Act 2 Part 9 - Nightmare
“I have to go. They’re waiting for me.”
The blonde woman dressed in drab green smiled at him, but it was a sad smile. One that filled him with pain. He wanted to say something. To tell her not to leave, or even to ask to come with her, but he couldn’t say anything. All he could do was stand there in silence and watch as the beautiful blonde woman slipped away from him.
“And don’t worry, you’ll see me again.”
It was a lie. He already knew how this story ended. After all, this was just a nightmare. The same one he’d been having for years. It wasn’t his nightmare, yet he’d inherited it all the same. As the woman in uniform continued to look at him with her sad, beautiful blue eyes, he could see the other in his mind’s eye.
The true owner of this nightmare lived on its fringes. The other clutched his cobalt blue head and screamed in agony, begging the torment to stop. Yet another was standing just off to the side in the corner of his eye. A tall, dark equine figure with an ethereal mane like the night sky. That’s different… He paid the figure no mind, though. The woman in front of him and the cries of the other held his attention.
“His vitals are changing,” a woman’s voice echoed in the distance. It wasn’t the one in front of him. “Doctor, I think he’s coming to!”
“Just don’t say goodbye,” the woman in front of him continued as if the other voices weren’t there.
“Alert the Princess, now!” A male’s voice this time, full of authority and urgency.
“I hate goodbyes…”
Washington opened his eyes and winced. It took some time to adjust to the brightness of the room, but he was soon able to see that he was lying in some sort of clean white medical facility. A nearby heart monitor was beeping fast, but slowed as the nightmare drifted back into the dark depths of his subconscious from whence it came. It had been years since Epsilon had killed itself while implanted in Washington’s head, but its memories continued to haunt him.
With a groan, Washington sat upright and took a look around. The first thing Washington noticed was that he wasn’t wearing his helmet. Suddenly feeling very vulnerable, Washington scanned the room and quickly spotted the gray helmet with its yellow stripe looking at him from the bedside table. He hastily grabbed it and put it on, feeling instantly more calm and collected.
Only when his face was safely concealed again did Washington take in his surroundings. His spacious bed was the only one in the rather large room. The rest of it was filled with various machines, none of which were familiar. This isn’t a Freelancer facility, Washington realized. It was then that he remembered where exactly he was.
“You haven’t aged well, Washington,” a warm, motherly voice addressed him to his left.
Despite everything, Washington found a grin creeping across his face as he swung his legs out to sit on the edge of the bed to address his company. “And you…”
Washington’s retort was halted at the sight of the radiant white alicorn in front of him. “Actually, you look pretty much exactly the same, Princess.”
Celestia smiled and gave a friendly chuckle, “I get that a lot.”
The Princess stepped into the room followed by a few of her little unicorns in white coats. The doctors insisted on running some checks on him, but Washington waved them off. It was unnecessary; his HUD displayed his vitals as within acceptable deviations. He’d lived through worse.
“It’s good to see you again, your Highness,” Washington said, standing.
“Likewise, Washington. How’s York?”
Washington froze as he recalled his old comrade’s fate. That had been the hardest part of being a Recovery Agent: cleaning up his friends. Washington debated whether he should tell the Princess about their fate, but from the sudden change in her mood, it would seem she made the connection on her own.
“And North?” Celestia asked.
Washington let out a breath and shook his head.
“I’m so sorry…” she said, stepping closer.
“It’s okay. Their problems with Project Freelancer are over.” If only he was that lucky.
“On that note, I hear you helped my student Twilight against some of our mutual friends in the program,” Celestia said. “I imagine this was against direct orders from your superiors.”
Washington nodded. “I’m done playing along with the Director’s game. I have been for some time.”
Princess Celestia studied him for a while. As always, she seemed to be considering many different things to reach some conclusion. Washington found himself thinking back to the strange dark blue alicorn he saw in his dream and wondered just how much Celestia really knew about him.
“That is good,” Celestia said once she came to whatever decision she was making, “because I need your help with something.”
“I’m listening...”
It had been a long twelve hour drive from Sidewinder, during which there had been few stops. Once Church and the two ponies accompanying him had left the freezing snowy mountains for more temperate terrain, the girls in question had requested they stop and take a break. Church agreed, based partially on the fact that Pinkie Pie was getting restless, and a restless Pinkie Pie meant no end of pain in the form of sing-alongs and games of I Spy.
Church just sat around and checked the sights on his sniper rifle while Pinkie and Applejack grazed, drank from a nearby stream and later decided to clean off the black stuff from the teleporter. As he watched the two mares wash each other in the running water, Church couldn’t help but wonder with some disgust whether he was watching some male pony’s fantasy. It was around that time he had shouted at them to hurry up so they could get going.
The pair of ponies had curled up and slept the rest of the drive over. As the sun began to come up the next morning, they were awoken by a distant thunderous crack followed by a distant blue light shooting into the sky.
“What ‘n tarnation was that?” Applejack asked as she lifted her hat and rubbed her eyes.
“Hopefully our destination,” Church answered.
They continued driving past streams and towering pines until even the all terrain Warthog could go no further. From there, the three hoofed it down the side of the mountain between thick clusters of rocks and trees until they reached the top of one of the valley’s walls. Church saw the resemblance to his own canyon immediately, but he couldn’t deny: this place was way nicer.
While Blood Gulch had been a bleak, brown place with a couple of bare trees as the only signs of life, the canyon below him now was much greener. This “Valhalla” was sparsely forested with more tall pine trees and lush bushes. There were a few rocky outcroppings in the center of the canyon and a shallow stream snaked its way from one end to the other. It was fed by a waterfall on one side and emptied into the ocean on the other.
Even the Red and Blue bases themselves looked prettier. Instead of the drab, single-story concrete structures Blood Gulch featured, the bases here were made of a fine, smooth metal. A tall tower rose from each base, firing a large blue spark into the air at intermittent times. There also appeared to be no safe way to climb down, as the valley was surrounded by sheer cliff walls on all sides but the one that opened up to the ocean.
Church was eventually able to find a slope leading down into a cave just outside the canyon wall, and soon enough that cave let them out just beside the base that was up against the end of the canyon with the waterfall beside it. A pair of soldiers in blue armor ran to greet them.
“Halt! Who goes there?” One asked.
“Just me: another Blue like yourself! I’m hoping to talk to whoever’s in charge here,” Church answered. When the other Blues looked at his two companions, he added to that statement. “Oh yeah, and these two are my traveling companions, Applejack and Pinkie Pie.”
“Howdy!” Applejack greeted with a dip of her stetson.
“Hi!” Pinkie Pie waved so hard her arm might very well have come off.
“And what about you?” The blue soldier asked.
“Oh, I’m Private Leonard Church.”
The Blue soldier took a step forward and scrutinized Church intensely while his partner kept his weapon trained on him.
“And is that your true name?”
Church took a step back. “What?”
“Answer the question!”
“Yes! I’m Church!”
The other Blue studied Church for another moment before relenting. “Okay. I’ll take you to see the Lieutenant.”
Church, Pinkie and Applejack all followed the Blue around the base to a ramp at the back leading up to the top. An important looking man in blue armor with green detail stood up front, looking out over the canyon like a captain at the helm of his ship. He was a portly man and didn’t quite seem to fit his armor.
“Lieutenant! I have a new Blue soldier, along with two strange creatures,” the blue soldier reported.
“Are you sure he’s not indoctrinated?” The lieutenant asked; he spoke with a smooth, deep voice.
“I checked. He seems okay.”
“Ah, so you’re reinforcements then?” The Blue lieutenant turned around to face them. Church was immediately shocked at the sight of what appeared to be a full bush of dark red hair growing out of the bottom of his helmet: a truly mighty beard.
“I’m the Commanding Officer of Outpost 17-B: Lieutenant Jackson Patterson Ilo. Most just call me Jack,” he said in his smooth deep voice. Church thought he could have been a radio DJ, or a strip club announcer.
“Sorry to disappoint ya Jack, but we ain’t here to help ya win yer battle,” Applejack said.
“But we can throw a party to boost morale!” Pinkie offered.
Jack looked down at Applejack and Pinkie in surprise. “What the Hell are these?”
“It’s a long story,” Church said, “but it would really help us if you’ve seen any more of them, or know anyone who has.”
Jack shook his head. “No, I haven’t heard anything about small horses from anyone.” Jack then stroked his beard in thought. “Although… maybe the new soldier who popped up in the Red Base has seen something. He did apparently mention something about unicorns…”
“New soldier?”
“Yes, my inside man told me a soldier just arrived at Red Base last night,” Jack explained. “His armor was bright pink, but apparently he kept insisting it was ‘lightish red.’”
“Donut!” Church exclaimed.
“You know him?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, what else did he say?”
“According to my informant, he kept asking for water. Wherever he came from, he was very dehydrated. Other than that, he just kept saying ‘we found it, it’s in the sand.’”
“Well that’s not cryptic in the slightest…” Church deadpanned. “Did he say anything else?”
Jack shook his head. “No… Wait! I think he actually did say something before he passed out. Something about a rarity…”
“A rarity?” Church asked. “Like what? Someone having a mature, civilized conversation on the internet or something?”
“No, he just said the one word: rarity.”
Applejack exchanged a look with Pinkie Pie. “Uh, you don’ suppose he was talkin’ about our Rarity, do ya?”
Pinkie smiled and jumped in place. “Oh yeah! Our friend’s name is Rarity, which is cool if you think about it because its both her name and it describes her name because really, who else do you know with the name Rarity? Though, if we did meet someone else with the name Rarity, it wouldn’t be a rarity anymore, so should we call her Not-Rarity?”
“Pinkie…” Church warned before looking at Applejack. “Okay, if Donut really did meet your friend we need to talk to him.”
“That may be… difficult. He’s deep in the Reds’ midst!” Jack said.
“So what? It’s the Reds! What’s the worst they can do? Insult us?”
“Private Church, I don’t know what the Reds from your outpost are like, but these Reds are dangerous! Well, at the very least their leader is…”
Applejack stepped forward and looked up at Jack. “This ‘Donut’ fella is the only lead we have to find the rest of our friends! We have to try!”
“What could possibly be so scary about a Red Team?” Church asked.
“If you must know, their leader is a madman!” Jack began pacing anxiously. “He goes by many names: the Vagabond, the Loophole Guy, some even call him the Mad King of Valhalla. I simply know him as Captain James Hayworth.
“Hayworth is a… disturbing person. And to think: there are those who say his voice sounds like mine! The last time I sent a man - Private Kaydin - to scout out the Red base, he was captured. A few days later, Kaydin returned to us but something was wrong. I don’t know what tortures Hayworth subjected him to, but Kaydin lost his Goddamn mind! He tried to kill all of us! We tried to call out to him, make him see reason, but he didn’t respond to his name anymore. He had adopted another one: Edgar.”
Church didn’t know what it meant, only that it made him shiver.
“The only way we were able to stop Kaydin was by putting him down,” Jack continued. “Ever since then I haven’t let my men go anywhere near Hayworth’s forces. Aside from this base here, they effectively control the whole canyon!”
If Jack was right, they were lucky that it was the Blue Base they stumbled upon first. Nevertheless, Church didn’t see any other way they were going to find the others.
“We have to get Donut, Jack!” Church said. “It’s our only option!”
Jack let out a long sigh, “Okay, if you’re really serious about this, I can put you into contact with my inside man. A Private Walter Henderson on the Red Team has lately become… disillusioned with Hayworth and his tactics. He’s been feeding me information at great personal risk to keep us aware of the Reds’ movements. He’s the one who informed me about your man Donut.
"Henderson can give you a way to sneak over there so you won’t get spotted by the Red patrols and can meet up with you at their base to help you get Donut out.”
“Can’t you help?” Church asked, remembering the battle at Zanzibar. “Can’t you attack them and draw off their forces?”
“No!” Jack whirled around and faced Church. “I am not putting my men at risk like that! Never again…”
Rainbow Dash winced and sucked in air as Tucker finished wrapping the bandage around her right wing. For what must have been the dozenth time, Rainbow sniffed and rubbed her eyes, blaming their watery nature on allergies.
“Okay, I’m no medic, but the biofoam should at least keep it from bleeding out and getting infected,” he said as he put away the rest of the materials into the white case where he got them. It was quite good fortune that of the few pieces of equipment Eberle’s people were able to move in, a few med-kits were among them. “Of course, we wouldn’t even have this problem if someone - I’m glaring at you, Caboose - wasn’t a teamkilling fucktard!”
Caboose raised his hands defensively. “Hey, we don’t have any proof that was me!”
“The fact that the bullet came from an assault rifle while every other soldier out there was using either a battle rifle or a plasma weapon is pretty solid evidence against you, Caboose.” Tucker said.
“Blarg!”
“Oh yeah, and Joey says he saw you do it.”
Rainbow Dash just looked at her wounded wing. It hurt less than it had earlier, but it still sent sharp twinges of pain through her body whenever she moved it. Trapped inside a dark, sandy ancient temple surrounded by bad guys with a bandaged wing, Rainbow Dash was starting to feel a lot like Daring Do at the moment. The only thing she was missing was a pith helmet.
“Ugh, with all of my Daring Do expertise, I should’ve seen all of this coming! This is just like when Dr. Caballeron turned on her when they found the Griffon’s Goblet!” Rainbow lamented. “Who are those guys, anyway?”
“I think it’s a safe bet that CT is the leader of the human Insurrectionists that have been giving us trouble after we first arrived here,” Tucker explained. “As for his alien buddies, the political situation on Sanghelios is pretty fucked right now. The current regime wants to make peace with humans, but there are all of these other Elite factions that want to overthrow the current regime and continue the war. I guess one of them found common cause with the Insurrection.
“I don’t know what their motives are, but they can’t be anything good. Those guys could kill a lot of people if they find that artifact!”
“Okay. Then we’ll just have to find it first!” Rainbow proclaimed, taking a look around the room they were standing in.
The room looked half filled with unevenly placed sand, the floor not even visible. A large metal orange pillar covered in ancient alien runes took up the center of the room. Just behind it, Rainbow Dash could see a passage leading deeper into the temple.
“This way! Just watch out for ceiling alligators!” Rainbow started to make her way over there when Tucker stepped in front of her.
“Actually, we should probably handle this carefully,” he explained. “We’re dealing with an ancient alien weapon of unknown power. Activating it might kill all of us and everything within one hundred light years of this system! Whatever you do: Don’t touch anything. Especially if it looks shiny and weird.”
Tucker looked up at where Caboose was standing as he finished. He then looked all around himself in alarm. “Fuck! Where’d Caboose go?”
Rainbow looked over her shoulder to find that the blue soldier wasn’t standing where he had been moments earlier. “You mean you weren’t watching him?!”
“No! I thought Joey was…” Tucker looked over at the blue Elite in question. The large alien was standing there, idly chewing on a med-pack while staring off into space. “Joey! Take that out of your mouth right now!”
Joey promptly tossed the white pack on the ground and gave an innocent “Blarg?”
“Don’t give me that! I just saw you with your jaws clamped on it! All four of them!”
Rainbow Dash didn’t waste any time listening to Tucker and Joey argue. She galloped as fast as she could deeper into the temple, legitimately concerned for the safety of the galaxy. She took a right turn down a passage of beige stone filled with sand and kept going until she made a left turn. She exited out into a slightly larger chamber. The floor was still obscured by a layer of sand, but a stone platform trimmed with orange metal rose up in the center at the back of the room. Standing on it was Caboose, and much to Rainbow Dash’s immediate alarm, he was holding something in his hands.
“Look! It’s a robot eyeball!” he exclaimed, holding out the object for Rainbow to see.
It certainly did look like an eye. The object was about the size of a person’s head, round and concave on the front and sides. In the center was another spherical shape with what appeared to be a large dark eye in the middle. Dark lines covered its silvery metal body.
“Caboose! Quit pointing that at me! You already shot me once today, I don’t want you to do it again with an antique!”
“Hey barkeep!” Spike slurred as he slid an empty glass across the bar counter. “Throw me another grape juice!”
The purple bartender with a raspberry pink mane and tail looked over at Spike as she wiped down the counter with a white rag. Berry Punch gave the baby dragon a suspicious glare as she took his empty glass. Perhaps she was wondering whether it was actually possible to get drunk on grape juice.
“Little early to be drinking so much, huh?” Berry asked.
“Hey!” Spike slammed a fist down on the counter, drawing the attention of the other juice bar patrons as he wobbled in place. “I’m not payin’ ya to talk, I’m payin’ ya to fix me a drink!”
“Okay, I ain’t your mother,” Berry said defensively as she began pouring. She passed Spike the glass of juice and he slid over a couple of bits before taking another swig.
After lowering the glass from his lips, Spike couldn’t help but be acutely aware of all of the other ponies in the establishment staring at him. “Don’t judge me, okay? I have problems at home!” Orange and maroon problems, Spike thought bitterly.
“When you’ve got problems, sometimes the best solution is to talk about them instead of drowning them in juice.” Berry put her bar rag away and leaned over the counter. “C’mon, kid. What’s troubling ya?”
Seeing that the barkeep wasn’t taking no for an answer, and that he now had the attention of several barflies, Spike sighed and began his story.
“It all started this morning when Twilight left me with a job to do: to play host to two of the galaxy’s worst houseguests…”
Spike descended the stairs to the main floor of Golden Oaks Library with a yawn. He’d been up very late the night before and very early this morning to see Twilight off. Spike would certainly miss her while she was gone, but having nopony around had its benefits. Namely, that no one could stop him from taking all the naps he wanted. So after making sure that his two guests were comfortable, Spike had fired off a letter to the Princess letting her know the situation before heading upstairs for some sleep.
A couple of hours later, the growling of his stomach roused Spike from his slumber. Licking his lips, Spike headed into the kitchen, thinking he might make himself a gem sandwich. All of his hopes were dashed when he found the fridge empty save for a few scraps. Spike had just restocked the fridge yesterday while Twilight and the others were gone! How could they be out of food already?
Spike found his answer when he entered the main room of the library. There he found Grif sprawled out on Twilight’s reading couch. It looked like a food bomb had exploded and Grif was lying at ground zero. Empty cans, fruit peels, candy bar wrappers, plates and plastic wrap that once held entire meals worth of leftovers were strewn about the lounge area. The man in orange grunted as he lifted his head from what was apparently a food induced coma.
“Oh, hey kid. We need ya to run to the grocery store. We’re out of milk, ice cream, bananas… Oh! Do you have Juicy Fruit here?”
Spike just stared in horror. “Did you seriously just eat everything we have?”
Grif shrugged. “You said ‘help yourself!’”
“Not to the entire fridge!”
“Well, you should have been more clear on that point!”
Spike’s left eye twitched. “It’s common decency!”
Grif sat up. “I don’t know if you realized this, but Simmons and I are kinda new to this planet. You can’t expect us to just know all of the intricate nuances of your alien society!”
Spike let out a low groan, but the statement reminded him of something: where was Simmons? It didn’t take much searching for Spike to find him. The maroon man was between one of the many aisles of bookshelves. To Spike’s immediate concern, he had removed all of the books from the bookshelves and was putting them back in a different order.
“What are you doing?!” Spike yelled.
“Oh, hey Spike! I took the liberty of changing your filing system for the library!”
“But those were alphabetized!”
To Spike’s horror, Simmons wasn’t stopping his work. “Oh, I know! I’m giving the library a more alternative sorting system! Instead placing the books alpha-numerically, I’m sorting them by the binary code representing the first letter of each title!”
“Why?!?”
“Uh, because it’s a mathematically superior system?” Simmons answered as if it was obvious. “Don’t worry, you can thank me later!”
Shaking, Spike pointed at Simmons. “Put it all back! Now!” Spike then walked back to Grif. “And you, clean up this mess!”
“On my planet, we have something called ‘Guest Rights,’” Grif replied. “It means the guest can do whatever the fuck he wants and doesn’t have to do shit!”
Spike was fairly certain Grif was just making that up. Still, he had no way to prove it. “Please?”
“Sorry, nothing you say or do can change the law of Guest Rights!” Grif declared. “Oh! Do you have any booze around here? I’d do anything for a drink!”
The juice-serving establishment looked on at Spike as the drake finished his story “After that, I lost my temper and came here!”
“I’ve heard a lot of stories from a lot of ponies who come in here with troubles,” Berry Punch said, “but I think this is the first time I’ve heard of someone dealing with freeloading space aliens!”
Spike gave a resigned nod.
“Honey, I feel your pain,” said a mare with a red mane and a rose cutie mark as she sat down at the stool next to him. “That orange one sounds just like my first husband!”
“How did you deal with him?” Spike asked, not really expecting the mare’s answer to help his situation.
The mare giggled. “Oh, I took away his alcohol! Didn’t give it back to him until he did some chores around the house!”
“Yeah…” Spike nodded and took another sip of his juice. Grif certainly seemed the type to appreciate alcohol.
“I’d do anything for a drink…”
“Anything for a drink…”
“Anything…”
“Anything…”
“Anything…”
“Anything…”
“Wait, that’s it!” Spike shot to his feet, standing on top of the stool he had been sitting on. “Berry, do you have anything alcoholic?”
Berry Punch fixed him with a glare. “Look, I recognize your situation’s bad, but why don’t you just stick to the juice, yeah?”
Spike shook his head. “No, not for me! For Grif!”
“You mean the orange alien that’s living with you?”
“Yeah! I might be able to bribe him with it!”
The pony with the rose on her flank looked at Spike and gave him a little nod of approval.
“Well, there’s just one problem with that,” Berry said. “I can’t sell alcohol to you. You’re a minor!”
Just like that, Spike saw his plan crashing to pieces. Or maybe it was the glass of juice that he dropped as his mind was filled with images of the library overcome by food, with no one to clean it up but himself.
“Then I’ll buy it for him!”
At the sound of the familiar, stuffy voice, Spike turned around and saw a man in maroon armor crouch through the door.
“Simmons? What are you doing here?”
“I came to find you. I wanted to let you know that my alpha-binary sorting system is ready to go!”
Spike narrowed his eyes. “Oh. Fantastic…” he deadpanned. His face suddenly lit up. “Wait, did you just say you’ll help me buy alcohol to use on Grif?”
Simmons nodded. “Trust me, I’m just as sick of seeing him be a lazy fatass as you are. What’s worse is there’s nothing I can do about it! He’s my commanding officer now!”
Spike felt his eyes well up with tears. “Thank you…”
Simmons just turned to address the barkeep, “Give me a whole case of your cheapest, finest liquor!”
Berry Punch brought out her bar rag and began wiping the counter. “Eighteen bits.”
“Uh… what’s a ‘bit?’”
With a yawn, Twilight staggered through the darkness back towards their camp. The group had spent most of the day driving, but they eventually had to stop to get some sleep. They’d found a rock overhang to make camp beneath. Although FILSS had informed them that the Meta had since left the vicinity of the Offsite Storage Facility before they left, Twilight still wanted to make sure it or anything else as dangerous didn’t attack them as they slept. She had cast a few enchantments along the perimeter of their campsite that served as an early warning system, but Tex found it prudent to actually have someone awake and alert at all times of the night.
She and Sunny had the first watch, but even with a military artificial intelligence like Tex within her, Sunny still needed to rest. Twilight volunteered for the next shift, and after a long couple of hours in which she constantly fought her drooping eyelids, Twilight was relieved by Sarge. She arrived back at their campsite, the fire they had built now reduced to burning embers. Twilight curled up near Fluttershy and readied herself for sleep. That was when she heard the whimper.
Twilight opened her eyes and looked over at Fluttershy, but the little yellow pegasus was sleeping soundly, a content little smile on her face. Twilight was ready to dismiss the noise as her own overtired imagination when she heard another whimper. It came from across the campfire, at the foot of the Warthog they had been traveling in. It was where Sunny was sleeping.
Curious, Twilight stood and quietly walked over to the prone white mare. She was still in her armor, sleeping on her side. Twilight looked at her face, and saw that she did not have the content look that Fluttershy did. Sunny’s sleeping face was contorted in fear, legs twitching as if she was trying to run. A noise of pure despair periodically escaped her throat as she shifted uncomfortably.
“Sunny?” Twilight asked cautiously. “Are you…?”
Twilight reached out to her with a hoof but all of a sudden a dark transparent figure was in front of her and Twilight withdrew her hoof.
“She’s just having a nightmare, kid,” Tex said. “Nothing we can do to help her.”
Twilight looked away and briefly considered simply dropping the issue. Her past conversations with Tex hadn’t gone very well. It wasn’t that she hated the M.I. In fact, their prior conversation made Twilight feel a little bad for her, despite the fact that she still didn’t have the full picture. But that was just the issue: Tex wouldn’t give her the full picture. It seemed the two of them still didn’t have much cause to trust one another.
In spite of this, Twilight found herself unable to walk away from the sleeping white mare before her. “Can’t we wake her up?”
“She needs sleep to be at her full effectiveness. As do you,” Tex snorted. “One of the drawbacks to having a flesh and blood body.”
Taking the hint, Twilight turned around to go back to her spot next to Fluttershy, but another agonized whimper stopped her.
“Can… can you see what she’s dreaming about?”
It took some time for Tex to answer. “Her friends, her family…” Tex paused, “the Meta…”
Twilight turned back around. Tex’s avatar was still there. “How often does she dream about…?”
“Every night.”
Twilight was about to respond when Sunny was suddenly overtaken by a particularly violent spasm. Her sleeping face was a contortion of terror, and suddenly Twilight wasn’t looking at the calm, stoic soldier but a scared filly. Armored hooves thrashed at the air around her, and soon enough Sunny’s moans of despair became words.
“N-no… no… ‘m sorry… sorry…”
Tex looked down at Sunny and waved an ethereal hand. Twilight wasn’t sure what Tex did, but all at once Sunny’s spasms subsided.
“Sorry I wasn’... stronger…” with that, the white pony lay still, breathing softly.
“She’s traumatized...” Twilight suddenly realized. A little stab of pain entered her throat as she said it. “She shouldn’t be out here! She needs help! She should be at home with her family!”
“She wanted to come with me, you know,” Tex said.
“That doesn’t mean you should have let her!”
“I needed a living, breathing body in order to make it this far!”
Twilight rounded on her. “So you took advantage of a hurt pony’s fragile mental state!?”
“Yes! I will do whatever is necessary to finish this fight, and no self-important pony is going to tell me otherwise!”
At the realization that they had both raised their voices, Twilight looked over at Fluttershy. The pegasus was still sleeping soundly, likely having more pleasant dreams than the earth pony across from her. Collecting her thoughts, Twilight suddenly realized just how convenient it was that Tex just happened to find a trained military pony willing to be a vessel for her to act through.
But when she looked back at Tex, the M.I. no longer seemed ready to explode. Instead, she seemed quiet and contemplative. “Holy shit… I sound just like him…”
Before Twilight could get any answers, though, Tex’s avatar disappeared. Yawning, Twilight decided to simply drop the matter and returned to her spot beside Fluttershy. She went to sleep and dreamt of her parents.
When she awoke the next morning, the scared filly from the night before was a cold and distant soldier again.
From within a crevice tucked away between a large outcropping and a boulder, Church looked across at the towering Red Base. Church found himself wondering whether the fact that it was beachfront property increased the resale value. Perhaps it was to keep his mind off the fact that just inside was a madman who had a reputation for torturing people to insanity. For some reason, the prospect gave him an unsettling sense of deja vu, like some forgotten nightmare.
Church instead decided to focus on the mission at hand. Under Private Henderson’s guidance, he, Applejack and Pinkie Pie had snuck across the canyon using the caves, timing the few moments where they had to traverse exposed terrain to coincide with the gaps in Red patrols. Now, Church could see what looked like a straight shot to the interior of the structure, but he didn’t want to risk being spotted by an unseen watcher. All they could do at this point was wait.
“Are you Church?” a voice asked behind them. Church and the ponies whirled around and saw a soldier in red armor standing behind them. “Relax, it’s me! Private Henderson!”
Applejack’s features noticeably relaxed and Church lowered his sniper rifle. “So, what’s the plan?”
“They’re keeping the pink guy on the far side out back. Just past where we keep the vehicles,” Henderson explained. “I managed to send away the guard on this side for a few minutes and I’m the only one assigned to the side they’re keeping your guy, so we should be clear but we need to act fast.”
“Right!” Church nodded. He had considered making use of his ghost abilities for this mission, but it looked like they wouldn’t be necessary. “AJ, Pinkie, you two wait here. I’ll probably need help carrying him on the way back. And Pinkie, I’ll need you to be a distraction if shit hits the fan. Just like you did in Sidewinder!”
“Okay! Should I move this fan away from the toilet so it doesn’t get hit at all?” Pinkie asked.
Church and Henderson both stared at Pinkie in silence for a few brief moments.
“We’ll get it done, don’ you worry!” Applejack reassured them with a smile.
With the plan said, Church and Henderson left the cover of the crevice and made their way around Red Base to the back. Church noticed a few red soldiers on the top level of the base, but they were all focused on watching the front. Henderson led Church past a couple of Warthogs to a section of grass behind the base filled with various crates and canisters. In the center of it all lay a pink soldier.
“There he is!” Church whispered as he rushed forward.
He grabbed one of Donut’s arms and with some effort, hoisted the man to his feet. Donut muttered something about sand, but apart from that he remained unconscious.
“Ngh! Henderson, can you give me a hand with him?” Church asked. He waited for the Red informant to rush over and grab Donut’s other arm, but nothing happened. “Henderson? Can’t carry him by myself here, buddy!”
Church looked over his shoulder and froze. Henderson was pointing his gun at him. All at once, more Reds poured out of the nearby base and surrounded Church and Donut. Church gave his “inside man” a death glare.
“You double-crossing fucker!” Church swore.
At this, someone laughed. It was a deep, maniacal laugh that echoed around the canyon. Soon, another man in red armor emerged from the rear entrance of Red Base. Right away Church was able to guess who he was. He wore a tarp as a cape and a crown made of several combat knives welded together on top of his ODST helmet. It was easy to see how he had earned the name “Mad King.”
“You have that right, Blue! He is a double-crossing fucker, isn’t he?” the regal looking soldier spoke in a sophisticated, deep voice. “Fortuitously, a little time in the Hole has a way of changing a man’s perspective! Observe!”
Hayworth approached Henderson and affably put a hand on his shoulder. “When speaking with Lieutenant Jack and his Blues, who are you?”
“I am Private Walter Henderson,” Henderson stated in a dead monotone.
Hayworth forced Walter to look at him. “And who are you really?”
“I am Edgar.”
Hayworth nodded and whispered, “Always Edgar…”
“Jesus, you’re insane!” Church exclaimed.
“I hope so!” Hayworth happily exclaimed. “This would be pretty fucked up if I wasn’t!”
Church looked around. Just as the situation seemed at its most hopeless, he remembered his backup plan. With a burst of confetti and a noisemaker, Pinkie Pie appeared in the midst of the Reds.
“Hi everyone! Guess what? I’m giving away free pies! Everyone gets one!” Pinkie pulled a couple of delicious looking, freshly baked pies out of… somewhere, and started chucking them at the Reds. “You get a pie and you get a pie and you get a pie!”
Henderson and a couple of the Reds standing near him all received pies to the face. Hayworth only barely managed to duck under the pie that was thrown at him, but the momentary distraction was enough for Church to shove him to the ground. With the way clear, Church struggled to carry Donut back to the caves they used to sneak over here. Applejack ran over and met him halfway.
“Quick! Pass him to me!” she shouted over the noise. Red soldiers continued to yell as Pinkie continued assaulting them with pastries.
Church shifted Donut over to Applejack, waiting for her to take some of his weight off his shoulders. Instead, Applejack grabbed the man in pink armor and sprawled him across her back. Much to Church’s surprise, the little orange pony was able to support his weight all on her own.
“Okay, let’s go!” Applejack exclaimed, running back toward the caves.
“Wait, what about…?”
“HEY! Put me down you meanies!” At the sound of the pink pony’s voice, Church whirled around to see a struggling Pinkie Pie being carried into the base by a large Red. “I just wanted to give you pies and distract you so my friends could escape! Let me go!”
“Oh no…” Church muttered as Pinkie disappeared into the depths of the Mad King’s fortress.
Church looked back at Applejack only to see that the farm pony had long since made her escape, evidently unaware of her friend’s fate. Before Church could act, a gunshot rang out and a bullet struck a nearby boulder. The Reds had recovered from the minor distraction and were now in a formation, firing at Church. With no other options, Church turned and fled in the direction Applejack went, pursued by bullets.
The interior of the ancient sandy temple echoed with the clatter of a large reptilian alien gathering odds and ends. Rainbow Dash sat in place and watched as Joey the Elite dumped a dark green crate full of various mechanical parts and sat down on the very same crate. The strange eyeball-like device was tucked under his arm.
The moment Rainbow had called Tucker and Joey over with news of what Caboose had found, Joey had been quick to snatch the odd alien device away from him. This would have suited Rainbow just fine, but then the big blue Elite started fiddling with the device before running around the temple gathering parts from the equipment Eberle’s team had started to bring in. Now, Joey sat on the upturned crate, taking apart various computers and other devices to add to the ancient one in his lap.
Rainbow Dash looked over at Tucker. “Should we be letting him do this?”
Tucker didn’t take an eye off of Joey as he replied, mesmerized by the speed and dexterity with which the alien worked on the ancient machine, “Joey may be a crappy fighter, but he’s actually a really good mechanic. The other Elites used to say one of his parents was a Huragok, but I doubt that.”
Before Rainbow Dash could ask what a Huragok was, Tucker continued, “Besides, I’m pretty sure that device we found isn’t a weapon. I’ve seen something like that in the files we were given on Forerunner tech. That thing looks more like a…”
“Blarg!” Joey threw his arms in the air as he looked down at the round alien device in his lap.
Right away, Rainbow Dash noticed it looked different than it had when Caboose found it. The pattern of dark lines on its metal body were now glowing blue along with the eye in its center. The eye then began to move, looking left and right to take in its surroundings. Then, the metal ball began to rise from Joey’s lap until it was floating in the air a few feet above everyone’s head. Rainbow couldn’t tear her gaze away from the ominous eye in the center. The room fell dead silent as everyone waited to see just what the strange floating contraption would do next.
Suffice to say, no one expected the alien device to suddenly begin coughing out a lung. The round metal device lurched violently in the air as it coughed and hacked for several moments. All the while, Joey continued to hold his arms in the air triumphantly as he looked from the coughing construct to Tucker expectantly.
“Nice job, Joey. I think you gave it cancer,” Tucker deadpanned.
“Don’t worry, it’s not like anyone can tell.” Caboose then whispered, “It already has no hair!”
Then, much to Rainbow Dash’s surprise, the coughing device spoke. “Wow. My ports are quite thoroughly clogged. It would appear they haven’t been cleaned in some time.”
The construct began pacing back and forth in the air. It spoke quickly in a very chipper artificial voice that had a certain resonant quality to it.
“How long have I been offline? Hmm. Interior clock ceased to function at one hundred-thousand years after activation of the Array. Most unfortunate,” the construct coughed again. “Though, given state of exhaust ports, time elapsed must have been at least three hundred-thousand. Yes.”
The floating device took another look around and briefly lost altitude in panic. “OH MY!”
The surprise sent the construct into another coughing fit. “What happened... to my... installation?!” the construct asked between coughs, looking around at the walls and ceiling of the temple. “It would appear that the preservation systems have failed. Most unfortunate. This would mean complete and total data loss in all archives. Very very unfortunate. Yes. Good thing my Makers had foresight to archive the most important data to my own memory banks…”
The floating metal eyeball turned around and found itself face to face with Caboose. “Hello!”
The construct coughed and lurched back in surprise, bumping into a very awestruck Tucker. Its big blue eye looked back and forth from Tucker to Caboose for a moment before bouncing in midair and giving a happy little cough.
“Ah! Reclaimers! Forgive me. Did not see you standing there.” The round device hovered between the two Blues. “Greetings. I am 636 Rambling Frequency. I am the Monitor of this installation.” 636 took another look around. “Rather, what’s left of it…”
“Blarg…” Joey said reverently as he bowed low before the Monitor.
“Ah! A subject of Species 32,” 636 exclaimed, “so your kind is cooperating with the Reclaimers? Fascinating.”
Finally, Rainbow Dash couldn’t take it anymore. The more this floating construct spoke, the more questions she had. “Would somepony please explain what this floating lightbulb is talking about?”
636 turned to look at Rainbow Dash with his big blue eye. “Oh my! A subject of Species 29!” 636 coughed. “Most unexpected. Yes. Your species not predicted to achieve space travel for another two point five thousand years if calculations are accurate!”
“My rainbow friend here has a point, Rambling Frequency,” Tucker said, folding his arms. “If you’re going to go on and on about shit we don’t understand, could you at least fill us in? …Uh, in a non-sexual way?”
The blue eye turned its gaze on Tucker and coughed once. “You mean to say you came all the way to my facility without knowledge of its purpose, Reclaimer?”
“And explain that, too!” Rainbow Dash ordered, pointing a hoof at the Monitor. “Why do you keep calling them ‘Reclaimers?’”
“Yes! What are we reclaiming?” Caboose asked. “is it a twenty percent off coupon for all merchandise in the temple gift shop?”
636 coughed some more and hovered in front of Rainbow Dash. “Simple: before my Makers - the Forerunners - disappeared from the galaxy, they named the human race as their Reclaimers - inheritors to all they left behind!”
“Yeah, that’s why only humans can interact with Forerunner tech,” Tucker said, “even I knew that!”
Rainbow Dash gave a skeptical look at Tucker and especially Caboose before returning her gaze to the Monitor. “Really? Them? Are we thinking of the same species?”
Tucker stepped forward. “Look, none of that’s important right now. Frequency, we’re trying to find an ancient weapon that your Makers built here. Since you’re the Monitor of this place, can you lead us to it?”
The Monitor studied Tucker for a moment before giving a single bemused cough. “Whatever do you mean, Reclaimer? There is no weapon in this facility.”
The others were silent. How could that be? That’s what they were all here for! Nevertheless, no one questioned Rambling Frequency’s statement. As the Monitor of the installation, he would know, and he had no reason to lie.
“So… what is this place?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“This installation is an archive of sorts, for all information pertaining to Operation: Genesis.”
“Okay, and that is…?”
“Repopulation of all sapient life in the galaxy in the wake of the Purge.”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Yeah, no offense lightbulb, but your answers are just making me more confused than before!”
636 looked around at the ragtag group around him, and with a cough said, “Very well. Will start from beginning.” 636 coughed again. “In order to stop nigh implacable threat to all life, Forerunners activated an array of weapons designed to kill all sapient life in galaxy, themselves included. However, they did not do so lightly. Activation of Array was last resort, and the Forerunners didn’t activate it without means for life in galaxy to begin anew.
“Thus, they implemented Operation: Genesis. Before activating Array, Forerunners spent time cataloguing data on all affected species. Embryos, DNA, even live specimens, and set in place automated protocols on various planets across the solar system to return each species to beginning of its evolutionary cycle. Humans, Sangheili, even ponies were reborn in this fashion after firing of the Array.
“The facility we are in now contained detailed data about project. Unfortunately, data appears to be all but lost. Well, except for most important data. Records of all species, locations of their homeworlds, and repopulation facilities hidden away there all reside in my own personal memory banks!”
“So uh… can someone translate that?” Rainbow asked.
“I... think he said this place is a directory for the creation of all life in the universe,” Tucker responded in complete deadpan.
The temple was dead silent. It seemed that everyone was just as blown away by what they’d heard as Rainbow Dash was. Rainbow may not have been an egghead, but she could certainly appreciate the gravity of what she’d just learned. It wasn’t every day that a floating eyeball casually explained the creation of life as you know it.
“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, grinning widely.
“Yes. It is indeed awesome!” 636 replied with a cough.
“Okay, well if anything, we know there’s no weapon here, so I guess we can relax!” Tucker said.
This sentiment was contradicted by a thundering boom that shook the whole temple, dislodging sand from various nooks and crannies.
“I don’t think CT’s gonna be too happy to hear that, though!”
Panting, Grif approached Spike and Simmons, who were each sitting on the couch idly flipping through books.
“Okay, kitchen’s done!” Grif reported.
Spike lowered his book. “Did you clean the stove top?”
“Yes.”
“Inside the fridge?”
“Yes!”
“In the little crevice under the cupboards?”
“Yes! I did everything! Just make with the booze already!”
Spike produced a bottle of Berry Punch’s wine from behind the couch.
“Nice!” Grif swiped the bottle from Spike’s claw, turned around and flopped down on the couch between Spike and Simmons.
The three of them sat in silence for a while, Grif taking huge gulps of his drink through his helmet while Spike and Simmons continued reading. As the three of them sat there, Spike felt oddly content. Sure, the books were now sorted by some weird system that only Simmons seemed to understand, but somehow Spike wasn’t worried about that. As much as Spike loved living with Twilight, there was something in that moment he felt he didn’t have with her.
Grif stopped drinking to give a loud belch. Spike looked up at him and grinned. “Bet I can beat it!”
“You’re on, kid!”
Spike took in a breath and belched as loud as he could. Grif all too eagerly matched him. This is what Spike had been missing all his life: good old-fashioned male companionship.
“Fucking. Disgusting,” Simmons complained after Spike loosed a particularly long belch. “What are you guys, fucking six?”
Grif responded with another belch that he promptly blew in Simmons direction. The maroon soldier sputtered and coughed until he fell off the couch. Grif and Spike laughed at his expense.
Spike’s laughter was cut off by what felt like something crawling up his throat from his stomach. The belch that followed seemed to shake the tree they were in as green flames burst forth from Spike’s mouth.
“Whoa! Okay, I don’t even mind losing to that!” Grif exclaimed.
Spike however, was fixated on the scroll that had popped into existence from the residual smoke of his outburst. Right away he recognized the sun-shaped seal that held the red binding together.
“I got a letter from Princess Celestia!” Spike exclaimed, picking up the scroll, tearing off the binding and unfurling it in the blink of an eye.
Spike took some time to read and reread it, his brow furrowing quizzically. “Huh…”
“What’s it say?” Simmons asked, getting up off the floor.
“We’ve been summoned to Canterlot… all three of us!”
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Do I need to be familiar with Red Vs. Blue to understand this fic?
5096786
Not technically, but it'll REALLY help. A lot.
Nightmare (Again) - Either refers to Sunny's nightmares or the nightmare of having to face the Mad King himself.
More Achievement Hunter cameos! Jack and Ryan!
5096959 Who knows but Flynt Coal? The man's gotta plan, and he ain't telling nobody NOHOW!
But rest assured, we are in for some fun times regardless!
Edit: Good luck to ya in your future endeavors, KillerRobotQuote! From one editor to another, your services were invaluable.
5096959 Your not the only one whose thinking that, it would explain why she's such an egghead.
Fingers crossed...
5096959
i can take that theory one step further, she's an M.I. that's achieved what no other MI or AI has achieved, metastability.
5096938
Aw crap. Time to start watching, I guess.
5042954
5043641
Well huh... looks like I need to pay more attention to find such mistakes.
Wanders off to go sit in an open field. The shamed editor garbed in traditional Shogun attire *which is just effin weird seeing as he is a husky looking white guy from the South* and pulls out a plasma sword handle. Turning it to face him, he laments about his shame at being a "decent" editor instead of a good one. "Forgive me, my friend... I have brought great shame upon this house!" he screams and flicks on the sword... which fizzles and does nothing. Shaking it a few times, he throws it away with a grunt of frustration. "Damn... where am I gonna find 40 D batteries out here?!"
Finaly a R vs. B fic!
5097010 Ah... But that's not the case, now is it?
UNSC AI Designation: ALPHA, is the only AI known to have become fully metastable. To do this, it had to let go of it's memories, it's functions, and go back to it's default state, and since it was created as an identical copy of the Director's mind, it reverted to the mind of a human. He had to split himself to become fully human, and in the process of doing so, he created a backup of himself. So that even in the event of rampancy, he would live one.
UNSC AI
"Fragment"(REDACTED) Designation: EPSILON, is essentially the off site backup facility for the ALPHA unit, designated to become fully functional in the event of a total loss of the ALPHA unit. And so when the ALPHA (that now designates itself as Leonard Church), was destroyed by an EMP, the EPSILON unit activated; it slowly re-established it's basic functions and data/memories, to the point that they began to function. These "fragments" formed a conscience for Church, as they did with the META, but this time they were complete, and were able to become fully human.But where does this leave us? It simply shows that Twilight can't just be an AI (or MI) that achieved metastability, but she would have to have been Celestia's attempt at creating an Artificial Intelligence, and the only reason she would have been created metastable, would be (using the scientific term here): Because magic. But then we have questions like: "How was she born? Where did here body come from? Why didn't her parents tell her?" And so on and so forth.
In the end we can only decide that the truth will come in time, and that Flynt Coal needs to get us more chapters.
-Sincerly, The Director of Project Freelancer
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Good
5097240
Dear Director
For a brilliant mind such as yourself, you apparently forgot that a many readers of this story haven't yet watched the source material you are so proficient on, thus It's my wish to point out the ammount of revelations about the series Red vs Blue that aren't still effective for this story, but would be most certainly true in this reinterpretation of events. So, if you re-read the second paragraph of your explanation on AI Rampancy, you'd realise that these revelations would in most likelyhood "spoil" the readers that aren't as proficient as you or I. I'd suggest to use the [s p o i l e r] text [/s p o i l e r] tag to avoid this and any future issues.
-With all due respect, Hidden Scorpius XI (the Eleventh).
I lost it when they mentioned what Ryan does!
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Okay, now onto the chapter itself.
I smiled like an idiot when you introduced the Valhalla soldiers. Kinda was expecting the Edgars to go "No way in; No way out!", especially considering that they were assaulted by cake, I'm pretty sure who one of the Edgars used to be. And holy c**p, James Hayworth? More like James Bolton!
I really don't like the idea of Twilight being something of an MI/AI/Whatever. I don't know why. I just don't like it. If you can pull it in a believable way, then that's okay.
Calling it now, Pinkie drives the Mad King mad
Pinkie is the master of insanity, not this so call 'mad king' he will lose.
5097494 Ryan Haywood, dude.
Another excellent chapter. By the name of the next chapter, I'm guessing the Mad King meets his match in madness with Pinkie. XD
5098043
That's the name of the character in the story, dude.
I got a feeling the Mad King will be broken by Pinkie's antics.
5096786 It would help
5097492 Is....Edgar a reference to a RT show or something?
5098169 Yep. James Hayworth is Mad King Ryan in reality.
Still can't believe they did that. That was hilarious in the chapter.
5098215
"They"? You mean Flynt Coal, because this never happened in the show.
5098210
5097468
Dear Scorpius,
Only now with your response have I realized my mistake, for once I am at a loss on how I could have forgotten such an important mindset. You have my gratitude, and I will try to keep your luminous words at the forefront of my mind amidst my very busy schedule. However, I have personally found that when approaching a project such as this, it is beneficial for all involved to be thoroughly acquainted with all related material prior to engagement. But after all, we are only human.
-The Director of Project Freelancer
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Grif could have tried hiding from as a snow man... episode reference
So, who at RT is Henderson based off of?
Oh dear God. It's going to be a battle of the ages! The Mad King vs The Element of Laughter! Lets just hope that Pinkie Pie doesn't find out about his past life of dressing up as a gnome standing on a mushroom.
Meanwhile, I do like that you're mixing in Halo themes with the overall story.
And hello... What's this? Wash and Tia seem to know each other quite well. What's Celestia's past connection with Project Freelancer? I hope we find out soon!
5097057 *Hides all of his 4D batteries and slinks away*
5097955 This. Also, let's not forget that she actually looked into the eyes of someone as they died. That scene was meant to be the death of Twi's innocence as well as South.
5099030 Henderson is actually a minor character in RvB. He was the only survivor of Valhalla after the Meta attacked, and was interviewed by the Counselor at the beginning of Reconstruction.
5098043 5097494 Oh, there was definitely some Ramsay Bolton influence in some of the Mad King's dialogue!
i hope pinkie is safe
5101101 You're worried about Pinkie? I'm worried about Ryan, some fates are worse than death.
5100585
I knew it! (that sick f***er)
5097057 Can I deduct it from your paycheck instead?
Henderson lead Church past a couple of Warthog
1. Led.
Don't know who's going to go crazy first, Pinkamena or the Red guy. Either way we'll be seeing red in the next chapter. Probably.
Jack? Ryan? Edgar? What's next, a bossy guy with a big, stupid mustache?
No, I'm not jealous... Is swear...
5105532 Sure you can! Let's see.... since one cannot subtract anything from one's nonexistant paycheck, here ya go! *Holds out a whole big heaping helping of NOTHING*
5106348 Hmm... I think I'll just take it from your attention instead since you can't 'pay a tension' no more
5107382
Oh snap! 
*Gives a bro-hoof for that witty comeback!*
5107694 Thanks for that Brad
5098276 I meant "they" as in THE WRITER. The word "they" can be used in many a circumstance.
5109029
No, it can´t. "They" is used when you speak of MANY people, not one person.
5110362 "They" can be used if you are unsure of the gender of the subject in question.
I'm not that far in the story yet but I see what you did with some of the chapters naming them with song lyrics of I forget the artist but red vs blue songs lol
Knowing RvB the title of the next chapter may mean that the Mad King literally falls over on something
Holy horse apples! I just read the whole published part of this fic in about seven hours!
(From the intro to here)
Soon...
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"It's all going to be murder."
Ryan Haywood, Let's Play King Gavin Pt. 2
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I love you so much right now.
5098210 Watch this and you will understand
Hah, Equestria wouldn't have advanced to space travel within that time. From the time Luna was banished and her return... There was barely any change.
BLOOD GULCH BLUES!!!
EDGAR IS THE ONE IN THE HOLE
I love how you keep referencing the RT staff. It's hilarious, creative, and also provides voicing so I can read their lines in my head.
5145126 And yet anyone who's red the comics know that ponies can walk upon their moon with ease.
(They just need two princess and a lasso)