolver was still there. “You broke my neck! And you fuckin’ ruined my armor! It’s stupid looking, but still mine! Come on; let’s get going, ill fill you in on the way.”

“You are a brony in Equestria and you aren’t good friends with the mane six? What is wrong with you?” Dan asked. He was a brony too.

“I’ve mainly just been in Canterlot. Contact with the public was restricted until a few days ago. Anyway, enough about us, what’s life like back on Earth?” I asked. Colin looked over, news from back home must have perked his attention. I knew I was itching to hear of it.

“Well, let me start by saying John and Josh were right in their revolutionary dreams. Right after you left the economy finally fell and the nation went into disarray. The only people who benefitted from the global depression it caused were Cuba and North Korea only because they never dealt with other countries. No trade to rely on for money or goods, ya know?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“So baby Kim pushed the big red button when revolutionists challenged the military that took control as an emergency dictatorship. Without a proper government the states quickly split apart, conquered by other nations. Only a few remained under official US control. Terrorist groups formed all over the remaining states and ruined any hope we had. The states devolved into the bloodiest war anyone’s ever seen. I joined the 104th division, it was what was left of the counter-terrorist resistance.”

“Were you smashed by a tower?” Colin asked interrupting him.

“Uhh, yeah. That’s when I came here, why?” Dan asked confused at how Colin knew.

“I had the same dream,” I said looking to Colin.

“What?” Dan asked, confused by the lack of sense we were making.

“Last night I had a dream. In it I was a member of the 104th and let an assault on this tower. In the end it only ended up toppling over onto me, Hernandez, and Jenkins.”

“Ahh, Jenkins. I’ll miss that crazy son of a bitch.” I thought I saw a tear come to Dan’s eye, but he looked away before I could be sure.

“So, yeah, where is the library?” Colin asked. He was leading our group even though he had no idea where in the town he was.

“This way,” I said walking to the front of our group with the moon directly above us.

“Oh, Spike! Where could they be?” Twilight asked the baby dragon.

“Probably just taking their time, I’m sure nothing bad happened.”

Just then Aidan came flying in through the window throwing glass all over the room. A human, much bigger than Aidan, jumped through the open window and picked him up by the throat.

“Fuck you!” Aidan choked out as the bigger human threw him to the floor and stepped on him.

Twilight panicked and sent a blast of magic at the towering human.

The blast knocked Dan off of me and across the room. I could only respond with a loud maniacal laugh, as I am known to do. Dan laughed as loud as I did and Colin stepped in chuckling. Twilight stood next to me, confused by my laugh but pissed at Dan.

“Gotchya!” I said laughing at the unicorn. Her gaze turned to me, now it was far more confused.

“But he?” Twilight asked trying to piece things together.

“Twi, this is Dan,” I said introducing my friend while interrupting her. I got up from the floor as her look somehow was more confused.

Dan couldn’t help but laugh more when Twilight sputtered gibberish trying to make sense of things. “Howdy,” Dan said through laughter.

“Don’t worry, he is a friend,” I said walking over to Dan to help him up. “Mendax brought him here.”

“Mendax? But, that’s impossible!” She said, remembering the story Celestia had told her.

“Nope,” Dan said. “I heard the raspy voice myself. How else would I get here?”

Twilight couldn’t argue with that. Nopony she knew of had ever cracked cross-planet teleportation, not even Celestia.

Dan held out a hand, “Nice to meet you Twilight.” He knew when to act proper. Getting on Twilight’s bad side even if you do have powers like ours isn’t a good thing.

“Don’t worry Twilight, he grows on you,” Colin said from the doorway.

Twilight walked up and shook Dan’s hand with her hoof. “Why the window smashing then?”

“Aww, we can’t have any fun!” I mock pouted as Twilight shot me a glare. With her magic she repaired the glass scattered all over the floor. “Wana tell Celestia we have the manticore murder problem under control?” She walked off levitating a quill to paper as she began to write.

“Dan did that?” She asked.

“Yeah. Let’s just say he wasn’t thinking clearly, Mendax picked at his mind a little,” I said. “But damn Dan, that manticore was ruined!”

“Hey, he tried to eat me! What would you have done?”

“Something a little less gruesome,” I replied.

While we were making small talk Celestia sent a letter back. Twilight opened it and looked it over. “Princess Celestia wants you three to go to Canterlot immediately. Dan will be questioned upon arrival,” She pulled me aside for a second as Dan and Colin went on talking. “She wants you to keep an eye on him, too. We can only guess what Mendax left behind in him.”

I was a little shocked by the second demand, but hey, another human only means further change for Equestria, and another human for her to worry about. Dan, Colin, and I waited at the library for the carriage to come. Celestia knows what she is doing, I hope.

Some time passed as we all enjoyed the arrival of Dan. Twilight got along with him and spike took to sitting on his shoulder. The carriage was spotted outside, good, that meant sleep for us. It was around midnight, but having fought, and raced today I was a little more tired than usual. Colin was exhausted, our regeneration made sleep less of an issue, a luxury he still didn’t have. It was still a necessity, but less so.

The ride to Canterlot didn’t take long with Dan as entertainment, but I had to ask, “Dan, what happened to my family?” It was a selfish question, but I couldn’t hide my desire to know.

“John enacted his doomsday plan and moved to the ranch. As far as I know, they are still there.” Dan said. Colin looked out the window at the passing trees below. He couldn’t ask about his family, and I know that must have hurt. Dan never knew them, so he wouldn’t know what happened. We could only hope for the best.

We arrived in Canterlot to find Celestia waiting for us. Apparently this was a big enough deal for her to wake up in the dead of night. She looked at me and smiled, I returned a nod, and then she looked to Dan. Dan wore a dark five’ o clock shadow on his face as he looked at the princess smiling. He knew that if he pissed Celestia off, that was the end of it, and with the manticore killing she wouldn’t be so understanding. I didn’t kill anything when I came, he would have to explain some things.

“Follow me, please,” Celestia said as she walked toward the castle. We walked through the maze of hallways until we finally came to the throne room. Luna must have been dealing with something else because she wasn’t in there. “Dan, will you explain why you are here?”

“Mendax brought me here,” Dan said. Celestia looked at him in disbelief. “He ruined Prophet’s last ditch effort to get close to Aidan by bringing me here. Prophet wanted to fool Aidan into working with him by using someone he loved. The only other person who was close to Aidan and knew as much as he about this world is me. Mendax tricked the prophet and ruined his plan by showing himself to Aidan before he was destroyed. I don’t know what he told Aidan though,” Dan said in a casual but respectful tone.

“Aidan?” Celestia said.

“He told me that I am the ‘greater and more powerful’ that was to come after Prophet.”

Dan looked a little confused and Colin looked away. “Mendax told me that we will have to wait for Prophet to make his move. There is nothing more we can do for now but prepare. Prophet will come with everything he can to get Aidan,” Colin said as if it pained him. “He will stop at nothing to get Aidan. That’s when we have to kill Prophet.”

We all looked at Colin. I didn’t know that he knew so much about this. Mendax didn’t reveal anything like that to me, only some proverb or something. The words echoed in my head as I looked away, deep in thought, ‘Pure Harmony is flawed... but it can be mended.’