Memories that were stolen returned, it was as if his mind had stumbled on a hidden past. Gator's missing life was revealed before him, his old missions, his failure and his love.
"You could speak once Gator, before the explosion, in fact, we both came out as something else." Tempest's voice etched into his soul, "you were a stallion, I was a mare and now look at us."
Gum began processing this, he remembered his life as a stallion, the one they removed, the one they hid. Tempest Truth, that was her name, his love. These thoughts forced tears through Gator's eyes.
"You were Gum Racer, my love, they changed you and left me!" A round opening widened on the floor and a tube came up from the ground, a destroyed body of a mare could be seen inside with wires attached to the head and smaller tubes entering her body.
"That's me!" The speakers were producing her exact voice, her emotions of pain could be heard, "that's what they left, because I failed the mission, because the Governor died."
The memory of that day hit Gum's mind.
An island off the coast of Equestria, the capital of a small rising nation, a mansion for a stallion who united the costal islands together. The last mission for Gum Racer and Tempest Truth.
The ponies there were happy and had found their country a great tourist site within the past few years. The beaches were packed with many different kinds of creature, from griffons to younger dragons and even yaks.
Gum Racer, a green Pegasus with a magenta mane and a pair of dice for his cutie mark, and Tempest Truth, a crimson unicorn with a white mane and an eye for her cutie mark, were to protect the Governor.
The Governor was preparing to start his speech before a large crowd. He stood at the balcony of his beautiful mansion built by the citizens of the city. Gum and Tempest were inside.
"Gum!" Tempest called from the top of the ladder "We've got to move now, you get to the Governer's office, I'll clear the roof." She disappeared from the edge of the ladder.
"Ok, be safe my love!" Gum called in response, he moved down the corridor, his utility belt jiggling at each step, a red carpet and white walls made the building feel like a palace. Gum knew he was looking for two huge doors, that would lead to the office.
At first glance the doors were stable but then he noticed the slightest motion, something was up, he had found the right room but there was definitely someone inside. Gum galloped through the two huge doors breaking one off it's hinges.
"Hooves up, or I'll put up mine !" Gum's sly catchphrase caught the intruder off-guard, papers from the desk flew everywhere obscuring Gum's vision and bookshelf fell.
"Oww, my hoof!" The bookshelf was resting on the back hoof of the intruder, he was wearing a suit that covered his body except his eyes, nose and mouth. The pony tried to break free but the huge piece of furniture on holding him down was just too heavy.
"The jigs up! Who are you and who do you work for?" Gum's forceful approach caused the pony to shudder.
"I can't say or he'll kill me!" The pony was trembling by now, his fear almost changing the atmosphere in the room it felt hotter.
A buzz came from a device on Gum's belt, Gum retrieved it with his wing and held it to his ear, "Rodger!"
"Gum they have planted bombs, we need to disarm them!" Tempest voice came crackling out of the device, "I have already taken one down, there should be one in the office and one above the balcony of the Governor's speech."
"Ok, you take the one above the balcony I'll find the one here, I also have a prisoner for interogation." Gum quickly placed his device back into his belt and approached the pony.
Gum's hoof hit the pony's face hard, "Where's the bomb!"
"It's under the table, please don't hurt me, they made me do it!" The pony curled up to his trapped hoof, now in tears.
Gum climbed under the table, a bleeping noise came from a strange metal case. A lock blocked Gum's path but only for a moment, he reached for a lock pick and quickly broke open the case.
The heat emanating from the case was growing stronger and stronger as a small timer chipped away, fortunately gum had a minute to work, unfortunately that would mean Tempest had between 45 seconds to a minute fifteen to reach hers and disarm it, assuming they were set at approximately the same time.
Gum set to work, a quick snip of the green wire stopped the auto-destruct system, sweat dripped as he tugged on the blue, and finally he snapped the red, within 30 seconds the bomb was disarmed. Gum sat back at a job well done.
He had no choice but to wait on Tempest, he couldn't distract her from her job.
Above Tempest kicked a thug off the roof while another tried to hold her back, she span around and flung the pony down.
She quickly jumped for the case above the balcony and cracked it open, 20 seconds, she set to work immediately, snipped the green with 12 seconds left, then tugged the blue at 6 seconds, the voice of the Governor could be heard one word distracted Tempest for a second.
"Love!"
The memories of that day flooded Gator, the explosion, his lover's scream. The Tempest he knew was dead, replaced by a pony hooked to a machine to survive. The Gum she knew was dead, a voiceless alligator with her lover's mind took his position.
"Gum you came here to stop me, well I'm going to die and on my death a missile will be fired at the agencies HQ, the army of Bastion will rise to take the world, I give them this gift for saving me." This wasn't Tempest, Gum knew his love wouldn't destroy the world she was no longer herself.
"You are no longer him, I want you to go Gum, I want you to have a chance, the agency ruined us and now they must pay!" This time the speakers shout out anger in her voice, her monitor buzzing quickly, "I don't have much longer to live, I only survived so I may see you again, even as you are now."
The eye of the pony in the tube opened slowly, her real voice began to speak through the glass, "Still the looker, I love you Gum." A tear fell from the eye as the pony passed. The alligator's eyes shot tears out, he could only watch as she died before him.
At that moment the monitor moves to reveal a bulletproof screen and beyond that a magic missile, Gum knew that this would do more than destroy the agencies HQ, half of Equestria would suffer from magic fallout.
He leapt to a computer panel that was situated in front of the window, there had to be a deactivate switch somewhere, he searched the room but his tears blocked his sight, he couldn't let this happen, this was madness.
A bleep came from the tube, he saw a case right next to the pony's hoof, his instincts kicked in and he opened the tube and as the body fell out he grabbed the case with his mouth.
Upon opening the case a familiar scene played out, a pair of scissors were there and a the timer was ticking, 20 seconds the same colours. He snipped the green, 12 seconds, he tugged the blue, 6 seconds...
"Love." the pony whispered with another last breath as Gator worked but Gator was faster, he snipped the red on the final second.
The sequence stopped, everything stopped for the Gator, time was slow around him as a group of agency men appeared from the elevator charging in and grabbing the alligator and the body. Gum had saved the world but his love was gone, destroyed by her own madness and anger, now dead.
Agent Z was behind her desk opposite Gum, a clock on the plain white wall ticked slowly in the background, "Mr Gator, we know you discovered your past, we were tracking you through a chip in your brain." Her voice was serious, as if she was scolding a child or a pet.
Gum stared back without any emotion, even less than his usual stare, a tear from his eye was the only thing in motion on the face of the alligator.
He knew she wasn't going to show him mercy, it was agency policy he knew too much, but he had no idea what she actually would do to the.alligator, nothing could hurt more than him losing his love.
"You have been compromised, we can't have you on anymore missions." Agent Z snapped her fingers and before Gum could react he found himself drifting to a sleep.
In a flash Gummy awoke, his nightmare was over, he reassured himself with the thought of seeing Pinkie's face when she woke up to see her favourite pet alligator.
Yes, for that was the life of a pet alligator, to wait for it's owners attention and to reply with blank stares and gummy bites.