Red Vs Blue: Epsilon in Equestria

by The Sentient Cloud

Chapter 8: Rising Tempers

Author's Note In Comments.

---------------

The UNSC Archives:

“I’m telling you, I can’t do this!” Grif cried frantically.
“I don’t care if you can or can’t, you’re doing it.” Carolina shot back, jabbing Grif in the back with her rifle.

“This is a bad idea.” Simmons interjected. “He’s just going to get killed.”
“That’s the point.” Sarge replied smugly. “It’s my plan.”

“Well fuck that then!” Grif grew even more frantic, trying to back-pedal as Sarge pushed him towards the door. “I’m not going in there!”
“Too late.” Carolina spat, pushing Sarge to one side and giving Grif a single kick, propelling him through the doorway.

Grif tripped on the doorframe as he was propelled forwards, falling flat on his face.
“Fuck!” He cursed as Sarge slammed the door closed behind him. “Ow!”

“Good luck!” Called one of the others through the door.
“Fuck you!” He shouted back, before remembering that he was now in serious danger, and needed to keep his voice down.

Grif angrily dragged himself up off the floor.
“I’m gonna die.” He muttered under his breath, mentally cringing away from the task ahead of him.

***

Ponyville Library:

“What?”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, somehow not picking up on Church’s tone.
“Uhh… I asked about your family. You know… Parents, brother, sister, wife?”

Church stood up, letting out a pained shout as one of his hind legs lashed out and knocked over the pile of books on his bed.
“Woah! Calm down” Rainbow took a startled step backwards as the enraged stallion reared up on his hind legs, letting out another pained shout.

“Church!” Rainbow shouted, noting for the first time that Church - while not as large as Big Macintosh - wasn't overly small either. If it came to blows, she was sure she could beat him – but it wouldn’t be easy.
“Church, that’s enough!”

The stallion himself dropped back to the ground, nostrils flaring, his eyes wild.
“That’s just fucking it!” He bellowed. “It’s NEVER enough! Every time I think I’m finally fucking happy, it gets snatched the fuck away!”

“Church!” Rainbow rose up on her hind legs, worried that it was about to come to blows. “What are you talking about?! Stop it!”

Church looked around him. “I hate this! This stupid world, this stupid body, and this stupid fucking unit!”
“What are you talking about?”
Not paying any attention, Church turned to the door of the room, his eyes still wild. “Fuck this.”
“What are you doing?” Rainbow demanded, keeping her distance.

Church turned his head to her, the fire in his eyes starting to fade. “I’m leaving. This place is a sick, fucking, joke.” He hissed the last part.
Before she could respond, Church slammed the door to his room open.
“Hey!” Rainbow shouted, taking chase. “Come back here!”

Church charged down the stairs, showing none of the timidity that had been present the last time he’d used them.
“Make me!” He shouted, right before something hit him from behind.

A single “AAHHH!” erupted from Church’s mouth as he was thrown down the few stairs, landing on his side at the bottom.

Rainbow was standing over him, a confused and angry expression on her face.
“What the clop is wrong with you? Are you crazy?”
Church looked her in the eye, his face portraying nothing but anger
“Don’t mention my family ever again.”

“Why not?” Rainbow’s gaze was focussed down to a suspicious glare.
Church stood up, his muzzle crinkled in an angry sneer.
“Why the fuck should I tell you?” He growled, before turning back to the door. “If Sparkle comes back, tell her I’ve gone for a walk.”

Almost as soon as he was out of the door, Church felt as if a massive weight had been lifted from his back. Being around that stupid horse made him feel oppressed.

With a little sigh, Church started walking away from the Library, already feeling a lot better.

***

Sugarcube Corner:

“He sounds fun!” Pinkie grinned, rocking from side to side on her hoofs. “What’s he doing now?”
“I guess he’s still at the Library.” Twilight shrugged. “I should probably be getting back.”
“No way!” Spike protested through a mouthful of rubies. “I’m not done yet!”

Twilight gave a weak smile. “Well, Rainbow went off to check on Church a while ago, so I want to see how they’re getting along.”
“I bet that they aren’t.” Spike chipped in, before shovelling another cupcake into his mouth.

“Oh spike!” Pinkie’s grin grew wider as her swaying increased in speed. “Ponies don’t just fight each other because they can! That’d be silly!”
“Well this guy doesn’t seem to think he’s a pony.”

Twilight’s smile faded. “Now that I think about it, I really don’t think that Church and Dash will get along. I really think I should get back there.”
Pinkie’s grin turned into a pout. “What’s the hurry? I’m sure they-”

“AAHHH!”

The trio’s heads – and the head of everypony else in the building – snapped around as the shout echoed through the streets.

Twilight's heart dropped.
“Oh no.”

***

The UNSC Archives:

“Oh-shit-oh-shit-oh-shit.” Grif muttered under his breath, pressing his back up against the wall.

“…found them?”
“Not yet, but they’re still around. Proximity alarms haven’t picked up anything.”

Grif tensed up as the two soldiers approached. They were only a few meters from the corner.

“So remind me: This ‘Carolina’ She was… like… the best one, right?”
“Second best – I think.”
“Right, second best. So if she was second best out of them all, then why the hell did we split up to find them?”

Both of the men fell silent, and their footsteps stopped.

“Uhh… Maybe we should go get Jeffrey.”
“Yeah. Maybe we should.”

Grif listened in astonishment as the footsteps started again, receding back up the hall. It was like something from a terrible story.

Not wanting to test his luck by sticking around, Grif darted through the door that took up the wall of the three-way junction in the hall. He had no idea where the unit was – maybe it was back where he had dropped it. Maybe they had moved it.

By this point, Grif didn’t care. The others weren’t going to let him out until he had the memory unit.

As if on cue, Grif’s radio came to life.

“Grif, you still alive?” Simmons’ voice was laced with what sounded like worry.
“Yeah.” Grif panted the reply, stopping and bending over his knees. “I nearly got caught, but I’m good.”
“Where are you?[/I”
“Don’t know, don’t care. Just make sure there’s a Twinkie waiting for me when I get out there.”

“Uhh… Sure.” Simmons’ voice was uncertain – most likely because he didn’t want to remind Grif that they didn’t have any Twinkies.

Comments

[The Sentient Cloud]

Author's Note:

I'll say it right now: I don't like this chapter. It was pretty much an obligatory filler, it's short, and the dialogue is not the way I would have liked it - but I haven't updated this in close to six days, so I needed to release this.

I don't like this chapter. I don't.

P.S. Sorry to anyone who was hoping for more of a conflict between Dash and Church. I'm trying to build up to bigger long distance problems than putting in small arguments.

[choosybeggar]

OBLIGATORY FILLER FOR THE WIN!!!

[The Sentient Cloud]

834458 No, seriously. I hate this chapter. I feel like I'm letting down the readers. (If only this story were popular enough/had enough readers for that to be true.

Huh. I just noticed that my little 'updates' created a stack of four comments all by me. It looks kinda pathetic. (Why do I care so much about my 'public image' on the internet anyway?)

[choosybeggar]

834465 I know how ya feels, comment stacks and everything. I'm just beginning, so my stories definitely don't have a lot of popularity yet.

On the "letting us down" part of things... Well, the chapter wasn't too long, and it certainly was filler, but I liked it well enough. I'm fine if authors put in a filler chapter every once in a while to keep their sanity.

[The Sentient Cloud]

834474 I'm sure the last chapter was filler as well - Wait, was the one before that as well? No, I don't think so... I hope not.

My god. They were. They were progressive filler, but filler nonetheless.
I'm so disappointed in myself.

[Aburi]

I agree that this chapter is a far cry from your best. I would suggest not forcing yourself to post a sub-par chapter. Most of us are willing to wait a bit longer if it means better quality work.

As for this chapter in patricular... I'd actually recommend waiting until you have enough material for a more satisfactory chapter then combining the two. But that's just me...

I shall patiently await the further adventures of Church

[The Sentient Cloud]

834500 Thanks. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Hopefully I'll be in the right mind-set for this after another chapter for The Piano Man.

EDIT: Just browsing my favorites, and I learnt that for some reason both of my stories were on the list. I took them off immediately. I don't know how I made that mistake, but I did.

[DavidPony]

it may just be a filler with little substance....but so are twinkies and i like them therefore i like this chapter

[The Sentient Cloud]

834603 I've never had a Twinkie. We don't have them here.
(Actually, one of my friends once mentioned that they have Twinkie's at the local United Video, but I've still never tried one)

[Smurf]

nice chapter, well nice for filler anyway... i look forward to the next proper update

i have a theory on why the Unit created Equestria.
ok here goes: when Church let go/forgot Tex she was assimilated by the Unit, the Unit being damged by Caboose 'glitched' for lack of better word created Equestria for Tex's Memories, so that means as a child she was a fan of MLP: FIM or that she is infact non other than Lauren Faust! how close am i? or am i so far off the mark i'm in another star system?

[The Sentient Cloud]

834682 Well, you were close with the whole 'glitch' idea. Equestria was loaded by a glitch caused when the unit hit the wall, which was why at the moment it hit, Church broke through into Ponyville.

To be honest, I haven't fully thought through all of the explanations for EVERYTHING, but if there is one thing that RvB has taught us all, it's that 'Making crap up as you go along can POSSIBLY, MAYBE PROBABLY NOT evolve into a good over-arcing plot with surprisingly few plot-holes.

[Neon Icy Wings]

Hmm. Better filler chapter than before and also typo in chapter name. last chapter was 7 this one is 9

[The Sentient Cloud]

835161 Huh. That's odd. I could have sworn... *shrug* Well, thanks. Fixed.

[RedvsBlue327]

"It's NEVER enough! Every time I think I'm finally fucking happy, it gets snatched the fuck away!"

Yeah, because you were cheering and smiling and viewing the world through rainbows 'n sunshine several minutes earlier.

+-----+

Hmm, at the end of that scene, I had the brief thought that maybe Rainbow could be filling in as Tex in this made up world in some way. Those two do act kinda similar... nah Stupid idea, still leaving it in though.

[The Sentient Cloud]

838486 Thanks for the feedback. As for the 'being happy' thing: Church was finally happy at the end of season 9, and then it got ripped away by Caboose and the others. He's still sour about it. (I also think he may have been mildly content at the end of season 5, but that's less relevant.

[suijin228]

Well... You've got to get through filler crap to get to the good plot points. Keep goin and stay golden^^

[Cades]

“Where are you?[/I”
Should that failed italic marker thing be there? I think not!

[burning-ruin-666]

how can there be no twinkies