"Wait, he did what?! To Shane?"
So… after bumping into Joseph in the streets, myself and Twilight decided it'd be smart to find somewhere to have a quick rest, given it took us what was equivalent to a hike in order to Marecambe. As such, we set up base in a nearby Café. We placed and paid our orders, and while we awaited our ordered food, Twilight decided to ask what Joseph was actually like. I obliged her, having nothing better to do.
"Yep. More than once too." I answered, stretching in the slightly smaller than liked chair I was in. I was uncomfortable, and while I did want to simply sit on the floor, I had to keep up the cover my illusion ring was giving me. "Shane and Joseph constantly butted heads. Jo thought it'd be smart to try bring up family in front of Shane. Note to the wise, never insult anyone's dead parents."
"And… then they fought one another?" Twlight asked, more into the story than I'd like to admit.
"Saying they 'fought' would indicate it was even a close bout. Long story short, Shane broke three of his ribs." I explained, causing Twilight to spit out a majority of her drinking water… all over my trousers. "Thanks…"
"Sorry!" Twilight chuckled lightly. "It'll dry off quickly, the weather seems warm.
"If you say so…" I groaned, feeling the lukewarm water seep through my pants. Note to self; bring a spare change if clothes in future.
"Anyway, back to your story?" Twilight asked, wishing to go back on-topic.
"Yeah, ok. So, Shane broke ribs. Fortunately, he got away Scot-free, because the project had a rule of not intervening with the virtues as they, quote on quote, 'figure out their differences'."
"That seems a little unsafe. What if someone gets hurt, or dies even?"
"Ok! Firstly, fights never get to the point of life-threatening. I'm pretty sure Shelby intervened long before that stage."
"Is… Shelby another virtue?" Twilight asked.
I sighed. "Yeah. It's thanks to her most of the virtues weren't constantly at one another… making the fact her pod didn't make it all the more of a loss."
Twilight noticed my slight attitude change. "I'm… sorry to hear that. She sounds nice."
"I knew her a bit. 'Nice' isn't too far off" I said, "My point is, Joseph is a pain to deal with. Not even Shane could keep him in check. I'm half tempted to just go back to Ponyville and leave him here."
"Only half?" Twilight asked. "If he's really as bad as you make him out to be, why even try?"
I sighed. "I… look, I have to be the bigger man here. I might not like him, but I have to at least try to reconcile or something. Hell, even a 'we may hate each other, but let's be civil' speech won't go awry."
"That's… oddly mature of you, given the sircumstamces." Twilight claimed. "I'll have to put that in a friendship letter to Celestia at some point."
"…Uh, a 'friendship letter'? What's… you know what? Never mind. I'll figure that one out some other time." I halted myself, knowing I was likely about to cross the line into lecture territory. "I'll head over to see Joseph after our food comes… if it comes."
"Now you've jinxed it, the waiter will probably serve us next." Twilight giggled, looking over to the waiter serving another couple on a nearby table.
And them, I kid you not, Twilight's prediction came true. Murphy's law kicked in, having the waiter drop two bowls of daffodil and cheese salad pasta on the table… one without the daffodils, thanks to a reasonable cover story from Twilight.
"Seems you're aware of Murphy's law, eh? That was a good call." I pulled my bowl over to me, chuckling now the waiter was out of our line of sight.
"1, I dabble. 2, technically it's called 'marely's' law in Equestria. And 3, how could you not expect me to say it? You basically asked for it."
"Yeah, point taken." I sighed, picking up a fork and diving straight into my pasta. From the first bite I knew it was good! The pasta had just the right level of moisture to make it taste neither chewy or soft, and allowed the cheese to perfectly blend into the pasta. Pasta was never really my favourite food, but I could tell a good bowl when I tasted it.
But there was something about the dish that made me feel… bad. Something didn't feel right. And after about 3 or 4 additional forks of the stuff, I stopped eating.
"… Connie would love this."
Twilight's ears perked. "Huh? Who's Connie?"
"My other best mate. Known her since day 1 of Horizon. And to note, she's a bigger food nut than me." I told Twilight, realising how long it's been since I last saw her. "Every single day, she'd wait for me outside my room, hang out with me and David, stand up for me, even if she was clearly out of her league, or if I was in the wrong."
"Did you… like her?" Twilight curiously asked.
"No, not like that. She's by best friend, but I have no interest of going that far with her." I explained, scratching the back of my head in slight embarrassment to that question. Truth be told, it wasn't the first time. "Besides, she had a crush on David. I promised not to tell him, but she's so damn shy when it comes to romantic stuff and that."
"Does David like her back?"
"Yeah… but he seems to think she likes me. Put it simply, I'm stuck in a love triangle." I sighed, nostalgic over the memory. "She's still out there somewhere. I'll find her, I know it."
The conversation went silent for a short while after that, as I returned to my food, polishing off the remainder of the bowl. By the time I was done, Twilight seemed to only be half way through her own dish.
I slowly pushed away from the table, attempting not to break the small chair I was sat on. "You go ahead and finish your food, I'll go deal with Joseph."
"Marc, wait!" Twilight yelled, stopping me in my tracks. She then coughed lightly, setting her time back to normal. "Could you… tell me how you met Connie? She… she sounds important to you."
I was at an impasse. While it was still a slightly sore subject, it was either that or going and talking to Joseph. And given I just explained why I disliked Joseph and why Connie was so important to me, I decided to oblige Twilight's request and reminisce a little longer.
I carefully say back down. "Ok… but this is a one-off. Keep quiet, turn all mobile devices off and enjoy your movie!" I joked, bartering a chuckle from her. Nice to know my sarcasm was still growing strong.
-0-0-0-0-0-
It was your typical blustery Tuesday over at the Project Horizon compound, and mine and Shane's first day. We were recently brought in after I drew attention to myself while some drama at a nearby outpost… long story, and encountered Leon, the project's personal scout.
I remembered Leon well from back in the day. He was never around for long, always saying exactly what needed to be said and nothing more. He was the one who convinced myself and Shane to join the project, despite my own personal hesitance.
Having donned the projects signature insulated track suits, Shane and myself were following Leon as he lead us the the main hall, where the other virtues were awaiting us. However, Shane noticed my lack of conversation, something he knew was a bad sign.
"What's got you so quiet Marc? You good?" He asked, nudging my shoulder a bit. Truth be told, Shane could always tell if something was up with me. Call it a sixth sense picked up from traveling.
"Sam… I still can't believe I couldn't convince him to be able to come." I moaned, in the beginning of my blank phase. It was something that happened when I first came to the project, being unable to think of nothing other than Sam. Not having him there was… unusual to say the least.
"Don't worry Marc, I'll make sure to look after him. He'll be keeping busy as long as he's with me." Leon assured me, still keeping his eyes dead forward.
"Look, I get it's weird… among many other things. But we still here together, right? That much I'll ensure never changes." Shane promised me, nudging my shoulder to try cheer me up. This bartered nothing more than a slight smirk, mainly to keep him off my back at the time. I just needed to put up with his sympathetic chattering for a few more minutes, then I could find a window to go mope by… no, seriously.
When we got to the main hall, I was… honestly disappointed. It basically looked like a school building's dinner hall. Cheap looking benches, an open area to get food. Hell, there were even TV's donning the far walls and vending machines littered around the place! Safe to say I was unimpressed.
As for what I could see of the virtues, they we're mostly all gathered together in the centre of the room, with two others off on their own.
"Alright guys, gather around! We've got newcomers!" Leon yelled over to the others. With a few groans, everyone slowly approached, bar David, who was content working on his own in the corner.
"Okay, I don't plan on wasting your time today, so I'll get all the formalities over with and let you guys figure stuff out." Leon told everyone, patting Shane on the shoulder. "This young man here is called Shane. He'll be our virtue of Honour for the project. Anything to say mate?"
"Shane shrugged. "Nothing that comes to mind."
"Alright, fair enough then." Leon then walked backward a bit, moving behind me and pushing me forward a bit. "And this is Marc, the virtue of loyalty! Best get in his good side now, while you have the chance." Leon, as well as a couple of the virtues, chuckled at this. "You got owt to say Marc?"
"Uhh… I wasn't told there's be speeches." I answered, gaining a giggle from… someone in the room. "Look, can we just go and do our own thing now? I'd rather not be the centre of attention for long."
"Meh, suit yourself then. Just means I can grab a brew from the staff room." Leon shrugged, heading towards the rooms exit. "I'll leave you to sort out your own differences. See you guys next time!"
Once Leon was out of sight, I was more than happy to walk away, planning on heading to the nearest window, when I saw someone blocking my path. This 'someone' was the same height as me, with grown out blonde hair on his head, covered by a beanie, and had slightly coloured skin. He held his hand out to me.
"Nice to meet you newbie. Names Joseph, Joe for short." He greeted, his smile seeming warm and inviting.
"Uh… hi?" I answered weakly, slowly reaching my hand out to him, his hand eventually doing to shake itself.
"Don't worry about the jitters, most of us had them to start with, they'll fade." He told me, leading him over to his table, Shane slowly following suit. At this point, myself and Shane included, only 8 virtues were in the hall. As such, he gestured to the three with him. "These are Shelby, Mary and James, the virtues of Empathy, Knowledge and Strength respectively."
"Nice to meet you two. About time we got some new faces!" Shelby greeted, causing Shane to… blush for some reason? Irrelevant for the time being.
"Yeah, 'nice' is a rather subjective word or our meeting, but I will say this meeting is… noteworthy?" Mary said, confusing the hell out me.
"Yeah… Virtue of knowledge of you…" Joe muttered, turning to the last of the group. "James is still half asleep, so he's probably worth leaving alone."
"I could've told them that myself you know…" James moaned, turning to face us. "Heads up, he like to talk."
"I think we noticed." I answered, turning back to Joe. "Thanks for the intro, but I need to be on my own for a bit… I've got to think something over." And like that, I began to walk away. However, something about that changed the aura of the room, if you catch my drift. Something about Joseph changed.
"Oh, great! You're one of those guys." He groaned, face-palming and drawing my attention again. "I get it, you're emo! You don't need to tell us that! Just go off alone if you're going to. Don't need to tell us!"
"Dude… overreaction much?" I told him blankly, my tone of voice attempting to tell him I wasn't up for his shit today. Naturally, he didn't pay attention, or listen.
"Oh what? You think you can come here and try undermine me?! Get the memo newb, I call the shots around here! You don't want anything to do with me? Not happening! You don't go off on your own without asking ME first! Got that?!"
Shane grabbed his shoulders, pulling him away. "I wouldn't talk to my friend like that if I were you."
Joseph chuckled slyly. "Ohh, ok! What you gonna do, knock me out? No! You don't have the balls for that!" He threw a punch at Shane, who caught it in his hand, twisting his hand backward into a pressure lock.
A glint of anger sparked in Shane's eye. "No, I'll keep you awake and subject you to unbridled pain! I'll break your ribs! Snap your arm! I'll be your worst nightmare if you even try touching Marc, or anyone! Ever again! Got me?!" As much as Shane went over the top, it was nice to know he still had my back,
Shelby, having gotten up from her seat, positioned herself between Shane and Jo, splitting them apart. "That's enough guys! Nobody's gonna touch anyone today. Or any day! Got me?" She threw a deep glare between Shane and Joe, ensuring they weren't about to murder each other. She then gave me a caring, calm look. "Go sort yourself Marc. I've got these two sorted out."
"T-thanks Shelby." I responded, slowly walking away from the whole debacle and taking my own seat in the far corner away from the group. Aside from nearly starting world war four, things went… okay?
I managed to get in a sigh, maybe a minute or two of sulking? That's when another figure approached, claiming the seat adjacent to me. This young woman, looking roughly my age, had dark brown, almost black hair, with bright green eyes to boot. She didn't say anything at first, just sitting there quietly. Eventually, I turned to her.
"Do you need to sit there? I kinda want to be on my own right now." I told her, causing her to turn my way.
"Ah, sorry! I just come here to think, that's all." She answered, turning back to the nearby window. "Have you heard of the book called 'of Mice and Men'? If you have, I think Joseph reminds me a bit of Curley from it."
"My… Mom used to read it to me. I know what you mean." I answered, realising I probably wouldn't be able to get rid of her for a bit. "An angry short guy, likes to make himself seem tougher by picking on bigger guys."
"In other words, just like Joe." She chuckled. "He ended up getting his hand crushed by Lennie though."
I sniggered too. I saw her joke from a mile away. "Switch Lennie for Shane though, then you've got Joe."
After we finished a little giggle, the girl gave me a light dig. "I'm Connie, and just for the record, the rest of us aren't as bad as Joseph."
I smiled, genuinely. "Yeah, glad to know that." I turned my attention to the sky, mainly recalling my attempts to get to safety over the few months leading to this point… and my parents.
"You're thinking of someone, aren't you?" Connie asked, having immediately picked up on my change of mood.
"My brother… my parents." I muttered, still feeling a little wounded at my folks loss. "My parents died getting me here. My brother… can't be in the project."
Connie didn't try say any words of pity, instead looking out of the window with me. "You know… if bad things happened to you before coming here, then good things are bound to happen in the future. It won't make up for what happened, but you'll feel better, I know it!"
"I… I guess." I couldn't flaw her logic. It was essentially her defining what karma is. "Thanks. I… just need time to get over it. Everything as in."
Connie simply smirked. "Don't worry Marc, I'll be here as long a you need me."
-0-0-0-0-0-
…" And that's basically it. I joined the project, Joseph acted a bit of a dick an I met Connie through it. That's the barebones version of it." I told Twilight. I stretched my back and clicked my neck, having nearly gone stiff from sitting still through that.
"You're a great storyteller Marc, you know that?" Twilight praised, having finished her pasta at least half way through my tale.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Above average memory I guess. A curse and a blessing." I groaned, getting back onto my feet. "I really shouldn't be putting this off. I'm heading over to meet Joseph. Go ahead and do your own thing until I'm done."
"Alright. Good luck Marc." Twilight nodded a me, beginning to walk off in another direction. Knowing her, she'd probably go to a library or something.
I shook my head, I needed to focus, so heading to Joseph's ship fragment was next on the--
Or I could go back for desert! I'm a bottomless pit as it is, so it wouldn't make much--
I cut myself short, literally slapping myself out of that train of thought. "No! No more putting this off!" I yelled at myself for motivation, bartering a few confused looks from the townsfolk, sending shivers down my spine. Ugh, I had to be in the middle of the road, didn't I?
Once I felt less gazes around me, I sighed. "Let's just get this over with so I can go home. Waiting any longer will drive me nuts!"
-0-0-0-0-0-
So, after an internal battle that took about ten minutes, I managed to convince myself to confront… meet Joseph. Even if a part of me wanted to murder him.
So there I was, minutes from his ship. He'd either be there, or somewhere else in town. My head begged for the former rather than the latter. I'd walked more than enough for one day, thank you very much.
As I began to approach said ship, I began to hear a large number of overlapping voices, likely a small argument. My curiousity, somewhat bored by the quiet town, was now piqued. So I turned the corner, and saw… him.
Joseph, clad in knee-length shorts and a white shirt, was surrounded by a small group of ponies, all seeming to be yelling things at him. All their gathered voices made me unable to properly hear what was going on.
Joseph raised his hand up slightly. "Woah there everyone, chill out! One at a time!" He instructed, causing the voices to reduce significantly in volume. "Alright. Ms flights, what's your problem?"
"The boiler you fixed the other day stopped working! No hot water is coming out!" The mare moaned, stomping her hoof on the ground to emphasise her anger.
"I'll have a look at it later. I've got an appointment with Puzzle Piecer at 4:30 about his display shelves. I should be able to fit you in after that." He explained, turning to the next pony. "Faded Fossil, what's the problem?"
"Yeah… you know that drill you loaned my team for the ruin exploration? It's… stopped working." The stallion explained in shame, lowering his head to the floor.
"Ok. Did you try refuelling it with the canister I gave you?" Jo asked.
"Oh… that's what that stuff was for?"
Joseph sighed. "Unscrew the nozzle near the handle and pour the fuel in from there. That should fix the problem."
"Joseph, I just came to thank you for helping fix my oven. It runs almost twice the efficiency now!" Another mare told him, almost throwing herself at him for a hug.
"Not a problem. If it starts to have any more problems, call me over and I'll give it a look." Joseph's gaze fell my way. "Hey buddy, you need me for something?"
Thanks to my illusion ring, Joseph didn't recognise me at all. "Uhh… yeah. I need to talk to you in private, if possible." I told him.
Joseph shook his head. "Sorry budski, got some other people to talk to first. If it's not important, it can wait. Now, where was-"
"You're Joseph Plows, virtue of honesty from Project Horizon, a colonisation mission from earth."
Joseph turned back to me. "… how do you know that information?" He asked, giving me a look that bartered cation, while also seeming curious.
"I'll discuss it in your ship. It's private." I answered.
After looking between myself and the others with him, Joseph sighed. "Sorry guys, gotta deal with this. I'll contact you guys later if your issues are important." After his little speech, the crowd scattered. Having nobody in earshot outside of myself, Joseph opened his ships door. "This better not be a trick."
I nodded, entering the ship fragment, Joseph slightly behind me. In summary, Joseph's ship fragment was almost identical to mine, the only acception being the sheer amount of tools and electronics littered on every counter possible. The only clear areas were the food prep station and his main computer terminal, which were in pristine condition.
Joseph walked slightly ahead, picking up a bottle of water than laid on the side and taking a quick chug of his drink. In this brief moment, I chose to take the ring off, knowing nobody would see us.
"Alright then. whatever you're name is… what do yo- Holy words of Oum! What?!" Joseph leaped out of his skin, having realised it was me behind him. "M-Marc? How? Why?! What the hell?!"
"Illusion ring, thought it was funny and nice to see you too." I asserted slyly, casually walking past him and taking a seat down. Given he was still shell-shocked, he didn't exactly react much. "What's wrong? Weren't expecting the Spanish Inquisition?"
"I, uh… who expects a human to be pretending to be a magical horse? Pretty sure I'd guess the Spanish Inquisition before that." Joseph asks back, having narrowly avoided a heart attack. He joins me in sitting down. "I wasn't expecting guests, so my bad for the mess. Can I get you anything?"
"Jo, cut the shit. We both know we don't get along, so let's skip trying. I'm here on business."
Joseph groaned. "Ugh, whatever then. Why are you here? Plot convenience?"
"I picked up your awakening beacon. They all broadcast the same frequency, so I had to get here before learning it was you." I laid back. "Pretty sure if the signal told me I was dealing with Bob the builder, I would've stayed at home."
Joseph chuckled. "Oh, yeah, because I can totally see you doing this kind of shit on a daily basis! And note to the wise, my beacon went off at least three days ago! So unless you woke up after me, which I'm not assuming, you've been lazy about getting here, haven't you?
"Ok, jeez! Slow down a minute." I yelled, attempting to calm the bloody guy down. "For starters, we only got your beacon today. So if anything, I came as soon as I could. Secondly, I have been busy. My job is killing fucking wooden monsters that trespass onto the farm I keep my ship at. Newsflash, it's tedious."
"… are you sure you don't want a drink? I think we both need to cool off." Joseph offered, holding his head in his hand. To be fair, I could agree that this whole thing was a bit of a headache.
"You know what? Fuck it, why not?"
I groaned. Joseph got up directly afterwards, heading over to his kitchen counter.
As he passed his computer in the way, he stopped briefly. "Terra, rise and shine. We've got a guest." He said to his computer, a familiar holographic mesh appearing and taking form. Another AI.
This one seemed distinctly feminine compared to Cloud was, sporting a red base colour scheme and reasonably long hair that dropped to her lower back. She wore some form of clothing, mostly akin to a fantasy style RPG game.
"I swear to god Joe, if I have to deal with another fucking horse, I'm gonna…" Terra moaned, turning and facing me. The moment she did, her whole colour scheme jumped to blue, likely implying shock. "Oh… hi there. I wasn't expecting more… human company."
"I know what you mean. Only Eight of us on this bloody planet, meaning we're more endangered than a bloody dodo!" I chuckled. "Marc, virtue 7."
"Wait, you're Marc? Joseph said you'--"
"What do you mean eight? Only three died in transit." Joseph added in, pouring some lemonade into some glasses.
"Shane… he died last week… protecting me."
Joseph didn't respond at first, but stopped pouring the drinks. Moments later, he sighed.
"I… I'm sorry. He was… decent… at times." Joseph said, turning slightly to me while returning to the drinks. "We got off on the wrong foot, all three of us did. Shane was alright when calm. I… didn't exactly help matters."
"Yeah, you were a prick."
"I'm well aware!" Joseph growled, groaning afterwards. "Sorry! Sorry, I'm trying to sort myself out. I'm taking anger management sessions with Terra. I was a bit of a dick, I realise that now. But I'm trying to change." He placed the drinks on the table. "There you go."
I stared at the glass sceptically. "What the fuck is this shit?"
"It's lemonade Marc, and you know what it is. It's just that someone prefers coke to lemonade, and refused to bring any on his ship." Shane answered, pushing the drink towards me. "Go ahead. Have something other than coke for once in your life."
I pushed the glass back. "No! I'm in a committed relationship! It'd be blasphemy!"
Joseph pushed the glass back towards me. "Marc, quit the shit. Drink the drink. Wasting food and drink is a sin."
"Ugh, fine. Only if it'll shut you up." I moaned, taking a small sip of the drink. "At least you didn't offer me Pepsi. If you did, murder would've took place."
"You have problems." Shane grumbled. "Anyway, what we're we discussing?"
"I have a few things I need to do while I'm here." I told him, pulling over my bag. I pulled out the flash drive first. "To start things off, I need to plug this thing in so our ships become linked. It's to then we can improve connection between the ships, allows for more accurate tracking of other ship shards, data sharing and all that stuff."
"I'm aware of the program in question. Plug the drive in and I'll get straight to work on that." Terra said, opening one of the drive hatches automatically. "I'm guessing you have information on your computer that'd be worth us having?"
"Movies, anime, cartoons and maps and information of this planet. You'd have to negotiate with the dickhead of an AI my ship came with, but it's all there."
"Huh, I'll have to investigate that later." Terra muttered, a sudden bright red flash briefly appearing. "Sorry gents, that's the notice for my next matanence check. I'll catch you guys around."
Once terra disappeared, Joseph turned back around. "Okay, is that all?" He asked.
"No, I said 'firstly'." I told him. "Secondly, I'm going to need access to some of your gaming files. Classic games on my GameGear work fine, but some of the bigger 21st century games would be nice to get my hands on."
Joseph sighed. "I had a feeling you'd bring up games after a bit… go for it. As long as you copy rather than take, then it's no problem in my books."
"Alright, thanks. I think that's the gist of things I need to do," I said as I stood up, approaching the computer terminal with my flash drive in hand, placing it into the slot Terra opened. "What do you think of these AI then?"
"Huh? Yeah, I guess they're… something? I only have Terra to go off, so…" Joseph looked directly at me. "You're fully aware they used fragmentation on these things, right? That's-"
"Illegal, I know. Don't know why it's illegal, but I know it's illegal."
Joseph rubbed his chin, humming in thought. "I think it's something to do with an… AI's mind being based off a human one? As such, fragmenting a smart AI would be the equivalent of mental torture towards a human."
"So, morality. Ugh, that's the last card I expected the government to play."
"No, the last expected card was 'let's stop spending money on gritting roads and retaining our public services, and spend them on last-ditch military and science projects for the salvation of a minority!" Joseph chuckled. "I mean, my dad invested, but that was only because director Coretech helped treat my moms cancer when I was younger."
"… I always thought he did it to guarantee your safety or something."
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't think the same. I don't even remember being recruited, it just… happened one day. Imagine that for a second, being pulled away from your family one day, left with nearly nothing, having to fend for yourself."
"I don't need to. That actually happened to me." I told Joseph. "My parents died out in the frozen wasteland, leaving me and Shane to look after Sam. I was recruited for… well, everyone knows that story."
"Yeah… and I immediately turned on you for wanting space. That's… just evil looking back on it." Joseph sat back, sighing.
"We didn't know each other's situations. If we did, we probably would've probably avoided all that back then. Hell, might've even gotten on too!"
"Yeah… but I was honestly on a high-horse back then. I doubt anything would've changed." Joseph admitted.
"You're still a prick though."
"A prick and proud." Joseph chuckled, leaning to see what I was up to."Why are we even talking about this now?"
"I'm just waiting for you to put the password in. Then I can get started." I gestured to the screen.
"Oh… right."
"Well? What's the password?"
Joseph winced. "Don't judge me for this but… Password?"
Despite trying my hardest to hold it back, I let loose a roaring laugh that I doubt Joseph was expecting.
"Ok, fuck you then." Joseph grumbled.
"No… no, I just do the same, that's all." I explain, typing in the 'password' and accessing the computer. From there, it was as simple as drag and drop. "And there we go. Tell Terra to extract and launch that file later. Until then, I'll take my leave."
Once I unplugged the USB, I get back out of my chair and begin to head back over to the door.
"Hey Marc?" Joseph called, briefly causing me to pause in my path, turning to see him scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Feel free to keep in touch, yeah? It's remote out here… but I still want to know what the fucks happening, you know?"
"Heh, fair enough then." I chuckled, turning to exit. I gave him a quick wave, opened the door… and immediately got stared at as if I just walked into a herd of deer.
"What? Another human?!" One of the townsfolk yelled.
Upon realising I had more eyes on me than an average zoo animal, I instantly closed the door again.
"I… forgot to put the ring back on… didn't I?" I asked.
"Yep!" Joseph answered.
"… fuck!"
-0-0-0-0-0-
So, after putting on my ring and escaping out of one of the ship fragments emergency matenance hatches, I eventually managed to evade the crowd and head towards the library. To absolutely nobodies surprise, guess who I found there? That's right, Bob Ross!
…
Joke aside, Twilight was doing some 'light' research. And guess who was blessed with knowledge bombs as we waited for the train? Me!… Oh joy!
"Not only that, but they've recently discovered some unknown ruins in the towns outskirts recently, even though this land only became the town we knew came to be a couple of decades ago! You know what that means?" Twilight squealed with glea.
"That I should've brought some headphones?…" I grumbled, completely overwhelmed by the information overload I was currently receiving. I doubt that no matter how long I stay in Equestria, I'll never get used to this.
"It means that life existed here before Equestria was founded!" Twilight squealed with glee, ignoring my irritation. "Not just that, but the walls are inscribed with weird runes and symbols that nopony is able to translate, not even from pre-equestrian books!"
"So what, wingdings or something?" I joked, somehow bartering a perplexed gaze from Twilight.
"Wait, what are wingdings?" She asked.
I scratched the back of my head in thought. "Well… it's kind of a joke font made by humans? At least I think it is, I was never bothered enough to look into it" I heard a loud whistle in the distance. "And it looks like our train is nearly here. Finally, I can download some games from Joe's ship."
"So things went alright over there then?" Twilight asked curiously. "I thought he was the bane of all evil or something like that."
"Oh trust me, he's still a dick. It's just… we got off on the wrong foot. Turns out he's, actually decent? God, that's gonna take some getting used to saying!"
"So you get along now?"
"Seems like it."
Twilight seemed to think for a moment. "Did you learn something from it?"
"To remember to always keep my illusion ring on in public areas outside of ponyville? Yes, very valuable lesson."
Twilight face-palmed (face-hoofed?). "No, I mean about friendship!"
I stared at Twilight blankly. "Not happening Twilight. I know you do letters to Celestia about the study of the magical friendshippy stuff, but I want no part of it."
"Suit yourself." Twilight shrugged, walking onto the train. "Come on then, let's head back."
"Don't need to tell me that." I scoffed, walking into the train gladly.
Upon sitting down and thinking of the others, especially David. I knew I'd ave to sort him out at some point, getting him over what happened.
Meh, that's a job for another time. My current problem is not falling to sleep on the ride back home… man I wish I had headphones right now!