• Published 28th Jan 2018
  • 5,578 Views, 362 Comments

Fallout: Equestria - War Does Change - tom117z



It has been nearly two hundred years since the megaspells rained fire down on the world, reducing it to a tainted wasteland. And ever since that day, the changelings have never been sighted in the wasteland...

  • ...
18
 362
 5,578

30 - Introductions

Chapter Thirty: Introductions

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”


The alicorn was dead.

The giant green pony’s body was still lying there, silent among the rubble of the factory around us. There were no more red bars on my E.F.S. to be found; what had been left pretty much bled away after the death of the Goddess’ envoy. We’d even done a sweep through the factory, going through each available room for any remaining slavers that would be all too happy to get revenge for all the ponies and griffons we’d killed that day. But there was only ever bodies and, with them, the robots or defence turrets that had killed them.

There were more than a few charred robotic remains as well, but mostly that of Protectaponies and the odd Mr Gutsy. The Sentry Bots had fared far better, and along with the smaller ones had made quick work of the unprepared slavers.

Even when we had looked outside, some of the robots had spread into the courtyards around the factory and attacked any stragglers outside. It didn’t look like they were leaving the confines of the parking lot though, so I could imagine a remaining slaver presence in the rest of Buckingham.

Still, even if they tried to retake the factory, with the numbers they had left I couldn’t see them succeeding without reinforcements from Kronos. And honestly, I was willing to bet a good portion of them were already getting as far away from the town as possible. To regroup or just to flee, I didn’t much care either way. So long as they didn’t bother us for a good while.

I’m sure Xena was still giving them the incentive, probably still nestled on her hill. I could swear I could just about hear the occasional crack of her sniper rifle in the distance, but maybe that was just me.

Once we were sure that any remaining slavers in Buckingham would not be bothering the factory, we completed the circuit and found ourselves back in the destroyed factory floor with the alicorn’s corpse.

We’d taken out the factory, despite the odds against us. We’d found out where the Ministry of Arcane Sciences’ secret base was. But now…

We still needed a way into that base, or we were pretty much dead the moment we tried to go in.

“I don’t suppose the place will have more robots for us to use,” Moon Blossom suggested, picking up a severed Mr Gutsy arm that seemed to be under a bit of rubble she’d shifted aside. “It worked well enough here.”

“That would imply us getting inside to hack their security systems,” Cobalt huffed, kicking a small pebble aside. “As it is right now, we’ve experienced what happens when we try to hack the elevator. Even if we killed the welcome party-”

“Which we totally could.”

“-we’d still have to fight our way through a base of slavers, some in power armour, that know we’re there. It would be worse than this place and we’d be alone, we’d never have the chance to even get the bots up and running. And that’s assuming Kronos doesn’t have them active and shooting at us.”

Moon Blossom grumbled something under her breath, clearly not happy with the news.

“Then we just need to find that access code,” I said to the others. If it was out only safe way in, then we’d just have to find it. “Even if it wasn’t at the security station, there might be another terminal somewhere in this place that at least has a clue for us.”

“Wish we’d looked while sweeping for baddies,” Moon Blossom muttered. “So… are we splitting up? Cover more ground and all that?”

“Think you can handle a terminal?” Cobalt deadpanned.

She shrugged. “As long as its on. Otherwise, I guess I’ll call you.”

“Wise choice.”

“Ah, shuddup,” she retorted. “So, are we doing this or what?”

“What if those bad ponies come back?” Altrix asked, sitting to one side as she started despondently at her own hooves. “And we’re alone…?”

Damn, I hated seeing her like this. “No, they won’t come back. Not with the robots still here, not now anyway.”

“Oh, okay.”

I gritted my teeth, hesitating as I made to take a step towards the changelings. But fuck, she needed a hug or something.

I sat down beside her, trying to think of something to say. “Do you, uh… want to talk about it?”

She sat silent for several moments, though… I guess that was an improvement on the last time I asked. Gah, why isn’t there a manual on friendship and how to deal with shit like this? Maybe that should be in the next edition of the Wasteland Survival Guide.

“…No, I don’t,” she finally answered. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of how those three words made my heart ache… “I’m sorry, Scrap Heap.”

“For what?”

“Getting angry,” she said with a hic, using a hoof to wipe away some emergence tears. “That was mean. I… I shouldn’t have, I-”

“Hey, it’s alright,” I assured her, and instinctively my hoof found its way to her shoulder. “You have every right to be upset. But… I’m so sorry that what happened did happen, but you did save me. And… I guess the Equestrian Wasteland just forces these things to happen.”

“But it shouldn’t,” she said in a monotone as she stood up, my hoof falling from her shoulder. “This world is a disease. And for the first time in my life… I can’t do anything to cure it.”

And with that, she walked off.

“Altrix…” Cobalt slowly said as she walked by, but the changelings didn’t stop. She just kept going until she’d exited through the closest door and vanished down the corridor.

Crap. Crap crap CRAP.

“We never should have taken her from the stable…” This was our fault. My fault. If we hadn’t pried her from her home, thrown her into something she never should have had to deal with…

“And then what?” Cobalt stated sternly. “Then what would have happened?”

“What do you mean?” What DOES he mean? We fucked up her life, how can he see any bright side to that!?

“How many times would we have been killed if she didn’t come along?”

“We did fine before we took her.”

“We didn’t take anything, she wanted to come!” Cobalt protested and- OW! Why’d he grab me like that!? “Get a hold of yourself for Celestia’s sake! She saved us from getting spotted before we were ready back at the Megamart AND freed the prisoners. She’s giving us medical attention time and again with far more proficiency than I could manage, and you would have been dead today if not for her. It’s a good thing she came.”

“So, I should just brush over the fact that we fucked her over!?”

“I’m not saying we ignore it,” Cobalt retorted, pinching the bridge of his nose between his hooves. “I’m at a loss how to help her too, but if we start second-guessing ourselves then how are we supposed to even begin?”

Fuck, he’s right. Why does the smart pony always have to be right?

“Guys, can we save this for later?” Moon Blossom asked, and she actually looked physically uncomfortable. “I- I don’t even know where to begin with this shit so… Can we just find what we’re looking for and get the hay out of this place?”

I guess she was even more at a loss at how to process Altrix’s pain than we were.

“Alright, you and Cobalt can head off. I’ll search through the rubble here, see if there was anything important on that little command platform of theirs before the alicorn wrecked it all.”

“Yeah, okay. Sounds good,” she replied as she hurriedly turned to leave. But then she stopped. “Just… be careful, yeah?”

Then she was gone, Cobalt and I staring out after her.

And then Cobalt snorted. “I guess there might be hope for that raider yet.”

He too quickly left thereafter.

I sighed, turning to look around at the rubble around us. You know, I’m not anything remotely described as anything even near ‘poetic’, but at that moment I found this trashed place to be a pretty good analogy to my friends and how we were all feeling right now.

Why can’t things ever just be simple? Go in, beat the bad guys, go home and have a Sparkle-Cola. All this angst was just… getting the better of me, I guess.

Dammit.

I started to shift the rubble aside, mostly focusing my magic around where the central platform had been. At least here I excelled, scavenging being my special talent as such. Shifting through broken rubble, bypassing a battered corpse of a pony long denied her or his own life among the ruins of the old world.

Okay, yeah. This was no less depressing.

I moved some collapsed concrete and steel to the side, watching as a totalled terminal came tumbling to the pile and onto the floor. Useless to me.

Still, I could just make out a metal box among some twisted railings and even a bit of rebar. I lit my horn and latched onto the remains with my pale aura and tried to lift it but hissed through my teeth as a sudden shot of sharp pain struck my chest. I dropped the wreckage and myself to the floor as I held a hoof tightly against the pain.

It was right where I’d taken those hits earlier. It struck me how lucky I was to even be alive, by all rights that minigun should have just shredded me. Still, even through Altrix’s care and attention, the pain had returned as I’d exerted myself. I guess it was a small reminder that I wasn’t back at one hundred percent yet.

I had a syringe of Mex-X still on me, though. So, I recovered the medicine and quickly injected it into the pain directly. The painkiller did its work quickly, and the pain faded into a small numbing sensation.

Alright, rubble, round two.

I lit up my horn again, and with a bit of strain that made the numbing become a little more pronounced, I was able to lift the twisted wreckage from the box and shove it to one side. I took a breath as the battered and dented metal crate was freed, trotting over to it and giving the container a look over. It seemed intact enough, though I hope whatever was inside survived the fall.

I lifted the lid and pulled it free, exposing the contents with. The top layer seemed to be some random shreds of barding, nothing too interesting. A combat shoulder piece, a belt… Oh, what’s this?

I pulled out a small depiction of a familiar purple pony. It was a statuette of Twilight Sparkle, looking to be in her prime and brimming with intelligence. I saw something written on the stand, and I turned it over to get a good look.

“…Book Horse.”

Okay, for one… Horse? Pretty sure she was a pony. Two, now that I looked at it, it actually seemed to be made of pretty cheap plastic. I wonder if this thing was a knock-off of an actual product from the war. How did it even get in here? Bet there was a funny story there. Still, I… actually kinda liked it. It was cute. So, with that in mind, I bagged the fake statuette and got back to looking through the box.

The last thing inside was far more interesting…

“Scrap?” My heart soared at that voice, and I turned from the box to see the wonderful zebra mare walking into the room with concern in her eyes. “Ah, there you are.”

I smiled, and I chose to forget about the box for a moment as I quickly crossed the expanse of the room and held onto the mare I loved with all the strength my battered body had. She returned it, burying her muzzle into my neck as the world seemed to dissolve around us. I was just content to stand there, Xena in my hooves forever.

But as always, it couldn’t last.

“What happened…?” she asked, gently pulling away from my grasp. “Where are the others?”

“Searching for a code,” I explained. “It’s, uh… A story and a half.”

I sat her down on a less rubble-strewn part of the floor and told her everything. Everything from the moment we’d left her on the hill to the very story I was telling her then and there. And she just listened, sitting silently with but the occasional nod to go along with my tale. Maybe it was the Zencori in her, maybe it was because she was just the best. Maybe both. But I told her, and her face went grim as the tale reached its conclusion.

“I will try to speak with Altrix,” she said, sighing. “I should have come, maybe then…”

“They would have spotted a zebra and opened fire,” I pointed out. “Cobalt was right about one thing, we shouldn’t second guess ourselves. Even if this just… sucks.”

“None of this was ideal,” she agreed, leaning into me. “I just hope we can heal her wounded heart. That changeling does not deserve such burdens, I wanted to protect her from it.”

“So did I…” I muttered. “Still, what happened on that hill?”

“I took the explosion as a signal to do what I could,” she answered. “Any slaver that entered my sights did not get up again. After the factory went silent, I witnessed a great many begin an exodus from the town.”

“I figured. Fleeing or regrouping?”

“Yes.”

“Ah.” I guess that means they’ll be back. Probably with power armour and a plan to deal with the robots. We do not want to be here when they get back. I suppose that also means we should make sure they can’t use the factory anymore before we go.

But first…

I got up, and Xena gave me a questioning look as I made my way back to the box.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Well, I found a cute little Twily,” I replied, and smirked as her muzzle scrunched in confusion. “But I also found this.”

Carefully, using my hoof and not my magic, I brought out the memory orb from the box and presented it before her.

“Another orb?” she questioned. “One would assume about the changelings, as with the others.”

“Could be useful, could be changeling mating season.” Would they even…? Nope. Not thinking about it. “Keep an eye out while I check it out, alright?”

“Always.”

I gave my marefriend a smile, but then frowned as I looked at the orb. Secrets… let’s unlock them!

I lit my horn, making the connection as I waited for the inevitable-


-perception shift. Ah, there it is.

I was female, I think I was getting used to that sensation. Not sure that was a good thing, but eh. Oddly enough, unlike all the other orbs I’d used, for the first time I found myself in a pony rather than a changeling. And I didn’t even see another changeling anyway… what was happening?

Taking note of my… I mean, the pony I was in’s surroundings, I saw a lavishly decorated and very tall hallway that was decorated with motifs of the moon. Armed guards lined the hallway, all decorated in dark blue ornate armour that clashed with the modern weaponry on their battle saddles. All of them stood ramrod straight, barely even blinking as they watched my host slowly walk down the hall. Some of the armoured ponies even seemed to have bat wings…

I also became aware of the fact that my host was not alone, and there was distinctive scarred pegasus walking along ‘me’ who was wearing a dark flight suit.

“What is this about, Rainbow Dash?” my host, Twilight Sparkle, asked the battle-hardened cyan pegasus with the rainbow mane. “Princess Luna’s message sounded urgent.”

“It kinda is, yeah,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Ministry business, you know.”

“Ministry business,” Twilight deadpanned. “Isn’t your building still used for storage?”

“Shush,” Rainbow retorted. “I didn’t exactly want to handle this, but… Well, I don’t think you’re going to like this.”

“Thanks for filling me with confidence.”

The two mares walked along in silence for a little while after that, making a right turn and heading further into the castle.

“…So, how is the ministry going anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Busy,” Twilight answered. “So many bright ponies with so many ideas… I just wish their brains weren’t being picked for weapons of war.”

“You know why we have to, Twilight.”

“I know,” she replied with a sigh. “I guess the hope is, now that the ministries are spread as wide as they are, we can bring the war to a quick close. One decade of war is enough, Littlehorn is still fresh on everypony’s minds…”

“Spoken to the Princess?”

I felt Twilight’s face morph into a grimace, and she couldn’t meet Rainbow’s eyes.

“…That bad, huh?”

“Celestia still won’t talk to me. Even after the time she’s had to grieve, she still blames herself for what happened to Luna’s school.”

“Nopony to blame but the stripes,” Rainbow growled. “They forfeited any sympathy when they murdered children!”

Twilight didn’t answer, not right away. But when she did, it was to change the subject. “Anyway, Applejack’s factories are being set up everywhere. Fillydelphia in particular. Fluttershy is doing wonders for Equestria’s medical care… Pinkie and Rarity I’m a little worried about.”

“What? Why?”

“Rarity hates her new job. Propaganda. I mean… she’s good but… Well, the idea of some of the content the Ministry of Image is being pushed to produce makes the hairs on the back of my beck stand on edge. There’s a real worry some ponies might start to demonise Equestrian zebras.”

Rainbow Dash but her lip. “…Ponies know better, it won’t come to that.”

Wow, this was early days. Littlehorn had happened, Celestia was off the throne and the ministries had been formed… But was this after Chrysalis reached out to the Ministry of Awesome, or before?

“And Pinkie?” the pegasus asked.

“I’m just worried she’s going to run herself ragged being the ‘Head of Morale’ for all of Equestria. She’s unmatched at parties, but she’s barely slept since getting the position.”

“Pinkie’s Pinkie, she’ll do fine,” Rainbow dismissed. “You know she’ll do whatever it takes to keep the ponies of Equestria happy.”

“That’s what worries me…”

The memory of the Ministry of Morale listening post came to my mind. An obsessed Pinkie Pie spying on ponies and making ‘party poopers disappear’. From party planner to secret police. And here I was, seeing the start of the end of the world. Well, maybe not the start if the war had been going a decade or so. But certainly, its building blocks.

Great, now my mood was dropping again.

“And then there’s you,” Twilight said, looking at the pegasus as the duo stopped outside a large set of double doors.

“Me?”

“Look at you, Rainbow. Scars everywhere I look.”

“No zebra can catch me, I’ll be fine. Scrapes excluded,” Rainbow tried to assure her unicorn friend. “Come on, Twilight. It’s us! You know we’ll always be okay if we stick together.”

Twilight Sparkle sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s just so much to take in, and in so short a time.”

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. “Well… brace yourself for one more thing.”

With that, Rainbow pushed open the door and the two were allowed entry by the flanking guards.

If my breath could be taken in this memory, then it would have at the sight of the vast chamber the two ponies had just walked into. It was a long stretch that was marked out by a long red velvet carpet that led all the way up to a raised dais at the end. More banners of the moon decorated the expanse of Canterlot Castle’s throne room, and upon the dais was a red and gold throne and which sat an alicorn that made the one we’d fought look like a filly. For the pony before the Ministry Mares was a true alicorn, and not a chemically made abomination.

Princess Luna. The Ruler of Equestria.

The Princess had seemingly been waiting for them and had been in discussion with another relatively young-looking bat pony in more of that archaic armour. Another pony stood by the throne, this was a pure black with a green mane, her cutie mark that of a spider.

“You may go, Lionheart,” Luna dismissed, though I barely noticed him go as I stared into that astral mane flowing in an empty breeze. How does that even work?

Both Ministry Mares bowed, though Luna’s seemed to gesture for them to stand.

“Twilight. Rainbow. I trust you are both well?”

“Yes, Princess,” Twilight replied. “You called me here?”

“Straight onto business then, but I know you are increasingly busy with the development of new spells,” Luna noted. “Very well. Rainbow Dash, perhaps you would like to do the honours?”

“Uh… sure,” Rainbow said uncertainly, before clearing her throat and pointing at the unknown mare. “Long story short, through one way or another this… mare approached me for an audience with the Princess. Personally, I wanted to punt her to the moon and back. But the Princess wanted to listen, so here we are.”

“What a blunt and almost barbaric description,” the mare chided, smirking at the pegasus. “But perhaps I can introduce myself.”

Luna sighed. “Very well. Twilight, do not be alarmed.

I couldn’t feel Twilight’s emotions, but the way her body tensed showed me that she failed in that last directive.

And then the mare was surrounded by green flames, and Twilight yelped in surprise and horror as Chrysalis melted into view.

“You!” Twilight shouted. “Why is she here!? What is this!?”

“Tell me about it,” Rainbow Dash grumbled glumly.

“Queen Chrysalis is here on my invitation, but that as of yet is not to become public knowledge. Understood?” Luna said warningly. “I command you to hear her out. You might find her offer… enlightening.”

“Offer? Enlightening?” I could feel an incoming migraine from inside Twilight’s head. “Ugh, okay, okay… Just… speak.”

“Glad to have your cooperation,” Chrysalis sneered. “What I am offering is quite simple in its design, our infiltrators at Equestria’s disposal in the war against the Zebra Empire. To steal from them or to counter their own infiltrators… The details shall be left to your discretion.”

“Your infiltrators. You want to give us your infiltrators,” Twilight said doubtfully. “Okay, a couple issues. First, why in Equestria would you want to do that, we’ve been enemies ever since you invaded Canterlot at my brother’s wedding. Two, I’ve seen the reports. I know you’ve tried infiltrating Equestria since the war began and failed.”

Chrysalis growled. “Your technology, Sparkle. That is the key. Your technology has boomed ever since this began, and it has advanced further than we’ve been able to keep up, I must admit. But you still lack any technology to replicate the abilities of my kind. If my infiltrators are allowed the chance to understand your technology, and that of the zebras, and even be able to utilise some you would ever so graciously ‘donate’ to us… Well, I’d think you’d find that your enemy would suffer the consequences.”

Twilight paused, just remaining still and staring at the Queen for a good few moments. I couldn’t see into her thoughts, but given how history went, I could make a guess or two. She was probably hesitant, even spiteful at the notion. But since they were fighting a war, she was probably also seeing Chrysalis’ point.

Too bad none of this would matter in the end.

“Our infiltrators have historically seen a lack of success compared to the zebras’ own. We’ve never been able to reverse engineer the enchantments in their stealth cloaks,” Twilight mused. I guess StealthBucks had yet to be invented.

“The Shadowbolts do pretty well,” Rainbow Dash injected proudly.

“You do not infiltrate. You fight behind enemy lines, there is a distinction,” Chrysalis said with mock sweetness. “Your advancements in our hooves would eliminate the crushing disadvantage we’ve had and return us to prosperity. And in doing so, you too benefit.”

“So that’s what you’re getting from this?” Twilight questioned, still hesitant it seemed. “Prosperity?”

“A bit more well defined than such a base concept,” Princess Luna interrupted. “In return for their work disrupting our enemy from the inside, beyond certain elements of our technology they will also receive a new hive within Equestria’s border.”

“WHAT!?” both the Ministry Mares shouted.

“You never told me about this!” Rainbow Dash added.

Chrysalis flashed Rainbow Dash a fang-filled smirk. “You were my link to the Princess, pegasus. You did not need to know the finer details of our negotiations.”

“But… Princess, it’s-” Rainbow Dash stopped, giving an almost guilty look towards Twilight that the unicorn raised an eyebrow at. “You know what the arrangement is.”

“What arrangement?” Twilight asked.

“It is of no matter,” Luna dismissed, before frowning at Rainbow Dash. “We will discuss it later if you so wish, Rainbow Dash. But now is not the time.”

Twilight gave a deep frown but seemed to choose not to pursue the matter. I too was confused for a moment, since the Ministry of Awesome was meant to be pretty much defunct since its conception. But then…

And when our infiltrators are trained to counteract what we currently cannot, they will be most effective. The ponies could use that. I think the Ministry of Awesome would be most interested.”

“The MOA?” the drone muttered with a frown. “But they don’t do anything…”

“And I can be a lowly pony walking through Manehatten, completely unnoticed,” Chrysalis said with a knowing chuckle. “They may fool their own populace, but they can’t fool me.”

Right, Chrysalis had said that… Maybe the MOA hadn’t been so defunct after all.

“The ‘Equestrian Hive’ would likely be placed in the northern regions of Equestria, since it is the least developed. It would be built away from the public eye, the Office of Interministry Affairs would see that the correct resources are allocated.”

“And… how do we know you won’t use our own technology to infiltrate us,” Twilight asked the Queen directly.

“You are helping build my new hive. In short, you know where we live,” Chrysalis pointed out. “As much as I have little love for your fuzzy little civilisation. My people are starving, and we are dying, Twilight Sparkle. To save my hive I will do anything, kill anyone, and even bargain with my enemies.”

“You really are desperate, aren’t you?”

Chrysalis’ teeth clenched, and she took on a predatory pose, but anything else that might have happened was stopped when Luna arose from her throne and planted herself between Chrysalis and Twilight.

“Enough!” the Princess decreed. “This WILL be happening, and I expect the full support of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences in the matter. I too have an issue of trust with the changelings, but this agreement is ultimately more beneficial going forwards for both our peoples than not.”

Luna then turned to Chrysalis, giving her a dangerous look. “And then, when the war is over and the Caeser lies in defeat, we shall see how things progress.”

“That we shall,” Chrysalis replied, unflinching under the alicorn’s scrutiny.

Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash shared a look of worry, before everything started to fade to white.


I gave a sharp breath as I emerged from the memory orb. The events I’d seen replayed through my head over and over, the start of an arguably unholy alliance that probably only made things worse in the long run.

And I was also once again faced with how different Insidiis was compared to Chrysalis. Insidiis had never shown herself to be anything but a kindly, if sometimes temperamental, ruler of her people. The fact that we were ponies was nothing of an issue to the Princess, she had no bitterness towards us or any foreseeable desire to control.

Her mother though… Every inch of her always seemed to promise pain and destruction to her enemies. She cared for her daughter, true. But the rest of the world…?

What would have happened if Chrysalis had gotten her way in the end?

“Hello, Scrap Heap.”

GAH.

I’d suddenly found myself laying on my back, looking up with my muzzle an inch from the front radio of a Spritebot. The small robot had a small chuckle come out of it, before it then hovered backwards and gave me room to get up.

…What the hay?

I got to my hooves and found Xena sitting to one side with her sniper held at ease between her hooves.

“We had a visitor,” she simply said.

“There were plenty of units to choose from, after you activated the security robots,” Watcher stated. “Really, it lit up the system like a Hearth’s Warming tree.”

“When, uh… did you get here?” I asked him, collecting myself. “It’s been a while.”

“Thirteen days,” Watcher replied factually. “And you’ve been busy. You all have.”

All? Was he referring to the rest of my friends, or somepony else?

“As for when I arrived, shortly after you entered the orb. I’ve been waiting for you to waken.”

“So, you’ve been watching me sleep?” Not creepy at all, Watcher.

“She has!” Watcher protested, looking at Xena.

I blushed. “Well, that’s… different.”

Watcher paused, looking between Xena and myself as I could almost see the literal cogs turning inside that robot.

“…Oh! Well… congratulations!” he remarked. “Anyway, what was the orb about? Anything interesting?”

“I too am curious,” Xena said.

“Oh, well… Nothing that can help us really,” I informed them. “I saw the day that Rainbow Dash and Princess Luna got Twilight Sparkle to help with the whole changeling alliance thing.”

“Twilight…?” Watcher said quietly, and I gave him an odd look. “I recall… She came home particularly irate that day. I can’t blame her, none of us could trust Chrysalis. She may have made an alliance with us to save her people, but her ambition for control and power would always win out in the end.”

I gave Xena a glance, before frowning at Watcher. “You say that like you knew her.”

“I- I-” Watcher stopped talking for a moment. “I know a lot of things, Scrap Heap. Let’s leave it at that.”

There was more to this ‘Watcher’ guy, wasn’t there?

“Stripe?” Cobalt’s voice called out as he entered the room, Moon Blossom and Altrix with him as they all caught sight of the Spritebot. “…Watcher?”

“Ah, yes. You’re all here! Perfect!”

Watcher buzzed up into the air, circling us from above before looking down on the lot of us. He studied us for a moment, before speaking again.

“Now, from what I’ve witnessed I’ve gathered that Red Eye has some kind of plan for the changelings. And you know what that plan is,” he stated. “Tell me everything.”


Footnote: Max Level