The orchard was still deadly silent, a testament to the utter shock that the scene I put on managed to manifest in the ponies. Applejack and Big Macintosh had finally started to approach the clubhouse, along with Twilight, who had finally found the strength to get back up.
After Scootaloo came out of the clubhouse, everyone seemed to calm down. We all regrouped and agreed to head back to the house on foot. It was a mostly silent trip, everyone seemingly lost in thought, until Applejack spoke up.
"Sugarcube..." she started, looking at me. "...ahm real sorry for acting the way I did. I shoulda helped fend off the wolves." Her eyes darted around a bit as a frown crossed her face.
"Ahm sorry too, Sniper," said Big Macintosh. "Applejack and I were just too afraid of the wolves to help, and we shoulda been braver," he continued. "Though it may have been foolhardy to try n' help, we still shoulda done somethin'." Seems a little wise. What a juxstaposition.
"And..." Twilight started. "I tried to take care of the timberwolves, but I couldn't do it, and put you all in danger. I'm so sorry everypony. I let you all down..." she said, head hung low in shame.
Applejack looked back, a sympathetic frown forming on her face. She went to Twilight's side, comforting her. "Twahlight, ya'll didn't disappoint nopony," she explained. "Everypony makes mistakes. We all do."
Her head perked up. "But I put you all in danger!" she argued. "Somepony could've been seriously hurt!"
"Look, it's alright," I interrupted. "I'm a professional. I'm trained to do that sort of thing," I said, a hint of annoyance in my voice. "If I put myself in any danger, it wasn't a very extreme danger."
Applejack and Big Macintosh shifted uncomfortably. Twilight looked away from me, concern and fear in her eyes. None of the fillies had anything to say, and were probably still processing the event.
When we reached the farmhouse, the 3 fillies took one last look at me, all smiling, and went inside. The others and I stayed outside, and once the door was shut, Applejack spoke up.
"Look, Sniper, I really appreciate what you did for us back there," she expressed. "It was mighty brave of you tah stand up to the timberwolves by yourself to save us all. I'm really grateful."
"Eeyup," Big Macintosh added.
She took off her hat, placing it on her front. "...And I don't think I could really ever make it up tah you," she finished.
I smiled, filled with pride. "It's nothin' mate. I would never let anything bad happen to..."
Why did I do it?
I tripped on my words, stuttering as my smile faded. A fake smile took its place. "t-to anypony."
She gave me a strange look for just a moment before putting her hat back on and smiling again. "That's mighty noble a you
Sniper."
Big Macintosh opened the door to the house and began walking inside, followed by Applejack, who stopped, turning to close the door.
"Take care ya'll!" she said, closing the door.
Twilight gave me a sad smile. I smiled back, and looked away, staring into the distance with a frown.
Why did I put myself in danger to save that filly?
"Come on, let's head back to the castle," she said. "I think we've had enough excitement for one day."
"You and me both, sheila," I replied. "You and me both..."
The trip was almost completely silent, both of us lost in thought.
We got back to the castle, and entered the main room. I started heading towards one of the staircases, but she motioned me towards the dining area. Now that she mentions it... I am quite hungry. It's probably lunchtime, then.
As we entered the room, Starlight and Spike were already at the table, Starlight with a salad and Spike with some strange concoction of gems and salad.
Starlight looked up from her food, noticing us. "Oh, hey Twilight, hey Sniper!" she greeted. "How's your day gone so far?"
Twilight rubbed the back of her neck and looked to the side as we sat down. "It's been pretty... eventful, I would say." She seemingly forced a smile. "But otherwise, it's been fine!"
"That's good," she responded. "Think you could fill us in?" she asked, eagerly.
"Yeah, we've been cooped up all day long doing work and stuff, I think it'd be nice," Spike added.
"Uhhh..." she said, eyes darting around a bit. "N-no, not really- I mean, I'd rather not talk about it is all..."
"Uh, okay," she responded, clearly confused by Twilight's response.
Spike raised an eyebrow before digging back into his food.
After lunch was over, we all retreated to our respective rooms. It wasn't hard to find mine, and once I had reached it, I immediately went to my bed. I sat down, sinking into the mattress.
I'm a professional. I have standards, not feelings. Feelings are a hindrance, a nuisance that gets in the way of every bloody thing I do. I don't have them, and I don't need them. But I could've run, or helped us all escape, but I fought instead, putting my own life on the line, just to save a pony that I didn't even know. So why did I do it?
I sat there, a man of two minds, conflicted by the opposing parts of my own psyche. Everything that I knew, everything that I had ever believed in was being challenged by my very own choices. I tried to silence it, to keep it inside, but it was relentless, a never-ending storm of confusion and contradiction.
I thought back to Twilight, what she had done for me, and what she was doing now.
She took me in without question, giving me a place to stay and food to eat. She started showing me to her friends today and getting me familiar with pony society. She was amiable and friendly, talking to not just ponies, but me as well. But on the walk home...she was so distant. She seemed sad, afraid, and conflicted about something.
I got up from the bed, staring straight ahead, and walked to face the mirror. The face of a confused, troubled man reflected off of it.
What was she so conflicted about?
Suddenly, the door to the room creaked open as Twilight stepped in.
"Hey, Sniper? Could I talk to you for a bit?" she asked.
She has the same expression as before. It's sad and afraid.
I stared for a second. "Yeah. Sure," I said.
She fully entered the room, closing the door on the way in, and stood near me as I sat back down on the bed.
She let out an anxious sigh. "Have I told you about the Princesses yet?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Princesses?"
She went into a decently lengthy explanation about all the princesses and their roles. She mentioned Canterlot, a massive city embedded onto the side of a mountain, and the Crystal Empire, an expansive crystalline city in the Frozen North.
I sat there for a second, hand on my chin, processing the information. I'm not even gonna question the sun and moon raising part. "Alright," I said. "So why tell me at this specific moment?" I questioned.
She avoided eye contact with me as a frown crossed her face. "Princess Celestia wants to see you personally in Canterlot."
See me? How does she even know about me? "Twilight, how does she know about me?" I questioned, suspicious.
"I've... kiiinda been sending letters to her about you," she said, very anxiously.
I looked at her, a small scowl forming on my face. "Seriously?"
"Spike can send and receive letters to and from Celestia using his fire breath...So I've been talking with her about you."
I sat there for a moment, considering what she had said. She's been sending letters about me to the reigning deity of the entire bloody country... My expression hardened, and Twilight backed away slightly. Isn't it for the best, though? I'm some mysterious creature suddenly fallen into her kingdom... She'd want to know if I was a threat. Honestly, I'd do the same thing. My expression softened. "You know what? It's fine. I get it. It's for safety reasons."
Twilight frowned. "Look Sniper... I'm sorry about going behind your back like this. It's just protocol."
"Going behind my back..." The phrase reminded me of something, and I clenched my fist in rage. "Spy..." I whispered.
"S-Spy?" she said, clearly nervous.
I sighed. "Some mongrel that I thought was my friend... But in the end, he betrayed me..." I looked over to her, a scowl forming on my face.
"Sniper..." she started, concern in her voice. "W-why would a friend betray you like th-"
"BECAUSE HE WAS NEVER MY FRIEND!" I screamed in rage, slamming my fist on the nightstand. "That backstabbing two-faced fraud was just pretending! It was all an act, and once he had the chance, he KILLED ME for his own advantage!" I said, tears welling up in my eyes. I'm crying.
I stopped myself, holding back the tears. Be strong. No crying. That's for fools. And I guess foals.
Twilight was taken aback. A deep, pitiful frown on her face, eyes wide in shock. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. She came over to me, and hugged my waist.
"I'm so sorry Sniper," she said. "That's horrible."
My breathing became more laborious, as emotions began to violently surface. And with them, memories.
Thunder Mountain, the stormy, overcast place that BLU thought they could push a cart through and were failing. Sitting at the top of a balcony, I was scoped in at their spawn, which had been thoroughly camped by my other teammates. I could wait, though, and so I sat there, shot charged, patiently awaiting a target.
Thunder cracked as the sound of cloaking appeared from behind me, taking me by surprise. I unscoped, unsheathing my kukri in anticipation of an attack and flipped around to see the BLU Spy standing casually there, smoking a cigarette.
"Bonjour, mi amigo," he greeted.
My eyebrows perked up at this. "Mate, what are you doing back 'ere? Yer team needs yer help!" I said.
He raised an eyebrow at this. "I don't think zat matters much, Sniper. We'll lose anyway," he rationalized. "I came to take a break from all ze noise up there at our spawn." He turned to me, and smirked slightly. "...and vhat better way to spend it than with somevone who appreciates ze peace and quiet as well, hm?"
He's right... Y'know, maybe I should follow his lead.
"Yeah..." I said, sheathing my kukri. "It's not like I'm helpin' much anyways." I looked out, taking note of how nobody even made it out of spawn.
I sat down, scooting forward to dangle my legs over the edge of the drop, and the Spy followed my example. We sat there, enjoying the peace.
All the good times.
Sawmill, a lumber milling station with deadly spinning saws around the middle point, killing any who were unfortunate enough to trip or misstep into one. The fight had been fair, but biased towards our team as usual. I took the flank route by the river, trying to get behind enemy lines for a clean and easy shot on a few people. As I made my way across the lake, however, I came across the BLU Spy, who sat on one of the rocks in the small side tunnel. He noticed me, and I slowed down as I reached the end of the log, and stopped. I looked both ways and decided to change direction.
"So I see you've decided to join me again?" the Spy said.
"It's less of that, and more of me needing to talk to you about something," I explained.
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Yeah... look, I think we both know that our teams are not a big fan of friendship," I started. "We've already been caught a few times, and by the looks of it, they're about ready to chop both our heads off for it."
He frowned slightly.
"So look, what I'm saying is that we've got to keep up appearances," I continued. "We've got to start fighting each other to make it seem like we're enemies again."
The Spy looked away and sighed, flicking his cigarette. "I understand," he said, a frown crossing his face. "I knew zis would happen one day. And I prepared myself to face it." He looked over to me. "But no matter how much I ready myself, it'll never be fair."
"Nothing's ever fair, mate. Nothin'."
All the bad times.
"Peekaboo!" he said, firing his revolver into my spine.
"AAGGH!" I fell to the floor, paralyzed in pain. The spy stepped over me, shutting the door.
I thought I could trust you. "HELP M- GAH!" He shot me through the arm, cutting me off.
"Sorry to pop in unannounced, but I think you'll find this quite pertinent." His expression was serious and scornful.
I thought we were friends. I looked up at him with teary eyes, unable to say anything.
"I've been making a few plans concerning your operations recently." He lit a cigarette, sucking in ashy air. "Your colleagues locked me out of BLU base today, so I had no choice but to put them into action."
Why would you betray me? I glared at him. Hard.
"Oh, and don't worry about your team going under... I've got a replacement for you!" He smirked maliciously.
Why did I think you were any different? I gasped, understanding what he meant. You're a spy. A backstabbing traitor.
"No worries, mate! HAHAHAHAHA!" he mocked. Midway through his bout of laughter, he was engulfed by a cloud of smoke, and his laugh changed to match my own.
The last thing I remember was the image of my own body standing over me, laughing to himself. And then a gunshot. And then blackness.
It was all part of his plan.
I returned her embrace, and let a few tears through.
But I've found a real friend now.