{Rainbow Dash}
“Wait for a second!” I said in surprise. “Back up, hold the phone or put the phone on hold if you prefer…”
I had finally been given the okay to head back to my original assignment when Samantha had summoned me to her realm first. What I just heard, I didn’t believe a word of it.
“That’s right RD,” said Samantha, “that last assignment was a test designed just for you! When a new agent gets the status of officially working the Sixth there is a test to see where to put the agent on assignments and you passed it with flying colors!”
I raised an eyebrow. “Exactly how did I pass when I practically killed myself?”
“Watching the video footage you were loyal right up to the very end,” said Samantha, “you would rather go down fighting than step aside for your safety! And the other part of the mission was for you to get your element of harmony out of the Machine. And the mission was a complete success! All of us Predictors have seen that when the other elements of harmony were retrieved the bearer had to die first for it to make an appearance and yours did exactly what we thought it would do. So the mission passed! And to add into that you did get past the Firewall at the same time!”
“Huh?” I said. “I don’t get it!”
“When I saw the video footage one of them a dagger hit the gate that you were at and once your element made an appearance the dagger did some damage to the gate in the process. But not enough damage to keep it from working,” said Samantha, “it's either the Firewalls or the Machine itself will be able to repair that gate in no time at all. The funny thing is the Firewall seemed to zone in on you during the fight! It looked like he wanted to kill you at all costs!”
“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that I’m an element of harmony,” I said, “so he probably wanted to kill me just for that alone! What I find funny is that the Machine has a Lord that rules over it!”
Samantha got a real kick out of that one and so did I.
“At least you aren’t doing stand up comedy this time!” Loyalty said.
When Samantha heard Loyalty speak she had the same reaction that Oliver and Finn did when they first heard it speak. She jumped back in surprise and I fell over on my back laughing at Samantha’s reaction.
Samantha blinked. “Well, I didn't see that one coming!”
I got up and once Samantha said that I was on my back laughing again.
“Wait a minute,” I said, “aren’t you a Predictor? You’re supposed to know everything!”
“Yeah but sometimes we can overlook some things,” said Samantha, “that’s pretty much what I did in this case.”
“Yup,” said Loyalty with a small giggle, “I figured you might do that, since I am an element of harmony I have more power to see well into the future let’s just say I’m a super Predictor!”
Once again, I was on my back laughing at what Loyalty just said, I laughed so hard I had tears coming from my eyes.
“Anyway,” said Loyalty, “the reason why I’m on a necklace around Rainbow Dash’s neck is that that’s what all of us were put in so it makes it easier for us to stay connected to our bearers. However, when Magic was created along with us, it was originally on a necklace too. But once Twilight became an Alicorn and a princess on top of that, Magic got put on a crown instead! And if I hear Magic brag about it one more time…”
Now Samantha joined in with my laughter at the very thought of Loyalty being mad about another element bragging about what it’s been put on.
Loyalty sounded like it let out a long sigh of frustration, “That’s not funny! Us elements want to try to figure out a way to discipline Magic just for being on its high stone and playing that stupid prank on us. But as it stands we haven’t found a way to do it. Does the Sixth have a way to discipline people that mess up like what Magic did?”
“We do,” said Samantha, “we have a place called the Underground. It's a place that agents do not want to be familiar with at all! Let’s just say it’s kind of a prison for the bad apples so to speak.”
“So how do I know if I’m being a bad apple?” I asked.
“Have you had any weird dreams of what the rules are of the Sixth?” Samantha said.
I remembered the dreams that I had been having lately since I got to the Sixth. The dreams that I had been having were mostly memories that were getting old and on my last nerve! Every time I had a memory a sentence would appear every once and a while and say it loud and clear to make sure that I heard it. I had no idea what was happening and I had a feeling what Samantha was talking about.
I nodded, “Yes I have, how did that happen?”
“Remember the doorbell you made while learning the blood barrier?” Samantha asked.
I tilted my head. “Yeah so?”
“Once a new agent has accessed the Sixth’s system, the Sixth has access to your dreams,” Samantha explained. “It’ll happen every six months to remind you. And you can decide if you want to follow them or not. Unfortunately, agents are not to obey the rules and go rogue. When that happens, there are agents that are assigned to the job tracking those agents down and sending them to the Underground.”
“I’m glad I’m not assigned to that job!” I said.
“I agree with that one!” Loyalty said.
“How does an agent get assigned to that job?” I questioned.
“Us Predictors are told which agents to assign for the job,” said Samantha, “and not every top agent in the Sixth gets picked for the job. Since Oliver’s specialty is breaking out assignments, that is what he’s been assigned to. It’s hard to say what job you’ll be specific for because you’re an element of harmony and all. But one of the elements specialty is training new agents that come into the Sixth and that element is Rarity! Pinkie Pie on the other hand has no specialty assignment at all!”
I titled my head and raised an eyebrow, “Why’s that?”
“Even though she's been out of the Machine for a decade,” answered Samantha, “she’s been failing at every single one of her assignments! She even failed the assignment to break you out of the Machine!”
“What!” I gasped. “How is that even possible? She helped save me from the seekers!”
“Oh no she didn’t,” said Samantha, “it was Oliver that did! It was his pocket dimension that you went into and according to the video footage, Pinkie Pie had every opportunity to use her pocket dimension right when the world paused when the seekers came around!”
I was confused at first by the statement but then I remembered that one of the things that appeared one my dreams that I had been having over and over was how to detect when seekers and things like that are around. The main thing that happens is the Machine pauses everything that’s going on. It’s like watching a movie and you pause it so you get up and do something else that needs to be taken care of. I remembered having to do that a lot so I could take care of Jude when he needed something.
As soon as I remembered the dream I racked my brain to remember back to when Pinkie, Oliver, and I escaped from the seekers. Pinkie looked like she noticed it first but now that I thought about it, Oliver was the one that noticed it first! Once he noticed it, he made sure we escaped into his pocket dimension.
“Now that I think of it,” I said, “Oliver was the one to notice the seekers and it was his pocket dimension that we escaped to and not Pinkie’s! I didn’t think about it until you just mentioned it, it looked like Pinkie noticed it first but if Pinkie was the first one to notice it; what my question is why didn’t we escape to her pocket dimension instead?”
Samantha shrugged, “I have no idea. You’ll have to ask Pinkie on that one. But given what happened at your original assignment I don’t think you’ll be wanting to talk to her anytime soon!”
“How did you know about that?” I said.
“My crystal alerted me to it,” said Samantha, “I was watching in case I needed to send agents to go and retrieve her! Fortunately for now she’s in the Underground being disciplined but she won’t be in there for long because of being a bearer of an element of harmony!”
“Well, that’s not right!” Loyalty said.
“I agree with you on that one!” Samantha said. “But it can’t be helped for the time being because we need all six elements to shut down the Machine! There is another place that the Sixth built-in taking into consideration nut cases like Pinkie Pie, it’s called the ‘off your rocker’ place and I can’t think of a better name for it! Pinkie Pie needs to be in that place more than she needs to be stuck in the Underground!”
At that thought, I fell on my back laughing again and Loyalty chimed in.
“So why does the whole ‘off your rocker thing’ happen?” I said after I composed myself.
“It happens when an agent ignores their summons altogether,” Samantha explained, “whether it be from outside of the Machine jobs or inside jobs like breakouts and things like that. If that happens for a long period of time it’s usually six months to a year for that to happen. The agent's pocket dimension gets closed off from them and they no longer have access to the Sixth’s system and they go completely nuts! The Sixth has no idea why that happens, it just does. The Sixth is studying those agents for an answer to that question.”
“So if Pinkie Pie isn’t to stay in the Underground or the ‘off your rocker’ place,” I said, “then how am I supposed to keep her away from me?”
“The Sixth is a lot better at doing protective orders than the stupid Machine does!” Samantha said. “When she gets out of the Underground she will not be allowed to leave the Sixth or come within range when you’re around period!”
“But Pinkie Pie said she’ll find a way to save me from Oliver,” I said, “and according to Agent Rarity she has chaos magic! From what I remember that type of magic is super strong and nothing can work against it!”
“Are you forgetting that you're an element of harmony bearer too? And the whole chaos magic people think is strong, it’s not.” Loyalty said.
“What are you talking about?” I said. “She was just as strong as Discord!”
“That’s because she stole some of Discord’s magic that was right after us elements of harmony were discovered. The magic that she stole was not enough to make her magic as strong as yours. Once Discord found out, he took his magic back and she went back to normal. Even though it looked like she was still strong, that was a front and an empty threat. What happened when Agent Rarity said that Pinkie Pie had chaos magic?” Loyalty said.
“She got into the training room and wanted to watch them push me out of a plane so I can do my transformation back into a pegasus!” I replied.
“She probably just picked the lock,” said Loyalty, “the only way she would’ve been able to get back in again, she would have to have another tool to do so.”
“So what tool would she have to have?” I said.
“The only other way Pinkie could’ve gotten back in,” said Samantha, “is to override the magic lock if it’s been reinforced! The only way she would’ve known how to do that is if she’s a very skilled hacker. All a hacker needs is a special key for that.”
“How would a hacker get a hold of something like that?” I said.
“Those types of tools are locked away in the strongest magic there is,” said Samantha, “and that’s sealed away by the Founders! So there’s no way Pinkie could get around a protective order or break back into a training room. Sometimes agents find ways to pick the lock to the training room. It’s a tool that agents use to play a prank on someone training. I don’t know how agents can do that. The Founders are working on a way to stop that. So lately they’ve been advising trainers to reinforce the locks. I’m guessing Agent Oliver and Agent Rarity were distracted by something."
“Now that I think about it,” I said, “Oliver and Agent Rarity were discussing pushing me out of a plane to change me back into a pegasus and that’s when Pinkie Pie came in!”
“As I said,” said Samantha, “we’re pretty good at protective orders, she’s not the only one that has strong magic like that is in the Sixth! So Pinkie Pie’s magic will be tracked to make sure that she doesn’t come anywhere near you! And if need be us Predictors will use our magic that we have to do that too!”
“That does make me feel better about that,” I said.
“Oh, I should tell you that when there’s true love involved,” said Loyalty, “it strengthens my magic to protect and your true love!”
“I don’t think I have true love right now,” I remarked, “and I thought you didn’t need to give me any magic to keep the connection strong!”
“Yes, you do have true love!” Loyalty said. “It’s Oliver! And I’m not talking about giving you magic to keep our connection strong, what I mean is being able to use some of my magic because I can’t use all of it unless all six of us work, using some of my magic to protect you and your true love!”
I tilted my head. “I’m not following you!”
“Remember when I said an element goes silent when an evil person or pony is around?” Loyalty said.
“Yeah?” I said.
“When it comes to protecting and helping you use your magic, we elements will talk very loud to our bearers,” Loyalty said. “But talking goes on your head and we also talk to the other person that we’re trying to protect their head too.”
“Yup,” I said, “nothing weird about that at all!”
“Yeah I know,” Loyalty said, “but once we do the talking it allows us to protect the persons or persons in this case that need to be protected by and elements of harmony! We elements take our job as protectors very seriously! But we only protect those closest to you! And that’s all we can do as far as that goes.”
As soon as Loyalty explained things Samantha perked up and had a huge grin on her face. “It’s about time you two admitted your feelings for each other! But of course when being a couple you two will have arguments but you’ll get past it!”
I rolled my eyes, “Let me guess, you saw this in my future?”
“Yup!” Samantha smiled.
“And I did too!” Loyalty said. “Of course when that happens I won’t be talking that loud.”
I guess Loyalty couldn’t help itself because it laughed hard.
“Okay,” I growled, “laughing at my expense is getting old!”
“Okay then,” said Samantha, “it’s time for you to head back to your original assignment. I think Oliver could use your help with Roman!”
“What did Roman do to him?” I asked.
“Let’s just say Roman keeps admitting his feelings for Oliver!” Samantha said. “Roman’s even far as to hug Oliver and kiss him a couple of times! It’s borderline harassment in the workplace! Issac’s already warned Roman about it several times! I’m surprised the guy hasn’t been fired yet! The sad thing is your teammates could care less! So hopefully nothing will happen to him. I don’t think anything will though but he definitely could use your help!”
“You can say that again!” I said. “And if something does happen to him, I’m going to have a serious talk with the rest of my teammates if you know what I mean!”
“Okay,” Samantha said, “report back to me if anything happens!”
“Oh don’t worry,” I said, “I will!”
* * *
Just as I feared would happen, it happened. Right after I had clocked in to go to my spot at work. I turned the corner to see Roman had pinned Oliver up against a wall and Oliver was yelling at him.
“How many times do I have to tell you no!” Oliver screamed at him.
As I saw it I was about as ready to punch Roman to get him off, Oliver. I also heard Issac cracking his knuckles and was about to get ready to do the same thing. But Oliver beat us to it and punched Roman before he could even lean in for a kiss. When Roman stumbled backwards Issac grabbed him by the shirt and slammed up against the wall.
“Why are you reprimanding me?” Roman shrieked. “He’s the one that hit me!”
“Nope,” said Issac, “I’ve warned you several times about this, and why I didn’t fire you before I don’t know! The guy said no and what he did was in self-defence! How many black eyes is he going to have to give before you get the point? And you just had to pin him to a wall this time and you went way too far on that one!
"Since I’m head of the security team here and the owner has already given me the right to do this. Roman, I’m done warning you, you’re fired!”
“You can’t do that!” Roman said.
“‘I just did,” said Issac, “so yeah you’re gone goodbye!”
After I saw Issac practically throw Roman at the police in handcuffs, it was kind of comical to me because of the same thing I did with Pinkie Pie. When Roman was dragged away Gilda came up to see what all of the noise was about. When she saw Oliver dusting himself off from the incident her eyes went wide. Especially when she looked at me because I was so angry that I was shaking.
“It’s okay Sadie,” said Oliver, “I’m fine.”
“Remember when I said you can’t control everything that happens?” I said.
“Uh...Yeah…” Oliver said.
“Well, this is a perfect example of it!” I snarled.
“Sorry about that Sadie,” Gilda said, “I was in the same room when it happened but I didn’t pay any attention to it because I figured Zach could handle it! And from the looks of it, he did!”
“Seriously!” I snapped at her. “I do believe Samantha informed you of the situation. If you saw something happening you should’ve stepped in to help! You're about as bad as what happened with Silas!”
“Okay, Sadie!” Oliver said. Oliver looked concerned but Gilda on the other hand shrank back in fear.
“Don’t you okay Sadie to me!” I snapped again. “I can’t protect you all the time and you can’t protect me! So stop trying to and don’t treat me like I’m a child anymore!”
Oliver and Gilda had no answer for me; they just looked away. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You know, just give me some space so I can calm down. No, I’m not breaking up with you Zach, I’m just pissed off! But Abigail as far as you go, don’t come around me anymore, or it’ll give me license to kill you! I’ll be reporting this to Samantha for sure. If anyone’s at fault it's you, Abigail! And if Samantha assigns you another team I wouldn’t be surprised!”
After that, I stormed off in anger and Diamond Tiara was watching the situation so she sent Issac to help. At least she did something! She understood what I was feeling and let me clock out for the rest of the shift. That’s exactly what I did. When I got back to my room I reported what happened to Samantha and was so angry that I stayed in my room until it was time to go back to work the next day.
* * *
The very next morning I heard Oliver and Gilda outside of my room talking about me.
“If I were you I would consider what happened yesterday as your first argument,” said Gilda, “she was more pissed at me than you.”
“But that means-” Oliver said.
“Nope,” said Gilda, “that doesn’t mean you two are over. Did she say you two were over?”
“Well no but-” Oliver said.
“If she didn’t say that you two were over,” said Gilda, “then you’re not over. You should know that, I mean you’ve had three girlfriends besides Sadie for crying out loud! Unless every time you got into an argument they broke up with you on the spot!”
I could hear the uncertainty in Oliver’s voice. “That’s exactly what happened and with all of them.”
“Wow,” said Gilda, “on again and off again huh?”
“Yup,” said Oliver, “it wasn’t until I got tired of it and told them we were over for good and Clara was the worst one at that!”
“Yeah,” Gilda chuckled, “Clara doesn’t know how to take no for an answer. When she latches onto you she stays on that’s for sure. Why do you think that incident happened with Sadie? From what I’ve heard she’s still chasing after you along with Sadie huh?”
“You got that one right!” Oliver said.
I could hear Gilda getting a real kick out of what Oliver just said and it made me even angrier not at Oliver but Gilda the most!
“Well when you think about it,” said Gilda, “she was pissed off at me the most! And I understand. It’ll probably take her weeks before she talks to me again, that’s for sure!”
Oliver choked on what Gilda just said, “Weeks! She’s not gonna talk to me for weeks!”
Gilda fell out laughing pretty hard at Oliver. “No, no, no, when Sadie’s in a relationship it only takes her a couple of days to get over things.”
“How do you know that?” Oliver asked.
“Because I know how she is,” said Gilda, “I’ve seen it happen with her on all of them! And she’s talked to me about problems that come up. Sadie’s a normal girl and she’s not crazy like your other girlfriends trust me, those girls were not worth your time! Sadie however is! She’ll calm down and come around soon. I know her, she will. Just give her some space and she’ll be fine. Even if she’s mad at me, she’ll get over what happened to you. Knowing her, she'll probably want to use me as a punching bag!”
When Gilda said that Oliver was the one to laugh this time.
“Ha, ha!” Gilda said. “I hope that makes you feel better at least. I think it's time we head into work and if I were you if Sadie is around just avoid her but knowing she definitely will avoid you first!”
Once again I heard the uncertainty in Oliver's voice, “Yeah. Sure…”
After hearing that conversation I waited until the coast was clear and went back to work.