With a quick flash we arrived back at the castle. I grabbed my head and shook off the feeling of vertigo. ‘Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to teleporting around like that.’ I thought as I watched Celestia trot over to her throne. She sat down on her golden seat as she smiled down at me, her horn glowing a golden yellow as several sheets of paper appeared.
“I hope you don’t mind a bit of paperwork, if I am going to offer you a position here, you need to abide by the contracts here and write a full report of what transpired during your encounter with Nightmare Moon.” She said as she slowly floated the stack of papers towards me.
“Lots of people think being in the military or any kind of law enforcement would be filled with action, glory and fights. But what they never tell you is the grueling hours of paperwork and accounting all of the things that happen. Do you know where I will be staying for the night?” I asked.
“We do have a spare guest room available, you’ll be quartered there for the night and after that, I'll introduce you to the rest of the Equestrian Military. Oh I guess I do owe that Steak and Wine, in all my life I’ve never met a minotaur that would consume meat.” She said as she stood back up, walking over to the door and opened it with her magic.
“Actually I'm not a minotaur at all, I'm what you call a Human, our diet is omnivorous, we can pretty much eat veggies, fruits, meat, fish and nuts.It’s really handy when you’re out in the field.” I replied. “So, you lied to me about being a minotaur?” she asked, raising a brow. “I never lied to you, you just assumed I was a minotaur and just went with it.” I retorted and gave her a small smirk. “Still, I've never heard of a human, just what is your race?” she asked. So I gave her the quick rundown of humanity, technologically advanced, intelligent, mastered nature, master of war, went to space and the only sentient race in our world.
“Fascinating, your race sounds very complex and to think, war in your world is such a common thing. Were you in a war, Major Adamska?” She asked. “Well… Yes and no.” I replied. “How so?” she asked, curious to find out. “I was part of something called ‘The Cold War.’ There were no soldiers being deployed, no active battlefield but it was fought using spies and counterintelligence. Pretty much just spy games and seeing who can outsmart each other. I was more along the line of being ready for the cold war to turn hot but it never happened.” shrugging my shoulders as the two of us made it to the dining hall. “I see, well thankfully the war never did break out and suffered any loss of life, now give a few minutes as I’ll tell the head chef for your meal and I’ll find us some wine to partake in.” she said as she walked into the kitchen.
After a minute or two she walked out and came out with a bottle of wine and two glasses. She sat down opposite of me as she placed the two glasses down and popped the wine open. “An old Canterlot vintage from one of my personal collections, I never thought I would open it until now.” she said as she started pouring the white wine into the glasses. She levitated one glass to me as I took it in hand, swirling the wine around and getting a nice waft of the sweet liquor.
‘Mmm, smells like grapes mixed with a hint of strawberry?’ I thought. I looked over to the princess as she gave me a smile. “Again, I truly thank you for not only helping me with getting the Elements back but also for saving my sister Luna. I’ve… made several mistakes in the past, letting my pride and arrogance get the better of me… costing me my only family member left and shunning her away… Do you think she’ll forgive me?” she asked.
I took a small sip of the wine, savoring the taste before gulping it down. I let out a sigh as I set down the glass. I looked her in the eyes, elbows on the table as I had the Gendo Ikari pose going. “They say time heals all wounds Celestia, and from what I’m guessing you have close to over several hundred years of regret inside. Deep down inside she still loves you, she’s still the little sister that looks up to you, to care for her and protect her. So do your best to lend her that help, she’s gonna be way out of her time and you have to catch her up with what she missed over the past thousand years.” I said as I grabbed the glass of wine. “So, how about a toast? To your family and the future of this new employment.” I smirked at her.
Celestia gave me a small smile as she levitated her glass and clinked with mine. “A toast, to having Luna back and to see how well your new job goes.” she said as she moved the glass towards her muzzle and sipped at the wine and I sip along with her. After a minute or two later a waiter carts in a platter with steaming hot steak with some potatoes and sauce on it. They place the dish in front of me as well as a knife and fork. “Thank you.” I said to the waiter as I cut into the steak, seeing that it was indeed, cooked medium rare, the only proper way to enjoy steak. I take a piece and take a bite of it, and god damn this beats eating that raw cockatrice, hell it beats eating raw anything from the Everfree forest. I took my time savoring this well cooked dish, small occasional sips as I looked over to the princess. “Don’t you have a Sun Celebration to look over?” I asked.
She downed her wine before letting out a small sigh, smiling. “That I do, I shouldn't postpone it any longer. I’ll have somepony show you to your room. Have a pleasant night Adamska.” she said as she got up from her seat and walked out of the room. I just sat in silence, enjoying my wine and steak, savoring each bite and sip before my codec started to ring. I let out a small sigh, putting down the fork and reaching the back of my ear, answering it.
The codec UI booted up and time froze, appearing as the familiar static image that I know is Lore Master. “I’m in, I’ve gained the princess' trust by helping her with Luna and The Elements. She’s already placing me in the ranks of her army. So I might make good use out of this situation.” I said.
“Very good ocelot, you’re playing your role here very well. Keep an eye on the princess’ activities, both Celestia and Luna. Also you’ll be having Gilded Cross as your contact to other agents in Equestria. She’s already in the process of acquiring a spy for the Griffon Kingdom.” They said.
“A spy in the Griffon Kingdom huh, how many other kingdoms are out there in the world? I know about the ponies and the griffons, I think there’s also the Yakyakistan kingdom as well? Are the zebras a major player here?” I asked.
“Zebras are one of the major trading partners with Equestria, trading in raw material, spices and medicinal herbs. While not powerful politically, they are a major pillar for economic trade. They may not be as advanced as the ponies in the way of magic or architecture, but are very spiritual in the shamanistic ways, some may say being able to contact the other side or be one with the earth elements.” they said.
“I see, what about the dragons? I remember later down the seasons there's this whole Dragon Lord thing. Is it possible to make any contact with the dragons, considering that they’re flying death machines that can breathe fire and can possibly destroy the countryside.” I asked
“At the moment there’s a peace treaty between the Draconic kingdom and Equestria, so there’s a moment of peace, but it is a very delicate and flimsy treaty, so at the moment we don’t need to start a war… yet. There’s also the Cat kingdom known as the Abyssian Kingdom, They’re located far south in the Bone Dry desert.”
“A cat kingdom, that’s new to me…” I muttered
“Well the pony hasn’t fully discovered them at this time, since It’s just Celestia at the helm and Luna just returned. Plus as you know ponies are ignorant to the vast world around them, so they don’t know there’s more than just Equestria. And from the sound of it, you didn’t know about the cat kingdom either.” They said.
“Really haven’t heard about them until now, so I’m guessing they’re friendly?” I asked.
“They're a friendly bunch of cat folk, but as of now they’re a bit hard to get in contact with since they’re far from the rest of Equestria thanks to their large lake cutting them off at the moment. I’ll see what I can do to reach them. It’ll take some time. In the meantime take a small R&R, you earned it for beating Nightmare Moon.” They said.
“Thanks, I earned this Steak Dinner, being in an actual castle and civilization beats camping out in the old ruins and forest.” I replied.
“I’ll call you back when the time comes for the griffon spy meeting.” Lore stated before ending the call.
Time resumes as I finish up with my steak, wiping my lips and face with a napkin and finish off the last bit of wine. I stood back up and pushed the chair back, heading out to the door and saw a guard awaiting for me. And to my surprise it was the first guard I met, Gilded Cross. “Kept you waiting huh?” I asked with a small smirk.
She gave a small smirk back “Only for a tiny bit, did you save any wine?” she asked. I looked and turned back to the dining room. “Give me a hot minute.” I asked as I walked back in and nabbed the bottle and headed back out. “Got it right here.” I said as I wiggle the half full bottle in hand. “Oh score, it's a Canterlot vintage!” She reached her hoof out and nabs the bottle before putting it away in her armor hammer space pocket. “Here let me show you to your room.” she said as she guided me down the hall and I followed beside her.
“So, a little birdy told me that you had a hoof in helping with dealing with Nightmare Moon.” Gilded stated as we rounded a corner.
“I can neither confirm nor deny my involvement with it.” I replied as we kept walking down the marble halls.
“Really, so you got nothing to do with it? Cause a few witnesses say they saw a strange pale creature standing up to Nightmare Moon, making a loud bang noise and yelling about ‘Find the damn elements.’ sure that wasn’t you?” She said, smirking a bit.
“Hey it's not my fault that Ponyville is very secluded from most of Equestria, for all they know it could have been a weird minotaur. I bet most of them are scared of their own shadows if they didn’t know any better.” I replied as we finally made it to a door. “As much as I wanna talk about this, I’m dead tired and I need my beauty sleep. So talk to you later Cross, oh and let me know when the next rendezvous is due, alrighty.” I said as I opened the door and entered inside, shutting it behind me.
I let out a sigh as I head over to the large comfy looking bed as I fall face first into the bed, letting out another big sigh of relief. ‘Fuck me, it’s been long as night. Time for me to hit the hay.’ I thought as I started to remove the rest of the gear. Once they’re off and hanging off a coat rack nearby. I took my boots off as I let out a relieved sigh. I took the beret off and took off the coat, just leaving me in the clean shirt and pants. I climbed under the sheet and just instantly fell asleep in a very comfy bed.
‘Am I… Alive? I thought Jack killed me… no, I was supposed to be dead but something denied my death and brought me back.’ She thought as she slowly opened her eyes, she reached her hand out to the starry night sky, staring at her gloved hand and arm. She then looked over to herself, still in the white sneaking suit she was given by her soviet ‘allies’ at Groznyj Grad. Her suit still opened at her chest and looked down and to her surprise, her snake shaped scar was gone. She traces her finger once the scar was, nothing, no scarring, no stitch lines, nothing, just her smooth pale skin. ‘How could this happen, the scar that shows that I was once a mother is now gone. Like it slithered off my body…’ she thought as sit up, placing a finger on the side of her neck and feeling her pulse, confirming that she is alive.
“This isn’t possible, I saw Jack pull the trigger, I knew he finished his mission but how, how am i alive.” She asked herself, alone under the night sky. She moved her left arm a bit and felt something she hasn’t felt in a long time. She turned her head and saw her sidearm, right next to her. “My Patriot…” she muttered as she grasped her gun, giving a firm grasp at the pistol grip before standing back up. She zipped her sneaking suit close and fixed her wavy blonde hair back into a ponytail.
‘Okay, I’m back from the dead but that doesn’t mean I should forget my training. I’m a soldier, loyal to my country and the mother of espionage and CQC. I must first learn my surroundings and where I'm at.’ she thought as gazes around her location, seeing large mountains far off east, an ocean to the west and in the middle were arboreal and what seemed to be a large city built on top of a massive growing tree. ‘Now that’s peculiar, never have I heard or seen someone building their city on a giant tree. I know of native tribes building their homes inside Mesas and canyons but not in trees. This requires further reconnaissance, it might take a few days' travel.’ she thought.
She looked up to the stars and used the constellation as reference for her direction, finding the northern star and with a bit of following of little dipper and big dipper, she can tell that she’s somewhere southeast and the town she saw was somewhere northwest, several miles away. ‘I must stay cautious, I don't know what region I’m in nor what world I was in. One thing is for sure, stealth is my only option here.’ she thought as she pulled out her knife out of her sheath, readying her carbine in one hand and knife in the other. “Commencing Reconnaissance Mission.” she said as she marches down the hill and through the woods.
The Mark II saw Ocelot get teleported away with the princess and now it’s stuck in the scary forest, alone. The Mark II looked around the dark forest, shaking a bit as it now lost his human companion with the guns to protect them from beasts in the forests. Well, it can’t stay in the forest forever as it starts to beep for a bit, using a tracking system as it starts to home in on Ocelot’s nanomachine coordinates. After a minute or two it got a bead on Ocelot’s position and realized that he had teleported all the way to Canterlot…
If the Mark II could speak it was start cussing but alas, It has no mouth and it must scream.
A loud howl pierce the night as it's high time to get out of here. With the active camo still on it starts to carefully zoom his way out of the forest. As it wheels itself down the path it came across the old wooden bridge, it slowly and carefully drives itself down the bridge before stopping at a gap in the way. It moves back a bit before going full speed and jumps, waving its side screen like a wing to help gain more distance and landing on the other side of the gap. It let out a silent robot sigh as it made its way to the other side of the bridge. The Mark II found the dirt trail that they used and followed the road.
As the Mark II slowly goes down the road, still invisible to the naked eye as it scans its environment, keeping a camera eye out for danger. As it was preoccupied with looking around the forest, the tiny metal gear bumped into something or rather someone as they let out an ‘Eep’ and jumped a bit.
“What is it? Did something happen?” A female voice called out as the Mark II froze in place. The other five mares turned and carefully approached their timid friend.
“S-something just bumped into me!” She turned her head and saw nothing there.
“Are you sure, I don't see anything there.” A rainbow mane pegasus said as she hovered in the air.
“I-I swear something bumped into my leg, I-I’m sure of it.” the timid yellow pegasus said.
The purple unicorn starts to walk over to her friend “Maybe it was just your imagination, you’ve probably brushed against some leaves or somethi-” she tripped over something on the ground, she couldn’t see it but it was something solid. “Aah!” she cried out as she fell on the floor.
The active camouflage the Mark II was relying on deactivates, letting out a small ping and static as the small Metal Gear was now clearly visible to the six ponies.
All Six of the ponies stared at the tiny little metal creature that just appeared out of nowhere, taking a few seconds before ‘!’ appeared all on top of their heads. The small robot jumped in surprise as it started to kick its wheels into MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE as it zoomed past the girls. “Wait!” the purple unicorn cries out as they chase down the tiny mech.
A loud ‘Swoosh’ flew overhead as the rainbow hair pegasus cut it off. “Where do you think you’re going?” she said as she towers over the small robot. She was ready to pounce on the small robot before the Mark II little wire arm pops out and whips at the rainbow pegasus.
Suddenly volts of electricity surge from the small arm and enter the cyan pegasus body, she tenses up as she's tased by the robot, it pulls its arm back as the cyan pegasus stumbles a bit, stunned from the shock. With the opening it made it zoomed under between her legs, ducking down to avoid her as it continued to run from the six mares behind it.
As it was close to reaching the edge of the forest and leaving, suddenly all of its momentum stopped, its wheels stopped hitting the dirt and just revving in the air. It notices it's floating in the air as a faint purple aura glows around its chassis. “Got it! Keep your distant girls, don’t want it to shock you.” a voice spoke out as the Mane six finally caught the running robot.
“Finally, I wanna give it some payback for that sneaky shock!” the rainbow hair pony says as she hovers in the air next to her friends.
“I swear that critter looks sorta familiar…” the orange pony wearing a Stetson hat muttered quietly.
“From the look of it dear, this small creature is made entirely out of metal.” a white unicorn with curly purple pointed out.
“Ooh Ooh! What if it’s a toy!” a pink pony with very poofy pink mane bounces in place.
“T-the poor thing looks... Scared..” the yellow pegasus softly spoke out.
“Let’s bring it back to the library, we’ll figure something out there. I’m very curious about what this thing is.” The purple unicorn said as she kept a telekinetic hold on the robot.
Once the girls made it all the way back to the tree library, they all entered inside. “Spike, can you get me a crate or something, I need it to contain something.” Twilight shouted out. “On it!” a young boy’s voice called out as she heard a shuffle of feet around the place.
“Well, as much as I want to stay and chat but I have to get some sleep, dealing with Nightmare Moon for the night is tiring.” the cyan pegasus yawned and stretched.
“Same here darling, I must catch on some well needed beauty sleep.” The white unicorn mare said as she headed over to the door.
“Same here Twi, got some farm work tomorrow, just been feeling awfully more tired today.” The orange country mare says as she yawns, following the others behind.
“I also have to go, I need some rest and check up on some of the animals… If that’s okay with you that is...” the timid yellow pony said.
“It’s fine girls, I hope all of you have a good night's sleep.” the purple unicorn said as all of her friends said their goodbyes and left the library.
With all of the girls gone, all that is left is just Twilight and the Mark II. “Now, let’s see what I can find here…” she said as her horn glowed as she started levitating books out of their shelves, quickly scanning over some pages of several open books, trying to find any reference to this mystery metal creature.
The closest thing she could find was a book of constructs and artificer artifacts from the Minos kingdom. “Hmm, it’s lacking the arcane crystals to fuel the little construct, and the exterior seems to be made from what appears to be lighter metal material and plastic.” She examined the mini metal gear in the air and spotted markings on the right side of the robot. “Metal Gear… Mark II. Hey, those are Ro-mane numerals! Wow, so this must be the second model they created. They must be one skilled artificer to create such a highly advanced construct at such a small size too! I would love to trade notes and discuss their methods of creating these machines.” she said as she pulled out some quills, paper and ink, quickly writing down her notes on the machine.
She heard footsteps going down the steps as she saw her number one assistant walking down the stairs with a wooden crate in hand. “Found a wooden crate for ya Twilight, whatcha need it for?” the small drake, who was named Spike, asked his adoptive unicorn sister.
“It’s for this.” She replied as she held the Mark II in the air.
“Twilight, what is that?” the young dragon asked as he pointed to the robot. “It’s a Minos construct we found in the Everfree Forest. At first we didn’t know it was behind us until I tripped over it and caused it to turn visible. We chased it down a bit and it has this weird little wire arm and shocked Rainbow Dash.” she said as she pointed at it.
“Is she alright?” Spike worryingly asked.
“She’s fine, it was just a small stunning shock is all. Like a basic stunning spell for self defense, Fluttershy checked her for any lasting damages but so far she’s ok.” Twilight explained as she hovered the crate out of the small dragon’s claws as she placed the Mark II down and placed the crate on top of it, trapping it underneath it. “There, tomorrow morning I’ll write a letter to the princess. She'll probably have some answers about this construct and might know who it belongs to.” placing several heavy books on top of the crate, trapping the Mark II under the crate.
She let out a small yawn as she climbed upstairs to her bed, climbed into bed and pulled the blanket over herself, sighing lightly as she closed her eyes and fell asleep. Hopefully tomorrow she’ll get some answers from her mentor.