Flash has to stay in the recovery bed for a few days. That calm period with wires and beeping noise allowed him to recap his crazy journey: how he met Luster Dawn and her friends and was dragged to this world, the attempts to catch the Alicorn Gundam, the battles that follow the failure to capture it, the meeting with Captain Celaeno and her crew,… and now, the moment he was separated from his friends and lying motionless on an enemy’s ship. And then, his mind shifts to the friends:
“Is Haystack still keeping Luster’s diary and the artifacts? Will he do the ritual for me?”
“NO! You have to do it yourself!” screamed Grisela “Doesn’t we choose you just for that reason?”
“But… but the artifacts?”
“No need to freak out, Flash. Listen, you have been given an opportunity to take that new MS and fly them back to your comrade, don’t you see?”
“Are you sure I can still do that?”
The shadow of his griffon friend nodded its head.
“Until then, you can ask Haystack to have the artifacts and the diary back. We can come to that site – we’ll lead ya there – finish the ritual and free us all! Isn’t that great?”
“Ooh… I can’t wait to hug you in real life!” Butter Burger squeezed “You must be a cuddly pony, right?”
“Sorry BB, I’m not a plushie…” Flash replied in an annoyed tone.
“Oh, and why do you have to spread yourself out like that? I mean… doesn’t this look funny?” Yolinda pointed the way he was strapped into the bed.
“Preventing me from breaking out and running away, of course! I’m one of their weapons now, so expect me to be pulled forcefully into one that one mobile suit Haystack has asked me to pilot…. I also have no idea why he suddenly trusts a captured enemy pilot for this task…”
“I’m definitely sure he has something up his sleeve. No one suddenly gives their captured enemy such an important weapon!” Luster Dawn said as sure as a nail on a piece of wood. “Flash, I need you to closely monitor what happens that Chancellor pony: I want to see how he treats you in that mobile suit!”
“Guys, stop, stop... I hear something!” whispered Spring Garden “Looks like Black Wine is discussing something with his minions!”
And then, silence. He doesn’t know how Spring Garden could hear something outside. The room where he stays is extremely well insulated, meaning the noise from outside can not disturb the creature inside and vice versa. It’s a perfect place for a creature like him to relax after a long surgery.
Sometimes, his back feels like he has a sting. He has to grind his teeth in order to cope with it.
A few minutes later, Spring Garden come back with a piece of shocking news.
“I don’t know about this, Flash, but he has implanted a chip that electrocutes you when you are running!” Spring Garden said with a concerned voice. “Can you feel anything that does not belong to you in your body?”
“Yes. I think it is somewhere in my neck…” Flash tried to use his hand to touch it, but then stopped when he realized he was still being strapped into the bed. It was a small rectangle object size of a fingertip, implanted on the left side of the neck, near the jawline. He could feel a bit of trouble swallowing saliva, as it was also placed near the throat.
“Darn it… I hate this feeling!” he mumbled. The vapor from his breath still gets to make a small vapor screen that appears and disappears constantly on his breathing aid mask.
A few minutes later, two medic ponies get right into his sick bay, as they seem to be carrying some sort of bags with them. The bag is transparent, allowing him to see what is inside: an orange fluid, a dense one, with multiple black dots inside. The bag is the side of a pony’s hoof, which is not so large.
“Dinner time!” one of them said. Another pony put the fluid into a box and connected it with a small pipe. The box was connected to another pipe that led right to his right arm.
“These are nutrition fluids. You will not get to eat anything for today. Tomorrow you will be disconnected from all of these pipes and wires, which means you will be freed and roaming this ship… with supervision of course.”
“Oh and please don’t punch the ponies around, Flash…” whispered Griselda.
…
Tons of relief came to him when they finally removed the wires and pipe, unstrapped his limbs, and let him sit upright properly. They also give him some Earth Federation’s uniform, only this time, it’s in dark blue with some red borderline on the collar and the wristband.
“Ooh, that uniform looks good on you!” complimented Spring Garden. Through the illusion, Flash could see her eyes floating all around the blue hair pilot to look at the details: gold button, additional stripe on the pockets, and black trousers.
“I don’t like these guys, but I have to admit they have some of the most fashionable uniforms…”
“Yeah… but it’s different from my initial uniform. Maybe special force one?” Flash thought as if his friend could hear him.
“Wait, really?” questioned Griselda.
“Yeah… This is more like the Titan’s uniform… it was a special force of the Federation, but they have dissolved many years ago due to their cruelty… Guess they reincarnated here in Equestria, somehow…”
He was then given a bag of necessary items, including clothes, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and some other essentials. He was led to another cell where he got to stay alone, as the other 4 beds were left empty.
“But how about my comrades?”
“Those creatures? Hope they rot in Tartarus…” a pony said with a smug “Now stay in here! You will not want to mess with us…”
At that moment, Flash could notice he was bringing a large baton that he carried on his torso. In addition to the pale yellow horn on his forehead and his bulkiness, Flash really thought that stallion is not a pony to be messed with.
He simply nodded his head and silently walked into the cell without any resistance. The door then closed sideways, leaving only some lights from the outside to shine through a small glass window the size of a small notebook.
“So… what should we do now? More like… what should YOU do now?” Griselda questioned, “Lying here and doing nothing?”
He sighed and just lay down on his chosen bed, a lower one on the right side of the cell. He looked up, put his arm on his forehead, and started to sleep.
But then, Luster Dawn suddenly whispered into his ear:
“Hey, shouldn’t you do something productive?”
“No, I just want to sleep… Now leave me alone, please…”
“Oh, c’mon, Flash! You just being getting a huge chance, the kind of thing that once gone away, never come back!”
“What chance?” asked Flash in a boring manner.
“Tsk… That one shiny new mobile suit… The Psycho Gundam Mark 2?”
“Oh… that one!” Flash exclaimed “The one Chancellor Black Wine said he will let me pilot it? No thanks, that sound more like a trap than an offer.”
“It is, but we can help you overcome that trap, or even destroy it!” Luster Dawn said “You got an extremely powerful unicorn wizard, a strong yak, a funny and talkative earth pony, a kirin who can give you advice on how to communicate on those guards, and a fearless griffon!” she said with a voice that he could feel that she is letting out a huge grin on her face “That guy will have to brainstorm hard to figure out how to stop us all!”
“Yes… what if he has some kind of magic that can stop me?”
“Didn’t I just say I’m a powerful wizard? Dude, I literally electrocute him from Alicorn by just my thought. Adding up with the magic of friendship, that evil unicorn won’t stand a chance!”
Suddenly, there are door knocks right behind his head. Flash immediately woke up and open the door.
The guard behind it greets him with a stone-cold face and jerk up his jaw:
“Time to go!” he said with a curt tone.
Flash was then led to the changing room, where he was introduced to his new pilot suit for the first time: an overall dark blue jumpsuit, bigger than the usual pilot suit he have seen a little bit. There are the logo of the Chancellor’s Army on the left side of the chest section, the usual dark blue shield, and a six-points lavender star in the middle, complemented by two upward-pointing swords behind. The pilot suit also has some “connection joint” in the back, which he also found later on his helmet. Suiting up on his body, Flash felt like he was being an old-time astronaut of the human world when space-exploration technology was still young.
“Wait, what are these joints?” Flash asked a pony nearby that help him dress up.
“They are not joints, more like gates. They allowed to pump air and spaces to wiring data cable to connect you with your mobile suit: there are integrated brainwave sensor and body data sensor in that suit.”
Next, he was assisted to his new mobile suit. He has to face some angered faces from the soldiers and crew members of the Cloudsdale. He guessed that they have known he has killed some of their friends at Halflinger Groove. To be fair, they have taken the life of his sides too, with more casualties. However, he has to suppress the hatred in him. To protect their new guinea pig, the Equestrian Army also send some special guard ponies to guide him through the ship and avoid any fighting.
And then, there’s his new mobile suit.
He has previously told through Luster Dawn that the machine has the nickname ‘Triceratops’ due to its three large golden antennae on its head. And they are right, it did resemble the infamous three-horned dinosaur of the human’s home planet’s ancient times.
“Dark blue, dark blue everywhere! If they want to hide their evil will, why don’t choose a different color?” asked Griselda with an annoyed tone “Look at that machine, it’s like the thing literally emitting a spooky energy that telling others to stay as far as possible from it…”
“You literally explained his exact plan…” Luster Dawn said like she was stated a fact “Psychological effect: the more scared you are, the more afraid your enemy when they met you. A scared prey is what you are looking for if you want a one-sided battle!”
“Oh my… that’s barbaric!” Yolinda exclaimed. “But… at least they will spare their lives right… Not like us who have to…”
“No, they do it all intentionally!” Flash said with a slightly angered face “That’s the nature of war: kill as much as you do. You are even hailed for your kill count: the more life you take away, the more you are loved! So if you have a chance to rule Equestria, don’t start a war.”
“Uh… Uh…” Yolinda stuttered.
They have never seen him that scary before. Luster can feel his genuine anger and some sorrow in his mind. He used to kill some of his enemies before, to which she guessed he warned them don’t get into the business of war.
But the painting and the head are not just its most distinctive feature. Flash and his friends also noticed some exposed psycho frame, the one that glowed on the Alicorn whenever it transformed. But the fact that they are fully exposed confused him.
“Sorry, but doesn’t this thing supposed to be hidden when the suit is not in the New Type Destroyer mode?”
“Ya mean kirin range mode?” Griselda said jokingly.
“What do you mean, you dirty black griffon?” Spring Garden growled. The friends giggled at their little fight, except Flash. He has to ignore it to keep a straight face when listening to his human mechanic.
“Fully transformable mobile suits like the Alicorn are still an extremely well-kept secret, so we can’t recreate that on this thing. Plus, even if we know, it is too costly and complicated to actually rebuild the Psycho MkII for that to be worked. Sticking the psycho frame like this outside are cheaper…”
He pointed to the armor part that has a dark grey paint and multiple slanted stripes and then continue, chuckled:
“…and to be honest, it looks cooler that way!”
Flash was then assisted into the cockpit, with both his arms being wrapped by human mechanics. They carefully strapped him into the seat and closed the hatch.
“Brandon, you know the procedure, don’t you?” Chancellor asked with a soft voice into Flash’s ears. He decided to stay silent. But judging from the beeping noise from the cockpit, he was satisfied to see that he have made the right call.
“Let's just say you know! Proceed, my friend…”
Flash decided to just proceed. The Federation’s Universal Piloting System helps Flash go through the start-up procedure with ease. It was a thing that he have done countless times, whether when he was still in Antarctica or in Equestria. One of his comrades back in Antarctica Corps once described it as a ritual, as if it was a sacred thing.
“I don’t like how he thing weapons as a holy thing like that…” Yolinda said in a slightly annoyed tone. He chuckled when imagined she was making a pout with that voice.
He stopped mid-way when he saw a weird proceeding screen. It read “Connection with Collective Consciousness System”.
This then triggered in him a question: “Wait, what is this Collective Consciousness System even mean?” he connected the comlink to his engineer, and asked in the same words as his thought:
“That’s how you connect your brain to your MS. Don’t you read the brief manual?”
He knew that answer seems to bring him some comfort, but it just brought him to worry instead. He has already heard rumors about a strange system that drives their pilots insane in the Federation military. He can be on the list of traumatic, unfortunate guinea pig pilots.
“Just do it, Flash… We’re with you!” Griselda said, “You can handle our curse, this should be like a filly play for ya…”
With her words, he immediately tapped on the words.
It led him to a series of cardiograph-like charts with some beeping noise. They are showing slowly in a randomized order that he doesn’t understand.
“Huh? I don’t recall these things to be a part of a soulless weapon like this!” Luster Dawn said, “Is like… is like…”
Flash could feel her face start to show that she was horrified. He fear that there are something wrong there, so he called his engineer for stopping the test. He could hear the guy cuts the comlink for a few minutes, seemingly trying to avoid any protest from Flash.
The hatch, even if opened, there are guards, each of them was miles stronger than him, who can push him onto the pilot seat with ease. There’s also a weird instinct that just glued him into the seat, avoiding any sort of movement.
Then, his engineer reopened the com link:
“The procedure is going according to plan. Just continue your job… and you’ll be fine…” the engineer said with a somewhat scared voice.
Appeared in front of him is the cardiograph labeled “A level verification”. Apart from that, there is a “verified” button, which was shown with a color of red. He decided to tap on it, only to be led to another one that is the same, only replacing the word “A” with “P”.
He also did the same as the previous one.
Each time a cardiograph exists, there is a feminine robotic voice appeared. He don’t know why he have to do this, so he asked the engineer again.
“Oh… I forgot to tell you about that! They are the beating rate of the main fuel pumper over the MS body. I’m currently carrying the instruction over this but forgot when to tell you how to verify them. I’ll do it now, just tell me when that cardiograph-thingy appeared, I’ll tell you when to tap on the “verify” button!”
“And what are those “A level” and “P level” mean?” asked the new pilot.
“Different level of pumps priority…” Flash could hear he turn paper furiously through his earbuds “…you’ll know when the verification was done!”
And they go on to do the thing the engineer has told Flash. Every time a level appeared, he told the engineer outside. He often stopped for a few seconds before telling Flash to verify.
After just half a second, the process was completed.
“Okay, ready to roll out!”
Only after that, the panoramic cockpit started showing Flash the outside world. It was a weird part of the start-up procedure because in normal MS when the main power unit was on, the panoramic cockpit worked in full force right away. There is some anxiousness in Flash at the moment, confusion about what will happen to him next.
Then, seemingly with no alarm, the MS Cage of the Alicorn Gundam opened, allowing the white MS to walk outside. The cranes near the hatch helped to put the shield-like wing onto the mounters on its back.
“Hey… how… how can he do that?” asked Luster Dawn in annoyance “We didn’t allow it!”
“Huh?” Flash asked.
“We intended for you to be the ONLY pilot of that thing. Now I don’t know how can he do that…”
“I… We… We don’t like to be his slave! At all!” Griselda screamed, “Get out of us you swine!”
“Hey Brad, your suit is up, buddy! You are free to move!” the engineer said before taking up all his stuff and going down via the MS cage’s elevator.
After some vibration and metallic sounds, the cage opened to let his new MS do its job.
“Okay, my name is Skylar! I will be you and the Chancellor’s combat operator!” the comlink cuts to the bridge, as shown on the main control monitor. From the earbuds, there comes a hoarse voice that started to command him.
“You’ll wait for the Chancellor to launch, then you can come to the catapult!”
“What the… is Black Wine piloting the Alicorn?” Flash asked himself.
Once Black Wine’s new MS have already in the air, Flash was ordered to bring himself to the catapult. He slightly adjusted his position on the pilot seat, before proceeding to push the left pedal to move his suit out.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to fight anything yet, so no weapons for you today!” Skylar said with a disoriented voice “This is the first flight between you and your new MS to make you feel… hmm… ‘attached’ to it!”
He put the MS’s feet on the launchers in the smoothest way possible, waiting for the right-hand side signal to turn green.
When it came up, there was the familiar feeling of him being glued to the seat due to the fast acceleration again. The dark blue MS soon leaves the launchers and flies into the dark, snowy sky.