//------------------------------// // Star-ving for Vengeance [Part 2] // Story: I Will Hunt You Down // by TGM //------------------------------// ~Princess Luna~ The dark blue flash appeared again, this time on the streets of Manehattan. Though the world was very different from what she remembered a thousand years ago, Manehattan seemed like it was on a whole other level. Buildings this tall, or cities this huge, were only joked about back when she was around. Never would she have imagined that her little ponies would manage to build something so unbelievably massive. Yet here she was, standing in it. “You may open your eyes.” Luna spoke to the Elements, scanning the area around them. They had appeared in the street, though Luna had tried to teleport them close to where the spell was picking up traces of the cape’s fabric. “He’s somewhere around here?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking left and right. “Somewhere close by. We are unable to determine an exact location,” Luna spoke, her eyes watching the alleyways for signs of any ponies who would do them harm. For being what was supposedly the biggest city in Equestria, the streets and city in general were unusually quiet. “The trail is becoming faint. He’s somewhere in this area, but as for exactly where…” she trailed off, frowning. “Well standin’ around ain’t gonna help us find ‘im! Let’s start lookin’!” Applejack dashed into a nearby building. Rarity trotted down a side street, She was seemingly calm, but as she passed, Luna saw the look in her eyes. She recognized the look, she had bore it herself in the past. “Generous Rarity, if you could spare us a moment of your time?” Rarity paused, turning to face Princess Luna with a look of confusion. “We understand your turmoil and worry for your sister, but we must remind you that we need what we can get from this fiend. Hurting him beyond being useful to us will not benefit our situation.” Rarity looked aghast. “I-I would never!” Luna frowned. “The look in your eyes tells us different.” Rarity blinked once, then she took a deep breath in, letting out a small, concentrated breath. “I can not promise that I will...not be angry, but I will do my best to control it.” Rarity nodded with a smile. “That is all that we ask.” and with those words, Rarity departed. . Rainbow Dash took to the sky, acting as a lookout for the group.Though the spell was weakening, Luna attempted to get it to lead her in a particular direction. She closed her eyes, and concentrated. She felt the sensation of being pulled, her hooves moving with a mind of their own as the spell led her along. The pull faded, and when Luna opened her eyes, she was met with an old, run-down bar where a large burly stallion stood guard. She narrowed her eyes and approached it. Upon seeing her approach, the burly stallion blinked, rubbed his eyes, then blinked again to make sure he wasn’t seeing anything, then quickly moved to the side with a bow and the greeting “Your Highness.” Princess Luna nodded and smiled at him, and then made her way into the bar. The floorboards creaked under Luna’s hooves as she stepped inside. The bar wasn’t particularly remarkable, a place with poor lighting and suspicious characters that you probably wouldn’t think twice about upon passing it. However it wasn’t the sights that caught Luna’s attention so much as the sounds. “I’m cutting you off after this one, Overlook.” Luna’s ears perked at the name, and upon looking towards the source of the voice, Luna spied a brown unicorn stallion sitting alone at the bar. The tracking spell was pulling her towards him, could he be the one they were searching for? Wordlessly, Luna took a seat at the bar herself. The bartender let out a surprised gasp, but Luna put a hoof to her mouth and made a motion for the bartender to keep quiet. He nodded and went about doing his job. Luna took the opportunity to speak to the stallion known as ‘Overlook’, who was currently downing his drink. “Quite a lovely night, is it not our subject?” Overlook opened an eye to look at the one who addressed him, before spitting his drink all over the counter. “Your highness!” He sputtered for a moment. “I-I was just, I didn’t mean, please forg—” Luna held up a hoof. “There is nothing to apologize for. ‘Overlook’ was it? We are simply here to sate our curiosity is all. When you’ve been gone for a thousand years, culture develops rather rapidly without you.” “...I-I see.” He turned back to the bar. Luna couldn’t see his face, but she could see the tenseness in his muscles, the uneasiness in his stance. He was nervous. Luna smiled coyly. “We thought it would be best to get to know our subjects better, and what better way to indulge our subjects than where they indulge themselves, yes?” Overlook nodded numbly. “Indeed. So, if we would be so adventurous as to ask, Mr. Overlook, what would reason dost thou have for being here?” Overlook sighed, looking at the bottom of his cup. “Unwinding after work. Getting a break from my boss, the usual reason you’ll find any stallion at any bar.” Luna frowned. She couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t being entirely truthful. “We must admit, we lied when we told thee of our reasons here. Perhaps if we come clean, it will urge you to do the same.” Luna turned her body towards him. “We heard recently of three fillies disappearing from Ponyville under the cover of OUR night. We are not pleased at this turn of events, and so, with the help of some of our friends, we cast a spell that hath led us here. So let me ask you again, Mr. Overlook.” She said his name with an ounce of venom in her voice as she pushed her face close to his. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything of this...would you?” The room had suddenly grown so quiet that Luna felt as though she could hear a pin drop, if one did. Even the stallions who were playing pool had stopped to stare at the two. Overlook didn’t react immediately, his shivering stopped, his muscles had untensed. Perhaps she was mistaken in her assumption? Then, overlook began to laugh. He threw his head back and laughed hard. “Well, you found me. Good show then. Allow me to at least finish my drink before you take me in.” Luna was about to respond when the stallion pressed the glass to his lips, throwing his head back and taking a long gulp. As he did, he kicked the stool that Luna was sitting on, sending her sprawling to the floor. Overlook made a mad dash for the door. Luna stood and shot a dark bolt of magic at him, but he avoided it and slipped out the door. Luna grunted in frustration, managing to stand up before giving chase. “ELEMENT BEARERS! WE HAVE FOUND HIM!” Upon hearing Luna’s voice, Rainbow Dash appeared in the skies above. She spotted the fleeing brown unicorn and shot after him. The cyan pegasus was quickly accompanied by Applejack and Rarity flanking her, Princess Luna bringing up the back of the group. “Not so fast!” Rainbow streaked towards Overlook, who glanced back and quickly jumped into the air. Rainbow Dash sailed underneath of him, then had to dig her hooves hard into the asphalt to bring herself to a stop before turning around to face the stallion again, only to see his tail disappearing into a nearby alleyway. “Hayseed!” She took to the air again to give chase. Applejack was close to him now, and with a growl she leapt towards him. “C’mere you—” She was cut off with a cry of pain as Overlook bucked her out of the air, straight into a nearby dumpster. She groaned in pain, glaring at his shrinking figure until Luna and Rarity ran past her. Applejack’s injury only seemed to fuel Rarity’s rage, she split off down a different alleyway. Luna cast a glance back at her, wondering where she was going, but kept up with her pursuit. The stallion turned, closing in on where the alleyway ended. Suddenly Rarity appeared at the end of the alley, her face the picture of fury, her horn glowing. Overlook grit his teeth and shot a spell at Rarity, who had to step to the side to avoid it making contact. Overlook took the opportunity and sprinted out onto the road, Luna and Rarity giving chase. Luna charged her horn and fired a spell, causing Overlook to stumble. Rainbow Dash swooped down, tackling him from above. He didn’t see it coming this time, and he was forced to the ground. He began to struggle, but Applejack caught up again, using a rope to tie his legs together. Finally, the chase was over. “You have much to answer for.” Luna said, her eyes narrowed. Overlook only smirked. “You won’t get anything out of me. You have no proof I did anything.” Rarity suddenly lunged at him, grabbing Overlook and starting to shake him. “Where is my sister?! Where is Sweetie Belle?!” Overlook grinned at her. “You mean those three little fillies I took? I hardly imagine that she’ll be your ‘little sister’ anymore once Ellura is through with them.” He began to laugh. Rarity let out a shrill shriek and brought her hooves down on his leg, a distinct crack rang through the area and Overlook yelled in pain. Applejack had to interfere, pulling Rarity back while Overlook cursed. “Perhaps you will think twice next time before interfering with a bond as close as sisters.” Luna frowned at Overlook, feeling sympathy for Rarity. Overlook spat at her hooves. “Little fillies shouldn’t be sticking their noses where they don’t belong!” Rarity began screaming again, but Luna only shook her head. “Sleep.” Luna’s horn lit up, and Overlook’s eyes blinked a few times before his head hit the ground and he began to snore. Rainbow Dash backed off and looked up to the Princess of the Night. “Princess, shouldn’t we have gotten him to tell us where they were before putting him to sleep?” “I have a feeling you’ll be seeing them very soon.” Luna smiled at Rainbow Dash. “For now, we must take this stallion to the outskirts of Manehattan. I will tell Twilight Sparkle where to meet us. I have a feeling she will be bringing friends.” With that, Princess Luna vanished, leaving the three mares to give each other confused, worried expressions. ~Fluttershy~ Fluttershy did not consider herself a brave pony. She was weak, she even jumped at her own shadow once before. She was terrified of dragons, and it took a lot of courage for her to be able to speak to other ponies. But now, she HAD to be brave. If not for herself, then for the three fillies currently crowded around her, shivering. Fluttershy was scared too, but she couldn’t show it. She had to be strong for them. Pinkie Pie was pulling at the cell door as hard as she could, while Twilight tried to un-do the lock with her magic. “Ugh! It’s no good, my magic can’t get a grip on it! It feels like they put some type of magical ward around the door, and the same spell must be covering the walls, floor, and ceiling too! I can’t do anything to it.” The building continued shaking, and the three fillies hugged Fluttershy tighter. “It’ll be okay girls, we’ll get out of this.” Far to the left, she heard the sound of a door opening. She froze, Pinkie and Twilight returned to sitting down to make it look like they weren’t doing anything. Heavy footsteps echoed around the room, and Fluttershy hugged the fillies tighter. Pinkie and Twilight tensed up. Then, a huge black boot appeared to the far left of the cell doorway followed by the rest of the massive figure that she recognized as Nemesis. Twilight gasped. “You!” Nemesis stopped, turning to look at them in their cell. His eye was glowing blue, oddly, instead of its usual red or white that Fluttershy had seen it glowing before. Wordlessly, he wrapped a massive hand around the cell door and yanked. There was a heavy groaning sound, but the cell door gave, and Nemesis pulled it out of the wall. You should get out of here. His voice sounded far off, like his mind was on other things. Suddenly, the three fillies rushed from my grasp and ran towards Nemesis. “Girls, wait!” she called out to them, but the three continued to run towards him. Nemesis took a step back, holding a hand out towards the three fillies. You don’t want to touch me. He warned with a growl. The three fillies hesitated, but stopped just short of him and began to speak. “Thank you mister!” “Yeah thanks, we didn’t think we were ever going to get out of there!” “Thank you so much!” Scootaloo turned back to us and shouted “C’mon let’s go!” before rushing to the door Nemesis had left open, followed by her two friends. “Hey, wait up!” Spike chased after them. Pinkie stood up and shouted “You can’t go out there by yourselves!” She started to chase after them, but not before stopping and, much to Fluttershy’s surprise, turned back to Nemesis and gave him a massive smile. “Thanks!” then she too darted out the door. Twilight made to go next, but stopped and turned to Nemesis, her ears splayed backwards. “What about you?” Nemesis snapped out of whatever trance he had put himself in and looked at Twilight. I have some things left I have to take care of. I don’t think this place is going to be standing for much longer, so you should leave. NOW. Though his voice sounded mean, Fluttershy noticed that it seemed forced. Twilight nodded and ran out the door, but Fluttershy remained behind, staring at Nemesis. What are you waiting for? An invitation? I told you to go. Fluttershy meekly crawled out of the cell, wincing as Nemesis threw the cell door into the nearby wall before making his way to the door on the opposite side of the room. Fluttershy knew she was going to regret this, but she had to ask. “Uhm...mister Nemesis?” Nemesis stopped, and turned his head, looking at Fluttershy out of the corner of his eye. What? “Are you...crying?” Silence. Neither of them said anything for a moment. Fluttershy was afraid she had offended him, but then Nemesis took a deep sigh and turned away from her. I can’t cry. He started walking away from her again, but Fluttershy became determined. With a speed that would make even Rainbow Dash proud, she shot overhead of Nemesis and down in front of him, coming face to face with him. She used her stare, looking at him straight in the eye. “Now you listen here, mister.” Nemesis actually backed up when she did that, blinking in surprise. “I didn’t ask you if you could cry, I asked if you were.” His eye widened, though he didn’t make any visible efforts to stop her, so she continued. “Everypony gets sad sometimes, and just because you’re different from anypony we know, doesn’t mean you can’t get sad too! I am thankful that you saved me and my friends, but I can’t stand to see anypony who’s done something so good be so sad, so you are going to tell me what’s bothering you THIS INSTANT! Do you understand me?!” Nemesis blinked once, twice. Then his eye color changed from blue to its usual white. Fluttershy flew closer to him, waiting expectantly. “Well?” Suddenly, his hand shot out. Fluttershy braced herself to be hit, but instead she found herself being petted by Nemesis’ massive hand. She looked at him again, her eyes showing surprise. Fluttershy it was, right? You’re alright. That stare of yours isn’t going to work on me, but...thank you. I needed someone to talk to me like that. You should go join your friends, before they begin to worry about you. He petted her again before walking past her, going through the door on the opposite side. Fluttershy landed and folded her wings in. She didn’t get to help him with what was causing him so much pain, but she was glad she was able to help, at least a little bit. ~Nemesis~ Jesus Christ, What. The fuck. Was that? That little pony had a stare so intense I thought she was going to break me. I should’ve expected as much. Gilgamesh had told me about that mare’s ability ‘The Stare’ before, but HOLY CRAP was I not expecting that! She was right though, there was something bothering me. The room full of innocent ponies came to the forefront of my mind again. If I had just been a little while earlier, maybe if I hadn’t come to Equestria in the first place… I pushed the images and the thoughts down for now. If the smell was any indication, I was getting close to the testing labs. I had released a lot of ‘test subjects’ on the way down here; ponies who still had their wits about them and, as far as I could tell, were not infected with a virus. This is where they administered the doses of the virus to their ‘subjects’ and it was going down, just like the rest of this facility. The stairs leveled out to a flat, tiled floor. Stretchers were positioned in alcoves all throughout the room, most of them with restraining straps, vials, and a lethal looking needles above to accompany them. “Is someone there?” I stopped, hearing someone’s voice. There was a circular area in the center of the room, sectioned off from the rest by a wall split up into three parts. I went around the wall and was met with the sight of a unicorn stallion strapped down onto a stretcher, the massive needle that hovered over it was but an inch from his chest. He looked up as he heard me come in. The stallion was odd, he had an orangeish, tan coat with a mane that shone with a deep bronze color. He scanned me briefly, blinking. “Well, you’re certainly not a doctor.” I grinned, breaking the straps that held him down and tearing the massive structure from above the stretcher, throwing it into one of the other structures that caused it to break as well. You should get out of here, this place isn’t going to be standing for much longer. “I can’t.” I raised an eyebrow as he got up from the stretcher, stretching out his limbs and then lowering himself onto all 4’s on the floor below me. “I’m not leaving until I’m sure this place is gone.” I growled. This really isn’t a time for arguing. “There is no arguing. I’m not gone until I’ve done what I need to do.” I sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of my nose with two fingers. Fine. I just hope you know your way out, this is the only warning you’re getting. “I know my way around just fine.” He answered, before he rushed off into a door on the opposite side of the room I had come in. I left out the same door I had come in and started to search through the places I had already checked, rushing and telling any competent ‘test subjects’ remaining to get out. Suddenly, an alarm sounded and red lights began to flash in the hallways and rooms. A robotic voice droned over the loudspeakers. “Emergency protocol has been activated: Facility will self-destruct in T-minus twenty minutes.” That’s convenient. I thought and turned to make my escape when a voice stopped me. “You MISERABLE LITTLE INSECT.” I turned, noticing a tan-colored unicorn stallion with an azure streaked-back mane. Flanking him were ponies who all pointed what looked like guns straight at me. I don’t know who you’re talking to bud, but you’re the insect from where I’m standing. I growled. He scowled at me. “Be that as it may, you didn’t honestly think that you were going to destroy over ten decade’s worth of research and get out of here alive,” the sound of several guns cocking could be heard. “...did you?” The unicorn’s golden eyes glowed with an unholy fire as he growled out his question. You’re serious. You have guns now... Where did you even get those things? “Prototypes, early models that we constructed based off of the weapons we took from you. They are prototypes for a much more advanced model later on.” The sound of a gunshot filled the hallway, and I felt a pain in my side. It hurt, but it wouldn’t slow me down. “But I think they work rather effectively, don’t you?” He gave me a smug look before changing it into a deep frown. “Kill him.” I dodged into a side hallway as the sound of gunshots filled the area. I noticed a door on the right and quickly yanked it open slamming it behind myself. I heard metallic clanking as the ponies continued to shoot, presumably at the door I was now hiding behind. “Position yourselves! He can’t stay in there forever. He has to come out eventually, or get blown to pieces with the rest of this facility.” I frantically looked around for something I could use. This was bad, hard to kill or not, even I was unsure if I could take a wall of bullets aimed at my face. Okay, calm down, what can I use? Then my eyes fell upon the one thing I never thought I would see again. ...Oh HELL yes. In the hallway outside, the ponies were positioned around the door. each and every one had a weapon aimed at it. “As soon as that door opens,” Test Tube spoke. “Kill the bastard.” Slowly, the door they were aiming at creaked open. Every weapon simultaneously discharged, all shooting at the open doorway. It took a second for them to realize there wasn’t actually anything there. I took the moment given from the break in gunfire to step into the open doorway, with a new toy in my grip. I know who had taken my weapons now, and lucky for me, I found some of them again. On my back was my regular rocket launcher, accompanied with a second one I had asked Discord to make some time ago. It was lighter, but also fired much more heavy-duty rounds. It also had limited ammo, which is why I had taken an RPG head and stuffed it into the pocket on my coat. In my right hand I clutched a minigun, the grip specialized so that the gun latched onto my forearm, the muzzle hanging below my arm and pointed at whatever was in front of me. I had at least a good ten minutes’ worth of firing ammo strapped around my chest to form an X-pattern. That was cute. It’s my turn now. The barrel of my minigun began to spin. You might want to get down. The ponies shouted and ducked, just as my minigun opened fire. Empty shell casings clattered to the ground as I shot at, behind, and around their cover. My entire body shook with every shot, the hallway lit up with the light of gunfire as the smell of smoke filled my nostrils. I stopped firing. The area in front of me was riddled with more holes than swiss cheese. Shell casings littered the ground at my feet, burning and filling the hallway with smoke. I wasn’t anywhere near low on ammo though, so I took the moment to speak. I can keep this up all day! If you want to live, I suggest you run! Many of the Ellura employees got up and began to run; however, a handful of others, one of them being the stallion who had spoken to me, began to fire at me again. I grunted, feeling the bullets leave their mark. I aimed at them again. Your mistake. I growled. One of the men cried out in pain, and I looked to the side long enough to see him being lifted into the air by some unseen force. Shit! I fired at the area below him, red exploding from the ‘empty’ air. Slowly, the cloaking of the B.O.W. died, and I could see that he had impaled the pony on his scales, which were bristled and rising into the air above him. He let out a short hiss before falling to the ground, dead. I heard the sound of hooves on metal, and another one of the stallions screamed, being dragged away by another invisible B.O.W. Do you see now? Your own creations turn on you, you can’t control these things! I spoke to the tan stallion. He only scowled at me before turning and beginning to run, but he was tackled into a side hallway by an unseen force. I sighed, running to where I heard the other stallions screaming and fired at the invisible B.O.W. tearing them apart. They hissed before falling to the ground. The Ellura employees stared at me with dead eyes. I turned away from them and saw the stallion who had spoken to me being attacked as well. He was screaming in agony, yelling “Make it stop! Make it stop!” I granted his wish, putting an end to the life of the B.O.W. tearing him apart before tossing him aside and staring down at the dying pony. You and the rest of your company are so blind. You can’t hope to control these things, they’re meant only to destroy, and that’s exactly what they’ll do. They’ll destroy you. He began to laugh, a deep, painful sounding laugh that turned into a cough, causing blood to spill from the sides of his mouth. “You don’t understand, do you? Our experiments may turn against us, but this…” He gestured to the now dead B.O.W. “This is the new world order. We can create, anything we want. We can make a stronger pony race; we can make a greater pony race.” You won’t be making shit. This entire place is about to go up in flames. He laughed again, beginning to choke on his own blood. He swallowed hard, and smiled at me. “Did you really think this is the only one?” What? “We’re everywhere you fool. You stop us here, but you can’t stop...all of us…” his head tilted to the side, and his eyes darkened. I growled, picking him up by the scruff of his neck and shaking him. What the hell do you mean you’re not the only ones?! There’s more of you?! His eyes remained darkened. His secrets would follow him to the grave, it seemed. I growled and dropped him, following along the hallway I had traveled to get down into the subject experimentation area. What the hell did he mean they’re not the only ones? There’s more facilities like this? The sound of the siren reminded me that this entire place was about to blow, so I picked up the pace, heading for the exit. I reached the door where I had taken out a wall, and after one last check to make sure there were no ponies left behind, I sprinted for the exit. I busted through the front doors, just before I heard a massive explosion behind me. keep running, don’t stop! I felt the heat on my back, and I fell forward, tucking myself into a roll. I came to a stop eventually, laying on my back and staring up at the sky. Everything was blurry, but I could just barely make out the form of something vaguely pony-shaped above me. “Good, you’re alive.” I lifted my head to see the pony I had released in the labs looking at me with a smile. “I was afraid you wouldn’t make it out in time when I rigged the place to blow. I owe you my life, and that would have been a terrible way to repay it.” I let my head impact the ground again. You don’t owe me anything. Then I heard the sound of sirens and I groaned loudly. Fucking great… “Nemesis!” I turned, to see Twilight waving me down. I climbed to my feet and motioned to the pony, and we both made our way over to her. “I’m so glad you’re okay! We saw the flames in the distance and we got really worried!” Aw. You do care. She deadpanned before looking over to the pony, tilting her head at him. “Who’s this?” This is...uh... I looked to him for help. “Bronze Mane.” He said, bowing his head to Twilight. Twilight nodded before turning to me again. “Nemesis, Princess Luna and the others are on the outskirts of Manehattan. We caught someone from Ellura, but he’s not telling us anything. We were hoping you could…?” I chuckled. Working against sun-butt now are you? My, look at you breaking all the rules. “I’ve seen enough to know that Celestia’s mistaken.” Twilight looked at her hooves, releasing a deep sigh. “That...that thing I saw in there. That’s not Ellura helping ponies. I don’t know what they think they’re doing, but it needs to stop.” That’s all I want. I nodded. “Don’t think I’m going completely against the Princess on this. When I make it back to Ponyville she’s hearing all about this. Ellura is finished.” She smiled at me. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you sooner.” I waved my hand. I knew you’d get your head out of your plot eventually. Let’s go see this ‘prisoner,’ shall we? She nodded, turning away from the destruction. “It’s this way, follow me!” We followed Twilight through some back alleyways, keeping out of sight of the streets as we made our way out of Manehattan. The roads were crawling with guards now, most likely looking for me, so we were sure to remain out of sight. It wasn’t long before we reached a large, open area away from the bustling and tall buildings of the city that read ‘Manehattan city limits’. Not wanting to stick around in the open for too long, I picked up Bronze and Twilight, much to her disagreement, and jumped, making our way along a little more quickly. It wasn’t long after that when I saw Luna, the rest of Twilight’s friends, and a prone stallion in the distance. I landed with a crash, setting Twilight and Bronze down. I raised an eyebrow at Luna. I have to admit, of all the ponies I expected to see out here, you are definitely not one of them. She frowned and approached me. “When we heard of the foals’ kidnapping, we could not just sit idly by and do nothing. Our sister knows nothing of our presence here, and we would appreciate it if you did not mention this to her.” I was still a little unsure, but I nodded. Let’s save this for later. Where’s this stallion you needed me to talk to? She stepped aside, revealing a stallion whose legs had been tied together, and he was doing the best job he could do of ignoring us. I approached him and yanked him up into a sitting position. He looked at me fearfully. What’s your name? “Overlook.” He glared at me. “Watchful Overlook.” Well, Watchful Overlook, I’ve got some questions that need answering. What can you tell me about Ellura? “Absolutely nothing.” Overlook looked away from me. I grabbed his chin and forced him to look me in the eye, my impatience growing. I’m not a fan of liars. Even less of a fan of those who would take homeless fillies off the street and use them as experiments. This drew a gasp from several ponies around me, but I didn’t dare tear my gaze away from him. Think harder, and maybe I’ll let you keep all of your limbs. Overlook looked unsure for a moment, before he began to laugh. “Do you honestly believe anything any of you could do to me is any worse than what my boss would do to me if I tell you? You aren’t getting anything from me.” He spat at the ground at my feet. I growled and smacked him in the side of the head, rendering him unconscious again. Make him a prisoner. Maybe he’ll be more willing to talk when he realizes he’s in a place where his ‘boss’ can’t reach him. “We can take him back to ponyville with us,” Twilight said, smiling at a small green and purple dragon on her back before she turned to look back at me. “Do...you want to come with us?” I looked around at the ponies that I had become recently acquainted with. Applejack was hugging and talking to her sister. Rarity was hugging her sister as well, but crying profusely while her sister just looked annoyed. The orange filly was darting around Rainbow Dash, chattering nonstop while Rainbow Dash just smiled. Pinkie Pie was talking with Fluttershy, who wouldn’t look me in the eye. Bronze Mane, on the other hand was looking up at me, as if waiting for an answer. I don’t really have much of a choice, do I? “Woohoo!” Pinkie suddenly exploded into a shout. “I get to throw Nemmy a ‘You were our enemy but you’re not anymore, so welcome to Ponyville party!’” “We will come with you as well.” Luna said, straightening her pose to assume a regal appearance. “We wish to see more about Ellura, so that we may know who to strike at once our sister knows of this.” I nodded. In that case, we haven’t any time to lose, let’s get back to ugh… ‘Ponyville’ before nightfall. I still hated that name. With a collective cheer, the ponies set off. It was good that ponies could remains so cheerful, even in the face of such terrible things happening around them. The image returned to my mind again, the look in the fillies’ eyes haunting my mind. Was it really Ellura’s fault that had happened? I brought the virus to Equestria in the first place, after all. I sighed, and I was about to follow them, but I heard a sound like a rip in the air above me. Hm? I stopped to look up at the sky, a letter with something attached to it falling to the ground at my feet. I bent down to pick it up, and started to read. To Nemmy, Sup, big guy? How've you been? Scratch that, I'm sure things are going kind of rough for you, just as they were before. Still rooting for you though, and always will be. I've actually got some down time now, no leads and just killing time 'til the Canterlot Wedding Invasion. Believe it or not, actually made friends with some new ponies, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody, both musicians. I've been giving them songs from our world in exchange for some lessons with instruments, got some plans for trolling during Hearth's Warming Eve. Anyway, I was going through a list of songs I liked and I remembered one that made me think of you. I've got it on this cassette tape recorder here. Funny how a society that doesn't have cars can still have tape recorders and turntables. I know you've got it hard with Tia, Ellura, and the Nemesis in your head, and as badass as your are even the greatest can break under the right circumstances. If you're feeling down or lost, or hell if you just feel like it, play this and I think it'll give you some motivation. Never forget that you're in the right, and if you need it I'm on call to help you shove that rocket launcher down the throats of every one of those Ellura bastards. Keep on keeping on, big guy. I know you can do it. You're pal, Gilgamesh. This note will self destruct in 5 seconds… Heh, yeah right. P.S. Play the song while you walk, I'm sure it'll make you feel like a boss. Oh god, please no more self destruction, I’ve had enough of that for one day. I smiled to myself as I read the note. Leave it to Gilgy to make me smile when I felt like frowning. I inspected the tape recorder he had sent me before pressing play, my finger almost too big for the button. ...Oh HELL the fuck yes! ~Princess Celestia~ Princess Celestia was signing an approval for extended rain water over Appleloosa when she heard the doors to her throne room open. A guard rushed in. “Your Highness, there is someone here to see you.” Celestia sighed, lowering the papers. It was odd enough that her sister was gone this morning, but now ponies were asking to visit when it was not the hours of appeal. She supposed she could understand, it must have been important. “Yes, bring them in.” The guard bowed and trotted out, returning with a stallion with a grey-whiteish coat, and a black mane that cascaded down onto either side of his head. “Ah! Inkwell!” Celestia knew this pony; he was the leader of the Ellura Corporation. “How may I help you today?” The pony named ‘Inkwell’ bowed his head in respect and spoke in a careful tone. “Princess Celestia, There’s been an incident…”