Twilight stirred slowly, dragging herself inch by inch from the blackness that enveloped her mind. As she struggled, she heard a familiar voice. "She is waking."
"C-Clank?" she managed to say, her voice still weak. "W...what happened? I dreamed...the Nightmare got out..."
Clank let out a sad sigh. "It did, Twilight. But Ratchet put it back where it belongs."
Twilight reached a hoof to her head. She didn't really like thinking about that thing being inside her.
"Twilight!" Ratchet gasped out, racing into the room and scooping Twilight into his arms. "Thank the gods you're okay!" He held her close to his chest, stroking her mane and crying his eyes out.
"D-Daddy?" Twilight gasped in shock.
"You're okay now, Twilight!" Ratchet whispered firmly. "You're okay, we're back together now, and I'm never leaving you in someone else's care like that again! I won't ever let something like this happen again!"
Twilight blinked for a bit. "Umm...does Clank count as 'someone else', or does this mean you won't be taking Angela on a date?"
"Wait, what?" Ratchet asked, shocked. "Me and Angela? No, no there's nothing like that, Twilight!"
"Dammit!"
At Twilight's sudden oath, Ratchet and Clank burst into laughter. A blue fuzzball bounced up to nuzzle them.
"Mr. Fuzzy-Biter?" Twilight said, shocked. "What are you doing here? And..." She glanced around at the spacious, well appointed apartment and out the windows on all sides to the spacious city vista visible. "Where is here?"
"This is our penthouse apartment in Megapolis," Clank explained. "Mr. Fizzwidget - the real Mr. Fizzwidget - decided we should keep the apartment Qwark assigned me while pretending to be Fizzwidget. Mr. Fizzwidget also decided that Mr. Fuzzy-Biter should stay with you, since he seems to have imprinted on you somehow."
Twilight smiled as she cuddled the original Protopet, but frowned a bit when her mind registered the rest of the sentence, not sure how to feel about Qwark. "And...the Captain?"
"In intensive care back on Yeedil," Ratchet explained, rueful compassion in his voice. "Even someone as tough as him doesn't get back up easily after a full RYNO II salvo to the back."
"He what?" Twilight demanded in shock. "Why'd you do that?"
"I think it'd be better to let her see for herself," Angela said from the door to the room, walking towards the TV. Halfway there, she tripped and fell flat on her face. "...I meant to do that," she groaned, holding her hand up assertively.
Clank chuckled briefly before picking up the remote. Twilight then watched the video recorded by the security cameras on Yeedil of the fight between Ratchet, Qwark, and her inner Nightmare. "But...but why did Qwark leap in front like that?"
"Because he saw what I missed," Ratchet explained. "That any damage to Dark Star-"
"Dark Star?" Twilight asked, confused.
"It's what the Nightmare that came out of you has been dubbed," Clank explained.
Twilight frowned. "Why the heck did they have to make it sound so cool?" she pouted. This startled another chuckle out of Ratchet and Angela. "You were saying?"
"Qwark spotted that damage to Dark Star was being echoed onto your body," Clank explained. He pointed on the feed to where Twilight's recumbent form was burned, and showed her the same spot on her own body. "Had Qwark not taken that blast...you would have taken the full force of a RYNO II salvo...with your armor's nanotech already empty. With that empty and all your magic in Dark Star..."
"I...I would have killed you..." Ratchet whispered. "I wouldn't even have known..." Tears beaded the corners of his eyes.
Twilight wrapped her forelegs around as much of Ratchet as she could reach. "It's not your fault, Daddy. You didn't know..." She took the remote from Clank's hands and began scrolling the video back and forth over Qwark's charge to protect her. "But how did he move that fast? It's not scientifically possible, and Qwark doesn't have any magic as far as I know..."
Ratchet managed a chuckle, pleased to see Twilight more like herself again. "Maybe you can explain the rest of it?" he asked, scrolling the video ahead.
Twilight stared, her jaw slack, as she watched the magical conclusion of the battle. "...since when do you have magic, Daddy?"
"No idea," Ratchet admitted, scratching the back of his head with his heavily bandaged arm.
"I guess I'll have to rebuild your Power Gauntlet," Twilight began, trying to sit up, only to fall back into her bed. "Or maybe just order a replacement from Gadgetron..."
Ratchet tucked Twilight back in. "You just rest up for now," he told her. "You'll be better in no time-"
"How was the mission?" Twilight spoke up. "I want some stories!"
Ratchet laughed. "Alright," he said easily, sitting beside her bed. "What part would you like to hear about?"
Twilight thought for a time. "How about how you found out the thief was Angela?"
"And perhaps his initial reaction to realizing she was female?" Clank offered teasingly.
"Hey!" Ratchet snapped at Clank, startling laughter all around. "Well, that's pretty late in the story. So how about I start at the beginning?" When Twilight nodded, he smiled and continued. "Well, it all started out when I infiltrated her aerial base..."
Angela sat back, watching as Ratchet told Twilight tales of his most recent adventure. She at first winced as he came to some of the things he told about her own actions, but he focused more on the humor of her occasional ineptitude rather than her more malicious actions. Admittedly, the only thing she did that could be classified as malicious was when she zapped Clank to try and make Ratchet back off, although Twilight found that more humorous than frightening.
Not that being known as the villain who can't push the right button is any better, she grumbled in her thoughts. Continuing to watch, she was happy to see that Twilight was going to be alright, and she was beginning to see why Ratchet was so focused on her rescue. Sighing, she pushed herself off the wall, turning to leave.
As she approached the door, however, she saw a sign stuck to the wall near her in a handwriting she didn't recognize.
No hurry.
Wheee!
Chuckling, she continued to make her way to the door, only to trip and fall. Grumbling, she pushed herself up, only to trip again the moment she took another step, falling forward but somehow finding herself closer to Twilight's bed than the door. When this repeated a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth time, she threw up her hands in defeat. "Alright! I'll stick around!"
As she turned to rejoin the storytelling, she missed the Zoni dressed as Cupid vanishing with a quiet, "Wheee!"
really? wow man. this is a good chapter, don't get me wrong, but it feels kinda forced.
i can't wait for the up your arsenal chapters. i can just imagine the back and forth between Twi and Nefaious.
wow... Commando went by pretty quick, but then again, without Twilight around, or a tester's access to Gadgetron hardware, everything should have gone about the same, barring the Protopets becoming docile sooner
5870994
The exact reason I did it this way. Commando's plot was always Qwark's secret plan. Originally, it was a plan to make himself the public hero again. But this time, the entire plan was about trying to make Twilight look to him instead of Ratchet.
That ending
5870970 I haven't gotten far in Up Your Arsenal myself
5870970
Oh my gosh I just remembered his name actually IS Dr. Nefarious. I didn't even blink when I played the game but thinking back that's a really funny name.
5871006 it was (unfortunately) the only one in the original trilogy I was able to complete (never had the first game and got stuck halfway through the second)
but Nefarious was EASILY the best character in the game
5871057 Especially when he gets super pissed
QWAAA...oh, wait, he's gone. Um...CUPIIIIIIIID!
AWESOME LOVE STORY IN SIGHTING HERE!
ALL ABOARD THE SHIP!
Just wondering! Will there be a sequel to Technological Technicolor Technomare?
5871062 Oh Lance you make me feel like a young boy again.
..... SAY WHAT!!!!!
well commando out of the way, time to get out up your arsenal! (my favorite out of all of them!)
5871296 I wish my copy still worked (cruse you, damn scratches)
5871388 you could go to amazon and get one.
So Twi got a mommy?
I should follow this, keep forgetting to do that.
In other news, Twilight is a shipper, like that's anything new...
Are you aware that Angela is a lombax?
5871738
Yes.
That's why Orvus has sent the Zoni to try and play Cupid between her and Ratchet.
5871745
soooooo okay now if you would excuse me
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
5871745
Good.
I was just slightly worried about you possibly not knowing. It was never mentioned in games that Angela was a lombax and it was only confirmed "recently" when people asked a dev about it.
5871838
My headcanon is that her tail was removed to hide her better - that Lombax lab did say "No entry without a tail", meaning the tail is the biggest Lombax feature - and the lack of a tail is the reason for her clumsiness.
Guess Angela's trips bore fruit. She landed a nice catch too. Hope Clank won't be too shocked to see her back again.
......lol
Nice chapter and quite a wind down when compared to the previous chapters but good. I can't decide whether I should laugh or worried about Angela's clumsiness since that took to Derpy's level, only it's self-inflicted.
5871866 I'd myself argue that the HUGE DAMN EARS are the biggest feature, but the tail is nice too.
Somehow I unfavorited the story 4 chapters ago, and didn't realize it, and only now could get back into it, since it was featured. Anyways, I really like your astral protection. I hope to see another chance to use that in "Up Your Arse"nal.
For reasons beyond my comprehension, that Zoni message made me think of Zecora being found on N. Sanity island, starting from Crash Bandicoot 2.
Young Zecora that is, not baby Zecora.
Okay, never played these games and now I'm regretting it. I do love Magitek Spark Twilight. She's awesome, a cute little destroyer when she gets her gear equipped. I can't wait to see if Mr. Fuzzy Biter + Twilight on live TV causes massive heart attacks from cuteness overload. Or if he manages to Hulk Out into the equivalent of Chompy from Team Fortress Fluttershy to protect her.
5871563 Well, given that all of the Filly 6 try to get their daddies some female companionship... I hope so.
5867306 You spoiled that Mr. Whatever was actually Quark... I didn't know that.
Pfft. The greatest "Wheeeee" of all time is Glados'.
Nice job on this one. I'm looking forward to more. I'm excited to see how you handle ratchet using magic. A possible answer would be that dark star was emitting a magical energy that both him and quark tapped into, though that wouldn't make sense because twilight's magic would be much more efficient than to have it just be ambient. Even if the ray thing did manage to change her enough to produce some ambient energy, it still probably wouldn't be enough for them to use it.
Oh well. I guess i will just have to wait.
5876555
Dark Star was Twilight's magic made manifest as a separate Nightmare Entity. That's why her Cutie Mark vanished.
Magic, however, is just another form of using energy to manipulate natural forces. It uses a very specific energy wavelength to do so, however, one generated by the carbuncle at the core of a unicorn's horn.
So any gadget that used a gem structure identical to that of carbuncle would be able to produce the same energy wavelength and also craft spell simulacra, like what happened with the Power Gauntlet.
However, carbuncle cannot be synthesized, and only naturally develops on Veldin in such small quantities it's not worth it to commercially mine, even for magic.
Was the Nightmare ever mentioned before this to anyone other than Twilight?
5881056
Yes, there was one point where Clank's thoughts covered when Twilight told him about her dreams of a creature she called the Nightmare.
5882220
Where was this mentioned? I just went through your entire story in the past few days and I don't remember Twilight mentioning the nightmare.
.... BUCKING ZONI!!
5871388 SCRATCH*static* cheesy soap opra*
5908178 Seconded, felt like it came out of left field for me. Was the chapter placed in the story out of order by accident somewhere?
5911798 If the Zoni ship it then I might as well agree. Ratchet x Angela!
i don't think that's an appropriate story for twilight to hear...
Well, I ship it.
7198553
LOL
Why am I reminded of that hilarious tripping scene from Miss Kobayashi's Maid Dragon, when Angela kept faceplanting?
8954509
My thoughts exactly