Chapter 26
I sat back in the captain's chair as I returned from the showers, looking out the window at the other end of the bridge at the landscape flying by. My friends were messing with their stations, still getting familiar with them.
As I watched them work, I finally took the time to go over myself. Now that we were far from the Dome, I could finally interact with my pocket dimension. Upon opening it and shifting through the contents with my hoof, I bumped a certain object. Pulling it out, my eyes widened.
A beacon from Omnius.
A smile touched my lips as I could have him help me regroup with the others. It was about time I got back to Bronwyn and Lance.
But before messing with the device, I saw another strange item within my pocket dimension. Something I don’t remember putting in there. Taking it out, I saw it was some kind of rune with a music note on it.
“Huh,” I said, raising an eyebrow, trying to remember where it came from.
Oh! It’s something from Bronwyn, I remember seeing her give one to Lance so she could keep track of him. I just don’t remember her giving me one. Must have slipped it in when I wasn’t paying attention.
Going back to the beacon, I turned it over and opened the little panel, which revealed the communications part of the device.
I know he said restrict how often I contact him, due to the Watcher. But I think this counts as an emergency.
Flipping two switches and holding down the mic button, I hold it to my mouth, “Come in, Omnius. Do you copy?”
Nothing came back.
“Omnius, do you copy? This is Scamp, I need your help.”
Again, nothing came back. Not even static, which might be normal with this advanced form of communication.
I waited a moment, all of my friends looking up from their stations.
I frowned as I hit the mic again, “Omnius, come in. This is Scamp, I repeat, this is Scamp. I require your assistance. Please, come in.”
Releasing the button, a sense of dread fell over me, as I thought he’d respond faster than this.
“Hello, Scamp,” came a voice that was definitely not Omnius’s, a voice that made me stiff in my seat.
No response came from me as I stared straight out the window ahead. My friends took notice of my reaction, worried looks staring up at me.
“Cat got your tongue?” the voice asked with a light chuckle.
“Where is Omnius, Lorenzo,” I say in a dark tone.
“You know the answer to that,” he replied in a cheerful tone. “So, you escaped the Dome of Doom? Color me surprised.”
“What of the others?” I asked, ignoring his false praise.
He made a clicking sound before replying, “I killed one little guy, but I can’t seem to find the others. You wouldn’t happen to know where they could be, hm?”
I did not respond, just leaned further back in my chair, a blank stare on my face.
“Scamp,” Mallogory asked from her seat. “How bad is this?”
“Bad,” Beans said to me. “From what she’s told us, this Lorenzo fellow is one of the main people she’s fighting against.”
“And it sounds like he’s achieved a massive victory,” Reinhardt said, getting a few glares from the others. “What? I speak only the hard truth.”
With a sigh, I hit the mic, “You’ve made a mistake, Lorenzo.” He laughed in response as I continued, “I do not care what it takes, or what it costs me, I will kill you.”
“Love the resolve!” he sang back, clearly enjoying himself. “But I’m afraid it won’t go as you plan. Omnius here was the only one among you that posed any kind of threat to myself or my partners. With him gone, I’m just not seeing any happy outcome for you.”
I put the device down, done speaking with him.
“To bad for the kids,” he suddenly said, causing my head to snap to the device.
Snatching it back up, I hit the mic, “What the fuck are you on about?”
“Your friends kids,” he said in a caring voice. “I wonder what the Watcher plans to do with all of them once you all are dead.”
“The Watcher has the kids?” I asked, pressing him to give away more information.
“Oh yes. All the little snot nosed brats. Baby horses have always looked so ugly to me though, so I don’t see the appeal of wanting to parent them.”
“Why does he have them?” I pressed, my good eye twitching.
He clicked his tongue, “I see, wanting all the details? Well, my little Scamp, its simple; you and your friends will do anything for those kids. So, give up, and I’ll personally make sure they are safe.”
I flicked the device off, not even going to entertain his false promise.
“What’s the plan?” Reinhardt asked, everyone looking to me for our next move.
Frowning, I shake my head. “Honestly, you all don’t need to follow me any more. Drop me at the next teleport station, and then you can do what ever you want.”
“We’ve been over this,” Drake said from the pilots seat, flipping his hair. “You’re stuck with us.”
“You helped us in the Dome, and helped us escape it,” Beans said, clicking happily, “If you think we’ll abandon you, then you’re crazy.”
A smile appeared on my worn, damaged face, “I don’t deserve this guys, but thank you.”
“So, our plan?” Reinhardt asked again.
Looking at her, trying not to laugh at her new skirt and poncho set up, I nod, “Alright then, if you’re all in, then let's do this. Beans.”
He looked at me expectantly.
Holding up the device, I look at him, “This is a beacon that allows me to speak to Omnius dimension and teleport to and from his dimension. There is another attached to it that is owned by my friend Lance. I want you to try and figure out how to get in contact with Lance’s device. Is that possible?”
He stood and strolled across the bridge to me, taking the device. “I would say it’s possible. I can probably even get it to teleport us to him if this works the way I think it does.”
“Perfect,” I say with a smile. As he returned to his seat, I turned to Drake, “How far till the next teleport station?”
With a dramatic sigh, he turned to me, hands still on the flight controls. “My map is limited, you need someone on the navigation panel to know that kind of info.”
“On it,” Reinhardt said as she moved to the last station, looking it over. “Uh… no idea what any of this does.”
“Take some time to figure it out,” I say to her, getting a thumbs up in response.
I reached over to a mic next to me and spoke into it. “Moxxi, any problems down there I should know about?”
It took a few moments before she responded, sounding a bit winded, “Nope, we’re all good, Captain Scamp.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that, “Keep me updated.”
“Can do!”
“Mallogory, how’s the ship as a whole looking?” I asked as I put away the mic.
She smiled up at me as she turned to the screen before her, “Looking good as far as I can tell!”
“Then all we can do is wait for Beans to figure out a solution,” I say as everyone continues to work at their stations.
All I could do was sit there and think, not happy with the information that’d just been revealed to me.
“Oh, we’re being hailed,” Beans said suddenly, causing me to raise an eyebrow.
“From who?”
He clicks as he reads the information before him, “We’re being hailed by a ship called ‘Be eating you’.”
“Well, I wonder who that could be,” I say with a grimace. “Screw it, put 'em up.”
After clicking a few buttons, the voice of Leem filled the bridge.
“You ingrates, I spare you and allow you to fight in my Dome, and this is how you repay me?! By humiliating me?!” he roared over the radio.
“Boohoo,” I say, getting a few snickers from my friends. “Want to cry more about it, Leem?”
He remained silent for a moment, the sound of something breaking could be heard over the feed. “You laugh now, but I’ve been going easy on you. Toying with you. I promise, when you see me next I’m going to be serious. No more games.”
“Leem, we will not be seeing each other anytime soon,” I reply, looking at Beans who gives me a nod, tapping the device with a mandible.
“Look behind you, horse,” he said in a voice dripping in snark.
My eyes widened as I looked at Reinhardt, who still was looking over the panels before her.
When she saw me looking at her, she threw her hands up. “I’m a warrior! Not a nerd! I don’t know any of this tech shit!”
“Drake?” I ask, hoping he could see anything on his map.
He glanced down and sat up straight, “So, two ships are slowly catching up it seems.”
“Wonderful,” I mumble, leaning back as Leem just started laughing maniacally over the radio. “Cut him off.”
Beans hit a few buttons and turned off the feed, silencing the psycho lizard.
“How long till they’re on us?” I ask, not sure what we can do against them if they actually have weapons. Which I know they will.
“Eh,” Drake groaned. “I’m pretty sure they’re already in range for weapons.”
“Well, they’re not shooting at us yet,” Mallogory said just as the land ahead of us exploded as a shell flew past us, followed by a beam of energy.
“Bad timing,” I groan as I grab the seat arms. “Drake, maneuver like your life depends on it!”
He yanked the ship to the left hard, jolting all of us. “This thing handles terribly!”
“Just keep us alive!” I call him as I grab the mic next to me. “Moxxi, Remi! We’re under attack, prepare for a lot of jerking around!”
“Could have warned us before that first one!” she yelled back.
“Alert me of any damage,” I yell back as we jerk around roughly, beams and shells flying past us in all directions.
“Beans, focus on teleporting us to Lance’s device!” I yell, getting a few clicks in response as he held on to this console, working fast.
“This ship does not like moving like this!” Mallogory yelled as her screen flashes yellow in a few places.
“Keep it up,” I commanded Drake, not liking how close some of those attacks were getting.
The ship groaned loudly as we rolled to the right, rolling over and over again violently.
“DRAKE!” I yelled, the ship seeming to scream for us to stop.
“I have to!” he screamed back, panic clear in his voice.
“FUCK!” Reinhardt yelped as she lost her grip and slammed into the wall on the other side of the bridge.
Not wanting her to get hurt, or hurt anyone else, I jumped from my seat, using my wings to fly to her and catch her mid flip. She was extremely heavy, but I held tight as the ship continued to spin around us.
Finally Drake stopped rolling the ship, allowing me to drop Reinhardt back in her station.
“You’re a lifesaver, Scamp!” She said, looking slightly paler than normal. I gave her a salute as I flew back to my seat.
Flipping a switch brought up a camera feed showing the exterior of the ship. The air around us was filled with projectiles and beams, it was amazing we hadn’t been hit yet.
“Status?” I asked as we tipped back and shot straight into the sky.
“The ship is failing, that’s all I can tell!” Mallogory yelled back, her screen now more red and yellow than it should be.
“Beans?!” I asked in a panic.
“Maybe,” was his only response, looking focused.
The entire ship suddenly shook violently as massive explosion was heard.
“We’re hit!” Mallogory yelled in panic.
“Scamp! The engines are fucked down here! We’ve lost all but two!” Moxxi yelled over the radio.
The ship began to slow tremendously. And if we slowed down, we’d lose maneuverability, and if we lost that, then we’re dead.
“I got it!” Beans cheered. “Sending teleportation requests now! All he has to do is hit accept!”
“Thank all that is good!” I yelled as a second explosion rocked the ship.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Jero smiled as he watched Grace and Octavia hug as they were reunited, crying into each other as they did so. Adry stood there watching as well, looking relieved to finally be freed from her cage.
Lance sighed as he marked this location off of his list.
“We’ll find Twilight,” Jero reassured him, knowing exactly what was wrong.
“I know,” he replied, looking at the hugging couple. Then to Adry, he wasn’t sure if he should tell her or wait for Scamp to return.
Jero looked to where he was looking and patted his shoulder, “We should hold off on that till Scamp is here, let her decide.”
“Good idea,” Lance said, relaxing a bit.
“On the bright side, the next set of coordinates aren’t that far away,” Jero said as he looked at his list.
“Lance, a question,” Rarity, who they’d just recently found, said as she stepped up to them. “I know you told me you’d tell me later, but any chance of us finding Peter or my son anytime soon?”
Lance and Jero looked at each other, a pained look on their faces. They’d talked about telling everyone that Shining Armor, Frederic, and Peter were dead, but they’d decided they should wait till after all this to keep everyone focused.
“Rarity, we’re looking, I promise. We’ll find your son, but we haven’t found any of our kids yet. So my best hope is they’re not even here.”
“Oh I do so hope little Jasper isn’t here, this place is dreadful! And of Peter? Any sign?” she asked hopefully, giving them puppy dog eyes.
“Not yet,” was all Lance could say.
Jero took over and smiled at her, placing a hand on her shoulder, “Don’t worry, Rarity, we’re on this.”
“Thank you, you two, I know you won’t let anything happen to him,” she said, giving him a hug, then Lance. She then walked towards Adry.
“Oh Adry darling! You look so good for a pony coming out of a cage!”
Adry just laughed, messing with her messy mane, “Oh I try my best, Rare! But this place! Just WOW! I wish we were here under better circumstances! A whole endless circus amusement park!”
“I know right?!” Pinkie said as she hopped up and hugged Adry. “We should totally vacation here after this all blows over!”
Lance smiled at the sight, happy to be seeing everyone again.
Then his beacon began to buzz.
“What the?” he said as he pulled it out and held it in front of himself.
“Well, I can say this time I’m not expecting anyone,” Jero said in puzzlement.
“Should we ignore it?” Lance asked, unsure of what to do.
Jero thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No, Scamp’s still out there, and she may try to reach us this way. Omnius said that the two beacons were connected, but he told me you guys should avoid teleporting to each other due to it possibly attracting the attention of the Watcher. But I guess that’s redundant at this point.”
“So accept it?” Lance asked, getting a nod from Jero.
He grinned as he clicked the button and tossed it to the ground.
It beeped a few times as it flashed, causing everyone in the area to stop and look on in shock.
“So you’re the new Traveler?” Lorenzo asked, tipping his tricorn hat at a stunned Jero.
“Lorenzo?!” Lance yelped, shifting into his Apollyon form instantly.
“Good to meet you in the flesh, Lance,” Lorenzo said, nodding to him. “But I’m sorry to say, I’m not here to play around. I need you to come with me, whole or missing limbs.”
“He’s not going anywhere!” Grace roared as she soared towards him from behind.
Without taking his eyes off Lance, a portal opened behind his back, slowly drawing his sword. Grace flew into the portal, unable to stop herself, and suddenly appeared in front of him.
Four quick flashes were seen as she hit the ground, looking confused.
Everyone let out cries of horror as she fell apart, Octavia being the loudest.
“As I said, no more games,” Lorenzo said simply as his Ego flared.
Behind them, not noticed by anyone, the little beacon began to buzz again.