//------------------------------// // Ch 9: Open Talk, Hidden Secrets // Story: A Mirror of Stars // by Cyberdutchman //------------------------------// "Oh thank you so much," Fluttershy lauded the group of chipmunks as they carefully placed the last of the glass shards onto the pile with the rest, "It wouldn't have been safe for anyone to walk around while those were out here." The eldest chipmunk among them, a graying grandfather of the local family who went by Big Daddy, rubbed the dirt and glass dust off his paws then sat back on his hind legs to give her an appreciative nod. This unfortunately gave her another unwanted look at the reason behind his name. It hadn't taken her long to put the pieces together when she realized all the other chipmunks his own age in the group were females. He was a lovely fellow, really, but he had a prideful streak a mile wide when it came to his...well. She coughed lightly in awkward embarrassment and discomfort before distracting herself with a glance at the pile of glass shards. "Yes, well, if you find any more please bring them back here. Applebloom said she'd leave some apple slices and nuts out anytime you did. That does not mean taking a few shards back afterwards to bring in again for more." Something about the glint in Big Daddy's eye when he heard about the reward told her she needed to make that clear. The old male made a sound suspiciously like *tsk* through his teeth then nodded again in acceptance. "Excellent, I'm sure the Apples will be very thankful for the help." She waved them off happily as they made their way back into the woods then exhaled heavily as she released the magic she'd been maintaining. She loved talking with all the adorable animals and critters around town, especially the more wild ones out by Applejack that hadn't picked up many of humanity's tricks and habits, but it was taxing to maintain her magic for hours on end. Still, it was worth it to make new friends and help each other when needed. "How can ya sit there and tell me ta be calm!?" She cringed as a new need for help arose. But she wasn't sure this one was going to be so easy to solve. She made her way back into the house, past a scowling Granny bent over the kitchen table trying to count the total damage out on paper and a tired Big Mac nailing a final piece of plywood over one of many empty window frames, into the living room where Applejack was bearing down angrily on an equally angry Rarity. Looking around at the rest of her friends, all of whom gave her various shrugs or shakes of their heads, she knew immediately things weren't going well. "I'm asking you to find calmness somewhere because this," Rarity said, gesturing wildly in Applejack's direction, "isn't helping! Will and Alphonse already said they'd add a couple more blocks of gold to cover the damage to the house. Which was gracious of them mind you when you wouldn't even let them inside when they dropped by while the rest are out there making sure they haven't missed anything else!" Rarity said as she counted each point off on a finger. Applejack was very, very unconvinced. "I DIDN'T LET THEM IN OUR HOUSE BECAUSE THEY WENT AND WRECKED IT AND THE REST OF THE FARM TOO! Big Mac's room has a branch juttin' through the wall the size of mah leg and the family truck got pelted with gravel! It looks like the dang moon now with all the dents!" Applejack countered loudly. "They said they were planning ta do this night 'fore last, y'all heard 'em just the same as I did, and Ah don't buy that bull they told us about a 'thruster malfunction' one bit! Whatever that thing was it was the same thing they were planning to use back then! Ah knew I shouldn'a trusted 'em!" "Actually, if their ships are really capable of the accelerations they've mentioned and going by what we saw in that video then it's not that unrealistic for it to have been-" "Twilight. NOT. NOW," Applejack said sharply. Twilight dropped her head sheepishly with a small squeak of "Sorry", earning Applejack a nasty look from Sunset. Rarity stepped between the two sides and pointed an accusing finger. "Applejack! Don't you dare take this out on Twilight when she's only trying to help resolve things!" Applejack fumed silently for a few seconds. "Mah home is wrecked by people and things ya don't even know or understand and yer sidin' with'em over me. Some friends y'all are," she said low and slowly. Rarity recoiled as if she been slapped. "Don't come askin' fer mah help when they start destroying yer homes next and everthin' else after," she added before stalking out of the room quickly. Towards the backdoor and away from the ship Fluttershy noted in the back of her mind. Everyone seemed to sink a little as the tension left the room, Rarity in particular who all but fell into the large armchair that was Granny Smith's usual abode. "Girls, please, help me. I don't know what to do, what to say to-... I don't even know what we should be trying to do. Applejack's not herself and I don't know what to believe about them and-... I don't know," Rarity stammered, with a forlorn glance towards the Celestia's resting place, now hidden by the boarded up windows. "Twilight, are you sure that their 'thruster' explanation checks out?" Sunset asked the still shaken girl next to her. Twilight nodded, rubbing her hands nervously. "If they can create the insane levels of acceleration they claim, then yes, it makes the most sense, especially since it must have fallen off the section that exploded to land where it did. That's my take on what they were saying. They seemed more nervous than when they got here and I think it's because they don't understand what happened to wreck their ship or bring them here. The way Will kept glancing back at it I think they're worried it's still damaged somehow." "You're sure?" Fluttershy asked hopefully before shrinking back from the limelight when everyone looked to her expectantly. "I mean, um, they seem really nice and keep trying to fix things and I don't want us to start being unkind to them despite that. They just seem to have really bad luck right now." "Don't worry Fluttershy," Pinkie said as she hopped over to her before pulling her into a tight hug. "Applejack is just dealing with a lot of emotional baggage from all the things she feels she's lost because of them showing up and is forcing them into a mold she think fits best. She'll come around when she realizes they're not so simple as that. I mean, would big nasty evil people drop off cookies after they messed up?" she asked, pulling one of said cookies out of her hair and popping it into her mouth. "Not the best, but it's the thought that counts. It would be rude not to eat them all after they went to the trouble of making them just for us," she added while smacking her lips. Fluttershy hugged her back in thanks, taking note as she did that Rainbow Dash suddenly seemed very nervous as well, even gulping visibly. It looked like she was really shaken up about Applejack's display as well, the poor thing. "You're really sure?" Sunset asked Twilight again. Twilight nodded again, this time giving Sunset a questioning look. "Yes, fairly sure. Why?" Sunset searched her eyes for a moment then sighed and placed her head in her hands, elbows resting on her knees as she slouched forward. "It's nothing, I'm just... well... okay, it seems like anytime something new shows up from Equestria it's always bad news for us and we have to stop it, right? So far we've just had nothing but bad news with them too. But they're not from there and they don't use magic so I don't want to go jumping to conclusions, especially over a superstition in my head. What was it you told me back during spring classes Twilight? Correlation does not imply causation? I don't want to start seeing problems where there might not be any but I don't-... I want to know we're doing the right thing by helping them." Twilight tapped her lip for a moment. "Hmmmmmm..." "Don't sweat it Sunset, they seem like a pretty chill bunch," Dash interjected. "Besides, it hasn't all been bad right? Sure it's gotten kind of crazy around here but we got our magic because of the portal and you came from it too after all. Plus and plus." Sunset gave her a half smile and shook her head. "Yeah, but I was pretty terrible back then remember? And I would have been even worse if Princess Twilight hadn't followed me here through the portal and showed me a different path." Dash winced and rubbed the back of her head. "Oh. Yeah, I'd kind of forgotten about that I guess. Hard to compare you between then and now. So I guess you kind of have a point. But the Princess wouldn't have been able to do that and we couldn't have fixed things each time without the magic either so I guess it all evens out maybe. I'm keeping those pluses." Sunset chuckled. "Thanks Dash. I just wish I felt better about how things are going with them," she said as she slumped back against the couch. "They're just so... secretive! If it weren't for the fact they keep talking about trying to get home, especially before we'd ever mentioned the portal, I'd be more worried about what they really want. But it's all they talk about so... so I don't know what to think!" Fluttershy looked around at the boarded up windows which had turned the once light and airy living room into a close approximation of a CHS classroom with everything lit from above by electric lighting. "Poor Applejack... she's been through a lot these last couple of days. We all have ever since they crashed here, but her most of all. I wish things had gone differently like Liam said..." Everyone nodded in silent agreement. Rarity rose from her seat, neatly smoothing out her dress before slowly pacing in a wide circle. "Yes, well, the past is past and such. All we can do now is be good neighbors and guides while they're getting back on their feet. We might have ended up with each other entirely by chance but I'd hate for them to think we begrudged them their presence," she said, stopping to face them all. "Though I suppose that begs the question of what we should all be doing now then doesn't it? I need to get back to the shop at some point and-" A gasp from the couch grabbed their attention. "Oh dang! I had another shift at the pool today!" Sunset exclaimed while rummaging through her shoulder bag. "No no no no... where is i- aha!" she said triumphantly as she pulled out her phone then moaned when she looked at the screen. "Shoot, August Winds called. I really don't need to sit through another of his lecture-shouts..." she muttered with a roll of her eyes. "Sorry girls, I need to get going before they really miss me. Let me know if anything changes." She gave a quick wave to everyone then rushed out the door. A few seconds later the sounds of her motorcycle turning over rattled the plywood window covers lightly then quickly abated. "Hmmmmm..." Rainbow Dash hummed. "You know, Sunset could answer a lot of our questions about them pretty quickly." "How so?" asked Twilight curiously. "It's not like she's been to their world or met them before." Fluttershy wasn't sure where Dash was going either considering how difficult it had been to get Liam to open up so far. Dash shook her head with a sly grin. "Nope, but that doesn't matter. A little geode touch with Liam and she'd know everything about them right? Problem solved," she said with smooth finality, crossing her arms like she'd just won a match. Twilight gaped at her wide eyed. "Rainbow Dash! That's a terrible idea! Reading his mind like that on purpose would be completely unethical! Not to mention it would likely anger Will and the Legionnaires along with Liam! That would risk Applejack and her family losing their aid on the farm! Not that I think they would be that vindictive, not from what we've seen, but still! And that's of course completely ignoring the issues about invading someone's personal space without cause or authority!" Fluttershy nodded emphatically. "Just because they're very private doesn't give us the right to pry into their lives. They've been nothing but accommodating and helpful since they arrived. Being shy isn't a crime, especially when they're lost and alone," she chastised Dash. Dash sprang upright, all smugness gone from her expression. "Whoa whoa! I wasn't saying just go up and grab Liam and drain his brain or anything! I meant ask them to see the answers to our questions since they always suck at explaining things! Geez, what do you think I am, some kind of voyeur wanting to sneak peaks?" she deadpanned. A faint but deliberate cough from Rarity earned her a dour look from Dash. "I'm joking, but you must admit you worded that poorly," Rarity responded slyly. Dash frowned at her for a moment more then sighed. "Okay, yeah, fine. But still, you know what I mean. She could ask Liam if it was all right next time and it would solve all the issues. We'd know for sure they weren't a bunch of evil space monsters and Applejack could stop thinking they were out to destroy her family in particular. No harm, no foul," Dash opined, looking around for confirmation. "Hmmmmmmm... I suppose that would be fine. As long as we ask and they consent then I don't see a problem," Twilight said with a slow nod. Fluttershy still wasn't entirely happy with the idea. Some people just liked their privacy and as much as she loved Sunset as a friend she worried about her powers in particular sometimes. Like what would happen if her magic kept getting stronger until she couldn't stop herself seeing someone's memories if she touched them? Or what if she started seeing them so strongly she started having trouble knowing which were hers and which were someone else's? Or what if she went into Pinkie's too often and- some things were better off not being contemplated. Especially given what they'd heard. "As long as we ask I'm sure they'd be fine with it. Remember what Liam said? They'd answer any questions we had," Pinkie said happily, pulling out another apology cookie from her hair and taking a bite out of it. "Hmmmm... needs icing. And sprinkles. And maaaaaybe some powdered sugar," she said before popping the rest in her mouth. "I guess that's our plan then? Keep helping them like we have been and try to find ways to make sure they're who they say they are?" Twilight asked the group. "Yeah, sounds like a plan to me," Dash replied. "You and Sunset can make sure their nerd talk checks out while they're looking at the portal and let us know if anything seems fishy. Shouldn't be too hard to notice them going all evil on us if that's what they really are. We know we can beat them after that whole fight at the ship so no big worry there. Pinkie could probably do it on her own." Pinkie looked down at the sprinkle shaker she'd pulled out along with her emergency icing can for the last cookie and slowly put them both away again. "Though... I do kinda feel bad for how roughed up they keep getting since they crashed," Rainbow Dash added with a wince. "Speaking of which, maybe one of us should go check on how Liam's doing? It has been awhile and AJ hit him pretty hard," Fluttershy asked with an undertone of sadness. The day had been going so well until the accident with their thruster-thing and now the gulf between AJ and Liam's group had only grown larger. "Oooh! I will!" Pinkie said with her hand raised in the air. "Right after I bake Liam a 'Sorry we knocked you out cold in the middle of town in front of everybody' cake." Keeper Watch stared down at the picture of a hill and the line of blazing white soaring straight up from behind it, wishing her teams could have gotten shots of whatever caused it. Her focus was mostly in trying to understand its purpose, its method, its threat. But also in the vain hope it would block out the ongoing white noise threatening to give her a migraine. "Watch, I think it's time we moved up from standing around doing nothing to actually doing something! If any of the Paragons had been at the farm then they'd most likely be-" "But they weren't, were they General?" Watch asked with disinterest. She was far more focused on the infuriatingly small amount of data in the reports in front of her. One of the downsides of the low-key observation they'd been keeping over the farmstead since the start of the latest incident. What she wouldn't give for complete video surveillance or magic detectors. But the the first she didn't dare risk with so many people nearby that might accidentally stumble on a recorder while the latter was easy to detect if you knew what to look for. So all she had was video feeds from hidden telescopic cameras and pictures taken by the few operatives she trusted to be near the site and not be found. Then there were the reports from the group she'd tasked with tailing the teens and the primary target during their recent trip, hopefully with news about their target's plans and motivations. She hadn't managed to get around to those because of the latest surprise development. A state of affairs that could be quickly rectified if her time weren't being wasted so thoroughly. "Keeper, we can't just react to them, we have to be proactive! If that was some kind of signal then we could be dealing with a full blown invasion soon! " Watch growled under her breath as the man standing before her dug deeper and deeper into his own preferred form of hysteria. She flicked her eyes up from the page she'd been skimming. He was an extremely direct and straitlaced man, always in his evergreen tinted dress uniform wherever he went, with maroon skin accentuated by his short cut white blonde hair. He was very formal, well composed, well spoken, and completely rigid and unimaginative. "General Thistle, do you really intend for us to move our very limited set of local assets into play now? With no knowledge of their abilities and arms? Of their complete numbers instead of just what we've seen? Of whether they are capable of bringing more of their number through? Of what he is capable of like the others? And little plan besides 'charge!'?" she asked, holding her voice as neutral as she could despite the overwhelming desire to sneer at the blustering idiot. "I intend to gather those forces that we can with discretion and easy excuses to augment our local units and then move them into play. We can have enough in the area tomorrow to block off every approach and subdue the targets. Our estimates, even with the abilities demonstrated by the robots, are that there can't be more than ten or twenty of them on board given the movements we've recorded and only one real target to focus on. We could take him with acceptable losses and a minimum of disruption to Honesty's home. No more so than what she has already experienced for sure. The last briefing indicated she might even thank us, if not outright aid us, in the endeavor." Watch fought the impulse to roll her eyes. She'd been to the same briefing of course and had heard a lot more things like "we think" and "we surmise" being tossed about with regard to the numbers and abilities he mentioned. His mention of one of his personal heroines only made his bid all the more caustic to her. He was the general of the National Guard damn it. Act like it and not like a worried nanny. "Acceptable losses for the single incident maybe. Unacceptable losses when the locals inevitably take notice of the action and we start to lose our element of secrecy and security. What do you intend to do about the giant airship stuck in the middle of the farm? Do you intend to apprehend that as well without anyone noticing?" She paused, eyeing him carefully. It was clear from his steady gaze that he had thought of all those points and decided they weren't important. She sighed at that major failing. "You are failing to see the bigger picture Thistle. Yes, we can stop this one, we can bring in enough 'manpower' to overwhelm them, we can maybe even keep the Paragons away while we do so since they seem to have bought into whatever story they've been told." That garnered the first real reaction from the General so far. The mention of the "alliance" between the seven and the target had caused no small amount of hand wringing within the order. As if reading her thoughts, his hands clenched tight enough she could almost hear the skin being stretched. "It must be part of the abilities it gifted him with, we've seen similar before. All the more reason to move now before he sways them further!" he said, slamming a palm across the end of her desk before resuming his stiff posture. She was reminded that he could also be dangerous in his own way. She clenched her jaw before she could show either that brief moment of unease or the disgust with herself that followed it. Watch considered his point for a bit, mulling over the ends of action and inaction. "You're not wrong General and that complication aggravates me more than just about any other. But let me ask you this. Can you honestly tell me that such an operation wouldn't be the loudest, most visible event in our history when some part of it inevitably hits the fan? That was rhetorical," she snapped as General Thistle opened his mouth to give a counter. His mouth shut with a click while his gaze turned dark and sullen. "History has told us time and again never to expect things to go to plan when dealing with It's chosen tools," she continued, flicking her eyes briefly towards a nondescript corner of the room. Nothing there held any interest but she'd been the head of the facility for long enough to know its layout inch by inch. Her eyes traced a path straight to the deepest part of the complex and the one held there. General Thistle's nostrils flared at the mention of their resident. "I still say cover it in munitions, light them, cap off whatever remains, and leave it till it finally succumbs to starvation," he said while grinding his teeth. Watch did roll her eyes this time, minutely enough that he failed to notice in the heat of his anger. He really could have been replaced with a windup toy and she wouldn't have noticed the difference. "Then we should be glad you do not. Such methods have been tried before by those far more capable than us. They proved worthless and it was found again. That was nearly the end of everything. We know it's growing weaker as time goes by and its attempts to free itself only bring its end even faster. Stick to the Order's plan and work on maintaining containment, not a visible war. That's the absolute LAST thing we need," she said with a jab of a finger at the corner of the room. "Really? Stick to the plan? It was bad enough when the last large group introduced firearms and now we're talking about superhuman machines? Think, Watch, why would it choose him and those things with him? We both know why, you recognized their combat training just as well as I did, but what I don't know or don't understand is why you continue to hesitate against a real and present threat. It's upping the stakes, it's gotten selective instead of yanking in everything it can. We don't know what this new one truly is or can do but I know an army when I see one." Watch steepeled her fingers in front of her, gazing over the tips at the frustrated man. "Let me make this very, very clear to you. Plans are being drawn up from all sections to address that issue. There will be a review to select the best one and we will enact it immediately after. Your plans will be among them so rather than waste both our time here I would ask that you go and finalize yours for submission." General Thistle narrowed his eyes at her then flicked his head down in the barest minimum of agreement. "Fine Watch, we stick by the Order's rules. But those same rules also grant me the power to make arrangements for expected action. I'll be moving more units in through the usual channels so no one takes notice, a gas leak near the farm or the like, since that seems to be more important to you than stopping the threat. Whatever happens, the Guard will be ready when they decide to make their move, whenever that may be." He spun around on a heel and almost marched out of her office, closing the door calmly as he did. Warmongering and bloodthirsty, the lot of them, Watch thought with an annoyed click of her tongue. General Thistle was useful as a military leader but only just. The role had focused his natural biases and placed blinders on him that stopped him from seeing the most important goal of the Order: Never to use open force when alternatives could be used, no matter how much more costly or undesirable they might be. Open conflict risked far, far worse outcomes than any botched special operation. That driving principle had carried the Order through for centuries. Now though... She slumped back in her chair as if a great weight pressed down on her. In the past it had been simple, identify any special targets as soon as possible after they arrived and discreetly remove them from the populace while waiting for another Adjustment. Though she'd never say it to his face, a small part of her feared Thistle might be right that they wouldn't be able to do that this time. She sighed and shuffled through her stack of waiting papers, looking for anything that might solve all her problems when a seal she rarely saw caught her eye: a narrowed eye formed from the reflection off a tilted coin in red and gold ink. She frowned and pulled out the manila envelope it was stamped to. Inside was a single sheet of paper which she began to quickly scan through. After the first few lines she slowed down and began to read with greater attention. A slow smirk began to crawl across the corner of her mouth as she neared the end. "Really Flint? A 'golden opportunity'? He got the drop on you and you're looking to get back in turn. No surprise, you've had to learn it. This one... he was born to it. It's what he is. Still... hmmm," she murmured to herself for a moment. Flint Skin was one of her least favorite operatives, a little too cocky with his skill set, a little too "familiar" with the locals. But he'd made contact with the prime target and hadn't been revealed. That was something she could make use of. A place to start laying out line for them to snap up before it tightened into a noose. Her smirk grew as she thought back to Thistle's insistence on force and her own momentary doubts. There was always a better way to deal with problems than conflict. She pressed an intercom button on her desk and a few seconds later the voice of her assistant filled the room. "Yes Keeper, how can I be of assistance?" "Nightingale, contact Agent Trapper and bring him back from Rowan Oak. I need his skills to move our plans along." "... understood. I'll let you know when it's done." Keeper Watch reclined back in her seat, hands clasped in her lap, and began laying out her plan to present to the council later in her mind. Along with the gentle prodding she'd need to do to make sure it was the one chosen. Liam drifted lazily along the whirling eddies of his conscious thoughts, trying to link them together into a steady current. He groaned as a sharp pain did the job for him, concentrating all his attention on the side of his head. One of his eyes was the definition of agony so he opened the other then regretted that as well when the wrath of a hundred suns seared it. "Looks like sleeping beauty's up. How're you feeling? Give it a crap to kill-me-now scale." "Kill me a little," he replied with a long groan. "Just enough to stop the pain." "Not sure that's how it works but we can try. You'll be happy to know that slightly above average healing of yours has already started reducing the bruising. You'll be disappointed to know most of the left side of your face was a bruise so it isn't that noticeable a reduction yet. Come on, time to get up. Let's get you checked out." Liam groaned gruffly again as a gentle but firm hand picked him up under the shoulder and lifted him to a reclined position. He opened his good eye again and looked around. He paused and tilted his head to the side at the vision that greeted him. "Sorry we knocked you out cold-" "Pinkie brought it by a couple hours back. Said they were all sorry for what happened in town and left again to help with the repairs. I think. Never can tell with her." "A cake? I mean, it's Pinkie so I'm not that surprised but still, a cake? After everything today?" A sudden thought stole over him. "How long was I out?" he asked nervously, looking to the agent of his care. Albrecht stood by his bedside, prepping a suite of equipment. He glanced to the a digital clock on the far bulkhead. "Hmmmm... about four hours now? Honestly it wasn't that bad a punch, but you were running on fumes and it gave you an excuse to shut down for a bit. We thought that was for the best. As for the cake, it's Pinkie, and I believe they thought it was the right response since we gave them a selection of cookies with the extra gold to cover the new damage." Liam blinked a couple times. "Cookies." Albrecht threw his hands up in the air. "Okay, not the best thought out response but we were in damage control panic mode! If this were home we'd have directed them to an embassy or an agent to work out reparations but here we are the embassy and agents and the entire nation and none of us did a shift in the diplomatic corps! We'd have thrown the kitchen sink in as well if we'd have thought it would help!" "Okay, I get it...but cookies? Really? Cookies?" "Pinkie liked them," Albrecht muttered. That excused nothing in Liam's mind. "Okay, so we gave them more gold... and cookies. Fine. Done. What else?" he asked tersely. His eye hurt, his head hurt more, and the rest of himself had just made all of them look like apologetic children on top of another major disaster. To put it simply, he was not in a good mood. Albrecht looked at him for a moment before returning to his work. "We scoured the farm while you were out both physically and mentally. No more munitions, no more surprises. Just scrap now." "Thanks for clarifying my state during all this, I wasn't completely certain," he huffed sarcastically. "And the farm? How bad?" "Missiles were Mark Fourteen interceptors, extremely low weight, high acceleration. Drive field is intense and intensely localized to prevent burn out, extended out only a couple meters and then trailed off. Warhead never went off as well. The boom and immediate debris was the worst of it. The orchard barely even felt it honestly, a few of the nearest trees only. The house and barn got the worst of the shock wave. Extra gold will cover it and more once we can sell it," he said in a clipped fashion. Liam didn't mind. It's what he'd wanted and Albrecht had known it without having to be told. Another benefit of a gestalt consciousness, he thought tiredly as he lay back into the bed. If only it came with precognition as well. Collapsing walls, scrolling headlines, angry faces, rabid shouts, a face exploding in a shower of sparks while blue eyes went dim, a black monster against a backdrop of mist and haze sending screaming daggers towards them, his mind played them again and again till he they blurred. Could have stopped it before it ever started. Put an end to the problems. Instead we got rid of one and made the rest legion. He felt his lip begin to curl in a silent snarl but didn't have time to brood as Albrecht fastened a pressure sleeve over his arm. As it began filling his double flashed a pen light across his good eye a couple times then nodded in satisfaction at what he saw. "There's a bit of good news though. We finished collecting the scrap with the girls' help and got back to the repairs. We're confident she'll make it back up intact. Not so confident she'll hold atmosphere so you'll have to stay but that was the plan anyway. We're thinking late tonight so we can slip away in the dark then head up when we're away from any big population area. Need to ask the girls for a map, help us find those. Following?" He forced the emotions back down, deep deep into the pits of his desires and thoughts, and conjured up what humor he could. Fake it till it becomes true. "Yeah, and I'm keeping Will with me. I think I'll need a synthetic-meat shield while I'm here given our two day track record." Albrecht rolled his eyes but smirked all the same. "Glad you said that because we all agreed on the same as well." "You're glad? I'm glad I didn't have have to argue that! Glad my mind hasn't broken from the insanity of it all! And glad the damage isn't too bad either all things considered. If that had been a torpedo the field would have covered a lot more. The interceptors alone were visible from town, I'd hate to think- damn it, how many have you had to stop from investigating?" he asked in renewed concern, sitting up to try and get a glimpse out of the nearest section of pressure window. Albrecht pushed him back down to the bed, shaking his head the whole time. "Not a peep. We put a drone up over the hill to watch the road but there's been nothing by at all. We're lucky the farm is so isolated." Liam stared at him long enough for Albrecht to wave a hand in front of his face. He looked away, trying to get his mind back on the path it had been following. Eventually, he faced Albrecht again with a stony look. "I'm keeping more than Will here." Albrecht did a double take as he logged his health into the station. "Wait, what? Why?" "Because nothing makes sense. We've been here too long, caused too much disruption, and been too visible above all else for no one to have taken notice. You should have seen the trail of plasma the launch left in the air. I wouldn't be surprised if people within a mile got sunburns from just the UV output alone, let alone the visible or the sound. No, something's not right." Albrecht began wheeling the station back to it's locker, calling out over his shoulder, "Honestly? I'd say we managed to get a good location-" "Oh yeah, great location. In the middle of Sweet Apple Acres and the Girls" Liam interjected. Albrecht froze, facing away from him. Slowly, almost glacially, his head drooped to the side. "Well when you put it like that..." he replied, looking over his shoulder before pushing the station into it's locker and securing it. "Yeah. I don't like it. Too many coincidences and things that don't sit right," Liam began counting off on his fingers for emphasis. "Not a peep, not a house call by a cop, not a seismologist checking out a tremor, not even a nosy kid, not a thing at all. I don't buy that. I don't buy for a second that no one would be suspicious, that no one would be the least bit curious, that no one would care about the sonic boom generating trail in the sky. That's not how people act." He shook his head with a sigh. "Let me put it this way. I knew we were going to be discovered the moment I saw those trails from the city. I knew we were going to have to do the whole song and dance of 'we come in peace, please help us get home, no you can't have our technology in return, because it's too great a risk, because it caused World War III, why yes our world is shit, yes that's the one we want to go back to, no we can't tell you why'. I know all that should be happening right now and it's not. Why?" "You mean that song and dance we're avoiding with the girls?" Albrecht asked as he reached the bed again and leaned back against the corner. "Yeah, that one," he said, staring at his caretaker pointedly with his good eye. "Liam, putting the other question aside for now I think we might be hurting ourselves. We need their help. Plus we know what they're like, they're not going to-" he paused and leaned back as Liam leaned in towards him. "We know what seven cartoon characters in a kids show are like. We don't know what the seven humans out there are like other than so far they seem like close matches to the fiction. Well, except one of them is so enraged at us I think she might actually try to kill me if I so much as set foot off the ship. Honestly, that's maybe the most comforting thing right now. It's something familiar in all this madness. The rest, the indifference? Hell no." Albrecht was quite for a long time. Every now and then he'd look around, following a thought somewhere. After a while he got up and moved to one of the pressure windows set into the bulkhead behind his bed and stared out of it, hands clasped behind his back. "All right, I tried playing Devil's Advocate against that in my head and... I'm hesitantly on board. You're the one with the gut instincts, we're the ones with the memories of them. If something's not sitting right with you... we don't have a choice but to be on guard. Not anymore anyway." Albrecht turned to look at him out of the corner of his eye. "So, you want more of us to stay. Who're your picks?" "I just want two more, enough to run shifts on surveillance and one to do fieldwork if necessary. That'll also keep the Apples happy since we'll finish the repairs quicker. That leaves us with four to take Celestia up and get our industrial base running. Who's had the most time on our design and production programs?" "Well, Mercer obviously. He just about ran the programs for the Mako and MER series development. Jamison's done a lot of work in admin so he'd be good. Alphonse has done a couple tours on the rocks, he's a must. That leaves Alphonse and Jax." Liam nodded. "Hmmmm... Alphonse did a tour in Korea right?" Albrecht nodded. "Yeah, he was there with Mercer. Security missions, scouting, et cetera. He's more of a ground-pounder than most of us." "It'll have to be him for the third staying here then. Jax's outlier condition will make him a better option for hardware validation anyway and can't do better than him for a pilot." Albrecht nodded in agreement but rubbed the back of his head all the same. "Yeah, but that means we're going to be copying three of us instead of four. Really limits the available skill sets." "Then we'll do a rotation so you and Alphonse can get added as well. Actually, scratch that, we'll bring a tank here to do the work then take it back up so neither of you has to leave planetside." "Yeah, that will work as well. So, I know that Will will be watching you like a hawk for now but what are the two of us going to be doing? I assume checking out your hunch that something's up?" "Yeah, we'll keep the drones and you two can scout with them. One to keep an eye on us in general and one to look around. I don't want anything to catch us off guard." Again... "You really think we're going to find something?" Liam looked out the window, opening his other eye with a wince to see as clearly as possible. He could see the glow of Canterlot shimmering faintly over the tops of the hills. "I don't know Al. I don't know. I just have a bad feeling, like there's a charge to the air that's making my hair stand on end, like something's just barely touching the back of my neck." He narrowed his eyes." No, that's not right. It's that feeling of unease you get in a crowded room only to spot the person staring intently at you from behind your back. It's like I'm being watched. I want to be able to watch back." "...I'm pretty sure I'd be feeling a chill up my spine right now if that was possible. Thanks, I was almost starting to feel at ease before this talk." Liam shot a half-smirk towards the dramatically shivering Legionnaire. "Good. That's what I want," he said, his expression turning stern again. "We all have to be on guard until we have the means to get home. The only ones we can trust anymore are ourselves." "What about the girls and the Apples?" Albrecht asked softly. Liam looked at the cake by his bed, reading the words over and over. He reached out a finger and delicately swiped a bit of frosting from it. He popped it into his mouth and sighed at how good it was. The tension began to leave his body but his eyes remained cold. "I want to trust them Al. I want to believe that we know who they are. But we don't, not really. Too much risk. That's what it comes down to. Too much risk and too many unknowns." "Then how about we try to make them knowns? We've been dodging their questions for days. Why not start small and work your way up? See who they really are by how they respond? We could really use allies right now. Or better yet? Friends." Liam turned to him with a deadpan glare. "You planned your entire argument just to be able to say that, didn't you?" Albrecht twitched and shook from containing his laughter. "No, that would be childish. I simply went the slightly less childish route of taking an opportunity when I saw it." "That line may be so fine as to not exist," Liam replied before falling back against the bed. He looked at the cake again and sighed. "You're right though. We'll just have to hope they are who we think they are." Applejack stood with her friends and family next to the now welded shut loading ramp of the ship while the asshole and his seven artificial doubles talked between themselves, occasionally taking notes on handheld tablets, the light from them casting long shadows in the dark of the night. They all chuckled at some joke one of them had made and she had to look anywhere else before she told them to shut it. They had no right to be cheerful, not after what they'd done again and again. She'd have told them as much if it weren't for the others around her who'd been convinced of their innocence against all evidence and reason. She grasped her shirt and the pendant hidden under it tightly. She'd decided she needed to constantly wear it now, if for no other reason than to give Liam something to be wary of, a reminder that she'd had it up to here with them and a single additional scratch to her home was going to have very painful consequences. A glance back at the now quiet group brought a small amount of satisfaction at the black and blue circle on Liam's left cheek. Serves him right. "Okay, I think that covers it. We've got the frequency and encryption rotations in case we need something from you or vice versa. We'll catch you later and good luck," Liam said loud enough for all of them to hear this time before turning and walking over with three of the Legionnaires while the remaining four headed for a small roll out ladder coming from a door on the side of the ship. She had not been happy when told that those three would be staying here instead of leaving with the rest of of them. She pointedly ignored the part of her glad they'd be around to help with the damages. There wouldn't have been any damages if they'd never shown up. But then it only made sense that they wrecked and destroyed everything given where she was certain they were from. She said a small prayer in her mind that they'd go back to that hellish place soon. "So, we're kicking this thing off finally?" Rainbow Dash asked as the four staying approached them. "Yeah, it's time," Liam replied with a slight smirk. "Granny, I'm sorry more couldn't stay but we ran the numbers on what we owe you now and we'll be done faster if we get our manufacturing base up first. Then we can bankroll everything without you all having to take out a loan or something." "Ah appreciate that Liam. As much as Ah may not like the state o' things it's better than going to those money grubbers," Granny said with a small snort. She looked at the ship embedded in her property and shot him a glance. "This thing's not gonna fall apart is it? Not to put it ta too fine a point but Ah've seen cleaner repairs on things made outta nothin' but rust." Liam nodded. "Yeah, the old girl's in rough shape but she'll make it in one piece at least. We're going to want to get back to the house though, the lifting field is going to be large." "It's not gonna cause more damage is it?" Applebloom asked from besides her. Applejack stiffened and clutched her geode harder. Liam glanced her way briefly then continued to each of her family members in turn. "No, we're making sure it won't. They're just going to use a single gee field, cancel out local gravity on the ship, then use expansion thrusters for the rest. Not how we'd normally do it but it's safer for the area and the trees won't even notice it." Both Applebloom and Granny sighed in relief though the latter tried not to let it show. Applejack had been around her long enough to see the strain. Granny tried to always be in control or at least know what was going on and dealing with this was testing those habits. Big Mac didn't react, just stoically watched the four Legionnaires climb up into their ship and reel in the ladder. "Well that's good ta hear at least," said Granny as she looked around the crash site with her hands on her hips. "We can actually start puttin' the place back together now. You four better get yerselves ready fer some hard work, I intend to make good on that promise o' yours to make this as good as new. All of it," she added with a slight incline of her head, noting that the number of things to be fixed had since grown. Granny at least seemed to be less blindly trusting of them now. "We haven't forgotten," Liam replied. He nodded to his doubles who picked up a number of cases and crates they'd kept with them and began loading most of them into the trunk of Big Mac's truck atop one another. It's bed was smaller than the family truck but that one looked like it had gone through a tornado and the windshield needed to be replaced after the "thruster malfunction". The last few that didn't fit they carried themselves instead. "What's with all the stuff?" Rainbow asked with mild interest, hands clasped behind her head while she waited for something interesting to happen. "Clothes, gear, and basic equipment to start looking at the portal," Will answered. "Sunset, Twilight, we'll show you how they work another time." "Sure, we'll make some time to go over it with you," Sunset confirmed while Twilight looked at the cases they carried with hunger. Girl's like a dog with a bone when it comes to this stuff, Applejack huffed mentally. She regretted the way she'd snapped at her friend earlier even if she couldn't bring herself to say as much just yet. But Twilight needed to understand that she was playing with fire, giving them a free pass in exchange for a look at some fancy tech. She had greater faith in Sunset to keep an eye on them, she was sharp and Applejack trusted she'd recognize any funny business out of them. Granny and Big Mac took the truck back while the rest of them walked mostly in silence apart from a few questions directed at the quartet of unwanted visitors from her friends. Applejack stayed out of the conversation on the way back to the house, too focused on keeping her eyes to the ground and her footing and away from them and the destruction they'd caused. It wasn't too long before they were climbing up the last of the hill the house sat on and met up again with Granny and Big Mac. Will and the other two put down the cases they'd been carrying while Liam pulled out his phone and looked back at the ship. "Jax, we're clear. Take it slow and steady." For a few moments nothing happened. Then, slowly, a soft low hum began to build, similar to the one she heard around the power station on the way to school. The blue lighting on the ship's sides from before was missing but a number of small points of glowing lavender red dotting the base of the craft outlined the shape in the dark. Slowly, the immense hulk began to back out of the trench it had dug, spilling rock, dirt, and wood around the gash in the earth. When it was clear it began to rise, slowly turning to face away from them as it did. "Oh...my...gosh," Twilight said almost too faint to be heard over the hum. Liam called out something over the phone that Applejack missed and the craft began to ascend faster. Before it crested the top of the hills around it a large, pale glow of that red tinted light rose up from the ground beneath it along with a small cloud of debris and dust that flowed up and away from it. It cast an almost ethereal pall over the ship that nagged at the back of Applejack's mind, like she'd seen it before but couldn't remember where. She didn't have long to contemplate it though. The ship finished cresting the rise and turned towards the empty plains to the South of the city where they'd decided to head to before going to space. "Yeah, you're clear. Nothing falling off or failing we can see," Liam said loud enough to be heard over the ambient noise of the ship. Four more fields grew from points into a single large volume behind the ship, one from the center and one from three of the four pylons, the damaged one not adding its own. It began moving away quickly, winds sweeping at not inconsiderable speed past them and away from it as it left, whipping up the leaves of the apple trees. It hugged the hill tops and soon it was lost beyond them, the glow of its drives quickly lost in the dark and eerily silent beyond the hum in its passing. They waited a minute more in silence as Liam watched, straining his eyes in the dark while holding the phone close. A short, sharp burst of noise from it made him pump his fist in the air before putting it away. "They're clear, made it over the hills and back roads without seeing anyone. Jax says they're out of the atmosphere with nothing more than a few groans from the hull." The three Legionnaires bumped fists and patted each other on the back. "That was so cool! I mean, they were going pretty slow but dang did it look awesome doing it!" Rainbow Dash called out to them. "I'm just glad they didn't have any problems," Liam said before exhaling and slumping a little. Applejack hadn't noticed the nervous way he'd been holding himself until then and took a small amount of satisfaction in that as well. Good, ya can feel some of what I'm feelin' all the time now, see how you like it, she thought to herself. Still, all things said the lack of their eyesore of a ship in the orchard gave her perhaps the first warm feeling she'd had since they crashed there. "So, what now?" asked Pinkie. "The others and I are gonna move the stuff into the barn for now. After that I guess just settling in and figuring out a plan for the portal." Applejack did a double take. "Yer doin' what now?" she asked incredulously. A confused look from Granny and Applebloom gave her a sinking feeling in her gut. "Were ya not listenin' earlier Applejack? Liam's takin' the guest room till they find somewhere in town close to yer school to stay. The others are takin' the barn 'cause apparently they don't need sleep or beds or comfort," Granny said. She gave an apologetic look to the three Legionnaires and added, "I feel real bad 'bout puttin' ya up in there. Shames me ta say we don't have the room fer all three a ya elsewheres." "Not a problem, won't be for long and we can't even feel the difference between comfortable and not. Not with these bodies," one of the ones that wasn't Will replied, tapping a finger against his chest with a sharp clink. "Still don't sit right. But if yer fine with it... make yerselves at home, dinner's gonna be leftovers Ah'm afraid with all the madness today." "Thanks Granny, I appreci-" Liam began before Applebloom sprang up and pulled his bag off him in one quick motion. "Here, let me help ya git yer stuff!" Applebloom replied as she dashed for the house. He stretched out a hand to stop her but was a few seconds too late. "Wait, there's delicate tools in- oh shoot, Applebloom! Wait a second!" he yelled, picking up his other bag and hurrying in after her sister. "Oh you have got ta be kidding- YERAGHHHHHHHHHH!" she growled through gritted teeth as that happy, warm feeling of normalcy vanished without a trace.