//------------------------------// // XIII - Insurance Policy // Story: Wanderlost // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// Waise hated everything right now. Stupid ponies. Stupid Director. Stupid Orgis. Stupid Arlowe. Stupid Lem. Stupid situations. Why did everything have to go wrong at precisely the most annoying time? It was infuriating! She expected this ‘panic alarm’ the Equi had set up was just a trick they played so they could release all their people. It made a lot of sense, seeing as they were starting to wonder if they’d be let out at all. At the very least it was quite the coincidence. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was also scared. Gigantic reptiles the size of mountains were waking up and flying away despite the calls of the alicorns insisting they stay. They wanted to be free more than anything else, ignoring all calls to order. Waise trembled in fury as she considered the logistics of what those creatures could do to the world – destroy entire fields of crops! Blast apart cities! Conquer villages! Take on armies! They were going to ruin this planet! Her planet! Her control! Stupid aliens! The twenty million of them were rushing out, most in a chaotic and unorganized confusion. Those that had the ability to fly away did so – to the dismay of the many gari helicopters in the airspace above them. The sky became very crowded and dangerous. Nobody ever found out what started it – maybe a helicopter blade clipped someone, or a careless reptile crashed into one of the machines, but the sky erupted into violence. Guns were fired and magic was shot left and right. The reptiles and flying horses fell alongside exploding helicopter after exploding helicopter. A piece of shrapnel flew into the open side of the Ark, impaling Stratm in the chest. He paled, collapsing. Celestia, Luna and Twilight raised magic shields around everyone instantly, protecting them from further crossfire. Lem began to panic. “Doomed! We’re all doomed!” Discord glowered and said something in Equi. He teleported out of the shields and entered the field of the battle, snapping his fingers. Time stopped in its tracks, bullets stopping midflight, helicopter blades screeching to a halt, and fireballs freezing. Discord then began to give instructions, pointing at several things with a disgusted look on his face. Starlight began to follow the instructions, surrounding one of the helicopters in magic and moving it. Waise didn’t let this continue any further. “No.” She said, drawing her gun on Starlight. “You will not meddle with us you beasts!” Discord started laughing. At first Waise was confused, but then she realized Discord had replaced her gun with an exotic sausage. She dropped the thing, fearing what it might do. It barked upon hitting the ground and did nothing else. Emin glared at Waise. “Are you crazy? That is not how you handle a crisis!” “Twice now!” Forsoo yelled. “Twice!” “Shut up,” Waise said. ”We’re all going to be taken over by these things!” She thrust her arm towards Discord and Starlight, who were effortlessly arranging the paused battle into separate piles – helicopters in one area, Equi in another, and in-flight projectiles inside their own box. “Why hate us?” Twilight Sparkle asked. Waise glared at Twilgiht. “You will rui-“ Arlowe put her hand over Wasie’s mouth. “Ignore her. Look not!” She forced a grin. Twilight looked at Waise with… sadness. She mumbled something and went to help organize the paused fight. Arlowe looked stunned. “What did she say?” Waise asked. “She… She was sad that you didn’t want to be her friend.” “What?” Waise gawked. Emin smiled. “Lem was right. They truly are noble creatures.” Waise was infuriated once more. How? Why? Why did no one see the manipulation these aliens were engaging in? Why did no one see the lies? Lem smirked playfully at Emin. “So, I was right. Think I’m right about that shadow organization yet?” Emin sighed. “Not this again. Look, if they existed, they would have kept me, Orgis, and Stratm away…” We sure as heck tried, Waise seethed. Orgis knelt down, examining the body of Stratm. “He will be remembered.” Luna knelt down next to Orgis and began to sing something that sounded like a lullaby. No one understood the words – save Arlowe, who started crying by the third verse. The emotion was strong, the tones soft and comforting, and the voice strong. “That was beautiful,” Arlowe said. Luna nodded in thanks. The battle arrangements were completed within the hour, the three piles finalized. Discord snapped his fingers, and the fighting resumed. All the projectiles exploded, with the people who made up the other two piles looking around in confusion. “CEASE FIRE!” Emin yelled, Celestia echoing his words for her people. The battle ended. The reality of the situation began to sink in when Starlight went out to get a body count. ~~~ “Hundreds dead. Thousands missing. More leaving now.” Twilight told the gari, her face sorrowful. “Sorry.” Waise wanted to scream. Sorry? Sorry? She had the gall to say sorry? Of all the- “What caused the malfunction?” Emin asked, and Arlowe quickly translated it. Twilight created an image of a strange six-legged nanomachine. The gari looked at it confused. Twilight cleared her throat. “Alien project found on ruin world. Escape in crash. Found tampering.” Waise’s frown deepened. Now they were trying to make them believe there were more aliens involved now? A nanomachine at that! Really, did they really think them this stupid? Were they really that stupid? “How you find?” Arlowe asked. Twilgiht slowly told the story of how they found the Key on the ruined world, and how the Mite had attacked them later for having it. She described the Key as a random string of letters. Orgis looked deep in thought, but said nothing. Waise threw her hands into the air. Yes, they really were that stupid. Everyone was taking this animal seriously! There was no way Twilight was being honest with all this, and yet everyone present just ate everything she said up like candy. A wall-mounted screen came online, the red and yellow unicorn appearing, yelling something. A news report began playing, hosted by Ipsilon. Arlowe translated for the Equi as it played. “The Equi outbreak has been disastrous for both sides – deaths have been occurring by the dozen as scared citizens of both worlds retaliate against each other out of fear. The exact numbers are unknown, but estimates put the deaths at a few hundred. It should be known that the outbreak only occurred a few hours ago, and this number is likely to increase exponenentia – breaking news!” Ipsilon paused. “Are you sure? Oh…” She looked conflicted. “It’s been confirmed. The Equi ship really was shot down. Details are still coming in…” Oh no. The public had found out. “…A facility in Krastia was recently exposed by the local government during an inspection, and an unknown weapon was found housed within it…” Wait what? Waise sat bolt upright. That’s not right. It’s not in Krastia.. “…All but one of the personnel found working on the weapon project were arrested, and are being put on trial. Execution is expected…” Twilight winced at ‘execution.’ “…The one individual who escaped the law did so because she was out of the country at the moment. She’s…” Ipsilon shook her head, looking horrified. “…Waise.” All the gari and Equi turned slowly to Waise as Arlowe’s translation faded out in disbelief. “No…” Waise said, taking a step back. Forsoo spoke up. “Waise, you have committed crimes against the Equi race. Since we are on their soil, you will be subject to their laws.” “No…” Waise repeated. “Orgis, ask them what their laws are.” Orgis did so. Celestia’s frown deepened. She looked right at Waise. “No!” Celestia spoke a single sentence. Orgis and Arlowe couldn’t believe their ears. “She’s…. dropping all charges!” Arlowe said. “No!” Waise said, panic beginning to set in. She knew what was happening. “She says forgiveness is a major part of their culture and that it extends to everyone. She… She only wants to know why.” Waise paled. She didn’t invent the weapon. She didn’t work on it at any point. It wasn’t located in Krastia. But she did vote for its use. She wanted these aliens gone. They were going to ruin the world. But right now, she wasn’t worried about them, the charges, or even being asked the question. She knew she was doomed. She felt something sharp snap inside her mouth. Her eyes widened. “No…” She gasped. The ‘insurance policy’ had just been triggered. Poison flooded her system. “No…” She gurgled. This was why she had been selected to go back. Not because she was good for the job, but because she was bad. She would serve as the scapegoat, and die before she could defend herself. She had been openly hostile, and nobody would think twice about her being in on it. She would die here, making it so the Seers of Garilend could continue to operate without scrutiny… One of the last things she saw was Forsoo smirking at her as she crumpled to the ground. The chemicals worked their way to the core of her heart, seizing it and filling her vision with inky blackness. She felt the magic of Celestia on her, attempting to drive the toxin out… Silly. Why would they even try? She didn’t care about them… They were here to ruin the world… With her gone it would be easier for them to do so… Silly ponies… So pointless… She died letting out a soft chuckle. Forsoo let out a sigh of relief. He had been somewhat afraid she’d blurt something out that’d jeopardize what they were going for. But it had worked without a hitch. Now everyone – the public, the Equi – thought those responsible for attacking them were taken care of. Their existence would remain a secret. ~~~ The Mite had not been at the Ark for hours. It had left the moment the Ark had crashed, not stopping to do anything, not even to tamper with the stasis pod controls. Why would it? The Ark wasn't going anywhere. Instead it was on the Garilend Internet, surfing through computers, looking for information. It had gotten into the gari system with ease – nothing unusual blocking it like in the Ark. It dug through classified records, ignoring documents of shadow organizations, secret wars, death policies, and conspiracies – that is, until it came across a file that mentioned the Key. It dug deeper. It wasn’t the Key the Mite was destined to protect. It was a different Key. The Mite’s ears twitched. What did that mean?