Ponyville, Equestria.
6:00pm SET
The gathering of ponies was a sight to behold. Almost everypony in Ponyville had answered Celestia’s call and they were all flocking to one small stage. The stage in which they were gathered round looked rushed at best. The entire thing looked like it could collapse at any moment, but everypony had faith in the technicians that had constructed it and expected it to hold. Everypony was only expecting it to be supporting Celestia and possibly a few of her guard; they hadn’t anticipated what it actually had standing on it.
Ajax stood atop the simple platform, behind Celestia and the two guards he had met previously. Faith, one of said guards, had been present for the entire proceeding. The other, Shield, had arrived only moments ago from an errant Princess Celestia had sent him on. Ajax assumed it was something to do with the purple pony who had fainted. She’d been out for a curious amount of time and Ajax guessed that she was being taken home to get some bed rest. Ajax doubted they’d get rest of any sort, not after the way she had reacted upon seeing him. She’d probably be in shock.
All of this was irrelevant though, all that mattered at the moment was looking harmless to the horde of creatures standing before him, listening intently to their ruler’s speech while staring at him. Ajax found it very uncomfortable to have so many strange eyes looking on him. Most of Ajax’s conversations usually took place via an ECHO device, never face to face. He found eyes to be puzzling and a flaw. True, they were complex creations and how they carry out their job was even more complex, but they were still a flaw. They were an open door to the vault of the mind. They’re the tiny mistake that catches everyone out. They display emotion. You can get an idea of someone is feeling by the very expression their eyes give, and right now Ajax could tell that every creature that stood before him was very confused. There was fear in there too, there is always fear, but they were mostly confused. It was probably the fact that their ruler, their symbol, their shining beacon of hope in life was telling them he needs a place to stay.
“We estimate that we will have Ajax in our land for just over 14 days. As such, it needs a place to stay while we work on sending it home. I am asking if anypony else will offer before I ask the pony I intended to from the start.”
Celestia was met with very little besides shocked stares. Every single pony in the crowd had just been told that this thing was staying in their town.
“Are you crazy?” A pony near the stage yelled.
“You want that thing to live with us?”
“Yes. I want it to live with you. And I want you to live with it. We must cooperate.” Celestia responded. The pony who had yelled backed down and stood silently with a frown on his face.
So easily defeated Ajax thought.
But there were more who spoke up, there are always more. Always more questions to be asked, always more worries to be put forward.
“How the hay do we know it’s safe? It sure as heck doesn’t look it!” Another pony yelled, this time from the back of the crowd
Ajax hadn’t, besides patching up a few leaks, changed his appearance since he had stolen the power core back on Pandora. He still had midnight black paint all over his casing, giving a very sinister look. He still had talons attached to one of his hands and he still carried a very aggressive looking weapon.
“That is exactly what it staying here will prove. For my plan to work I need the full cooperation of certain ponies. This thing was nice enough to me and to both of my associates, I’m sure it will show just as much courtesy to all of you. In fact, the main point of this thing living here is so that it can earn the trust of certain ponies by showing that it is good and is worth helping.”
Again, the pony backed down.
“Just who are these ponies you’re trying to earn the trust of?” Yet another pony asked.
“The very same ponies I’ve came to Ponyville for my past two visits, The Elements of Harmony. I would like to speak with the said ponies immediately. The rest of you good ponies are free to leave.”
Ajax stood silent for the entire proceeding, quite bored. It wasn’t the fact that this universe was boring, it was actually quite interesting; it was just that this kind of standing around preaching to the public stuff is the one thing he couldn’t stand. Ajax had defeated many things. He’d put hundreds of bandits to rest, he’d taken down robotic monsters three times larger than himself with ease, but the one enemy that Ajax couldn’t defeat was boredom. He just couldn’t stand to be still for so long. He was created for action and this was about as far from action as one could get. He wasn’t sure this was going to be worth it.
As the crowd began to slowly disperse and head back into town, Ajax noticed that a group of five creatures were heading towards the stage. He had already met the pink one. It bounced towards the stage with an expression of joy on its face. He remembered how excited it had been when Ajax had appeared and Ajax shuddered.
“Damnable pink horror… Why must you return?” Ajax accidently said out loud
“What was that?” Celestia said as she looked behind her at Ajax.
Ajax hadn’t meant to actually say that. It just slipped out.
“Uh… I’ve already met the pink one approaching us. I don’t think I’ll be able to last another minute in contact with it.” Ajax said
“I’m afraid that’s exactly what you’re going to have to do.” Celestia responded
“Hm? What do you mean?” Ajax said confused. He didn’t agree to spend any amount of time with any of these creatures.
Celestia didn’t respond. She turned her head back towards the thinning crowd and the ponies approaching.
“Ah, my little ponies. How goes your day?” Celestia greeted as the five ponies drew near.
“It’s been better” A hat wearing one said.
“What is the matter?” Celestia asked
Ajax didn’t understand why she was asking. It was a very obvious thing.
“What’s the matter? Where is Twilight?” A blue one with rainbow coloured hair angrily asked.
“She is fine Rainbow Dash but she’s in no state to be up and about. She’s been taken back to her library and left to rest. You’ll be able to see soon, but now I have something to ask. I’m sure you all listened carefully to the details of my speech, yes?”
All five of the ponies nodded.
“Good, what do you think of it all?”
Four of the ponies looked nervously at one and other all wondering whether they should speak their mind to the Princess. The fifth pony in the group however had no such concerns and was the first to speak up.
“I think it’s crazy. Twilight’s told us about this thing and I think it’s stupid to even think of letting it stay here” Rainbow Dash said in a raised voice, very annoyed by the fact that Celestia was trusting this thing after what Twilight had said.
“Well Rainbow Dash, it is possible that Twilight was wrong about this thing. After all, it saved two of my guards ponies before they’d even gotten properly acquainted and he was polite when asking for assistance.”
“But is that really a reason to trust this thing?”
“No. The reason we’re trusting it is because it has agreed to attempt to gain your trust before actually asking for assistance.”
“I agreed to no such thing.” Ajax interrupted
“You did.” Celestia said
“I did not. I agreed to stay in this town during the time it takes you to convince these ponies to help. I did not agree to engage in any way with them.”
“You honestly expect ponies to trust someone who won’t even talk to them? Ajax, I don’t know how your reality works; I don’t want to either, but in Equestria we have to earn a ponies trust for ourselves. No one will do it for you.”
“This wasn’t part of the agreement Celestia”
“I’m changing the agreement. You will earn the trust of the six elements yourself.”
“Six? There are only five here.” Ajax said, confused.
“Yes. The other element baring pony is resting. She is the one who Faith and Shield were tasked with brining to Canterlot. I believe you have met her briefly.”
“Yes. She fainted when I greeted her.”
“Do you know why?”
“Your guard filled me in on the detailed. Dreams of my life she says? Interesting… I hope she didn’t see anything too frightening of my reality.”
“Too frightening?” Rainbow dash said
“Too frightening?! She told us she saw you slice and dice some random people! I don’t know about the rest of you but I’d find that a little too frightening!”
“She saw all of that…? Oh my. I understand why she fainted. She must’ve thought I’d start kicking up trouble.” Ajax walked up to Rainbow Dash and crouched down a bit, bringing their faces level.
“But I assure you Rainbow Pony, I mean no harm.”
Rainbow Dash had backed down a little, Ajax’s large looming figure and sparkling blades frightening her. She didn’t say anything.
“Do you now understand why it is so important for you yourself to earn their trust? If you do not prove that you mean no harm, how can you expect them to help?” Celestia asked Ajax.
Ajax didn’t say anything for a few moments, he simply held Rainbow Dash’s stare with his one glowing eye. He was using what he had used to work out the mood of the crowd on her, he was studying her eyes. Her eyes burned with a righteous fire of pure determination but the fire was dying, Ajax’s stare was making her uncomfortable, so he broke the stare and looked to Celestia.
“I understand. The agreement will be changed, much to displeasure.” Ajax held his hand out towards Celestia like last time.
“And I hope this will be the last time it is changed.”
Celestia let Ajax’s hand grasp around her hoof and she shook her arm, sealing yet another deal.
“You have my word, not another change. Now, where was I?”
Celestia looked back at the five other gathered ponies.
“Oh yes, there. Now, Applejack.”
“Yes Princess? What can I do ya for?”
“Is your barn relatively empty?”
“That it is. I can see where ya’ll are goin’ with this.”
“Ha. I hoped you would. Well, what do you say? Will you provide Ajax with a home?”
“I can’t turn down a guest now can I? Especially a guest from another reality. ‘Course you can stay in ma barn Mr.Ajax. “
“Thank you Miss Applejack, was it?”
“Applejack is ma name, you got that right.”
“So we have a place for you to stay now excellent.” Celestia began
“Now Ajax, your job. You must gain the trust of these five ponies as well as Twilight Sparkle’s. Do you have any idea as to how you’re going to do this?”
“Not a damn clue.” Ajax laughed.
“Well, might I suggest some quality time with each pony?”
“You might suggest that, but I might not like it.”
“I’m sorry Ajax, but face facts and deal. Two weeks is all I ask for, spend the two weeks spending time with each pony and do your best to convince them you’re worth helping, do you think you can cope with that?”
“I think I’ll last, but for now I’d like to just go and collect my thoughts in this “Barn” of yours, if that is ok with all of you. Just who are all of you anyway, what are your names?”
No one besides Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Celestia seemed inclined to talk to Ajax, which Ajax didn’t mind, but one other spoke up. One Ajax knew all too well.
“I’m Pinkie Pie, this is Rarity” The pink one began excitedly saying. She pointed to the one named “Rarity” and she spoke.
“Ah… Charmed.” Rarity said.
“Ah. Another creature of class. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Ajax said to the one named Rarity.
“This is Rainbow Dash, you’ve already met.”
“Hey,” Rainbow Dash said.
“No hard feelings yea? If the Princess says you can be trusted then you can. I am the element of Loyalty after all and I stay loyal to the Princess.”
“Ah, loyalty is a rare commodity where I come from. Again, pleasure.”
“This is Applejack, she owns a farm and works there all day which makes her boring sometimes but that’s ok I supposed because when she’s not working she’s super awesome fun!”
“Howdy, I’m the element of honesty, just so ya’ll know.” Applejack said as she doffed her Stetson hat.
“I like a hard worker. Honest as well. Nice to meet you.”
“And this is Fluttershy!” The pink one jumped in front of the one named Fluttershy, causing her to jump, scream and cower in fear.
“She’s a little timid at times – well, all of the time – but that doesn’t matter! She’s fun and she’s good with animals and she’s fun!”
The one known as Fluttershy was cowering behind her mane, petrified with shock and fear. She’d always been very timid and the whole situation was just too much for her. She was incredibly scared. She was scared, until a cold sensation ran over her head and neck.
“P-P-Pleased t-to meet you…” She mumbled between sobs under her mane.
“Pink one. Do back off of her, you’ve obviously scared her to death.”
Pinkie got away from Fluttershy and began asking what Faith and Shield’s names so she could introduce them, despite the fact that they were already well acquainted.
While Pinkie Pie was off bothering the guards ponies, Ajax tried to introduce himself properly to Fluttershy. He knelt down in front of Fluttershy’s cowering form.
“Yellow one, Fluttershy. Rise.”
Fluttershy did nothing besides bury her face deeper in her mane and she showed no signs of changing her position.
“Well then, I’m Ajax. It’s nice to meet you, even if we did not see eye to eye.”
He stood up and backed away slowly. Fluttershy eased out of her cowering a bit and got as far as to look at Ajax. When she did Ajax complimented her.
“You have very nice eyes Miss Fluttershy, they’re kind eyes.”
“That’s because I represent the element of kindness” Fluttershy mumbled.
“Makes sense. It’s a pleasure to meet you, element of kindness.”
Pinkie Pie then interrupted what had been a beautiful interaction between Ajax and Fluttershy.
“Well, those guard ponies just didn’t want to talk to me! Anyway, I’m Pinkie Pie! I like parties and cake and punch and parties – Ooo! Did I say parties twise? – I love them that much! I’m the element of laughter! Nice to meet ya!” Pinkie Pie said as she bounced around Ajax. New people always made her even more hyper than her normal self. She pressed both of her forehoves against Ajax and balanced against him.
“Do you like cake?”
Ajax just looked at her. He didn’t have anything to say. He was confused. This pony confused him. It casually defied gravity with its constant bouncing and then asked if he liked cake! Gods, this one’s crazy.
“I’ve never tried cake. Usually any cake I see has a stick of dynamite as a candle.”
“Mmmmmmm… That sounds tasty! Explosive cake! Yum!”
“Does this one confuse anyone else?”
“She confused just ‘bout every pony she meets” Applejack chuckled, causing everyone else to laugh.
“*Ahem*” Celestia interrupted
“It seems you’ve gotten off to a good start Ajax.”
“Indeed. This is good, yes?”
“Very. This means I can leave you to it. Enjoy your stay. Remember, two weeks. Spend the time wisely.”
“I intend to. This place isn’t as bad as once thought, I’ll give it that.”
“Then I bid you adieu. Faith, Shield, let’s go.”
“Goodbye Princess, see you again in two weeks.”
Celestia nodded at Ajax and the chariot that everyone had arrived on left, taking Celestia, Faith and Shield with it. Ajax waved them goodbye and began setting off for the barn he was staying in. Applejack joined him and pointed him in the right direction.
“It’s this way Mr Ajax.”
“Thank you Miss Applejack. I have a lot to think about. Like how in God’s name I’m going to go about convincing you all that I’m decent.”
“How ‘bout I give you a hand with that? What would you say to helpin’ me out with all ma chores tomorrow mornin’?
“Good place to start. What time do you wake?”
“5am is when I wake; 5:30 is when I start working.”
“Excellent. 5am It is.”
Luna’s personal quarters, Canterlot Castle, Equestria.
7pm SET
Luna’s time dreaming had not been a pleasant one. She couldn’t bear to remember, but her mind forced her to replay the horrible affair over and over.
Cell 25X, Hyperion Interrogation Complex, Pandora.
7pm SPT
The fist came down again and struck Luna’s face.
“Where did it go?!”
Luna couldn’t seem to talk, something was preventing her. Whatever body she was inhabiting, it was being controlled by something else.
“I already told you you son of a bitch,”
It wasn’t Luna’s voice that yelled out, it was a strange voice. It was strange, foreign. It had an accent that she couldn’t quite recognise. Whoever it was, they had a talent for saying exactly the right thing to push someone’s buttons.
“It went to your mother’s house for another round!”
“Shut up!” The one doing the hitting yelled again.
“Look amigo, you’ll never get any of us to talk. Just give in and let us go.”
“Let you go? Let you go? I won’t let you go until you tell me exactly where it went!”
The man struck Luna’s face again. He grabbed hold of the strange clothes Luna was wearing in this body and lent in close, so close that Luna could smell his breath and see the fire of pure determination in his eyes. His legs weren’t normal, they were made of metal and had some strange hydraulic set of pistons attached to them. They looked like some weird bionic replacement right out of a sci-fi story. They hissed as he lent in closer.
“It took my legs. It took my bloody legs. I want it. I need it. I must have it.”
“So much innuendo!” The thing controlling Luna chuckled
The man punched again.
“Shut! Up! I’ll have my damned revenge and I don’t care what it takes to get it! Look, you can either tell me where it went or I can kill you right now!”
“Ha!”
The man drew a strange looking device out of a holster on his belt and he put it under Luna’s chin.
“Don’t test me scum!”
The man’s fingers twitched around the handle of his strange device.
One finger was slowly tightening around a small pin like device on the device and he looked like he was about to do something. He was interrupted though, the door to the chamber smashed open.
“We’ve got it Fawks.”
The man who had been punching Luna backed away and began walking towards the exit.
“Perfect. Let’s rock and roll, get me a very big gun and fill me in on the details of where on Pandora this hunk of scrap it.”
“That’s the only problem sir. If we’re correct, it’s not on Pandora.”
“It’s left the bloody planet?! No! Damn!”
Fawks punched the door, leaving a fist sized dent in the metal.
“Something like that sir. How much do you know about warp travel sir?”
“You mean that crap Atlas was working on? Warping from planet to planet? It got scrapped is all I know. Something about complications with the dimension they travel through.”
“Good sir, that’s less to explain. Now… How much do you know about crossing dimensions?”
“Oh hell no. It’s in another dimension isn’t it?”
“Yes sir. The good thing is we can use the energy signature given off by its initial transport as a point of reference. We can figure out which dimension it went to and how to get there.”
“Good, do it. I want to be able to be on this thing as soon as possible.”
Fawks looked back at the Luna.
“Sorry Salvador, I’ve got dimensional barriers to shatter. I’d love to stay here and punch you some more but the dimensional thing sounds much more fun.”
“See you in hell you insane ass.”
Fawks chuckled
“We could very well end up going to hell. After all, there’s got to be a hell dimension.”
“I hope demons chew you to the bone.”
Fawks slammed the door shut and began walking.
“I simply cannot wait. Revenge is going to be sweet and I’ll get to smash up an entire new dimension in the process. Excellent. What creatures inhabit this dimension? “
“Imagine horses, but colourful and talking.”
“Wha-?”
“Told you it was weird sir. All we got when we tapped into the warp space moments ago was snippets of the robot’s thoughts coming through the dimensional rift. We’ve identified the dimension as “Equestria” and it’s inhabitants as “ponies”.”
“Sounds fun. Arm the orbital destroyers.” Fawks chuckled as he walked down a dark corridor, plotting the doom of Equestria.
Luna’s memory ended there. She couldn’t stand to remember any more. She saw things she wished she hadn’t.
Great weapons designed to destroy entire continents, all getting ready to roll into Equestria.
This was bad. Very very bad.