> The Ghost of a Man > by TheWolfSpartanBrony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter I - A wanderer from the desert > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apple Loosa one of the southern settlements in Equestria is a thriving settlement due to the apple fields that let the Buffalo tribes pass through. Today is market day, a day where a vast majority of the citizens of the town get there food for the week or two. Though today would be one of the stranger ones for a stranger to the town stumbles in through the main street. At first glance this stranger is a male Faunus with a large black fluffy wolf's tail and that he has armor on his arms and hands, but if one took a closer look they would see that his armored arms and hands are actually robotic not armor the same went for his eyes. At first glance they would look like regular eyes with orange color to them, but are robotic as well. The stranger was clad in a light grey sleeveless hoodie, cargo pants that had a camouflage design to them colored in red, orange, black, and grey, with black combat boots on. He had two large pistols on either hip and what looked like two ornate sticks that hung from his belt behind the set of pistols. Only the stranger knew what the name of the pistols were along with what the sticks true function. The stranger stumbled further into town most likely looking for water due to the state of his cloths, which look like he had been wandering the desert for days. Eventually he found a water trough. Once his head was dunked into the water with the hood of his hoodie off revealed a creature unknown to the town of Apple Loosa with a short amount of dark brown hair styled into a short mohawk. Luckily for the townsfolk the water trough the stranger drank from sat in front of the sherif's building so incase it did something dangerous the sherif was right there. After a minute of drinking the life giving fluid of the desert the creature's head emerged from the trough but was met by the end of a double barrel shotgun held by the sherif's deputy who was a man with a small light grey horn and had blond hair. "Now Sure Shot, that any way to treat a weary traveler?" asked an elderly man with grey hair and a small light brown horn protruding from his forehead wearing a dark blue vest with a white button up shirt underneath the vest, along with a pair of blue jeans, and black boots on and a Sherif's badge on the top left part of the vest over his hart. "But Sherif Silver Star this thing just walked into town caring guns, what if it tried to harm somepony?" was the reply from a man who looked like he was in his early twenties. He had a small light grey horn protruding from his forehead. He was wearing a black vest with a white button up shirt underneath the vest, along with a pair of blue jeans, and light brown boots on and a Deputy's badge on the top left part of the vest over his hart. "I don't think that he would manage a fight for long, he looks like he spent the past week wandering the desert." Sherif Silver Star stated upon examining the state that the strange being was in. "It was more like two." stated the creature with a deep voice that sounded like a being that had some wisdom to it and one that was seldom used. "And stop pointing that at me." All that earned the being was the shotgun being coked and aimed at it's head, but before anyone could do anything else the gun was ripped from the deputies grasp and bent in half then handed back to the deputy. "Now that itchy fingers over here is unarmed mind telling me where I am?" asked the being. "Might I ask who you are son first?" asked Silver Star. "Sure, Subject E6-A95B-D2S, code name Ghost." replied Ghost while pointing to the letters and numbers stamped into the left side of his scalp. Which were arranged as 'S-E6-A95B-D2S'. "Well then Ghost you're in the town of Apple Loosa one of the most southern settlements in Equestria." stated Silver Star answering Ghost's earlier question. "Equestria is the country that I'm in right?" asked Ghost "Yes, so you were one of the subjects of those rouge scientists?" asked Sure Shot after answering Ghost's question. "Yeah, bastards turned me into a living weapon and were working for the god damned Changelings." replied Ghost. That got a a visible reaction out of the Sherif and the Deputy. "You won't harm anyone here will you?" asked Silver Star who had his hand on his revolver that rested on his belt in it's holster. "Hell no. Never liked killing any sentient being, but I was forced to while under their control. Though if someone is willing to do harm to innocent people violence will always be used as a last resort." answered Ghost. "Well now that's good to hear." stated the Sherif visibly relieved from Ghost's answer. He was going to say something when some one hollered for the Sherif "SHERIF, BANDITS ARE A COMMIN'" hollered a kid in his late teens wearing a brown vest, a slightly dirty white shirt, with blue jeans, and brown boots on. Riding in on a light brown horse. "How many of 'em are coming Braeburn?" asked Silver Star slightly worried. "About a hundred of 'em coming fast." stated Braeburn. "Shit they are here for me." stated Ghost "What do you mean by that?" asked Braeburn who had a hand on pice of coiled up rope hanging from his belt. "That those bandits were hired by the changelings to hunt down any escaped subjects." answered Ghost. "Son what would happen if those bandits fail?" asked Silver Star. "It depends on how important and dangerous a subject. The lowest of both tiers would get maybe twenty warrior class changelings. The highest of both tiers would get a platoon." "So where do you fall on that list?" asked Sure Shot. "The highest in both tiers." answered Ghost. "Well...shit." stated Braeburn. "Alright here is what we are going to do. Brea get the the rest of the folks inside somewhere safe, Sure get the other shotgun and the two rifles. Ghost how effective are those guns of yours?" stated Sherif Silver Star. "Strong enough to punch a hole in the steel armor used by the Lunar Guard." replied Ghost "...Ok then." stated Silver Star. "Hey Silver, do you know what this is?" asked Sure Shot has he exited the building holding a double barrel shotgun similar to the one Ghost bent in half, two Henry Winchester rifles, and a long rifle with a long scope on it that only Ghost knew the name of. "I don't say I do Sure. Ghost you have any idea what that long gun is?" asked Silver. "Yeah, that is a Barrett M107A1 sniper rifle with what looks like a Vortex Razor HD Gen II scope." answered Ghost. "So you know how to use it?" asked Sure Shot while handing over the M107 to Ghost. "Yeah." answered Ghost while checking to see what type of rounds were in the magazine. To his surprise they were silver tipped rounds then he put the magazine back into the M107 and proceeded to cock the rifle. "Well then that's not over powered at all." stated Ghost after realizing that he was now armed with armor piercing incendiary rounds. "What do ya mean by that?" Asked Braeburn as he got back from securing the civilians into safe spots. "There are armor piercing incendiary rounds loaded into this." stated Ghost as he indicated to the M107 to Braeburn. "...Oh so do they burn in the air or upon impact?" asked Braeburn not fully understanding what the rounds do. "Upon impact." answered Ghost. "All right then Ghost I want you up on top of the hotel. Sure I want you up on top of the salon. Brae your with me." Stated Silver. "Sure get a message to the Royal Guard to send some help." "Yes, Sir" stated Sure Shot wile giving one of the Winchester rifles and shotgun to the Sherif and Braeburn. "Aye" stated Ghost while moving to the hotel with the M107 in hand. "Got it" stated Braeburn wile accepting the offered rifle from Sure Shot. "I hope the Guard gets here soon." stated Braeburn as he loaded the Winchester rifle in his hands. "You and me both." Stated Silver Star as he finished loading the shotgun in his hands. (POV: Ghost) As I made my way to the hotel I noticed that there was an extra button on the left side of the M107 that normally isn't there. Which got me intrigued on what it does, but that will have to wait till the bandits have been dealt with. On that note I made it to the roof of the hotel by using the one 12" kunai knives in my left arm that is connected to a grappling hook. The hook is melded to the knife with magic, so I have been told, which is attached to a reel of some kind of Mil-Spec Commercial Grade Nylon Paracord that is enchanted to go up to fifty feet. The hook attached to the top of the sign for the hotel, once firmly in place I reeled myself up and got situated. I looked through the scope and saw that there was indeed a hundred bandits coming though they were just out of range for the M107. That didn't last long, so I started firing off rounds that were easily ripping through several bandits at a time with the sound of thunder compared to the Winchester riffles going off about a minute later. "What the buck is a Human doing on top of the Hotel?" asked a raspy female voice from the main road. Which prompted me to look and see six women standing there. The one who voiced her opinion of me being where I am defending the town was one of the two in the group with wings. Her wings are a cyan blue and her hair has every color in the rainbow. She was wearing a white tank top with black shorts under a short red and white skirt and was wearing what looked like red Converse. She also had a pissed off look to her along with the others which quickly changed when a bandit tried to get me from above. He was meet with the head of an axe with a long pole attached to it that was the M107 I was just using. "Well then that's what that button does." I said out loud. I then pressed the button that was on the shaft just under the axe head which folded in on it's self to form the M107 again. Back to observing the six women, whom I took a picture of so I can focus on this impromptu battle. The other one with wings had long pink hair and her wings had a butter yellow look to them. She was wearing a light green long sleeve t-shirt with a brown skirt that went down to her knees and dark brown lace up shoes. Then there was the two who did not have wings or a horn like the other four. One had blond hair tied up in a pony tale, an orange plaid button up shirt on with blue jeans, brown boots, a belt buckle in the shape of an apple, and a brown cowboys hat on. The hat must be form someone she loves or lost. The second woman Without a horn or wings had pink curly hair that looked like cotton-candy and is wearing a pink jacket over a white t-shirt with three balloons on it one was yellow wile the other two were blue, a pink skirt with different types of candy lining the bottom, and white converse. The last two women had horns one was a marshmallow white the other was colored lavender purple. The one with the white horn had purple hair that was styled into curls that went down over her right shoulder and was wearing a white designer dress with white high hells. (Which made no sense to me.) The one with the lavender horn was wearing the typical librarians outfit with what looked like black slip on shoes with a dark purple hair with a strip of pink in it. In that time it took me to look at the picture of the six women the bandits mad it to the edge of town with about twenty men left from the original one hundred. Though they didn't shoot at us like they had been doing on their way in. I decided to get off of the roof and confront the men before they do something to the townsfolk and the Elements of Harmony which were those six women down on the street. (POV: Rainbow Dash) It had been a boring two day trip by train to Apple Loosa with my friends. Why we had to go to Apple Loosa was that the Princesses picked up a large magical surge somewhere south of Apple Loosa.Which is the most I got out of that conversation with the Princesses. We were now nearing Apple Loosa when we all heard the sound of thunder when there was no cloud in site, though off in the distance was a large dust cloud that was going straight for Apple Loosa. Once we arrived at Apple Loosa's train station I bolted out of the train car to see what was going on. The first thing to catch my eye was a human on the roof of the hotel with a big rifle that sounded like thunder every time it fired the gun. After another look at the human got me intrigued for it had arms that looked like they were made of metal and a small amount of hair on top of its head in the shape of a short mohawk. Once my friends caught up to me I voiced my concern about it bing up there. Which it heard. When it looked at us it's eyes were not that of a humans, they were black as night with an orange ring in the center of them instead of a normal human eyes. It only looked at us for a second before doing something to its rifle that turned it into an axe with a long pole attached to it. Soon a bandit tried to get him from above, but the human just decapitated him then reverted the axe back into the rifle he was using before. After that happened a gasp was heard to my right were Twilight was standing. "What is it Twi" I asked her. "He's the missing subject from the rouge group of scientists." "Really?" Yes, look at the side of his head just above his ear." I looked were she indicated and sure enough there was the stamp that was on all of the subjects from that group of scientists on his scalp just above his ear. "I don't think that is him darling." Stated Rarity "Why do you think that Rarity?" asked Fluttershy. "Because no human would sacrifice its self for others." answered Rarity. "What does the stamp say Rainbow?" Twi asked me. "S-E6-A95B-D2S." I stated for Twilight who had her Scroll tablet out looking at the list of the subject that was given to the Princesses by a former captain of the Lunar guard who was a subject of the same group of scientists. "...That's him alright." She stated. "Y'all can't be serious!?! Those varmints are no good bloodthirsty killers that don't care for non but them selfs!" exclaimed Applejack. "This one is different." stated Twilight. "Different how darling?" asked Rarity. "That's how." I stated. For he had jumped from the roof and landed on the ground in a supper hero pose. Which exposed his black wolf tail that looked extremely fluffy. "Oh my..." Rarity and Fluttershy stated at the same time. "Ohhh fluffy..." stated Pinkie "Wait his's a Faunus?" asked Applejack. "Among other things yes." stated Twilight "What other things?" asked Fluttershy just above a whisper. "Well there is the cybernetic enhancements in his legs, eyes, arms, and brain. An experimental formula that genetically enhanced all of his senses that were not cybernetic, which was his strength, speed, stamina and it gave him wings. Along with...four power skulls that were infused into him." stated Twilight. "So he can hear us?" asked Fluttershy who was shaking like a leaf during the running of the leaves in the fall. "That is right." came a deep male voice that sounded like a being that had some wisdom to it and one that was seldom used. We all turned to look at the Faunus/Human Cyborg. Who was looking at us out of the corner of it's eye. "And before any of you do something stupid I am not here to kill any of the townsfolk." "How do we know you are not lying Human?" asked Rarity with some distain. What surprised me was that it flinched when Rarity called him that, then started laughing! Laughing at her which pissed me off. "What gives you the right to laugh at her." I asked it "Because Rainbow Dash, Bearer of the Element of Loyalty." Which shocked me and my friends. "I have not been a human for five years. I have had my arms and eyes pulled out wile I was awake, had God know what injected into me, and do you want to know the worst of it?" He ranted wile walking towards me. "What was it?" asked Twilight with slight fear in her voice. "They turned me into a living weapon and I have hated knowing that every single goddamn day after they turned me into this." answered the creature. "Ghost we got changelings on the inbound!" exclaimed Braeburn as he ran up to us. "Hi ya cuz." "Hey Brae." stated Applejack. "Where." stated Ghost with no emotion what soever. "Same way the bandits came." answered Braeburn. "Good." stated Ghost who proceeded to turn his riffle into a long axe of sorts, then he slammed the blade into the ground at an angle, then he took off his hoodie. What was under it got all of us girls to blush for what was left of his organic body looked like it was carved out of solid rock. It also exposed his wings which were a mesh of metal and feathers which were blood red. An instant later he was gone.