//------------------------------// // Chapter 25 // Story: 64 vs. Equestria // by Jman9877 //------------------------------// Chapter 25 64 POV “First question… Celestia. Do you know what she has done in the past?” I asked, putting on the most serious face I could. Twilight looked towards her friends for what looked like support but I snapped my fingers at her, grabbing her attention once again. “Focus Twilight! I really need you for this!” I yelled, scaring her a bit. She took a step back, and looked down in thought. “Umm…. I don’t really know what you mean. I know she’s been a Princess of Equestria since the Planetary Creation, and she helped oversee the building of almost all of the major cities in Equestria, but I haven’t known much about her before I became her personal apprentice. Since then she has been teaching me everything she can about magic, and recently she transferred me to learn about the magic of Friendship here in Ponyville.” Twilight finished, giving me a reasonable answer. I thought the answer was sufficient, and it in fact showed me that Celestia hadn’t exposed Twilight to anything about the Underground Testing. But, there was another part to the question I had to ask. “What about a pony who goes by the name of Silent Knight? Do you know anything about him?” I asked, noticing the sudden surprised face Twilight gave me. “In fact, yes. I’ve had a few conversations with him over the years, but I’ve never learned anything substantial about him. All I know is that he used to work as a doctor before he was let go, and was then assigned to Princess Celestia’s Royal Advisor, and now Princess Luna’s as well. But in my opinion he was a recluse, and only came out of his office to speak specifically with Princess Celestia, and on occasion me.” Twilight finished. I pondered her words for a few seconds. So if neither Celestia nor Knight spoke about the Underground Labs, does that mean Twilight knows absolutely nothing about them? I guess this would be good, and answered most of my Original questions. “Ok, next question, what do you know about me?” I asked, pointing at my chest with a thumb up. Twilight once again shifted uncomfortably, and looked to her friends again. “The rest of you can answer with her too, I want to see how much you've been told is a lie, and what is the truth.” I continued, motioning for the other 5 mares to come over as well. The orange mare was the first to speak up. “Ah know that ya have been seen ‘round these parts ever since the Nightmare Moon incident, which means ya had somethin’ to do with all that. Were ya the one who brought her to Ponyville in the first place?!” She spoke at me in accusation. I could see her reason for suspicion, so I gave my answer. “No, I didn’t bring her here. In fact, I was coming to Ponyville before I first encountered her in the woods, and we fought for a bit. She ended up grabbing me in her weird mist magic and snapped my ankle before tossing me through the trees. After that, I kept on going towards—“ I was cut off by Rainbow before I was able to continue. “Woah, Woah, Woah, if you had your ankle snapped, then how in the hay were you able to keep going towards Ponyville? You wouldn’t have been able to walk!” She yelled suspiciously at me. I decided it was time to show them the “dangerous device” Knight told Twilight about. I pulled out Peacemaker, and Twilight immediately backed away yelling. “Get away from us with that! Knight told me what it could do! I won’t let you hurt anypony here!” She yelled, charging a spell. I kept a straight face, and simply held it horizontally in their direction. “I won’t hurt you with it, but I want to show you what it really does. Just look.” I said, focusing with a bit of magic. I made a small Bowie knife, and held it out to them. They slightly flinched at the deadly weapon in my hand, but I assured them that I wasn’t going to hurt them. “It looks as I it’s made of only light, but the blade is very real. Look, you can feel it if you want.” I said, holding it a bit higher. Twilight shuffled towards me, and put a hoof up to the knife. She gawked when she felt the solid light against her hoof, and pulled back in shock. “H-How is that even possible!? In order to do something remotely similar you would need a steady stream of magic, and have the capabilities to actually have direct link to this device! And from what I can tell, you don’t seem to be a magic wielding being.” Twilight observed. I smirked at her attempt to catch me in a lie, so I decided I needed to show her what I could do. Using Vi’s magic, I walked to the wall and took a few steps up, sticking to the wall. I waved at the group of mares below me, acting as if this was something I could do like it was nothing. Rainbow flew up to me, and tried pushing me off, but by using the magnetic magic Vi was giving me, all she did was simply nudge me a bit, unable to knock me off. “Ooohh, that is sooo cool! Can you do that on the ceiling? What about on water? Can you do that with any part of your body like your hands or knees or face or back? Oh! What about with your—“ The crazy pink mare didn’t continue when the country mare put a hoof to her mouth. “Easy sugarcube, ah think he is more than capable of doin’ all o’ that, but right now ain’t the time for all those silly questions, he still need to explain what in the hay this has to do with him bein’ able to get back up after havin’ his ankle broken.” The orange mare spoke, reminding me what this has to do with anything. “Oh yea!” I said, jumping down from the wall and landing on the floor. “I still haven’t explained that. Well here is the long story short. This device has its own supply of magic, all regulated by a nearly omnipotent A.I. who lives inside of it. She and I have a connection which allows me to utilize magic outside of my body and use it to my whim, but I have to remain in contact with her whenever I want to use it.” I finished, observing the strange looks I got from all of the mares. Twilight looked extremely skeptical, and I didn’t blame her. I wouldn’t believe anyone coming up to me with that speech without any proof, so I decided to show the proof she needed. “Would you like to meet her?” I said, dispelling the Bowie knife and holding the Peacemaker out to them. “Wait, what do you mean “meet her”?” The posh whiite mare said, walking forward a bit. “I mean meet her. As in talk to her.” Fluttershy walked forward, “Umm…. What do you mean by… talk to?” “She and I talk a lot; in fact, she’s what has kept me alive for a long time now.” I said, silently thanking Vi. “Well, I guess I’m open to learn more about what this “A.I.” thing, whatever it is. I’d like to speak with her.” Twilight said, walking towards me and stopping in front of me. “Ahm goin’ with her. Ahm not lettin’ something bad happen to her if she goes into that weird thang.” The orange mare said. I needed to learn her name… “And I’m going too! I’m not scared.” Rainbow said, flying towards me and landing hard in front of me. “I-I guess I’ll go to…” Fluttershy said, slowly walking forward. “Oh me! Me too me too me too!” Pink yelled, bouncing up and down. “And I guess if the rest of my friends want to enter that strange device, I might enter as well!” The posh mare said, walking forward with her muzzle held high. I looked at the group of mares which wanted to meet Vi, and prepared to enter the Peacemaker. “Ok, everypony put a hoof on my shoulder or something, just remain in contact.” I said, as they followed my command. I closed my eyes, and felt the strange transition from reality to Vi’s realm. The warm feeling flooded the mares, and I heard their contented sighs. “Oh my... that feels better than any other spa treatment there is!” the now identified Rarity said. Vi reminded me of my sighting of her while I infiltrated Town Hall, and the name suddenly clicked for me. “Yea that feeling was numbed from me a while ago, so I don’t feel it when I come in here anymore. So I can’t remember how it feels anymore.” I said, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. I looked around of the white abyss, but couldn’t see Vi where she would normally be. “Vi! Come on out! You don’t need to be afraid of these ponies! I think they’re alright!” I yelled, trying to pull Vi out of her hiding. After a few seconds of silence, I heard a sound I hadn’t heard since I first saw Vi, a whirring sound permeated through the air, and pixels started to form out of the air. I looked towards the form which was shaping, and nearly busted out laughing when I saw what it was. Vi was forming, but instead of her normal “human form”, she came out as a Unicorn Mare. She had a Blonde mane, along with a sheer white coat, except she was still wearing that blue skin suit that she wore while still in humanoid form. “Vi? What’s with this look?” I asked, curious to why she would change her form. I looked back the group of mares which were with me, and saw their mouths gaping at the proof which they were being shown. “She’s what helps me regulate magic. In fact, she’s the source of the magic I can use.” I said gesturing towards the Vi mare, although I still had qualms about her form. “B-But, how is she… how did you….. what?!” Twilight yelled, having a hard time believing what she was seeing. “Don’t be alarmed by me, in fact I chose this form because I felt that it would be the form you would be most comfortable seeing me this way. And to calm you curiosity, I was made in a laboratory, along with my friend Project 64 here.” Vi said, revealing our origins and my name. “Who in the hay is Project 64?” The country mare said, wondering about my strange name. “I am, that was the name given to me when I was made.” I said, walking up to Vi and whispering in her ear. “Show them what we have that includes just Knight, not Celestia. We don’t want to scar them yet.” I whispered, and then walked back to the mares. In front of all of us, a large screen appeared. The first memory started to play. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Hello Project 64! I see that you have survived the night to see another day!” Knight said happily with his sick sense of humor. By the look on Twilight’s face she recognized him, and was mortified by the next scene. I was strapped onto a table, and a cloth was placed inside of my mouth as a gag. Then a strap of fabric was laid over my throat, and was pulled down forcibly by two other assistants, effectively choking me. I started to kick and flail, desperately trying to get air back into my lungs. These motions continued for about 10 more minutes, and then I started to panic due to my dangerous lack of oxygen “Keep him still! We need to measure how long his body can withstand oxygen deprivation!” I still was trying to punch one of these assistants in the face, but I felt myself starting to slow down as my vision started to blur, and my motions started to falter. “Good! Good! Almost there!” I was giving a few more coughs before I finally fell unconscious, and the assistants let go. “Good, we measured he could withstand up to 14 minutes without oxygen, and 2 minutes after falling unconscious. Get him back to his cell, and prep for tomorrow’s session. We will be doing oxygen deprivation under water, and testing what his brain 's reaction would be.” Knight said, walking away with his clipboard in his magical grasp, a smug grin on his face. The screen faded, and I saw the mortified faces of the mares. “Do you want to see the other 1000 memories?” I said nonchalantly, as if it was nothing. “What was that?! What was Knight doing there?” Twilight asked, in a flurry of confusion. “He was the one who helped make me, and he was the one who was put in charge of experimenting on me. I was put dubbed Project #64, and used to test how they could increase the pain threshold in a Royal Guard, and use it for a greater military. And before you ask, yes. Celestia did know about this.” I said, and my heart broke as I saw Twilight’s face morph into one of horror. “She… knew?” Twilight repeated, as if she couldn’t believe it herself. I kneeled down to level and nodded, waiting to see what she would do. She was about to yell, but I cut her off. “She knew, but thanks to your answers I know something else! She didn’t want to! I know for a fact that the extremely horrible work she has done lately were the product of Knight and his manipulating. Remember? He told you that this device you’re inside of right now had the ability to destroy an entire town within minutes? It can do a lot, but definitely not that. He’s a lying manipulating bastard, and I was blinded the entire time. It’s not Celestia who did all of this to me. It was Knight, and I now know he needs to die.” I finished, standing up and focusing, ejecting all of us out of Peacemaker. I opened my eyes and saw all of the tear stained faces of the mares, and knew I had to do something to neutralize the situation. “Look, I know this is weird, but I don’t even know all of your names yet. Do you think you can tell me? I know Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow, but not you two.” I said, pointing towards the orange and pink mares. “M-Mah name’s Applejack.” The mare stuttered out, still shaken up at the revelation I just made. “A-And I’m Pinkie Pie…” The pink mare said, and I noticed her mane had gone from explosively poufy, to flat as a desert plain. “And Rainbow isn’t my full name, it’s Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow Dash said, attempting to keep her composure. “Hello Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. My name is Project 64, and it’s very nice to—“ A tremor rung through the area, and I instinctively grabbed Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy close, knowing they were most vulnerable. I saw a bright red light shine from the direction of Ponyville, and stood up immediately. “What the hell is going on….”