11
Location: [DATA EXPUNGED], Earth
Site: T-SF-[DATA EXPUNGED]
Sector: [DATA EXPUNGED]
Designation: OVERWATCH Complex
The small central office sat approximately 70 feet below ground. The blank, concrete walls of the room left little to the imagination. Windows were a non-existent commodity underground and He hated the fluorescent bulbs that came standard in the facility, preferring to leave His office in the dark, with the glow from His computer monitor being the only light. He sat in a thick, leather chair, back to the monitor, facing the wall behind his desk, lost in thought.
A heavy, aluminum desk sat in the center, facing away from the door, with a computer screen and stacks of papers. The only object on the desk showing any hint of His personality was a picture frame that held a picture of his family, but for as long as anyone in the facility had worked there, they only ever remembered that picture laying on His desk, face down. No one knew why, but no one dared to question Him.
Many would agree that He was a harsh, calculating man. Some would go as far as sociopathic. His methods, while very effective, bordered on psychotic. Those who had a problem with His methods of dealing with... ‘invalids’, were quickly taken out of His facility and reassigned.
‘Invalids’. He smirked at the name. Of course He had come up with it. It helped with the process if you thought your target was no longer a person.
A door in the room opened quietly, allowing the light from the connecting hallway to flood in, before being closed. The staff knew better than to leave the door open- and to flip the light switch was unheard of. The new arrival cleared his throat, gaining His attention.
He turned in His chair to face the arrival. It took all of the agents’ willpower not to flinch as He turned (he even went as far as to thank whatever power drove Him to keep the room in the dark, knowing the darkness did well to shroud his facial expressions.), the glow from His computer accentuating His features, making Him look like the spawn of a nightmare.
Two deep scars ran up the left side of His face, starting at the corner of the right side of His mouth, moving over the nose and left eye and finally extending passed the left ear. His left eye was shrouded in a white film and His left ear was mangled beyond recognition.
He called the scars memories.
The staff called it nasty as f--.
The agent began, knowing not to keep Him waiting.
“We were unsuccessful at keeping the portal open, sir.”
“How much longer until we can get the machine operational again?” His deep, baritone voice filled the room, calm, yet commanding.
The agent hesitated, only for a moment, before replying.
“Unknown at this time, sir. Per your orders, we fired at the, uh, pony, as soon as we recognized it. We believe the SS drive couldn’t handle matter transfer and shut itself down.” The agent took a deep breath before continuing, “We confirmed the hit with the target and it appeared to be alone before the drive shut down.”
The agent could feel the disappointment from Him. His very gaze felt like it was burning into the agents’ skin.
“Very well.” His tone gave nothing away. “As soon the drive is operational, report to me.”
“Yessir.”
The agent bowed before exiting, breathing a sigh of relief as he left through the door, thankful that He didn’t implement one of His staff ‘reassignments’.
Unbeknownst to the agent, He sat at his desk, His hands clamped on the lip of the underside of His desk, out of sight. His knuckles were white with tension and as He released His grip, the indents of his fingers remained imbedded into the aluminum.
He folded his hands together and turned His chair back, facing the wall, this time taking in the blood red cross that adorned it.
He knew his target.
He was God’s right hand.
He smiled to himself.
‘How can I miss?’
**********
“Wake up!”
Jay was unceremoniously slapped across the face, rousing him from his slumber. He looked up to see a cyan hoof finish its follow through. If there had been a third party opinion, the slap probably would have been labelled ‘graceful’.
He had slept deeply, the toll of the past couple of days had finally caught up to him. Jay had taken an immense amount of electricity which had caused him to pass out and, aside from several burns across his body in the shape of a net, he appeared to be fine, but Doctor Stable insisted that Jay stay the night, just to be safe.
“The Doctor says you’re free to go!”
Rainbow Dash. Of course she would do that.
Dash had spent as much time as she could hanging around his room. She would sit in the corner on one of the cushioned, wooden chairs and fiddle with everything in sight. When Jay had addressed her, her wings fluttered a bit before regaining composure. It seemed like all she would talk about was how awesome she was (for saving Jay), and how the Wonderbolts were even more awesome. When Jay had asked what a Wonderbolt was, Dash gasped like he had just admitted to killing a puppy. She had then proceeded to lecture him on the finer points of the amazing Wonderbolts. In all honesty, Jay didn’t mind the company, as long as he didn’t have to speak a lot, he had been way too tired for that. Rainbow Dash had that area covered anyways.
When Dash wasn’t around his room, she was in the hospital cafeteria looking for something to eat, but she was never gone for too long.
By the time official visiting hours ended, Dash had been reluctant to leave. Jay had stifled his laughter as two ‘murses’ (male nurses) had to escort her out as she fought tooth and hoof to stay. Jay had heard her shout something about coming back, but he had been far too tired to concentrate.
And now here she was, her hoof print clearly visible on the side of his face.
“Why?” Jay moaned out.
“Because you weren’t waking up that’s why!”
“So you slapped me?”
Dash shrugged. “Should’a woke up.”
Jay let out a sigh. He noticed the heart monitor wire was gone now, courtesy of the attending nurse. He pushed himself off the bed, testing each of his legs before he was confident enough to take a step.
That done, he looked to Dash.
“Ok, I’m awake. What’s up?”
‘Nothin’ really. Just wanted to wake ya’,” she replied with a shrug. “I’ve gotta’ go report for weather duty, sooo.... yeah..”
Dash turned and shot out the window before anything else could be said.
“Uhhh.. ok, cool. You do that.” Jay said, more to himself than anyone else.
He looked around the room one last time, trying to remember if there was anything left he had to do. When nothing came to mind, Jay figured he would just head back to Twilight’s.
Steadying himself, he hopped into the air before jumping while airborne. He figured if anyone was watching, they were welcome to a little grace. Jay appeared a few feet above his bed in Twilight’s guest room, just as intended. He fell the rest of the way, allowing gravity to do the work and landed with a soft thud into the bed sheets. That never gets old.
For a moment, he lay still; belly-down, hooves sprawled out in all directions, snout buried into the pillows, and for that moment, Jay felt lost. He had no true purpose in this world- none that he could see anyway, and he was unsure of what he could do next. Would he just have to go about living his life like every common pony he had seen? Would his whole life amount to harvesting carrots like the orange maned one, or delivering mail, or any other menial task?
For such a new world, it sure reminded him so much of his own world. One where he had somewhere to at least call home.
Jay knew homesickness was setting in, but with nothing else but home coming to mind, he couldn’t avoid it.
He let out a sigh and tried to sink deeper into the bed, to no avail. His old world, it seemed, did not want to let him go, as well. The damned Templars were definitely a thorn in his side. It seemed he would have to consult a higher power as to what needed to be done with them.
He raised his head up as far as his position on the bed allowed him. “HEY TWILIGHT?!”
Jay heard a metallic crash and several muffled thumps come from the floor below him. His face broke into a wide grin as he pieced together what had just happened.
“Oww... When did you get back?” Came a faint reply. Several loud hoof steps later, Twilight emerged at the door to his room.
“Ohh, ya know... I was wondering, if one were wanting to, I dunno, contact Princess Celestia, how would one go about doing that?”
“Well, I could always write her a letter and have Spike send it,” Twilight replied, matter-of-factly. “Or you could set up an appointment to meet with her at the day court.”
“Alright, yeah, how would I do that day court thing?”
Twilight looked surprised for a second. “YOU wanted to contact the Princess?”
It took all of Jay’s willpower to not facehoof. “Yeah. Who’d ya think I was talking about?”
“I thought it was hypothetical,” she said with a slight shrug. “Anyway, it would be a while before you would actually be able to see the Princess: normally you have to make an appointment months in advance. She’s pretty busy.”
“Hmph. Ok thanks anyways.”
Twilight smiled before departing, presumably to clean up downstairs.
Jay thought for a moment. He still remembered when he had first met both Princesses and he still remembered the throne room. Jumping there would be absolutely no problem. The only thing deterring him from jumping was the nagging question of how much trouble he would get into if he just appeared in the royal throne room.
‘Ah well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.’
With a *whump* and a scattering of a few loose sheets of paper, Jay was on his way.
**********
Fleet Quill resisted his urge to groan, knowing full well that the noise would just carry through the grand throne room and somepony might hear it. It was his first day as the new court stenographer and his superior had insisted that he take a tour of the castle and get accustomed to his new work environment.
Very rarely did something ever go wrong with the court and yet Princess Celestia insisted that every meeting and matter be documented for later storage in the archives. Fleet Quill knew it was tedious work and was thankful that the court was closed for his first day so he could get settled in.
He had been all through the castle. He now knew the place like the back of his hoof, save for both Princess’ private quarters and any room with a guard posted. Fleet Quill had trotted through countless corridors, he had examined the massive library and toured the kitchens. He cheerily explored the great gardens and even tried his hoof at the enormous hedge maze centered in the garden.
Needless to say that he would never visit the maze again.
And now, here he sat, at his new, small desk covered with writing parchment, an inkwell and several quills. The touring of the large castle made his hooves ache and he was glad to be off them for a bit.
He tucked them under his body as far as he could and prepared himself for a quick nap in the plush chair that would soon become his. Fleet Quill closed his eyes and his mind began the process of slipping into the dream world.
*WHUMP*
Fleet Quill jerked back, now at full attention, as the inkwell and writing parchment flew off his desk. The inkwell, being conveniently full (thanks to the tireless, unnamed supply ponies), also managed to find his face and sent him sprawling backwards, out of his chair.
He sputtered and spit, trying to rid his mouth of the vile, black ink as he looked around, trying to determine the source of the noise. The echo of the throne room made it seem like the sound came from all over.
“You alright?”
The voice came directly behind Fleet Quill. He quickly rose to his hooves and turned and was met with blood red eyes. He let out a startled yelp as he tripped over himself, landing on his flank.
“You got a lil’ something..... Right there.” The new pony said, waving his hoof around Fleet Quill’s face.
He was a strange looking pony. Red eyes, a red streak in his white mane, and black stripes on his all white coat coupled with the strangest cutie mark Fleet Quill had ever seen certainly made the pony a sight.
Fleet Quill got right to the point. “Uh, thanks. Where did you come from?!”
The new pony made a waving gesture with his hoof again. “Over there somewhere.”
Fleet Quill looked around, noticing that all the doors in the throne room, save for the two large entrance doors, were closed, and he certainly would have noticed a pony come through the main entrance.
“Well you shouldn’t be here. The court is closed for the day. Sorry.”
The newcomer shrugged. “Bummer. Hey, if I wanted to find Princess Celestia, where would she be?”
“Oh, certainly!” Fleet Quill pointed to a majestic looking door. “She would be through that door. Her chambers are down the hall. But I’m sorry to say that she is busy and is not expecting any visitors, so you must leave.”
“Okay thanks!” With that, the strange new pony trotted off to the door Fleet Quill had pointed out, seemingly without a care in the world.
“Hey! Wait a minute!”
‘I’m going to be in so much trouble.’
**********
‘Well that was easy.’ Jay thought smugly. The guards posted in front of Princess Celestia’s room had been easily fooled and were probably still looking for him.
Jay had happily trotted down the corridor that the court pony had pointed out, ignoring his protests and finally his pleas. By the time Jay had reached the door with the guards, the court pony had long since fled, looking to save his own hide.
By questioning one of the guards’ sexuality and stating that the other guard created a vacuum, they gave chase, and Jay ran like hell. He waited for them in the throne room before jumping back into the corridor, appearing right outside of Princess Celestia’s chambers.
Jay trotted up to the doors and gave a solid push, causing them to swing inwards as he entered. He froze when he noticed the situation in the room.
There sat regal Princess Celestia at the foot of a large, possibly overstuffed bed. She was facing Jay, but she was focusing, very intently, on a point to the side of him. Jay turned to get a better look at whatever she was focusing on, and noticed a large, decorated, white cake sitting on a small table.
Jay looked at Princess Celestia, then at the cake, then back at the Princess.
“Uhhhh, maybe I should come back?”
That seemed to snap Princess Celestia back to reality.
“Hm? Ah, and what can I do for you my little pon--,” Princess Celestia stopped mid sentence and brought her gaze to Jay. “Ah, you are the human.”
“Yes, your Highness.” Jay said, lowering himself into a bowing position.
‘Why did she sound pissed off when she recognized me?’
“I hope you understand that, even though my sister and I do not have the power to send you back to where you came from, the constant attempts to tear open the dimensions is damaging to both worlds, and you would remain in pony form.”
“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about, your Highness. We may have a bigger problem on our hooves.”