//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: The Mystery Deepens... // Story: Macintosh and Dolphin - The Switch // by Electuroo //------------------------------// Macintosh and Dolphin – The Switch Chapter 6: The Mystery Deepens... Applejack smiled seeing all the work that had to be done was finished at record time, she wiped the sweat off her head with her foreleg looking to Wayne whom she still believed to be her brother Big Macintosh was finishing up loading the creates ready for the evening train to Fillydelphia, giving them time to do a little extra work the north side of the farm to take down a old shake Wayne pushed the last create into place and with help from Applejack he tossed over the ropes over to her on the other side of the creates and she as he watched tied them up on the wagon. “Good work Big Mac” “Eeyup” Wayne knew that he would have to pull that heavy wagon to town in the evening since Big Mac's body was the only thing strong enough to pull such a thing 'I am so going to need a bath after todays delivery to the station... if I know where it is in Ponyville... and hell I didn't even realise how much he does around this place... I only done today and I already feel like I want to just fall over and go to sleep... and we still got to take out that shack...' Applejack came around the wagon and stood before him, he looked at the orange mare as she was twisting her front hoof in the dirt “Ah know y'all not all there and sorry that ya had to do the chores from not knowing what ya doing but without y'all help Big Mac this here apple farm would have problems keeping up with it orders. Ah might be as very strong mare but ya the heavy lifter in this here family and mighty glad part of ya still there” she gave him a hug with her front hooves and step back. 'Element of Honesty for sure... and you can rely on me Applejack till your brother returned back into his body, I will do my upmost to do what he does... that a Pinkie Promise...' He turn to her “So the shack?” “Of course sugarcube, come with me, ah'm show ya the way” Applejack trots to the north side of the farm with Wayne following Twilight Sparkle... Twilight sets up her equipment at the scene of the crime, being a princess got her some extra access to the scene which had the damaged cart still there with guard ponies blocking the scene for some other ponies to check out the area even two days after it happened. “Oooo look at that Spike that the point Big Mac hit his head” Pinkie Pie points to the smashed area of the cart. Spike cringed “Yeah I don't think I like my head getting smacked like that” Twilight almost finished setting up the machine putting the last touches to it “That should do it” she turned it on and results came almost instantly but what she was getting was wild readings “Whoa this is amazing look at this!” Pinkie Pie could see the read out “Wow that really crazy, it almost as if there a breach in reality” “Pinkie that just silly nothing that powerful part from the magical mirror in the Crystal Empire can do that” Twilight replied “Yeah you got a point Twi” Pinkie just smiled and continued to watch the read out as the power of the machine was increased. Wayne... “Alright ah'm going to give it a try...” sudden as that happened Wayne vision changed instantly as if everything warped and then found himself eating something, he looked down to see his hands. “I'm back...” he whispered with a mouth full of food and swallowed then saw what he was eating “Whoa... veggy deluxe...” then a thought came to his mind if his back then Big Macintosh is back but what if whatever did this had to do with Twilight, he heard from Applebloom she was investigating the place it happened and had a feeling she had used something to take a reading of it... Wayne took hold of the iPad pushing record on it. “Hope you understand how to read this Big Macintosh because I feel I am back in my body but not completely... I feel as if part of me still attached to your body and this means once something happens to Twilight's machine we will be pulled back like a bungee cord...” Big Macintosh blinked he recalled eating that veggy deluxe and now found himself back in his own body but he felt he wasn't fully back as if something was trying to pull him back into the human body but unsuccessfully. “Right Big Mac are ya ready?” Big Mac wasn't sure what was going on but he noticed they was by the old shack was they knocking it down? So he decided to go along with it “Eeyup” Applejack hits it with a buck and then followed by Big Macintosh doing so as well on the same side hitting it good and hard breaking the old wood “Good going Big Mac, keep it up” “Eeyup” Twilight... “Wow look at this now, it saying that there normal energy readings as if my machine cancelled out the magical effect, I got to write this down” Twilight got her quill and paper writing it down with her magic to get every detail of what she was seeing. Pinkie Pie's tail started to twitch “Uh oh...” Spike saw this “Twilight... twitchy tail...” “Spike I am writing here twitchy tail can wait and...” she paused seeing Pinkie's tail going crazy. “Pinkie?” “Something really big is coming and it coming right at us!” Pinkie Pie said with fear. “Ok everypony stand back we teleporting” she used her magic and felt a strange surge of energy as they all vanished ... Somewhere in the UK Capital... In what seem to be a busy large control room filled with people at different stations with others running around checking the systems a high ranked official step out of his office on the top of the room which was a glass box with a desk and a computer, he turn to one of them instantly. “What the bloody hell is going on around here?” he spoke with annoyance “Where is the bloody 200 million pound drone!?” “I have no idea saw, it was tracking one of those unusually energy spikes and wham it was gone... no warning nothing, General it wasn't even hijacked either... it just poof...” the young man replied The General checked for himself seeing the readings was scanning around the north part of the land near London then it simply vanished without a trace even the vision records to that point just stopped. “You do know if we don't find that we won't get another chance to use that experimental equipment...” “I know sir we got our best people trying to found out what happened to the X-19 Sensor High Altitude Stealth Drone...” the man said looking through everything “Everyone work double time, feed all results into one database, we need to find out what the blazes is going on and if we don't we bloody going to have to answer to her majesty Queen Elizabeth! Do I make myself clear!” he spoke out firmly to them “Yes sir!” they all got to work to track the drone down. “200 million pounds down the bloody toilet just great... just great...” Equestria... Rainbow Dash was flying to the farm with great speed enjoying the sun and doing a fly by run to Cloudsdale and back to keep in shape but one thing that was shocking she saw something fly right by her heading for Ponyville not only that but to Sweet Apple Acres at high speeds with a flaming trail with smoke following whatever it was and from the look of it she knew it wasn't a falling rock it was adjusting it trajectory. “Oh sweet Celestia! It aiming for the farm!!!” Rainbow Dash with a mega burst of speed chased after it From the ground a few ponies close to Cloudsdale looked up to the sound of a roaring noise to see first something on fire shooting over head followed by a trail of rainbow but the sound was deafening for them with birds and animals running for cover, they decided to follow their example and hid too covering their ears from the roaring sound as it slowly fades. Rainbow Dash was closing the gap on the object she felt the air pressure building up again, she knew what that meant she was about to break the sound barrier just to catch this thing in time. “Nothing faster then me by a long shot!” Suddenly she gasped in shock seeing what seem to be dozens of flares shot right out of it coming right at her, she had to slow down and dive under it which lead her to crashing into the lake with a explosion of water showering around. Rainbow Dash quickly surfaced gasping for air seeing the strange object still on a trajectory to the farm and Rainbow Dash couldn't do anything now to get it... she had failed and was defeated by some sort of counter measure she never seen before... Suddenly out of the blue at Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight and the others appeared before them. A mighty bang caused everything to shake in the shack Big Macintosh saw it in the distance his eyes huge with fear, without thinking he grabbed all four of them, three mares and a dragon with one swift motion putting them on his back galloping hard smashing through the old wood and turning his head back to see it come in but he noticed something came out of it landing not to far but the object smashed right into the shack with a huge explosion. The blast wave set him tumbling over and that when his eyes reopened to see he fell off the bed and looked at himself quickly he was back in the human body of Wayne's... now the mystery has truly became my mysterious... he saw the device sitting by him he picked it up and Big Macintosh saw there was a new entry on it... Wayne eyes snap open he found himself back in the red pony body once more and turn to the sight of a burning wreck without thinking he got up pulling off the paper and saddle bag that was caught up on him and rushed over to the flames he quickly started to use his front hooves to scoop up dirt and throw it on the fire, he seen saw Twilight and Applejack helping him after their recovery, Pinkie Pie also joined in using her Party Cannon to shot dirt into the flames. Rainbow Dash soon arrived seeing that was left of a shack that was completely destroyed and smoking but to see a group of ponies working together to put the last of the fires out. “Is everypony ok?” she quickly landed before them looking very concerned “Boy we are RD, if it wasn't for mah brother Big Mac we would have been roasting in that fire” she hits him with her fore leg like a elbow nudge. “Eeyup” Wayne wasn't sure what happened but something did happen and for the short period of time he was glad to be back to his own body but now knew it wasn't going to be a simple fix... Twilight looked at what was left of her machine “True but why would something fall from the sky and destroy my machine? I don't understand... all I was doing was taking readings of that strange magical energy in the area” Pinkie Pie looked to it and found something odd “Oh lookly it got a funny symbol on it” Spike picked it up “It metal but I never seen anything like this, have you Twilight?” Twilight gasped with glee “No I haven't it something new for sure! Look at the marking it some sort of order, flag or even more! I got to study this at once and find out what this could all mean! The machine might be destroyed but...” “Twi ah know y'all are excited over this find but what on samhill would do something like this to mah farm!?” Applejack showed the damage around the shack was once was. Rainbow spoke up “It wasn't a rock I can tell you that much, it was awesome and annoying at the same time, that thing was flying so fast that it broke the sound barrier, I was about to do the same with my Sonic Rainboom when it unleashed all these crazy flares at me” “Countermeasures...” Wayne spoke out and they all turn to him. “Big Macintosh what in Celestia's name is a coun-cou-counter... whatever y'all said” Applejack staring at her big brother. Twilight look to the metal in her magical aura then at the wreck of what was left of the shack, nothing was left part from this one piece of metal. “It a old form of method used by pegasi in the old days when conflicts broke out between the unicorns, Earth and Pegasus ponies before the forming of Equestria. Pegasi would use lightning clouds to confuse the unicorns magical abilities which was a countermeasure but they also used today in different ways from redirecting herds like you and your dog did with the cows, you countered their movement by moving them away from harming the town” Applejack rubbing her head a little “Ah'm think ah get what y'all mean Twilight but why would somepony create something that travelled faster then Rainbow Dash here to just destroy ya're machine it makes no sense” “No it doesn't... that why I am going to find out what this mysterious metal is and this symbol means” Twilight put it in her saddle bag “Sorry about the shack... “Nah it ok Twi, it was very old anyhow, no pony was hurt that what counts right Sugarcube?” “Sure is and Big Macintosh thanks for saving our rumps” Twilight turn to the red stallion. “Eeyup” Pinkie Pie put a hoof around him standing on her hind legs “Well with that craziness over, how about you get those apples to the train and I give you my Pinkie Pie tour of Ponyville!” she grinned “What you say big guy?” “Eeyup” Wayne knew exactly what the symbol was and it was running through his mind a dozen times over 'That is the Union Jack forsure but how on earth did it get here and what exactly was that machine... was it some sort of spy drone?' Rainbow Dash shook her head “Well if you don't need me, I'll be going” she about to fly off but Applejack roped her tail and pulled her to the ground. “AJ what the big idea!?” “Sugarcube ah'm need ya help, with Big Mac going to the station” she turn watching him leave with Pinkie Pie heading off too. “Ah going to need help clearing this whole mess up and not going leave it lying around for Applebloom of any of the other youngsters get hurt, ya do the same for Scootaloo wouldn't ya?” Rainbow Dash sighed “Yeah I would” Rainbow looking “Let make this quick ok? I got tricks to do before getting some ZZZs” Applejack didn't bother to reply just a roll of her eyes she and Rainbow Dash got to work putting the wreckage of the shack into a nearby wagon clearing up the mess that was just made. “Twi y'all and Spike will help to, no ifs no buts, ya machine did this so ya helping” Applejack gave them both a stare “Yes ma'am” Spike saluted “Sure thing Applejack, sorry again” “it ok sugarcube...” Twilight picks up some of the wood with her magic “I wonder what that flying object was really...” Meanwhile Macintosh sat back on the bed eating one of the fries, he didn't really enjoy it much since it was sort of greasy and the veggie burger was too, so even he was in Wayne's body he was going to eat the right stuff no more of this McD stuff. He push the play button to see what Wayne had left for him... “Hope you understand how to read this Big Macintosh because I feel I am back in my body but not completely... I feel as if part of me still attached to your body and this means once something happens to Twilight's machine we will be pulled back like a bungee cord. So I will leave you this brief message...” He quickly check the door is closed and look back to the screen “Big Macintosh I only lived in your body for almost three days now with the time of evening coming fast and all, but the thing is your life is really amazing, I never knew you did so much work, I had a hard time adjusting to those hooves but I got the hang of it and guess you got the hang of my body, it a bloody nightmare I know” he chuckled lightly. “Point is that if you going to live my life and most likely not eat this stuff” he raised a fry up “Try the smoothies special the mango one, that amazing and got a typical taste to it and the people at work know I buy them on a regular bases when finishing work.. well part from that I will give you some of my personal details to help ya. First you know my name Wayne Dolphin, yep human and don't really done much in life part from a few things here and there. Age around 28 and as you can see I am a big fan of the world you come from, it a cartoon show here which means it not real but in my heart and belief it is very much real as everything else in the universe, it to vast and beautiful Take a chance to stare at the stars in the sky and let your imagination wonder, it will take you places that you never thought possibly... that what I do it sort of my own personal way with social life being low with only a few friends and such. Still this is my life and how I lived it, my newest dream thanks to you Apples is to open that orchard one day only if I can win that blasted money of Euromillions... well Big Mac I know we not even met yet and we lived in each others bodies for the given time so far but if anything if this means to you... I count you now as my brother...” he smiled softly “Yeah I know it all weird to say but it a feeling in my gut that twisting more ways I can say... and I know your going to eat the healthy stuff in my body just don't eat cheese or drink orange, trust me on this one it not a pleasant experience for me when I do... so I be avoiding it too in your body just as a safety reason. Well hope to meet you face to face one day bro... oh and one last thing get my sister to help you understand how the tills at McDs work. Laters!” he push the button ending the video.... Big Macintosh just got a insight of Wayne's life and now determined to help the Dolphin Family out and this would be taking a chance at this Euromillions if he knew what exactly is a Euromillions was as he rubbed his hand on his head trying to figure that one out... “The mystery deepens” he whispered lost in a sea of thoughts once more staring at the iPad again and at the room he sat in...