Tension

"0111010101010100111001101111 011101001010110101...". "Red please I beg you shut up!" I said now shouting at her from my position atop a tree on the edge of Canterlot. "Binary helps to pass the time they say" she said. "Maybe in the land of Memory and RAM but in the real world it sounds really annoying". "You do know that RAM and...". "Shhh look at that" I said now pointing to a messy, ruffled looking pony with a leather satchel on his back. "He could be concealing the weapon in his pack there and by the looks of it he's mad enough". "Captain, I know that you're high strung with it being a day until Luna's murder but you really need some rest or you'll never be able to function properly" explained Red. I'd been forced to leave the castle many times so as not to blow my cover as a guard but it had been really taxing for my mind to just relax when the assassin could be at Luna's door any moment tomorrow and I thought that if I could spot him then it would be easier to stop him when tomorrow came.

"Captain you are perfectly well trained, tomorrow will be easy you just watch Luna like a hawk and when somepony jumps out with a crossbow you do your stuff" assured Red. "Somehow I doubt it will be that ray Red" I said as I went back to my overseeing. "Asimov, the best thing you can do for the Princess now is rest so that you can save her life tomorrow".

I sighed from my seated position atop the tree before back flipping down. "This is not fair" I whispered. "Excuse me" asked Red. "I'm a soldier Red, maybe a genetically advanced one but I was taught to basically kill and defend, this job is probably a lot more easier for me after all I know when, where, who and how and yet this makes my job all the more harder". "Captain, you will follow your orders to the letter" said Red with some force behind her voice. I looked at her little filly holo-image and sighed deeply. "What next" I asked quietly. "What do you mean" asked Red. "I mean after Luna is saved, what happens then, we never thought that far, just save Luna and then what more orders when the U.E.R won't even exist anymore"! "Red we will be the only legacy of this unless somehow they planted a time bunker in space or something!" I said looking at Red just to make sure that they hadn't. "What about the two U.A ponies Asimov they must have meant something" said Red. "Oh but what, you haven't unlocked the AI information and the furthest we've got was playing minesweeper"!

Red's holographic image seemed to be going in and out of various colours as she tried to process which emotion she should be feeling. "Captain, the mission is priority, save Luna and then maybe we can think about decommission...". I looked at her as my mind processed what she had just said "Maybe it'll be for the best but I can't picture myself jumping off a cliff" I said partly reassuring myself.

Red was still having an emotional malfunction as I picked her up and began heading back to the camp, gloomy thoughts followed me all the way and as I set down my gear I decided something "technically mission orders were to protect Luna at all costs, was that a specific thing or indefinitely"? Red seemed to come out if her emotional crash and answered "I contain no information stating just the one moment so yes I'd agree on indefinitely as a possibility". "Well then the plan shall remain the same, protect Princess Luna until we die or she does". "Which will be highly unlikely considering she is immortal and you are protecting her" said Red. "Yeah that's right" I whispered as I got into my shelter which was really a lot of long leaves spread over a large stick held up by a tree. As I nestled down to sleep I could only dream of Princess Luna and the crossbow bolt furring into her back, this was the normal calibre of nightmares that most soldiers from my time had but never had this one made me feel so helpless as I watched constantly as she was killed by the crossbow bolt in slow motion. Every time it was a repeat the bolt would slowly fire and spin furiously forward until it sliced dead centre between her wings, the sharp steel would carry on t however until it plunged into her heart and killed her instantly. Then Luna would slowly fall her legs giving in as she lifelessly collapsed and I could only stare in horror at my dream as it faded out and restarted again each time bringing a sense of failure and guilt to my heart as she died over and over again.

I woke up startled as a high pitch squeal roused me and forced me to cover my ears in pain, it stopped just as quickly as it had started however and I quickly grabbed my rifle and looked around the clearing. "Red" I whispered quickly as I switched the end torch for my rifle on and frantically looked at the forest. "Red Activate" I said more loudly and she came online "What is wrong Captain"? "There was a loud high pitched squeal not of this time I need you to scan the area" I said as I began checking behind trees and other obvious places. "Scan complete, no life or tech besides us in the current vicinity" she said in a very emotionless voice. "But I heard something, I was having a dream and it woke me up and then... Do you know what happened"?

Red's voice kept its emotionless tone and said "no". I looked at her quizzically and asked "what just no, no questions, solutions or possibilities to as you usually do"? "Captain I don't know I was simply stating a fact I'm sorry for speaking" she said finally adopting a hurtful tone".

I sighed and sat down, I knew Red was right that there was no tech or movement or else my motion sensors would have gone off.

I sighed as I nestled back down before realising it was night nearly anyway and I'd have to get up to start what had been building up, to save Luna and hopefully the future... Hopefully.

I dressed into my guard uniform now beginning to get familiar with it and my holster and belt underneath the chest plate. I did some warm up routines before I sighed and looked down at the trail which led to the road which led to Canterlot which led to Luna.

"Red remind me never to travel through time again". "Noted" she replied as we set off for the missions end.

Ok a little short but then again this is just the build up to the next CHAPTER! It's here...well not here it's in production yeah so it will be here and... Stuff... Yeah...

CAKE!