Friendship? Emotion not found.

by The Rar

Two Roads Diverged In A Burning Town

Ponyville, Equestria.
1:00Pm SET

Everyone had gathered.
Gathered in the location Ajax had originally come into Equestria. Where better to leave a place than the place one entered? Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all having a doze near to where Ajax was. He was leaning against a building, just big enough to support his weight. Rainbow Dash was patrolling the skies for any snooping ponies. Faith and Sheild, who were standing chatting to Ajax, had been instructed by one of the Princesses (They hadn’t specified which, but all assumed Celestia.) to keep this event private. That meant no ponies within the area and no ponies watching, even in the skies. Rainbow Dash had been so proud of herself when Faith had offered her the job of air security. Faith didn’t really want to trust such an important job with a civilian, but Rainbow Dash was the only pony permitted in the area that had both wings, and the courage to run security. In fact, Faith had originally been unhappy about the entire idea of having the area cleared. Why should the public be denied access to their own town on account of Ajax being sent home?
That was Faith’s first though, but after Shield pointed out Ajax’s triple barrelled monster of a weapon, his gilded sword, razor claws and the two belts of glowing grenades slung around his body in the shape of an X across his chest, his questions changed. Ajax was obviously prepared for something. He’d also remembered why he was here.
The enemy force heading for Equestria.
Faith now wanted to ask why the entire city hadn’t been evacuated and a legion of Royal Guard in full plate armour hadn’t been called to Ponyville.
Maybe they had, and Faith just hadn’t been told. Who knows? Celestia had been acting strangely lately. However, Faith did not question his leader’s choices; it wasn’t his place to, after all.

“So Ajax,” Faith began as he examined the armoury Ajax was in possession of.
“W-What’s the occasion for all of this?” Shield foolishly asked. Foolish for two reasons:
One, he knew exactly why and two, because his speech gave tell-tale signs of fear.

“You know why Pony. If an enemy is coming, I’m sending it straight to oblivion.” Ajax irritably said. He was incredibly annoyed today. He’d spent hours over the previous days trying to prepare the interdimensional radio device he’d promised. It had failed, miserably so.
If nothing more, he’d maybe improved its power efficiency and added some strange rod on top that would conduct energy. Ajax had no idea if it would be useful, but it was there.

“Ah… Sorry. Stupid question…” Shield apologised.

“Don’t be hard on yourself Shield; I’m just ticked this bloody radio didn’t work. Sorry to be so angry.” Ajax apologised back.

“Thank you Sir.” Shield quickly responded.

“…What’s with all of this “Sir” business? I told you the moment we met, Ajax will do fine.” Ajax suspiciously said. Ajax expected Faith to maybe be so soldier man as to call him sir, but not Shield.

“That’ll be my fault Ajax, I told him to be on his best behaviour. He’s not the best when it comes to small talk.” Faith apologise for Shield.

“Gentlemen, this is our last day together you know. Some parting advice. Faith, don’t be such a ruling ass always apologising for Shield, he’s a damned fine soldier and I’d ask you to treat him as such. Shield, don’t be a door mat and speak your mind when appropriate.” Ajax ordered the two ponies.

“We will Ajax, mark my words. We’re only trying to follow fucking orders” Faith cursed, causing him to cover his mouth with a hoof and look to the ground in shame. A military man? Cursing in public? Never heard of in Equestria. Even though there were no ponies to hear him, the others sleeping lazily, it was still bad practice. He’d get black marks on his record if Celestia ever caught him.

“Ha! Well, you’re definently picking the Pandorian lingo Faith!” Ajax loudly laughed.
He also held a hand to his face; he didn’t want to wake the other ponies. They needed as much energy as possible if they were to perform the act Celestia had planned, including energy wasted by simply standing. Luckily for Ajax, none woke. Some stirred, but none woke.

“Ah… As you were saying Faith?” Ajax quietly chuckled.

“Just. Following. Orders.” Faith angrily snapped.

“Ok Faith, cool it down. Just some fun.“ Ajax said in a calming tone. He’d annoyed Faith far too much.

“Ajax, I must ask. What are you planning on doing if this army doesn’t show? And you leave?” Shield asked, speaking his mind, as instructed.

“Here’s where it gets complicated. If they don’t show, they probably haven’t warped yet. If that’s the case, when I get back to Pandora I’ll attack the nearest Hyperion base to draw as much attention to myself as I can. Hopefully they catch wind of it and leave your universe.”

“What if they don’t” Shield continued to ask.

“What if they don’t what?” Ajax unconvincingly asked. He knew what Shiled meant.

“What if they don’t leave Equestria alone?”

“That’s not your concern. I must speak with Celestia concerning it, or whichever princess arrives.”

“Sounds suspicious.” Faith put forward.

“Not. Your. Concern. End of discussion.” Ajax said, finishing the conversation.

“Ok Ajax, what do you have planned if they arrive before you leave? You must be able to tell us that.” Faith complainingly asked.

“That I can. I’ve said once before. If anything with the taint of Hyperion in its system touched Equestrian soil, I’ll send it to oblivion.”
Ajax plucked one of the glowing grenades from his belt.
“What? You didn’t think these were oranges, did you?” Ajax seriously asked.

“Of course not. We’ve looked into those things. Grenades.” Shield joined in.

“Well done pony. They make a spectacular explosion, one which will remove even the hardiest of scum from the face of your planet.” Ajax said as he tossed the grenade in his hand before re attaching it to his belt.
“Don’t you worry; it’s all going to work out. All we need now is for Celestia to deliver her master plan and we’re done.” Ajax said as he scanned the skies for Celestia.

“She’ll not be here for a while you know.” Faith informed Ajax.

“Then it’s best you two guard the important ones among us.” Ajax said as he gestured towards the six lazing ponies with his hand. They were indeed important. Not just because Ajax cared for them, but because they were vital to the plan.
Ha… The plan. The very one Ajax was dreading.
He didn’t want to leave this place. He didn’t want to leave Faith and Shield. He didn’t want to leave his friends. Hell, he didn’t even want to leave the strange talking animals.
This universe had amazed him and he’d only had a small taste of it. He wanted more.
He wanted the rest of his life.

“That’s a plan I can get with. We were originally assigned to defend these ponies, after all. Will you be able to keep yourself entertained in the mean time?” Faith asked Ajax as he slowly walked off towards the other ponies.

“I’ll be fine, you’re only over there.” Ajax laughed.

“A lot can happen in the time it would take us to get from there to here you know Ajax.” Shield joked as he hurried over to the other ponies. Ajax could smell him. He smelled of chemicals.
Ajax’s senses were unrivalled. They were, in times like this, disturbing.
Ajax could smell, though he couldn’t be sure, simple body odour.
That was normal, really. Shield was a youngish pony, maybe 23-25, Ajax couldn’t really tell the age of ponies. Sure, he’s going to sweat. But it’s when Ajax’s body did him the courtesy of breaking down the odour into its components.
Packed full of strange chemicals. Ajax had encountered men with a similar smell.
Ajax found them when they were… Ah…
Well, let’s just say that when Ajax killed them, he didn’t kill them because of his skill; he killed them because they had underwear on their bodies and nothing more.
Shield was trying to hook up with, or maybe just get lucky with, six of the most powerful ponies in Equestria.
Would he be walking home with a limp, Ajax wondered.

“I could put a bullet in anything quicker than you can blink. I’ll be fine.” Ajax laughed back.
He felt slightly bad for laughing, anything really could happen.
But he was drawn away by the sight of his objective, just visible through the cloud.
Princess Celestia of Equestria.

Ponyville, Equestria.
6:00Pm

Celestia's entrance had been surprisingly dull. Even more so considering the huge wait.
No glorious carriage pulled by extravagantly dressed guards. No band followed in her wake playing a harmony for their princess. No heavily armoured ponies guarded her on every side.
Ajax had expected Celestia to arrive on a chariot of solid gold, pulled by gods among ponies. He’d expected an entire parade to be following her. He’d expected a legion of Royal Guard to be storming the grounds, making ready for any attacks.
Shockingly, very few guards of any description arrived at all.
There were at most fifteen lightly armoured Pegasus pulling up the rear, and that’s counting the two pulling the carriage. No fancy gold though, simple silver. Silver was still extravagant, but not princess extravagant.

“Ah, Ajax, Pleasure.” Celestia friendlily greeted Ajax with as her carriage touched down.
Ajax hadn’t had to put in much effort to slip away from the group to get to Celestia’s choosen landing location, Shield was still trying to get lucky with Applejack and Faith was too busy dying of hysteria at the slap he got.

“The pleasure is all mine.” Ajax truthfully responded.
Even though he felt deeply betrayed at Celestia’s decision to keep knowledge from him, he still owed her much. Anyway, Ajax saw reason in Celestia’s betrayal. Ajax could have told someone. Even if it were someone like Applejack, someone could overhear and spread chaos throughout the lands. No ruler should run the risk, Ajax didn’t need to be a king to know that. When commanding an army or even a small group of men, it’s vital no one learns anything that could set them off of the rails. If one fell, others would join in a domino effect. Same with a planet, one country falls into disarray and others will join.

“I saw you standing with the others, why come all of this way to meet me? I surely don’t merit such a thing from you?” Celestia happily laughed.

“You do. You’re actually very important right now, you, alone. Please.”

“Why would you need me alone?” Celestia confusedly asked, still laughing though.
She was overdoing her happy act.

“I have a request, for you and you alone.” Ajax seriously said.
Celestia picked up on this, thankfully, and dropped the high and happy ruse, using her seemingly natural serious tone.

“Leave us; meet with the others in the square. We’ll be right with you.”
Reluctantly, the fifteen of so guard ponies left. Not an easy thing to do, leave your Princess alone with a thing like Ajax. But when the order is coming from the Princess herself, it’s rather hard to argue.
“What is it you want to ask?” Celestia asked.
Ajax looked down at his weapon and he stared deeply at it for several seconds.
Eventually, he stopped staring and addressed Celestia.

“You’re such a primitive race compared to mine you know? In fact, this weapon probably contains more scientific knowledge in its trigger than your entire race can put on a planet.” Ajax said, confusing and offending Celestia.

“Is offending my species all you wanted to do here then?” Celestia angrily shot back.

“Come to think of it, there’s probably nothing more advance on your planet than this grenade.” Ajax said as he pulled another grenade from his belt and examined it.

“I’m not amused Ajax.” Celestia angrily growled.
No one else knew it, but Celestia had a very short fuse. Oh yes, she’s lovely when you’re telling her Equestria is saved, but she was a totally different character when not. In fact, she regularly yelled at her politicians at their monthly court sessions. Even a Princess needed to vent some steam.

“That’s why I want you to have them.” Ajax said as he held both his weapon and a grenade out to Celestia.

“W-What? Why?” Celestia Shockley said.

“I made a promise to your pupil Celestia. I said I’d teach her how these things work, one day. Now that I’m going, I’ll never get a chance, will I? So I give them to you, so that you might fulfil my commitment.” Ajax said, pushing the weapons closer to Celestia.

“What! I can’t take your weapons Ajax! I certainly can’t teach Twilight about them!” Celestia exclaimed.

“Why not?” Ajax asked,

“They’re made for destruction!”

“So primitive.”
Ajax turned and threw the grenade, it vanished in a flash and appeared centimetres from a wall of a building. It bounced, vanished and appeared with force back in Ajax’s hand.
“These tools abilities don’t only exist for destruction.”

“Ho- How did you do that?” Celestia said in shock. She was one of the few ponies who hadn’t witnessed Ajax’s full abilities.

“Technology Celestia. All in this…” Ajax said as he held the grenade to Celestia.
“Take them. Learn from them. Evolve with them. Do what you see fitting with my tools.”

“Ajax… This is a gift without rival you know. You’ve got some advanced technology. Are you sure?” Celestia warned. She was reluctant to take them. She knew the value of scientific knowledge, but she also knew how valuable relics can be to people.

“Consider it my parting gift to the world I loved, and a burning torch for the species I failed.” Ajax dispersedly said.

“What do you mean by “Failed”?”

“I made a promise to myself Celestia. Do no evil to those who do not diserve. I’ve brought doom to your world Celestia. I’ve failed myself, I’ve failed you… I’ve failed Pandora. I’ll never save my planet, and in trying to do so I’ve damned this one.”

“Ajax, you’ve failed no one.”

“I have. I’ve tried and failed, time and time again to keep my promise. I just can’t. I always fail. Pandorians are doomed to forever fight, no matter how far they run.”

“Ajax, you didn’t run. You came to Equestria very much against your will, didn’t you? No harm had come to Equestria yet and I doubt any will. You can return home and save your planet, just like you promised. You’ve done no harm to anypony. In fact, you’ve learnt from them.”
Ajax didn’t understand what was happening. He wasn’t being blamed. He was to blame wasn’t he?
Wasn’t he?
What was that about learning?

“What do you mean I’ve learned?”

“Oh please, Twilight didn’t tell you about her friendship reports?”

“Friendship whats?”

“Friendship reports. She sends me a letter regularly telling me of her latest discoveries on friendship,”

“Why does she do that?”

“That is a long story Ajax, another time maybe. But she’s been telling me about you Ajax. You’ve learned to love. You’ve learned to laugh. You’ve learned to cooperate. You’ve learned to accept.”

“W-I…”
Ajax pondered the thought for a moment.
Had he? He couldn’t think straight. This whole idea of starting this conversation was folly.
No… Wait…
He… Had. He had learned all of those things while in Equestria.

“I have… Haven’t I…” Ajax agreed.

“You have. Now I’d never call learning failure, would you?”

“No… I suppose I wouldn’t.”

“Then you have not failed.”

“Thanks… Celestia, you’re a good pony.”

“And you a good spirit. Now, there is still time to right the wrongs in your universe. Let’s hurry.” Celestia said.
She smiled at Ajax and began walking in the direction her Guard had walked.

“Celestia…”

“Yes?” Celestia said, stopping but not looking back.

“I need to ask you something.”

“Go on.”

“Learn from my weapons.”

“I already said I would.” Celestia interrupted.

“I wasn’t finished. Learn from my weapons, but if I am returned to Pandora, and the army still comes… You’ve taught me so much Celestia, time I taught you something. On Pandora, when we fight, even if we know we’re going to die… We fight till the last man falls. We fight till the last bullet is fired. We fight till the last breath is crushed from our bodies. When I get home, I plan to do this. To attract as much attention with my death as possible in the hopes it will dissuade the army from coming to Equestria. If the worst is to happen… Make sure to use my weapons, my grenade… And take a few of the bastards down to Oblivion with you…” Ajax finished as he turned to Celestia.

“You have my word Ajax. Let’s do this, it’s getting late.” Celestia sorrowfully said as she set of walking again. She’d been saddened by Ajax’s little speech. She’d also been made proud. Ajax was going to sacrifice his life for Equestria. It made her both of the previous things, sad and proud. Sad because he’s going to die, but proud that he’d die for Equestria.
Ajax did likewise.

“Die well, pony…” Ajax thought to himself.
He looked to his internal clock. He’d though it had broken when he’d come through into Equestria, it was ticking over sixty times faster than normal. He’d glanced at it once every so often and it seemed to be accurate. Maybe it wasn’t broken. It was still ticking in any case. Ajax read the time.
8:00Pm.
Not long now.

The ponies had all met up shortly after Ajax had finished talking to Celestia. All had been awoken, Rainbow Dash had been called down from her flying patrol and places were taken. Shield was keeping strangely silent. Maybe Applejack’s threat of harassment charges rocked him a little? Probably. He’d calmed down anyway.
Everyone except Celestia and her guard looked quite confused. Rightly so, they had no idea what was going on. Her guard probably looked uninterested because they really didn’t care. Their job was to protect Celestia, Ajax assumed, and they only cared about doing their jobs. But the rest of the ponies, they were confused. What about though? Ajax didn’t know for sure.
Either they didn’t know why they were here at all, or whether they knew why they were here but were confused why Celestia wasn’t telling them what she was planning. Ajax hoped it was the latter, and that the ponies actually knew why they were there, just not how they were going to do it.
If they were told now that they had all gathered to send Ajax home, he doubted they’d do it.
Ajax thought they must’ve at least knew why they were agreeing to help with, mustn’t they?
Ajax hoped they did.

“Would anyone like to guess what we’re going to do?” Celestia suddenly asked, breaking the previous silence like glass.
No body answered. No one wanted to say, really. Secretly, everypony who had been called to help didn’t really want to. Ajax had been such a good person to them during his short stay,

“We’re going to aid Ajax in getting back to his universe Ma’am.” Shield responded after no one else looked like they were going to.

“Correct Shield. How?” Celestia continued to ask.

“Hmm…” Shield thought.

“Let me tell you. Ajax explained to us that he came to Equestria when he was hit with an enormous amount of energy.”

“Right…” Everypony agreed,

“So, would anyone like to suggest a way to send him home?” Celestia asked.

“Uh… Generate the same amount of energy?” Shield nervously put forward. He really didn’t know if he was right. Could it be that simple?

“Right.”
Apparently.

“That simple eh?” Shield asked. He didn’t think it would be that simple. Secretly, Shield had been waiting for Celestia to send word of an ancient artifact with dimension hopping capabilities that him and Faith would need to retrieve.

“Far from simple Shield. Very far. Do you know how we’re going to make the energy needed?” Celestia asked, slightly annoyed at Shield.

“Uh… I have no idea.” Shield dejectedly responded.

“See, far from simple. Let me tell you how we’re going to do it. Faith, the box please.”

“Yes Ma’am.” Faith promptly said. He picked up a box from behind him in his magical grasp and levitated it behind him as he walked over to Celestia.
He set it down in front of her and trotted back to his place next to Shield.

“Hey… Isn’t that the box containing the elemental jewellery? That’s supposed to be hidden in my library.” Twilight confusedly asked.

“I had Faith retrieve it when you and Ajax met here today.” Celestia told everypony as she carefully opened the box.

“Why not ask Twilight to get them?” Ajax asked. He hadn’t spoken in a while.
The reasons remained his secret for the moment. But he’d decided to ask that to avoid raising suspicion. He didn’t know why anyone would be suspicious though. He’d done nothing suspicious.

“Because I wasn’t sure she’d even have agreed to help us. Hold still…” Celestia said as she fitted the elemental jewellery associated with Rarity.

“As much as I love wearing jewellery…” Rarity began as Celestia moved onto fitting Fluttershy’s element.
“I do like to have a reason beforehand...” Rarity hinted. Everypony wanted to know why they were here.

“Oh, yes. One moment.” Celestia fitted the last of the ponies with their elements. She wasn’t exactly stalling; she didn’t have a very valid reason to. He reason however was good enough for her. She was secretly terrified of telling Ajax the plan. She didn’t think he’d take it very well.

“Now, Rainbow Dash, what does the weather look like?” Celestia continued to stall.

“Eh… It looks like there’s a good chance of answers.” Rainbow Dash sarcastically said as she innocently looked up at the sky.

“Really? Looks more like rain to me. Any rain scheduled for today Rainbow Dash?” Celestia responded. She’d picked up on Dash’s obvious sarcasm but opted to ignore it and continue to stall.

“Princess, please. Tell us of your grand plan that involves the elements of harmony.” Faith sarcastically said. He knew the plan and he knew why Celestia didn’t want to share it with everypony else.

“Hmm…” Celestia hummed. She was nervous, but she was trying hard not to show it.

“Or, should I tell them what you intend to have them do?” Faith said. He was slightly annoyed that after sending Ajax all the way to Ponyville and after seeing all the progress he’d made she was still trying to hide things from Ajax.

“Fine Faith, let’s just tell him. His wrath is on your hands though.” Celestia irritably said.

“Tell who what?” Ajax suspiciously asked.

“Tell all of you the plan. I’m fairly certain you won’t like it.”
She’d taken to pacing in front of the six element bearers and Ajax, who were standing in a neat line behind Celestia. Ajax had been placed a few paces in front of them.
The Royal Guard ponies that had arrived with Celestia were still there, they just seemed invisible. They had taken to forming a loose circle covering the entrances to the courtyard and the Princess.

“Try me.” Ajax said confidently.

“We’re going to hit you directly with an enormous amount of energy that is generated by the Elements of Harmony.” Celestia said. She finished with a sigh. This wasn’t going to go well.
Ajax took a moment to respond, but he did.

“Run that by me again please.” He flatly said.

“We’re going to hit you with a beam of pure energy…” Celestia nervously said.

“Oh, sorry. I thought I heard something crazy the first time.” Ajax sarcastically said.

“I’m sorry Ajax, but that’s the plan.” Celestia adamantly told Ajax.

“No, that’s insanity. Insanity that will likely be the end of me. No one could survive a beam of energy that powerful hitting them.”

“And how do you know that?” Celestia said, very annoyed. She’d expected Ajax to put up some resistance but not to spurn the entire plan.

“Because I worked it out. When I was in Twilight’s library I withdrew a book that just happened to be details on the Elements of Harmony. I knew that you’d think of this plan and I know that it won’t work. That energy will rip me apart.” Ajax stated as if it were fact. He thought it was.

“Yes, simple energy would break you down into little pieces, but the Elements of Harmony don’t make simple energy.” Celestia calmly said. Always a princess, always calm. Celestia never truly got angry, not even with Ajax. When Celestia gets angry… Things happen. Usually you’re turned into a plant. And not a nice plant, oh no. You become one of those plants that no one likes. An annoying fern of some kind.

“Speak sense.” Ajax ordered in a very demanding tone. He didn’t want to play any games when he’d just been told they planned to tear him limb from limb.

“The energy given off by the Elements of Harmony is Friendship energy, positively charged energy, if you will. The magnitude of joy and love that is contained within the Elements will be more than enough to send you home.” Celestia finished. Hopefully that would calm Ajax.

“Forgive me for being sceptical, but Friendship energy? “

“Yes. Friendship energy. Pure emotion.”

“Oh, that’s ok then. It’s ok if you’re hitting me with a death beam of love.” Ajax sarcastically remarked.

“As it should be.” Celestia promptly shot back.

“Celestia, you’re not angry with me for being a little less than confident, are you? This is a tough pill to swallow.” Ajax asked Celestia.

“I’m not. But I trusted you when you swore no harm would befall my world. It’s time you have some trust in me.”

“I’m never one to give someone a bitter deal. Fine Celestia, let’s get this over with and send me home.” Ajax sighed.
He’d caved into Celestia and had agreed to do something that he believed was life threatening. The final time. He’d have to improve his willpower for when he returns to the real world, to Pandora.

“Very well.” Celestia happily responded.
She moved from in between the six Element bearers and Ajax, leaving an empty gap of nothingness in between.

“Ponies, ready yourselves. You will summon your Elements and focus them into a beam, just like you did with Discord and Nightmare mood previously.”
All fell silent. No one wanted to do this. Not the six ponies for their fondness of Ajax, or Ajax himself despite his desire to aid his home. The short time they’d spent together had been glorious.

“Ajax, when they begin I want you to focus all of your energy into your transportation device. Not only that, but I want you to think deeply of home. It will boost the effect of the Elements and ensure success!” Celestia said in a raised voice to Ajax.

“Copy that.”
Ajax slid several reinforced metal plates mechanically back into position, moving them from a comfortable position and into one that cover vital servos and cables. He began to feed power directly to his warp device, turning it into a bomb more powerful than several atomic explosions. If his warp device was blowing up, he was going to be as impenetrable as possible. The device made thunderous grinding noises as the fans and gears contained inside toiled to contain the mounting power being fed to it.

“Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, begin.” Celestia yelled over the tremendous sounds coming from Ajax.
They complied, though they did so with hidden frowns on their faces. They all got into a state of total focus. They were raised slightly from the ground and colourful power began to radiate from them.

“Celestia. Remember what I told you. Remember what you promised me.” Ajax yelled to Celestia as a pale blue aura began to surround Ajax’s device, bathing his armour in a blue glow. The black of his plates did not change, but the white gained a blue tint.

“I will.” Celestia yelled back. She’d brought Ajax’s weapons with her. They laid by her right side, reminding her of the very possible doom she was facing.
“Get ready!” Celestia yelled as she saw both sides getting to the point where they would be able to unleash the energies.
“Ready?” Celestia yelled over the crackling power radiating from both sides.

“Ready!” The six Elemental ponies responded.

“Ready.” Ajax effortlessly projected. He’d realised there was a deafening sound and raised his vocal output units, making a bellow feel like a whisper.

“Three!” Celestia bellowed.

“Two!”

“One!”

“Goodbye… My friends…”Ajax projected to the ponies.

Twilight’s Library, Ponyville, Equestria.

“Ah… This is great!”
Spike was happily sitting in his cot in the Library.
He had a bowl of sparkling gemstones sitting next to him and he had several magazines laid out before him. The gemstones weren’t all too expensive; Spike was on a budget after all. The magazines were just as cheap and weren’t all too interesting, simple fashion magazines. Spike was only interested in them for two reasons. The first being it would give him something interesting to talk to Rarity about and the second being there was a mare that modeled for the particular magazine that didn’t look half bad. Spike didn’t really get much free time with him helping Twilight and he most certainly never got to relax in such a manner. His day was shaping up to be a good one. One small problem though, the same problem that always happens when you’re sitting in silence with no one around. Spike couldn’t help but think.
Ajax, how did Spike feel about him? If not now, on the day he was being sent home, when would Spike think about this? As better time than ever.
Spike hadn’t spent any time what—so-ever with him besides the small interaction they had at the library entrance. He seemed… Nervous, of all things. The walking tank that was Ajax looked on edge!
But Spike knew why he was slightly uneasy that day, and that’s why he was confused about how he felt.
Twilight had told him one hell of a tale about Ajax when she’d first seen him in her dreams.
Spike was a little confused as to whether he likes someone who does what Ajax does.
Then again, Twilight had reconsidered Ajax and she’d decided he was trustworthy. He probably should as well.
Spike supposed it didn’t matter what he felt now.
What did matter though was the horrid sounds coming from outside. They were preventing him from enjoying his reading material. They sounded like someone cracking wood and maybe a little bit of grunting. What could it be?

“Urg… Let’s go see what the commotion is…” Spike groaned as he stood from his cot. He didn’t like to be distracted from his precious relaxation time.
He casually walked over to the door of the library and hauled it open. Its hinges creaked as he opened it as it hadn’t been oiled in some time. It had always annoyed him, just not enough for him to fix it. The frosty air hit Spike like a train when the door was opened, it was very pleasant. The recent freeze had yet to remove itself from the air and was still slightly cold.
Spike took a few steps out of the library’s doorway and began to survey the surroundings, looking for the source of the commotion.
He found it.
At first, Spike mistook the figure for Ajax. But then he remembered that Ajax was elsewhere.
The machine, which looked very much like Ajax, was busy stomping on a cart. That explained the cracking sound. Now just for the grunting.
Oh, another one had its huge foot firmly pressed down on a pony’s tail, making the poor mare grunt as she tried franticly to escape. Hmm…
Spike was suddenly had a revelation; this was incredibly frightening. Spike didn’t know why he hadn’t been frightened to begin with.
He didn’t panic though. Another revelation had hit him; that pony was in danger.
She needed help!
Spike ignored the fact that two clones of Ajax had inexplicably showed up and had begun destroying things and franticly looked for a way to assist the poor pony who was being cruelly toyed with.
He looked around the surrounding area but found nothing within reach.
Well, except one thing. But it was too stupid to even consider.
But Spike considered it.
He’d spotted a rather large rock a short distance away from himself.
He had no other option; the robot looked ready to finish the trapped pony.
Nothing for it Spike guessed.
He jogged the short distance over to the rock and picked it up in both his little hands.
He looked to the robot holding the pony and tossed the heavy rock in its general direction.
It flew far and it flew straight. It hit the robotic titan on the top of its boxy body. When it hit it left a small dent on the things head and smashed the rock into tiny pieces. The machine was thrown off balance and its glowing red eye began erratically flashing. Its foot lifted from the anonymous pony’s tail and she ran off quick as a flash. Spike simply couldn’t understand how he hadn’t heard any other ponies in distress before now.
Spike suddenly regretted his decision.
Both of the robots, after the damaged one had recovered its balance, turned on Spike and drew weapons like the ones Ajax used.
Spike had heard of what Ajax’s weapons could do.
He really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of their discharges. But that seemed to be where he was.
Only one thing for it Spike thought,
Run.
And dodge the torrent of projectiles.

“Celestia! Throw me my damned gun and let me send these bastards to Oblivion!”
Spike had run to the only place he knew was safe. The place where Twilight was. The place where the guards were. The place where the ruler of Equestria was. The place where Ajax was.
Spike had burst in, interrupting the process that Ajax, the Element bearers and Celestia had been working on. He had brought the robots with him, causing a string of curses to be yelled by Ajax, some of which had never been heard by pony kind. A number were directed at Celestia, who was still in possession of Ajax’s fire arm. She wouldn’t throw it to him; she was taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of two of Ajax’s kind. Celestia and the other Element bearers were taking cover behind a chunk of masonry that Ajax had hastily ripped from a statue, much to the displeasure of Celestia. Apparently it was an important one to Ponyville. Ajax had adopted a small house as his form of cover. The occupants had run as soon as bullets started to fly into their walls. How they’d managed to stay through the noise caused by Ajax’s generator was a mystery. It was just them now. The rest of the guard had been gunned down, whit the exception of Faith, Shield and an unknown guard who had fled into a building before the fighting really started.

“How do you propose I do that!?” Celestia yelled back to Ajax over the slowly rising thunder of gunfire. She’d regained her composure quite quickly and had gotten to a point where she was ready for angry yelling.

“Just throw the damned thing to me! Either that or shoot it yourself!” Ajax irritably yelled back.

“How! It weighs more than me! I can’t throw it!” Celestia exclaimed.

“You’ve got magic haven’t you!?” Ajax yelled as he peaked around the corner of the building to get a look at the opposition, but quickly ducked his body back as several bullets struck the corner where he’d previously occupied. Slowly but surely more and more robots were adding to the hail of bullets. There were five at the moment but Ajax was sure there would be more. These weren’t your average loaders either. As well as several being specialised models such as PWR loaders with wrist fitted rifles and SGT loaders, but they seemed to be smarter. While your average loader would simply stand, shoot and take any return fire, these loader seemed to take cover expertly and move fluidly.

“You think it’s easy to move such a heavy object over that distance?!” Celestia angrily yelled as she pointed to the space in between the two speakers.

“Yes! Isn’t it!? You lifted it all the way to here with ease!” Ajax yelled back.

“No! It’s not that easy! I’m under a lot of stress here!”

“Oh to the pits of hell with it! Throw it as far as you can! I’ll run the rest!” Ajax yelled back to Celestia.
His plan was one that could get him injured, but at least he’d get something with a little weight to it in his hands.

“Ok! Ready?!” Celestia yelled as she strained to lift the weapon in the air and prepared to toss it.

“On three!” Ajax yelled as he prepared to run.

“One! Two!” Both participants readied themselves.
“Three!” Ajax bellowed.
Celestia tossed the weapon with all of her might, but it wasn’t much. It only got it about half way to Ajax. Ajax was left to retrieve it.

He jumped out from his cover and into a sprint. He covered half of the distance required without trouble due to his lightning fast appearance. But the fire quickly turned on him, and he was in danger.
He sensed bullets hitting dangerously close to him, so he rolled.
He took the weapon up halfway through his roll and landed in a crouched position.
This was Ajax in his element. A gun in hand, a knee on the floor, an army against him and a target in his sights
He took aim with his powerful shotgun.
In his element.
He pointed it at the first loader to catch his attention and pulled heavily down on the trigger, discharging all three shells loaded in the shotgun and sending a visible wall of explosive yellow projectiles at the loader. The smoke that came from the barrels of Ajax’s gun produced an almost choking cloud.
It never even stood a chance. It wasn’t quick enough on its feet. It stood from cover to take a shot at Ajax and was met with a wall of explosive death. It disintegrated into a million tiny shards of serrated, white hot slivers of metal that scythed into the armour of its companions causing several to lose the function of bodily features. Hopefully it hadn’t hit any of the hostages.
That was a shocking fact that Ajax had been made aware of soon after he stuck his head out. Four of the seven or so loaders Ajax could see running towards him had people strapped to them.
Humans!
Well, not mere humans. These were super humans.
Ajax recognised them. The Vault Hunters.
Had they gone and gotten themselves captured? Likely.
Their lust for treasure was legendary, and what treasure was more tempting than a sentient loader?
The looked to be tied to the loaders. Ajax couldn’t simply shoot them. What sort of death lord kills people who’d make his job easier?
No, Ajax had a plan. Maybe if he freed them… Yea, they’d want to shoot something.
They didn’t look to be all too pleased. They’d make fine allies during this fight.

“Tables turned.” Ajax quietly laughed.
He ran back to his building cover as the opposition tried to regain its force.
He popped the empty casing of his discharged shells out of his shotgun and slipped three more in. He’d stocked the cases attached to various places on his body with shells for his weapon before leaving his barn this morning. Lucky.

Ajax may have taken out one of the loaders, but two more had taken its place. Well, one who had taken its place didn’t seem to be a loader.
It was smaller… It almost looked human…
It had a symbol on its shoulder plate. A cog.
Damn.
Ajax knew he should have killed that damned engineer the moment he’d met him.
So, he was the one behind this entire damned mess.
The bastard who’d shown such courage in the face of death. Figures that he’d be insane.
The heat was mounting.
Enemies were gathering.
The final confrontation was taking place here. Ajax was under fire. The combatants had a large distance between them. The odds were against him.
Time to play nasty.
Ajax was a walking tank, after all.

“Celestia! You’ve still got the three grenades I gave you, right?!” Ajax yelled as he pressed the wall he was standing against.

“Of course! Do you wish to have them back as well?!” She asked.

“No! Keep ‘em and cover me!” He yelled as he took a step back from the wall, some shrapnel from impacting bullets rattling against his plate.

“What do you mean!?” Celestia confusedly asked back.

“No time to explain! Just pull the pin and throw the damned things!” Ajax yelled.
Before Celestia could argue, Ajax ran into the wall with all his might and crashed right on through.

“Wh- Oh to Tartarus with it!” Celestia yelled.
“Here goes nothing… Cover your ears girls…” Celestia told the rest of the ponies as she magically pulled the pin from one of the grenades.
Celestia looked at the flashing lights on it. She didn’t quite understand Ajax’s strange symbol language, but she got the gist of what it meant.
“десять”
“девять”
“восемь”
“семь”
It was a countdown. A countdown to the explosion.
Well, here goes nothing.
Celestia closed the eyes, covered her ears with her hooves and magically tossed the grenade over the stony cover. She counted down the six seconds that remained.
When she counted zero she heard an admirable bang and a series of mechanical whines.
She’d blown some of them to the pits of hell Ajax had been referring to.
She’d also, hopefully, given Ajax the cover he required.

Celestia looked nervously over her cover to see the state of things.
Her grenade had done some serious damage not only to the enemy but to the landscape as well. A huge hole now lay where she’d thrown her grenade.
Things were strangely quiet. The enemies were still recovering, slowly though, from the grenade.
Celestia could see three broken robots lying on the ground, but several still remained and the human still stood atop his strange mechanical legs.
Celestia couldn’t really hear. The grenade, even though she had her ears covered, deafened her.
She ducked back behind the cover to check on the conditions of the other ponies. They all seemed ok. Shaken, but ok. Before Celestia could ask anything more, a sound took her by supprise.

*CRASH*

Celestia was startled by the crashing concrete. What in Equestria caused it?
The answer became instantly clear.

“Die you Hyperion scrap!”
Ajax had, using the distraction of the grenade, punched his way through several buildings and straight to the enemy. He was, at this moment in time, hacking and slashing the enemy to shreds.
They hadn’t even gotten a chance to gather their thoughts before they were attacked.
Ajax was on them instantly.
He truly was in his element. Nothing could stop him
He’d taken out the majority of them, save for the human. Save for Fawks.
This human had caused Ajax a great deal of trouble. He wanted the human to see his precious task force in ruin.
Several Hyperion elites, the best of the best, destroyed by his hand and Celestia’s grenade with barely even a single scratch on his person. Ajax had managed to spare the Vault Hunters the brunt of the attack, they hadn’t been killed. But they hadn’t come out completely unharmed. The siren had a large but shallow cut along her right forearm and the commando was dazed. At least they were alive. They had rags in their mouths so they remained relatively silent. Ajax decided to leave them be for the moment.
Now… The human. Fawks.
Pathetic human. Brought a puny army of a tiny size to take on Ajax and paid the price. Is this all he had to offer?
He'd obviously underestimated Ajax.

“Stand human.” Ajax said as he flicked oil off of his glistening talons.

“Shut it tin can.” Fawks snapped back as he crawled back to his feet. He’d been knocked to the floor when Ajax had burst through the wall and had opted to stay that way.

“Awww… What’s the matter? Annoyed your army wasn’t up to the task?” Ajax laughed.

“Ha ha ha…” Fawks laughed as he bled oil from the gash on his leg. That grenade had done so very much. That’s why it had been so easy to defeat the loaders. They’d been severely damaged by the grenade. Ajax doubted, after having seen the specialised equipment each wielded, that he’d of been able to do it any other way.

“What’s so funny?” Ajax suspiciously asked.

“You really think that that’s my army? Seven or so loaders?!” Fawks laughed.

“What do you mean?” Ajax asked. This was making him uneasy.

“Ha! Wait for it…” Fawks chuckled.
Ajax punched him in the gut and he fell to the ground.
Fawks was quite damaged and had several deep wounds on his body. Things weren’t looking good for him.
Ajax pointed his weapon at his head.

“You’ve lost.” Ajax flatly said.
A crack of lightning thundered behind Ajax and he could hear far off stomping. Stomping of a gargantuan.
Fawks began laughing.

“I do believe that’s coming for you Ajax.”
Fawks began laughing loudly as the monstrosity came through the rip in space.

The rip was a horror to start with, being a big crackling warp in reality, but it was made even worse when the mechanical titan came crashing on through.
It was a Saturn class loader.
Imagin a tank with legs, then add about twelve tonnes of plate armour and several plasma cannons.
Then you’d be getting close.
Take that image and add two large rocket pods on its back.
Then you’ve got a Saturn.
They’re an abomination. An inhumane tool of combat that should have been outlawed years ago. But with Hyperion gunning for total control, they remained in service.
They were rare on Pandora, only five had been seen in Ajax’s entire service time on the planet. Ajax had seen one when the Vault hunters had stormed Handsome Jack’s fortress, but it was destroyed by the very same Vault Hunters. Ajax had seen one roaming the wastes shortly after the downfall of Handsome Jack. Ajax hadn’t been too enthusiastic to attack it; this had been before Ajax had become who he was today. They were devastating combatants and were not to be trifled with. One was currently crashing its way through houses to get to Ajax.
The Saturn was locking onto Ajax with its many mounted turrets. It wouldn’t be soon before it was shooting at him with more guns than you can shake a stick at.
Ajax had to do something to prevent the imminent doom that would surely befall Equestria.
He had to…
He had no idea what to do.

All that anyone could hear besides the huge foot falls of the Saturn was Fawks’ cruel laughter.
He was taunting Ajax. Pushing him to do something. But Ajax had no idea what to do. He couldn’t take on the Saturn alone, he’d surely be destroyed.
Wait… He didn’t have to do it alone.
Not only would this give him a chance to defeat the Saturn, it would irritate Fawks greatly.
Ajax walked over to the gagged Vault hunters and slowly sliced the rags from their mouths.
They were confused, but thanked Ajax none the less.

“W… What are you doing?” Fawks suspiciously asked.

“Hey, Vault Hunters. How’d you like to take a Saturn’s power core home?” Ajax asked them as they pulled themselves painfully to their feet.
Ajax had been formulating the plan ever since the Saturn had made itself known. Every Saturn contained several power cores. Power cores were what Ajax as well as the Vault Hunters had been seeking. This could be the one and only bargaining tool Ajax had at his disposal: a common interest.
Even though it wouldn’t be easy, both parties could walk away happy.

“Power cores?” The commando asked.

“Yes. The Saturn model of loader has very power demanding weapons. We could both have a power core, if you help me defeat it.” Ajax tempted.

“A power core eh...” Axton considered.

“All you have to do is help me destroy that thing…” Ajax said as he gestured to the slowly approaching goliath.

“But you do realise what that is, right?” Salvador asked,

“I realise it’s something you’ve destroyed before. You can do it again.”

“But we’re not exactly prepared for fighting. We’ve got nothing!” Axton argued.
Ajax kicked a weapon that had been discarded by Fawks when he had fallen to the ground.
It was a beautiful weapon, obviously very expensive. How a grunt Hyperion had managed to get hold of it was a mystery. Maybe he had connections.

“Give me that back you robbing scum.” Fawks spat as he tended to his slowly leaking leg.

“Learn to live with what you get commando. It’s this,” Ajax said as he held the weapon out to Axton.
“Or that.” He finished, pointing to the now very close Saturn.

“I may not like you…” Axton hesitated.
“But deal.”

“No. Stop. You won’t defeat it.” Fawks begged. Now he wasn’t so sure of his victory.
Alone, Ajax was nothing to a Saturn. Together with the Vault Hunters…
Well, they weren’t something you’d mess with.

“Sorry buddy, you brought this one on yourself.” Salvador laughed as he hauled a mini-gun barrelled assault rifle from a dead SGT loader.

“Let’s go then.” Ajax said.
All of them had a weapon and all of them were prepared. They could do this.
Well, almost all of them were prepared.

“Urg…” Maya complained as her wound bled. It was really pouring now. The red liquid was forming a literal river.

“What’s wrong?” Ajax asked.

“Simple dummy. She’s bleeding.” Salvador answered.

“Oh… Right… You humans bleed don’t you… Well, you’ll have to stay here.” Ajax said.

“But, won’t you need my help?” Maya painfully asked.

“Maybe, but they need your help more.” Ajax said as he pointed to the cowering ponies.
They hadn’t really announced themselves since Celestia had thrown the grenade. They didn’t want to.
They were scared senseless.
They needed someone to comfort them.

“A woman’s touch?” Ajax tried.

“Fine…” Maya complained.
“I suppose it makes sense. They’ll need some help. I’ll see what I can do.”

“My thanks. The rest of you, are you ready?”

“As we’ll ever be.” Axton replied.
They had all quickly selected a weapon from the mess of parts on the ground. They’d had to tie Fawks down with the ropes that had previously held the vault hunters and they had gagged him.
He was being difficult, trying to grab weapons and the likes. Better that he be somewhere relatively safe.
The thumping from the Saturn had become ground rocking. It wasn’t even within weapons range yet!

“Are you ready for this?” Axton asked his comrades.

“No. You’re the ones who have fought one of these.” Ajax responded as they slowly walked towards the towering machine.

“Hey, don’t worry. We got this!” Salvador tried to convince Ajax.

“Forgive me for not being so enthusiastic. I’m not all too sure your human bones can withstand missiles.” Ajax lightly chuckled.

“And your tin can ass can?” Axton laughed back.
Always laugh before you go to your death.

The thunderous steps the Saturn made were dwarfed by the sounds created by its weapons.
As soon as Ajax and his make shift team got within weapons range, which was a surprisingly short distance, the Saturn opened fire with its long guns.
The plasma blasts were intense and destroyed entire buildings. Luckily, most ponies had fled. The ponies of this world were smart: they conveniently knew when they should leave so that the heroes can have a clear path without having to care about civilians. Nice.
Ajax and his companions had to duck and dodge in between buildings. They were slowly gaining ground. Very slowly. More than often the building they were going to run to was destroyed in an intense blast of white hot plasma. The bubbling liquid pool left behind would probably make a very nice hot tub, if it wasn’t white hot and could melt a solid brick of metal.

“How are we doing Ajax?!” Axton yelled to Ajax as the Saturn’s long gun opened fire again, melting more possible cover.

“We’re making some head way! We’re about 50 metres from the target! We’ve travelled about 200 from where we left the female!” Ajax reported back to Axton.
Axton seemed to be the only one talking. Zero, while he probably had much to say, chose to remain silent. Salvador had lost his interest in talking when he’d criticized the Saturn’s accuracy, right before a bolt of plasma almost sheared the barrel off of his weapon. That shut him up.

“We’ve got to move! That thing’s aiming for us!” Axton yelled to Ajax as he noticed that the Saturn was aiming its long guns at their current location.

“Nicely noticed! There!” Ajax yelled back.
He pointed and ran to a large and overturned cart. It wasn’t the best, but it was better than being a pool of liquid. They made it just in time. The ground behind them radiated with heat as it turned to goo.

“We’ve got to do some damage to this thing soon Ajax, we can’t just keep dodging plasma!”

“Well what would you suggest?” Ajax irritably yelled.

“I don’t know? Run at it?” Axton suggested. He didn’t actually mean it.

“Wait a second… That might work! How quickly can those things move their guns on their Axis?” Ajax asked as he popped his head out and looked at the Saturn, checking its movement speed.

“Uh… Ajax, I didn’t actually mean…” Axton nervously said.

“Three…” Ajax began.

“No, wait Ajax! This will get us killed!”

“Two…”

“Oh fuck!” Axton swore.

“One!”
Ajax ran from the cart. Axton, Salvador and Zero weren’t far behind.
Ajax had timed it perfectly. The Saturn had fired the moment they’d set off running. The ground right behind them erupted and sent a heat wave that scorched Ajax’s paint. But they’d made it, and now the Saturn’s weapon systems were locked out until they cooled. Just enough time to sprint 50 metres and smash a robot to hell.

Axton shot his weapon at the Saturn’s mounted cannons as he ran for cover.
The smaller weapons had opened fire as soon as Axton and his companions had gotten into a range where they could fire their weapons.
They were deadly, but they were easy to dodge. Ajax was doing the most damage using his explosive shotgun, but even that was failing against the Saturn’s hulking armour.
The machine was simply standing, letting its cannons do the heavy shooting and letting its armour take all the attacks.

“Fight harder you mercenary dogs!” Ajax bellowed as he saw his weapon leave nothing but scratches.
Even though Ajax was leaving nothing but dents, the Saturn was deeply annoyed.
It tried to stomp him, but missed. Being such a hulk has its disadvantages: you’re incredibly slow.
Ajax saw no way he could win over this thing. It was only a matter of time before everyone was struck down by the thumping cannons. But as the huge metal foot came down next to Ajax, an idea hit him.
Every loader, even him, had a central nerve of sorts. A great cable that connected the AI core to every other limb and feature in the body.
Saturn class loaders also have one.
An exploitable defect for Ajax.

“Up the leg!” Ajax yelled as he began to climb the leg metal.
The cannon began pounding against Ajax’s armour but it was nothing that he couldn’t handle. The Saturn’s close combat weapons were surprisingly lacking. Small calibre bullets did nothing to Ajax. The small calibres to Ajax were huge calibres to humans however. They had to wait on the ground, lest they be killed.

“I’ll stop this thing! You distract it!” Ajax yelled as he climbed.

“Can do!” Axton yelled back.
Ajax climbed and climbed and climbed. He had climbed only half of the Saturn’s body and he was getting weak. The constant hail of bullets was wearing him down.

“I can’t do this for much longer! Take out some of the damned cannons!” Ajax yelled to Axton.

“Trying!” Axton angrily yelled back as he sporadically shot at the cannons on the Saturn.
He hit occasionally, but he never managed to destroy any. Only to knock their aim off temporarily.

Ajax, though uneasily, made it to the top of the Saturn.
He could clearly see the Cable he had to destroy. One of the fatal design flaws of the Saturn loaders: their one true weak point is easily accessible.
Ajax need only shoot it and all of this would be over.
He took aim with his shotgun.
One last little phrase. Once a badass, always a badass.

“The bigger they are, the harder th-“
Ajax never finished his macho phrase before the final kill. The missile pods that were attached to the Saturn’s back opened their hatch doors. Upon opening, they knocked Ajax flying off of the loader.
The last thing he saw before he blacked out was the frantic shooting of Axton and the laughing face of Fawks.

Ajax woke to the sporadic sound of gunfire.
Axton was yelling at Salvador to get cover.
Celestia was yelling at Maya to help Ajax.
Maya was yelling at Celestia to stop demanding what she can’t do.
Fawks was giving off witty one liners.
Faith and Shield, who had emerged from their hiding place, were trying to fire some of the weapons on the ground but were having little luck.
The world smelled of gunpowder and oil. The sky was chocked by smoke and dust.
Ajax couldn’t feel anything.

Ajax sat up. He could barely hear himself think.
But what he could hear, he didn’t like.
He could hear failure, He could hear death. He could hear…. Twilight.
Twilight was yelling something about using the elements again but Celestia was arguing that it wouldn’t work. If Ajax couldn’t stop that thing, nothing could.
Ajax could only think of one plan. It was murky, but it might work.
The details hadn’t fully formed in his head. He needed to think. Could Twilight and her friends do it?
Could Ajax feed them enough power? Would it really destroy it?
Ajax didn’t know. The basis of the plan was simple.
Instead of using the Elements of Harmony to send Ajax home, they’d use it to charge Ajax with huge amounts of power. Using it, Ajax would rip the Saturn limb from limb and quickly send the Vault Hunters home. Ajax didn’t know if it would work. But he could try!
He would have to try! He’d made strong enough bonds with the ponies. Their friendship would be enough. It would work.

Wait…
What was Celestia saying about The Elements of Harmony?
The elements! Ajax had only just recovered and he was having strokes of brilliance!
The plan then…
Grab Fawks. Run to the Saturn with Maya. Gather together Axton, Salvador and Zero and get Twilight and her friends to send them home!
Sure, Ajax would probably end up dead. No, he would certainly end up dead.
But he owed it to Equestria… He owed them peace.
And if his death by taking Fawks and his monsters away from Equestria did that, so be it.

Wait… Two completely feasible plans.
Which one would Ajax choose?
Would Ajax sacrifice himself in return for the guarantee that Equestria will be saved?
Will Ajax take a risk and try to repay Celestia by truly saving her from all of their enemies?
Ajax didn’t know…
He’d have to choose quickly though.
Time was running out.

Oh Gods….

Comments

[MC BR0N3]

*Cue "With Great Power" by Two steps from Hell, or music of similar epicness*

[The Rar]

2038357
Come on now.
Two steps from Hell are great, but only Manowar would be able to creake a song with enough badassitude (It's a word now.) for Ajax.

[MC BR0N3]

2038368
Choice noted, acknowledged…and approved.

[The Doctor Who]

artefact - artifact.
“Try my.” Ajax confidently said. "Try me." Ajax said confidently.
and the second being there was a mare that muddled - modeled for the particular magazine that didn’t look half bad.
Both of the robots, after the damaged on one had recovered its balance,
The smoke that came from the barrels of Ajax’s gun produced an almost chocking choking cloud.
He could here hear failure, He could here hear death. He could here hear…. Twilight.

And what was the extremely expensive Torgue gun? I never sa- read it.
This is what happens when you let me point out your problems.

[The Rar]

2041258
Oh holy god.
Top tip: Don't write while quite tired and while distracted.
I kid thee not, that was writen abou 10 minutes before I published it.
But those were bloody kintergarden errors and I've got no excuse.
I'm going to have to fix that.
And I'll fix the last error you pointed out. I neglected to do it (Bah!) and I really need to.

I'm bloody sorry for those.
There, that's all of the ones you stated corrected.
Now to go through it and look for anything else as stupid as those. They really were pathetic errors.

And the expensive gun was described in some detail a few chapters back.
When I get back to my computer (I'm currently doing this through Xbox Live.) I'll find it for you.

[Foody Poody]

Wow. I'm actually at the end of my chair
Well done, I can't wait for those choice endings!

[The Doctor Who]

2042141
Okay, I'll try and wait. I understand it could do all sorts of damage, but I was wondering more towards appearance. Also, I write most of my material at about 3:00, literally, that's when I go to bed some nights. (I really need to fix that.)
Anyway, I still love the story, and a SATURN!?! That's over kill Fawks, and near impossible to come by undetected. How he does it, only mad men know.

[The Doctor Who]

One last thing, the Saturn fight in-game, way too easy. All I did was hide behind a broken water tower and all his little surveyor bombs blew up before they even hit me, and I had a clear shot at his entire body. Still took a bloody half hour, and the Badass constructor afterwards killed me multiple times, but I managed.

[The Rar]

2045600
Maybe I never did give a solid description of it.
Quite possibly because I wasn't really basing it on any particular weapon (Eg. A legendiary.)
I think that needs to be a thing.
You will have it!
2045611
I thought that too.
I would have expected something of that size to be a bit harder.
Then again, it was planned to be a boss but never made it...
Maybe they gave him the proportions of a boss but not the guns.

[The Doctor Who]

2047399
(Eg. A legendiary.) = (Eg. A legendary)

[The Doctor Who]

Touché