Equestria and the Machine

by SapphireRose87

19) We have a Situation!

{Jude}

I almost fell off my chair because I was laughing so hard after I saw the last fight between Firewall Eli and Rainbow Dash.

“Every time I send Firewall Eli to fight Rainbow Dash,” I laughed, “it’s just way too entertaining to watch!”

“No kidding!” Servant Ivy said.

When Firewall Eli and Rainbow Dash fight; they just have way too much fun taunting each other rather than fight.

“If I didn’t know any better,” I said, “those two are still siblings and they seriously hate each other! I guess this is the reason AI sent Firewall Eli to pose as her brother when she was inside. What on earth was Rainbow Dash thinking this time? I mean she does have a tendency to try and kill herself on a job but chomping down on Firewall Eli’s attack like that, I hope she realizes she could’ve died doing that. But knowing her she could care less as long as she killed Firewall Eli in the process!”

“But didn’t she do some damage to two of AI’s gates?” Servant Ivy asked.

I nodded. “Yes that’s true, I don’t think that’ll be harder to repair than the 7th Gate or at least I hope not. But knowing her, she might just do it again just to protect her friends from being killed by a Firewall! I was debating about giving my Firewalls the Copper again. I’m not sure if I want to go that route yet. Knowing Rainbow Dash she’ll probably find some way to kill herself to save a teammate. But if her teammates do their jobs instead of teasing her just try and take out a Firewall she would have to do that! Agent Grace was the definition of stupidity on that one. But at least Agent Oliver was there this time to protect her. I’m wondering if those two are a couple now?”

“Why do you think that?” Servant Ivy asked.

“I’ve been having the head of the seekers keep an eye on them lately,” I replied, “and the way they act around each other it looks like they’re a couple. Especially Agent Oliver acts really overprotective of Rainbow Dash. According to my head seeker, Agent Oliver’s not the only one that likes her on her assignment. I mean can you blame them?”

“Yeah,” Servant Ivy said, “Rainbow Dash is probably where you get your good looks from.”

I could feel my face turning red at the compliment and Servant Ivy was trying her best not to laugh. “Sorry Lord Jude…”

“No it’s okay,” I said as I felt my cheeks turn red, “I’ve never had someone say that to me before. Not from First Mother, that’s for sure…”

“I still don’t get why she hates Rainbow Dash so much?” Servant Ivy said.

“From what I can tell, she’s just jealous that she didn’t give birth to me herself,” I said.

“I might not hate Rainbow Dash as much anymore, I doubt her element will help shut down the Machine anytime soon!” I heard First Mother say.

As soon Servant Ivy heard First Mother’s voice she got up and bowed to her.

“It’s okay child,” said First Mother, “I’d like to talk to the boy Lord Jude in private.”

“Yes, your highness.” Servant Ivy said.

I was staring at Servant Ivy as she walked away. From the looks of it, she knew I was staring at her just by the way she walked. She moved her hips swaying them back and forth as she walked.

“Is this some sort of joke First Mother?” I said after I turned my attention to her. I gave First Mother a wary look. “Because if it is, I’m not playing along with it that’s for sure!”

First Mother smiled wickedly at me and tilted her head as if she had no idea of what I was talking about. “I’m not joking, not one little bit! Oh and I hear Rainbow Dash has a boyfriend and if you ask me they might be married in the future or not that remains to be seen! And I hear the boyfriend is Agent Oliver himself! They’re perfect for each other if you ask me because they both did some damage to the first ten gates! It's good the Sixth is only aware of the first ten gates or Rainbow Dash would be in even more trouble if you know what I mean. But knowing you, you don’t have the heart to kill her! I don’t blame you, I wouldn’t want to kill my mother either!”

First Mother irratated me because she always said stupid things like this she was proposing something.

“Do you want to deliver the punchline of the joke yet or not?” I snapped.

“Didn’t you hear a word I just said?” First Mother barked.

I had no problem rolling my eyes at her this time. “You know your barking is getting annoying!”

“Wow,” said First Mother, “you’re being defiant to me lately! No matter what, I was getting ready to say Life Force Fluttershy has gone completely psycho!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Wasn’t she going out of control in the first place?”

“Oh yes, she was,” said First Mother, “but her element of harmony won’t work now that’s for sure. And we didn’t have to kill her for that to happen! She won’t be dying, at least not yet.”

“Not yet?” I questioned. “When you say not yet you don’t mean..”

“You just might have to kill her, that is if you want your mother to stay alive.” First Mother responded.

I gasped when First Mother dropped into my hand Life Force Fluttershy’s broken necklace that had her element of harmony in it. What happened next, came as a surprise to both me and First Mother, an alert popped up on one of the AI's computer screens. It said:

Life Force Fluttershy has broken her element of harmony, the Element of Kindness. To make sure the Elements of Harmony never work again, kill Life Force Fluttershy and the rest of the element of harmony bearers will be spared!

That alert made up my mind. I was going to kill Life Force Fluttershy so my mother would be saved.

* * *

{Rainbow Dash}

As I was told by Samantha before and after I did my first team captain assignment and I’m still doing it; she recommended that I visit my pocket dimension when I get a chance to. That’s so I don't go crazy and become a nutcase like Pinkie Pie. Although, according to Gilda and Oliver seem to think I’m pretty much there. I guess it’s within my nature to do stupid stuff but not as stupid as when I chomped down on one of Eli’s attacks and declare myself Rainbow Dash! This time, when I went into my pocket dimension I sensed another presence inside with me. I turned to Oliver looking at my computer screens with curiosity.

I rolled my eyes at hi., “So you’ve finally decided to check things out, huh?”

“Well I’m trying my best to give you some space,” said Oliver, “but on our assignment that’s kind of hard to do.”

“That’s understandable,” I said, “since according to Gilda half the club has feelings for me. And that includes Issac now!”

I guess that was funny because Oliver laughed and then turned away.

“Honestly Oliver,” I said, “is everything I say funny?”

“Oh yes it is,” said Oliver with a smile, “let me guess, you haven’t recorded yourself talking yet? And in case you didn’t notice I’m having the same with people liking me myself.”

“At least we don’t have people being stupid about it like Roman,” I said, “at least not yet.”

Oliver smirked. “Yeah, you can say that again!”

“So you want to see how this dimension works,” I said, “you’re not going to like this but I have to activate it by pulling out one of my feathers.”

That’s exactly what I did, after I pulled out one of my feathers Oliver flinched when he saw that.

“I know what that look is for,” I said. “But for some reason, this pocket dimension only works when I use one of my feathers.”

“Interesting…”

I went to the first computer that I had and used my feather as a quill to type the number fourteen. The number lit up green on all six of the computer screens.

“It’s kind of funny that you're the sixth one that has this pocket dimension,” said Oliver, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you get a top rank in the Sixth!”

I shook my head., “Nah I’m good, I don’t want a top rank any more than I want to be an Alicorn, this first computer where I typed my number in is so I can review video footage of my last fights with the Firewalls.”

“And why would you want to do that?” Oliver said. “From what I’ve seen you don’t need much improvement when you fight.”

“Thanks for the compliment, but according to Samantha every agent needs to improve on something of course for some reason I just can’t seem to improve on keeping myself from doing stupid things when I’m fighting especially when it comes down to fighting Eli.”

“While your dimension is cool and all I was wondering,” said Oliver, “what name does your pocket dimension go by?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Name?”

“Yup,” said Oliver, “every pocket goes by a name. And usually, your pocket dimension declares what its name is. Just like you did Rainbow Dash!”

“For the last time Rainbow Dash!” My pocket dimension shouted. “My name is Computer! You know because of my computers that I have set up here!”

“Wow,” I said with sarcasm, “you’re announcing yourself in front of visitors now?”

Oliver snorted and went into uncontrollable laughter this time he fell over on his butt and when he fell over he was on his back laughing. Oliver composed himself. “Yup, this is your pocket dimension alright! It suits you!”

“Ha, ha, ha, ha!” I said sarcastically.

“You want to know what my pocket dimension goes by?” Oliver said with a grin.

I laughed, “What?”

“It goes by the name of Couch,” Oliver said.

I laughed so hard at that comment that it made my stomach hurt.

“I wonder,” I said after I stopped laughing, “what pocket dimension did Pinkie Pie have?”

“Pinkie Pie’s pocket dimension was a strange one,” answered Oliver, “I know because I trained her myself and she barely passed her six-day training. But when I saw her pocket dimension it certainly fit her personality! The furniture was on the ceiling and at the bottom was a trap door. I have no idea where it leads to and I’m glad I didn’t find out. I have a feeling that it led to parts of the Machine where her speciality job was! But the trap door never opened and I suspect that the reason why was that she didn’t have a specialized job just for her! That probably was because she barely passed her six-day training and I’m guessing the reason is that she was too busy eating than training.”

Once again I found myself laughing at that thought and it made sense because when I met her that’s exactly why I didn’t want to train with her in the first place.

“The funny thing is,” said Oliver, “that Pinkie Pie’s pocket dimension was like with your weapon only a handful of agents thirteen to be exact that the pocket dimension that Pinkie had usually made top ranks in the Sixth! She didn’t come close to a top rank! She was practically at the bottom rank of the Sixth!”

“What was her ranking?” I said.

“Thirty-two…” Oliver said.

“That’s out of how many?” I asked.

“Thirty-six,” answered Oliver, “and the rankings are the same number for every specialty job in the Sixth. Every single job category has the same rank system one to thirty-six. From what I hear you’re the tenth top rank in your job and you’re moving up in ranks! Especially since you did partial damage to the gates and every time you’re on your team captain assignment, you just seem to be able to shut circuit at the USB ports and push them out no problem!”

“You know what’s getting on my nerves besides being called Loyalty at work, Gilda keeps saying that whole line that goes ‘I’m tough, I’m fast and I’m the definition of the word awesome,' I still think that’s a big fat lie! Knock it off, I'm not that funny!”

Oliver just can’t seem to help but laugh at every other thing I say! Yup, I should have to stand up comedy as my side job! At least I’ll have somewhere else to work for extra money.

“Oh yeah,” said Oliver, “just like you can’t help but do stupid stuff especially when you’re fighting Firewall Eli, you can’t just help but be funny! Maybe that’s why half the club has feelings for you!”

“Uh-huh, and the other half has feelings for you! And that’s mostly men though.”

“You should talk!” Oliver said with a smile. “Most of the people that like you are women!”

That was when I heard Computer laughing hysterically.

“Seriously!” Oliver and I said.

“That’s so cute,” said Computer, “you two fight like an old married couple! So tell me, when’s the wedding?”

Oliver and I practically choked on what Computer had just said. Oliver went from choking on what Computer just said to give me a funny look. Only this time it wasn’t the same funny look that he always gives that looked very different.

“What’s that look for?” I said.

“Oh, nothing…” Oliver said. “I think it’s time we go back to work.”

“Sure…” I had a feeling Oliver was lying when he said the strange look he was giving meant nothing.

* * *

After we went back to work Diamond Tiara pulled me and Oliver off to the side and she looked worried. “We have a situation…”

“What is it?” I said.

“It’s the seekers!” Diamond Tiara blurted.

“Are they after Emily?” I said.

“I don’t know,” said Diamond Tiara, “but they’ve been outside the club waiting for someone. I think they are after Emily, but from what we can tell Gabriel hasn’t done anything to her yet. We’ve stepped up on protecting Emily of course she has no idea why.”

“When you mean stepped up on protecting Emily,” I said, “exactly what have you been doing?”

“I’ve been escorting her home,” responded Diamond Tiara, “I hope she’s safe there. For the time being it seems like she is.”

“I don’t think she’s safe at home!” I said. “When Oliver, Clara, and I were running from the seeker, I was told that going back home would be the first place these seekers would look!”

“That’s correct,” said Oliver, “the seekers were outside of your home for a long time before you were broken out of the Machine! Usually, if a code doesn’t work to keep you under control then the Machine sends the seekers next!”

“So I take it, the code that didn't work for me?” I asked.

“Yup,” Oliver answered, “from the intel I just received the code stopped working shortly after Jude was born! And right after the seekers went after you they took Jude and stopped chasing you! As far as where Jude went the Founders don’t even have a clue.”

“So that’s why Finn couldn’t tell me where Jude was!” I gasped.

“The strange thing is,” said Oliver, “I've been doing breakouts for over a decade! When the Machine sends a code to a person it doesn’t implant a baby inside of the person that it was sent to! I hope you’re not mad at me for just now telling you this information.”

“No I’m not mad at you,” I said, “I’m not mad at anyone. I’m just worried about where the seekers took Jude to! He might’ve been sent by a code but either way, you look at it he’s still my son!”

“I had a feeling that you would feel that way,” said Oliver with a kind smile, “from what I’ve seen when someone gives birth, mothers will do everything in their power to protect their child." His smile turned into a frown. He continued. "It wasn’t your fault that Jude got taken, the seekers were after you too! Now that you think about it, when the seekers are dead set on taking someone there’s no way that person can defend themselves from them. And there’s barely anything an agent can do to help. Even if that person is taken into a pocket dimension the seekers can locate the person they’re after and they wait until they come out. Since they didn’t try to locate where you were at, unfortunately it’s possible that they were after Jude and not you.”

“But why would they be after a baby?” I said.

Oliver shook his head. “I have no idea, and that’s not normal for the seekers to do either.”

“Well in this case,” said Diamond Tiara, “I’m still just going to assume that the seekers are after Emily so I’ve been escorting her home and she’s been showing up to work no problem!”

“If that’s the case,” I said, “then the seekers are after someone else!”

“The question is,” said Oliver, “who are they going after?”

“I’m wondering if it’s someone that’s on our team?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“That might be possible,” Oliver replied, “but it’s also possible they’re going after another creature that’s stuck inside the Machine!”

I shrugged. “Until we hear from our Predictor about that, there’s no way we can know who the seekers are after…”

* * *

{The Head Seeker Gabriel}

Agent Rainbow Dash and Agent Oliver didn’t realize that the seekers weren’t after Emily, they were after them. The funny thing was Agent Rainbow Dash and Agent Oliver thought that I was a code that was sent to Emily. I thought that the agents of the Sixth could be stupid sometimes and I'm pretty sure Lord Jude feels the same way.

But why Lord Jude hadn’t requested an audience with those two yet I had no idea. It looked like Lord Jude was waiting on something to happen with Agent Rainbow Dash and nobody knows why and Lord Jude wasn’t gonna tell anyone any time soon.

My official title is Head Seeker Gabriel and Lord Jude gave me specific orders to place my seekers in different areas that surrounded the assignment that Agent Rainbow Dash and Agent Oliver were at. My top three seekers would record videos of them and a couple of times they would fight the Firewalls in the areas that my seekers were stationed at. That seems to be Lord Jude’s favourite type of video footage that I would give him.

Today was no different and I would wonder when Lord Jude would give me and my seekers go-ahead to bring Agent Oliver and Agent Rainbow Dash to him. Today Lord Jude summoned me and when Lord Jude did that a computer would pop up in front of me and out of it would be a holographic with Lord Jude’s face on it.

“Your highness!” I said. Of course every time Lord Jude would summon him it was always a surprise and an honour to see him.

This time Lord Jude smiled at me and his smile confused me.

“Head Seeker Gabriel,” said Lord Jude, “as always, thank you for the video footage on Rainbow Dash and Agent Oliver. It seems that Rainbow Dash and Agent Oliver are determined to take out Firewall Eli at all costs. I send Firewall Eli to them for a reason it’s just too entertaining to watch them fight. Especially with Rainbow Dash considering Firewall Eli posed as Rainbow Dash’s brother while she was inside AI. Rainbow Dash and Firewall Eli have some sort of sibling rivalry going they spend more time taunting each other than fighting.”

The fact that Firewall Eli had been sent to pose as Rainbow Dash’s brother when she was inside AI was news to me.

Lord Jude frowned. “I know that look when I see it Head Seeker Gabriel, trust me, I’m just as puzzled as everyone else is as to why AI would send a Firewall to pose as someone’s brother. And I know you’re wondering when I’m going to tell you to go ahead and take Agent Oliver and Rainbow Dash and bring them to me. I haven’t decided that yet. I’m kind of ticked off at both of them, Agent Oliver for destroying the 7th Gate and Rainbow Dash for doing some damage to gates 4 and 5. Of course, gate 4 was where Rainbow Dash’s element of harmony decided to make an appearance. But her element won’t work now considering that I had to kill Life Force Fluttershy recently.”

“But…” I started to say. I trailed off because I didn’t want to ask the question. I already knew the answer. Usually, if Lord Jude kills someone personally, AI considers them a direct threat to it. Everyone that knows Lord Jude personally has told me that he does not like killing people, not one little bit.

“You know good and well if I have to kill someone myself then AI considers that person a direct threat to it.” Lord Jude said. He rolled his eyes. “I know that look to Head Seeker Gabriel. Everyone gives it to me when they find out that I had to kill someone myself. And I don’t need sympathy! I’m just doing my job as ruler of AI. Just like you do your job as Head of the Seekers. And you probably don’t like going after people to bring them to AI’s castle. Just wait until I give the order to take Agent Oliver and Rainbow Dash, for now just keep your teams stationed where I told you to. That’s all for now.”

As soon as my summons ended, I had a feeling that some big event was going to happen. It was going to happen very soon.