Equestria and the Machine

by SapphireRose87

9) Six Man Squad

When I got on the other side of the light there was a young woman about my age. She sat on a chair waiting for me. The woman had blonde hair and black eyes. She was wearing a tan shirt and black pants.

Well, tan is definitely part of the dress code!

I turned around to see Oliver and Gilda standing behind me, I also saw Agent Rarity. I looked to see other agents that I didn't recognize. But one pony seemed somehow kind of familiar to me. I assumed the woman sitting on the chair was the Predictor assigned to me.

The Predictor smiled at me, “Well hi there RD! Welcome to my dimension child!"

I raised my eyebrow, “RD? I thought I was told my name was Rainbow Dash and that I can’t change it. Although I would love to erase it altogether!”

Once Gilda and Oliver heard that they laughed.

Yup, I should get a paycheck from those two for stand up comedy night!

“It’s true you can’t change your name while working for the Sixth,” said the Predictor, “but I thought RD would be a nice compromise. And no, you didn’t have a baby back in Equestria.”

“How’d you know I was concerned about that?” I said.

“The crystal told me before you came here,” the Predictor said. “Now let me start telling you who your team is. That will be the team that you will go on for breakout assignments.”

Oh boy! I hope Pinkie Pie’s not on my team if she is, I quit!

It was as if the Predictor knew what I was thinking, “No Pinkie Pie’s not on your team, don’t worry about that. The crystal didn’t give me a match for you as far as that goes!”

As soon as the Predictor said that I sighed with relief.

“Oh,” the Predictor said, “my names Samantha and I’m Predictor number four. I’d never thought I’d see the day when I would get to meet an element of harmony! And the element of loyalty at that!”

Great! Why is everyone so eager to meet me? I’m not Rainbow Dash for crying out loud!

“Anyway,” said Samantha, “I would explain the ins and outs of choosing a team and giving them their code names. I’m going to tell you why in a moment RD. All of you that are here, step before the cauldron one by one.”

I looked at the cauldron and for some reason, I kind of found it funny.

“You think this is funny don’t you RD?” Samantha said.

“Yeah... so?” I said. “Hey! Why are you zoning in on my thoughts? What about the others?”

Samantha laughed, “I can hear the other’s thoughts too. Yours just seems to be in front of them today.”

Haha... I would laugh but that’s not funny.

“And the reason it’s funny to you,” said Samantha, “is that when you were back in Ponyville you saw the resident doctor quite a few times. Mostly for checkups and stuff. And the resident doctor was a Zebra named Zecora!”

Nope, the names not ringing a bell at all!

“Yeah I know,” said Samantha, “Zecora got taken by the Machine too. It was right when you got taken eight years ago. Now let me go ahead and tell you who your team is! And remember, I can hear your thoughts Agent Oliver and Agent Gilda! No RD doesn’t have to address me as Predictor Samantha! Actually, I should correct myself you don't need titles either Oliver and Gilda! That’s because you two are the most by the book agents with that and it’s really annoying!”

This time I was the one laughing.

Well, at least I’m not doing stand up comedy right now! I still think I should get a paycheck from those two!

Samantha smiled, “Yeah I totally agree with you on that one RD!”

Samantha took out a chain with a crystal on the end of it. She held the chain in her grip and dangled it over the top of the open cauldron. The crystal began to rotate around the perimeter of the cauldron. The next thing that happened creeped me out. I didn’t know what was more creepy, the white room that I trained in or this. It felt like a tie.

When the crystal started spinning at the top of the cauldron a loud deep voice was coming from it. “Round and round the cauldron we go, where we’ll stop, nobody knows!” The cauldron said that a couple of times and then the crystal pointed at Gilda and the cauldron spoke to her. "Agent Gilda-17 is a match for Agent RD! Her codename will be Abigail."

The crystal spun around again and said, “Round and round the cauldron we go, where we’ll stop, nobody knows!” The crystal pointed at Oliver this time. "Agent Oliver-45 is a match for Agent RD! His codename is Zach!"

The crystal spun around again and said, “Round and round the cauldron we go, where we’ll stop, nobody knows!” It then pointed at Agent Rarity. "Agent Rarity- 57 is a match for Agent RD! Her codename is Stella!"

The crystal spun around again and said, “Round and round the cauldron we go, where we’ll stop, nobody knows!” It then pointed at another guy standing behind me. "Agent Levi-15 is a match for Agent RD! His codename is Tobias!"

The crystal spun around again and said, “Round and round the cauldron we go, where we’ll stop, nobody knows!” After the crystal spun around again I looked to see some pony that looked familiar to me. "Agent Diamond Tiara-457 is a match for Agent RD! Her codename is Margot!"

“Diamond Tiara?” I said. “Why does your name sound familiar to me?”

Diamond Tiara hung her head, “That’s because I went to school with one of your best friends, Scootaloo! I picked on her a lot because of not having her cutie mark yet and I had gotten mine before she did. It wasn’t until she helped me understand what my cutie mark meant that I stopped picking on her. We became good friends. It was right after that she and her other best friends, the cutie mark crusaders, received their cutie marks! And their cutie marks are awesome just like yours! Right now no one knows where Scootaloo is. It is my hope that she didn’t get taken by the Machine.”

Samantha shook her head, “I’m not so sure that Scootaloo got taken by the Machine. So far none of the Predictors have been able to track her down! But sometimes that takes a while for us to do! I mean there are only six of us after all. And there’s one more agent that needs to have a codename that would be you RD.”

The creepy cauldron spoke for what I hoped would be the last time. “Round and round the cauldron we go! Where we’ll stop, nobody knows!” The crystal pointed at me this time. "Agent RD-14 her codename is Sadie!"

The cauldron announced my codename. The crystal stopped glowing and Samantha put it in her pocket.

“The codenames will be used at all times when you're on a breakout assignment,” said Samantha. “If the Machine or anyone inside the Machine overhears you they can’t find out what your real identity is! And if you want to know why Oliver kept his real name when he was assigned to you, you’ll just have to ask him about it! I’m pretty sure that will happen sooner or later! That is, if you two can admit your feelings to each other! And yes Rd you do, I know this because I’m a Predictor, duh!”

Where are those stupid drums when you need them? Gilda and the rest of my team except Oliver and I laughed so hard they fell over backwards laughing.

“Yes I know,” said Samantha, “I totally agree with you on that one this time, RD and Oliver. Yes, you do have feelings for him RD, and yes it is funny!”

I swear if she announces my thoughts one more time!

“Okay, okay,” said Samantha, “I’m done!”

She’d better be done! It’s going to take some self-control for me not to trip her like I did Oliver! Where are those stupid drums when you need them!

This time Samantha was the one who fell over laughing.

“Honestly RD I'm done!” Samantha said. “You guys can go get some rest and I’ll summon you for your assignments later. And Oliver and RD, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

When I turned around to leave I flicked my tail just to show how annoyed I was. Oliver and Samantha saw this and I heard them laughing as I walked away.

* * *

Later that night I had another memory. This time instead of sitting on a cloud I was swimming in one. I was enjoying a relaxing swim on my day off from work, one of my favorite things to do while I was off. I was just swimming back and forth inside the cloud when I heard a foal crying out for help. I heard the cry for help coming from a nearby water well that was actually underneath the cloud that I was swimming in. Without thinking I flew into the well and I said my catchphrase when I was flying.

“I’m Rainbow Dash!” I said. “And I’m here to rescue you!”

Before I even got inside the well I heard a ding, dong inside my dream but I chose to ignore it, determined to get to that foal that was crying out for help. I heard the ding dong again and I didn’t answer it. After ignoring the doorbell I got an electric shock to my ear. After that happened I found that I had crashed into a nearby wall and woke up.

“Ow!” I said when I woke up. As soon as I said that I heard Oliver’s laughter.

“We told you about the electric shock,” said Oliver, “but I didn’t think you got it right off the bat! Good thing the walls are reinforced! The Sixth probably did that because you’re not the only pegasus that flies in your sleep. Were you attacking enemies from the Machine in your sleep?”

“If you must know,” I said, “I was trying to rescue somepony!”

I stood up and shook out my mane and tail as if I were a wet dog shaking water out of its coat. Oliver was looking at me funny when I did that.

“You know,” said Oliver, “you looked like a cat that fell over after you crashed into that wall. I just wish I had a camera!”

“Yeah,” I said, “stop giving me that funny look Oliver!”

“Oh come on Rainbow,” said Oliver, “I was just saying what you look like, that’s all!”

I paused because I just wanted Oliver to stop giving that funny look he was giving me. When Oliver saw that he smiled.

“I mean it, Oliver,” I said, “stop giving me that look!”

“Yeah no…” Oliver said.

“And why not?” I said.

Oliver laughed at me, “You’re giving me a funny look now!”

“No I’m not!” I quickly said. I don't know why I said it so fast.

“Uh-huh,” said Oliver, “I would say look in the mirror but we don’t have time for that right now. Let’s go see what we’ve been summoned for.”

* * *

We went to Samantha’s dimension and she was smiling at us.

“Okay let’s get down to business,” said Samantha, “I have tracked down an original creature that needs to be broken out of the Machine. Her real name is Lollipop and she comes from a planet called Nijev. She got changed into a human just like you did RD! Everyone come around the cauldron and look at what she looks like. Here's what she looked like back on her home planet."

I looked into the cauldron and saw a woman with white and long hair. Her eyes were pure white to match her hair. She also had long fingers that looked like claws.

“Here’s what she looks like inside the Machine,” Samantha said.

Lollipop looked nothing like how she originally looked. Her long hair was black and her eyes matched her hair. She wore a pink shirt with a mini black skirt. She also wore black shoes to match her outfit.

My jaw dropped. I looked at my friends to see their jaws dropped, especially Levi's. I looked back at Samantha who smiled at Levi's reaction.

“I know Levi,” said Samantha, “she's beautiful isn’t she? But I’m going to assume the Machine made her that way because she was royalty back on her home planet. The sad thing is I’m not sure that her father even misses her. That’s probably because he has so many children that it's hard to keep track of them. Inside the Machine, she's known as Emily, she works as a dancer at a nightclub.

"Your responsibility will be to try to send her into Phase 1. If you succeed, onward to Phase 2 and everyone knows the rest of the procedure. I’ll be sending you guys to it through a portal shortly. Your jobs when you’re on the assignment are as follows, Oliver and RD you’ll be working on the security team. The head of the security team is a guy named Issac. Gilda and Rarity you two will be posing as dancers right along with Emily.”

When Oliver and I heard Gilda and Agent Rarity’s assignment we laughed so hard it made our stomachs hurt and Samantha was laughing right along with us.

“Yeah, yeah I know,” said Samantha, “Rarity might be more dancer material than Gilda! Last but not least. Levi! You will be working as a DJ at the club.”

Levi looked puzzled by his assignment.

“I know Levi,” said Samantha, “Agent Grace will be at the club to show you the ropes, and then she will leave the job in your hands.”

Samantha took out a picture of what Agent Grace looked while she was on breakout assignments. Levi nodded when he saw her picture.

“Please take a mental note that breakout assignments will take more than a year, two years at a minimum, and five years or more at maximum,” Samantha said. “For example, Rainbow Dash, you gave birth to a baby right after Oliver’s team got assigned to you. And Oliver it’s not your fault she got pregnant, you're going to have to get over that sooner or later. Don’t worry not every agent falls in love with the one they're assigned to; that is in the 1% range. Oliver just so happens to be among that number. As far as you go, Levi, it just might happen with you! Considering your jaw dropped to the ground! Your jaw was lower than the rest of your team!”

Levi's face turned as red as a tomato.

“Okay everyone it’s time to get started on your breakout assignment,” said Samantha. “I’ll be seeing you when I assign you to your outside of the Machine assignment. That's what we call assignments outside of the Machine. Just step through the portal and you’ll be right there!”

I stepped my hoof into the portal and I heard my shoe touch the pavement. A neon sign glowed in the darkness with the words Club Nirvana. I heard footsteps as my friends came through around me.

It looks like we've arrived.

* * *

{Jude}

When I got the motherboard, I bowed to First Mother as a sign of respect. Although I really hated doing that especially with her! As always First Mother put a hand underneath my chin and made me look at her.

“Stand up straight boy!” First Mother barked.

“You wanted to see me?” I asked.

“Of course I did,” said First Mother, “otherwise I wouldn’t have summoned you!”

I hate it when First Mother barks at me like that. It's so annoying.

“Oh come now, child!” First Mother said. “I’m just teasing! I would stop but it’s too much fun doing it! You really need to have thicker skin. You are the ruler of AI after all. I’m still not sure why it picked Rainbow Dash to give birth to you! I summoned you because Life Force Fluttershy seems to be having conflicting emotions! We’ve been trying to keep her under control as much as possible but nothing seems to work. Don’t worry Lord Jude, we have other tricks up our sleeve. We’re working on her. If she isn’t controlled you just might have to pay her a visit and kill her yourself.”

I flinched at First Mother when she said that. True, a part of my job was to eliminate threats to AI but I always hated it when I had to do it myself. To add to that, I hated the way First Mother called me Lord Jude. It was as if she was saying it to show how much she hated Rainbow Dash. First Mother laughed wickedly at me.

“Picking on you never gets old!” First Mother said. Then she had a look on her face that really creeped me out because I knew what she was going to say next.

“Did you do the Feeding Ritual yet this week?” First Mother said.

I hate that Feeding Ritual was required for AI to run properly. It's not pleasant.

“You know AI has to feed you,” said First Mother, “not even the ruler can go without eating for too long. Honestly, Lord Jude, you know that right? I know the process is painful but you need to do it at least twice a week. Since you will not do it yourself I will be summoning you twice a week for it. And this is the beginning of the week so you will do it now and you will do it at the end of the week. Come with me, the sooner you do it the sooner you can get back to your job!”

I dragged my feet and followed First Mother to do the Feeding Ritual.

* * *

{Rainbow Dash}

Oliver and I had been working security at the entrance of Club Nirvana for a couple of days now as part of our breakout assignment. This annoying job where we pulled stupid drunks out of the club and handed them over to the police.

“That’s the third drunk we’ve pulled out of the club tonight!” I said. “This is getting really old and annoying!”

“What’s the matter Sadie?” Oliver teased. “I thought you lived for stuff like this?”

“Pulling out drunks?” I said. “Yeah no, I’d rather be rock climbing! Stop giving me that funny look Zach!”

“You should talk!” Oliver said. “You’re doing it too!”

“You know you sound like a child right now!” I said.

We heard Luke laughing at us. This guy is starting to get on my nerves.

“You guys would make a cute couple,” said Luke, “if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you are. And if you aren’t I’m delusional and I need therapy!”

“We’re not a couple!” I said. I didn’t realize that Oliver had said it at the exact same time I did. Luke was laughing so hard he fell over backward.

“Yup you’re not a couple alright!” Luke said. “Then why can you say each other’s sentences at the same time? That’s like what, the second time you’ve done that this week!”

“That’s not…” I said. I was about to say funny but I caught myself keeping Oliver from saying the same thing.

At this point, I couldn’t wait to have an outside of the Machine assignment just so I could get away from Oliver and Luke. I think Oliver felt the same way.

“I know that look on your face,” said Oliver, “you’re ready to get away from Luke aren’t you?”

“What?” Luke said. “I’m only saying what everyone else is saying!”

“Say what now?” I growled.

“Oh come on!” Luke said. “You two haven’t heard the whispers going around the club lately? Or are you two that naive?”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that!” Once again Oliver and I said the same thing at the same time.

Luke started to laugh again when Issac came up with another drunk for us to hand over to the police.

“Having fun teasing those two Luke?” Issac said.

“How do you know it was me teasing?” Luke said. “It could’ve been Roman!”

“Oh no it’s not Roman,” said Issac, “cause Roman looks very pissed off right now! I don’t know if Zach realizes it but Roman’s head over heels for him. Oh well, he’s with Sadie!”

“We’re not a…” Oliver and I started to say.

“Never mind!” I said. Oliver smiled and nodded in agreement.

“That’s like what the fourth time this week now?” Luke teased.

“And why are you counting?” I said.

“Like I said,” said Luke, “if you’re not a couple then I’m delusional and I need therapy!”

* * *

That morning after work we were walking down the hallway at a nearby hotel. We walked by Oliver's room and much to my surprise Oliver pulled me into it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked.

Oliver's eyes were wide, “It looks like we might have another code that’s been sent out to our assignment. I alerted the rest of the team. I hope they’ll keep an eye on the code. Especially when one of our teammates is on outside of the Machine assignments. I don’t want another incident to happen like it happened to you.”

I looked at him with concern when he said that. Because the look on his face was as if he were guilty about something.

“What’s that look for?” I said.

“On the day of the incident,” said Oliver, “I was on an outside of the Machine assignment. I had my suspicion about a code being sent to you. I warned the rest of my teammates including Pinkie Pie and no one believed me. I thought if anyone would believe me, Pinkie Pie would. I was hoping they'd keep an eye on the code at least. But no they didn’t.

"When I was gone that’s when the code decided it was time to strike! I’ve seen it many times! This code was no different than the other scum like them. It did its job and left. Each time I saw it happen myself. It happened when I wasn’t around because my teammates didn’t listen to me! Just like all the other teams I was on they never listened to me! I might have well been doing the assignment myself! I wanted to keep you safe and I failed at that one!”

“But I saw Lilith there!” I said, referring to Applejack.

When Oliver heard that it was news to him.

“Lilith was there?” Oliver said. “Why didn’t she do anything about it?”

“Because she told Finn that she was tied up and made to watch!” I said.

“Now... that, I don’t believe!” Oliver said. “Lilith is the strongest agent I know! She’s in the top five for her job classification! If anyone could’ve stopped him it would’ve been her!”

I thought more about what happened that day and grit my teeth.

“You remember what happened that day don’t you?” Oliver said.

“It’s a little hazy but according to Lilith, Silas broke in from the back door. She told Finn that she was tied up and made to watch! I don't think that's true! Something doesn't add up here, because Lilith could get out of being tied up to a chair no problem! I just know she could've stopped Silas!" I said.

I didn’t realize that I had started to panic because Oliver looked scared himself.

No way! Applejack's the element of honesty! There’s no way she could’ve done that! Silas had been a threat before me and I was going to get a protective order against him. I even told Applejack about that and she thought it was funny! Stuff like that is not funny at all!

“Uh..Sadie?” Oliver said. “If you don’t calm down you’re going to give yourself a heart attack!”

“No!” I snapped. “If anyone should have a heart attack it’s Lilith! I told her Silas had threatened to do something and she thought it was funny! She actually laughed at it!”

I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to calm myself down.

“Sorry Zach,” I said. “Why Lilith wouldn’t want to stop something like that from happening is beyond me! As long as I knew her, she couldn’t tell a lie to save her life. And I wonder if that’s why her element doesn’t work! And I’m not sure that it ever will again!”

“Yeah I still can’t believe that Finn would just believe her because she’s the element of honesty. Since no one on my team kept you safe, I’ll just have to do it on my own from now on...” Oliver said.

I had been thinking about whether or not what everyone had been saying about me and Oliver was correct. I had finally stopped thinking about it and did what I needed to do to confirm it. I took Oliver by surprise when I kissed him.

“Ah…” Oliver said. “What was that about?”

“I just wanted to confirm something…” I said. “And I just confirmed it.”

“Confirm what?” Oliver said.

“I don’t want to admit it,” I said, “but I have feelings for you.”

Oliver smiled at me as he pulled me into his arms and kissed me.

Comments

[Pensive]

When I saw the first chapter name I thought it meant the human kind of balls for a second

As much as I would love you to read the story, as I like sci-fi HiE stuff, things that tend to heavily shift show cannon aren't really my thing. If the AU shifts to a 'what if this happened at that point' I'm usually fine, but complete changing some that were cannon, say, Big Mac is the prince of equestrian or some big like that then I usually stick to other stories.

[SapphireRose87]

10632809 That's good that you tried my story. And took the time to share with me your thoughts.