//------------------------------//
// Interlude-visions of the future 
// Story: A Rarity of a soldier 
// by Lon35hadow 
//------------------------------//

	"What?" Spike was the first to verbalize his reply to what Twilight had said.

"You heard me," Twilight said. "Sometime in the future, something will attack Equestria and burn just about all of it to the ground, leaving just about no one alive."

"B-but how?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know," the lavender alicorn replied. "I can tell you what I saw though."

"Well, don't keep us in suspense," Shining said.

"Well, it started with what I just said," the alicorn said. "But after about ten in dream seconds, it transitioned to, well. . .something I can't really describe entirely, but I'll try. What I saw there was thirty two different beings- some on two legs, others on four- that were for the most part shadowed out except for what I can guess are details to help find them, which I'll write down later. Among them were Rarity, Nightmare, me, Diamondback, and Heretic."

"So you guys are part of a group of chosen heroes, then?" Sweetie asked. "Anypony else think cliche."

"May be, but that's how it works," Rarity said. "And those details? I'm the one who saw them, not Twilight. My eye for detail, I imagine, and I did see truly magnificent designs."

"Save it for later, Rarity," Twilight said. "In short, we only know that we're in the group, not whoever else it is."

"Twilight, Rarity, you're getting off topic," Nightmare told them.

"Oh, sorry," Twilight said with a small blush on her face. "Along with the group of thirty two, there was another group of twelve- we could tell they were a different group by the fact they were separated physically- along with two somethings that they may have been facing. One with six red eyes, and another with rainbow wings, which is to say the feathers became a rainbow if not were made out of a rainbow. And yes, the group of twelve has distinguishing factors as well, though we couldn't see anything specific."

"Hey, uh, while you aren't tellin' the story, mind if ah ask ya something?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, go ahead," Jacob said.

"Well, ah remember Twi saying her teleportation caused that Cortana girl to get a new body, but don't she have an A.I.I like she was?"

"You're wondering why Arion doesn't have a physical body," Twilight said. "Simple: I just have a fragment of him, not the core. With Cortana, it was the core. Far as I can tell, it's because fragments are just portions of the A.I.. They may be in contact with the core, but they aren't a part of the core due to physical limitations. Fragments don't get transformed because of the fact they aren't the full intelligence. Sure, it may act like one, but you have to remember A.I. process data who knows how many times faster than any organic brain, and are able to have a conversation in a manner of seconds for us, but potentially hours for them."

"Uh. . ."

"It's because it's not the central part," Twilight summarized.

"Oh," Applejakc said. "Ah'm jus' gonna assume that's right."

"It is, trust me," Arion said from Twilight's armor systems. "It's one of the few things about A.I.s ONI doesn't know because Twilight discovered that little fact, and kept it secret."

"So, is there any other part of the vision you could make out?" Rainbow asked.

"Just that the scene after it seemed like Equis being rebuilt," Twilight said. "Other than those parts, nothing major, really. So, you guys want us to get back to the story?"

"If you don't mind," Spike said.

"Then let's continue."