//------------------------------// // Dark Tidings // Story: Vanguard // by Material Defender //------------------------------// "So, what's the plan of attack, Princess?" Jayce asked. They had approached Celestia in the throne room, but were quickly redirected to the library when they learned that she wasn't present. Within the library, there was a newly-placed table with a map of Equestria. There were a number of cities on there: Cloudsdale, Las Pegasus, Manehattan, Ponyville, and Canterlot, among other places. "I have my guards on alert and have deployed advance elements to various cities and towns throughout Equestria. I have allocated a number of pegasus guards to begin searches within and around the Everfree Forest as well as guarding the roads," Celestia said. "We have not created a plan of attack yet, but we will most likely have a rapid-response system in place within the week to hold off Nightmare Moon should she arise." "And that's where we come in?" Orion asked. "It's going to be a bit of a pain for quick deployment since we don't exactly have wings..." "I will have royal chariots waiting for you on standby. In addition, you will each have a platoon of royal guards under your command." "With all due respect, Princess, I don't think throwing more soldiers at her is going to end well." Nightmare Moon did have a lot of reach in her shadow form, and Orion considered it lucky that neither he nor Jayce had taken serious damage from her. And he wasn't really willing to find out what more damage she could do. "It's probably best if we can just deploy with just me and Jayce, and the Elements to deal with her. The guards can stay back until we give them the signal to attack." "That would be wise. Nightmare Moon will most likely be gathering more power in the time following her disappearance. We must be prepared for her when she rises again." "Speaking of which, where are the Elements right now?" Orion asked. "I have seen fit to send them back to Ponyville for the time being in order to recuperate." "I see... any other recommendations?" he asked. "What about Celestia?" Jayce asked. "You know she has a whole nation to run." "Oh, right, forgot about that." Jayce tapped his chin. "Opinions on heavy weapons?" he asked cautiously. Celestia blinked. "What sort of heavy weapons do you have in mind?" "Just some... explosives. Missiles, actually. Mostly missiles. And a certain WMD that Orion has..." "Nope," Orion immediately said. "Too dangerous, and I don't want any political fallout if I just so happen to... well, miss. And in somewhere inhabited, no less." "Ugh, fine. Maybe just the missiles. And anything else we can scrounge together before then." Orion thought for a moment. "Authorized... but if she decides to show up in a city, we might have to hold back on it. On top of that, we don't know whether she'll show up in her shadow form or an actual physical one. Depending on which, we might have to change up our method of attack." "Yeah, speaking of that shadow form..." Jayce began. "...you should probably juice me up with that eezo." "Well, that was sort of food for thought... I don't think anyone's ever been able to successfully... and artificially... create a biotic through the sheer infusion of eezo caused by another biotic. Just trying to do something like that is trying to force an insane amount of eezo into a person in a relatively short amount of time. It'd induce a huge deal of strain, and could even kill you." "That's true... but humanity didn't get anywhere by sitting on their asses and wondering what life would be like if they did something. Gotta try something. I'm a soldier, I have the training, I can take the pain." "And I don't think there's ever been a single biotic in the history of the Council that could handle that much eezo. I'm certainly not eager to find out." Orion did have a point: taking a huge amount of eezo and just shoving it into someone could have rather... gruesome results. "Okay, you know what? We'll start off small then. I can just take in a little bit at a time, and we'll go from there." Orion rolled his eyes. "You also need training to use your biotic powers." "Alright, alright, we can do that, too," Jayce nodded. "I'll just... spend some time... lifting things... or something. Or doing charges?" "You don't have the implants for those. You don't have any biotic implants at all, Jayce. The most you'd be able to do is just punch things with a biotic fist." Jayce smiled. "And that's all I need. I mean, being able to do charges would have been fucking great, but I can deal with slamming biotic fists into things. Anything to up my combat potential against that bitch. You thought about trying to juice up some of the guards with eezo?" "Absolutely not," Celestia said. "I will not have my guards subject to experimentation just to see if they can use your... powers." "Okay, so that's that, then," Jayce said. "I don't think it would have worked, anyway..." Orion said. "The ponies have been around here for a long time, and exposed to this stuff for generations. I think they'd have built up some sort of resistance to it. As far as I see, the usage of eezo among ponies is almost non-existent. How you actually do magic is... well, beyond me." "Whatever. I'm sure we can take her on with just the both of us," Jayce said. "Perhaps you would consider adding another to your group, Jayce?" said a voice at the door. Luna stepped in and began approaching the center of the expansive library, where the table was located. "I... took some time to ponder what we had spoken about last night. I wish to join you in your fight against Nightmare Moon." Jayce huffed. "Going to battle against your own evil alter ego? I'm impressed, Princess." "Yes, well, save the celebrations until after we defeat her," she said. "I see you have already begun making plans about how to deal with Nightmare Moon." There were a number of blue blocks on the map denoting royal guard deployments. "Where will I be able to fit into this?" she asked her sister. "I will give you command of your own pegasus guard platoon, and you can be the spearhead of the rapid-response teams should Nightmare Moon show herself. If you cannot best her, you can at least hold your own until Orion and Jayce arrive with reinforcements. I have much faith that you will not be easily overcome, Luna." "A most excellent idea, sister," Luna said, looking at the map. She turned to Orion and Jayce. "I look forward to fighting alongside you in battle." "The pleasure is ours, Princess," Orion said. "With any luck, hopefully things will stay contained and we can deal away with her quickly." "Indeed," she responded. "Is that all, then?" "Yep," Jayce said. "I was going to have Orion try to amp me up with some eezo sometime later, and, right now, I was thinking about trying to scrounge up some new weapons from that old piece of scrap fighter we have in the storage room." "Really?" she asked. "May I come along?" "Well, I don't see any harm in it," Orion said. "Just... make sure you don't touch anything when we're dealing with the parts." "Whoa. Yeah... this is good. I can use those over there... and these here... and that there... oh, man, you definitely won't be flying this thing anymore," Jayce said, inspecting the inner engine block of the fighter. "Why's that?" Orion asked. "The stabilization gyros are all shot to hell. Unless you want to fly this thing straight into a mountainside, this thing isn't flight-worthy anymore. Ooh, that looks useful." More clinking noises as Jayce poked at things using his wrench. "Now this I can definitely use... aw, what?" "Something wrong?" Luna asked. Jayce pulled his head out of the block, covered in engine oil. Jayce wiped the oil off his hands and head using a nearby rag of cloth, turning to Orion. "The fighter's cannons are built straight into the fuselage. Unless we're aiming to strap these guns onto a Mako, I don't think we'll be bringing them anywhere with us." He leaned in to look at the various workings of the upper engine block before sticking his head back in. "Can't we just take 'em and strap them onto something we can pull around?" Orion figured that the cannons could be dragged around like the machinegun emplacements he'd seen on a few missions. "Yeah, sure, we can. But it would take a lot of time and resources to be able to make something like that. And I'd rather focus on trying to get the most out of this fighter right now, not trying to figure out how to make a damn cart to pull around a big gun." Jayce's voice echoed from inside the fighter along with even more clanking. "I see. Maybe sometime later, then?" "Yep. Oh, hey, you should let me mod your boots later," Jayce said, looking over his shoulder. "Cerberus soldiers have standard issue jet brakes on their boots for suborbital drops. You Alliance types should really work on trying to get those. They're damn useful, especially if you have to jump off a fucking cliff or something. At least it leaves the option open for you. The fighter's primary landing jets should do the trick pretty well." "I'll think about it. Maybe later. Think we can put the sensors to use for anything?" "Maybe, maybe not... ah, now that's what I'm looking for." He pulled out what seemed to be a large rectangular block of metal. "What's that?" Orion asked. "The springs for the emergency landing gears. Useless now... but useful for a projectile delivery system. And we're going to need one for those missiles. Mind if I take a look at the computers?" Jayce asked. "Go ahead. I don't think they work, though." "Yeah, I know. Don't need the screens, I just need the computers. The targeting computers, actually. The missile launcher's going to need something to lock onto before it'll fire. That's the downside of using fighter missiles instead of something like an ML-77 or an M-560. But these things pack a much bigger punch, at least." He heaved with a grunt as he lifted off the rectangular block to the side of the room. "Damn," he panted. "Going to need to strip a lot of crap out of that thing to make it light enough to carry." "These are such strange weapons of war you speak of... and the way you speak of them, it's as if your own species has many." "See, that's the thing about us, and everybody else in our universe, Princess," Orion said. "We... uh, never really run out of inventions to kill each other with." Luna balked. "That sounds... absolutely horrible. Who would want to live in a world where killing each other is commonplace?" "It's... the way of the universe, Princess. Either kill or be killed. Not everyone's going to agree with you, and you're not always going to get what you want, so sometimes... you just have to take it by force," Jayce said. She frowned. "While I may not agree with how well the denizens of your universe get along, I must ask about how... effective these weapons are at dealing destruction. Especially against something as powerful as Nightmare Moon." "Well, I know my guns don't do much against her in her shadow form, or even her physical form, really. She just regenerates way too damn fast if we're trying to hit her using conventional methods. The way I see it, only biotics can seriously hurt her, using powerful magic like the Elements, or... more firepower. Speaking of which, we should probably get around to that eezo," Jayce said. "But maybe later. I want to take stock of what we have at the moment." "Agreed. I'll also need to do more research on how to manipulate this new eezo. Don't want any surprises now," Orion said. "I certainly hope you won't end up injuring yourself before we go to battle," Luna said. "Yeah, we hope so, too," Jayce laughed, now poking through the fuselage again. "We're just starting off small, don't worry. I won't die... I hope." There was a knock on the door, which was strange, because usually there weren't that many visitors to the storage rooms. "You may enter," Luna called. The door opened and there stood Star Bolt and Gold Aegis. "Hello!" Bolt said. "Hey, Bolt, what's going on?" Jayce said nonchalantly, still pulling out various bits of metal and screws from the fighter. "We've been assigned to you two as your platoon leaders!" Aegis happily said. "I'm in charge of the pegasus platoon under Orion's command, and Bolt here is in command of the unicorn platoon under Jayce's command." "You two ever led a platoon before?" Orion asked. "Yes, we have. Both of us have some leadership experience. Mostly, everyone is equal rank in the guards, and all answer to the Princesses. But sometimes, when there's a greater threat on the loose, we're split into platoons and deployed to deal with it. Bolt and I have led some missions before, and we've been given command of our old platoons to help you in your mission." "That sounds swell," Orion said. "We'll be on standby for the time being. At least until Nightmare Moon shows her face." "Understood!" The two guards saluted. "We'll be seeing you both later, then," Aegis said, as Bolt left. "Oh, and, uh, I think there's something you should know..." Bolt stopped just before the door, and turned to Aegis, frowning. "Yeah?" Jayce asked, having unlocked the ordnance panel for the fighter. He pulled out a large rack of missiles, still intact. "Oh, shit... hot material on the deck, keep away." He began inspecting each of the missiles before sliding them back in , and slammed the panel shut. "Well, the eggs are all unharmed and in the basket." Aegis continued. "You have to realize, all the guards aren't as accepting as the Princesses, Bolt, and I are. For the most part, our platoons don't really care, but... there are a good number of guards that don't really like you being here. Talk about playing favorites to the aliens and things like that. I have to apologize for them beforehoof, they just also happen to be the hotshots of the royal guards. Don't like the fact that you two showed up and got the knighted by the Princess." "Tell me who they are and I shall deal with them," Luna coldly said. "Er, no, Princess," Orion said, holding up a hand. "It's fine. They can talk all they want, but we're here to stay." "We have your backs," Bolt said. "Don't worry about it, you also have supporters, too." Jayce had properly cleaned up the junk around the fighter, and moved it all into a box, which he laid down next to the landing gear. "Hope they can fight as well as they can talk." He wiped his hands on the cloth. "I'd like to see just how good that royal guard training comes in for." "Jayce, the last thing we need right now is a fight," Orion said. "Keep the hands to yourself, and play nice." "Fine, fine. But if they try anything stupid, all bets are off. And the same goes to you, Orion." He turned around, muttering to himself while re-equipping his armguards, which he'd taken off to tinker around in the fighter. "Damn shit-talkers, same thing in every goddamn place in the universe..." By the time they'd left the storage room, the sun was nearing noon. Luna retired to her quarters, citing battle preparations, and Jayce left with Bolt and Aegis to eat at the cafeteria and to "meet the platoons". Orion was left alone, with nothing to do, and certainly nowhere near as hungry as Jayce supposedly said he was. So he figured he would try to familiarize himself with the new eezo. He found a quiet spot in the gardens, right next to the royal guard shooting gallery. He took a tiny stone, slightly smaller than his palm, and put it on top of a bench. He narrowed his eyes, feeling his body starting to rise with biotic energy, as he slowly drew in the eezo into his body. Most abilities only required a split-second of concentration, but this was different. He was trying to infuse the rock with eezo. A little beyond ten seconds, and Orion's body felt like it was on fire. No wonder why no one bothered trying to amass eezo like this, it was like trying to swallow fire. He held up his arm and pointed at the rock with his hand, and saw the stone begin to glow. It was working. The energy flow was constant now: his body still burned, but it didn't increase, as the energy was now flowing to the rock. It took a lot for him just to maintain his concentration. But the rock was glowing ever more brightly, and was clearly floating above the bench now. He could do this, just... The rock exploded, the bits and pieces flying everywhere, several just ricocheting off the ground in front of him. "Damn!" he shouted, before quickly looking around to see if anyone or anypony had heard his outburst. He sat down on the bench and caught his breath. Just trying to channel eezo felt like mentally trying to crawl up a mountain with a starship chained to your back; physically, it felt like your body was on fire and your limbs were about to be ripped from their sockets. Even now, he was still sore from the backblast of trying to channel. "It would appear that your efforts to experiment have not turned out successful," a voice said behind him. He slowly turned his head and found Celestia watching him from just a few meters away. "I see that it was wise of me to deny you the privilege of doing such a thing to my guards." "Well, that's not what I..." Orion stuttered. "I didn't mean that I would do that to them, I just wanted to test their resistance to eezo, that's all." "Yes, but to do so, you would have had to do something like that," she said, gesturing towards the bits of stone now strewn about the garden walkway. "Do you consider the test successful, though?" she asked curiously. "Yeah... at the very least, it proves that eezo infusion is at least somewhat possible. The effects are highly draining, though. It felt like I was being pulled from all sides and lit afire. Just trying to focus on trying to keep the flow to the rock was nearly impossible. I'm surprised I was even still standing at all," he quietly said. "And to do the same thing on a scale as large as another being..." Celestia said. "That would take... a lot. But it's only minute. At the very least, I can just develop the nodules he needs in order to use basic biotics. That's all he needs, and that'll be enough for him." "Hmm..." Celestia hummed. "You should be careful not to hurt yourself in the process. Your entire body was shaking while you were trying to channel your energy." "That's the best I can do. At least until the... breaking point. There was a lot of eezo in that rock right when it exploded, just enough content, I could feel, to make up a basic biotic nodule network. That's what I'm trying to go for. I know I can make it now. But practicing on a few more rocks couldn't hurt." "Very well. You know more about this than I do, but I urge you to practice caution, Orion. You have been good to Equestria, and it would pain me to see you meet your demise like this. Especially with Nightmare Moon on the loose, no less." "Don't worry, Princess," he laughed. "I don't think I'll be dying anytime soon." The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before Orion set himself back to infusing more rocks. Celestia watched on with interest as the garden's pleasant green backgrounds were disturbed by a glow of violet-blue purple from time to time, observing Orion's struggle as he tried to complete a link with rocks. Every time he tried, he managed to focus out the pain better, knew when to resist, and how to control the flow to the rock. After the sixth rock or so, despite the pain not lessening, he managed to fully infuse a rock with eezo without it exploding. The floating rock, now glowing purple, merely sat in the air as it slowly rotated above the bench. The stupid rock, which had taken close to the total time taken of an hour to perfect, was now sitting before his eyes. "Well, that's progress," Orion said, catching his breath yet again. "That's probably the... best damn progress... I've seen... so far..." "Very impressive, Orion. You managed to outdo yourself, and in such a short time, too," Celestia smiled. Orion slowly moved over the rock and held it in his hand. He felt a smile grow on his face. "This... this is proof... this is visible, tangible proof. Jayce needs to--" "Your Majesty!" shouted a guard, running down the cobblestone walkway towards them. "Quick! The cafeteria! A fight has broken out!" Celestia and Orion exchanged a look. Orion's grip tightened on the rock. "Jayce..." Orion groaned. The two quickly followed the guard back into the castle proper. "What was that, you punk-ass bitch?!" they heard a voice shout as they approached the entrance to the cafeteria. There was a huge amount of royal guards standing outside, chatting amongst themselves as the sounds from the brawl within echoed with the shouting. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention," Celestia said, sternly, to the guard who had brought them. "We will deal with this." "The Princess!" another guard shouted. "Clear the way!" The crowd at the door quickly cleared a path into the cafeteria, but not far, as the entire hall was clustered around something. Celestia and Orion could only barely see what the commotion was beyond the crowd's helmets. In the middle, with all the tables knocked over and forming a crude ring, stood Jayce, standing off against what clearly appeared to be eight royal guards. Bolt and Aegis were off to the sides with looks of horror on their face, which only amplified when they met eyes with the Princess and Orion, who were standing directly opposite from them on the ring. "Damn it, Jayce! Stand down!" Orion shouted, but he was drowned out by the shouts from the other guards watching the fight. Celestia also shared the same look of shock plastered over Bolt and Aegis's faces. Jayce brought his arms up to his stomach, easily blocking a direct buck by a guard straight into his chest with the loud clack of his armguards. He grabbed the legs of the hapless stallion, and threw him into another two, before bringing his elbow around to axe another charging guard in the neck. The afflicted guard crumpled to the ground without a noise as the shouts grew louder. From there, Jayce began to use his fists, directly brawling with the guards now, dodging their rather pathetic buck attempts and slamming them in the sides of their bodies and faces with his armored hands. By this time, there were only five guards still standing, the other ones seemingly knocked out purely through blunt force trauma. Jayce was clearly an inhuman monster, capable of incapacitating three guards within the short span of less than thirty seconds. It certainly would have been a lot worse if he had intended to kill instead of maim. "Is that all you got?!" Jayce shouted, taunting the remaining guards. "I've fought corpses tougher than you!" Orion began to shove through the crowd, Celestia following behind him but failing, trying to get to the edge of the ring. The remaining five quickly surrounded him as they all charged simultaneously. However, Jayce deftly dodged by... rushing into one of the charging guards and kneeing him directly into the face, causing the guard to smash into the ground, face first. The poor stallion didn't get up. Jayce retaliated by kicking closest of the four remaining guards in the side, and then simply beginning to beat up the remaining guards with his fists. They quickly became disorganized as the grey-clad juggernaut simply beat the living lights out of them in extremely quick succession, until... Jayce brought his fist up again, ready to strike, only to find a hand grabbing his arm. He did a double take to see Orion holding it, then received another armored fist clutching what seemed to be a glowing purple rock to his face in turn, knocking him to the ground. Orion stood over him, huffing. "ENOUGH!" Celestia shouted, having just fought her way to the edge through the ever-shifting mosh pit of guards. The guards immediately hushed; the ones closest to her had already tried to sneak out, while the others were too preoccupied with the fight and noticed too late. "All guards are hereby ordered back to their barracks immediately! And all parties involved in the fight..." She gave a death glare to the fighters in the ring, broken or otherwise bloodied. "...will be given proper disciplinary punishment! Dismissed!" The guards quickly and effectively exited the room in orderly fashion. At the end, only Bolt, Aegis, Celestia, Orion, and a number of doctors tending to the eight wounded guards remained. "Just what the fuck were you thinking, Jayce?" Orion said. "I thought we agreed that you'd keep your damn hands to yourself." Jayce sat up on the ground, wiping away the trickle of blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. "They started it! First, they started mocking Bolt and Aegis over there, mocking their whole damn platoons. They had to hold me back just from ripping their assholes a new one. But then those damn assholes began making fun of you..." he said, pointing at Orion, and then gestured towards Celestia. "...and her! Said she might have gone soft for letting us in. Like fucking hell I was going to just let that slide." "I appreciate what you tried to do, Sir Jayce," Celestia said, her voice barely containing the rage that lay underneath. "But such violence was never needed nor encouraged. You have critically wounded eight of my royal guards," she said, looking over at the stallions being carried away on stretchers. "And you have put my military forces in unneeded harm prior to a battle with a more important threat!" "Yeah... yeah... fine, I admit it. I was... wrong for doing that," Jayce said, nodding. "But I sure as hell am not going to apologize for what I did to those assholes. I let a lot of things slide. Making fun of my friends is not one of those things." There was a palpable silence that followed. There was nothing save for Jayce's intense breathing. "So... in what accordance of law should I deal with you?" Celestia said. "Listen, Princess..." Orion said. "I'll deal with this." He swiftly kicked the sitting Jayce in the face, earning a gasp from Celestia and a wince from Bolt and Aegis. "I fucking told you to keep your damn hands to yourself!" he shouted. "And then, you do what? You do this!" He waved his arms around at the empty-but-blood-filled boxing ring. "Damn it, man, if we're going to work together, then I need to trust you to keep your word. You fucking understand that? Stop trying to stir up shit! Words are just words. You could have told me. Or Celestia. Or Luna. And we would have done something better about it." "I'm not one for waiting on a court-martial, Orion," Jayce said quietly. "I ended it there and now, once and for all." "Yeah? No shit, Jayce. I'm not going to keep playing Mr. Nice Guy forever, you better damn well know that. At least do me that freaking favor of just letting everything slide now, okay? Holy hell, man. What the hell am I going to do with you? This whole goddamn mess..." "I'll fix it, yeah. Just wanted to shut those guys up." "Yeah. And I guess I should thank you for that. But you did a really serious number on those guards." "I know. I absolutely promise I won't do it again." "You sure?" "Absolutely sure. Scout's honor," Jayce said, holding his hand up to the weathered Cerberus logo on chestplate. "You have my word." He and Orion stared off for several minutes until the latter sighed. "Well..." Orion sighed. "You didn't use your guns. I guess there's that." "Said I'd take them on myself. Told them to bring however many they wanted. No wings, no magic, no tricks. All training and muscle," Jayce said, spitting out another round of blood. "Guess I'm still the meanest motherfucker around here." He grinned through bloodied teeth. "You know if they had their wings and magic, you would have stood no chance," Orion said as a matter of fact. "I have jet boots, man. I can get myself some distance with these babies before they'll even realize what hit them. And it might have been useful if I could get out of a magic bind, too." "Are the both of you done?" Celestia asked, annoyed. "Yes, Princess," Orion said. "I'll make sure he doesn't do anything this rash again." "Yeah... I sincerely apologize, Princess," Jayce nervously laughed. "No, really. I really am sorry." She blankly stared at him. "See to it that it doesn't happen again, Orion. Please don't make me regret allowing the both of you to stay here," she said, before turning around and walking off. Bolt and Aegis approached them. "That was absolutely... insane..." Bolt said. "Where'd you learn how to fight like that?" "You learn lots of tricks when you get into as many fights as I do," Jayce said. "It sort of... comes with the territory of being a fugitive. Of sorts. And where the hell were you, Mister 'I Got Your Back', huh?" "We... uh, didn't think it would have been a good idea to get involved, so we... held back a bit. Besides, you handled yourself pretty well back there, hehe..." Bolt said. "You're a fugitive?" Aegis asked apprehensively. "I was. Came with the territory of wearing this--" He pointed at his Cerberus insignia. "--wherever you went. I also got into a lot of bar fights where I'm from... got banned from a lot of clubs for that. I really need a drink." He looked around the cafeteria now. The janitorial staff were busy righting the tables and cleaning up the mess on the floors. "Aw, shit..." "Yeah, 'aw, shit' is right, Jayce. Can I get a mop over here?" One of the unicorns hovered one and a bucket of water over to him. Orion grabbed them and handed the broom to Jayce, sliding the bucket towards him. "Get cleaning. Now." "Yeah, yeah..." Jayce said as he started mopping the floor. "Well, we'd best be getting back to our barracks before our platoons start getting worried. We can talk more later, okay?" Bolt said as he and Aegis left the dining hall. "...so... how long am I going to have to do this?" Jayce asked. "Until you're finished with the whole damn room. And I'll be here watching you for the whole damn time." It was a pretty big room. "Damn it..." Jayce muttered. It was closing in on evening now, and Jayce was still swabbing the floors. There was the occasional guard that passed by to survey the devastation, but other than that and the ever-present cleaning crews, it was quiet. Orion sat on a bench the whole damn making sure that Jayce cleaned every inch of the floor alongside the crews. The moon had just begun to rise as the other ponies packed up their things and headed off. The room was restored back to it's original state before the fight had begun, and was pristine. Jayce gave a huge sigh and then sat down across from Orion. "Finally... done..." he groaned. "Good. Now I have something to show you," Orion said. "Yeah?" Orion held up his right hand, fingers closed and palm up. Then he opened it, and a glowing purple rock started to lift off from his hand. "See that?" "No fucking way. What the hell is that?" The purple light glowed off of Jayce's confused face. "It's an eezo-infused rock," Orion said. "Wait, what? You mean, you actually honest-to-God put eezo into this damn rock?" "Yeah. It took me some time, but I managed to do it." "So does that mean it'll work on me?" "Well, it's a pain in the ass, and it feels like I'm on fire when I try to do it, but I don't see why we can't try." "Can we do it now?" Jayce blurted. "Hold on a moment!" said a voice from the door. There stood two guards... which just so happened to be Bolt and Aegis, now carrying weapons with them. "You two again? What's going on?" Orion asked. "Princess Celestia has given us official orders to keep a watch on Sir Jayce at all times," Bolt said in a military fashion. "He is not to be let out of sight except during sleep and bathroom times." "Yeah... I guess I sort of deserved that. But, whatever! Orion, you seriously gotta juice me up right now," Jayce excitedly said. "Fine, but we'll need to do it someplace contained. The first few rocks I tried this one... exploded, and if that happens to you, I don't want the... ugh, mess... getting all over the place. You aren't scared of blowing up, are you?" Orion asked Jayce. Jayce sat for a few moments... then he smiled. "Nah! That adds some risk. I like it." "So where would be a good place to do it?" Orion asked. "The storage room where the fighter's at might be a good place to start," Aegis said. "So, remind me again what I'm supposed to do?" Jayce asked. "You just stand there and do absolutely nothing while I infuse you with eezo. If things go like I expect it to, you'll probably end up feeling the same fire feeling that I do. Just bear with it," Jayce said. They'd moved to the storage room now, and Jayce was standing in a clear area next to the fighter across from Orion. Bolt and Aegis stood by the door, observing this strange experiment. "So, ready?" Jayce asked. "Here we go," Orion said. He started to glow as he built up the eezo within his body, then aimed his arm at Jayce. A flow of purple energy connected them, and Jayce began to be surrounded with a violet-blue aura. "Whoa..." "Don't... get excited... just yet..." Orion gritted. The inflamed feeling was beginning to kick in. "Huh? What are you--gah! Holy... shit..." Jayce responded, his face shrinking in pain. "God... damn... that... hurts..." "Just... hold on... for a while..." The transfer process took nearly half an hour to complete. It completed when the aura around Jayce faded. "Whoa! Ha... haha... wow... whoa... look at... that...!" Jayce was lying on the floor now, but held up his hand and noticed a rush of purple energy around it. "Holy... shit... look, Orion, I can totally use it--" Jayce was cut off as he looked to Orion. Orion was also kneeling over the floor. But his energy was still there, completely surrounding him. He was grunting in pain. He tried to stand up but let out a shout of pain, falling to the ground. "Whoa, Orion!" Jayce shouted, running over to him. "Oh, shit, shit, shit. What the hell do I do, man?" He looked over at Bolt and Aegis, their faces in shock. "Uh, uh... Aegis! Go get Luna! Uh... aw, shit, man..." Aegis immediately opened the door and flew for Luna's chambers. Jayce immediately reached out to Orion's kneeling body. "Gah, fucking hot!" he said, drawing his hand back. "Oh, shit, shit, shit..." he said, as the light around Orion began to glow even brighter. "Maybe playing with this eezo wasn't such a good idea, after all..." The light began to glow even brighter. "Oh, shit... Bolt, out the door, now!" Jayce said, running for the exit. Aegis made it out before him. Orion began screaming in earnest now as his body couldn't even be seen in the glowing ball of light on the ground now. Jayce quickly closed the door, and began running for the stairs up with Bolt just as Aegis walked down them with Luna. "Jayce? What is going on? I received news that you needed my assistan--" Luna said. "Orion! It's! He's! I don't know!" Jayce sputtered. "He was--ball! Light! Body! Bad!" Bolt coughed. There was a deep explosion from the storage room that shook the basement floors, causing dust to spill down upon them. Jayce's eyes shot wide open, as the four slowly turned their heads towards the door. Smoke was spilling from the bottom of it. The four quickly ran over and slammed the door open. A quick spell from Luna cleared the smoke out of the small room. From there, they quickly surveyed the damage: the fighter was still intact, mostly unscathed as the fighter had heat-resistant material, some boxes had been knocked over, and the salvage that Jayce had was all over the room... but there was a burnt circle at the exact position where Orion once was. "Oh... shit..." Jayce said.