A Promise Not Forgotten

I sat upon the hill overlooking the town that Shining Armor had just walked into. The night sky still shone from above, moonlight brightening the land. It must have been around four in the morning by now because there were a few early risers leaving their homes for what dead end jobs they might have acquired here. The town did have proper houses littering it every so often, but the shanties made from corrugated steel were far more common. How these ponies who had nothing before worked so hard for their independence still have nothing amazes me, but then again Earth has its sore spots too. The unmistakable glow of lanterns shining through the windows and cracks in the metal homes cast twisted shadows on the ground like claws reaching out. It was something like art, this. How such beauty can be found in mere shadows of the night. It’s in these moments of peace that I lose myself from this world; it’s easy to forget how much things have changed since Earth. Strange how our worlds are so different, yet the exact same.

I watched Shining prowl the town in search of the hideout and couldn’t help but feel sad. The only reason he is here now is because of his sister. Had he just been another face he would be long dead, by my hands.

“Why do you beat yourself up so much?” Prophet asked, breaking the deafening silence.

“You know why…” I replied grimly.

“What has to happen has to happen, we both know that. What doesn’t have to happen is this constant self-destruction. I know this must be hard for you, and you might still have trouble coming to terms with the situation, but that’s no reason to worry so much,” Prophet said.

“I think this is the first time I have heard you like this…” I shot back.

“I have my moments. That aside, you need not blame yourself for this; It isn’t your fault. It’s far out of our reach by now. You know that,” Prophet said.

“But I can end this now… Why don’t we?” I asked. “What’s stopping us from finishing this all now, saving them from so much suffering?”

“There’s one last good thing we can do for this world before we leave. The plague is still a problem, and if we don’t find a cure now, there will never be one,” Prophet said with a hint of regret in his voice.

“Is that regret I hear?” I asked, picking up on his tone.

“Aidan, I’ve made some bad choices in my long life. I don’t want you making the same mistakes. This plague has to stop here,” He said. “Too many have already died, and too many more will die. We can’t let this survive, you know that. I had the chance to stop it last time… but I was blinded by rage and instead let it grow to what it is now.”

“Have any ideas on how to stop it?” I asked.

Prophet paused, in thought, before saying, “Well, it seems to corrupt the magic inside of the host.”

“How’d you figure that one out?” I asked, confused at the development.

“There was no bodily harm done to the gryphons and their minds were intact completely, yet they were sick. It’s almost as if their soul has been infected,” Prophet said.

“As completely impossible as that sounds, I’ve heard worse. What can we do to stop it?” I asked.

“That’s the big question. I’ve never seen anything like this before, and believe me, I’ve been around for a long time,” He responded.

“Longer than Celestia?” I asked, curiosity having its way.

“Pfft, She’s a baby compared to me,” He said.

I continued to watch Shining aimlessly scour the town for the building as we talked, “So exactly how old does that make you?”

“Hmm… Let me think some…” He started. “I’ve lost count exactly but I know its somewhere between sixty to seventy thousand, no more than eighty.”

“Wait… wha?” I said baffled by the ancient being talking to me.

“I’ve seen my share of things,” He responded.

“How do you cope?” I asked.

“If you mean with the loneliness, short answer is I really don’t,” Prophet responded. “Alicorns are the only things that can live a fraction of my time, and even they have their limit.”

“Must be rough… so much death,” I said.

“Now it makes what you’ve done a little less significant… does it not?” He asked.

“Well when you put it like that, what I’ve don’t pales in comparison. But compared to others a little more on my level, I’m a monster still,” I replied.

“Just know that you are doing them a favor in the long run,” He said.

“That doesn’t make it right…” I shot back, slightly happy that Shining was trotting up. “What’s the word?” I asked.

He walked to my side and pointed a hoof at a large building near the center of the town, “That’s the place.” He said, clearly exhausted. “It’s the old water purification plant. Run down old place, but makes a perfect hideout.” He said.

“Fantastic!” I said with a smile. “You go on back to the wall and wait for me… And if you plan on keeping your guards alive, I’d keep out of sight. If they fight out what happened, you might be thought of a little less, captain.”

“Thanks again, Aidan,” He said with a worried look before he slowly turned and walked away.

“Alright,” I said to myself, “Down to business.” I leapt off of the rock I now sat upon and started into the town. I thought it best to stick to the ever shrinking shadows through the town, making my way to the dilapidated water treatment plant. After some time of sneaking around, and a few light zaps to ponies who came a little too close for comfort I had made it to the building.

The building wasn’t much to look at. It was nothing more than another ordinary warehouse, but in a dilapidated state. Smoke loomed from the top of one of the many pipes on the top of the building. I walked up to the gate, watching for any ponies who might have seen me. Luckily, none had, and none were patrolling the building. I climbed the rusted fence and hopped to the other side.

“Have any idea what we’re looking for?” I asked quietly.

“A door…” Prophet said.

“Real help, bud,” I responded, slightly annoyed.

“I try,” Prophet said, the sarcasm dripping from his words.

I crept closer to the warehouse entrance. The door was, as usual, locked with a chain. “Oh, why can’t this ever be easy?” I asked to no one in particular.

“Because the world hates us…” Prophet said.

“Ya know, for being ten thousands of years old, you sure don’t act like it,” I replied.

Prophet quickly adopted a pompous accent, “Well I say, I’m allowed a little fun aren’t I?”

There was nothing right about the building at which I looked. Why these bounty hunters decided to hole up here, I haven’t a clue. Certainly they could have found better buildings, hell I’m worried this thing might fall down on top of me if I go inside. I rounded the corner of the building and sure enough, the large purple eye was plastered to the wall of the building. I suppose to any onlooker it was just graffiti, but here is the emblem of a gang right here. Bad planning if you ask me, when the secret gets out all of their hideouts will be discovered.

I looked at the eye closely. I had seen this before somewhere. “Look familiar?” I asked Prophet.

“Little bit, but then again I don’t really concern myself with eyes drawn on walls,” He responded.

“Yeah…” I said while walking away from the image. I noticed a stack of wooden crates conveniently stacked to the roof of the warehouse. Climbing up to the top I saw that, as I guessed, there were skylights in the building. Inside the building there were about seven or eight ponies all talking.

“So what now?” One asked.

“Chain his ass up!” Another said.

“He’ll just freeze those too!” The first replied.

“Then throw his flank in the fire for all I care!” The first said.

“Come on, help me carry him…” The first said to another. The combined forces of the unicorns were just barely enough to drag Dan across the floor. Dan had burns on his face that were slowly being healed. I couldn’t see his face but I knew he wasn’t awake. Somehow these ponies had managed to beat the tank of a man.

“What should we do with these two?” Another asked, with a gruff voice.

“We’re supposed to wait for the boss to get here,” The leader said.

“Oh damn, I wanted a little fun…” The stallion said chuckling a bit.

“Oh you’re fucking dead…” I whispered to myself. The ponies separated and about five remained in the main room. The three others had gone to who knows where. “Alright, I suppose now’s a good a time as ever…” I said before I lifted the slightly ajar window and jumped into the building. I dropped into the midst of the ponies, scaring them all. “Ok, let’s make this quick. I don’t have all day… Where are the mares you took?” I asked, not knowing which to talk to.

“Like we’d fucking tell you!” One of the earth ponies shouted.

“You know, for a minute I thought this was going to be easy. I really don’t want to kill you,” I said casually.

“Heh, you can try!” He said before charging to meet me. I responded by sliding on the floor and kicking his jaw. The other four stallions stood nearby, deciding whether or not to join in the fray. The receiving stalling recoiled back before sending a hoof to my ribs. Several echoing snaps sounded from my side as I reeled back in pain. A Pegasus flew from behind me and hit me in the back of the head. Despite the disorientation of the blow, I reached up and caught his back two hooves before he passed me. He lifted me off the ground and we slowly fell back to the ground. I grabbed the pony by his head and got him in a choke hold. The others could only watch as I suffocated their friend. Another earth pony started charging to me. Before he hit he stopped, turned on a dime, and bucked with all his force. While it was a good try, but a quick sweep of his front two legs sent his face falling to the floor. I grabbed the forest green pony by his back legs before swinging him into one of the many steel support beams in the warehouse. A loud snap sounded and the pony fell to the floor howling in pain. The unicorn started tossing spell after spell at me, most of them bounded off of me without doing anything, some connected and left a tingling feeling. When he realized that it wasn’t going to do anything he and the earth pony started to charge again. I dodged quickly to the side and pushed the back of the unicorn’s head into the wall while slamming an elbow into the earth pony’s temple. The unicorn’s horn shattered into many pieces and blood leaked down onto his face, yet he stood still like a statue just staring at the wall. The Pegasus, after seeing his two comrades downed so easily started for a quick escape. Unlucky for him, I can shoot lightning. The remaining earth pony grumbled on the floor before I shocked him. None of the offending ponies remained a problem.

“OK… STOP RIGHT THERE!” I heard a smaller voice shout. Slowly I turned to the offender. I recognized the tone as the leader who was talking earlier. He was an orangeish color, and a Pegasus. “Or you don’t get her back…” He said, holding Dash. Rainbow halfheartedly grunted, blood staining her forehead. Her wing hung limply at her side, she opened eyes and her mouth teased a smile.

“Ok… I’m going to take a minute to let you think. Now these here, didn’t piss me off, and look at them,” I said, waving a hand over the disabled ponies in the room. “You’re treading on some pretty fucking thin ice buddy… You don’t want to go down this path. Let her go if you want to live.”

“Pfft, and let you kill me when I let her go… no thanks!” He snorted. I stepped closer, he stepped back while grabbing Dash’s limp wing. “GET BACK!” He shouted, before pulling lightly on her broken wing. Dash squealed in pain before sobbing softly.

If looks could kill, this scrawny Pegasus would be in hell already. Of all powers, why did I have to get the one that would easily chain into Rainbow? “Ok,” I said, raising my hands as a sign of cooperation. “Tell me how we can make this work, you don’t want to die, I want her back, work with me here.”

“Oh look at you… The big and tough Prophet finally showing his face after all this time!” The small pony shouted. “You think we’ll just let you go? No, it’s not like last time…” The pony said.

“For God’s sake, stop calling me that. I’m not him! Just give her back, and you will live!” I said.

“Since when did the mighty Prophet get his own hands dirty?” The pony asked with barred teeth. “He always had his many pawns to do the killing for him.”

“What don’t you get about this? I’M NOT HIM?” I shouted back. “HE IS NOT ME!”

“Heh,” The pony chuckled lightly. “So they actually broke you huh?” The pony asked.

“Ignore his lies Aidan…” Prophet said.

“And there he is! Now he shows his true self!” The Pegasus said, still holding Dash in his grip.

“Where is the last then?” He asked with a straight face.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I screamed, not knowing whose reality to accept anymore. “Who is the last?” I asked.

“He who whispered first will whisper last…” The pony said with a mad cackle. “You’re too late! You can’t stop him now, PROPHET!” He screamed madly.

“Kill him…” Prophet said.

I raised a hand but couldn’t do it, “But Dash…” I said. She looked up to me. Those eyes that stared into my soul… those eyes that screamed ‘please’ like never before. I lowered my hand and looked into her magenta eyes. “I can’t,” I said, lowering my arm.

“You have to do this, Aidan,” Prophet said, his red shadows covering my arm, forcing it up again.

“I can’t…” I said, straining against his power. “DON’T MAKE ME DO IT!”

The Pegasus laughed, “Does she really mean that much to you?” He asked.

I faded back out of reality and looked away from my arm, it now glowing uncontrollably. Tears welled up in Rainbow’s eyes as she stared into my soul. I held my eyes shut tight… I didn’t want to see this.

I heard the crack of lightning…