Enfield is going back to Earth, but what awaits him after two years of being confirmed dead?
WARNING: This story contains spoilers of my previous installment. I recommend you read The Final Crusade first.
Two months after Enfield settled in Ponyville, he decides to go back to see his family. He doesn't know if they think he died in the second US Civil War or if he's missing. Enfield recruits the help of Twilight to open a Rift that will send him back to Earth so he can see his family in England, and confront his parents in America.
“Two months, it’s been two months,” Enfield thought as he sat on the wing of his Supermarine Spitfire and clean off a piston.
Enfield sighed and stared off toward the horizon, it had only been two months since he ended up in Equestria and tried to start a new life in Ponyville. He was truly glad he had left his old life behind, ever since his own parents told him that he was nothing more than an experiment and they had been trying to kill him since he was a child. Enfield still remembers his old name. James Rogers. He was once James Rogers, the British immigrant who lived in America with a job and a future that was now shattered. Now he was Brit Enfield, the human who was turned into a pony after his near death experience, he was the kid who got another chance to start a new life in a totally different world.
He shuddered as the last few weeks of his life on Earth replayed in his head. The war, the betrayal, the escape, his last breath. The only settling think that came to his mind was the day he rescued Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo, also known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He was working at the gas station when he found the girls in the back of the place, hiding behind a massive shipping crate. The three months where the girls ended up living with him, they were the best three months of his life. Summer vacation had never been so eventful for Enfield, although there might have been a few times where times had gone bad but they forgot about them the next day, well, the Crusaders did. Enfield had taken himself to a psychologist and he was told that he did have a type of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome that would only become active through repressed memories of the last few weeks on Earth. The last few weeks of the War, which he caused.
He didn’t let that get to him though. The Enforcer/Guardian war was more of a grudge match rather than a proper war. Enfield and his team were blamed for the decommissioning of the Enforcer Program because of operation Air Raid. Enfield still curses himself for taking a bag full of guns and jewelry and suggesting that his team take a little something for their success. As Enfield mulled it over in his mind, he realized something strange. Taking a mix of guns and jewelry from the mission sector didn’t seem a justifiable cause for disbanding an entire section of the US military. If he and his squad had taken the drugs they would have at least been discharged, not made most wanted and cause a war.
Enfield shook his head in disbelief and turned to face his house. It wasn’t much, just a small, two story house with a hidden bunker and armory stocked with weapons and ammo. Celestia gave Enfield the house after he accepted her offer to safeguard Ponyville, he was glad he had the weapons to keep the town safe. He still wished that he had a tank for ground operations, but for now, all he had was his Ecstasy 550 buggy with a mount for a machine gun and his trusty and heavily modified Spitfire. One thing that Enfield had to question was how Celestia managed to acquire an entire armory of weapons and make a bunker even though she had told him that there were no large weapon factories in Equestria. Enfield put it out of his mind and guessed that they got everything set up when he was in his coma. Probably using spells to read his mind and bring the gear over. He still wished that he had some sort of armored vehicle.
Enfield stood up and slotted the piston into the Spitfire’s engine and reassembled the front of the aircraft. His physical health was perfect but his psychological state was somewhat questionable, for at least two weeks Enfield had woken up in the Panic Room surrounded by a set of traps and with several guns lying at the foot of his bed. After a little searching through Twilight Sparkle’s massive library, Enfield eventually figured out that he would never get better until he went back to Earth to fix up what he had left behind. He had to show his friends and family that he was alive and well, and he had to hunt down his former parents, and exact his revenge for what they did to him.
The last two months had been utter heaven for Enfield. The life that he was offered had really worked out, not only had Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and even Princess Celestia helped him get back on his feet, but Enfield had also done a little something else for someone. Or rather, somepony.
“Hi dad,” a voice came from behind Enfield.
“Hey there Scootaloo,” Enfield said, turning around to see Scootaloo standing behind him. She looked up at Enfield as he replaced the engine cover on the Spitfire and hop down next to her.
“Whatca doing?” Scootaloo asked.
“Fixing the plane,” Enfield said as he wiped grease off his hooves, “Remember that flight last week where we heard something explode?”
Scootaloo nodded.
“Turns out one of the cylinder heads blew up and fused itself to the sparkplug,” said Enfield.
“So you fixed it?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yep, I replaced all the pistons just to be safe,” Enfield said, “So what were you up to?”
“Nothing much,” Scootaloo replied, “Me, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell went to the farm to see some of Applejack’s family.”
“Done any Crusading lately?” Enfield asked.
Scootaloo huffed and looked behind her.
“No,” she said, “We’ve ran out of ideas.”
“Ah, I knew that your three day Crusade marathon was a bad idea,” said Enfield.
“I can’t believe that we didn’t get a knife fighting Cutie Mark,” Scootaloo added.
Enfield only just a few days ago was teaching the Crusaders how to knife fight, he didn’t want to, thinking that they would get hurt, but Apple Bloom used her cute look and Enfield reluctantly gave in. He was impressed with his daughter’s ability to weld a large combat knife but he still didn’t think she was ready to fully learn disarms with it until she was a bit more skilled.
“You’ve still got your whole life ahead of you, Scoot,” Enfield said kindly. Scootaloo looked up and smiled at him.
“Thanks dad,” she said.
“Cheer up now,” Enfield said as he walked back to his house, “I’m going to need your help.”
“What with?” Scootaloo asked as she kept up pace with him.
“Packing a few bags,” said Enfield.
“Are we going somewhere?” Scootaloo asked.
Enfield was reaching for the front door handle but stopped when Scootaloo asked him where they were going. He looked at Scootaloo with a small grin.
Scootaloo’s eyes widened. A look of shock and confusion gave away the question she was about to ask.
“Why do you want to go back?” she asked.
“Primary reason is because I want to see my family back in England again,” Enfield said opening the door and pulling his greyhound out of the way so Scootaloo could enter, “Second reason is I have to find my parents.”
“Why do you want to see them again?” Scootaloo asked darkly.
“I just want to see them once more and figure out a little something about my life,” Enfield said, “Just so you know, it’s not going to be all ‘how do you do?’. It’s going to be a little more personal than that.”
Scootaloo stood behind him, looking rather confused. She shook her head and followed Enfield up the stairs to her room where a small bag was sitting on the bed, ready to be filled for the trip.
“You take whatever you need,” Enfield said, “Don’t go overboard, we’ll only be there for a few weeks.”
“Dad, how are we going to go back to Earth?” Scootaloo asked.
“Well I went to talk with Twilight and she’s been working on a few spells that might help us,” Enfield said.
“Can she open up a door back to Earth?” Scootaloo asked.
“Maybe but she said it’s not all too stable,” Enfield said.
Scootaloo tossed a few pieces of clothing in her bag and stopped.
“We can’t go back looking like this,” Scootaloo said doubtfully.
“What do you mean?” asked Enfield.
“I mean we can’t go back in this form,” Scootaloo replied.
“Relax,” said Enfield, “Zecora managed to whip up a little something that could help us.”
“What did she make?” asked Scootaloo.
Enfield went to his bedroom and returned a few minutes later with a few small bottles of a semi-clear liquid. The strange liquid seemed to move on its own inside the bottle almost like mercury. Enfield gave one to Scootaloo and put another in her bag.
“This here is a combination of Poison Joke and Hearts Desire,” Enfield said as he popped the top off the bottle, “Me and Zecora have been testing it for the past several days. Me being the guinea pig of course.”
“Does it work?” Scootaloo asked nervously.
“It didn’t until I added a little something,” said Enfield.
“What did you add?” asked Scootaloo.
“Just something that I cooked up,” Enfield said, “Do you remember the dandelion and burdock soda I made?”
Scootaloo relaxed and watched her dad raise the bottle to his lips.
“Word of advice,” he said, “I wouldn’t watch.”
Enfield swigged down the entire bottle and waited for the change. He felt nothing at first then the twisting feeling at the pit of his stomach started, he hunched over and moaned. The second phase started when he could feel his legs morph and his internal organs shift. Scootaloo shielded her eyes and covered her ears to avoid seeing Enfield transform and hear his screams. Three long minutes passed and Scootaloo decided to open her eyes, she slowly looked up and saw her dad in his original human form twirling his 1911 on his finger. Weirdly, he was dressed in a red hoodie with a white t-shirt along with jeans and black sneakers.
“Good to be back,” he said. Scootaloo was in shock, she hadn’t seen her dad in human form since the day he was almost killed, lying in front of her in a pool of his own blood.
“Dad, is it really you?” Scootaloo said slowly.
“Yep,” said Enfield, “I’ll say that I’ve never felt so good since, well, ever.”
“You’re your old self when we escaped Earth?” asked Scootaloo.
“Still sixteen in human years,” replied Enfield.
Scootaloo slowly walked over to Enfield, she only came up to waist height she looked up and Enfield knelt down.
“You’ve still got that scar,” she said.
Enfield touched the side of his face that had a small scar running under his eye from the day he almost got blown up. He never tried to think about it after Bob committed suicide but the pain still was stuck in the back of his mind.
“I might have all of my old scars,” Enfield said.
“The one’s you got from trying to help me Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell?” Scootaloo asked. Enfield nodded and handed her one of the bottles.
“Your turn,” he said softly.
Scootaloo took the bottle and pulled the top off, she slowly went to sip it but stopped and looked up at Enfield.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “I’ll be here.”
Scootaloo grinded her teeth and swallowed the entire contents of the bottle in one gulp. She didn’t know what it would feel like to be changed once more but once the twisting feeling started, she passed out from the excruciating pain.
“Hey Scoot,” a distance voice said, “You feeling okay?”
Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes. Even though her vision was blurred she could see Enfield sitting next to her. Scootaloo tried to sit up but was pushed back down by Enfield.
“Easy girl,” he said, “I really don’t want you to be moving until you regain motor functionality.”
Scootaloo’s vision had now fully returned. She turned over and was glad to see that her dad was sitting at her bedside, Enfield had set her down on her bed after her transformation so she could recover. She rubbed at the side of her head and brought her hand into her view, her transformation had been a success, she had a hand along with fingers. Scootaloo slowly sat up and mover her arms around, trying to regain familiarity of how she used to function as a human.
“Am I a human again?” Scootaloo asked.
“Well either that or you’re dreaming,” Enfield said.
“How would I know?” asked Scootaloo.
“Easy,” Enfield said, “If you were dreaming you wouldn’t feel this.”
He poked her in the ribs and Scootaloo shifted.
“Yeah, I guess there’s that,” said Scootaloo, “How do I look?”
“Exactly the same when I first found you,” Enfield said.
Scootaloo sat up and took note of what she was wearing. She had the same orange t-shirt and purple sweat shorts and sneakers from the day Enfield had helped the Crusaders. Scootaloo sat up, pulled her shoes and socks off and moved her feet around.
“That’s it, just take it slow,” said Enfield.
“This feels so weird,” Scootaloo said wiggling her toes.
“I know,” said Enfield, “I kind of had to learn to walk on two legs again after I was first transformed.”
Scootaloo slowly slid off the bed and tried to stand up, she almost lost her balance but Enfield grabbed hold of her hand and managed to guide her. Scootaloo didn’t like being taught how to walk but she had no choice after she was turned into a human. Enfield helped her go down the stairs and into the living room where he told her to wait until he found the bags hat they would be taking back to Earth.
“Where’s Twilight?” asked Scootaloo, “Isn’t she supposed to open up the portal or whatever to Earth?”
“She got my letter, she’ll be here,” Enfield said from upstairs.
Scootaloo shrugged and pulled her shoes and socks back on and waited for her dad. While she did she tried manipulating several objects on the table. Her eyes fell on an empty box and several pieces of Styrofoam strewn across the table, Scootaloo picked up the box and turned it over. On it read; Skybuster 250 Rocket.
“Dad,” Scootaloo shouted to Enfield, “How did you send the letter?”
“I just improvised with a little something I found in the closet,” Enfield replied, “I bloody hope Twilight brings it back.”
Heavy banging rang trough the door. Scootaloo jumped and span around.
“Enfield!” Twilight’s angry sounding voice came.
“Be there in a minute,” Enfield said as he thundered down the stairs with a pair of bags over his shoulder.
“Open up, Enfield!” Twilight shouted.
“What is it?” Enfield asked through the door.
“You sent this, thing through my window,” said Twilight.
“Oh, sorry about that,” said Enfield, “Did you get my letter?”
“Can you open the door at least?” Twilight asked.
“I hope you’re ready for a shock,” replied Enfield.
Enfield very slowly opened the door to face Twilight. Her expression went from annoyed to stunned in an instant, she dropped the rocket she was holding.
“Enfield,” she stammered, “You… you’re…”
“Back to my old self?” Enfield asked casually.
“I haven’t seen you as a human since the day you ended up here,” Twilight said.
“It’s a bit strange being like this again but I’ll manage,” Enfield said as he scooped up the rocket, “Like my delivery system?”
“It’s kind of dangerous,” said Twilight.
“But it’s much faster than standard delivery,” Enfield said.
Twilight stood outside the door, still fascinated with Enfield’s transformation.
“Are you going to come in or not?” Enfield asked.
Twilight stepped inside and was greeted by Dart. Enfield explained the secret experiments that he and Zecora had set up to see if they could create an elixir or potion that could change him into a human. He said that after several fruitless attempts and failures, they finally managed to make a brew that could shift Enfield’s form. Twilight argued that form changing was impossible without powerful magic, Enfield replied with the fact that he and Zecora used several magical plants to make the drink. Enfield tested it and was restored back to his old human self, the only downside were the scars from his final stand. Just as Enfield tossed Scootaloo her bag, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell entered Enfield’s house.
“Whoa,” Apple Bloom said, looking at Enfield, “Kind of brings back memories.”
The group followed Enfield and Scootaloo as they made their way to the road in front of Enfield’s house. Rainbow Dash was lying in a tree waiting for them.
“So you were serious in the letter,” she said as she glided down to land in front of Enfield.
“It’s for the best really,” replied Enfield, “I have to go back and prove that I’m still alive.”
“Don’t go hurting yourself,” Rainbow Dash said comfortingly.
“I’ll make sure I won’t,” Enfield replied.
“Shall I open the rift?” Twilight asked.
Enfield nodded and checked his gear on last time.
“PDW-R, 1911, clothes, money,” he said as he listed everything in his bag, “And I know that you’re good on stuff, Scoot.”
“Where’s Pinkie at?” Scootaloo asked.
“Hopefully she’s distracted,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Tell your folks we said hi,” Apple Bloom shouted.
A ball of light shot out from Twilight’s horn and a blinding flash followed. A large white sphere almost similar to the one Enfield saw on his last day with the Crusaders hovered a few feet off the ground. Scootaloo shuffled behind her dad and shivered.
“What if we can’t come back?” she asked fearfully.
“We will, we will,” said Enfield.
“You two ready?” Twilight said.
“Ready,” Enfield said. Scootaloo stepped out from behind her dad and nodded.
“Stay safe,” Applejack said.
“Can you bring us back something?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“I’ll see if I can,” replied Enfield.
Twilight stepped back as Enfield and Scootaloo slowly started their advance on the Rift. As they got closer Enfield could feel a tingling sensation run across his entire body. He slowly put his arm through the Rift and pulled it back.
“It’s safe,” he said.
“It still scares me,” Scootaloo said. Enfield took hold of her hand.
“I’ll walk you through,” he said softly.
They stepped through and were engulfed in the white light.
Scootaloo grabbed Enfield around his chest and shut her eyes. The tingling stopped shortly after.
“Did we make it?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yeah,” Enfield said slowly.
“What’s wrong?” Scootaloo said, sounding panicked, “You sound uneasy, what is it?”
“Well good news is we pulled through and we’re in England,” Enfield said, “Bad news is this, I think we were warped onto the roof of an ASDA.”
Scootaloo opened her eyes and saw that they were in fact, on the roof of a supermarket. She was able to see a good twenty miles off into the distance, but nothing could shield them from the freezing wind.
“Cripes it’s cold,” Enfield said. He felt Scootaloo shiver, he looked down and saw that she was only wearing her bright orange shirt and her purple sweat shorts.
“You should have changed before we came,” said Enfield.
“You never said it would be winter,” Scootaloo said.
“Actually it’s spring,” replied Enfield.
“Spring?” Scootaloo asked, a little unbelieving about the season.
“Yep, trees have leaves and there’s fresh fruit being sold,” said Enfield.
“How do you know it’s fresh?” asked Scootaloo.
“I can smell it,” said Enfield, he huffed and Scootaloo let go of him, “You should get something warmer on.”
Scootaloo pulled her bag off her back and found a casual blue hoodie and a pair of jeans, she went behind the roof access door to change. Enfield pulled his 1911 out from under his shirt and kept watch on the door in case anyone decided to come up to see if the roof was still intact. Enfield holstered his gun once Scootaloo emerged from behind the access door wearing more appropriate attire she had even pulled a black winter cap over head to hide her distinct purple hair.
“Ready?” Enfield asked.
“Who Dares Wins,” Scootaloo replied.
Enfield led the way down into the store and they managed to sneak around the store employees and customers until they were standing outside the store. Enfield looked around, seeming confused.
“Something wrong?” Scootaloo asked.
“How much time has passed?” Enfield asked. He walked over to a passerby who was about to toss out a newspaper.
“Can I use that?” he asked, “I forgot my money.”
“Sure, I was going to throw it out anyway,” the passerby said handing Enfield the newspaper.
Enfield opened up the newspaper and read the date.
“Oh no,” he groaned.
“What is it?” asked Scootaloo.
“I thought it had only been two months since I disappeared,” said Enfield, “It’s really been two years.”
Enfield balled up the paper and tossed it in the trash can. Scootaloo sighed and looked off toward the other smaller shops that were connected to the ASDA.
“So where should we go now?” she asked.
“First place I can think of,” replied Enfield, “My Nan’s house.”
“Do you remember the way?” asked Scootaloo.
“It’s all up here,” Enfield said as he tapped the side of his head.
Enfield and Scootaloo wandered around the shopping center until Enfield found an exit that pointed them toward his Nan’s house. The two had to traverse the hectic parking lot and the crossroad that would get them on the other side of the intersection. Enfield took note of a few new stores and renovations, thinking about how much he had missed since he settled in Ponyville. If he were still on Earth he would be eighteen, able to drive, able to go in pubs and order booze. His mind honed in on the second part, if he lied, he might be able to get a little something, but he didn’t want to go mad and get completely hammered, he didn’t want to set a bad example to Scootaloo.
As they made their way up the hill to the home of Enfield’s Nan he realized something, he hadn’t seen his Nan for almost three years, and to top it all off, Enfield was meant to be dead. He shuddered and picked up his walking speed, Scootaloo noticed his increased pace and jogged to catch up.
“Something wrong, dad?” she asked.
“It’s just that, I’ve not seen my family in three years,” Enfield replied.
“So you’re afraid they might not recognize you?” Scootaloo asked.
“It’s not that,” Enfield said sadly, “I’m afraid how they’ll react to me showing up after the US government confirmed me dead.”
“They probably don’t know or don’t remember, it’s been two years,” said Scootaloo.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Enfield said with a smile.
Enfield saw his Nan’s house and stopped dead. His mood had dropped again and he started to feel nervous, Scootaloo gave him and encouraging push and Enfield regained his ability to walk. He followed the path around to the back of the house and peeked over the gate.
“Is anyone there?” Scootaloo asked.
“The TV is on but I can’t see anyone,” Enfield replied.
“Maybe your grandmother is upstairs,” Scootaloo suggested.
“A likely possibility because there’s only one bathroom,” Enfield said. He dropped down from the fence and unlatched it. Scootaloo watched as her dad shakily opened the gate. Enfield steadied himself and let Scootaloo through before he shut and locked the gate behind him.
Enfield walked up to the door and rose his hand t knock, but he stopped and turned back to Scootaloo. She gave him a nod to get on with it, Enfield could see that she was getting impatient. Enfield took a deep breath, and knocked heavily on the door. He stepped backwards and waited for his grandmother to open up the door. The inside door unlocked and Enfield cringed, anxiously waiting for the door to open. Thought the stained glass of the door he could see the blurred mass that was his grandmother unlocking the door.
“I don’t think I can handle this,” Enfield whispered to Scootaloo.
“Just stay cool,” Scootaloo replied. She looked slightly irritated with Enfield, he didn’t blame her, he had slightly lost his touch but he knew that it’ll get better.
The door opened slowly and Enfield was standing face to face with his grandmother.
“Hi, Nan,” he said slowly. His grandmother looked at Enfield, her face more blank than a piece of paper.
“Hiya James,” she said, “My you’ve gotten bigger.”
“Time does fly,” Enfield replied.
“Well do I get a hug as a hello?” Nan asked. Enfield hugged her, glad that she wasn’t freaking out.
“Who’s this then?” Nan asked as she let go of Enfield and looked at Scootaloo.
“That’s…uh,” he stammered, Enfield didn’t know if he should give Scootaloo a fake name again or tell his Nan her real name.
“I’m Scootaloo,” Scootaloo said before Enfield could respond.
“Strange name,” Nan said, “So why are you here with James?”
“Nan, I have to tell you something,” Enfield said, “She’s my daughter.”
Nan back up to see Scootaloo more clearly.
“That’s nice, my little James is all grown up,” she said tweaking Enfield’s cheek. She let go and went back into the house. Enfield rubbed his cheek and followed, Scootaloo bringing up the rear.
“Do you think is should tell her that I changed my name?” Enfield whispered to Scootaloo.
“Maybe but I think you should tell her to call you by your old name,” replied Scootaloo.
“You’re right,” said Enfield, “It might be better for them to remember my old name. This will help me remember my name as well.”
“So do you call your grandmother Nan?” Scootaloo asked.
“Everyone does in my family,” replied Enfield, “You’ll end up calling her ‘Nan’ after the day is done.”
Enfield pushed his way through the beads that were separating the kitchen from the outside hallway, he entered and let Scootaloo in before he shut the door behind him. Nan’s house was just as he remembered it, right down to the slight musty smell that lingered in the front hallway. Enfield followed his grandmother into the hallway and into the living room, where she had gone and sat down in front of the TV.
“I’m guessing that you were expecting someone else,” Enfield said as he sat on the couch.
“The rest of the family was going to visit but I didn’t know if they were coming today or tomorrow,” Nan said, not taking her view off the TV.
“That’s good,” Enfield said taking his bag off his back, “I’ve been wanting to see them for a few days now.”
“What’s that you got there?” Nan asked looking at Enfield’s bag.
“Just stuff I brought, I hope you don’t mind me and Scoot staying for a few days,” Enfield said, he turned and saw Scootaloo standing in the middle of the room, “You can sit down you know.”
“Oh, okay,” said Scootaloo. She took her bag off and sat down next to Enfield.
“So where have you been for the past three years?” Nan asked.
“Well I was kind of pre-occupied that one summer,” said Enfield, “You remember Abigail Samantha and Susie right?”
“Oh yes, the three girls you took care of,” Nan replied.
“Well the one called Susie is actually Scootaloo here,” Enfield said.
“I thought Scootaloo looked familiar,” Nan said.
“Yep, I managed to get the girls back home,” said Enfield.
“Oh,” Nan said, “So what about the other two years? I haven’t heard from you or your parents.”
“It’s kind of hard to talk about,” Enfield said.
“Is something wrong?” Nan asked, sounding a little concerned.
“I’d actually rather talk to the rest of the family,” Enfield said, rubbing his arm. Scootaloo leaned against him.
“It’s okay now dad,” she said kindly, “You’re still alive and we’re a family now.”
Enfield hugged Scootaloo and smiled.
“I’m really glad you’re here to remind me about that,” he said.
“Well it’s starting to get dark,” Nan said getting up and closing the window blinds. Enfield hadn't been paying attention to the time, it was getting close to five in the afternoon when he left Equestria, in England it had almost gone eight.
“Have the guest rooms been made?” asked Enfield.
“Yes, they’re okay to use,” Nan said as she shuffled toward the stairs.
“I hope you kept my old room the same way it always was,” said Enfield.
“It’s been the same since you left it,” Nan replied.
Enfield and Scootaloo followed Nan up the stairs to the bedrooms. There wasn’t much in terms of spaciousness, most of the bedroom were about as big as Enfield’s bathroom in his house. He didn’t care however, he was really happy to be back seeing his Nan once more, tomorrow, he would be seeing the rest of his family.
“So which room do you want?” Scootaloo asked.
“I’m going in the same room that I've used for the past twelve years,” Enfield said. He opened the door to his room and walked in it. It was exactly the same as he left it since he left it four years ago: The bed still had the same blue covers on it, the bedside table had a few magazines sitting on it under the lamp, even Enfield’s old radio controlled car was still on top of the closet. He took a deep sniff at the air and exhaled heavily.
“Good to be back,” he said.
He tossed his bag up onto the bed and started unpacking it. Enfield took out most of his clothes, a small amount of money, his PDW-R and his 1911. He set both of the guns on the windowsill and shut the blinds.
“Why did you put them up there?” Scootaloo asked.
“I don’t want Nan to know what had happened to me two years ago,” Enfield replied.
“So are you going to tell your family everything once they get here?” Scootaloo asked.
“Right down to your adoption,” said Enfield. Scootaloo yawned and stretched, Enfield could tell she was tired and he was starting to feel that way too.
“I’m going to bed,” Scootaloo said.
“You do that,” Enfield said, he looked out the window and saw that the sky had gone pitch black.
“What the bloody hell?” he thought.
“Dad!” Scootaloo shouted, “Dad, get in here!”
Enfield grabbed his PDW-R and raced into Scootaloo’s room. Weapon raised he ran into her room and skidded to a halt in front of Scootaloo.
“What, what is it?” he asked frantically.
“Look at the clock,” Scootaloo said.
Enfield lowered his gun and examined the time on the alarm clock.
“What in the name of Celestia?” he said.
The time read eleven pm.
“Okay,” Enfield said, trying to keep his cool, “Why does the clock read eleven pm?”
“But it was only eight a few minutes ago, wasn’t it?” Scootaloo said.
“Does this have to do with the Rift?” asked Enfield.
“I hope it doesn’t affect my sleeping time,” said Scootaloo.
“Best we try and get to sleep now,” Enfield said, “Ten minutes have just passed.”
Enfield ran back to his room, tossed his PDW-R onto the windowsill pulled his shoes off and tried to sleep. The morning came much faster than he thought, but he still managed to get a decent night sleep. Enfield sat up and opened up the curtains, he could tell that it was either ten or eleven from the positioning of the sun. He managed to drag himself out of his bedroom and wake Scootaloo up. They both charged down the stairs hoping to get something to eat before it became one in the afternoon. Luckily once they were done it had just turned twelve. In order to think this through and deduce what was happening, Enfield went into the living room and tried to relax.
“So then,” he said as he pulled the slide of his 1911, “How is time going really quickly here but everything seems to be moving the same speed as it normally would?”
“Could it be that something happened to the planet when we were gone?” Scootaloo asked.
“No,” Enfield said, “There’s a reason behind everything.”
“How can we figure this out?” asked Scootaloo. She sank down next to Enfield and instantly wrinkled her nose and pushed him away.
“Dad, you smell really bad,” she said.
“Do I?” asked Enfield, he stuck his nose into his shirt and grimaced, “You’re right there, Scoot. I really reek of sweat.”
“How did you get to smell so bad?” Scootaloo asked.
“Probably a mix of stress and nervousness from yesterday,” said Enfield. He stood up and went upstairs to take a shower and change his clothes. After several minutes fiddling with the shower in order for it to work, once his shower was complete he dressed. Just as Enfield was pulling on his shirt he stopped and looked in the mirror to examine the scars he got from when he was almost killed. He ran his fingers across the shotgun pellet wound and sighed. The soldier’s name who did that was Rickter, he had helped Enfield after the hurricane hit the Outer Banks and trashed his beach house. Enfield never knew that he would be killed by his appointed savoir but there was nothing he could do to fix the past. Nor was there anything he could do to erase the scars of betrayal, both mental and physical.
Enfield pulled his shirt over his head and went back downstairs, taking his PDW-R with him so he could clean it. He was slightly annoyed that a half hour had passed even though it felt like his shower only took five minutes. Putting the massive time lapses out of his mind, Enfield sat on the couch with Scootaloo while Nan flicked through the TV channels looking for something that would appeal to all of them.
“I wonder if the new season of Top Gear has been released,” said Scootaloo.
“I didn’t get any new DVDs but I’m sure that once we get back they might be there,” Enfield replied. Nan didn’t listen to them, she was too focused on the news which she stopped on.
“It’s been two years since the end of the Guardian/Enforcer war and the US is suffering from the final martyrdom that both sides committed,” Enfield leaned closer to the TV to hear what the news anchor was covering, “For anyone who can remember the final battle that ended in Washington DC and San Francisco being wiped off the face of the Earth.”
“What?” was all Enfield managed to say.
“Didn’t you hear that those two armies bombed each other in those cities?” Nan asked.
“The day when both the Guardians and the Enforcers launched nuclear missiles to destroy each others HQ was a terrible day for the US,” the anchor continued, “The effect of the nuclear fallout has spread across the country and caused multiple cases of severe radiation poisoning. The US CDC is requesting that everyone is to stay indoors if they are within fifty miles of the areas of the missile strikes.”
“How many nukes were launched?” Enfield asked.
“I’m not sure,” Nan said.
Scootaloo wasn’t liking the look of Enfield’s face so she tried to change the subject.
“So when’s the rest of your family coming?” she asked.
“In a few minutes,” Nan said as she went into the kitchen.
“More like three seconds,” said Enfield.
Enfield heard the door open and shut and the voices of his family.
“We’re here,” Enfield’s aunt said.
“Hiya you lot,” Nan said.
“Hi Nan,” two small ecstatic voices came from out of the kitchen.
Enfield listened to the voices carefully so he could figure out who had came over. The talking lasted for several minutes and Enfield was able to deduce that his auntie Cher and uncle Isaac had arrived with his cousin Kelly. Uncle Geoff and Uncle Charles were also here but Enfield couldn’t tell who the two small voices were.
“I hope they remember me,” said Enfield.
“Wait,” Aunt Cher’s voice said, “What do you mean he’s here?”
“Yes he’s here, he’s in the living room,” Nan’s voice followed.
“You have to be joking,” Uncle Isaac said, “James has been…missing for the past two years.”
“No I haven’t!” Enfield yelled.
“He’s in there if you want to see him,” Nan said, “Oh, he’s also has his daughter with him.”
“A daughter?” Uncle Geoff asked.
“I’ll take the little ones to see him first,” said Aunt Cher.
The door to the living room opened slowly, Enfield put his PDW-R down and awaited his family to enter. Aunt Cher and two small children, one boy and one girl entered the room.
“James?” Aunt Cher said.
“You know it,” Enfield replied.
“James!” the girl said.
“Hey Babs,” Enfield said standing up. The girl ran over and hugged Enfield around his waist, Enfield crouched down and returned the hug.
“This is impossible,” Aunt Cher said, “They said that you were, well-”
“Dead?” Enfield asked coolly.
Auntie Cher nodded. Enfield let go of his young cousin and saw the other cousin holding Auntie Cher’s hand.
“Hi Kenneth,” said Enfield, “Wow, you’ve gotten bigger since I last saw you.”
The young boy slowly slid behind Aunt Cher. Enfield sank down even lower.
“Come on,” he said softly, “No need to be shy.”
The young child came from behind Aunt Cher, walked over to Enfield and stared at him.
“Hi,” Kenneth said quietly.
“Hey there,” Enfield replied.
Kenneth jumped on James and hugged him, giggling happily.
“Who are these two?” Scootaloo asked.
“My cousins Barbra and Kenneth,” said Enfield, he sat up and managed to pry Kenneth off him.
“You’re bigger than mummy and daddy say you are,” Barbra said.
“It’s been two years since I last saw you,” Enfield said.
“Where were you?” Kenneth asked.
Before Enfield could reply the rest of his family entered, most of them looked shocked and confused but Kelly looked incredibly happy. Enfield could tell because she had tears in her eyes. He knew why they looked confused, they thought that he was dead.
“James?” Uncle Isaac asked.
“Did you miss me?” Enfield said standing up. Kelly didn’t reply, she just rushed forward and hugged Enfield.
“I did,” she whispered.
“Where have you been?” Uncle Charles asked.
Enfield didn’t reply right away. He wormed his way out of Kelly’s grip and lifted up his shirt, showing them the bullet scar from the round that tore through the right side of his abdomen.
“Dead, and still recovering,” Enfield replied.
“How did you get that?” Uncle Geoff asked.
“You might want to sit down, this is a very long story,” said Enfield.
The family sat down, eager to hear Enfield’s story. Enfield started with the start of the summer where he found the Crusaders and followed up by telling them about the summer where he took care of the girls. Enfield started the story with start of the summer vacation, then to the trip to North Carolina, to the trip to South Dakota. Enfield also told his family how he managed to get into the Enforcers and what happened on his first mission. He finally ended with the day he found out that his parents were not his true parents and how they abandoned him and the Crusaders. Enfield was starting to get slightly upset but Scootaloo cuddled up to him and he managed to finish the story with his final stand against the Guardians and the Enforcers. He went on to tell that after he recovered he settled in Ponyville and started a new life, trying to forget what happened.
“There is one thing I really want to know, James,” Uncle Charles said, “Where does Scootaloo, or whatever her name is, come into your life?”
“Simple,” Enfield said, “I adopted her, she’s my daughter.”
“That’s fantastic news!” Uncle Isaac said.
“Yeah, I did it because I felt bad for her,” said Enfield holding Scootaloo with one arm, “She had no family, no home and was living in a box. I couldn’t just sit by and let her live like that.”
“Thank you dad,” Scootaloo said.
“I’ve just realized something,” said Enfield, “Now that you’re my daughter, everyone here is also your family too.”
Scootaloo’s eyes shot open at this comment. She looked at everyone in the room and smiled, Auntie Cher was the first to stand up and hug her, then Barbra and Kenneth followed, soon the entire family was crowded around Scootaloo.
“I’ve never been so happy in my life,” she said.
“She’s really cute,” Auntie Cher said.
“She reminds me of my sister,” Uncle Geoff said.
“I really like her hair,” said Barbra.
“Is she our cousin now?” asked Kenneth.
The mist of being in a new family really got to Scootaloo, she never had a family for her entire life and within one day, she had aunts uncles and cousins. Within a few seconds Scootaloo broke down and started crying.
“Oh bugger she’s crying,” said Kelly.
“Did we say something to upset her?” Uncle Charles said as she patted Scootaloo on the shoulder.
“Nah,” said Enfield, “Those are tears of joy, she never had a family before.”
Scootaloo was still shedding tears but she kept a tight grip on Kelly.
“Don’t cry cousin Scootaloo,” Barbra said.
“Can we cheer her up?” Kenneth asked.
“Go ahead, she needs it,” Aunt Cher said.
Without warning Barbra and Kenneth jumped on Scootaloo and started tickling her. Scootaloo was knocked to the floor and trying to get up but the two young kids kept her pinned to the floor as they tickled her, trying to stop Scootaloo from crying.
“Get off me,” Scootaloo said between laughs.
“Okay now, let her up,” said Enfield.
The two helped Scootaloo back up on her feet and hugged her. Scootaloo hugged them back, feeling much happier.
“I think this calls for a celebration,” said Uncle Geoff.
“A celebration for what?” asked Uncle Isaac.
“Two things, one for James coming back and the other for him becoming a father,” Uncle Geoff said.
“I’m in for it,” replied Enfield.
“So where can we celebrate?” asked Kelly.
“The same place where any English person would go to celebrate,” Uncle Geoff said, “To the Pub.”
Enfield would have rejected the idea but he had never been to the local pub for several years. It had always been a place of happiness for him and his family, the food was perfect and the drinks plentiful, best of all they knew the owners of the place. The pub was no more than a mile away but Enfield and his family were probably going to walk there because Uncle Geoff and Uncle Isaac would end up drunk and unable to drive. He didn’t mind however, he kind of liked it when his uncles were drunk and out of their minds.
“Let’s go then,” Enfield said sliding his 1911 into his holster.
“Do you really need that?” Nan asked.
“There are people who will hunt me down if they find out I’m alive,” said Enfield.
“Are the stories true?” Barbra asked, “Are you a bad person?”
Enfield crouched down next to her.
“No,” he said, “I never was a bad person. I don’t think bad people adopt the very child they took care of for three months of their life.”
“Why did the US mark you as a terrorist?” Uncle Charles asked.
“I’ll figure that out when I go there,” replied Enfield.
“Can I come?” Scootaloo asked.
“No, it’s too dangerous,” Enfield replied, “I don’t want you to get radiation poisoning.”
“Why? It’s just a little radiation?” said Scootaloo.
“Yes but you’re young and I don’t want you getting sick,” said Enfield.
Scootaloo sighed but agreed to stay in Equestria while Enfield went back to the US. She really wanted to go back but Enfield was her dad now, and he wanted her safe.
“Shall we get to the pub?” Uncle Charles asked.
The family left Nan’s house and headed to the pub. Enfield kept everyone entertained with his settlement in Ponyville, no-one asked where Ponyville was nor did they ask why it was called Ponyville, Enfield found this to be very good. After ten minutes of walking they finally arrived at the pub, it had changed over the years but Enfield recognized it and he was pleased it still kept its rustic look. Enfield followed his family inside and instantly met the owner of the place. It was the same old Irish guy and he was pleased to see Enfield again. Once a table had been set up everyone got some food and dined as they talked about what had been going on for the past few weeks. The hours latterly flew by for Enfield and Scootaloo, over three hours had passed and they barely noticed. Soon, Barbra and Kenneth wanted to play on the playground outside. Kelly, Aunt Cher and Scootaloo went with them leaving Enfield, Uncle Charles, Isaac and Geoff inside.
“So how’s about I get you that round I promised ten years ago?” Uncle Geoff asked.
“I don’t think I’m old enough,” Enfield said, “Remember that I now age slower here?”
“Doesn’t matter, you’re technically eighteen now,” said Uncle Isaac.
Enfield weakened and agreed, although he didn’t like the idea of drinking, but the way his life had been in the past he really thought that a bottle of scotch would help. He followed his three uncles to the bar where the owner was awaiting them.
“So is James here for his first pint?” the Owner asked in a heavy Irish accent.
“They want me to,” Enfield replied.
“We’ll be buying his first round,” said Uncle Geoff.
“Well then, what will you have?” the Owner asked.
Enfield decided to try out Guiness after the Owner suggested it to him, and soon, ever so slowly, Enfield ended up trying over eight different types of larger and beer. He knew how much his body was capable of taking on so he only drank about a third of a glass each. Eventually the night set and Enfield was in a heavy buzz. Feeling better than he did before Enfield told his uncles that he had his own weapons locker in Equestria and that he was a commander for the Ponyville sector. His uncles were too drunk to really focus on what Enfield was saying but he didn’t care, he felt happy and relaxed, not to mention dizzy and weak. Eventually, Aunt Cher came from the playground with Kenneth fast asleep in her arms, Barbra was holding Kelly’s hand and Scootaloo was right behind them.
“Time to go I think,” Aunt Cher said.
“I’m not arguing,” Enfield said. He stood up and almost fell over.
“Are you okay dad?” Scootaloo asked.
“I think so,” Enfield replied, “Yeah, I’ll be okay. I’m just a little buzzed is all.”
“I could use a nice sleep now,” Uncle Isaac said.
“I could too,” Uncle Geoff retorted.
“The unanimous decision has been made!” Enfield said.
The group chuckled and left, Enfield still had the ability to walk but he didn’t have the ability to stay quiet. As they made their way to the street Enfield kept talking about how he found that lack of a tank in his arsenal of weapons to be quite disappointing, but he was glad that he had Scootaloo as a daughter. The conversation was cut short when a man with a hood over his face jumped from an ally way with a switchblade.
“Give me your money,” the mugger said.
“Spent it,” Uncle Charles said.
“Then give me your valuables,” the mugger said.
Enfield didn’t know why this man was trying to rob them. But he saw the knife and regarded him as a threat toward his family and his daughter. He pulled his 1911 out of his holster and aimed it at the mugger.
“Bugger off, now,” he said. The mugger dropped the knife and ran off into the ally. Enfield kicked the knife into the gutter and walked on.
“Well that was interesting,” said Aunt Cher.
The family got back to Nan’s house after the little incident. Nan was upstairs asleep. Enfield’s aunt, uncles and cousins went back home after Enfield and Scootaloo were back in the house. Feeling sleepy, Enfield went upstairs and clambered into his bed, Scootaloo did so as well. She noticed that the time on Earth had gone midnight. Scootaloo wondered how much longer that she and her dad were going to stay in England.
Enfield woke up the next morning with the biggest headache he ever had. He knew how he got it and he really didn’t seem to care. He tried to sit up but he felt something clung around his chest.
“Scoot? What are you doing in here?” he asked.
“Bad dream,” Scootaloo replied. She was keeping Enfield in a tight hug.
“Was it about last night?” asked Enfield.
“No, something different,” Scootaloo replied.
“Can you let go of me now?” Enfield asked. Scootaloo let go of Enfield and sat at the foot of his bed. He groaned and rubbed his head.
“God this hurts,” he muttered.
“How long are we going to stay here?” asked Scootaloo.
“Just another day or two,” said Enfield, “Be glad I’m in a hangover or we would be leaving today.”
The white sphere materialized in front of them, Scootaloo once again dove behind Enfield. The garbled voice of Twilight drifted from the Rift.
“Ready Twilight,” Enfield said.
“Okay,” Twilight replied, “You can come though now.”
Enfield and Scootaloo stepped through the Rift and landed flat on their faces in front of Twilight.
“You could have at least put the Rift a little lower to the ground,” Enfield said.
“Sorry, I didn’t know that it was so high up,” Twilight replied.
“It’s okay,” Enfield said as he picked up Scootaloo. He helped her up and noticed that she was back as a pegasus, Enfield looked at his arm and saw it had become a foreleg once more.
“Uhh Twilight,” he said, “Why am I a pony again?”
“It’s a side effect of the Rift to our world,” Twilight said, “Anything that was a pony here will become a pony again once they cross the Rift.”
“Make sense,” said Enfield.
“I’m sure glad to be a pegasus again,” said Scootaloo.
“Whereas I’m going back to America in a day,” Enfield said.
“In one day?” Twilight asked.
“Yep, I’ve got a little something to take care of,” Enfield said darkly.
Twilight didn’t say anything after that, she said goodbye to Enfield and told him to come over to her library so she could open the Rift in America. Enfield and Scootaloo made their way home. As they were nearing his house Pinkie Pie burst out from a bush wearing what was unmistakably a gillie suit.
“Hi!” Pinkie said in her usual ecstatic way.
“Before I say anything I have to ask where you got that gillie suit,” Enfield said.
“Rarity made it for me,” Pinkie exclaimed, “Do you like it? I remember the day you were wearing one and I thought it looked neat so I asked Rarity but she said ‘No pinkie it looks horrid’ but I wanted one and she made it for me.”
“You didn’t even breath then,” Enfield said.
“How did she do that?” Scootaloo asked.
“Oh always can talk very long and not stop,” Pinkie replied, she saw the bags that Enfield and Scootaloo were carrying.
“It’s stuff from England,” Enfield said.
“Oooh, can I have something?” Pinkie asked.
“Certainly not,” Enfield said harshly, “This is our stuff.”
Pinkie sank down to the ground and her mane and tail, quite literally, deflated into a neat brush down look.
“I can’t have anything?” she asked sadly.
“Nah, I’m just messing with you,” said Enfield tossing Pinkie a small bag, “I didn’t know your mane did that.”
“Oh it only does that when I’m upset,” Pinkie said, her mane and tail back to it’s mad fuzzy look, “What’s in here?”
“An Easter egg,” said Enfield.
“What’s and Easter egg?” Pinkie asked.
“It’s a big chocolate Egg that we have over there,” Enfield said, “Me and Scoot managed to get one for each of you.”
“Neat-o!” Pinkie said, “Can I take them to the girls?”
Enfield nodded and gave her the bag containing several large chocolate eggs. Pinkie took them and vanished in an instant.
“Why did you tell her no before?” Scootaloo asked.
“I just wanted to see if her hair could really deflate,” replied Enfield, “Now that I know it can I am satisfied.”
“Can we go home now?” Scootaloo asked.
“Sure,” Enfield said, “I’ve got to get the anti-rad pills.”
Enfield and Scootaloo made their way back home where Dart was ready to greet them as the front door opened.
“Hey Dart,” Enfield said as he stroked the dog.
“Hello Enfield,” Fluttershy said. He hadn’t seen her when he opened the door.
“Oh, hi Fluttershy,” Enfield said. Dart then made a beeline for Scootaloo.
“So how was your trip back?” Fluttershy asked.
“It was okay,” Enfield replied, “Could of done more but I had to get back before too long.”
“Did you go back to America?” Fluttershy asked.
“I have to get something first,” Enfield said as he went over to the old WWI German helmet that he got in the mail that now rested on his mantelpiece. Fluttershy followed him and watched as he took the spike off the helmet and pull a key out of it.
“What is that for?” asked Fluttershy.
“It’s the key to the survival safe,” Enfield replied.
Pinkie Pie suddenly shot out from the fireplace and handed Fluttershy a Easter egg.
“This is from Enfield,” Pinkie said, “Oh, hi Enfield!”
“Is that all the eggs?” Enfield asked.
“Just Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell are left,” Pinkie replied.
She shot back up the chimney with a puff of soot.
“That chimney better be clean!” Enfield shouted into the fireplace. The only reply was another puff of soot.
“What is this for?” Fluttershy asked as she took the chocolate egg out of the bag.
“Just a thank you for taking care of Dart,” Enfield replied, “I hope you don’t mind taking care of him for a few extra days.”
“Oh no problem,” Fluttershy said as Dart leaned against her, “We get along very well.”
“Excellent,” Enfield said as he went upstairs. He managed to find his safe that contained the anti radiation pills and a pair of giger counters. As Enfield headed back downstairs he discovered that Rainbow Dash had entered his house, let in by Scootaloo.
“Hey Enfield,” she said, “Thanks for the chocolate.”
“No problem,” said Enfield.
“Are you going back to America tomorrow, dad?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yes,” Enfield replied.
“So where am I staying?” Scootaloo asked.
“Actually I am slightly glad that the very pony I would trust to take care of my daughter is here,” Enfield said nodding over toward Rainbow Dash, “Do you think you are capable, Dash?”
“Me?” Rainbow dash asked, “You trust me that much?”
“Not only I but Scootaloo as well,” Enfield said, “If you say yes then I might mention your name to the Wonderbolts, I’m showing them my Spitfire in a few weeks and I’m sure they would be glad to say hello to you if you swung by.”
Rainbow Dash accepted the offer, she wouldn’t want to miss a meeting with the Wonderbolts. It was a perfect triple win situation; Scootaloo would be staying with her idol, Enfield had somepony to take care of his daughter for a few days and in return, Rainbow Dash will meet the Wonderbolts. Enfield went into his armory and found a much better weapon to take with him to the US; An AK74-U. He stuffed his bag with fresh clothes and ammo and then headed out to Twilight’s library. He knocked on the door and waited for Twilight to open up.
The door creaked open and Enfield was greeted by Spike.
“Hi Enfield,” Spike said.
“Hey Spike,” Enfield said as he walked in, “Is Twilight around?”
“She’s downstairs,” Spike said, “Come on, I’ll show you.”
Spike led Enfield downstairs to the basement where Twilight was making some sort of concoction in a set of test tubes and examining a blackboard.
“Are you able to open the Rift again?” Enfield asked.
“Yes, but it seem risky to open two in such a short amount of time,” Twilight said as she picked up some chalk with her magic and wrote an equation on the blackboard that Enfield couldn’t understand.
“What kind of risks are there?” Enfield asked.
“If I’m not mistaken, we could tear the Rift open and stuff could fall through to this world,” Twilight said.
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” said Spike.
“Yes it is bad,” Twilight said quickly, “If Princess Celestia finds out then who knows what might happen.”
“Well we will just have to make sue she doesn’t find out,” Enfield said, “Pop the Rift open, I’m going in.”
Twilight once again used her magic to open the Rift. Before Enfield went through he drank more of the blue liquid and once again turned human, this time he was wearing full combat gear, he didn’t know why he was wearing this but he didn’t care. Cocking the AK74 Enfield took one last breath, and jumped through the Rift.
The light this time was purely blinding, Enfield could see it through his eyelids. He felt the tingling sensation stop, he opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of a field. Having no clue to where he was, Enfield tried to find some sort of landmark, but the only landmarks he could see were the wrecked hulks of tanks, jets, cargo planes, helicopters, jeeps and the skeletons of the Guardians and Enforcers.
“What has happened in the last two years?” Enfield asked himself as he tried to find a radio tower. After several minutes of searching he found one that was slightly bashed up at the top but it still had a ladder. Climbing it proved to be a little difficult because of the mangled and sharp metal that stuck out around the tower, halfway up Enfield’s giger counter started ticking, he stopped and took an Anti-Radiation pill. Once he had moved some debris off the tower catwalk, Enfield took out his binoculars and looked toward the nearest city.
“Mother of God,” he said in a hushed voice, “What have I done?”
Enfield rubbed his eyes and put the binoculars to them again and stared back toward the city, it was in ruins. Through the binoculars Enfield could see buildings burning and collapsing, jets circling the air above it and a few sunken ships in the river, the bridge had been destroyed and smoke still rose from the city. Enfield put his binoculars away and slid back down the tower just as his giger counter started ticking wildly. He ran in the opposite direction of the fallout and headed towards, what he thought, was his old development. He kept up running until the ticking stopped. Enfield looked around for anything that he found familiar. He saw the pharmacy that was close to his house and headed toward it. As he walked down the road, Enfield noticed a lack of cars on the road and people on the streets, he pulled his hood over his face and tried to remain incognito as he got closer to the store. A single newspaper hung on display as he neared the store. Enfield went to read it, seeing that the front page had the words “War” and “Aftermath”.
“Aftermath of Civil War still affecting the US,” the paper read.
“This is not good,” Enfield muttered. He yanked a newspaper out of the broken vendor and found the page about the War.
“Two years have passed since the Civil War that tore the US apart,” it read, “Most major US cities are in ruin and disorder along with the Capital and San Francisco being hit with nuclear missiles. The goal of the nuclear attack was to wipe out the Enforcer and Guardian’s HQs, each side acquired a missile and evacuated the cities prior to launch, the US government were unable to stop the launch or redirect the missiles. In the aftermath of the war, casualties are estimated in the millions from a mix of military and civilian deaths. The US is now trying to recover from the War and is gaining aid and support from other countries.”
Enfield dropped the paper and sank down, he felt nauseous and dizzy. Did he really cause all this from one small case of looting on a single mission? He sucked in some air and tried to stand, he felt dizzy again but he knew his old home wasn’t far, he could hide there until he recovered. One thing he wanted to see is if his old school was still up and running, he was sure that even in a post war scenario, the education system would find a way to climb to the surface of the rubble and do it’s job, even if half the country was ruined and a third coated with nuclear fallout. Enfield sighed and headed in the general direction of his old home, taking cover in an old car or building whenever his giger counter started ticking.
After dodging a massive radiation cloud and a pair of thugs, Enfield managed to find the old lake where he used to swim at when he was younger. The only noticeable difference was the blown apart C-130 that was now sitting in the lake. Enfield shuddered and continued walking until he found his old home, once again he shuddered thinking what he would do if there were new occupants or even worse, his parents. Enfield casually drew his 1911 and kept it tight against his chest as he slowly advanced on the home. There were no cars on the drive and no indications of life, a good sign. Enfield walked up to the house and saw that the windows and doors were covered in plywood and the tape used at crime scenes. Enfield wondered if they had done this because of the day his parents had abandoned him and he snapped, firing eight .45 rounds in his bedroom before collapsing and having a massive psychological breakdown. Luckily the Crusaders managed to comfort him and get him back to his usual self. He wandered around the building until he found a single window that hadn’t been covered in plywood, the only problem was that it was on the second floor, and very small.
No matter for Enfield however, he climbed up the side of the house, using the parts of the wood that stuck out as hand and foot holds, he managed to get up to the roof, open the window and slip in.
“Bugger!” he yelled as he slipped on a bathmat and crashed into the wall. He stood up and rubbed the side of his head. He stood back up and opened the door to his parent’s room with his weapon raised, he was both terrified and rather glad he might see his parent hiding out in this house, terrified for what they might have become, and glad so he could exact his revenge.
Enfield peeked around the edge of the door and tried to squint through the darkness. He gave up, flicked the 1911s attached flashlight on and kicked the door open.
“I’m hommmeeeee!” Enfield yelled. No response came. Enfield sighed and looked for the light switch. After messing with it with no result he came to the conclusion that the power wasn’t on, Enfield blundered his way through the darkness of the house and eventually made it to the garage where the fuse box was. Enfield popped the cover open and shined the light inside the fuse box, seeing that none of the fuses were removed Enfield flicked on each one except the outside lights, once he did that, the soft hum of lights and power being restored was heard in the garage.
“Perfect,” said Enfield.
Enfield then spent the day checking if the lights from inside the house were visible from the outside. Once he deduced that he could keep the lights on Enfield went back inside to see if the TV was still working. He turned it on and with a sharp pop and a low buzzing, the plasma came to life. Enfield spent the rest of the evening cleaning both his clothes and himself of radiation, the last thing he needed here was severe radiation poisoning. Once the time read twelve at night, Enfield decided to go up into his old room and get some sleep. Opening the door to his old bedroom Enfield found that it was exactly the same as he left it two years ago, right down the bullet holes in the mirror and TV. He pulled his shoes off and lay down on his bed, it was a little harder that he remembered, but he would rather sleep here than anywhere else. As Enfield closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, he asked himself if he should go back to his school to see his friends one more time.
Enfield was awaken by his giger counter ticking. He slid away from the windows and then checked if he had been exposed, fortunately the giger counter stopped after a few seconds and he was clean. He sat up and then went rummaging in his bag for food, he consumed an entire 3000 calorie bar and some water before he pulled his shoes back on and left his house through the window. He had left his bag and weapons behind, why? Because he was going back to his old school, that is, if he could remember the way to the school.
Enfield was quite lost. There were very few cars driving around and no school buses could be found. He had once again pulled his hood over his face to conceal his identity. Enfield wandered around until he found a familiar street, he walked down it and saw the school bus garage that sat next to the school, broken and in ruins with only six buses in the parking lot. He strolled past the garage until the school was in sight, and what a mess it looked. An entire outpost had been set up on the football field at one point but that was nothing but ash and craters, tanks and jeeps sat in the parking lot, disabled or destroyed, the fuselage of a fighter jet stuck out of the middle of the building. Almost half of the place was riddled with bullet holes or blown apart by stray artillery. Enfield really didn’t like the look of the place but there had been a war, and when there’s a war, nothing is safe.
Enfield made his way to the front door, to his surprise, people were just going about like nothing had happened, he could even see people trying to get around the crashed jet. Enfield hit the buzzer and the door unlocked, he headed straight for the front desk.
“Can I help?” the receptionist asked without looking up.
“Yes,” Enfield said, “I was just in town and I wanted to see my old school.”
“What is your name?” the receptionist asked, still not looking up, “We can trace your record and tell if you were a student here.”
“James Rogers,” Enfield said.
The receptionist looked up after Enfield said his old name. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Enfield didn’t like the look on her face.
“If you want me to go I will,” he said, “I just wanted to see my friends.”
“No no it’s okay,” the receptionist said, “I just didn’t know why you haven’t turned up for the past two years.”
“If you read the news you would have seen that I was dead,” Enfield replied.
“Then how come you aren’t?” the receptionist asked handing Enfield a guest pass.
“I have some very good friends,” Enfield said, “Let’s keep it at that.”
Enfield took the pass and walked down the hall towards the class he wanted to go first; History with Mr. Cosby. He walked through the halls and past the other students, most of which didn’t even throw a second glance, some however stopped and tried to get a second look at Enfield but he was gone before they could react. Enfield was soon standing at the door of his history class, the class had started and already he could hear Mr. Cosby ranting on about the Civil War.
“And now because of a bunch of idiots in the Government we won’t be recovering from this war until twenty-forty,” he said, “All this because of a small little incident of looting and then the US couldn’t trust the Enforcers anymore.”
Enfield stood in the open archway of the door and listened, wanting to hear more. “From what I’ve been hearing,” Mr. Cosby said, emphasizing every third word, “Is that one of our former students was the cause of this war and because of this, the US marked him as a terrorist AND CONFIRMED HIM DEAD!”
Mr. Cosby took a pointer and swatted a large paper map, sending out a bang that made everyone jump. One student raised his hand and Mr. Cosby let him speak.
“Actually the government had a good reason to label him as a terrorist,” the student said, “If you remember he kidnapped those three girls and killed a lot of soldiers.”
“Yes he did,” said Mr. Cosby, “But why didn’t he use the girls as human shields or use them to escape the US?”
“Because he wanted to look good,” the student said, “He was trying to look like he was the good guy but in reality, he was a murderer and a coward. He deserved to die.”
Enfield gritted his teeth and kicked the door shut, startling everyone but Mr. Cosby.
“I-am-not-a-terrorist!” Enfield yelled.
“Well, look who it is,” Mr. Cosby said, “The one who was confirmed dead by the US government.”
“Well guess what?” Enfield said, “I’m not.”
Most of the students were agape at the sight of Enfield, they still thought that he was the old James Rogers but none of them had seen him for the past two years and none of them knew what had happened.
“Can this be happening?” one student said.
“Is this the kid?” another asked.
“TERRORIST!” the student shouted at Enfield.
“Shut it Tadd!” Enfield said back to him, “You haven’t got a bloody clue about what happened to me on that day, you don’t even know about what happened to my life.”
“Alright relax,” Mr. Cosby said, “Now James, why don’t you tell the class what happened to you on those last few days in the war?”
“Why tell?” Enfield said in a hushed and dark whisper, “When I can show?”
He pulled his shirt up a little to show the bullet wound on his abdomen. The entire class leaned closer to get a better look.
“This is what happened,” Enfield said, “This is what happens when your own country betrays you.”
“You got shot?” one student asked.
“Yep,” Enfield said, dropping his shirt over the wound, “Several times as a matter of fact.”
“I taught them basic first aid,” Enfield said, “I didn’t know where they learned to treat severe blood loss and bullet wounds but what they did saved me.”
“They should have let you die,” said Tadd.
“Why would they? I helped them out and I protected them,” Enfield said, “They loved me and they didn’t want to lose me.”
“What was it like being dead?” a student asked.
“Boring,” Enfield replied, “I was stuck in a dark room for five days, do you know how dull that was?”
“It sounds really boring,” another student said. Mr. Cosby stood up from his seat and strode over next to Enfield.
“Well now that James is here we can get back to the topic of the Civil War,” Mr. Cosby said, “And James here is going to fill us in on what it was like on the battlefield.”
Enfield huffed and leaned against a desk as Mr. Cosby went on about the Civil War. Enfield ended up finding out more than he bargained for about the war, but then again, Mr. Cosby had various ways of acquiring information. Several times Mr. Cosby stopped and asked Enfield about the Civil War ground battles, Enfield explained how they went on rather than specific battles, he had been in the ground battles but most of the time he was trying to escape the war zone. Enfield, throughout the class, noticed Tadd’s menacing glare. He didn’t like Enfield, that was one thing solved, but Enfield knew that Tadd was dim and very assuming, Enfield wanted to see his reaction once he told the class that he adopted Scootaloo.
“Now what happened after you were supposedly killed?” Mr. Cosby asked Enfield.
“Tough to say,” Enfield replied, “I blacked out once I hit the ground, but I knew that I had killed Agent West.”
“Why did he want to experiment on the girls?” a student asked.
“Don’t know,” said Enfield, “But he had one sick mind.”
“What I want to know is how you were not killed,” Tadd said.
“You’ve asked that question several times,” said Enfield.
“And I don’t understand how a shotgun didn’t kill you,” Tadd replied.
“Maybe I got lucky, maybe it was the armor,” Enfield said, “I don’t know how I lived but what I do know is that one of the girls managed to keep my heart going long enough for me to get medical attention.”
“Which one of the kids did that?” Mr. Cosby asked.
“That was Susie, the purple haired one,” Enfield said, “She saved my life and in return, I adopted her.”
The whole class was taken aback when Enfield said that he had adopted Scootaloo. And within a second, everyone but Tadd applauded. Tadd sat there with his arms folded and the look of murder on his face. Enfield wanted more than ever for the class to end so he could get away from the look on Tadd’s face. Just as the class stopped clapping, the buzzer rang and everyone got up and left the room.
“Now James,” Mr. Cosby said just as he was walking out of the door, “Since your in hiding I don’t think you’ll be coming back again.”
“You’re right there,” Enfield said, “I don’t want to jeopardize my new home and more importantly, my daughter.”
“Okay then,” Mr. Cosby said, “Have a nice life.”
Mr. Cosby left Enfield alone in the classroom, he stood against the white board and stared out of the door. He watched as the other students walked their way to their next classes. Enfield then suddenly saw his old friend Maria walk past the door, not wanting to lose track of her Enfield slipped out from the classroom and followed Maria, hoping that she was going to the cafeteria. His luck continued when he watched her make her way to the lunch room and sit down at a table. Enfield blended with a crowd of students and then snuck up on Maria from behind.
“Hi,” Enfield said. Maria jumped and span around.
“James?” she asked looking up at Enfield.
“In a way yes,” Enfield said, “Did you miss me?”
“I thought you had been killed,” Maria said.
“Pah, an untrue rumor,” Enfield said as he sat down next to Maria.
“Where have you been for the past two years?” Maria asked.
“Trying to reset my life,” Enfield replied sadly. Maria leaned closer to him, concerned about her friend. She hadn’t seen him for two years and he was meant to be dead.
“Why,” she asked, “What happened to you?”
Enfield went on to explain how his life went from good, to bad, to being completely destroyed until his resurrection. He started his story on the day after school ended and then finished with the first week in Ponyville as he tried to restart his life.
“Wait a minute,” Maria said after Enfield had said the word ‘Ponyville’, “You’re a Brony?”
“But…what? What do you mean you’re living there?” Maria asked.
“Where?” asked Enfield.
“In Ponyville?” Maria whispered.
“Yes it exists,” Enfield said, “Really, though? You’re more bothered about me being a Brony than seeing me after I was meant to be dead?”
“It’s unreal is what it is,” Maria said. Enfield was about to reply when he noticed a severe lack of people in the lunchroom.
“Maria, where is everyone?” Enfield asked.
“Most of the students here got drafted for the Civil War,” Maria said, “Others skipped school permanently and were never seen again, but very few graduated.”
“Sounds intense,” Enfield said.
“Carl got drafted,” said Maria, “Me and Molly never heard from him again.”
“So where’s Molly?” Enfield asked.
“She graduated last year,” said Maria.
“And we both know what happened to Bob,” Enfield said. He and Maria both chuckled. Bob was one of the worst people who Enfield had the misfortune of meeting, one day when Enfield was still living on Earth Bob snapped and had planted IEDs inside of soda cans around Enfield’s house. Once Enfield got back home he found most of the bombs and got rid of them, one exploded and knocked him out. Bob was soon discovered in his home dead, he had drink several high caffeinated energy drinks and had suffered a fatal heart attack. Enfield loved the irony in his death.
“So what’s life like now that you’re a father?” asked Maria.
“Me and Scoot have been living our lives very well,” Enfield said, “She really is a great kid, you’d like her.”
“So you adopted her after you found out that she was living in a box and having to work to get food?” Maria asked.
“It was really sad,” Enfield said, “I honestly couldn’t let her live like that, she was the only orphan in Ponyville. She really needed a father.”
“And a mother,” Maria added.
“One day maybe,” Enfield said, “Who knows what might happen.”
The buzzer rang again and everyone got up and left, Maria said a final goodbye to Enfield as she left. Enfield sighed, he wished that he didn’t have to cut his friends loose and never see them again but he had a new life now and he has a family to take care of. Enfield ended up going to each and every last class he had last year. From his Spanish to his chemistry classes, almost everyone was shocked to see him, a few students cowered as he walked thought the door or passed him in the hallway, some applauded him but Enfield favorite reaction was when people would do a triple-take as he passed them. Soon, after what felt like an hour to Enfield, the school day ended and people were leaving and boarding the last twelve buses the garage had. Enfield went into the bathroom first to wash off the trace amounts of chemicals on his hands from chemistry. As he finished and went to the door, Tadd stepped in and blocked the doorway.
“What is it now?” Enfield asked.
“You are a terrorist,” Tadd said, “It doesn’t matter if you have a family now, you killed this country.”
“Which is recovering, please Tadd, I’m trying to forget that ever happened,” Enfield said, slightly annoyed with Tadd.
“Your were a waste of the Governments time and resources,” Tadd said. Enfield walked up to him, now getting really annoyed with Tadd accusing him of terrorism.
“Well this is a waste of my time and resources but I’m going to do it anyway,” he said.
“What’s that then?” Tadd asked.
Enfield head butted him in the middle of his face and shoved him out of the way, leaving Tadd motionless on the floor. He left without another word and headed back home.
On the way home he was stopped by the sight of a few US military vehicles, not wanting to find out if he was still a wanted man, Enfield hid himself in a few bushes until the jeeps passed. Getting back to the house was much harder than Enfield had wanted, a mix of US army patrols and radiation hindered his every step. Eventually, Enfield managed to get back to the house, he entered it, retrieved his pack and clambered back out of the window before shutting it for good, he had done his duty of seeing his friends one last time, now he had to find his traitorous parents. Enfield walked down his front lawn he stopped and turned around to look at his old home one more time, he had the feeling that he was forgetting something, Enfield then remembered that he hadn’t shut the power off. Opening the garage door he found the fuse box, shut the garage door and then deactivated the power to the house. Enfield went back through the house and a golden glint caught his eye. He turned to the source of the glint and in a faint sliver of sunlight was a small brass box, a box that contained his grandfather’s medals from the first and second world wars. Enfield went over to the box and took it out of the glass cabinet it sat in. The box was very dusty but when Enfield opened it, the medals still shone in the light. Enfield put the box in his pack and went upstairs to climb out of the window once more. After Enfield sealed the window and left his old home he turned to face it again, so many good memories were being left behind, but Enfield didn’t care, they were all lies.
“Never again,” he muttered, “This will never happen again.”
“Oh James!” a shrill voice said.
Enfield span around, but had little time to react as a two-by-four hit him in the head.
When Enfield awoke it had become dusk, for all he knew that could have been a few minutes to him. He felt the side of his head and could feel a bruise, he pulled his hand back in pain and tried to sit up, only to be kicked down again.
“Don’t even try it,” one voice said.
“Does this guy have anything interesting in this bag?” another asked.
“Shut up you guys,” a third said, “The Boss is coming.”
Enfield’s vision was blurred, and the fact that it had gone dark did not help him see who his attackers were but once he was able to see, he would try and get his stuff and escape. Or at least shoot them. Enfield lay still as he let his eyesight adjust until he could finally see clearly. Three boys were standing over him, one was trying to open his backpack. A fourth walked over, the newcomer had a sort of stagger to his walk.
“Good work getting this guy,” a slurred and salivated voice said.
“Do we get our goods now?” the first boy asked.
“Not yet, Assassin Ninja One,” the leader said, “You will eventually.”
“Oh dammit is that you, Rod?” Enfield asked. The only reply was a sort of disgustingly bubbly laugh.
“No, I’m not Rod,” the leader said.
“It is you Rod,” Enfield said propping himself up, “I recognize that voice after I beat the owner of it to a bloody pulp.”
“Shut up!” Rod shouted, sending saliva everywhere.
“You sound much worse than you did before,” Enfield said, “And it sounds like you still didn’t hit puberty.”
“At least I’ll still be alive in the next hour,” Rod said.
“Any good reason to kill me?” Enfield asked.
“There are a million billion reasons,” Rod said, he turned to his accomplices, “You three stay here, I’ll deal with James.”
The three assailants nodded and tried to open Enfield’s bag. Rod stood over Enfield, pinning him to the ground.
“You see James,” Rod said, “A lot of people want you dead, and I really want you dead. There may be a large reward for your capture or death but what I want is something that money cannot give me, a nice feeling of revenge.”
“I know a thing or two,” Enfield said, “Like the time you broke my treasured sword because you tried to sword fight with it.”
“It was a stupid thing,” Rod said, “You should be glad that you got rid of it, but that’s not what I want to kill you for.”
“Well, why do you want to kill me?” Enfield asked.
“There are so many reasons!” Rod said, “I think the first reason is the day you made fun of me when we first met. You mocked me and made me look like a fool.”
“You went and pissed in the pool,” Enfield said. Rod ignored him.
“The second reason is a little more interesting,” Rod said, “That day you tried to steal my books. I really wanted those books, and you took them away from me and I wasn’t allowed to have them anymore.”
“They were in a box on the side of the street,” Enfield said, “I wanted a few more books and your own mother said it was okay that I take them.”
“Another good reason was the day you constantly killed me in Halo 3,” Rod said.
“Can’t think of anything to say except that you are bloody awful at that game,” said Enfield.
“One of my favorite reasons to kill you is what you did to me that one day two years ago,” Rod said.
“Which one was that?” Enfield asked sarcastically.
“The day you did this to me,” Rod said as he pointed at his body braces.
“I had a damn good reason to do that,” Enfield said darkly, “You attacked my daughter.”
“Who?” Rod said with a laugh, “That stupid purple haired girl?”
“Her name is Scootaloo!” Enfield yelled.
“Whatever,” Rod said, “The real reason I want to kill you is the fact that you never became my friend.”
“You still haven’t given that up?” Enfield asked.
“I won’t until you say yes,” said Rod.
“I’m not going to say yes,” said Enfield.
“Then you die,” said Rod.
“No, I have a daughter to take care of,” Enfield said.
He pushed Rod off of him and lunged at him. Rod managed to grapple Enfield and they ended up struggling on the ground. Enfield hammered Rod’s face with punches.
“Assassin Ninjas! Attack!” Rod shouted.
The first of Rod’s allies grabbed Enfield’s shirt and tried to pull him off Rod. Enfield span around and delivered several powerful strikes to the first attacker, sending him the ground wheezing. The second attacker swung the plank of wood at Enfield, Enfield dodged it and hit him in the neck. The second attacker dropped and didn’t move. The third attacker had Enfield’s combat knife and was swinging it wildly, Enfield kept having to jump back to avoid the blade. He waited until the attacker had it far behind his head and then Enfield kicked him in the side of the head, knocking him out.
“Too easy,” Enfield said.
But before he could react, Rod tackled him and was now trying to strangle him. In two years Rod’s strength had increased along with his weight, Enfield had a hard time trying to get Rod off him. Rod kept squeezing his neck, Enfield was starting to turn red.
“Look’s like your daughter won’t be seeing you again,” Rod said.
Enfield tried to push Rod’s face away from his, he couldn’t stand his laughter. Rod was finally going to exact his revenge on Enfield, he laughed harder as he felt the life drain from his nemesis. But that was cut short when he felt a long, thin sharp object pierce the arteries in his neck.
Enfield held his retractable spike in Rod’s neck until he was able to push the lifeless body off of him. Enfield sat up and wiped the blood from his face, glad to have Rod out of the way. He looked at the three other attackers and saw that they were all knocked out cold, Enfield studied them for a few seconds and formulated a plan. He took the plank and found a large nail sticking out of it. He took the board and planted the nail in the wound of Rod’s neck. He then planted Rod’s friends around the body and fired a .45 round into the sky. Enfield then ran away, he hoped that the way he set up the bodies, it would look as if Rod’s friends murdered him. He grinned as he pondered his thoughts not regretting what he had just did, after all, it was self defense.
Enfield ran on until he reached the road that led to his gas station, in the distance sirens wailed and Enfield knew what they were for. He slowed his run to a fast walk and retraced the route to his place of former occupation, or what was left of it.
Pretty soon Enfield reached the gas station and was surprised that it was intact, the only new feature were the army jeeps that sat around the parking lot, most of which had been shot, blown up, or had something missing.
“I wonder how this place got on,” Enfield said as he went over to the front of the building. The gas pumps were still functional and the lights for the place were still lit, but with only a dim light emitting from them. Enfield walked over to the front door and peered inside, he could see the faint shadow of his boss sitting next to his desk. Feeling braver than he ever did before, Enfield decided to talk to his boss, he wanted to know why he was replaced. He stepped inside, thinking that Tony might know where his parents are.
“Hello there Tony,” Enfield said coolly. Tony responded with a wave. Enfield was quite surprised with the lack of shock that Tony showed.
“Um, are you not shocked to see me?” Enfield asked.
“I was expecting you to show up in a way,” Tony said looking up at Enfield.
“You were?” Enfield asked confusedly.
“I heard what happened to you,” Tony said, “I’m sorry what happened to you, but I can tell you I had nothing to do with it.”
“You’re talking about my replacement aren’t you?” Enfield asked.
“Yes,” Tony said flatly, “Like I said, I had nothing to do with it.”
Enfield sighed and leaned against the desk. He cocked his head to one side and watched Tony sit back down.
“Do tell me what happened,” Enfield said, “After all, this all began right here.”
Tony stood up, took a bill and started writing on it.
“It wasn’t me who fired you,” Tony said.
“What?” Enfield asked.
“It was a fake voice manipulator,” Tony said, “There were federal agents who came here the day you got back from North Carolina and waited for you to be home, then they called you in order to fire you. They made sure I didn’t call you back to tell you what happened.”
“Hold up,” Enfield said, completely taken by surprise, “What were federal agents doing here, and why were they faking you firing me?”
“I think you might want to talk to your parents,” said Tony.
“I will once I find them,” said Enfield.
“I can tell you where they are,” Tony said, “I know what you want to do to them.”
“Where are they?” Enfield asked darkly.
“This is the life,” Dave said as he sat on his relining chair with a glass of wine in one hand and an iPad in the other. He sat and watched the car restoration TV show, happy that his weekend had been pleasant and peaceful. He had done so much to achieve where he was now, he had made friends and climbed to the top of his department’s ladder through careful negotiations and deals. But the one single mistake that had been holding both him and his wife back for the past sixteen years had now been eradicated from their lives, even though they had both manipulated his life, he never seemed to die or disappear. But now, he was dead and no longer a problem.
“Here’s to you, James Rogers,” Dave said holding up the glass, “I’m impressed that you managed to stay alive for so long, at least you now got to die the way you wanted.”
As Dave took a sip of his wine he heard music drift from the sunroom. He stood up and went to investigate, he entered the sunroom and saw his wife standing in the middle of the room wearing a shiny glitter covered dress and dancing shoes. Slow music was playing in the stereo.
“Katherine?” Dave chuckled.
“Care to dance?” Katherine asked.
“Can I ask why?” Dave asked.
“Why not?” his wife said taking his hand in hers.
The two hadn’t danced since their last anniversary, but during the dance their rhythmic moves and soothing music was replaced with a hyperactive James who had got hold of an electric guitar and was playing “Through the Fire and Flames” by Dragonforce. James had eaten several pieces of cake and had drank several sodas and was going through an intense sugar rush, after his debut he went to a table, sat down, and collapsed on the table fast asleep. Dave and Katherine were particularly annoyed with James for ruining their dance, they were going to leave him there but he woke up just as they were leaving. The two from then on refused to dance until James was out of their lives, and now that he was, they could enjoy themselves once more. A few minutes later Dave heard knocking on the front door.
“I’ll get it,” he said.
“Whoever it is, tell them to go away,” said Katherine.
Dave laughed and went to the door, he looked through the window and saw a single person dressed in black facing away from him. Dave opened the door to see what this person wanted.
“Can I help?” Dave asked. The figure turned his head slightly toward Dave.
Dave almost choked on his own breath when he heard those two words being spoken by the figure.
“James?” Dave said in a fearful whisper.
The figure slowly turned to face Dave, hidden under a hood and a hat. The figure pulled his hood down and Dave was looking at the face of his former son.
“Hello dad,” Enfield said.
“Uh, uh,” Dave stammered and backed up as Enfield stepped through the door.
“So where is she?” Enfield asked flatly.
“Who?” Dave said, quaking with fear.
“Mum,” said Enfield, “Where is she?”
“H-honey,” Dave said as he called his wife over.
“Hold on, let me just put the oven on,” Katherine replied, “You should fix this thing Dave, I think the gas might be leaking.”
She flicked the oven switch on and then went to join her husband.
“What is it, Dave? Katherine said, she saw her husband standing agape and looked over to what he was looking at. She also saw Enfield and almost fainted.
“James, is that you?” she asked.
“Yes, it is me,” Enfield said. Dave and Katherine slowly backed up as Enfield entered the house. Dave was slowly panicking as his former son came toward him with the look of vendetta the crossed his face.
“Look, James, we know why you’re here,” Dave said fearfully, “You’re angry, you’re upset.”
Enfield pulled his 1911 out of his belt and pointed it at the two cowering adults.
“And you have a gun,” Dave said slowly, “Clearly we’re in no position to negotiate.”
“You should have thought about that on the day you left me and the girls,” Enfield said.
“James we didn’t mean it,” Katherine said.
“I don’t think you are lying, I know you are lying,” Enfield said.
“We did so to cover up everything,” Dave said, “There’s more to this than you think.”
“I know you were controlling my life,” Enfield said.
“Do you know how though?” Dave asked, he instantly regretted saying that. Now he knew that Enfield would be asking questions about his secret past.
“No,” Enfield said, “Do tell me.”
“Dave, why did you say that?” Katherine hissed.
“He won’t know anything,” Dave said, “I’m not going to stoop to his level.”
A shot rang out and Dave collapsed, clasping his knee which was shooting blood out of a single bullet hole. Enfield aimed the gun back up at his former parents.
“I thought it would be ironic if I brought you down to the level I was on when you abandoned me,” Enfield said, “Now talk, or else.”
Dave grunted and sat up, trying to look Enfield in the eye, not easy when he was on the floor and with only one functioning knee.
“Fine, you want to know,” Dave said, “You’ll hear everything you want.”
Enfield lowered his hostile gaze but not his gun, he wanted to make sure that they didn’t try and escape. Katherine was too petrified to move, afraid that the son that had once loved her was now turning the gun against her.
“So are you going to tell me about what you did, or are you just going to writhe around on the floor?” Enfield asked, no remorse or guilt detected in his voice. Dave managed to stand up and prop himself against the wall.
“I’m a CIA agent,” Dave said, “I’ve been the one who was manipulating your life.”
“Okay,” Enfield said slowly lowering his 1911, “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Well believe it sonny!” Dave said, “I’ve been setting up those life situations to kill you, it wasn’t all coincidence. It was all planned.”
“I don’t get it,” Enfield said, “How are you capable of being in the CIA? You were born in Newcastle, you told me.”
“I was born in Newcastle,” Dave said, “But I moved to the US before you were born, soon I married your mother and we had a nice life for about ten years. My wife however wanted a baby, I did as well after some thinking, I thought it would be better for the both of us to have a child.”
“So why did you breed me in a tube?” Enfield asked.
“It’s simple really,” Dave said, “Your mother didn’t want to have to go through all the pain to spawn you, she wanted a much easier way. We got a hold of your grandfather who had a few friends who were working on growing people in tubes from four birth parents and managing to give them abilities that were linked to dominate traits. This worked out when I had a few close friends give me a child that would follow in my footsteps, but I knew after a few weeks that it was a mistake. My wife wanted to get rid of you but you were too liked by the rest of our meager family.”
“And from then on you tried to make my death either an accident or a murder,” Enfield continued.
“Precisely,” said Dave, “Everything we did somehow wasn’t able to kill you, not Manny, not the rebellion, and especially those ninjas.”
“Wait,” Enfield said, “You mean the Ninjas at the Enforcer Compound that attacked me on the training mission?”
“They weren’t the guys you were supposed to fight,” Dave said, “We just fixated a little something more challenging. I am impressed how you beat them, but disappointed that you killed Agent West along with a lot of good soldiers.”
“Don’t change the subject,” Enfield said, gritting his teeth and pointing the gun at Dave. A small white box caught Enfield’s attention when he raised the pistol. He looked over at it and picked it up.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” Enfield said to Dave.
“I took it up after you brought those girls home,” Dave said, “I knew that the only thing that would stop me from killing them was a cigarette.”
“And you were the one who told me how bad smoking could be,” Enfield said shaking his head. He popped the top off the cigarette box and examined the contents, he pulled one cigarette out with his teeth and back up to the mirror to see what he looked like. Enfield nodded in approval as he saw his more militarized side show itself.
“Lookin’ good,” Enfield thought. He saw movement out of his peripheral vision and pointed the gun back at Dave and Katherine.
“So now what?” Dave asked.
“Well I never did get this far,” Enfield said as he took a lighter from the table, “All there is to do is to settle the score.”
“So you’re going to start smoking now?” Katherine asked.
“No, I thought it would fit the situation,” Enfield said as he took the now lit cigarette out of his mouth and held it between two fingers.
“Your making a mistake, James,” said Dave.
“Isn’t this funny?” Enfield asked, “You try and erase a mistake and now the mistake came to erase you. Can you feel the irony?”
“James please, don’t be like this,” Katherine begged.
“You left me for dead,” Enfield said, “I have every right for revenge.”
“James, listen to me,” Dave said, “You put the gun down right now and you will wait for the police to arrive. Katherine, get the phone.”
Katherine went to get the telephone off the wall but was halted when Enfield shot a wine bottle off the wall. The bottle shattered and the alcohol soaked the floor and coated the phone, shorting it out.
“James!” Katherine exclaimed.
“No-one else is coming,” Enfield said, “It’s just you two, me and my gun.”
“You disappoint me, James,” Dave said, “You used to put things behind yourself and move on, why not now?”
“Easy,” said Enfield, “Because I want to get rid of something first.”
The smell of gas started to fill the air, Enfield sniffed and then formed a plan. He turned and started to leave, he reached the front porch when he heard Dave.
“So is that it?” Dave shouted, “Are you now going to walk away after all that?”
“Yep,” Enfield replied.
“James!” Dave yelled, “You get back here right now!”
Enfield turned back around and pocketed his gun, he gave one look at his former father and pointed at him.
“It’s not James anymore,” said Enfield, “It’s Brit, Brit Enfield.”
Enfield took the lit cigarette and flicked it through the open door, the embers landed on the spilt wine and combusted. The then door ominously shut and a fireball shot out from the windows and a thundering room rang out. Enfield turned and walked away from the burning wreckage, as he brushed the ash of the house off himself only one thing ran in his mind.
“Damn it, I wish I had a camera,” he thought. And with that, he left, not giving anything he just did a second thought.
“I am very disappointed in you Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia said as she paced around Twilight’s library. Only just three hours ago Twilight had opened the Rift once more so Enfield could cross over again, but unfortunately Princess Celestia came to Twilight’s library to see her just as the Rift was shut. Enfield managed to escape to the Everfree forest before Celestia realized who had just came out of the Riftway and figure out what was going on.
“I’m sorry Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, “I just wanted to conduct some research, I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t know this was going to happen.”
“I have a feeling that there is more to this,” Celestia said.
“Well, I did use a volunteer,” Twilight replied, “But he left before you arrived.”
Celestia stopped pacing and looked at Twilight, her anger faded and she spoke again.
“Do you know what you have done?” she asked Twilight.
“No, but I’m sorry if I caused a problem and I’ll fix it,” Twilight replied sadly, her ears drooped down.
“I know that you want to learn more spells but you cannot open up Rifts without me knowing,” said Celestia, “I know that your knowledge of opening Rifts is very dangerous, especially opening more than one in less than a day.”
Twilight lowered her head and sighed. Celestia patted her on the back sympathetically, Twilight knew that the princess wasn’t mad with her, more of a slight annoyance from doing very powerful spells without Celestia’s permission. Celestia instructed Twilight to follow her back outside, she wanted to tell her what the opening of the Rift would do if it was left unchecked. They got close to the front door and a faint rumbling came from outside, Twilight opened the front door and couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“Look what I found!” Enfield shouted. He was sitting on a large metal object with smoke coming from the back.
“What is that contraption?” Celestia asked.
“A Russian BPM-2,” Enfield said as he hopped down from it, “Isn’t this great? I have a small tank now.”
“Where did you get this?” Twilight asked.
“In the Everfree forest,” replied Enfield, “Don’t know why it was there but it was a great find. Lucky there was fuel in it.”
“What is this thing doing here?” Twilight asked.
“I drove it here to show you what I found,” said Enfield.
“This is what I was going to warn you about, Twilight,” Celestia said as she walked up to the IFV, “You have now torn a permanent rift between our world and Earth. This will not be fixable, and since the Rift was opened here, various things are going to drop through to our world. Enfield’s find is good proof of this occurrence,”
“Huh, did you say something?” Enfield asked as he was clambering onto the turret, “Wow, there’s ATGMs on this thing.”
“What are ATGMs?” Twilight asked.
“Anti Tank Guided Missiles,” Enfield replied.
“This is not good for us,” Celestia said, “If the first thing that fell through is this cumbersome machine then that means that more things are going to follow.”
“Wait, so random junk from Earth will end up here?” Enfield asked.
“It seems as if that is what Celestia said,” Twilight said.
Enfield looked down at Twilight and Celestia, he summed up what Celestia had said. Because of him wanting the Rift open and Twilight doing so twice, it had torn the fabric of reality and now there was a high chance of a lot of Earthen stuff ending up in Equestria. As Enfield slowly got into the drivers seat of his new toy a massive grin spread across his face. If he could get a Russian IFV, then he definitely could get himself something much bigger and much better.
“Well if you need me I’ll be in the Everfree forest,” he said.
“Why?” Twilight asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to scavenge whatever I can find,” Enfield replied.
“I hope you know now that we may never open another Rift again,” Celestia said.
“Yes,” Enfield said, not paying much attention, “But if I can get a small tank now that the fabric of reality has been torn, then I might just have a Harrier by the end of the month.”
“Didn’t you hear her?” Twilight said, “You can never go back to Earth, ever.”
“Do I care?” Enfield asked as he shut the hatch on the IFV. With a loud roar of the engine and the squeaking of the treads and the wheels, Enfield span the vehicle around and drove it back toward the Everfree forest, attracting a much bigger crowd than before.
“It’s such a shame that he cannot see his Earthen family again,” Celestia said as she watched Enfield plow his way through a river.
“Do you think that more stuff like that will fall through?” Twilight asked.
“Yes sadly,” Celestia said, “But I have a bad feeling that whatever Enfield will find and bring back will be a tool of Earthen warfare. I hope that he uses them to safeguard us.”
As Enfield cruised down the dirt road he checked what weapons the BMP-2M was equipped with. Not only were there ATGMs but there was also a co-axle 7.62mm machinegun and armor piercing cannon rounds along with the standard high explosive 30mm rounds. He pulled his iPod out from his bag and plugged a connecter cable to the radio. Enfield felt rather lucky that he had a military vehicle, and not just one that was well armed but one that had a iPod connecter unit in the radio. Enfield found an appropriate song as he plowed through the bushes that surrounded the Everfree forest.
Enfield set about thinking if he should show this to the Crusaders. But he wondered if crashing through the woods in a small tank with “Gangnam Style” blasting out of the BMP’s sound system might not go down well, it already didn’t in Ponyville. On the other hand, he could at least fight on the ground more efficiently. He had a small tank and it was very well armed so he had a good chance against a Hydra if one did show up, but what he really wanted to find was a fighter jet or more anti-air missiles in case a dragon showed up in the town. Enfield chuckled as he imagined an entire army of dragons try and attack Ponyville or Canterlot and he would be in a fighter jet shooing them down or targeting each dragon with a missile and watching each one explode and fall from the sky. The way of Earthen warfare was now beginning to leak into Equestria and Enfield was the only being there who knew how Earthen warfare worked. Enfield crashed through a small grove of trees and continued his search for Earthen military equipment, hoping that one day, he might be able to use what he finds.
