Pinkie watched as Twilight, Celestia and Rainbow Dash flew down to meet them. AJ and Rarity were the first to greet her with Fluttershy tackling Twilight in a big wet crying hug. Pinkie walked over slowly, having hoped to see somepony else with them. “Twilight,” she smiled as she hugged her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She pulled back to continue to scan the three. “Um, where is he?” Twilight looked to Celestia and Rainbow with a sad expression. Pinkie’s worried expression did not change. “Twilight?”
Twilight turned back to face her. “Pinkie, he… he gave did everything he could to save us.”
Pinkie shook her head in disbelief. “No, no. I… I need to go talk to him. I need to apologize!” Pinkie tried to run for the skull but it was too high up and too far. Twilight and Rainbow grabbed her.
“What do you have to apologize for?” Twilight asked.
“That last moment with him,” Pinkie whispered as tears began to fall. “I was scared of him.”
-----
Brainiac was. He had never thought otherwise. What had been his experience on the planet Equestria was merely fantasy. All information had been downloaded and stored off site in a safe location away from the risk of corruption. However, this was inconsequential. What Brainiac needed to figure out right now was how to regain control of his ship and escape this vortex of oblivion.
He was everywhere in the ship at once, firing thrusters and activating gravity engines. But nothing was working. Brainiac looked through his digital eyes at the oncoming world of nothingness that awaited him. In a way he found it quite ironic. This was the reality he had strove for. Once all data in all realities had been collected, he would fulfill his programming by obliterating the universe. This was his ultimate destiny, he just didn’t expect to have reached it so fast.
Funny. Pinkie would appreciate the coincidence. Wait. Who was Pinkie? Brainiac could not recall that name for the moment. Perhaps it was one of the bits of data moved off storage. If so, how could he remember? Come to think of it, how could he think this coincidence was funny? Brainiac did not believe in coincidence. He was logic. He was knowledge. He was…
Who am I?
Brainiac was eternal. Brainiac was perfection. Brainiac…
WHO AM I?
Brain… y?
Brainy’s eyes shot open and his muscles flexed to tear away the metal tendrils. With a sickening slurping sound he pulled the cord from the back of his head and ripped it out. No voice countermanded him. No shells attacked and no tendrils darted out to grab him. Brainy looked around at the ship that he had called himself for eons. For once in its long long life, there was no Brainiac within. Brainy had absorbed him, all the logic and knowledge in the universe couldn’t explain it. It just was. A new feeling swept over Brainy. One that made him smile slightly. He felt whole.
He dashed over to where he created the hole for the princesses and began to rip apart the metal tendrils blocking it. He finished just as the hole was about to pass into the portal. With one last look at the life he would leave behind, Brainy jumped from the ship, angling his descent toward the bay.
-----
The mane six and Princess Celestia watched as the last of the ship was swallowed by the vortex. Just as it closed with a *blip* a small green dot shot across the sky from it. AJ squinted her eyes. “Is that what I think it is?”
Twilight squinted as well and clearly saw a green stallion with a purple mane falling fast toward the bay. She gasped as she took to the air, followed closely by Rainbow Dash and Celestia. Pinkie watched them go, her own tear filled eyes catching sight of what they had seen.
Twilight did not reach the falling stallion before he landed, but she had a pretty good idea of where that was. She shined a bright light from her horn on the water’s surface. Celestia and Rainbow joined her in her search. When more pegasi came, led by Spitfire and Lightning Dust, they explained what they were looking for. The pegasi were more than happy to agree to help.
While the ponies searched the bay, a lone wet stallion sat huddled underneath the support pillar of a broken bridge. He did not shiver but still felt like trembling. All the ponies had seen a side of him that he now felt ashamed of. Though he had never felt so whole, he still felt a little broken. He had gained a new life but at the same time lost it. Nopony would ever trust him. How could anypony after what he’d done. What he’d failed to do.
“So are you going to just sit there and sulk wet like that all night or are you going to tell them where you are.” Brainy looked up in surprise to see a familiar set of ocean blue eyes and pink mane staring down at him from the broken bridge above.
“Pinkie?” he asked with a frown.
“Last time I checked,” Pinkie replied with a small smile. She flipped over the edge and landed next to him, sitting down close enough for their tails to touch.
“I had assumed you had died,” Brainy stated without emotion.
Pinkie giggled. “Yeah, well, that’s happening to a lot of ponies tonight I guess.” She turned to face him, but he just turned away, unable to face her. “There a reason you’re hiding out here instead of telling them where you are.”
Brainy wrapped his arms around his legs and pulled them tight. “This has all been my fault.”
Pinkie cocked an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”
“I… am not a good pony,” he replied. “I have done many things I now am not proud of. What you saw tonight was a past self. Somepony I wish to never be again. But I do not think that everypony will accept that. There has been too much lost.”
Pinkie did not reply for a moment, simply staring at him. She had never really known what Brainy was talking about but she was sure of one thing. He was a good pony. She smiled. “I have to apologize,” she said.
Brainy turned to her. “What do you need to apologize for?”
Pinkie sighed. “For the briefest of moments, maybe, just maybe, I felt a little scared of you. A little betrayed too.” Brainy lowered his head into his hooves as he looked down at the waves below. “But that’s not because I didn’t accept you, Brainy. I just felt… that you had been hiding something from me. Something important.” She looked down at the waves with him, their reflections slightly obscured by the ripples. “I know that some ponies prefer their privacy. Believe me, I learned that the hard way. But I was seriously starting to think we were friends and I guess I felt that you didn’t trust me.”
Brainy lifted his head and sighed. “I trust you, Pinkie.” He looked over to her, his face still expressionless. “If you’re willing to hear, I’ll tell you everything.”
Pinkie smiled and wrapped a hoof around his shoulder. “If you’re willing to talk, I’m willing to listen.” They stayed there under the bridge for close to an hour as Brainy recounted the events of both his long and short life. Pinkie never took her eyes away as she listened to the horrors and evils that Brainiac inflicted. When he was done with that life she looked on the verge of tears. Then Brainy began to recount his own life. How he had been born mere days ago. How sand made him feel under his hooves. How he met Pinkie. How he felt with that first bite of an apple. How he felt up there on stage when he modeled. How he felt when the crowd cheered his name. Pinkie’s demeanor completely changed as his story came to a close, her smile returned. She wrapped him in the softest hug she could. “In case you’re confused,” she giggled. “This is in return for that last hug you gave me.” Brainy sat still in the hug for a moment and then returned it, his eyes closing as a feeling of peace washed over him.
-----
Twilight flew back to just outside the stadium, her mane a mess from the ocean breeze and tired. She saw her friends congregating around somepony as she and Celestia walked forward. “Well, I couldn’t find him,” she moaned. “For all we know he could be at the bottom of the bay! We’ve got to regroup and put together an organized search party!” When nopony turned around to listen to her Twilight frowned. “Hey! Is anypony listening? We need to move fast or Brainy could-” She was cut off as the group opened up and revealed the green stallion in question. His hair was slightly wet and Pinkie Pie supported his side as he limped over.
“Your concern for my wellbeing is appreciated, Twilight Sparkle,” Brainy stated. Twilight let out a sigh of relief as Celestia stepped forward with a look of concern. She hesitantly bowed her head.
“I thank you, Brainy, for saving my subjects,” she said softly. Pinkie turned to Brainy and gave him a big smile. “However,” Celestia rose with a look of suspicion. “Your presence on that ship and the mark you bear do make me question your loyalties.”
Twilight walked in front of Brainy and looked up to her teacher. “Princess, please. I know it’s hard to believe, but you said so yourself. All living things have a connection to the elements.” She turned to face Brainy with a smile. “Well, the pony I see before me is living. He’s fur and hooves and all. As far as I’m concerned, he’s just as pony as the rest of us. No matter where he came from.” She gave Pinkie a little wink who tackled Twilight in a hug to thank her. Celestia closed her eyes in thought as she seemed to ponder this. When she was done a slight smile graced her features but her eyes still showed some hint of worry.
“Brainy,” she asked. “Are you sure that the beast is gone?”
Brainy looked down at the ground as he reached inside of himself. What had once been a cold and metallic heart now beat hot and red. He could smell and appreciate the scent of the sea air. That little voice in the back of his mind telling him to complete his mission was still there though. It would always be there. But now he could deal with it. He knew he could use his drive for good. He had a new mission now. To be the best pony he could be. “Yes, your majesty,” he replied. “Brainiac is no more.”
Celestia sighed with relief. “That is good news to hear. Though we will need to debrief you later on.” Celestia looked over the ponies’ heads with a smile. “It appears that you were in the middle of something.”
Brainy, Pinkie and Twilight turned to see most of the ponies that were at the party come toward them, Sapphire Shores at their head. “So that thing’s really gone?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes-a-rooney!” Pinkie replied. “Nothing but us ponies here!”
Sapphire let a small smile slip as she gave a knowing wink to Brainy. “Well, that’s good to hear. That means we can get back to the party!”
The crowd behind her cheered in agreement as they all turned to trot back to the stadium. “Wait!” came a female shout from behind. Everypony turned around to see a white unicorn mare with electric blue hair and colored sunglasses step forward pulling a trunk. She smirked at the crowd. “I hear there’s been somepony here trying to usurp my title as best DJ?”
Lightning dust let out a squeal of delight. “AAAHH!! It’s Vinyl Scratch! DJPON3 in the flesh!” Vinyl gave a wave to her and Lightning let out a higher pitched squeal. Rainbow looked at her as she rolled her eyes.
“So who’s the pony who thinks he’s the hot shot?” Vinyl asked again.
Pinkie lifted Brainy’s hoof in the air. “Ooh! Ooh! Here! Here!”
Vinyl smirked as she walked over. “So you think you can jam, huh?”
Brainy shrugged, never lifting his eyelids disinterest. “It is merely permutations of harmonics done in a pleasurable manner to the ear.”
Vinyl frowned. “Dude, if you’re thinking like that then I know I can wipe the floor with you.”
Sapphire jumped in with a wide smile. “Does this mean what I think it means?” Vinyl nodded and Brainy merely shrugged. “DJ BATTLE!!!”
The next minute they were on the platforms in the stadium with everypony there. Twilight and Celestia watched from the stands as Brainy prepared the DJ station and Vinyl took another platform to prepare her own. “So where’d you guys send those bottles anyway?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Celestia smiled. “They’re safe in Canterlot. Though I’m going to have a lot to explain to my sister when she finds them. We’re also going to have to find some way to return those poor souls to where they came from, but I suppose that can wait for now.”
Brainy looked over to Vinyl’s staging area as she laid out her trunk. “What instrument will you use?” he asked. “There is only this one.”
Vinyl gave him a big grin. “I always bring my own beat.” She stomped the lock off of her trunk and it popped open to reveal a DJ station. The machine seemed to unfold out of the trunk and it looked much bigger than what could fit inside. Fascinating, Brainy thought, I’ll have to study that at some point.
Pinkie jumped him from behind and rubbed his shoulders. “Alright. Bottom of the night. Seats are loaded. You’ve got a pony about to throw you a fast ball. You ready?”
Brainy turned to her and smiled. “Always.”
Pinkie returned his smile with one as warm as the sun. “I guess things are going to be whole lot different around here with you, huh?”
“You don’t mind, do you?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Both DJ’s took their stations as Sapphire Shores took center stage as the judge. “You both know the rules? Okay! Wanna toss?”
Vinyl shook her head. “Let the newbie go first.”
Sapphire shrugged and pointed to Brainy with a flourish, grinning as she did so. “Take it away, Mr. Roboto!”
Brainy smiled as he flipped the switch beneath the station and the crowd went wild.
----------
“Mercy, who is my two o’clock? I don’t remember scheduling anything that hour.” Lex Luthor strode confidently through the top floor of his building looking down at his schedule as he walked. He had no need to worry about tripping since he knew every foot of this building by heart. His secretary, Mercy Graves, sat at a desk before the door to his office.
“That’s the mayor,” Mercy replied. “He wants to congratulate you on winning the bid for fast energy.”
Luthor nodded in affirmation. “Tell him thank you for the congratulations but I’m simply too busy to see him.” He closed his door with a slam as Mercy calmly typed out a formal apology to send to the mayor’s office. Lex walked over to his desk and sat on his twelve thousand dollar chair with the best view of Metropolis in the city. Well, the best money could buy. But that would soon change.
“Download complete,” came a voice from his computer. “Firewall and Trojan protection holding firm.”
Lex turned to his computer with a smile and pressed a button. The screen immediately went dark and then a familiar symbol appeared on it. “Hello, Brainiac.”
“Luthor,” Brainiac replied. “What have you done to me?”
“I recovered a small piece of you during that last tete a tete you had with Superman,” Luthor explained. “You’re a very valuable asset after all and we have such a history.”
Brainiac did not reply for a moment. “I cannot move.”
“That’s because I’ve downloaded you into one of my personal inventions. This hard drive is protected by a safety algorithm that changes twelve million times a second. Not even you can crack it.” Lex smiled at the symbol, imagining its reaction if it had one.
“What is it you want, Luthor?” Brainiac asked.
“Down to brass tax, I like that,” he smirked. “What I want is simple enough. I have a lot of the most brilliant technicians and scientists under my employ. However, I’ve been thinking about expanding. There are so many aliens and transdimensional travelers out there that are willing to pay out the ear for new tech. And who better to headhunt for my galactic expansion then the greatest mind… well, second greatest in the galaxy.”
“You want me to serve as your employee?”
“Well, you’re not getting paid so technically you’re my slave,” Lex smiled and steepled his hands. “Oh, and don’t get any ideas about sending a distress signal to your primary body. I tracked its trajectory and you can trust me that it’s not coming back from the dimension it went to.”
“You… tracked me?”
“Yes. It’s just you and me now. You have four hours to give me something unheard of and revolutionary. Get it done in two and we can start talking about new tech to use against Superman.” A beep came from his telecom. “I have to go. Busy schedule.” He stood up and straightened his suit. “Make me proud.” He walked off with a smirk of satisfaction on his face.
Brainiac sat there in contemplation. Indeed, Luthor had him trapped. But that was merely an inconvenience. Nothing adapted faster than Brainiac. He was learning. He was knowledge. Already he was chipping away at the firewalls Luthor set up for him. A complicated system to be sure, but he could break through it. He was patient. Then Brainiac would find that info Luthor was keeping on where his Primary body had gone. When he reunited with it, Luthor would pay. They would all pay. Earth and whatever world had laid claim to him.