It's Complicated

I headed into the bakery after the purple unicorn and as I entered into what appeared to be darkness the door shut behind me. A trap was the fore thought in my head but. Store I could whip out my sidearm the lights came on and an explosion of colours met my eyes as everyone in the room (and I detected thirty-four) yelled "Surprise"!

The astounding colours and onside were harsher to me than any flash-bang grenade and I immodestly assessed the situation. It was a party foursome one else I had obviously stumbled upon; I would simply explain and be on my way.

I processed this all in mere seconds but it was all made waste when the hyperactive Pink Pony came up to me and started talking really fast. "Ohh I love parties and I noticed you were new in town so I simply had to throw you a welcome to Ponyville party and invite all my friends do you like cake?

I actually stumbled back over the onslaught of words as the bouncing pink pony edged closer and closer to me. "Come on Pinkie he's new" said the purple Unicorn called Twilight. "Let him catch a breath and tell us his name" she said kindly. Everyone in the room looked at me and seemed to smile (what is it with this time and smiling) I thought. I would normally have either gone with general Plan A which was shoot to kill or Plan B escape by any means necessary but due to the fact that these were the Mane Six and that these were really kind Ponies I invented a quick Plan C. "I'm sorry but I have to go see someone I will probably never see you again goodbye!" I said in a hurry as I quickly edged towards the door.

Everyone laughed as I said this and Twilight's horn glowed with magic and I remember getting lifted off my feet. "Don't me nervous its ok, come and enjoy the party".

She put me down and gasped slightly "What on earth happened to you t cutie mark"! Now everyone looked at my flank and gasped as they saw what was left of my cutie mark. "Look I err" they all started to look at each other and at my cutie mark.

Ok this isn't going so well, I am in the middle of a party room with thirty ponies starting to ask questions and I am not a diplomat... Time for Plan B.

I pressed a small device on my belt and a sonic wave hit everyone, deafening them and smashing the bakery's windows. Twilight and the others dropped to the floor their hooves over their ears in pain.

I was immune due to the number of times I'd heard it and quickly made for the exit only to see Pinkie Pie snorting in rage and charging after me. I saw the sonic incapacitator's effects beginning to wear off on the others and quickly changed direction, running up the nearest flight of stairs.

The insane pink pony seemed to leap up them as I went I could see she was seriously pissed off. "HOW DARE YOU RUIN A PINKIE PIE WELCOME PARTIE!" she shouted as her hair seemed to fizz all over the place.

I could hear moans from down stairs and soon the Mane Six was here and I was backed against a window. "Youre going to explain why and what you did now" said Rainbow dash, pounding her hoof into the floor. I looked at the window and at the ponies before me. I think I'll take my chances with the window I thought as I fell through it.

I landed on my hooves but felt a stabbing pain in my back and found a large piece of glass sticking out of me. I ignored it however and began galloping across Ponyville; attracting stares all round as I went with blood streaming down my back.

I made it into the forest by the time the town bell started ringing. I felt rather weak as I now began limping over to the tree I'd buried my gear under, after retrieving said gear I began moving deeper through the forest in the hope that none would follow me this deep into the forest.

After an hour of half walking running I finally stopped by a stream, absolutely exhausted from the ordeals I'd faced in Ponyville. I got Red out and set her on a nearby rock I activated her as I called her now and she gasped a robotic gasp when she saw me. "Captain what have you done" she asked. Well I went into Ponyville and attempted to socialise with the locals but ended up getting cornered by an insane Pink Pony and jumping out a window" I said calmly as I took out some pills and promptly swallowed them.

Red seemed to not like the density of my answer but she accepted it and asked "orders"? "For now set up a short range scanner and help me diagnose this piece of glass sticking out of me". "Why weren't you in your armour?" asked Red. "Well even though I'm no spy I can tell that walking into town like that would land me in a predicament". "You are in a predicament" said Red rather smugly considering I was in a lot of pain.

"Have you scanned everything yet" I asked now getting annoyed as I began to take out surgical gloves and a cell replicating hypo. "There is nothing my short range scanners can pick up for half a mile and you have a piece of glass the size of a small plate lodged between your ribs" she said calmly. "Right so I guess I can't just pull it out then" I asked. "You could but you would lose a staggering amount of blood before the cell hypo set in" she said.

I thought of this problem for a moment before I'd decided what to do. "Ok I need to move quickly so I'm going with the simplest plan" I said as I grabbed a nearby tree branch. "You do realise that this is jeopardising mission parameters" she said sternly. "Well I don't want to blow my cover yet and let any assassins know of my existence so I need to go in stealthily and this will be made difficult if I have a big shard of bloody glass stuck in me!" I ended up yelling.

I must have startled some local birds as I shouted because it seemed to go dead quiet all around. I looked at Red with a (can I continue) look and I set up the hypo for a quick stab after I pulled the shard out. I put the branch in my mouth and bit down on it as I quickly reached back and pulled it out in one fluid moment. I bit down on the log, crushing it in my mouth as I fumbled for the Cell Hypo Which I stabbed into me. The effects were instantaneous as the blood stopped gushing out Of me as my muscle and skin cells began to repair themselves. This was still agony for me and no amount of training could keep me from the pain I was experiencing. My vision started going blurry and I must have passed out because when I came to I was lying in patch of bramble with the stars shining down on me.

I groaned as I stood up, my joints were aching and I was violently shaking. I limped over to Red's terminal and whispered "activate". Almost instantaneously she started up and in a tone I thought sounded a lot like worry said "Asimov thank god I was trying to hail you for hours" she said in a rushed voice. "I'm fine now Red you can stop inputting my deserved resignation form". Red looked at me and for the Holographic image of a filly looked quite frightening. "We have a serious problem Captain, you have been sleeping for four hours and twenty-two minutes and about an hour ago I detected a Pegasus flying at high velocity across the treetops"!

I leant against a nearby tree to steady myself before asking "You didn't happen to detect her flight pattern as being one of search did you"? "No, it was searching but very angry, I have deduced that you have somehow done this?" she asked in a sweet tone now. "I believe she is called Rainbow Dash, also I think her other five friends might be onto me so I have a plan!" I decreed as I shouldered my pack and grabbed Red and my rifle. "You cannot seriously think to be able to outrun them in your critical state!?" she asked. "No, as ashamed as I am to say it we're going to hide I said as I activated the jets on my backpack and leaped with every ounce of my strength up into the trees.

I collapsed onto the top tree branch of the same tree I'd leaned against in exhaustion. I was breathing hard as Red spoke up from inside my backpack "what did you really do in that town?" asked Red. So I explained to her about the party other ponies and the prospect of my cutie mark. "You could have talked your way out of that anyway" she said. "It wasn't just the fact I couldn't lie, my cutie mark is something I want to hide in this world" I said in embarrassment. "Captain, just because you disobeyed..." I don't want a lecture, I disobeyed and nearly got kicked out of the army for it" I said sharply "Now get a file on Princess Luna and deactivate" I said.

Red then went silent in my backpack as I got some motion detectors and through them around my tree. I was really exhausted now and tried to sleep. The pain in my back was still great as my body tried to replace lost blood and heal me.

I looked up at the night sky with a sigh as I remembered how I lost my cutie mark. I looked at the two brands on the flank where my cutie mark once was. All that remained there now was the tips of what was once a star. The middle of the star had been burned out by two brand marks, a big circle with dots in its middle. I shuddered as I remembered the searing pain when I received them.

I stared blankly into the sky, noticing the moon so white and bright as if trying to cheer me up. "Well at least I still have a mission" I whispered, as I drifted off into horrifying dreams.