'Pain my old friend, we need to stop meeting like this.'

My eyes slowly creaked open just a crack, the bright sunlight coming in from the window as I felt a slight tremor of movement to my left as something very smooth brushed up my chest before resting on my left shoulder. Looking at what I thought was Discord just sleeping in my bed cause his bed turned into a donut and it he ate it, I half-heartily nudged the figure until I heard the sounds of chirping coming from said figure as it moved its head into the crook of my neck and nuzzled me before snoring softly.

The odd feeling of warmth coming from the avian creature was nice for a change from the constant cold rooms and even colder locations but this warmth was something I have nearly forgotten. Sighing in content I settle into the bed as I stay there for little more than a few minutes until my senses slowly returned to me as my vision came back to me as I turned to my source of warmth and deeply regretted that action.

Sleeping on my left arm was the gryphon delegate Mirias, her head resting in the crook of my neck and a wing resting on half of my body, a look of utter bliss on her face from the angle I am looking at and also from what I can feel is that her tail is wrapped around my left leg tightly.

'My fucking god....why does my head hurt so damn much....what did I drink? Wait....did we...did I score?'

Slowly lifting my right arm as it feels like the ultralight metals replaced with lead weights, my hand gripping the blanket and lifted up enough for me to see if what my thoughts were true or that I was just imagining things. Taking a quick peek and I saw that not only was I stark naked, but the entire mattress we are sleeping on is soaked with fluids that I probably did not even want to know.

'Well that confirms that...but how many times did we go at it? Damn mattress is fucking soaked with sweat and shame and probably something more.'

Determining if I should just stay in bed and wait it out or to just put my walk of shame skills back to use was cast aside as I felt something slowly rising up from the waist down. That feeling slowly turned to annoyance as I can feel my legs weaken until that annoyance turned to pricks of pain as I knew exactly what was coming next. The pricks of pain straight up turned into full blown raging pain as I suppressed it my clenching my teeth and gripping the bed side until the waves of pain began to die down and my death grip was slowly turned down into a much more kung-fu grip.

'Okay...that hurts...I can now clearly tell we went at it till both of us were immobalized with fatigue and limp as a bone fish but damn that night must have been incredible...wait...why can I not remember it?'

Looking around the room to find any reference to last night's rigorous activities was met with several empty mugs all piled in a random corner of the room, my clothes scattered all over the room even my boots were scattered as one was on the doorknob and the other was on the nightstand. Turning my gaze away from the piles of shame and looking for where the bayonet was located and my hunting shotgun, hoping to god that Discord did not take it and modified it to shoot confetti out of it or worse squirt chocolate milk, but shockingly my bayonet was directly above my head, stabbed intot the wall for some reason and I found that my shotgun was resting in the bathroom, oddly being tied up to a bar of soap and a loofah.

'This is just getting stranger but still does not top my best night...just what the fuck did we do last night?'

Last Night, Dining Hall, Night

"Now onto new business, the remains of the human cities that litter the world both above and below ground and how we should take care of them and also how to deal with Discord now that he has escaped from his prison." my eyes slightly crack open as the topic that I have wondered if it would ever be brought up or even thought of but at least the thought counts that Celestia actually cares about her human friend.

Twirling the bayonet in my left hand and idly staring at the clock hoping this boring ass meeting would end so I can eat something good for once and also talk to Discord about the whole tomb idea I got going on.

"Well Princess Celestia, these city remains that you speak of, the few that we have found are oddly well preserved and have also encountered strange beings that have proven to be hostile to us and are not willing to be peaceful but one thing we do know is that they are few in number and yet a few of them are impervious to our weapons. We have only found four underground cities and the last one we found looked like a large stadium of sorts or an airship port." my ears slightly twitch in glee at Lord Raven's words, finding four cities is nice but if he found an actual spaceport and hope to god that anything there works than I am proud to have survived this hell.

"Well than Lord Raven, before you return to Gryphus I am sending Sir Zidane with you so he can explore and extract anything of value or any object that is of use since only he knows their safety measures and knows how to safely disarm any traps without the lose of life or limb." I looked at my right hand and cringed a bit, last time I disarmed something the damn bottlecap mine went off and took half my right arm, losing my favorite hand in the process. That day still haunts me as well as the laughter of the soldiers that saw that happen...those bastards are probably rolling over in their graves for me having to disarm more traps.

Glancing at the clock and taking a short glance at Celestia as she gave a curt stare before turning to the rest of the group, Luna was busy twirling the spoon in her cup of tea, also having the same feelings as I do on attending boring meetings, Blueblood on the otherhand was straight up standing ramrod straight on his cushion and I think taking short notes on the important matters and most likely just scribbling the least important ones, Cadence was busy talking to Shining who was somewhat giving me the stink eye for obvious reasons.

"Roran after the meeting can you meet me, Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor in the dungeons where we have placed the devices we have salvaged from what you said was once lower Britian, do please try to be there when we do." I gave a slight nod, currently not interested in even paying attention but still nodded my head so I don't end up getting a repeat of the meeting and also a talking to by any of the five ponies.

"Now everypony, onto setting of trade routes..." I tuned out at that point and turned on my omni-tool and started to swipe through data until I found a small cluster of code that I have been meaning to apply myself to.

The beginning of Equestria and the rise of the three pony races

This Morning, Delegate Mirias Oro's Room

'Oh yea...the second part of the meeting...boring as hell, even that book was boring but at least I know a bit of history...better than going in blind like the last time I was told to communicate with a species I haven't met yet...fucking Cole knew I never met the Asari and yet his ass made me the man in charge of talking to them for the mission....fucking asshole...'

Yesterday, Midnight

"And that concludes today's delegation meeting, you may now return to your rooms or enjoy yourself to our library or dining hall." and with a short bow they stood up along with everyone else but me as I was just finishing up on a crash course history lesson on Equestria, and I had just found out that it was boring as hell. All three ponies didn't like each other, their attitudes somehow caused the land to freeze and crops to die, they left to find greener pastures, literally, all three found a new place and started to fight over it, weather followed them there, land began to freeze until they all got over their differences and it cleare up. Talk about creepy ass weather for it to follow you based on attutide to races.

"Roran...Zidane....dude...meeting is over now, you can stop reading....you were reading our history the entire time?" I gave him a slight wave of my hand as I used Lift on him, smirking in delight as he flails around as he tries to find some traction in the air before I release the field around him and catch him with the same hand.

"It is rude to interrupt someone that is reading about the past of the ponies he is staying with, and also I know it was over because I saw everyone get up and walk out and also because I heard a dragon said 'finally' under his breath." I sat up a in my chair, looked around and the room was indeed empty now save for me, Shining and a very serious looking Luna who was trying to reflect the light into my eyes with her spoon. A few times my eyes tint setting fluxerated from the sudden brightness and I heard Luna giggle softly before I Pulled the spoon over to me and bent it with my thumb as I clenched it in my left hand. That earned a huff of annoyance before she too got up and trotted over walked out the room, letting me rebend the spoon and placing it back on the table.

The walk to the dungeons was short and simple since I memorized the path to it on my first day active and my day was slightly brightened when a maid with a passing food cart was going down the halls as I quickly swipped something sticky from the tray and looked at it before taking a bite into it and gave a small smile that it at least tasted as good as it looked.

"Do you know what that is?" I shrug at him before taking another bite out of the strange pastry. "You have no idea what it is and yet you are eating it? What if you are allergic to it and it causes you to go into a coma or worse die from it?" I shrug again before taking two more bites, enjoying the cinnamon goodness in peace while Shining just looks at me hoping that I don't keel over and die from it.

This trip to the dungeons was enjoyable, the cold stone walls and floor was still the same hospitable coldness and the air was still thick with chatter between criminals and guards and the occasional guard to guard. Walking down the cells I saw that there was a few ponies sitting or laying down, the ones with horns had a ring attached to the base of their horn as I can guess was a way of suppressing their magic and the ones with wings had a rubber band on them.

At the very back of the dungeon was a door that was different from the rest, instead of simple bars with a lock on it, this one was complete wall of metal with three locks built into it and a small sliding window on the top and slot on the bottom for food. A room for a dangerous criminal to be left alone...or for very dangerous technology that could explode when tampered with.

"I hope this is worth my time...I better not be just unlocking this thing just so you two can take advantage of it, from what I read you are peaceful herbavores but that could always chance when you have the means to rule over everything with an ironhoof...and at least you had the decency to move the explosive away from the electronics and covered up with a hazard sheet." I was looking at the piles of recovered tech that was semi-scattered in the room as everything that was recovered had its own place amongst each other.

"Well Mr. Zidane this is worth your time, this is your peoples history right here, these relics could hold the key to keeping the harmony in Equestria and beyond its borders from those that would see it harmed." I gagged at harmony again, knowing that it was so much full of shit that even very old president Nixon would agree with me.

"Yea well, sometimes history needs to be forgotton and left in the dust of time and space, but since you are probably going to be stubborn about it..." I said while letting my words hang in the air a bit before speaking again, "...where is the first thing you wanted me to see?" Luna took the initiative and pulled back a cover that revealed, I shit you not, an ancient arcade game. My eyes slightly bulging from their protective socket holders I walked to the machine of ages past and blew on it, the dust flying off as I saw the name of it in extremely faded words.

Super Smash Brothers

"Well Luna...your first pick was an ancient Earth Arcade Game, not bad. From my omni-tool it says that this game was very popular with the youth of North America, Europe and Asia. To bad this thing requires electricity to be operated but if you could build a generator for it and a socket to plug it in and hope to god this works, than you have a fully functioning entertainment relic of the past." moments later I thought I heard Luna squee in joy before clapping her hooves together...strange but nice to see her smile instead of being mellow and alone.

"Okay Shining your next." he gave me a nod as I gave him a thumbs up which was his signal to pick something out in the room for me to check and if neccessary, disarm and deactivate.

What he pulls out from under the sheets was something I thought was a joke to me. He pulled out a cart and inside that cart was boxes upon boxes of ammunition of all kinds and explosives.

"Dude put that back and pick something else, thats ammo and explosives and I am not telling you which is which cause there is no way in hell am I going to turn off the safety switches and disengage the weapon locks." he hung his head a bit in defeat as he pushes the cart back and puts the cover back on it as he levitates a very large cube with pieces missing until I saw the orange paint and black letters.

YMIR

"Damn Celestia...where the hell did you find this thing?" I kicked the side of it as I saw this thing sitting there in all its old glory.

"I believe we found this cube of sorts in what we think was a storage crate, why do you ask?"

"Celestia, girl this thing right here is a YMIR Heavy Mech, this thing used to be on the front lines of Blue Suns and Eclipse attacks, these boys were meant to tear apart enemy foot mobles and as allied support. Lets see if this boy still has some juice in him and if I can reconfigure its operating system." Celestia was taken back a bit by me calling her 'girl but when I explained what it was and what I was going to do I was than met with objections.

"Mr. Zidane not to be rude and all but is that clearly safe? I mean you said it rips off moble feet and hooves..." I rolled my eyes long enough for Cadence to see as I scanned it a bit and started to bypass security nodes until I found the base codes and rewrote them to my liking. Placing my left hand on where the power core is I gave it some energy to re-initiate processing and rebooting all primary systems. When this boy purred to life and stood up and expanded its limbs everyone but me scooted away from it when its voice turned on.

"Initiating Activation Protocoles...System Reboot Complete...Awaiting Further Orders." when it spoke up and did not immediately attack us I felt a tear of joy grace my face as it slid down my face.

"That is the greatest thing...I have ever seen...this year...its so beautiful!" I was letting out only two tears of joy as I walked up the mech and gave it a hug, the mech just stood there waiting for a new command as I tapped in a new code for it to go back into standby mode as it folded itself back into transport mode.

The slightly awkward silence built up as I wiped the tears from my face as I turned around and saw that Celestia was levitating a small terminal that was connected to a memory storage array close to the mech as she coughed a bit, a signal for me to snap out from my happy moment to see if her thing of choice works.

"You ponies might want to exit the room and stay behind the door and walls in case this thing overloads and detonates...the mech was a gamble and a risky one at best but this thing is just as dangerous if it overloads....saw it happen once, wiped out a squad of marines when they tried to force break into it, found nothing but charred meat, bones and plating." which was true, our mission at a Cerberus base somewhere in the Armstrong Cluster was botched when the intel said it was a intelligence facility but instead that base was a staging point for raids and attacks and my platoon was wiped out when we broke into the central hub...a day I never want to relive.

Tapping into the consoles security systems I found that this thing was locked up tighter than a tax collecters creditpurse and the few times I tried cracking them open I ended up running from the law several times, shooting a cop in the foot once to escape, was intending to shoot his gun but I was in a rush to get the hell out od dodge.

The sounds of my fingers typing on the holo-screen was that of constant machine-gun fire and the occasional swearing at the terminal as I told it to go fuck itself or fuck you, and what felt like two hours I was blessed to hear a sound of a turbine humming to life as the main screen winks on and a voice crackles to life from the speakers.

"Private Terminal Online, Welcome back Lt. Zidane, Are you here to sent out a requisition order?" the holo-voice said each word with sharp articulation and stuffy tone that I knew which A.I. I was talking to.

"Not this time Alfreido, was just rebooting the terminal back into working order..for...for others to use." I did not have the courage to tell him what happened the last time I turned off the terminal.

"Well than please move to the side than, I see four equines in standby to use this terminal, have a nice day Lt." his voice the same as every, stuffy arrogant and high class like the butlers of old.

"Alright, let me just update your archives to grant those waiting behind me access to all files, even the recent one that I sent...so many years ago..." my voice in a hushed whisper at the last part as it cracks slightly as I recall that moment in time before shaking my head and tapping the keys until the satisified tone of piano notes ring off as the update is complete.

As I tapped the keys I hear a few hushed words behind me, my ears only picking up a few words since the dungeons were so eeriely quiet and also terribly cold for some unknown reason as I slightly rub my arms and tap the last segments of electronic code into the terminal before stepping away from it and turned around to the door and coughed a bit to get their undivided attention.

"Okay Princess your terminal is ready, just ask Alfreido what you want to know and he will tell you, I gave just you full access to all of civilian files, Luna, Cadence and Shining you only get partial access because I know Luna would be trying to find something about fun, you Cadence I have no idea but better safe than sorry, Shining, don't even bother me...now, I just need to go clear my head." I brushed past them as I moved at a brisk pace down the stone corridors until I found my way back to my room and tap a long command code to monitor what they are checking on the terminal.

"Can't trurst them as far as I can throw them...since I haven't thrown any of them than I can't entirely trust them...always safe on the side of caution..." stopping a bit with the code as I hear a knock on the door before I openned it to find that it was a servant pushing a cart filled with mugs and half dozen lid covered plates and from the smell of things it was heavenly.

As I look at her she slightly is taken back a bit as she looks at the top of the door and does a quick apology for disturbing me and for almost mess up on her order for someone else. I just shrug it off and tell her its alright since most likely almost everyone fucks up from time to time, I only fuck up if I don't plan ahead or my plans cave in on themselves when the enemy likes to not play fair.

The maid for some reason does a small bow to me before going back to whoever she is supposed to deliver the cart to but knowing that she made a mistake to go to your room she most likely is new to this route of duty or just was having an off day or worst case both.

Three things caught my attention as I followed her around the castle halls, one was that she along with the other maids that we passed by were wearing french maid outfits with matching hat which makes me wonder how the hell did they know about that look let alone be able to put it on with just hooves. The other thing that caught my attention was that not once did I bother to check the time or look outside until I looked outside and saw that the moon was just barey seen at the upper edge of the window, giving me the view of it being a possible 1-2am timing, which sadly means I almost went a whole day without any sleep let alone smoke my cigar in peace.

The third thing was that our destination was back at Miss. Oro's room and that the maid quickly knocks on the door and just as quickly goes down the hall and turns at the corner and disappears. At first I just thought she got sick of the smell of what I think is cooked fish or meat, either one would be a real change to my current diet of salads....damn diet is killing me is more like it, I rather be dining on pork or chicken but no, stuck in the land of herbivores that frowns upon meat-eaters like me.

Just as I placed my hand on the lid of one of the plates the door swings open and Mirias is standing there looking at me and also at the cart, or most likely at my hand that is holding a lid that is slightly off the plate below it.

"Er...maid left your cart here...well I guess I will be going n-" my words cut off as I was quickly yanked into the room by a pair of talons gripping my shoulders and just as quickly I was yanked into the room the cart was dragged in as well.

Before I even have a chance to recover from the ambush I feel something bump into my chest as I reeled over and fall right on my ass, the cart the closely following as the door is gently closed shut. Pulling myself off the floor I turn around to see that Mirias was already going at the cart with extreme hunger that I have only seen on soldiers that went days without their rations as they turned the one they have into a feast fit for a squad.

As we began to feast on the varies platters set before us I noticed that most of them was meat related and that on one plate spanned a pyramid of crisp bacon, another was two slabs of steak glistening with oils that I know that I must devour with extreme prejudice.

About thirty minutes into the feast of two, the cart is moved aside as the mugs are placed back where they belong, looking at her she smirks at me and takes one, that smirk was a sign.

"I accept that challenge if you think you have a chance to win." I return the smirk as I grab two mugs in one hand, daring her to accept the drinking challenge. My drinking talents was somewhat heard of on most of the bars on Omega and even a few on the Citadel and very rarely do I lose unless its against the krogan or someone else that has better liquor resistance than me.

"Your on human."

Present Time

'I knew that challenge was stupid...shouldn't have declared it....' I turned my head to look at her again, still sleeping soundly on my shoulder with a small smile on her beak.

'But it was oh so worth the hangover and after event.'

As I slowly try to move off the bed I hear a knocking on the door as it slightly cracks open to reveal a snout slightly entering the room.

"Excuse me Miss. Oro but the meeting has been pushed later on into the evening to compensate for last night's conference, the meeting has been pushed to the afternoon." just as she starts to close the door I swear I hear the maid on the other side of the door take a whiff of the room a few times and as I saw the snout slowly peak into the room I yanked the bayonet out from the headboard I threw it near her snout and with a stroke of luck it hit right where her snout was going to be and I heard her scream outloud before running off.

Just as I finally slumped back down to shut my eyes the door was kicked open by a pair of guards and a somewhat pissed off Shining behind them and as they stormed the room Mirias woke up and was shocked to see me in the bed with her and also to see the guards in her room.

"Okay...I now what you are thinking Shining...did I score with this lass and throw a bayonet at the maid for trying to take a peak? Yes, Yes I did and I do not deny the bayonet part because she should have kept her nose out of our business. That maid needs to relearn proper manners...trying to barge into this room after our extra-cardiac activities." the two guards that flanked Shining snickered at that remark clearly knowing what I mean.

As we started to yell at each other the gryphon next to me quickly reeled back and let out a screech of sorts before bursting in green flames, the ponies knew what that was but for me? I was fucking shocked.

"Jumping Jesus on a fucking pogo stick! What the hell!" I fell out of the bed in shock, not even knowing what just happened and also tried to not get caught on fire as the gryphon that I laid with turned into a changeling and as I promptly redirected my bayonet arm at her and tossed but the sudden angle shift made it go off-course as it flew in the air and hit one of the guards helmets with the grip which knockd his sorry ass out.

In that moment of confusion and accidental friendly fire the changeling takes off into the air and flies straight out the window, in my mind I was still sitting there, trying to figure out what just happened as my thought process was currently trying to shuffle the payload of current events out the way for me to think straight.

After a moment of silence I finally broke the ice by shouting outloud, "What the fucking hell just happened? Some pony in here has less than thirty seconds to explain to me what just happened and even less time to tell me that I did not just do what I think I did with what I pray to god was a spy." I hate being used by others but the very few things that gets me into a crazed frenzy is that I was used by a spy, that memory will forever haunt me and helped contribute to my distain for any group of military that are not hard wired and full proof.

As I stopped talking I tapped only two times on my left omni-tool as a two seperate timers start going down, the right one started at directly 30 seconds while the one on the left had only ten seconds as it quickly waned down.

"Roran we don't have much time to explain it to you so I guess I have to say yes to the last one." his answer was something I did not want to hear.

I jumped out of the bed, Pulled my Graal to my waiting left hand and as soon as it touched the palm I riveted it over to my right hand and got a firm grip on it as I aimed down the sights on it and pulled down on the trigger as it charged up the flechete within its barrel and as soon as I lifted my finger off the trigger I heard Shining try to tell me to not fire but I ignored his words as the weapon kicked back slightly throwing my aim off as I placed my finger on the trigger again to charge another shot. Watching the spy try to fly as fast away from the castle as possible and upon hearing the resulting boom from behind she only had a split second to see my shotgun rise an inch from its firing position as she felt the flechete tear right into her body and barely exit right under her neck.

"Take that you fucking bitch!" I shouted while aiming down my sights and firing again, this time ripping a wing off from her body and watched it flutter in the air for a while before moving the gun to my left hand and quickly found my pants and put it on and placed my bayonet in its snug home as I stormed out of the room and sprinted down the corridors to the outside parts of the palace.

A few guards started shouting that there is a downed changeling just outside the palace walls right in front of the gates and on that note I sprinted to the front but was met with a window and I blasted it with Shockwave and jumped right through it, and fell two stories to the ground as I rolled upon impact and quickly got back up and rushed to the changeling spy.

The guards that were already around the changeling had their spears pressed against her chitnous hide and was waiting for pairs of hoofcuffs to restrain and capture the changeling but I had other thoughts on my mind for the litle spy.

"Sir we have everything under control here, your assistance in the capture of this infiltrator is noted. Stand down and go back inside." his deep tone only grinding against my already thin patience as I Slam all of them to the ground and held them until I stepped onto the spy and with my bayonet cut off her other wing and to make sure she doesn't die yet I placed my omni-blade on her wounds, cauterizing them instantly.

"Girl you are in for a world of pain...and you will suffer for it greatly..." I whispered into her ear as I grabbed her by a rear leg and promptly dragged her back into the palace, still holding my shotgun in my right hand and with every step on the stairs I let her hit her head on it as I dragged her near dead body to the dungeons to a lone cell and closed the door behind me.

Canterlot Dungeons

Grabbing the iron cuffs in the cell I hooked them into the holes of all four of her legs until she was held in the middle of the room spread out as I slowly dug my fingers into her wounds, cracking them back open as I forced two of my fingers into her chest cavity and wiggled my fingers around forcing her to come back to consciousness and scream out in pain as I widened the hole a bit and yanked my fingers out slightly pulling up her a part of her hide.

"You will stay awake for this pain...I will make sure of it, now take deep breaths and try not to scream so loud, I rather not let Celestia know to early about this painful torture." I whispered again into her ear as I slammed my fist into her gut, forcing a yelp of pain out of her before burning the hole sealing it shut.

"Why did you use me little spy...why did you take the position of a delegate of a foreign nation...why are you here and what are your intentions..."I keep whispering to her again before I grabbed a metal pipe from the window sill and sliced both ends to free it as I bent it into a hook shape and released her from her cuffs before shoving the sharpened point through her shoulder as it exits out her back as I tied it to the ceiling cuff with chains as I let her hang there.

Tapping my omni-tool to find a perfect melody to go with my interrogation I smile with sadistic glee as I tapped it twice as it began to play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYDnn-cKeG4

As the song began I jerk on her lower leg to force the curved end to put pressure on the wound, forcing the changeling to scream out in pain as I twirled her around while singing to the song with a sadistic tone before coming to a stop as I saw blood drip to the floor and yanked down again.

"I shall ask you again...why are you here, what are your intentions...and why did you use me...you have only precious minutes to live." I whispered into her ear while she keeps screaming out in pain as she withered in my grasp, sighing deeply I yank the hook out of her shoulder and slammed it on her other shoulder, piercing the tough hide and appearently bone as well.

With the smallest of touchs I traced my hand over her belly, trying to get a feel for it while giving her a toothy grin letting her see my teeth as I find her center and deliver a blow to the gut as I watch her weeze for air and cough up blue blood onto my chest. Moving my other hand off the hook and moved it to her right foreleg and slowly began to squeeze down on it until I heard the sounds of bones creaking and released my grip to see that I left a dent all around her foreleg.

"We can play this game all day little bug...just tell me what I want to hear or otherwise I have to get very...creative with my torture. Do you dare defy me and keep your information and slowly watch yourself lose segment after segment of your body for my own enjoyment or do you tell me what I want to know and you get to keep your body mostly intact and be still alive?" I extend my omni-blade to her face as I cut off both of her fangs and forced both of them into her chest.

Slowly moving my hand down her sides I find my targets as I point both blades at her rear hooves and ever so slowly stab into the base of her hooves causing her to let out a blood curtling scream of pain and as I slowly twisted my blades to make the pain even worse.

I waited patiently as her screams died down and I pulled her close to my face, hoping to hear the magical words of demanded knowledge escape her lips to my ears, and just as I bring her close she oddly rested her head on my shoulder and with a small shudder she coughed up blood onto my back as I hear her hiss something before speaking weakly.

"I was sent...to spy on the solar princess...and to acquire information....on you..." her words were raspy and tattered and with a small smile I temporarily stepped out of the cell and made my way to the room that was storage of all of my people's achievements and found a small create filled with medical supplies ranging from medi-gel, surgical materials, splints and bandages to replacement parts for false limbs. Grabbing what I needed and returning to the cell to find its sole occupant barely conscious and barely moving, I moved quickly to apply medi-gel to the wounds I have inflicted and even forcibly injected into her neck a stimuli of sorts to keep her from passing out.

Lifting her head up a bit to clean some of the blood off her lips I noticed that for a bug pony that her hide felt soft to the touch and yet was hard and firm when I was crushing it, her eyes seemed odd from the other changeling I met whose eyes were emerald green, hers was a deep shade of purple with a small iris in the center of it. Cleaning her up a bit I noticed that her wings were very slowly twitching, trying to take flight but I saw that the cauterized part of her wing was cracking and before I had a chance to study it the nubs of her wings cracked the scalded membrane as it began to regrow and reform into a set of new wings.

"Now tell me my little bug pony, why did you use me?" my voice was grave and deep, not even giving her a chance to respond I removed the hook from her body and let it hang there in the air as I placed another application of medi-gel onto the puncture wound before looking her over for any other wounds that I caused her before moving close to her so she can speak.

"We...the Hive needed food....your emotions....fed me...and if I made it back....would have helped feed the others..." I can hear a slight wheeze in her voice, most likely that one or both of her lungs are bruised and is having a hard time breath normally.

"Before I let you go and send you to the medical wing for treatment I just have one more question for you." I turned my usual threatning and harsh voice into one that I only give to my few friends, my tone of calm weakness. She barely lifted her head up to me as she looked into my eyes as mine turned a bit, showing her that mine are no where close to real or normal.

"And....*cough* what is it...*cough*?" her voice growing slowly growing weaker from the damage I placed upon her chest, most likely bruising or even damaging her internal organs from my fist earlier.

"Just how old are you...."

"I..I am only 17...this mission...was a test....my rights of passage into maturity." she said before finally losing consciousness as she fell forward onto my knee before falling down it onto the floor.

I just kneeled there, too stunned to do anything as my eyes turned to small pin pricks as I moved to the bucket in the corner and forced myself to heave into it, dislodging whatever I ate last night into the bucket as my mind was raging and screaming.

'WHAT HAVE I DONE!'

'She had it coming, she was a spy and deserved everything that came with such a risky job. Honestly I thought you would be proud that you killed the spy that laid with you and got sweet justice by slowly killing her by torture?'

'THAT IS NOT THE POINT! I JUST ATTACKED AND NEARLY KILLED SOMEONE THAT WAS NOT OF AGE! I AM A SOLDIER OF PEACE AND PROTECTER OF THE YOUNG, OLD AND WEAK NOT SOME BASTARD SCUMBAG THAT DISREGARDS EVERYTHING FOR SELFISH GAIN!'

'Oh please, do not get holier-than-thou on me fool, you turned that life away when you lost both arms and legs at the battle of the Citadel during the Eden Prime War and was dishonorably discharged for disobeying a direct order to save the same fools that you fought oh so hard to protect and keep alive. Where is the justice in that than? You lose your life because you wanted to protect the fools you were told to save? You are nothing but a slave and servent to those with power and you know it.

'IT IS MY JOB TO PROTECT THEM! I HAD NOTHING TO LIVE FOR BACK ON LUNA STATION BECAUSE I WAS AN ORPHAN AND WAS ALREADY DYING FROM STARVATION BECAUSE OF THE PATH I TOOK TO TRY TO STAY ALIVE!'

'Keep telling yourself that fool, we both know that you joined the Alliance for all the tail you could get while out on long range patrols and all the bars we went to, you can deny that for as long as you want but we both know that because of the Alliance you finally lost your cherry at that bar on the Citadel with your friend Alaria for a drunken one night stand. You are nothing but filth and you enjoyed every second of it being scum for working for Aria on Omega.'

'TAKE THAT BACK YOU BASTARD! I LOVED HER AND SHE LOVED ME! IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU THAT IT TURNED INTO A ONE NIGHT STAND WHEN YOU KEPT EGGING ME ON TO WANT MORE AND MORE! BECAUSE OF YOU I LOST HER AND BECAUSE OF YOU I LOST EVERYTHING I HAD. BECAUSE OF YOUR INFLUENCE I TURNED TO CERBERUS TO STAY ALIVE AND IT ONLY MADE THINGS WORSE FOR ME BECAUSE I WAS THRUSTED INTO JOBS AND MISSIONS WHICH MADE ME LOOK EVEN MORE OF A MONSTER ON HUMANITY'S PART, EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME IS YOUR FAULT!'

'You can never admit it that because of me that we are both still alive, because of me you finally had the girl of your dreams but you let her go when you thought you would never see her again from your rotations. I am the reason we are still sane throught the years of being imprisoned in our stone coffin and you should be thanking me for even giving you that push for taking the risk of sacrificing yourself to protect those foolish equines just so you can have another drunken one night stand with their princess.'

'IF YOU EVER SAY THAT AGAIN, I WILL PURGE YOU FROM MY HEAD AND I WILL DO IT IF YOU PROVOKE ME AGAIN, I AGREED TO ALLOW YOU TO STAY IN MY HEAD SO YOU CAN HELP ME FOCUS ON THE TASKS ON HAND AND TO ENHANCE MY BIOTICS BUT IF YOU KEEP THIS UP I AM WILLING TO REMOVE YOU FROM MY MIND AND SUFFER THE PAIN AND BURDENS ALONE THAN TO KEEP YOU HERE AND WATCH MYSELF FADE AWAY TO NOTHING MORE THAN A MONSTER.'

Looking at the unconscious changeling I staggered over to her and gently lifted her up over my shoulder as I quickly moved through the stone corridors out of the dungeon and up the stairs, stumbling the entire time as my body was slowly trying to tear itself apart from the raging mental fighting in my head. The way to the medical wing was empty save for the few servents cleaning the place but as they saw me weakly moving to the castle hospital carrying an equally weak looking changeling on my shoudlers they called the staff to rush to us as I felt them lift the changeling off my shoulder onto a nearby gurny while I was assisted into a room and was laid down onto a bed before I heard them talking quickly about how to treat the near dead changeling.

"Keep her alive...I...have to atone...for wronging her...." my words stumbling as I was forced into unconsciousness from the raging mental battle in my head.

Flashbacks

"What is it Mother Isabella?"

"A baby left at the door, the poor thing was out in the cold for lord knows how long, we will tend to him for now, his new life begins tomorrow."

"Do we at least have a name or something?

"Only his last name but I think his parents changed it for their own good. Zidane...you have a bright future ahead of you."

"Look at what we found, a lost child in our territory, don't worry we will make your death quick and painless as long as you stand still."

"He is getting away! Get the fucker!"

"We lost the little prick...go out and see if he left anything for us to scavenge up and sell at the underground."

"Found the bastard child! Quick get him before he gets away again!"

"What the hell is going on here? Aw shit he isn't a normal bastard orphan he has biotics!"

"So your the kid that killed that gang of fools that has been riping off passers for months? You don't look like much than a starving twig with arms and legs, if you want to survive out here on the streets kid than join us, we know what you are capable of but your own skills won't keep you alive for long if you don't know where to find the nice boltholes to stay in for the night or the right peddlers to not get riped off. So what do you say kid? Friends?"

"Friends...my..my name is...is...Roran....Roran Zidane."

"My name is Alaria, you get to learn my last name if you are able to keep up with us back at our hideout, now come on before the police come and find our little nest of operations and crack down on it."

"Oh come on Greg, that person is an easy target, I want a challenge, hell I need a challenge. These easy targets you have been giving me are so sad and the credits I need are not going to last long for what I have planned."

"Fine than, see that police officer right there at the corner of the street? Take his credit chit and not get caught, if you can do that than you official have balls of steel."

"Oh you are so on!"

"What did you spend those credits on anyways? I mean come on with 2,000 credits you could have fed yourself for five years straight and still have enough to get better clothes to pass off as normal."

"I told you before Greg, its a secret and I still have enough credits to last a month and besides...nah I won't tell you, you have to figure it out on your own."

"Your no fun sometimes you know that?"

"Yea I know, but than again I see a nice juciy target ahead of us not even paying attention to his payload of boxes."

"Yup I see that as well, shall we help lighten his purchases?"

"So do you have what it takes to join the Alliance Navy? From your looks alone that you haven't been eating right and look down right scrawny and can't even hold his own against a man let alone a women."

"I can easily take you on and the next person to walk through that door."

"Are you sure you want to be walking down this word kid, cause we both know that will lead to your ass in the infirmary with broken bones and a busted face."

"Bring it."

"Sgt. tell me again how did a civilian dislocat your left arm and break your right knee?"

"Well...he entered the recruiting station and asked to join, I said some things that might have pissed him off and he challenged me to a fight. I said he would end up eating his own teeth and appearently he can hold his own again someone with actual combat training...I still don't know how he managed to get the slip on me."

"And you Mr...Zidane, hmm...why did you want to join the Alliance?"

"I wanted to join because I am trying to get away from my past life...trying to make a difference instead of waiting for a knife between the ribs in a backalley to die alone."

"Hmm...we will see....return to this station in three weeks, a shuttle will be here to pick you up along with the other recruits to be taken to Earth for training. I have high hopes that you won't disappoint me."

"I am your Senior Drill Instructor, Lt. Mendez, the first and last thing that I will hear spew out of your filthy sewer mouths is Sir, do you understand that?"

"Sir yes Sir!"

"Bullshit I can't hear you sound off like you got a pair."

"SIR Yes SIR!"

"If you ladies leave this base, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon, you will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes, you are the lowest form of life in the galaxy, you are not even human beings."

"You will not like me but the more you hate me the more you will learn. I am hard but I am fair. Here there is no racial bigetry, here you are all equally worthless and my orders are to weed out the weak that are not packed to endure to be in my beloved core, do you magots understand that?"

"Sir Yes Sir!"

"Bullshit I cant hear you."

"SIR Yes SIR!"

"Whats your name scumbag?"

"SIR Private Zidane SIR!"

"Zidane that name sounds russian are you from Russia?"

"Sir No Sir!"

"Where the hell are you form than scumbag."

"Sir Lunar Colony Sir!"

"Who are your parents than Lunar Russian."

"Sir I don't know Sir!"

"From now on you are Private Russian Bastard, do you understand that?"

"Sir Yes Sir!"

"Private Kat, Private Bastard, you two are to clean the head after fixing your bunk."

"Sir Yes Sir!"

"I want that head so sanitary and squared away that the Virign Mary herself would be proud to take a dump in it."

"Sir Yes Sir!"

"Really now? Kat? How the hell did we end up paired together?"

"Maybe because you could use the female company, or maybe because you left your hat in the messhall and because I greased the doorknob to the Drill Instrucrtors office."

"Damn girl, if I needed the company I would have asked some of the other ladies, your to much of a tomboy with your attitude, I bet you can suck a golf ball through a garden hose."

"Oh go suck a dick you fluffer."

"Ouch my pride."

"I can tell we are going to get along just fine."

"That much we will have to see, for now I bet you don't know how to pickpocket or pick locks with nothing more than a sliver of metal and chip of plastic."

"Nope but I know that you can't aim for shit."

"After this to the rifle range, I will show you who can't aim for shit."

"Today, you people are no longer maggots! You are Marines!"

"You are part of a family, from now on until the day you die. Where ever you are every marine is your family, most of you will go off into space, some of you will not come back.

"But always remember this, marines die, that is what were here for. But the Alliance Core lives forever, which means you live forever."

"Sgt. Roran T. Zidane, your actions on the Citadel was valiant, brave and daring to save those trapped by the Geth and Saren's krogan...but they were also brash, foolish and extremely dangerous. You risked your life to save others but you directly went against orders to fall back and regroup with the other scattered soldiers back at C-Sec, you defied a direct order from your commanding officer and because of your actions you saved the ambassadors that were behind enemy lines. Because of your actions that saved the lives of high ranking civilians we have reduced your punishment from dishonorable discharge to an honorable discharge from the military service, report to the administration building on base for processing. Dismissed."

"Roran, I heard that the Alliance discharged you from service for saving human lives and those of other importance, what a shame for such a thing to happen to such a very human soldier like you. Cerberus would have use of your abilities and skills to further Humanity as a whole to uplift our influence and to ascend ourselves into the Council. Cerberus is not fully a terrorist organization and the Illusive Man is only doing what he think is right for us to further Earth and all her colonies to get us to our apex, so will you join us?"

"Mr. Zidane, I see you are taking our training regiment very well and have even been given a command over a squad of soldiers, you have impressed me and more in your few years with us and yet I still see potential in your eyes. I remember when we first met that your biotics was just beginning to flare into existence and your skills as a soldier was that of an N7 operative, so I have a propersition for you, In three days time a shuttle will be coming to Gamma Station to pick you up if you desire to enter the Delta Program."

"You made the right choice, in three days a shuttle will arrive for you so be ready for departure but for now enjoy your time while you can for this day marks a new chapter for humanity's evolution into natural biotics."

"You disappoint me Zidane, you put your morales and thoughts above our rules and order, Humanity must take its power from others to assert ourselves as the supreme race of the galaxy. If you turn your back on us than you will be hunted down for the rest of life."

"Killing innocents and assassinating political enemies is not the right thing to do and you know it Illusive Man, you can keep your shit, but we are done."

"Welcome back to the Alliance Navy Lt. Zidane, get yourself cleaned up."

"Kat what the fuck? I thought I would never see your ass again!"

"Is that all you see? My ass?"

"Hey I said I was sorry when I accidentally put a round into your ass."

"Bow chicka bow wow."

"Shut up Private Urta."

"Get down! get down!"

"We can't keep this position forever sir, we need to head to higher grounds or else we will lose this barricade."

"Kat get your ass into that building and shot any Cerberus bastard in the head, go loud and go hot. The rest of you take overlapping fields of fire in concealed positions, make them pay in full to try and take this stronghold."

"Looks like this is it...the end of all life in the galaxy...you ready for it friend?"

"Katherine, I am ready...I am just scared to be ready for what happens if we lose now"

"One last drink before the war of extinction?"

"One last drink. If we win this, you owe me that hug that you keep denying me."

"Keep dreaming Russian Bastard."

"Fuck off Kat..."

"Roran...I...I feel cold...please...hold me...I..I don't want to go just yet...I still have to save the world."

"I won't leave your side Katherine...just hold on, reinforcements are on the way."

"I never had the chance to tell you this before...before I die...I..I just want to tell you...."

"Don't say it..please just hold on."

"I have always loved you...not in that way idiot...just...as a very close friend...see you on the other side."

"God damn it Kat don't you dare die on me now."

"See you later...."

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!

"Rember what I said Mr. Zidane, our deal is that for every life you take, yours shall be spared...and for each soul you harvest and shed for me your life shall be extended. That Reaper you killed at the intersection, all those souls in one shell."

"No, don't you fucking say it."

"Enjoy your life Mr. Zidane being a statue, I will come back when your time is up to claim your soul."

Canterlot Palace, Hospital Wing

"Fuck...you....Grim Reaper...." my voice barely audiable from the sudden use.

"Princess Celestia he is awake!" a nurse said as she clops her hooves over to the door in the room before another set of hooves walks over to the bed I am in.

"Fucking...burdens...." I said again, trying hard to regain my voice. Celestia's head came into view as I see her flowing mane out of the corner of my eye, her face saddened by my current appearence.

"Roran...what happened?" her voice sad and low, trying to hide something from me.

"I went against my own morales and guidelines....I..I failed everyone...I failed you..." in truth that was the first time I had ever harmed someone so badly that was still young.

"But that changeling was using you as a source of food to sustain herself and her Hive. She could have killed you in the process."

I shake my head at her words, trying to sit up but was forced back down by one of her hooves pressing down onto my chest to keep me on the bed.

"I can't die princess...I...made a deal with the devil...all the lives I have taken...are sustaining my own....I thought that it was just a myth at first, but all the times I should have died and felt very cold for reasons unknown...it was Death, watching over me and keeping me alive to keep assisting him on his job." she looked appalled at first but softened a bit for something I can not fathom.

"Just let me rest...I...I need to come up with an apology to the changeling for almost killing her, I never should have gone that far...what I have done was wrong, torturing and harming a young person that goes against everything an Alliance Marine stands for let alone an N7 operative." it feels like I broke every vow and law I have sworn to protect.

"Than rest for nowm when you are able to be yourself again without causing harm to any of my ponies than come speak to me, I have something to important to discuss with you."

"Alright, for now princess...thank you for coming here...I needed to clear my head and your presence...helps a bit." I saw a bit of flush on her face before she quickly hid it from me as she turned away and left the room.

'Mother Isabella....forgive me for my failures....Sister Marble...forgive me for my failures...'

'Humanity...forgive me for failing all of you...'

'Most of all...Alaria...I should have shown it to you before we left each other that night...'

Sighing deeply I placed my head back onto the pillow and went into a deep sleep, dreaming of the things I should have done different, dreaming of the things that I missed the most.

I miss Alaria.

I miss Hilo'Jaa.

I miss mother.