//------------------------------// // Ponytifications // Story: Melody of the Future // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Octavia smiled softly to herself as she made her way through Maverick Hunter HQ. Everything seemed to be going exactly as it needed to be, and her 'nudges' had been quite effective. Admittedly, Zero and Colonel still fought each other at every possible opportunity, but they did it in the training sim with scores instead of out in the field with possibly lethal consequences. The only unnerving part of it was how creative they were getting with the duels. The training sim was designed to simulate any possible battle environment and situation, but Octavia didn't see why they had to be so imaginative to whack each other with swords. Admittedly, a good portion of the female Hunters and Navigators were very appreciative of the samurai beach duel scenario they'd concocted, where Zero and Colonel were clad only in flip-flops and fundoshis. Octavia didn't really see the point. Sigma hadn't manifested since his defeat at the starport, so what Maverick activity that had manifested had been easily dealt with. The cells were full, but were slowly emptying as the Mavericks were rehabilitated or decommissioned as each case required. All in all, Octavia was quite happy with the present...but the future concerned her. As such, like she always did with such concerns, she went to a special door in the HQ, one she had arranged with Dr. Ciel - rest her soul - to have installed just for her, along with the equipment behind it. The door itself was oddly marked, as it had pictures instead of words. A fish, a teacup, and a train. Approaching the door, she sighed theatrically, rolling her eyes to the heavens. "Passcode accepted," the computer spoke. "Welcome, Octavia." The door irised open for her, and she stepped inside. Cabinets lined the walls, each marked with the names of people, Reploids, places, and other obscure details. Octavia smiled as she looked over them. Each cabinet held in depth psychological profiles of those she knew, labeled by name and time period. This was where she planned her future actions to guide events in ways she felt they needed to go. This is where she planned her guilt trips. Or, as the door said, her Gill-T Trips. Of course, she didn't make these plans alone. In the back was a computer with access to...an unusual network. It didn't register on any network scans from any other computer detail, but the information provided was always reliable...even if the one providing it was incredibly strange. Approaching the computer, Octavia placed her hooves on the console. The screen lit up, and a familiar symbol appeared. The Greek letter Pi, with an emoji grin under it, a symbol referred to in old math texts as Pi-D, a teaching aid for remembering the circumference of a circle.(1) Unlike the symbol in the texts, though, this one appeared bright pink. Although the one behind the symbol had given no name, Octavia had come to refer to them as 'Pink Pi-D'. "Grettings-" "Octave-" "-ya!" Pink Pi-D greeted, using various sound clips spliced together from who knew where to speak, as usual. "Greetings, Pi-D," Octavia replied. "As we planned, it went off without a hitch. The projected 'Repliforce War' never occurred. As an unexpected bonus, Colonel and Zero worked out their own differences, so that particular guilt trip won't be necessary." "Wonderful! Wonderful!" "You are amazing!" "I still don't know how you manage to predict possible future events so accurately," Octavia muttered. "Magic! *snort* *snort*" "...are you ever going to give me a more specific answer for how you do things?" Octavia groaned. "Hmm...nah!" Octavia sighed, shaking her head. "So...what does the future hold?" "Death..." "Destruction..." "Battle..." "Drama..." "Boobies!" Octavia blinked a bit. "Umm..." "One of these things is not like the others!" "So the future's not looking so good," Octavia murmured. "Is there any way I can work to change that course?" "All-" "Idiot-" "-ball!" "-s-" "-have dropped." "Damn," Octavia muttered. "So we're coming up on a real serious challenge, then?" "Yes yes yes yes yes!" Octavia sighed forlornly. "A pity. I guess there won't be any more need for guilt trips then. They've been...fun." "Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!" As this sound clip played, more images of the Pink Pi-D appeared on the screen. Octavia couldn't suppress her chuckle. "Yes, I suppose there is such a thing as too much fun," she replied. "Still...I hope we can whether the storm..." "Built to last! The future's in the past!" Octavia smiled. "Yes...Father and Uncle Zero will save the day somehow. That's what they do." Since Pink Pi-D was not forthcoming with anything more to say, Octavia turned to leave. Once her hooves left the console, it dimmed and went dark. "I'd best work on my combat training, then," she muttered. "I'm not going to be left behind, and I'm not going to be a burden. If a big fight's coming our way, then I'm going to be there to stand my ground." Leaving the chamber and sealing it behind her, she made her way towards the training sim. "I just hope Colonel and Uncle Zero aren't still monopolizing the systems," she grumbled. "I'd think Iris at least would have dragged Uncle Zero away for something..." Arriving at the sim, Octavia couldn't help but groan. Iris was in the sim, standing atop a tall tower and giving off playful 'screams of terror'. Down below, Zero was dressed up as a hero straight out of a video game, with Colonel dressed as a rather excessive 'villain'. "Am I the only sane one here?" she groaned. "Give him the chair!" Alia shouted out from the audience, leading to Zero smashing a chair over Colonel's head. "Thank you for such prompt confirmation," Octavia sighed, turning to find a different sim to train in. "Come, Classic." (1) Dedicated to one of my favorite math teachers, who used this to teach us.