Act 3 Part 4 - Follow the Truth
Day: 01. Month: 05. Year: 964 A.L.
It is with great excitement that I write this journal entry. The first day of our expedition has come to an end.
After narrowly catching the 6 a.m. train from Vanhoover, we arrived at the end of the line in the Frozen North around midday. It’s curious that the line travels so far past even Equestria’s northernmost outposts to what is essentially the middle of nowhere. Perhaps the princess had intended to build another outpost somewhere nearby before ultimately scrapping it? Regardless, this means that the train put us that much closer to our objective.
According to my research, the secret to the extinct alien race (that I will hereafter refer to as the Forebears) and the place where all life on this world was born lies in the Old Kingdoms. Our plan is to start our search in Old Unicornia, as the unicorns kept excellent documentation of their history even during that time period. We’re still quite a long way off from reaching the first landmarks of Unicornia, however.
I made sure to plan our expedition so that it will be the height of the summer months by the time we reach the Old Kingdoms, where the cold of the North will be at its most tolerable. Despite all of our preparations against the cold, it was still a shock to many of our research assistants used to the typically warmer climate of Canterlot and Baltimare. Still, spirits are high at this early stage, and there is an air of excitement and anticipation amongst the team. Dr. Lyonel Heartstrings is practically vibrating with enthusiasm, and Tome Reader is keeping a level of wry skepticism that I’ve grown to appreciate.
Despite my excitement in moving forward, a part of me is a little sad to be leaving my fillyfriend back in Canterlot for so long. Goldie doesn’t quite share my enthusiasm for the extra-terrestrial, but Celestia bless her for enduring my ramblings with a smile. Here’s hoping tomorrow proves to be productive. As far as I’m concerned, we can’t get to Unicornia fast enough!
Tucker tried to ignore the curious looks he received from the weird little pony aliens as he walked along. As a foreigner to this land, Tucker expected even more of the ponies to be staring then there were, but only a few briefly regarded him with mild curiosity before continuing on their way. Of course, if Church and the others had been here for a long time already, it was possible these ponies were simply used to the armored human visitors.
However, Tucker didn’t think he’d ever get used to this place. It was a bright cheerful day and there was not a cloud in the sky. He tried not to think about the fact that this was due to the winged ponies literally clearing the clouds away in the sky just above him. It was all Tucker could do not to throw up in his helmet at the sheer saccharine quality of the whole place. The color of everything around him was incredibly bright and pastel. The little equine creatures seemed blissfully happy, chatting and playing in the streets around him, and even the birds seemed to be singing actual songs. It was enough to make him sick.
In truth, Tucker would have been just fine with lounging around Twilight’s tree library-thing while she and Church figured out what to do next. Unfortunately, Church decided he wanted someone to check on Caboose—ensure he wasn’t going to destroy the town by accident—and sent Tucker to find him. So when Tucker turned a corner and saw exactly where Caboose was supposed to be, he sighed as his stomach churned at the implausible structure before him.
“A gingerbread house...” he muttered. “Of course it’s a fucking gingerbread house.”
To be fair, that was exactly what Twilight had described to him when the two of them sent him on his little mission. Seeing it for himself was still a shock to his senses… mostly his eyes. Tucker walked up to the door and cautiously pushed it open.
“Hello?” Tucker called out when he stepped into the main floor of the establishment and found it empty.
“Oh heeEEeey Tucker!”
At the sound of the familiar greeting, Tucker spotted Donut stepping out of the kitchen stirring a bowl of batter in his hands. He was wearing a bright baby-blue apron over his pink armor.
“Dear god, you’ve gone native…” Tucker mumbled before properly addressing his fellow Recovery Agent. “Have you seen Caboose?”
“Yup!” a high-pitched voice exclaimed, and the pink poofy pony that he last saw hanging out with Caboose and Donut poked her head over the front counter with a big happy smile. “Caboosey’s just recovering from last night’s cupcake war.” Pinkie’s smile suddenly doubled in size. “Which I won!”
“That’s because you had a cupcake cannon!” Donut argued.
“I thought you guys knew the rule: Never… no, wait. Always bring a cannon to a cupcake fight!” Pinkie then addressed Tucker. “Do you want me to go get Caboose for you?”
Tucker immediately shook his head. “No, that’s fine. I’m not planning to have an aneurism today. I just wanted to make sure he isn’t doing something stupid that’ll destroy all of...uh,” Tucker hesitated for a moment. “What’s this place called?”
“Sugarcube Corner!”
“I mean the town.”
“Oh, you mean Ponyville!” Donut said.
“Yeah, that.” Tucker then gave his head a few disbelieving shakes. “Wait, Ponyville? Really? Wow. They were really thinking outside the box with the name, huh?”
“I heard they were going to call it Ponyopolis originally,” Pinkie said with a sage nod.
“Goddamn. That’d be like living in a place called ‘Humansburg’ or some shit.”
“Ooh, my dad grew up there!” Donut exclaimed.
“God I hate this place.”
As Pinkie Pie pouted, Donut turned toward Tucker indignantly. “Well I for one love it here! Why, later today I was thinking of visiting my friend Rarity to help with the design of her new boutique! I’m thinking burgundy with deep violet accents….”
Suddenly lost in the world of interior design, Donut wandered off back toward the kitchen.
“Pfft. He would like it here,” Tucker muttered. “This place is totally fucking gay….”
“Hey! What’s wrong with being a little gay?”
Tucker looked at the pink pony behind the counter to find her suddenly glaring at him judgmentally.
“Uh… nothing! That’s not my lifestyle, but… I was just saying….”
“Not your lifestyle?! How can it not be your lifestyle? Everypony in Equestria is gay!” Pinkie proclaimed. “And the ones who aren’t haven’t met me!”
“Wait… really?!” Tucker exclaimed, suddenly unable to find words. “But… how can an entire world be gay? How do you guys… y’know… reproduce?”
Pinkie just looked at him dumbfounded, as if she was talking to somebody who was simple. “What kind of super-silly question is that? Being gay when you’re making babies is the best way to do it!”
“What? But that doesn’t…” Tucker shook his head and turned towards the door. “No. You know what? No. I’m just going to find a hole to crawl into until this place starts making fucking sense.”
With that, Tucker walked out the door to Sugarcube Corner muttering something about bizzare alien biology while Pinkie looked on with a puzzled expression.
“Hey, Pinkie….”
Pinkie looked over at the stairs to see Caboose walking down, looking at the door that Tucker just walked out of. “What’s his problem?”
“I don’t know…” Pinkie said. “All I told him was that everypony in Equestria is really happy and it made him really confused!”
“Well… Tucker is pretty stupid….”
“Yeah… he even asked how babies are made. It’s like he didn’t know!”
Caboose gasped. “So that’s why he never tells me when I ask….”
Pinkie’s ears suddenly perked up and her goofy smile returned. “Hey, that reminds me! I didn’t say hi to the Cake twins today!” Pinkie raced toward the stairs. “Wanna come meet the little guys?”
“Wait… are they real, actual babies?”
“Well they’re not fake babies, silly!” Pinkie exclaimed, waving Caboose over. “C’mon!”
Caboose stood there for a few moments before crossing his arms defiantly. “No!”
“No?” Pinkie asked. Caboose shook his head in response. “What’s the matter? Do you not like babies?”
Caboose gave Pinkie a serious glare. “I hate babies!”
Taking a loud and dramatic gasp, Pinkie stared at Caboose in heartbroken disbelief. “How could you…?”
With one of the twins on each of their backs, Cup Cake and Carrot Cake descended the stairs of their home and place of business. Sugarcube Corner was currently doing quite well, and since Pinkie Pie was running the store with the help of those two pink and blue “human” creatures, the married couple figured they could take the day with their beloved foals. Unfortunately, the sound of shouting was the first thing they heard as they reached the main floor.
“Babies are cool!”
“Babies are dumb!”
“BABIES ARE COOL!”
“BABIES ARE DUMB!”
“YOUR OPINIONS ARE DUMB!”
“I AM YELLING LOUDER THEREFORE I’M RIGHT!”
“NUH-UH!”
“YEAH-HUH!”
“NUH-UH!”
“YEAH-HUH!”
“NUH-UH!”
“YEAH-HUH!”
Cup slowly turned to look at her husband as little Pumpkin began fussing on her back. Carrot looked from the twins on their backs to the escalating shouting match.
“Get used to it, hon,” Carrot said. “This is what we’ll have to deal with in a couple of years.”
Day: 26. Month: 08. Year: 964 A.L.
It’s been quite a while since my last entry, but that’s the unfortunate consequence of no progress. We finished our sweep of the remains of the Archmage Citadel, but didn’t find anything that I didn’t already cover in my previous entry on the matter.
I am currently writing from within the walls of our next destination: the old unicorn stronghold of Blackrock Fortress. Seeing its obsidian walls and its position tucked beneath a great icy mountain, I can see how Blackrock managed to hold back the pegasi for countless years without falling once. Still, as fascinating as this place is from a historical standpoint, it holds no clues to the Forebears.
All of the information we’ve come across has been the same: Scripture alluding to the existence of strange, ancient ruins somewhere in the Old Kingdoms, but nothing on their exact location. Strangely enough, recent findings would make it seem as though the earth ponies had more information on the Forebears than the unicorns.
I’ll admit, the morale of the expedition is severely waning. We hadn’t planned to extend our search any further than the Citadel, but our lack of findings had driven me to push us further to Blackrock. I campaigned to extend our expedition further, maybe try the Temple of Faust atop Mount Fiducia. We could probably have made it with enough rations left to make it back to Equestria’s East Sea Outpost. Lyonel was with me, but Tome and most of the others shot us down.
Things quickly devolved into a shouting match after that, when all of a sudden the winds picked up and everything seemed to grow colder. It may have just been a coincidence, but my thoughts can’t help but turn to the old Hearth’s Warming tale about the things that drove the Three Tribes from the North in the first place. They wouldn’t be the first dark creatures for our expedition to have faced. Our encounter with the wights the previous month still hangs heavy on all of our minds. I’m not looking forward to informing Chime’s family of her fate.
Tomorrow we’ll do one final sweep of the fortress. There are still many hidden passages and nooks that we have yet to discover. After that, I’ll try to push to visit the temple one last time. Perhaps Tome and the others will change their mind.
Taking a breath, Twilight turned the page only to find that it was the last one in the journal. Evidently, Arcane Star’s first expedition ended before he was able to investigate the temple he wanted. Glancing over at the expedition’s manifest and the reported date it returned to Vanhoover, Twilight confirmed that they wouldn’t have been able to make it back the day they did if they’d gone to the temple. She levitated over a list of potential places to search and added “Temple of Faust” to the others.
Twilight twisted her neck and stretched, letting the joints crack. She had been poring over Arcane Star’s journal and notes for a couple of hours now, and decided she needed a little break. Maybe she could make some tea?
“Spike! Can you…?” Twilight paused when she remembered. “Oh… right.”
That had been one of the benefits of focusing on the research: it kept her from focusing on anything else.
“Hey. How’s the studying goin’?”
Twilight turned and saw Church standing in the doorway. She saw the way he looked at the absolute mess of books and papers on the floor around her. She had been so engrossed in “study mode” that she didn’t even consider what a mess she had made (still, it was an organized mess!).
“Not too bad. I’m compiling a list of potential places we could search that Arcane Star didn’t, as well as a couple of the places he did that could have something that his team might’ve missed,” Twilight answered.
Church crossed his arms. “Okay. How long do ya think it’ll take to start narrowing some of that down?”
“I’m trying to unlock a code that even Canterlot’s brightest couldn’t solve. I just now finished going over all of the information pertaining to the first of five expeditions Arcane Star led.” Twilight fixed Church with a deadpan stare. “You do realize I’m not going find what we’re looking for in the next ten minutes, right?”
“I know, it’s just… I’m getting bored. Tucker left, Caboose is off doing god-knows-what, and I’m stuck here while you’re having a cram session!”
“If you’re so bored, why don’t you help me with some of this information gathering? You’re an A.I., this should be a breeze with your help!”
“Yeah, I’m not exactly designed to work with physical media. Trust me, way too many limitations there!”
Twilight grinned as an idea formed in her mind. “Okay, if you won’t help me with the research, maybe you can make me some tea.”
“Pfft. What do I look like, your servant?”
“Just saying. If you want me to finish this faster….”
“Fine! I’ll go get your fucking tea,” Church grumbled, heading into the kitchen.
With a friendly smile, Twilight dug out the next of Arcane Star’s journals—one chronicling his expedition to the earth pony kingdom of Gaia a few years later—and called out. “Thanks, number two assistant!”
“I’m sorry, Donut dear, but as you can see, we’re not anywhere near that stage of the construction yet,” Rarity told the enthusiastic human in pink armor.
She had to speak relatively loudly over the banging hammers and whirring drills of the construction crew as they put together the frame of her new boutique. She had arrived to check on their progress just after they’d finished their lunch, and the block was going to be filled with the sounds of carpentry for a while now. Seeing Donut sulk a little at what she’d just told him, Rarity gave him a smile.
“Here’s an idea: Why don’t you go visit my friend Fluttershy and help her with her animals?” Rarity suggested. “She’s such a sweet thing, you’ll simply adore her! And I think she could use the help. From what I hear, she’s been having trouble with her animals of late.”
“Can do, Rarity!” the young man exclaimed before bidding her farewell and skipping—no no, frolicking, as he’d insist—away.
Once he was gone, Rarity took a quick glance up at the sky. It was still sunny and clear, but the pegasi forecast called for rain in the evening. She then returned to her conversation with the foreman over the new boutique’s floor plan. In truth, Rarity had sent Donut away in part because she simply wanted to restore her boutique to the way it was. Donut’s ideas weren’t necessarily bad—in fact, the man had quite good taste—but it wasn’t what she wanted.
“Hey, Rarity?”
The alabaster unicorn stiffened at the familiar voice and saw Simmons approach. “Yes, Simmons. How can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Donut, have you seen him?” Simmons asked. “Now that he’s in charge again, Sarge wants to have a Red Team staff meeting.”
With their talk concluded, the foreman rolled up the floorplan and walked back into the heart of the construction. Rarity watched him go, oddly transfixed on the construction work being done. She inexplicably found herself unable to look at Simmons at that moment.
“Why yes, you just missed him,” Rarity answered without so much as looking at him. “I sent him over to help Fluttershy. Her cottage is just outside eastern Ponyville. You’ll have walked past it if you came from Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Oh. Okay, thanks.”
A twinge of guilt entered Rarity’s chest as the pair finished the cold exchange, and before she knew it, Simmons was walking away.
“Simmons, wait a minute please,” Rarity said, making sure she turned to face him this time. The maroon man stopped and did the same. “I… feel I was rather harsh with you the last time we spoke.”
“Really?” Simmons asked, apparently not remembering.
“Yes, I might have been a bit nasty when you and Grif decided not to come with us to Repertum, and I’m sorry,” Rarity thought about how little she had wanted to go to the human planet. The only reason she did go was because she had a very good reason. “I shouldn’t have expected you to put your life on the line for the rest of us. It wasn’t your fight, I suppose.”
“Yeah….” Hammers and power tools were the only sound between them for a moment. “So… how did the trip go, anyway?”
“Hmm? Oh. It was… it was fine,” Rarity managed.
“Just fine?”
Rarity anxiously chewed her lip as she remembered all that had transpired in the desert. She shut her eyes and tried to shake the image of a white-armored captain lying in a puddle of blood from her mind’s eye.
“To be honest, it was a rather… trying experience,” Rarity sighed. “I saw some things I’d really rather not have seen in my lifetime.”
“Oh… shit,” Simmons eloquently said. “You gonna be okay?”
Rarity saw Applejack and her brother setting up their stall in the market down the street. The farmpony saw her and waved, and Rarity waved back. Looking back at the maroon soldier as he took a concerned step forward, Rarity remembered a conversation she had with Simmons some time ago. She took a breath and gave him a confident smile.
“I’ll be fine,” Rarity said. “It’s just a mailbox.”
Day: 12. Month: 04. Year: 975 A.L.
At long last, our fourth expedition to the Frozen North is underway. It was significantly tougher making adequate preparations this time without the backing of Canterlot University, and in the end I had to use a lot of bits from my own pocket to get us here. Our expedition is also much smaller this time. Dr. Lyonel Heartstrings won’t be joining us again.
We haven't spoken since he lost his jobMany of our research assistants won’t be returning as well, as I can no longer offer them the wages they had on our first expeditions, and co-op credit is a hard sell when braving the dangers of the North. Still, we will press on.If anything, less personnel and less provisions make for easier travel. We made it as far as the Emerald Pass this time, and should reach Inner Unicornia in less than a fortnight. Hopefully things will be different this time now that we know what we’re looking for. Recolta Bogata, the book detailing the harvest rituals of the various ancient earth pony sub-tribes, keeps coming up in every bit of material we find on the ruins of the Forebears.
Apparently, one particular group of earth ponies regularly visited ancient ruins fitting the description of those built by the Forebears to perform sacred rites to bring in new harvests. It is my belief that if we find this book, we’ll find the ruins. Reviewing everything we gathered from our last trips to the Old Kingdoms, along with everything we could find in the Canterlot archives, an old pegasi manifest detailing the goods pillaged from an earth pony sanctum included a book similar in description to Recolta Bogata. Although we don’t know for sure it is the same book (the manifest doesn’t include the title, as the Three Tribes all wrote with different scripture at the time), my colleagues all agree that it sounds close enough to be worth investigating.
Because the pegasi of old did not place much value on the written word, it’s likely they did not keep the book. Either they tried to ransom it back to the earth ponies among the other pillaged goods, or tried to use it to trade with the unicorn mages of the Citadel. Further research on the inter-tribal relations of the time indicates that pegasi/earth pony relations were especially sour during this period, thus it’s far more likely they traded the book to the unicorns.
Something as mundane as a book about earth pony harvest rituals would have easily been overlooked the last time we were here, so I am quite confident we’ll find what we’re looking for this time. I only wish my colleagues shared my optimism.
Twilight skipped through the rest of the entries from Arcane Star’s fourth and fifth expeditions, having already read each of them carefully. She opened the fifth journal on the last page.
Day: 06. Month: 09. Year: 979
It is with a heavy heart that I write our fifth expedition must come to an end, and we’re no closer to finding Recolta Bogata, let alone the ruins of the Forebears. It felt like we were so close this time. All evidence on the book really seemed to point back to the earth pony lands. Unfortunately, it would seem that for every step forwards, we take another two steps back.
Further evidence from the Earth Sanctum would indicate that Recolta Bogada had never been taken by the pegasi in the first place. It would seem that the pegasi invaders merely forced the earth pony sages at the Sanctum to transcribe its inventory list for them to save time counting the seized goods themselves. The problem is, the list was never updated to account for items moved elsewhere recently prior. Unfortunately, this lead is just another dead end. The book’s trail once again ends at the sub-tribe’s main city, which as far as I can tell is just as mythical as the ruins we’re chasing.
Tome Reader seems disappointed that our latest venture has ended in failure, but I doubt she’s surprised. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to convey to her just how much it means to me that she’s stuck by my side when nopony else has. Perhaps the best way to do that would be to finally heed her advice and make the necessary preparations to head back to Equestria at first light tomorrow.
Perhaps this is for the best. It was my daughter’s birthday yesterday. If we’re lucky, we can get back to Canterlot in enough time for me to make it up to young Moondancer. I’m not giving up on my search, but I think I need to take a break for a while….
Twilight closed the book and collected herself. That was it. Arcane Star hadn’t written any more journals after that. It had been the last expedition to the North he had taken. It wasn’t the last time he’d ever tried to learn more about the Forerunner ruins though. Other material in the notes she had indicated that Arcane Star had continued conducting his own research over the course of the twenty years leading up to the ship crash in Dodge City. It didn’t hold anything new or helpful though.
At the sound of the front door swinging open, Twilight swivelled her head to see Rarity enter, clomping her hooves on the front mat a few times to get out the water from the evening’s rainfall.
“Hello, Twilight!” Rarity called out in a sing-song voice.
Twilight took the opportunity to glance at the clock. It was almost six, and the sun was going down outside. At the sound of a metallic click, Twilight looked up the stairs to see Agent Washington on the landing with his rifle raised towards the door. After realizing that Rarity was, in fact, not an intruder, he calmly lowered it and headed down the stairs. Twilight tried looking around for Church, but evidently the armor clad A.I. had wandered off at some point while she was reading.
“Twilight, what’s the progress on your research?” Washington asked emotionlessly, moving toward her. “Are we any closer to getting an exact location on those ruins?”
Also curious, Rarity made her way closer to Twilight as well, carefully stepping over the minefield of books and papers on the floor around Twilight.
“Not great. I’ve narrowed their possible location down to somewhere within or close to the old earth pony kingdom of Gaia, but that’s still a wide radius to cover,” Twilight reported with a sigh. “This would all be a lot more manageable with my Number One Assistant…”
“Can’t you get Church or Washington to help?” Rarity asked.
“I can, but… they’re not Spike.” Twilight looked down at the various pieces of research around her and worried at her lip.
Rarity identified the true heart of the problem almost immediately. “You’re worried about him, aren’t you?”
“Of course I’m worried! He’s like the little brother I always wanted, and every moment we waste puts him and the rest of Canterlot in danger!”
“The Director won’t follow through with his threat unless we force his hand…” Washington started.
“Exactly!” Twilight exclaimed frantically, shutting him down. “What if finding those ruins just results in Canterlot getting blown off the mountain?!”
“Despite his questionable ethics, the Director is a practical man; he won’t take any major action that doesn’t benefit him in some way,” Washington explained. “If we reach the Forerunner ruins and send what we find to the Chairman before the Director finds out, he’ll no longer have a reason to hold Canterlot hostage; he’ll have already lost. Destroying Canterlot at that point would only hurt him in the long run.”
He has a point, Twilight conceded. It wouldn’t do to add the destruction of an entire city to the Director’s list of crimes if he’s found out. Still, it wasn’t enough to help her feel better. There was still so much that could go wrong.
“I want to find these ruins more than anything right now, I just wish there was a way to help everyone in Canterlot too.”
“Well, if anypony can come up with a plan, it’s you, Twilight dear,” Rarity said, smiling encouragingly. “I’m sure that once you put your mind to it, the solution will be crystal clear.”
“Thanks Rarity,” Twilight smiled appreciatively before returning her gaze to the journals around her. Something about what Rarity just said stuck with her for some reason.
Crystal clear…. Her eyes suddenly went wide as all at once, the missing pieces fell into place. “Wait, that’s it! Why didn’t I see it before?!” Twilight grabbed Rarity by the shoulders and shook her as a huge smile threatened to consume her entire face. “Rarity, you’re a genius!”
As Twilight dove back into her work, Rarity sat there flabberghasted for a few moments before a cool grin popped onto her face. “Well, I’ve been saying it for years...” she said as she idly inspected a finely polished hoof.
“I don’t understand, what did you find?” Washington asked.
Twilight didn’t answer him. She reopened the last of Arcane Star’s journals and flipped through its pages until arriving at the place she was looking for.
It had been my hope to visit the capital of this subsidiary earth pony tribe for more information on Recolta Bogada and perhaps even the ruins themselves. What’s curious is that by all accounts, no such city exists now. Maps recovered from the pre-Unification era clearly display a city far to the south of the Old Kingdoms, but investigations of the same location turned up no trace of anything ever having been there at all.
“Arcane Star was trying to find a book called Recolta Bogada that he believed would lead him straight to the temple,” Twilight finally explained. “But even after searching the Old Kingdoms over the course of years, he never found it, and now I know why. It was made by earth ponies that he thought was a subsidiary tribe, when in actuality it was its own independent nation. A small empire even! He couldn’t have found Recolta Bogada because until earlier this year, that book didn’t exist anymore!”
“I’m not quite sure I understand what you mean, Twilight darling,” Rarity said.
“I’m saying as far as we know, there’s only one direct reference material to the Forerunner ruins, and only one place it could be,” Twilight turned to Rarity, Washington, and Church (who just entered the room at the sound of all the excitement) and smiled. “Let’s gather the rest of the group. We need to plan a trip to the Crystal Empire!”
The sight that greeted Donut when he arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage was a strange one, even for him. Among a cacophony of riotous animals was Rainbow Dash clinging to the back of a great brown bear, her little blue wings flapping frantically as she tried to hold on, keeping the brown giant oriented toward Fluttershy.
“C’mon Fluttershy! You can do it!” Rainbow shouted to the gradually shrinking yellow pony. “Just concentrate and make your eyes super scary!”
“O-okay,” Fluttershy trembled. “I-I’ll try…”
Gathering her courage, Fluttershy closed her eyes before opening them again and staring hard at the bear. Her large piercing eyes met its own and for a moment the bear seemed locked in a trance. At least before it yawned and idly shook Rainbow Dash off of its back. The bear then casually strode past the furiously staring Fluttershy and proceeded to eat something off of her central table that it probably wasn’t supposed to eat.
“I can’t do it. I just can’t do it!” Fluttershy moaned, turning to look pleadingly at the bear. “Harry, please stop eating that….”
“Ow…” Rainbow groaned, climbing to her feet. “At least I didn’t land on my wings. The doctor said I need to keep off them for a little longer.”
“Hey gals!” Donut greeted cheerfully. The pair of pegasi looked over at him.
Fluttershy smiled nervously. “Oh… hello, um… Mr., uh…”
“What do you want, Donut?” Rainbow asked, not caring how dismissive she sounded.
“Oh, not much. Just thought I’d drop by, see if you guys needed anything,” Donut said, ducking to avoid a few hazardously flying birds.
“Oh. Yes, um… since you asked, would you be so kind as to stop Angel Bunny from running out the door with all of my stationery?” Fluttershy asked sweetly.
Donut glanced down at the floor just in time to see a little white bunny running towards him wearing a sailor hat made out of some folded paper. He was carrying several other folded up pieces of paper in his mouth.
“Whoa, slow down there, little fella!” Donut said, scooping up the troublesome bunny in one hand and removing the stationery from his grasp.
Donut handed the stationary to Fluttershy, removed the paper hat from the bunny’s head and promptly dropped him to the floor. Angel made his annoyance known with a few rude hand gestures in Donut’s direction as the pink soldier unfolded the piece of paper the bunny had been wearing on his head.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened when she saw what Donut was holding. “Oh, um… why don’t you let me take that, Donut.”
Donut glanced at the unfolded paper in his hands to see what looked like an already written letter on it. Which was strange, because he didn’t see Fluttershy’s name anywhere on it.
“Really? But it has Rainbow’s name on it,” Donut said.
“What? Lemme see!” Rainbow promptly grabbed the letter from Donut’s hands as Fluttershy gasped and started whimpering nervously. Donut watched Rainbow’s eyes scan the words until a frown of familiarity adorned the pegasus’ face. “Fluttershy… why do you have Gilda’s letter to me?”
Fluttershy just stood in place, shaking and sweating bullets. “I-I-I… I don’t…” she suddenly turned to glare at the little bunny. “Angel! You know better than to take ponies’ things!”
Angel folded his little arms and gave Fluttershy a knowing frown. Rainbow looked from the bunny to her friend, and Fluttershy’s ears wilted under their combined gazes.
“Okay! I-I’m sorry! It’s just… you threw it away, and then I found it by accident, a-and… I thought if it was bothering you so much, maybe I c-could…” Fluttershy could only finish her sentence with a high-pitched squeak and a meek “sorry.”
“Who’s Gilda?” Donut asked.
“Nobody,” Rainbow said in a dangerous low voice. “Just an ex-friend who turned out to be a big, stupid… jerk!”
“U-um…” Fluttershy started, before momentarily shrinking back when Rainbow’s angry glare made a beeline for her. “It’s just… i-it kinda looks like she’s sorry.”
“What?” Rainbow all but growled.
“W-well… Gilda looks like she wants to get back in touch. Maybe she feels bad about everything that happened?”
“Pfft! You really believe that, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked. “Don’t you remember what she did to you?”
“W-well… if she’s really truly sorry….”
“What? I should just forgive her?!”
“That’s what I’d do!” Donut proclaimed.
Rainbow and even Fluttershy turned to Donut in disbelief. “Yeah, Donut? You don’t know this person like I do. She dissed my friends! I can’t just forgive her after one ‘I’m sorry!’”
“Why not? What could she have done that’s so bad you can’t forgive her?” Donut asked. “Was it worse than trying to kill me and getting me stuck in this lightish-red armor as a result? Because that’s exactly what the Blues did to me, but I don’t hate ‘em.”
“You don’t?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head at Donut.
“Nah, holding grudges won’t do anything but make you old and bitter. And I can’t get wrinkles... I still have my future modelling career to consider!”
“Don’t bother. Being a model’s scary,” Fluttershy muttered.
“But… what if she’s being insincere?” Rainbow asked, either not hearing or not listening to Fluttershy. “What if she’s not sorry for what she did to my friends?”
Donut just shrugged. “You never know if you don’t give her a chance.”
Rainbow opened her mouth, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. She could only entertain the notion that maybe… just maybe… Donut was right. The conversation was finished when someone approached the open front door.
“Hey girls! Hey Donut!” Twilight greeted.
“Oh. Hi, Twilight!” Fluttershy said.
“Why did you greet me separately?” Donut asked.
“Well, you’re a…” Twilight started, but after evaluating Donut again, she simply waved a hoof dismissively. “Nevermind.”
“What’s goin’ on, Twi?” Rainbow asked.
“I want everyone to gather at the library this evening,” Twilight explained. “We just made a big discovery!”
“WHAT?! The secret to the alien ruins is in the Crystal Empire!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, jumping up and hovering in place. Suddenly remembering that the doctor told her to stay off her wings as much as possible, Rainbow promptly touched back down and took her seat at the crowded table.
The large round table at the center of Golden Oaks Library was crowded by all five of Twilight’s pony friends, the three Blues, five Reds, and Agent Washington.
“Yes,” Twilight said, pinching the bridge of her snout. “And for Celestia’s sake, Rainbow, do you have to loudly and incredulously repeat everything I say?”
“WHAT?! I’m loudly and incredulously repeating everything you say?!”
Twilight lowered her brow and glared at her prismatic friend. “Now you’re just trying to be a pill.”
The barely contained laughter from both Rainbow and Pinkie confirmed it, and Twilight elected to ignore them and continue. “We’ll be dividing our group into two teams. Team A will consist of Donut, Simmons, Church, Caboose, Washington, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and myself. We’ll go to the Crystal Empire and track down those ruins.”
“The second team will consist of Grif, Sarge, Lopez, Tucker, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie…” Wash continued, only to be interrupted by the clearing of a gruff throat.
“I’m not happy with the teams,” Sarge stated. “Mostly because Grif’s on mine.”
Twilight saw Applejack give an exaggerated roll of her eyes as Washington stepped in.
“Sarge, the only reason we even organized the teams this way was because you insisted on spreading out the Reds, Blues and ponies as evenly as possible,” Wash said.
“Exactly! This way, those dirty Blues won’t get up to no good behind our backs!”
“So… does he realize we’re standing right here?” Tucker whispered to his teammates.
“I don’t know… we are sitting, so maybe he’s confused,” Caboose said.
“Oh, sure. He’s the one who’s confused,” Church mumbled.
“Not only did we organize the teams this way to cater to your paranoia Sarge, but we also needed to be strategic with who we need where,” Twilight explained. “The teams are fine.”
“Um… Twilight? I have a question,” Fluttershy declared timidly. “If your team is going to the Crystal Empire to find the ruins… what’s the other team going to do?”
“Team B is going to Canterlot,” Twilight said boldly. “They’re going to sneak into the castle and stop Project Freelancer from destroying it.”
The room was silent for all of two seconds. “How in the fuck are we supposed to do that?!” Tucker asked.
“In order for the Mother of Invention to perform an orbital strike with any accuracy, it needs to rely on a beacon placed in the target area,” Washington explained. “This beacon transmits a signal directly to the Mother of Invention’s targeting computer. If you can find the beacon in Canterlot and either deactivate it or scramble the signal, you should render the Mother of Invention incapable of launching an orbital strike.”
“Last I checked, all of Canterlot is locked down, Twilight dear,” Rarity pointed out. “How are we getting into the city?”
“You guys will be going through the Crystal Caverns in the mountain,” Twilight said. “I’ll find you a decent map before we all move out. Just be careful. I remember reading about something ancient living in those caves….”
“Fucking great, so the B team gets to sneak through a cave that probably has bats, and infiltrate an occupied city that’s constantly under the threat of being blown off the side of a mountain while the A team gets to hike around looking for some ruins,” Grif complained.
“For your information, the ruins we’ll be looking for are in the Frozen North: A place where the cold is lethal, is filled with ancient monsters, and in all likeliness a large portion of Project Freelancer’s forces searching for the same thing,” Twilight said. “Believe me, both teams have their work cut out for them. But there’s too much at stake to give up now!”
“Pfft. For you guys maybe,” Tucker said. “What about us?”
“What about you?”
“This is your planet that’s on the line right now.”
“Yes, and it’s your people that are threatening it!”
“As much as I hate to agree with a dirty Blue, the man has a point,” Sarge said, folding his arms. “We’re not with Project Freelancer. Hell, we never even wanted to come here. We didn’t ask to be whisked away to magical pony land! This ain’t our fight!”
Frowning, Twilight looked around the table at each of the Reds and Blues. She knew Church was with her at least, but the rest of them looked down at her with unanimous glares.
“You all feel this way?” she asked.
“Er… sorry Twilight, but we already helped make your armies more effective at fighting us,” Simmons said. “That alone is enough to get us imprisoned for life back home, even if we could justify it with the necessity to stop Project Freelancer. Sarge is right: this isn’t our fight. I don’t want to die for this.”
“Wow Simmons, I didn’t think this was physically possible, but you actually used your ass-kissing to get out of doing work,” Grif said appreciatively. “I guess it really is good for something.”
Twilight closed her eyes and let out a breath. It was incredibly selfish of them to want this, but they had valid points. It wasn’t too long ago that she was asking herself whether the affairs of Project Freelancer was her fight as well. In hindsight, she and her friends only decided to go back to Repertum after they realized it would directly affect Equestria. She had wanted as little to do with Project Freelancer as the others did back when this all started. If the Reds and Blues were selfish for thinking that, then so was she.
“Alright, fine,” Twilight said. “If you guys want to go back to Repertum, you can. We won’t stop you.”
“That may be true, but I can’t say the same for Project Freelancer,” Washington said instead. “They’re not going to let anything leave the planet and risk exposing them. Even if you took the ship the Meta stole, you won’t make it far out of the atmosphere without getting shot down.”
“Uh, yeah… except it’s a stealth ship? Kinda hard to shoot down something you can’t see,” Tucker pointed out.
“It’s Project Freelancer’s stealth ship. They have ways of detecting their own equipment.”
“Can’t Twilight just teleport us all back the same way she did when you guys left?” Simmons asked.
“Yeah, and have us all end up in different places across the world? No thanks. Not doin’ that shit again,” Sarge said.
“I hate to say it, but I guess you guys are stuck here until we deal with Project Freelancer,” Twilight said. “The best way to do that quickly is for you to help us.”
“Fine, jeez!” Sarge exclaimed, turning and pouting like a child.
“It’s settled then, we’ll reconvene tomorrow morning and go our respective ways as soon as we’re ready,” Twilight said with a confident smile.
“Okay. Good talk, people!” Church added, giving the room a thumbs up.
Caboose raised a hand over the table. “AAAAAAAAAAnd break!”
Sunny Side took in a lungful of air as she resurfaced from the bottom of her mug of cider. Wiping a bit of froth from her mouth, Sunny took a glance at the clock on the wall just behind where the bartender stood. After nine already? She hadn’t planned on staying this long. She hadn’t even planned on coming here at all. She knew she needed to get back home in time for dinner, but every time she thought about facing her aunt and uncle with the news from the day, she found herself simply ordering another drink.
The voice of the doctor echoed in her mind as the image of her little sister lying motionless in the hospital bed remained burned in the back of her eyes.
“There’s still been no change in your sister’s condition,” Doctor Horse had said, removing his glasses and doing his best to look Sunny in the eye. “Bright Side is still very young. If nothing’s changed by this point, chances are… it never will,” the doctor swallowed, and Sunny felt her heart sink in her chest as that terrible realization hit her all over again. “I know this must be hard, but we need to start thinking about… the next step.”
Sunny shut her eyes and took another swig of her cider, only to find that she’d reached the bottom. She waved a hoof to flag down the bartender, only to find that she wasn’t there. Sunny didn’t have to look for very long before she spotted the purple earth pony mare (Berry or something) returning to her post from one of the tables.
“Can I get another one of these?” Sunny asked, pushing the empty mug and a few bits Berry’s way.
Berry took the mug but pushed Sunny’s bits back. “The guy in the booth over there said he wanted to buy you a drink.”
The bartender indicated with her head where the booth in question was as she filled Sunny’s mug. Sunny just gave an annoyed sigh. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with some cocky stallion that thought he was going to “get some”, and turned around with the intention of thanking the guy for the drink before letting him know what the score was.
Her dour mood did a complete one-eighty as she found a familiar large dark gray stallion with a short-cut, two-tone mane of white and teal. She immediately recognized the crossed swords on his flank.
“Silversteel?” Sunny laughed as her old friend grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at her. Forgetting all of her troubles, she took her freshly filled mug from Berry and went to join her fellow earth pony at his booth.
“What’s up, Sunny?” Silversteel asked as the pair placed a hoof on each other’s shoulder and butted heads like they did back in basic. “Haven’t seen you in, uh… really damn long!”
“Too damn long. So what are you doing in Ponyville?” Sunny asked as she sat down across from him. “Y’know, besides hitting on mares way out of your league.”
“Hey, I’m an eight at least!” Silversteel said with an indignant look. “But to answer your question, latest contract’s up north. Getting a connecting train tomorrow morning.”
Sunny took a sip of cider. “So the merc life is treating you well I guess, huh?”
If she was honest, Sunny didn’t really care for the way her old friend dropped out of the military shortly after completing basic training to become a sellsword. The stallion always had a romanticized notion of the soldier of fortune, mostly due to his father’s stories, and quickly grew tired of the rules and regulations of military life. She was certain he’d return to a more stable career once he had a taste of what being a sellsword was really like, but it seemed he’d carved a career out of it.
“Yup. Though, this town’s a refreshing change from most of the places in Freeport and Griffonvale,” Silversteel said, a distant look suddenly crossing his features. “Though, I had hoped to catch up with an old friend while I was here.”
“Oh? What happened?”
Silversteel took a sip of his own cider, but his expression was the very image of sobriety. “She died. Quite recently, so I hear.”
“Oh, wow… that’s… I’m so sorry,” Sunny said, reaching over to give his foreleg a comforting pat.
“Thanks. She was something special. I... wish I’d kept in touch with her more.” Silence reigned as both of them took a swig of their drinks before Silversteel continued. “She had… special eyes. Had a way of seeing the good in all of us. Even when we had trouble seeing it ourselves.”
“Hey, that was pretty good. Maybe you should be a poet!” Sunny grinned.
“C’mon, I’m a big badass sellsword now. I do have a reputation to maintain!” Silversteel joked, but his easy smile quickly vanished.
Hoping to raise his spirits a different way, Sunny raised her mug. “To your friend’s special eyes.”
Silversteel met her mug with his own. “To Derpy.”
The two mugs clinked, and the ponies holding them took a large drink. Setting his mug down, Silversteel wiped the corner of his mouth. “Well, enough about me. What are you doing in Ponyville? I thought you were still with the Guard.”
“I’m on leave, actually,” Sunny said, idly tracing the rim of her mug, trying not to think about the incident that put her there. “Though, I’m thinking of quitting for good. Guess the military life isn’t for me, either.”
Silversteel grinned. “Hey, you could always go merc with me! We make a good team and the contract I just got is pretty sweet.” Silversteel wiggled his brow playfully. “They’re still hiring….”
“Northern Equestria, right?” Sunny asked, trying not to look too skeptical. “So what, is some morally dubious trading company looking for some extra muscle or something?”
“Nah. To be honest, I don’t even know who our employer is. I signed on with Whitewater for this job. Their commander is the one dealing with the employer.”
Sunny suddenly had a really bad feeling in her gut. Whitewater was a private military company whose army of sellswords consisted primarily of discharged former military personnel and ex-convicts from a variety of countries. There were all sorts of unsavory rumors surrounding the company. Getting in with them meant that you’ve made it as a merc, but at the cost of your soul.
“But here’s the juicy part,” Silversteel continued. “They’re not paying us with bits.”
“So what, then? Gems? Gryphs?”
“Weapons.”
Sunny tilted her head. “But… doesn’t Whitewater already have plenty of those?”
“None like this….” Silversteel then turned and did a quick scan of the bar. Once he seemed sure that no one was watching, he turned back to Sunny and leaned forward over the table, speaking under his breath. “Take a look in my saddlebag underneath the table.”
Carefully, Sunny reached a hoof under the table and felt a bag. Her heart stopped when she felt a familiar cold metal object inside. Pulling it out of the bag, Sunny made sure to keep it under the table as she looked at it. Her eyes went wide and the breath left her body when she got a good look at the familiar object in her hooves.
It was only from previously sharing a mind with Tex that she recognized it as an M6G recoil-operated, magazine-fed magnum: the favored sidearm of the UNSC’s finest. Sunny felt the gun slowly, examining its every detail. It had no trigger guard, she discerned, and a few other tiny variations in the design made her realize it was custom-built to be used by ponies.
“Pretty impressive, right?” Silversteel asked, thankfully misinterpreting her shock for that of someone seeing something new and strange. “Of course, what you’re holding right now is just a taste of what our employer is giving us. This stuff outclasses every weapon we’ve come to know. Swords, crossbows, everything we trained with is gonna be made obsolete by these… ‘guns!’ I wonder who made them….”
Sunny had a pretty good idea. The magnum had no markings to indicate its make, but the whole thing had Project Freelancer written all over it. What could they be up to now? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be anything good. Sunny remembered what she’d said to her companions. What she’d promised to her aunt and uncle. She swore she was going to stay home and focus on her recovery, but her every instinct was telling her what needed to be done.
Putting the magnum back in Silversteel’s saddle bag, Sunny leaned on one foreleg and tried to imitate one of her friend’s easy smiles. “Northern Equestria, you said?” she asked. “How far north are we talking, exactly?”
Silversteel grinned. “As north as it gets.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
746 users online
1,128,522 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Follow the Truth (Lyric from 'All As One' by Trocadero - Twilight goes through the late Arcane Star's journal to find the truth about the Frozen North Ruins.
Well, to the North we go!
And wait... "Stoned"? I'm scared to think of what Bravo Team is gonna be facing.
B team gets stoned - I was wondering what Discord was up to...
Also good use of the old meaning of 'gay'
Evil cliffhanger. Will you include the fact from the comics that Sombra's species happens to be sealed underneath the Crystal Empire in crystal? They feed on fear and despair, too.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Great chapter.
Hahah. B team gets stoned. Hah. Something ancient living in the caverns.
Dollars to Donut it's a gorgon of some kind.
Unfortunately, this lead is just another dead end
1. Led.
Our favourite mare returns... Though with much more knowledge on the weapons the mercs don't even know how to use to their full efficiency. And then she kicks ass with all of the weapons while the mercs shoot themselves because they looked at the wrong end.
6111471 Really? I've never watched that series myself, so whatever it was is probably a coincidence
6121568 Actually, in this instance it would be "lead" as Arcane Star is referring to a lead as in a clue (pronounced leed).
6122929 doh, I read this in past tense again.
Provided that the future chapter titles will follow the Act 3 Teaser...
Follow the Truth
Follow the Lies
Nobody Wins
Everything Dies
*Gulps*
6151678
It's a callback to another gag from RvB, when Sarge was shot in the head by Caboose (Church was possesing Sarge at the moment), Grif used CPR to resurrect him. It worked.
6151678 Well, Griff's CPR can obviously cure headshots, so why not?
6152688 oh god I forgot about that one. Been ages since I last saw the... Was that in the first or second season? Definitely wasn't in the others.
6156477
First season.
6156533 ah thanks ^.^