The fallen soldier

Chapter 37

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Canterlot, a beautiful city. A city where only the smartest survive, a city where dreams come true, and where they're smashed and turned into dust and used to fuel the flames of another's dreams.

Or.. You know.. It's just a city where every business makes money.

Whatever, you're here to get information on your job. Not to try and be poetic, which is something you're obviously not very good at it.

As you stepped off the train, you stopped and took in the sights. Only 2 weeks ago did you travel here to steal a book. Then rob half the fucking city, but you did befriend the hobos of the city. So that's good for whatever it's worth.

Maybe you can.. Call some kind of hobo favor? The thought alone sounds retarded, but you've done weirder. Like when you discovered that cave full of creepy ass creatures. That was seriously fucked up.

You ignored the thought of those demonic creatures and focused on walking through the crowded streets of Canterlot. You knew this would take a while, so you figured you'd try and use an old skill of yours.

Free-running.

Yes, free-running, it's a useful skill to have in a crowded city. When you don't have access to a land vehicle or air vehicle, knowing how to get away on foot is quite handy. And you obviously didn't have a car, a hover-car, or a plane of some kind.

You didn't even have your A.M.A.H.S. suit.

Currently all you possessed were, a bag of 80bits, your trusty SAS-24, a couple extra magazines, a combat knife, and some paper documents that gave you access to the castle. Oh and clothes... You had clothes.

Speaking of clothes, the season of cold weather is starting to make itself known. Weather officials have been planning and slowly reverting the temperature. So a jacket is required if you want to avoid getting sick, but not to Valkyries! No! Those fuckers get some natural resistance to heat and cold!

Fuck those guys... And fuck mages too.

Freaking mages, those guys think they're all that cause they can shoot fireballs from their hands!

Oh yeah!? I got a ship in the woods capable of firing a laser so powerful! It can blow Canterlot off the very mountain it was built upon! Eh?! How's that for over-fucking-powered!!?

Alright.. Calm down. Back to free-running.

You stepped out from the crowd and found yourself in a open spot in the streets. You examined the buildings around you, some made perfect free-running adventures, while others had needle like designs on the roof. You couldn't jump as high, the lack of a A.M.A.H.S. suit prevents incredibly high jumping.

But your cybernetic legs allow higher jumping than the average human. The highest allowed being 8-10 feet. It may sound like a lot, but using the A.M.A.H.S. suit allows you to jump up to 18-21 feet.

The hydraulics in the suit.. They ain't no joke.

You pushed your way through a crowd and walked into a empty alley. How long has it been since you've done this? 4 years? 5 years? God knows how it's been since you've woke in this world.

You wondered how all your old friends were doing, even the ones that betrayed you. How's Rachel? Did she ever find a meaning for herself? What about Mary? Did she ever find someone? She could've... And would've had you, but...

But nothing, you did what you thought was right.

She'll find someone, she was always good at that.

You forced the thought aside and examined the alleys walls, if you ran up that wall and pulled yourself up... You should be able to jump across the street onto the other building. You quickly wondered if your aging body could compete with such requirements, but you scoffed and decided to try anyway.

You took a step back, and ran toward the wall. Using the momentum from the run, you jumped and took a few steps on the wall. Your cybernetic hand grabbed the edge and kept a firm grip, you looked down and laughed in amazement. You brought your flesh hand up and gripped the edge as well, you pulled yourself up with a grunt.

You're supposed to use the momentum to help you pull yourself up, you think at least. It's hard to recall.

You raised your neck side to side, earning some cringe-worthy pops in return. You stretched your body and prepared to get a work out. And since you weren't entirely sure if this was legal, you pulled the jacket hood over your head. It made you look cool.

At least you thought so.

You mapped out a path over the roof tops, and began running towards the edge of the roof. You took a deep breath and leaped across the alley, landing firmly on the opposite buildings roof. You didn't bother stopping and kept on going, as you followed the invisible road, and jumped across alleyways. The citizens walking beneath the streets would sometimes notice you, they'd gasp and stare in horror. Apparently expecting you to fall and badly hurt yourself.

Of course, that never happened.

Yer teh fuking pro.

You jumped across a building, increased your pace, leaped and reached for a window ledge. You soared through the sky, time slowed down, and the window got closer and closer. Your legs hit the building first, the shock flew up your body and nearly made you lose your grip, but your cybernetic arm held strong.

Using a beautiful thing called strength, you pulled yourself up and grabbed the ledge above. You repeated this until you were on the buildings roof. The building wasn't too far from the castle, and you simply had to get back to street level.

That would be interesting.

You walked across the roof and bent down, you looked down and watched the civilians go about their average day. You had a quick thought on how you're supposed to get down. But then a thought crossed your mind.

You took a dozen steps back and started sprinting towards the edge, at the last moment, you leaped from the building and flew towards a smaller building across the street. You landed after a few seconds and did a roll, you didn't fully recover and winded up rolling onto your back.

Which hurt.

As your body processed the pain from skidding on stone, you took the time to examine the blue sky. You could faintly see dark clouds approaching from the north, this meant a storm was brewing. Obviously. You hoodies hood was working as pillow for your head. But its thin design was not working very well.

You stood up with a grunt escaping your lips, your hand reached behind you and rubbed the sensitive skin on your back. You hissed and quickly used your hoodie to recover the wound. You rolled your shoulders and started to walk to the edge of the building, again.

Luckily, there was a building directly next to this one. You reached the edge and knelt down, you inched forward and jumped from your crouched position. You hit the rook with a heavy thud, you grunted and walked to the edge once again. You crouched and hopped down, again.

You couldn't hop down onto the streets, the roads were far too crowded, and chances were, you'd land on someone. And that's a lawsuit. Or.. You don't actually know. But your confident it'd turn into some annoying time waster.

You sighed and stretched, your body was sore and you'd prefer a nice nap now. To be completely honest, it would've been considerably faster if you just walked there. But hey, nothing like a workout to get the day going.

You dropped into the alley and walked out and into the crowded streets. A few people sitting at a cafe across the street gave you strange looks, they probably watched you fly across the streets and land. Good for them, free show.

You discreetly raised your hoodie and poked the sensitive skin, it hurt still. You pushed your way through a crowd surrounding a man and turned to change streets. But then you caught the suspicious sight of a suspicious man suspiciously picking the pocket of non-suspicious citizens.

"Was this guy seriously pick-pocketing?" You thought to yourself.

You stopped in your tracks, the foot-traffic flawlessly curved around you. You watched the hooded man slip a wallet from another man's back-pocket.

You've seen enough.

You don't yell, or pull your gun out, you've been in this situation before.

You instead pull your hood up, after properly securing it. You pull a handkerchief from your back pocket, you wrap it around your mouth and tie at the back. You pushed your way through the crowd and quietly approached the hooded man.

To be frank, you were just as suspicious as the hooded man.

As the hooded man slipped past a group of men watching the street performer. He professionally snatched wallets from the back pockets of anyone who were foolish enough to place them there.

Why these men were carrying wallets and not coin purses? You'll never know. Maybe they found them manlier, or maybe they're supporters of introducing paper currency to the lands and Equestria.

You certainly were, since paper money is far easier to carry than the bulky and heavy coin purses. Of course, every official Equestrian Bit has a special spell on them to make it considerably lighter. Gold is heavy after all.

Getting back on the matter at hand, you approached the man from behind and tapped in his shoulder. The man turned, acting as if he didn't just steal a man's coin purse.

"What do you want?" The man asked, his voice scratchy and full of annoyance.

"Can I interest you in some fruit punch?" You ask, secretly winding your right fist back.

"What?" He asked. "What in the hell is fruit punch?"

You punched him in the face.

He went down.

The street went deathly silent, everyone stared at the unconscious man.

"H-H-He just killed him!" Shouted one man.

Before the situation could get any worse, you bent down and ripped the man's jacket open. You pulled out over a dozen different wallets, and several coin purses.

"This man has been pick pocketing! He even has these stolen wallets in his jacket!" You announce, standing up with a couple wallets in your hand.

A man approaches you, "That's my wallet! It's even got my picture sewn into it! Open it!"

You look at the man, shrug, toss every wallet expect for the one, and opened it. Inside was a pocket full of experimental -- but completely legal -- paper currency. One particular bill had a picture of Celestia on it.

You found a picture of a man with a beard, you raised the wallet and compared the picture to the man's face. It matched. He shaved, but it matched.

You tossed him the wallet and turned to go on your way, as you walked away, several armored guards ran to the scene and took control over it.

And that's how you earned the reputation of the "Vigilante."

You found it ironic, since you robbed half the city no-more than a week ago.

You approached the castle, the guards noticed you and raised their swords. You pulled the document from your back pocket and showed it to the two guards, they both nodded and opened the gate for you.

You stepped into the castle yards and walked towards the even bigger gates. It was the same as last time, show the document, they open the door, show the document, they open the door. You did this until you eventually reached the throne room.

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The last two guards looked at each other, their gaze spoke a thousand words, but they turned and gave you a firm nod. One man stepped aside and raised his hand, it lit for a quick second, you felt a tickling sensation all over your body. It was over in a matter of seconds.

The guard lowered his hand and motioned for the other guard to open the door. The guard knocked a couple times on the door, he grabbed the bar and pulled the door his way. The big door opened and revealed the throne room, along with Celestia and Luna. The two sat in their fluffy and probably comfortable thrones. Luna and Celestia seem to both be sleeping.

You nodded at the guard and walked in the throne room. It was seemingly empty of bodyguards, save for a single guard in the corner. He looked serious, very serious. So serious in fact, it felt like one stupid mistake would cause him to unleash a fury of devastating magical attacks. You could tell he was a Mage from the type of armor he wore.

Your average foot-soldier wore the heaviest but most durable armor. Valkyrie wore the lightest armor, so as to not dampen their flight skills. And Mages wore a mixture of light and heavy, their armor had the most enchantments though. Out of all them? Mages prove to be the most threatening.

A well trained Mage could kill a group of highly trained AMAHS agents with a multitude of spells. Hell, a novice Mage could kill you if he used the right spell. That's why you have a negative opinion of Mages. Their fucking kings of it all. Jack of all trades if you will.

You have wings? Fuck you! I know a spell that give me wings that sparkle! You can plant crops and make them grow quicker? I can use a spell to completely skip the growing phase! You're extremely intelligent? I can use a spell to steal everything you know!

Fucking Mages.....

You glared at the Mage in the corner, he calmly blinked and pointed at the princesses.

You rolled your eyes and approached the sitting princesses, you stopped in front of the two and crossed your arms. "So?" You ask, breaking the deathly silent atmosphere.

Luna and Celestia stepped to attention, both Celestia and Luna gazed down at you with tired eyes. The two were dozing off? That's the first.

"Anderson." Began Celestia, who yawned and stretched. "Apologies if you had to wait, we're both incredibly exhausted."

"No problem." You reply. "I'm a bit late myself, ran into a pick-pocket."

Luna smacked her lips together, "You stopped him.. Correct?"

You nodded.

"Good, most of the street guards have been reassigned to the castle. Crime has raised considerably within the streets." Explained Luna. "I'd certainly know even without the weekly statistics, I get so many complaints at night about men breaking into the houses of the Innocent." Luna lowered her head and massaged her temples.

That's right.. Luna runs the Canterlot night court.

"That's not his problem dear sister." Announced Celestia, who's woken from her groggy state. "Anderson's here for a far more important matter."

Luna sat back up, but slouched in a rather un-princess like posture. Her eyes focused on you, you could clearly see the bags under her eyes. It didn't compliment her face.

"You're right. Sorry to burden you with my problems." Luna apologized.

You wave your hands at her, "It's fine, everyone's got issues. Now, what's happening?"

Celestia straightens her hair and looks at you, "A war is going to take place very soon." She bluntly announced.

You went wide-eyed, "Really?! Are you sure!? How soon?!" You demanded.

Celestia waved a hand, quieting you, "In a matter of months. Relations with Griffonia is very fragile... or they were. Me and Luna could no fit the requirements of their demands."

You started pacing the throne room, another war!? You really didn't want more blood on your hands. You stopped your nervous pacing and faced the princesses, "How is this war my problem?"

Both Celestia and Luna looked at each other, Celestia spoke up.

"We've come up with a plan to potentially bring their opposing force to a complete halt." Celestia explained. "It involves some morally questionable missions, which is why...." Celestia trailed off.

You knew what they wanted.

"You want me to singlehandedly take on a entire nation?" You asked, your expression slowly darkening. "You want me to fight another war? Fight for a nation that isn't even my own?" You pointed a finger at the princesses.

Suddenly, the guard from the corner was right in front of you. He grabbed your finger and twisted it back while pushing you at the same time.

Your anger started flaring, "You think that hurts!?" You started pushing back, making the finger bend even more.

You gave the man a firm shove and sent him sprawling to the floor. The guard jumped back onto his feet and drew his sword, he rushed forward and slashed at you.

Your cybernetic arm grabbed the blade and yanked, the Mage didn't expect this. He let go and went for a left hook, your right arm came up and caught the punch. You drew your head back and slammed it into his, he stumbled back and gripped his head.

Attacking the head of any Mage is the most crucial thing you could do.

The man's hand started glowing blue, he raised one hand and disappeared in a poof of blue smoke. By time you noticed him next to you, his fist already slammed into your cheek. Your head jerked to the right and you stumbled to the right from the surprise punch. You turned your head and threw the sword at him, he raised his hand and caught the blade in a magical field.

The sword slowly turned to face you, you had a faint idea as to what was going to happen next. You dolphin dived to the side just in time to dodge a sword flying towards you at 80mph. The sword hit the marble wall and bounced off. Weird.

You stood up and sidestepped a highly dangerous burst of flames, the Mage knew FUCKING FIRE SPELLS................ AND TRIED TO BURN YOU ALIVE!

The Mages hands switched colors and he disappeared in a poof of smoke once again. You knew what going to happen next. You immediately stepped forward and did a quick 180degree turn. The Mage appeared mere steps from your last location and threw a punch where he figured you'd be.

You took his confusion as an opportunity.

You grabbed him by his chest piece and threw him into a nearby Marble Pillar. He slammed into the marble structure and grunted in pain. You stomped towards him and threw a right hook that nailed him in the jaw. He jerked to the left, but you didn't let up.

You threw another right hook that hit his jaw again, he nearly went down but stood strong. You laughed darkly and used your cybernetic arm to punch him in his armored gut. Your metal fist slammed into his armor and left him a nice fist-shaped indent.

The guard bent over and violently coughed, you grabbed his head and slammed your knee into his face. He shot up and fell back onto the pillar again, his face was blank, completely void of any emotion, he was unconscious. Hopefully.

You took several deep breaths, you stared at the limp body of the guard. Your adrenaline started to slowly fade, leaving behind a thing called regret. You sniffed the air and picked up on the scent of piss. You looked down at the guard and sniffed again.

He pissed himself.

You turned and faced the princesses, both were still sitting on their respectful throne. They never even attempted to help their own guard. You didn't know what to think of that.

Luna spoke first, "He was one of our best Mages in the city. For him to be defeated by a man such as yourself.... Disappointing."

Celestia used her shoulder to jab Luna, the two may have been princesses, but they're still sisters.

Celestia replied with, "He was probably holding back, he couldn't use high-level spells due to the danger of destroying the castle." She tried to excuse the soldiers poor attempt at combat.

Luna rolled her eyes, "He certainly had no problem using a fire spell, he disintegrated my favorite banner too."

As she mentioned that, you turned and spotted a red banner hanging from the wall. Or.... what was left of the banner.

Celestia chuckled, "We'll have a new one made and placed there by tomorrow. Now.. What about Anderson?"

Luna stood up, she stepped down from her throne and approached you, Celestia followed. "Well dear sister, this proves our soldiers lack of training."

Celestia stopped at Luna's side, "He's seen plenty of battles before, he was once in the Monster hunting squad. Before it was disassembled of course."

Luna nodded, "Fighting a beast of the wild is different than fighting a super-soldier with 19 years of military service."

Celestia nodded in agreement.

Luna turned and faced you, "We'd still like your assistance in stopping a war."

You stayed quiet this entire time, expecting a couple years in the dungeon. "You still ask? Even after I subdued one of your best Mages? Possibly even killed!?"

Celestia shook her head, "Fret not Anderson, he isn't dead. And he drew his sword first."

You raised a finger, but quickly lowered it, you glanced down at the unconscious body of the soldier. You looked back at the two princesses standing near you.

"What if I have no interest in staying on this planet? Why would I want to fight for something thats not gonna benefit me at all?" You ask.

Celestia crossed her arms, "I was hoping we could appeal to your personal morals. You know? You'd been saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Didn't really think you'd need a reward for that." She smiled.

Luna crossed her arms and frowned at you, "I don't think there's anything human left in there."

Celestia shook her head, "I'd like to think otherwise."

Both princesses stared at you. Expecting a response.

You frowned, a sigh escaped your lips, "If...... If I can get access to that ship on Griffin territory. I'll check to see if it's got ammunition for its big guns. If so... Before I leave in search of humanity... my humanity, I'll blow their entire city sky-high. They'll never see it coming and... And you'll never see war again. Hopefully."

You looked Celestia in the eye, "I'll just have to live with the fact I massacred thousands of.... birds."

You'd never be able to murder hundreds of innocent humans, but since they're birds. Maybe.. Just maybe you can convince yourself it isn't that wrong.

Even if you're technically murdering thousands of innocent sentient birds.

Celestia frowned as well, "Even if they're forcing war upon us, I was hoping to avoid a massacre."

Luna frowned as well.

You wiped your frown away and straightened your posture, "I've got a vehicle in my possession that is capable of getting me to the crashed ship in a matter of hours. If you'd like, I could fly there and end this war here and now."

Celestia looked at Luna, then back at you, "Your technology is terrifying. For you to be able to destroy a city in one concentrated attack...."'

"Yeah." You weakly chuckled. "Just be happy I didn't first wake up in Griffonia."

The two princesses looked at one another with grim expressions.

Celestia looked back at you, "Our plan involved far less violence, and a whole lot of sneaking."

You replied with, "I'm not going to stay here forever, I don't want to waste months of my time helping you defeat a nation with a stronger military."

Luna stepped forward, "Since you claim to have a vehicle capable of traversing between nations in a mere matter of hours... Why haven't you left yet? What's stopping you from hopping in that vehicle and flying to Griffonia?"

You didn't have a answer.

"Are you waiting for a invitation? Or are you expecting orders from me and Celestia?" Questioned Luna.

You still didn't have a answer, causing your brain to tear itself apart looking for a response, why are you still here? You could've left the moment you fixed the VTOL!

"Why are you still here Anderson?" Asked Celestia.

You've heard enough.

Your poor brain couldn't anymore. You turned and started walking away, you had to get away, had to escape to silence.

"Running away isn't gonna help!" Luna hollered after you.

You covered your ears and kept walking.. And you walked.... And you walked.

The question, "Why are you still here?" Kept repeating in your head.

It annoyed you, really. Maybe it's the truthfulness that annoyed you, it made you aware of something you didn't wanna be aware of.

Or maybe you actually like it here in Equestria.

A cold beer and a couple donuts should assist you in coming up with a answer.

Author's Notes:

What do you guys think?

Should Anderson stay in Equestria? Or should he leave?

Should he destroy the Griffons capital? Or should he go for the more peaceful response? Or should he go wildcard and attempt to intimidate Griffonia into obeying Equestria? Or should Anderson abandon Equestria to its fate?

I'm giving you all the choice... On very rare occasions, I'll give you all choices on what should be done. This usually changes the story completely, and may change the way this story ends. Alright?

So-

Choice #1 =
A- Anderson stays in Equestria. (Maybe he'll finally find peace, he's already given the military 19 years of his life, do they need more?)
B- Anderson leaves in search of his home. (Once a soldier, always a soldier. You're loyal till you die, vacation time is over, let's get back to it then.)

Choice #2 =
A- Destroy the Griffon capital (Anderson will have to live with the fact that he massacred innocent civilians, but he'll end a war before it even began.)
B- Take the more peaceful approach/ use the princesses plan ( not as many casualties, but it'll take a while to finish.)
C- Wildcard ( take matters into your own hands, show Griffonia that Equestria is under 'your' protection. Casualties will be inevitable.)
D- Abandon ( Equestria was never your home to begin with, therefore it isn't your problem.)
choice #1 A- Anderson doesn't help with the war and retreats into hiding, he'll watch Equestria fall from a safe distance. This will end the story. Choice #1 B- Anderson travels to Griffonia and escapes into orbit, he eventually finds his way back home. He'll never know the fate of Equestria. This will end the story.

I ask that you PLEASE ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS, IF YOU DONT, THEN THIS STORY COULD POSSIBLY TAKE A ROUTE YOU DONT LIKE.

PLEASE ANSWER THIS

If you answer, please write.

Choice 1= A or b
Choice 2 = A or B or C and or D

Please choose only one for each choice. I'll give you all 2 days to vote, starting tomorrow since I posted this chapter rather late at night.

STAY GOLDEN PPL AND PLZ ANSWER THE CHOICES