Mobile Suit Gundam: Alicorn - Volume 2

by Alines Reinhard

Chapter 18

“T level verification: check!”

“P level verification: check!”

His hooves moved gently on the main control monitor, carefully reading through the information and doing what the machine’s OS said.

“A level verification: check!”

The system allowed him to use them.

“F level verification: check!”

The female robotic voice of the OS said gently.

“S level verification: check!”

And then, the thing that was supposed to be in his suit:

“R level verification: loaded! 10%, 20%,…”

“Sorry Sir… but I think you can give it to us right now. The loading process will take at least several hours!” a human mechanic said, “…I think you should take a rest.”

“Very good! Thanks for your help!” the dark blue pony said with a nod. He tabs a button on the main control monitor to order it indented, giving him the way to get out. Then, just as he remembered he’s got the magic, he teleported himself down to the MS’s feet and start strolling down the hall. He decided to follow the long wires connected to his suit and get to the ship’s second sick bay, where his most precious system lies.

Different than other sick bays, it was completely covered in the dense metallic wall. The only thing connected it with the outside world is a small, but heavy door. It was specially built with alloy as strong as the MS’s armor and required special authorization. The Chancellor pulled out his identity card and scanned it on the door’s code reader. A beeping noise and a squeaking sound of the opened door, and he has already inside.

The scene of the room could send a shock to anyone, other than him and the humans who he trusted personally for his own project.

There are 7 beds, each with its own electronic breathing system and ECG machine. On the beds, there lay the bodies of the Council of Friendship’s members…

…and all of them are still alive.

On one of the beds is Rainbow Dash, the commander of the whole MS force of S.M.I.L.E. She was ordered by Equestrian ruler Twilight Sparkle, lying separately just two beds from her, to find Luster Dawn and her friends. Capturing her is a huge intelligence success for him and all of his war effort: he has some spies on the Canterlot, and they are responsible for catching her. They have put high doses of sleeping pills into her coffee and scoop her up to his ship.

“The Council was united, just as they want!” he thought “I’m glad they can be together now.”

Yes, freezing them in rock statues is just one part of Operation Statue of Friendship, after he updated it when coming up with the incorporated magic hypothesis. Their souls, along with their magic, are finishing transferred to his own MS.

Or at least, that's what he'd think. The new system hasn’t been fully tested yet.

Then, his eyes turned into Spike. He was a personal friend to him when he was still a happy, buffed dragon working for Twilight as an Ambassador. When the operation was initiated, it was his idea to replace him with Rainbow Dash. To him, he is a loyal dragon, which is what the Element of Loyalty, one of the six Elements of Harmony, is supposed to represent. He also has to make sure there are exactly six of them to complete the task.

At the moment, with Rainbow Dash in his hand, he can make his MS even stronger. He was daydreaming his machine can fly with an undescribable speed, with a giant rainbow circle behind it, the famous Rainboom. The machine legitimately outruns any of the weapons “exist in both side's weapons arsenals”.

However, he has never really tested the system, the Pandora Box System, himself. He was warned the system might put huge stress on his body, as well as leave permanent psychological impacts. Listen to it, he has asked some human to test it for him.

Most of the time, it didn’t turn out well, just like the warning. He still remembers one of them suddenly screaming like an injured animal and slamming his head straight into the wall, causing him to head bleed heavily. The ponies and humans are both confused and horrified at what happened.

At that moment, he can only shake his head, asking his engineer to find another one.

From that moment, all crew members on board, ponies and humans alike started to stay away as far as they can from the dark blue mobile suit. They even rumored there are vengeful spirits occupying the machine, and they are best not to enter that cockpit at all.

“Interesting… just let them be. It would be great if this rumor somehow reaches the creatures. It should scare them to death, right?” the Chancellor said with a large grin when a pony asked about the rumor.

…

The dark blue unicorn then decided to take a stroll through his ship, watching his fellow comrades, both human and ponies alike, working alongside each other. He was greeting by engineers, then the ship’s crew. He stumbled upon Joseph’s squad, the one that have just lost their commander. Mark, the least talkative of the three, said hello to him.

“No need for too much formal gesture, gentleman…” he said softly “…how was your evening lately?”

“Mostly free times, Sir! It’s a humiliation for me when I can NOT get to revenge my comrade’s death like this!” he said with his voice raised at the word “not”.

“Ah, I can feel your frustration too. Don’t worry, his sacrifice won’t be in vain. With both the Alicorn and the Psycho MkII on board, they will be merely a terrorist group…”

He tries to avoid mentioning the presence of Flash Sentry on the ship. He knew so well they will jump right into the poor blue-headed guy and punch him to death if the chance come. He can tell that by the look on their eye, and the fist they make.

He turned to the spiky blonde hair guy, which is Nikita, and asked him if he wanted to take command in the position of his late leader.

“I would be glad to if I have enough skills…”

“You will learn during your own leadership. If you do it now, there is plenty of time before the next battle. Your team knows you long enough to help you with your leadership…”

“Thanks…. Thank you, Sir…”

He continues the walk by himself going to the engine room, and chatting with some engineers. “I was scared to death, Chancellor…” is what one of the ponies told him when mentioning the battle at Kludgetown, as they remember the constant shelling and assaults that the Alliance bring to them.

The next place is the bridge. He and the Captain get themselves into a hug after he said that “Long time no see, Captain. My apology for abandoning you this long…”

“No need to do that, my Chancellor. It is a huge pleasure when you are already here…”

Right after that, the ship arrived at a point where it allowed him to see his old wine farm again. He pointed his hooves towards the place, still hiding behind the thick clouds.

“Do you see that small red building along with the lines of grapes on the hill?”

“Yes… Yes… I think I see it, Chancellor…”

…

It was not a very pleasant thing for him when he try to recall the exact moment that led his life to the very road he has chosen.

“It was in midnight, and my family just finished checking on the farm…”

Then, his mind moved on to see that moment his beloved house was taken away.

He was just a young filly at the time, but at the age of 15, the wine farm have printed into his mind enough memory for the young dark blue filly to consider it an inseparable part of his identity.

As his word said to you, my audience, it was midnight, in the middle of a tranquil wine farm lying by a large grape hill.

“Ding dong!” the doorbell rang.

His house was lit up when the father, Mister Grape Wine Jr. was forced to wake up and open the gate to his new unpredictable visitor.

Before his eyes are numerous Royal Guards and a Diamond Dogs family.

“Oh… Hello, there Mr. Wine… We come here to talk about your extended warranty!” one of the guards said jokingly. While Grape Wine look at him in confusion, the other guards frowned at him.

“Okay, okay, just joking! We are really coming here to talk about your house!”

At that moment, little Black Wine has also run out to the gate to look at what happened. You can somewhat imagine how shocked he was, as he have never known to see a Diamond Dog, let alone a whole family come to his house.

“Dad… dad… who are they?”

Ignoring the little foal, the guards continue:

“Nice farm you got there. It would be a shame if some pony has to forcefully take it… from you.”

“Wait, what do you…”

But the guards don’t wait for the father of four foals to finish the sentence. He immediately orders his fellow guards to storm into his house, take out their belongings, and put them onto a large chariot. The guards also forcefully moved the rest of his family members out, putting them on another chariot while waiting for the rest of the process to finish.

“Wait! What are you doing?” asked Grape Wine in frustration and confusion “Why do you come here and force us out all of the sudden?”

“Sorry buddy, but orders are orders. The court has given us the writ of replevin for this poor Diamond Dog’s family. They wanted to have this farm back!”

The “committee” that the guard mentioned is the Creatures Harmonic Court, which oversaw the process of helping to struggle non-ponies refugees to find a new place in Equestria. They are praised mostly for their homestay policy – bringing creatures to live with the ponies in order to help them incorporate into the Equestrian society. However, they also have a fair share of controversy, as they sometimes order the Royal Guards to take ponies' property and give it to the creatures with ambiguous explanations.

“The Court has a huge suspicion that you are a bunch of unwelcomed ponies. Last time you closed the door to a kirin because she just can’t control her fire, and you even forbade a yak to enter your grapes barn because you think his stomp can destroy your life stock… Your thoughts are utterly ridiculous. In the name of the Elements of Harmony, I order this house to belong to this poor Diamond Dogs family.”

“But wait, I’ve never…”

Just as the father just raised up to catch the leading guard's front leg, one of his colleagues immediately bang him into the head with an axe, causing his horn to break and his head bleeds heavily. The pain is so severe he can only hug his head and scream in agony.

“That’s what you get for being a racist…” he mumbled with a scary cold face.

“I will never forget that happy face those Diamond Dogs made when they enter our rightfully owned farm. That stuff is messed up on so many levels that I can’t simply forgive them…”

At the time, the Creature Harmonic Court was notorious for its extreme measure against racist ponies. They are even praised by many, including ponies, for their “intolerable measure towards racism and disharmonic behavior”. But still, many pony families have lost their homes for reasons they don’t know.

“All because of the sake of harmony! What? They literally hated their own kind, giving way for those creatures to chop my kingdom into pieces. If I don’t take those mines, they will be used to provide resources for that Alliance to invade us!”

He looked outside and sighed: “I’ve heard countless stories of ponies being treated like second-rated citizens by that Court. I honestly think they are a disgrace, because they promote hatred of the ponies, framing us as if we are racist kind. I have no choice but to kick them all out and protect my own kingdom. Say what you want, but that’s how almost all of the ponies think! They feel unsafe when the creatures basically go around their property as if that’s their own!”

After the rant, the Captain also asked him about the kirin and the yak incident:

“That’s kirin fire and yak destroying the farm is a lie! I’ve never seen a non-pony creature at that point!”

If you are Captain Madison talking with him at that point, you can clearly see the frustration in his eye. It’s like he was genuinely angry, as his eyes flashed with rage. The painful memory of his father being dragged on to the chariot that is on its way to a temporary hotel, with little to no medical help from the Guards makes him vow to be such an anti-harmonic pony like him.

Suddenly, his assistant appeared at the bridge and told him about the start of Flash’s surgery.

“They will take that bullet out today. I think you would be interest in that.”

“Tell me when it is finished. I want to be the first pony beside him when that blue eyes open.”

…

The pain has gone?

Flash opened his eye and looked around. He has been told that the bullets will be removed. It would take him at least 2 or 3 weeks to completely rest and go back to piloting the mobile suit, so he will be left inside the ship and will be avoided touching any mobile suit.

There, on his face is a ventilator snapped on his face tightly. Blood is being pumped by multiple tubes, with their origin’s come from a machine with gray paint, decorated with a large bag of blood. “B type”, it said.

A voice startled him by saying: “Don’t worry, they know what kind of blood you are!”

He rapidly turned to his right side, only to encounter Chancellor Black Wine once again. He attempted to sit up, but sadly, that’s the moment he realized he was strapped into the bed shirtless. His arms and legs are stretched out and tight onto the railings.

“You must be very confused. But congratulation on the operation. We are proud to have some renounced doctors on board with us!”

Once again, the blue-haired human before him stared at his supposedly enemy with rage and fury. He could feel the heat of that death stare into his soul. But however, he said casually:

“Awe, c’mon, mate! We are comrades now! No need to be that angry!”

Surprisingly, he only gets to wait about a minute for him to calm down. He quickly put himself down on the comfy bed, but still breathing heavily. The vapors from his nose hide and appear rapidly on the transparent breathing mask.

“Good. Now listen to me, Mr. Ace Pilot. We are having a special mobile suit built just for you! Or rather, being upgraded with features just for you!”

“What… what do you… me… an?” Flash asked with struggles. The surgery has left him with a large amount of anesthetic injected.

“I call that the Pandora Box System. Sound scary, huh? Don’t worry, it’s only meaningful to your enemy…”

Seeing his eyebrows raised, Black Wine chuckled and continue.

“Weird name, eh? It means like this: when you are on my opposite side and somehow decide me, piloting that Gundam, to be your opponent, you have already unleashed its unfathomable power. Unless you die, it will never stop chasing you. Got it?”

Flash looked back at him and silently nodded. Although things are still a huge ambiguation left in him.

“This system consists of some ‘helpers’ that I have incorporated in. You could call them ‘AIs’ if you want. They will provide you with their magic, knowledge, and immense strength to overwhelm your enemy. After you are fully recovered, you will be temporarily assigned to it. Oh well, see you when it comes. Rest well, my friend…”

But right after he left, two humans stormed into his recovery room. The Chancellor himself was stunted when he saw their furious faces outside, given the calmness he and Flash had just experienced.

“Chancellor, please stop them!” a pony medic screamed.

When he has gone back to the room, he has already seen his precious pilots try to suffocate Flash. Their eyes widened in anger, and their blood vessels can be visible on both their face and their arms.

“You god damn bastard! You kill Joseph, Megan, and then a whole squadron! You monster!” Nikita yelled and shake the blue-haired human violently.

“Hey, hey, gentleman!” Black Wine stopped them by using his magic, which freeze their arm as a result. “Relax, let him rest?”

“Rest? The only kind of rest that this asshole allowed is death. Don’t you see the lives he and his despicable creature killed?”

“We have no choice but to use him, Nikita!” Black Wine raised his voice “That’s why you need to let the guy down…”

“What?” asked Mick in anger.

Black Wine teleport him and the furious duo to a hidden corner, not far from the room, and whispered to them some part of the plan.

“You saw that pilot lost his sanity and head-butted himself to death, right?” Black Wine said with a firm voice “Placing him in that thing will almost certainly damage his brain for life, regarded how successful he was in that giant casket!”

“But Sir, that Triceratops head is our only hope to end the war, along with the Alicorn! Meanwhile, you are persuading us that an enemy of us will be piloting our decisive weapon?”

“He won’t run away. The surgery crew has also installed a chip inside. When the dude disobeys, I’ll make sure he’ll be electrocuted…”