Ghosts of the Future

Chapter 6

Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

...

...

...

I live.

...

...

I am still alive.

...

...

I am still alive after being forced through endless pain...

...twice.

The Ghost regained his consciousness slowly. His vision was blurry, and his heartbeat throbbed in his ears. He attempted to get up, but couldn't. He looked down and realized he was tied to something. A bed.

He attempted to break free, but the bonds were everywhere, and they held fast. His escape attempt had caused a bundle of small pains on his arms and abdomen. Which meant...

They took my suit off, thought the Ghost. Those ponies took my fucking suit off.

The Ghost blinked several times to refocus his implants. He was wearing the skin tight suit that all Ghost operators wore underneath their combat skins, and nothing else. The Ghost looked around at his surroundings, and noticed that he was in a jail-like cell, except that it was white. Everything was white.

White. Just like a psych ward.

He tried to remember why he was tied to a bed. It hit him rather suddenly.

YOU FUCKING BITCH! MY FREEDOM WAS THE ONLY THING I HAD LEFT!

The Ghost stopped his mental yelling and turned his attention to the lone door, which was in the process of opening. Apparently, his awakening had been monitored.

A white unicorn wearing preposterous golden armour entered the room.

The Ghost watched the pony carefully. He could probably snap his bonds and deal with his warden fairly easily using telekinesis, but he decided to wait. Wait and observe.

The unicorn stopped a few paces from his 'bed'. He addressed the Ghost directly.

"I have been instructed by Princess Celestia to restore your memories that have been lost to you. You have been restrained for your own safety as well as the safety of others."

I guess they don't know that mind wipes are irreversible, thought the Ghost bitterly.

The pony walked a few steps closer. He must have felt the menace radiating off of him. "It's for your own sake. You should feel lucky that the princesses want you to continue living."

Hah. Lucky. I wonder what that feels like.

The unicorn's eyes were closed in concentration and his horn was aglow.

The Ghost didn't know what was going to happen. He vowed only one thing.

I swear to whichever sick, sadistic entity is watching me that I will destroy this unicorn's mind if he fucks with my head.

A light golden glow had begun to emanate from somewhere. It was almost soothing. Almost...

The Ghost felt another consciousness brush his mental defences.

You picked the wrong Ghost to mess with, said the Ghost mentally to the unicorn.

He pushed the feeble mind out of his way and delved into the creature's subconscious. He weaved his way through the pathways in its brain, only stopping when he found the unicorn's nervous centre.

The Ghost had the unicorn in his grasp. He knew from experience that afraid minds were easier to control. He broke out into sadistic poetry.

One, two, Ghost is coming for you.

The unicorn's mind was awash in fear. The Ghost felt him trying to gain back control, but the Ghost did not relinquish his hold.

Three, four, you've no idea what's in store.

He felt the unicorn thinking about what the Ghost would do. Unpleasant mental images were brought from the depths of its consciousness.

Five, six, I will break you like sticks.

The Ghost made a mental picture of the unicorn being torn into hundreds of pieces. He felt the other consciousness cringe.

Seven, eight, consign yourself to your fate.

The Ghost felt the unicorn mentally say goodbye to his family. The Ghost felt no pity. Nobody had ever felt any for him.

Nine, ten, say goodbye, you won't ever see them again.

He made it as painless as he could. Having no pity didn't make him enjoy killing others. The Ghost returned to his own body. His guard was lying on the floor, his eyes glazed over, his breathing shallow. It was only a husk now.

The Ghost telekinetically broke his bonds and jumped to his feet. No sirens or alarms had been triggered...yet.

Think, Ghost. How do I get out of this situation?

He looked around the room for anything that could help. There was nothing of use, save for a sword that hung on the husk.

Good enough.

The Ghost removed the sword from its sheath. In doing so, the Ghost accidentally knocked a small envelope out of a hidden pocket. Curious, the Ghost picked it up and read it.

For Lumen Shield's eyes only:

You are the most accomplished unicorn currently working as a Royal Guard.

For this reason, we have a special assignment for you.

You are to assist in the memory recovery of the alien known only as 'Ghost'.

Proceed to cell block A, cell 12.

Attempt to recover his memory with his sanity intact. If something goes wrong, stop immediately.

Be wary of Ghost at all times. He has shown many magical talents. We can only assume he is hiding others.

He has been fitted with magic displacement rings on both of his forelegs.

Even so, he is to be considered extremely dangerous at all times.

Tell nopony about what you are doing and where you are going.

After completion or failure of completion of this task, destroy this message.

-Celestia

The letters were written strangely, but the Ghost could still decipher them well enough. He learned several important things from the letter. First, he had bested the most powerful Psion in this 'Royal Guard' rather easily. Secondly, according to the letter, this guard was sent on a solo mission, and no other ponies besides the princesses knew that this 'Lumen Shield' was sent here. Third, they wanted his memory fully restored for some reason. Scenarios started to appear in the Ghost's head.

Are they trying to brainwash me? Once was too many. I will die before it happens again.

The Ghost grabbed the sword and tested its edge. Dull.

Why would a guard walk around with a dull blade?

He tossed the sword aside. It would only make cloaking more difficult. Concentrating on himself, he bent the light around him to render himself invisible. Only, it didn't affect his hands and his forearms.

What have we here? thought the Ghost as he examined the small bands of metal wrapped around both of his wrists. He had not noticed them previously.

These must be the 'magic displacement' rings. It is confirmed then. Their magic is psionic, albeit the unicorns have much stronger tendencies. Perhaps something to do with their horn?

The Ghost attempted to remove the rings with telekinesis, but was rewarded with a scathing headache for his trouble. He tried wrenching them off with his hands, but that didn't work either.

I guess cloaking is a no go. I will have to get my suit back with force.

The Ghost turned to the door and attempted to open it. The door didn't budge. Frowning, the Ghost looked for any key holes or some sort of mechanism to grant him freedom, but found none.

Angry at everything in general, the Ghost kicked the door where he thought it was weakest. The door may have been iron, but the Ghost was pissed. The door flew off its hinges and crashed into the wall across from it. An alarm was sounded almost immediately after the ringing from the impact died down.

There goes any semblance of stealth, the Ghost thought wryly.

The Ghost sprinted out of the cell. He took a second to take observations of everything he could. He looked right and saw that there was a contingent of ponies, half of which was dark grey and half of which was of similar colouring to the pony who's mind he had decimated. They were all heading towards his cell. They were equally split between unicorns and pegasi, and they all had the same ridiculous golden armour on.

He looked left and saw a wall.

Decisions, decisions, the Ghost thought jokingly to himself.

The Ghost ran to the wall and leaned his back against it. He propped one foot against the wall, and planted one foot on the ground. The Ghost saw the ponies getting closer.

He concentrated on his legs. He started to slowly reinforce is bones and tendons, and relax his muscles.

This will hurt later.

The Ghost waited until the ponies were almost upon him. As soon as one of them came within fifteen feet of the Ghost, he pushed off of the wall with all of his strength.

The Ghost went from a standstill to fifteen miles per hour in a heartbeat. He bowled into the ponies head on. Several creatures were flung to the side.

None of them were the Ghost.

The Ghost tried to keep the smile from his face when heard the ponies start to cough violently behind him. He had launched off of the stone wall with enough force to pulverize the rock into a fine powder. Smiling to himself, the Ghost continued his sprint down the corridor.

***********************************************************

For the first time in her life, Twilight Sparkle was unsure of Princess Celestia. Did she have the right to refuse his request? Do any of us have that right?

The Ghost had tried to kill himself and was now sprawled unconscious on the floor. Twilight slowly levitated the gun down, not wanting it to unleash any more of its projectiles.

"Come, my little ponies. If we are to save this creature from himself, we must begin immediately," said Celestia.

"Why did you have to do that?" asked Twilight before she could stop herself.

The princesses looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean? We had to incapacitate him somehow," replied Luna.

"Couldn't we have just asked him to reconsider instead of causing him to go unconscious with pain?"

Celestia stepped forward towards Twilight. She lowered her head so she could speak to Twilight directly. "Twilight, please understand that we only want what is best for Ghost. He is obviously mentally unstable from everything he has been put through."

Princess Celestia took a mournful glance at the Ghost. "Sometimes, you have to do what's best for somepony, whether they approve of it or not. Do you understand why we have to save Ghost, Twilight?"

Twilight shook her head. Inwardly, she said, How can you save somepony who doesn't want to be saved?

Not hearing Twilight's mental question, Celestia continued. "Ghost is the first alien to visit us. If what he has said is true, then he may be our only means of defending ourselves from the Zerg and, inevitably, the Protoss. We have to ensure he lives, for the benefit of everypony. Do you understand Twilight? He is the first visitor. There will inevitably be more. What would other Terrans think when the first one of them to cross paths with us killed himself?"

Twilight shivered. She hadn't thought of it that way.

Celestia's gaze grew soft once again. "I don't approve of messing with other ponies freedom, but there comes a time when it proves to be necessary."

Twilight looked down. "I-I'm sorry, Princess. I never thought of it that way. It's just...if he wanted to end it...who are we to say no?"

Twilight heard several sniffles from behind her. She turned around and saw Fluttershy was crying softly whilst being comforted by her other friends.

Princess Celestia had seen it also. She cleared her throat and addressed everypony in the room.

"We are going to take Ghost back to the castle with us and we want the six of you, the bearers of harmony, to accompany us. We are going to try to recover his memory. Maybe with his memories intact, he will realize that life is worth living. If that fails, maybe the elements of harmony can drive the anger and hate from his heart."

This is the Princess I was waiting for, thought Twilight happily.

With Fluttershy now sufficiently calm, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia teleported everypony and the Ghost to Canterlot.

***********************************************************

The Ghost was getting tired. From his rough estimate, he had ran through over a mile of twisting corridors. He had dispatched every contingent of guards that was sent to capture him. He knew they were under orders to capture, not kill, after he had torn the information from the mind of the last conscious unicorn from the most recent contingent that had been sent after him.

The Ghost had decided to incapacitate the guards instead of outright killing them. He wasn't entirely sure why, but some small part of him knew it was because of his qualm with Celestia. It was between himself and her, nobody else. The unicorns had little to no mental protection, allowing the Ghost to waltz right into their mind and disable them. The Pegasi guards were slightly more troublesome. Being low leveled Psions, their minds weren't as open as the unicorns were to his in mental combat. Instead, he used his superior height, weight, strength, reach, and training to dispatch them quickly and efficiently. He refrained from killing them, but that was the extent of his mercy.

A total of four groups of twenty ponies had tried to stop him. The only time the Ghost truly had any trouble was when he was caught by telekinesis. He had managed to break free through sheer will alone. The Ghost wasn't sure how the unicorns used telekinesis so easily: every time he used it, it left a scalding headache and drained his energy rapidly. He had defeated each contingent without any major injuries, but his exertions were starting to take their toll. Deciding that he was better off moving on, the Ghost never stopped to rest.

Just as the Ghost was starting to think that the endless corridors would never cease, he turned a corner and ran straight into a large wooden door. The Ghost wasn't seriously injured, only bruising his shoulder and breaking his nose. Letting out a sharp breath, the Ghost snapped his nose back into position. Now slightly more agitated, the Ghost was about to kick a hole straight through the twelve foot door.

Just before his foot connected with the door, the Ghost stopped. He pondered his situation a bit more.

What the hell. Might as well see if its unlocked first.

The Ghost tried the handle. The door was unlocked.

...

...That's convenient.

The Ghost opened the door and was shocked to discover that it moved silently. Shrugging, the Ghost slipped through the door and closed it behind him.

The Ghost found himself in a large room with tall ceilings. To say it was a room was a bit off. It was more like two corridors intersecting at a 'T'. He appeared to be on the left side of top of the 'T'. There was another large door opposite himself. The Ghost cautiously walked around the corner of the 'T' and looked down the long corridor.

There was a long strip of red carpet that ended in a throne. In the throne sat Princess Celestia, who was flanked by several groups of guards. The Ghost also spotted the six other ponies that were dubiously known as 'the elements of harmony'. Five of them were wearing necklaces, while one of them, Twilight, was wearing a strange piece of jewellery on her head.

No matter what happens, I win. If I kill Celestia, I win.

If they kill me, I win.

...

For once, I can't lose.

The Ghost started walking towards them, his stride purposeful, his mind clear.

******************************************************************

Twilight was woken up by a siren blaring. Could it be...?

Her question was confirmed when she heard a knock on the door. She threw off her covers and practically galloped to the door. She opened it, and was greeted by her brother, Shining Armor.

"Hello, Twi. Glad to see that we finally have something capable of waking you up," he said with a chuckle.

Twilight glared at him. Ever since she was a filly, Twilight had always stayed up late to read and study. She was infamous in her family for sleeping through the loudest noises.

Brought back to the gravity of the situation, Twilight asked, "Is the siren for...?"

"Ghost? Yes. And before you say anything, we don't have to keep his existence a secret anymore. I doubt anypony will forget him now," Shining said with a grimace.

Her heart fluttering, Twilight asked, "Why? What did he do?"

Shining sighed. "Grab your element and follow me. The Princess will explain."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight and Shining Armor were the last to arrive in the throne room. All of Twilight's friends were waiting for her, having already put their necklaces on. Shining took his place at the head of the Royal Guards. Twilight walked up to Celestia, who was sitting in her throne with a calm and serene demeanour.

"Princess Celestia," she said as she inclined her head and knelt down.

"My most faithful student," she responded.

Twilight was unsure of what to ask first. "What happened to Ghost?"

A pained expression flashed across her mentor's face. "He...erased the mind of Lumen Shield, the most accomplished magic user in the Royal Guard. His body is alive, but...he's not there. It's like his body is empty. Just a husk."

Twilight Sparkle's eyes widened. The Ghost's warning flashed through her mind.

Also, when I said knock first, I mean it. I will eviscerate your brain if you do that again.

Twilight shuddered at the thought. Celestia continued detailing what the Ghost had been up to.

"After that, he destroyed the door to his room, which is what caused the alarm to go off. I've sent several contingents of guards to stop him, but he's disabled each and every one."

Several contingents, disabled?! thought Twilight. There's twenty ponies in each one!

Another meaning of the word disabled came to her.

How many has he killed? she thought.

As if knowing what she was thinking, Celestia said, "Luckily, he hasn't outright killed anypony. Many have been gravely injured, but no deaths have occurred."

"He's heading here, isn't he?" asked Twilight.

Princess Celestia nodded.

Twilight took a deep breath and said, "I hope the elements can help him."

Princess Celestia looked at Twilight.

"Me too," she said.

****************************************************************

The Ghost walked down the red carpet, the irony of the statement being lost on him. His eyes burned with loathing as he stared at the Princess.

So regal. So compassionate. So deluded.

"I will make you pay, Celestia. I will make you pay if its the last thing I do," he said, his ragged voice carrying across the room.

As the end of his statement, a large group of royal guards had surrounded him. The ranks consisted of Pegasi, unicorns, and even Earth ponies. The Ghost had never fought the Earth ponies before: he wondered how well they fought. Assuming a relaxed, predatory stance, he looked into the eyes of the unicorn that was wearing a slightly different variation of the standard armor.

"You can't stop me. I will take my revenge, and there isn't one thing you can do about it," said the Ghost confidently.

The unicorn ringleader growled back, "We'll see about that. Attack!"

At once, the surge of royal guards charged at the Ghost. The Ghost reacted out of pure reflex, his body instinctually knowing what to do from years of combat experience. He kicked the first wave of Pegasi guards that attempted to dive-bomb him out of the air, causing them to land on their ground-bound companions. Distracted by the aerial assault, the Ghost didn't notice several of the unicorns that had stepped away from the group, their eyes closed in concentration.

With the initial wave of Pegasi defeated, it was the Earth ponies turn. They charged him as one, their hooves rushing out to knock the Ghost senseless. The Ghost evaded the best he could, landing counter blows with every opening he saw, but even he wasn't fast enough to avoid every kick. Several landed, and the Ghost was knocked back by the sheer power of them. To create some breathing room, the Ghost launched himself upwards, using one of the Earth ponies as a springboard, and landed several feet away from the enraged group.

What they lack in wings or psionics, they make up for in brute strength, thought the Ghost as he braced himself for another attack. This time, he kicked the legs out from under the first ponies that rushed him, causing them to fall and disable several of their allies.

Just as the Ghost prepared for the next attack, he found himself within a spherical dome of energy. He placed his hand on it. It was solid. He looked through the shield, attempting to find the ponies responsible. His eyes locked onto the unicorn that had started the attack, his eyes closed in concentration. He also appeared to be assisted by five other unicorns.

Oh no you don't. I have sacrificed too much to stop now.

The shield may have held the Ghost's physical form in, but it didn't repel his mind when he tested it.

They never learn, thought the Ghost derisively. He telepathically reached for the group of six unicorns that were locking him in. He tried to gain access to their minds, but they were concentrating hard enough on the energy-bubble that the Ghost's mind was repelled.

How the hell? When these creatures concentrate on something, they do so with their entire minds. How am I going to break free of this prison?

The Ghost thought for several moments. A twisted smile appeared when he thought of a way to escape. Pushing his mind outwards again, he returned to the six concentrating unicorns, but instead of a mental assault, he observed how they were creating the force field. The Ghost took several moments to fully comprehend how it worked, then he returned to his body.

Amazing. They are working together to create this barrier. Psions in tandem...now that's a terrifying prospect.

Touching his hand to the energy sphere, the Ghost started to channel his own energy into it. While the unicorns were concentrating on keeping the sphere active, the Ghost was working on something completely different.

Slowly, even lazily, the sphere started to grow in size. This was not immediately noticed by the guards, but eventually one of them asked, "Hey, does anypony else think the shield is getting bigger? I swear it's getting bigger."

The Ghost smiled upon hearing the distorted sounds of confusion from within his confines. He had been slowly trickling energy into the sphere with the intent on expanding it. He figured that if it kept him in, it would keep others out.

With a surge of mental strength, the Ghost put some of his last reserves of energy into the sphere, causing it to grow rapidly with size. It grew so fast that it pushed the guards that had formed a large circle around the energy dome aside and into various pillars and walls. With the guards stunned, the Ghost continued to expand the dome outwards at a reasonable pace.

The stunned and concussed guards regained their composure to see a wall of purple coming towards them. They didn't have enough time to react, and they were pushed up against the walls, slowly being crushed.

When the screams of their fallen comrades met the ears of the spell-casting unicorns, they abruptly lost concentration, causing the shield to fade out of existence. Not concentrating on the spell any longer, the Ghost quickly disabled five of them with his mind. It took him much longer to deal with the group leader, for he was a stronger Psion than any of the other guards that he had faced. Eventually, the leader had slipped up, allowing the Ghost to force him into unconsciousness. Strangely, the Ghost saw various fleeting images of Twilight Sparkle and a pegasus-unicorn.

Tired, but with his revenge close at hand, the Ghost shook the images out of his mind and continued his leisurely pace towards the Princess. Out of the corner of his eye, the Ghost saw several Earth pony guards attempt to flank him. Before he could test their mettle, the Princess called out, "Halt! All guards stand down! The elements of harmony will make him understand!"

Grumbling, but not wanting to invoke the wrath of the Princess AND the Ghost, the contingent of Earth ponies returned to the sidelines. Unhindered and unopposed, the Ghost continued his path of vengeance.

Next Chapter: Chapter 7 Estimated time remaining: 57 Minutes