//------------------------------// // Act 2 Part 3 - I Wonder Where You Are // Story: I Against I, Me Against You // by Flynt Coal //------------------------------// With an annoyed huff, Applejack stormed out to her apple orchard. She heard another distant crash and saw one of the distant apple trees shake with the impact. Applejack had finally gotten all the materials together that she needed to make the pie delivery when somebody started making a commotion in her orchard. It didn’t take a genius to deduce who was responsible and Applejack had a few choice words for the red armored idiots that were no doubt destroying more of her family’s property. “MOVE IT OR LOSE IT!” the gruff, accented voice of Sarge cried out over the sound of a jeep’s engine as the olive green metal vehicle sped past Applejack in reverse and collided with another of her apple trees. To Applejack’s surprise, the alien transport did no noticeable damage to her stock, instead hitting the trunk of the targeted tree with just enough force to shake the apples from its branches. The red fruit landed in an already impressive pile in the rear bed of the Warthog right next to the mounted machine gun turret. With the latest tree now harvested, Sarge pulled the Warthog up beside Applejack, “Where do ya want these?” Without saying a word, Applejack pointed a stunned hoof in the direction of the Sweet Apple Acres barn. Sarge drove the batch of freshly harvested apples there in less than half the time it would have taken to load them into a cart and walk back. Applejack followed along in a state of disbelief. “How… why…?” Applejack sputtered when she caught up with Sarge in the barn. “It was a good trick, tryin’ to keep us from payin’ off our debt too fast by insulting our intelligence,” Sarge proclaimed as he hopped out of the driver’s seat of his vehicle, “but you made one crucial mistake: you put me in the same category as Grif!” Ah yes, Grif. Merely uttering the lazy orange soldier’s name was enough to spark a certain level of uncharacteristic disdain in Applejack’s gut. At that moment though, Applejack was able to take some solace in the fact that she wasn’t the only one who felt that way about him.   “You really hate him, don’t ‘cha?” she asked. “Of course! Hating Grif is one of my favorite pastimes, alongside robot construction and pilates!” Sarge exclaimed. “I mean, Grif is literally… the worst kind of person!” Applejack smiled and nodded, “Can’t argue with ya there, Sarge!” The farm pony then began to consider some of the harsher words she had said to the man in red and his cohorts earlier in the day. She looked up into Sarge’s visor with an honest, apologetic smile. “Listen… maybe I was a little harsh when I said you fellas were the worst workers I’d ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, yer pretty bad, but I’ve seen much worse. On the whole, y’all are pretty alright!” Applejack’s smile reversed as she amended her statement, “Except fer Grif!” At that, Sarge let out a loud, hearty laugh, “I like the way you think there, missy!” Applejack gave Sarge a genuine grin. She couldn’t tell because of the helmet, but she was pretty sure Sarge was wearing a look identical to hers. At that moment, the door to the barn swung open and a purple baby dragon wearing a headset stumbled through the open port, panting for breath. “Applejack... I just got a call from Twilight and Church,” Spike exclaimed between breaths. “They need you and the girls in Dodge City with the Elements of Harmony ASAP!”   To say that Dodge City was a very different place from the last time Twilight came here was an understatement. Before, the backwater town had been a quaint image of a tightly knit community. Now, as Twilight looked around at the many damaged and destroyed homes, an oppressive feeling of fear and despair permeated the very air around her. Twilight had expected as much when she heard about what had happened first from Rainbow Dash, then from one of the guards escorting Church and herself through the town. The reality of it though did not sink in until they arrived and no adorable blue filly was there to greet them. Twilight did her best not to think about the implications of that fact. The few ponies they did see no longer had the carefree smiles and friendly body language from before. Each of them stared at the procession of ponies and one armored human as they passed with sad, fearful expressions. One hysterical mare even tried to attack Church, but was held back by the pair of guards with them as she screamed condemnations. Twilight couldn’t understand much of what the mare said through her hysterics, but she was able to make a few educated guesses. Even the usually snarky Church stayed silent as they put the bleak town behind them. Soon Twilight and Church found themselves being led down a path through the wooded area just past Dodge City’s perimeter. Getting past the security checkpoint just outside the crash site proved less eventful than Twilight expected. She thought for sure that having one of the “aliens” with her would cause problems. “Her Royal Highness told us to expect you and your friend, Ms. Sparkle,” the Sergeant in charge of the checkpoint stated before ordering his ponies to stand down and let them proceed. Twilight proceeded to walk through the checkpoint, her head reeling with all of the questions she wanted to ask her mentor the next time she had the chance. How did Celestia know she and Church would come to investigate the ship? What else did she know? Why couldn’t Celestia ever just give her a straight answer? “Hey! Careful!” Church’s voice brought Twilight back to the present just in time for her to stop herself from bumping into a tan unicorn mare mere inches in front of her. The mare appeared to have been similarly distracted, as she lowered a series of papers she had levitating in front of her and regarded Twilight with a curious look. The first thing that Twilight noticed about her was her red and yellow mane along with her similarly colored cutie mark depicting a sunset. Despite her fiery appearance, the unicorn’s cyan eyes were cold and calculating. “Oops! Sorry! Didn’t see you there!” Twilight apologized, offering the mare an amiable smile. The other unicorn regarded Twilight for a bit longer with a look she couldn’t quite identify, but could nonetheless see the gears turning in her head. Finally, the tan unicorn came to some conclusion in her head and offered Twilight a smile in return. For some reason, the smile put Twilight ill at ease. It made her think more of a manticore than a pony. “It’s not a problem, Twilight Sparkle. I’m sure you have a lot on your mind!” The other unicorn then continued on her path, smiling at Twilight as she walked around her. Twilight assumed the smile was meant to be friendly, but the other mare looked more like a predator circling its prey. “Don’t worry, I expect you’ll find the answers you’re looking for soon enough!” With that the tan unicorn mare with the fiery mane continued on her way, passing the security checkpoint and out of sight. Twilight looked after her, a whole new series of questions forming in her mind. “Who the hell was that?” Church asked. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen her before…” Twilight’s eyes didn’t leave the spot where the other mare had been. “Well she seemed to know you!” Twilight shifted her gaze away from the direction the mare walked from and looked up at Church. “Well, I am kind of a local celebrity in Ponyville for saving it so many times.” Twilight raised a hoof to her chin. “It’s possible she knows me as Princess Celestia’s protege, but not many ponies are really interested in that sort of thing.” “Yeah, I know I certainly don’t give a shit.” Church turned and continued walking towards the clearing. “C’mon, we came here to see Tex’s ship not spend all day talking about your fans!” Twilight wasn’t sure who the mysterious mare was, but something told her the pony was no fan of hers. Sunny Side just wanted to go back to bed. She’d been in bed since she had arrived in the care of her relatives in Ponyville the other night, but she hadn’t gotten much sleep. Now it was nearly noon and Sunny Side sat at a nice but worn wooden table in the kitchen with her aunt Golden Harvest, her uncle Written Script and her little cousin Firecracker. “You can’t spend all day in bed. Come on, I’m making carrot soup!” Golden had said as she pulled away the sheets covering Sunny’s white coat. Despite having not eaten since last night, Sunny wasn’t hungry. She just sat at the table, idly stirring her bowl. Her aunt and uncle tried to maintain pleasant conversation, but Golden kept sparing concerned glances Sunny’s way. Her orange-maned aunt had always been a little protective of her ever since Sunny’s mom - Golden’s sister - passed away. Sunny had appreciated and needed the comfort when she was a filly, but now it only made her feel terribly guilty. She didn’t deserve the kindness her relatives were giving her. “Mommy? Is Sunny a zombie?” Firecracker did a poor job of whispering to her mother. The carrot farmer responded by glaring at the little blond unicorn filly, who immediately recoiled. Written Script cleared his throat loudly, the gray unicorn stallion clearly hoping to distract Sunny from Golden Harvest’s much more discreet whispering to her daughter. “So Sunny, I hear they’ve got your sister set up nice and comfy at Ponyville General. How about once the lockdown is over you go visit her?” That actually sounded like a good idea. Seeing her little sister alive might help alleviate some of the fears Sunny had been having, even if Bright Side was still in a coma. Of course, Sunny didn’t expect to sleep any better tonight than she had for the past nights since the attack. She kept waking up every hour, her heart racing and breathing as heavily as she used to in her first days of Guard training. Images of her friends and comrades screaming as they burned all around her filled her waking mind’s eye. With those images came the guilt. Her friends, her CO, even her father; all of them died fighting off the alien monster while she cowered like a scared foal. And here she was, safe and sound in a warm house with caring relatives while every pony that had proved themselves braver than her - better than her - were gone. It wasn’t fair that she got to live and they didn’t. She would gladly trade places with any one of them. I failed, and because of it I hurt everyone I cared about! Sunny thought miserably. Her ear twitched and she looked around. For a moment, it sounded as though her thoughts were being echoed by another voice. One that was harsh and firm, yet had a layer of sadness coated over it. That’s when Sunny realized it sounded just like the strange voice in her most recent dream.   Sunny thought a dream in which she occupied an alien body moving through an unfamiliar world should have been more frightening, but in truth it was a nice reprieve from her usual nightmares. Before being woken up by aunt Golden Harvest, Sunny had dreamed she was walking on her hind legs dressed in the same advanced black armor as the alien they had first found on the ship. It was strange, moving in the alien body had felt as natural as the one she was born with. She remembered moving through clean metal corridors with a purpose. There was something important she had to do. She fought through countless other aliens in white armor, breaking them with agility and strength unlike anything she thought possible. After fighting through a huge room full of troops, a large armored vehicle and a soldier in cyan armor with skill nearly equal to her own, she reached her objective: a man alone in a room wearing cobalt armor. “Hey there…” Sunny had said, not knowing what else to say. Her own voice sounded unfamiliar to her ears. The man turned around to face her, looking lost and confused even with the cobalt helmet obscuring his face. “Huh? Oh… uh, hello! … Who are you?” Sunny wasn’t sure why, but the question had cut into her like a knife. “You don’t know me?” “Oh, sorry. I’m just… I’m… tired. I’m really tired…” The man went on to try to introduce himself, but something was stopping him. It was like he didn’t know his name. And yet somehow, Sunny did, “Your name is Alpha.” “Right…. And, you are…?” Sunny sighed. “Let’s just say we used to be together…” The two of them talked for a bit. Sunny tried to convince him to come with her. It was the whole reason she was here. She had to get him out of there, but this Alpha person seemed to think that he couldn’t leave. So, once again feeling like she had failed someone she cared about, Sunny decided to say goodbye. “Huh…” Alpha muttered, “I don’t know why, but… I hate goodbyes.” “Yeah… me too...” Simmons and Rarity approached a clearing amidst the forest of apple trees. In its center, a well constructed treehouse sat halfway up a particularly large apple tree. It was built with fine, smooth wood with a fully functional door and windows expertly carved into it. It was complete with a veranda and an upper floor with one of Twilight’s old telescopes set up and pointing at the sky. Rarity had always been impressed by how much it resembled a fully functional home, only smaller… and up a tree. At the moment, Rarity wasn’t thinking about how much she would have liked a clubhouse like that as a filly. Instead, all she could think about was what she might find up there. Her parents had told her that Sweetie Belle had indeed gone over to Sweet Apple Acres to hang out with Applebloom after they visited Scootaloo in the hospital. Because of recent events, they were prohibited from leaving the property without adult supervision. That left very few places for them to be. “If you want my opinion, I think you’re worrying about nothing,” Simmons said. Of course, Rarity had told the maroon alien all about what had happened the night before. Much to her distress, Simmons didn’t seem to think the situation was all that serious. Sure, Rarity’s friends have often said that she was quick to make mountains out of molehills, but this was different. This wasn’t just a case of running out of a type of fabric that would go great with her latest ensemble (which in her defense was the worst possible thing). And yet, Simmons just brushed aside her very legitimate concerns like they were nothing! “Oh, and I suppose you would know all about having a little sister who’s hurt and scared?” Rarity asked, looking up at the maroon man critically. “Yeah,” Simmons simply said. When Rarity didn’t cease her optical assault, Simmons looked down at her and elaborated, “When I was just a kid, my little sister decided she wanted to try riding my bike. Our street was on a hill and she very quickly lost control going down. I watched her fail to make the turn and completely eat shit against a mailbox!” “Oh…” Rarity said, the slight crack in her voice betraying her discomfort. She wasn’t sure why all of these humans had to speak with such vulgarity when other descriptors would suffice. Nevertheless, Rarity did her best not to look uncomfortable and attempted a sympathetic smile, “You must have been quite worried about her then.” “Oh hell no! I laughed my fuckin’ ass off!” At Rarity’s distasteful glare, Simmons raised both hands defensively, “Hey, she wouldn’t have gotten hurt if she hadn’t stolen my bike in the first place!” “So sorry, Mr. Simmons. But I don’t see how this little anecdote applies to my current situation.” “All you have to know is at the time my sister thought she was gonna fucking die! She had a broken nose and needed stitches in a few places. But she turned out to be okay! Kids are resilient! “Also… I think the real reason why I laughed as hard as I did wasn’t because of sibling rivalry. I think that at the time, I knew deep down that she was going to be okay…” Simmons paused, “but also it was fucking hysterical!” Rarity lowered her brow, “Crashing into a mailbox is a tad different from almost being killed by a monster, wouldn’t you agree?” Simmons shrugged, “It’s not too different. For the longest time, my sister thought that mailbox was some kind of monster out to get her. Wouldn’t go near it for weeks. It took a while for us to convince her of the truth: it’s just a mailbox!” Rarity turned and looked apprehensively at the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse, “Well, here’s hoping you’re right…” Collecting herself, Rarity began the climb up the wooden ramp leading up to the treehouse. She mentally prepared herself for the heartbreak of seeing little Sweetie Belle shaking and sobbing and had to make sure she wouldn’t break down herself. Swallowing a lungful of air, Rarity peeked in through the treehouse’s open window. Inside, two of the three Cutie Mark Crusaders were quietly sitting around. Thankfully, they weren’t sobbing messes as Rarity had initially feared, but they were certainly not the same energetic fillies that were always causing trouble for Rarity and her friends. The two of them wore deep, contemplative frowns. They looked as if their entire world had crashed down around them. “I can’t believe it,” Sweetie Belle said mournfully. Rarity had to lean closer in order to hear her sister’s tiny voice, “we were almost killed by a giant alien monster… AND WE STILL DIDN’T GET OUR CUTIE MARKS!” “I know, right?” Applebloom lamented, “Well, what would alien hunting cutie marks have even looked like anyway?” Sweetie Belle’s ears perked up and a big smile crept across the little white filly’s face, “I’ve got it! Since Scoots is still in the hospital with a broken leg, we should take care of her and maybe get cutie marks in nursing!” Next, Applebloom’s face lit up, “Yeah! … Wait, what about Scootaloo?” “Uh… she could get a cutie mark in being our patient!” “Yeah! Okay we’re gonna need equipment. Do ya know any place we could get a steth… a stetho…” As Applebloom continued to struggle with the word “stethoscope,” Rarity smiled and let out a relieved sigh. If the fillies were traumatized, they sure weren’t acting like it. Deciding to leave the pair to their crusading, Rarity turned away from the window of the clubhouse and began climbing down. She felt a weight leave her shoulders, like the kind she’d get upon the completion of a huge commission. “Everything good?” Simmons asked as Rarity approached. “Yes, thank you Simmons,” Rarity said. “You were right: it’s just a mailbox!” “HEY LOOK! Another alien!” Rarity and Simmons looked to the source of the high-pitched, cracking voice to see Sweetie Belle and Applebloom standing in the doorframe of their clubhouse. The two fillies were looking down at Rarity and Simmons with uncertainty. Though, the longer they spent noticing Rarity wasn’t under attack, the less nervous and more curious they seemed to get. Rarity looked up at Simmons and allowed a sly grin to creep across her face before addressing the girls, “Well don’t just stand there. Get him!” Simmons barely had time to look down at Rarity and ask, “Why would you do that?” before being immediately assaulted by two small fillies. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ALIEN CATCHERS YAY!” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle gave a loud battle cry before leaping onto Simmons and dragging him to the ground. The maroon man’s desperate struggling was ineffective against the fillies onslaught. “Agh! It’s gradeschool all over again!” Simmons cried. “Just take my lunch money and leave me alone!” Rarity watched the epic struggle from off to the side, hoof covering her mouth as she desperately tried to maintain her ladylike composure. It was a doomed effort, and soon Rarity had tears in her eyes as she failed to hold back her laughter. At that moment, the clomps of feet and hooves on grass made Rarity’s ears twitch, and the giggling fashionista turned around to see Applejack burst through the treeline followed by Sarge. “Rarity!” Applejack called urgently. The farmpony skidded to a stop in front of the white unicorn and looked down at the battle unfolding on the ground with some confusion. “Hello, Applejack. Just getting Simmons here acquainted with our sisters!” Rarity said with a smile. “Simmons! What are you doing?” Sarge yelled. “Yer form is terrible! That isn’t the close quarters combat technique I taught you!” “I never trained for this!” Finally, Rarity called off the two over-enthusiastic fillies and Simmons crawled to his feet. The man glared at Rarity. “You’re sick!” Applejack stomped a hoof to get everyone’s attention, “Listen up, guys! We need to get to Dodge City, pronto!” Just like Dodge City itself, the landing site for the spaceship was very different from the last time Twilight visited. Right away she noticed how much of the once lush green clearing was now blackened, scorched earth. The area around the ship was no longer bustling with researchers, instead populated by still, vigilant guards. “Excuse me, are you Twilight Sparkle?” Both Twilight and Church saw a relatively small beige pegasus mare with a yellow mane push her way past a few guards and make her way towards them. She was accompanied by a larger gray unicorn mare in gold armor with purple trim. “Who wants to know?” Twilight’s tone sounded harsher than she intended, other matters occupying her mind. She immediately felt guilty when the young mare in front of her noticeably flinched. “Oh, right! Name! I’m Quill. In charge of research here,” Quill looked over at the armored mare beside her, “and this is Captain Mirage, CO of the Guard contingent here.” The Guard Captain gave a single nod before returning to whatever she was engaged with earlier. “Quill? Twilight Sparkle?” Church scoffed, “Is there some law here stating that everyone’s name has to be really fucking stupid? Why don’t any of you ponies just name your kids ‘Tim’ or something?” Twilight thought she heard a nearby guard mutter, “My name’s Tim…” and another respond with, “Shut up, Tim!” Quill looked up at Church with a nervous twitch in her features, “And you must be the alien. Church, right?” “Yeah. Leonard Church. Take notes, lady. That’s what a normal name sounds like!” Quill made a valiant effort to smile, but her discomfort was plain on her youthful face. Twilight wondered just how old she was. She couldn’t be much older than Twilight herself. And she’s the head researcher? “I have to admit, you aren’t exactly what I expected when the Princess informed me that her protégé was bringing an alien here. I take it you’re not an ambassador, then?” “Oh hell no! Earth’d be fucked if I was the one in charge of foreign relations!” Quill nodded and gave another awkward attempt at a friendly smile, “Well regardless, having you here will be a huge boon to our research!” Quill’s gaze drifted off and her face adopted a lidded, dreamy look, “There must be so much you could tell us about your world, your technology, your culture…” “Hey, whoa whoa whoa. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Church said, both arms raised. “We’re only here to look at Tex’s ship. After that we’ve got other business to attend to. Even if we didn’t, I’m not gonna stick around and be your fucking lab rat!” “Oh…” Quill’s ears fell flat and her gaze fell from the sky and hit the ground faster than Rainbow Dash on one of her off days. “When Princess Celestia informed me you two were coming, I thought she meant you were here to help with our research.” Twilight looked at Quill through suspicious eyes and rubbed her chin, “What exactly did Princess Celestia say?” “Not much actually. Her letter was really short. Just said you two would be here to investigate the ship.” Quill smiled sheepishly. “Probably just wishful thinking on my part that caused me to think otherwise. Fact is, things haven’t really been going well around here.” Without saying anything more, Quill turned around and led the way past various tents and guard patrols in the direction of the crashed ship. Church and Twilight followed. Twilight quickly fell into step beside Quill. As they walked, Twilight’s eyes were drawn to a strange object sitting in the back of a wagon. The shiny gray metal of the object immediately reminded Twilight of the countless human technologies she had seen over the course of her journey. It looked like a large metal capsule about ten feet tall with two fin like protrusions on the top. The side of it was open, revealing the inside of the capsule to be hollow and suspiciously large enough to fit an armored human. “What’s that thing?” Twilight asked, gesturing to the capsule in question. Quill followed Twilight’s hoof and made an “oh” shape with her mouth before explaining. “That thing fell from the sky and landed nearby earlier today. We’ve been studying it intensely since bringing it back here, but we haven’t figured anything out about it. Just that it’s definitely the same alien technology as the ship.” Twilight looked up at Church, “Any thoughts?” Church shrugged, “I haven’t seen anything like it before. Maybe it came from the…” Church trailed off and he and Twilight exchanged a glance. He was about to suggest it came from the Mother of Invention and in all likeliness it was. However, he wasn’t sure he should just casually mention to this other pony that there was a massive capital ship belonging to a morally dubious organization with a small army on board currently in orbit of the planet. Twilight was in agreement on the matter, though the issue definitely needed to be brought to somepony in the government sooner rather than later. Preferably someone like Celestia who wouldn’t start a panic. “... Maybe it came from the ship! It must have broken off before it entered our atmosphere and orbited the planet for a while before crashing. That makes sense, right?” Twilight smiled desperately. Quill seemed to consider this for a moment, “I guess so. Still, sure is a weird coincidence that it landed so close to the crash site of the ship itself…” With that, the trio continued making their way through the research site to the ship at its heart. Twilight quickly saw fit to change the subject in order to avoid any further questioning on the matter of the strange capsule. “You said things here weren’t going well earlier. May I ask why?” The head researcher gave a resigned sigh, “Well, we’ve been understaffed since the Meta’s attack. Between you and me, I don’t have any experience leading a research team. None of the other ponies on my team are really that experienced with this sort of thing either. I think it’s safe to say we lost all of our best in the attack...” A cold chill ran down Twilight’s spine. She knew as soon as Quill introduced herself that she was talking to Arcane Star’s replacement. Still, being reminded of the fate of all of those brilliant ponies… A bitter edge entered Quill’s tone as she continued, “When that... Shimmer pony arrived with top clearance from the Princess, I thought we were finally getting somepony who knew what she was doing. But all she did was take copies of all of our research and leave. Between that and the insufficient funding that even our predecessors had, I’m starting to wonder whether Princess Celestia is even taking our project seriously!” As the trio passed a squad of guards surrounding the ship, Quill gave a nervous laugh. “Sorry, guess I’m venting. Anyway, here we are!” Despite how much was different from the last time Twilight was here, the only thing that remained relatively unchanged was the ship at the center of it all. It was the same malformed hunk of metal that Twilight remembered. The one difference that Twilight could see made her shiver. Four words were carved into the ship’s hull with what could only have been a very sharp blade. We Are The Meta. The shift in tone was immediately apparent. The talkative head researcher was now dead silent and even Church didn’t have anything snarky or sarcastic to say. Twilight did her best to ignore the cold chills running through her body and focused on studying the ship. As her eyes drifted away from the ominous writing on the hull, she spotted something else she didn’t remember seeing the last time she was here. Near the window of the cockpit was a small computer screen with several buttons and switches around it. They were all dark and lifeless. “What’s that?” Twilight asked, pointing at the console in question. “Oh, that was where the alien construct was that took control of the ship,” Quill explained. “What was it like?” Church asked. “What do you mean ‘what was it like?’ Do you want to know if the construct was a pleasant conversation partner?” “Actually, yes.” Quill raised a perplexed eyebrow at Church. “Well, I wasn’t with the original research team but according to their reports, the construct inside the ship was very evasive, occasionally hostile… and had an affinity for knock-knock jokes.” “Okay, that was definitely Gamma. What happened to him?” Quill only needed to gesture with her head in the direction of the Meta’s unsettling message on the side of the ship. “Right, okay. And what about Sheila?” Church asked. Both Twilight and Quill looked up at Church in confusion. “Who’s Sheila?” Twilight asked.   “The other A.I. The one we loaded onto the ship from our tank!” Quill’s eyes widened as she looked at Church as if the man had suddenly turned into a hydra. “You mean there was another construct on this thing?” “Yeah, you guys didn’t find her?” “Well, there wasn’t anything about a second construct in the previous team’s notes…” Twilight’s mouth fell open as a thought occurred to her, “If nopony on the research team knew about this other A.I, odds are neither did the Meta! Which means...” “Sheila could still be here!” Church exclaimed, finishing Twilight’s thought. Church wasted no time in stepping up to the console to activate it. After hearing a little gasp from the pony on her right, Twilight looked over at Quill to see the mare pulling out a pen and notepad from within her wings and staring at Church intently. “What? This is the first time anypony’s seen an alien operating its own technology! I have to document this!” she exclaimed in response to Twilight’s look. Twilight said nothing and continued to stare at the head researcher with the look of a pony who was privy to a joke the other was not. “How the fuck do you turn this thing on?” Church muttered in frustration, pressing as many different buttons on the console at once. “Is it… Do I speak to it? Computer! On! Sheila! Activate!” When that didn’t work, Church proceeded to bang his fist repeatedly against the paneling around the console. The giddy look on Quill’s face vanished and the pegasus looked over at Twilight with a deadpan expression. Twilight knew what the head researcher must have been feeling. Her face was a reflection of the disappointment that Twilight herself had felt when she first met the Reds and Blues of Blood Gulch. “Fuckin’... piece of junk… aha!” Church finally exclaimed as the dark screen and buttons around it lit up like a tree on Hearth’s Warming, “Sheila? Are you there?” The console gave no reply. “Sheila? It’s me, Church!” A fuzzy, transparent blue image of the ship suddenly appeared on the screen in front of them. With it, words in plain white font accompanied a pleasant, female monotone. “Hello, and thank you for act-activating the Freelancer Intelligence and Logistical Support System. You may-may-may call me FILSS. ” Twilight quickly noticed that the voice sounded stilted and unnatural, stuttering here and there like a foal learning to speak. Twilight could tell right away that something was very wrong with it. “FILSS? Not Sheila?” Church asked. “Except-Exception: This unit has sustained cata-catastrophic damage and has been reset to factory settings. I am currently operating at minimum capacity-city-city.” To help confirm this fact, the blue image of the ship on screen turned red and the onscreen text stated that the program was 3.79% functional. “Okay, Sheil… FILSS. I need to know what Tex was doing here. Do you have any information on board that could… help with that?” “Negative, Director. Major data loss sustain-sustained. Attempting data recovery.” Church stepped back and folded his arms as the heavily damaged A.I worked hard to do what was asked of it. Twilight looked over at Church with a puzzled expression. “Why did it call you ‘Director?’” Church shrugged, “I dunno. Damn thing’s busted to Hell. Probably just an error.” Church and the two ponies with him waited for a few minutes before FILSS piped up again. “Travel logs recovered. Last log recorded one point six minutes before impact-impact.” Church exchanged a look with Twilight. The purple unicorn gave him a reassuring nod. Church took a deep breath and turned back to face the console. “Play it, FILSS.” “Acknowledged. Beginning playba-playback.” The collective breath of the man and two ponies was sucked out of the air as the image of the ship grew smaller on the screen. Text with details regarding the audio file appeared on screen in its place. Then the file began to play. When she heard “travel log,” Twilight half expected it to play out like one of those old space serials, where the Captain would talk about his crew’s mission to explore the unexplored in a calm and dramatic manner. What they heard upon the start of the log’s playback was an abrupt cacophony of frantic noise. Multiple alarms beeped and blared at once as they competed with the increasingly loud whine of struggling engines. On top of all the noise was FILSS, whose eternally calm voice contrasted with the urgent sound of everything else. “Warning. Warning. System failure…” “Sheila! Damage report, now!” The second voice was one that Twilight did not recognize. It was a woman’s voice with a slight southern twang; harsh, authoritative and laced with urgency as it yelled above the other distressing sounds. “Rear stabilizer: Offline. Guidance systems: Offline. Emergency thrusters: Offline…” “What about Gamma? Did he get loose?” “Negative. But I do not know how much longer I can contain him.” “These coordinates are all wrong! Is this the Sangheili homeworld?” “Negative.” “What?? Than where the Hell are we?” “That information is classified. Level Alpha.” Loud bangs rang out and another alarm joined the others. “What??? How can- Wait, is this the planet I think it is? Is this the place where he hid the…?” More alarms. “Danger: Decompression. Rear doors open.” “What? Where are they going?” “Rear doors open.” “Close the hatch!” “Acknowledged. Warning: altitude approaching critical levels.” “Shiela! The clearing! Outside that settlement! Can we land?” “I am unable to plot a course-” “Hand over manual control now!” The blaring, beeping alarms increased tenfold as the desperate whine of the engines approached a climax. “Acknowledged. Manual control overridden. Warning: altitude critical. Brace for impact…” “Shit! Hold on!” “Brace for impact.” “Hold on!” “Brace for impact.” “Just HOLD ON-” Just as the cacophony reached its apex, it was suddenly and unceremoniously cut off by a high-pitched tone as the recording ended, signified by text reading “End of File.” Just like that, the clearing was filled with silence again. Twilight wasn’t aware she was holding her breath until that moment. “Damn it!” Church slammed a fist into the hull of the ship beside the console, making Twilight and Quill jump. His arm was shaking. Seeing this, Twilight raised a reassuring hoof, “It’s okay, Church. We know she survived the crash, right?” Although Twilight couldn’t reach his shoulder, she settled for placing her hoof on Church’s back. The man had none of it and brushed her hoof away before speaking in a voice Twilight noticed trembled slightly. “It’s not that. Coming here turned out to be pointless! Tex came to this planet by accident! We’re back to square one!” Twilight ignored the blur of orchid and green in her peripherals as she focused on Church, “Church, coming here was a long shot anyway. You said yourself that you didn’t expect to find anything, but we did! We know that Tex didn’t mean to come to Equestria and that’s more than we knew before!” Truthfully, something about the log they just viewed made Twilight even more uneasy than she had been already. Why did it seem that Tex knew something about Equestria that nopony else did? Right now, however, Church needed her and Twilight continued giving him a reassuring smile to let him know everything was going to be okay. Church turned his head and looked down at Twilight and for the first time, Twilight felt like she could reach him. “Dammit Twilight, I’m trying to be pessimistic here! You’re ruining it!” Twilight sighed, but nevertheless kept the smile on her face, “What do you say we get going?” Church nodded and Twilight turned to Quill, who was watching the scene with something between an amused and a sympathetic look, seeming to say “you must have the patience of a saint.” “I’m sorry we couldn’t be of more help,” Twilight said, “maybe after everything that’s going on with us has died down I can come by and help you with your research!” Quill smiled brightly, “Oh, don’t worry about it! You guys have actually given me a lot to work with! The A.I in there - even if it’s damaged - is more than I ever expected to find! Thanks!” Twilight nodded. Mystery seemed to be a recurring theme surrounding these humans. Or at the very least Project Freelancer. A loud crash suddenly interrupted Twilight’s thoughts. She looked from Church to Quill, their similar motions revealing that they too heard the sound. “That sounded like it came from the research tent…” Quill said before spreading her wings and taking off. As she and Church made to follow, Twilight couldn’t help but think about their next move. Whatever they would do, Twilight decided she was just as interested in finding Tex as Church was. She had more than a few questions for her... Sunny Side approached the front door to her aunt and uncle’s home as the pony on the other side knocked. It had been a few hours since the Ponyville lockdown had been lifted and Sunny now had the house to herself. Golden Harvest had a carrot delivery to make and Written Script had a meeting with his publisher. This would have left Sunny alone with little Firecracker, but there was a change of plans and Golden Harvest had ended up dropping her off at one of her friends’ houses. Unfortunately, Written Script had previously arranged for Firecracker’s regular foalsitter to drop by and the mare was running late. This left only Sunny to stay behind for the foalsitter’s arrival. The knocking on the front door didn’t stop even as Sunny Side proclaimed that she was on her way to answer it. Upon opening the front door, Sunny was greeted with the sight of a mare matching Golden Harvest’s description of the foalsitter. A gray pegasus with a blond mane and several bubbles for a cutie mark stood in place, her hoof raised and still knocking on the air where the front door used to be. The most eye grabbing feature about the mare was her golden eyes that were each looking a completely different direction. “Are… you the foalsitter?” Sunny asked. Finally realizing that there was no longer a door in front of her, the gray mare stopped knocking on nothing, looked at Sunny and smiled brightly. “Yup! Derpy Hooves reporting for duty! Ready to see my little Dinky!” It took Sunny a moment to realize that “Dinky” was likely a nickname for Firecracker, “Sorry, Ms. Hooves, but there’s been a change of plans. We no longer need a foalsitter today.” Derpy looked down. Or tried to; one of her eyes was still kinda looking up. “Aw, that’s too bad… I had this really great idea for a new game we could play!” The gray pegasus looked up at Sunny with a fierce, aggressive gleam in her suddenly perfectly even eyes. It was as if she had become a different pony altogether. “It’s called pony puzzle! We take a pony, cut them up into itty-bitty pieces and try to put those pieces back together! Great family entertainment, Mwa ha ha haaaa…” Sunny’s eyes widened and she took a step backwards. She decided she was going to have a serious talk with Golden Harvest when she got back about hiring a new foalsitter. “Say, you haven’t seen any of Pinkie Pie’s friends around have you?” Derpy asked, sounding happy and innocent again. “Because I have a special package I need to deliver to them!” Just like that, Derpy’s expression turned menacing again, “And by ‘special’ I mean agonizingly painful! Ha ha haaa!” Sunny wasn’t even sure who this Pinkie Pie was, but even if she did know, Sunny wasn’t sure she would tell this mare. “Nope. Sorry, but… I have something very important to do, so if you don’t mind…” Without waiting for a response, Sunny closed the door in the crazy pony’s face and stepped away from it. Just what had that been all about? The strangest thing was, Sunny felt almost as if she recognized that voice from somewhere. Dammit! He survived!  Sunny’s ears twitched along with her tail. That strange female voice again… Sunny was starting to realize that it wasn’t just in her head. Someone or something was speaking. “Hello?” Sunny called out. She waited a few moments for a response but got none, “I know you’re there! Who are you?” After a few more moments of silence, Sunny began to wonder whether she was just losing her mind when she heard the voice again. Look, it doesn’t matter who or what I am. What matters is that the ponies of this world are in danger! Sunny looked around in confusion. Oddly enough though, she didn’t feel scared. Whoever this was, she felt like she knew them. You do know me, Sunny. We’ve both faced the same pain. Looking around some more, Sunny gave a flick of her tail, “Do you have a name?” Call me Tex. “Okay, Tex… what do you want?” Uh, this is gonna sound really weird, but I want to use your body. Sunny’s mouth dropped open and her face suddenly felt very hot, “Well, you’ve got one thing right: that does sound really weird!” Okay, let me explain! You know what an M.I. is, right? “A Magical Intelligence? Sure, Arcane Star told me all about them back in Dodge!” Sunny felt a lump in her throat as she was once again reminded of the horrible events there. Arcane Star had been the only researcher not present during the attack. She hoped he was okay. Right, and I imagine he told you a bit about how M.I.’s work. Specifically, what they need to survive. “Yeah, somewhere to be stored. Usually a gem or an object that can be enchanted to house magical power.” Right, but what he didn’t know was that some M.I.’s can also be stored in ponies’ minds. Sunny Side nodded, seeing where this was going. It certainly explained the stranger dreams she’d been having. “So, you’re storing yourself in my mind? What do you need my body for?” To stop what’s coming. Sunny tilted her head. These “aliens”; there’s a group of them that have done terrible things and will continue to do so unless they’re stopped. The Meta - the thing that killed your friends and family - is only a by-product of much worse experiments. I suppose you noticed the odd way that mare at the door was acting? Sunny nodded. One of those experiments is inside her mind just like I am inside yours. The only difference is that I want to help but I can’t do it alone. I was inside another’s mind before - the Pinkie Pie that other pony mentioned - but she and I weren’t… compatible. Joining minds as any type of artificial construct is… tricky. If I’m not compatible with the pony I’m occupying I can’t operate as effectively. “So, does that mean that you and I are… compatible?” It’s like I told you earlier: we’ve both faced the same pain. We both know what it feels like to fail and for our failures to hurt those we care about. It isn’t a perfect level of trust and understanding, but it means we can operate together as one mind. And only by doing so will I… we be able to stop them. Taking a huge breath, Sunny sat down. She suddenly found it difficult to support her own weight at that moment. In truth, Sunny had just wanted to get back out there and take the fight to that alien monster - to make up for her failure - but now she was actually being given the chance to do so. Part of her thought what she was considering was insane but another part believed that this was her one chance at redemption. Look, this is a huge choice you’re making; I understand if you don’t want to make it right away. I can give you some time to think about it, but not too long. Time isn’t exactly a luxury we can afford… A soft tink reverberated through Grif’s helmet as something impacted on his visor, rousing him from his blissful nap. Grif reluctantly opened his eyes and found himself staring up through the canopy of the tree he lay under. Grif sat up and looked around, ready to give whoever woke him up a piece of his mind. There was nothing but grass, trees and the sound of chirping birds. Grif did, however, locate the object that had awoken him. A small, crumpled up piece of paper lay in the grass nearby that wasn’t there when Grif went to sleep. The man in orange armor looked up, wondering if it had been dropped on him. There was nothing above him but a particularly large cloud. Shrugging, Grif decided it would be a good idea to just ignore it and go back to sleep. He took another look at the crumpled up paper, and soon enough curiosity got the better of him. Grif heard a noise like the cooing of a small animal as he reached over and unravelled the paper. Hey, Dash. How’s it going? Y’know, Wonderbolt Academy is taking applications soon. You might want to start thinking about applying! You won’t have to worry about seeing me there, my dad found us a new client and has the whole company on the move again. As always, I can’t tell you where we’re going in case the authorities get a hold of this, but let’s just say we’re going to need to dress warm... “Um… excuse me?” someone said in a small voice very similar to the cooing noise from earlier. Grif lowered the wrinkled paper and found himself staring at one of those pastel ponies. This one had wings, a yellow coat and a pink mane and tail. She was standing beside a pair of rabbits who appeared to be giving him dirty looks. Grif sighed. This was the last thing he wanted to deal with right now. “Uh, can I help you?” he asked. This caused the pony to shrink back and attempt to hide behind her long pink hair. The action immediately sent a twang of guilt through Grif. God, where did that come from? I haven’t felt like that around anyone but… “Yes… um, would you mind moving? You’re, kinda… sitting on my friends’ home,” she said, pointing at the pair of bunnies beside her. Shrugging, Grif stood up. The two bunnies immediately ran past him and entered a small hole in the ground where Grif had been previously sitting. “Oh. Whoops, my bad!” Grif said as their small, fluffy tails disappeared into the ground. “Sorry to be a bother, it’s just…” “No, I get it. I’d be pissed too if some giant’s ass was blocking the front door to my house!” An awkward silence lingered over the man and the pony for some time. Grif watched with interest as the small yellow horse fidgeted uncomfortably and tried to look everywhere but at him. Her demeanor was familiar. Dammit, why does she seem so familiar? “I’m Grif by the way. What’s your name again?” Grif asked. The pony jumped, “Oh, it’s Fluttershy…” More silence. The nervous way this pony carried herself inexplicably reminded Grif of someone but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out who. “So, uh… who’re your friends?” Grif tilted his head in the direction the pair of bunnies had gone. As suddenly as a light switch being flipped, Fluttershy smiled. Her stiff posture relaxed at the mention of her animals and for the first time since they met, Fluttershy looked right up at Grif. “Oh, that’s Mips and his sister Binky. Binky’s a bit shy like me, but she has a good big brother who looks after her!” Although Fluttershy couldn’t see it, Grif’s mouth drifted open. Of course! That’s who she reminds me of! This Fluttershy pony is just like how she used to be! “Well, let’s hope that Mips there doesn’t make the same mistakes I did!” Grif didn’t even notice that he was thinking aloud until it was too late. Fluttershy tilted her head inquisitively, “Oh? Do you have a little sister, Grif?” “Yeah. As a matter of fact, she used to be a lot like you! Loved animals, was shy as dicks…” Grif laughed when he noticed the way Fluttershy looked away with a slightly red face, “she was even uncomfortable with my swearing!” Grif continued to laugh. It was such a joyful, contagious sound that Fluttershy couldn’t help but join in briefly before silence prevailed between them again. “So, um… what happened?” Fluttershy asked. “Hmm?” “You said... she used to be like me.” Grif hesitated, “Yeah. Kaikaina is a completely different person now. I really don’t want to talk about it…” “Oh… sorry.” Just like that, the pair’s conversation died out. Grif had half a mind to just go back to sleep, but a part of him wanted to keep talking to Fluttershy. It was surreal, like meeting someone he thought he had lost a long time ago. “So, you like animals, huh? Are you a vet or something?” Grif didn’t think about the fact that he was technically talking to an animal at the moment. He valued his sanity too much to overthink it. “Not really. I take care of animals when they’re sick or hurt, but that’s not all I do,” Fluttershy looked down at her hooves, “though, lately I’ve been having problems.” “What kind of problems?” Fluttershy sighed, “I really don’t want to talk about it.” And so with their mutual agreement to stop talking about their respective problems, Grif elected to lie back down (this time making sure he wasn’t on top of some bunny’s home). Fluttershy opened her mouth to say goodbye when another pony breached a pair of trees and came towards the pair of them at a gallop. “Fluttershy, there you are darling!” Rarity panted, slowing her pace as she got closer, “Twilight needs us. I think something’s happened in Dodge City!” Twilight immediately galloped after Quill as she flew low along the ground. Church, deciding he’d rather stay close to Twilight lest he experience a repeat of the incident that occurred upon his arrival to this world, followed. Twilight caught up with Quill as she entered the main research tent and followed her inside. Just like before, the tent was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside, courtesy of unicorn magic. The interior itself was more or less the same. Clear plastic curtains hung around the areas where potentially toxic spaceship parts were arranged on tables. Desks littered with papers covered in layers of research notes were placed everywhere not protected by hazmat curtains. The only difference from last time was the lack of a certain human in black armor lying on a table. The human in the room now was upright and fully functional, standing over the (hopefully) unconscious form of a unicorn researcher partially covered by an overturned desk. Instead of black armor, this human was clad in orchid with light green trim on it’s shoulders and the tip of its helmet. It looked up from the small pile of research papers in its hands at the three who just entered like a foal caught with her hoof in the cookie jar. “Crap…” it muttered in a female voice with a coarse edge, “well, so much for stealth!” With lightning quick motions, the armored woman tossed the papers in her hands into the air and delivered a powerful kick to a nearby chair, sending it rocketing like a cannonball straight at Twilight. The purple unicorn only managed to stop the chair’s impact in the knick of time by catching it in her telekinetic magic mere inches from her face. The split second this took was all the mysterious woman needed. She charged forward and leapt over an unprepared Twilight, delivering a knee through the air that connected with Church’s chest. The cobalt man was brought down for the count and the woman escaped the tent (Quill offered no resistance, choosing to cower behind her wings). For a reason Twilight Sparkle could not fathom, she was compelled to set down the chair carefully and meticulously before moving to help a groaning Church. “Who the hay is that?” she asked as Church struggled to his feet. “I don’t know! I’ve never seen her before!” Twilight and Church exited the tent, leaving Quill in a state of fear-induced paralysis. It didn’t take them long to spot the mysterious intruder once they got outside, despite the amount of distance she had put between them in such a short amount of time. A group of about four armored guards lay in a heap in the intruder’s wake, the conscious ones moaning in pain. Twilight nearly retched when she noticed how many of their legs were twisted in ways no appendage was meant to bend. The sound of alarm bells filled the camp and more of Equestria’s soldiers began pouring in around the distant interloper. Twilight ran in the direction of the fight as fast as she could as the armored woman began quickly dispatching the nearest guards in a series of lightning fast CQC moves. A squad of pegasi overhead armed with crossbows attempted to rain arrows down on the woman, but she sidestepped the attacks with incredible agility. The few arrows that managed to hit bounced uselessly off her armor. To Twilight’s horror, the woman hastily pulled out her sidearm and the sound of pistol fire rang out alongside the bells as she retaliated against the airborne assault. Thankfully, most of the pegasi were able to retreat out of the way but one unfortunate stallion was hit in the wing and sent spiralling to the ground. Twilight put everything into her gallop as she got closer to the fight. A group of combat mages led by Captain Mirage were next to challenge the human soldier as she continued beating back spearponies. The mages might have had the element of surprise if one overly eager mage hadn’t released a premature blast of arcane power, sending up dirt next to the woman and alerting her to their presence. The woman holstered her sidearm in favor of a much deadlier Battle Rifle and opened fire at the mages, but the armored unicorns were ready for the attack and a series of forward facing magical shields harmlessly redirected her bullets. Twilight drew closer as Mirage’s force readied a counterattack. Their horns glowed various colors of the rainbow and several beams were fired in the direction of the attacker, who was quickly consumed by an explosion of blinding light that kicked dirt and dust everywhere. Twilight skidded to a stop beside the gathered mages and waited with bated breath for the dust to clear. As the dirt began to settle, Twilight noticed a faint yellow glow where the woman had been standing. Once the dust fully cleared, everypony present could see a large, shiny yellow dome covered in a honeycomb pattern where the orchid woman once stood. As Twilight studied the dome more closely, she could see the woman standing inside of it, completely unscathed by the mages’ attack. The noisy battleground that the clearing had become was returned to silence as both sides stared each other down. Oddly enough, the woman seemed to be talking to someone inside her domed shield. Twilight began to relax as she considered that they were just as safe outside the armored woman’s shield as she was inside. It was when the woman raised her rifle and took aim at one of the mages that Twilight began to worry. “Oh Celestia, can she shoot through her shield?” Twilight and the mages beside her never got to find out, as the mystery woman’s attention was suddenly drawn to something directly above her. Twilight followed her gaze just in time to see what looked like a meteor falling straight towards the woman’s honeycomb shield. The woman’s shield disappeared and she dove aside along with the gathered ponies just in time to avoid the small extraterrestrial object as it impacted. As Twilight climbed back to her hooves, she looked over at the object that fell from the sky. To her immediate shock, it was a large metal capsule that looked exactly like the one that Quill’s team found earlier. The only difference was that there was no opening on the front to its hollow center. As if to directly contradict Twilight’s thought process, a large panel taking up the front of the capsule was launched off with a pressurized hiss and release of steam. Twilight, the mages and the woman in orchid armor all stared in awe as another armored human stepped out of the pod’s hollow interior. His armor was a familiar dark gray with yellow detail. After appraising the stunned woman on the ground before him for a few moments, Agent Washington raised his Battle Rifle at her and took an aggressive step forward. “Hello, South. Long time, no backstab!”