POV: Markus
“Wonderful!” Discord appeared on one of the Tornado’s wings with a bag of popcorn in his claw. “Truly, you did uphold your part. All that death, all that agony, all that CHAOS! If only the ponies would uphold such goods as much as you do, my life here would be absolutely blissful.”
Discord stashed away his bag of popcorn, before he floated down to me. “So, tell me, what are you going to do now?” He asked me, obviously wanting me to wreak more havoc, however my intentions were different.
“At first, I will try and ease Twilight’s pain a bit.” I looked over to Twilight, who was barely standing, her legs trembling and her left wing wrapped around Rainbow Dash, who had to help her stand.
She collapsed as soon as she left the cockpit and from the horrified looks she gave me and the aircraft, I immediately knew why. Those Ponies are pacifists to the core and apart from the Royal Canterlot Guard, which is the only official armed force in Equestria, wouldn’t even think about killing somepony. While this certainly does not apply to everypony, as even Equestria has crimes such as murder and armed robbery, the figures are actually so low that they wouldn’t even make for side-notes.
“Poor Twilight is reacting just like most of my wingmen did, when they scored their first kills, except that her reaction is actually far more intense. I think I will give her one or two days to calm herself and then try to talk to her. I hope I can help her get over it or else Luna will most likely haunt my dreams again.” I chuckled slightly at Discord, before resuming in my usual matter-of-fact way. “However, this battle wasn’t actually the only thing why I called for you, Discord.”
Discord meanwhile was munching away at his popcorn again, but stopped doing so when I uttered those words. He now stood beside me, bearing a serious face. “Is it about Fluttershy? I know that you’ve been secretly monitoring her over the last month.”
I nodded, then gestured over to Twilight and Rainbow. Luckily Twilight was busy crying and Rainbow tried to soothe her, so neither of them overheard our conversation.
Discord nodded and snapped his paw, which produced an almost completely transparent bubble around us. “There. They won’t be able to hear us now.”
I nodded and started to tell Discord: “At our meeting about a month ago I felt that something about Fluttershy wasn’t right. It almost seemed like she had to find her role again, after the others confronted her with her seemingly out-of-character decision. From that moment on, I occasionally tried to obtain information on her, by either talking to her and reading her reactions or by watching her. However, it wasn’t until I stumbled upon her on one of my hunting sessions, that I noticed, that the Fluttershy I saw almost daily, wasn’t the real one. I saw her go into a cave and followed her. Upon entering the cave however, she strapped over a white frock. Furthermore, I saw a magic glow form around her and she transformed into a Unicorn.”
I looked at Discord, who by now was looking at me with a slight hint of concern. At least I can be sure of his cooperation on this part. Seeing his dear Fluttershy in danger does indeed seem to affect him plenty, even if he doesn’t show it.
“Now what I want to ask you, Discord, is that you keep an eye out for our dear impostor. But please, try to act like you would with Fluttershy, as they most likely are still keeping the real one hostage and alerting them might just make them reconsider that.”
“They? You mean, there are more behind this?”
“Absolutely. That frock seemed to me like it was part of some kind of religious cult and besides that, if she was alone, she wouldn’t need to go to a cave unless she wanted to contact someone without being seen. Sadly I didn’t go into the cave myself, as I was greatly underequipped, carrying only my crudely made hunting bow, which hardly even suffices to kill Rabbits, not to mention Ponies.”
Discord shot me a quick look, but I kept my calm.
“Don’t worry, I will examine this cave more thoroughly the next time I see our wannabe-Fluttershy enter it. In the meantime, I want you to take your task seriously, as I doubt that their intentions are limited to finding new friends.”
Discord nodded in approval, spawning a uniform onto himself and saluting, before he vanished and the bubble broke down.
I went over to Rainbow, who by now managed to calm Twilight down, at least a bit. I knelt beside Twilight, stroking her mane slightly. She twitched, as my fingers started gliding through her hair and she started sobbing again. I tried to calm her, by talking a bit. The success of that however was… debatable.
Back at Ponyville, I figured that two days for Twilight to be for herself would be enough. Luckily she didn’t kick me out, but I decided that limiting our time together would be the best course of action, at least for now. Since neither Twilight, nor our dear impostor made a move, I used those two days to train myself in the use of my personal magic.
You see: During my training with Twilight, I realized that my magic works vastly different from Unicorn- or Alicorn-magic. While they form a connection to this world’s flow of magic with their horns, through which they can then draw magic energy, it seems like my body IS said connection. This means that casting magic is not only easier to learn, but also vastly less straining to me than to a Uni- or Alicorn. However there are drawbacks: Since my body is directly connected to my magic and vice-versa, depriving me of my magic would likely limit my physical abilities, if not outright kill me. Also, spells that would require me to activate the magic in two different locations, like teleportation are out of the question, since I can only use the magic coming from my body and my direct surroundings.
Also, my magic seems to take a sort-of-solid state instead of the usual energetical state of Pony-magic, giving it the appearance of a black mist instead of an aura. This enables me to compress my magic into form, giving it actual physical properties. That’s actually how I got back from the Wonderbolts HQ: I formed a force-field in the shape of a ramp down to Ponyville and just walked.
Two days went by until I found it to be the right time to talk to Twilight and check on her condition. Thus, on the morning of the third day, I waited for Twilight in her kitchen. To pass the time, I decided that making some breakfast for her could already get her at ease when talking to me, which would be essential in my effort to clear things up and show her, that I’m trustworthy.
Soon after I placed the first few Pancakes on the table, a sleepy purple Alicorn walked into the kitchen. I greeted her with the friendliest of smiles I could muster, while she stood at the entrance to the kitchen, with a somewhat startled look on her face.
“Good morning, Twilight.” I said, while swinging he pan around over the stove. Now that I think about it: this situation actually sounds oddly familiar.
Twilight slowly walked towards the table and sat down on one of the chairs. “Good morning.” sounding from her lips, carrying as much enthusiasm, as I did at school on a Monday morning.
I finished the last batch of Pancakes and sat down before her. She didn’t even dare to look at me, instead pretending that the pancakes somehow took her full attention.
“Do you feel better now? I know you were pretty shocked when you climbed out of the plane.” I asked her in the smoothest tone I could muster.
“Y-Yes, I feel better now. Thanks for asking.” Her voice sounded almost like Fluttershy’s, quiet, almost whispered, as if she wanted to avoid me noticing her.
I shifted slightly in my seat, mustering her intently, registering her every move. An awkward silence hung over us, until I spoke again. “You think I’m a monster now, do you?”
Twilight twitched slightly upon hearing this, slowly lowering her ears toward her neck. “N-No, w-why should I? You’ve saved Equestria and—“
I cut her off “You don’t need to lie to me. I doubt that those pancakes are interesting enough for you to keep looking holes into them.” I said this in as much of a calm tone as possible. I wanted to make her feel better, not worse after all.
Twilight tried to look up to me, staring into my eyes. I gave her a slight, friendly smile, but she turned her gaze toward the ground again.
“You know..”, I started, “My squadmates actually had similar reactions to when they got their first kills. Some of them were happy for a job well done, however most of my squad were not prepared for this. They flew in, dropped their bombs and then, upon checking for casualties, they couldn’t comprehend the damage they’ve just caused. Some of them came home, left their aircraft, went to the nearest bush and emptied their stomach into it. Some wouldn’t talk for days, but they all came back to their senses eventually. I want you to know, that I don’t consider killing >>fun<< in any way. It’s a duty, that comes with my profession as a soldier and there’s nothing I can do against it.”
The awkward silence returned and Twilight managed to slowly lift her head, albeit still not looking at me, but instead at the table in front of me.
“How did you react?” Twilight suddenly asked. I have to admit, I was surprised at her question.
“What do you mean?” I inquired.
“Your first… k-kill… How did you react?” Twilight managed a short glimpse at me as she said that, then lowered her head back to look at the table.
“Well…” I hesitated. Not wanting to upset Twilight with my answer, I chose my words very carefully. “I can’t say that I had a reaction such as your own, however I also wasn’t one of those who celebrated their firsts. I would say I was somewhere in between. I was prepared for what I had to do. Long before I first went to the skies, I knew that I one day had to kill. Knowing this all along actually helped me keep myself together when the day came, so I flew in, dropped my bombs, checked for casualties and then flew home. After that, I tried not to think about it as much as possible, taking it as a necessity in my chosen line of duty. I also won’t deny that I felt a good bit of pride toward myself, as I returned from a successful mission.”
The awkward silence returned, only to be ended by a series of quiet sobs. Twilight finally looked at me, her eyes watering. Yet she had a smile on her face. “You are mean…” she uttered. “I know I should hate you, yet… I can’t. I’ve tried to figure it out, but I just couldn’t. I came to like you over the past month, only to see you mercilessly burn those Minotaurs. I’ve tried to bring myself to hate you, but I just can’t.”
I rose from my chair and knelt down beside hers. She slid down her chair and embraced me in a hug. I was slightly taken aback by the sudden gesture, but slowly accepted it. Thinking back, that was actually the first time I got a hug since I got here.
I felt my shoulder slowly drench in Twilight’s tears, as she began to speak again. “I know killing is evil, but I was there during the meeting. I know that it was necessary to protect us.” She chuckled slightly before pulling back a bit and looking me in the eyes. ”The true reason why you burned them is because… You wanted to fend off the larger Minotaur Army without needing to fight them, right? So, that makes it a good deed, right?”
Twilight started sobbing again and I gave her a smile, before pulling her back into a hug. I was glad, that she understood my intentions. Yet…
“Oh Twilight…” I slowly shook my head “You have to stop seeing everything just black and white. >>Good<< and >>Evil<< are just subjective terms, nothing more. In reality, the world just consists of individuals, their goals and the steps they are willing to take in order to reach them. There is no natural >>Good<< or >>Evil<< to separate them. And I can tell you…”, I rose my head, until I spoke directly into her ear, “I am here, my goal is to protect you, the elements and all of Equestria and I’m willing to take any steps necessary to do so.”
Twilight’s sobbing subsided as soon as I spoke those words. After a while of just kneeling there, hugging her, I felt her head move, before she gave me a peck on the cheek.
I immediately recoiled as I felt my face turn bright red and my usual calm vanish.
“Did she just kiss me? I mean, yes she did, but... oh what to do?! I mean, I have just about as much romantic experience as the carrots in Carrottop's garden the rocks in the Rockfields.”
Twilight looked at me and started to giggle. She looked at the clock and started to pace out of the kitchen. Before she left, she turned to me one last time.
“Oh, and thanks for the breakfast. It really helped me to get things sorted out.”
And with that, Twilight was gone, leaving me and my 28 year-old virgin mind in shambles, trying to figure out, what the f----------art just happened…