Derpibra found a desk that appeared to bear cabinets. With only a slight hesitation of his hoof, he pulled the door open. To his relief, nothing was inside-- nothing alive at least. He reached inside and pulled out a badge that held Optix’ picture. The badge itself has long since dulled, but the photo seemed relatively okay in comparison.
He observed the once mighty medallion, on its face bearing the military mare’s name.
Hm… looks like some kind of service badge. Has the abbreviation “EO” on it. Wait, but isn’t Optix against the EO?
“Optix?”
“Yeah? Find anything?”
“Some kinda badge. Look.” He flashed it in her direction.
“That’s my service badge for the EO. I used to work for them, but they did some shit that they’ll regret. That’s why I left-- I left because I feel they had something to do with my parent’s disappearance.”
Interesting. Maybe I should hold on to this thing. Might look nice on my wall. He deposited the badge in the saddlebag that Twilight gave him on his first visit to Ponyville.
Looking off to his right, he spotted Rainbow Dash checking some of the higher shelves in the room.
“Hey Derpi? Come help me check these crates out.” The Rainbow mare requested.
“Sure.” His wings carried him to the higher shelves. He had a selection of about five battered crates to search through. He randomly chose the one to the farthest left, and began his search.
He opened the wooden flap, revealing a stock of dusty piles of styrofoam. He tossed the foams over his shoulders as the pile began to recede down the box. Once the floor of the container became visible, a strange object was found within.
A cylinder of glass, with two caps of metal on either side, outfitted with wires at its center.
“Optix, what’s this thing?”
She squinted her eyes. “Eh… never seen that thing before. Probably a contraption that my parents built ages ago. Twi, big brain? You know what that is?”
“Let me see…”
Derpibra used his magic to levitate the strange object over to Twilight.
“Hmm… Optix, no way…!”
“What?”
“This is a flux capacitor! These are extremely rare in Equestria! These are the types of things you see in Sci-fi movies.”
“Isn’t that what ponies use to warp to different planets?” Derpibra asked.
“Yes! Or… at least it is a component of a warp drive. How did you know?”
“There’s this video game I play called Destiny that has that sort of thing. I’ll tell you all about it when everyone is not so tense.”
“I would be interested to. But yes, assuming it works, we might be able to make Equestria’s first Jumpship!”
Optix snorted. “Maybe. But let’s focus on what we need to-”
“FOUND IT!” Shouted Pinkie Pie.
“You found the key?”
“Yuparooni!”
Twilight deposited the strange device in her bag. “Good job Pinkie. Let’s try the key then.”
The party pony slipped the key in and the rotating cogs began to turn clockwise, then locked in place. The chains fell to the floor with a heavy thump, kicking up dust.
“Alright, let’s see what’s in this thing.” Optix pulled out the wooden platform, revealing a document protected by a case. She carefully lifted the glass away, leaving the bare paper exposed. She picked it up, and her eyes ran across its face. Her eyes grew wider with every word she read.
“Our dearest daughters…
They know of our invention, something to further Equestria. The ability to travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Something that I, your father, have been working on since I was in grade school. The Optix Special Grade Flux Bullet Drive, or the OSGFBD-1.0. Your mother always thought I was crazy for attempting something for so long, and often times saw me becoming stressed with the project, just as often suggesting I should stop. But I remained adamant. Now, it is mostly complete. But it is only part of the puzzle. Optix, as your father, Calibre, I relinquish to you the rights of my drive. Finish it. Be the first to bring Equestria to space.”
“That’s what that thing was. A long finished piece to the puzzle that my father wanted to complete. Damn… but why me? I don’t know much about quantum physics or whatever it’s called. I only know enough to make lasers fly out of things.” Optix felt a hoof rest on her shoulder. She turned to see that it was Twilight’s.
“That’s why you have friends. We can help you finish what your father couldn’t.”
“Thanks Big Brain. But one thing isn’t right though.”
“Hm?”
“The letter doesn’t explain what happened to him or mother.”
“Did you check the back?”
She glanced the back end of the page, but found nothing but white. “We spent all this damn time cracking this shit open… did any of you find any other documents?”
Everyone shook their heads except for Ice Breaker.
“Hold up. I haven’t seen you do a damn thing since you been here.”
“I helped you find your sister. That is what I agreed to. I am not at all obligated to help you find your parents. That is your affair, not mines.”
“You really are a heartless bastard. Only reason your ass helped me find my sis is because Twilight offered you a place in her library.”
“You’re not entirely deficient.” He scoffed. “You have a brain under all of that cavlar you’re wearing.”
“You better watch yourself when you sleep.”
“FOUND IT!”
“Pinkie, this place echoes. Stop screaming please?” Rarity noted.
“Whoopsie. Anyhow, I found a one of those other papers!”
Optix gave her a strange look. “Where did you find that?”
“Under the bookcase!”
“But how did you lift that…? Ah, nevermind. What does it say?”
“Me and your mother, Scopera… they found us. Locked in the basement, no way out. We will fight with our last bits of strength. We type this with our old typewriter…
We don’t know what they’ll do to us now that we gunned down so many of their stallions and mares. But it’s like we are an army of two, against millions. We won’t survive. They will take us.
We love you Optix. Promise us one thing, one final time: take care of your younger s”
The rest of the letter was stained by aged blood.
“The letter stopped there.” Pinkie said depressingly. “I-I’m sorry…”
“There’s no way… they didn’t… it can’t…!” Optix began to have trouble breathing. She unhooked herself from her wheelchair and fell to her forehooves. She took out her light machine gun and used it to crawl.
“What are you doing?” Derpibra asked with a worried tone.
“This. Will. Not. Go. ON! I will murder them all! They killed them, they took them! They left two little girls as orphans! Sons of bitches!”
“Don’t go out there like that! Your hooves still haven’t recovered from Dragon Isle!”
“I don’t give a fuck! I will kill them all, with, or without you!”
Derpibra went to pick her up, but she shoved him back with her magic.
“You. Assholes! I won’t have this… none of it! You all will die!”
“Optix… stop.” Fluttershy reached out to the crippled mare, but she was met at gunpoint.
“Come any closer, and the Harmony you all share will be discord.”
Fluttershy, tears in her eyes, stepped down, allowing the mare to crawl through the door and out to the truck. She fired up the engine and roared down the road, leaving the group stranded.
“Should we go after her?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Yes!” Twilight said. “We need to stop her before she does something that might get her killed!”