MLP Chapter 12
Twilight looked out the window of the sky chariot she and her brother were in. The gang had caught a break on the last artifact with it being at an Equestrian archeology dig on the border with the dragonlands but Shining armor, once he’d heard about the other misadventures had come along with a couple of guards as well.
"Shining Armor, there really isn't anything to worry about," said Twilight, "I know how to deal with dragons." "And most of your experience comes from Spike and you know he isn't like the others," said Shining Armor, "I can't let my little sister be carried off by a dragon, now can I?"
"Well...we found the helmet and even a few curios to research as well. No dragons turned up." said Twilight, pleasantly, putting a hoof on the saddlebag sitting between them
"It's fortunate that no dragons did appear," said Shining Armor, "You know how greedy they can be. But that's behind us now. However, I have heard some concerning things about Ponyville."
"Is this about Matt? He does his best to fit in and he saved us once or twice." said Twilight before Shining said concerned "Is that smoke?" before they both looked out to see a couple of columns of black smoke just outside the town. "Corporal...land us in the square...fast." he said, looking down and gulping.
There was a very large crowd of ponies outside, though the term 'mob' may be more appropriate judging by their mood.
The two got out. Twilight grabbing the saddlebag before Shining called "What’s going on? Uh oh." adding the last part as the mob turned to see him and advanced saying a slew of complaints, though one name kept appearing...Matt’s.
The complaints came so rapidly and loudly that Shining Armor couldn't distinguish a single one. Finally, he shot a purple flare into the air which made the mob be quiet. "Now, what is all this about? What has happened here?" asked Shining Armor.
"That human started what sounded like a dragon attack at his home...I could see the flames from Cloudsdayle." complained a pegasus, pointing a hoof at the smoke.
"There are flames falling onto the rooftops!" complained an earth pony.
Shining armor and Twilight looked around at that, looking at where uncontrollable fires failed to burn or exist anywhere before looking at the earth pony who said defensively "I never said they hit."
"The racket's keeping our children awake!" shouted a mother unicorn who was carrying her crying fillies on her back.
On cue, the crack of gunfire echoed out. "We'll go see what’s going on..." began Shining armor, being interrupted by the earth pony who said "I hope you lock him up. That...thing doesn’t deserve to be in civilized towns." before Shining said more forcefully "...and we'll find out his side of the story."
Twilight led Shining and the other guards towards where Matt's house was. Though it wasn't too hard to find, what with the sound of war being a very strong indicator.
They turned the corner to Matts hut to see several troopers in exo-gene armor slumped near the burning wreckage of one of their exo-suits. A second exo-suit sat in pieces in front of a slowly rotating turret, one of Matt’s 'additions'.
By the looks of it, the battle was just about wrapping up in Matt's favor. However, the carnage and wreckage were not a pretty sight at all.
Shining stared before a couple of exo-gene troopers ran into view, one throwing his gun aside to get better speed. His fellow was blasted on his front as an energy blast shot out and literally went through him from behind, hitting the other one in the back of the leg.
What few troopers were left were running, or more often, limping or being dragged away from the house.
"He's fucking nuts...the board don’t pay us enough." yelled one injured trooper, not even bothering to acknowledge the ponies as he fled. The runner who had been nailed in the leg was trying to pull himself along, saying "Ohshitohshit." over and over as an armored figure walked round the corner.
"I told you guys that today was a bad day to bother me, you should have listened," said the armored figure in Matt's voice before shooting the limper.
The two ponies jumped back as the trooper was nailed in the other leg, screaming. "Now what have we learnt today, children?" said Matt in a manic voice
"Matt, stop!" cried Twilight.
“I'll be with you in just one second." said Matt with bloodthirsty glee, aiming the blaster rifle an inch from the now crying troopers face. "C'mon man...I surrender..." he sobbed
"That's enough!" shouted Shining Armor before his horn flashed, a shield appearing around Matt.
The trooper managed to drag himself back as Matt glared. "Oh shit...oh shit...we were just there to grab him...he went batshit." the trooper gibbered, his hand fumbling for a hidden sidearm holster in his armor.
"I don't know what this is about, but I am getting straight to the bottom of this," said Shining Armor sternly.
"I'm not sticking around..." gibbered the trooper before looking at Twilight. "You teleport...I saw the reports...get me outta here." he said as Matt seemed to calm down.
"Fine..." said Twilight before her horn flashed and the trooper disappeared. "Where did you send him?" asked Shining Armor. "The Everfree Forest, he can find his way out," said Twilight.
Matt laughed at that silently in his prison, getting a good idea of the life expectancy of a crippled trooper, muttering something about the forest inhabitants liking tinned food.
Shining Armor turned to Matt and said, "And as for you, what I saw was the worst example of unnecessary aggression I've ever seen. You had no right or reason to be so merciless to those people, whatever they could have done."
Matt just stared and Shining shivered. He had heard that eyes were windows to the soul...or mirrors...and what he saw was broken...someone who was at least temporarily mad...mad as Discord.
"Matt, you don't have to be this angry. Just try to calm down," said Twilight, "We're not your enemies."
Matt just stared before the usual softer glint came back and he seemed to come to his senses, sitting down inside the field.
“Shining, you have to believe me, Matt’s not normally like this,” said Twilight.
“Twilight, I know he’s your friend, but what I just saw…” Shining shook his head and said, “I don’t think it’s safe for him to be near ponies.”
Matt seemed to have calmed down, slumping over out cold as Aria, using her mech body, ran into view with a swarm of spiderdrones. "Oh thank goodness...I see my attempt to get his med computer to sedate him finally worked. I'll take it from here." she said
Shining Armor looked down at the spiderdrones and asked, "What are those?"
"General use drones from Mr. Lynch’s vessel. I guess it was right." she said, adding the last part to herself.
"And who is this?" asked Shining Armor. "This is Aria, well, at least she's speaking through that thing," said Twilight.
"Doctor...Aria, if you please." said Aria, as several drones scrabbled over the shield around Matt, a few testing their cutters on it
"Shining, you can let that shield down, Matt's ok now," said Twilight.
Shining glared at Matt before reluctantly releasing the spell. The drones immediately moved in, grabbing Matt and carrying him in the direction of the hut he was calling home. Aria said gravely "As a doctor however, I believe there is information he should have told you."
...
The holoscreen flashed with an image of Matt rotating on it. Details such as name, rank, specialization as a mercenary among other information was displayed...but the main 'attraction' was the flashing red words exclaiming 'Medical Discharge recommended'. The update note indicated that it had been added a week before he had arrived.
"As you may have noticed, Matt isn't very emotionally stable," said Aria, "The reason is not because of a personal flaw in his character, but because of a traumatizing event that happened recently to him."
Shining sighed before asking "Does it say what it was?" Aria turned and typed a few commands in, only for an omega symbol to fill the screen and a male voice to say "File Sealed with omega grade clearance."
There was a long pause before Aria said, "I'm sorry, I cannot tell you what that event was." "Can't or won't?" inquired Shining. "Both," said Aria, "If you want to hear about it, it needs to be from Matt himself. And I don't believe he'd be willing to tell anyone."
"What makes you..." began Shining only for Aria to call up a vision of one of the rooms. Matt was sat in front of a screen, speaking silently...there was no sound. This was confirmed when the door soundlessly exploded inwards and a half dozen troopers ran in. "It was from a drone that was performing maintenance." explained Aria, typing as she tried to restore sound.
"I'm warning you...this will end badly for you all." said Matt in a dark voice, not even turning as the sound kicked back in on the recording. "Then resist...then you can join 'er faster." taunted a trooper, the group laughing before one of them grabbed Matts shoulder...and was pulled face first into the table Matt was at before being used as a shield, Matt using the guys blaster to gun down three trooper before using his ion blade* to…worrying effect.
Aria paused the footage and said, "As you can guess, it escalated from there."
"How many..." began Shining only for Aria to say "Mr. Lynch expected a visit after the nightmare incident...he had several high end weapons installed...you probably saw some of them. His mistake was setting their activation to manual...but once he turned them on...Mr. Lynch should be fine by tomorrow. His file indicates 2 other incidents on this date."
"Sounds like whatever happened must have been really bad," said Shining. "We shouldn't pry too much if it hurts him this much," said Twilight. "Sis, if Matt does this again, innocent ponies could be hurt. I know Matt needs time to heal, but as Captain of the Guard, my responsibility is to ensure the safety of Equestria's citizens."
"Sir...If you want to throw Mr. Lynch in the cells at this moment in time will only invite a very hostile response, given his flash training in escape procedures. He will be fine and almost certainly somber about any grief he has caused by tomorrow." said Aria
"Well...this time, I can let him off with a warning. But next time, I'll have to use force," said Shining Armor.
"I will let him go. Miss Sparkle...if you would remain here...I would like to place the helmet in storage." said Aria, several spiderdrones proceeding forward…
...
When Matt woke up from his anesthetic-induced sleep, he had a vague recollection of what happened beforehand.
"Oh no..." he moaned to himself before hearing the sound of hooves and a vague memory of seeing Twilight came to the surface. "Twilight...did you...oh, sorry." he said, seeing a white unicorn stallion in the doorway.
"Matt, this is my brother, Shining Armor," said Twilight.
"I'm guessing he's not a librarian." said Matt, carefully as he eyed up the armor
"I am the Captain of the Royal Guards, and as such, it's my job to keep Equestria and its citizens safe," said Shining sternly.
"Oh...is this about the same reason that Aria had my wrist-comp sedate me? Last clear memory is of a team of EGIS taunting the memory of my...well." said Matt
"It caused quite an outburst," said Shining Armor. "No one in town was hurt, but they're not too happy either," said Twilight.
"Great...just great." muttered Matt darkly before saying "So...how was your trip? No killer robots or deer people this time?"
"No, we got the helmet and a few other things," said Twilight.
"Huh...maybe some quiet time helping find out what that helmet does will help me cool off?" said Matt.
"I'm not sure letting a powerful artifact like that in your..." started Shining Armor. "I won't be able to do a thing with it. It's not like I'm a pegasus," said Matt before shooting a warning look at Twilight and the camera that Aria was presumably watching from.
"He'll be fine, bro. Nopony ever caused trouble by just doing research." said Twilight before aiming her own warning look at Shining armor who was trying not to grin at that.
"Fine, maybe he can help you identify that mystery artifact," said Shining Armor before turning to Matt and saying, "Consider this your community service."
Matt muttered "...again." as he left before slapping his hands together. "How hard can this be then?"
...
24 hours later...
"SO BOOOORED!" yelled Matt, after reading yet another book with no result.
"Matt, you can't expect the answer to be on the first few pages you read," said Twilight, "These artifacts have been missing for hundreds of years. They're more likely to be in the most obscure book."
Matt faceplanted on the folding table he had brought to the library. "Oh goody...this is certainly punishment enough." he said in a muffled voice before looking at the page he was on. “Ooh...this is interesting...The 'Disorder’s eye diamond...apparently gives you what you actually need." he said out loud
"What? Let me see," said Twilight, making the book move towards her a little too fast. "Ow!" yelped Matt before nursing the paper cut on his cheek.
"Sorry...but I remember Starswirl the Bearded writing about these diamonds in his journals...he said they were really dangerous." said Twilight, reading the article
"There could be exceptions," said Matt, "This might be one of them."
Twilight however didn’t seem convinced. "I hope there isn't one here. The diamonds maker wasn’t exactly the most trustworthy." she said
"And who would that be?" asked Matt.
"You don't want to know." said Twilight with absolute honesty.
"Hmm...well, I better put it in the vault with the other stuff. Wouldn't want it falling into the wrong hands," said Matt.
Twilight seemed suspicious before saying "Just be careful...chaos can be....tricky."
“What’s chaos got to do with anything?" said Matt, shoving the helmet on his head for ease of transport. "So...where's the evil diamond of doom?"
Twilight snorted a bit with laughter and said, "It's in the saddlebag."
Matt, with a mock British accent, said “Very well, I, Lord Toilet brush, shall take this diamond where it can do no harm." causing Twilight to break down in a laugh.
After Matt left, Twilight said, "Ok, I better read more about... Hey, where'd it go?" She looked around for the book that mentioned the Disorder’s Eye.
She realized how homesick Matt was for his world...as well as the new fact that he was a little unstable. "Oh no...SPIKE!"
...
"Oookay...maybe the third time's the charm," said Matt, a little shook up by his briefly and accidentally summoning of an eldritch horror. Fortunately, this one was in a friendly mood and had given Matt a little advice before departing the plane of existence.
"Ok...remember what the tentacled horror said...don’t forget to carry the three unless I want a mind flayer in my left ear." Matt said to himself. "Ok, Aria, let her rip."
"Matt, I really don't think this is wise..." started Aria. "Wisdom's overrated, hit it," said Matt.
"Sir...the chances that we will get the hypercoil part instead of another 20 tons of vanilla cheesecake is almost astronomical." complained Aria before stopping "Miss Sparkle is back...and so is her brother...and a dozen guard. Should I activate defenses?"
"No...if this works..." began Matt before noticing a blue glow. “Oh cra-" he began.
...
"You let him go with the Diamond and the book that shows him how to use it?" asked Shining Armor. "Well, I didn't know he took the book," said Twilight, "But on the bright side, I don't think he knows how to use magic."
A glow was coming from Matts hut before a brief discharge shot out, hit one of Matt’s defense turrets and turned it into a very surprised-looking skunk which immediately fled. Needless to say, it was the sort of thing that commanded attention.
"Ok, the Diamond could be used by non-magical ponies, but that doesn't mean that Matt..."
Twilight didn't manage to finish before all the windows in Matts home exploded outwards, the force also flipping his nearby jeep and knocking everyone over. Strangely enough, most of the fragments were immediately sucked back towards the blast. "MATT!" called Twilight in horror before seeing two figures staggering out of the smoke.
"Ok, that is the last time I use science to make magic," coughed Matt.
The second figure said in a voice Twilight knew "Coming from the guy who got involved with that stuff on his first day?"
Both Matt, who came to his senses and Twilight to look at the second figure more properly.
"I...no...no...That’s not possible." said Matt in a small voice before the figure spoiled the moment by coughing on the smoke and complaining “Bloody hell...the one time I want my helmet...what’s wrong, bro? You see a ghost?"
Matt rubbed his eyes and said, "This has to be a dream, that blast musta knocked me unconscious."
The figure sighed before turning "You can see me as well...right? Just so Mr. Denial here snaps to it?"
"Uh, yeah, I can see you," said Twilight.
Matt stopped at that, getting up unsteadily and saying "Chloe? You look well for..." he began before his eyes rolled into his head and he fell backwards.
...
"Well, it's nice that Matt's sister came, even if it involved Matt be a little sneaky," said Fluttershy. "Yeah and he's not so grumpy and mean now," said Pinkie.
"I can't believe he used that diamond...they're dangerous." said Twilight glumly.
"Asides from a big polecat and his house exploding...again, it didn't seem that dangerous," said Applejack, "It's the thieving that's got my dander up."
"Not to mention that ponies are being worried by those soldiers that are chasing him. There is talk at the spa that a petition is going to be sent to the Princesses." said Rarity
"We can take those soldiers, we've got all three Primo...uh...Primal...uh...all three magic hats," said Rainbow Dash.
"I'm not sure we should use them at all...remember what happened when me and Pinkie used them?" said Twilight.
"What? So you nearly froze us and I almost knocked Matt into next season," said Pinkie, "We were just getting to know how they worked."
"I don’t get it...Aria said he was just trying to get the energy coil he needs for his ship. His sister though..." said Rarity. Applejack said with a smirk "Bet she was darn surprised to be zapped here."
"The book did say the diamond gets one what they need most," said Twilight, "Maybe Matt needed his sister more than he thought he did."
Dash said "She does seem to be the sane one." before they turned at the sound of laughter, Matt and Chloe walking into view. "You stole their own exo-suit? That’s too much." said Chloe.
"You should have seen the looks on their faces," said Matt.
Chloe laughed again "And your buddy Pinkie was roasting you? I wanna meet this girl."
"Well, there she is over there," said Matt pointing.
Chloe turned and found herself nose to nose with Pinkie "WHAT THE SMEG?!" yelled Chloe, jumping backwards in shock as Pinkie said cheerfully "Hi there."
"Yeah, she's surprising like that, actually, more than that," said Matt.
Chloe looked at Pinkie. "The pink elephants story was real?" she said carefully
"It sure was," said Pinkie before tilting her head as if she was listening to someone. She turned back to Chloe and said, "They say hi."
Chloe stared for a second before saying "Ooookayyyyyy." and slowly stepping back a few steps and looking at the others "So you girls kept my bro here on the sane and narrow, eh?"
"Eh...it's been harder lately," said Applejack.
"Yeah...was it the spark thing that did it?" she said, before looking at the shocked passersby. "What?"
Matt grinned nervously and said to the passing ponies, "She's new in town, just showing her around." He turned back to Chloe and said, "Sis, there are some things that shouldn't be broadcasted, you know that."
"Oh...sorry...dunno why I made that goof," said Chloe, shaking her head.
"Just try to keep a lid on that," said Matt.
"So...you've been looking for these helmets?" said Chloe conversationally
"The first two were quite a hassle to get," said Twilight, "Fortunately, the last one was easier."
"Weird...I remember Darius...real whack job...but why'd he want a few magic helmets?" said Chloe, sitting down...and falling backwards off the too small seat. "Yeah, that happened to me too." said Matt sympathetically
"Maybe he's just after trophies," said Applejack. "Yeah, I don't think he'd go through just much trouble for some souvenirs," said Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah...you don’t send an army to get a helmet...not even these helmets." said Matt before saying "Isn't there anywhere where we could find out more about these helmets? Maybe they can tell us."
Twilight thought before saying, "Canterlot Library ought to have a more extensive collection. Or maybe Princess Celestia would know more."
"So let’s go..." said Matt before noticing their looks "What?"
"Er, Matt, I don't think Canterlot is, er, your type of place," said Rarity.
"Oh please...I can be good plus it’s the best chance we have to beat Darius at his own game...and I can drop the artifacts off there too." said Matt, Chloe chipping in "And if he messes up, I'll beat him senseless."
"Er, what she means is that Canterlot ain't a good place for roughhousin'," said Applejack.
"That’s what I meant by my dear brother 'messing up'." said Chloe with a grin.
Twilight sighed and said, "Look, the thing is..." Rainbow Dash cut in and said, "It won't be a good idea for you two to go because you're going to make yourselves look bad and get thrown in the dungeon." The other ponies gave Dash a shocked look at her bluntness. "Hey, it was the only way they'd get it."
Chloe nodded "I get it...this is like why mercs have to go in dress uniform...what? We do have uniforms other than battle armor." she said.
"Will you girls relax, I'll be on my best behavior," said Matt.
...
Matt was feeling rather uncomfortable walking down one of the streets in Canterlot, mainly because of the looks ponies have been giving him.
"This is ridiculous." he said out the corner of his mouth to Chloe, the two of them in grey and black Camo style uniforms. "It could be worse...no pitchforks or burning torches." whispered Chloe back
"Not like they could hold them anyways, except for the unicorns," said Matt.
"They're all unicorns here I think." said Chloe smiling innocently as a couple of them walked by. Matt gulped and said to Twilight "How much further? I don’t want to be lynched...despite my surname."
“Not too far, I know this city like the back of my hoof…well, most of it,” said Twilight.
"Good..." said Matt, waving innocently to a unicorn guard "Morning." he said a little manically, causing Chloe to bite her tongue to avoid laughing at the guards 'wtf?' expression.
As the group entered the palace proper, they could hear someone saying, "No, I am not exaggerating, those ruffians in that rundown hamlet need to learn to properly respect the crown."
Matt looked to see Rarity starting to look a little angry as she heard the voice. "Someone you know?" he asked as he heard another voice saying "This is thy fifth request for retribution. Ponyville has done nothing to earn such wrath,"
"Hmm, maybe we should give that voice a 'hey-howdy-do'?" said Chloe, cracking her knuckles at the same time.
The ponies winced and Matt said "Hey...that guy deserves to flushed out an airlock...wait, was it the knuckles?" Fluttershy nodding before Rarity said "I cannot believe that awful mule is still around."
Matt peered around the corner to see a blond maned white stallion standing in front of an alicorn he’d yet to meet...a dark blue, almost black alicorn before looking at Chloe who shrugged
"Go for it...crazy frightens morons." she said causing Matt to grin and walk round the corner.
"Done nothing wrong? What about harboring that lunatic that has nearly destroyed the town more than once?" said Blueblood. Princess Luna glanced to one side and said, "Is that the lunatic thou arst referring to?"
Blueblood spun to see the creature that he had heard his auntie Cellie talking about and gulped. He was as large as his spies had said. "Hi...are we late?" the creature said, arms outstretched in what was either a greeting or a threat.
"No, thy arrival be prompt. We welcome thee to Canterlot, I am Princess Luna, Keeper of the Night," said Luna. "And I am Prince Blueblood," said Blueblood, trying to sound more calm than he was.
"Wait...you guys are immortal...how?" began Matt before Luna said "It is thine long story." Matt turned to Blueblood "Fair enough...so, Blueberk...why are you asking for permission to bulldoze my friends’ hometown?" he asked, his tone partially concealing the knife-edge in it
"I was not planning to 'bulldoze', as you so crassly put it, the commoners merely need a reminder of the power of the crown," said Blueblood.
"Then let’s ask them. I've met your boss...you are not it...and I have met people like you...they usually end up being at the wrong end of a blaster." said Matt, whispering the last part for the unicorns benefit.
Blueblood glared at Matt and said, "Is that a threat? That's high treason."
"Haven’t you heard? Me and my sis aren't from this country...or even this dimension." said Matt mock cheerfully as Chloe and the others came in.
Blueblood gulped a bit and said, "Well, then it would be an act of war..." "You don't want to start a war with us, not that you really can," said Matt.
Chloe leaned down next to Blueblood "We like Ponyville and the girls...if we find so much as a brick out of place..." she said, allowing Matt to add "...they won't even find your tacky little jacket."
Luna stepped in and said, "I assure thee, there shalt be no attempts to molest Ponyville. We weren't even considering the thought when thou stepped in."
"That’s cool...we just wanted to put our two cents down, so to speak." said Matt, cheerfully before looking at Blueblood before leaning in. “Smile...we're all friends here...but know if you come after my friends, I'll gut you like the slimeball that you are." he muttered.
Blueblood blustered before saying, "I have more important things to attend to anyways," before quickly leaving.
Matt watched Blueblood all but run out before saying “What a slimy little toad. You and Celestia are related to that smeghead?"
"It is complicated," said Luna.
"I don't doubt it." said Chloe.
"Anyway, Princess Luna, we need some help," said Twilight, "I'm sure Celestia has gotten my letters about the Corona Prima, but we can't find any more information about them in Ponyville. May we please use your library?"
"It would be thy pleasure to help...but I should warn thee...the librarian in charge is...unusual." said Luna with a smile before casting a mass teleport spell on the group, depositing them in a darkened library.
"I haven't been in this section of the library before," said Twilight, lighting up her horn for illumination.
"The books kept here are...not for public use." said Luna before calling out in a deafening voice "FANG...THY PRINCESS DEMANDS THY PRESCENCE!" Matt who had been right next to her adding his own scream of "OH GOD, MY EARDRUMS!"
"We apologize, I suppose thy ears are not accustomed to the Royal Equestrian Voice," said Luna. "Also, must you keep talking in 'thy' and 'thee', and what's with the 'we' anyways?" asked Chloe.
"We...I am sorry. I am still getting used to this time after my...time away." said Luna in a more normal tone before looking down at Matt who was making a gurgling noise. "Is he ok?" she asked
"I suppose you were a little loud for being in a library," said Fluttershy.
Chloe was looking around, a thought coming to the forefront "What kinda name is 'Fang'?" before hearing what sounded like a Brooklyn accent say "What kinda names Chloe, smartass?" and she turned to see the face of the largest spider she had ever had the misfortune to see who said “Yo.”.
If Luna's shout was piercing, Chloe's scream literally rattled the castle and made every pony in Canterlot cover their ears in pain.
However, Chloe was a mercenary...and when a mercenary is terrified, they use violence on what caused the terror which is why the surprised spider was clocked on the head "What the fu-ow? what the hell is wrong with...OW...LUNA...call her off...she's nuts!" it yelped, before scuttling away with Chloe in pursuit holding a 3000 page book entitled 'how to kill spiders'.
Unfortunately, horses and ponies have sharper hearing than humans so the ponies were incapacitated for a minute while they rubbed their assaulted ears.
Matt slowly got up unsteadily before spotting what looked like a diary. "Huh, what's in here?" asked Matt opening the diary to look...only for a boxing glove to somehow spring out of the pages and hit him in the face.
Luna winced at that, levitating up the book and sighing “I thought Fang said you were chained up." she muttered, looking at the title 'My Diary, By Discord' on the cover. On cue Fang vaulted a bookshelf as Chloe charged after him. "Luna, babe...little help here." he said, scuttling up a wall and hanging just out of reach of Chloe like the worlds creepiest piñata.
"What's with her anyways?" asked Applejack. "Pfft, she's obviously scared of spiders. I mean, how pathetic would have to be, right Fluttershy?" said Rainbow Dash before looking around and asking "Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy was hiding behind another bookshelf as Chloe jumped up and down, taking swings at the unfortunate Fang who now, in the smug tone of someone who can hang out of reach all day, said "Ok...while the crazy monkeys calming down...what y'all need?" he asked, smirking as Chloe missed “Aw...so close, girl." he taunted.
"We are seeking knowledge of the Corona Prima," said Luna.
"Man, that’s a name I ain't heard since before my ma ate my pa." said Fang, scuttling across the roof before grabbing a book at random and tossing it over. "That should be good to start...the who's who of the pre-princess era magical artifacts..." he called
"Pre-Princess? I didn't think they would be older than you," said Twilight to Luna. "While I and my sister have ruled over Equestria for a long time, we have not always ruled as you know," said Luna, "There are many ancient things in this world that predate us and the First Crowns are among them."
"Does that include killer diaries?" moaned Matt from ground level.
Luna gave the offending book a scornful look and said, "That ought to be locked up and out of trouble. Fang, I expect it done next time I come here."
"Hell...you try and lock that creeps diary up. I swear that thing thinks for itself." complained Fang, webbing the diary.
Twilight, meanwhile, had started leafing through the book for information on the Corona Prima.
Chloe, now bored with trying to get rid of the giant spider had wandered over "Can do whatever its master desires." she read out from a line about the effect of all three helmets
"I thought the hats only worked with the type of ponies they're meant for," said Applejack. "We alicorns have all the traits of the other three types," said Luna. "Yeah, but you only have one head," said Pinkie, "It's not like you can stack them on top of each other and wear them."
"There are other ways to bend the helmets to your will." said Luna darkly
Matt said "Good thing we have them all then...locked up good and tight in a secure container. I thought they'd be safer here then my ship so I brought em along."
"That's probably for the best," said Twilight, "If I was able to do it, those other mercenaries probably could as well."
"Yeah...I got em locked up in the hotel...with a few surprises..." said Matt with a knowing smirk.
"Uh, ya sure keepin' them in the hotel's a good idea?" asked Applejack.
"Only an idiot would break into a mercs belongings." said Matt with absolute truth.
...
Blueblood obviously didn’t trust the 'humans' one little bit. So he had one of his loyal servants go investigate their room.
"This is a bad idea." said Lockpick, one of the two unicorns working on the door "Who knows what monsters keep in their luggage."
"Hey, what the prince wants, the prince gets," said Tumbler.
"Yeah...but still...” said Lockpick before the door opened with a click. "Nice one, Lockpick...you still got it." said Tumbler
"Er....that wasn't me." said Lockpick nervously
The two of them looked at the door and Tumbler said, "Why don't you go in first?" "No, no, after you," said Lockpick.
Whatever was inside decided to make the choice for them, shooting the carpet they were on into the room, dragging the duo in before the door shut and relocked with an ominous click.
"Ok, we better find out what those humans and leave," said Tumbler.
A scuttling noise was heard in the darkened room, a trashcan falling over as something knocked it over.
The two unicorns looked around. "What was that?" asked Lockpick.
Several blurs shot under the bed...where a heavy duty looking container sat.
"Um, that looks like it," said Tumbler.
Several red lights came on under the bed and what sounded like half a dozen dentist drills began to rev.
Tumbler gulped and said, "On second thought, let sleeping dogs lie, right?" "Those are not dogs," said Lockpick. "Exactly."
A mechanical spider the size of their hoof scuttled out and looked up at them in what was the robotic equivalent of puppy dog eyes.
"It's not that scary," said Lockpick.
On cue two small drills folded out and the two ponies yelped before the bot jumped on Tumblers face
...
Meanwhile, Chloe was looking through the books for more about the diamond that had apparently brought her here.
Matt was in the corner, looking through a book about any word on the facility that had been near the dam, Chloe taking a looks before reading on "The diamonds of discord would find out what its user needed and recreate it. However, this yet another cruel trap of the spirit of chaos." read Chloe, looking at the picture before dropping the book in pain.
In her mind, she could feel emotions that weren't her own flare up: mischief, deceit, callous disregard for others, and treachery for treachery’s sake.
A voice spoke to her...but what was the fun in listening...wait, what? "I said, you ok, Chloe? You look like me after the mind leech." said Matt, shaking her.
"Just...a headache. I guess all the screaming took more out of me than I thought," said Chloe.
"Sure...we got what we need anyhow." said Matt. Twilight nodded "From what I read...these helmets, if you put them together wouldn’t need to be worn..." she said
"You mean put together like a puzzle or just put together in one spot?" asked Pinkie.
"I think me and Applejack saw it done...in that place we found under the dam." said Twilight. "The facility? When me, Aria and Dash took a trip to bookland?" said Matt
"Yeah, we had to keep busy there with Darius's creeps lurkin' around," said Applejack, "Twilight even learned a time-freezin' spell."
"I wondered where Twilight learnt that." said Matt before looking at Chloe’s book. "Watcha reading?" he said only for Chloe to slam it and blurt "Nothing...it was a dead end."
"You feelin' okay, sugar?" asked Applejack.
"I'm fine...being pulled across the multiverse can do that to someone." lied Chloe in a smooth tone
"Maybe you should go lie down," said Applejack.
“Yeah...someone should check on the helmets anyway." said Chloe before walking off to ask Luna to teleport her back out.
Applejack turned to Twilight and said quietly, "Ya think somethin' might be wrong with her?"
"Who knows what my sis has been through? Give her time." said Matt, putting a book back on the shelf
"I just get the feelin' that she ain't what she appears to be," said Applejack.
"She's my sister..." said Matt angrily
"I don't mean to be in your family business, but I just can't ignore that funny feelin'. It's like Pinkie with her twitchin'," said Applejack.
"...I'll talk to her...ok?" said Matt before walking off. "Why would Chloe have lied about that book?" said Twilight, looking at the book Chloe had been reading only to her horror to find several pages had been torn out.
...
As Chloe staggered back to the hotel, her head was overflowing with treacherous thoughts, thoughts of ratting out Matt or setting him up to take the fall for... Why was she thinking these thoughts, he was her brother, wasn't he?
"Oh please...you know better than that." said a voice from a puddle next to the wall she was leaning against. Chloe immediately pulled her blaster out. "Who's there?" she snapped, before her shaking hand caused her to drop the gun
"What do you owe him anyways? Did you really want to be dragged to this little world?" said the voice.
"Come out...who's there?" said Chloe, despite everything starting to get a little frightened. "Is that any way to speak to family, my dear? Look down." said the voice, Chloe complying after a second
Reflected in the puddle was the face of what looked like the oddest antelope Chloe had ever seen. "Ok, I'm pretty sure I didn't have anything to drink today," said Chloe.
"Oh, trust me you didn't." said the antelope. "Ok, Mr. hallucination...I know for a fact none of my relatives look like you...not even that time we pushed Matt into the teleport booth with five vials of DNA from the medilab." said Chloe in a 'inch from snapping' voice
The antelope laughed and said, "Oh, that does sound like a good prank. I simply must have a look at that." Suddenly, Chloe felt like someone was rummaging through her memories.
The antelope started laughing like crazy as he apparently found what he was looking for. "Oh, that is too much. Celestia never lets me out for fun anymore." he said before apparently noticing Chloe’s look. "Discord...or daddy, if you prefer." he said in a mock introduction.
“No, that's not true, that's impossible!" snapped Chloe.
'Discord' clicked his talons and in a flash of light was suddenly wearing a Darth Vader helmet, saying in a Vader voice “Search your feelings; you know it to be true."
Discord continued "What’s your last memory before appearing in that human’s room?" he asked
"The explosion...at our apartment..." said Chloe. "The explosion Matt believed you died in," said Discord, "Matt believes my pearl brought you back to life, but we both know you can't be the real Chloe."
"Magi energy’s done stranger things..." began Chloe only for Discord to say in a surprisingly grim voice "Explain no body then." before she said "Face it...you're about as human as I am, my dear."
"I look more human than you do," said Chloe. "You know what they say, beauty's only skin deep," said Discord.
"What are you talking about?" said Chloe, only for Discord to snap his fingers again, causing Chloe’s hand to spasm....and tear.
Chloe watched in horror as the hand distorted as the skin was stretched against inside. Eventually, it split open to reveal a bird's talons. "Try to deny that," said Discord.
More of the treacherous, cold thoughts slipped up Chloe squeezing her eyes shut. "He's my brother...he's my brother." she repeated.
"Oh stop trying to fight it, accept it," said Discord casually. "I won't...siblings have loyalty..." strained Chloe. Discord laughed and said, "Loyalty? Leave that burden to Rainbow Dash. Betrayal is your true nature...and your true name."
Chloe settled for screaming out loud, Matt running into view. "CHLOE...What’s wrong?" he said.
Chloe looked up when she heard Matt's voice before glancing at her hand and seeing it had five normal human digits again. "Just...a bad dream," she said.
"Yeah...let’s get back...I think the bots caught someone...I heard drills." said Matt, mock cheerfully.
...
The two looked up at the makeshift cocoons made out of curtains and the gagged ponies tied in them. "Ok, that’s impressive." admitted Chloe.
"Yeah, they didn't just shove a bucket on that guy's head, they superglued it," said Matt, pointing to the unfortunate Tumbler, though the spiderbots had drilled two eyeholes for him…It was just a shame it was in the back of the bucket...
Chloe reached up and tore the gag off the second pony who immediately blurted out "WHAT THE HAY IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? NORMAL PONIES JUST PUT ALARM HEXES ON THEIR LUGGAGE!"
"Humans can't do magic," said Matt before pausing and saying, "Well, at least I can't."
Chloe nodded before paling as she spotted Discord in a mirror giving the spiderbots a thumb's up. "Erm...yeah." she said, cutting the ponies down. "Get lost." she said, to Matt’s shock
"But, we're all tied up," said the second pony.
Matt clicked his fingers and one of the spiderbots tore their bonds off. "Hop it." Matt said icily
The two ponies quickly ran out of the room...well, except that the bucketheaded one kept running into the wall instead of through the door. "C'mon, Tumbler," said the other before grabbing him and vamoosing.
"Ten creds says that that fool blueblood sent em to snoop." said Chloe, checking the lock on the container. "Yeah...they tried to break it...that musta been when the bots jumped em." she said
"As tempted as I am to go and confront Bluephlegm about this, I promised the girls I'd stay out of trouble. I suppose the least troubling way would be to complain to the manager," said Matt before going out the door.
Chloe nodded "I'll keep an eye here." she said. However as soon as Matt was gone she heard Discord again "Maybe you are related to him? Such rigid self-denial." he said
Chloe turned and saw Discord's reflection in the mirror. "Don't you have anything else better to do?" she snapped.
"Not really. Just counting how many pigeons land on me." said Discord in a bored voice
Chloe gave him an odd look and said, "Well, I don't care, just leave me alone."
"Oh, don't be like that. Father and daughter should do more things together...let’s start will giving those primus artifacts to somepony who could actually use them." said Discord
"I suppose you mean yourself," said Chloe.
"No...someone has to get rid of that...urgh....do-gooder...and you, my dear are in the right place." said Discord
"If you expect to betray my brother..." started Chloe. "Of course I do," snapped Discord, "Your name isn't Betrayal because it's a nickname for Beatrice!"
"MY NAME IS CHLOE...!" snapped Chloe, trying to drown out the cruel thoughts swimming around, one pointing out how much Darius would pay for the full set of artifacts.
"You aren't the true Chloe, must you require further proof?" said Discord, "Maybe you should what your face should really look like."
With that, Discord clicked his fingers again and Chloe moaned as her face began to ache and warp before she fell down. After a minute she pulled herself up to see a green scaled draconic face with one antler and one dragon horn staring back with yellow and red eyes.
"There now, I think it really brings out your inner backstabber," said Discord.
Chloe just stared with an almost sad expression, lifting her re-taloned hand up to press against the mirror before her eyes narrowed as her self-denial broke.
"Now then, let's see about contacting that Darius I've been hearing about," said Discord.
"Sure...but first I think it’s time I took my dear 'brother' out of the loop." said Chloe with a fanged grin.
...
Blueblood was less than satisfied when his spies got back to him, especially one was 'out of uniform'.
"But they had some kind of...golem things guarding their luggage." said Tumbler in a echoing voice, mostly cause the bucket was STILL on his head, though Lockpick had managed to cast some proper eyeholes and a horn hole into it.
"A pair of...spies like you should have been able to find a way around those lumbering brutes," said Blueblood.
"We tried...oh, Celestia we tried." said Lockpick in a distant horrified voice.
"Obviously, you didn't try hard enough," said Blueblood, "I want to know what those monkeys are hiding. So you're going back and..."
"NOT A CHANCE!" yelled Tumbler, his eyes pinpricks that caused Blueblood to jump back. Lockpick added "We quit. Being attacked by homicidal constructs was NOT in our job description."
Blueblood glared and said, "You dare refuse a Royal Prince?"
Lockpick and Tumbler paused before Tumbler said "Quite easily actually...the dirt you've had us hoof through...imagine if Equestria Daily or the Canterlot times heard."
"Wha...Bu...Bu...FINE! Get out of my sight! You two are banished from Canterlot! Begone!" shouted Blueberk.
"Don't call us...we'll call you...erm, before I go...do you know any anti-glue spells?" began Tumbler only for Blueblood to yell "GET OUT!"
The two unicorn thieves quickly turned and left, Tumbler muttering to Lockpick, "We never should have agreed in the first place."
Blueblood glared before using his magic to close the door. "This is what I get for hiring peasants." he muttered, trotting over to his cushions before hearing a clink from the next room.
"What was that?" he muttered before walking towards the door.
He slowly trotted towards the door to the other room. "Clearcut? Is that you?" he called nervously, saying the name of his butler. A new noise began, sounding like one of those newfangled drills dentists used.
"Clearcut, is that a new mop you're using?" called Blueblood.
At no reply Blueblood gulped and slowly opened the door to see a shadowy humanoid figure in front of his houses safe. "HEY. HOW DARE...EEEEEEEK!" he began before the figure aimed a device that spat an orange orb at him, blowing a burning hole in the doorframe.
Unaccustomed to violence, let alone direct threats against his life, Blueblood did what most aristocrats would do...he toppled over in a dead faint.
The figure looked at him before shrugging and using the blaster to burn the safes lock away and pulling out a handful of the gems. "Too easy." it said in a voice distorted by its helmet mask.
The figure then strode towards the door, but paused and kicked Blueblood in the side a few times for good measure, I mean...who'd pass up that opportunity?
...
The next morning, Matt and Chloe were using the SUV to drive the artifacts up to the main castle when he spotted a half dozen guards outside one of the estates. Matt slowed down and peered out to see Shining "Where's the fire?" he joked.
"We've had a break-in, assault and burglary," said Shining Armor, "Against one of the Royal Family no less."
"How's the thief? I pity whoever takes on your princesses." said Matt cheerfully before spotting a limping Blueblood yelling at a few guards. "That smeghead?" he said with a lack of sympathy
"Well, Blueblood isn't an alicorn, so he isn't as powerful. Sometimes I wonder if he's legitimately...." "THAT'S HIM!" screamed Blueblood suddenly, pointing at Matt.
"I'm sorry?" said Matt. "You're the one who robbed me. Captain Armor...do your duty and arrest that miscreant." yelled Blueblood, pointing hysterically. Matt and Chloe looked at each other "You're joking...right?" she said.
"I saw it with my own eyes! That's the one who broke into my safe and beat me senseless!" yelled Blueblood.
"Oh please...I was in bed last night...ask anyone at the hotel...apparently I snore like a dragon according to the guy in the room next door." said Matt.
"Then explain how the intruder was your size and shape and attacked me with a handheld fireball," snapped Blueblood.
"Exo-Gene? Darius has a whole army that’s my 'size and shape'." said Matt, only for Blueblood to say evilly "Then you won't mind turning out your pockets."
Matt sighed and said, "Fine, if it gets me out of here any fast-"
Matt and Chloe climbed out, Matt tripping only for Chloe to steady him. "Easy there..." she said before saying "Hey...what’s this?" pulling out what looked like a ruby out of Matt’s pocket.
"Uh...something I found while...rock hunting," said Matt, pretty sure he hadn't seen that ruby before.
Blueblood was looking like the cat that had just eaten the canary and gotten the cream to boot. "Captain...as I said...arrest that miscreant." he said in an aloof voice
"Now wait a minute, there's no proof this is yours. Rubies aren't exactly rare around here," said Matt.
Blueblood immediately levitated the ruby over, turning it over to show an interconnected BB symbol cut into the bottom.
"That could mean anything," said Matt, stubbornly.
Matt could easily have overpowered the guards and make a break for it. Heck, he had a getaway vehicle ready for him. But he made that promise... "Ok, fine, it's not gonna stick anyways," said Matt.
...
Chloe sat with a grim smile in the corner as she watched the element bearers discuss their friends 'betrayal'...sometimes it was too easy.
"I don't understand why Matt would do that," said Fluttershy, "I thought he was a nice guy." "Well, Blueblood may be an obnoxious clod...but I don't think that gives Matt the right to rob him," said Rarity.
Rainbow Dash however said "No...Matt wouldn’t rob anypony. He may be a little crazy but he’s not a thief." Pinkie Pie nodded "Yup. Matt would have just blown him up." she said
"O'course, this wouldn't be the first time Matt's done somethin' rotten behind our backs," said Applejack. "Matt had a good reason when he took the pearl, not a smart one but he meant well," said Twilight, "I just can't believe he'd betray our trust like this."
Chloe finally said "Don't judge him too hard...I saw his file when I got to the ship. Poor guys unstable...he probably didn’t even know what he was doing." she said smoothly.
Rainbow gave Chloe a stern look and said, "How could say something like that? Matt's your brother you know."
"Yeah....right." muttered Chloe to herself before saying "Yeah...so I know he's not the same. He just needs a little time out."
"Well, if Matt is innocent, they won't be able to make the charges stick," said Twilight, "He'll probably be out before tomorrow night."
Chloe nodded thinking "Not if I can help it." before saying "I'm gonna head over...have a chat with Aria."
...
As soon as she'd entered her room, she grabbed Matt’s spare wrist-comp and began looking for the frequency she knew Matt would have on its restricted list...Darius's.
...
The mess hall in the Icarus was rather quiet, considering very few show up at any time other than mealtime. However, some of those few were in the mess hall and discussing the latest going-ons. "Have you noticed the captain's been rather...quiet since that island fiasco?" asked one trooper.
"Been summoning everyone into his room except Andaka and his boys. Guess it’s our turn." said his fellow trooper, the two glaring at a tableful of laughing Black 13 mercenaries. A third trooper said "Hey...you didn’t hear this from me...but I think the cap's been exposed to reality energy...the magi levels in his room blew out the sensors."
The troopers exchanged glances and one of them said, "You don't think he's been practicing the...dark stuff, do ya?" "I don't know, but if I hear any eldritch language from his quarters, I'm bailing out," said another.
"With what? We're still stabilizing the wormhole so the only other place is local lockup downstairs." said the first trooper, thumbing out the window at Equis, the name they'd given the planet Matt was hiding on.
There was a bit of silence before one of them said, "Out of curiosity, what would you say our chances would be on his side?"
"He managed to evade Mark and his entire garrison back at Balwak...took out over 30 of our boys over the duration of this whole clusterfuck operation...I'd say pretty good if we manage to stop him blowing the smeg out of us on sight." said the third trooper
"Well, he can't be completely unreasonable," said another. However, one of the more loyal troopers said, "I think I need a better reason before I even consider desertion and possible mutiny."
"I hear CPS let ya keep 60% of what ya earn." said the second trooper absently. You could almost hear the internal gears starting to spin as their mental compasses swung round to due money.
"There is such a thing as code of duty," said the more loyal trooper, "I can't just abandon my post because the captain might seem a little off."
"Uh oh...here comes the zombies." said the one who had mentioned the CPS money nodding to where some of their fellow troopers had come in. The nickname was cause of the strange stare the troopers had. Even the Black 13 troopers stood up and moved away, one muttering about freaks. One of them yelled "OFFICER ON DECK!"
The three troopers immediately stood to attention. However, they didn't see the captain walk in. Instead, they saw a woman in uniform with violet sparkling hair. "Er...where's the captain?" asked one of the troopers.
"She's right there, you fools." said one of the guards, causing the trio to desperately fight the urge to not smirk. In their minds, Darius had clearly had an accident messing with magi energy.
The more loyal trooper said, in as a straight a tone as he could manage, "I trust the...captain is feeling well today?"
The woman said "I'm feeling....much better, thank you." waving her hand and causing a faint glow...before seemingly waiting.
The troopers glanced at each other, wondering what was supposed to happen. The woman looked annoyed before repeating the gesture, the glow a bit brighter.
The trio watched politely as the woman glared at her hand a shook it a bit before one of them said "Erm...boss? Are you ok?"
"Whatever you three are doing, stop it right now!" snapped the woman. "Er...does that mean we can sit down?" asked another trooper.
"Just...just go away." said the woman in an angry voice, the trio shrugging before wandering off, one of them saying "Woo hoo...day off."
One of the officers stepped in and said, "Message for you, ma'am. Seems like someone has an interesting offer to make."
The woman took the note and read it before smirking. "Looks like this body has its uses...so somepony picked up Discord's old diamonds. " she said. The nightmare had, after the disaster on the island had finally decided to do the job herself, destroying Darius's mind and taking up residence...after a few improvements.
There was still some more work to be done, but a human form does have some benefits, namely hands.
"Get some men together. we might as well try our luck with this...given how you imbeciles keep missing." she said.
"Yes...Captain Daria..." said the men. 'Daria' looked a little annoyed. She'd much rather be addressed by a more appropriate name, but there seems to be a limit to how much you can bend others' minds without affecting their capabilities.
...
Chloe/Betrayal smirked as the confirmation of the exchange popped up before she turned to her reflection. "I don’t get it, dad. Why hand Miss Sparkle over to them too?" she said
"Trust me, Celestia's pupil is a lot tougher than she appears and she has the record to prove it," said Discord, "Besides, busting up their little group and handing her over would be so delicious, wouldn't you agree?"
"I suppose..." said Chloe/Betrayal a little uncertainly before saying "Well...this Darius guy will be there..." she added before saying to Discords apparently surprise "Matt'll be ok...won’t he?"
"Matt's safely in the dungeon," said Discord, "He won't be out until it's too late. It's not like you still care for him."
"Yeah...obviously." said Betrayal with a cough before shifting back to human form and picking up a high tech looking collar. "I'll say this for the NSC...they're prepared...an anti-magic collar...used for Mythiconians." she said with a evil grin.
...
Fortunately for Matt, the Equestrians didn't believe in torture, so they had to result to the toughest method they had: grilling under a hot lamp.
"Where are the rest of my jewels?” snapped Blueblood who, despite Shining armors objections, had insisted on being at the interrogation. "Don't know, don't care." said Matt with a yawn
Blueblood turned to Shining Armor and snapped, "Why are we wasting time with this questioning? Let's just pull the answer out of his head!" "You first, well, second," said Shining, gesturing to another guard who had a block of ice strapped to his head.
"A-001* mental blocks(1)...I did warn him." said Matt, apologetically. "Hell, even I dunno how it works. I didn’t steal your stupid jewels...I got more than that from bounties anyway."
"Then explain why my ruby was in your pocket!" demanded Blueblood.
"No idea...I left my jacket in my room all morning. Anyone could have entered. I never lock my door...most people know I shoot trespassers." said Matt in a bored tone.
"Matt, this isn't helping your case," said Shining Armor.
"Look...I wouldn't dare steal. That’s a firing offence to CPS...and that’s not a metaphor." said Matt whispering to Shining "Come on...this is rubbish. I got no reason to steal from anyone...except for apples and Applejack let me before I was found out by the town."
"I wish I could believe that but unless I have any proof, I have to keep this case open," whispered Shining, "If you had an eyewitness to where you were last night, that may clear you."
"My sis...man, I've been expecting her to kick the door down all this time. Can I have my wrist-comp back so I can call..." began Matt, reaching for his wrist comp on the table, only for Blueblood to pettily levitate it away.
"Prisoners aren't allowed to make calls," said Blueblood. "Oh, c'mon, I do get one phone call, right?" complained Matt. There was a pause before Matt asked, "You guys have invented the telephone, right?"
"No...If I get my way, you'll never set foot in Equestria again. Thugs like you are worse than Diamond dogs." said Blue blood loftily before striding out, dropping Matt’s wrist-comp at a guard's hooves.
"You know its aristocratic jerks like you that made the French revolt back in my world!" yelled Matt.
Shining Armor snorted at that when he spotted Bluebloods glare before he said "Look...we'll find your sister and get her side of the story." said Shining, giving Matt his wrist comp, only to sigh as Matt immediately started readying a call. "Hey...this is weird." Matt muttered as a red message appeared.
Matt activated the message and got a notice saying 'You are not cleared to be using an EGIS comm frequency. Please extend your contact permit before making another call or there will be a fine.'
Matt rolled his eyes, cursing his smartarseness for coming up with that warning message. "I shoulda kept it at factory settings." he muttered before looking at the contents before saying "Where did you see my sister last?" he said in an ice cold tone.
"Last I had saw was when she was in that vehicle with you," said Shining Armor.
Matt turned to the guards "Well?" he asked, his voices temperature now at ice age levels
"Uh, I think I saw her near the main gates a few minutes ago," said one of the guards. "Blueblood said we weren't to allow you two out of the city so I don't think she'll be able to go any further," said the other.
Shining armor put a shield up over the door as Matt walked for the door. "Hey...what’s this about?" he asked Matt, who said “She called Darius...I want to know why."
"You're not suggesting your sister may be fraternizing with the enemy, are you?" asked Shining. "Maybe she slipped that ruby into his pocket too," said a guard. Matt and Shining turned to glare at the guard. "It was just a theory," said the guard.
Matt stopped before saying "No...she must have a good reason. My sister wouldn't backstab me like this."
...
Twilight slowly opened the door to Chloe’s room, levitating a few equestrian law books in behind her. "Chloe? I'm here." she called.
The interior of the room was darker than Twilight had expected. "Uh, Chloe, would you mind if I turn on the lights?" she asked.
"No problem." said Chloe’s voice, though it sounded a little distorted. At the same time Matt’s spare comm turned on as it detected Twilights voice, chiming it had connected. "Twi? Twilight?" said Matt’s voice
Twilight looked at the comm and asked, "Matt? Is that you?"
"Twilight...I dunno why but Chloe set me up. She called Darius...get out of there...just get o-" said Matts voice before it cut off with the crack of a taloned fist smashing it.
"Uh, I just remembered, there's another book I should grab. I better go get it," said Twilight before turning back to the door.
The door glowed before slamming shut, several bars appearing across it with a frighteningly familiar flash. Twilight spun to see a silhouette against the window that she knew. "D-discord?" she said before the figure said "Not exactly...but I guess Dad has met you."
"Dad? What do you mean?" asked Twilight. "Well, not a father in the proper sense, but I am born from his magic. Just like someone else who would like to see you again."
Twilight’s eyes narrowed and she began to ready the time-freeze spell only for an arc of lightning to shoot from Betrayal’s hand...more precisely the blaster in her paw before she walked towards the semi-conscious Twilight. "You know...if I hadn’t found out how Matt basically brought me from limbo...I'd go with him...technologies fun." she said, attaching the collar before she said "Now then...we have a date to kee-" she began before hearing someone trying to open the door.
Betrayal gave an annoyed look before saying, "I don't have time for this," before shifting into Chloe's form.
The door finally gave way under a kick and Matt ran in, aiming his blaster at Chloe. “Hands up, sis. I was always the better shot." he said warningly, before seeing Twilight with the anti-magi collar on. "Oh, there had better be a good reason for that...drop the tesla...now." he said coldly
"Matt, don't you trust your little sister?" asked Chloe in a too-sweet tone.
"After you framed me? Not a chance. Now drop it before I knock you out." said Matt, angrily.
"Me? Frame you? How could you think something like that?" asked Chloe.
"I didn't till a guard mentioned how you could have reverse-pickpocketed me with that ruby." said Matt as Chloe tossed the tesla blaster aside. Twilight groaned something that got Matts attention. “Not....not." she said weakly. "Twi?" said Matt, making the mistake of looking down to see Twi mouth "Not...your sister."
Matt was about to turn back to confront 'Chloe' when what felt like an ostrich's leg kicked him into the wall.
Matt staggered a bit before looking up to see what looked like an amalgamation of half a dozen animals, both normal and mythical. "Chloe?" he asked slightly dazed, only to duck as the creature nearly clawed his head off. "No...Betrayal..." said the creature in Chloe’s voice only to apparently stagger back as Matt emptied a clip of tazer rounds into her chest before he ran over to Twilight.
"Ok, now to slip this off...I said, now to slip this off..." said Matt with growing frustration as the collar proved more difficult to remove. He soon tried to yank it off and only stopped when he could hear Twilight gagging.
"Twilight...what is that thing wearing my sisters face?" he asked, before finding the keypad and trying his code, only to get a buzz as the code was rejected.
Twilight couldn't respond but she started pointing with one of her hooves.
Matt turned in time for a paw to smack him across the room into the wall above the bed. "That actually hurt." said Betrayal in an annoyed tone before turning to her reflection and asking it "When do I get fireball?....what do you mean 'not till my third millennium?"
"As curious as I am about what's going on, I'm just too mad," said Matt before taking out another gun and firing.
Betrayal made a quick gesture, the blasts vanishing in the air before she shot forward and grabbed matt. "So...you got off, did you?" she said, clocking her talons and causing Twilight to vanish. "Let’s see you get out of this." she said before yelling near the window "MATT...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" and then tossing Matt out said window.
Fortunately, they were only up one floor so the fall wasn't that far. In fact, Matt barely got injured apart from a few glass cuts and bruises. It's something that comes with experience.
However, landing on cobbles hurts even if you are wearing body armor. Matt dizzily got up with a wince to see the ponies in the street staring in shock before Betrayal, wearing her skinsuit leaned out and took a shot at Matt, forcing him to roll to his feet.
"That maniac tried to shoot me!" yelled 'Chloe' before trying to shoot Matt again. Considering how bad the situation look plus the difficulty in getting anyone to believe the truth which even Matt was having trouble grasping, Matt decided a healthy retreat was in order.
Matt quickly ran for it as a few guards galloped after him. He quickly skidded round a corner into an alley before jumping at and kicking off one of the side walls to vault the fence at the end...sometimes pony scale walls had advantages. However Matt wasn’t dumb tossing two small knives at the metal fence before the two 'tazer-blades' stunned the guards trying to follow.
However, one of the guards, being a pegasus, was able to avoid that obstacle and intercept Matt. "Halt, you are under arrest in the name of..."
The guard never got a chance to finish as Matt grabbed the hoof reaching for him and pulled, his other hand connecting with the pegasus's snout in a stunning blow before the momentum was used to steer the pony into the alleys side wall, knocking him out. "No touching." said Matt, turning a corner and being grabbed in a levitation spell.
Matt tried to run, only for him to float into the air. "Hey, no fair!" snapped Matt.
He managed to make himself spin to see the girls coming out. "Hey...this isn't what it looks like. I think Chloe’s gone insane." he said as calmly as he could before noticing their stares at the gibbering guard.
"He'll be fine, though he'll have a massive headache later," said Matt.
Rainbow Dash glared and flew close to Matts face. "Where's Twilight? Chloe said you just burst in and started shooting...and that..." she said, unable to finish, clearly buying into 'Chloe’s' show
"Wish I could tell you, but I don't know. You're gonna have to ask Chloe where she poofed Twilight to," said Matt.
"You guys don’t have magic." said Rainbow Dash only for Matt to say "I don’t think that applies to her anymore...she looked like she’d been glued together from half a dozen things."
"Glued together?" asked Applejack. "Yeah, she looks like some horse, dragon jabberwocky…thingy," said Matt, finishing lamely before adding "And she doesn't play nice. Ok, Chloe's not known to place nice all the time, but there's a limit to how much she goes."
"That sounds like that varmint, Discord...but he's a statue." said Applejack before glaring at Matt. "Did y'all hurt Twi?" she asked, Looking Matt in the eye.
Matt said sincerely "No...I'd sooner shoot myself."
Applejack gave him a long look before saying, "He's tellin' the truth."
Pinkie was next up before saying "You pinkie promise you didn’t do anything?" she said, causing Matt to simply look confused "Erm...yes, sure." he said carefully before hearing "This way." from the distance. "Erm...can I run now? Can't do anything if I'm in a cell."
Just then, the sound of galloping hooves was heard getting close. Rainbow flew upward and looked around. "Twilight's brother's coming, and he's got a lot of guards with," she called.
Rarity reluctantly released the spell on Matt, causing him to fall with an 'oof'. "I'll get her back." said Matt, jumping up before running for it, turning the corner just as Shining and his team ran into view.
"Have you seen Matt?" asked Shining Armor. "Uh...no," said Fluttershy.
Shining looked suspicious before turning on the others "I got to find him...he and his sister have vanished and...ponies are saying he killed Twilight." he said icily
"There's no proof of that," said Rarity, "I don't know where Twilight is, but I'm certain she's alive."
"If he's hurt Twilight...I won’t forgive myself...I let him go." said Shining gloomily
"Oh, don't worry about Twilight, she'll be alright," said Pinkie, "I bet she'll be back home tomorrow."
...
Twilight groaned as the world came back. Being temporarily sent to limbo was not pleasant. She looked up to see Betrayal in her human guise, sitting on a crate near a metal gantry extending out...an airship dock judging from the muted roar of Canterlot falls.
Twilight tried a spell, but the collar was still around her throat.
"You're not going anywhere....well....not yet. Look on the bright side...you'll probably be released when Darius goes back to the void...of course it'll be impossible to find your way back." Betrayal said
"Why are you doing this?" asked Twilight.
"I'm the spirit of betrayal...and why didn't you or my dear step-brother tell me what I was?" said Betrayal coldly
"I...I didn't know. The only book had the pages missing and..." She suddenly realized something, "You took those pages. You put that ruby in Matt's pocket."
"Well done...it’s the least I could do after Matt backstabbed me and 'forgot' to tell me I'm just a talented copy...My human form and memories are all from his memories...even the ones he doesn’t want." said Betrayal with an evil smile
"Matt had no idea what he did," said Twilight, "He didn't even mean to bring you here. He thought that you really were his sister, until now."
"Huh...well, he's getting what he deserves. It’s not like a cell here could hold a professional mercenary when he wants to leave." said Betrayal
"Matt's done nothing wrong to you, and this is how you're repaying him," said Twilight, anger entering her voice, "I know you're a creation of Discord, but even that's too low."
"I'm betrayal...what should I do? Hand myself in and give your dear princess matching statues for her garden?" spat Betrayal
"Matt could have given you a better life," said Twilight, "You may not be the real Chloe, but he wouldn't have cared if you hadn't betrayed him."
"Except once he realized he's pining after a corpse...oh, wait...he sealed that file. You've been in his head...you really should learn to pay attention." said Betrayal evilly before a dropship flew slowly into view, landing on the airship dock. "Ah...your rides here...and I got your fare." said Betrayal, clicking her fingers and making the crate with the artifacts appear
"The Corona Prima?! You can't hand them over! If Darius got his hands on them, there's no telling what he'll do!" cried Twilight.
"Sell them probably...why should I care? I'm gonna have a father/daughter reunion later," said Betrayal as the walkway lowered a dozen or so troopers ran down followed by a woman in Darius’s uniform. "Ok...where’s Miss L...Miss Sparkle...always nice to see an old host," the woman said darkly, showing a shard of blue metal on a pendant round her neck
Her form may be different than before, but Twilight recognized her. "Nightmare? But how? Why?" she asked.
"Well...My host says that Mr. Lynch's employers have a motto: Always clean up your mess...you failed to do that when you destroyed my armor." said Daria/The Nightmare, petting Twilight tauntingly on the head.
"But why Darius, and what have you done to him?" asked Twilight.
"Moved in...but there's only room for one soul in any one body..." said Daria with unconcealed glee. Twilight looked ready to be sick as she realized that Nightmare would have probably done the same to her once the ritual had been done. Betrayal/Chloe also looked ill. “That’s just wrong...chaos yes, but killing ponies?" she said
"Darius isn't a pony," said Daria as she examined her hand, "Of course, I’m considering changing that. Or maybe I should just change halfway, what do you think?"
"I'm sorry...my families got the copyright on mix'n'match forms, thank you.” said Betrayal
"Well, there's one disadvantage to your being human," said Twilight. "And what, pray tell, is that?" asked Daria. "You can't fly on your own and you can't use magic," said Twilight, "Honestly, humans' only remarkable features are their hands."
"True...but that 'human technology' has reduced you to the magical ability of a rock..." said Daria, evilly, tapping the anti-magi collar.
"However, I must admit that as useful as humans are proving to me, I do miss the noble and righteous form of an alicorn. Hmm...I have an idea. With all three Corona Prima under my control, I'll be capable of any feat of magic, such as exchanging this body for yours. So I'll be getting your body back and become the Dark Ruler of all Equestria and you get to experience what humans are good for. Sounds like an even trade, doesn't it?"
"No...not a chance." said Twilight stubbornly. Daria glared and seemed ready to react before a trooper in ebony uniform, one of the reptilian creatures from Paradiso, said "Hey...contractor...something set off the motion sensor at the 50 meter mark."
Daria turned around as her eyes and pendant glowed deep blue. "Excuse me, what did you call me?" she asked.
"Oh...so sorry, ma'am." said the splitter in a sarcastic tone before continuing. "It’s not a local...silhouette says it’s human...hiding out in one of the other warehouses. You want him breathing or cold?"
"Lynch has lived his purpose. He does not need to live any longer," said Daria.
Betrayal who, to Twilights notice was watching the conversation in mounting apparent horror, said suddenly "We'll need his code for the crate. These things tend to be unbreakable."
"She has a fair point," said the splitter before tossing a lightning bolt at the crate. There was barely even a scorch.
Daria snorted and said "Bring him to me alive." Andaka nodded and made a motion to three of his men who jogged for one of the side doors.
...
Matt opened the door out of the warehouse he had been in and ducked back as he spotted two EGIS troopers on the roof. "Sneaky...but I'm better." Matt muttered, despite the contrary to his track record.
"Hold it right there," said a voice behind Matt. Matt rolled his eyes and said, "You've got to be joking."
He turned to see an EGIS trooper aiming a pistol at him. "You new?" asked Matt, slowly raising his hands.
"What's it to ya?" snapped the trooper. "Oh, nothing, nothing, ok, I'll go quietly, just need to tie my shoelace first," said Matt.
The trooper looked puzzled as Matt kneeled down, leaning in...and gotpunched in the throat by a chop from Matt and finally punched between the eyes. Matt grabbed the guy’s blaster as he keeled over, out cold. "They let anyone have licenses these days." Matt muttered, opening the door smugly...and sighing as two blasters were aimed, one on each side of his head. "Drop em, Lynch."
"I really don't want to spend my day doing this," said Matt.
"Fine by us...we're paid by the hour." said a voice behind Matt, who turned and saw a scaly fist heading towards him
.
...
Daria smirked as Andaka and his mercs returned, dragging a semi-conscious Matt between them. "Is this yours?" said Andaka, rubbing his hand as his troopers dumped Matt on the floor.
"Well, Mr. Lynch, it looks like you've finally met your match," said Daria. Matt stared blearily up at Daria and said, "Maybe, who am I addressing?"
"Really? I thought you'd remember the pony you dropped her palace on." said Daria, her eyes glowing blue.
Matt blinked and turned to Andaka, "Ok, what's her real name?" "Well, he was Captain Darius, but she prefers Captain Daria now," said Andaka. Matt stared before laughing loudly and asking, "Ok, where's the hidden camera?"
Twilight and Betrayal winced as Daria delivered an eye-watering kick. "Ok...is that a 'no camera'?" rasped Matt.
Daria grabbed Matts hair and yanked his head back, hissing "Open that container...you put a lock on it...so open it."
"What? Can't you crack codes yourself?" taunted Matt.
"OPEN IT!" screamed Daria. Matt said "I didn't put a lock on it, dumbass...I just added a latch. No fingers makes security easy." Daria stared manically and snapped "Do I look like a fool?"
"Considering you're under the belief that you're an evil spirit reborn and have rearranged your sexual structure to emulate that being...my opinion is that you're demented," said Matt.
A second later, an arc of blue lightning grabbed Matt by the throat and lifted him up. "Then again...I've been known to jump to conclusions..." Matt gasped desperately
"If your mouth will not give me the right answer, let's try a more direct approach," said Daria as an arc of lightning touched Matt's forehead.
Matt gurgled as Daria got a thoughtful look, ignoring Twilight as she cried "Stop it...you're hurting him." Andaka said grimly "That’s the point, I think."
"Now let's see what you're hiding," said Daria.
The nightmare carefully probed through Matt’s maze-like mind, shocked at the insane amount of mental defenses hiding for her should she be unwary. All she could find was a brief glimpse of some kind of oval being placed in a building....the other warehouse. "What is..." she muttered before a deafening smashing noise was heard as something roared out of the other warehouse into the sky and began wailing while bathing half of canterlot in a green light.
The effect on the ponies was very evident: dozens ran around screaming about invasions and the end of the world.
Shining Armor though had a decent idea what it was, more so when he got a look at the cause through a spyglass. "Lynch...Ok...this way." he said, nodding to his men who began to gallop towards the airship docks.
...
Daria, her hands on her ears, shrieked "TURN THAT HAY-BLASTED DEVICE OFF!" One of the troopers aimed a blaster at the flare-droid, ignoring Andaka's cry of "NO...DON'T!" The blast shot out and hit the droids shield, the ripples flowing round before back and sending a needle-thin bolt back, knocking the trooper backwards and over the falls.
Andaka gave an annoyed look at the droid and said, "Is a big distraction the best you could do? All that thing's giving me is a headache." He sent the 'all-clear' signal through his comm which shut off the droid.
"No...But thanks to my 'dear sister' here...I'm on the local most wanted..." said Matt, with an evil grin. Andaka's eyes widened at that "Ma'am...we gotta go." he said, several red lights showing motion alarms being tripped. "No...not till the artifacts mine." snapped Daria angrily
"Then drop it from orbit and pick them out of the shards," said Andaka, "We don't have time to force Lynch to open it."
"Contacts." came a yell from the roof. Daria's eyes narrowed and she yelled "Kill them...nothing gets in until I am free of this form." Andaka growled at that "Are you INSANE?"
"No, but you're about to be!" snapped Daria before sending a blast of dark magic into Andaka.
Matt pulled himself up to see Andaka having a seizure before going limp. Daria said coldly “Now kindly rip that human to ribbons." Matt jumped as Andaka turned, his eyes black and he took a fighting stance. "You gotta be kidding me...if we survive this, sis...you and me are going to have words." he said, backing up.
Andaka snarled before delivering a kick that literally sent Matt right out the door.
Betrayal backed up a little as Daria said "As for her...kill them both."
Andaka roared before charging at Betrayal, only to slam into a brick wall that wasn't there a few seconds ago.
Betrayal grabbed Twilight and pulled her into the maze of crates with her. "I suppose it’s too late to say I'm sorry?" Betrayal said "Ignoring her 'dads' reflection shaking his head.
"I think someone else needs to be told you're sorry more," said Twilight. A lightning bolt fried a nearby crate. "But this isn't a good time for that."
The sound of gunfire was heard from above along with what sounded like lightning spells. "Hey...look on the bright side. I hear matching garden statues are in this year." Betrayal added
"I might be able to ask Celestia to give you another chance," said Twilight. "Oh, yeah, sure, like she'd ever give my dad another chance," said Betrayal.
"It could happen." said Twilight in an 'I don’t think that'll happen' voice.
"Enough posturing, get that draconequus!" snapped Daria's voice.
"Huh...and I thought my human form was flawless." said Betrayal, before turning to her 'normal' form, causing Twilight to blanch a bit as the skinsuit was torn off.
"That's disgusting," said Twilight. "I haven't figured out shapeshifting all the way yet," said Betrayal, "Now if you excuse me..."
She conjured a white flag and peered out "Parley?" she tried before wincing at the sound of multiple blasts and pulled back a colander of a flag. “Ooookay." she said
"I have no use for you anymore," said Daria, "If you have any sense, which is doubtful, you will leave now."
Betrayal glared before readying a fireball. "I guess that’s that...now where's my step brother?" she said.
...
Matt got up unsteadily before seeing Andaka clambering through the hole and out into the dock, now being drenched by a storm that had probably been started by some pegasi who thought the flare drone was a fire alarm. "Hey...let’s talk about this, man." Matt said
Andaka snarled and threw a lightning bolt that nearly missed Matt. "Hey, I know you're mad, but you can at least talk to me," said Matt.
"The mistress of darkness demands your soul." said Andaka in a droning voice before readying another lightning bolt, only to find the rain was dampening his abilities
"Sorry, I think I owe me soul to my last ship creditor," said Matt, "No, wait, just 1000 credits."
Andaka lunged with a roar, the two rolling across the dock before Matt managed to kick up and send Andaka tumbling over the falls...until he flew into view. "Bloody space dragons." muttered Matt, backing up again
Andaka swooped down at Matt and Matt tried to punch him, but the splitter grabbed his fist and squeezed it hard, forcing Matt to his knees.
"Foolish." said Andaka, punching Matt with his other free hand and sending the human sprawling. "I will enjoy destroying you in my mistress's name." he said, before yelling as Matt threw some dirt in his face and scrambled to get away
"I think I preferred him when he was arrogant," muttered Matt.
Matt staggered to a side gate, leading back out and ran immediately into view of two royal guards led by Shining Armor who yelled. "THERE HE IS!"
"Sorry, wrong address." said Matt manically, slamming the door again.
A hissing roar behind Matt made him briefly consider if dealing with the guards could be worse than Andaka.
A spell blowing a hole in the gate decided for him and he turned and ducked to avoid a claw slash before delivering a kick that felt like it hit a wall...and being thrown back towards the dock for his trouble.
"Ok, I think my luck has settled down to the bottom for me to safely say this could not possibly get any worse," said Matt.
The wall behind Andaka suddenly blazed before exploding outwards, Betrayal shooting out. "Then again..." muttered Matt.
"Did I miss anything?" asked Betrayal. "Not yet, my impending doom is coming, here to get a front row seat?" asked Matt sourly.
"I dunno...I think you need a paw or two." Betrayal, said, her tail whipping out and pulling Andaka's feet from under him, Twilight jumping out the hole she had made and galloping for the gate Matt had used.
"How do I know you're not just trying to get my hopes up only to flatten them again?" said Matt.
"The family business doesn’t include getting people killed." said Betrayal casually, dodging a few blows from Andaka before vanishing his wings with the click of her talons...and staring at her paw in shock. "That’s ne-OOF!" she managed, distracted long enough for Andaka to send her spinning to the floor with a backhanded blow.
"Ok, if I avoid the tail, I might have…" stared Matt before an electrified punch sent him flying across the wharf.
Betrayal got up dizzily before being lifted up by her throat, wincing as electricity arced over her from Andaka. "You...traitorous..." he snarled before being knocked sideways as Matt swung a plank against his head with an angry yell.
However, the slitter's skull was thick enough that the plank snapped on impact. But there was a big enough shard of it for Andaka to grab and ram into Matt's leg.
Matt fell with a yell before being picked up and thrown, rolling almost to the edge. "This...isn't good." Matt managed through his haze.
...
Twilight bucked the gate open to see a dozen or so Night guard and royal guard mages exchanging a fight with Daria's men who were firing from the roof, a few slumped troopers showing clearly who was losing.
However, one of the troopers fired a weapon that went over the guards' heads. But the explosion it caused was enough to scatter them.
Twilight ducked down and again tried to pull the collar off before looking up to see Shining armor. "Shiny? SHINY!" she called, surprised that the troopers above ignored her.
"Twily? TWILY!! Get out of here! This is no place for-" shouted Shining before a nearby explosion made it impossible to hear.
Several troopers ran out a side door and ended up getting a taste of what twilight had written in her letter about the Paradiso trip 'Mixed spelling' from two mages, turning into, in order, a statue, a surprised chicken and a bottle of something called 'Pepsi Cherry flavor'. What it did do was distract the gunners enough for Twilight to gallop across to her brother.
"Matt's not to blame for this. His sister Chloe turned to not really be his sister but a draconequus named Betrayal who was made from Discord's Eye Diamond which seemingly gave Matt what he wanted but just made a betrayer who framed Matt by stealing Blueblood's jewels and putting them in Matt's pockets and now Matt's fighting Nightmare who's now in Darius who's now Daria and Betrayal and you have to help!" After the very lengthy explanation, Twilight had to gasp for a minute.
The guards and Shining armor just stared for a second, after all...it wasn't every day you heard such a story and at least one guard looked skeptical...but not Shining armor...he knew his sister too well. "What is that?" he said, curiously, looking at the anti-magi collar, before using his own magic to release the clasp.
"It's what Betrayal was using to keep me from using magic," said Twilight, "Speaking of which..." She turned and zapped several of the troopers' guns, turning them into cheese and causing them to drop their now edible weapons and run..
"Wait...we followed Matt here...where is he...AND WHAT IS THAT?" said Shining armor, yelling the last part as Daria's dropship roared into view, its nose cannon showering the open ground, not caring when the now weaponless troopers were in the way before turning and leaving skywards.
"That's Daria's ship and Matt's in trouble," said Twilight, "We better find him before it makes another run around."
...
Matt and Betrayal, wearing her human form to use a dropped EGIS rifle were both thrown back. "Ok...OW...this guy's tough even for a splitter." Matt groaned before noticing a readout on his wristcomp, identifying Andaka as the rare 'elder' variant, widely agreed by mercs everywhere to be walking tanks. "Oh, bollocks." he moaned.
"I could turn him into a garter snake," offered Betrayal. "With our luck, he'll become a hydra, and not the sea creature kind," said Matt.
A lightning bolt, tinged with black energy blasted between them. “Oh look, his hands are dry again." said Matt sarcastically.
"Oh, they'll wet soon, it is downpouring after all," said Betrayal.
On cue the rain stopped as the clouds ran out. "Are you sure we're not related?" said Matt scathingly.
"If my dad can make chocolate rain, I'm sure I can make normal rain," said Betrayal before snapping her fingers. The clouds rumbled and pretty soon, they let loose a torrent...of frogs.
"Does chaos come with an instruction manual?" said Matt sarcastically, before noticing that even Andaka had stopped to watch, the mercenary sense for free entertainment having survived
"Quick, while he's distracted," said Matt. "Right," said Betrayal before snapping her fingers. This time, the frogs mutated, becoming four times bigger, growing sharp fangs, horns, extra red eyes, and tongues like snakes...including the fangs.
"Undo, UNDO!" screamed Matt, as Andaka actually sat down to watch, which annoyed Matt a little.
After watching the frogs chomp Matt for a while, Andaka eventually decided he's seen enough and started towards Matt, kicking aside any mutant frogs in his way. "Hey, wait a minute, the frogs are supposed to attack you, not-" started Betrayal before Andaka knocked her into a stack of crates which collapsed over her.
Matt grabbed the last frog, which has a cross-eyed dumb look before looking up to see Andaka charging at him. "EEP!" he yelped, holding up the frog on reflex. The frog stared dumbly at the roaring Andaka before giving a frog version of a shrug, shooting his tongue out and reeling itself in to chomp over Andaka's head, causing him to flail around trying to drag it off while Matt ran to the pile of crates Betrayal was under.
Matt frantically pulled off the wood until he uncovered Betrayal. "Are you alright?" he asked. "I'm fine," she said before wincing and adding, "Except for my wings."
Matt saw that Betrayal’s skinsuit had torn at the back, showing a crumpled bat wing. "Look...I can hear the guards outside...let’s just go and see if that guy can take on 20 instead of 2...uh oh." said Matt, as a claw grabbed his arm and dragged him back. Betrayal desperately tried to get her leg free as Andaka strode towards the edge of the dock and calmly held Matt over the edge.
Matt looked down and saw the sheer drop down the waterfall. The bottom was covered with mist, but Matt had a feeling there would be sharp rocks at the bottom. There typically were.
Betrayal however was yanking harder and harder before time seemed to slow and she heard 'dear' dads voice from a puddle. "My dear...why do you care so much?" his reflection said
"Because he's my brother and he's in danger," said Betrayal. Discord sighed and said, "We've been over this. You aren't the real Chloe. You have been conceived in her image, but you're not her. You have no familial connections with him."
"Step brother then..." said Betrayal stubbornly as she continued to pull
Discord sighed and said, "Well, it seems you aren't going to change your mind. If it'll make you feel better, I can show you how to get out."
“Dad....please." said Betrayal in a pleading voice. Discord sighed "Anything for family." he finally said before clicking his own talons and causing Betrayal to go bug eyed for a second.
"There, now go save your step-brother," said Discord before his reflection disappeared.
Time immediately flowed back and Betrayal shook her head before 'remembering' the new knowledge and clicking her fingers, the box vanishing and re-appearing over Andaka.
Andaka didn't have time to look before the box crashed onto his head.
Matt yelped as Andaka dropped him on reflex, managing to grab the side before, in a similar flash, ending up sprawled at Betrayal’s feet, the draconeuus looking pleased with herself.
"Finally got the hang of teleportation," she said smugly.
"Good..." said Matt, dizzily before seeing Andaka stagger and fall over the falls, grabbing on. "I suppose we'd better help him." Betrayal said, the two walking forward. "Need a hand?" she asked.
"I...cannot...accept...your...help..." growled Andaka before he let go.
The two ran forward the last steps in time to see him vanish into the spray. "Man...what made him do that?" he said before they heard the dropship taking off. "Oh no...THE ARTIFACTS!" Matt yelled, throwing himself down as the ship fired at apparently where the guards were and then taking off.
"Artifacts...artifacts...oh, of course," said Betrayal before snapping her fingers and making the container appear in front of her. "I hope Daria likes that little joke," she said.
Matt looked up at the shrinking exhaust flares of the dropship. "Ooooh, she's gonna be pissed. She didn’t take jokes well before her brain was melted."
...
Daria smirked, clicking the clasp and opening it, ready to revel in the artifacts magic....and finding a trio of party hats.
...
Matt nudged Betrayal as the guard galloped in, blocking the ways off the docks. "I’d raise the talons." Matt suggested, raising his hands slowly.
"Why should I raise my hands up when they don't even have hands?" said Betrayal stubbornly.
"Cause you can't control your powers apart from teleport and they outnumber us." said Matt with a glare before he heard the dropship's whining getting louder again, turning slowly and seeing the dropship flying back towards them. "I told you she wouldn’t take the joke...everyone off the dock...NOW!" he yelled as a pod under the dropship's wing opened.
"No sweat, I can just poof that thing somewhere else, like right inside it," said Betrayal before snapping her fingers. However, nothing happened.
"Run...RUN!" said Matt, yelling the last part and grabbing the artifact crate as a rocket shot out from the dropship as it passed over, it shooting under the docks and blasting the struts stopping it from following Andaka down the falls.
Betrayal tried to run off the docks, but her mismatched legs weren't built for running.
As it was, Matt barely made it before the dock gave way, keeling down and falling into the abyss. Betrayal barely made it, gripping the wood of the now vertical dock with her talons. Matt turned, tossing the crate aside and running back, reaching down and grabbing her just before she lost it. "I gotcha...I...oh shi-" he began, firing his wrist comps grapple at the roof of the warehouse as the weight dragged him over the edge. “Danger...weight capacity exceeded...cable integrity failing." chimed the wrist comp. "Let me go." said Betrayal over the waterfall.
"I don't care if you're not my sister, I'm not letting you drop," said Matt.
"If you don't let me go, we both go." Betrayal yelled, a metallic 'twang' heard as part of the cable gave way.
"Matt, I'm not your real sister, you don't have connections to me. The guards will lock me up or have me turned to stone. And I'm bound to betray you again, it's in my nature," said Betrayal.
"Tough...I'm pulling you up..." said Matt, desperately trying to hold a grip as another twang was heard as the cable continued to give. Betrayal rolled her eyes "Fine." she said simply...before digging her taloned paw into the arm Matt was holding her with
"Betrayal, ow, stop, ow, that really hurts, OW!" yelled Matt. "That's the point," said Betrayal as the pain started to loosen Matt's grip.
"No...NO...stop." he tried before a final stab caused his hand to go limp as it caught nerves. The nanites would fix it in a minute...but that was 58 seconds too late as Betrayal went tumbling away. "Weight now in acceptable parameters...beginning ascent." said Matt's wrist comp.
"NO!" yelled Matt, though powerless to do anything about it.
"Alert...incoming hostile ship." chimed his wrist comp as Daria's ship began another run...before a blast of lightning hit it, forcing it to peel away.
Matt looked up and saw what he thought was a dark blue pegasus until he noticed the bright purple light coming from her horn...Princess Luna.
Daria seemed to be worried by it though, the dropship making a U-turn and heading for orbit as fast as its afterburners could manage. Matt's grapple slowly lifted him back over the edge, the winder motor dumping him unceremoniously on the piece of the dock that was left intact.
Twilight immediately ran over to Matt and asked, "Matt, what happened? Where's Betrayal?"
Matt just stared ahead, looking down the falls as a couple of guards, not unkindly put a holding spell on his hands...more so as a few of the faster thinking ones had a good idea.
A few guards flew down towards the bottom of the falls.
Luna landed, having briefly followed the escaping ship before taking a look at Matt, who was still staring numbly over the falls, the two mages trying to drag him away, without much success.
"I saw what happened," said Luna, "It was a rare show of self-sacrifice. Few ponies would be willing to their lives for another, let alone a product of Discord's magic."
Matt just looked up with a numb expression. For now, at least, nobody was home.
"Matt, there was nothing anyone could do. Your line would have snapped under your combined weight and no could have arrived in time," said Luna. Just then, the guards flew back and one said, "We searched below. We didn't find any sign of her."
"I should have let go..." said Matt in a small voice.
"You couldn't have let her drop. You wouldn't have done anything like no matter what she did to you," said Twilight.
"No...not that..." said Matt to himself before letting himself be led away.
...
Sometime later, Matt was led into Celestia's court. While he was clearly innocent regarding the robbing of Blueblood and the kidnapping/murder of Twilight, Matt still had a few other things to answer for.
"This...human brought his enemies to our fair city...and resurrected one of Discords race, however brief. The airdock will take months to rebuild." said the pony doing the prosecution
"It wasn't his fault," said Twilight, who was defending Matt, "He had no idea what the Discord's Eye Diamond would have done. Nopony would have. It could have happened to anypony."
"Is this not the same creature you found in Everfree? That resulted in the nightmare inhabiting you?" said the prosecutor, one of Bluebloods 'friends' as if his condescending tone wasn’t evidence enough
"Matt didn't have anything to do with the Nightmare infecting me. It would have infected me if I had gone to the old castle alone. But Matt was the one who got rid of it," said Twilight.
"He is a violent creature. He almost killed three griffons in Manehatten, you and your friends are witness to this. Such a monster deserves to be sent to Everfree where he belongs." said the prosecutor, a few of the elite ponies present clopping the ground in approval.
"Matt never hurts anyone unless provoked. He's saved us at least eight times now," said Twilight, "Not to mention he's been doing a good job in keeping very important artifacts away from those who would definitely misuse them."
"Yes, these Corona Prima's. Hardly dangerous looking." said the prosecutor dismissively
"You haven't seen what happens when anypony wears them," said Twilight.
"This is getting off the point, your majesties. The discussion is the human." said the prosecutor, a little unnerved by how convinced Miss Sparkle had sounded, as well as seeing the dark look the human had fixed him with since he had begun speaking.
"Indeed," said Celestia, "And since the matters of theft, kidnapping, murder, arson, and assault have been lifted, what charges yet remain?"
"Releasing a threat to ponykind for a start. The draconeuus's corpse was never found...and his violent tendencies are a danger. Tell me human...You have apparently boasted to the elements how you have travelled the multiverse, whatever that is with your sisters...where is she?" he asked smugly...and was knocked on his flank as Matt proved that, to a professional, putting manacles on just made the guys arms into a hammer.
"YOU DON'T MENTION HER!" he snapped angrily, his eyes now full of insanity.
"Matt, this isn't going to help," said Twilight.
The prosecutor pointed vaguely through his daze. “Did you see that? Did you?" he gibbered.
"What I saw was deliberate badgering of the witness, concerning information irrelevant to the case," said Celestia.
The prosecutor glared as Matt, grinned darkly. "To answer your question...you have no business knowing." he said
"Your majesty, this information is valid for this case..." "In what way is it valid?" asked Celestia.
"He speaks of his sister often...where is she?" said the prosecutor. "I told you, it's none of your business," said Matt. "Perhaps it is because some action of yours is responsible for her lack of presence," said the prosecutor.
Matt snapped at that, attempting to reach the little annoyance. As it was, only the chain on the manacles prevented ...incident
"Objection, that was way out of line," said Twilight. "Objection sustained. The prosecution must refrain from unnecessary aggravation of the defense or a replacement will be found," said Celestia.
The prosecutor calmed down and said "You are a danger...how many people have you killed, human?" he said. The ponies present were horrified as Matt said grimly "Too many."
"The prosecution rests its case," said the prosecutor smugly.
...
During a short recess, Twilight said to Matt, "You weren't actually serious about what you said about killing too many people, were you?"
"I had my reasons." said Matt, not looking at Twilight
"Matt, you need to take your defense seriously. Celestia could send you to the moon if you don't try to stand up for yourself," said Twilight.
"I caused this...That prosecutor’s right...I caused all that mayhem. Would you have gone to that castle without me as escort? Would any of those damn hats have been found if I wasn’t here?" shouted Matt, angrily
"Matt, you had no way of knowing or preventing those things from happening. You can't blame yourself for everything that happens when you're around," said Twilight.
"She's dead...dead because we rattled too many cages..." said Matt, before dropping into silence again
"Who are you talking about? Matt, you can't just-" started Twilight before noticing Matt had fallen asleep. She sighed and said, "Maybe he'll be more cooperative when he wakes up."
...
Blueblood sat with a smirk as the human was led in. "There is not a chance he won't avoid his guilt." said the prosecutor as the princesses came back inside, the two of them looking particularly sad for some reason.
"Court is back in session," declared Celestia, "New evidence has been obtained in association with the defense’s new plea of innocent by insanity."
Twilight looked confused at that as the prosecutor said “The accused is clearly in control of its faculties."
"Uh...I don't know, Matt's been known to flip out every so often, isn't that right, Matt?" asked Twilight.
"I am not-MMMPH!" began Matt before Twilight forced his mouth shut, nobody but the princesses hearing a 'ghostly click of talons and Matt getting a dazed look for a second. (2)
"Really, Matt's been known to spot hallucinations such as..." continued Twilight
"Blue monkeys!" Matt suddenly yelled, pointing in one direction.
Despite everything, everyone turned to look before turning back as Matt stared at his finger like it had personally offended him. Only the princesses heard a familiar chuckle from the direction of the garden maze.
"They're there, I tell you, spitting rainbow streams everywhere!" yelled Matt before looking at his hands and yelping, "Oh god, I'm a polka-dotted platypus!"
The group watched as Matt keeled over sideways, a painful clang as his head impacted his manacles.
"Er...he could be faking it," said the prosecutor. "Dear lord, the floor is crawling with Scottish crabs. Get the children out of here!" yelled Matt, Celestia aiming a quick glare in the direction of the garden maze where a ghostly chuckling was auditable only to her.
The prosecutor finally said after a minute "Fine...he's clearly nuts."
"In which case, I sentence Matt to intensive care until his faculties, or at least a majority of them, are under his control again. After which, his criminal charges are to be cleared," said Celestia.
"Wait, what was the last part? Oh god, it’s Area 51 all over again." said Matt from ground level, suddenly and suspiciously coherent.
"Please restrain Matt before he hurts somepony or himself," said Luna. A quick zap from the bailiff and Matt found himself in a straitjacket.
...
The recovery didn’t take that long, just a day or two, but the girls were now curious as to what that locked file was now and as such were pestering the pony person able to open it...Aria. "For the umpteenth time I will NOT open a sealed file." she said stubbornly, her holographic self crossing her arms
"Aria, it's obviously at the heart of all this business, we need to know what's inside it," said Rarity.
"The Sergeant sealed it for a reason. The NSC deleted AI's for breaking privacy laws." said Aria
"But Matt's never gonna let us find out and I can't take the curiosity any longer," whined Rainbow Dash.
"I have read his psyche evaluation...this was to be his last job...I suppose finding out why won't matter...hmm, it’s a holofile...head to room 413 on deck 2." she said.
"Uh, which room is that?" asked Fluttershy.
"Follow the lit path." said Aria with a bored tone, a row of light strip appearing in the corridor outside and leading the way round a corner. The path itself didn’t turn out to be that far after all, a pair of double doors with the number 42 on the front.
"The program is waiting...simply enter. Be aware that this is a 'replay'. Nobody can see, hear or touch you and vice versa." said Aria, the door opening onto what looked like a projection theatre.
"Oh boy, a movie, should I get popcorn?" asked Pinkie.
The screen on the far wall flickered into life before a serious sounding tune played as the initials N.I.N appeared with the words 'Nullsec InfoNet' underneath...clearly a news reel.
The image of what looked like a street plucked from Paradiso appeared, a splitter standing in front of the burning remains of a building surrounded by flipped security force speeders. "This is Krais Banika reporting live from CPS’s Central Control Compound on Central station where it appears that the Splitter Consortium has finally retaliated for the repeated operations conducted against then by CPS."
The splitter gestured to the burning rubble, continuing “The remains behind me are all that remains of CPS's sector 12 quarters after what appears to be a plasma charge was detonated. Sources inside CPS say only one person was in the facility at the time..."
The girls all gasped as the thought of who that one person might be entered their minds.
The splitter paused, holding a claw up to where his ear would be before saying "The station appears to have received footage of the explosion...please be aware...some viewers may be disturbed."
The image flickered to an aerial view, showing the building surrounded by three security speeders as a figure walked round the corner. The imager zoomed in, the figure immediately recognizable.
"Matt?" asked all six girls at once.
The Matt on screen walked up to one of the security troopers before apparently finding what the trooper said amusing, turning to the car as the imager zoomed out...and the whole mess of them being blown over as the front of the building exploded.
The image flickered back to the journalist who was again listening. “We can now confirm the ID on the CPS officer inside the building at the time. 'Corporal C.E Lynch'. Rescue teams are searching the rubble but hope is already fading. Her brother seen in that footage is confirmed to be in a stable condition after security teams were forced to stun him on site to stop him entering the flames."
The image flickered before changing to what appeared to be the NSC's answer to a speech platform, a trooper with CPS on his uniform walking onto the set. "Ladies, gentleman and sentients. We have confirmed that the explosion that killed Corporal Lynch and almost killed her brother was of Splitter consortium design...The consortium have denied all involvement and we are unable to prove that the bomb was not set by outcast splitters. Sgt Lynch is physically stable and will be returning to-" he said before the image froze.
"Hey, who stopped the movie?" asked Pinkie. "I did," said a cold voice behind them.
The girls turned to see Matt in the hatchway out. “Crew override...delete file 212." Matt said angrily, the theatre rippling before vanishing to become an empty bare room. "Get out." said Matt coldly
"Matt, we-" started Twilight. "OUT!" yelled Matt.
The ponies immediately jumped back at that. Aria said "Sir...this is my doing...I accessed the file for..." she said before Matt said "System mute."
Immediately, Aria's voice cut off, though she attempted to keep talking, to her growing frustration.
"You had no right...YOU HAD NO RIGHT!" yelled Matt, advancing on the girls.
"Matt, you couldn't keep it a secret. This is why Discord's diamond made, or tried to remake, Chloe. I know it hurts losin' a sister. If anything happened to Apple Bloom, I don't know what I would do. But hangin' on to her like that isn't helpin'," said Applejack.
"I killed them..." said Matt in an aimless voice. “I found out who set that bomb...they were freelancers...6 of them...they never told me who hired them...no matter what I did." his voice getting darker as he spoke.
"But...but you aren't like that anymore," said Fluttershy, "You only fight when you have to. You don't hurt anypony unless you need to. You're better than that."
"They told me she wasn’t dead...that their job had been to fake it...transport her to a sector in the badlands..." said Matt, apparently not hearing. "They got the suffering they deserved and more." he said his voice taking on a cruel tone and a faint red glow coming to his eyes.
"Matt, calm down. You can't brood on things like that. Do you know who you're sounding like?" asked Twilight.
"They took her away from me...my only family in this nightmare...killed or worse." said Matt, his voice getting darker before he felt something hugging him.
Matt blinked and looked at Fluttershy who was crying on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Matt, I'm so, so, so sorry," she sobbed.
The faint glow flickered like a broken light before vanishing. "You don't have to be sorry." he said in a small voice, returning the hug as kindly as he could.
"I'm sorry too," said Pinkie, hugging Matt. "I said you don't have to be-" "I feel so guilty," said Rarity as she hugged Matt. "You don't need to be-" "Could ya ever forgive us?" asked Applejack as she hugged Matt. "There's nothing to-" "We shouldn't have gone behind your back," said Twilight, joining the embrace." "I-" "Yeah, we should have gone straight to you and-" started Rainbow Dash. "OK, OK, ENOUGH ALREADY!" snapped Matt, "Geeze, I might be opening up, but I'm not that open."
"This was my fault. I'd insisted on doing the operations. Maybe it was the consortium...and if it was...I was the one who kicked the hornets’ nest. You did what any friend would do...you wanted to find out what hurt so you could help fix it." continued Matt before saying “Thank you...I haven’t thanked you once for all you've done since I crashed here. You went far out of your way to help me hide...to make me feel welcome when none of your other people did...I wouldn't have lasted 2 days by myself."
He finally said "My sister would have loved to have met you."
"Ah, tweren't nothin' a friend wouldn't do," said Applejack.
Matt stood up before walking out. "Just one more thing to do." he said.
...
The rain, a wild Everfree storm was coming down hard as Matt watched the spiderbots drilling a small hole. In his hands was the only thing he had gotten off the freelancers...A pair of holotags and a half burnt combat helmet. He remembered standing in a similar storm back at their NYC headquarters, the only one refusing to wear a black band. Now he was the only one wearing it.
Well, unless you count the excessive funeral outfit that Rarity was wearing.
Aria, in her robotic body was wearing a full NSC uniform, the only one in her hologuise's files, muttered "That really isn’t necessary, Miss Belle."
"Belle? You mean me?" asked Rarity. "Well, yes, your sister's name is Sweetie Belle so logically yours should be-" "Oh, that's silly," said Rarity, "You don't hear anyone calling Twilight 'Miss Armor'."
Aria made a 'blah blah blah' motion with her hand as Rarity turned back as Matt walked towards the hole as the spiderbots scuttled back to give him space.
"Sis, I know you've been...gone for a while. I wasn't willing to accept that until now. I know you wouldn't want me to keep clinging on to you, so it's time I put you behind me," said Matt.
He stopped as suddenly, he was back in the deserted cemetery plot near CPS HQ that the CPS used for...their employees. The same dark day...the same row of grim troopers holding ion rifles at attention. A hallucination clearly...but a realistic one. He walked towards the hole, hearing a 'stand hut' from the captain present and the thud as a dozen mercenaries all stood to attention...mercenaries may not be serious...but something’s they took very serious.
He thought about what his sister would want to hear before saying "I'll find who did this...I promise I will." before gently putting the helmet down and lowering the tags on top of them, the forest coming back without a sound.
"I wish I could say something, but I didn't really know her, at least the real her," said Twilight. "That's ok. Just being here's enough," said Matt.
Matt nodded to the spiderbots who immediately began filling the hole in with professionalism. "Cya sis." he said quietly.