The fallen soldier

Chapter IDK

This chapter takes off immediately after the last one. (ignoring the ending.)

Quote of the day, "Never said I was a hero."

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This castle is rather large, so large in fact, it's incredibly easy to get lost in. A couple wrong turns and suddenly you're in Narnia. Or, uh, in a room you don't wanna be in. Hehe.

The princesses gave you simple orders, exit the room, and down the hall is another room. It has a high ranking soldier who will give you instructions and information. Simple?

Luckily, it is.

After exiting the training room, sword at your side, slightly hidden by your trench coat. Although it was obvious when you turned, who wouldn't notice the giant stick protruding from your hips? Uh, could've worded that better.

Upon finding the described room, you knocked and pushed the door open. You don't understand why you knocked, it felt like the right thing to do. Everyone is starting to rub off on you. Their... kindness is overwhelming at some moments.

There was a lone woman, standing around a giant map on a table, her back and wings facing you. She had very unique hair, or maybe it's the lighting? Whatever, it looks like she has fire for hair. Rather familiar.. But where did you see her from?

"You the guy I'm expecting?" The woman asked, breaking your thought.

The thought disappeared instantly and you reply with, "Yep, I'm the guy." You walk past the woman and stand by the table.

"Good, I've got things I've gotta do so I wanna finish this quickly." She grabbed a couple folders laying on her side of the map and slid them over to you.

"All you gotta do is kill these guys. Simple." The woman explains.

You opened one folder and was welcomed to a picture of a Griffon dressed in fancy clothes. Upon moving the picture, you found a paper with a LOT of words on it. A brief look over showed some info on this birds birth date, religion, and some general backstory.

You assumed the other folders had the same thing.

"I trust you won't fail?" The woman asked.

You look up from the folders, "Not something I excel in you know.... Assassination." You pause. "But I can't fail something so simple."

You raise your arms up, as if you're holding a rifle.

"Find somewhere far away, preferably with a easy escape option if needed, take aim." You hold your breath and act like you're squeezing the trigger. You pull the trigger, "Bam. Wait a moment. Then his head explodes... Or uh, he has a new hole to breath from. His head won't explode." You lower your arms.

The woman raises a brow, "I'm putting a lot of hope into you. You know you've got a lot riding on your shoulders right? I still think it's bad to hire you, I'm fully confident my team could handle the problem."

You chuckle, "You've got wings, if the rest of your team has wings. Giving you and them rifles could turn you into the worlds most dangerous squad. The entire sky is your playground, sniping would be easy." You rub your chin. "But don't worry, I've years of experience with this stuff. I could probably have this done in a week. Since all I'm doing is sniping."

"You sound cocky. That's one attitude that gets people killed." The woman stared into your eyes.

"Yeah, trust me, I know." The last 2 words come out as a growel.

The two of you have a staring contest.

It's obvious this woman doesn't like you, maybe it's because you stole her job? Who the hell is she? Her team sounds like it... Well you don't know.

"Who are you?" Your gaze softens, your back relaxes.

"Heard of the Wonderbolts?" She asks, her gaze softening as well.

You remember Rainbow talking about them, how'd the conversation go again?

FLASH BACK INITIATE
---

"The Wonderbolts are sooooooo~ COOL!" Rainbow suddenly yelled.

You looked across the room, Rainbow was talking to some guy.

"The what?" You holler across the room.

Rainbow turns and stares at you with some kind expression you've never seen before.

Her eyes suddenly darken, making them invisible. The room darkens and you start having a bad feeling. Rainbow smiles, her pearly white teeth contradicting her darkened face. A little star flashes over her eyes, almost like it was from some kind of Anime.

Rainbow is now standing next to you, "The Wonderbolts!!" She yells into you ear.

The room lights up, Rainbows eyes return to her.

You take a step back, "Uh, yeah. Alright, I know about them! Hehehe." You gulp and look away.

"Oh really!" Rainbow steps towards you. "What do you think of them?!" She asks, her eyes sparkling.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." You gulp, scanning for an answer. "The name is kinda retarded?"

Rainbow freezes, "WHAT. DID. YOU. SAY."

Flashback end
----

Well, now that you think about. That didn't really happen, you just told her you didn't know who they were.

"Yeah." You finally answer the woman. "I've heard of them, don't much care for them. They're more or less NASCAR, just with wings. I prefer the other version of NASCAR, you know? The one that has people compete in a death race? Win or die trying."

You fondly remember watching some of the intense races, gives you goosebumps!

The woman's eye twitches, "I don't know what NASCAR is, and we don't host those kind of things. Thats terrible."

"Meh." You shrug. "I only watch it when I'm bored. ..... I used to do that stuff for a living. Now I'm more or less a... Farmer? I work a farm." You start mumbling.

The woman sighs, "I don't care about what you do for a living, I only want you to succeed in this mission. As it is VERY important that you succeed!"

You frown, "Way to lay the pressure on. And getting back on topic, you work for the Wonderbolts, that one team of people who do air shows and compete in races." You nonchalantly waved your hands. "What do you do exactly? You the water boy?"

The woman started laughing, she held her stomach and bent over. Eventually her laughter let up and she stood back up, as she wiped a tear from her eye, she announced. "I'm the Captain of the Wonderbolts. Spitfire."

"Oh! Why didn't you say so! I somewhat know you!" You went wide eyed, snapping your finger. "You're that hot chick I saw in a magazine! I knew you were familiar." You winked, "You look pretty good in a Bikini."

Spitfire frowned, "That.. never happened. Now listen up, I'm going to be explain some things okay? Even if you're not part of Equestrian military, we still insist that you act humanly. I've heard things about you, you could probably take out half my team before we got you."

You laughed, "Aren't you giving me a little too much credit? Have some faith in your team."

Spitfire shook her head, "You've got that little tool that launches metal pellets at dangerous speeds, that alone makes you dangerous. I also hear your very skilled at hand-to-hand combat. So skilled in fact, you use one hand alone to fight."

You chuckled, "That's true, but only because my metal arm can kill someone if I punched them in the face."

Spitfire looked at a clock in the corner, "Shit.. My time is up, I've a train to catch and a show to perform. If you succeed, come to the Canterlot stadium on a Monday or Thursday. I'll buy you a drink and introduce you to my team."

You nod, "I'll try, but it depends on my schedule." You chuckle. "I'm a very busy man."

Spitfire smiles in return, "I'm sure you are. Now everything you need is in those files and this a map of our great planet. It already has everything marked for you, you can read a map right?"

You nod.

"Good, read up on those dossiers, learn about your targets, we've got a lot of things written in there. A lot of good people worked to get that information. Please don't let it go to waste." Spitfire wished you well and left the room in a hurry.

As the door clicked shut, you wondered. What's with everyone just leaving during a important event? It's almost like somethings trying to prevent this! Whatever.

You grab a chair by the wall and bring it to the table, you sit and flip open the folder you first opened.

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Try and use your imagination?
----------

IMAGINE GRIFFON PHOTO HERE

Name of target- Julis Leatherwork

Sex-Male

Date of birth- July 8th 1844

Occupation- Looks over the operation of the mines that supply's Griffonia and its army. Plays a key role in keeping it all organized. Used to be active in the military, knows his stuff on cannons and gunpowder.

The file goes on to describe his likes and dislikes.

Will most likely be found in these locations-

There are several photos of locations, ranging from giant fields rich with ore and buildings in the main capital. On the back of each photo is a set of coordinates.

We believe he may be working with some other officials to develop new weapons technology. Something like your firearms.

The file directly mentions you. There is also a photo of the bird sitting in a room with a desk, he seems to be hunched over some papers.

-------------------------

You frown, "They're trying to develop firearms? I'm confident they're just trying to discover how they can make a cannon handheld. I'm sure their goal isn't fully automatic weapons." You sigh.

What do you do about this? Should you kill this bird first? His knowledge is bad and you might be able to destroy any written files. You could probably beat some information out of him, like who he is working with. Their knowledge on the subject is just as bad.

You read a bit more.

------------------------

Known relatives-

Juan Leatherwork - Son - Alive - Currently owns a baking shop.

Lobitos Leatherwork - Son - Alive - Currently listed in the military - Rank = Silver.

Antonia Leatherwork - Daughter - Alive - Currently owns a small farm, Also works as a blacksmith.

Heather Leatherwork - Wife - Deceased - Reason unknown

Augustus Leatherwork - Father - Deceased - Death cause = Heart attack?

Susan Leatherwork - Mother - Alive - Currently resides in elder caring facility.

Bio- Born into a wealthy family, Julis was a only child. We believe his parents had him married at 13. He was destined to take over a series of business's. Unready and not wanting them, he impregnated his wife, had her run the company, and joined the military. After his wife gave birth to several of his kids and raising them, he passed the business onto them. He now watches over the military mining operation's and helps with weapon development.

--------------------

You lean back into the chair, your hair falls over your eyes. You brush it aside and stare at the stone ceiling.

The words, "This is too much reading." Escapes from your lips.

All this detailed information is cool and all, but you would have preferred.

This man bad! He do bad things! Kill! Kill!

Nah, this is still neat. You wonder if they got anything like this for you? It'd make sense, you're a loose cannon, not exactly the nicest guy in the world either. You do run a crime ring after all.

Yup.

All those hobo's that roam the street? You've taught them. Showed them parkour, helped them build strength. You have their loyalty, they believe you can lead them from rags to riches. And you will.

Tonight, past 6 'o clock. You've got a meeting that involves you, your gang, and the local thieves guild. It's gonna end in bloodshed, they aren't too fond of competition. You've given all your members training on CQC and convinced them that fighting is the only way to get rich.

All you can do is show up and hope you don't suffer too many causalities. A couple of your guys are Mages, they know some basic spells. You have them carry satchels with sharp wooden sticks, they can launch them fast enough to kill. A few of them are also Valkyries, you bought some bows and arrows from a guy you know in the Equestrian military.

He's pretty cool.

You can use a compound now, but a wooden bow was kinda different. You learned alongside your men.

The guys who can't use magic or fly are trained with heavy CQC lessons. They're catching on, they aren't soldiers, but everyone has a soldier in them. They also do the most exercises.

Because you know a talented make such as Twilight, she gives you information on how to increase the effectiveness of ones magic. She doesn't know you use the information to train your mages. And with some tips from Rainbow on how wings work, you could measure what each man was capable of and advance from there. You already know plenty on the human body, so training the normies was easy.

You've got a gang with the numbers of 23.

8 are Mages.

6 are Valkyries.

And the last 9 are Normies.

They aren't all guys though, there's 5 women spread out through out the group

You started wondering why you went off the topic of reading those dossiers, and onto this totally irrelevant topic.

Hmm.

You stopped looking at the ceiling and stared back down at the folders. You pushed the first aside and spread the rest out. There was 6 folders laying here. 6 targets. 6 birds the princesses want dead.

You opened a new folder and started reading.

"OH MY GOD THAT TOOK FOR FUCKING EVER." You shout at the ceiling.

You checked the holographic clock in the corner of your vision.

5:23pm

You sigh, stand up, gather all the folders, shove them under your arm, and exit the room. You walk down the halls and exit through the princes throne room. It's empty.

Unable to fight the urge, you sit in Celestia's throne and laugh evilly. Once satisfied, you stand and exit the room. You walk silently through the halls, thinking about the meeting you're about to go to. You've got one Mage and a couple normies to go, they're ready to fight and possibly kill.

You'd actually like to meet at a middle point, and agreement if you will. A truce.

You turn down a hall and exit through a door, you nod at a couple guards and push a large door open. It reveals the Royal garden, and your VTOL. As told, there was a box lying near the plane. You knew of the contents and simply placed your folders underneath it.

You turned and set sail for the meet-up point.

There will be some intense violence ahead, you've been warned.
----

You hit the ground with a thud, your breath was quick and heavy. You had to run across roofs to get here on time. You looked around the dark alley and decided to waited, a few minutes later, a couple people dressed in hoodies and sweatpants dropped from above as well.

"Took you guys long enough." You announce.

"Sorry sir." One hooded figure replies. "Feather got us lost, she though you meant the alley by the donut shop."

"I said I was sorry!" Said another hooded figure, her hair loosely tied in a knot.

"Sure you are!" Said the other and last hooded figure.

As the 3 started bickering, you felt your eye twitch.

"How the hell are we supposed to become the ruling gang in this city if we can't even act like adults!" You scolded the 3.

They all bowed their heads and replied with, "Sorry sir."

"Sure. I accept your apology guys. But after this you're all doing the Walk of Hell." You stare daggers.

They all groan.

You hear distant footsteps.

"Ready yourselves, they're here." You announce, turning and facing the arrival of the thieves guild.

A large group of men and women dressed in leather step out from the dark.

"Ah shit." You hear one of your guys whisper.

They all stop and one single man steps forward.

"So you're the man whose been causing me so much trouble? I expected more." He chuckled. "I'm afraid we can't have a talk, you see, we all have to be somewhere. And we figured we'd take care of you first. Now, please do not resist, we are going to kill you."

Well that escalated quickly.

The man stepped back and nodded at a couple of men.

"These men should be enough to kill you. After that we'll kill your pretty friend back there." The man's eyes switched to the 2 guys. "And extras." He added.

One of your guys flipped him the bird and said, "Fuck you too!"

After that, the 3 men dress in leather stepped forward. One pulled a dagger out, another pulled a short sword out, and the last one revealed some kind of tiny wrist crossbow.

The man with the dagger rushed forward and tried to stab you.

You reacted instantly, your body twisted and moved like water.... And suddenly, there was struggling man locked in your arms. You stared into the eyes of the leader and smiled as you twisted the man's head. Snapping his neck.

You let go of the man, who fell on his side.

The man with the sword frowned and rushed forward with a little too much anger. You sidestepped the man's angled swing and swung your metal fist into the side of his head. Killing him instantly. He fell over, his sword clattering as it hit the floor.

You looked at the man with the tiny crossbow and smiled again. He went wide eyed and raised his crossbow. You heard a little, Phing! And you looked at his once loaded crossbow. You looked down at your stomach. And sure enough! Protruding from your stomach was a little crossbow bolt.

"Yeah." You began. "As I thought, that little crossbow of yours can't pierce my dermal armor. You know this things supposed to protect against blunt damage mostly? Weird." You pull your Sas-24 out.

BANG

Your gun discharges, a casing hits the stone floor, the man collapses.

"Now come on dude! Send some guys that won't attack one at a time!" You rub your nose.

The leader frowns, he looks to his left than right, "Kill him." He commands.

As he says that, 4 more men step forward, and as they pull swords and daggers out, they all shuffle towards you. You see the unfairness here and pull your combat knife from your boot. You hold it out and get into a ready stance.

The fight starts.

One man with a dagger rushed forward and takes a slash at you. You grab his hand with your metal arm and plunge your knife into his gut. You pull the knife out and push him backwards, using the momentum to rush towards a fellow with a sword.

The man does a fancy spin and swings his sword towards your head, you catch his sword with your metal and shove your knife into the bottom of his chin. As he falls back you pull your knife out and yank his sword from him.

You turn and duck a tackle, the man flies over and into a wall. You quickly stand and face the other man with daggers. Before he can even close the distance, you launch your knife at his chest. He goes wide eyed, looks at the knife buried in his chest, stumbles back into the wall, and slowly slides down until his butt hits the ground.

You switch the sword you looted into your flesh hand and face the other sword wielding man. He looks at his dead friends and looks at you with frightened eyes.

You smirk.

The man then garners some balls and rushes to attack you. You parry his attack and shove your sword into his gut. You let go and watch as he stumbles back, eventually falling down.

You wipe your nose again, you twist your head and look at the leader of the once large group.

He grinds his teeth and yells, "KILL THIS FUCKER AND SPARE THE WOMAN." He takes a deep breath. "We will gain something from this." He turns and retreats behind his men.

As he does that, his group pulled their weapons out. Bows, full-sized crossbows, swords, daggers, mini crossbows, some of them were even Mages.

You smile, crack your neck, and unbutton your trench coat. You roll your left arm sleeve up and flick your metal wrist. Your wrist hums, a small door opens, a little device pops out, it glows green and a plasma sword appears. The sword is a beautiful combination of your favorite colors.

It is also the demise of everyone standing in this alley.

You looked back at the 3 people behind you, "You gonna help me?"

They all look at each, then give each other a firm nod. The men pull their swords out, and the woman's hands start glowing.

"We got your back."

The baddies all rush forward at once. It's a proper fight now.

You stood amongst a pile of dead men. You plasma sword practically lit the entire alley. Now that there wasn't anyone standing to block the light. You looked at the mess you and your comrades made. You raised your wrist and discharged your plasma sword.

"Well then." You turned and was faced with a shaking man dressed in leather.

"It seems you've killed everyone." The leader spoke somberly.

"Yep. And I don't even feel bad, you're all thieves and murderers anyway." You reply.

"Hahahaha! You've only killed the weakest." He smirked, and pulled beautifully designed knives from his back. "I've got 8 years of experience, I've done the impossible! You will die the second you blink." The man cackled.

"So... You scared ye-"

BANG

The man stumbled back, his shoulder was sore and he was bleeding. "Wha... You bastar-!"

BANG

His other shoulder went numb, his hand refused to work. He dropped his knife. He gazed at the sight of you holding your SAS-24, 2 casings resting by your feet

He was panicking, you could see it in his eyes. He turned and started to run.

BANG

The man's leg lit up with pain, he tripped and face planted. Breaking his nose in the process.

He managed to flip himself over, "Please spare me! I'll give you anything you want!"

Yep, there it is. The begging. You've seen this before. Happens every time.

You holster your gun and turn to face your crew.

"Feather, loot all the good stuff and then clean the mess up. Redmoon... Climb up and keep watch. Duster, go get some help, we can't carry everything ourselves." You issue your orders and receive a nod from everyone.

You turn back to the injured leader, who is crawling away.

You yawn and start walking towards him. Upon catching up, you stepped on his back, stopping his attempts to get away.

"Wanna tell me about those plans you guys had?" You command.

The man starts struggling, "I'd rather die!"

You sigh, "I'll let you live if you tell me."

The man suddenly stops struggling.

"R-Really?" He asks.

"Yep." You reply. "Just rat your guys out and you can live a fulfilling life."

The man went quiet, "W-we had a plan to rob a bank in Griffonia."

"Based on the amount of people you had, it wasn't gonna be quiet." You throw the idea out there.

"Y-your right, we also needed extra hands to carry more stuff." The man huffed out.

"What were you gonna steal? Gold?"

"Gold isn't worth much here. We were gonna steal valuable and rare gems." The man started to breath slower and slower.

"How was this all supposed to go down?" You ask.

The dying man coughed and spoke, "I've got plans in my coat. Use those and everything should go fine, you do plan on pulling the heist off yourself right? If not, then why bother asking about it." He turned his head and coughs again.

"Yes, I do plan on succeeding were you failed." You look at the night sky and sigh, "Look man, I never like tricking people like this, but I'm going to have to kill you. You've seen my face and I don't want my name or face connected to this. Can't have you blabbing to anyone."

The man starts weakly laughing, "If you're going to execute me, at least let me see the sky as I go. I've always like the night sky."

You decide to honor the man's last request.

You step off him and use your foot to push him on his back. "Understandable for someone with your job."

You wait a moment, giving the man some time. He stares at the night sky for a bit, before looking into your eyes.

"Any last words?" You ask, taking aim.

With his voice weak and death near, he asked, "My contacts in the military mentioned you once ... Aren't you the guy whose supposed to save Equestria? Heh... Some hero of the country you are. You're no better than us." He coughed up blood.

You frown and shrug in response, "Never said I was a hero."

BANG

"Good job guys. We managed to eliminate competition and make the streets a little safer." You congratulated the 3 before you.

Redmoon brought back 3 helpers, they weren't too keen about seeing so many dead bodies, but happily took the loot back home. Feather disposed of all the bodies in a hidden location and cleaned the walls. It's like a fight never happened here.

"How fast can you get a group together?" You suddenly ask.

"What?" Feather asks.

"A group. I've got a opportunity we should take action on, it involves you getting a couple members and waiting outside Griffonia." You reply.

"What are we talking here sir?" Dusty asks.

"Jewels, rare priceless jewels. And lots of them." You explain.

"Who are we taking these from exactly?" Redmoon asks.

You smile, "The Griffon government."

Everyone gasps.

"But sir!" Exclaims Feather.

You stop her, "Nonsense, I'll be doing the breaking and entering. I'll use my VTOL to lift the jewels out, and place them in the fields outside Griffonia. The more people the better. Make sure they're strong as well."

"Um.. That's a long ride sir." Dusty adds.

You shake your head, "Yes it is, but there are train tracks going back and forth across the lands."

"But sir, those are government trains. Civilians use boats if they wish to cross." Feather added.

"Sneak on the train. Hide in a train cart. No one ever checks those." You reply.

"B-But what if someone does?" Feather asks.

"You're a Mage Feather. Just think and knock him out." You take a step back and start to walk away.

You stop and look back, "I know you guys are ready for this. One day I'll take you in and show you how to properly pull a heist, but for now... I just need you and the others to be my pack rats." You turn and toss a stack of papers secured with string. "Here take these plans, it's got the date we have to pull this off. I expect you all to be waiting at the location marked on there. Bring minimal armor, you won't be seeing much action. But you'll be carrying a lot of heavy stuff. The more you carry, the more you get paid. Remember that." You turn and start walking again.

As you walk down the alley, you hear Feather shout, "I won't let you down sir!"

You smile.

You know she won't.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys.

You know, I started this story in 2014 on the 9th of Decemeber.

Now it's 2016 and it January.

I've been writing for you all for 2 years.

2 years.

And.. I couldn't be anymore happier with you all. Yes it's about to get sappy.

This story started as a idea I had, I've written many fanfictions before. Just never about MLP. But I wanted to write a story were the Protagonist wasn't some college student who gets transported to Equestria and complains about how shitty Earth is. I wanted a story were the protagonist isn't some guy who thought peace was the answer to everything. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed stories like that. But it eventually got to me, I began to slowly think that every story was the same thing.

I wanted a story with action! With a protagonist who wasn't afraid to talk back! One who would stare death in the eye and smile! So I thought up a story, and I named it. The Fallen Soldier.

Then I sat down and picked up writing again. I wrote the first chapter of this story and posted it. It didn't get past moderation at first, and that greatly disheartened me. You remember that chapter way back that explains how Anderson gets to Equestria? The one that's suddenly goes in 2nd person?

That was the first chapter I wrote. It was originally 6,000 words. So when it got rejected by the moderators. I was disheartened, I spent so many hours writing that long ass chapter... And it got rejected. I ended up erasing 2,000 words from it and writing a brand new chapter. It still didn't get past however, I had add a extra chapter before they passed it.

And now look, we're over 100,000 words, and I couldn't be happier with my community. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for more people to like my story, but let's face it. My story is NOT Fallout Equestria, it isn't as good as those practically professionally written stories. And I always knew it, it's what drove me to keep writing. And when I finally had my first critic, I almost gave up. But I suddenly realized how stupid it was of him or her to compare my story to one that's written by a professional.

It was like comparing a truck to a motorcycle. If that makes any sense.

I know that I have loyal readers, maybe not many, but I know I have them. And right now I'm talking to them, that's right.

You.

You're still here aren't you? Reading my chapters? Reading my author notes? If you didn't enjoy them, then why still come back? Why not move on to another story? You don't because you enjoy reading what I write... Right? Or maybe you're just some passerby that skipped to the end to see if there was a sex scene.

Whatever, I'd like to think I'm talking to you guys. You golden people you.

Thank you. Really, for everything.

And I want you all to know, when I finally shut my computer down for good. When I stop writing for you all.

I will always remember this moment in my life. See that? I put italics on that shit, it's serious.

The moment I had a community of my own, even if there is barely enough of us to fill a smart car.

I hope you all have a great 2016