//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Archimedes Constant // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Twilight Sparkle’s eyes grew wide as she was taken by surprise at Pinkie Pie’s behaviour, Pinkie Pie was kissing her, and she was too shocked to do anything, she couldn’t even pull away. Twilight mustered every bit of will that she could, given the circumstances, and pulled herself away from her friend. ‘Pinkie Pie! What are you doing!?’ Twilight cried out. Pinkie Pie’s eyes became small, the realisation of what she had just done had set in and now, she knew what she had done. Pinkie Pie panicked and pushed Twilight out of the way, bolting out the Library door and running as fast and as far away as she possibly could down towards the south eastern road. Unfortunately for her, she did not realise who was coming up the south eastern road. It was almost midday, Pinkie Pie had slept through the morning, and as she ran along the road she rounded the corner and ran into a group that were not happy to see her. Pinkie Pie skidded to a halt in front of a rifle section of Welaran ponies, dressed in crème uniforms and brodie helmets who were marching up the road towards Ponyville. Behind them was a menacing armoured car that had trained its main gun upon her. ‘Assassin!’ one of the ponies cried out as they all turned towards Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie swallowed hard. ‘Hold!’ boomed a voice from behind them. Pinkie Pie looked up to find the biggest pony that she had ever seen trotting towards her. This pony made Big McIntosh look like a Little McIntosh, his coat was a dark crème colour, somewhat like the uniforms of the soldier ponies. He wore his mane in a short cut, and was the colour of chestnut. He had a beard, which Pinkie Pie thought was something of a rare occurrence with pony kind. The only beared ponies that Pinkie Pie knew about were those ones who hung out at the bowling alley. But what was probably most notable was what this pony was wearing, he was wearing a fancy blue suit and a flowing red cape, around his neck was a rather ornate looking medal. Where Rarity to see this pony, she would have probably freaked out at how fancy he was. The gigantic pony looked over the trembling Pinkie Pie and then looked back to the soldiers. ‘Fools! This is no assassin! Unless she intended to murder me with her own hooves!’ ‘I... what?’ Pinkie Pie asked in confusion. The giant pony looked at Pinkie Pie, and then he realised that she did not know who he was. ‘Guards, go on without us, I wish...’ ‘Your majesty! I must protest...’ one of the other ponies that were dressed differently in than the soldiers began to say but was again interrupted. ‘I am talking!’ the giant pony said. ‘And I say, go on without me’. ‘Yes, your majesty’, the other pony said. He, along with the soldier ponies continued on their way until they were out of earshot. The giant pony turned to Pinkie Pie and gave her a quizzical look. ‘Do you know who I am?’ he asked. Pinkie Pie shook her head no, causing the giant pony to chuckle slightly. ‘That, is actually quite a relief, I am King George of Welara, you may call me George, or I suppose, if it makes you feel more comfortable, you may call me “Your Majesty”, I know it can be difficult for some to be informal around one of my status, though just because I am socially above you, does not mean I am better than you, so really, whatever makes you feel more comfortable’. ‘Uh...’ Pinkie Pie said with a nervous chuckle. ‘Hi... George, I’m Pinkie Pie...’ King George smiled at her and stuck out a hoof. ‘Charmed’, he said with a smile. Pinkie Pie wasn’t sure how to respond to the gesture. While Pinkie Pie had had no problems acting as she normally acted around Princess Celestia... this was different, King George was a king, and he was the King of Welara. ‘Come now!’ King George said with a friendly smile. ‘I won’t bite, shake! Please! I insist’. Pinkie Pie reluctantly took the king’s hoof and shook it. King George chuckled and gave Pinkie Pie a pleasant smile. ‘Very good! Come, walk with me, we should probably make our way up the road before the South Islanders come up the road and start panicking that I’m without my guard, and consorting with a strange pink pony’. Pinkie Pie nodded and walked beside King George up the road into Ponyville. The king took notice of his soldiers up along the high street bickering with each other and the pony who had protested the King’s orders. Which Pinkie Pie had eventually figured was Leonard Spencer, the Welaran Prime Minister. Or so Twilight had said, Pinkie Pie didn’t know exactly what a Prime Minister was; only that Equestria did not have one. King George diverted down another street to avoid the view from his guard. ‘They don’t want to leave me alone, they fear I am going to be assassinated, I am not going to be assassinated in the lands of Celestia... and even if someone were to try, it is not as if I cannot handle myself’. Pinkie Pie didn’t say anything; rather, she just continued to follow the king. He turned his head towards her and gave her an odd look. ‘You do not strike me as the quiet type, please; there is no need to be shy. I assure you, I am just as normal as you are’, King George said, flashing a grin at her. Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but smile at the king’s comment, if he only knew. ‘That’s what I like to see!’ King George said. ‘I like you, Pinkie Pie; I think you and I are going to get along just fine’. ... Vinyl Scratch glanced around again at the Machine Cultists as they surrounded her, despite this Archimedes comment that they had been expecting her, they looked as if they had been expecting trouble. Surprise glanced around nervously at each of them, her foreleg kept twitching, as if it instinctively wanted to reach up and pull something from a convent hiding spot, though she was forcing it to stay down. ‘If you’ve been expecting me, How about you get your friends to back off a little then, huh?’ Vinyl asked. ‘All in good time’, Archimedes said simply. ‘Do it’. The machine cultist with the rifle pointed his weapon at Surprise and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out and the bullet whizzed through the air in seemingly slow motion. ‘No!’ Vinyl cried out instinctively. The bullet did not hit Surprise, however, actually it didn’t even come close, and the bullet instead went right over her head and impacted an unseen object with a metal KLANG! A spritebot appeared from nowhere and began fluttering its wings rapidly, trying to keep itself aloft, it eventually failed and crashed hard on the concrete floor of the hallway and powered itself down. ‘Sister Scribe Rhythm! Take the robot and strip it for parts’, Archimedes ordered. One of the other robed unicorns nodded and stepped forward, enveloping it in her magic and pulling it up off the floor, though you could hardly tell that she was robed at all, the fact that her coat matched her robes. Vinyl Scratch watched as the unicorn took the spritebot away, she figured that she really shouldn’t be surprised that Emerald Sparkle had sent one of her robots to follow her. She wanted access to the Fillydelphia Ironworks and it quickly became clear that Emerald had intended to use her as a pawn. The cultists lowered their weapons and quickly funnelled back inside the door, leaving Vinyl Scratch, Surprise, and Archimedes alone in the hallway. ‘How did you know who I am?’ Vinyl asked. ‘The same way the false machine knows you, we’ve been watching you for quite some time. Brother Scribe Ulan was quick to report his encounter with you not long after his escape from captivity’, Archimedes said. ‘He is quite resourceful... for an earth pony, escaping from hoofcuffs and from the police mare holding him without the use of magic... it is quite impressive, but then you already know the Brother Scribe, don’t you?’ Vinyl Scratch nodded in affirmation. ‘Let’s just say he and I have a score to settle’. ‘Yes, I would imagine so, though he had yet to join the Chapter at that time. I am aware of your altercation in South Island. Disconnecting rail cars has seemed to become the Brother Scribe’s calling card, he’s used the technique to escape pursuers several times... unfortunately it almost always causes some kind of minor accident, the Cossacks got lucky, they noticed their train had no breaks three days before they needed to stop’, Archimedes said. ‘I imagine you will want to speak to him when he gets back here?’ ‘Oh yes, very much so’, Vinyl said, stressing her frustration that Monty Ulan had pulled the same trick to multiple people. Archimedes nodded. ‘I thought so, very well then, come, follow, I imagine you could use a rest’.