//------------------------------// // Fulfilling a Promise // Story: The Beginning of the End // by CyclicStoryWriter //------------------------------// Beginning of the End Fulfilling a Promise Rainbow Dash looked over Ponyville from a cloud in the sky. Relaxing on a cloud had always helped her think. She had so many things on her mind. Like how Sergi was able to take down an entire camp full of griffons. Also why does he keep on mentioning Cossacks, they were just something from one of the Daring Do books. She just couldn't get over the fact that she felt alright around him. There was some type of coolness he had that she had never seen before. Like he had already seen everything and done all there is to do. They had arrived earlier that day about lunchtime and surprised everypony in town. Twilight asked about the plume of smoke on the horizon, if it was a forest fire. He said that it started from a lighting storm last night before heading into a string of questions about how ponies could control the weather. 'Why would he lie about something he did? He was just saving his friends from some griffon punks.' Rainbow Dash thought in her head. She pushed the thoughts aside and looked down on Ponyville. Small blobs moved around the town in the slow evening hours. The sound of her stomach grumbling reminded her that she didn't have breakfast this morning and shouldn't miss dinner too. Rainbow jumped off the cloud and headed into town to find someplace to eat. She had almost forgotten that Pinkie Pie was setting up a party today for the three humans. Waiting for a few minutes to eat wouldn't do any harm. Rainbow Dash came to a complete stop when she rounded a corner and almost collided with Twilight Sparkle and Anderson. "Easy there Rainbow Dash, I'm sure that you won't be late for anything." Anderson said to her as he was only six inches away from her face. "Sorry about that guys, I've just been thinking about a lot of about recent things. I guess I got carried away in my thoughts." Rainbow Dash replied as she rubbed the back of her neck. "It's alright Rainbow Dash; you’re not the only one." Anderson said as he discreetly nodded his head toward Twilight Sparkle. "Are you guys heading over to Sugarcube Corner?" Rainbow Dash asked as she back up a little bit. "Yeah, how did you guess?" Anderson replied as she saw Twilight Sparkle making signs to remind her that this was a surprise party. "I was just heading over there to grab something to eat, it is getting late and I didn't have breakfast this morning." Rainbow Dash said while Twilight relaxed a little. "By the way, what do you know about Sergi?" "Like I said earlier to the others, I don't really know him that well." Anderson answered as the group began their trip again. "Well there has to be stories about him. I mean seriously, he has to be one of the coolest things out there other than a few exceptions!" Rainbow Dash probed, Anderson was going to give her some information even if she had to get a little rough. "Well...There are some stories about him, but I'm not sure if any of them are true. So I don't usually trust that gossip since it gets so stretched and exaggerated once you actually hear about it." Anderson said as looked for some help from Twilight Sparkle. "Let's hear them; I personally want to hear about how your people tell tales. It's always good to find out how different cultures entertain themselves." Twilight said as her interest piqued with the possible idea of getting some form of information for her research on humans. "Fine, I will give the brief summaries of the popular ones, but don't take any of the information for granted." Anderson said as he broke in from the peer pressure. "One story says how when he was a child, only about four years old, his family and town was burned to the ground during the beginning of the war to be latter saved by a group of mercenaries that raised him in place of his parents. Another story places him in Paris where he hunted down the one responsible for killing his mercenary family just after he joined the American forces. The most popular one is where his mercenary family gets killed in an ambush and he goes through 3 long years as a science project. No one really knows what exactly happened in the labs, but he latter broke out, destroyed anything in a mile radius of the labs, and stumbled into an American camp coated in blood wearing the outfit he still wears today." "Wow...All of those stories sound..." Twilight began before getting interrupted. "AWSOME! Can you tell one of the stories some time?!" Rainbow Dash shouted out in excitement. Not only did Sergi do amazing things, but he has so many cool stories surrounding him! "Later I can, but not when he is around. I don't know how he reacts to people telling these stories. He seems to like keeping his past...secret." Anderson replied as he thought what would be the best word to fit his earlier attempts to get information from him. "He does seem to just stick with the present events." Twilight Sparkle said. "Hey look, there’s Sir Henry and Applejack." Anderson stated to take the topic off Sergi and his own lack of information on the subject. "Howdy there, y'all heading over to Sugarcube Corner?" Applejack said as she tilted her hat. "Yeah, it seems like we all have the same idea." Anderson said to make sure they don't go back to the last topic. "It seems so my friend. I am famished from getting back into manual labor." Sir Henry said as he held the door open for the others. As they entered the room the lights flickered on and ponies jumped out of every possible spot. "SURPRISE!" They all shouted out Pinkie Pie was in the middle of the room that was decorated with all types of confetti and streamers. Two tables were filled with a giant punch bowl and various bakery goods. Even though she had been to enough of these parties, it always surprised Rainbow Dash how Pinkie Pie is able to do things like this in a mere few hours. Pinkie Pie sped right up to the group and started to go into her greeting of the honored guests. Rainbow Dash took a look around the room and found a certain ‘someone’ missing. "Where's Sergi, wasn't somepony in charge of getting him?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I think Rarity was supposed to get him." Twilight answered "Good evening everypony. I tried to find Sergi with the help of Sweetie Bell but I couldn't find him anywhere." Rarity said as she joined into the conversation. "Excuse me Pinkie Pie, I just had one of the muffins and they are the best ones I have ever had." A voice from outside the group asked. Rainbow Dash looked up to see Sergi standing there in his big pants and an olive green T-shirt. Everyone stared in shock at how no one noticed him arrive. In his right hand was a muffin as large as his hand with a bite already in it. His face showed a look of contentment behind his large scar over his eye. "How did you get here?" Twilight Sparkle asked not quite out of the shock. “I walked here. Everyone seemed busy when I came here so I went into the kitchen to see If I could help somewhat. When I came back out, the lights were out and everyone hiding. I didn’t really think about it and headed back into the kitchen to see if the next time I came by to eat, I could finally have something." He replied as went for another bite of the muffin. "Derpy made the muffins for the party; she is the one with the yellow mane and the grey coat." Pinkie Pie said in her cheery attitude and pointed out a certain mare by the punch bowl. "Pinkie Pie, did you know he was here the whole time?" Twilight Sparkle asked "Sort of, I knew someone was in the kitchen. Now that I know it was Sergi, it makes sense now!" She replied with a smile before directing her attention back to the two humans beside her. Rainbow Dash hovered where she was and watched Sergi walk over to the punch table and started talking to Derpy and shacked her hoof. Then he took a glass of punch and went over to a wall and began watching the party proceed. She had to find out more about him. 'He saved your life by almost giving his own. You have to find out who he is other than simply a name and a face!' Her inner voice told her. Rainbow Dash wanted to but didn't want to go straight at it because he seemed to avoid topics that were directly about him. She waited for the group to move around and slowly pull in Sergi from the wall. He had refilled his glass and had a kringle in his other hand to replace the muffin he finished. "How do you like the kringle? I made it myself!" Pinkie Pie asked "It is delicious, this is the first time in a long while that I had something like this." Sergi said with a smile on his face. "A kringle?" Twilight Sparkle asked to clarify what he meant. "A bakery good in general other than bread." Sergi replied not taking interest in the stunned faces that surrounded him. "That is very interesting darling, but I must ask. Is that the only outfit you have?" Rarity asked as she was eyeing him from head to toe. "Yes, except for some formal attire I have.” Sergi answered as he looked back a Rarity trying to figure out what she was looking at. "It is alright, but you’re going to need more than just that if you’re going to be staying here." She replied in a simple tone. "Tomorrow morning, meet me at the Carousel Boutique. I will measure all three of you and get you gentlecolts something else to wear.” Small talk followed suit and slowly the group began to disperse to other parts of the party and talk to other ponies there. Rainbow Dash stayed there by Sergi talking about casual things like how every different type of pony had different types of magic. He seemed really interested in the topic. "So Unicorns are the only ones that can do active magic. Pegasi have passive magic for controlling the weather and can reduce wind resistance. While the Earth ponies have greater strength and are good with plants. Am I right so far?" Sergi said trying to summarize the information of magic. "Basically yeah, if you don't mind, can I ask you some questions?" Rainbow Dash asked as she began her trek into what she wanted. "Sounds fair enough, answers for answers. What would you like to know?" Sergi said as he finished the last of his punch. "So how did you get so cool?" She inquired starting in shallower waters. "Um, I'm not really sure how to answer that." Sergi replied with confusion. "Never mind then, I'll find out later. Next question, what do you like to do as a hobby?" Rainbow Dash asked as she scolded herself for asking such a weird question. "I like to either workout, make stuff with my hands, or play my violin." He replied as if he was waiting for this question. "What do you like to make?" She probed "Anything really, given the time I could probably make an entire castle by myself." He replied getting happier by the second. "Can you show me something that you have made?" Rainbow Dash asked "You know what; I'll make something for you when I get back to my camp. It would be a Cossack's Honor." Sergi replied as he was given the challenge. "You can just show me something you've already made. I don't want to trouble you." She said as she realized that she had accidently challenged his ability. "No, no, I will not mind at all. I like you because you’re different than everyone else I’ve met so far. You actually want to know about who I am rather than what I did when I was younger like your friend Twilight Sparkle. Even though she wants to learn about humans, she could as easily ask Anderson or Sir Henry. From what I know right now, your friend is more interested in how I got my skills." Sergi said with a large smile on his face. "I think I'll head back soon so I can go work on that project. You can go and talk with your friends now." Rainbow Dash stayed there for a second before heading over to converse with her friends. A question popped into her mind as she was halfway to her friends. She turned around to ask Sergi only to find that that he was already gone. As if he was never even there. The disturbing thought stayed only for a moment before she joined in conversation with her friends. 'Nothing bad is going to happen to him. I mean he is Sergi after all, he won't get into any trouble." ==================== Sergi found himself in a sparsely decorated room looking down at a social event down on a roof a few skyscrapers away from him. He was wearing a blue dress shirt with black dress pants and a tie that was loosened up from around his neck. The event was a big one. Most of the officers from the American army and French politicians were in attendance. Sergi lifted his head a little bit to check to wind direction again. It was still a very calm night; a small wind could be felt coming in from the west. Sergi lowered his head once again and looked through the scope to continue checking over the party list. He was there for one man, the one that had not arrived yet. The elevator doors on the floor opened and attracted the attention of the entire crowd. Sergi scanned his rifle over to the doors to find a five-star general stepping through the doors with his advisors. He wore the usual American officer's uniform with the tan uniform and an olive green jacket. Sergi checked the barrel of the Mosin-Nagat for a bullet, and shutting the chamber again when he saw the familiar shine of brass. His Cossack Honor demanded justice for the extermination of his family. The guns of the first fathers demand blood and retribution. Sergi tapped a button on a device lying on the table with him as he placed his crosshairs above the general’s head. The advisor on the generals left moved his left hand up to his ear. "Hello, this is Michael..." The advisor began to say through the machine on the table "Is that your new name now Gavriil?" Sergi said into a headset he wore. "Who is this; no one knows that name except for..." The advisor said as he turned away from the general who was in deep conversation with some military commanders. "The two other traitors that helped with destroying the family." Sergi replied as he kept an eye on the advisor. "Can you hold on a minute? I have an incoming call." Gavrill said before reaching into his pocket. "Don't worry about your friends; I have already taken care of them. Their funds are cleared and they won't have to worry about anything anymore." Sergi said as he predicted what Gavrill was going to do. "Just who exactly are you? You’re messing with powers beyond anything you could possibly dream of." Gavrill threaten into the mic. "Don't worry about me Gavrill, I already have 3 trillion euros invested in me. Too bad that all the research was destroyed when I left." Sergi calmly said back as he watched with delight. "Sergi...Where are you! I doubt that dead men can talk." Gavriil said as he began to look around the party for him. "Let’s just say you’re making a scene with this phone call and I absolutely did not alert American forces to a mole in their system." Sergi said as the calm demeanor of Gavriil disappeared in mere seconds. "Also, your tie is crooked. You might want to fix that." Sergi watched as Gavriil placed his right hand in his jacket and pulled out a large pistol with golden engravings across the side. He walked up to a female officer that was in conversation with the general and pulled her close as he raised up the gun up to face the crowd. "Come out now Sergi you damned traitor!" Gavriil shouted out into the crowd. "Michael, what are you doing?" The General said in confusion as the gun pointed at him. "You hired that little bastard didn't you!? If you want to take me down, then I'm going to take as many people here as possible. Starting with this young captain right here." Gavriil shouted out as he turned the gun to the head of the woman. "I must say Gavriil; I never thought that you would freak out that easily. Too bad I can't stay in your suite any longer." Sergi said as he moved the crosshairs over the head of the female hostage. As if on cue, Gavriil looked right at Sergi's position. Through the scope Sergi watched as the bullet left the rifle and flew out to the party. The bullet pulled to the right as the wind caught hold of the bullet and dragged the bullet toward Gavriil's head. His head snapped back as the bullet landed right between the eyes. The party was thrown into chaos as the body hit the ground. The woman stood there for a second before pulling the device out of Gavriil's ear. "Hello, who is this?" She spoke into the device. "It's good to hear your voice again Ashlyn. You can thank me latter for taking care of your mole problem." "Is that you Sergi? I thought you were still locked up in the POW camp?" She responded to his voice. "OH and one more thing before you go. Can you take the pistol and save it for me when you get back to camp. Thanks, much appreciated." Sergi said as he turned off the headset. As Segri got off the table and grabbed a duffle bag full of Cossacks funds and some weapons the door burst open followed by three French police officers. He brought up the rifle and aimed for the heart of the first officer. The recoil of the gun pushed Sergi back into the real world. He bolted up from his cot and took a look around the tent. Everything was still the same, nothing was out of place. His helmet and came alive and the AI spoke through the speakers. "Commander, Royal Guards are approaching the area. I suggest that we pack up camp and move if you want to stay on whatever good side you are already on... They have already found the ashes." The female voice piped up "What is the size of the force and is there any royalty with them?" Sergi asked as he quickly began disassembling the camp. "Both of the Royal sisters are here. From the Anderson's helmet feed; it appears that the one named Celestia is not happy." The AI answered. "This is going to be fun." Sergi said more to himself than to anyone else. The campsite was all packed away within minutes. He slipped his mask on to his helmet as he did whenever he was going on a mission. Sergi tossed the one of the duffle bags over his shoulder and tapped some buttons on his TACPAD. Where he once stood he disappeared from site as well as the bags. He was thankful for the electronic built-in systems of the bags because Sergi could see gold flashing between branches of the forest. Sergi sprinted through the forest as quiet as a soft breeze. As he exited the forest and into the open field a plan formed in his head. A near mountain peak could easily be seen from this general position. If he could get up there, it would be a lot easier to hide from the guards and he would still be able to keep an eye on those ponies and his comrades in town. Up the mountain base he ran with all of his strength. The surrounding area blurred out as he only focused on his objective. The mountain base came speeding up to him before he noticed an unusual clanking coming from his pants. Sergi stopped and dropped the bags by some bushes as he dug his pockets to find the cause of the clanking sound. His right hand passed over the origin of the noise and he pulled it out. In his hand was a pair of dog tags that hit him like a bullet. This was his gift for Rainbow Dash he made last night. One held her general information while the second one held both the sign of the Cossacks and a small message. 'I have seen how loyal you are to your friends back at the griffon camp. It would be my honor to accept you into the Cossack Family.' Sergi swore under his breath and looked back at the path he came from. He could easily get up the mountain and disappear from the world for a while or he could complete his promise to Rainbow Dash even if it meant going straight into a hornets nest. He had to think about the decision. What would be the best way to get back inside the town that is crawling with guards. His camo would have to be powered down in order to give her the gift so she wouldn't freak out. When that happened there had to be no guards or snitches in the vicinity. Sergi decided on a plan and headed back out. When he got back out in the field, the town looked like someone spilled liquid gold in the streets. Shining gold armor reflected the sunlight. Sergi only noted this and kept on going with his plan. He reached a small hill that layed before the town with a tall old tree going on top of it. Sergi made sure that no one could see him where he was and then proceeded to press some buttons on his TACPAD. When he was done, a hologram of himself ran uncamoflauged across the field and headed toward the woods. Commotion could be heard from the town as guards saw the sight and raced off toward the dummy. 'So far so good, now for the tricky part.' Sergi thought to himself as he checked to see if his camo was still on. It was but the battery life was getting very low. Sergi frowned at this and proceed into town carefully. Sergi quickly scouted what part of town he entered and found exactly what he was looking for. Guards were stationed outside of Twilight's tree as well as silhouettes in the windows. Sergi walked around the guards and leaned up close to a window. He could barely make out a conversation. "How is Sergi be marked as a criminal? He only killed when it concerned the safety of any one of us!" Applejack asked. "That smoke plume on the horizon did not start from a lightning bolt but rather something Anderson here calls a bullet. We are not sure what exactly was caught in the fire but that much must be contained." Celestia replied in a measured tone. "Like a prison cell!? I'm sorry Princesses but I don't think he deserves that." Rainbow Dash shouted out. "Don't tie me to this as well. Even though I am here with my sister, I hope to get an alternative solution." Luna said. That was all Sergi needed to hear, Sergi rifled through his jacket until he found what he was looking for. A small pad that was used for signaling. He typed up a quick message on it and looked over at the guards. One looked like a new recruit while the other one was relaxed at his post. 'It looks like these guards need to be taught a lesson.' Sergi thought to himself. He walked over silently to the guards and prepared to unleash non-lethal hell. In one swift movement he stuck the throat of the relaxed guard and wrapped his right arm around the new guard's neck and tensed his arm muscles. The guard struggled at first and then slowly fell limp. Sergi released his victim and felt for a pulse on both of the guards. Each guard still had one. Sergi typed something more onto the note and slide the device under the door and leaned up close to the side of the tree. A few seconds passed with no sound until the door bursted open and ponies burst out of the doorway as well as Anderson and Sir Henry. They saw the guards and checked for a pulse themselves. They seemed slightly satisfied in them still being alive and then began searching around the town close to the tree. Rainbow Dash was about to be the last one out of the tree until Sergi grabbed her and pulled her back inside with a hand over her mouth. She began panicking until Sergi successfully turned off his camouflage and revealed himself. With the sight of him she relaxed. As he removed his hand from her mouth, he made a gesture to keep quiet. He pulled out the dog tags and placed them in one of her hooves. He patted the hoof and began to leave when he was stopped by Twilight Sparkle standing in the doorway. He was temporarily trapped in the tree if she kept quiet, which didn't work out so well. "Stop right where you are Sergi! I don't know what you did but I must keep you here until the others get back." She demanded as she took up an offensive stance. "дерьмо" Sergi swore inside his helmet as he realized that his only quiet exit was blocked. Sergi made a desperate run for a window. He stepped on top of a table and jumped right through the glass window. As he was reaching the ground he turned his camouflage back on. With a roll on impact of the ground, he was off at full speed out of town. The dust cloud didn't help him much with being hidden, but all he was worried about was getting out of town before they knew what happened. Sergi reached the outskirts of town and risked a look behind him. He was being quickly followed by the Royal Sisters and five out of six of the elements. Turning back around, he heard the dreadful beeping of his TACPAD systems shutting down. He ran with even more purpose towards the edge of the woods that promised his safety. He was almost there when something hit him in the back and threw him to the very edge of the forest. The pain burned through his entire body and made his muscles unresponsive. He tried to slowly drag himself into the forest only to stop just on the boundary. His vison began to black out and he thought he was heading into another memory. He heard the sound of voices speaking Russian and footsteps nearing him. Two sets of arms grabbed onto him as he heard the click of a pin being pulled out of a gernade. Before he blacked out he heard one sentence directed at him. "Don't worry Comrade, you’re in safe hands now." Said a voice that he thought was gone long ago, the voice of Dimitri.