//------------------------------// // Chapter 16. // Story: Neutrality // by Debonair //------------------------------// Discord ran in almost out of breath, in his claws he held what looked like royal jewels. "They're almost here, take them before Applejack bucks me in the face." He threw them at me, just as Twilight and Applejack burst through the doors. "Please don't hurt me." "Why not Y'all stole them, don't know how but you did." "It is of no concern I asked him to bring you all here." "But how did he take them?" Twilight asked. "Well I stood there for about five minutes, and then it hit me, my magic doesn't work on them but what was stopping me from picking them up and walking out the door with them " "That's what I said," Pinkie appeared from behind a curtain. "Hey guys," Martin limped into the room potion in hand, his arm around Princess Luna for support. "I got bad news and worse news. Bad news, I got twenty four hours to live." "And the worse news?" Applejack asked, like I wondering what could be worse. "He forgot to tell us yesterday," Celestia rolled her eyes. "That's the Martin I remember." "I'm hungry, haven't eaten in two days," A rather large bird landed on his shoulder. "Hey you're still alive, fry me a fish please?" The majestic bird nodded before flying off. "Can't believe she remembers me," A moment later she returned with a cooked salmon. "Thanks." He swallowed it whole which surprised most of us. "Down to business. For those who may not know I am Martin Wildes, the man who took out seven Minotaurs single handed. I possess skills of the highest caliber. Awarded with the Seven Six." He removed his cloth gauntlet and revealed an exact copy of Lady Sparkle's mark. "My question to all of you is where did she receive the Seven Five?" "The Seven Five?" I knew what this meant but I thought it best to let him explain. "The Seven Six, one star surrounded by six others, the Seven Five is one star surrounded by five. The middle star represents devotion, the others represent teamwork and true courage." The Dragonling read aloud. "Upon receiving the sixth star you gain heightened senses, strength, and stamina through genetic mutation." "She earned it the way you did, hard work, and dedication." "Wait humans get cutie marks?" Fluttershy asked. "You're mutated?" Lady Dash asked. "I may not look it but how else could I kill Minotaurs." "All of you listen, I have some information that should have been made public all of those years ago." "You wanted to see us?" Shining Armour walked in with another Allicorn. "Good you are all here. As you all know Changelings attacked the wedding last year. though it pains me to say that this was not the first time we dealt with their kind. We almost lost the war had it not been for one of their own. Deceit lived up to his name and destroyed their pods and hive. Before leaving alone, the entirety of the Equestrians. Back then this planet was called Earth, now known as Pangaea." "What comes to mind when I sat the letters X-OD?" Martin paused. "Cross Organic Darwinism." Discord replied. "The assimilation of species and technologies to create the perfect being." "Very good Chaos hopper. In order to defeat these so called Changelings, what did you do?" "Magic barrier around the city enforced by love." Twilight said. "Okay, how did they get in?" Martin's serious tone grew grave. "Their Queen disguised herself as my Fiance and I was told she fed off love." "Fed, sent only drones, she wasn't planning a hostile takeover. She was searching for something, something important. A power source," "The Crystal Heart!" "Wait you mean the heart of Crystalos?" "Yes." "What is this Crystal Heart?" "The Heart of Crystalos is an ancient Plutonian artifact that resonates with the electricity present in the body amplifying it outward. if focused correctly it can power virtually anything, It's part of the Seven Six mutation." "You have a Crystal Heart?" "In a sense yes, just please tell me you have the original kept safe." "Of course, we wouldn't want what happened 1000 years ago to happen again." "Harlei!" Martin shouted, as an armored woman came from behind. "Right behind you, you don't have to yell!!" "But how?" "That one Doctor guy had a dead Cyberman and let me have it. I walked him through the steps to fix it so it would accept my AI. It's still creepy, but I'll take what I can get until I get that ManneKin" "At least it's not a Dalek." The Doctor man walked in. "So telling the story, fascinating." Martin's fist flew into the Doctor's face. "I hate time travel." "I deserved that." "Damn right you did. You're a nice guy, but I hate time travelers, risking it all for some sick thrills. Just because there's one guy that does it for the right reasons doesn't change my feelings about it." "Have you stopped once these past two days and thought for half a second?" "Here catch." He threw the Doctor a pear. "I hate pears." "I know. Harlei where would you hide if you were biding time?" "Well I would hide somewhere the locals didn't know existed, or didn't want to go near. Like the Bermuda Triangle, or someplace like..." "The USS Enterprise, a nuclear powered super carrier, armed with surface to air missiles and turrets. Definitely worth checking on." Discord spoke after a moment of silence. "They could thrive of the nuclear power cells, for decades before them running out. But their innate knowledge of biochemistry would essentially lead them to use drones as living power supplies. The Doctor snapped his fingers. "You're a genius John." "I try, wait how do you know my name?" "Oh really I've said this hundreds of times, I'm the Doctor. Well everything seems to be handled here no need for divine intervention just yet. I'll check back in I don't know a week maybe, sure that'll be seconds for me, but you get the idea." "I don't," Fluttershy raised a hoof, as did Twilight. "Twilight you have a time travel spell that you can only use once right, well I can use that spell whenever I need it, or rather when it needs I, all I have to do is be in that box over there. I'll take you with me sometime, just not right now. Cheerio then, Allons y," With that he disappeared into the room, which further piqued my curiosity of this Doctor person. "That was strange." Rarity cocked her head. "He said let's go, but he didn't take anypony with him." "He was talking to the TARDIS, the box didn't you see those letters written in bold. How the hell did we get so off topic, well I'm off to kill my way to some answers." "Martin wait, I'd say something along the lines that killing is wrong, if it would change your mind, but it won't" Her calm manner of speaking those words filled the room with gasps of shock and disgust. "Mind spells won't work, interrogation is out of the question. You could just sit here with me and just let the memories come back, but you never were one to stay still for long, even when you were asleep you still had so much energy. It's dangerous out there, if you insist on going on this quest take Knight with you and any other you see fit that is in this room right now." "Luna, Seven-Five and Rainbow, gonna need a scout." "Agreed Luna, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Knight accompany Martin to this USS Enterprise, and Knight keep him safe I don't want to lose him again." I answered her request with a subtle nod, and like that we were off. A crusade for knowledge, justice, and new allies.