The three of us stood there, me watching the two of them, the fake-me still aiming his rifle at my head, and the specialist just standing there, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. I wasn’t particularly fond of having a weapon trained on me. The longer it stayed that way, the more uneasy I got, but I made sure not to show it. As the staredown continued, I noticed that the two of them looked really rough. Both of their faces had more than their fair share of scruff, and their uniforms were a mess. It clicked that they’d been stuck in these caves with none of the amenities I’d been given while I’d been a prisoner. Can’t worry about that now.
After about a minute, I addressed the Specialist again. “Specialist Campbell, the fuck is going on?”
He blinked several times, then pointed at me. “Don’t move, uh, whatever. . . . Don’t move!”
“This has to be some kind of trick,” the fake Duran said to him. “I say we should shoot him before he tries anything.”
That sounds like a stupid idea. Well, it was a reasonable suggestion, but getting shot wasn’t fun. Dying even less so, probably.
“Normally I’d agree with you,” Campbell said, “but I think, in this situation, the Colonel will want to interrogate him.” Before the fake could object, Campbell turned and shouted into the tunnel. “Sir? We have a situation here!”
A voice answered him from inside. It sounded like Lieutenant Stevens, my platoon leader, but I wasn’t completely sure. “What kind of situation?”
“The kind that you need to see for yourself, sir,” Campbell shouted before returning his attention to me. He raised his rifle just a bit, then lowered it again. After a couple more indecisive movements, he finally settled on keeping it up. Fuck. Though, given the circumstances, I couldn’t really blame him.
A few moments later, Lieutenant Stevens cautiously emerged from the tunnel, his weapon raised in anticipation of trouble. He paused for a couple seconds when he saw me, then moved over to Campbell and the fake.
“Report.”
“We came out to see who was using that old challenge, and we found him here,” the fake Duran answered, motioning to me with his head. “It has to be some kind of pony trap. I suggest we eliminate him.”
“He might know something useful, Sir.” Campbell chimed in, restating his earlier opinion. “We should take him in.”
“We’ll see what the Colonel says. Till then, let's get out of the open.” Stevens pointed at me with his off hand, though his weapon remained pointing at me. “You, into the cave, and don’t try anything funny. We will shoot you if you do.”
After being taken inside the cave, I was quickly searched. Everything I’d been carrying had been confiscated, and I was now sitting on one end of the first room waiting patiently to prove that I was the real Duran, and the other was a fake. Across from me, about five meters away, Colonel Nelson sat on a camp stool, flanked on either side by an armed soldier. The three of them—and everyone I passed on the way in—were all in similar condition to Specialist Campbell and the fake. I should have been here with them, going through whatever they did, not playing twenty questions with a pony princess. Despite how I felt, there was nothing I could do about the past, and I needed to focus on the present.
On the flight over, I’d figured out a way to prove who I was, but I didn't know if I'd get the chance. I’d opted to keep quiet and see how Colonel Nelson was going to handle this. The Colonel had been staring at me the whole time, and though I’d tried, I couldn’t read him, leaving me with no clues as to what he might have been thinking.
After five minutes of relative silence, the Colonel straightened and spoke, “I’m curious. How are you going to prove that you’re the real Corporal Duran?”
“That’ll be easy, Sir,” I answered, “but I’ll need my phone, Sergeant Lewis, and this,” I motioned to the firing line, “so-called Corporal Duran.”
“This phone?” Nelson asked, pulling the object in question from my belongings they’d left for the Colonel to inspect.
I nodded. “Yes, Sir.”
Turning on the stool, the Colonel looked to the firing line.
“Campbell, go get Sergeant Lewis, Corporal Duran, come here.”
“Yes, Sir” Campbell said, moving to execute his order. As he left, the fake Duran moved from the line to where Nelson was sitting.
“How about a ‘Moving, Sir’?” I said to him as he walked, which earned a glare from him, and a look from Colonel Nelson. “What? If he’s pretending to be me, he can at least pretend to be respectful.”
“What do you need, Sir?” The fake asked when he got close enough, stopping next to Nelson.
At that, the Colonel looked to me. “Well?”
“He,” I started, pointing at the fake, “unlocks that.” I finished, pointing to the phone held by Nelson.
“It won’t work.” The fake Duran said, shaking his head. “The ponies probably changed the code.”
“They’re magic, not master hackers.” I argued.
“Exactly. They used magic.” The fake countered.
“Just do it, Corporal.” Nelson ordered, holding out the phone. “I want to get this sorted out.”
The fake sighed, and took the phone. “Yes, Sir.” He made several attempts at the passcode, then shook his head again. “Nope, nothing Sir.” He looked at me as he returned the phone to the Colonel. “I bet you’re going to tell us the code that unlocks this now, right?”
“Yep,” My feet were going numb, so I shifted where I sat to get the blood flowing before I continued, “but we need Sergeant Lewis first.”
“Why?” Nelson asked, annoyance edging onto his tone.
“Because he knows the code, and can confirm it hasn’t been changed.” I watched the fake as I spoke, hoping for a reaction, but to his credit, his expression didn’t change. Whatever, it doesn’t matter if he shows it. He knows he’s in trouble. Colonel Nelson sighed and rubbed his forehead, but otherwise did nothing, while the other two guys exchanged a look.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long for Sergeant Lewis. He entered from the tunnel that led deeper into the mountain, and strode straight to the Colonel when he saw him. Campbell entered right behind him, but returned to the firing line.
Stopping next to the fake Duran, Sergeant Lewis glanced at me, then immediately did a double-take. “Whoa, another Duran? Is this a pony trick, or something?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out, Sergeant.” Colonel Nelson answered, turning to face Lewis. “The one over there says you know the code to this phone.” He held up the device in question.
“Oh, Duran’s phone.” Lewis nodded. “Yeah, I know the code, Sir. Do you need it?”
“Hold that thought, Sergeant.”
Lewis looked confused as the Colonel ignored him and turned back to me. “What’s the code, Duran?”
I cleared my throat. “Seven, six, nine, two.”
Colonel Nelson didn’t enter the code, but instead asked Sergeant Lewis, “Is that the code for this phone?”
Lewis nodded. “That’s it, Sir.”
Nelson entered the code and I faintly heard the unlock sound from the phone. “Thank you, Sergeant. Why do you know the code, anyway?”
“Corporal Duran’s loaned me his phone a few times to listen to music. He told me the code so I wouldn’t have to bother him about it.”
“I see. That will be all, Sergeant.”
“Uh… Yes, Sir.”
Still looking confused, Lewis turned and left. As he did, the eyes of everyone present moved to the fake Duran.
“Well, what’s your excuse, Corporal?” Nelson asked.
The fake Duran paused for a moment. “You’re not going to simply go off that alone, are you?”
“Admit it,” I taunted, before the Colonel could reply, “you’re fucked. I can give more proof that can be confirmed, and you can’t.”
That must have rustled his jimmies, because the fake finally lost his composure. “Bullshit! You’re using some kind of pony magic!” He accused, pointing at me. “You can’t prove shit.”
Challenge accepted. “How many songs by Two Steps From Hell are in the music library?” I asked. It was an easy question, for me, since I had substantially more songs by them than any other artist.
That didn't phase him. “I’m not answering that. It’s obviously a question you know the answer to.”
“And one you would know if you were the real Jaden Duran.” I countered.
Colonel Nelson faced me. “Okay, Mr. Real Jaden Duran. Answer your own question.”
“Ninety-six.”
After a quick check of the phone, Nelson replied, “He is correct.”
The fake Duran, rolled his eyes. “He’s had time to examine the phone and prepare answers, obviously.”
“Which is why we won’t be using any phone-related questions.” Colonel Nelson said, putting the phone away and folding his arms. “From here on out, I’ll ask questions Duran would know. Question one: What’s your state of residence?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but the fake beat me to it. “Utah.”
… How the fu— Right, he’s been here a while. Probably went through my shit and found my driver’s license.
“Correct, but wait for me to assign the question next time.” The Colonel said.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Now, if I recall correctly, you ride a motorcycle. What kind is it?” Nelson pointed at me. “Answer.”
Too easy. “2002 Honda VF750C. More commonly known as the Magna.”
“Magna would have been sufficient.”
I shrugged. “Just being clear.”
Nelson stared at me for a second, then faced the fake. “What’s something Utah is known for?”
I, and anyone watching, could see the fakes eyes darting around as he racked his brain for some kind of answer the Colonel would believe. After a few moments, he responded with, “The... mountains?”
“Is that a statement, or a question? Also, not what I was expecting.” The Colonel looked to me. “You, same question.”
I shrugged again. “Depends on where you are in the state, really.” I held up a hand and began extending fingers with each point I began making. “There’s Moab in the southeast, along with Arches. There’s the Great Salt Lake in the north, and Bonneville Salt Flats out towards Wendover. Also, the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City itself, and–”
“That’s enough.” Nelson said, cutting me off.
I lowered my hand, and gave the fake my best shit-eating grin. As I’d been giving my list, the two guys pulling security had transitioned their weapons from me, to the fake.
“Last question: What’s the RE factor of C4?” Colonel Nelson simply faced the fake, and waited.
After several seconds of the fake not responding, I shook my head and stood. “Are you fucking serious? You did enough research, or spying, or whatever, to pass off as me for this long, but you didn’t bother learning anything about what I do? I mean, for fuck’s sake, you had to know you were impersonating an engineer, and any engineer who isn’t a complete shitbag knows the RE factor of C4.”
“If you’re so damn smart, what is it?” He asked, angrily.
“One point three four, duh. I may not be the best soldier around, but I’m not a complete shitbag.”
“I’ve heard enough.” Colonel Nelson declared, standing. He motioned to the two soldiers beside him. “Strip this imposter of everything, return the gear to the barracks, and secure him in the back.”
The fake responded by attempting to raise his weapon, which was met with a series of safeties clicking off, as well as Colonel Nelson drawing and readying his sidearm. Staring down at least three weapons, the fake froze, his rifle barely half-way up.
“Dead or alive, I don’t really care, but I’d rather not ruin that gear.” Nelson said.
After several moments of the fake looking between all the weapons pointed at him, he lowered his weapon, and one of the soldiers, Staff Sergeant Carter, moved in, took the rifle, then handed it to Private Stevenson beside him.
“If he starts resisting, encourage him to be more cooperative, Sergeant.” Nelson said to Carter as he holstered his weapon, retrieved his stool, and started to leave.
“Be happy to, Sir.”
“Corporal Duran, come with me.” The Colonel ordered.
“Yes, Sir.”
Taking a few longer strides, I caught up with the Colonel. As we left the first cave, I glanced back to see the fake slowly stripping out of his armor. Jackass. Shaking my head, I followed Colonel Nelson as he led me to the cave that’d been designated as the TOC.
The caves got dark quickly once we left the first area. Light was provided by glow sticks, and whatever light source that could be used. It made me wonder how many sticks were left, and how many working flashlights we still had.
There were a total of five large openings in the system we’d set up shop in: the entrance, the TOC, the largest one we’d made the barracks, one with a small spring, and the last, the farthest one in, we made into storage. The Gate was also located in the barracks cavern. The TOC, or tactical operations center, was sparsely furnished with camp stools, which were set next to whatever rock formation was convenient enough to function as a desk.
There were three guys in the TOC, working on whatever, as we entered. While the light wasn’t great, I still noticed two of them looked up as we entered.
“You three armed?” Nelson asked.
Two of them, sitting beside each other, exchanged looks. “Uh, yes Sir.” One answered slowly.
“Good. Whatever you’re doing can wait. You three are pulling security on him.” Nelson said, pointing at me.
“Wait, what? I thought I proved I’m Duran.”
The three stood, as Colonel Nelson turned to address me, while setting his stool down and taking a seat.
“All you’ve proven for sure, is that I’ve had a imposter in my ranks. I’m grateful, and I’ll give you a chance to explain yourself, but I don’t know what those ponies are fully capable of, so I’m not going to blindly trust you.” I guess I should have expected this. “Now, have a seat.”
Sitting down on the closest stool, I watched as the three guys took positions around Colonel Nelson.
“Alright, Duran. If that was a fake, and you truly are the real Duran, where the hell did you come from?”
“Long story short, I’ve been a prisoner of the ponies for almost four months.”
Colonel Nelson straightened at that information. “Four months?” He leaned forward and rubbed his temples. “I’ve had an imposter for four goddamn months?”
“Uh… He’s been here that long? How?”
Nelson looked up at me. “Around the time you say you were captured, we lost contact with you, obviously. We assumed you’d been captured, but about a day later, you came back. This must have been the fake. He claimed he had, indeed, been captured, but managed to get away. He looked a bit rough, and was missing all his gear and other effects, so his story checked out. Medic checked him out, and gave him the OK. At first, he didn’t act quite like you, but we didn’t blame him since he just managed to escape capture, evade recapture, and lost all his shit. As time went on, he started acting more like you, but distant. We attributed that to the increasing stress we were all feeling. That just became the new norm and we never really thought about it.”
That fake must have been real convincing with his explanations, or everyone was just happy to have him back. Or some combination of the two... If there was a fake me... “Is Tovey around, Sir?”
Nelson shook his head. “Tovey is MIA, and has been for a while. Do you have any news about him?”
“Yes, Sir. Ponies have him.”
“Shit. Well, at least we know where he is and that he’s alive.” The Colonel rubbed his face. “I’m going to need you to recount your experience. I know it’ll take a while, but start from when you got captured.”
Probably best not to argue with him right now. I’ll get to why I’m here eventually. “Right. It was the ambush where you’d sent Tovey and I as overwatch on that fucking hill…”
“Which brings us to where we are now.”
“That’s an impressive story.” Colonel Nelson said as he stood and began pacing the TOC. “You want to explain why you agreed to help the ponies, Corporal?”
“I didn’t agree with this to help them.” I said, defending myself. “I did it to help us.”
“How?” Nelson asked, stopping to look at me.
“Because I knew you would be more likely to, at least, listen to me suggest you talk to the ponies, rather than some random schmuck they would have sent otherwise.”
Nelson paused. “True, but do you really think I'm willing to talk with them? Think about what you're suggesting.”
“I have, Sir, and, given the circumstances, do you really have any other options?”
The Colonel didn’t answer, and instead began pacing the TOC again.
“Damn, those ponies really fucked you up.” One of the other guys said stated once it was clear Nelson wasn’t going to respond right away.
“Yeah, they did, but I’d like to see you do better.” I challenged.
“Shouldn’t be too hard.” He shot back.
“Oh yeah? Go ask one of those nice unicorns outside to a one-on-one fight. Tell me how it turns out.”
“Shut it, both of you.” Colonel Nelson interrupted, ending our banter. That didn’t stop the guy I was talking with from snorting and shaking his head. That little exchange felt good, almost like I’d never left. The Colonel didn’t say anything else, but continued pacing.
I remembered something as I waited for the Colonel to finish thinking, or whatever he was doing. “I was told civilians were killed. Was it true?” I asked, looking at the three in front of me, and ignoring the earlier order to “shut it”.
Even in the dim light, I saw two of their expressions sour, and the other one nodded.
“God damn.” I guess the Princess wasn’t acting. “What happened?”
Colonel Nelson stopped walking, and turned to face me with a sigh. “Sergeant Harris had a mental breakdown on patrol. Shot up the civilians before anyone could stop him.”
More details would have been nice, but they weren’t important, and I could get them later, if I remembered. “So what now, Sir?”
Nelson paused, then sighed. “I’m not willing to sacrifice everyone here in some pointless fight, so I guess talking is the only real option I have, though I don’t like the idea of surrender.” He said, muttering the last bit.
“They didn’t say it outright, but I got more of the impression of a truce, than surrender… though I could have read that wrong.” I said.
“Well, that's a bit better than surrender.” The Colonel paused again, then continued. “Since you’ve been around them the longest, do you think they can be trusted?”
“Kinda. Their end game is getting us out of Equestria. I think they’ll do just about anything within reason to see that end. They might also ask for some kind of reparation for the civilians. Beyond that,” I shrugged, “I don’t know.”
“I guess that’s about as much as we can hope for. I’m also guessing you know how to inform them of our decision?”
I nodded, standing. “Yes, Sir. The plan was I walk back out and let them know you’re willing to talk.”
“Get to it, and go ahead and get the rest of your shit on the way out. I’ll let everyone know what’s going on.”
“Yes, Sir.” Turning, I made my way out of the TOC, and headed back to the cave entrance. Well, that could have gone worse. At least the Colonel is willing to talk with them. As I made my way out, I found myself really hoping this would work out. I really just wanted to go home.