Archimedes Constant

by Wheller

Epilogue

Epilogue

‘Oh would you lot relax’, Monty Ulan said rolling his eyes. ‘It’s not like I’m the only person in this room with red eyes’.

Vinyl took up a defensive stance, looking nervously over the robed pony before her. ‘Yeah... well, my eyes are ruby! Your eyes are blood red’.

‘I’m a dangerous psychopath with a long history of violence! What’s your excuse?!’ Surprise called out cheerfully.

‘Not now Surprise’, Vinyl said shushing her, causing the Pegasus pony to frown slightly.

Monty sighed again. ‘I had red eyes in the old world too, after I stole Overdrive’s body back from him and took it as my own, seemed only fitting, since he took my body from me, when I took it back, he left me something to remember him by, his eyes’.

‘You remember the old world?’ Vinyl Scratch asked in shock, easing up on the tension in her body and relaxing a bit. Surprise did the same.

‘I never forgot, let’s just say, I’m unique’, Monty said with a shrug.

‘So that day, in Whitetail Wood when you found me lying in the woods, and then again on the train in South Island? You knew who I was’, Vinyl Scratch asked as she eyed him suspiciously.

‘That I did’, Monty said, nodding in agreement. ‘Of course, I had no way of knowing if you remembered me, you weren’t exactly giving any indication that you did, so I played along like I didn’t know you either, you’ll forgive me for the train in South Island, I was doing something important, and I couldn’t afford you or Princess Luna messing it up... speaking of, somepony really needs to teach her how to disguise herself better’.

Vinyl Scratch gave him a shrug. ‘I couldn’t see the results of my labour, I was no Rarity, and I won’t ever be even with my eyesight back’, she paused for a moment and then had another question pop into her mind. ‘What were you doing in South Island?’

‘Not important anymore’, Monty said with a shrug. ‘Tried to prevent something from happening, but it happened away, you made sure of that’.

Vinyl thought about it for a moment, and then took a guess at what he was getting at. ‘Legion?’ she asked.

Monty nodded. ‘I was hoping that stranding you in the middle of nowhere would keep you from breaking the artefact and irradiating yourself, well, you ended up doing that anyway’.

Vinyl glanced down at the floor guiltily. He was right, the creation of Legion was her fault, had the artefact not broken, had she not needed to go to the Bridge over the St. Germain to heal herself, had she not tempted Whirlwind with information from his old life...

‘Doesn’t matter now, because I know how to defeat him’, Monty said simply. Causing Vinyl’s head to perk up.

‘Defeat Legion, and save Whirlwind in the process?’ Vinyl asked.

Monty nodded in affirmation.

‘Well let’s do it then!’ Vinyl cried out, causing Monty to smile.

‘Let’s, follow me, we make for Ponyville!’ Monty said excitedly. He reached up to his eyes and put the orange lenses back against his eyes and blinked a few times, it was hardly noticeable that they weren’t their real colour. He unlocked the door and trotted out, leading the way down the deserted hallway of the Fillydelphia Ironworks and pushing through several doors until they arrived in a big open room. They were in the ironwork’s foundry, plenty of unicorns scurried about the room, smelting metal into shapes and building things of which that Vinyl could only guess at. At the far left of the room was a long metal box sitting on railroad tracks.

‘What is that?’ Vinyl asked.

‘It’s a locomotive engine’, Monty said simply.

Vinyl eyed him suspiciously; it didn’t look like any train she had ever seen.

‘It’s a diesel’, Monty said with a shrug. ‘It's the only one of its kind anymore, come on! These tracks will lead us straight to Ponyville!’

With that, Monty Ulan led the way down towards the diesel engine and opened the rail car doors to the outside. He climbed into the engine and started it up.

‘ALLLLLL ABOARD!’ He cried out.

Vinyl Scratch and Surprise wasted no time and hopped on. The engine’s wheels began to turn and the engine slowly pushed its way forward, it linked up with the commercial lines between Fillydelphia and Central Canterlot Province station.

And with that, they were off.

Comments

[KaijinZero]

seriously, only a few seconds after i finish one thing, you post another....not that im complaining

[Super]

I know Legion is ultimately a 'bad' guy, but what exactly IS his purpose? What has he been trying to do other than be creepy and showing up in the weirdest places? I think I might have missed something.

Surprise really know how to initiate a conversation.

‘I’m a dangerous psychopath with a long history of violence!

[DreadedCandiru2]

Now I can understand Celestia fearing a nuclear power plant but I can't for the life of me figure out how a diesel train is supposed to destroy the world or whatever nonsense she tells herself to justify her mindless hatred of any sort of machine that might tend to make life easier for her little ponies and therefore less inclined to feed her monstrous ego by using her as a crutch.

The same sort of "I need them to suffer needlessly so that they know how good I am" thinking that dominates Celestia's mind seems to be why Ditzy suffered for years from the stigma of crossed eyes because Celestia-approved medicine could do nothing for her. Given that the Nephite doctors corrected it with almost contemptuous ease, it isn't really all that surprising that she's embraced a religion that delivers the goods.

[Apocalypse Pony]

55795

He has no purpose, he's just there to kill whoever he remembers.

[oblivion2k]

56213
I'm not even sure that's his purpose anymore, since that would mean he would try to kill Vinyl, and he obviously has no intentions of that right now.
I think he's just a true neutral; does whatever he wants as long as it benefits him.

Legion is odd, for doing all of his "Evil" he really hasn't. He killed a few folks he remembered, showed up at a few odd times then... Gone, though he is still around it isn't a very active evil really. Monty is being fantastic of course, and involving himself in more trains which is probably a mistake considering his current train track record.

[unph]

57663

I'd have to agree with not. For an alicorn antagonist, he really hasn't caused any trouble on a larger scale. Nevertheless, I found it amazing how our protagonists actually maintained hope and didn't break down upon Legion's rebirth a few chapters ago. It's quite incredible how these normal ponies succeed in combating these deities (Overdrive, Legion, Siblings Nightmare), let alone even had the morale to attempt doing so.

Also, seeing all these events come together is really interesting. Finally, some serious dialogue from Montanna Ulan, which I've been waiting for since the end of 'All Good Things'. I eagerly await the completion of you next installment in this story. Good job.

[Wheller]

60803

Legion isn't an alicorn, he's just a set of multiple consciousnesses that are trapped in Whirlwind's Pegasus body.

He does, however, have telepathic and telekinetic abilities.