Chapter 14
Vi POV
“Looks like 64 is going to have to learn to work with someone else…”
I was inside of Fluttershy’s Shed, and I heard her enter through the front door. Inside of the Shed there were 3 Adult Bears, all of which were homeless for now after that last week’s landslide.
“Hello there bears!” Fluttershy said, hushed but loud in her own way, “I hope I’m not disturbing you, I just have to get something for one of my new friends. You know the one you help me get out of the Cliff? He just woke up and he says that he needs something I left in here, oh here it is!”
She walked over to me and picked me up in her hoof. I felt the magical vacuum of her hoof grab me, and take me outside of the shed, towards her Cottage. I could only wonder what 64’s surprised face looked like when he realized that he wasn’t down in that dangerous ravine, but instead in a warm bed of somepony who decided to help him out of the kindness of her heart.
Fluttershy opened the door, and what I saw was almost too funny not to laugh at.
64 was being pinned down by his arms and legs by a multitude of small woodland creatures, with a small White Bunny standing on his chest.
The bunny seemed to be the “alpha” of the group, and was staring down at 64 from his position on his chest.
64 was thrashing on the ground, trying to get up, but the amount of small creatures on him made it physically impossible for him to do so.
“You little fur ball! When I get my hands on you, you’re gonna be nothing but stew do you hear me!? Oh…… hey Fluttershy, you uh…. Get what I asked for?” 64 said sheepishly.
Fluttershy seemed to scowl at 64, tossing me over to him where I landed on his chest. The animals seemed to disperse, allowing 64 to get up and grab me.
“Man Vi, you have no idea how good it feels to talk to you right now.” 64 said with a sigh.
“I wouldn’t worry about me right now. I would worry about the death stare Fluttershy is giving you right now.” I said, to which 64 turned around and saw Fluttershy’s pupils shrink, and voice go into a growl.
“No matter how badly something treats you, you promised me you wouldn’t threaten any of my animals as a meal!!!” Fluttershy yelled, nearly knocking 64 off his feet and onto the floor once again.
“Not to be mean, but that little thing got all of his buddies here and decided to gang up on me! Look at that little smug grin of his!”
The bunny seemed to laugh and point at 64 after that statement.
“And I am very sorry about that. But you're bigger than he is, and you should know better!”
“O-ok…”
What just happened?
It seemed as if Fluttershy was able to completely knock the wind out of 64’s sails with just a simple scolding! How was that
even possible? 64 is one of the most hard-headed people I know, and this mare just simply talked him out of an argument! Maybe I could learn a thing or two from her.
“Now say you’re sorry!” Fluttershy said, turning around so the bunny on her back was now facing 64.
“I-I’m… sorry…” 64 said, looking down at the floor dejectedly.
“Umm… 64? We still have the problem of you avoiding detection from Celestia, and you are talking to one of the friends of her Personal Student. I think you should keep interaction to a minimum and get out of Ponyville as quickly as possible.” I said, wanting to get to safety before something drastic happens.
“I know, just give it time.” 64 thought, still looking at Fluttershy sadly.
64 cleared his throat and knelt down to Fluttershy’s height.
“Look, Fluttershy. I need your to help with something really important right now. Do you think you can help me?”
Fluttershy’s anger seemed to vanish after that statement, and seemed to be replaced with confusion.
“Oh, you want me to get something for you again?” She said happily.
“Yea, but I’m not sure where it is right now. It might be over at Twilight Sparkle’s house. You know where she lives, right?”
“Oh yes! We celebrated her Welcoming Party there last week. Did you leave a book or something there?”
64 put on a more serious demeanor before he started to tell her more details about what she needed to do. Hopefully she was capable of doing a simple task for 64, then we could work on getting out of here.
64 POV
“Ok, Fluttershy. I need you to go and pick up a piece of clothing I left somewhere. It’s brown, and really big, too big to fit a pony. I need you to get it from Twilight’s house. Do you think you can do that?” I asked.
“I think I can… but why do you need it? I have your other shirt over here.” Fluttershy said, going over to grab my black long sleeve off of a couch before handing it to me.
“Thanks but I really need that piece of clothing. It’s really important that I get that back, but if you do go, you have to make sure that you do not mention me in anyway, you understand?”
Fluttershy looked scared all of a sudden.
“Oh, but what if I can’t do it? What if I mess up on something and I can’t get your piece of clothing back?”
She looked as if she was on the verge of tears, but I didn’t know how to console anybody.
“Umm…. I-it’s alright, you just n-need to try your best, and I know you can do it.” I said while petting her head comfortingly.
She seemed to relax a bit of after I coaxed her, and put on a nice little smile.
“O-ok. I can do it.” She said confidently.
“Good. Now I can’t be seen outside right now, so just try to get the piece of clothing and get back as quick as you can.”
Fluttershy nodded and walked out of the Cottage heading towards Ponyville
“Well, now we can easily leave now, you can make another cloak in the Everfree Forest. How hard can it be to skin a few Manticores?” Vi said, not understanding why I was simply waiting inside of this Cottage when I could be escaping.
“Vi, I left something important inside of one of the pockets of that cloak. I need it bad, and it’s more important than you think.” I told her, as she realized what I had left.
“You mean you left your—“
“Yep.”
“And you left it at—“
“Yep.”
“64 you are an incredible idiot.”
“I know, I try.”
Knight POV
That damned Captain. He’s been a thorn in my side for far too long…
After the events of Nightmare Moon’s return, things have been going downhill for me and my planning. After I was healed from my injuries I quickly went back to work trying to restart my Underground Testing.
I went down to the holding cells and experimentation rooms, checking to see if some of them were still operational despite years of neglect. Sadly most machines weren’t, and the only things which worked were the Taser Rod, and the Gaseous Acid Burner, ironic because those were the last two devices used to experiment on Project 64.
Reports from Shining Armor and me say Project 64 was in the Clearleaf Forest near Ponyville the night of the Summer Sun Celebration, and was there for the sole purpose of abducting Twilight Sparkle.
Of course that was not the real case. Project 64 was near Canterlot in the early morning of the Summer Sun Celebration, and was near Ponyville in the evening, but his intentions to me were unclear. I tried to use this strange turn of events to my advantage when I informed Princess Celestia about this, and it resulted in her nearly flying to Ponyville herself to bring Twilight Sparkle back, which would have been perfect for me.
I could have framed Project 64 for her “disappearance”. I could have kept her locked up here while I repaired the Extractor and made an all new Absorbing Apparatus, one that wasn’t sentient.
But no, instead Princess Luna had to convince her otherwise. Princess Luna was yet another opponent on my growing Chess Board I had to defeat, and it was infuriating.
I already needed to outsmart Shining Armor and Princess Celestia, so adding another player to the game? Incredibly frustrating.
I decided to leave the Labs for now and return to my office. I needed to form a plan so I could lure Project 64 into a trap, and then capture him.
What I had learned about him is that he loves two things: pretending to be a hero, and trying to help others.
I used to hope that I crushed everything good about Project 64 during our testing sessions, but it turned out that he had an incredible will. Anypony else would have cracked under the pressure, but it turned out that along with his pain resistance and strong mind he still had a shred of heroism within him.
“Sir, how are things today?” A Unicorn Guard asked.
“Fine, back to your post.” I said sternly.
“Yes sir!”
I continued through the halls, trying to remember the name of that guard so he could be reprimanded. I finally arrived at my office and saw the massive stack of papers which still needed to be filled out and filled. I picked up a few in a magical grasp, and quickly skimmed over them.
“Request for longer Chow Times for recruits in Military Training? Denied. I might need to look into another hunger experiment before this becomes a problem. Request from Ponyville for funds to repair the partially burned down Town Hall? Hmm…. Approved.”
I continued to flip through the various papers, approving and denying all sorts of requests. This sort of menial labor was below me, but I needed to do it to keep up appearances. If I didn’t do my actual work, Princess Celestia would become suspicious of my actions, and eventually catch on to what I was planning.
“Ugh… Enough of this…” I muttered before dropping all of the papers I had on the table. I decided to start planning that ambush I had in store for Project 64, and start deciding which guards I would bring with me. With the return of Princess Luna, there would be a Lunar Royal Guard to be made. Perhaps I could trick a few unsuspecting recruits to ambush 64 when he least expects it…
I heard the Grandfather clock on the wall toll, signifying it was 6pm.
I retired from the office to go to the Royal Library to find a map of an area I could use for my plan.
“Project 64… you will become mine again…”
3rd Person POV
Fluttershy was casually making her way towards Twilight’s Library, and although she looked calm and ready on the outside, she was a nervous wreck on the inside.
“Oh my, what if I mess up and get the wrong thing for Mr. Creature and he gets mad at me? I don’t want to make him angry.” Fluttershy thought, afraid of what she was about to do.
She walked passed Sugarcube Corner and saw Pinkie Pie smashed her face against a window to get a good look at her, and stopped to wave. Pinkie ran out the door and towards Fluttershy, stopping right in front of her, bouncing up and down.
“Hi Fluttershy! Did you hear about this weird thing that was running through town today that stood on two feet and was being chased by Rainbow, AJ, and Rarity?” Pinkie said in one large breath.
Fluttershy nodded at Pinkie before she answered, “I think I saw him run past my house. The poor thing looked so scared and afraid, and I think he was lost.”
“*GASP* Do you think we should go help him? I mean, if he was all dangerous like Twilight said, wouldn’t he already be hurting ponies? But he was trying to run away! Why would he want to hurt anypony if all he did was run away from us?”
“Oh my, umm… probably. I’m not sure if he wants to hurt anyone, but if he wants help I would definitely help him.”
Fluttershy started to shift uncomfortable as she became a bit nervous about her being late to get the piece of clothing 64 had asked for.
“Hey! You ok Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked a bit worried.
“Oh! I’m just uhh… getting something for somepony. He wants something he uhh… left at Twilight’s house.”
“You mean the cloak the creature left at Twilight’s house?”
Fluttershy visibly tensed at the mention of the new creature that was in her cottage right now.
“H-how did you k-know!?” Fluttershy asked frightened.
“I didn’t! You just told me!” Pinkie said with a smile.
Fluttershy started to cry a bit at the thought of breaking her promise to 64, and Pinkie saw what she was doing.
“Oh I’m so sorry Fluttershy! I didn’t mean to make you cry. Is there any way I can make it up to you?”, Pinkie said worriedly.
“Umm… can you help me get t-the cloak for Mr. Creature?” Fluttershy said with a sniffle.
“No problem Fluttershy! Easy as pie!” At this Pinkie pulled out a whole Cherry Pie and ate the whole thing in one bite.
Fluttershy giggled at her friends antics, then continued towards Twilight's House, Pink friend in tow.
64 POV
“HOW COULD YOU FORGET SOMETHING AS IMPORTANT AS THE RHYOLITE SHARD?” Vi yelled in my ears as she was grabbing me by the collar and shaking me rapidly.
I grabbed her wrists as I pulled her off me and pushed her away. I went inside of the Peacemaker at her request, only to find she was waiting for me to enter so she could personally punish me.
“Hey! It wasn’t my fault that Twilight pulled my cloak off of me before I could take it out! Besides, I think if we just barter with a couple of Diamond Dogs again we can easily get another one.” I said trying to win an obvious losing argument.
“THAT WAS YOUR NUMBER ONE WEAPON AGAINST CELESTIA! AND YOU SAY WE CAN JUST GET ANOTHER ONE?!”
“Yeah! I don’t see why not!”
“Do you have another Rose Ruby to give to them for it?”
“N-no…”
“Exactly.”
She crossed her arms in anger and huffed. We had found a group of Diamond Dogs traveling in a pack once while traversing Whitefire Woods, and they demonstrated the magical capabilities of Rhyolite Crystals.
When crushed in anybody’s hands, or hooves, the user was able to use one very powerful magic spell, no matter what race or species. I had witnessed one of the Diamond Dogs use the Rhyolite Shard to burn a few dozen trees to the ground, and melt a few rocks in the process.
All I had of value on me at the time was a very rare crystal I had found near Outpost #8, way up north in the Frozen Tundra, the Rose Ruby. It was a red Ruby in the shape of a Flame, and according to Vi it was incredibly rare, with only 20 being found in Equestria.
“Ugh… well let’s hope Fluttershy is more than capable of retrieving you cloak then.” Vi said massaging her temples
“Hey… how about that thing we always do to help us relieve stress. How about we do it on a bed this time rather than the hard old table like last time? I think I’m feeling up for a few dozen rounds.” I said with a wiggle of my eyebrows.
“I think we should move to the bed… I’m still sore in “those” places after last week. How about this time we make it a bit more…. interesting?”
“Like we use the “special toys” we use sometimes?”
“Exactly…”
A bed immediately appeared before use, and we wasted no time jumping on it……
And start playing Chess with a timer set for a 5 Minute game time limit.