Equestria and the Machine

by SapphireRose87

22) Meeting Jude

{Rainbow Dash}

I stared at the guy in the doorway in wonder. The guy looked like he stood about as tall as I was. He was dressed a lot differently than Finn was or Samantha for that matter. He didn’t have a trench coat or anything like that with his outfit. It looked like he was wearing a black suit and black pants complete with black shoes and black cape to match. He had jet black hair and he wore black tinted glasses. The way the guy was standing in the doorway he pulled off the word 'authority' a lot better than Twilight any day. The guy standing in the doorway might as well have had a sign hanging around his neck that said the word ‘authority’ on it.

I looked over to see Applejack shaking in terror when she turned her head to see the guy in the doorway. I snorted and went into a fit of laughter.

“That’s not funny RD!” Applejack said.

“I thought I told you my name is Rainbow Dash!” I snapped. “And that’s what is to you Apple Lair! You don’t have the right to give me a pet name anymore! Just like I told Pinkie Pie it’s in the past and the past is where it will stay! You wanna know why I’m laughing because you weren’t even afraid of your own parents back in Equestria!”

“How did you…” Applejack said.

“Remember?” I said. “In case you didn’t realize this I’m out of AI and I’ve got most of my memories back now! And from what I can remember you couldn’t tell a lie to save your life! But you did and that’s exactly why your element of harmony is not working! My element of harmony is working just fine! And yours isn’t!”

I added extra effect to my taunting when I stuck my tongue out at her.

“You’re acting like a child now RD!” Applejack said.

“Oh! What are you gonna do about it?” I said, still taunting her.

The guy in the doorway looked amused by my taunting and added more fuel to the fire by giving Applejack an annoyed hiss. I looked to see Eli almost flinch but he stopped himself because he knew who the hiss was for. If I didn't know any better, I’d say that Eli was afraid of the guy standing in the doorway too. I don’t blame him on that one; the way the guy carried himself almost made me afraid. But I wanted to taunt Applejack some more instead I chose not to because I figured just like Eli the guy in the doorway could handle her. That was fine by me.

I had a feeling the guy in the doorway was this Lord guy everyone had been telling me about. The guy hissed at Applejack again and this time Eli didn’t flinch or show any signs of being afraid this time because he knew why the guy in the doorway was annoyed.

“Your highness,” Applejack said with a nervous laugh, “fancy meeting you here…”

“Life Force Applejack!” The guy roared. “What is the name of AI are you doing here? And more importantly why are you trying to kill my mother?”

Did he just say, mother? The last time I checked Jude should be two years old by now! I don't think a baby can grow up in two years to be a guy that looks like he’s in his early twenties! There’s no way, that’s Jude! No way! I’m not that guy's mother! Just like Loyalty said, I'm the strongest connection for the elements of harmony! Nope, if this is twenty questions again I’m not playing, unless hallucinations are also a side effect of getting hit by a stunner!

“So that’s why she gets to live instead of Life Force Fluttershy?” Applejack snapped.

“Don’t you take that tone with me Life Force Applejack!” The guy roared. “It’s about time I should do something about you! AI’s alerted me to you being a direct threat to it!”

“Why does Rainbow Dash get to live?” Applejack cried. “She did damage to two of your gates! Life Force Fluttershy didn’t do that!”

“You know good and well that if I kill someone personally,” said the guy, ”then they were a direct threat and you know it! AI doesn’t feel that mother’s a threat now and it’s not your decision on what AI thinks is a threat or not!”

If Applejack dies I’m not taking on any more connections and there’s no way I’m going to become an Alicorn! That element is going to have to find another connection and fast! No way in hell is I doing that just like when I didn’t want to change into Rainbow Dash! Nope! No way!

Don’t worry Rainbow Dash, Loyalty said inside of my head we’ll figure something out! Just like you thought we’ll work on finding new connections! And if we don’t right away then Honesty will have to go to the ‘magic realm’ for now.

Okay? I responded Why are you talking to me right now? I thought you went silent when someone evil was around?

Because I’m talking inside of your head right now. Loyalty said.

And why didn’t you do that before? I replied.

Because there wasn’t an emergency like this! Loyalty said. This is a red alert emergency! This only time when we talk inside your head along with the shouting to protect true love! Our elements are going to have an emergency meeting in the ‘magic realm’ right now! We’ll talk to Generosity to see if it’s connection will take Honesty in. And Rainbow Dash?

Yes, Loyalty? I said

That guy sitting at your bedside wants to have a word with you! Loyalty said You probably look lost in thought to him! You should probably talk to him sooner or later! I don’t think he’ll go away until you talk to him! Oh sorry, we couldn’t protect you from the stunner! I can only use a little bit of my magic to protect you. It was just me and Kindness! We had to leave once the stunner went in! Kindness and I are very surprised that it didn’t trigger a power surge! We think that maybe because it was a different type of power that it didn’t trigger a power surge! I recorded what happened and our elements will review what we saw and try to figure out what happened! So we’ll be going! See you later!

After Loyalty and Kindness went silent I was almost afraid to look at the guy who was sitting at my bedside might be Jude, that’s because I was thinking no way, that's Jude! If that’s Jude then I thought I was stuck back inside the Machine or AI or whatever this thing is called.

When I finally looked at the guy he was sitting there with an amused look on his face. The same look that he had when I was recently taunting Applejack. There was silence between us and the guy spoke first, “How old do you think that the baby you left behind is Rainbow Dash?”

I looked away, “Jude should be two years old by now…”

I looked at the guy to see that he was practically choking on what I just said. He punched his chest and regained his composure.

“That’s not exactly what happens to babies that are sent out by AI.” The guy said.

I raised an eyebrow at him in surprise and disbelief, “Come again?”

“The AI’s only sent out a handful of babies to people that have been inside it.” The guy said. “I’m not sure why that happens either. I’m a computer program that was created by AI seven years ago. No one that works for AI knows why it created me and it picked me to be its ruler.”

My jaw dropped when he said that, “But babies don’t usually grow up that fast!”

“Normal babies don’t grow up that fast,” the guy explained, “babies that AI sends out usually go from helpless babies to an adult within two years! But because I was picked to be AI’s ruler I went from a helpless baby to a young adult within weeks.”

“What?” I gasped.

Nope! I’m dreaming, there’s no way that’s Jude!

The guy then held out his right hand and to my surprise, he had the same birthmark that Jude did. I remember looking at it because it looked like a grey cloud or at least that’s what it reminded me of.

“Does this birthmark look familiar to you?” The guy asked.

I nodded my head slowly, not sure of what to think. At this point, I felt sure that I was dreaming and I slapped myself just to make sure I was awake. Feeling the sting from the slap told me I was awake. It made me flashback to when I would feel Jude’s birthmark and for some reason, it lit up and after that, he would automatically go to sleep. I remembered doing that because that was the only thing that would help Jude fall asleep if giving him a bottle didn’t work.

The guy then put his hand in mine and I felt his birthmark and it did the same thing Jude’s did only this time he didn’t fall asleep he just sat there and smiled at me.

When I saw what happened to the guy's birthmark I panicked.

“Nope!” I said. “No way! There’s no way you’re Jude!”

Jude smiled at me, “I know why you’re panicking and yes I’m your son Jude! For some reason AI allowed me to remember you that way. It was like I knew that somehow we would be separated someday. I’m glad you broke out of AI when you did.”

“And why’s that?” I said.

“Because if you hadn’t broken out of AI,” said Jude, “then AI would’ve sent someone and I’m going to assume that AI would’ve sent the seekers for me and you would’ve had all of your memories of me erased. I’m so glad I finally got to meet you. I’ve been waiting so long for this to happen. I’m just glad First Mother didn’t find a reason for AI to have me kill you.”

At this point, I wanted to get out of bed and I had no idea why, probably because my brain was still trying to process the information that I had just been given. I didn’t realize that I had moved because I got another electric shock going through my body.

“Yeah,” I said, “I don’t think I’ll be sleep walking anytime soon. Oh, give me a break! I’m not funny!”

Jude was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.

“You sleepwalk?” Jude chuckled.

“It started happening after I started getting my memories back,” I said, “and most of them are about flying back in Equestria! And a lot of times I would lose my flight pattern and crash! That’s probably why I earned the nickname Rainbow Crash. And if you laugh at something I say one more time…”

Jude couldn’t help himself this time he was laughing so hard he just about fell out of his chair.

“You are pretty hilarious,” said Jude after he stopped laughing, “especially when you’re taunting Firewall Eli! Sending him to fight you is entertaining.”

“He was posing as my brother when I was inside AI,” I said, “so it came as a surprise when I found out he was a Firewall. When I saw him when I was fighting at the gates he really got on my nerves! And the whole ‘my names Firewall Eli and if you value your lives turn back now’ line pretty much added fuel to the fire! Seriously! I’m not a stand-up comedian, that should be Pinkie Pie’s job.”

Jude went into uncontrollable laughter yet again. He composed himself again and raised an eyebrow. “Who’s Pinkie Pie?”

I groaned, “An ex-girlfriend of mine that’s a food-crazed nut and thinks that everyone she dates is her toy. She was pissed off when she found out that Oliver and I are together now! That nut does not know how to take no for an answer! She still thinks that I’m going to marry when I’ve told her no. Apparently, according to Samantha, she thinks Oliver’s going to marry her too. And he made the mistake of dating her just like I did.”

“Wow…” Jude’s responded.

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “How she got assigned to break me out of AI, I have no idea. Even when I was inside she was too busy eating than doing any work. I don't know who's more annoying Pinkie Pie or Eli! I do believe payback is for him dumping a bucket of water on my head.”

“Yeah, you blame me for that one!” Jude said. “I gave him the go-ahead to do that. The actual thing he did on his own.”

“I take it you didn’t know that was his favorite prank to do when I was inside AI?” I said.

“Yeah, I did,” Jude said. “AI recorded a lot of what he did while you were inside. Of course, you had your fair share of pranks too!”

I laughed at that, “Yeah I know, one time I blindfolded him and made him go bungee jumping with me as payback for the bucket of water dumped on my head prank. That got old after a while.”

“I would get tired of that if I were his sibling,” Jude said. “No wonder why you taunt each other so much!”

“Yeah and I’ll keep doing it every chance I get,” I said. “That guy gets on my nerves, he's always calling me Loyalty during a fight and that is not my name!”

“Is that why you keep chomping down on his attacks and declaring that you're Rainbow Dash?” Jude asked.

“Yup,” I said, “you guessed it! He just has to keep taunting me with that. At least he didn’t call me Rainbow Crash just so I could take out the Firewall, that was Agent Grace’s bright idea! And she almost got me and Agent Emma killed in the process!”

“Yup you’re entertaining alright!” Jude said. “Do you even record what you say sometimes?”

“That’s exactly what Oliver tells me to do!” I growled. “And no, I’m not doing stand up comedy any more than I want to become an Alicorn or have top ranks in the Sixth! Nope, no way, I don’t want it!”

Jude smiled at me, “I’m not surprised that you would make top ranks in the Sixth! I wonder if that’s why AI picked you to give birth to me? What rank are you at now?”

“I’m the fifth top agent at my job right now,” I said, “apparently I’m moving further up the ranks too! No thanks, I’m good with being number five. I don’t need to be number one. But I guess I can’t help because I’m just doing my job and I don’t think twice about it. That’s how I became a Wonderbolt back in Equestria. They had their eyes on me back at the academy for quite some time. And I’m getting tired of people being so eager to meet me!”

“I’m not surprised though,” Jude said. “If you’re that good at what you do, why wouldn’t people want to meet you?”

“Yeah,” I said, “I’m just a regular agent of the Sixth. And I’m getting sick of tired of the stupid line that Gilda keeps saying and now everyone at the Sixth is saying too! I still think it’s a big fat lie!”

Jude tilted his head and smiled, “What are they saying?”

I groaned, “I’m tough, I’m fast and I’m the definition of the word awesome! Yeah, big fat lie! That’s not funny Jude! And why do I even bother?”

“You know they’re correct right?” Jude said with an amused look on his face.

I rolled my eyes and I still didn’t want to believe what everyone was saying.

“Yeah no,” I said, “like I said, big fat lie! Why does it hurt so much to move right now?”

Of course, I just had to try to get out of bed again and once again that electricity went through my body.

“The stunner’s side effect unfortunately is a pain for a little bit,” said Jude, “from what I’ve seen a lot of times it only lasts for a day or two. So the sooner you rest the sooner the pain will go away.”

Jude pointed to the dresser that was on the other side of the room and my weapon and everything that I had on me when I got hit by the stunner was laying there.

“The sooner you rest the sooner you can break out of here and tell me visiting hours are over with,” Jude said. “And expect guards to be outside your room so it won’t be so easy to escape here. When you leave you won’t be able to find the castle again. AI is very protective of it just like Agent Oliver is overprotective of you. You’ll probably escape along with Agent Oliver knowing him, he’ll be looking for you pretty soon. So I guess this is goodbye. I’ll be watching you though. I’ll probably be sending Firewall Eli to fight you every once in a while so you two can be the entertainment.”

“Yeah…” I said. I didn’t want to say goodbye to Jude but knowing that he’ll be watching me in a sense kind of made me feel better about this. I nodded at Jude as he got up and left.