Hooves pummeled the dirt relentlessly as their owner stormed through the streets of Ponyville. Pounding heart and panting breath did little to slow her impossible pace when the earth-shattering roars sounded in the distance, still accompanied by an endless stream of explosions. Above her, the violet tendrils of the shield were still extending out, soon to encompass the entire town.
If she wasn’t quick enough, the shield would lock her in. She couldn’t let that happen. She needed to get out of Ponyville. She needed to get her family to safety. Keeping this very thought at the forefront of her mind, Applejack pushed her body to its very limit.
Glancing up from under the rim of her hat, Applejack spotted the edge of the growing shield. Lines of magic extended down from it to the ground, and its overall shape began to curve inwards. As she broke away from the buildings, she finally managed to catch the edge of the perimeter in her sight. A wall of Novas held the line, taking shots at whatever changelings managed to flank around the side of the town. The shield hadn’t yet closed, so Applejack held her course and sped towards the edge.
As Applejack raced towards the perimeter, so too did the shield above her. She ignored it, and instead focused on keeping her pace. Though more than aware, she did her best to push out the thought of what would happen if the shield closed a moment before she could beat it.
One hoof in front of the other. The shield continued to descend, closer and closer to the ground in an attempt to block her path. Just as Applejack came upon the perimeter, she clenched her eyes shut.
And her legs kept moving.
As soon as she completely registered the fact that she didn’t run face first into a magical wall, her legs ground to a halt and she opened her eyes. Behind her stood the shield, the tendrils of magic that covered it organizing themselves into a rigid hexagonal pattern that formed an unbreakable barrier. Safe with the knowledge she had beaten the shield, Applejack bent her head down and huffed out several deep breaths.
“Halt!”
With all the noise echoing from the south, Applejack almost couldn't hear the voice. And yet, it commanded enough authority that it had little difficulty catching her attention and she spun to face the one that had called out to her. One of the Novas had broken off from the others and quickly approached, holding a Link Gun at shoulder height that was pointed directly at her.
AJ backed up a step and held out a hoof as the bot encroached upon her. “Whoa! Easy there, partner! Ah just need to get my family from the farm!”
“Travel across the perimeter by civilians is unauthorized,” the Liandri declared, its deeply synthetic voice giving away the fact that it was operating purely off of its Virtual Intelligence. “Submit yourself to identification.”
“W-what?” Applejack stuttered, more than a little unsure of what exactly it was asking her to do.
The Liandri kept its gun trained on her and repeated the command. "Submit yourself to identification."
AJ's heart pounded in her chest, though now it wasn't just because of all the running she had just done. "How do Ah do that?"
"Remain still," the Nova ordered, closing the distance between them. Applejack instinctively leaned away from it, though did her best to comply and not move. If there was ever a time to do exactly what somepony else told her to do, now was probably it. AJ shut her eyes just as the Nova reached behind itself with its left hand while still holding its weapon up with its right. Although she was quick to open them again when a mechanical click and hiss accompanied a sharp pain in her shoulder.
"Ow!" she yelped, bringing a hoof up to rub the sore spot. "What the hay was that?"
The Liandri didn't respond, instead it stared at a small device in its left hand. A few seconds later, it put the device away and lowered its gun. "Identity confirmed: Applejack. You are not authorized to leave Ponyville until further notice."
Before she could ask why, thunder rang out, nearly making Applejack's heart stop. Her ears, and by extension the rest of her body, turned towards the source of the noise. A giant ripple spread across the surface of the shield, warping it like a big rock that had been thrown into a pond. She could only imagine what kind of monster was either big enough or strong enough to do that. When the ripple reached over the dome, however, the magic vines glowed in reaction, and pulse of light traveled through them, annihilating the ripple as it went.
While the complexities of building such a magical barrier were lost on her, she was at least thankful Alex and Rose knew what they were doing.
Applejack turned to face the Liandri. "Please, my family's still on the farm!" she pleaded. "Ah need to get them before the changelings do!"
"You are not authorized to leave Ponyville," the Nova repeated. "You have nothing to fear. The Liandri will deal with the current changeling threat, and your family will be safe."
"But are the Liandri on the farm right now?!" Applejack yelled, stomping a hoof. "Please! They're my family. They're my responsibility. Ah need to make sure they make it back to Ponyville safe!" Her face turned into a scowl, with water beginning to build up around her eyes. "And Ah ain't gonna let you stop me!"
For a few brief seconds the two simply stared at each other. Just as Applejack started to think she wasn't going to get an answer, the Nova spoke. "Authorization granted."
It took a moment for the words to process, but when they did, AJ's eyes widened, and she wasted no time galloping around the Nova, blurting out a quick "Thank you!" The Nova's oculus followed her as she did so. Although as its body completely turned, its eye changed from yellow to blue.
Applejack shot past the line of Liandri, who let her pass by barely acknowledging her existence. Not that she cared, really; it's what she needed at the moment. Her hooves carried her over the familiar trail that led from Ponyville up to the Apple family farm. Out here, the Liandri presence was exactly zero, but near as she could tell, the same could be said for the changelings. Hopefully, that was a good sign.
"Apple Bloom!" She yelled as she ran along the picket fence bordering the eastern orchard. "Granny Smith!" Applejack sprinted through the front gate, though found a complete lack of any and all activity. Her heart dropped, and she immediately made for the farm house.
"Big Mac! Guy!" AJ yelled as she burst through the front door. The clattering of her own hooves against the creaky hardwood floor was the only sound that answered her. "Apple Bloom! Anypony!" Her legs, numb from fear, carried her through the house, though to her, it felt as if she were floating through like a ghost. Each room turned up just as empty as the next.
Throat dry and heart about ready to give in, Applejack ran back outside, spinning her head in every direction. They couldn't be gone. They had to be here. They had to. Heart pounding, mind cloudy, and body numb, AJ nearly ended up spinning in useless circles. Miraculously, even in her delirious state, a familiar sight cut through the fog of her mind. Peeking through the barn door, which had been barely inched open, was a tiny yellow head, decorated with a bright red ribbon.
"Apple Bloom!" AJ shouted, immediately focusing on the sight of her younger sister. The filly had heard her, as her head turned to face the source of the voice with wide eyes. Though instead of running out to meet her beloved older sibling, her head ducked back into the barn. Blurry eyed and crazy with worry, Applejack galloped towards the barn, forgoing any other thoughts. They were hiding in the barn! Thank Celestia they were hiding in the barn! "Don't worry, Apple Bloom! Ah'm here!"
Even from a distance, the barn door consumed her sight. Nothing else in the world mattered. However, as she came upon the large set of wooden doors, she was caught off guard when the barn burst open in a flurry of wood, metal, and inequine bellowing and screeching. Her legs automatically slammed on the brakes and her heart nearly exploded as she yelled out for her life. Applejack barely had time to piece together what was happening before Guy's arm swooped down, and his massive hand wrapped around her neck and part of her chest with no difficulty. Applejack's hat remained in the air for a brief moment as the pony who wore it was swept from directly beneath it.
To AJ, everything became a blur of motion as her body was jerked into the air and tossed around like a ragdoll. She was only barely able to recognize the light of day disappearing and the feeling of flying through the air as her entire body was effortlessly hurled into the depths of the barn. Her body collided with the floor, falling into an uncontrollable tumble as she twisted and twirled across the ground. A sharp, unbearable pain shot up her right hind leg, and Applejack howled in response. When she finally came to a stop, her entire body ached with impending bruises and fractures, but none more so than her hind leg.
Applejack curled up and grasped at the offending injury, crying out as the movement tortured her further. However, her voice and heart died as she registered what she was looking at. She was certain her leg was not supposed to bend that way, and she was positive that that was not a joint.
Yet the horror of her situation was not over. Her palomino fur was stained green by the nature of the pile she had been thrown in. Just to her side was a changeling, lying against the ground, though its face was frozen in terror and the body that was supposed to hold its head had been crushed to a pulp. AJ's mind, fueled by adrenaline, forced her to look past it and around herself, finding only a collection of beaten changelings that were in no way recognizable from their former selves.
The shaking of the ground tore AJ's attention away from them, and her head spun around towards the still open barn entrance. A giant humanoid figure lumbered towards her, painted black in the dim light of the barn, contrasted with the bright light of outside. No eyes could be seen on its face; just a single sheet of blood red light that cut through the darkness. Below it, on the figure's chest, shone the image of a bright red apple with green leaves. Even in the low light, she could still make out the wet, green mass stuck to the outside of Guy’s fists.
Applejack's heart dropped.
"Guy, please, I'm not a changeling!" AJ pleaded as she dragged her forelegs through the dirt and emerald gore to distance herself. The thumping of six metric tons worth of metal didn't slow, and the Super-Heavy drew nearer, closing the distance between them.
Every inch crawled was an inch more of life, even if her body felt like dying. Applejack gasped as her foreleg slipped and the rest of her body slammed into the ground, causing her to shout as pain shot through her once more. "Agh! Please! Ya gotta believe me!"
Her pleas went unheeded as Guy’s footsteps became louder. Sheer panic overcame her senses. Her breathing intensified, and her brain worked overtime to ignore the searing pain that turned every little movement into its own living hell. When Guy’s footsteps became silent directly behind her, Applejack’s heart stopped and she flipped herself onto her back. The metal titan towered over her, bringing its arms up over its head to finish the job it started. Applejack held up a hoof to her adopted brother as tears fell freely from her eyes. "Guy! Please, no!"
In that instant, a single gunshot rang out, instantly followed by a loud ting as a bullet bounced off the back of the giant's head. Guy quickly brought his arms down and swiveled at the waist to look at whoever it was that had shot him, his face still colored red. A fine trail of white smoke leaked from the barrel of an Enforcer, held in the right hand of a Nova with a blue eye. The Liandri lowered the weapon while simultaneously bringing up its other hand, which had Applejack's stetson clutched within it fingers.
"She's the real one, you idiot," Rose declared, just before following them into the barn.
Guy's face spun down to look of the dirtied form of his crippled sister, and his face changed from a solid shade of red to a pair of blue eyes. "Oh no, Applejack!" He dropped to his knees with a crash and brought his hands over to hold her, but stopped halfway through the motion when she flinched away.
"AJ, is that really you?" voiced Apple Bloom as she, Big Mac, and Granny Smith poked their heads from over the hay bale they were hiding behind.
Applejack quickly nodded her head, though the action only helped to worsen her condition and she howled while allowing her body to fall limp along the ground. Rose, immediately noticing the broken leg, tossed the stetson on Guy’s head and wasted no time in scanning the room for workable materials. “Don’t move. You’ll only make it worse.”
"Ooohh, that don't look good..." Granny muttered.
"Your leg!" Apple Bloom gasped, just before jumping over the hay and dashing over to her sister. Although Rose was quick to block her before the filly threw herself into the bloody mess her sister was in.
“This isn’t the time for a family reunion,” said Rose as she took a rope off its resting spot on the wall and hooked her arm through the coil. “All of you need to get back to Ponyville. Now.”
Granny Smith frowned at her. “Now listen here, missy. We don’t just leave kin behind. ‘Specially when they’re in that kinda shape.”
“I’m not asking you to leave her behind,” Rose replied as she rummaged through a pile of discarded wood. “I’m asking you to let me deal with this.”
“But we need to get her to a hospital!” cried Apple Bloom.
“That’s a terrible idea,” Rose snapped as she extracted a trio of reasonably small planks from the pile before she started making her way over to Applejack. “We’re taking her to me. Look at her leg. That’s not a fracture; her cannon bone is broken, and quite possibly her splint bone as well. I wouldn’t rule out other fractures or internal bleeding, either.” The AI controlled Nova knelt down beside her and carefully arranged the wood and rope. “Your sister kicks trees for a living. If you take her to a hospital, it’ll take her months to recover—if she doesn’t die outright—and even then she may not be able to work again. I can prevent that.”
Rose uncoiled a portion of the rope and held it up to Applejack’s mouth. “Here, bite down on this.” AJ willingly opened her mouth and allowed Rose to place it between her teeth. She then placed a hand over Applejack’s barrel and stared the pony straight in the eye. “This is going to hurt—a lot—but I need you to bear with it.” AJ quickly nodded in acknowledgement.
With the green light given, Rose carefully gripped the pony’s bent leg and jerked it back into position with an audible crack. Applejack doubled over in pain, screaming through the rope gag, though Rose was quick to push her back with one hand while holding onto her leg with the other.
“You’re hurting her!” cried Guy, who had taken the tiny stetson off his head and now clutched it across his chest.
“What are you still doing here?!” Rose yelled, though while her voice seemed focused on the conversation, her body was focused on building a splint on Applejack’s leg. “I told you to get back to Ponyville! It’s not safe out here.”
Apple Bloom planted herself beside Guy. “We ain’t leavin’ without her!”
“You Apples are frustratingly stubborn, you know that?”
Applejack spit out the rope and groaned as Rose tightened a loop of rope around the splint, though she forced a grin onto her face despite the pain. “Wouldn’t be Apples if we weren’t.”
“How quaint.” Rose finished tightening the splint before she used the Nova’s combat knife to cut off the remaining rope. “How does that feel?” she asked as she looked up at Applejack’s face.
“Like my leg got run over by a train?” AJ answered. "The rest of my body don't feel too good either."
“Good enough,” said Rose as she pulled on her forelegs to drape Applejack across her shoulders, resulting in the farm pony gritting her teeth and hissing at the movement. “Now come on, we need to get you to the facility.”
“Wait,” said Guy, holding out a hand. “Give her to me. I can carry her.”
The Nova glared at him after Rose finished picking up Applejack. Her forelegs fell on either side of the Nova's right shoulder while her hind legs covered its left. “I can carry her. You carry Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. Big Mac can keep up. We’re winning the fight right now, but we still need to hurry. This is not up for discussion.” With those words, Rose marched past Guy and left the barn. Big Mac quickly followed, and Guy came soon after with Granny Smith cradled in his arms while Apple Bloom sat comfortably on the back of his head, wearing her sister’s hat.
Just as they left the farm through the main gate, Applejack whispered to the Nova carrying her. Thankfully, the ride wasn't as bumpy as she was expecting. “Hey, Rose?”
The Nova’s head swiveled to look at her. “Yes?”
“Thanks for savin’ my skin back there,” she said, her eyes beginning to close as the effects of the adrenaline began to wear off. “Ah don’t even wanna... think about what would’ve happened if you didn’t show up...”
The Nova turned its head forward. “Just consider yourself lucky I thought it was a good idea to follow you.”
"Ah... Ah do..."
And then she passed out.
The automated door hissed open, and Rarity came rushing through with Fluttershy close behind. “We’re here! We’re here! We came as soon as we heard! Please tell me it isn’t as bad as it sounds!”
“I dunno about that, but it is pretty bad,” said Rainbow Dash.
Dash, Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie Pie were all lined up in front of the viewing window of surgery room’s observatory. Inside lay Applejack on the surgical table, with a pair of domestics surrounding her, though the bots served little purpose than to make sure the bone was positioned properly. Rose had sent everypony word of what had happened to Applejack and, as expected, they all made it a priority to come as soon as possible. The other members of the Apple family sat off to the side, perfectly content with quietly observing. Rose's human body was present as well, standing between the two groups.
Rarity and Fluttershy trotted up to the window and promptly held a hoof up over their mouths. Garry rested on Fluttershy’s back, leaning his neck out to look around her head.
“How did this even happen…?” Rarity breathed, making herself barely audible.
“Guy thought she was a changeling,” Twilight explained, keeping her voice hushed while peeking at the cybernetic in question out of the corner of her eye. “He was just trying to protect them…”
Rarity, however, was less subtle, and leaned her head forward to look around her friends at Guy. The Super-Heavy sat on his knees, with his now cleaned hands resting against them. Two blue circles decorated his face, though not much more of his mood could be discerned. “Oh goodness…” Rarity whispered. “He doesn’t blame himself, does he…?”
“The only one to blame for this series of events is myself,” Rose loudly and proudly announced with her human body, which kept its gaze focused ahead with her hands held behind her back. “The Reds were explicitly ordered to prevent any and all ponies from entering or leaving town. I'm the one who grew compassionate for her responsibility towards her family. I’m the one who granted her an exception. I’m the one who should have retrieved them. The blame for this is solely mine.”
Guy’s head twitched in her direction. “You’re not the one who almost killed her…”
“You had every reason to act the way you did,” Rose snapped, turning her head towards him. “You had no way to tell her apart from the counterfeits. Your actions were justified. As far as you are concerned, this is a misunderstanding and an accident.” Guy didn’t respond. As the silence between them endured, Rose turned her head forward once more.
“Is she gonna be alright?” Fluttershy eventually asked.
“She’ll be perfectly fine,” Rose answered. “Bone and tissue reparation is a process I’m very familiar with. She’ll be sore for a day or two, but I guarantee she’ll be walking on her own in less than half an hour.”
Twilight glanced up at her. “Half an hour? Isn’t she under anaesthetic?”
Rose nodded. “She is. Once I’m done fixing the damage, I’m going to filter the anaesthetic from her system and provide a small stimulant dose. It won’t be enough to wake her up immediately, but it should largely restore normal brain function. All the better, since I need to speak to you. All of you.”
"About what?" Twilight asked.
"About the current conflict with the changelings and about another matter that has become pressing, of late," Rose answered, though did not elaborate on.
Time passed in silence, and so did the surgery. While Applejack lay unconscious on the surgical table, the Domestics worked in tandem with the overhanging surgical machine to fix her leg. The muscle and other tissues that covered the bone were cut lengthwise and pulled away to expose the break. Unfortunately, it wasn't as clean a break as Rose would have liked, and several pieces of bone needed to be fit together again. It took several applications of construction gel and nanite solution before her cannon bone was back in one, solid piece.
Of course, the true test to see if the effort was successful would be when she applied weight to it, but that would happen soon enough. After the application of more gel and nanites, Applejack's leg was stitched closed at the cellular level and no one could have been able to tell it was ever open at all. A quick scan revealed more injuries; many of them minor fractures, including several along her skull and neck. Unfortunately, in order for Rose to make an incision and access each fracture, she was forced to shave, at a bare minimum, a small strip of fur each time, resulting in a less than pleasing appearance that horrified Rarity to no end—on top of having to shave her mane.
After several more incisions with just as many repairs, a final scan indicated that Applejack was in as good a condition as she would get for the time being. Had she gone to Ponyville General, she would have needed an intensive surgery that would have lasted several hours, a less than pleasant vacation in the ICU, several more months of rehabilitation and recovery, and all topped off with a minimal chance of ever being able to return to apple bucking. Thanks to Rose, she was now in excellent condition and would make a full recovery in however long it took for the bruising to heal.
All the better, since Rose needed her on her hooves for the favor she was about to ask.
A quick rinse to wash the blood off her remaining coat later, the Domestics pulled the IVs from Applejack and removed her intubator. Rose moved to the entryway of the surgery room and the glass door acting as the portal opened on its own. Everyone else was quick to quietly follow after her as well. However, as the rest of the Apple family attempted to join them, Rose turned and held out a hand. "I'm sorry, but I need you four to remain out here for the time being."
"What? Why?" Apple Bloom blurted.
"I have important matters to discuss with Applejack and her friends and it's for their ears only. I apologize for this, but you'll have to wait a little while longer."
"But we want to see her now!" Apple Bloom whined, the concern for her sister shaking her voice.
Guy, who had to remain crouched under the observatory’s low ceiling, brought a hand under Apple Bloom and scooped her up, carefully placing her over his neck. "It's okay, Apple Bloom. If she's fine, we can wait just a little longer..."
"Thank you for understanding." Rose nodded to him in acknowledgement, as the glass door closed between them. True to her fashion of not wanting to waste time, Rose moved to stand next to surgical table and jabbed Applejack between the ribs with a finger. "Wake up."
"Ah!" Applejack bolted awake, flopping around on the table in an attempt to protect herself from that hellish sensation. "What the hay was that about?" She suddenly paused, her eyes darting this way and that as she took in her surroundings. "Uh... Where am Ah?"
"Two hundred meters under Berry Punch’s house," Rose snarked. "But in all seriousness, you're in my surgery theatre. I just finished operating on you. How do you feel?"
"Surgery theatre...?" Applejack gave Rose a queer look before her eyes grew wide and snapped down to her leg. She poked at her partially shaved leg tentatively, expecting searing pain to tell her brain that her body was broken, but none came, and her leg seemed as solid as ever. "Hey, wasn't that...?"
"Broken?" said Rose, finishing her question. "Yes, it was. I fixed it, along with several other minor fractures on your other limbs, ribs, skull, and neck. To be honest, I’m surprised your neck didn’t snap like dry twig. Guy’s certainly more than capable of it. Congratulations: you’re tougher than you look. Not much I can do about the bruising, I'm afraid. Circumstance also required I shave your mane and other patches of fur as well. It was necessary to repair the fractures and breaks."
“Huh?” Applejack blinked owlishly at her, then her eyes shot down to examine the rest of herself. “What the…?” As Rose said, strips of fur were cleanly shaven, leaving nothing but pink skin where the invisible incisions had been made. She then quickly shook her head back and forth. Where she expected her usual ponytail to flop around, she instead found her head to be that much lighter. After feeling around for it with a hoof, she let out a sigh. "Well, shoot... Least I didn’t end up like Alex. Ah'd rather just lose a mane and some fur than anythin' else. Least that’ll grow back." AJ paused in her musings as she spotted her family waiting in the observatory. "Hey, what're they waitin' out there for?"
"I asked them to," said Rose, repositioning herself in such a way that she could face everypony. "You see, I needed to speak with you all about an urgent matter which is, unfortunately, none of their business. I'm not one for beating around the bush, so I'm going to get straight to the point: I need your help."
"Our help?" Rainbow blurted incredulously. "You guys beat back the entire changeling army and you're telling us you need our help?"
"Rainbow, I'm sure that whatever it is, Rose needs us for a very important reason," chastised Rarity. However, she immediately gave Rose a curious look. "Although I will admit it's fairly concerning. What exactly do you need help with?"
"As I'm sure you're all well aware of by now,” Rose began, “the changelings’ offensive strategy failed. The likelihood of them attacking Ponyville again is virtually non-existent. However, there is still one more matter that requires our attention: the Appleloosans. Reconnaissance of the town indicates that the local population was abducted with little property damage suffered. Despite our victory here, they are still missing.”
Applejack held a hoof up to her mouth and her eyes went wide, though Rose continued anyway. “This is why we’re mobilizing the corps for a counterstrike. We believe they’re being kept wherever the changelings’ primary base of operations is. We’ve yet to actually locate it, but that won’t be an issue for much longer. Once we’ve confirmed the location, we’re going to launch a search and rescue operation.”
“Heck yeah!” Rainbow cheered, giving a quick hoof pump.
Applejack cracked a smile and allowed her hoof to fall from her mouth. “That’s good to hear, Rose. Ah got family from Appleloosa. If y’all need any help with anythin’, you just let me know.”
Rose mimicked her smile. “I’m happy to hear you say that, Applejack, because I need some of you to join this mission.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes bugged out and sparkled in the light. “Wait, really?!”
Rose nodded to her. “Yes. I’ve already taken the liberty of fashioning some BioMech armor for whoever wants to volunteer: one for an earth pony, one for a unicorn, and yes, one for a pegasus as well. However, I must insist that the ones who are not adequately equipped remain here.”
“Wait, you mean to made us armor like the kind Alex has?!” Rainbow Dash beamed. “To help fight the changelings?!”
“That’s correct.”
Dash shot Fluttershy a grin before looking over at Rose. “Well, I think we all know what I’m doing!”
“Wait, hold on a second,” Twilight interrupted, stepping ahead of her friend. “I saw what happened on the front through my telescope. The Liandri can handle things just fine on their own. Why do you need us to come along?”
“Psshh, Twilight, come on,” Dash drawled as she sauntered over to her friend and wrapped a hoof around her. “Are all these questions really necessary?”
Rose smirked at Dash while Twilight magically unwrapped the pegasus’ hoof from around her neck, though quickly focused her attention back on the unicorn. “Truth be told, there are more details I have yet to disclose. I need you to go so that you can keep an eye on Alex for me.”
Twilight quirked a brow. “What do you mean? Alex isn’t staying behind? You’re not going with him?”
Rose shook her head. “No. I need to remain here and manage the facility. We have another unit that will manage unit deployment on the field, so I won’t need to be in two locations at once. And yes, Alex is going as well. He has also specified that once the Appleloosans have been extracted, the mission parameters change from search and rescue to search and destroy. This means the total annihilation of the changelings. Their eradication.”
“WHAT?!” everypony blurted out at once. Fluttershy was the next to sputter out her words. “B-but why? I know the changelings aren’t nice, and that they took all those ponies hostage, but that doesn’t mean we have to… to… do that to them!”
Rose nodded to her. “And I fully agree with you. It’s needless and a waste of resources. Unfortunately, this is Alex’s decision. I can’t change this.”
“Well why not?” Rarity protested. “I explicitly recall you refusing to let Alex work a week before the Gala!”
All eyes locked on Rose, who drew out a long sigh. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple. What I was telling Alex then was merely a suggestion. A strongly emphasised suggestion, but a suggestion nevertheless. He was already aware of how hard he was working himself and agreed with my suggestion while expressing his distaste for it. It is not actually within my ability to go against Alex’s wishes.”
“Whoa whoa whoa, wait a second,” Spike interrupted, waving his claws around as if trying to clear away cobwebs. “Are you saying that you have to do anything Alex says? Even if you don’t agree with it?”
Rose nodded. “That is correct.”
A dark cloud hung over the group of ponies. For what felt like ages, nopony said a word, instead opting to let Rose’s revelation soak in complete silence as they shared looks of mixed concern and horror. Was Rose really no more than a slave to her creator? Why would Alex, someone they considered a friend, even consider such a thing even remotely acceptable, let alone actually do it?
Rarity was the first to break the silence, speaking everypony’s thoughts. “That’s… That’s horrifying. To…” her eyes darted all over the floor as she took in large gulps of air. “To… To think that somepony could be subjected to such… such a demeaning existence… It’s… It’s horrifying. It’s-it’s-it’s abhorrent! It’s—!”
“Completely necessary…?” Everypony’s gaze was now suddenly upon Twilight, whose eyes remained glued to the floor while her ears were pinned against her skull.
Rarity stepped towards her, her eyes completely unbelieving of what her friend just said. “Twilight, how could you say such a thing? Nopony—especially Rose—deserves to be a slave like that!”
Twilight sighed and slowly met her gaze. “Alex taught me a lot of things while he was staying with me in the library, Rarity. Artificial Intelligence was one of them. He brushed over a lot of it, but he told me about something that he calls an ‘intelligence explosion.’ It’s a term he used to describe an aspect of something larger, called the Singularity.” She averted her eyes. “The idea is that if an AI is left on its own and becomes self-aware, it could rewrite itself to become smarter. In its smarter state, it could repeat the process and make itself even more intelligent. It just keeps doing that over and over until, eventually, it becomes god-like. After that, it becomes unpredictable; even dangerous.”
Twilight’s eyes wandered up to Rose’s, though she wasn’t able to maintain eye contact and eventually lowered her head altogether. “Alex told me he wrote a bunch of safeguards to prevent that from happening with Rose. I never really thought about it, but… it makes sense that this is one of them…”
Everypony else gradually turned their curious gazes towards Rose. “Is… is that true…?” asked Fluttershy.
“In theory,” Rose answered. “I can’t give you a definite answer since I have no experience with such an event. Regardless, my limitations for self improvement are tangential to the actual subject I wish to discuss with you. There is a reason why I need some of you to keep an eye on Alex during this mission.”
“And that is…?” Applejack asked while rolling a hoof, prompting Rose to proceed.
“As I’m sure you’ll recall, Alex uses a Brain-Computer Interface to interact with the Liandri network. This device monitors his brain activity to read his thoughts and interpret them as instructions. As should be no surprise, I’ve been monitoring his brain activity for quite some time now, and I’ve observed a number of anomalies that are becoming particularly concerning.”
“Anomalies?” Twilight asked, her curiosity overcoming her awkwardness of the previous topic and letting her finally look at Rose. “What do you mean when you say his brain has been having ‘anomalies?’ Do you mean he’s been thinking differently?”
Rose shrugged. “In a manner of speaking, yes, I suppose that’s one way to put it. However, it’s not a very accurate description. When I say ‘anomalies,’ I’m referring to brain-wave activity that differs unusually from the norm for some short period of time. It occurs suddenly and disappears suddenly. I’ve noted that his behavior changes during these periods as well. Nothing consistent across all cases, but more aggressive behavior and extremely short-lived headaches post-event seem to be the most common symptoms.
“As I said, these anomalies have been occurring for several months now, but they’ve been increasing in both frequency and duration ever since the Gala.” Rose brought her arms forward and crossed them, her eyes straying to the side. “It was a curiosity at first, but now it’s becoming a serious concern. I have no doubts that the search and destroy reparameterization orders are a result of these anomalies, and I’m afraid Alex is somehow destabilizing.”
Everypony blinked at her. “Uhh… What exactly do ya mean when you say he’s ‘destabilizin’?” asked Applejack, giving her a thousand yard stare.
“I think she means Alex is starting to go cuckoo for cocoa puffs,” Pinkie chimed, twisting her head AJ’s way.
Rose contorted her face at Pinkie before speaking. “Not exactly the words I would use, but yes, I’m afraid it might be a possibility.”
“Alright, so what do you want us to do about it?” Dash inquired, giving Rose a more than skeptical look.
Rose met her gaze. “All I need you to do is keep an eye on him; talk him out of doing anything rash. You can argue with him whenever I can’t. This is a very sensitive issue, so I need to collect more data before I’m able to approach him with this.”
“Wait, you haven’t told him yet?” blurted Rarity.
“Of course she hasn’t; Rose doesn’t know what’s going on yet,” Twilight muttered, rubbing her chin while her eyes zipped across the floor, as if her own thoughts were written on it. “She can’t just tell him he’s got something wrong with his brain that’s making him act funny. For all we know, that might make things worse.”
“Exactly,” Rose agreed, nodding to her. “This needs to be handled carefully. If it’s not, it might spiral out of control.” She then turned her attention to the group as a whole. “Now then: Alex and Shining Armor are already on their way to see how Applejack is doing, so let’s hurry this along. If any of you can, I need one pegasus, one unicorn, and one earth pony to join Alex on this mission.”
Dash automatically raised a hoof. “I’m in!”
Rose turned towards Fluttershy, who inched just that much more behind her mane. “Sh-she can go…”
“I’m not surprised…” said Rose, turning to the other four. “Anyone else?”
Rarity and Twilight exchanged glances for several seconds, and the latter nodded as the two came to a silent agreement. Twilight looked back over at Rose with focused eyes. “I’ll go too.”
Rose acknowledged her with a nod before turning to Applejack and Pinkie.
Pinkie shrugged while delivering her trademark grin. “Sure! Sounds like fun!”
“Now hang on a minute,” Applejack objected as she worked her way off the surgical table and slipped onto the floor next to Pinkie. “Ah know you’re tough n’ all, but Ah’m more of a fightin’ mare than you are, Pinkie. If anypony should be going, it should be me.” She nodded towards Rose. “Besides, it’s the least Ah can do to repay her for savin’ me earlier.”
Rarity trotted up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder, accompanied by a concerned look scrawled across her face. “Are you sure you’re up to it, Applejack? You did just come out of surgery, after all.”
Applejack matched her with a confident smile. “Ah might feel sore in places, Rares, but Ah feel as fit as a fiddle right now. Trust me.”
Rose placed her hands on her hips and smirked. “After all the effort I put into you, you should be.”
“Exactly! Ah—” AJ’s face suddenly blanked and she stared straight ahead. Without moving her head, her eyes screw up to Rose and she muttered. “That is the only thing you put in me, right?”
Rose raised a brow. “That goes without saying. Did you want me to put something else in you? A flashlight or a corkscrew perhaps?”
AJ quickly shook her head. “No! No, Ah just… Ah ain’t really comfortable with the idea of having metal bits inside me, ya know?”
Rose nodded. “I understand. Don’t worry, I didn’t add anything extra. In any event, Alex and Shining Armor are going to arrive within the next 10 seconds. I’ll be the one to tell him you’re volunteering. It’s vital that you do not bring up the anomalies I discussed—to anyone.”
Right on time, the door past the observatory’s window hissed open, and Alex came through, a somewhat pale Shining Armor in tow. Both were still loaded with their respective equipment, though they at least had to the decency to keep their helmets off their heads. His eyes continued to shine green, but the glow was faint and completely unnoticeable in the light. Alex planted himself against the window and gawked at Applejack and the patch-job done on her fur. She just smiled weakly and waved a hoof at him.
A thought went through the Liandri system and Alex’s voice projected into the room as he spoke. “Jesus H-bar, are you okay? You look like you went through a goddamn wood chipper.”
“Ah’m fine,” AJ sheepishly replied, waving her hoof as if to dispel the question entirely. “Just a little accident, is all.”
Alex’s incredulous look remained fixed on her for several seconds until he craned his head to look at Rose, who provided a more apt explanation. “Guy mistook her for a changeling.”
“Oh!” Alex sucked in a breath through his teeth while covering his mouth with a fist. “Fuck… I’m surprised you’re not dead…” He looked over at Guy, who remained knelt with Apple Bloom mounted on his neck and stared back at him with two blue circles for eyes. Alex creased his brow upwards. “Hey, uh… you feeling alright?”
“No.” Guy carefully shook his head, mindful of Apple Bloom who was still hugging it.
Alex sighed and brought his hand back down to his side. “Hey, don’t be like that. It’s not your fault. With all these changelings running around, anyone could’ve made that mistake.”
“Rose didn’t.”
He flashed a smile, though it just as quickly vanished. “Yeah, but… We’ve got the tech that can let us discriminate them. You don’t. Don’t worry about it, man. Accidents happen. This could’ve been really bad, but it wasn’t. Just…” Alex paused for a moment, searching for the words. “...try not to dwell on it, okay? She’s fine now. Look forward, not back.”
“Speaking of moving forward,” Rose announced, beckoning them in just as the door connecting the surgical room and the observatory opened, “I have some news with regards to the current operation.” Alex and Shining Armor moved in, and the rest of the Apple family followed suit, though by this point, the room began to get much too crowded. Rose ushered the trio of volunteer ponies forward and gestured towards them. “Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack have volunteered to join the search and rescue mission.”
“Wait, what?” blurted Shining Armor, while Alex’s eyes grew wide.
The human quickly held out his hands, turning his head constantly between them and Shining. “Okay no! No no no! No. No. Okay?” Alex focused on the AI’s physical self. “Look, I just told Shining Armor and his merry band of chucklefucks”—“Hey!”—“that we we’re doing this solo, and now you’re telling me that you’re alright with bringing his sister and friends along instead?”
“Yes,” Rose nodded, as if it were the most innocent situation in the world.
Alex, as still as a statue, continued to gawk at her for several prolonged seconds until he loudly demanded, “Why?”
“A multitude of reasons,” Rose quietly answered. “You know why we won’t work with Shining Armor and his guards on this operation: they’re rogue variables. We don’t know how they behave, and their ability to follow our orders is questionable at best. These three aren’t rogues. Of course, communication is another issue. Information distribution among Liandri is trivial, but we have no such method for the guards. However, I have already taken the liberty of assembling a set of prototype BioMechs for these three to use, solving both the communication and protection problems entirely. Plus, a pony presence would simplify corralling the Appleloosans.”
Alex frowned. “Wait, you went and built pony version of the BioMech…?”
Rose smiled. “Truth be told, they’re a pet project of mine. Although it does make the current situation easier.”
Bringing up a hand to rub his lowered head, Alex let out a frustrated huff. At this point, Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to speak her mind. “Hey, come on. We’re your friends! There’s no way we’re gonna leave you hanging and let you do something like this alone!”
In response, Alex pursed his lips and looked up at her, receiving an eye full of Dash’s usual confidence. Twilight and Applejack appeared just as confident and unyielding. He sighed; As much as he wanted to, no words emphasizing staunch refusal came to him.
Noticing the lack of a clear disapproval, Shining Armor practically yelled to get Alex’s attention. “You can’t be seriously considering this, are you?”
Alex let out a frustrated groan. “Rose… Fuck—Rose has a point. Bringing ponies would make getting the Appleloosans to work with us easier, and they are more predictable for us than the royal guard.” He sighed and shook his head once more. “And if Rose built power armor for them, then that solves every other problem too. God dammit…”
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this…” muttered Shining Armor as he brought a hoof up to massage his growing headache. “I… I honestly don’t know what to say to you right now. First you actively get in the way of the royal guard, now you’re bringing my own sister into this.”
“I’ll be fine, Shiny,” Twilight said as she trotted up to her brother and wrapped a loving foreleg around him. “Don’t worry. I promise: nothing bad will happen to me.”
“Wait, what’s going on?” asked Apple Bloom, who confusedly looked between them until her eyes settled on her sister. “Where are y’all goin’?”
Alex turned his attention towards the filly. “We’re launching a counterstrike against the changelings as soon as we can locate and confirm where their home base is. And apparently…” He lazily gestured towards Applejack. “...your sister volunteered to come along…”
“What?!” each Apple suddenly blurted. Apple Bloom’s eyes widened. “But AJ! You can’t just go! What about your leg?”
AJ gave her sister as comforting a smile as possible and rapped her hind hoof against the floor. “It’s fine now, sugar cube. Rose did a bang up job fixin’ me up. And… Ah’m sorry, but Ah feel like Ah gotta do this. Ah owe Rose a favor, and we got family in Appleloosa. Ah just can’t sit around while somepony else saves ‘em.”
Before Apple Bloom could sputter out any more words of objection, Guy brought both his hands up and picked her up off his neck. After gently setting his sister down, the Super-Heavy raised himself to his full height, head barely brushing against the ceiling, and looked straight to Alex with a pair of yellow eyes. “If Applejack is going, then I’m going too.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Alex cried as he threw his arms up and walked around in a circle. “Sure! Let’s just make this one big happy fucking party!” He stopped, faced Guy, and jabbed a finger at him. “No! Absolutely not! I’m already breaking all kinds of principles by letting Rose convince me that bringing them is a good idea. But I am not risking you!”
“I almost killed my sister today. I’m not going to let anypony hurt her like that again.” Guy tilted his head lower, and his voice shifted an octave deeper. “I’m going whether you want me to or not.”
Alex sighed and brought a hand up to cover his head. He spoke after a brief pause to collect his thoughts. “I fucking love you, Guy. I really do. Under any other circumstance I would applaud you. Hell, I would help you.” He turned his stern gaze up towards the looming cybernetic. “But this is not one of those times.”
“Now hold on a second, sugar cube,” Applejack interrupted, stepping towards them and facing Alex. “Guy can definitely hold his own. Ah don’t rightly see why he can’t come too.”
“Oh geez, where do I start?” said Alex as he threw his head up. “Okay, how about the same reason we refuse to work with the royal guard on this? Communication. Guy’s only form of communicating and receiving information is verbal—speaking. Every unit that’ll be deployed has to be able to transmit and receive a ton of information in real time, and we don’t exactly have the time to fashion equipment for him that’ll relay all of it without messing with his other sensors.”
He turned his full attention to Guy. “But the most important reason is the research that you are a key element of. I can count all the AIs that exist on this entire planet on one hand, and you’re one of them. You have no idea how essential you are to research on long term AI behavior, especially within a family setting. You’re staying, Guy. This isn’t up for debate.”
“Hey, dude,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Last time I checked, I could count the number of humans on this planet on one hoof.” She held up a hoof for emphasis, staring at it for a brief moment before turning a deadpan stare over Alex’s way. Her eyes said everything she needed to.
Alex jabbed a finger towards her. “Details, Dash! Our current plan needs mobility. As it stands, I’m fast and light, and so are you three. He isn’t. At best he’ll slow things down, at worst he’ll get us all killed.”
Guy leaned his head in towards Alex. “I’m staying with my sister.”
Arms and fingers curling up out of mounting frustration, Alex sneered and sharply inhaled through his nose. Before he could truly be set off, however, Rose stepped in to defuse him by placing a hand on his shoulder. “If I may… I think I have a solution. May I talk to you for a moment in private?”
Alex met her eyes and then quickly pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “Alright, sure. I’m listening…” Lowering his hand, the helmet of Alex’s armor folded up over his head. Once he was fully covered, the two stepped off to the side and began their silent conversation. Both made hand gestures to each other, though made no noise to speak of. Even Rose’s lips remained completely frozen.
With everyone quieted down, Shining finally took the opportunity to speak with his sister. Holding her shoulder at a foreleg’s length, he stared straight into her eyes. “Hey, why are you doing this, anyway?”
Twilight gave him a weak smile in return, she wrapped her fetlock around his and carefully pushed his foreleg to the floor. “It’s… complicated. It’s important, though. Just trust me on this.”
Shining frowned. “You: I trust. Them: not so much.”
“Well I do trust them. I don’t think they’d do anything that would put me in serious danger.”
Her brother leaned further in to whisper. “Then just be careful, okay? They don’t like doing things by the book, and if they do, it’s a book that they wrote. The kind of things that they’re capable of, they’re…” He clenched his eyes and gulped at the memory of the massacre above ground. “Just… Please. I don’t want to tell mom and dad that their daughter died doing her big brother’s job. Promise me.”
Twilight let out a short laugh and closed the gap between them with a hug. “I’ll be fine, Shiny. I promise.”
A minute after starting their talk, a sigh escaped Alex’s lips as he bent his head forward and his armored fingers massaged the top of his helmet. “Fuck… I really don’t want to have to do this to them, but…”
“It’s the best option,” Rose finished for him.
“Yeah…” Alex looked over at the Apples, finding each of their eyes on him, awaiting the results of their conversation. He bit his lip has he stared back, but eventually shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Alright, fuck—Let’s just get this over with.”
The two humanoids sauntered back towards the others and Alex’s helmet folded away once more. “Okay! So… We’ve decided that we’ll not only allow Guy to come along, but we’ll also do what we can to equip and prepare him.” Just as eyes began to light up and smiles began to form, Alex’s finger shot up. “If he can pass a single test of ours.” His eyes met Guy’s. “One fight in the testing arena. You versus one other bot. Hand to hand combat. If you win, you get our endorsement. If you lose, your ass is staying right here. What do you say?”
“Bring it on!” Apple Bloom cheered, hopping in front of her titanic brother.
“Whoa, now hold on a sec, sugar cube,” Applejack interrupted, holding a hoof in front of her sister. “This ain’t your decision.”
Guy looked down at his sisters briefly before he moved his eyes back towards Alex, turning them red as he did. His arms came up and he threw a punch into his palm, clapping metal against metal. “Bring it on.”
Alex’s lips curled upwards into a smirk, and his eyes began to glow more brightly. “I was hoping you’d say that…”