//------------------------------// // 4- Hesitation // Story: MegaMane // by Flutters Is Shy //------------------------------// "Megamane." I stared at the daily paper, it's title proudly declaring that a mystery pony had braved the horrors of an evil tower located just out of Ponyville, and defeated an evil artifact that had attacked a relative of Zecora. According to the paper, not much was known about this 'evil artifact' other than the fact that it had stripped this zebra of his free will, consuming his mind. The article went on to describe how the fire had apparently spread and covered a good chunk of land before the weather team was able to drown it in a downpour. "You called me Megaman once, and that zebra barely hears it, and now they got a pony title for me." I threw the paper at the wall, watching as it fluttered down to the floor. "I'd like to blame you, but I have to accept this as simple bad luck." "If it bothers you that much, you could always just go and ask them to change it~." Model A teased, floating aimlessly near the ceiling. "Right, and while I'm at it, I think I'll go and tell Twilight who I really am, and have Celestia make me a cake or something. If she wouldn't mind." "Ooh, ooh! That's that solar goddess you were talking about, right?" she replied. "Think she could make me a completely sunlight cake?" "What is your obsession with sunlight?" I asked, "I'm solar powered, gimmie a break." "Wait, you run off of sunlight?" I asked. "What, did you think I just went along on nothing but happy thoughts and smiles?" she retorted. "Honestly, I thought you had a nuclear battery or something. So what exactly are we supposed to do with the rest of the chunks of Model W? It's not like I can just randomly walk around the Everfree hoping I stumble on another piece of it..." "I've been putting some thought into that," she replied, hovering slightly above my head. "I've been trying to restore myself to full systems capabilities. Whatever your friend Discord did to me, its disabled me to bare bones functionality. I can barely do megamerging, let alone A-transe..." "A-transe," I interrupted, "That's where you completely copy the form of a maverick, right?" "Well, yeah. I haven't even been able to get my radar working properly, they could be in the house next door, and we wouldn't even know! Can you possibly think of anything more frustrating, to be so close to your goal and not even know it?" "No, I really can't. How about we instead focus on what we do have working? We can megamerge, there's that. Is there a time limit on that?" I asked. "There shouldn't be, but with my systems scrambled like this there might very well be power drains that could result in a megamerge failing, or cancelling out before you want." "Well that blows. See if you can't prioritize that, at the very least make it so we can tell when it'll happen, if at all." I didn't like the idea of losing my only card due to Discords meddling. Especially if it happened during a battle, more-so if it happened out where anyone could see me. "I'll see what I can do, but I'm not making any promises, it's not like I'm going to repair any of my systems overnight-" A red light flashed out of her forehead jewel thing, bathing the room in its light. "The hell was that?" I asked. "My radar and location systems just rebooted. I'm reading a Model W signal, off in the forest again!" she said happily, zooming around the room. "O... kay. So what now? We go out there, and hope we don't get 'malfunctioned'? I for one don't relish to think what will happen if I become stuck out there, without you I'm pretty much screwed in a combat situation." "And don't you forget it! I say we do recon. Go out there, see what's happening. Regroup if it looks like we're outmatched. Maybe we can pull a feat of cheating like last time, it was pretty dang impressive, and effective." "Speaking of, Shining Bubble. How'd we get that? Did we get anything from destroying that chunk of Model W? Anything plant related?" I better get an attack called vine whip. I could use something like that to swing from trees or something. "I don't know specifically... Shining Bubble appears to be stored under a file titled 'Megaman X Copy'. There's nothing else in the folder, and I don't have any records of anything being absorbed or copied from the chunk of Model W." She stopped in front of my face, and if she actually had features I have the feeling they'd be worried. "Maybe we just didn't get anything from it because we were too far away? Discord apparently got us Shining Bubble by beating up the guard captain, so we obviously don't have to kill someone or something to acquire new powers... " I mused on the subject. Could I potentially get telekinesis or something else magic related if I fought Twilight? Maybe I could get a form with wings from Rainbow Dash. Super reality breaking powers from Pinkie Pie? "I guess we better get going," I said, reaching up and tucking Model A into my saddlebag. I rolled my way out of my house, and she let out a hoarse whisper. "Why aren't we starting off megamerged?" "Oh right, cause Megamane coming out of the house of the crippled pony isn't that suspicious. I'm sure people would just assume we're friends," I snapped. "Okay, jeesh," Model A replied, clamming up. I walked along the streets, looking at the populace. They were all so happy, so naive and tranquil. Most of the megaman games focused on a time of strife, even times when the world was on the brink of destruction. How would all of these bright, happy, smiling little ponies react if a robot came out of nowhere and tried to hack their faces off? It wasn't exactly a happy thought. "Rock! Rock Light! I need to talk to you!" I heard calling from behind me. It was Rarity. God damnit, what did I do to deserve this? I stopped, the wheels hoisting my back legs above the ground skittering to a stop on the dirt. "Rock! Oh, I am so glad I caught you! Listen, we need to talk, can we go somewhere real quick?" I really had hoped to avoid this, for as long as possible. And the fact that she was distracting me from going out and finding out if this shard of Model W posed that much of a threat, that was even worse. "Can I get a rain check?" I asked, wracking my brain for an excuse. "I kinda was going to see if I could get an early lunch." "Oh that sounds wonderful, I'll join you!" Damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit.damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit. "I... okay." I resigned myself to the fact I wasn't going to get rid of her without simply telling her to buzz off. And that would only make her more suspicious. We walked to a cafe -Rarity leading the way, and jabbering on and on about the food they served there- and sat down at an outside table. "So... what did you want to talk about?" I asked. She had a torn look on her face, trying to find words to say out loud. It was obvious several thousand words she wanted to say flashed through her mind, but none of them made it past her lips. "You don't... remember, do you? Remember... us?" she asked, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "I'm... afraid I don't really know what you mean," I replied, trying to keep my tone as neutral as possible. "It's obvious that you're upset though, so could I ask of you to explain?" She pulled a handkerchief from her saddlebag, dabbing at her eyes. Once she had composed herself, she started on her little monologue. "We met in Trottingham, remember? I was there displaying my newest fashion line, and you approached me..." she trailed off, nervously rearranging a napkin on the table. "You said just one word. Beautiful. I thought you were talking about the fashion line, but then you said... you meant me~" A blush overtook her cheeks. Okay, so it was as I suspected. Discord had made her believe we were an item. Wait, maybe if I could poke some holes in her story, she'd question it enough to drop the whole thing. "Wait, so we met in Trottingham? But I live here, in Ponyville. What are the odds you and I would meet in Trottingham instead of here?" She had a far away look on her face as she replied. "Don't you remember? You were living in Trottingham until recently, but the long distance relationship wasn't working out, so you moved here to Ponyville to be closer to me! So romantic..." Well that backfired. I guess Discord put in safeguards to make the memories stick. Or I was just horrible at convincing people of anything. "But that still doesn't make any sense," I argued, "If we're together, why are we living in two different houses?" "Oh Light!"she called out , reaching across the the table and wrapping her hooves around my neck in a hug. "Is this your way of saying you want to move in with me?" "No. That is not what I'm saying." I pried her legs from around my neck, wincing as she gave me a hurt look. "Look, I barely know anything about you, besides the fact that we're friends and what you've told me. Until Discords memory thing wears off, how about we just take it slow?" Rarity got a look of sudden enlightenment, "Ideeeeea!~ Twilight will know what to do! She has all kinds of spells, I'm sure she'll have something that can restore your memory!" She plopped down a couple bits on the table, gave me a peck on the cheek, and was gone in a flash. "High strung, isn't she?" Model A whispered from her pocket. "Oh shush. We'll figure out what to do with her later. Make a note, we need to figure out how to negate magic, or otherwise magical energy. We don't want to get stuck hanging in midair or something. And perish the thought if Twilight tries to mess with my memory to restore it," I said with a slight shudder. I finished off the food I had gotten, putting down a couple coins the same as Rarity had. I got to my hooves and wheels, and ambled off towards the forest. "He's leaving the cafe," Amethyst said to her bored compatriot. "Gaaaah, this is so boooring, Ammy," Ember whined, having been roused from her sleep too suddenly to get all of her entertainment supplies. All Amethyst wanted her to do was keep quiet, keep still, and not draw the wheelchair pony's attention. That in itself didn't seem to be a problem however, as the pony was oblivious to those around them, and especially to Amethyst and herself. He had left his house after SEVERAL boring hours of just watching the front of his BORING house, meeting up with the white coated pony known as Rarity. He then traveled with her to a cafe, where they each ate an extremely BORING salad. How was a pony with wheelchair legs so uninterestingly BORING? He was like, half pony, half cart! He should have been off doing some sort of extreme stunt with roller blades on his front hooves, not trundling along at a mediocre pace down a dusty town road. "I know this isn't the most thrilling job Ember, but I promise we'll take a break soon." Amethyst assured her. Her words tumbled through her head, and suddenly she remembered what she had forgotten. "Oh my gosh Ammy, I'm going to be late! I was supposed to be at my job almost twenty minutes ago!" Amethysts mind started at the implications. "I...by Luna, I have to get work too, how could I forget about that?" "Maybe it was cause you were so excited to be back on a case?" Ember suggested, checking her reflection in a store window to rearrange her mane. "I... I guess you're right, I... No! Where'd he go?" she asked, her eyes desperately moving to find where their target had gone. "Guess he walked off," Ember said, starting off down the street. "It's not like we can continue this right now anyway, I've already been late twice this week. I know your employer sure as hay won't like you skipping out on work." Amethyst ground her teeth, but didn't say anything in response. It was true, she had received concerns that her mind wasn't on her work. She wasn't going to get a raise any time soon, that was for sure. She cast her gaze back to the last time she had seen Rock Light, the stallion that smelled like petunias. She turned her gaze to follow the swishing tail of her closest friend as she walked down the street, out of sight. Amethyst started to follow, organizing her thoughts. She would have to prioritize her time more efficiently, create a better schedule so that this wouldn't happen again. She let a ghost of a smile touch her lips. Next time, she would find out everything there was to find out about this stallion, who smelled like chaos. I tromped through the forest, my metal covered hooves breaking twig and crushing leaf underhoof. "We close?" I asked, dodging under a overhanging branch. "We are," Model A responded. "Just a couple more minutes, and you should be able to see something." Sure enough, soon we came across an abandoned house in the middle of the woods. One of the walls had fallen inward, and the main of the structure looked like something you'd find in a a history book. All logs, about the size of a small shed. "What are we supposed to be looking for? All that's here is a dead house." "Over there," she said, tugging my head off to the side. "The signal is coming from over there, and... downward?" I followed her prodding, and came across a well beside the house. It was as ramshackle as the house itself, in a state of disrepair from years of abandon. "This it?" "And straight down," she affirmed, both of us looking into the black, inky depths. "How the hell am I supposed to get down there? I have no idea how to swim in this body. I probably won't be able to with all this metal armor, and I definitely won't be able to with my wheelchair." I thought I saw movement in the water, but there was nothing further to suggest that I had. "Can't you just try?" "And what if I can't get out afterwards?" I asked, peering at the sides of the shaft. "The water doesn't go all the way to the top, it barely reaches five feet from the surface." A sudden movement flashed in the light, and I barely managed to move my head to the side before a powerful spray of water shot up from the well, trying to take my head off. "The hell was that?!" I exclaimed, trying to catch my breath. "Well gee, it might have just been a weather anomaly. Maybe it was aliens. Perhaps it was just breakfast!" Model A helpfully contributed. "I get it, I get it. Model W, duh. So he's just camping in the bottom of the well, it's not like we can just -" I was cut off by another spray of water. This one however, wasn't aimed at me, and preceded a giant fish jumping out of the well. It was seriously as large as a pony, and it had a twisted mass of metal and wires hanging off the side. It peered at me with a mad eye as it slowly flew through the air in a slow flip. It almost looked like it was going to fall outside of the confines of its well, but it shot another burst of water from its maw, propelling back to land in the well. I stood there for a moment, having barely dodged the water spout. As it was, it had careened past me and destroyed what remained of the house. "SCREW YOU!" I called out, trying to flip the well and the fish inside the bird. Impossible without fingers, but the outburst still made me feel better. "Screw that thing," I stated, turning to leave. "Screw it's fishy ass, its piss filled water and its freaking water pulse of doom." "You can't just leave!" Model A screeched in my ear. "C'mon, it's right there!" "What exactly do you expect me to do?" I shot back. "As it stands, the only thing I can do would be to go and drown down a well, as a fishy machine chews on my remains. Its not like I can Shoot at it from up here, and even if I do managed to get it out of the well I highly doubt it wouldn't go and become some sort of mutant spider fish or something." I wracked my brain, trying to think of a way around it. It wasn't like I could just leave it down there... I stopped, whipping my head back to the ruins of the abandoned dwelling. "Or can I?" I asked. "Can you what? Go back and kick its scaly butt? Yeah!" Model A yelped joyfully. "No, I have a better Idea," I chastised her. "So to clarify," Twilight asked the salesponies. "An earth pony wearing weird armor came, and bought a large stock of your product from you?" "Why yes miss Sparkle!" Flim stated with a smile. "Indeed you are!" Flam added. Twilight raised a hoof to massage her brow. Dealing with these two always brought on a headache. "Did he say what he was using it for?" Twilight asked. If she could get a simple answer with a simple question, she might be able to put these two clowns behind her, and concentrate on more important things. "Don't know, he didn't say, did he brother?" "No he didn't, brother of mine!" Twilight hadn't had her eyes open during this interaction. She wasn't sure which pony had spoken at which time, but she figured it didn't really matter. "So you just sold that stuff, without even figuring out what he wanted with it?" Twilight asked. "He paid with coin." "The golden coin!" "Isn't that kind of irresponsible?" Twilight queried. "What if he ends up hurting someone with what he bought from you?" Both brothers looked at each other, then burst out laughing. "How on Celestia's green Equestria would somepony hurt another with our patented mixing and building solution?" "Indeed! Unless the poor chap started throwing the bags around, but each bag is what, eighty pounds?" "Indeed! Unless he was spectacularly stupid, he could definitely find much easier ways to hurt somepony!" "Quite right!" "Indeed!" Twilight walked swiftly away from the troublesome duo. They weren't going to be any help, and she wasn't going to find the blue armored pony by standing around talking to ponies like those two. I shot a couple more balls of yellow energy down the hole, watching with satisfaction as they caused the grey mixture to grow thicker. "I like this plan!" Model A chirped. "I told you you would," I said, firing a couple shots down into the hole. I watched as the mixture settled back into a silent state. I had found someone selling something similar to concrete mix back in town, and had eagerly bought up their entire stock. I had initially worried that I wouldn't have enough money, but it turns out the sack of bits Discord had given me refilled overnight. He just kept coming through for me in non douchey ways. "Hey... hey, I got something!" Model A called out. "What is it?" I asked, whipping my head around, looking for unseen dangers. "A new program was added under that file I was telling you about, the Megaman X Copy one," she replied, and I could hear a slight buzzing. "Gushing Geyser? It has a tag on it saying its a water element type attack..." "Wait, does that mean fishy down there's already dead?" I asked, looking down the hole. The concrete hadn't even begun to harden, it was still a gloopy, gloppy mess. The Model W fish had tried shooting it back out of the water as I poured it in, but its bursts of water served more to mix the solution than my megabuster shots had. "I guess? But I didn't download this data, it was like it just appeared!" "Forgive me for I believe my ears deceive me, Not just one, but two could you be?" a thick, feminine voice asked from behind me. I turned and saw a Zebra standing there, looking at the well in fright. She seemed to be alarmed that I was as close to as it as I was. Instead of replying right out, I decided to wait a couple seconds to formulate a proper reply. "There are the two of us here," I said, hesitant in my verbal cadence as I tried to form a rhyme. "If you listen close, you can hear her voice so clear. Did you know about the well? And from within, the fishy smell?" What? I tried my best, you try to think up a better rhyme on the spot. She didn't glare at me, but she didn't smile either. "I did, tis true, and that's no lie. Within that well, has the fish died?" "I don't really know, honestly," I said, abandoning the rhyming format. "I filled it with cement, so at the very least it shouldn't be able to get out. Do you live in the area?" I asked. "I do, good sir, but might I ask? Who are you to achieve such a task?" I puffed my chest up, and took a heroic pose. Or maybe it looked like I had constipation, pony bodies are weird. "I am, Megaman!" I called out. She didn't look entirely impressed. "Megamaaaane~" Model A trilled from my helmet. "Oh hush you." "Megaman, quite an odd title, I'm sure those of evil do not dare trifle," She said, walking over to look in the well. "Welp, I don't want to be rude, but I really better be off, I gotta get back to town and... do stuff," I trailed off, unsure as to what to say. "I will not keep you from your day, but please, strange stranger... Do not feel you must stay... away." Well with that awkward passing, I made my exit. As I walked back to town, and odd thought occurred to me. "Hey A, ramp up your radar thingy again, is there any more traces nearby?" "I don't read anything in range, why?" I let out a grunt of discontentment. "Nothing else in that file? the copy one?" "No?" "Shit." "Why, whats wrong?" she asked, a worried tone in her voice. "We didn't get anything from that one chunk of Model W. The one from the tower. Obviously we still get a power even if there's a great distance between us when they... er... 'die', so that one's still alive." I looked up to treetops above, and voiced my concerns. "And if you can't see it on your radar..." "That means it moved, got out of range...' Model A supplied. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep." That first chunk of Model W had gotten away. I burned an entire tower around its circuity ears, and it still managed to skedaddle. And that freaking zebra dude went and built it a body. I let out a low sigh. "Next time, we burn it to ashes."