Zero watches as The princesses left the area.
"Palace of the Solar Sisters.." Zero murmurs. "X... Celestia.. what are you two planning?"
"Hmm that name.. its familiar.. Come on girls, lets go look stuff up." Twilight says as she and the others run back into the library. Zero stood still though as he gazes at the sky in thought... he wondered how many of the stars he could see, where Luna's magic, and which where real.
"Mister Zero? Are you alright?" A calm voice asks as the reploid turns. "you seem distant."
"I'm alright Miss Fluttershy, just wondering what X has planned.. none of what he said made any sense.. what did he mean when he said 'sorry I lied to you.' I just wish he would stop being so cryptic." Zero blinks and turns to her. "Your not hurt at all are you?"
"Hmm? Ah no I'm fine,, just got hit by a couple rocks.. but it could have been worse." Fluttershy smiles softly. "Thank you for rescuing me."
"Your welcome. Im just glad no one was hurt." Zero says softly still deep in thought.
"Well that is what the Green swordsman did too." Fluttershy replies with a happy expression. "The green swordsman and mister Reploid where hero stories for us. Said to be incredibly old stories from another world. The Alicorns of that age had alot of trouble translating much of the work, but its meaning was simple. "
"You think it really was about me and X?" Zero turns his curiosity sparked.
"It's possible. We called the swords man, Green because of his sword color. He also had to run around and beat up alot of people, including people he didn't want to. But no matter what challenges arose he always stood by Mister Reploid. I got teased once in flight school, cause I felt sorry for the man." Fluttershy murmurs softly. "He did all of that work, and paid so many bad prices, yet only Mister Reploid got any credit. All the swordsman got, was fear."
"X was the one in the lime light, but I was okay with that." Zero comments as he looks to the sky. "I never wanted to be seen as a hero, because I rarely thought what I did was heroic. Sure I helped save the wold numerous times, but I never wanted a reward. I saw it as my duty, my responsibility as a Maverick Hunter. To keep people and robots safe. Besides, X loved the attention, so I let him have it. Though he always tried to send us all a bit of thanks" The hunter closes his eyes in reminiscence. "Even when.. I was forced to fight the one person who meant everything in the world to me."
"You mean Miss Flower? The green swordsman loved a Flower woman, but after he defeated Flower's brother, he had to fight a grief stricken Flower." Fluttershy nods softly.
"Her name was Iris, and yeah that sounds just like me. Looks like you all know a lot of my story already." Zero chuckles in thought.
"There is a big difference between reading the story of a man, and then having that man right there..." The pegasus points out as she looks back to see Twilight and the others had been watching.
"Hate to interrupt Zero, but that can't be right. The green swordsman Died multiple times." Twilight points out as she and the others wander over.
"I had many close brushes with death, I'm sure many of them resulted in Death reports from Head quarters." Zero responds softly. "I'm wondering.. if I could find that story myself some time.. give more details on actual events." Zero finishes the thought with a smirk. "You shoudl have seen me after Sigma almost blasted me in half. It hurt, but I some how put myself back together again, Now I know its one of my talents."
"So you can.. regenerate.. interesting idea.." Twilight says in thought. "Anyway. We found the information." Twilight looks at the other ponies as they gather about. "You all remember that old castle we went to, where we found the Elements of Harmony? It turns out that is the very place we have to get to this time." Twilight nods as she opens her book. "The princesses had many castles and areas around and the one we need is the one right near by. " She closes the book. "At least I'm hoping that's the one.. the other Solar Sister palaces are in even worse repair, and are MILES away from our location."
"Right it wouldn't be logical to send the heroes of Pony ville on a Long running mission when something could go wrong as they are missing." Zero acknowledges. "Are we ready to depart now?"
Twilight frowns. "Normally id suggest we wait a bit, but with all we now know, you being the green swordsman, and the involvement of Mister rep- I mean.. X and the princess.. we should try to hurry." The unicorn says softly.
" While I detest the idea of taking that long dirty route again.. I can't help but feel excited about seeing that castle again. What with not worrying about Nightmare moon, I might actually get to look around."
"Well what are we waiting for, lets go!" Rainbow yells impatiently.
"We cant go instantly Rainbow. " Zero adds in thought. "We should send word to family, and Fluttershy has some last moment errands to complete I'm sure. " He turns to face Apple Jack and Rarity. "You shoudl know better than to think you can just Rush off into danger without telling them whats happening." The two mares blink and then nod in agreement. "Lets take a few hours to say good byes, and gather supplies. " Zero gazes as they both hurry to get things done as Twilight got to work on a fast checklist. "Twilight, it would not be remiss to let Princess Celestia know we have left towards the castle. If its not the right one I'm sure she will let us know while we are on the way." The purple unicorn blinks then nods as She lists off a quick letter to Spike who wrote and sent it in record time.
"How could those two have known each other, why is a story of my life.. here? Why did that Dragon's gaze remind me of the Virus? "He frowns as his questions go unanswered as he watches Pinkie Pie return first with a small bag that could be holding who knew what. The hyper active pony sitting down and pulling out a random cupcake and chewing on it in thought. Rainbow dash appeared second and spent her time flying about doing tricks, the concept of calm waiting, lost on the active pegasus. Despite being the farthest, Fluttershy arrived third with her own bag of things. Mostly medical supplies,
"In case some pony or some little creature gets hurt.. and needs help." She had said smiling.
"Good thinking Fluttershy" Zero praises with a smile as Twilight arrived. Rarity soon appeared in an overly dress but probably fashionable outfit. Not that Zero understood pony fashion, he hadn't even understood reploid or human fashion. To many clothes just got in the way of battle. Though Rarity did bring many other items, such as blankets or protective clothes for the others as well. Applejack was last but had the most experience with these types of exploration, as such she bought plenty of food, climbing materials, ropes, and other various exploration tools.
"So Twilight. Can we go now?" Rainbow asks as she glides down but doesn't touch the ground.
"Yep check list is clear, Spike lets get going." She calls as the dragon hops onto her back.
"Alright then.. off we go." Zero says as he follows from behind. Merely because he did not know the way.