//------------------------------// // Loyalties // Story: M.A.G.E. // by Awesomedude17 //------------------------------// M.A.G.E. By Awesomedude17 A bang was all that the ponies heard when they saw that the six human disappeared out of nowhere. Celestia and Luna had performed a double spell whammy; a knock-out spell, and a teleportation spell. The six trained PMC's would not be causing any trouble in the train station soon enough. But they were still fearful. "My little ponies, do not be alarmed! We have dealt with the threat at hand. We will question these creatures on why they did what they did, but for now, you may go about your business. Thank you." Princess Celestia and her sister teleported out of the train station, know very well that the ponies there are relieved now. -November 9th, 3 ALR, ??? hours- -Location: ???, Equestria- To say that Jose was having a bad month, would be sugarcoating it. He ended up in an unknown land, had multiple broken bones, hadn't killed anything in weeks, and was starting to hear voices in his head. It was strangely, evil. He woke up in a random bed, alone, and without his weapons. His bullets on the other hand, were at hand. Needless to say, he was pissed off. "Oh goodie, you're awake!" "Huh? Oh... Pinkie... it's good to see you amiga." "Si, senor!" "Tell me, where..." "Uh uh," Pinkie said, wagging her hoof. "the princess told me not to tell you where your gun is, after what happened in the train station." Jose just crossed his arms with a humph. "Aww, what's wrong Jose?" "S.V.E.R., Valor, both of them." "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, foo?" "Valor is the enemy of Raven, along with S.V.E.R." "Why?" "Money, power, land... all the stuff governments want, and I help because it's fun." "Killing people isn't fun, and neither is doing for money!" Pinkie yelled in rare case of genuine anger. "You and I have differing tastes Pinkie, I'll admit that. But you have to look at it from another perspective." "The reason we fight S.V.E.R. and Valor is because our populations, our economies, and our resources, are on its breaking point." "Is that so Pierre?" Twilight asked. "Of course." "But I must ask, why'd you choose to fight?" Pierre perked up at that. It was a very sore subject for him, but it had to be done. "You want to know? I'll tell you. It was when I was younger, about half my age right now." Twilight took out a notepad before Pierre snatched it out of the air. "This is between you and me, Mademoiselle. It'll stay oral." Twilight furrowed her eyebrows, and sighed. "All right, just... just tell me as much as you're comfortable with." "Right. So anyway, about 14 years ago, when I was a teenager, I was with my parents, and my older sister." "Okay." "We were having a wonderful time: breathing the air of the alps, eating gelato, and in general, having a good time. But then, something happened." "What is it?" Twilight asked, hoping it wasn't so. "There were a group of radicals who claimed that the world was going to be doomed with overpopulation, and they released anthrax all over the city, with us in it." "Anthrax! Are they insane?" "They must have been, they were among the people killed by the bio-attack. Only my family lived, thanks to a convenient mutation in our genome." "Mutation, that's unusual." "Of course, we were resistant, but not immune. We were saved, but traumatized. No one in my family committed suicide, thankfully, but... we never really have been truly happy since that faithful day." "..." "..." "..." "...Well?" "...Pierre, you just rest up." Twilight said, leaving the room. Pierre sighed, and fell back into his bed. "Merde." "Oh, sh... what happened?" Romero rubbed his head before receiving a response. "You freaked out a bunch of ponies Romero, what the heck?" Rainbow Dash yelled. Ugh, this. "In my defense, there were four others who did the same." "Yeah, who?" "Raven and S.V.E.R., amiga." "Wait, the two enemy faction group... guys?" "The very same. Why in the Goddamn hell are those guys here?" "I'm going to ask you a different question. Why are you even fighting? It makes no sense whatsoever." Romero put his hand on his head and got an annoyed look. "You want to know? You want to know! Fine then, I'm doing it because of my father!" "w-Wait, your father? Is that why? I've seen that cliche before." "Cliche!" Rainbow jumped up at that outburst and looked at the PMC. "Let me tell you something amiga. In my world, there is no war. You know what there was, corruption. The very last 'official' war in my entire world was a global world war that took nearly a billion lives, my father included, and you want to know how he died? He died, not at the fronts, but at home, when a spy snuck in, and shot the entire base dead! You tell me that that isn't cliche. TELL ME!!!" Rainbow was slack-jawed. He... just said that his father was killed, not in combat at all. It was unthinkable that a country would stoop so low. "No one, NO ONE, saw North Korea the same way again and within a few months, even China helped us wipe the damn country off the map." Korea? China? I dunno what those places are, but... they must've been bad. "That's why I fight, so that no one would get a dog's death like that again. Revenge doesn't bring back the dead, no sir, it just stops more from joining them. Get out of here, I don't want to talk anymore." Rainbow sighed, and just decided that it wasn't worth her time now. She left the room, and Romero clenched his head. "Why me, and why this fucking place?" "Why'd I yell at her?" "Well fuck it! I'll find my way out, even if it kills me!" Johnathan and Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash quietly move down the hallway. Both of them knew that it must've been bad, they knew the mare well after all. "It's just sad to see how the proud could be shut up so easily." Johnathan said simply. "Eeyup." "Mmm hmm." There was an awkward silence. For the longest time, neither spoke a word. Johnathan decided to break the silence. "Listen, Ah'm sorry 'bout that AJ, it was stupid of me an'..." "Uup uup upp, not a word, Ah understand." "Ya do?" "Well, yeah. Ya mentioned those S.V.E.R. and Raven people, right?" Johnathan had a thoughtful look on his face. "Yeah, Ah guess Ah did." "Ya were actin' on instincts, what ya were made to do." "Yep, it's a reflex." "Speakin' of reflexes, ya been hidin' somethin' from me." Shit. "Tell me the truth." Applejack ordered the PMC. Johnathan did not want to reveal that particular secret, but he did have another reason besides the obvious. "No way, Jose. Ah'm not." "An' why not?" "'Cause... 'cause it brings back bad memories fer me." "Bad memories?" Johnathan sighed, and said just two words. "My sister." "Yer sister? Why in the world would..." And then it dawned on the farm mare. She could see it in his face. "Oh, Ah'm... Ah'm so sorry." "It's okay, ya didn't know. 'Sides, twas a long time ago, Ah've moved on now." Johnathan turned around and went back into his room. Applejack did not want to go on further. If she lost her little sister too... "Ah think Ah'll git a thang of cider now." Vulakh slowly got out of bed, clearly disoriented, but otherwise, well. "Oh, goody, you are alright Dmitri." Vulakh turned to see Fluttershy, the pony that helped nurse him back to health. "Oh, Мой друг, Fluttershy. What's wrong?" "W-why did you... start to... fight with... those other humans?" "... Raven, Valor..." "The... enemy?" "Da, the same." "But, they seemed to be nice, from what the others told me." "Let me tell you something, kindness is a good thing to have, but these men, they are who we fight. They do have friends and family, but in war, we have to put them aside. It's a bleak job, one that shouldn't exist, but does anyway, because we need it." "I understand, war is..." Fluttershy paused, not sure what to say. "Hell?" "OH, umm... I guess." "It's true, and war can most definitely bring the worst of us." Dmitri took out a note in his pouch. S.V.E.R. finances meant that only the best operatives would get their combat record on paper. Dmitri was one of them. He took out his record, unfolded it, and showed it to Fluttershy. "What is..." The mare gasped in shock, and could not believe it. "I have over 1000 kills in my record, many of them by the usual means, but some, were flat out executions of the wounded." "WHAT!!!" Fluttershy yelled out as loudly as possible. "S.V.E.R. does not leave behind survivors." "Y-you... you're a m-monster... a monster..." "Yes, and I feel bad." "Stay away from me, please, stay away." Fluttershy flew out of the room, tears flowing out of her eyes. The PMC expected as much from her, having dealt with the fallout between his father and himself after the fact of having half of those kills revealed. I do not know if she will forgive me now. I don't think I can forgive myself either. Reznov had been better, to be honest, but he soon had a familiar visitor after he woke up. "Ah, good, you're awake darling." "Rarity, my friend. How are you?" "Better, but on to more serious business. You and those other humans." "Дерьмо." "I don't know what that means, but tell me, what made you want to... kill them?" Reznov sighed, and just spoke. "Raven and Valor" "Those two? That was the reason? Couldn't you three have... I don't know, worked together to get out of this world?" "If only if it were that simple, my friend. We were trained to fight the enemy at any instance." "Even if it would have hurt more than helped? That's counter-intuitive!" "Maybe, but I could not forget my training. No way." Rarity sighed, but nevertheless pushed on. "I guess I cannot change you, but I must ask one thing." "Yes, what is it?" "During your outing, have you truly... killed others?" Reznov knew the next answer. "Da, all enemies who have made the mistake of falling into my line of sight." "And... how many is that?" "... 152 killed, 673 injured, many for life." "My word!" "Dmitri's is much, much more cruel. My job was suppression. His was defense. And he always made sure that anyone that came close to him, didn't go out." "And you just let him do that? What good is there in being a mass murderer?!" "Infamy among the enemy, and respect in our clan. In S.V.E.R., we get respect for being a major contribution to the brotherhood." "So you murder people for respect!" "No, be it a master medic, my job, an engineer of great prowess, or simply going once, setting a bomb, getting shot while near the bomb and letting it go off while you are literally in the place where you wouldn't be recognized when the body's pulled out, you have to do something major to win respect. In death, or otherwise. Sometimes, you do all of the above. You understand?" Rarity sighed, and lowered her head. "I do. Killing is only one way. Just doing your job earns respect, am I right?" "Somewhat. Doing it well wins respect." "I understand that part perfectly." Rarity was still uneasy, but she could understand the merits of a job well done, in the tailorshop, or in the battlefield. "Good. I need rest. Can you leave me alone?" "Most certainly. Goodnight." "Night?" "It's about 7'o clock now. You just get some rest." "Da, will do. Goodnight." Rarity nodded and left the room. Reznov now had one more problem at hand. What to do about the enemies? Jose tossed and turned. He could not get sleep. He hadn't sated his lusts, he need to kill some more. My child, you will earn your power soon enough. Who in the name of El Virgen María are you? I am the one, who will give you what you most desire. Is that so? Yes. Ahhh... killing... KILLING!!! Good. Just one question? Yes? Who are you? I... am Sombra.