//------------------------------// // Chapter 2-The Journey // Story: Fire Hive // by ZackAttack //------------------------------// Wednesday. Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash’s Cloud House. As everything exploded around me, I had one thought, and one thought only. Well, two, actually. First of all, I was thinking, Shit! obviously. Almost forgot that bit. Anyways, my other thought was I need to save Rainbow! I flew through the wreckage, the word "shit" on a loop in my head. After fly through, dodging burning pieces of cloud, I found Rainbow Dash, but she was not in good condition. She was knocked unconscious, lying in the flames. I swooped in and saved her (damn cliche's), before the flames can do any permanent damage. Thankfully, she seems mostly unharmed. I land next to Pinkie, who looks like she was getting worried, and then she hugs me. She asks, “What took you so long?” I put down Rainbow and responded, “She knocked me out with the EMP bracelet.” I then proceded pull Rainbow's bracelet off of her hoof. “Oh yeah. I forgot you gave us those!” she said, pulling hers out. We wait a couple minutes, watching the Dalek ship that blew up Rainbow's house fly away. After about an hour or so of waiting, 2 rounds of hoof wrestling (I always won, I had "help"), 5 rounds of I-spy (again, I always won because of my "help"), and lots and lots of tic-tac-toe, Rainbow finally woke up. When she opens her eyes and sees me, she yelped. She screamed, “Somepony help me!” I sighed mentally, as well as physically. and Pinkie Pie tried to calm her down. “Dashie, it’s me, Pinkie! Everything is gonna be okay. Right Tech?” she said. She looks directly at me at the mention of my name. Rainbow stops screaming, looks at me confused. She looks me over, and I can see her working it out in her head. "What the hell are you talking about, Pinkie?" she asked, thinking about it for a moment. “Wait a minute…Tech?!” she yells. She lunged at me and slugged me in the shoulder. Damn, that mare can land a really good hit. “Owww…” I said. “What the hell was that for?” “That’s for being gone for an entire year!’ She responded before hugging me tightly. “You could’ve been dead!” she said, and I see tears in her eyes. The hell? I thought. Something was up. Definitely. She’s never shown this much emotion, towards anypony. Not even towards her closest friends. Why me? I mean, I want to know why exactly, but I'm not complaining, though. “Rainbow, are you okay? You’ve never been this emotional.” She stood up, and wiped her tears away. “Yeah…I’m…I’m okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. "Let's go." Wednesday. Ponyville. Twilight’s Castle. I knocked on the door of Twilight’s Castle. There wass a pause before the purple alicorn opened the door slightly, and she peeked out. She saw me and slams the door. Rainbow knocks this time, and Twilight doesn't answer. Rainbow called out, “Twilight, it’s okay. It'll be okay, alright? He’s friendly.” I heard Twilight hesitating on the other side of the door, then she let us in, and we saw the damage done from the attack. Books are scattered everywhere, some of the books are on fire, and just most of the furniture is smashed up. “So… what do I call you?” Twilight asks me. “You remember me, don’t you?” I say. “I’m Tech. I went missing a year ago. Ringing any bells?” “Tech? Wow, this is crazy. I mean you’re a robot! How did this happen? Are you okay? Did you find anypony else? Are you hurt? Do you-” I cut her off there and told her everything. She took a moment to process all of the information I had given her. “So, will you help us?” I asked. “Of course!” she replied, with no hesitation whatsoever. We walk around Ponyville for a little bit, and search for the TARDIS. I even used my sensors to search for it, but no luck in finding it. Then, I remembered the default place the TARDIS goes to when there’s danger around. The "emergency safe zone", pretty much, generating a force field within a 50 foot radius. Wednesday. Ponyville. Sweet Apple Acres. “Why are we here? Aren’t we looking for the Doctor?” Rainbow asks from overhead. “This is where the TARDIS lands when there’s danger.” I respond. “Oh yeah. I knew that. I think.” She said sheepishly. We go around the back of the barn, and there’s a familiar blue box behind it. I opened the brand new fake keyhole, and type in the passcode. As the door opened, I find the Doctor and my mom talking to one another. “-pretty sure he’s safe.” I hear the Doctor say before he whips around to see our little group. "I...uh...well...huh. Hi." I stuttered. “Rainbow, Pinkie, Twilight, get behind me. Get away from that… thing,” he said, with obvious disgust. " I'll figure out how to kill it. Or at least subdue it." But the three mares stay with me and won’t budge. The Doctor turned to me, and said, “You. What did you do to them? Blood control?” “Doctor, it’s me! I’m Tech!” I said. Rainbow backed me up, saying, “Yeah! Um, Doctor, it really is Tech!” The Doctor looks uneasy, and said, “Alright, tell me something only Tech would know.” I approach him, and tell him the secret. I’m obviously not telling you what it is. I step back, and the Doctor nods at my mother. She gallops towards me and hugs me tightly, and I return the embrace. We all heard somepony’s voice, but, as unfamiliar as it was, it somehow seemed familiar. I trotted outside of the TARDIS to investigate. As I walked out, I saw the source of the voice: Applejack. The good news was, we saw each other. The bad news was, she pulled out her EMP bracelet. Knowing that she won’t listen to anything I say, I mentally sighed, and prepared for her to attack me. She came at me with the EMP bracelet, and I adjusted my guns. "Set phasers to stun," I muttered under my breath. On the deploy of my guns, Applejack began to zig-zag as to dodge my attack. She went limp as I used my targeting systems to knock her out. I brought her to the TARDIS, and the Doctor agreed to make sure she didn't go ballistic when she woke up. I then told everyone to stay there while I began my search for Rarity and Fluttershy. Wednesday. Ponyville. Near Carousel Boutique I wondered for a moment if Rainbow Dash knew that I knew that she was following me. I suddenly stopped, mid-flight, and she crashed into me. “Whoa, Tech!” she said, surprised. I gave her a look, and she smiled sheepishly. "Why were you following me?" I asked. "Well, I uh..." she said, trailing off. "Well?" I say, with an expectant look on my face. The grin faded from her face. She slowly descended, and I followed her down. When we landed, I looked her right in the eyes. “I’m going to ask one more time: Why, Rainbow?” She gave me a defeated look, and said, “Tech, I… I want to tell you, but I can’t.” “Why not?” I ask. “Who told you that you can’t tell me?” “You did. After lecturing me about not screwing with the timeline.” She said quietly, before flying back to our route. Confused, I flew up beside her and said, “Fine, but after this is all over, you have to tell me.” At this, she turned her head away from me. We flew on in complete silence, before reach Carousel Boutique. When we arrived, we flew through a hole in the roof, only to find a sealed metal door behind one of Rarity's wardrobes. We tried opening it, but, surprise, it didn't budge. So I began using a mode on my guns to start cutting through the door with lasers. When we finally get through the door, we find Rarity with an improvised, detonation-based projectile weapon. So basically, she built a gun. She fired at me, and the bullet embedded itself right between my eyes. "Damn," Rainbow says. "Nice shot, Rarity." She peeks up from the table she was hiding behind. "Rainbow Dash? What are you doing with that...thing. Hmph. Such a crude design for a killer robot." As the bullethole in my face healed itself up, Rainbow explained to Rarity what had happened. Rarity nodded in understanding, and we dropped her off at the TARDIS. We then began our trip to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Wednesday. Ponyville. Edge of the Everfree Forest Rainbow and I flew towards Fluttershy’s cottage, and, surprisingly, it wasn’t damaged at all. So I wouldn't scare Fluttershy as soon as she opened the door, Rainbow knocked, and I hid behind a tree. “Hello, Rainbow.” Fluttershy said in her usual soft voice as she opened the door. “What brings you here?” “You see, Fluttershy, Ponyville just got attacked…by aliens. So, would you come along with us.” replies Rainbow. “Oh no, that’s terrible.” said Fluttershy with a gasp. "But I will come with you and help in any way I can!" “On another note, Tech came back! But he’s…different, so be nice to him.” “Of course. What kind of friend would I be if I wasn't nice just because they were different?” said Fluttershy with a nod. “Where is he?” Rainbow looks to me, and I fly over. Fluttershy gasped, and hid behind Rainbow. “What is that thing?” she said, shortly before fainting. I looked at Rainbow, and said, “Dammit.”