—(Commander)—
I kneel down before the Emperor, fist over heart, “So, Commander, can you guess why you’re here?”
I don’t make any movement outside of my mask, “It is not my job to assume what you command, it is my job to do as you command.”
The Emperor laughs, a disgusting sound that would make any Private pass out, “You’ve done so much with the experts in Red squad, and I seek to reward your good actions. You managed to sneak in and secure the children of Skyrim, and you don’t even command a sneaking squad.”
I shudder as I remember it.
———
The children we are looking for are apparently kept in an old cabin far off from town. That very same cabin is the one my squad and I all rush up on. I take out my side arm for the breech, and nod to my squad, “Breach and clear, secure the children. You know the drill.”
With a nod, I move in front of the door to kick it open.
*bang!*
The squad all move in before anypony inside can react. Guns pointed towards the middle of the room. Their wasn’t even a single adult pony in there. What there was was a collection of children, more than twenty of them. I point my revolver at the one that was the leader. Every other child hid behind him, “Surrender yourselves or you will be killed!”
The child gets into an aggressive stance. But a bright orange filly behind him calms him down, “Sorin, we have to surrender. Don’t worry, the Faceless Protecter will save us.”
With that, he returns to a normal stance. I smile under my mask, “Follow us outside, the aircraft will carry you out of here.”
I can hear said aircraft hovering outside, and I move the children outside. They start to climb aboard.
All get aboard before me and half of the squad climb on. The aircraft starts to take off, leaving the other half of the squad behind to clear the area.
“No!”
The aircraft starts to fly off, but I can still see what happens through my magnified lenses.
The six men down there are nearly instantly killed. Three are pierced by black tendrils, connected to the Resistance leader named Slender Man. The other three are all taken out by a grey flurry of motion. Their bodies both filled with bullets, and broken everywhere by a unbreakable bottle. The handiwork of the Resistance Leader Chem.
I yell at the aircraft pilot to fly as fast as possible, and we managed to get back to Canterlot without drawing their ire.
———
“We lost half of the squad.”
The Emperors smile can almost be felt, making me want to be sick, “You ran into two of the Leaders, losing only half shows that you are capable of quick thinking to save the other half, and the children. Successfully grown into adults, and they ran away to Stalliongrad, wich we should have seen coming.”
I grimace just being in his presence, “About me being here, sir?”
“You are now to be in charge of a new Red squad, made up of ponies. I want you also to prepare for a grand assault tomorrow, we will make a decisive blow against our enemies.”
“Yes sir.”
—(Slender Man)—
We five leaders all sit in our safe house. Spirits are the lowest ever.
*Smash!*
After the kids were taken a month ago, and returned fully grown up.
*Smash!*
They experienced all the years the aged through. Gained a lot of resentment from it, specificly Spitfire.
”You failed everyone. You are no protecter, all you are is a false prophet of fake hope.”
*Smash!*
We are below bad in morale. We count every day we stay here another curse and a blessing.
“Why am I here?”
I turn over to Avatar to see him break down in tears.
“I am only fourteen fucking years old! Why am I litterly leading a revolution?! I was supposed to be a scientist, I was the top of my class! Yet here I am in a world surrounded by colorful little fucking ponies and those who were also unfortunate enough to wind up where I am! I met myself from a differnt universe, and he’s dead! And now I’m fighting the villains from a fucking video game! What is this, motherfucking Half Life 3!?”
No words need to be spread to know that we all share his thoughts.
*Smash!*
He collapses onto the floor, and curls up, “I want to go back. I don’t want to be Avatar, I wanna be Austin again. I want to rewind time just so I can have another conversation with Victor, another game of Four Square with the FQCA. Hell, even going back to Tempest and the Storm Kingdom. I don’t want to be here anymore. It’s not fair! Why was I chosen, what did I do wrong!? I’ve made a few jokes about the Holocaust, 9/11, and such, and I’m sorry! Is that what I need to say?! I am sorry! I want to go back... I want to go back.”
*Smash!*
Chem raises another bottle to throw at the wall, but puts it down in defeat, “Join the club, kid. I want to go back and continue what I was doing. Death would even be better then seeing the disappointment every time I look one of the children in the eye. I can’t bare seeing that every day.”
I look over at Courier, “What about you, are you also like them?”
Courier doesn’t even look up at me, “I’ve failed so much in my life. I am failing my revolution, I failed myself by setting free the Sprit. I failed my family and my town when they all died. This is my punishment, my life and knowing that I will keep failing. I want it to end. My punishment has gone on for years, and I see no end in it. I question every day if I shall keep going, even if it is a failure that it will end in. So yes, I am like them.”
I look over at Raven with desperation, “Raven?”
Raven looks up at me, the sadness present in his eyes, “Two hundred and one years, one month, two weeks, five days, ten hours. That’s how long I’ve waited for my happiest moment. I could be back in my world right now, stopping that timer and finnaly getting married. I could free my sense of revenge on Blueblood. Slendy, you have to realise what situation I’m in. I have waited over two hundred years for my marriage to happen again! We were in the middle of the ceremony when I was brought here by Last! I’m sorry if it offends you, but I have waited to godsdamned long for that moment!”
I look around at everyone, all resting back sad.
”You failed everyone. You are no protecter, all you are is a false prophet of fake hope.”
I take a deep breath to clear my mind of that memory, “I’ll go see if the Rooks have found anything.”
I walk towards the door, and Raven stops me on the way, “Slendy, you know I didn’t mean to explode on you. Tensions are just high...”
I nod, “Don’t worry, Raven, I get it, you’re still cool.”
“Don’t you feel the same, though?”
I stop with that question, and memories flow through my mind.
”But you are the Element of Selflessness.”
“Yes.” With that, I walk out into the Rook’s room.