Watching

I opened my eyes to a sound I had only heard described in old tales from before the war. Birds, they were so beautiful with their sweet songs. But then the sound of screams could be heard and I realised I must still be on the battlefield and got knocked out. I jumped up and
opened my eyes to what I first thought was heaven I realised was fields and trees and behind me an old looking castle. I looked down at myself and saw I was in my advanced Armour getup. "Great so it was not a dream and now I'm stuck with the weight of the future on my shoulders". I moved against the wall being sure to stay silent as I got in closer through all the rubble.

I knew the tales of Nightmare Moon and of Celestia forgiving her for the huge war she had started by me didn't interpret the Lady of the night to be so... Striking, was the word I used. Even though it was my kind I still found it a breach of orders to think of my protectorate as beautiful.

Celestia stood a head above everyone (including me) and had flowing rainbow like hair for a mane. Six other ponies were around her, The Elements of Harmony as I remembered them to be called. I was not a fairy tale kind of pony but I knew se basic Myths and their names. The purple unicorn was Twilight, the white unicorn Rarity, the rainbow Pegasus was Rainbow Dash, the yellow Pegasus was Fluttershy a cute little thing and finally the two earth ponies. Pinkie Pie the insane one as I recall and Applejack the apple owner or something.

I had to keep myself from killing the four of the Mane Six who weren't Earth ponies like I'd been bred to do, being a soldier meant I was good at following orders and the first order drilled into my brain was kill anything with a horn or wings which wasn't exactly an order but damn it was hard to forget. "Why couldn't they get somepony that was capable of thinking for themselves" I thought as I edged away from the tender moment.

The party was suddenly enveloped in a flash of light as Celestia teleported the whole group out of the ruined castle. I just fell over at the sight. "This is stupid, they're Alicorn with magic and wings how I am supposed to protect them" I thought as I checked my backpack for something useful. I wish command hadn't rushed this I thought as I rummaged through loads of supplies until I came to a small metallic device which I recognised as a holographic AI. I set it down and stepped back, and then out loud I said "Activate".

The small black box opened and a transparent white image of little filly came into view. "Red Terminal Project Restart AI 300 activated, Power Levels at 100 percent DNA identified as Captain Asimov Foundation assigned to project Luna state request" said the dull voice of the AI.

I was impressed as I walked around the AI. "Red Terminal you are different from the other AI I have worked with, what was your manufacture date?" I asked. "I was manufactured in 3734 a year before I was first activated which is now" it said. "Right so what kind of files do you hold in your servers, information, maps?" I asked.

"Affirmative, the creators knew the probability of the project being finished before the Ponies Pegasus Republic of P.P.R cracked the Nuclear Fusion Theory and launched an attack on U.E.R Central HQ was small so created me on the side to assists you in your mission".

"Right so you hold current time frame maps in your memory then"? "Oh yes, you are currently in the ruins of the Castle of the Night and Moon where the historic battle between Celestia and..." "Details later for now what are the closest settlement and how do I get there?" I asked getting impatient.

I thought I could detect hurt in the AIs voice. It was gone in a second as she detailed me a direct route to Ponyville which gave me a wave of nostalgia. "Thank you Red, we shall talk later but for now I need to at least investigate where Princess Luna has gone" I said as I made to pick Red up.

"Captain wait!" she said "The creators informed me that it would be more wise to explore your current time before protecting Luna, they suggested you become friendly with those who you've fought for so long seeing as you will probably be living with them for the rest of your life".

I let out a sigh of frustration and spoke firmly to the AI "Look I have killed hundreds of ponies I was told to and I could do that because I didn't get to know them, If Command wanted me to interact and make friends then they should have given the reward to somepony else but I have a job to do and I will simply do it until the day I die now deactivate"!

The holographic image of the filly flickered and the little black box closed. I picked it up and placed it in my backpack. I slung my rifle round my neck and made to depart when across a bridge. Walking was hard as my limbs were quite stiff from the terrible Time Travel.

I trudged on however without portraying any emotions and eventually I was marching quite quickly through a forest. I thought back to the wars I could stop if I saved the Princess of the Night. It kind of made life worth living when I thought of it like that. I didn't know what it was but the cool breeze and the trees made me feel happy or what I thought was happy (I didn't experience the emotion much). No more numbers, no more logistics, tactics or petty tricks, just a simple mission in a simple world.

In a great way it was a blessing but in another way a curse. I was given a world of kindness and I was the complete opposite merciless, a warrior bred to kill from birth to fight in an everlasting war.

I snapped out of the train of thought which had popped into my head as I saw it was actually getting dark. I decided to stop for the night and set off early in the morning for Ponyville which would mean I would get there. By mid-afternoon. I looked at the starry sky in amazement and appreciation. The skies in modern Equestrian were red due to the Fillydelphia firebombing in 2675 which through loads of dust into the air as the city crumbled.

I suddenly realized I still had the pennant from that science pony around my neck. I took it off and looked at its design, simple but quite touching it was probably the only thing ever given to me from someone else that didn't involve death... Well not directly anyway.

I planted three metallic devices around me as I nestled in some grass to sleep; these motion detectors should warn me if something as large as or larger than a dog came at me. I fell asleep as I watched the sky, and dreamed of nothing but war like all my other dreams but amazingly the sky was clear this time...

I awoke the next day to find that I was indeed stuck in the past and I was not in some coma and waking up in a U.E.R hospital.

I made picked up my sensors and slung my rifle over me and set off for civilisation. I now started to trot along the rough path to Ponyville to get there quicker even though I should have been conserving my strength.

I saw a nearby river and realised I was very thirsty. I walked over to the river and as I bent Down to take a drink stared in shock at the reflection before me. It was and alright but I had a black body and a silvery short long mane which really got in the way. I got out Red and after angrily saying "Activate" yelled "Why the hell am I a different colour"?!

Red seemed unfazed by this level of shouting and looked actually bored for a moment before answering "If you had but listened to me the other day I would have fully explained the situation" "Time travel is risky because particles can be mixed up during time travel so you most likely took the colour of something like your armour and it mixed with your skin molecules". "I'm actually surprised a piece of metal didn't lodge in you thick skull but I guess the odds were better for you, now please don't disturb me and get on with your mission" said Red in a dismissal voice as she deactivated.

I sat their stunned as Red said all this. I had worked with a few AI systems, most of them rather pathetic and basic it Red was something new, almost like a real pony. I put her box back in my pack somewhat guilty now and went over to look at the new me.

I didn't so much think about fashion, more of how much easier it would be to sneak in the dark now. The mane was a problem however and so dropping my rifle I drew my knife and cut all the hair back until it was neat and short. "More importantly not in the way" I murmured to myself.

So I filled my canteen, grabbed my rifle and set off again. I jogged for a few hours until I finally came to the edge of this forest and the sight of Ponyville filled my vision.

I began to walk down the winding path to the colourful town all the while wondering how I was going to do this. I had only been spoken to, apart from me ordering my men the longest conversation I'd held with a civilian was Duck!

However a pink pony was making her way down the path and I realised even though these ponies didn't know war I might look quite frightening to them. Too late to Change now however as the pink pony who I now recognised as Pinkie Pie came closer.

She looked up and gasped as she disappeared running at full pelt into the town. Ok new plan, I ran back to the forest and after burying my armour and backpack under a large tee decided to go in only wearing my belt with my knife and sidearm in it.

I began trying to casually walk into town but I felt naked without my weapons and armour as I strolled in through gates saying Ponyville. I saw ponies all around me, Pegasus ponies, unicorns but the majority was Earth ponies which made me feel slightly better. I tried to suppress the urge to snap a brown unicorn's neck as he budged into me quite clumsily.

I made my way through the ponies looking for some information point or someone who looked like she knew Princess Luna when I saw the Purple Unicorn from a day ago enter what looked like a really pretty bakery.

I decided that if anyone were to know where Luna was it would be her and followed her into the bakery quite unaware at what I would find inside would lead to a startling amount of pain for something that people once told me was supposed to be a happy thing... oh well.