//------------------------------// // Chapter 76 - "Meet and Greet" // Story: My Little Caboose II: Friendship is Fragmented! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// It took little under an hour for the girls to get to Canterlot, but once they did, they quickly trotted through the streets, ecstatic that all the boys were back. Once they arrived to the actual castle, Luna greeted them at the gates and escorted them to the throne room where the boys, and two other girls, were waiting patiently, resting from their long trip. Once they opened the doors to the room, Sarge, Simmons, Tucker and Caboose promptly went to their respective used-to-be guardians and cheerily embraced them in their own little way. Church, with his head hanging slightly low, smiled as Twilight hugged him and Tex returned the smile. "I'm glad you're all back safe and sound. I hope you'll tell me all about it later," Twilight said, still beaming. "Maybe after we've all gotten our bearings again. It didn't take too long, but that last stretch was... emotionally tiring." "I understand." She nodded firmly. Her grin faltered slightly as she looked at the other ponies in the room. "Speaking of, what are all of your friends' names?" "Medical Officer Super Private First Class Frank DuFresne," Doc said, instantly walking towards her. Holding out his hoof. "But most people just call me Doc, so you can call me that too." "It's a pleasure to meet you, Doc. My name is Twilight Sparkle," she said, then looked back at her other friends and pointed her hoof at each of them. "You all know Tex, but this is Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy." "Hi! What's your name?" Pinkie asked, instantly bounding towards the new pink pony in the room. "I'm Donut," he said with a big smile. "Ohh, I love Donuts! Especially ones with lots of sprinkles!" "Well, I'm often told that I'm really sweet. What's your name?" "I'm Pinkie Pie!" she said, holding out her hoof. "No way! I was called Pinkie in high school! Plus I love pie!" Donut said with a gasp, shaking her hand quickly. "We should be friends!" "Oh my gosh, we totally should!" "Who's this fella here? Kinda reminds me of one of a certain somefragment," Applejack said, eying the brown and bald stallion with a wary eye, noticing his completely steel eyes. "Heh, don't worry. This is the only piece of hardwiring that I've ever trusted. His name is Lopez," Sarge chirped. "I created him back on Earth. He's my right-hand droid." "Howdy, Lopez!" Applejack said, holding her hoof out to him. Lopez merely stared at it, then looked back up at her. Applejack lowered her hoof slightly and glanced to Sarge. "Yeah, but Lopez doesn't seem to understand most things that we do. Sometimes I think he can be pretty stupid." "[Right. I'm the stupid one,]" Lopez grunted in reply. "What did he just say?" "He said he's happy to meet you," Donut said with a smile. "[I hate you.]" "Aw, thanks Lopez," Donut gushed. As Lopez started counting the reasons why he hated this place and everyone in it in his head, Grif trotted his way over to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy! Glad to see you again," Grif said warmly, throwing his arm around here. "Hello, Grif. I'm glad to see you're alright," she said with a sigh. "His name is Grif!" Caboose piped. "Yeah, I think she's got that Caboose," Grif chuckled dryly. Waving his hoof towards him, one of the unfamiliar faces walked towards them. "I have somebody I really want you to meet." "Who's this?" Fluttershy asked hesitantly, smiling warmly at the other yellow pegasus before her. "This is my sister, Kaikaina." "She's alive?" Fluttershy gasped. "Yeah, I told you she was," Grif laughed. "Man, you guys are going to get along great." "We are?" Fluttershy asked. "Totally. Kaikaina, come say hello!" Grif yelled. "You're not mom, bitch," Sister countered, but walked up to Fluttershy anyways. "Whats up?" "This is Fluttershy. She's the pony who we're going to be staying with." "Cool," she said with a smirk. "You guys dating each other or something?" "W-what? I mean, I-I..." Fluttershy bumbled stupidly, not sure how to respond to such a blunt question. In fact, she wasn't sure she knew how to answer it if it was more subtle or contained anyways. "Nah, we're just buddies." "That's cool, I guess. Hope you can show me where all the coolest clubs are around here." As Rainbow Dash and Tucker finished catching up, a strange two-legged figure walked up to them and towered over the pair. Dash let out a quick yelp of surprise, not sure how she hadn't noticed it before. "RD, this is Junior," Tucker said as if it was just another one of his friends. "What the hay is he?" Rainbow Dash sputtered, backing away slightly, still on the ground. "It's a long story, but he's an alien and on our side. You don't have to be worried about him. He's about as harmless as a fly." "He doesn't look it," she grunted nervously. "What? Are you scared of him?" Tucker asked, a knowing smile spreading across his face. "What? No way, I'm just—" she started, but then shrieked as Junior walked closer to her. "Relax, the last time he's sucked blood from anything was a while ago," Tucker chuckled, and Rainbow Dash gulped deeply. From staying with Tucker for so long, she knows how to recognized when he's yanking her tail. And there was no sign of it now. "Hey, if you need me to hold your hoof to give you a feeling of security, I'm all for it." "Yeah, right," she said, forcing a snort, attempting to put on a brave front. "I was just surprised, that's all." "If you think that's surprising, wait until I tell you about how he's—" "Carolina!" Tex growled, taking a step towards her after having just noticed her hanging behind the others. "Guess I'll have to tell you about that later..." Tucker grunted. "You have a lot of nerve showing up back here." "Tex—" Church began. "Don't 'Tex' me, Church. She has no right to be here. She's a jealous, angry, psychopathic murderer!" "Tex..." he warned her. "Leave her alone." "What? Did you suddenly forget that she killed Caboose?" she asked icily, walking closer towards her until she stopped next to Church. "Not to mention the fact that she almost killed a pony here. And that's just from the five seconds she was here! Don't forget that if she had actually sided with me when we were fighting against the Director, maybe York would still—" "Tex, for once in your God damned life can you not just start shit and back the fuck up?" Church hissed, pushing her back forcefully. Everyone in the room stared at him as he glared at her. "She's been through just as much shit as we have, and after what just happened, the last thing she needs is you being a huge fucking bitch to her. I think we'd both appreciate it if you back the hell off for one God damned moment." "I..." she started, startled that he had yelled at her like that. Looking back at Carolina, she saw that her eyes were staring at her passively. There wasn't any fear in her eyes, not that Tex really expected any, but they even lacked the anger that she was used to seeing. "What happened?" she asked quietly. "I'll tell you later," he sighed irately, looking at Carolina. Tex nodded firmly and began to walked towards the Reds and Blues. Carolina merely watched her from the sidelines as she and the others greeted the Reds and Blues. Stuck in a new world, feeling as if she had no friends, no say in anything, surrounded by people who fear her. Though Caboose and the others seemed to not fear her as much, she wasn't entirely convinced that the others could see her as anything less than a monster. The others were used to dealing with psychopaths. The ponies here seemed frail and innocent, thus making her think that they would fear he forever. Washington, too, felt somewhat rejected. The reality of the situation still hadn't fully sunk in. For him, he believed, and hoped, that this was all a dream. Or at the very least a simulation. If it was anything else, he thought he would go insane, and that was not a road he was eager to revisit. So, like Carolina, he stood off to the side, not particularly fond of doing anything at the moment. "Who's that?" Rarity asked curiously. "Oh, that's Agent Washington. He was a Freelancer like Carolina, only... less scary. He was kind of an asshole for a bit, but then he became one of the good guys," Simmons explained quickly. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Washington," Rarity said, holding her hoof out to him. "Sorry if I don't shake," he said edgily after pushing her hoof down. "I'm still a little... a lot... confused. Very confused, I mean." "At least you're sensible enough to not be rude," she said, offering him a smile. "Uh-huh..." he grunted, not really caring what his manners were like. "I apologize to ruin your greetings," Luna said, speaking up finally. "But I'm afraid that I must ask you all to leave. There is a train going to Ponyville leaving soon, and it is going to be the last one today. You will have more than enough time to talk on the train ride back, however." "You heard her, guys. Let's get out of here," Church said, beginning to walk towards the door. "If I may speak to Church and the two agents alone," Luna said loudly, and they looked at each other. "It won't be long." Twilight nodded at the others and they all filed out of the room. "What do you want?" Church inquired as soon as he was alone with Luna and the two ex-Freelancers. "I know this may seem unfair, but I believe Agent Carolina and Agent... Washington, was it?" Luna guessed. Washington nodded at her. "I believe it would be best if the pair of them remained in Canterlot. Not forever, of course. Merely for the next fortnight." "What? Why?" Church asked quickly. "For a variety of reasons. The first one being that they are quite possibly very dangerous. As we've learned, they are trained killers, and my sister and I believe it would be better if we made sure they were... suited for living in Ponyville." "Tex was also a trained killer," he reminded her. "I am well aware. However, since she is, as I remember, based on failure, we felt it was relatively safe for her to return with you. Added to the fact that you are her special somepony, we also felt that you would be able to talk her out of making any rash decisions." "I have about as much say in what she does as Caboose has say in what Twilight does. Which is not that much, in case you were wondering." "Our point remains. The other fragments were being watched by Applejack, and she kept them out of trouble, but she can only watch over so many ponies, and she's the only one equipped to deal with more than two of you. It wouldn't be fair to her to ask her to watch over the bald stallion as well as having to help keep the two soldiers out of trouble. I know they're your friends, but you must understand our side. Celestia... she has made some rather poor decisions when it comes to you and your friends..." "Don't I know it," he grumbled. "But she decided to take it more seriously now. Especially seeing that you were able to bring Discord back without the Elements of Harmony... well, let me just say that she now realizes that you aren't simple ponies. I talked her into allowing the others to return to you, but I am on her side when it comes to the two agents. I promise you that we will treat them with respect" "If they are having trouble, I will talk to them," she whispered to Church, looking out the window. "Nopony in this world knows what it feels like to be truly alone more than myself." "Right," Church said quietly, remembering what Twilight had once told him about the fight between Luna and Celestia all those centuries ago. Looking to Carolina and Washington, he raised a brow. "You guys okay with staying here for a bit?" "Yeah, sure," Carolina responded distantly, not particularly caring about her current situation. "Hopefully I'll wake up before long," Washington said with a nervous nod. "Alright then," Church grunted. Glancing back to Luna, he cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "Just treat them like respect, okay? They've been through more in one week than most have throughout their entire lives." "Do unto others as you would have them do unto yourself," she said with a nod. "Do not worry, Church. They are in good hooves." "Can I just say that I like you a hell of a lot better than your sister?" he inquired. "You can, but if Celestia asks, I'll tell her I scolded you," she said with a small wink. "Fare the well, Church. I hope to see you again sometime soon. And hopefully under different circumstances when the world isn't in danger." "When isn't it in danger?" he snorted, waving his hoof at the trio as he walked out the door to catch up with the others.