Chapter One: Arrival.

***

The man blinked slowly, his eyes opening slowly. He squinted as a headache shot through his skull, only exacerbated by the light coming from the sky. For a moment, he was groggy, uncertain as to where he was or why he was there.

Then he remembered the last few minutes of the battle he had been fighting - the desperate plan, the hurried spellcasting, the terse nods of mutual respect. He blinked, looked around, and sighed.

He blinked again: he was alive. That was… surprising. He had been fighting rather poor odds, and while he had survived those before, he was getting to the point where maybe he wouldn’t be able to. Added to that the fact that he had just been sent through a…

Well, never mind. He shook his head, trying to clear the grogginess. He didn't necessarily mind the whole "not being dead" part, but if his luck held out about as well as it had for most of his life, he just knew it would come at a cost. Frowning, he looked around, and realised he had absolutely no idea where he was.

"I am going to kill Hell Blazer," he said quietly to himself.

First, he checked his arms. Both ended in rough, calloused hands, and he breathed an almost imperceptible sigh of relief. He checked his weapons - SPAS-style VK-12 Vollmer shotgun, sniper rifle strapped to back, modified hand-cannon in holster, twin daggers in their back-sheaths, bandolier across his chest and ammunition kept squarely in there. He checked his clothes - the worn, battered leather coat with his grim trophies sewed into the inside, t-shirt, neckerchief and trousers, topped off with hard-worn riding boots.

Well. He was all here, at least. The question was, where was here? Had he made it?

The sky was blue. That was unusual except in the depths of the countryside, which judging by the green trees and grass surrounding him was where he was. It was a far cry from the city of London, where he’d been previously. The smog filled city might never see blue skies or green trees again, not after everything it had seen, and yet that was all there was around him. It was… almost nice.

Just another thing they took from us, he thought bitterly. Just another reason I’m here.

If here is where I’m meant to be, anyway.

The sound of laughter distracted him. He looked up, eyes widening - he knew that kind of voice. His eyes hardened - he could almost feel the rage building up behind them, and he welcomed it. It gave him strength, it gave him focus, it gave him purpose in a world gone mad. Before anything else, he unsheathed one of his daggers, flipping it into a reverse grip and moving to follow the all-too familiar voice.

He quickly and stealthily went down a small dirt track, eyes narrow as he listened for the voice of his prey. The laughing voice continued up ahead, almost as if mocking him, but he grinned. He definitely knew that voice now.

Finally, he reached the edge of a small village. He grinned again, reading a small sign that lay there.

"Ponyville."

"It worked," he said softly to himself, not daring to believe he was actually in Equestria of all places. "Damn you Hell Blazer, but it actually worked." He made a mental note not to kill the that lucky, crazy son of a bitch, but to thank him when he saw him instead. And maybe kill him after, just for being something of a dickhead.

He advanced slowly through the little town, being as stealthy as he could. It seemed to be a quiet day, but all the same, there were a large number of ponies wandering around. He skulked around the edge of the village, hiding in shadows, until finally, he could see his prey.

A purple unicorn was sat by a small pond, reading a large, leather bound book, her back (thankfully) to him.

Twilight Sparkle. It was about time!

The man considered using his sniper rifle - at this range and with her so unawares, it would be so easy - but part of him preferred the idea of ending the bitch up close and personal. After all - killing her, like killing the rest, was personal. He tightened his grip on his dagger. He advanced slowly, his footsteps as quiet as he could make them. He wasn't really used to getting the drop on his kills, but he counted his blessings. He had long anticipated this kill, and nothing was going to ruin it.

"Hey Twilight!" a loud, rambunctious voice cut across his perceptions. "Who's that?!"

The purple unicorn turned, saw the man, and yelled out in fear. The man however had drawn his pistol and aimed it almost on instinct, his eyes wide in utter shock. A bright pink pony was staring at him, a big smile on her face even as he aimed the hand-cannon right at her.

"Hi!" she said brightly, looking altogether too happy. "My name's Pinkie Pie. Who are you?"

"No," he said, eyes widening as his mind struggled with the impossibility of what he was seeing. "Impossible."

***

January 23rd, 2030.

The bright pink pony screamed in frustration as the man dodged attack after attack, the splatters of what he assumed was ponification potion smacking into walls and rubble. Strictly speaking, he supposed he shouldn't have been worried, but all the same: no need to let the stuff get on him.

"Will you stand still?!" the pony yelled, getting the man's attention.

"Nope!" he cried out in return, mocking her. "Come on, Pinkie Pie, at least Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all put up a fight!"

"Don't say their names you... you big fat meany!" the pony replied, screeching in rage. The unlikely cannon the pony had seemingly summoned from nowhere fired again and again, the rate of fire seemingly impossible for such an old style weapon. And yet, that which was considered impossible was the business of these... things, he supposed.

Suddenly, a pie smashed into a wall opposite his head, having over sailed said head by a few feet: he raised an eyebrow. Confectionary as a weapon? That wasn't new, but it was still surprising. Not really deadly on it's own, per se, but deadly enough as far as the man was concerned if that dent was anything to go by. Still, it meant she was trying to kill him now, which meant she was angry. And if she was angry, she was going to make mistakes.

Ducking behind cover, he reloaded his shotgun, rethinking his strategy. This wasn't exactly how he had wanted this encounter to go, but it wasn't as though he was enamoured of choice.

"Alright meany-pants, you can't hide forever!" he heard her yell. She was getting closer, the cannon disappeared to wherever the crazy bitch kept it. But she was coming to within shotgun range.

"Don't worry," he called back, grinning maniacally. "I'm not."

He jumped out and opened fire, catching her front legs with the spray but not fatally injuring her. She yelled in pain, collapsing to her front knees.

"You're a big ugly meany!" she yelled in agony. "I'm going to hurt you so badly when I get up...!"

"No," he replied, unzipping his jacket, "you're not."

He let the garment fall open and showed her the inside of the jacket, his grim trophies now visible. The pony's eyes widened in what the man guessed was fear at the sight.

"You're a monster," she said, uncharacteristically completely serious as she looked at him with utterly terrified eyes. The man laughed, a cold and cruel sound.

"I'm just fire," he replied, aiming his shotgun at her head. "Fighting fire."

A bang rang out into the night.

***

"Mr No Impossible, huh?" Pinkie Pie said, shaking him from his memory. She had a hoof on her chin and looked thoughtful. "I don't think I've ever met anypony called that. Nice to meet you!"

He struggled with the insanity of the sight before him. Pinkie Pie? Alive? That couldn't be right. She was dead: he knew she was dead. He had killed her himself, not a few days ago, his shotgun blowing a good portion of her not-so-smiling-then face clean away. And yet here she was, no recognition, no anything. It was insane!

"What's that?" she asked, looking at his hand-cannon. She reared up to poke it, curiosity on her face.

Instinctively, he lashed out at her, smacking her to the ground with the butt of the pistol. He pointed his dagger at her, using it to try and ward her away from him.

"That wasn't nice!" she yelled, looking more morally outraged than murderous. Twilight, on the other hand, looked more worried than outraged.

"Keep away from me!" he replied, voice shaking for the first time since... well, since a lot of things. "Keep the hell away!"

"Excuse me... um, sir..." the voice of his initial target, Twilight Sparkle, spoke. He span and aimed the gun at her, and she yelped. "Um... what… sorry, who... are you?!"

He laughed at the absurdity of the question, now fairly certain that he was going mad. "Don't tell me you don't know who I am," he said angrily. "You know exactly who I am."

"No, sir, I don't," Sparkle replied nervously, looking very confused.

He frowned at her, not sure what her game was. She should know - he was top of the list of targets for any and every Pony in Equestria's armies. He had fought against her before. He was fairly certain had their situations been reversed at Cornwall, he would not have forgotten her.

"It doesn't matter," he said after a moment, shrugging. "If you're really that stupid, I guess killing you is going to be easier than I thought."

In a swift movement, his finger squeezed the trigger, firing a bullet straight at the bitch. However, even as he fired, a rainbow-coloured bolt of light flew past him, moving Sparkle out of the way. He blinked, finding himself at a loss for words as he thought about what he was seeing. It wasn't possible.

He turned his head, finding himself facing Rainbow Dash. It definitely wasn't possible.

He remembered her death all too well...

***

December 25th, 2029.

When he came to the crater in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, he saw her, stirring feebly. The King and his guards - the ones who were left, anyway - were safe inside, Hell Blazer and other members of the defence force having seen off the Pegasus attack, led by one of the last three of the Elements of Order. There were a few gashes on her side where anti air rounds had grazed her, and she had a hole in one of her wings, that being the injury that had finally brought her down. Her Wonderbolt uniform was ripped and torn, bloodstains marring the blue.

She yelled in agony, her legs having been broken by the hard impact. He felt the urge to laugh at her pain, but he suppressed it. He wasn't entirely a monster. Yet.

"The great Rainbow Dash," he said idly, smiling softly, "shot down by mere turrets. How embarrassing for you. I'm almost disappointed that I didn't get to fight you - I haven't had a real fight from any of your group yet save Applejack. Maybe Rarity too, but she was doomed the minute she drew blade against the big guy."

"Buck off!" she replied angrily, reacting more to the name than his taunts.

"You ruined the King's speech you know," he added. "Very annoying. I like the King's speech. Kind of a nice little bit of normality in the world, you know? And then you just had to try your shit..."

She didn't reply, instead struggling to stand up.

"You're certainly braver and feistier than little Miss Fluttershy managed, though I have to say, you’re far less dignified," he said idly. "Of course, I imagine Applejack would be very proud of you. Struggling to the last."

"Don't!" the downed Pegasus said, still trying to stand up, but failing, her shattered limbs failing her. "Don't you even speak their names! You monster!"

"Whyever not?" he replied casually. "I'm sure you've said the names of all sorts of friends of mine you've hurt. In fact, I know for a fact you have."

"We help people!" Dash screamed, almost seeming frustrated with his inability to understand. "We never hurt anyone - not intentionally, not until this bucking little island of stupid talking monkeys! Can't you understand that?! We only wanted to help you!"

"If you let people keep their own souls, I might almost believe you," the man replied, now kneeling near her. "Hell, if you'd just left Britain alone when you realised her magic was keeping you out, then I might almost believe you." He leaned in close, until he was eye to eye with the downed Element. "But you didn't. You came here to conquer. You've killed good people. Remember Whitby?"

There was a look of uncomprehending confusion on her face, and then she blinked.

"Yeah," she said softly.

"I lost a good friend there during your attack," the man said. "Now don't get me wrong: I'm sure you've lost friends. I've made sure of that one. But don't tell me you invaded our island and tried to subjugate and transform the last of the humans just because you thought it was for our own good."

She snorted. "You're a bunch of violent talking monkeys. You'd be better as ponies, all of you, but you wouldn't listen to reason..."

"And you don't think our desire to remain as we are matters a jot," the man replied, starting to get agitated. He took a breath and calmed himself. "But we're not here for pointless idealogical talk, oh no. After all, I won't convince you and you won't convince me." He opened his jacket, displayed the three grim trophies he had claimed so far, and waited. To Dash's credit, she didn't seem altogether perturbed, though her eyes widened in horror. "We're here to add a touch of rainbow to my colour scheme."

"You're insane," she whispered, her voice not betraying her fear. Her eyes did her screaming and pleading for her, and it was more than enough for him.

"Takes one to know one, love," he replied. He whipped out a dagger, smiling softly.

"You... you could interrogate me," she said, her voice breaking slightly. "I know things... I know..."

Before she could continue trying to plead for her life (and lose all her dignity, which he wouldn’t normally care about but it would have really bored him), he stabbed her in the back of the neck, the dagger going clean through her spine and windpipe. She gurgled briefly, eyes wide with horror and agony, then she died, her head slumping to the ground, eyes empty and lifeless.

He grinned, then grabbed her mane...

***

The Rainbow Dash in front of him looked angry, but it wasn't the kind of righteous, manic anger he had seen before. No, this was confused anger.

"Who are you and why are you hurting my friends?!" she yelled at him.

"We haven't got to hurting yet," the man replied, an edge in his voice. "Give me time."

He stepped back, and quickly took stock of his situation. This was a quiet part of Ponyville, but more ponies would be drawn by a commotion, which fighting these three - at least three of the Elements of Order - would do. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were all present, though he had no idea how that was possible since he definitely remembered killing two of them.

He tried remembering Hell Blazer's technique for knowing if you were in a magical hallucination: he looked around, trying to see any shimmers or inconsistencies in the world, maybe some kind of duplication effect or haze... but he found none save the dead ponies standing in front of him, and they looked real and solid enough. Then he pinched himself - maybe he was dreaming, still unconscious after another fit.

Nope. Nothing.

He holstered his hand cannon, and whipped out his other dagger: the one that had killed Rainbow Dash before. It was identical to his other dagger save for a small series of marks he had etched into the hilt - a representation of Dash's cutie mark and the words "speed killer".

"How are you alive?" he asked the Pegasus lightly, spinning the Element-killing dagger in his hand as he spoke. "I thought the Tyrant Empress was a crazy bitch, but I had kinda figured she'd stop at necromancy. Mind you, she did a good job: Hell Blazer told me necromantic summoning tended to make a mess of the subject."

"What are you talking about?!" Dash retorted angrily. "Who's the Tyrant Empress? And what's necro-whatever?"

"Necromancy," came Twilight's voice, sounding disgusted, "is the practice of bringing the dead back to life."

"What?!" Dash said, confused. "Why would he think I was brought back from the dead?"

The man laughed internally - he had no idea why they both decided to sound so disgusted: Twilight shouldn't, since clearly it had brought her friends back to life for her ('and she's gonna need them'), and Rainbow Dash owed that practice her existence. Nevertheless, it was an unfortunate prospect. The Elements were difficult enough to kill the first time, when they were on his ground and he killed them one by one, each one falling to carefully planned stratagems. Now? Three on one? No plan? Well, he could always pull out his show-stopper, but he was hoping to save that.

"Damn Hell Blazer," he said to himself, deciding he'd kill that idiot for the second time that day. Screw the thanks.

"Well?" Dash asked, turning to him. "What are you talking about? Why do you think I'm dead?"

The man laughed. They weren't even attacking him: it didn't look as though it had even occurred to them. He didn't know what was stopping them, and he didn't care - he was just prepared to take advantage of their lack of action as much as he could.

"Because I killed you," he supplied helpfully. He twirled his "speed killer" dagger in his hand again, before pointing it at her. "With this dagger."

Rainbow Dash's eyes goggled at the blade as he almost nonchalantly began to spin it in patterns quite unlike anything she'd seen done with a bladed weapon before - this creature, whatever it was, was clearly skilled with the blade, and that made him dangerous. She backed away slightly.

"I killed you," the man repeated, an odd (and somewhat frightening) note in his voice. "And whether you remember you dying or not, I'm more than keen to repeat the experience."

Before any of the ponies could speak, he sheathed his dagger, aimed his pistol and shot at Dash - she managed to dodge, but he followed her with his pistol, emptying the magazine. Before either of the other two Elements could do anything, the man charged at Pinkie Pie, unsheathing his blades again - he reasoned she would be the easiest to stop first, if caught unawares. Unfortunately, with the threat of the pistol currently silenced, Rainbow Dash charged at him, lashing out with her hooves as she flew straight for him. He dodged her attacks, moving with inhuman speed, before striking her with his daggers - the blade that had killed her scored her on the cheek, and the other slashed her leg. Temporarily immobilised, she fell to the ground in pain. He was surprised - she had still struggled to move from far less injury than that when he claimed her life - but he didn't care all that much. He turned to Pinkie Pie, but before he could do anything she charged at him.

"Stop being mean to my friends!" she yelled, but she did nothing worse than jump on him, knocking him over. Before she could do anything else, he grabbed her, headbutted her, and threw her off him with a yell of fury. He span his blades, intending to finish the pony there and then, but then he felt a crackling in the air.

He looked at Twilight Sparkle, whose horn was glowing with summoned magics - he unholstered his shotgun but his aim was off so he only managed to graze her shoulder and side, causing her to dodge the shot with a yelp of pain.

"Stop dodging and fight me, coward!" he yelled. He could feel the spirit within itching for conflict, but he couldn't release it yet: it was a last resort, and not one he liked using at the best of times, let alone now he knew what Hell Blazer had told him...

Besides, he had killed most of the Element Bearers without it, and didn't intend to "cheat" now. He racked his shotgun before switching it to semi-automatic fire, and fired at Sparkle again and again, shattering trees and gouging out bits of ground but never managing to hit the still dodging pony.

A heavy impact hit his back, sending him sprawling to the ground. He snarled - the party cannon. He hated that thing. He grabbed one of his daggers, span around and threw it full pelt at Pinkie Pie's face, but she dodged: it only managed to shear off a few strands of hair from her mane.

"Hey!" she yelped indignantly.

The commotion was drawing too much attention for the man's liking. Even as he fought these three Elements, two more ponies had arrived, racing up to the scene with shock in their eyes. One was a Pegasus with grey fur, a blonde mane and bubbles for a cutie mark, and the other was a yellow Pegasus with long pink hair and pink butterflies on her flank. The latter stirred memories of hatred for the man, along with confusion as to why she was even still alive. The former, though, stirred that same confusion, as well as memories of something entirely different... fondness and respect. He zoned out in shock...

***

March 10th, 2026.

In the sky above the formerly great city of Manchester, a giant airship, the Super-Zeppelin Eras Harmonious Order, flew, dropping bombs filled with potion and fire in equal measure. Most of the population of Manchester were in shelters, but it was still untenable as far as a military response was going. Surrounding it were dozens of squadrons of Pegasi, including - most prominently - Rainbow Dash's personal Wonderbolt squadron.

That bitch, the man thought to himself with a snarl. One day, he'd see that bitch and all her little "friends" die. If he was lucky, he'd get to do it himself.

All that stood in the thing and it's escort's way was a handful of old Red Arrows hastily converted into dogfighting tools, though they were hardly a match for the small ponies, and a single 12-pony squadron of human-friendly Pegasi, trying desperately to keep their erstwhile kin away from the planes.

The battle was going poorly. The zeppelin was barely dented after what felt like hours of dogfighting, the Red Arrows were downed, and the Pegasi squadron reduced to only three ponies.

The man, though he hated to even consider it, was already ordering a full scale withdrawal of every trooper her could. His superiors on the ground had been killed by a bomb strike a few minutes ago - now it was all up to him. He didn’t like that feeling, but he shrugged off the feelings of doubt - he was all there was.

"Grey Leader," he said into his mic, contacting the leader of the single Pegasi squadron in the air. "We are abandoning the city. I repeat, we are abandoning the city."

"We can't!" the desperate voice of Ditzy Doo (though she was often affectionately referred to as Derpy) replied. "If we do, nothing's keeping them safe from the ground forces that thing's carrying!"

"We can't stop it!" the man said, hope draining from him. "Manchester is lost."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" she replied. "Grey Four and Seven, get out of here!"

The other two ponies chorused affirmative's that reached the man's ears, but he ignored them.

"Grey Leader, report!" he yelled into his mic. "Grey Leader!"

He grabbed a pair of binoculars and tried to see where she was, but there was no sign of her little grey form amidst the chaos that was the burning, tracer-filled sky.

"I've enough explosives with me to bring that thing down if I aim right!" he heard her yell, and then he saw her. A little grey speck aiming for the primary bridge of the airship: it's weak spot.

"Don't do it, Derpy," he said softly.

"Ditzy," she replied, sounding almost like she was holding back tears. "My name's Ditzy Doo. Please - call me that, if this is it."

"Ditzy, then," he said. "Don't."

"I'm ending this!" she yelled back. "I'm giving my life for a cause. King and Country. You understand that, right?"

He wanted to argue, but horribly enough he knew exactly what she meant. King and Country had been an oath even men like him, who'd never been particularly patriotic, had taken up with gusto.

"I understand," he said. He watched as she got closer and closer to the zeppelin.

"Get them back for me - and tell the Doctor, please?" he heard her ask, sounding as though she were suppressing a sob. It broke his heart: she was frightened, terrified, but she was going to die for the cause anyway, not because she wanted to but because she had to. Her last thoughts were for her friend - no, what were she and the Doctor...?

Before he could answer her, he saw her little grey form ram into the bridge of the Harmonious Order, the various high explosive bombs she carried going off the moment volatile contact was made. An explosion ripped through the machine, blowing the front of the airship to pieces and setting most of the rest of it on fire. The man watched it burn, and felt like hope was returning to his heart. Bittersweet hope, for hundreds of enemy ponies were on the ground and worse, dozens more still in the air, but there was hope nonetheless.

"Yes ma'am," he replied, eyes filled with grim determination. "This is resistance command to all units. Manchester is saved, I repeat, Manchester stands."

He remembered kind, misaligned eyes and a friendly smile. "All troops. Take these bastards down!"

***

"Ditzy?!" he said, eyes wide. He ignored the presence of Fluttershy and the others, surprised as he was to see his old friend and ally there. "What the hell?"

"Who are you?" she asked nicely, sounding entirely innocent and sweet - too innocent and sweet for what the man knew she had seen with her own eyes. "I don't think we've met..."

"Ditzy, how are you here?" he asked, ignoring her words. "More to the point, why are you here?!"

"I live here," she said, tilting her head in confusion. "Who are you?"

He couldn't reply to her, much as might have wanted to, because a moment later he was hit in the side of the head by a blow from an absolutely livid Rainbow Dash and rendered unconscious. It was a good thing he was unconscious too: when he woke up, the first thing he'd do would be hit himself for ever getting that sloppy.

***

Author's Notes:

EDIT: This Chapter was edited on 23rd March 2015.