Rez awoke to… an unfamiliar texture. It was not the roughness of the cast he had previously experienced, nor was it the softness of the bed he’d been laying on.
He felt neither of those things.
This initially sparked a mild thought of panic, but that quickly subsided as he had not fully gained consciousness yet. He would first focus on waking up, and then he could panic.
He did exactly that.
After gaining his consciousness, Rez immediately tried to summon up his magic sight. No headaches presented themselves, so that was a good sign, but it caused Rez to question how long he’d been out. It felt like it’d only been the day before that he was completely disabled, yet he felt much better today…
As his ‘vision’ came into ‘view,’ many things became apparent to him.
For starters, he was in a plain, white room with a white ceiling and white walls. Next up, he realized the familiar beeping of the machine that was once next to him had now halted. He turned his head, noting that he was now capable of such a feat, and ‘looked’ to his side. Only a wall resided beside him.
Turning over and facing right, he noticed he had no cast around his limbs, and saw nothing except a pillow and the wall on the other side of the room.
Wherever he was, it certainly wasn’t the hospital.
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Lens had come to the conclusion that Hi-Rez was not in Ponyville.
He wasn’t in ANY place I checked that he WOULD have been, so where could he have gone? She thought, pacing about, her hooves gently clacking against the wooden floor.
In-between now and the time we saw them last, the Cap family had settled into a house not-too-far from the border of Ponyville, as per Lens’ request. Also during that time, Lens had taken it upon herself to look in literally every nook and cranny in Ponyville, even if that meant checking the pubs or bars… or the hospital.
She hadn’t found him in any of those places.
He… he didn’t just abandon me, did he? she thought, a sadness welling up inside of her. Oh, I hope he didn’t! That would just… I wouldn’t know what to say… would he even consider doing that? No, Lens, you’re being silly! Stop thinking such silly things and just focus on the positive.
She took on a confident look and fought the sadness away, but quickly crumpled onto her bed.
Who was she kidding? There was no way Rez had remembered her, or he would have still been in Ponyville when she got back. In fact, not even his own parents knew where he went.
Tears began rolling down her cheeks. She attempted to wipe them away and force the offending thought from her mind, but both returned just as swiftly.
Now that she really gave it thought, if he had bothered to care, he could at least have told her where he was going. At base minimum, it would have been right to send her a letter or a message of some sorts, letting her know he would be out of town. That, at base minimum, would have been acceptable… or at least, that’s what Lens thought.
No, that’s just overreaction. He’d totally bother to leave some sort of notification, unless anything happened to him… but even then, his parents would know where he went…
…right?
The emotionally distraught Lens Cap bawled into her bed late into the night.
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“Well, everypony, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I gathered you here today…” Grandmaster Lotus began, taking a pause for dramatic effect.
Everypony was silent as they hung on her words, just waiting for what she might say next.
Well, what she said next shocked many and disturbed many others.
“We’re here to coordinate a raid.” She said with a wicked grin that only a demon could rival.
Cheers practically exploded from the audience. Lotus swore she went deaf for a moment, but continued on, seeming unfazed.
“Now, before we get too over-excited,” she practically shouted, needing to raise her voice over those of the crowd. After several seconds, the cheering and roaring of the crowd died down. “We need to start strategizing. Our first target, of course, will be…” Lotus paused again.
Two other ponies scuttled onstage, holding a large, rolled-up piece of parchment. They got up on two equal-sized ladders and held it out, then unrolled it and revealed a large map.
“…Ponyville.”
Thunderous applause boomed from the crowd, threatening to topple the ladders and ground the two ponies supporting the parchment.
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Rez took a good look around, prodding at the mysteriously soft walls with his hooves and curiously poking about the room. Its texture was strangely comforting, yet something about it felt quite off.
From wall to wall, the room was twelve hooves in any direction. Rez pondered if there was anything else in the roo-
THUNK!
The entire room shook and rattled, sending Rez off his hooves and onto the floor. His eyes flicked about in a panic as he attempted to steady himself, but then the entire room lurched to the left, flinging him into the opposing wall.
Thankfully, the soft padding encompassing the room prevented harm.
What it didn't prevent, however, was the instilling of panic.
Rez did exactly that.
He panicked and charged about the room, searching for any sign of an exit or way out in any possible, conceivable way. He found none. In light of this, he decided to try his hoof at blasting an exit into existance.
Without further thought, Rez channeled magic into his horn and closed his eyes. The strange ‘veins’ in his mane and tail began to glow and spark, sending bits of energy this way and that. His hair began to react as though it hadn’t any gravity at all. He could practically feel power coursing through his body, but he paid no mind to that. Right now, he had an exit to make.
He then focused that energy into a forward beam… but that wasn’t what he got.
At first, he opened his eyes and was disappointed. A small sphere of, what appeared to be, light floated in front of his face.
It exploded.
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Two guardponies stood watch as a third raced towards them, something in tow. Unsure of what it was, they were about to stop to question the pony, but they stopped themselves from stopping the pony and just went with the flow. They turned around and looked over their vehicle, which basically looked like a gigantic metal box with wheels and doors.
They quickly ran to the back and opened two doors in the rear of the vehicle, revealing a white room inside.
The first pony hurled the object into the white room, then swiftly shutting the doors and signaling for the guards to move. They hurriedly turned and jumped into the vehicle, starting it then punching it away from the scene.
No more than twelve seconds passed before the third pony, left standing at the location the other two had just departed from, had heard an explosion of tremendous proportions.
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Rez rubbed his head and wiped his eyes, brushing soot and smoldering cinders from his eyelids. He shook himself off and took a glance around, making quick note that he was standing in a small crater which appeared to be filled with the remainder of whatever he'd been previously occupying. Two ponies lay on the road further from him, both of which were coated in the same ash and cinders as he. Neither appeared injured, but Rez wouldn't have given it any rational thought anyhow.
He was too busy being in a panic.
He had been in the hospital only moments before he awoke in the white room, then he detonated it like a stick of dynamite with a cardboard box, and now he was unsure of what exactly the circumstances were surrounding his situation.
So, like any normal idiot, he turned to run.
Then ran straight into a tree... which wasn't a tree at all. It was a massive, angry-looking stallion who seemed to have taken one-too-many doses of testosterone.
Rez gulped.
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