Chapter 47: Desperate Times, Stupid Measures
Twilight sipped some tea with a smile. She watched as SMARTIE was about to capture Sweetie. The retrieval unit had performed well so far, and should soon be securing Sovereign once Sweetie was dealt with. Then Sweetie Belle teleported out of sight, followed by static as the retrieval unit shut down. Twilight spat her tea out as she lost the picture. “What the hell happened?!” she shouted.
“The retrieval unit went offline,” answered Spike.
“Wow! Really? I couldn’t tell. Now how about telling me why the hell my retrieval unit is offline! Better yet, fix it!” demanded Twilight.
“Roger that Twilight. Powering up secondary systems,” said Spike “While the unit is rebooting, please take this moment to fill out a brief survey on your overall satisfaction with the quality of-”
“Shut up!” interrupted Twilight.
As much pain as she was in, Sweetie Belle managed to limp over to Sovereign. She was in absolute disbelief as she saw his body ripped in half on the ground. This isn’t supposed to happen… you’re supposed to live.
A loud explosion came from outside as the ground shook. The shaking ground caused some of the blood puddle to stain her hoof. Tears began to form again. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t contemplate his death. She was supposed to be able to protect her friends. That's what she did back at the cave. Why couldn’t she do it here?
Sweetie heard screams coming from behind her. She looked over to see Apple Bloom shouting in rage, waving her one good hoof uncontrollably into the air. Sweetie realized what she was doing to her friends. She needed to calm herself down before she drove Apple Bloom and Scootaloo into a state of permanent insanity. She wanted to sing to calm down, but she just couldn’t bring herself to. All she could do was take deep breaths and try her best to relax. In time, Apple Blooms breathing slowed down, and she eventually regained her composure.
Scootaloo reentered the parking lot again, her fur and armor covered in the blood of Sovereign’s murderer. “I got her. There is nothing left of that pink bitch but a smoking crater,” she declared. She gazed at Apple Bloom laying down on the floor and helped her back on her wheel chair. “What happened?” she asked. “Last I recall I was looking at Jet Stream and… oh no! Jet Stream!”
“What about her?” asked Apple Bloom.
“She’s… Jet Stream is dead,” said Scootaloo with a crack in her voice. Scootaloo looked over to Sweetie who was still silently crying in front of Sovereign's bisected body. “How did… Sweetie… I’m so sorry.”
Sweetie wiped the tears from her eyes. “We… we can’t do anything for them now. Grab Apple Bloom. I already met Rainbow Dash and Rain Sight. They’ve been knocked unconscious, but they’ll be alright. We need to get them loaded on board Tom so we can escape.”
“Who is going to pilot Tom?” asked Apple Bloom. “Jet Stream is dead remember?”
“We’ll need to find a way to wake Rain Sight. She has experience piloting shuttles. I’m sure she can figure it out,” said Sweetie Belle.
Scootaloo helped Apple Bloom get back onto her wheel chair. As the crusaders were about to make their way back upstairs, Apple Bloom asked, “What about Sovereign and Jet Stream?”
Sweetie didn’t want to think about. The image of that pink mare ripping Sovereign in half like that would probably haunt her for the rest of her life. “I’m too injured to help carry anyone up to Tom. Scootaloo is going to have to do it on her own, and that means three trips. We might not have time for bodies. Come on, we need to leave.”
Apple Bloom couldn’t believe Sweetie’s coldness. True they didn’t want to stay on this world any longer than they had too, but how could Sweetie dismiss Sovereign's corpse so easily? Apple Bloom would never leave her body behind… that one time in the cave excluded. She gazed at Sovereign one more time as she passed.
His face wasn’t one of anguish, as painful as it must have been. Nor one of fear. It was one of simple acceptance and surrender. He and Apple Bloom both knew they were going to die down here. She couldn’t help but wonder, why him and not her? It was a stupid thing to think about, but the image of that pink mare murdering him in such a gruesome manner would scar her memories forever.
“Secondary systems are now online. Rebooting now,” informed Spike. “Program SMARTIE PANTS has recovered from an unexpected shutdown. Would you like to send an error report?”
“Spike! Turn on the damn robot!” demanded Twilight.
“Very well Twilight,” complied Spike. “Processing… I’m sorry but I could not process your request.”
“What?! Why not?!” asked Twilight.
“Whatever damaged the retrieval unit also damaged the AI module,” informed Spike.
While the robot was still disabled, the screen had come back online. She could see the reaper who she had sent to kill Apple Bloom was now carrying her back upstairs, with Sweetie following behind. Her assets were escaping.
Twilight began to panic as her plans fell apart before her. “It’s fine… it’ll all be fine. The day isn’t over yet… but it will be soon!” Twilight let out a grunt. “It’ll all be over! My carefully laid out plans, my promotion to Admiral and Director of Dominion Intelligence!” Twilight looked at her reflection on Spike's cockpit window. “No no! You’re a good agent, you can do this!”
“Ohh… but what if I can’t?!” asked her reflection.
“You can!” shouted Twilight. “You just have to keep it together. Keep. It. Together!”
“Umm, Twilight. Are you talking to... yourself?” asked Spike. “Twilight? Twiiiliiiiight. Snap out of it!”
Twilight’s finally returned to her senses. “What?! What happened?”
“Well, while you were having a psychotic episode, Rain Sight woke back up and wobbled away to meet up with the others,” answered Spike.
“Damn it!” shouted Twilight. “The clock is ticking Twilight, the clock is ticking. Keep it together! If I can’t activate the retrieval units AI, I’ll be the AI! Spike! Activate the neural interface!”
Spike opened a compartment revealing a helmet. “Warning, use of the neural interface is still very experimental. Long term use could cause irreversible brain damage leading to loss of motor skill, amnesia, eye sight-”
“Blah blah blah! Just shut up and turn it on!” ordered Twilight as she put the helmet on.
“If you insist,” complied Spike.
As the system activated, Twilight immediately passed out, falling to her side and knocking over a tea pot. Her body than began to twitch rapidly. “Umm… Twilight. Can you still hear me?” asked Spike. “Twilight? Twiiiilliiiiight.”
Twilight inspected her surroundings as she adjusted to her new robotic body. “Well, it looks like the neural interface was a complete success. Spike, how is my real body?”
Spike's internal camera revealed her husk was currently undergoing violent spasms as she drooled uncontrollably. The searing hot tea pot she had knocked over was rubbing against her twitching leg. “Uh, I really think you should reconsider this course of action,” replied Spike.
“Excellent! Now let’s go kick some equus ferus caballus ass!” cheered Twilight. The retrieval unit began moving through the halls towards the rooftop.
Sweetie was struggling to keep up with Scootaloo. The pain in her chest seemed to worsen with each step. Finally she stopped to catch her breath.
“Sweetie do you need us to wait for a while?” asked Apple Bloom.
“No!” she replied. “Just keep going without me. I’ll catch up.”
“We’re not leaving you behind again,” said Scootaloo.
“You carry her, I’ll push the wheel chair,” said Rain Sight. The crusaders turned around to see Rain Sight had caught up. She was walking on two legs wearing a set of gloves.
“Good to see you woke up. Where did you get the gloves?” asked Apple Bloom.
“One of the surgery rooms had a set,” answered Rain Sight. “They aren’t heavy duty, but they should be able to push the chair. Rainbow is still unconscious, but she should be alright. It seems you took care of that robot just fine Sweetie. Say... where are Sovereign and Jet Stream?”
The crusaders went quiet for a moment. “Who is going to tell her?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Tell me what?” asked Rain Sight. “Oh no! Are they…”
“I’m so sorry Rain,” said Sweetie. “We’ll talk about this later. First we need to get everyone to the shuttle.”
It took everything it had for Rain Sight not to break down in tears when she heard her husband was dead, especially mere hours after her own father's death. True the marriage was a shame, but she did like to think they were still friends at least.
“We are going back for the body’s right?” asked Rain Sight.
“If there is time,” said Sweetie.
“Yes we are,” Scootaloo insisted. With how horribly she treated Jet Stream at first, she owed her sister a proper farewell.
“Thank you,” said Rain Sight. She began to push Apple Bloom while Scootaloo carried Sweetie. “How did he die?” asked Rain Sight.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” answered Sweetie.
“Please, I need to know,” begged Rain Sight.
“I don’t want to talk about it!” shouted Sweetie.
“I’m sorry,” replied Rain Sight. “I know it must have been hard to watch.”
“I don’t want to retrieve the body either,” added Sweetie.
“What?!” shouted Rain Sight.
“Sweetie you loved him,” said Apple Bloom. “Why would you want to leave him down there?”
“I don’t want anything to remind me of what happened alright! I don’t want to see him like… like that,” said Sweetie with a cracked voice. “I just want to focus on the time we had together. I want to leave this world and I never think about what happened today ever again. Is that so much to ask for?!”
“I’m sorry,” said Rain Sight. “I didn’t know it would upset you so much. I won’t ask again.”
Not much else was said as they finally reached the rooftop. Fortunately everyone was wearing either armor or a coat this time, so they didn’t freeze to death outside. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were laid on the bunks, while Rain Sight began preparations for takeoff.
“I’ll get the ship started,” said Rain Sight. “I haven’t flown this particular model, but it looks similar enough to other ships I’ve piloted.”
“I’m going back for Rainbow then,” said Scootaloo. “I don’t think you’ll be able to carry anyone clad in power armor anyway.”
“What about Sovereign?” asked Rain Sight. “I know what Sweetie Belle said, but these people dump their dead in the snow and feed them to zerg from what I’ve seen. I don’t want that happening to Sovereign.”
“I’ll see about getting him back,” said Scootaloo.
“Thanks, that’s all I ask,” said Rain Sight.
Scootaloo stepped outside to make her way back into the hospital. As approached the door, she heard something coming from downstairs. Scootaloo readied both of her pistols and slowly made her way down. She turned a corner to find a strange sight. Some kind of small vehicle was stuck at the bottom of the stairwell. It appeared to be a platform of sorts with two tracks for locomotion.
It looked as if something were attached to it at one point. As she moved in closer to investigate, a large robot smashed through the wall. It was SMARTIE, but this time the robot had four mechanical legs since detaching from its tracked platform. Scootaloo moved just in time to avoid a blast from its stun cannon.
“I remember you! Scootaloo you were supposed to kill Apple Bloom for me. What happened to that killer instinct of yours?” asked the robot.
Scootaloo had no clue what it was talking about, nor did she care. She opened fire on it, but quickly found her pistols were ineffective against its thick armor. The robot pointed its shoulder mounted minigun at her and prepared to fire. Scootaloo hit her jets and charged through a door to dodge the attack. The robot however continued firing and sent a barrage straight through the wall into the room. Scootaloo was quick to duck as the hail of metal flew overhead.
“Scootaloo? Are you dead yet?” asked Twilight in a robotic voice. She smashed through the wall getting ready to blow the Iron Feather apart. Instead she stepped over a C4 charge that detonated, leaving one of her legs heavily damaged.
“Hey! This thing’s expensive!” complained Twilight. She fired a missile at Scootaloo who again dodged and fled down the hallway. Twilight limped over to the tracked platform and mounted it again, then began chasing her down the hall.
She was ambushed as Scootaloo used her jets to smash through a wall and latch onto her back. She planted another C4 on her back, then flew off right before detonating it. Scootaloo turned around, confident the robot was destroyed in the explosion, but it remained mostly unscathed, save some damage done to the back armor plating.
“You’re lucky robots can’t feel pain,” said Twilight. “Otherwise I might considering making your death especially painful.” Twilight again fired her minigun, and again Scootaloo flew away. But this time Twilight expected that and fired a missile towards the direction Scootaloo was flying. Scootaloo barely dodged the missile, but the blastwave still hit her. She was lucky her armor absorbed the blast. Had it hit her head, things would have been different.
As she started getting back on her feet, the robot grabbed her with its right claw. “I take back what I said about not making your death painful.” Twilight lifted her and began smashing her against the walls and the floor. Scootaloo tried to respond, but every time she tried to form a thought, she felt another surge of pain as the robot slammed her again and again.
The shoulder mounted minigun was now pointed down towards her head as she was still pinned on the ground. “I feel like I should monologue before I kill you. Say something to taunt you before you die. Oh well.”
Scootaloo closed her eyes as she waited for the final sound of gun fire. She heard it alright, but it wasn’t the minigun.
Rainbow Dash had awoken and was unloading her pistols into its back. With the back armor plating weakened, the gauss pistols managed to damage the robot's plating. Twilight released the Iron Feather and turned around only to find a flash of red fly over her head, and again latch itself onto her back. Rainbow shoved a C4 into the crack in her armor, grabbed Scootaloo, and then flew off.
Twilight knew what the reaper had done to her. Once Rainbow was a good distance, she would detonate the C4 from inside the plating. “Spike! Disconnect the neural link! Spike… SPIKE! For the love of god, disconnect the damn neural-”
As the robot exploded, Twilight's mind was ejected out of her robotic body back into her real body. She let out a loud scream from the mental agony she had just suffered, then another scream as the pain from her burning tea pot rubbing against her leg registered. After she stopped screaming, she shouted, “Spike! What the hell was that?! I said to disconnect the neural link!”
“The retrieval unit’s com went out from that barrage of gun fire. I didn't get that last message,” explained Spike.
Twilight wanted to shout some more, but she suddenly got a painful migraine, followed by a bloody nose. She wobbled over to the shuttles medical room and ordered, “Spike, do a scan. Is there anything wrong with me?”
“Scanning… picking up unusual brain activity,” reported Spike. “Looks like intense anger, paranoia, obsessive compulsive behavior, and schizophrenia.”
“Damn it. It looks like the neural link did some damage after all,” commented Twilight.
“I don’t think so Twilight. According to my readings, it’s all pre-existing,” corrected Spike.
“Oh piss off!” complained Twilight. She dropped to her knees as the migraine intensified. “Are you sure there isn’t anything wrong?”
“It did cause a bit of mental strain. You’re lucky you have a strong will. This could have put a lesser pony into a coma,” said Spike. “Also it looks like you’re about to pass out for a bit.”
“I don’t feel like I’m about to-”
“You alright kid?” asked Rainbow as she set her down.
Scootaloo’s vision was still a bit blurry, but she was able to make out Rainbow’s image. “I’m still seeing double, but I’ll be fine. It’s Jet Stream that-”
“I’ll worry about her. You just get back to Tom alright? Do you have any idea where she is?” asked Rainbow
“Rainbow that’s just it. She’s dead,” said Scootaloo.
Rainbow froze as she heard those words. She got up and approached the wall, then punched it so hard she dented the concrete. “What the hell happened!? Who did this?! She was with you! Why didn’t you take care of her?!”
A tear flowed down Scootaloo’s face as Rainbow yelled at her. “I’m so-” she paused. Apologizing wouldn’t make things right. “I don’t know who did this Rainbow, but I’ll help you find them. We're going to make them pay. For now the least we can do is recover her body. I’ll take you to her.”
Rainbow took a deep breath. “How did she die?”
“There was a shuttle outside. I’ve never seen a shuttle like it, but it was killing off all of the Diamond Dog’s. The Iron Feathers were about to blow it out of the sky, but someone started shooting them. Jet Stream was wearing their armor to help blend in, but it also drew the attention of the sniper. She died alongside the others,” explained Scootaloo. She left out the part where she distracted Jet Stream which led to her demise.
“Did you get a look at the sniper?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“No I didn’t. Next thing I know, someone is in my head. I don’t know what happened afterwards. When I came too, I was down stairs in front of Apple Bloom, Sweetie and Sovereign… Sovereign was dead as well,” said Scootaloo.
“You said someone was in your head?” asked Rainbow. A ghost. Besides Sweetie, there is only one other ghost on Cadia right now. “Twilight.”
“What makes you think Twilight did it?” asked Scootaloo.
“Ghost aren’t allowed on this planet. Twilight is only here because she’s connected to Shining Armor for some reason. She’s also the one that got Sweetie through security. Unless you’re telling me that Sweetie is the one who mind raped you, that only leaves Twilight,” concluded Rainbow.
“I guess you’re right. At least now we know who needs to die. I know Jet and I were off to a rough start, but I really did like her,” said Scootaloo.
“I know you did,” replied Rainbow. “She kept telling me you were a sister to her you know? Do you feel the same way about her?” asked Rainbow.
Scootaloo nodded. “I just wish I’d told her that when I had the chance. Twilight has to die for this.”
“She will,” promised Rainbow. “If Jet Stream could call you a sister, then so can I. We’re going to make Twilight pay.”
“We could take away something dear to her,” suggested Scootaloo. “An eye for an eye. I want her to know what it’s like to lose something precious first. Then she can die.”
Rainbow Dash smiled at the younger mare, and even embraced her in a hug. “We’ll see. Let’s get our other sister first. We’re not leaving her to rot on this icicle.”
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I was actually expecting Twi to say " Well, everything seems normal then"
And well...At least no one died in this chapter......
3227674 You racist bastard! Badly named robots are people too!
I must say I am loving Spike. It would be a real pleaser to see him turn on Twilight(maybe after AB had a little 'chat' with him). So I am to take it that they will be hightailing out ASAP, and if they are debating about taking two bodies that are very close in proximity, they will not be looking for one other body. I like how you portray everyone, but I'm having a hard time feeling Rain's feels about loosing her dad. Maybe there will be a more descriptive paragraph about how everyone is holding up next chapter?
Awesome chapter
I want to see twilight burn in Holy fire.
So all we havent seen twilight do is kick a puppy.
Damn, I want to see both Twilight and Pinkie dies horribly for the things they commited...
And I also want a Rarity, rebel's leader, controling the legendary Hyperion. (A man can wish)
4927043 Well, not all of the mane 6 are villains in this story. Rarity and Applejack are confirmed to have grown up on Mar Sara along with the rest of the Crusaders and Rainbow Dash is on the same team as the Crusaders.
As for the Hyperion...well, you'll find out soon enough.