//------------------------------// // Free Time // Story: The Winds of Change: Fog of War // by AgentSnail //------------------------------// Free Time "So then, is this basically like the last one?" Dash asked, picking up one of the controllers and staring at it. "Well it's the same series, but it was made several years later." He started up the machine and the screen lit up. "But because I'm curious, I'm just going to look at what this guy has on here..." "Why does that matter, you just need the disk, right?" Evening asked, grabbing her own controller and struggling to turn it on. "You can download stuff, extra content, that's what I'm looking for." "How'd you turn that thing on?" Dash asked, watching the dancing lights around the Xbox logo shaped button. "Just a second, Dash." He pulled up another menu, whistling at a bar that was half full. "He's got a lot of stuff on here." Several minutes later, the menu went away and Jason pulled up another one. "So, he's got pretty much everything I've ever downloaded as an add on, plus things from games I've never heard of." "That's good, right?" Dash asked, succeeding at turning on the controller by herself. "Why isn't this a solid light like yours?" "Oh, hold on." He got up and walked over to the console, clunking his hoof against it a couple times before he growled and his horn lit up. "Press that little button on the top." She turned the controller around once or twice before pushing her hoof into what she assumed was the target Jason was talking about. The lights changed pattern before assigning her a quarter circle. "In the interest of speed here, let me get things set up." He opened another menu and made himself an account, labeling it 'Donut' before taking Dash's controller and starting the same process. "What name do you want, Dash?" "Can I change it later?" "Yeah." "Um, how about 'Beef Jerky'?" Jason chuckled. "Sounds good to me." He grabbed Evening's controller and went through the same process, labeling hers 'mustachio furioso' by request. "So what did that do exactly?" Dash asked as he passed Evening's controller back. "It just made accounts for the three of us, so that'll track achievements, which are pretty self explanatory, and things like that. And it saves games to your name, Beef Jerky." She giggled. "I guess I better not show this to anypony else, they'll have questions." "Or I guess you could change it." He closed the tray and the game finally started up, bringing them to a menu where a planet was rotating while piano music played. "I guess he was a zombie kind of guy." "Why don't we just play that?" Dash asked, fiddling with a joystick. "Because neither of you know how to play, and I want you to at least know the controls first." "But I do!" Evening butted in. "I'd probably beat you anyway." "Ha, except Nazi Zombies isn't about shooting. You can't get far if you only shoot, it won't work." Evening narrowed her eyes. "You're lying." "Nope, I can show you later. Just create a class here." He set down his controller and watched Dash tentatively enter the menu. "Where are you going?" "It's probably going to take you a while, and I--" He collapsed and held at his head, and Dash dropped the controller to go help him before Evening fell over and started to mimic Jason. You're getting stronger, maybe I should be taking you more seriously, hmm? He tried to push her out of his mind, but she hardly budged. And look, creating your own hive mind with another changeling, how quaint. And yet, you have a trick it seems. What the fuck are you talking about? He managed to repress her signal a ways, and the pressure let up slightly. Evening seemed to feel the benefit more, as she slowed her convulsions as far as Jason could tell. That other thing you've got attached. I'm going to assume that you've brought a pony into the hive mind, and yet she's as unresponsive as a stick. Maybe you're just losing your strength... Oh, so we're going to play this way, huh? Well we'll just see who gets to throw the last punch, hmm? You may be useful after all, as it turns out. It only takes so long to break a mind. He felt a little lightheaded as Chrysalis left, and struggled to get his eyes to focus. Eventually Dash's face came into view, and the feeling of her arm behind his back entered his mind. "How long was that?" He asked after a brief wave of nausea passed over. "A couple minutes at least." She replied, biting her lip as she looked over at Evening. "She seemed to calm down after a minute or so, and I think she's still conscious." "Good, I guess." "What about you, you always look worse! Why can't there be anything that I can do to help?" "Because then everything'd be too easy." He replied softly, putting a hoof around her head and moving it towards him to kiss. "You're too hard on yourself, it's not that bad." Evening took a few quick breaths and rose from the floor, wobbling a bit before she turned and walked over. "Alright, give me hell." Jason said. "I know you're going to." She was silent for a moment. "Thanks." Jason's expression immediately twisted into one of confusion. "Why? She wouldn't have included you if it weren't for me." "Yeah, but whenever she contacted me, it was always terrible, like what you just went through." Dash gave Jason a stare. "Not that bad, huh?" Evening ignored her. "But now she can only contact me through you, and if you want me to leave this thing I'm fine with it, but whatever you did with her, it was a lot easier this time." "It's not a big Deal, Evening." Jason replied. "Seriously, don't worry about it." "But, what if she goes after me?" "Then I'll persevere. That's what friends do, right?" "I'm...your friend? You aren't just being nice to me because you have to?" "No, I--oof." The air was pushed out of his lungs as Evening grabbed him, hugging him more tightly than he would have liked. He gave her a couple breathless pats on the back before she released him and a blush hinted on her face. "Just--thanks, okay?" "Yeah, sure. Why's it such a big deal?" He asked, taking some deep breaths to try to get his blood circulating as he leaned against the side of the bed. "Because I don't need to lie to you or anything, it's refreshing." "What about Lyra?" Dash asked, reclining next to Jason. Evening's ears pined back and her eyes grew misty. "I still miss her, she's who I really owe this freedom to." "Do you want to go back now? I can get you a ride to Ponyville." Jason spoke up, wiping some sweat off his furry brow. "No, I heard what happened to you when those ponies jumped you, I don't want to get in the same scenario. Plus, I've been a changeling my entire life, you might need some information." "Yeah, you're probably right." He picked up his controller again, setting it on the bed above himself. "Jason, you said you couldn't become a griffin, right?" Dash asked. "Cuz that would make this whole thing a lot easier." "Evening?" Jason inquired, watching her think about the open ended question. "Well I've done my fair share of transformations, at least a couple were of fake ponies. I'm pretty sure that proportions need to stay somewhat similar, and as far as I know we can't grow things like talons. Not tangible ones, anyway. There might be usable illusion spell, but the beak would be hard... I don't think you can do it, it's way too complicated. But you do have a fair amount of wiggle room in pony form, as I'm sure you know." "Thus the reason why I can't make really long legs." Jason replied. "Well, partially. You're bigger than most stallions, and Changelings can't get infinitely big. Well theoretically we can, but it would be pretty tough. You know how you're pretty big to start out?" "Yeah..." "Well anything bigger takes a lot more energy, to a ridiculous extent. I mean, if you got enough love you could end up super sized, but that'd take years. Maybe not with you two, but generally it's too risky. When we run out of love we don't just die like that. There's a starving period, but big things can skip that completely. You'd be dead in an instant." "Just dead?" Dash asked, dumbfounded. "Like, immediately?" "Yeah, it's weird to think about, huh. But I guess you are a pony, so go figure." Evening replied with a smirk. "It's basically the equivalent of getting your head cut off." "Ah." "Hey, not to interrupt the dandy little conversation here, but I'm going to go outside and throw up, I'll be back in a couple minutes." "Yeah, nice interruption Jason." Dash giggled. "It's not because of the hive mind thing though, right?" "No, I'm just feeling a little bloated. Glad you asked?" "Be sure to bring back a complete report!" She yelled over to him as he left, quickly returning her eyes to the screen as she cycled through various guns. He sighed and shook his head, amazed that they could be sucked in so easily. He walked a ways away from the tent, to the edge of the camp he realized he'd be leaving in...he looked up...a couple hours. It was two or so, and chances are they'd be leaving closer to four. He found a couple trees just inside the trench line, probably the only ones inside the trench line, as it turned out. Jason trotted over to the back of one of the further trees and waited a moment. It was funny how he'd done this several times, and yet he never really knew how to initiate it. He'd just feel more like throwing up until he retched and his body went through the process. It wasn't a feeling of nausea, though, it was more of an urge. Jason retched. Every single time he expected the taste of bile and the feeling of burning in his throat, and every time it ended up just feeling like he was drinking water in reverse, although in the interest of fairness it was thicker than water. He retched again and stood back to his full height, before holding back the urge to tense up again. It didn't really smell either, come to think of it. He looked up, catching the gaze of one of the officers as he walked across camp with a couple of his presumed friends. Star something. Ah well, it wasn't a big deal if he didn't know their names, he could just as easily call them new things every time. Jason took a few steps back towards the tent before stopping and backing up a couple steps. In the hollow of one of the trees he noticed a shiny metal cylinder, and quickly reached his hoof in to pull out the offending object. Star something was still looking over in a way that Jason presumed was supposed to be subtle. He chuckled. Not that it was easy to tell where his pupils were when he could just as easily make it look like they were somewhere else. One of the things that was easy to do with compound eyes and advanced transformation magic. Good thing he didn't have total power, he'd probably just use it to set up a whole bunch of practical jokes. Jason looked back down at the cylinder before holding it up to the light. As far as he could tell it looked like a silencer. But he'd never seen one in person, so he couldn't really be sure. Oh well, as long as it fit on one of the guns... If it did brake something, he'd be screwed until he found another firearm, which could be months. Another look at the officer. Still there, pretending to listen to something Blueblood was saying. Not that Blueblood was terribly interesting anyway, he assumed. Now onto more important matters, how to freak out these guys as he walked past? He let the silencer slip and bent down to pick it up, trying to buy himself time. What could he really do that was that freaky, though? The most he could screw with was large partial transformations, but that seemed like something he didn't want rumors about. What about internal changes though? He twisted his neck around as a test, and it didn't come seriously close to halfway. He teleported away, putting a tent between the other guys. Okay, so creepy things... Foals in an army camp. That was a good start, he wanted to be able to stop on a dime and then turn his head all the way around. Just for shits and giggles. So that meant longer tendons, something he was pretty sure he could do. Scoots had a pretty flexible neck, he could just use her. He made the shift and looked at a hoof before turning the fur a darker hue of orange and making the mane red and splotchy. Jason formed several bruise looking patches of fur on his sides, making the rest of his fur ragged in some places, and more close cut in others. Oh wait, he had that one spell that he'd never used, the one that made ponies' perception of light get all screwed up so that it looked darker. This would be fun. He tried the spell on a passing pony and watched him freak out for a moment before the spell lifted again and the same pony tested his vision. So now eyes. Totally black would probably be the scariest, so that's what he'd have to go with. He walked over to the side of the tent and peered around before checking his reflection in a puddle. He put in a scar across his muzzle for good measure, adding a long claw mark along his side. Actual injuries were out of the question, but he could easily shift hair around and change the coloration of skin. They were still there, seeming to have forgotten about him. So now, how to play this? Whatever, improvisation had gotten him this far. Jason walked towards them a few steps before starting to cast the spell, slowly bringing down the brightness. He teleported over to the area, slowly appearing out of the artificial darkness. Blueblood noticed him immediately and seemed to be taking it the worst as he started pointing a hoof and making noise, without actual words to compliment the sound effects. Jason trotted past with a rather pitiful limp, giving them a great view of the fake scar on his side. He pretended that they weren't there, slowly curving around the group and drifting closer. He caught another glance out of the corner of his eye and could hardly stop himself from grinning. Blueblood was still freaking out, and the others were starting to lose their cool as well. It was a good thing he had become a foal, he probably would've been attacked otherwise. Jason turned away from the group as soon as he got within a few feet of them, feeling their emotions turn to relief before he stopped in his tracks, staring forward for a few seconds before twisting his neck all the way around to stare at them again. Star Grazer, that was his name! The officer jumped a little as he saw Jason's eyes, before Jason pulled the last trick out of his hat. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" He screamed at them, watching as they scattered ranks and fled. Jason let the spell fade before cracking up in laughter and falling onto his back, drawing more than a few stares from ponies that had either seen the display or were just creeped out. A small group was laughing like mad a ways away, and the laughter slowly spread as word fanned out of what had happened. Whoever was in that first group back there, they sure were perceptive. He got a hold of himself and stood back up before making a beeline back to the tent, although he was unable to completely silence the residual giggles as he remembered the look on Blueblood's face, which had far stood out from the other two. Jason wandered back through the camp, amazed at how far he had actually walked for that. A glint reflected off the ground from behind some low grass, and he picked up a digital camera of some sort. He wasn't really much of an expert on these things. He was still holding it in a hoof as he hobbled back into the tent. Some unfamiliar ponies looked up and flinched, retreating further away. "Whoops, wrong tent." He said with a chuckle, before turning to leave. He got his bearings and proceeded to enter the correct tent, at a ninety degree angle from the one he'd just tried. Jason walked inside, and pressed a few buttons on the camera, succeeding in making it turn on and display the title Sony. He raised it up to an eye and aimed it at Dash and Evening before snapping a photo. Evidently the flash made them turn to look at the new device, sporting faces of mortification and amusement, respectively. "Jason...Is that you?" Dash asked, squinting her eyes. "Why the hell did you decide to look like that?" Jason looked down at his arm before shifting back into his Alternis form. "Well while I was throwing up those officers from the other team were staring at me and talking." He picked up a controller and started to edit a class. "But the thing is, I couldn't just let them theorize their conspiracy without screwing with them at least a little, and what better way to do that but through the use of changeling powers and other magic?" "Just how complicated are we talking here?" Dash asked, watching as he scrolled through maps. "Well I made myself look like that, then I used that spell from a long time ago where I mess with a pony's visual perception and voila! Something that's even creepier in the middle of the day." "You waste so much time..." Dash replied with a giggle, surely imagining the event in her head. "Then tell me, how many seconds after you finished did it take for me to walk in?" "Five." Dash mumbled. "Looked through all the guns, huh?" "Like five times, some of those look awesome! But then I started looking at those little graphs, and then it started to take longer..." "Heh, so what'd you pick?" Jason asked, noticing that Evening was slumped against the bed looking like she was about to die of boredom. So she'd probably been kept waiting about two to three minutes. "This one here, the Scar." "It's all in the FAL, babe." He nudged her shoulder and she giggled. "There's some sort of score in this, right?" Jason set the rules for a hard point game and reverted to the main screen. "Yeah, so Evening, wake up!" She lazily looked over at him, before suddenly popping back into her usual, semi-hyper state. "We're ready?" She asked excitedly, wiggling a controller in her hoof. "Well, I have to explain some stuff to you first, but almost. I'm going to assume the weapons are pretty self explanatory, considering they had descriptions and all, so onto the game. This isn't a shoot everyone and win kind of game, you have to control the hard point, which'll be marked. There're point streaks in this that get you rewards, and you can pick those in this menu here. Obviously higher point items are harder to get, because the point counter resets after each life. You get points for controlling the hard point. Classic map, here goes nothing." The screen changed to show a picture of a few houses and the prominent lettering: Nuketown 2025. "So we're on the same team, right Jason?" Dash asked. "Yeah, go SEALs." He said as another menu popped up. Then pick your class. Everything else should be pretty self explanatory seeing as you've both seen these controls before." The counter reached zero, and their teams (mostly comprised of robots) raced off into the maps. Jason had to admit, controls like this were definitely not as easy as they were before. Even so, he immediately started the game with an advantage as a sticky grenade took out a few of the AI. Evening's confident smile turned competitive as the hard point changed hands again and again. She concentrated harder on the screen, slowly aiming her gun around a corner before a little rolling tank rolled out of one of the houses. Nothing was friendly in this game, she knew that by now. But the little guy, a cute tank if there ever was one, followed her around the bus and knocked out her character. "Where'd the tank thing come from?" She yelled at the screen, feeling a slight amount of anger grow when Jason chuckled. "It's one of the scorestreak things, you shouldn't have chosen the highest ones." "But there were dogs and robot birds!" Jason chuckled and hid his character before taking an extended look at Dash's screen. She'd graduated from her initial strategy of spin and look down, and now at least seemed to have the map memorized. Her character popped out from behind a truck and sprayed some bullets into a couple of bots. She cheered as they fell, struggling with the controller for a moment to use the scorestreak she'd earned after the second and third kill. She pulled out a little drone and threw it directly into Evening's character as she walked around a corner. As Dash improved and the game drew on, the score tilted more heavily towards Jason's side, quickly wrapping up as they started to work in a strategy. Evening sighed and crossed her arms, clearly annoyed that she'd lost. "Fine, you win." She said after a few moments. "You're better than me." "What?" Jason asked, putting a hoof to his ear. "I said you're better than me!" She yelled back. Jason only chuckled. "We can play as a team then if you want I mean--Wait, there's another thing we can try." He got up and opened the tray, replacing it with another disk. "You said you wanted to try Zombies, and we don't have much time left, but they made a mini game for some reason. The game faded into a torture room, and the girls both took to immediately studying everything about the picture. "The numbers Mason, what do they mean?" "Who's he talking to?" Dash asked, "The guy you're playing as, right?" "Yeah, there's a campaign in all of these games. I didn't like much of this game, but the campaign was actually pretty great. Usually it's just 'go here, shoot this' but with this one dialogue was important, and they had a story twist that I honestly wasn't expecting. For once I got up from the chair when I was done and thought, 'I'm thoroughly impressed.' But I could pass on most of the rest of this game." "So why are we playing it?" "Well, Beef Jerky, they have some maps of Zombies that I really like. I don't love this one, but whatever. It's nothing like the other zombies games. One stick shoots, the other moves by the way." "Kill the zombies, right?" Evening asked. "Sorry, stupid question." "Yeah. This has a fun soundtrack though." "This is kinda weird." Dash said, moving her guy through the exit of the first stage. "I dunno, this kind of game kinda has a nice ring to it." "How do we win?" Evening asked. "Well it never ends, but there's a boss on round forty. Then it restarts." He heard Evening chuckle and they took up the challenge. He found he quite liked the other two on his team, they would always get the guys he missed and generally act responsibly for the good of the team. Something he found a little surprising of Evening, all things considered. Maybe it was only when she didn't have anyone to compete with... Someone knocked, Jason presumed on one of the posts that held up the tent, and Jason paused the game. He got up and walked over towards the door, stopping briefly to give Dash a kiss and ruffle up her mane. A stallion was standing outside, looking at the buggy. "This thing all loaded up? I can take it?" "Uh, wait just a second." Jason trotted back inside and picked up the boxes of flash bangs and bullets, prying the lid up enough to check that there were actual weapons inside. "Do we have to stop?" Dash asked. "We were kinda far though, I don't really want to..." "No, I'm just putting everything else in with the buggy. We can bring this along in the troop transport one, although it might be a little heavy with Evening on there as well..." "I'm not fat!" "Heh. Well we'll have to wrap this up anyway, if we--" The pony poked his head in. "Actually, Shining wants everyone to get going now, so..." "Uh, okay then." Dash sighed, setting her controller down sadly. "No, this is a disaster! An outrage I tell you!" "Evening, it's just a game!" Jason yelled back, shaking at her shoulders. "Just a game?! JUST A GAME?!?!? It's like a way of life!!!" "You've been doing this for like three hours total, I think you can handle it!" "But-But-" She stuck a hoof up in protest, making her take on a rather pathetic looking posture. "I'm not falling for it." He turned his head away and crossed his arms, refusing to give in. "But Jason," Dash started, "She looks so sad..." "She's a changeling, I'm sure it's not too hard." "Oh yeah." She giggled. "Sorry Evening, I'm with Jason." She got up and leaned into his side, nuzzling against his cheek. "I'm just going to leave then, I'll be back in a couple minutes if you three have solved anything by then." The stallion rolled his eyes and left, escorted out by a giggle and laugh from Dash and Jason. "I guess we might as well just load up the TV and stuff, it'll have a lower chance of breaking." "But-" Evening protested. "Breaking." "But-" "Forever." "Fine. I'll see which buggy I'm supposed to go in. If you're with that giant guy from Team Green Bean, I'll kindly stay off that thing." "Fair enough." Dash chuckled, walking over to one of the boxes that Jason had set back down as Evening waved and left. "So Ferris made these?" She asked, prying the lid completely off. "Dash, that was nailed on! How are we supposed to put it back?!" "I dunno, but it's off now. Say, are these bullets for the Colt?" "Yeah, he put yours to one side and mine to the other." "But there're hundreds of bullets in here! How did he do that?" "I don't question him, I just buy his things." "How much did this cost?" Jason shrugged. "Dunno, couldn't be that much. I'll just wait until some news guy actually decides to interview me and then promote Ferris's business. Product placement..." "How little you care about money worries me." "And yet, you don't question the black box." "Why--" "I'm inexpensive the rest of the time, why don't I deserve nice things?" He asked, making the most pathetic face he could muster. "Because-AAH! Stop doing this to me!" Jason trotted over and threw a hoof over her back and around her neck, using his other to turn her face to his. He leaned forward and kissed her, ignoring the annoyed groan from the stallion as peeked back through the doorway. Dash giggled at the stallion, letting the kiss continue for a few more seconds before she broke it off. "Come on there Jason, at least move the stuff first." She peered back towards the door, checking that the stallion had moved back outside. "Plus, I still have to give you that surprise. The gift part, and the better gift part." "Oh Dash, you shouldn't have." "I'm sure I could keep it to myself..." "But I'll graciously accept it." She giggled as he broke their embrace, watching him shove the lid back onto the open box and float the two of them outside and into the buggy, followed closely by the TV and Xbox and signaled to the stallion that it was ready to go. Jason floated Dash's saddlebag over onto her back before he opened one side and floated out the corner of a blanket, tickling her with the soft-ish fabric. She started to giggle but he didn't let up. Soon her light laughter had turned into all out guffawing on the ground as she tried to push herself away. He let his magic drop and Dash started to calm down, her breathing starting to slow back down as she clutched at her sore sides. Jason walked over and bent down, only to be stopped by a hoof. "You think you can just come over after that and kiss me?" He stared. "I guess I'll let it slip." She smirked, roughly pulling his head into hers. She kissed at him hungrily, although she felt a little disappointed when he straightened back up and offered her a hoof. And now she had to get through a buggy ride without pouncing on him and just-- Dash, you're acting like a mare in heat, calm down, she thought to herself. Just think of something...not...arousing. Yeah, like a corpse. Or her father. She felt her blood cool as rage started to balance out lust. "You okay there Dash? You've just been holding onto my hoof and haven't gotten up. I know I'm a great guy to touch and stuff, but this is kinda the wrong place wrong time, don't you think?" "Yeah, I was just thinking, sorry." She replied as she pulled herself to her hooves. "Oh, about me?" "Yes." She mumbled, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. "Understandable." He looked at a hoof in an unaffected manner. "Everyone's crazy about me as it is." "Shut up!" She yelled back jokingly, throwing a punch at his shoulder. "Oh, I'm hurt! Guards, take care of this ruffian!" Jason looked around and deadpanned. "I'm a general and yet I don't get a single guard." "Maybe that's their way of saying that you're not important." She shot back, sticking out her tongue. "You better stop or I'll-I'll start using historical references you don't understand!" "Oh, no! You wouldn't!" "I would! Just like MacArthur wanted to use force against communist China during the Korean War!" *Gasp* "How could you! I thought we'd signed a treaty!" "Just like the-- This is just getting too stupid, even for us." Jason said with a chuckle. "God damn, even though we argue all the time, at least we don't really fight. But--" "Don't be cynical." He held up a hoof in defense. "Fine." Jason picked up his saddlebag and stuffed in his ghillie suit, floating Dash's holster and Colt over so that she could tie them on. He slung the AUG over his back and tightened the strap, before he picked up the riot control helmet and put it on followed by the camera, which he carefully placed in his saddlebag. Jason floated the riot shield off the ground and tied it onto Dash. "There, now your back is bulletproof." He said with a chuckle, before checking the contents of his saddlebag and moving outside. The camp's appearance had changed completely. It had gone from a packed city of tents to more of a town, with a few tents here or there. Jason remembered that Celestia had wanted to keep this position for some reason. Sure, it was good and all, but Jason wasn't really sure if it was worth keeping. But judging by some of the ponies in hardhats a ways away discussing blueprints, they had already started to go through with the plan. "We're stopping by Shining's tent first, right?" Dash asked, looking around at the suddenly open camp. "Yeah, I wanted to ask him a couple questions." "Okay, I'll be right behind you." "Do you want me to turn into a mare so you can ogle?" Jason asked with a smirk. "Huh? Just--screw you." "Yeah, I know, tonight. You don't have to remind me so many times, Dash." "I'm not giving you the satisfaction of a response." Jason chuckled again before he entered Shining's tent, slightly amazed at how much stuff had already been taken away. It left the tent with an eerie feel, he'd been so used to how full it tended to be, whether that was of ponies or furniture. "Where's Evening?" He asked, looking around for the mare. "She's in the buggy with the other half of your team. I stuck her in place of Archer." "Oh." The room became silent for a few seconds. "We'll need a replacement, we've already used up all the alternates." "Yeah, I know...It's hard, seeing these soldiers go...I've sent him back with a gold medal of valor and a couple other decorations. I know it's not much, but he deserved those things. Highest honor, that gold medal." "I'd bet." Another silence. "So where are we supposed to go?" Dash asked. "To get on the buggy, I mean?" "You should be in number eighteen. I'll end up there later on tonight." "Are we keeping troops here? At least some?" Jason asked. "Yeah, we're keeping seventy five on hand, possibly more if we detect hostility. Have a safe trip." "You too." Dash replied as she turned around with Jason. "Hey, didn't you say your wife was coming out here?" "No, she's coming into the next camp. Tomorrow, actually. I've never been so scared or exited in my life. "Oh wait, I got married, of course I have." "Scared because she's in danger?" Jason asked, scratching at a particularly annoying itch that Dash kept exacerbating on purpose with a wingtip. "Yeah. And that she'll somehow not like what I'm doing. All the fighting and death doesn't really mesh with the whole 'princess of love' thing, you know?" "Never thought about it that much, actually. She's not Fluttershy though, I doubt she'll care." He replied with a slight chuckle. "That's what I hope." He said, sighing as he returned to work. "See ya." Jason said as he left, receiving a polite wave in return. "Hey Jason?" Dash asked. "Yeah?" "Did you have any friends before all this?" Jason paused a moment before he broke out into laughter. "Of course I did!" "Well then why did you talk so badly of them?" "Ah, I was referring to work friends. I still have a ton more that I kept in contact with since college. I knew a kid since childhood that I went through college with before we finally went to different jobs, his name was Ben Plumber. I was still in contact with him, and now that you bring it up I really miss the guy." "Sorry." "It's not a big deal, it gives me something to remember. We did a lot of stupid shit." He paused. "No drugs or anything like that, I'm not one of those people and neither is he." "But do you want to go back, just to tie up loose ends?" "I dunno, it's probably not worth the risk, even if it could happen." "But assuming it was without risk?" "There's only really him and a few others, so it'd be somewhat without a purpose. And I've been gone three-three and a half months, chances are they figure I'm gone, even if they didn't find the body." "You think they'd give up that easily?" "Dash, there's no explanation for what happened, especially not over there. The good think is that everything has a logical sequence of events behind it, and that makes it so that detectives can work through almost every case nowadays. But as soon as you add in magic, everything falls apart." "But-" "My accountant was pretty funny too, I ended up being friends with that guy. He'd always call up and be like 'Harding, it's Mankin!'" "What, last names?" "Yeah, he never called anyone by their first name. I wonder how he is." Jason opened the door to the buggy and climbed in, immediately discarding his saddlebag and weapon and leaning them into a corner. "How who is?" Eravel asked, already inside with a bored looking Tank. "My accountant. I was talking about some old friends, I didn't really come here of my own free will. It turned out well, but I guess I would've still been pretty happy back there, although I wouldn't have you..." He pushed his muzzle into Dash's neck as she sat down, making her giggle at the kisses and nips he was providing. Jason pulled back after a few moments, sending a joking eye towards Tank. "What, no 'get a room' speech?" "I guess I'm not in the mood. I'm a little too excited about getting to what will hopefully be our last camp to care." "Heh." Jason returned to his teasing after shooting a smirk towards Tank. "But you're starting to get on my nerves..." He warned. Jason nipped at Dash's ear a final time and stopped, not missing the dark shade of crimson that was plastered over her face. There was a jolt and their saddlebags slid across the floor, alluding to the fact that they had taken off and were now moving towards their destination. "So, where are you guys going after all this?" Jason asked, looking between Tank and Eravel. "Probably back to Manehattan like before. That place is starting to get a little crime ridden, so I've heard." Jason flinched. He knew that fact all too well. "So I guess I should probably see where Morning Rain's going. She just moved to Ponyville, actually. Isn't that where you're from?" He asked Dash. "I live there, but I came from Cloudsdale." She replied. "Ah. Thanks for bringing that up, I probably wouldn't have though about it until we were just about gone." Tank said with a sigh. "What about you, Eravel?" Dash inquired, taking on a quizzical expression as the griffin started to look nervous. "I don't know." He said after a while. "I don't want to live here, and Equestria was dangerous for me, even with armed guards all over the place." "Ponyville's always an option, you know." Dash responded after glancing at Jason. "You outcasts have to stick together, right? Evening's probably going to end up there as well, just so you know." "I'll have to see if any of my family is still here first. Honestly I doubt that they would be, but I might as well check." "Why would they be gone?" Tank asked, furrowing his brow. "Purges or something. My dad was killed in service years ago, and my mother had some sort of disease when I left. So even if she survived that, she might be looked at as someone that just takes up space." Tank patted the griffin across his shoulders. "Lighten up, things could be way worse, right?" "Yeah, I'm part of the team that's going to finally liberate this place again. I couldn't be more proud." "Maybe we'll get another window in Canterlot." Tank looked over. "What?" "Oh yeah, we're on a window with Potato. They put big events in Equestrian history on those..." "Wow, really?" "Yeah, that's what I thought! Awesome huh?" Dash answered, becoming visibly excited. Conversation continues for a while before they started to grow tired, staring out the window at the hypnotically moving foliage below. "Hey, how're ponies with bad night vision supposed to land this thing?" Jason asked, slumped in a corner with Dash's head in his lap. "I think they marked it somehow." Dash mumbled. "But what if we miss the target or something?" "I dunno, let's just assume that we'll get there in one piece, okay?" "Fine." He lifted a hoof to stroke across the back of her hand, only succeeding in bringing himself closer to sleep. At some point he gave in and the outside world disappeared, replaced by an uneventful limbo of dreamland. Must've been one of those days where he somehow hadn't ticked off the starting mechanism of whatever allowed them to share dreams. The funny thing, his muddled thoughts continued, was that he rather liked the dreams. They were relaxing in their own way, even with the zombies and fighting. The fun part was that there was no risk involved. Just a little bit of simulated pain and the dream ended. Sure, it wasn't the best thing that could happen overnight, like Dash's offhand comment about wet dreams (something that hopefully wouldn't happen with Evening in the picture), but it didn't shock him like it had before, and he felt a kind of catharsis whenever he could extricate himself from the real life stress of the war and integrate himself back into a fictional circumstance. At some point during his hibernation the buggy touched down and he ended up on the floor, a rather cute but heavy, still sleeping mare on top of his form. Jason groggily pushed her to the side and lightly slapped at her cheeks to revive her, before he started looking around for his things. He grabbed an apple out of his saddlebag and passed it to the now partially awake Dash to eat before re-strapping the rest of her supplies to her back. "Can't we just sleep here?" She asked, slowly moving towards the door after Jason. "No, we have a tent, Dash." "I'm postponing your surprise until tomorrow morning." She stated as they got out of the buggy and breathed in the cool night air. Shining had been right about this small clearing, the entire thing hardly fit half the tents, ignoring the fact that there was an airstrip in the middle lit up by small fires. Jason yawned and started looking for an open tent. They passed by several, all of which were full or partially so. He was starting to lose hope before he saw a few stallions busily constructing a few tents. "Can I reserve this one?" Jason asked, pointing to a tent that was, at the moment, two poles that would later form half of the corner posts. "Sure, we'll be done in ten or so minutes. Maybe fifteen." "Alright." His head drooped a little as drowsiness caught back up with him. "You fancy a little bit of flying?" He asked Dash. "Where would we even go?" She asked, yawning. "Just to a place where we can look over at the Capitol." "You're just lucky I can't think of anything better." She spread her wings and took off, smiling as he flew after her. The night sky, as usual, looked amazing with the multitude of stars. Some of that was due, no doubt, to his night vision, but it was a sky the likes of he'd never seen before. Besides all the times he'd looked, he supposed. Eventually he glided under Dash and gave a yank to one of her legs, signaling to descend. It was a short flight, even at the speed they were going, before they descended back into the trees and landed at the crest of a hill. Below the lights from the city twinkled, making Jason's jaw drop slightly. It was so spread out, and the spoked appearance that he could somewhat make out from the street plan was only making things look prettier. And it was going to be an Equestrian city in a matter of days. Jason pulled out the camera with a chuckle. Snap! "Why're you taking a picture with that high tech camera thing?" Dash asked "Because it'll never look the same again. Not after we're done with it." She chuckled and held up a hoof, which he promptly bumped against with his own. "It'll be extra pretty on fire." "Agreed." They shared a laugh and hunkered down against one another, viewing the city like they would a prey animal. Dash eventually broke the silence again, striking a slightly vain pose as best she could in her prone position and letting out a giggle. "They've already lost, they just don't know it."