New World, Old Fight

by SGTBRONY

Chapter 3

Chapter 3
A Brand New Day

Blood….so much blood… I didn’t know one person had that much in them. The screams of the wounded cut through the night air like a knife….the fires are still burning…

A child walks out of the smoke, bloodied and broken…. I reach out to him as he falls…

*GASP*

I awoke with a start, sweating and breathing heavily to sunlight streaming in through the window. I walked into the bathroom and splashed some water in my face, gazing into the mirror, my dark green eyes looking back at me, the scar on my neck where an Insurgent counter sniper’s bullet had almost ended my life… I looked a hell of a lot older than my 26 years. There came a knock on my door and a soft voice I recognized as Celestia’s.

“Michael? Are you awake?”

“Yes Princess, come in please”

The door opened and in she walked, “Good morning Michael, I trust you slept well?”

I finished pulling my t-shirt on and turned to face her “I slept very well Princess thank you”

She gave me a genuine smile “I’m glad the room was to your liking, I was hoping you and I could take a walk and perhaps you could tell me your story?”

I returned the smile with equal warmth. “I’d enjoy that Princess, give us an opportunity to get on the same page”

Celestia and I made our way out of the castle and onto the grounds proper. As we walked in silence I took in my surroundings, I was truly seeing Equestria for the first time. I’d never seen a place so idyllic, so peaceful. I felt as though the story I had to tell would taint this place’s beauty and innocence, but I took a deep breath and began my story in earnest.

I started hemorrhaging information, something about her made me want to explain myself, (she reminded me of my mom….weird huh?).

I think for her part, Celestia was a bit taken aback by my sudden outpouring, and silenced me with a raised hoof. “It sounds to me Michael that you have had a run of very poor luck, for that I am sorry. I am compelled to ask certain questions however.”

“Of course Princess, ask away”

She thought for a moment before beginning, “The first thing I have to understand, you said these nuclear weapons possess immense destructive power correct?” I nodded, “I ask because, while magic is a way of life here in Equestria and we do have spell’s that are capable of that kind of power. They take many years to master, and aren’t capable of anything close to what brought you here, which through my research seems to be an inter-dimensional shift . It’s disconcerting to say the least.”

I sat down on a stump. Hard. “So basically you’re telling me that you don’t understand how I got here any more than I do? From which I can infer there’s no way to send me home?”

The Princess nodded sadly “At the present time, no. I will set the best and brightest minds in Equestria to work on this issue as soon as possible and if there’s anything we can do we will, I promise.”

“Thank you Princess, but I better get comfortable, could be awhile. Anything else you’d like to know?”

“Yes as a matter of fact, you’ve told me about your time as a soldier and I need a promise from you Michael. First, that if I find you a permanent residence in Equestria you’ll not harm anypony. And secondly, that you will be as vague as possible concerning your origins, concepts such as war, destruction, and killing are foreign to pony kind… can you promise me Michael?”

I nodded, “Princess, I would rather die than taint your world with the brutality of mine. As for harming anypony, I killed to protect the innocent, we fought monsters but we never became them. I swear to it.”

Celestia looked me dead in the eyes, “Lying is a human trait, I trust you Michael but I have to be sure, would you be open to a somewhat unconventional method?”

I cocked an eyebrow, “I certainly don’t want any mistrust to exist between us Princess, but what exactly are you thinking?”

“ I could peer into your memories and see for myself, hardly an unreasonable request considering where you came from, do you agree?”

I was in full on crisis mode, it was my worst nightmare. To be judged for my actions in the field by someone who had no idea what it was like to look true evil in the eye, on the outside however I shrugged.

“If you feel it’s the only way to be sure Princess, then lets get to it.”

Celestia nodded and her horn began to glow as we were quickly ensconced in white light….

7 months ago…
Democratic Republic Of Congo.

“Gunfighter is inbound to target, ETA 5 mike” Ryan whispered into his tac radio “Hey zaz you ready for this?”

I smiled, “LT, I was born ready”

We’d been hunting a known war criminal for the last 3 months, he was a real scumbag… responsible for numerous atrocities, drug and sex trafficking and the kidnapping and training of child soldiers in every one of the small “Conflicts” in and around DRC for the last 5 years, we’d finally got clearance to take him down after Langley had discovered he was supplying arms to Al Shabaab, a Somali insurgent group linked to Al Qaeda. It bothered me immensely that we only stepped in because he’d become an Islamic aligned threat, in my humble opinion this asshole should have been killed a long time ago.

But I’m a field operator… I do what I’m told and leave the politics to the politicians, we had a shot at him now and I’d be damned if the bastard wasn’t going down.

“Closing in on the perimeter now, Bobby? How’s it looking?” Ryan whispered.

Bobby’s stone cold voice came back over the team freq “Five on the outs LT, 1 in the tower, looks like anywhere between 10 and 15 hostiles total”

“Copy, we’re moving in, zaz take the right side, take that guy quiet like.”

I gave him a thumbs up and moved quickly and quietly towards the unsuspecting sentry having a smoke by the gate, I felt kind of bad.. Killing the guy before he was finished seemed like a dick move, I slammed the knife into the base of his skull twisting it like a screwdriver, he died without a sound. We swept the village taking down the sentries before collapsing on the target building.

Ryan waved me towards the door “Stack up, zaz take the point”

I nodded and lined up on the door, Ryan placed his hand on my shoulder, squeezed once and I kicked the door in. We spread out, taking control of the ground floor quickly. Moving up to the second level I found what had to be our guy’s room, a sleeping guard sitting outside the door.

I drew my knife and stalked toward him with the team at my back, he started to stir and I jumped on him one hand covering his mouth, the other jamming my knife into the side of his neck as I dragged him to the floor, blood gushed over my gloved hand but the struggle was brief. We stacked up on the door and kicked it in. Our target was sitting up startled by the noise, he made a wild grab for the AK sitting at the foot of the bed, only to be cold cocked by Ryan who proceeded to zip tie his hands and check his face against the photo we were supplied.

“It’s him” Ryan said then his eyes along with his weapon snapped to movement in the far corner, I spun around switching on my weapon light and was shocked to see a young girl, about 12 or 13 hiding under a table, she was completely naked and looking terrified.

“Sonofabitch” I swore grabbing a blanket off the bed and walking towards her, she was scrambling trying to get away until I showed her the blanket and said, “C’est bon, je ne vais pas vous blesser mon enfant” (It‘s ok I won‘t hurt you my child).

Thank god she spoke French or I don’t think I’d ever been able to calm her down. She smiled weakly and crawled over to me, I quickly wrapped her in the blanket and sat her on the table.

“Parlez vous avec anglais?”

“Oui Monsieur, only a little”

I smiled at her “That’s okay sweetheart I’ll keep it simple, did this man hurt you?” I pointed at the bound and gagged asshole on the floor.

Tears welled up in her and my eyes as she nodded. I’ve never felt so cold, the rage I felt was all consuming. “LT, leave me with him.”

“Zaz you know I can’t do tha-”

“Ry, go… and take the girl”

Ryan nodded, he motioned the guys out of the room as I turned my attention back to our friend. His wide terrified eyes were shining at me over the duct tape securing his mouth, I ripped it off and he immediately began ranting at me in French, begging me to let him go, that it was all a mistake. I kicked him as hard as I could in the face, blood and teeth flew across the room.

“You think I care for your excuses? SHE‘S A CHILD!” I raged as I delivered another vicious kick to his stomach, now he was really scared, offering me money in exchange for his miserable life. I wasn’t listening, I drew my SIG , screwed the suppressor on. “Prepare yourself you piece of shit” I smiled as he screamed leveled the weapon at his forehead and fired with a suppressed THWAT, the 9mm round impacted his face and blew his brains all over the wall behind him….

“To Protect the Innocent…..”

“Now you see what I meant, I would never want anypony to experience this kind of horror, even secondhand”

With a bright flash I was once again standing in the field with Celestia, more than a little dizzy I leaned over and closed my eyes waiting for the nausea to pass.

“Ugh, that was pretty damn strange and I hope you’re satisfied now Princess.”

Celestia looked downright ill, “Michael…I had no idea…”

“Yeah, well now you do. And that was just one operation, I went on hundreds of those little jaunts during my time in SPECWAR.” I wasn’t happy, I felt backed into a corner almost hamstrung by Celestia’s request.

“I did that so you would trust me Celestia, you’re all I have at the moment..”

“ I understand Michael, I promise you’re trust isn’t mislaid”

Feeling my anger cool, I shot her a wry smile “I’ll hold you to that Princess”

She looked thoughtful for a moment before she spoke, “I think I know the perfect place for you, but for now let’s go have lunch, hmm?”

“Sounds great”.

I was sitting in my room flipping through the photos of my family on my Iphone, god I missed them…I didn’t know if I was ever going to get home but if I ever did my sister was getting a new car for Christmas, I was walking down my driveway when a knock at the door brought me back to reality.

“Michael?”

“Come in Princess”

She walked into the room, a big smile on her face “ I’ve found you a new home”

“Really now? That was quick, can I ask where?”

“Ponyville, You’ll be staying with my student Twilight Sparkle, until we can come up with something more permanent, or send you home whichever comes first”

“Princess, I don’t know what to say except thank you from the bottom of my heart, you’ve been more understanding and supportive than I had any right to expect. When do we leave?”

“As soon as you’re ready, and there’s no need to thank me Michael, I wouldn’t be much of a Princess if I turned away those in need” she said with a smile.

“No I suppose not” I said, looking into her eyes.

She broke my gaze, cleared her throat “I, along with the chariot will be waiting out front when you’re done packing”

“Yes ma’am, I’ll finish up and be down momentarily”

I finished packing up my gear and took one last look around the room as I walked out and closed the door
behind me. The chariot was made entirely of gold with two silver clad Pegasi hitched to it, Celestia was already sitting in the back waiting for me as I made my way down the castle steps.

Moments later we were in the air, if Equestria was beautiful from the ground then it was stunning from up here, the starlit night was breathtaking in a way I’d never experienced before. Celestia chuckled,

“ I take it you enjoy Luna’s beautiful night?”

I turned to face her “Who now?”

“My sister Luna, I regret that you weren’t able to meet her during your stay but there’s time still”

“Unfortunately I do have an abundance of that Princess” I said turning my gaze back to the beautiful star filled sky.

We touched down in Ponyville about 30 minutes later, in the dark it reminded me of some of the old towns in Holland where I’d been lucky enough to go on leave about a year ago. Lanterns lined “Main street” casting a beautiful orange glow on the simple homes and shops. We stopped in front of a massive Oak tree that had been hollowed out and refitted as a home with windows, doors, even a garden out front. Celestia hopped out and started for the door, then stopped and turned to me.

“ If you would wait here, I’m going to go warn my student” she said with a chuckle

I couldn’t help but smile “ Of course Princess, do what you need to do, I’ll just wait here like a good boy”

She made her way to the front door and knocked, the door opened and a small purple Unicorn popped her head out, I couldn’t hear the conversation but it was clear the small Unicorn was excited. She was bouncing from hoof to hoof, when Celestia finally led her over to the chariot it almost looked like she was vibrating.
Celestia looked pleased by the result, it seemed to me like fear but then again, I wasn’t great at pony body language.

“Michael? Meet my faithful student Twilight Sparkle”……..

Comments

[SGTBRONY]

First fic everypony, if you all would be kind enough to critique it for me I'd greatly appreciate it. I don't really care if it's harsh either, I know there's gaps in my writing style that need filling. That said I truly hope you enjoy it.

[mcb893]

moar coming, right?

your writing style is decent, and I enjoy reading this. Kinda curious as to his role in equestria, i mean, is he gonna fight for them, etc

tracking and waiting for new chapter

[SGTBRONY]

I've actually got about 3 more chapters on my computer ready to go, but where I work I'm without Internet, expect those chapters to be up on Sunday without fail. I appreciate the feedback as well

[Gunwale]

I like this, it's very underrated :P and I'm not just saying that, many people are deterred because this is a HiE and has a soldier in it, I usually don't read the typical 'Shoot em up, slashy, stabby, only kills kills kills' (Unless it's a good Halo one hehe) fics, this contains the right amount of accuracy without being too over the top, I do like it.

[totallynotabrony]

I think the whole "comes to Equestria, immediately okay with it and accepted by everypony" deal is too easy.

Having said that, I like how much homework you've done concerning terrorists.

[Jman796]

Wait what happened to his weapons?

[Old Diggy]

2 things, 1.What did they do with his weapons? Taking them apart and melting it down seems like a good idea to me. 2.Is he wearing his body armour? I think I missed that part.

[Old Diggy]

2310728 Did you forget that when he got to Canterlot(What I want to know is how? It's on the side of a mountain for Christ's sake) the ponies saw him and immediately freaked out, the only other ponies he's met are Princess Celestia who already knew about humans, and the guards who didn't like or trust him.

[Shade Wulfe]

Not a bad story so far.