August 4, 9:10 P.M
I got back up from the ground with renewed determination and fire in my eyes. I looked at my gift from Vinyl one more time and then ran down the alley. I found a path back to my house but, of fucking course, it was guarded. There were two guards, both wearing CIA suits and had sunglasses on even though it was dark outside. Wait, I looked closer into their glasses and could see some kind of screen inside of them. They were high tech glasses. This will be harder then I thought. I can't do stealth, at all. But, it was my house, and I had a few tricks up my sleeve.
I picked up a rock the size of my palm and threw it against the wall behind me. When it hit, there was a loud 'clank' and I could see one of the guards walking toward it. I hid behind a nearby dumpster and waited until he passed. He passed me and I tripped him and kicked his celiac plexus then grabbed his neck to prevent him from breathing or screaming. He passed out after a few seconds and I released my grip. I took off his glasses and suit and put them on. He was about a foot taller and much more tan, but it was still pretty dark.
I walked up to the other guard started to talk like a CIA agent would.
"Yo, dawg! What's up, I just took a whiz."
"Baws awesome, bro! Ya fo shizzle bout that?"
"Straight up, dawg. I need da check da bitche's place, broham."
"Aight, aight, I'll watch the bitches out here." How the fuck did that work? Anyway, I walked into the house and sat down at my computer. I disabled the warheads which took me about 5 seconds. I've done that so many times, I made a program that all I had to do was click on the right weapon and hit enter. Nukes rarely had security. Then I remade my IRR and the MTSC on a blueprint program and posted it to an open-source dev ideas website. People should start looking through these and improve them. Then I went through my old contacts. I needed a team of specialists for this job. I found the person who I would need first and contacted her in a chatroom.
Vasd: Dylansl, long time no sea.
Dylansl: I guess so. I'm putting a team together. It's to build something.
Vasd: I already know. There's only one person on this Earth that could design that MTSC.
Dylansl: You're quick.
Vasd: Yes I am. Quick enough to tell you that the shirt you're wearing is ugly as fuck.
Dylansl: Stole it from the CIA guy to get inside. And I'm impressed that you managed to get past my sensors.
Vasd: I'm using your stealth suit design. And I gotta say, it's pretty nice. Also, the other CIA guy is sleeping like a baby.
Dylansl: let's see, the fact that you could avoid detection by me and the CIA, and how you knocked the guard out that quickly, and you can see me, I would say you,
I pointed behind me out a window toward a ledge on a building. I saw a quick flash of light telling me I was right.
Dylansl: are right there.
Vasd: Not bad. Mind if I come in?
Dylansl: Why do I have the feeling you already are?
"Because I am. " Said a female voice with a Spanish accent. She stood at my room's door and was wearing a skin tight black suit with a small pistol on her hip and a Remington sighted hunting rifle in her hands. She was tall and skinny and about 23. Her face was spotless and a pale white with smooth cheeks.
"You surprise me as always, former secret agent Cortez."
"My pleasure. So, whats the plan?" I spent the next hour or so explaining why I need everyone and why I'm building the MTSC. I left out the parts of them being ponies. "For a chance to work with you again, I'll do it. Mind if I sleep here?"
"There's a guest room to the right." She walked out with her hips swaying and said,
"Good night." I decided sleep was the best thing right now. I jumped onto my bed and quickly fell asleep but not before I looked at the small record from Vinyl.
August 5, 7:02 A.M.
I woke up feeling the soft fluffiness of my pillow. No wait, that wasn't a pillow, that was... uh... What was that? I snuggled my nose on the object and opened my eyes. It was a women. About 18 and had striped blue hair and was white. She opened her eyes and they were a deep lustful crimson. I whispered,
"Vinyl?" She smiled and said,
"Wake up." Huh? She said it again, slightly louder,"Wake up!" Then I was flung from the bed onto the ground. I opened my eyes once again and noticed that Cortez was standing in front of me, upside down wearing a yellow T-shirt and black shorts. She said,
"Wake up and get off the floor." I shook my head and got up off the ground. I glanced over to my bed and saw nothing. My face quickly lost the smile as I realized that Vinyl wasn’t there. "Dylan," Cortez said in her heavy Spanish accent, "We should get going. And you look so cute on the floor like that. And, why did you say vinyl? I thought you hated old things." She smirked while saying that last sentence.
"It's no one and-"
"One? So it's a person? Strange name. Could you tell me about this 'Vinyl'?"
"Later, and where did you get the clothes?"
"It's the bioadaptive cloth."
"I didn't program it to have normal clothes."
"A friend changed it."
"And, what were you doing so close to me? You don’t live anywhere near me and I never told you to travel over here."
"You, of all people, should know."
"You noticed that America was going into WW3 and you knew I would never let that happen, so you thought I was in serious trouble. Then you decided to pay me a visit, but, I wasn't there. You camped out on top of a nearby building and waited for my return. By the speedy response last night, I would say you were watching for 2 days."
"As always, you're right. So, who or what is our first target?"
"I thought you would never ask. Luckily for us, it's a both who and what. And you will love where this is. You remember Bentley?"
"The genius who solves problems with explosives. I almost miss him."
"That's the who, now for the what. We're going to need a laser. An experimental one that is being developed by Bentley. Best of all, it's in a top secret heavy guarded lab somewhere a mile underground in Ohio." She simply chuckled and said nothing. "Also, Bentley may or may not want to kill me." She put on a confused face and asked,
"Why?"
"He's a brony." I wasn't an anti-brony, but I did tease him about being an explosives expert and somehow at the same time liking colorful ponies. He took it more personally then I thought. And I'm afraid that I may have to tell him about Equestria, which is something I don't want to do. I'll use it as a last resort card. Let's just skip the boring next few hours which I mainly just sent checking my email and watching porn. Soon, it was nightfall and I was at my computer at my house while Cortez was at the secret lab entrance. She chimed in through a walkie talkie,
"Do you have a visual?" I accepted the incoming signals and viewed what Cortez was viewing through a small camera near her eyes. She was standing at the entrance to the lab. The door was rusted with moss covering every crack on the small stone opening. I answered her question with,
"Yes. The door is most likely locked with an analog closed circuit loc-"
"It's a plain door. It's not locked." I almost got sad. I wanted to hack that.
"Fine. Then open it up and go down." She threw open the door with a loud, ear splitting *CREEEEEEAK*. I was running full security tests on this place. I didn't want any surprises.
"Anything waiting for me below?" Scans picked up nothing. Nothing means something.
"Not sure, but there appears to be some kind of EMP bubble around the place. I won't be able to help you while it's active." she slid down the ladder and said,
"So I need to take out the EMP generators. Got it." There was a loud explosion of gun fire from across the room and I lost the signal. Damnit! I yelled out 'Cortez' hoping she would answer. Still just static. I slammed my hand on the desk hoping for some kind of signal to let me know she's okay. I held my breath in fear of what could happen. The visuals were restored and greeted me with bellowing smoke. The smoke died down and I could the the EMP generators rusting in a scrap pile. Relieved, I said,
"Cortez, I thought you were a goner." I composed myself and spoke with more seriousness. "This is supposed to be a stealth mission! What were you thinking?!" Cortez just shrugged and continued down the white hall.
"I have found another trap." Cortez said. Of course it wasn't too long until there were trip lasers. I started to blast through the defenses looking for the switch the controlled the lasers. I fired one shot of code after another wearing down the security defenses. Wait, something's off here. It shouldn't be this easy. I said,
"Cortez, some thing isn't right here. It's too easy. Almost like... they’re letting us in"
"I'll be on the look out." Just then, a hidden door slides open and someone in a lab coat walks out. He was about 17 and spoke with a American accent. He was skinny with average height and had a smooth face and green eyes and brown hair that came down to his eyes. He was glaring at Cortex with intense eyes. He was tossing a unarmed grenade, that had Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark painted on it, up and down in his hand.
"You come into my lab and break my defense. And you of all people. I should kill you where you stand. I'm not coming back. And I know you're listening Dylan. "
Back in Ponyville in Vinyl's point of view.
I laid there in my bed and thought about throwing a welcome back party. It would have been nice if Neon at least told me when he was going to be back. I guess I could go see Octavia in the mean time. I slid off my bed and trotted out the door. I need to talk with Pinkie about what kind of party would Neon like. No wait, he doesn't really like ponies that much. I guess just him and I will spend a day together, but where to? He did say he wanted to visit Fillydelphia sometime. But Cloudsdale does sound more fun. Maybe I could even trick him into drinking that rainbow juice. That would be a funny story to tell our foals. I smiled at that thought. Starting a family isn't something I want to do, but it's different with Neon. I love him and want to spend the rest of my life with him, but still, I like my life of partying and foals might ruin that. I'm actually kind of surprised that we haven't 'broke the bed' yet. Maybe he just doesn't want to. I arrived at Octavia's house and knocked on the door. No answer. I opened the door and walked in. I called out,
"Yo! Octavia! Ya home?" Still no answer. I should check upstairs. I heard water running through one of the doors and opened it. It was a pristine, fancy bathroom. The porcelain was shining and had a soft reflecting glow. The mirrors were reflecting a stripe of light and had no marks or spots on them. Octavia was in a clear, glass door shower washing her long black hair. She noticed me and said,
“Hello, give me a minute.” She turned off the water and dried her self off with a towel. She then put on her bow-tie and combed her hair. I leaned on the wall, rolling my eyes.
“Last time I checked, the gala wasn’t tonight.” I mocked Octavia. She brushed my insult off and replied with,
“You should always look your best. There might be somepony who would want you.”
“Oh, really? I haven’t taken a shower in 2 months and I already got a stallion.” Octavia made a sick face and turned around.
“2 months! There is no way anypony could live without cleaning themselves for 2 months!” I simply chuckled and said,
“I don’t think anypony cares about appearance that much. Well, except you.” She finished up dressing and handed me a comb.
“You need this, your hair is simply atrocious.” I got up from the floor, looked at the comb and smirked.
“My hair—is perfect. And, it doesn't need to be combed.” Octavia frowned.
“I’ll clean it for you.” I backed away waving my hooves in front of my face.
“Hey hey, don’t be hasty. My hair is fine!” She didn't listen and only got closer. When she was in range, she pounced on me and I rolled out of the way. She came back for a second attempt screaming,
“I will comb your hair!” I ran and dived forward, under her. She passed by overhead and I looked back. She was getting up off the ground. I ran forward and burst trough the bathroom door. After a bit more chasing, I found the way out and ran through the front door. Last time she tried to comb my hair, I looked like some high class pony that lived in Canterlot. I hate looking like those snooty ponies.
Back to Dylan’s point of view.
I put my voice on speaker phone and said,
“Bentley, I need you. We are-” I was cut off by him saying,
“I don’t care. Leave now, or else this little grenade will be pinless.” He said with anger in his voice. I instructed Cortez to stay there. He was serious. I ran a scan on his vocals and he wasn’t lying. He really would kill her. I said,
“Let me finish first. We are build-” He cut me off again by saying,
“The MTSC. I know. That’s not all I noticed. I thought of why you needed to make that and the only thing that I could come up with is... you found something off-world. I was interested also, but I know you needed what I was working on, and I couldn’t let that happen. So, before I use my Dash grenade on you, tell me, what do you need the MTSC for? You have one chance to convince me.” Fuck! He put me into a corner. He always was good at interrogating people.
“*sigh*, Fine. You win. Just, don’t start drooling.” He gets confused and stops tossing his grenade. ”We’re,” I gulped, for fear of him not believing us.”Building the MTSC because, Equestria... is near the solar system. Enough so that it would take as little as 2 seconds to reach at speeds post-light.” He loosened his grip and the grenade fell out of his hands. His eyes went wide.
“Equestria...but...but...” He shook his head and became angry again. ”Really? You think you can fool me that easy?” He said, raising his voice.
“Well, I was there. Ask me any question.”
“How long were you there?”
“A week.”
“And you brought nothing back?”
“Well, I did bring one thing. It was all I had. Cortez, open up the holographic display on your hand.” She held her hand out, open, and pressed a button on the side. I put the memento Vinyl gave me into a nearby 3D scanner on my desk. The hologram on Cortez’s hand lit up and the small record appeared, spinning. Bentley glanced at it then said,
“And, what exactly, is this! This doesn’t tell me anything!”
“Look at the photo in the middle.” I instructed him. He took a step closer and peered into the spinning disk. His jaw dropped once he noticed it.
“But... those...” He recomposed himself again and said, “The one on the right is Vinyl Scratch. But, who’s the bright green one in rope on the side?”
“That’s... well... me. Or at least it was while I was there.” He rubbed his beard-less chin and said,
“You... well, this isn’t conclusive, but, I suppose there’s enough for me to believe you for now.” Yes! ”So then, you need my laser, which lucky for you, I finished about 20 minutes ago. The only problem, it maybe my design, but this laser was suppose to be used in military combat so I doubt I’ll be able to take it home. Plan 40?” Plan 40. I still remember all those plans we made years ago. Plan 40 is create a explosion to distract people then leave a fake dead body of the escapee to make people think the person was dead and not trying to escape and in special circumstances, we also use it to steal something and escape. The fake dead body wasn’t a physical object, it was a hologram. In agreement, I said,
“Plan 40.” Cortez and Bentley nodded and Bentley took out some kind of small iron pellet.
“I’ve been wanting to use these.” He raised them up in the air and I started redirecting cameras so that they couldn't see what was going on. Bentley threw down the metal pellets and a loud bang was heard along with smoke filling the room. I heard an alarm go off and I was creating a mental checklist about what to do. Step 1: Create distraction. Check. Step 2: Leave hologram pretending to be dead body of Bentley. Cortez just did that. Step 3: Grab laser. I looked around the maps of the lab I had and found the laser. I said to Cortez,
“The laser is on level B floor 34 room 69.” I sent her coordinates and a path which she followed using a holographic line shooting out from the floor. The white shiny walls were a blur as she moved speedily through the hall. I noticed two life forms, humans, with semi-automatic weapons. I told Cortez,
“Cortez, watch out, there are two people with weapons around the corner. I suggest-” She kept on moving at full speed and when she was at the corner she grabbed the edge of the wall and swung on it, kicking the two guards in the face and knocking them out.
“I’m the fighting expert here, remember?” Cortez reminded me. That was true, and I also didn’t know you could do that with those gloves. Not their intended use, but clever nevertheless. “This place is suppose to be heavily guarded. Where is everyone?”
“It appears to be take your daughter out to work day. So they all must be in the lunch room or something.” Why else would I pick today to attack? Cortez jumped through a hole in the ground and said,
“There it is.” The laser was small, about the size of your hand. Strange, I thought it would be rather large.
“Good. Now grab it and get out of there.” She broke the laser out of it’s cage on the desk and slipped it into her pocket. She then turned around and dashed out of the room. I heard a beep and a notification came up on my computer that said, ‘Bentley would like to open communications.’ I clicked yes and I could see him. He said,
“Where’s Cortez? I’m waiting at the elevator, leave codes ready.”
“She’s rounding the corner as we speak.” She dashed up to Bentley and then Bentley opened the elevator door and they both jumped inside. Bentley then spammed the ‘lobby’ button. The elevator slowly lurched upward and Bentley started counting.
“5, 4, 3, 2, 1.” *BOOM* What the fuck was that?! Sounded like a sonic boom. Right as he said ‘1’ there was a loud explosion that shook the elevator. Annoyed, I said,
“Bentley! What the fuck man! We only needed the laser! What did you blow up!?” Bentley smiled and said,
“I never volunteered for that project. And, that was my new Dash grenade. It creates a sonic rainboom by filling a room with rainbow colored smoke that expands faster than the speed of sound.” After that, they sat in the elevator without saying anything and then the door opened and they strolled out. A yellow mustang came cruising up. Bentley opened up the driver’s door and hopped in. He then motioned for Cortez to do the same for the passenger’s seat. She did and he pressed a few buttons. Once he finished, the car turned around and shot forward, without Bentley driving. He laid back and said,
“Car that drives its self. Gotta love these babies. Get your 5-gallon hats on, because we’re going to Texas!” I’ve learned not to correct him on expressions or phrases anymore. He only argues that he’s right and never listens.
Let’s head back to Vinyl’s point of view.
I hid under my bed, it was so obvious that she would never find me! Octavia slammed open the door and exclaimed,
"Hiding under your bed won't work a second time!" What?! I better keep moving. I looked over to my right and found my alarm clock. I hatched a pretty clever plan. Once I saw Octavia's hoof under the bed, I hit the alarm button and the loud, ground shaking music came pouring out. Octavia tripped on the floor and landed face first. This was my only chance, I dashed out from under my bed, avoiding Octavia's attempt at grabbing my leg and ran out my door. Where else can I hide? Maybe I could hide in Neon's room, Octavia doesn't know about him yet. I made a final dash for Twilight's tree and Octavia jumped from out of nowhere, surprising me. We then got tangled up and rolled across the grass. We hit a tree after a few rotations and I looked up at my hair. Octavia just stood there, with a smug look on her face. My hair was combed. It was long and flowing, a lot like Octavia's hair. I admired my hair a bit, almost liking it, then banged my head forward and my hair returned to normal, much better. Octaiva lost her smug look and sighed. She then told me,
"What am I going to do with you." I smiled at her and replied with,
"Like I said, my hair is perfect." She then started to trot off and I got up and followed after her. "Where ya headed?"
"Not sure. I guess I could tune my cello-" I cut her off saying,
"That's no fun. I have a better idea! Bring your cello and yourself to the music-off in Manehatten!" I then ran off toward my house to pick up a few records. I found my collection of favorite records, which I leave on my DJ stand. I flipped through the book and found a record that had the words 'Vinyl and Octavia duet' writing in gold cursive letters in the center. This song is always a showstopper. Neon would love to see this! Oh... he's gone. I closed my eyes slightly and lowered the record as I thought about him. He was the laidback, clever, funny guy I always wanted. He gets me and I get him. A tear started to form in my eye as I realised that I wouldn't be able to see him for a while. The tear in my eye fell out becuase Neon was a candle in my life, illuminating my dark unknown path. I wanted, no, needed him. I was loney, sad and needed someone. Someone who I could tell everything, all my problems and feelings, and he would listen. He wouldn't judge me, he would help me. He was special. He was perfect. And I just let him leave. I never told him about how much I really needed him. I didn't even know myself, until I realized he was gone. Why? Just why did he have to go? He meant the world to me and I never told him. I slid down on the floor and put my face in my hooves and cried. The tears slowly fell from my face as I thought about all the dates I've been with him on, all the fun we've had, all the times when we loved each other. No, stop it Vinyl. He'll be back. I wiped my tears off and got back up. My only question, is when? How long must I suffer before he gets back? Please get home soon, Neon. I love you.
Back in Dylan's point of view.
Why do I feel so sad all of a sudden? And I was thinking of Vinyl, strange. I shook off the thought and turned my attention back to Bentley. He was hanging upside down with his feet on a plank of wood going through the ceiling. Cortez was there also, leaning on a nearby wall, all of us in my room. I was sitting at my desk and I told them about my adventures in Equestria. Bentley was excited and Cortez looked skeptical. I told them all about Vinyl, about the MTSC, and my current theory for Luna's plan. Bentley said,
"Man, Luna. I never thought she would do such a thing. And how on Earth could you fall in love with a pony?"
"Love takes many forms. I didn't care that she was a pony. She loved me and I loved her too. She would still love me if she was human. Bodies won't separate us."
"Did you get to fuck her?" Bentley asked with a straight face.
"I'm not like you. I don't want to have sex with ponies. We love each other emotionally, not sexually. When we want to, we will. There's no rush." Cortez looked slightly disgusted as I answered his question. Couldn't blame her, she hadn't even ‘herd’ (Sorry, had to. Okay, this is the last time I'm making puns.) of My Little Pony, so then Bentley convinced her to watch an episode. She didn't seem too interested and Bentley just threw his hands up into the air and gave up. I got tired of waiting around and started to debrief them on the next mission.
"So our next target is a experimental wormhole portal opener. It's located in the Arizona desert." Bentley flipped and jumped down and said,
"You could do this easily in Equestria. Why is this so hard to do here?"
"I couldn't do this in Equestria easily, and even then, they had magic there." Cortez spoke up,
"Arizona, isn't that where Jack lives? And, the last time I've heard of him, he was working on some secret project." Bentley added,
"Jack? The mechanic who could build things quickly and a master at cars?" I answered all their questions with,
"Yes, and he's our next target. It shouldn't be too hard to get him on our side. He’s an old friend." Bentley pulled out another grenade, this time with Applejack's cutie mark. "Geez, Bentley. How much firepower do you carry on you?" He chuckled and said,
"Enough to destroy a 2-story house at any time. And I have a grenade for each of the mane 6. Each having something about it that relates to them. This one in my hand I call an appletree becuase regular grenades are called pineapples and pines are trees, so yeah. And how it relates to Applejack, you'll have to find out later." After seeing the epicness of the Dash grenade, I was curious to see Fluttershy's grenade. I should ask him to make a Vinyl grenade. Vinyl...