//------------------------------// // Chapter 87 - "No Rest for the Wicked" // Story: My Little Caboose II: Friendship is Fragmented! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// Somewhere, lost within the thick trees of Sweet Apple Acres, a lone, chocolate-colored stallion walked. He had been walking non-stop for well over three hours. Head bowed down as he allowed himself to get lost among the trees. Right now, he didn't care for where he was. But he never really cared too much about where he used to be, either. At least here, he found, he could at least be alone for a bit without his so called 'teammates' distracting him. But, with the ability to be alone also comes the realization that he was no longer mechanical, and this bothered him greatly. Already, he could feel his legs growing weak from the constant walking. But still, he continued. He needed to see how long he could go for. He needed to know his limits, now that they had been shortened so drastically. No more could he remain active for weeks at a time. No more could he laugh at Grif, or the others, for getting exhausted physically when now he was in the same flabby and fleshy predicament as them. After a few more minutes of walking, he began to feel his legs giving out. After a difficult decision between taking a break or walking until his legs were nubs, he decided on the former. Slowly, he made his way to the nearest tree and sat next to it, letting out a heavy sigh. To his right, there was a singular, shiny red apple. He leaned in forward and could just make out a bare reflection. Brown for. Steel gray eyes. A look that was not entirely unlike disdain for being where he was. But at least it was quiet. For about one more second. "Hello, old friend." "[God damn it,]" Lopez groaned, rolling his eyes. He recognized the voice, and he was hoping that the idiot talking to him would have somehow forgotten who he was. Too bad he was never that lucky. Looking to his side, he saw two bald stallions approaching him with grins on their faces. "How did you sleep last night?" O'Malley inquired with a smirk. "[Horrible,]" Lopez growled, feeling a headache coming on from merely hearing his voice for one second. But he knew O'Malley. He knew there was something he wanted, and he knew that, much like the others, ignoring him wouldn't make him go away. "[Being in this body is the worst thing I've ever had done to me. At least being a mechanical being gave me confidence that I would see everyone die before me. Now I'm on the same boat as those idiots.]" "It does take some getting used to..." O'Malley agreed slowly, looking at his hooves. He then looked at Gary and began to smile darkly. "Tell me, has your opinion of the Reds and Blues changed?" "[You mean do I still hate them?]" the former Red inquired, to which O'Malley nodded in reply. "[No, I'm their best friend now.]" "Very funny," O'Malley said forcibly. "But both you and I know that you would never be caught admitting to even being an acquaintance with them, let alone being their friend." "[What do you want?]" Lopez grumbled, turning away from them, knowing that, much like they assumed of him, they weren't here to gain friendship. Or, at least, a normal one. "Ah, straight to the point," Gary said with a nod. "I like you already, Lopez." Lopez said nothing, clearly not feeling the same way as Gary. "Anyways, as you've already said, the three of us aren't quite as comfortable as we used to be. We've replaced out wires and mechanical superiority with veins and a flesh prison. We used to be able to laugh, knowing that everyone we knew would die well before we stopped working. Now... now we're just like them. We need food. We need rest. We need to... to..." Gary shuddered and bit his hoof, eyes clenched shut. O'Malley frowned and tapped Gary on the shoulder, as if consoling a close friend. "We need to breathe!" Gary then started to make an annoying sound. Not quite like crying, but clearly a sound of duress. It grated on Lopez's ears as well as his nerves. "We're on the same path to death as them," O'Malley sighed as Gary began straightening back up, regaining his composure. "But, we've learned that while we became a lot more human... or rather, pony... than in our worst nightmares..." O'Malley let out a vicious shudder. Then, he began to smirk. "But then, luckily,we discovered that we aren't exactly like them..." "[What is that supposed to mean?]" Lopez inquired, raising a brow at him. "Keep it on the down low, but Gary and I have been... experimenting..." "[...What?]" Lopez uttered after a few seconds. "When Gary and I were brought back to life, we learned how to do things with our bodies... and while the Reds and Blues were going to fight that Discord fellow, Gary and myself have been staying up all night together, doing..." O'Malley stopped and looked around, making sure nobody was in the trees surrounding himself, Lopez and Gary. "Things." "[I know we're flesh now, but I have no interest in learning what things you were doing,]" Lopez said, eyes widening as he adopted a small look of disgust. "What?" O'Malley asked, looking at him, nonplussed. He thought of his words and mimicked the look Lopez was giving him when the words clicked. "No! That's disgusting, I would never do anything like that with anyone!" "[Good, because you were beginning to sound like tweedle purple and tweedle pink...]" Lopez shuddered, then his look stuck to Gary. "[Then what have you been doing... experiments on?]" "It seems we have retained some traits of our past selves," Gary chuckled. "[If you're just going to talk in circles to keep me guessing, then I'm just going to leave,]" Lopez grunted. He got off the ground and began retracing his steps. "[If I want to waste my time, I'll go try to talk to Sarge.]" "We can control things," Gary said after a few seconds. "[What do you mean you can control things?]" Lopez sighed, turning towards him, not walking back. He wanted to be as far away from them as possible. "We live in a world of magic now. Though I'd much prefer to think of it as a greater science, to be honest. And since we live in a world of magic, even though we're flesh and blood, we can still do some incredible things," Gary chuckled, then looked to O'Malley. "Well, myself, anyways. O'Malley still hasn't mastered it as well as I have..." "[And what's that?]" Lopez asked impatiently, annoyed that they weren't just telling him. "I can leave behind this physical shell and go into the mind of almost everything," Gary said with a smile. "Just like O'Malley did back in Blood Gulch. Sadly, I never really managed to properly do that back with the Freelancers - I only mastered going into computer systems - but in this world I can do it just as well as he did in the old one." "We also know that Epsilon had done it before, as Delta had told us," O'Malley piped. "That makes us believe that we all can do it, given enough practice. Think of the possibilities... you, me and Gary, running through these silly ponies' minds! We can make this world ours with enough planning." "[A, your plans never work as well as you want. B, only you two? And C, what makes you think I can do it?]" "A, yes they do, shut up," O'Malley grumbled, then looked to Gary. "B, the only other one we trusted and held as high as ourselves was Sigma, but he has sadly turned over a new leaf, it seems," Gary sighed. "Shame, really. Ambition was something we could have used a bit more of. And as for you, we're not sure you can do it. We just think that if we had you on our side, it would help us greatly. Three heads, after all, are better than two." "Think about it..." O'Malley said, leaning forward slightly. "We could team up, just like last time..." "[Oh, yes, because being on your 'team' worked out so well last time,]" Lopez said sarcastically. "I'll admit, last time a little wrench was throne into my plans thanks to the Blues..." O'Malley said with great reluctance. "And yes, after that was when I had to go inside the minds of the others, and then, yes, I was essentially blown up while in a Pelican... things never really went well for me during the time in that canyon..." "[Or ever...]" Lopez murmured quietly. "The point is..." Gary began, feeling as if they were losing Lopez now. "Wouldn't you prefer to be on the side of your equals, rather on the side of your inferiors? Wouldn't you prefer to gain power in this world and rule it?" "[No.]" "'No'? Why not?" "[Because ruling over them means talking to them and being in the presence of people I hate. Namely, you two,]" Lopez grunted, now feeling done with the conversation. "[I'd rather live with the Apples here. At least they don't care if I wander in the forest in silence for hours at a time. Even if I have to deal with Sarge for the rest of the time, here I'll get a bit of silence every now and again. I'd rather be powerless with that than to have power and wind up being headless again because I sided with the two of you...]" Lopez paused and began to walk away. "[I don't care what you try and do with this world. Rule it. Destroy it. Whatever. Just leave me out of it.]" "I had a feeling that he wouldn't go for it," O'Malley grunted in frustration as Lopez vanished behind the trees, heading back to the farm. "This would have been so much easier if we had more than just the two of us..." "Don't worry, old friend. He'll see it our way soon," Gary sighed, patting O'Malley on the shoulder, a dark smile spreading across his face. "Even if we have to force him into thinking it..."