The desert heat beat down on Aaron as he ran across the last few miles of Equestria. The territory of the buffalo within his sight as he crossed the flat desert scrub brush. Legion was growing anxious, and would sometimes rip control straight from him to urge his tired legs to move faster. Though they had not deviated from their due westward route, the man had somehow stumbled onto an Equestrian highway. The smoother road allowed him to move even faster.
He remembered this path, he had taken it what seemed like decades ago, when his pony friends had brought him back from Stronghold. Back from the dead, to give him and eventually Legion this opportunity for redemption. His goal seemed so close, yet unreachable. The swell of souls felt so eager to get home, so eager to accomplish their mysterious ulterior motive. But Aaron did not care for them, he wanted to awaken the living humans left in this world, to give them another chance at life, even if it meant his own death. But Mother had her task for him as well, and he could not forget that.
The shimmering heat revealed something he remembered vaguely from his past, the guard post at the border. He was close now. But there was a familiar face at the post. He slowed to let himself be known.
Though one eyed now, the corrupt gold armored pegasus guard was more alert than ever, and spying the creature that had crippled him, he drew his spear.
"So, come back for another taste of this you freak!"
The soul fires burned bright in Aaron's eyes, "Move." he said with the twisted voice of Legion. Legion was unwilling to hurt the pony, but Aaron just plain did not like him.
"Oh no! I'm not letting you past until I have my fair share of your blood on the ground."
"It is incredibly unwise to stand in our way."
The guard grinned, balancing his spear in a hoof, "How are your little girlfriends doing, freak? Did you save them for yourself? Did you ride those mares like a cheap Manehattan whore?"
Aaron built in his rage, but Legion still had control. His fists clenched in anger as he fought for dominance.
"Bet you enjoyed that white unicorn, always was partial to unicorn pussy myself!" The crippled guard continued his taunts. "You know what I'll do? I'm gonna cut out one of your eyes, leave one in, just so you can watch while I have my fun with your girlfriends!"
"Legion, give me control," he said out loud.
"Aaron, do not do this, Mother would not approve," Legion replied as they fought to keep his will from dominating and preventing him from tearing this pony apart piece by piece.
The guard continued his colorful rant. "Who you talking to freak? Need your mommy? Going crazy in the sun? Here, let me give you a lobotomy you freak!"
He threw his spear, faster than anticipated. It grazed the side of Aaron's face, leaving a bleeding gash. Though it healed in seconds, it built his rage to even greater levels.
The whole of humanity's souls snapped. "Aaron, we have agreed on a course of action, he is all yours." The soul fires faded, leaving Aaron in complete control of the massive reservoir of magic at his disposal. He raised a single hand, the corrupt guard's eye opened in shock as a ball of pure magical fury built in his hand. Jumping to the side at the last second a light brighter than a hundred suns vaporized nearly the entire guard post, plus most of a ridge on the other side of the border.
The guard shivered in fear, he heard footsteps coming closer to him. Opening his one good eye he saw the human's boots right in front of his face. A hand with a grip like steel closed around his throat, lifting him effortlessly into the air. The human issued a growl like a dragon, his eyes burning with the amount of rage and magical power behind them.
"Don't...kill...me." he said through what little of his windpipe that remained open. The corrupt pegasus choked and struggled despite his fading strength. "....mercy...."
"Where was your mercy when you robbed innocents of their lives and their dignity? Why do you deserve mine?"
"Kill...me...no better...same...as....me..." he managed to choke out.
Aaron's mind began to send him memories of his time with his pony friends, all telling him that this was not the way. The anger began to subside, he loosened his grip on the pegasi's throat, letting him fall to the dust.
The guard gasped desperately for air, but the human was not finished with him just yet. "I should have killed you for what you are, but you are right, that would make me no better than you." He extended his hand once again, this time the pegasi's armor evaporated off his skin, leaving him vulnerable. Words began to appear on his white fur, words depicting his crimes. Murder, rape, arson, theft, treason and a host of others appeared on his white fur in bold black letters. But something else happened, the guard's crippled eye began to heal.
"You will walk the earth for the rest of your life wearing the marks of your crimes. Forever more you will be looked upon as a criminal that wears his hatred on the outside, and you will be scorned where ever you go. Do not bother trying to hide them, no clothing or paint would stoop down so low as to be worn by you. And do not bother trying to lie about them either, from now on you are magically bound to tell anypony the complete truth when they ask about your marks."
And with that the human turned back westward and resumed the final leg of his run.
Legion was holding back for some reason, they almost seemed impressed with how he handled the situation.
"You did good Aaron, we were just going to let you kill him. Mother is also pleased with how that went."
"No time for chit-chat Legion, we have a base to find."
"Agreed."
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Rainbow Dash took her turn towing the balloon through the sky, the going was slower since they stocked up at Appleloosa. She truly wondered whether there was going to be a war. If there was, she would probably get drafted, and for once in her life, fighting sounded like a truly terrifying idea.
She had seen Aaron fight, seen his weapons do their damage. If they wanted to go to war with an entire army of his kind, chances were likely that she would end up on the receiving end of a thunder weapon. It was so odd, all her life Rainbow Dash had envied the great warriors of pegasus lore, looked up to them for their prowess in battle and how cool they looked in uniform. But now that a war loomed, she wanted nothing more than to hide under her bed in Ponyville. All the more reason to stop this before it could happen.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a blinding light on the horizon, brighter than a hundred suns. The glare lasted only a second or two, but the pain from it lasted for almost a minute.
"What was that?!" she said rubbing her eyes, the afterimage burned into her retinas.
The balloon drifted closer after she stopped. Twilight gave her assessment. "Judging by the map, that is about where we crossed the Equestria border the first time. That guard post, remember?"
"Then why the light?"
"I think it might have gotten in Aaron's way. But that means we are gaining on him! Come on Dashie, full speed ahead!"
The cyan pegasus poured on every ounce of speed left in her body, determined to catch their friend before it was too late.
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He ran like the wind carried him, dust from the roads coating his legs. No more rest, his goal was close enough to taste, just twenty more miles and he could free his people. Nothing bothered to get in his way anymore, Mother seemed to have commanded all the creatures in the wilds to stay clear, but that did not bar any intelligent creatures.
Only pure exhaustion and the need for water forced him to stop at an oasis. He collapsed next to the pool, greedily slurping up the lukewarm water. He rolled over onto his back, his lungs screaming for rest from the endless torment of his two hundred mile run. Something about this place seemed familiar, he looked to his side, there lay a burned out campfire. And over there were worn out wagon tracks. He stood, walking next to the cold ashes of the fire he stepped on something hard. He looked down to see a bullet casing in his footprint, and more laying on the ground next to it. Across the fire lay weathered and cut up chunks of rope.
He had met his friends here for the first time, in that fateful, bloody first meeting where he saved them from the now punished guard. He sat next to the campfire, just like he had the morning after saving them.
"Am I really doing the right thing? Everyone tells you to follow your heart, but my heart is torn, I need to wake up humanity, but I want to be with my friends. Are you even there Legion?"
"Yes, but we figured you needed some time alone. We saw your memories of this place, you hate it, but at the same time you cherish it because your life became just a little bit more complete that moment you realized you had something to live for besides your mission."
He sighed a little. "I figured you would have told me to keep going by now."
"Normally, yes. But we decided as a whole that you deserved some time."
"What do I do? I know the wisest men in history are a part of you Legion, what do I do?"
"Follow your heart." and with that Legion left him alone for the time being.
And so he sat there, looking across the shimmering waves of light as they danced across the water's surface of the oasis, wondering where his heart truly lay. And for the first time in days, his eyes closed with sleep.
"Aaron! Wake up you fool! We are in danger!" Legion was shouting at him, though his essence required rest, theirs were always vigilant. He scrambled to his feet, reaching for his magic to defend himself. A cloud of dust approached and surrounded him, grunts, snorts and the thundering of hooves encircled him. He did not want to hurt anything, so he held back his magic.
Several spears leveled at his chest, the wielders being bison from the plains.
"What do we have here? A hairless dog perhaps?" one of the warriors growled.
"Leave me be! I have no quarrel with you!"
"You have trespassed on our land, monster. Explain yourself!"
"My mission is my business only."
An older bison trundled forward, wearing paint that marked him as some kind of shaman.
"What is this thing wise one?" a warrior asked the shaman.
He inspected for a second, his eyes growing wide with anger, "Tis a Hunter! A Hunter with magic about him!" He reached into a bag and pulled out a powder, he blew the powder into Aaron's face. He coughed and sneezed as the powder found its way into his lungs. His head grew foggy, but worse, he couldn't feel his magic or Legion anymore!
"What have you done to me?!"
"We have calmed your magic for now, monster! You will answer for your race's crimes, Hunter!"
I beg to differ.
"Mother! Help me!" And she did, his eyes flared with the soul magic, like when possessed by Legion, but this was different, it was singular when Legion was many. He spoke with a booming, echoing voice that shook the air.
"Shaman Fire Heart, begone before I see fit to take away your power of farsight!"
The painted shaman recoiled at this stranger who knew his gifted power. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" he asked in fear.
"I am the Dream Walker, She of all Colors, the Wind Shepherd and the Bringer of Magic!"
"The Earth Mother! Please forgive our intrusion Sacred One! We did not know this creature had your Grace!" All the bison dropped to their knees, throwing their weapons to the ground.
"This Man is here on my behest, you will show him naught but the utmost respect! Now begone!"
They obliged, running like wolves were on their heels. Mother let go of Aaron, his head spinning from the divine possession.
Well then, that was different.
"I didn't know you could do that!"
Neither did I.
"Where did you learn to speak English though? I thought you could only talk in pictures."
Mother felt confused, then sent him an outsider look of what happened. He stood silently while the buffalo cringed at him, eventually running away.
"Some kind of telepathy then?"
That sounds about right. Don't let it get to your head though.
He felt the spectral laughter at her own pun.
"Ha ha, very funny Miss Comedian. What happened to Legion? And where have you been?"
Come out children. It is safe now. And as for your other question, I have other important things to do.
"Aaron! We lost you there for a minute. Are you alright? Have you been injured?"
"Calm down, everything is alright. Mother intervened."
"That powder is preventing us from giving you our magic. Does Mother know what it is?"
Soulroot powder, no antidote, just wait it out.
"She says it is soulroot powder and that there is no antidote, but we just have to wait and it will go away."
A billion curses in a an untold number of languages, most of them had not been heard for several millenia. They eventually composed their billions of selves.
"Alright Aaron, it looks like the last stretch is all up to you, are you rested enough?"
"Yeah, I think I can make it." He drank more of the water from the pool and shouldered his pack. Grabbing Lucifer, he finally felt how heavy the damn thing was. On his back it seemed to cackle from the stress it was giving him. "Shut up Lucifer."
He trudged forward, unable to run without his magic. He felt his body's exertion with every step, he had unfortunately grown used to Legion's unending strength, stamina and uncanny ability to heal.
So now he marched across the plains, the sun sapping his endurance as it hung high overhead. His lungs burned after several miles, the demonic weight on his back taunting him in his time of vulnerability. But he gained hope when he saw something shimmering in the waves of heat.
"Trees. I'm close." The powder had begun to wear off, and his strength returned with every second, he eventually ran for the treeline at a dead run, wanting nothing more than to be in their shade. A near impenetrable wall of brush stood in his way, he lifted a hand and to his joy magic trickled out, enough to move the brush aside.
The rich smell of loam surrounded him, the sounds of birds and the sight of trees fueled his run. The trees, they were just so normal! Delightfully, boringly normal! And there were no calls of strange birds or flowers that might have alchemical property. This was human land.
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"I'm home." he panted as looked down at the ruins of Stronghold. The powder had worn off completely, he was just as powerful now as before. Entering what was left of the rusted front gate, he looked around. "This will never do."
He walked to the dead center of the base and raised both of his hands to chest level. He built his magic and then pushed outward. A storm of dirt, plants and debris moved outward as he cleaned up the base. Scoured down to the concrete, he turned his attention to the buildings, a single raised hand had them rebuilding themselves, though to only shadows of their former glory. Rust converted itself back to steel, fences stood up to keep the wilds out, windows began to reform piece by piece.
"Can I clean, or what?" Stronghold looked almost like it had two millenia ago, minus vehicles, tents and wooden structures. All it was missing was people. He entered the main building, finding the stairs that led to darkness and the Vault. He ran down them as fast as he could manage, taking three steps at a time. Deeper and deeper into the darkness he ran, eventually making an orb of light to shine in the dark. And then he came to it, the massive door to the Vault.
"It's over, I can complete my mission now." He ran over to the entry console, whipping out his card he entered the eight digit entry code.
"Welcome to Project Lazarus, Doctor Patterson." read out the screen. The room shook as the doors unlocked their various devices, folding into the walls. He looked at his sleeping race in their stasis chambers, his goal so close. He walked forward, only to hit a shield of magic.
"What? MOTHER! WHY!?" He threw both his fists and his magic at the shield, intending to shatter it. It held strong.
"WHY!? I am so close now!"
They are not here yet, rest for now child. Your task will become clear.
And so he sat in front of the entrance to the Vault, his people so close, yet unreachable.