“Heeeelllloooooo? You alright there John?” shouted Pinkie.
John had gone into a nervous silence and had accidentally killed the flow of a conversation. Pinkie, thinking she had somehow broken him, was bouncing around him and poking him all over to get a response.
The pony rolled her eyes, then pulled out a megaphone from inside her mane.
‘Shit.’
“CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW!?”
“Yes! I can hear you!” the Elite bellowed, “Now put that away! My ears are ringing!”
Giving him a sheepish grin, Pinkie threw the megaphone away. “Well...I asked who you were working for.”
“At the moment, no one,” replied the elite, with a frantic edge to his voice, “Just, no more loud sounds!”
Twilight sighed, “Sorry about that, Pinkie can be a bit...overwhelming,” Her face spread into a strained smile, “So. What’s your background?”
‘She doesn’t like me. But she wants to at least start on good terms. Hopefully flattery will get me somewhere.
“I’m something of a freelancer…”
“Oh, you do short term contracts, huh?”
‘Contracts. Humans and ponies from slavery contracts? I’ll go with it...’
“Basically, yeah.” John muttered, casually. Cocking his head to the side, he continued to stare at her.
“You know, purple’s my favorite color.”
He saw a small blush creep onto the pony’s face, “R-really? That’s nice.”
Turning his attention to the party pony who was bouncing about John asked “Pinkie, why’s it important you know who I work for anyways?”
“I was wondering if they came to townwithyoubecauseiftheydid” she paused and inhaled deeply “I have to throw them a party!”
The elite stared at her a moment then shook his head. “Why?”
“Why not?” she replied, with a cheeky grin
“Touche.”
Twilight, recovering from John’s rather random complement, and dreamy stare cleared her throat the same way the Elite had. Turning his head in response, the elite raised and eyebrow. “Yes?”
“Um...What exactly, are you doing here?”
John’s signature, impish grin returned. “Standing.”
Pinkie gave out a little snort as she tried, and failed, to hide her laughter.
“No, I mean what do you want to do in Ponyville?”
‘Ponyville? Really? That has got to be some sort of laziness record!’
John had noticed her voice was slightly less abrasive, and in fact more suspicious. Honestly speaking though, he didn’t mind that too much. Keeping secrets isn’t hard, when people, or in this case ponies, are on your side. All John really had to do was make sure the unicorn didn’t outright hate him. As long as he did that, he could care less about her curiosity.
“Pfffft You sound like an old man!” teased Pinkie.
John shrugged. “I guess.”
Slowly, the pink mare’s gaze made its way down to John’s suitcase. Ears swiveling back in curiosity, Pinkie trotted over and put a hoof on the leather. “What’s in here?”
“It’s a secret.” said John offhandedly. He then realized the error he made. Secrets increase curiosity. Them seeing his rifle could be bad. Especially if the yellow one caught a glimpse of it. His cover would be blown!
“Tell me!” shouted Pinkie, bouncing up and down excitedly.
‘So it begins...’
“I don’t know, we’re not great friends.”
The mare stopped mid-bounce, and fell to the ground. “We aren’t?” She asked, her voice cracking. ‘It’s like she’s a little kid! What the hell?’
“W-Well, not yet! You haven’t told me any jokes!”
Raising a hoof, Twilight smacked it into her face. Pinkie however rolled her eyes, as if she had made a stupid mistake. Then, she zipped in between Twilight and Fluttershy. “I can’t believe I forgot! Girls quick, what’s a good joke!?” Fluttershy raised a hoof, and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything the mare shouted “Got it!”
As Pinkie began practicing her joke on Fluttershy, Punch took a long look at Twilight.
“Hey.”
Twilight looked up at him.
“I never got your name…”
“Twilight Sparkle,” She replied.
‘Fitting.’
“Great,” he said, turning his attention back to Pinkie and Fluttershy
The mare’s gaze went from curious to confused.
“Great?”
“Great to meet you. All that jazz. You know?”
John was a bit more concerned with what was going on with Fluttershy and Pinkie. In the thirty seconds he hadn’t been watching them, the pegasus had been suspended in the air by ropes that were tied to a lamp post. At this point, most of the towns square was staring at the two of them. Pinkie Pie happened to have a slice of cake, on a saucer and was balancing it on her nose. Sauntering over to the pair of them, John poked the bubble gum pony and gestured towards the ropes.
“Should I ask?”
“Shhh I’m doing the fishstick! It’s a delicate process!”
“How about, I just tell you a joke? I really don’t want to be on the receiving end of the fishstick...whatever that is.” said John in mock horror.
Fluttershy frantically began nodding her head. “I vote for Mr.John telling a joke!” squeaked the timid pegasus.
‘Mr.John? Doesn’t she ‘own’ a human?’
Dropping the cake, Pinkie bounced in place. “Alright!”
“What did one ocean say to the other?” asked John, selecting the cheesiest joke in his book.
The mare raised a hoof to her chin and thought for a moment. “Hmmm. I dunno?”
“Nothing. They waved.” said John as he shrugged at the rather lame joke.
Pinkie however had a huge grin across her face. “OH! I sea what you did there!”
John raised an eyebrow, and a smile spread across his face. “I’m shore you did…”
The two of them burst out laughing. As they clutched their sides, Twilight stared on at the two of them, then shook her head. Trotting over to the lamp post, she magicked Fluttershy out of the ropes, and gently set her down. Then turning to her, the unicorn gestured towards the laughing pair. “It’s like they were made for each other…”
---
USSF Assault Rifleman Andrew “The Brick” Rich, sat clad in armor in front of a princess, who went by Luna, awaiting her first question. They had been locked in a staring match for the past five minutes as they had basically established mental boundaries and studied each other through appearance.
After what seemed like an eternity, Luna broke the silence. “First I would like to know what you call yourselves.” stated Luna.
“Classified. Sorry.” replied Andrew casually
“I understand...I suppose. But then, what do I call you?”
“Rifleman is fine.”
“Is that a title? Like Princess?” she excitedly chirped.
“Oh no. Nowhere near as prestigious as princess,” he quickly replied, “but yes, I suppose it is a title, ma’am.”
Luna cocked her head, and sighed. Turning her head towards the Veteran she asked “What is that?”
“It’s a ship,” stated Andrew, plainly.
“Is somepony inside it? I’ve been talking to somepony named Cygnus but she refuses to let me in to see her. She claims I am too large.”
Behind his mask, the rifleman was horror struck. Luna thought Cygnus had called her fat! On top of that she was a princess...“Oh no no no, you aren't too large she’s just very... territorial.”
‘It’s not a complete lie. I remember that AI fired a pulse beam at a girl that was hitting on Punch once. I don’t want to get on her bad side.’
“I see. Are all females of your race like that?”
Resisting the urge to facepalm, Andrew shook his head. ‘This is too hard. I have to change the subject.’
“No. So...what about you? What is your race called?”
“We are uncomfortable answering this question, when you haven’t provided an answer.”
“Fair enough.”
‘She’s reverted to we. As if she speaks for the entire population… I can’t act like I know too much about her. I don’t need her snooping around and finding the Monarch
“I must ask princess. How did you get here? I don’t see your ship anywhere.”
Luna gave a warm smile. “I flew.” She then flapped her wings and rose a few feet in the air, displaying her ability.
Andrew, quickly activated a video feed. Most people would run diagnostics, bit his armor was no where near as advanced as an Elite, or even an OSS troopers. Basically, all he had was a HUD and a camera, coupled with a thruster pack. He wasn’t even given space grade armor, because the SAI had already told The Monarch that the air was harmless.
.
As she landed, the rifleman began clapping. “Amazing! I must say I have never seen anything quite like that.”
“Oh, you flatter us.”
‘Maybe I can get some answers here...’
“Princess, could you please answer another question?”
Luna smiled. “I will answer, if you allow me to enter your ship.”
‘Hopefully Punch’ll understand.’
“Very well...What is your nation’s relationship with the humans?” Andrew made a big deal of saying humans with a dismissive tone.
“Humans provide labor, and we provide food and shelter.”
“What if a human wanted to leave here?”
Luna chuckled. “If their watcher allows them to, then they can.”
“I see. Well, I have to get going. It was nice talking to you.”
The princess of the night looked towards the ground. Honestly speaking she really did enjoy this conversation. In a way, the princess was slightly disappointed that the rifleman had to leave. But then again, there was still the ship.
“You will allow me to enter your ship correct?” asked Luna apprehensively, as though fearing he would simply take off.
Andrew nodded. Walking up to the Veteran he shouted “Cygnus, It’s time to leave!”
The ship then hissed, and began to hum as the High Energy Fusion Jets warmed up. As the ship started up the rifleman climbed up and into the cockpit. Gesturing toward Luna, he shouted “Come on up!”
Unfurling her wings the lunar princess flew up and landed in the cockpit. The place was much smaller than she’d expected. Due to the ship begin designed for one person, she ended up wedging herself between the dashboard, and Andrew.
The Rifleman was actually feeling a bit awkward because of it. A ruler that was practically considered a god was sitting in his lap, and staring at the controls of a supersonic, space grade combat ship.
“What do you think?” Shouted the rifleman over the engines.
“It’s very small!” replied the princess.
Rich gave a hearty laugh.
‘Way to state the obvious...’
“Yes, I suppose it is!”
As Luna looked around, she saw unusual knobs and buttons, with writing under them. It seemed to be an odd variant of classical Equestrian. The lines and dots seemed to be in the wrong places, making the script difficult, but not impossible to read.
One lever however seemed to catch her interest the most. As she read it, she realized it said “Thrusters.”
On the side was a bar that went from red on the bottom, to yellow, then green.
She turned to look at Andrew. He had somehow connected a hose to his face plate, where his mouth should have been, and he seemed busy looking at gauges.
“Excuse me. Can you show me how it works?”
“You want me to fly it?”
“Yes!” she chirped
“Umm...I don’t know if I’m allowed to do that…”
“We will speak with your leaders, should they be angry.”
‘Alright. I guess I’m just...making a diplomatic relation.’
“Alright. Cygnus, let’s put on a show!”
“Yes, Rifleman!” said the AI, a the smallest amount of excitement in her voice modulator.
---
After the rather unusual events in the town’s square, Pinkie Pie had offered to show John around, and see if she could find some work for him. They had spent the first fifteen minutes getting acquainted with the two friends, who the bubble gum pony had ran into.
Twilight had seemed to have warmed up to John. But he still noticed that she regarded any human she didn’t know too well with an air of detachment and slight haughtiness. In all honesty, he found it odd she warmed up to him so fast. It must have had something to do with Pinkie being there.
As for Fluttershy, she hadn't said a single thing. Rather, she had just meekly followed along. Punch knew he could get her to open up, if he just figured out what she enjoyed, and found common ground.
It was a basic psychological trick. Get someone to talk about something they like, and they’ll be ready to talk all day.
Noticing her butt-mark, for lack of a better term, he decided he may ask her about butterflies latter on.
About halfway through the tour, he noticed something odd. The unicorns were using what seemed to be Mobile Action Global Interactive Control. Or MAGIC systems. Mostly the levitation feature.
Honestly speaking, it scared Punch, to think they could do something like that. MAGIC systems were actually Precursor technology. It was a specialized system, installed on synthetic planets built by Precursors. It allowed almost complete control over any item on the planet, and because it was built into the planet itself, it was impossible to detect unless it was being used in front of a sensor specifically scanning for it.
As he stared at a mint green unicorn levitating a cup he felt a nudge on his side. Looking down he saw Pinkie staring up at him. “Hey John! I want to introduce you to my good friend Applejack!” she then gestured towards a pony, across the street dressed in a cowboy hat, and an apron. Standing next to her was a dark haired human, who was about four foot two.
“Come on, slow poke!” shouted the party pony as she bounced over and started yapping at the orange cowgirl. (Cowpony?).
Pinkie turned towards John and shook her hoof, telling him to come over. As he sauntered over, he saw Applejack’s eyes go wide.
“Hello,” stated the elite, “How’s it going?”
“Uhh, pretty good I s’pose,” replied the farm pony, “My name’s Applejack, and this here’s Jack.”
‘What a lame coincidence.’
“Nice to meet you. I go by Punch,” said the Elite, adopting the military like discipline he used when introducing himself.
“Wow. Real tall fella hmm…” she said more to her assistant than Punch
Dropping the air of formality, the Elite’s signature grin snapped back into place “I’m not tall. You’re all short.”
Pinkie gasped as though he had revealed a world changing secret. “Oh my gosh, you're right!” shouted the pink pony. John just shook his head.
‘I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to her.’
---
“Cockpit sealed. Ready for liftoff, rifleman.”
“Alright, prime thrusters, and heat pumps!”
“What are heat pumps?”
‘Goddamn it!’
In the ten minutes that Andrew had spent simply preparing for lift off, Luna had asked several questions, that Cygnus, much to his annoyance, had decided to answer through the use of a touch screen. The princess had been overly fascinated when the touch screen had pulled up a diagram of the HEF jets and explained in detail their accelerative abilities. She had then gone through the computer systems giggling, as she opened applications and programs. She found particular joy in a game of 3D tetris, which Cygnus force quit in an effort to calm down Andrew .
“Princess, if you ask for an explanation of every device, it will take us forever to get in the air.”
“It will take a total of three years, thirty two days, two hours and sixteen minutes Rifleman” Replied Cygnus.
“Yes, and I’m already late. I don’t have that long,” Rich grumbled.
“Our apologies, Rifleman. Please continue.” said Luna humbly.
‘Thank god.’
“Right. Ignition sequence, we’re just going to do a fly around before going back!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Princess! Please push that red button, next to the lever on my left.”
Gasping a bit, she squeaked, then reached over and pushed the button. The ship began rumbling. “All engines running.”
“Now! The lever, slowly begin pushing it up!”
Following the instructions, Luna cooed in excitement as the ship’s rumbling intensified. Then part of the dashboard opened up, and a steering wheel began to extend out. Andrew grabbed the controls, as Luna kept increasing the throttle.
“Alright, Princess, stop. And hold on to something!”
Luna obediently followed the instructions, and grabbed hold of Andrew's left arm with her forelegs.
Gripping the throttle lever with his Luna-free hand, Andrew jerked it forward, into the afterburner position, and pulled hard on the controls. The Veteran lurched, and then rocketed into the sky. Luna yelped, and clutched at the rifleman’s arm in a vice grip. The ship was almost vertical, and climbing higher and higher, as the engines exerted themselves. The vibrations became louder and more intense the longer the ship climbed.
Suddenly the AI’s voice cut through the noise. “Afterburners at 50% capacity.”
Luna felt herself being pushed back into the rifleman’s chest by the G forces. Though they were traveling at insane speeds, the G’s being exerted on the occupants of the cabin were not very great, thanks to the Veteran’s inertia balancing system, but that didn’t stop the pair of them from noticing the intensity of the climb.
As Luna continued to almost crush Andrew’s arm, there was another lurch and the ship slowed, and leveled out. Luna took a deep breath, and finally let go of Andrew’s arm.Turning her gaze out the window, the princess gasped at the view. They were up so high, she could see a slight curve in the horizon. Far below them, she saw the white cotton candy like clouds, and below them still was the green of the edge of the Everfree forest. Next to it was a small bunch of rectangles, that looked more like specks. The rooftops of Ponyville.
Staring in awe, Luna look towards Canterlot mountain: the tallest point in Equestria. They were far above the peak, so far in fact, that Canterlot was but a speck on the side of the mountain too.
Suddenly, Luna felt a tickle in her stomach. Almost as if...
“A- are we falling!?”
“Negative, we’ve gone into a dive.”
Suddenly, the clouds, and Equus began to grow larger and larger. Shutting her eyes, in a panic, Luna held her breath and waited for impact, not quite trusting the judgement of the rather rude AI. The feeling of falling was making her sick, and she could feel herself being lifted out of the Rifleman’s lap, as they fell.
After a moment, Luna braced herself for impact. She closed her eyes, and again, grabbed Andrew’s arm.
When the impact didn’t come, she opened a single eye, and saw that they had landed, and the glass dome they were sitting under was opening up, and the rumbling of the engine was growing louder.
“What did you think?” asked the rifleman.
“The view was breathtaking. How high did we go?”
“About twenty one thousand meters up...”
“Wow...I’ve never flown that high.”
“Well, you wouldn’t have been able to breathe. I’m glad you enjoyed it,” said Andrew smiling behind his mask.
Luna gave a content sigh. “We must talk again soon. Come to Canterlot for tea, sometime. It’s the city up on the mountain…”
‘Wow...The alien race we’re supposed to be investigating just asked me to tea...Well, I suppose that I can consider that warm lead plan a success...’
“If my superiors allow it, I’d love to. Thank you.”
---
John Punch stood, staring at a pair of guards, who wore perfect poker faces. Twilight Sparkle had entered what seemed to be the town hall, Pinkie had already gone home, and Fluttershy shortly after, leaving the pair to their own devices for the rest of the evening.
Twilight, still having work to finish up, had dragged John along, claiming that Pinkie had made her watch over him.
Honestly, John was just happy to have a place to stay. But the fact that Twilight was running an errand at the town hall, and the guards stationed there were rather discriminatory. That ticked the Elite off, and so he was stuck figuring out ways to bother them, and get into the huge building.
The Elite was actually a bit put off by their display. He’d never really been told off before. Or denied. Soldiers normally saluted him, and called him sir, yet here he was, being denied entrance to a building.
Walking up to the guards, he attempted, for the third time, to walk past them. They extended their wings, cutting off his entrance.
“Halt. You can’t go inside.”
“Why?”
They ignored him...again
“Hey. Listen!”
They ignored him again.
“Say something!”
The drill sergeant in him was ready to burst out and start barking orders but he knew the moment he did something, stupid, they’d charge him with something stupid like disturbing the peace. And he knew wouldn’t be able to fight them without pulling out his rifle.
‘Okay, I will NOT be ignored! Fuck these guys!’
Rather than taking the stairs, he walked about three feet to the left, just out of sight, and placed his suitcase on the ground. Then jumping up, he grabbed onto the railing, and pulled himself up. He smiled with satisfaction at his small accomplishment.
WIth his signature smile in place, he walked over to the staircase near the door. Opening up the door, he shouted “Hey! Dumb and Dumber! What’s up?”
The guards whirled around, eyes wide with surprise. Punch laughed like a maniac at their reaction, and then strolled into the town hall. As he walked in he spotted Twilight talking to a gray maned mare. Sauntering up to the pair he gestured towards the door. “Hey ya, Sparkle. Ready to go?”
“Oh. Hello John! Before we do, this is Mayor Mare,” She turned to the mare, “He’s the new human I’ve been telling you about.”
The mare gave him a kind smile. “Hello, Mr.Punch. You caused quite the stir today, parading around with Pinkie Pie and all.”
“Something tells me she’s a handful.” said the elite with a kind smile.
The two of them nodded. “Well, Twilight, thank you for the report. I’ll see you later.”
John stared at her as she walked away. Then he shook head head. “Wait, did I go through all that crap for nothing?” he asked Twilight, who was magicking a few papers into a manilla folder.
“All what crap?” asked the purple pony.
“The guards out there are about as sharp as a marble. They gave me a hard time about trying to get into the town hall.”
Twilight stopped for a moment and stared at him. “Well, that’s not nice. I’m pretty sure that it’s not allowed, either. This is a public building. How’d you get past them?”
“You all seem to lack the concept of going around obstacles rather than through them.”
“You snuck in?”
“Yep,” replied Punch
“Well, how will you get out?”
“Same way I got in,” he said, not missing a beat. “Besides...after taunting them, I don’t think they’ll take too kindly to me strolling out the front door.”
---
A half hour later, John stood in the middle of a spacious library, hunched down slightly due to the low ceiling. Twilight had been very welcoming so far, she’d even offered him tea, which he’d turned down. At this point though, he was a bit uncomfortable. The mare had insisted on talking to him about his previous jobs, to see if she could find him some work.
Seems like she wanted to be rid of him as soon as possible. The Elite wasn’t complaining, though. The sooner he got away from her, the sooner he’d be able to stop being paranoid about her figuring out about his real occupation.
“So. John Punch...that’s an interesting name,” she said awkwardly. “Is it a nickname?”
The Elite smiled and shook his head. “No. It’s my full name. Are you trying to make small talk?”
“Yes, It’s proper etiquette. Anyways, who named you?”
The Elite simply shrugged.
“You don’t know?”asked Twilight, a little confused
Twilight shook her head “You don’t want to learn about yourself?”
“Nope.”
“...I’ll never understand that.”
“and I’ll never care,” John said, his voice dripping in sarcasm, as he lazily threw away a random book he’d been flipping through.
The purple mare threw him an annoyed glare. “That’s really rude, you know. You should be thankful. Pinkie-”
“Do you hate me?”
Caught off guard, Twilight stopped mid sentence, and stared at him. Then she slowly shook her head. “No, I’m letting you stay with me. Why would do that, I if I didn’t like you?”
John leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Because you’re trying to keep up your social status. I saw the way you looked at me in the town’s square. You don’t really like me, at all.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s not you. I mean, I’ve just never really met a human that’s been all that nice. Every human has immediately began judging me, after they figured out I was from Canterlot. They never take the time to get to know me...That and then humans are really lazy.”
John looked towards her and smiled. “I learned you’re from Canterlot just now. Does it look like I’m judging you?”
“Not really, but you’re not from around here…”
‘Damn...she’s either really sharp, or I’m really doing a bad job of covering my ass.’
“And you’re judging humanity based on a sample size of what? Two? Three?”
“Two or Three? What makes you think that?”
“This town is downright tiny. Twinkie Pie-”
“It’s Pinkie Pie.”
“Sure, Pinkie Pie greeted everyone in town, human and pony, and tacked off their birthdays today. This town is small. I only noticed two people that were particularly rude to you. So I can basically say that they don’t like you, and you don’t like them. If you ask me, that’s a sample size of two. Too small to make a generalization that big.”
“I suppose. I’m sorry, if I seemed... suspicious at first. Hey! I could write a friendship report about that! ”
“Really? You want to write a paper on friendship? That’s so much work. Wait… Okay, I see what you’re saying about being lazy. In my defence, I feel there’s no point in extra work,” stated John quickly.
He saw her raise a hoof to her mouth as she tried to suppress a giggle. “If you’re not willing to do extra work, how will you get anywhere?”
‘I’m a First Division, Guardian Rank Elite who happens to be rather decorated, and I’m lazy as hell… how did I do it?’
“By doing the work given to you so well, you don’t need to do extra work,” said the Elite, more to himself than to the unicorn.
“You’re something else.”
‘I’m a genius.’
“Well, I’m off to bed. The guest bed is ready upstairs, if you like,” she yawned
“Nah, I don’t want to bump my head on anything…” muttered the human, eying the furniture, and ceiling in an accusatory fashion.
“We have vaulted ceilings…” sing songed Twilight
John’s eyes snapped to the staircase, and a smile appeared on his face, “You make a very persuasive argument.”
The mare smiled. “Oh, wait! Before I forget, I think I have a friend that could form a contract with you. She’s been swamped with work. Her name’s Rarity. I think you two would really work well together. Just a word of warning, she’s kind of like me…”
“Purple and adorable?” Asked John, hopefully
“N-no! She just doesn’t get along with humans very quickly.” shouted the mare, a bit nervously.
“And here I was, getting my hopes up,” muttered the Elite.
---
“It was amazing, sister! I wish you’d been there!” exclaimed Luna.
The two princesses had just finished their celestial duties, and were taking time to have their daily tea session. A time for the both of them to unwind and talk about their day, in the short time that their courts weren’t in session.
Celestia had been quite surprised at her sister’s initiative. She normally considered things like meteors trivial, however it seemed that the elevated security had caused Luna to think the meteor was reason for suspicion.
In actuality, a threat had been made against Canterlot not too long ago, and Celestia had thought the meteor was the attack. But this discovery was much bigger than a silly space rock. Luna had claimed that creatures that traveled in flying buildings they called “ships” had been on the edge of the Everfree forest, and that one of them, who had earned the humble position of Rifleman, had offered to take her flying in his.
Had any other pony been making these statements, Celestia would have been skeptical. But this was her sister, and she was talking about forming an alliance with a new nation. Both of which gave her statement a bit more merit.
Since the start of the tale, she had been captivated by the conversation Luna had shared with the creature, and the amazing wonders that were built into the ship. The elder sister took great interest in the technology the new race possessed. The more Luna described the humanoids, the more she feared that they had issued the threat against Canterlot.
However, the threat was found in the form of a note, posted on the outer wall’s guard barracks, and it had been written in perfect Equestrian. Not the classical script that the humanoids wrote in. But then again, translation wasn’t exactly hard. Most fillies and colts are taught classic Equestrian. Even some more intelligent humans learned it.
Taking a deep breath, Celestia looked towards Luna and shook her head. “I hope that this so-called “Rifleman” reports our attempted friendliness to his superiors. You already know about the threat against Canterlot. I don’t want another one.”
The smile slid off Luna’s face, and she looked towards her plate. “Sister, why is it that in the time we’re supposed to take a break, you continue to think about the problems we’re having?”
The solar alicorn sighed again, and shook her head. “I don’t know… It’s getting late, I should get to sleep.”
“Have a good rest. I will watch the night.”
---
Punch sat quietly on the bed. Open in front of him, was his suitcase. The case had actually contained a lot more than the Elite had expected. Quite a pleasant surprise, from his point of view. His Rifle, of course had sat atop everything, but John had swapped the layout, placing a false bottom over the rifle. Sitting on the false bottom was a few changes of clothes, a pair of glasses, built to project an HUD onto the lense and record things seen by the elite, and a arm mounted omni tool, commonly called an engineer’s kit.
In all honesty John had been more than a little confused when he’d seen the kit. It was normally used by field personnel that were performing deep space repairs, or working in zero gravity zones, it was a rather common sight.
It was new to Punch, though. He’d never really been given an opportunity to use one, due to him being a ‘specialized unit’. After a moment of joy at the thought of having his very own Engineer’s kit, a devious thought crossed the Elite’s mind.
‘I wanna try the plasma knife...’
As the Elite grabbed the tool, and opened it up. He then clicked it into place, with a loud SNAP. Looking at the tabs, to activate different tools, he smiled at the plasma cutter. Pressing the button, there was a small blast of air, from a deployment cartridge, and a wire mesh in the shape of a blade was deployed. John felt the blade begin to warm, and soon there was a crackle, as blue plasma sparked to life. The kit came with a heat resistant glove, which worked wonders, considering he could feel the intensity of the heat on his face, even though he was holding the tool at arm’s length.
Feeling the urge to do something destructive, the elite looked around the bed. Spotting a metal lamp on the side table next to him, he grabbed it, and turned it on its side. With a childish grin on his face, he brought the knife, which was jutting out from the bottom of his wrist, down on the center of the lamp.
The blade sliced through the metal, like a laser through steel. Unfortunately the magical lamp happened to be the only source of light in the room, and the result was John being thrown into semi-darkness, with only the blue glow of the plasma knife to help him see.
‘Right… Should have considered that before hand. But if I connect the wires, it should work fine...’
Quickly tapping the tab near thumb, the Elite shut off the knife. Grabbing the top half of the lamp, John, arranged the wires, and touched them together, and the lamp lit up. Looking in his briefcase, he spotted a roll of duct tape. Smiling to himself, he grabbed the roll, and after a minute or two of searching for the end of the tape, pulled off a strip.
Punch then applied a hearty amount of tape to the wires, then the base of the lamp, and placed it back on the bed side table.
John’s smile turned to a frown when the lamp sagged to the left, and flickered a bit, but somehow, managed to stay on.
‘Well...close enough.’
Turning his attention back to the tool, the Elite began to flick through the settings, which were displayed on a small one inch tall, four inch wide screen. Settling on the zero gravity movement system, essentially a powerful grappling hook, John set it to the main tab, a small button, just under the thumb that could be reached with his middle finger..
Pointing his arm up, Punch fired the movement system, which had apparently been modified to have a hook rather than an electro magnet, and gave a loud “Whoop!” as it impaled itself in the ceiling. Pushing the tab again, Punch started laughing as the hook began to lift him into the air, above his bed.
At that moment, the door knob began to jiggle, John, in his excitement, didn’t notice as a groggy, and grumpy Twilight Sparkle opened the door, ready to complain about the Elite’s cheering, but instead gasped in shock at the airborne human.