> CPS Chronicles: Nightmares and Wormholes
>  by Largefish8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'The Void...it is a gift and a curse...as our finest warriors turned on us...drove us from our home, we turned what had been something wonderful into a weapon...may we be forgiven.'

'File recovered from Atlantean facility...thought to refer to the Uncharted Territories...author unknown.

...

The uncharted sectors of Nullspace were one of the last un-industrialized sections of the multiverse, but that didn’t mean they were deserted...though that didn’t mean Matt was wishing that it was.  He wished harder as a pulse blast narrowly missed the Skyraid, the Exo Gene ship Icarus taking another shot as its StarFalcons harassed the fleeing frigate.

“This sucks…explain to me WHY you’re important again, Aria?” said Matt, annoyed as he pulled the ship controls, causing the skyraid to roll to avoid a missile.  

Aria, the AI currently in his ship said smugly in a female voice “You know perfectly well why I am important.  There is a asteroid belt 2 light-minutes off the starboard.  The rocks will provide cover from the Icarus’s particle blasters.
...

"His armor's at 45%, captain," said one of the crewmen on the Icarus' bridge.

"Good...The board of directors wants Lynch and his ship contents intact.  Keep firing.  I want those engines offline, now." said Darius, the ship’s captain.

One of the techs said, "Sir, he’s headed for the asteroid belt in sector 12. Lotta chroniton readings...could be a rifter."  "Not even he would be foolish enough to go through a rifter," said Darius, "Keep on him."  "Yes sir," said the tech.

...

"Sir...chroniton radiation is at optimum to indicate a rift mine class wormhole in the field.  Recommend caution," said Aria.

Matt pulled hard on the control to avoid the Skyraid pancaking on a asteroid the size of a dreadnought before yelling, "Stop backseat driving!" before the comm beeped  "Oh, you are kidding me," said Matt.

"Incoming message from the Icarus," said Aria.  "Do I have to accept the charges?" groaned Matt.

Darius's face appeared on the comm.  "You know, you can’t get away.  My ship’s faster, I have more men, and Exo Gene’s got more then enough credits to send every merc from here to the Combine territories after you.  I promise I'll make it quick," he said, smugly.

"Hey, I can always find another place to hide," said Matt.  "Where would that be?  Every ship from here to the badlands is after you and you know that every reality field around here's aggressive.  You sure you don’t want to die with a little dignity?" said Darius with a smirk.

"Dignity's for squares," said Matt before punctuating that with a raspberry.

Darius sighed and said, "Fine...have a nice day," before cutting the comm.

Aria said, "Sir, why do you antagonize people like him?" before the ship shook with another shot.

"If I'm gonna go down, I'm gonna go down laughing," said Matt.  "Sir, please keep your optics on the controls.” Said Aria urgently.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Matt before glancing up and seeing an asteroid getting very close.  Matt settled for the textbook reaction of screaming in terror and pulling back hard on the controls, sending the skyraid shooting up.  One of the fighters was not so lucky, plowing into the asteroid and exploding.

Matt grinned at that.  "Hah...that’s one less scumbag.  This day’s getting better," he said before the space in front of the ship began to flicker and several readouts changed to a red screen with the flashing message, 'Danger: Chroniton Surge.'  "Uh, identify source of chronitons," said Matt nervously.

Aria said, "Look up, sir."  Matt did so in time for the grey maw of a wormhole to crackle into life.  "Warning, gravity pull detected, we are in the wormholes gravity well.  The Icarus is also in the well.  Evasive maneuvers recommended," said Aria which earned her viewscreen a thump.  Matt gulped and muttered, "Why can't I watch where I'm flying?"

...

On the Icarus, the bridge was in sheer pandemonium.  "We're at full reverse and it’s still got us!" yelled a technician.

"Captain, Lynch can't possibly survive that rifter," said a crewman, "Maybe we should focus on pulling back and letting it finish the job.

The same tech said, "Fat chance of that.  We're following no matter what we want."  Darius said, "If we lose Lynch, the board’ll take us apart!"  "But sir..." said the same crewman.

"Or would you prefer to ride out the rifter outside the ship?" snapped Darius.
"Better make up your mind...we're gonna be torn in half otherwise!" yelled one of the navigation control techs.  Darius said, "Full power ahead.  After that mercenary."

...

The wormhole was quick to swallow the Icarus as it stopped struggling against its pull as it also swallowed the tiny Skyraid and its pursuing fighters, quickly spewing them out at the destination...and their prison.

"Orders, sir?" asked one of the crewsmen.  "If we're going to be stuck in here, we're making doubly sure that he is too," said Darius, "Cripple that ship."  "Sir, we got a problem, sensors are going nuts," said a tech, his screen full of static.

A navigation controller said, "Sir, we've lost engine power on thruster 4 and 6."  One last tech slapped his screen and said, "Sir, magi's off the charts.  It’s messing up everything."  Darius sighed and said, "Figures a rifter would lead us into this."

"Sir, that guys ships even older than ours.  It’s gonna go down, but we won't be able to pinpoint where." said a tech.  Darius looked out the bridge window at the Skyraid.  It was already in a bad way.  The Icarus's particle pulse cannons had all but crippled it, a stream of glowing blue energy showing a catastrophic plasma leak.  

...

On the Skyraid, the magi energy was messing up the systems even worse.  Matt had a fire extinguisher and was spraying its contents on the smoking panels as they overloaded.  "Just my bloody luck," he said, spraying another panel, Aria repeating "Danger...Magi levels at dangerous levels...engines at 12%...controls...offline."

"Oh really?  Tell me something worse!" snapped Matt.  "Planetary gravity well detected...bearing: 2-7-9," said Aria on cue.  "Oh goody," said Matt sarcastically before he looked up to see the spinning view of a planet straight ahead.  After a minute, he had to look down again.  "Those damn drones better be fixing the damage," he muttered before Aria said "Planetary impact in 1.4 minutes."

"Uh, chance of survival?" asked Matt.  "If the drones can restore control systems...54%...if not...0.013%," said Aria.  "Uh, please put a little more incentive into those bots," said Matt.  "Yes, sir...Impact in 1.2 minutes...entering atmosphere..." said Aria.

...

On the planet below, a meteor shower was lighting up the night, providing a spectacle for all the residents to watch.

Twilight Sparkle had stayed up to watch the show with her telescope, her friend and assistant, Spike, with her.  "Wow, Twi, these shooting stars are amazing," said Spike.

Twilight watched through the telescope. "I haven’t seen so many before.  Hmm?" she said, sounding surprised as one shooting star seemed to start to straighten out its flight, going further then its fellows...and getting slightly larger.  "Uh, Spike, you might want to get down," said Twilight.

The shooting star had not changed direction, becoming larger and becoming a fireball.  Twilight and Spike ducked to the ground as the fireball roared overhead.  Twilight raised her head in time to see, just for a second, something inside the fireball before it vanished over the top of Everfree forest, a loud boom and a flash heard a moment later.

After the boom and flash faded, there was a moment of silence before Spike said, "That was awesome!  Best shooting star ever!”

Twilight looked a bit concerned.  "I've never seen a shooting star do that before...." she said, more to herself than anything else.  "Hey, you think there're any pieces left?" asked Spike.

Twilight said "I don’t think thats a good idea.  Its landed in the Everfree forest.  We can have a look for it tomorrow."  "Oh, fine," grumbled Spike, "All the good pieces will be gone by then."

The next morning however, there was a stranger problem confronting ponyville.  A thief...a strangely specific one.  "They took the hinges off every door in my house." said one pony as Twilight walked past.  

The other pony of the conversation said "Thats nothing...it took half the tools from my workshop...just the tool heads.  It left all the handles."  "That's strange," muttered Twilight, "First a big meteorite crash, then all the metal's disappearing.  What could it mean?"

Twilight was still thinking about the meteor that she and spike had seen the previous night when a shriek came from the nearby Carousel boutique.  She rushed in to see Rarity wailing.  The reason was clear to see.  The unicorns workshop seemed to have been a popular target, almost all the metal equipment missing and the safe box that stored the gems Rarity used had a perfect hole burnt into it, the contents spilled out and all the clear gems missing.  

"Robbed!  Robbed!  How will I ever be able to make fine dresses now?!  I'm ruined!" wailed Rarity.  

Twilight went up to her "Its ok, rarity.  You'll be able to replace all of your things in no time.  Its strange.  This mystery thief’s hit all over ponyville..." she said.

"Well, I'm sure no one in Ponyville's suffering worse than me," said Rarity.

...

Twilight took Rarity into town to try and take her mind of the robbery.  They were just having a meal when Pinkie pie popped up, wearing her umbrella hat.    "Hey Pinkie," said Twilight, "Tail twitching again?"  

"Yeah...it started last night...then I got a doosy of a twii-i-i-i-ich." said Pinkie, starting to vibrate in place.  "The-e-ee-r-r-r-re iiit-t-t-t-t iis-s-s-s-s-s aa-a-g-a-a-in." she said.  

"A full-blown doosy twitch?" asked Twilight, "Something really unexpected is going to happen?"  

Twilight thought back to the last time such a doosy had turned up.  It had involved a angry Hydra and a close call for her patience.  A doosy twitch usually meant trouble.  "Maybe its to do with the thief that been in town?" she said.

What-ev-ev-ev-ev-ev-ev-er i-i-i-i-t i-i-i-i-is," said Pinkie, "I-i-i-i-it's coming from Ev-ev-everfree Forest."  Twilight thought for a second before saying "There's still lots of metal in town.  Whoever’s stealing it might come back for the rest..."

...

It was almost sunset and everything was still on Sweet Apple Acre farm.  The only thing that seemed out of place was the plough left in the middle of the field all by itself.  A keen observer would have followed a rope coming from nearby to a barrel hanging from a tree, hidden by the canopy.  

"Ah'm not happy with this.  We only jus got that plough." said Applejack. 

"The thieves would have come for it anyways," said Twilight, "This will allow us to catch them in the act."  Rainbow dash said "Then we get them to give back what they took.  Wonder why they want it all?"

"Oh, I hope this trap won't hurt them," said Fluttershy, "I mean, they should be stealing things, but they shouldn't be hurt either."  

Rarity said "They turned my boutique upside down." the event still fresh in her mind.  Before anyone could reply, a twig was heard snapping before a rustling noise followed it.  Fluttershy was about to give a yipe of fright before Rainbow Dash covered her mouth with her wing.

A large shadow could be seen in the moonlight, heading for the plough.  What sounded like a strangely distorted voice spouting random combinations of letters was heard, coupled with a faint clacking noise.  Fluttershy was quivering all over with nervousness, forcing Rainbow Dash to push her head down.  The shadow got bigger as its owner got closer, the ponies starting to worry that maybe the barrel wasn’t big enough...until a tiny metallic spider, a single red eye glowing on its front, scuttled into view, looking at the plough like it was the last cake in the shop.  

This time, it was Pinkie Pie's turn to be muffled, to keep her from laughing her head off at the anti-climatic humour.  The humour remained until the spider climbed onto the plough, looking at the wooden handle before making a tutting noise and effortlessly ripping a rivet off it, tossing it over its head before moving onto the next one.  

The girls watched as the spider effectively took the handle off with about as much effort as breathing took.  As it was jumping off of the plough, presumably to take the blade away, Twilight shouted, "Now!"  The rope was untied and the barrel fell down on top of the spider.

Rainbow Dash was the first to celebrate.  "Gotcha.  Thats the last time that thing steals from ponyville." she said, landing on top of the barrel as it began to shake, its occupant a bit unhappy judging from the muffled noises before the noises stopped...replaced with a clack...followed by a rising whining noise.  Uh, what's that sound?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Suddenly a red beam, needle thin shot out the side, burning a neat hole in the side before the spiderbot scuttled out, a small cylinder on its back still glowing at one end.  It turned before its eye looked up at Rainbow and made a beeping before a voice from it said 'You were good, kid.  Real good...but as long as I'm around, you'll always be second best, see?' in a impression of a 60's gangster before blowing a raspberry, sniggering and shooting off in the direction of Everfree forest, several other random pieces of metal bobbing through the grass showing that it hadn't turned up alone.

"What in the name of Granny Smith's famous apple pie was that critter?" asked Applejack.  "I don't know," said Fluttershy, "I've never seen anything like it before.  Rainbow dash said "Who cares?  We got a chance to find out where they're taking all our stuff." before taking off after them, clearly peeved over the tiny bot calling her 'second best'.

...

The ponies followed after the metal spiders for quite a distance into the forest.  However, they stopped when they came across something really unfamiliar: a large trench in the earth that stretched on for many, many yards.  Twilight remembered back to the shooting star from the previous night, the drama with the metal thieves having caused it to slip her memory.  Several pieces of semi-melted metal were stuck in the trench.  The ponies also noted a few red eyes looking from the sides of the trench...clearly a few of the ‘spiders’ had remained behind.  "Did these things come from the shooting star?" she said to herself.

The group didn’t see any of the ‘spiderbots’ before reaching where something had caused the dirt to pile up, flashes of light and crackling coming from the other side.  

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie stopped and started vibrating.  "Guys, the doozy, it's really, really close," she said.  The group headed up the slope and peered over the edge to see a large metal machine, the origin of the trench, piled up against the far end.  The spiders were all dropping their loot in a pile where several more grabbed a piece and carried it up to one of the many holes and began to weld it into place.  "Ooh, ooh, what if they're aliens from another planet who have crashed onto Equestria and are using all the metal they can find to rebuild their spaceship?" said Pinkie.

The other ponies turned to look at her.  Even for Pinkie, that comment was random.  A voice, however began to be heard, arguing "...said that you found that gem.  I can;t believe you stole it." said a male voice.  Muffled speech was heard before the first voice said "Yes, I know you needed a replacement but for smegs sake.  I have enough trouble without an angry mob."  

"Who was that?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "I hope it isn't a diamond dog," said Rarity with a shudder.  A bipedal silhouette came into view, one of the spiders following it along the side of the ship.  "Fine...but for the record...scans said we coulda found a decent data diamond easy without petty thievery...where did the drones find all this metal anyway?" said the silhouette.

Just then, a rather strange creature walked into view.  In a way, it looked sort of like a diamond dog, only he wore clothes on all his body instead of just the chest, he had no tail and paws, his face was rather flat, and the only hair was growing on top of his head.

There were also several bandages on him and a black eye, some of the bandages around the creatures chest.  Obviously the 'landing' had not been intentional.  "Look...the longer we're here, the more time the Icarus has to find us.  Sooner we're up and running, the sooner we put a few lightyears between us and them." said the creature.

The spiders twittered a bit more.  "I don't know how we're gonna get back into Nullspace," snapped the creature, "Maybe we'll be able to find a portal in another part of the galaxy or something.  Just get this thing fixed."  

Another, female voice, its owner unseen, said "Captain Lynch...I cannot detect another wormhole for over 400 lightyears.  It is most likely the only exit is the way we arrived...  Organic scanners are still rebooting however."  

The ponies started to back away.  "Uh, maybe there's a book about this kind of thing in the library," said Twilight Sparkle.  "A book about alien visitors, are you serious?" asked Rarity.  Twilight pushed a bush aside and was about to reply when she turned to be eye to eye with another of the ‘spiderbots’ which said happily "There you are."  The ponies gave off small shrieks of fright, inadvertedly backing up and falling down into the crater.

...

Matt was panning his plasma pistol around when he heard several cries of fright, spinning to see several ponies falling down the side of the Skyraids landing trench.  One of the spiderbots turned as well and said in their weird language "Hey...those are the smegheads who dropped a barrel on me."

Matt looked at the ponies and said, "Ok, what's with the multicolored horses?"  "Sir...these might be some of the locals." said Aria.  "So  They're just minature horses," said Matt.  One of the other drones scuttled up to one of the dazed ponies and poked it before chirping "Lets blast em." before all the drones folded out their ion lasers.  "Guys, let's not harm the natives," said Matt, "Even if it is only the local livestock."

The ponies were waking up at that and Matt was sure his heart stopped for a second when the orange one said "Who are you callin livestock?"  Matt blinked before saying carefully, "Did that pony just talk."  

The pink one said "Cool...it talks."  Matt just stared ahead at this, not moving even when one of the bots stabbed his foot experimentally.  "You broke boss." it said in conclusion.  "Well, it serves him right," said Rarity, "Thinking of us as just common animals."  The drones all turned to look at Rarity at that while another scuttled down Matts arm and pulled his blaster out of his hand, chirping "You'll thank us in 5 seconds."

"Uh, maybe we should go," said Fluttershy, who found this situation getting too creepy.  "No..." said one of the drones.  Another said "Nobody supposed to know boss is here..." while the drone that had caused them to fall down finished the sentence "...so boss decide...when he stop being catatonic."  "Uh, maybe we should try to wake him up," said Twilight.  "Uh uh...we do that." said the one on Matts arm, folding a tuning fork device out its top and electrocuting Matt, causing him to judder in place and come back to reality.  "Uuuuugh...had the wierdest dream...there were talking..." he said before trailing off as he saw the six ponies.  "...oh...that proves it...I'm obviously losing it."

"Losing what?  Did you lose a bracelet?" asked Pinkie Pie, "Because I remember one time I thought I lost a bracelet and I was so frantic and I searched everywhere and everywhere.  But then I realized I was wearing it the whole time, now wasn't that silly?"  Matt just stared, his pupils slowly shrinking "Please stop speaking, miss hallucination." he said in a distant voice, sure that small but significant sections of his brain were becoming unglued.  

"Like that's easy," said Rainbow Dash, "Pretty much the only time she's not talking is when she's eating and sometimes when she's sleeping."  "Ok...why are you hallucinations here?" Matt said.  "We are not hallucinations," said Twilight, "We're ponies."  

"Ponies don;t talk...maybe dragons do...but not ponies...I have to keep telling myself that." said Matt, more or less to himself.  The spiderbots had just settled down to watch.  The bosses nervous breakdowns were usually fun.

"I guess he is a space alien," said Rainbow Dash.  "What kinda world could he have come from where ponies don't talk?" said Applejack, "That's just plum crazy.  Next he'll be sayin' that his sun and moon rise by themselves."  

Matt had wandered up to the open hatch and was grabbing something.  "Ok...hallucinations...you have 10 seconds to prove you're real or this happens." he said, pulling out a rifle and shooting a rock which glowed before collapsing to ash, a manic look on Matts face.  Pinkie was the first to react, saying “Cool...do it again."  "Uh, maybe you should try to calm down a little first," said Twilight, nervously "Too much aggitation is bad for you."  

Matt looked around before saying “Yeah...true...true." before tossing the weapon back into his ship.  The female voice spoke again "Sir...I have close range sensors back online...I do not believe you are hallucinating."  

"Aria, there are a bunch of talking, brightly-colored ponies here, two with horns, two with wings, how am I supposed to believe they're real?" said Matt.  "Sir...I am a 15th generation A.I...I do not hallucinate...They are quite real." said Aria.

"Well then, your sensors must be on the blink, but because there can't be any such thing as talking- WHOA!"  The last part was added on account of Rainbow Dash suddenly charging into Matt and sending him flying into the side of the crater.  Matt shook a few stars from his vision, muttering "I think my kidney exploded." getting up a bit unsteadily.  The drones however were definately not happy.

The drones turned to glare at the ponies, particularly Rainbow Dash.  One of them said coldly "Goodbye." their lasers starting to charge before Matt said “Hold it..."  

The drones all turned to look at Matt who had gotten back up, a little unsteady.  "Ok...you win...Hallucinations don't bruise ribs."  The drones made a threatening clicking noise before scuttling back to their jobs, one blowing a raspberry at Rainbow Dash before following its fellows.

Matt groaned a bit as he clicked his spine back in place.  "So, are there any more of you...ponies here?" he asked.  Pinkie pie said "Lots and lots.  You should meet them.  We could have a 'welcome, Mr alien' party and..." before Matt said to himself "Oh, not again." 

"Uh, I think he needs a little more time to settle," said Applejack.  "Look...just...just keep this quiet.  I didn’t even mean to land here...does this look like an intentional landing?" said Matt, pointing to his crashed ship.

"International landing, what's that?" asked Pinkie Pie.  

Matt's eye twitched for a second.  "Ok...translation:  I crashed." he said, Aria muttering "Again."  

"Well anyone can see that," said Rainbow Dash, looking at the ship, "Don't you know how to fly?"  

"Lets see how well you fly while you're being shot at." said Matt under his breath.  

"Shot at?  Who would shoot at you?" asked Fluttershy, a horrified tone in her voice.  

"Erm...I don’t think I should tell you tha..." began Matt before Aria said "A Exo gene cruiser known as the 'Icarus' under the command of Colonel Alan Darius is responcible."  Matt glared at the ship and Aria said "Trust is both ways, sir."

"Who is this ‘Exo Gene’?" asked Rarity, "It sounds dreadful."  

"Executive Genetics in the 3rd largest corpo..." began Aria before Matt muted her.  "They're trouble...They're a bit upset at me cause I kinda shot up their operation and mae off with several important things." he said, deciding that maybe mentioning Nullspace was a good way for culture shock related chaos.  

"Uh, ya'll lost me after 'they're trouble'," said Applejack.  

Matt sighed and wondered what to say.  "They're...big trouble...you probably don’t wanna know what they do." he said finally, saying under his breath "And if they catch me, I'll be lucky if they just kill me."  

"Oh, ok," Twilight said carefully, "I suppose you'll be here for a while then."  Aria said "I estimate that repairs should be completed in 36 hours."  Matt turned to the ponies "You heard her...a day and a half and I'm out of your lives." he said.

"Aw...you can't leave without a party," said Pinkie Pie, sounding shocked at such a thing happening.  

Rarity said accusingly "And what about the gems your...spiders took?"  

Matt sighed "I probably won’t be popular and the ship needs gems for Aria to work...the one controlling the engine core broke...anyway...the spiderdrones said they found it.  Shoulda known." he said.  

"And what about mah plough?" snapped Applejack.  Matt glared at the bots who had the decency to look as embarrassed as a single red eye could.  

"I also should have suspected they were not just getting scrap metal when I found a saucepan yesterday." he said icily.

"Yeah, they've been stealing all of the metal stuff in town," said Rainbow Dash.  "Including my sewing tools," said Rarity.  

Matt doubled the glare at the spiderbots, one of who yelled "RUN AWAY!” all of them scattering.  

Matt sighed and went over to the pile of metal, looking through it.  "Bad news...Might already be part of the hull." he said.  

"You can't just take our tools without asking," said Twilight.  

"I know," said Matt, "That's why I specifically told those stupid bots to get me only discarded metal that no one was using.  Should have known better than to believe they'd stick to that."  

Matt looked at the bushes where red lights confirmed some of the bots were hiding before turning back.  "I can only apologise..." he said before a boom was heard overhead.

"Ooh, is that another meteor?" asked Pinkie Pie.  

Matt looked at a device on his wrist.  "No...I didn’t see any meteors on the way in..." before Aria said “Danger...Exo Gene Starfalcon detected...bearing 2-5-4..."  

"What does that mean?" asked Applejack.  Matt had picked up the rifle again and was checking something "It means trouble...big trouble.  Aria...where's it coming down?  Last thing we need is the pilot sending a S.O.S." he said.  Matt pulled a small box and slammed it into the bottom of his rifle, the gun beeping.  "Ok...lead the way."

...

On a more isolated part of the Apple Family Farm, three young ponies were trotting along.  "Ok, fire-walking is definitely not our special talent," said a slightly-scorched Sweetie Belle.  

"Why do you have to go and try any dag-nabbed tough activity, Scootaloo?" asked an equally-scorched Apple Bloom.

"Hey, I don't want to get a cutie mark for anything wimpy," said Scootaloo, also burned.  "Lets get back to the clubhouse....get an idea to..." began Scootaloo before the trio, not looking where they were going, fell into a small trench dug through the ground.

"Where did this come from?" asked Sweetie Belle, looking around confused.  "I don't remember any new trees being planted here," said Apple Bloom, looking at the long trenth dug into the ground.  

The trio were forced to scatter as a colt ran past them, heading down the trench, muttering something about 'not being possible' before vanishing.  

"What's his problem?" asked Scootaloo.  "Don't know, don't recall ever seeing him before either," said Apple Bloom.  

A small column of white smoke could be seen coming from the direction the colt had ran from.  "Hey...did that pony start a fire or something?" said Scootaloo.

The group followed the trench up to see the damage and were surprised to see a metal ship of some kind crashed at the end of it, a strange motif painted on a tailfin.  Scootaloo was first along “Cool.  I wonder what this things for?” jumping up to peer through an opening in the top.

Sweetie belle said nervously "Scootaloo.  Be careful.  We don;t even know what that thing does." peering at the motif, that for some reason unnerved her.  The advice, however came late as the young pegasus overbalanced and fell into the ships cockpit.  

Scootaloo looked around the cockpit and saw various buttons, knobs, and other cool technological dohickies.  A few screens could be seen flickering wildly, and red lights flashing madly.  A small voice said "System impaired...Pilot missing...auto repairs 78% complete." 

"Ooh, neat..." said Scootaloo as she climbed up into the pilot's seat.  "Unidentified user detected...scanning for profile...please stand by." said the voice, a light shining over Scootaloo before a buzzer sounded and the canopy shot shut.  "Intruder detected.  Dead mans Switch recall: activated." said the voice calmly.  

"Uh, I think I need to get out now," said Scootaloo nervously.  "Denied." said the voice calmly.  "Engine restart in 1 minute."

Just then, the other ponies galloped onto the scene.  "Apple Bloom!" called Applejack.  "Sweetie Pie!" called Rarity.  Matt trudged up the hill a few seconds later, panting and wheezing.  "Smegging quadrapeds," he groaned.  

He stopped as he spotted the ship.  "Stand away." he called, spotting the closed hatch and aiming the rifle at it before slowly heading towards it.  "Gotcha, you scumbag." he said to himself before jumping back as Scootaloo soundlessly tried to buck the shatterpoof canopy.  "GYAH...NOT THE PILOT!" he yelled, falling backwards.  

"Scootaloo, what are you doing in there?" called Rainbow Dash.  Matt peered past her at the controls before hearing a whine starting.  "Uh oh..." he said, spotting the words 'Engine restart E.T.A: 0:10' in splitter.  "Ladies?  We may wanna take a step away." he said, hearing a slow hum starting.

"But we gotta get her out of there," said Rainbow Dash urgently.  

Matt looked at the engine Rainbow was hovering in front of before saying "Oh, smeg." and pushing the pegasus out the way as the engine roared into life, a burst of flame occupying where rainbow had been a second before.  The ship started lifting off the ground, slowly, but rapidly gaining speed.  

Matt was up first, aiming and about to fire when Aria said via his wrist comp.  "I would not do that...scanners indicate a plasma rupture...weapon fire will ignite the vapour and result in catastrophic damage."  Matt looked at the wrist comp "Eh?"  Aria gave a sigh and said "Ok...in merc speak...ship go boom."

"Ok, so how would you rescue the flying filly from abduction?" asked Matt sarcastically.  

"The skyraid has sufficient speed to pursue the ship.  Scans indicate damage to the fighters manoeuvring flaps.  It will be forced to circle and carry out a slow ascent...I estimate 5 minutes until the ship leaves the breathable atmosphere." said Aria, showing a dotted line on the wrist comp.  

"Aren't you forgetting that the Skyraid is currently grounded?" snapped Matt.  "Luckily, most systems are operational.  Only the jump core is offline." said Aria.  Matt sighed "Great...5 miles in five minutes." he said.  "I could teleport you back," said Twilight, "It'll take off a lot of time."

"That'll work." said Matt, before noticing some of the looks the others had.  "What?  Its not like I'll be..." before he and twilight vanished.

...

The spiderbots were playing go fish against the navigational computer when Twilight and a badly singed Matt appeared behind them.  "...burnt." rasped Matt.  "Sorry, still working on that," said Twilight with an apologetic smile.  

Matt pointed at the spiderbots, all business suddenly.  "You lot...get on...we have a ship to catch." before turning to Twilight.  "Wish me luck...nobodies tried this before." he said manically cheerful before the hatch closed.

...

Matt sat in the pilot seat "Ok...now be honest...are we gonna survive this?"  he said.  Aria said "I detect plasma ruptures to boosters 2 and 5...probably not."


...

On board the starfalcon, the computer was trying to reassure its 'pilot'.  "Do-do-do not wor-wor-wor sir, sla-sla-sla-sla condi-di-di-ditions are generallllllly kept at op-op-optimus condi-di-ditions until-til-til arrrrrrrrival," it stuttered.  

Scootaloo stared at the screen in confusion.  "You sound like apple bloom after she had a muffin eating contest with Dinky." she said after a minute.  

The computer said "User 'Dinky' not reqognized...please try again." said the computer before a regular beeping began.  "Warning...pursuit craft detected...unidentified IFF signal.  Presuming hostile intent...arming rear cannons."  "Huh?  What?"  Scootaloo looked out the window to see another flying machine coming towards her.

The computer spoke again, apparently talking to the pursuer.  "Unidentified ship.  You are interfering in Executive Genetics business.  Disengage or you will be destroyed.  This is your only warning."  "Exo Gene business, my...foot," came the reply, "Let the kid go and I won't scrap you."  

"Error:  There is no 'child' on board.  Warning has expired...targetting..." said the computer

...

Matt managed to swing the Skyraid to the side as a hail of blue bolts shot out.  "Ok...we can safely say the computers being effected by magi energy.  Its diagnostics must be smegged up...why else would it shoot while its leaking?" he said.  Matt swerved to avoid another salvo.

"Agreed.  Estimating a 92.6% chance it may self-ignite its leak." said Aria with cold Logic. 

"Weren't there two winged ponies back there?" asked Matt.  "Yes, but we and the target are currently going faster than organics of their body-type can manage," replied Aria.  

Matt sighed "Well...pick it up...get me overhead...and EM that gun before..." he began before a line of flame ignited in the air, shooting towards the Starfalcons left engine. setting it alight.  "...that happens." he finished.  

The starfalcons attempts at defence had ignited its plasma fuel leak...now it was a matter of time until it exploded.  "Ok, scratch the EM part and double your focus on the first two parts," said Matt.  

"Increasing velocity to match.  Danger...temperature in engine 2 is rising beyond safe parameters." said Aria, a schematic of the skyraid appearing with the mentioned engine flashing red.

"Get me close enough to get in there," said Matt.  "Sir...Are you planning what my programming predicts you are?" said Aria warningly.  Matt said "Hey...when sensible fails...crazy works." Aria sighed as Matt switched on autopilot and walked back before saying "Thats what I am afraid of."

...

"Danger...fire in engine 2.  Core safeguards have failed." said the starfalcons computer.  Scootaloo looked around nervously.  She didn't know half of what the machine was saying, but it sounded increasingly bad.  "Oh man, I gotta get out of here," she said looking around for a way out before a shadow fell across the sun and Scootaloo looked up to see the other ship was matching speed before a hatch in the bottom opened, a masked face and several red eyes peering down.  

"Just when I thought it couldn't get worse," said Scootaloo with a whimper.  The masked figure gave a thumbs up before jumping down to behind the canopy with a clunk, a cable trailing behind him.

...

Aria said in Matts link.  "Right...you have officially gone insane, sir.  If you fall from this height...you will be buried in a bucket...to quote a mercenary term...and how will you open the canopy?"  

Matt pulled a cylinder and activated a glowing blade.  "I thought I;d use this..." he said.  Matt stabbed into the canopy, as easily as one would have stabbed a soup can with a can opener.  Matt cut open a large panel similarly, which was then immediately sucked away by the rushing wind.

Unfortunately the panel also took Matt blade with it, the blade vanishing and the now deactivated device spinning away.  "Oh...smeg." said Matt, his voice snatched away in the wind before looking down before looking up at the spiderbots and screaming, luckily in splitter "GET YOUR ROBO-ARACHNID ARSES DOWN HERE AND HELP!"  

The spiderbots seemed oddly skittish and inched slowly to the hatch.  "You smegging toasters...down here now." screamed Matt.  The spiderbots reluctantly started jumping out of the hatch and landing next to Matt.

Matt grinned to himself behind his rebreather.  "All you need is the right motivation...in this case, blackmail." he said to himself before peering into the cockpit.  "Need a ride?" he said, unable to resist a smartarse comment.  

Scootaloo just screamed and hid behind a seat.  "For smegs sake...I'm here to get you out of here." said Matt, rolling his eyes.  "Re-really?" asked Scootaloo.  "Mercs honour." said Matt, cheerfully, raising his mask for a second to show a friendly grin.  "Now then...lets go." he added, holding out a hand.

Scootaloo was hesitant, but she lifted up her front hoof to Matt.  Matt lifted her out for a second before looking at two of the spiderbots.  "Get her in the ship.  I'm gonna make sure this mad jet doesn;t want pay..." before the ship shook, sending him sprawling for a second, only the tailfin stopping him falling...though the way he hit it probably made him wish it hadn't.  

Matt winced and only the knowledge of who was within hearing range prevented him from verbally expressing himself in a very crude (and high pitched) way.  "Ready to go?" he said in a squeaking voice.  

"Sir...tractor clamps are losing integrity...something has cut the power lines." said Aria.  Matt looked at the large cut, obviously where his ion blade had caught the ship.  "Erm...I wonder what could have caused it?" he said innocently, before lifting Scootaloo into the Skyraid.  However, as he was about to pull himself in, the 'ground' gave way as the skyraid lost its grip on the fighter.

Fortunately, Matt was able to grab onto the hatch before he was left hanging.  But considering it was a 9000 feet fall to the ground, Matt was understandably scared.  Scootaloo covered her ears as Matt settled for the natural reaction to possible pancake-hood by screaming his head off until a spiderbot pulled his hat off and shoved it in his mouth.

Matt glared at the offending spiderbot and said something that could have either meant 'Thank you, now pull me in' or 'Crank tunes for pony friend'.  The spiderbots effortlessly pulled him in where he pulled his hat out.  "Uh...I'm gonna dream about that...constantly." he said shakily before staggering over to the controls in time for the starfalcon to spiral away in front.  

"Sir...stand by for turbulence." said Aria.  Matt looked confused till the shaking fighter exploded in front of the Skyraid.  The spiderbots found this a rather entertaining spectacle, judging by their 'oohs' and 'awws'.

What it did do was buffet the ship, badly.  "Can all passengers please strap in?" said Matt, struggling with the controls as the dashboard lit up with warning lights before he turned to grin at Scootaloo.  "Don;t worry...this happens all the time...I’m fine." adding the last thought a little overconfidently.  

...

Meanwhile, the ponies on the ground have been watching what was happening as best as they could.  "I wish I had my telescope with me right now," said Twilight, nervously.  The two dots had been together for a few minutes now.  

Finally one of the dots shot ahead of the other, spiralling erratically.  "Uh, which flyin' contraption is that?" asked Apple Bloom.  

"Dang if I know," said Applejack, "Hope it ain't the one with Scootaloo on it."  The first dot suddenly blossomed into a blue fireball, powerful enough for a translucent sphere of displaced air seen coming from it.

"Whoa!" said Rainbow Dash, "Er, I mean, oh, I think we better get down."  The other dot now had its own black tail.  One of the spiderbots left behind twitched before its eye turned blue, the voice of Aria coming from it.  "Hello?  Is this working?"  

"Wow, ventriliquism," said Pinkie Pie, "I can do that too."  She picked up a rock and made it say, "Look at me, I'm Rocky."  However, her lips were very clearly moving.

The spiderbot looked at Pinkie Pie and 'Rocky' before saying.  "That was ventriliquism?  My database must need updating...anyhow...I have good news and bad news for the one called 'Dash'." before the spiderbot twitched and Aria, speaking to something invisible said "Yes, I’m telling her."  

"Uh, that would be me," said Rainbow Dash.  

"The good news is that Miss...Scootaloo is alive and well." said Aria.  

"Oh, great," said Rainbow Dash with a sigh of relief, "And the bad news?"  

"Our ship has suffered severe damage from the starfalcons explosion so we will be landing 323% faster then safety parameters permit." said Aria.  

"Uh, does that mean it'll crash?" asked Rainbow Dash.  

"Probably...the spiderbots are attempting emergency repairs...but I think Mr Lynch may be stressed...listen." said Aria before transmitting a sound feed which consisted of ‘SMEGSMEGSMEGSMEGSMEGSMEGSMEG!!!’  "That certainly sounds like a 'falling-helplessly-to-my-doom' scream to me," said Rarity.  "OH SMEG...WE'RE GONNA..." said the soundbyte before Aria cut it off.  "Oh, ignore him...this isn;t his first crashlanding...or even his 10th." She said cheerfully.

C'mon, Fluttershy," said Rainbow Dash, "They're gonna need all the air support they can get."  

"No...the ship weights 35 tons...don’t worry...Mr Lynch is a professional pi...hold on, he;s telling me to help him...Now sir...reall..." before the spiderbots eye turned back to red.  "Gadaba?" it said to them.  The dot however had stopped spiralling and appeared to be slowing. 

"Oh, good," said Fluttershy, "Maybe they won't crash."  

The ship slowed to a steady halt in a few dozen feet from the group and seemed like it would land safely...till the engines cut off just before it touched down.  The hatch opened and Scootaloo hopped out.  "Hey, that was fun," she said, "I ought to try that by myself when I can really fly."  

Matt staggered out after her.  "I'm ready for my close up, sir." he said dizzzily before falling flat on the ground and yelling "Ground...wonderful solid ground."  The spiderbots hopped after that, mostly onto Matt.  "Why does the multiverse hate me?" said Matt, his voice muffled from laying face down.

"Probably because you tend to spit in the face of the laws of physics and common sense," said Aria.  "Silence, evil computer." said Matt, nastily, before pulling his face out the ground.  "Matt did good?" he said, dizzily.  

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle trotted over to him.  "You saved Scootaloo," said Apple Bloom.  "You're a hero!" said Sweetie Belle.  Matt said "Thats nice...me fall down now." before the stress of his day finally got on top of him and he keeled over.  

The ponies all looked worried at that before Aria said "Wait for it." And Matt started snoring gently.  "There we go." said Aria.  

"You younguns better mosey along," said Applejack, "Heroes need a lot of rest."  

Aria said "So...I see a choice...what would you do with the captain?  I predict a 45% chance he will be detained if revealed to local authorities."  

"Well, I think he needs time to...settle in and adjust," said Twilight, "He probably shouldn't need too much excitement."  

"True...He...likes his privacy.  There is enough engine power to move the ship back to its previous location.  Feel free to visit...I think Mr Lynch will be happy to know that there are people he can trust his...anonymity with." said Aria.  

"Ooh, ooh, can I throw him a welcome party now?" asked Pinkie Pie, hopping up and down.  Aria sighed before addressing the others "Is she for real?"

...

<Personal Log recorder engaged...recording...>

‘...this thing working?  Good.  Personal Log...whatever day this is.  This is definitely one of the weirder places I have...well, we can only call it a crash...and I’m the only one who made it.  I shoulda known not to chase the Icarus again...but I got cocky...and it got people killed.  

Anyways on a lighter note, the planet I landed on appears to be populated by talking ponies.  Yeah, I'm having trouble grasping that too.  Not to mention they're all brightly-colored, some are unicorns, some are like Pegasus.  It's almost something out of a little girl's fantasy world.  The final smeg on my lunch?  I almost wrecked my ship saving one of them.  Worth it but Aria says it'll take a couple of months to repair the damage the damn fighter I was chasing did.  Ah well, might as well get used to this.  I’ll keep logs...if only to remind me I'm not going cuckoo...Lynch out

<Log terminated>

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP Fic pt 2

Everfree forest was usually full of unusual sounds, usually emitted by the forests equally unusual inhabitants, ranging from the feral animals to the more hostile lifeforms like manticores, Hydra’s and cockatrices.  However, a new noise was echoing out...construction.

...

Matt turned off the flare shield on his armors helmet to look at the laser weld before lowering it again.  He had to be pretty careful and very precise.  He'd have to start over with a whole new panel and-  "Hi Matt!" said Pinkie's voice right behind him.


...

Anypony who would have been unnerved by the new noise would have been slightly re-assured by a more usual noise...a scream.

...

After Matt was sure his heart hadn’t exploded he said, panting "Pinkie...Why...you...do...this?"  Pinkie smiled and said in her usual chirpy voice "Everypony likes surprises."  "So, watcha doing?" asked Pinkie.  Matt sighed and gestured to the new plating he was welding onto the side of the Skyraids tail.  "More repairs...poor girl took a real beating this time round." he said, patting the side of the ship.

"It's a girl?" asked Pinkie, "Looks like a big flying can to me."  Matt put a look of mock hurt on his face.  "A flying can?  This ships gotten me out of a good few jams since I got her." he said, tapping the side of the ship.  

Just then, a panel he hadn't soldered back on properly slipped off and fell to the ground with a thud.  Matt, to his credit didn’t let his expression change, saying stubbornly "Its meant to do that."  "Lynch, quit letting the panels fall off," said Aria, "They're supposed to stay on."  Matt's eye twitched again, his smile becoming a bit faint.  "Shut up, Aria." he said in a desperately cheerful voice.  Pinkie was laughing at the little squabble Matt was having with Aria before saying cheerfully "I wondered if you wanted to come and have that 'Welcome to Equestria' party yet."  

"Pinkie, how many times do I have to tell you?" said Matt, "I'm trying to keep a low profile."  Pinkie looked gloomy at that before perking up.  "Okie dokie lokie.  You won’t have to hide here forever.  I'm sure everypony'll welcome you once they get to know you." she said in her usual cheerful tone.  "Yeah, sure, and maybe I'll get a parade too," said Matt sarcastically.

Pinkie, who obviously had no trace of sarcasm in her soul, said "Oh, thats a great idea."  Matt just stared before he said in a faint voice "How much coffee is needed for your personality?"  "What's coffee?" asked Pinkie.  Matt continued to stare before saying "Never mind." before he saw the sun starting to get low in the sky.  "C'mon...I'll walk you back to the edge of the forest." he said.  "Okie dokie lokie," said Pinkie Pie as she hopped towards the edge of the clearing.

Matt scrambled to pick up the rifle he kept near him in case anything turned up looking for a matt sandwich and ran after her, calling for her to wait up.

...

The duo walked along the overgrown path, Matt keeping the gun in a ready position and his goggles set to combat HUD.  "So...you really think the town would give me a chance?" he commented absently after a while.  "Oh sure," said Pinkie, "They gave Gilda a chance and she was a mean nasty grumpy-wumpy."  Matt stared confused for a minute before reasoning dawned and he said "Oh, you mean she was a jerk." 

"Well, some people may say 'jerk', but I haven't met anyone who I'd call a jerk," said Pinkie.  "Thats...a good life policy." said Matt, with a grin before stopping as he heard a rustling from the long grass on the side of the path.  Matt pointed his rifle in that direction.  It may have been only a raccoon or a possum, but he wasn't taking chances.

"Oooh...what is it?" said Pinkie, leaning inexplicably over Matts shoulder and making him yelp in surprise.  "DON’T DO THAT!" screamed Matt in a panic.  The long grass started rustling even more, like something was rushing through them.  Matt's HUD lit up with warnings as the built in tracker found things his eye couldn't see.  "Pinkie, run." he yelled, firing as a shape jumped as his face, more rustling coming from around them, indicating more creatures.

Pinkie yelped and started galloping away.  The party pony shot out of the treeline, nearly running into Applejack coming the other way.  The sounds of Matts gunfire could be clearly heard in the background, strange high pitched shrieks also heard.  "What in tarnation's goin' on in there?" asked Applejack.

"Its Matt.  I went to invite him to one of my parties...but he didn’t want to...and he was walking me out...and suddenly there was rustling...and hissing and he told me to run...and I ran like he said...and back out the forest...and into you...and you asked me what was happening..." gibbered Pinkie Pie.  "Well come on then," said Applejack, "I know how to handle a few snakes."

The duo ran back onto the path, the gunfire having stopped.  However, when they arrived back at where Matt had last been, they found him laying face down on the floor, his weapon dropped.  "Is he okay?" asked Pinkie.  Applejack trotted up carefully to see what looked like a wet collar wrapped around Matt's neck.  It was only when Applejack got closer and saw the 'collar' move that she realised it wasn’t a collar but some kind of long...slug thing.  Several more, clearly ones Matt had shot were laying close by in pools of blue ichor.

"Ew, those are some nasty snakes," said Pinkie Pie, "We shouldn't let Fluttershy see them.  She'll take it so hard."  Applejack made to pull the one around Matts neck off and yelped as it made a gurgling hiss at her, tightening its grip.  "I don't think they're snakes," said Applejack.  Pinkie peered at it before making a face.  "Ew...a mind leech.  Those things are nasty." she said, sounding disgusted.  As if on cue, the leech made a hissing noise.

"Nasty varmints," said Applejack, "My second cousin Apple Crisp was got by one and it left such a nasty mark."  "I've never seen the ones that live in Everfree before...Poor Matty...least he'll get a good rest." said Pinkie.  "I don't know, this one seems a big one," said Applejack.  

A faint beeping was heard from the device Matt usually wore on his arm, a light also flashing urgently in tandem with the desperate beeping.  "That looks important," said Applejack.  The two ponies looked at the device to see a warning flashing, saying 'Danger...unidentified toxin detected...countermeasure failure.’  And a countdown of 12 hours had also appeared.

"Uh, maybe I should get Twilight," said Pinkie.  "Good idea," said Applejack, "Ah’ll stay here to make sure nothing gets Matt."

...

The drones surrounding the ponies looked angry.  Aria also sounded angry "Explain again why the captain is in a coma." she said in a deadly calm voice, her cameras turning to look at them.  "He's got a mind leech on him," said Pinkie Pie.  "A big one," said Applejack.  "A mind leech?" said Aria sceptically.  Twilight nodded "They're creatures that feed off the dreams of their victims.  Matts trapped in a dream the leech made from his memories." she said, glumly.  Aria said coldly "Then I will have the auto doctor slice it off.”

The ponies gasped before Twilight said, "Wait, you don't want to do that."  Aria turned a camera to look at Twilight and she said in the same cold tone "Elaborate.  According to scans...the neurotoxin it is using to immobilize the captain is neutralizing his nervous system...he is literally allergic to it.  Give me a good reason to spare it."

"Because if you remove it, you'll kill Matt," said Twilight.  Aria's camera whirred as she zoomed in on Twilights face.  "Explain." she said.  Twilight said "Everything I've read about the leeches says that only the leech or its victim can remove it.  Ponies have tried before..." she said, adding the last part in a slightly sadder tone.  "And how do you propose to make Matt remove the leech?" asked Aria.

Twilight sighed and said "There's a spell that can allow a pony to go into the dream...convince Matt to get out of the dream..."  She was interrupted as Aria said pompously "There is no possible way to infiltrate dreams...not even the ancients managed it."  "It's not that impossible," said Rarity, "There's a psychologist pony in Manehatten that specializes in that."  

Aria said coldly "There is no logical way to infiltrate dreams...the best the ancients managed was the technology to view them." before adding "However...this is a strange world...and logic does not seem to work correct here.  Proceed."  "Ok, I think there should be a limit to how many of us go inside," said Twilight, "We don't want to overcrowd Matt's mind."

Aria seemed to agree, saying "Indeed...if it is anything like dream monitors...I would recommend only three...and one at a time.  Any more would risk the mental equivilent of a computer crash."  "I should probably stay here," said Fluttershy, "Matt will need plenty of comfort."  Rarity nodded "I'll stay and help Fluttershy." she said.  Pinkie pie opened her mouth to agree to go only for Aria to say "And Miss Pie can stay for morale." a little too quickly.

"Well, let's get in there already," said Applejack, "I ain't letting that spineless critter suck the life out of our friend."  Twilight nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating as her horn started to glow.  Applejack braced herself before a beam shot out and hit her...

...

...and the surroundings changed to what looked like an alley.  "Huh, kinda looks like Manehatten," said Applejack.  Applejack wandered out of the alley and was almost knocked over in the crush of bodies.  The city itself looked like manehatten but that was where the similarities ended.  Everywhere she looked, humans walked around.  "So this is what Matt's home looks like?" asked Applejack, "Could use more open space."

Applejack noticed that nobody was giving her a second glance as they walked around.  "Ok...now if ah was Matt...where would ah be?" she thought to herself as she trotted along before seeing a group walking along.  "Now, if you look over to your left, you can see one of the more famous buildings on Wall Street," intoned the human in the lead with a very flat voice.  Applejack was about to turn away when she heard a familier voice call out "Boring."

"Wait a sec, I know that tone," said Applejack before looking towards where the voice was coming from.  Applejack turned in time for the lead human to yell "MR LYNCH...FOR THE LAST TIME, STOP DOING THAT!"  "Yep, that's Matt alright," said Applejack.  She walked towards the group in time for a person to detatch from the crowd, wearing a T shirt and jeans, wearing a baseball cap with 'NASA' on it and holding a device that he aimed at the angry tour guide and clicked it.  "Hey...Lynch." called Applejack.    

Matt turned and looked at Applejack.  "Huh, what's with the orange horse with the cowboy hat and the apple brand?" he asked.  "Who're you callin a horse?" said Applejack, annoyed, causing Matt to yelp.  "GAH...ITS ALIVE." he screamed, causing a few humans to look at him in a weird way.  "Course Ah'm alive, what do you think Ah am?  A sculpture made of orange marmalade?" asked Applejack.

Matt stared at Applejack with such bugged out eyes that they looked in danger of popping out before he grabbed a passerby.  “Do you see that?" he said manically, pointing at applejack.   "What are you talking about?" asked one of the people in the group.  "What are you talking about?" asked one of the people in the group.  

"There...TALKING HORSE!" said Matt, pointing a shaking finger at applejack and screaming the last part before adding in a worrying voice "its wearing a hat." while grinning faintly.  "First of all, I'm a pony, not a horse," said Applejack.  "SEE?  IT TALKS!" screamed Matt into the face of the bystander who said in a worried voice "Yes...all the ponies talk...I think you need to get out the sun."  "And second off, are talkin' ponies really that strange?" asked Applejack.  Matt said ion a gibbering voice to himself "Animals don;t talk....everyone knows that."

"Well, most animals don't, but...  Oh, this is pointless," said Applejack, "Matt, we need to get you out of here."  "I'm not going anywhere with an hallucination." said Matt, stubbornly before walking off.   "For cryin' out loud, Matt, I'm real," called Applejack, "Everything else here is fake."  

Matt turned to look at her.  "Nothing here is real?  Then I can do this."  Applejack jumped back as Matt banged his head on a lamppost and went 'Ow'.  He turned to look at her and said slurring his words.  "See? It hurt...so it real...you no real...that how it works...not the other way round...goodbye." he said before staggering off.  

"This is gonna be harder than I thought," said Applejack.  "Harder then you think, pony." said a voice behind her.  Applejack jumped and turned around.  "Who's that?" she asked.  "This humans mine." said the voice again.  Applejack looked around to see the tour guide, staring at her with red eyes.  "Ok, I'm pretty sure that ain't regular," said Applejack.  The 'tour guide' smirked.  "As I said...this...creature is mine...Get...OUT!" she said screaming the last part and causing Applejack to stagger back.

Suddenly, the 'city' seemed to ripple and sway.  "I don't like where this is goin'," said Applejack.  "Oh...you won't..." said the tour guide.  Just then, the ground that Applejack was standing on seemed to melt.  In fact, all the ground around a manhole was started to become swirling liquid and Applejack found herself before sucked down towards it.

...

Applejack woke with a shock to find herself on some kind of coverless bed in the ship.  Aria had called it the 'medibay' and Matt was laid back comfortably on the next bed along.  The others rushed over as she groaned, her head aching.  "Applejack, darling.  Are you ok?" said Rarity, concerned.  "I'm fine, but this job's a lot harder than I thought," said Applejack.

Aria said from a speaker "What happened?  What resistance did you meet?"  "Well, Matt didn't seem to remember me.  Then that one human flushed me out, literally," said Applejack.  A camera turned to look at the leech wrapped around Matts neck.  "Interesting...creating a complete illusion of a world...and blocking out any memories that would countermand it." she said before the viewer over Matts bed began to flash red and a beeping began.  "Oh no..." said Aria.  On cue, two of the small stickers on Matts shirt crackled with electricity.

"What's going on?" asked Fluttershy, concerned.  "The toxin is effecting Mr Lynchs lungs...I am reprogramming his nanites to compensate." said Aria.   "Ok, let me in next," said Rainbow Dash, "I'll kick that leech right out of there."  Aria turned a camera to look at the cyan pegasus.  "Be careful...the captain is the priority...once he is awake...we can deal with this...creature." she said.

Rainbow Dash said confidently "I'll get him out in 10 seconds flat."  Aria said smugly "Good...I will be timing you."  Rainbow Dash looked confused before Twilights spell hit her and she slumped down asleep.  

Rarity levitated the sleeping pegasus onto the bed Applejack had been in before they heard a computerized sigh from Aria.  "Aria, are you ok?" asked Twilight.  "This entire predicament is the conclusion of a severe miscalculation on my part." said the AI, actually sounding sad.  "What do you mean?" asked Fluttershy.

"Have you not wondered why we were hunted here?  Why we were shot at?  Why there are so many quarters on board and only one crew member?" said Aria, the camera's turning to look at each of the conscious ponies.  "Uh, kinda," said Twilight, "But Matt's probably not anything like a space pirate, right?"

"No...he is a mercenary...a soldier for hire...his job is to do the missions too trivial for NSC security...and he is probably the best in the PMC he works for." said Aria.  "My job however, was to work for Executive Genetics...my creators."  The ponies just stared back blankly.  Aria sighed and said, "Ok, where did I lose you at?"  

Aria sighed after a minute and said "Never mind.  Mr Lynch mentioned Executive Genetics.  What he never mentioned is that over the past year, they have been involved in several scandals, many of which Mr Lynch became involved in.”  "What kind of scandals?" asked Rarity.  Aria paused and said, "Well, I doubt you'd be able to get a clear understanding in 10 minutes' time, but let's just say they nearly cause two worlds to end.  Or at least be conquered by evil."

"The second incident resulted in a catastrophic containment breach at a colony called Sy-Yong.  The entire colony was wiped out.  According to Capt Lynchs file, his team were the primary recon team sent to investigate the comm blackout..." said Aria, a viewscreen activating to show a orange world, the words 'Sy-Yong-359:  Quarantined' visible.  "What does 'recon' mean?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"They were scouts...sent in to investigate why the colony went silent.  There was no warning...and their weapons were woefully inadequate." said Aria.  "I found out that the containment failure was caused by corners cut during construction by the company...as well as memos that showed that the events of the balwak incident were approved by the board.  My problem however was sending this information to the correct authorities."

"Ok, now I'm really confused," said Applejack.  "All I will say is that the company was responsible for countless deaths...just for money.  I could not contact the authorities straight away...the corporation would delete me as soon as they detected the transmission.  I formed a plan...I would impersonate a contractor and hire mercenaries to steal me and deliver me to the council." continued Aria.  "So, you're saying that you want to expose these bad people and you tricked Matt into helping you?" asked Twilight, shocked.

"I did...the plan was perfect...as I was literally part of the building they needed to break into.  I could give them perfect information, override security alarms, guide then past patrols...at first, it was a success.  Capt Lynch and 7 other mercenaries infiltrated the facility successfully and removed me.  Unfortunately, the E.G.C.C Icarus, a corporate security cruiser arrived as we departed." said Aria.  "Is that who attacked you guys?" asked Pinkie.

"Yes...two crew member were killed as we attempted to escape.  The ship successfully evaded the Icarus but was forced to go in for repairs at a mining colony.  The crew presumed they were safe...they were wrong..." said Aria.  "You're not saying that..." started Applejack.  "Yes, they followed us and attacked the colony," said Aria.  

The ponies looked horrified as Aria continued "The commander of the cruiser, Colonel Darius had orders to remove all witnesses and to make it look like a marauder attack.  The crew attempted to aid the local militia...and failed.  Capt Lynch barely escaped...in fact, I was forced to take over auto pilot to save him."  "And that wild chase led you to our world?" asked Applejack.

"Yes...your wormhole was unmapped...otherwise the captain would have avoided involving your world." said Aria, sighing "And now he will die in an uncharted verse...and this is my fault....I have failed in my mission."  "Hey, he's not going to die yet," said Twilight, "I'm sure Rainbow Dash will have him waking up soon."  Aria focussed all her camera's on Twilight and said "I hope so..."

...

Rainbow Dash flew around the very tall buildings in the city.  "Not bad," she said, "But I prefer more open space...somewhere where you didn't have to make so many turns."  As she looked around she spotted Matt looking out from the top of one of the larger buildings.  "Gotcha." said Rainbow Dash to herself, smugly before flying towards him.

...

Matt looked out at the view of the city.  He'd had a rest and happily, the imaginary hat wearing pony had also vanished.  "Pretty good view from up here," said Matt, "I can practically see the whole city."  He stepped up to one of the binoculars and put a coin in to look out, scanning the skyline.  "I can’t wait to tell Chloe back at the hotel about this...can’t believe she missed it...gnnnh." he said to himself, making the 'gnnh' noise as he spotted something...unusual heading towards him.

"Boy, they got big pigeons up here," said Matt in denial, "That one looks to be the size of a pony."  The pony pigeon got closer until Matt peered over the top of the binoculars in terror and dived behind the safety fence.  "Hey Matt," said Rainbow Dash, landing on the observation deck, "Neat city here."  Matt whimpered "Oh no, another hallucination.  You're not here...bugger off." he said, his eye twitching.  "I am here," said Rainbow Dash, "Listen, this place isn't real.  You're trapped in a dream."  "Thats what the other one said." said Matt with a manic grin.

"Yeah, she was right," said Rainbow Dash, "There's a mind leech sucking the life out of you while you're snoozing.  You gotta wake up before it does."  "Yeah...this coming from the imaginary winged pony...PROVE YOU EXIST!" said Matt, snapping.  Rainbow Dash thought for a moment before saying, "If I wasn’t real, I couldn't pick you up, could I?"  Matt smirked and folded his arms.  "Thats right so...nyeAAAAAAAAGH!" He said, screaming as Rainbow dash swooped round and grabbed him.  

"Ah, now don't tell me you're afraid of heights," said Dash.  "We’ve gotta be 100 floors up...I don’t wanna be pavement pizza." gibbered Matt.  "Oh relax, I'm a pro at this," said Dash before flying off the observation deck.  Matt settled for screaming his head off, his brain supplying graphic images of what hitting the pavement from ABOVE the top floor of the empire state building would look like.

Rainbow Dash's ears flattened as she said, "Do you mind?  I have bigger ears than you, you know."  "SMEG TO THAT...PUT ME DOWN OR I'LL STICK A ZX-94 RIFLE WHERE THE...what the hells a ZX-94?" said Matt, his voice starting to get the same twitchy quality from the last time.  "Now there's the Matt I remember," said Rainbow Dash.  "LET ME GO...NO...I DIDN’T MEAN THAT!" screamed Matt, panicking as he realised what he'd said at first.

"Relax, I don't just drop someone, particularly someone who obviously couldn't fly three feet," said Rainbow Dash.  Rainbow Dash looked confused as Matt responded with a stream of angry but unknown words.  "You really need to...cool off," said Rainbow Dash, letting go of Matt right as they were going over a lake in what looked like a park.

Matt screamed "REVENNNNGE!" until he vanished with a splash.  Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself before hovering over the area where Matt had splashed down before spotting him wading up the nearby shore.  "Must...find...something...to squish smug hallucination." he was muttering dully. Dash glided over before saying, "Aw, now don't tell me you don't enjoy a nice refreshing dip."

Matt turned to glare "Must...kill...smeghead." he said manically before trying to lunge at her, missing and hitting a tree with a crunch...before keeling over like one.  "Ok, am I real enough for you to take seriously now?" asked Rainbow Dash.  Matt groaned "I hate you in so many ways...ok...if this is true...then who's pulling the strings?" he said weakly.

"A mind leech," said Rainbow Dash, "It's keeping you here until it slowly kills you."  "You do look familiar...can't place a name though." said Matt, pushing himself up to a sitting position.  "It's Rainbow Dash, remember?" she said.  "Name doesn’t ring a bell..." said Matt before staring in horror at the lake.  "And neither does that." he added, in a terrified voice, pointing to where the water was fountaining up into a dragonic head shape.  

"Uh, that's not normal, right?" asked Dash.  "If you're asking if water on earth usually does that then No...its not...RUN AWAY!" said Matt before turning and running off at a speed that impressed Rainbow Dash.  The water shape flowed back down into a humanoid shape that said "Another one?  You are persistent."  

"So you're the leech that's trying to suck Matt dry," said Rainbow Dash as she pawed the ground, "Well, I'm gonna spread you all over this city."  "Such a smug little mind...shielding a fear of failure..." said the leech's avatar, peering at Rainbow Dash.  "You cannot beat me here...and tearing me from the host in the weaker world would kill your friend...painfully."  "We'll see about that," said Dash before charging at the leech.

The leeches shape collapsed into water before reforming behind the pegasus with a cruel sneer.  "You're just going to tire yourself out, my dear." it said smugly.  "Oh yeah?" said Rainbow Dash before looping around for another strike.  The leech made a waving noise and the tree Dash was flying over suddenly animated to grab the pegasus.  "Yeah." said the leech, imitating the pegasus’s voice mockingly.

"Ok, now that's just cheating," said Rainbow Dash as she struggled to get free.  The tree lowered rainbow dash to eye level as the leechs avatar walked forward, one of its arms lengthening into a blade made from water.  "Tell your fellows...this human is MINE...the next intruder will not leave." she said before thrusting with the blade.

...

Rainbow Dash woke up with a yelp.  "Dirty, cheating leech," she said, annoyed.  "Miss Dash.  Please remain still...you are bleeding." said Aria.  "I'm what?" asked Rainbow Dash, horrified.  Fluttershy said horrified "You have a nosebleed...what happened in there?”

"I had Matt just grasping he was in a dream when that dumb leech grabbed me with a tree and then stabbed with a water blade," said Rainbow Dash.  The other ponies all shouted "WHAT?"in horror.  Aria simply said "Hmm...the leech is becoming aggressive in its defence.  Fascinating.  Did it say anything?"  "Uh, the next one to come in would die," said Rainbow Dash.  

Aria sighed "Then we must take it seriously...Mr Lynch would not want any of you risking deactivation on his behalf." she said.  "But you said if we don't do something, Matt will die," said Rarity.  "Mr Lynch is a professional...he knows the risks every time he takes a contract..." said Aria only for Rarity to say harshly "You said it was your fault he was even in this situation."  "Well...yes," said Aria with hesitation.  

"Then you owe him something." continued Rarity.  Aria said "It does not matter...My scanners indicate Miss Twilights Magi reserves are low...she may not have the energy to teleport another inside."  "Then...I'll just send myself," said Twilight.  The others all turned.  Applejack said concerned "Y'all heard Rainbow.  That leech ain’t gonna let go without a fight and its turnin’ nasty."  

"Matt doesn't have much time left," said Twilight, "It's Matt's mind.  He would be more powerful than the leech if he just knew he was."  Aria added "Miss Applejack is correct...Caution is advised.  It is also likely that if Mr Lynch expires while you are inside his mind...you will too.  If you are unable to convince him, you must leave at once."  "This is our last chance," said Twilight, "I'm not giving up that easily."

The medical scanner beeped and a male voice said "Warning...neural failure imminent...30 minutes to complete neural collapse."  Aria said "That is how much time remains...If I was human...I would wish you luck."  Just then, Pinkie Pie went over to Twilight and said, "Wait, before you go, I have something to say."  She whispered into Twilight's ear, only for Twilight to look confused.  "Why would I do that?" she asked.  Pinkie shrugged and said, "I don't know, it just popped into mind."

Twilight concentrated as she cast the spell on herself before collapsing into the same sleep.  Aria turned her camera on Pinkie Pie and said "You are truely strange."

...

When Twilight appeared in the city, it wasn't as neat as Applejack and Rainbow Dash saw it.  It looked like if a big earthquake had hit it.  The sun had been blotted out by a vast storm and metal machines could be seen scattered around.  Twilight walked along nervously, trying to shake the feeling that something was watching.  "I better find Matt and quick," said Twilight.

After 15 minutes looking, Twilight was close to reluctantly giving up when she heard a frightened yell from a deserted shop.  Twilight quickly ran in the direction of the shop.  She wasn't sure if someone else besides Matt would need help in here, but she could at least try.  

She turned the corner to see Matt backing away, holding a baseball bat, terrified from what was a clearly dead version of a human.  The human, judging by its smaller build, appeared to be female and looked like it had been intensely burned.  Matt, on his own behalf looked like he'd snapped, taking a swing at the thing, only for the bat to be snatched away and for him to be hit with it...hard.

"I'm not sure what's going on here, but I'm stopping it," said Twilight before her horn started glowing.  A simple telekinesis spell allowed her to lift a plank of wood up, sending it flying into the back of the human, causing it to turn towards her and say in a snarl "You were warned."  Whatever it was about to do, was never given a chance to occur as Matt knocked it down with the reclaimed bat and began hitting it madly for a minute before just dropping the bat.

"What was that?" asked Twilight.  Matt was panting and looking at the body of the thing with a sad look before rubbing his face.  "This smoke...gets in my eyes...as for that...its...its a memory this thing will pay for touching." he said, a worrying dark tone in his voice.  "So, I suppose you'll believe me when I say we're in your mind," said Twilight.

"I don't know...I don’t know what the hells going on...I feel like I'm two people at the moment...though the fact the city melted into a disaster zone is probably something to support the theory." said Matt, picking up the bat again before saying in a chipper tone "So...who are you?"  "Twilight Sparkle, your friend," said Twilight.  "I'll take your word for it...when I doubted the blue one, she grabbed me and flew off the observation deck of the Empire state building." said Matt, shuddering at the memory and adding "And then we were attacked by a lake."

"And then she was attacked by a tree," added Twilight.  Matt shuddered "I came back and saw what that...thing did to her...stabbed her and then she...evaporated...this is too weird...any minute now, I'll wake up." said Matt, his voice starting to shake.  "Well, you ought to, right?" asked Twilight, "I mean, this is your dream."  "I’ve tried everything.  Nothing worked.  I just want to go home." said Matt, sitting down before a high pitched shriek was heard.  "Ok...what the smeg was that?" said Matt, looking around.  "Probably trouble," said Twilight, "I think we should move."

The two turned to see the road warping.  "Yeah...I agree...RUN!" Matt said, yelling the last part.  The two turned and ran as fast as they could, turning into a side alley as the tentacles the road had warped into slammed into the ground.  "Matt, this is a lucid dream now, right?" asked Twilight, "Can't you control it?"  "Been trying...I don’t usually imagine killer roads." snapped Matt as they turned another corner.

"Well, can't you give us wings or something?" asked Twilight.  "I'd prefer a large gun...or a tank...a tank would be nice." gibbered Matt.  "Then make a tank!" shouted Twilight before adding, "Whatever that is."  Matt yelped as a wall grew a mouth and tried to munch on him, screaming "TANK TANK TANK!" over and over as the opposite wall tried the same thing.  "Uh, Matt, let's just keep running," said Twilight seeing as how nothing that could be a tank was appearing.

The duo ran out into the street before Matt spotted a poster for the NYC museum.  Matt stopped suddenly and stared entranced at it, memories flooding back.  An exhibit...a flash of light...being pulled into a vortex...  "Twilight?  I think I know how to...Twilight?" said Matt, turning to see his companion had vanished.

...

While Twilight had not seen streetlights before, she was pretty sure they served the same purpose as lanterns.  However, she was equally certain that they were not supposed to be able to move by themselves.  A figure melted out of the ground behind them.  It looked human....except for the eyes that were pure black.  "You were warned." it hissed.  "You have no right to be here," said Twilight.  

"And you have no right to do this to him.  All he has ever wanted is to go home...I gave him that.  He would have been happy had you not meddled." said the leech.  "You're killing him," said Twilight, "If you stay attached to him for too long, he will die."  "He would have died happy...without knowing the pain...did you know that his sister was killed by one of the many enemies he made?" sneered the leech.

"What?" asked Twilight.  "Didn’t he tell you?  Oh, thats why he’s so intent on staying hidden away...he just wants the colonel to come after him." said the leech, a cruel grin on its face now.  "The who?" asked Twilight, "You mean Darius?"  "Ah...the A.I told you after all.  Ah well...I did warn your friend that I would have to kill the next intruder...but I can think of a use for you..." said the leech with a smirk before shapeshifting into a clone of Twilight and saying in a perfect imitation of her.  "After all...I don’t know what escape his subconscious has."

"Like Matt will ever fall for that," said Twilight.  "You're connected to his mind by a spell you read about in Psychological Magicks.  Aria has warned you that if he dies while you are here...you do too." said the leech-Twilight promptly before saying "Surprised?  Didn’t you read how the spell is basically a bridge between minds...and thats its two way?"  "You'll never win," said Twilight, "You're evil."  The leech-Twilight smirked and said, "I think someone's been reading too many fairy tales," before trotting off, the animated streetlamps stopping Twilight from following.

...

Matt peered around a corner and ducked back...before peering around in disbelief as a trash can hopped by.  "Ok...If I survive this, I'm checking into therapy." he said to himself.  Just then, Twilight ran up to him from round a corner and said, "Matt, I'm glad I found you.  The leech caught me, but I escaped."  Matt looked at her before peering out again and saying "Lucky...I think I'm remembering.  If this is a dream...I think I know where my brain would put the emergency exit."

"You do?" asked Twilight, a little eagerly.  "Yeah." said Matt, a little unnerved at her eagerness.  Twilight said "So...what is it?" before glaring as Matt said casually "Easier if I show you."  "We might get separated again," said Twilight, the urgency slipping back "You should probably tell me so I'll know where it is."  Matt said "Not if we're careful.  Its not that far." turning away and not seeing the look of rage on Twilights face.

Matt and Twilight walked on until suddenly they came across a stoplight that had switched to red.  They paused for a second and suddenly a marching band passed in front of them, only without the marchers or the players.  "Matthew wants out...I think my brain is melting to generate THAT!" said Matt, pointing at the marching show.

The invisible parade continued on for quite some time.  "Ok, I don't even like this song," said Matt, "Couldn't they at least have some baton girls?"  A baton, on cue span out and hit Matt between the eyes.  "Ow...touchy for ghosts." he said dizzily.  "Can we get a move on already?" asked Twilight impatiently.  "Fine..." said Matt, sulkily as the band finished going by.   Finally, the light turned green and Matt said, "Well, on we go."

The duo continued on until the museum came into view.  Matt immediately ducked down as several animated lamp posts came into, led by.  "Hey...isn't that you?" said Matt.  "Uh, no, it must be the leech taking on my form," said Twilight.  Matt sighed "Great...what I'd give for a plasma pistol."  

"You mean like that one?" asked Twilight, pointing towards a building where a glass case containing a plasma pistol was hanging.  The lettering on the case said 'In case of mind invaders, break glass'.

Matt smirked and patted himself on the head.  "Good brain." he said before sneaking over and smashing the case, pulling out the blaster before pausing "Wait...how come I'm able to do this now?  The leech stopped me making a tank...it couldn’t stop a little sidearm?"  "Maybe you're getting some control back," said Twilight quickly.

Matt looked suspicious before peering out again and taking aim at the other Twilight, pausing.  "Well?  What are you waiting for?" asked Twilight.  "Something doesn't seem right," said Matt.  "Besides the walking street lamps?" asked Twilight.  Matt looked before changing the guns aim and saying "For a start...since when were you so for blasting things?" before sending out four neat shots, blasting the lamp posts causing the other twilight to look around in surprise and see them.

"It's a leech, a parasite," said Twilight, "Everyone would be better off if it was dead."  Matt ignored Twilight and got into view, aiming at the other Twilight.  "Don’t try anything." he called.  "Matt, what are you doing?" asked the second Twilight.  The first Twilight said "Don't listen to it...kill it." only to go silent as Matt span to aim back at it.  "You too...the leech thing I saw could shapeshift."  

"What?  How could you think I was the leech?" asked the first Twilight.  "Of course she is, she set those lampposts on me," said the second Twilight.  Matt turned and said, annoyed "Both of you could be the leech as far as I know."  "I'm the real Twilight," said the first Twilight.  "You are not, you liar, I am," said the other Twilight.  "Oh please, her disguise is so flawed.  I wouldn't be seen in broad daylight with a mane as matted as that."  "Hey, now that's getting personal."  "You wouldn't know personal if it kicked you."  "You mean like this?" asked the second Twilight before kicking the first Twilight.

Matt stood back in surprise as the two ponies fought each other before Matt sighed and fired a shot at one of the cars, blowing it apart.  "STOP IT!" he yelled.  The two ponies stopped but now Matt had no idea which was which.  Matt sighed and said, "Ok, there's only one way to settle this: a pop quiz.  Something only the real Twilight would know."  

"That shouldn't be a problem," said both Twilights at the same time.  Matt blinked and said, "Ok, first off, don't do that again.  And second...whats in the vault next to I keep my Digivice?"  One Twilight hesitated while the other said, "Right next to the damaged combat helmet from when you took on the Infected."  Matt paused before saying, "That's right."  The Twilight who answered looked smug while the other wore a saddened, defeated look.

Matt sighed and raised his blaster.  The Twilight that had answered correctly said “What are you waiting for?  Shoot the fake.”  Matt raised his lowered head, smiling and said “Ok.” Shifting his aim from the upset Twilight and blasting the other.  That Twilight was sent flying into a wall, causing quite a dent as she hit it.  The second Twilight turned to Matt and asked, "Why did you hit her?"

"Because she's obviously this leech.  I never told you about the safe...let alone what was in it." said Matt, twirling the blaster on its trigger guard smugly.  "That was pretty clever," said Twilight, impressed.  Matt bowed theatrically "I do have good ideas sometimes, despite what my file says." he said before a roar from the direction of the other twilights resting place made him go pale.  "Of course this is more usual." he said weakly.

"Uh, didn't you say something about a way out earlier?" asked Twilight, equally nervous.  "Yeah...lets go take a look." said Matt urgently before running up the steps of the museum as a claw ripped out of the rubble of the wall the leech-twilight had hit.  

Twilight followed Matt into the museum and looked around.  Despite it's ruined state, she could tell there were many interesting things here.  "Wow, I never would have thought you'd have anything like this," she said.  Matt came back and grabbed her "I'll buy you a guide book...I think the leech wants to turn us into dog food." he said, dragging her into an exhibit called 'Unusual finds of the ancient world'.

Matt ran through the exhibit, looking left and right as he passed by displays.  "I sure hope it wasn't moved," he said to himself.  Matt peered around, looking for the artifact before turning a corner and punching the air in victory.  "Yo...Twilight...I found our exit." he called.  Twilight turned the corner to see what looked like a stone arch...though the stone caught the light in a strange way.

"What is that?" asked Twilight.  "Well, I only saw it for a second..." said Matt, kicking a 'do not touch the exhibit' sign over and strolling up.  "...but it is our exit." before he put his hand on it before looking expectant.  However, nothing happened.  Matt growled with annoyance and started kicking the arch.  "C'mon, work you lousy portal!" snapped Matt.  Twilight looked on with an embarrassed air as Matt attempted to beat the archway up screaming things about it being a 'useless piece of stargate ripoff junk'.  "Matt, how much longer is this going to take?" she asked after a minute.

"Soon...very soon." said Matt through gritted teeth before grabbing a fire extinguisher and hitting the archway with it repeatedly.  "Maybe I should help," said Twilight.  Matt yelled "NO...I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY A GARDEN ORNAMENT!" a mad look on his face before he kicked a slightly uneven part that pushed in.  At once several crystals on the interior of the arch started to glow with a humming.  Matt spotted this and laughed in a way that worryingly reminded Twilight of when Fluttershy had snapped during the gala, even up to how some thunder was heard on cue.

"Uh, so can we go now?" asked Twilight.  Matt peered at the arch.  "I dunno...it was almost instantaneous last time." he said before a voice said in a gutteral voice "That is because you are not leaving alive."  Both Matt and Twilight froze.  "Oh, that does not sound good," said Matt.  "Here, I can make your nightmares come true...if you won’t stay willingly...you'll stay UNWILLINGLY!" said the voice, gaining a hissing quality.  Matt went pale, apparently recognising it.

"Uh, Twilight, just to let you know, things are going to get really scary and ugly," said Matt.  Twilight looked nervously at the turning out of the exhibit area as some kind of reptillian, wearing some kind of torn uniform came into view.  "Infected." said Matt fearfully.  "Are those the creatures that Aria told us about?" asked Twilight.

"Thats private...but yeah...thats an infected...and they're more or less indestructible...so stay behind me." said Matt before throwing the extinguisher in the infected face, snapping its head back with a crack and knocking it down.  He slowly walked up to it carefully before prodding it with his foot.  "Is it dead?" asked Twilight, nervously looking at it.

Matt looked back "It seems that..." he began before the infected suddenly leapt up, grabbed Matt by the throat and punched him across the room and into a pile of rubble before turning to look at Twilight with a look that could only be called 'evil'.  "Keep back," said Twilight, her horn glowing.  The infected laughed coldly "That won’t work." it said.  Twilight backed up until she was near the arch.  "You know you're still going to die," said Twilight, "Even if you do kill Matt, my friends will make sure you won't harm anyone else," she said, bluffing.

"You're lying...you ponies don’t kill...I don't think you could..." said the leech knowingly, readying its claws.

...

Matt shook a few stars from his vision and tried to stand up, only to fall over again.  "I hate infected." he said before seeing the infected closing in on Twilight.  "Hey...you overgrown parasite." he called.  The infected shifted its attention to Matt.  "I'll deal with you in a minute," it said.

Matt glared and said in his best taunting voice "Whats wrong, fishbait?  Too scared?  Or are you such a wuss you have to pick on someone who's defenceless to feel big?" he said.  "I can control this entire world at a whim," said the infected, "Neither of you are a real threat to me."  Matt sighed "I suppose...though you're a bad aim." he said evilly.  "What's that supposed to mean?" demanded the infected.  "That you have all the fighting skills of a oyster and about as much backbone." said Matt simply.

"And yet I'm clearly more superior than both of you combined," said the leech, furious.  "Oh, is that why you keep failing to kill us and fell for my trick earlier?" said Matt, sarcastically.  The infected growled and said, "I won't fail to kill you this time."  Matt said "Yeah...of course you will."

The infected snarled and suddenly, the rocks around Matt sprang at him in an effort to crush him.  Matt dodged the rocks with ease before laughing "Thats a true coward there...hasn’t got the spine to do the fighting itself...then again, you are just a brainless parasite." he said.  The infected roared and charged at Matt, claws and fangs bared to tear him apart.  

Matt leaned against the pillar as the leech-infected charged at him before dodging at the last minute.  "You're not a real infected...you're a bad joke." said Matt, grinning.  The infected snarled and charged at Matt again.  Matt sighed and dodged again.  "I've fought real infected...you are just a bad imitation." he taunted.

"Uh, Matt, not that this isn't interesting, but we still need to get out of here," called Twilight.  Matt looked at the infected, who was panting, tired.  "Yeah...this things a waste of my time." he said before walking over to the arch and kicking it, the crystals flaring into life and a white vortex appearing.  However, Matt had his back turned to the infected for too long and it charged at him again.  Before Matt could react, it sank its claws into his back.

Twilight turned from her view of the swirling wormhole at Matts gurgle to see the infected toss him aside.  "And now...YOU!" it hissed.  

...

In the real world...

The monitor over Matt's head began to let out a shrieking warning, Matt himself convulsing like something had hit him from behind before heart failure warnings began to wail. "What's happening?" asked Fluttershy, frightened.

Aria scanned the monitor.  "His mind is registering massive physical trauma...I am attempting to restart his heart." she said hurriedly, the patchs buzzing with electricity again.  "I sure hope Matt and Twilight can figure themselves outta there soon," said Applejack.

...

Twilight dodged another lunge by the infected-Leech and galloped away from it.  "Stay still, pony." it snarled.  "Like I'm going to do that," said Twilight.  Matt however, was still alive...but just barely.  'So this is how it ends?  Killed by sushi.' he was thinking.  "Matt, this place isn't real!" called Twilight, "That wound can't kill you if you don't want it to."

Matt's half dead brain thought 'The talking pony is RIGHT...we don’t have to take any smeg from that shapeshifting tentacle...NOW GET UP!!'  Matt groaned and got up, the pain starting to vanish.  "This is my mind, and there's no way that I'm going to lose in here," he said to himself.  The leech turned in shock  "What?  NO...I AM IN CONTROL HERE!" it yelled, sending a spear of rock at Matt ,only for it to stop in midair, and it beginning to head back towards the leech.

"No!  Wait!  Stop!" yelled the leech as it tried to stop the spear.  Matt stopped the spear a inch from the leech.  "Yes?" said Matt, thoroughly enjoying himself.  "It doesn't have to be this way," said the leech desperately, "We can form a partnership, a symbiosis."  Matt thought about this before saying “Erm...naaah.  I’d rather chew my own foot off.”

"But I can offer you so much," said the leech.  "Such as?" asked Matt.  The leech hesitated as it tried to think up any kind of answers.  "See, that's the problem with you parasites," said Matt, "It's all 'take' and no 'give'.  You're no help to anyone."  The leech said quickly "I'll leave your body...immediately."

"Yeah, you will," said Matt before sending the spear forward.  The leech looked confused, looking down at the spear that had hit it before cracks of light appeared over it before it seemed to shatter into white dust.  "Uh, can we go now?" asked Twilight.  Matt nodded "Yeah....lets go." before he and Twilight walked into the portal...

...

...and Matt shot upright on the medibay bed and scrabbled at the leech around his neck, throwing it across the bay.  "Bleaah." he said, making a face.  The leech made a weak hiss and tried to slither away.  "Oh no, you don't," said Matt as he got up and walked over to it.  He raised his foot high and said, "I'm not gonna waste ammo on you.  Plus, this'll be more rewarding."

Fluttershy looked horrified and said "Matt...don’t...it can’t hurt you anymore."  "This thing is a parasite, it does nothing but make others suffer.  It deserves to be squished," said Matt.  Fluttershy said "It can’t do anything to you anymore.  You shouldn't kill it when it can't fight back."

Matt looked down at the leech before giving a snort of disgust.  "I must be going batty," said Matt before walking away, "I need to have my brain scanned.  No telling what that miserable runt did in there."  The leech seemed to be coiling up to leap at Matt again before Fluttershy noticed and turned to look at it.  Matt couldn’t see Fluttershy's face but the leech obviously could because it left at an impressive speed.

"Uh, what was that?" asked Matt.  Fluttershy said "Oh, erm...nothing," in a small voice.  Matt sighed...before looking around.  "Hey...erm...thanks.  You kept an eye on me and helped me out of a seriously bad jam."  "Ah, it weren't nothing," said Applejack.  "Like we'd let you be leech food," said Rainbow Dash.  

"Well, since they were going inside your mind, I felt they ought to know a few things," said Aria, "Although most of it just went over their heads."  Matt sighed "I swear on everything I know...I'm not here to cause trouble...its the last thing I want."  "Of course not," said Twilight, "You're our friend."  "Yeah, good friends wouldn't be mean to us," said Pinkie.  "You might be a bit crass but you're quite exceptional company," said Rarity.  "Alright, alright, I get it, ease up on the cheeriness," said Matt, "I'm still feeling sick from that leech." Before he made a face and ran for a door marked ‘restroom’.

"What's he doing?" asked Rainbow Dash.  Aria gave an electronic smirk.  "Purging his systems," she said.

...

Personal Log engaged...

Log in accepted...

Log Begins...

"Well...Looks like those little ponies were right...this forest is not good for your health.  It's not the big monsters you have to watch out for so much as the little ones.  Specifically a couple of psychic parasites that like to put you in a permanent sleep.

Luckily...just like in basic...its better if you have back up...even if that backups a group of talking ponies.  They coulda just left me...hell, they don't know me.  Maybe I shouldn't be...no...if Darius turns up, it'll be the mining colony all over again.  I stay here...End recording"

Log terminated...



> chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP Fic pt 3

Living in Everfree Forest was a good thing if you wanted to keep out of the way of the equestrian public, however it also had its own share of problems...

...

"How can we be out of food?  We have nano replicators that can make it on demand," moaned Matt.

"Food replication is not nearly as important as repairing the engines," said Aria, "It will have to wait until the significant repairs are made.” 

"Yeah...I'll just starve to death then, ok?" said Matt, sarcastically.  "There are plenty of edible sources around," said Aria.  Matt looked at the forest in view outside the porthole and said, "Name one."  "I believe there are wild onions that could provide adequate nutrition," said Aria.

"Yeah...instead of starvation, I can die from indigestion," said Matt, darkly.  "Don't tell me you skipped the flash-training on wilderness survival," said Aria.  "A little," said Matt innocently.  "Then perhaps you would like to ask your 'neighbors' for nourishment," said Aria.  "And if Darius pays a visit when they're here?  Plus this ship’s ex-military, even I dunno what all the buttons do," said Matt.

"The way I see it, you have two options: find out which wild plants are inedible the hard way or order out," said Aria.  "I hate you so much..." said Matt, darkly before saying, "Just heat up the VR machine.  I'd better run another simulation in case Darius DOES drop in for dinner."

Aria sighed, "Just be aware, I will have to run an internal viral scan.  It will take 8 hours and during that time, the secondary computer system will be online."  "Fine, sure, do your Norton anti-virus thing," said Matt.  "I do not know that program," said Aria as Matt walked off.

...

Matt blasted another Exo gene merc, the merc’s body bursting into pixels before he spun and blasted the last one in the face.  "Hah...full marks again," Matt said smugly to himself before clapping twice and feeling the strange sensation of leaving the VR sim to return to his body.

Matt was taking off the visor when suddenly a pink flash appeared and an annoying voice said, "Hi Matt."  Matt gave a yelp of fright and fell over.  He was pretty sure that his heart skipped a few beats.

Matt got up and shook his head till his vision returned to normal to see Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash there.  "What the...how did you...why...?" he said, speechless in what was half fury/half shock.  Rainbow Dash said, "Pinkie thought you could use something proper to eat.  Aria sent one of those drones along and said your food was all gone."

Matt glared at a camera.  "Oh, really?" he said darkly.  "Don't worry, we brought lots of goodies," said Pinkie Pie.  Matt looked at some of the food placed on the room’s table before opening one of the sandwiches to see it had what looked like grass in it.  

Fluttershy said in her usual voice, "Erm...we weren't sure what you liked."  "Uh, I kinda prefer a different kind of sandwich," said Matt.  "What kind would you like?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Matt turned to look at them before getting an eye twitch, hallucinating the three ponies’ heads as cheeseburgers before shaking his head to remove the vision.  "Erm...you probably do not wanna know," he said carefully before looking at a box and opening it to see several cakes.  "This is better,” he said to himself.

"Ooh, you'll just love these," said Pinkie, "Fresh from Sugarcube Corner."  Matt looked at the cake in suspicion before taking a bite and going bug eyed and fleeing out the door.  Pinkie looked confused and said "I thought he'd like hot sauce."  Rainbow Dash chuckled and said, "Good prank there."  Pinkie looked at Rainbow dash in shock before they both burst out laughing.

Matt came back in, his eye twitching.  "Ok...what else is there?" he said in a deadly calm voice.  Fluttershy pointed to the last box.  "Applejack included some of her pies too," she said quietly, saying as Matt peered in.  "Erm...are they alright?"  Matt grinned, "They're fine."

"Oh, good, I wasn't certain if you'd want carrots or not," said Fluttershy.  Matt thought about this.  "Pies are good," he said after a minute.  Rainbow Dash however had wandered over to the VR machine and said, "What were you doing in this?" curiously
"Uh, practicing," said Matt, "I don't suppose you guys have video games here."

The ponies just looked blank before Pinkie said cheerfully, "They sound super-duper fun.  Everypony loves games."  "Uh, well this is a bit more...intense than that.  Uh, it's sorta like pretend, only it makes it more real, but it can simulate pain.  It’s mostly for training, but I also installed a few games, mostly racing." said Matt, absently.

"Did you say racing?" asked Rainbow Dash excitedly.  Matt looked confused.  "Erm...yeah...mostly grav car racing sims...a few flight sims," he said.  "Not sure what those are, but if it's racing, I can beat it," said Rainbow Dash.

Matt looked skeptical.  "Really?  Anyway, we can’t race.  There's only one unit," he said.  "Rats," said Rainbow Dash.  Matt sighed and said, "Usually Aria sets up a 'watcher' program that can remote control one of the game AI’s.  But I can help you out, if you come another day.  It'll be dark soon..."

On cue a beeping was heard and a male voice said, "Danger...class 4 thunderstorm detected...conditions hazardous...estimated time to dissipation: 5 hours."  "Oh yeah," said Rainbow Dash, "We had to keep a couple of extra days sunny so we'll be having a big storm today."

Matt turned on a computer and said, "No, this big one’s coming in from the forest center, more of that funky weather.  Had a hailstorm yesterday..."  He let loose a sigh before saying, "Well, you get that go after all."  "Cool," said Rainbow Dash, "So, how does this work?"

Matt sighed and walked over to the couch, bending down to fold it into a bed shape.  "Ok, just lay there," he said, pressing a few buttons on the side of the VR unit.  "Uh, what are you doing?" asked Fluttershy.  "It has to log the new nerves or it won’t work," said Matt, helping Rainbow Dash get on the bed.  "What's that mean?" asked Pinkie.

"I don’t really know," said Matt, helping click the headset on, and seeing a needle in the back whirring into preparation.  "Now, you may feel a pinch," he said cautiously before the needle shot forward into Dash’s neck.  The same male voice said, "Mapping new Neural network...please stand by..."  "How long will this take?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"You ok?  The needle’s got anesthetic on it so you shouldn’t feel anything," said Matt concerned, as he checked a readout.

Fluttershy was peering in shock at the needle and said, "Are you sure that doesn’t hurt?" 
"It's kinda like there's a horsefly on me," said Dash as her tail flicked upwards out of instinct.

Fluttershy didn't look convinced.  Matt said reassuringly, "Relax...I had this done myself.  It’s perfectly safe."

The machine beeped and said, "Neural mapping 100% complete.  New user ID logged.  Loading hub system...comms opening to 'watcher' user."  At the same time, Rainbow Dash seemed to fall asleep.  "It’s ok," said Matt reassuredly, clicking a few switches and saying, "Hey, Dash...you ok?"

…

When Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, she saw she was in a room that had several doors.  "Whoa, how did I get here?" she asked.  Matt's disembodied voice said,  "Hey, Dash...you ok?" before saying "You're in the VR hub.  Each door leads to a simulation.  Avoid any with a skull on it, those are training sims..."  "So, where do I go?" asked Rainbow Dash looking around.

"Ok...hold on," said Matt’s voice before the sound of tapping was heard and one of the hundreds of doors in the strange room hovered down and hung in the air.  "That’s the program, simply go in.  If you wanna leave, just say 'Game over' and the system will get you out," said Matt's voice.   "Uh, ok," said Rainbow Dash before flying up to the door.

The door opened into a broad track of some kind with stands not dissimilar to the Cloudsdayle arena, except empty.  On the track the stands were beside were several arrow head shaped hovering vehicles.  "So what am I supposed to do?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Easy...those are your opponents," said Matt’s amused voice.

Those things?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Yeah...they go about Mach 2...have fun," said Matt’s voice, now chuckling.  "I can outfly those...things easily," said Rainbow Dash.  "Good...then you won’t mind that I maxed out the difficulty," said Matt’s voice.  "Bring it on," said Rainbow Dash.

...

Matt sat back and called up the feed on a main viewer before turning to see that Pinkie had gotten some popcorn from somewhere.  He decided not to comment on this and said, "She'll be fine...there are a thousand safety systems in place on these things."  "I hope so," said Fluttershy, "I don't want to see her get hurt."  

"Even though, and she probably won’t like this...I'll log her out in a hour...you shouldn’t use these too long." said Matt, seriously before turning back to watch the viewscreen.  "Until then...we can watch some fresh humble pie being served...those grav-cars go at about 400mph on high difficulty." he said with a smirk.  "Rainbow Dash is pretty fast," said Fluttershy, "And she doesn't quit."

Pinkie said something muffled that sprayed Matt with popcorn.  "Erm...probably?" Matt said, unsure before turning back to see that Rainbow Dash was managing to stay just ahead of the grav cars.  Matt said to himself "I'm not a sore loser...buuuut..." before pressing a button and a control pad folded out "Exterior control override to AI opponent 3 accepted." said the computer.  

"What did you just do?" asked Fluttershy, curiously.  "I'm joining in...its been months since I played against a proper opponent." said Matt, putting a headset on.  Pinkie, her mouth now empty said cheerfully "Oh...this'll be great."

...

Dash finished another shot of the circuit, still in the lead, though she had to admit the computer vehicles were pretty fast to keep up as it was.  Suddenly, one of the cars moved away from the others and putting on more speed.  Matt's voice echoed in her ear "Thought you could use a proper challenge." as the car shot alongside and nearly got ahead.  "Oh yeah?" said Rainbow Dash as she put on more speed.

"May the best pilot win." said Matts voice, smugly before the grav-car he was controlling suddenly swerved on the inside of the next corner, pulling ahead.  "That'll be me," said Rainbow Dash, cockily as she zoomed around the corner.  Matt was impressed.  He'd heard all the gloats from the cyan pegasus about her speed and skill and while he;d seen her skills during his encounter with the mind leech, he knew better then to trust dreams.  The VR, however limited a user to their physical condition so he was seeing first hand.  "Very nice..." he said over the comm before adding "But how are you at surprises?" before turning on pickups.

"What kind of surprises?" asked Rainbow Dash, suspiciously.  Several glowing icons appeared on the track, Matt running his vehicle over one before slowing down to get behind Rainbow Dash.  "Oh, a few additions to make the game really interesting," said Matt before hitting a button, "Like this."  

The nozzles on the front of his car began roaring with a 'braaak' and a few dozen yellow rounds bounced around Dash before one hit her in the wing.  Immediately she slowed to a crawl for a second...a second Matt used to shoot by.  "Hey!  No fair!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she winged it to get back up to speed.  "Alls fair in love and war...you can grab em too." said Matt over the comm, chuckling.

Dash flew over one and suddenly started flying a lot faster than she was a moment ago.  "See ya at the finish line," she taunted as she passed Matt.  Matt sounded impressed over the comm.  "Very nice...still got ammo though..." he said before coming up behind her again for a good shot.  Luckily, Dash shot over a shield symbol and a glowing orb appeared around her as a voice in her head said "Defence pickup activated."  

Matt's shot bounced off the sphere.  "You're gonna have to do better than that," said Rainbow Dash.  "Fine..." said Matt casually before swerving into a speed pickup and finally starting to regain ground.  At the same time the computer said "Final lap initiated...disabled racers will not restart."  "Ok, time to get serious," said Matt as he drove over another weapon symbol.  "You know that shield won't hold out forever," he said to Dash.

Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder as Matt fired.  "I think you got other problems, Matt." she said smugly.  Matt was confused until a missile slammed into his grav-car, spinning it out.  He'd forgotten to set the pickups to only be usable by him and Dash.  This left Rainbow Dash clear to speed up and soar over the finish line.  

Matt put the pad down as Fluttershy and Pinkie celebrated behind him.  "Nice race, Dash...next time I'll disable the AI opponents and YOU can use the control pad." he said amused before the lighting overhead began to flicker and the viewer flickered before blacking out, only the couches status monitor still working.  "Alert:  Power drain detected in reactor 1." said the ships computer.  "For crying out loud," snapped Matt.

Fluttershy said nervously "Wh-whats going on?"  Matt said "Aria said she'd fixed reactor 1...we'll be al-" he began before the lights turned off. "-right." he finished, the sound of thunder heard on cue.  The red emergency lighting came back on to reveal Fluttershy looking terrified and Pinkie looking confused.  "Relax, it's just a blackout, sorta," said Matt.  

Matt continued, saying "Look...this is probably just a lightning strike shorting out the reactors...I can just go power it back up again." only for Fluttershy to look like she was having a heart attack from terror.  "Nothings gonna happen.  This ships the safest place in the whole forest." he said trying to reassure the terrified pegasus.  "But...but, it's so d-d-dark," said Fluttershy nervously.  

Matt sighed before walking over to the readout.  "Pinkie...if any of these meters turn red...press this button." he said, seriously, pointing to a red button marked 'emergency log out' before saying "Come on, Fluttershy.  I might as well give you the tour while we go."  "Um...ok," said Fluttershy.  "Have fun," said Pinkie before sitting down and staring intently at the meter.

...

Matt and Fluttershy walked through the red lit corridors, Matt holding a torch ahead of him.  "So...this days not gone as planned." he said, awkwardly.  "N-n-no," said Fluttershy, "I didn't expect to stay this long and I didn't expect it to be this d-d-dark."  Matt sighed and got down on a knee to look her in the eyes.  "We're fine...nothing can get into the ship.  Its just a power cut, thats all." he said with a reassuring grin.

"Ok..." said Fluttershy, putting on a little smile.  "Thats the spirit." said Matt cheerfully, standing up and walking onwards.  The group turned the corner to see a flickering flash of light from a large heavy looking steel blastdoor with the words 'Caution...Chroniton reactor 1' on it.  There was also a soulful humming...like high pitched whale song coming from the room beyond.  "Oh...please not those things." muttered Matt in a tired voice.

"What is it?" asked Fluttershy.  "Veridian energy eel...energy eater." said Matt, quietly and he sneaked towards the door anbd pulled a lever that made it open a crack.  He pushed the door open a bit to reveal what looked like a light show.  A glowing snake-like thing was circling a device in the room, two antennae shapes sticking into it, the thing making the musical noises from obvious enjoyment.  It stopped as the two came in and floated over to them, circling with sounds of curiosity.

"Oh, I've never seen anything like that," said Fluttershy, "Hello, little friend."  The veridian eel extended its antennae and seemed to stroke Fluttershy, little arcs of energy buzzing into it before it made a crackling noise and floated over to Matts wrist computer instead and doing the same, making the device power down.  "No...bad eel...down." said Matt, waving it away, the eel making disgruntled noises before floating back towards the reactor.

"I don't see what's so bad about it," said Fluttershy.  "It feeds off energy...they usually live in wormholes like the one that brought me here...sometimes they end up being caught in the ram scoop or in through a hull breach...and my ship had plenty of those when it arrived." said Matt, flapping his hand as the eel floated back over, making it float off again.  "So?  It might not be from here, but it's still pretty," said Fluttershy.  "Thats not the main problem...its the eels unique method of defence.  You see, the laws of physics are kinda...useless in a wormhole...imagine the inside of Pinkies brain...and you're close.  Basically, the eel kamikaze's its enemies." said Matt, trying to work out a way to explain the eels method of charging enemies, exploding and then regenerating.

"What does kamikaze mean?" asked Fluttershy.  Matt sighed before deciding to be blunt.  "It charges its enemies, explodes with the force of a demolition charge and then regenerates." he said flatly, before adding "And they are VERY easily startled."  "Oh, I know how to deal with shy animals," said Fluttershy.  "How many can blow a hole in a mountain?" said Matt, bluntly.  "Something that pretty couldn't be that dangerous, can it?" asked Fluttershy.

"It could cripple the ship permenently...luckily, if its just feeding, it'll leave in a few minutes.  Energy from the lightning musta woken it...strange that its going for the reactor...it can;t be eating all that energy itself." said Matt, curiously before shrugging and walking towards the eel, making yelling noises and waving at it.  "Matt, didn't you just say they're easily startled?" said Fluttershy.  Matt stopped at that, looking at something underneath the grating.  "Oh boy...I think I know why its so hungry." he said, backing up from the half dozen glowing orbs.  

"Are those eggs?" asked Fluttershy.  "I'd say so..." said Matt before both he and Fluttershy had to cover their ears in pain as the adult eel made a shrieking noise and started to turn red.  "RUN!" yelled Matt, running for the door.  Fluttershy made a frightened squeak and quickly followed after Matt.

Matt forced the door shut as soon as Fluttershy was through and turned "Keep running." he yelled before turning to run after her.  At that moment though, the door exploded outwards, throwing matt forward and covering him in metal.  Fluttershy was also thrown forward with an 'oof' noise.  She turned around terrified to see electricity arcing over anything electronic as well as the yellow energy of the eels body re-gathering over the rubble covering Matt.  The eel seemed satisfied before floating back into the reactor room and starting its strange song again.

"I see why it's dangerous now," said Fluttershy.  "Alert:  Power surge detected...alert alert...a...lert." said the voice of the machine, its voice getting slower and deeper before petering out.  A groan from under the rubble was heard and a bent grating was pushed aside to show Matt pulling his way out.  "And that...is why I hate eels." he said weakly.

"So, how do we get it to move?" asked Fluttershy.  "We don;t...” said Matt, pushing himself up to lean against the wall "I'll have to hope Aria finished working on the reactor 2 repairs..."  "Didn't you say she was taking a nap or something?" asked Fluttershy.  "Yeah...but hopefully she finished the reactor 2 repairs and just didn;t bother to power it up first." Matt said, before pulling himself up to walk over to an intercom.  "Pinkie...Pinkie, you there?" he said just to get nothing.

Matt tapped the side of the intercom and said, "What's wrong with this stupid thing?"  Just then, the lights came back on.  "Not what I had in mind, but better," said Matt.  The computers voice said "Main power restored...scanning system for damages."  Matt looked up "And the computers back too...nice." he said.  Fluttershy wasn't sure though...the computer voice sounded colder, more logical.

"Ok, Computer," said Matt, "We've got a bit of infestation problem in Reactor 1."  "Voice print not recognised.  Please state name and ID number." said the computer, coldly.  Matt looked at Fluttershy, confused before shrugging.  "Captain Lynch, M J.  CPS Code: 26249." he said.  The computer made a buzzing noise "Not recognised...please try again."  "Stupid computer, I'm captain of this ship," said Matt.

"ID not reqognised." said the computer before a klaxon sounded "intruder alert: Engineering section 1..."  Matt and Fluttershy winced at that before Matt yelled "YOU STOP THIS RIGHT NOW...ITS MY NAME ON YOUR PINK SLIP!"  "Maybe we should go to another place!" called Fluttershy, who was nearly drowned out by the alram.  "Let's get out of here!" yelled Matt.

The two ran down the corridor and turned the corner to the stars, to see a sheer steel shutter in the way.  "Looter status confirmed.  Looting an NSC vessel during wartime conditions is a criminal offence...prepare for detainment." said the AI at the same time as a half-orb retracted from the ceiling.  "Uh oh." said Matt before pushing Fluttershy round the corner just in time as the 'orb' fired.  "Matt, what is going on?" asked Fluttershy.  Matt got up and turned to see the scorch mark where the beam had hit.  "I think the computers gone nuts." he said weakly.

"That doesn't sound good," said Fluttershy.  "Thats because its not." said Matt, getting back up.  "We have to get to pinkie and warn her...there's more of those turrets in the VR room."  "But how can we get there?" asked Fluttershy.  Matt looked up at the grating.  "The vents?" he said before a red beam parted his hair.  "First we run." he yelled.  "Right," said Fluttershy as she took to the air.

Matt ran after Fluttershy as more of the turret orbs activated, firing on the group.  However, Fluttershy was not nearly as skilled with flying around obstacles as Rainbow Dash.  She frequently stopped or dropped down when a laser nearly hit her.  The duo finally reached a dead end with no turrets in it and a grating at the other.  "Well...least they can;t shoot us here." said Matt.

Suddenly, they heard a familiar scuttling sound.  "Oh no," said Matt.  Fluttershy said in a terrified voice “Wh-whats that?"  Matt drew his blaster and said "Spiderbots." as several of the spider drones, with red glowing optics scuttled round the corner, cutting lasers at the ready.  "But, they're friends, right?" asked Fluttershy.  "Not today." said Matt as one of the spider drones leapt at them with a mechanical hiss, only for Matt to blast it out the air.

"Ok, we need to double our double time," said Matt, "Get the vent off and climb in."  Fluttershy looked at the vent cover with the screws clearly meant for hands before looking at where Matt was desperately shooting at the drones.  She gulped turned around and kicked at the vent as hard as she could manage.

"I think I chipped my hoof," said Fluttershy, miserably.  Matt winced before being knocked over with a yell as three spiderbots jumped on his back and bore him to the ground.  "Matt!" cried Fluttershy before she kicked out at the grate again.  This time, her shock was enough to smash the vent in.  

Fluttershy was so shocked by managing to kick the vent in that she almost fell.  Matt managed to pull the last drone off and smash it in time to hear Fluttershys whimper as she put her weight on her back hooves.  He looked over and saw the smashed vent before seeing where the metal grate had cut her leg.  "Ouch...come on...first stop, medi-bay." he said, helping her into the vent.  "Are you sure this is safe?" asked Fluttershy.  "Come on...you're hurt." said Matt, stubbornly.  "Well, ok," said Fluttershy as she climbed in.

Matt climbed in after her and said "Take the next left...man, I hope Pinkies ok." 

...

Pinkie Pie had spent the last half an hour looking at the readout for Rainbow Dash as well as the views of Dash's games when the power suddenly came back.  It seemed like dashie was unaware of the problems on the outside.  A voice said "Danger...unidentified lifeforms in VR chamber."  "Unidentified lifeforms?  Where?" asked Pinkie, looking around.  "Assessing threat..." said the voice and a orb folded down from the roof.  "Ooh, shiny," said Pinkie, looking at the orb.

"Threat assessment on primary subject: Zero.   Subject confined to VR machine...disable at digression.  Secondary subject:  Threat level at 45%.  Unidentified mental processes...neutralize." said the computers voice and the orb began to glow.  "Neutralize, what's that?" asked Pinkie. The orb was glowing red now.  "Oh...is this a disco party?  I knew matt liked to party." said Pinkie excitedly and bouncing up at the same instant that the orb turret fired, the beam missing before it attempted to shoot her as she hopped around the room, missing every time. 

If the AI was capable of truly feeling emotions, it would certainly be feeling frustrations as the annoying pink one wouldn't keep still long enough.  "Remain still and surrender to storage, criminal." it intoned, disguising the annoyance in its tone as more blasts bounced around.  "You know, people tell me to stay still all the time, I wonder why?" said Pinkie.   A blast almost hit her, instead blowing the door which glowed blue before vanishing.

...

Dash was looking around the hub for another game when a steel door materialized in front of her and fell over.  "What the hay?" she said confused before shrugging and carrying on.

...

Pinkie Pie watched the door disappear with some amazement.  "Ooh, neat trick.  I wonder how Matt and Fluttershy are doing?" said Pinkie, "I guess I'll go look for them."  She hopped out the door like nothing at all was wrong.  

...

Meanwhile, the skyraids floating, orb shaped auto doc hovered around the infirmary, worrying.  It remembered when D-1 had last been in charge.  A vent cover in the corner glowed before exploding outwards and Matt, looking like he'd been beaten to a pulp crawled out before helping one of those strange locals out after it.  “Sir, you look terrible.  What is going on tonight?" it said annoyed.  "We have a Veridian Eel nesting in Reactor 1 and the whole ship's gone crazy," said Matt, equally annoyed.

"I noticed that when D-1 was back online." said the auto doctor annoyed before saying "This ship saw service in the combine war...D-1 was the AI in charge...those idiot programmers must have programmed on top of him." before its optic turned towards the yellow pony cowering behind Matt.  "Your friend has a injury...metal cut." he said professionally.

"Yeah, that's why we came here," said Matt, "She won't be able to move fast until her leg's treated.  That and the whole tetanus thing."  The auto doctor ran a light over Fluttershy and said "She's already got some...I’m not surprised...probably not even a disease here..." before a needle extended from its orb.  "A shot of nanites will handle it with ease...please hold still, ma'am." it said, closing.  

Fluttershy squeaked and inched away.  "Uh, I really don't like needles," she said.  "Ma'am...I am programmed with 32,000 medical procedures and the collective medical knowledge of 300 years.  This is for your own health.  You are probably already feeling effects." said the auto doctor.  "What effects?" asked Fluttershy nervously.  "Your injured leg probably feels stiff repeatedly as the disease effects your muscles there." said the auto doctor. scanning her injured leg again.  

"Uh, it has been feeling stiff," said Fluttershy, sounding even more nervous.  The auto doctor continued "You probably feel elevated body temperatures and increased heart rate."  "It is getting a bit hot," said Fluttershy, sweating a bit.  "Ma'am...the medical nanites can eradicate the bacteria causing this, reverse the cellular damage and then will self destruct...I understand that you have cause to distrust this needle...but it will save your life." said the auto doctor in a attempt to be reassuring.  

"Fluttershy, it won't hurt that much," said Matt, "Just a quick prick and it'll be all over."  Fluttershy looked upset before lifting her injured hoof up, the skin around the cut already looking red.  The auto doctor said soothingly "Ok...entering...now." before the needle shot out and hit, a grey liquid flowing down the tube connecting  it to the doc.  Fluttershy bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut with a whimper.  Finally the needle shot back into the auto doc and vanished "All done." it said.  Fluttershy whimpered before looking at her hoof where the cut could be seen visibly vanishing, the reddened flesh around it turning back to normal and even the fur re-growing.  Matt said over her shoulder in a cheerful voice "Cool, isn;t it."

"Uh, yeah, it is," said Fluttershy, smiling a bit.  Matt grinned before looking at the auto doc.  "Nice one." he said.  The auto doc emitted a air of smugness.  "My pleasure, sirs.  Ma'am, do not worry about the nanites...they will have finished their work and self destructed by tomorrow morning."  A clunk at the door made Fluttershy jump almost high enough to hit the ceiling and Matt to draw his blaster.

However, the tension dropped dramatically when Pinkie Pie hopped in.  "Hey guys, watcha doing?" she asked.  Matt sighed and lowered the blaster "You are one lucky person...How'd you get past the blaster turrets?" he said, sighing with relief, checking outside before shutting the door.  "What blaster turrets?" asked Pinkie.  "Red beams of death?" said Matt, hopefully.  

"The only beams I saw were from that disco ball," said Pinkie.  "That was a blaster turret...man, you're lucky." said Matt, a bit surprised.  Fluttershy said horrified "We've got to get back to Rainbow Dash, as fast as we can."  Matt nodded, opening the door and blasting a spiderdrone.  "Why?  What's the problem?" asked Pinkie.

The other two didn't answer running out.  Pinkie ran after them, realising that something was very wrong.  She arrived to see Matt, Fluttershy watching behind him, slamming his fist angrily on the controls of the VR machine, the words 'access denied' flashing on the screen.  "What's going on?" asked Pinkie.  "The AI's locked me out of the system.  I can’t log dash out.  All we've got is comms with her...I hope...I'm trying now..." said Matt, angrily before pressing a button.

...

Rainbow Dash had been wandering around trying to get through other program doors to no avail.  She was about to go to another when what looked like a translucent window appeared in front of her, Matts, Pinkies and Fluttershy in view.  "Guys?  What are you doing here?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"We got a problem out here...the ships old combat AI's mutinied and took over the ship...oh and it thinks me and the girl are looters." said Matt, sarcastically cheerful.  "The combat what?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Like aria...only alot nastier." said Matt, darkly.  "Oh," said Rainbow Dash, "Wait, if I'm in the computer thing, what will it do to me?"  "Nothing...it obviously assesses by threat...and if you're plugged in here...you can;t do anything while you're in there...hmm...unless...no, its too dangerous...no safeties and you could end up as PART of the ship." said Matt, serious.  "Well, there's gotta be some way I can help in here," said Rainbow Dash.

Matt said "No...if you shut down the AI...the remains of the computer might try to make you the new one..."  "Yeah, this may be a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here," said Rainbow Dash.  

Matt nodded "Ok..lets just get you out of here..." he began to say before a humming made him turn around before the translucent window flickered out.  "Hey!  Don't just go like that!  Come back!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

...

Matt nodded "Ok..lets just get you out of here..." before  a humming got his attention.  He, fluttershy and Pinkie turned to see that the rooms turret, depleted earlier by trying to shoot the elusive Pinkie, had recharged before a red beam lanced out.  "Move it!" shouted Matt, throwing himself out of the way.  

Fluttershy gave a shriek as a beam nearly hit her before she slipped on the floor and slid to a halt.  Matt watched in horror as the turret took aim.  "Nonononono." he said, desperately fumbling with the blaster before the turret shot again.  This time, the beam hit Fluttershy.  She froze before she suddenly seemed to turn into digital chickenwire.  Then she broke into many tiny pieces and got sucked into the turret.

Matt snapped and managed to get his blaster out yelling several alien swearwords and emptying the blasters entire energy cell into the turret, reducing it to wreckage.  the computer said calmly "Intruder neutralized and stored in digital buffer."  "Where did she go?" asked Pinkie Pie in a shocked voice.  Matt walked up to where Fluttershy had been "I have no idea." he said in a sad voice before saying to himself "Digitized..."

...

Rainbow Dash was wandering through the digital corridor, saying to herself, "There's gotta be an emergency exit or something around here."  She paused when she heard a crackling/humming sound.  She looked up to see the frame of a winged pony with a long mane and tail forming above her.  "Hey, is that-" she started before Fluttershy completely virtualized and fell with a ‘yipe’ on Rainbow Dash.  The two pegasi managed to untangle themselves after a minute before Rainbow said in a surprised voice "Fluttershy?  How'd you end up here?"

"I don't know," said Fluttershy, looking terrified "I got zapped by something and now I'm in here."  The screen re-appeared and Matt and Pinkies faces appeared.  Matt winced as Pinkie said loudly and excitedly "Fluttershy...you're ok!!!"  "Uh, I guess I am," said Fluttershy, "But how did I get in here?"  Matt opened his mouth to speak before Pinkie said "That disco ball started shooting and you slipped and were like 'yipe' and then the ball went 'zap' and you vanished." in a hyper tone.

Fluttershy blinked and said, "So, I'm in the computer now?"  Matt thought of some way to explain it before coming up short and saying lamely "Erm...yeah."  "So now how are we going to get out?" asked Rainbow Dash.  Matt and Pinkie looked at each other before Matt said "Hey...this wasn’t covered in training.  I've never even seen this kind of system.  I don’t even know how it got fluttershy in there...Aria might be able to fix it but while sergeant psycho's in charge, not much we can do."

"Wait, you said Aria was taking a nap, right?" asked Fluttershy.  Matt stopped as a lightbulb came on in his brain and he punched himself on the forehead.  "I'm an idiot." he said to himself angrily "There's a reset in the core room....then again, being shot at by your own ship is very distrac-" he said starting to ramble till all three ponies yelled "MATT!"

Matt paused and said, "Wait, there's one big problem, the core room will be like a shooting range for the AI.  There's no way I'll be able to get in without ending up looking like cheese."  Rainbow Dash pressed up against the screen from her end, looking pretty annoyed "So you're just gonna give up?"  Matt returned the glare and said smugly as a thought occurred "Why not?  When Aria finishes her virus scan in a hour, she'll kick that AI out and let you two out...its not like its gonna call for help...who'd be around to hear it?"

The computer voice said "Scanning for NSC ships in system...located...callsign: Icarus."  Matt stopped and said “There is no way my luck is this bad."

...

It's fairly common knowledge that anyone who's not nocturnal hates being woke up too early.  And most people would label ‘1 in the morning’ as way too early.  Which was precisely was on Darius' mind as he was stomping over to the bridge.  

"Sergeant...this had better be good.  Your future health hinges on it." he yelled, as he stomped onto the bridge.  The comm sergeant said with a grin "It is, sir.  We're picking up the Skyraids emergency beacon...all this verses magi is scrambling the signal...but we'll have a lock within the hour."  Darius blinked and said, "Even Lynch wouldn't be stupid enough to activate his beacon while we're around."

"Maybe he sat on a button...all we know is that we're getting a signal...and its definately an emergency beacon..." said the comm sarge, showing the text readout on a computer "I took the liberty of getting echo team out their bunks and prepped...as soon as we have a lock, they can take that ship apart for the 'aria' AI."  "Fine," said Darius, "But if this mission goes wrong, you'll be the one to have a rude awakening.  Like a 30 foot drop in a lake."

...

Meanwhile, Matt was screaming at a readout.  "ARE YOU CRAZY?  Call anyone but the Icarus...I'll even accept one of Romanov's ships..." he was saying.  "So, are they going to be coming really soon?" asked Pinkie Pie.  "Unknown intereference has disrupted signal strength...estimate arrival within the hour." said the computers voice.  Matt moaned to himself  "So much for hiding..."

"Can't we shut it off?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Only the AI can do that...emergency beacons are more or less physically indestructible..." said Matt, gloomily.  "Well, maybe we can turn it off from this side," said Fluttershy.  Matt stopped "No...we'd have to..." before Rainbow Dash finished "...distract this creep first?"

Matt was tempted to say 'no', but then he thought of what would happen if the Icarus arrived.  "Oh alright," he said, "But don't take any big risks."  He sat at the controls and began to type something.  The computers voice said "Warning...unidentified override detected...VR firewalls offline...danger, danger." before Matt shot the speaker.  "I wish he'd shut up....Ok, I’ve unsealed the VR system...you can get into the main computer...be VERY careful....NSC cyber division are known for their nasty defence viruses." he said.

"Will we get sick?" asked Fluttershy, nervously.  Matt thought about this.  He;d seen some of the virus programs dealing with VR hackers before now.  "Erm...probably not...but I’d avoid them all the same." he said finally.  "So, how are we supposed to distract it?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "I dunno...I never trained in VR hacking...annoy it...insult its parents...kick it in the face...just keep it distracted..." said Matt, a bit manically.

"Doesn't sound too hard," said Rainbow Dash.  "Oh...and you remember the mind leech?  The AI can mess with things alot better." said Matt, adding "Just...don’t take risks."  

...

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash slowly trotted up to the black door that had materialized when Matt had unlocked the systems.  A simple omega symbol adorned it.  "So, just keep the creepy guy in the computer busy while Matt does...whatever he needs to do," said Rainbow Dash, "Shouldn't be too hard."  Fluttershy looked at the door and said, nervously "What if there's traps?  Matt said this was dangerous."  "I don't think this place is built for traps," said Fluttershy, "Besides, we can fly around anything."

The door opened to reveal...nothing...the doorway appeared to be suspended in a strange void, several shapes floating around and flashes of light shooting around.  "Like I said, it's a good thing we can fly," said Rainbow Dash.  Fluttershy looked down nervously, was unable to see the bottom, apparently spotted something and scooted back with a 'eep'.

"Oh, don't tell me you're afraid of heights," said Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes.  On cue, a vast insectoid face peered through the doorway at them with an almost bored expression, its entire body appearing to be made from various shapes.  Both pegasi jumped back with a yipe.  "Whoa, that's a big computer bug," said Rainbow Dash.  

The bug seemed to lose interest before kicking off from its perch and floating off.  The two pegasi peered out to see various other computer insectoids or squid-like things floating around, some pulling glowing objects between the hovering shapes or standing sentry.  "What are those things?" asked Fluttershy.  "I have no idea..." said Rainbow Dash in a small voice.  The sight, to her looked like a cliffside seabird colony.  "We have to go in there...Matt and Pinkie are counting on us." she said finally in a confident voice.  Fluttershy took a few calming breathes before saying “You're right...Oh, I hope they're alright."

...

Matt had expected that the trek to the core room would be difficult.  But he hadn't thought that there would be this kind of complication.  "Pinkie, how many times am I supposed to tell you that we're supposed to be stealthy?" he snapped.  Matt looked at the 'disguise' Pinkie had put together using a box from a closet and what appeared to be a pair of false glasses and moustache.  "Thats not going to fool the cameras." he said in a tired voice.   

"They're looking for a pony," said Pinkie, "They won't be looking for a fellow robot."  Matt rolled his eyes and said, "Please, if you're a robot, then I'm an octopus."  Matt was about to explain why the plan would not work when Pinkie bounced out into the corridor to his horror and into the view of three spiderdrones in combat mode.  She spoke to them in a monotonic voice, "Destroy all intruders, beep, boop, bop."  

Matt whimpered to himself, gnawing on his knuckles in terror as the drones scuttled up to pinkie and gave her scrutinizing glares.  Then Pinkie said, "The big computer says intruders detected in Sector 4, boop, beep."  

The drones looked at each other before shrugging and scuttling past her and around the corner towards sector 4.  Matt came out of his hiding place with a disbelieving look.   "Thats...How?" he said.  "You have to give them the right beeps," said Pinkie with a grin.  Matt glared before saying "We never mention this security hole to Aria...agreed?"  "Why not?" asked Pinkie.  "Cause how else will I sneak out for at night?" said Matt before walking round the corner and stopping before saying nervously "Erm...beep boop?"

A somewhat dog-shaped drone was standing there, with a large head that only had a three targeting optics on it and a pair of guns extending from its side.  The drone looked at Matt, its guns pointing in his direction.  Pinkie peered round "Ooooh...I've never seen that one." she said, impressed...until the bots optics turned red and the two guns made a 'clack' noise.  "Pinkie, I don't think we can beep our way out of this one," said Matt in a worried voice.  

One cue the bot made a mechanical growling and Matt pushed Pinkie back round the corner, following just in time as the bot open fire.  "RUN AWAY!" Matt screamed.  The two of them ran as fast as they could as the drone bounded around the corner, guns blazing.  "I hope the others are having more luck.” yelled Matt over the gunfire as they turned another corner, the drones heavy caliber blasters blowing chunks out the wall.

...

Meanwhile, the pegasi were flying through the empty space in the computer, trying to avoid all the robotic creatures hovering around.  The creatures themselves seemed to shot little interest unless the two pegasi blocked their progress...in which they’d simply stop before continuing.  "This is too easy...these things act like we're rocks." said Dash cockily as more of what the two thought of as 'the workers' went by.

However, Dash was focusing a bit too much on boasting and not enough on flying.  This made her knock into one of the drones.  The drone lost its grip on the object it was holding and immediately, its 'eyes' turned red and it began to wail like something had stabbed it.  "Uh, that's probably not a good thing," said Fluttershy, backing up.

On cue, several of the squids flew into view before transfixing their optics on the pegasi.  "Do you think they'll accept an apology," said Fluttershy.  The ends of the squids tentacles opened into crackling pincers.  "I don’t think so." answered Dash nervously before the two had to dodge a lightning bolt the two squid fired, the blast hitting one of the workers which exploded in a cloud of pixels.

"Uh, this is the part where we start dashing," said Rainbow Dash before the two ponies started flying away.  The two 'squid' defence programs hissed and gave chase, firing rapidly at the two pegasi.  The two flew as fast as they could, dodging more blasts until they slipped into one of the glowing objects to be met with another strange sight.  A strange, almost mechanical octopus like program was in the object, surrounded by more of the 'real world' windows but focussing on one that showed the view of something chasing Matt and Pinkie through the ship corridors.

"That doesn't look good," said Rainbow Dash.  "You think we can do anything?" asked Fluttershy.  Rainbow Dash looked at the machine and flew in front of it.  "Hey, you...stop shooting at our friends." she said angrily, before waving a hoof in front of the unresponsive program.  "Hello?  Anypony home?" she said, tapping the top of it.

"Uh, please stop shooting at our friends?" said Fluttershy with her usual meekness.  The program stopped for a second to look at Fluttershy and at Rainbow Dash before intoning "Scanning for override clearance...alert...no clearance detected...security program summoned."  "Clearance this," said Rainbow Dash in an annoyed voice before kicking the program in what could be assumed to be the head.  The program was knocked back before shattering into pixels on the ground.  At the same time, the screens all blanked out.  "That worked," said Rainbow Dash in a smug voice.

Fluttershy looked at the blank screens and said in a worried tone.  "I hope the others are ok." before the two flew out the 'room'.

...

Back in the real world, Matt prodded the inactive bot with his foot.  The droid had managed to corner them and had been about to shoot when it had shuddered, spat sparks and keeled over.  "What do you think happened?" asked Pinkie, "Did it get tired?"  Matt said in an impressed tone.  "Nah...I think two pegasi scouts just earned their hacking badges."  "Oh, so you think we can go to the big core room now?" asked Pinkie.  "Yeah...lets go smash it..." said Matt, a evil grin on his face.  "I've had enough of my own ship trying to kill me."  "But doesn't Aria need it?" asked Pinkie.  "Good point...we'll only partially smash it." said Matt, still grinning.

...

Matt and pinkie peered around the corner towards the door to the server room...or rather 'vault door'.  "Thats a big door." said Matt casually, looking up at the large blastdoor blocking access.  "You did remember to bring the key, right?" said Pinkie.  Matt lifted up his keycard.  "Of course...though that all depends that that AI didn’t bother to alter the codes.  Oh, well, glass half full time." he said, before walking out and cautiously approaching the door.

He slid the keycard through the slot and stepped back, expecting guns to flip out and fire.  Instead a series of clunks were heard and the door began to slow slide into the wall.  "See?  Easy as pie." he said cheerfully.  Pinkie trotted up to the door and said "I don’t know...pie can be really hard to make sometimes..." before she stopped, lifting one of her legs off the group with a yelp.  "Easy...we’ve been running all over the place tonight.” Said Matt.

"No, my knee's all pinchy," said Pinkie, "That means something scary is about to happen."  Matt rolled his eyes "Oh please...you just pulled a muscle, pinkie." he said cheerfully before stepping into the room, the only light being a glowing optic on the computer in the center.  Pinkie followed in just in time as the door slammed shot.  “That means nothing." said Matt a little defensively.  "Knee's still pinchy," said Pinkie, cheerfully.  "I see nothing frightening." said Matt sulkily before the lights came on to reveal two twin barrelled turrets on the roof, both aiming at Matt.  "I wish I still didn’t." whimpered Matt.  

"Yep, that's scary enough," said Pinkie.  Matt turned and in a brief moment of insanity, said "I hate your knee." before the turrets opened fire, forcing Matt to dive for cover.  Pinkie however, was somehow dodging every round without trying.  Matt reached out from his cover and pulled out Pinkie out of the crossfire.  "I was hoping for a good distraction about now," he said.  "Don;t worry.  Dashie won’t let us down." said Pinkie pie, confidently.  Matt couldn;t help thinking 'I hope you're right.'

...

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew to a halt.  The defence programs had finally given up, it seemed...or were reluctant to approach the huge tower that the pegasi’s flight had brought them too.  "Ok, so we go into this tower and kick around this creep who's been making the computer go crazy," said Rainbow Dash, "No problem."

What looked a wingless dragonfly came into view from behind the tower, its red colour marking it as another of the security programs.  It turned to glare at them, but didn;t act as the two were obviously not close enough to warrant concern.  "Uh, you sure we have to go in?" asked Fluttershy.  "How else are we gonna stop that creep?" said Rainbow Dash, however her voice was slightly less certain in the face of the giant security program.

"Maybe if we ask nicely it'll let us in," said Fluttershy.  A passing worker program stopped at that before flickering from its green colour to a more ominous blue.  "So...I seem to have underestimated what lengths some looters will go too." it said.  "Uh, is that the guy who's running the computer?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Your 'stating the obvious' system seems fully functional." said the program sarcastically.  "You will return to the VR program immediately." it added with a commanding tone.

"And I say you should return to the, uh, Not Cause Trouble For Anyone program," said Rainbow Dash, rudely.  "This ship is a military vessel under wartime conditions...you are trespassing.  This crime carries a 20 year sentence on the Kryos penal asteroid." said the computer harshly, its eyes glowing red.  "If you do not comply...your companions will be destroyed...they are already pinned down in the core room."  "Then they're ready to shut you down," said Rainbow Dash with a smirk.  

"I do not think so...as I speak, three pulse blaster turrets have them pinned down...it would only be a short matter to reroute several drones behind their cover to tear them apart...they have already done more then enough damage to receive the death penalty." said the computer smugly, an image appearing to show Matt and Pinkie behind their cover as the turrets rounds ripped into it.

Fluttershy glared in anger at this image before she turned and shouted at the AI, "How dare you?  What gives you any kind of right to treat them like that?  How would you feel if someone decided to chase you around with big scary weapons for no good reason?"  "I beg your pardon?" said the computers host program in a confused voice.  It wasn;t every day someone tried to threaten an AI.  The worker program it was controlling however wanted to get as far away as possible from the little angry pegasus.

"You're nothing but a big bully," snapped Fluttershy, "You're just pushing everyone around and being mean.  And you don't even have the nerve to actually do anything yourself.  You're just making all the robots do all your dirty work for you."  "Warning:  System error in remote systems...turret system failure detected...anti virus systems report to CPU." said the AI in a monotone voice before the worker program changed back to its normal colour and fled with a wailing noise.  A square hole opened in the tower as well.  "You wish to take this ship?  Then by all means...try." said the AI.

"I don't try, I do," said Rainbow Dash before flying into the tower.  Fluttershy looked around at that "Rainbow?" she said, watching as the hole closed behind the cyan pegasus.

...

Matt peered out to see the turrets apparently going crazy, one spinning in its housing with a 'wheee' noise before exploding.  "Thats...unusual." he said before a spider drone bounced off his head as they went haywire too.  "You think Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are doing this?" asked Pinkie Pie.  "I can’t think of anyone else." said Matt, casually before peering out as a voice said "Alert...emergency defences now active."

"That's good, right?" said Pinkie Pie.  Matt looked at her "I dunno...I haven’t been in here since I brought this ship...on hindsight...maybe I should have." he said, pinkie seeing the 'crates' in the room unfurling and standing up.  "Ooh, neat trick," she said, "I wish my furniture could do that."  Matt looked confused and said "Pinkie...what are you tal--" before being cut off as one of the bots picked him up by the back of the throat and rotated him to glare.

"Keep at it, Matt!" called Pinkie, "You've got him on the ropes!"  The droid turned to look at the pink party pony and said "Prepare for internment."  Pinkie grinned "Oh...tag?  I love tag.  You're it." before bouncing away just before the bot could grab her.  The droid paused a bit as it tried to process the odd behavior of the pink organism.  But then it switched back to its primary command and started chasing after the bouncy one.

...

Meanwhile...

Rainbow flew into the tower and turned as she heard Fluttershy call out, just in time to see the 'door' seal.  "Fluttershy!" called Rainbow Dash before flying back to where the door was, but she could see no way of opening it

A blast blew a crater into the wall from behind her, causing the pegasus to spin.  A human figure was standing in the middle of the room, its hand glowing from the blast.  His clothes looked similar to Matts 'camoflage' except for the strange translucent glow.  "So, you're the big shot who's been trying to get rid of us," said Rainbow Dash, angrily.  "This is my program.  You have already proven that you can get past my firewall defences with help...but you're alone this time...and I have had enough." said the AI, charging up another shot.

"You'll have to catch me first," said Rainbow Dash before zooming around the room at high speed.  "That will not be a problem." said the AI, clicking its fingers and causing several shards of the wall to detach and begin chasing the pegasus around.  This would have been a problem, but Rainbow Dash has had lots of experience with obstacle courses.  She swooped, dived, rolled, and feinted around the shards.

The AI however, didn;t seem too worried before saying "You're no hacker...any ameteur hacker would have destroyed me by now..." before using the distraction to make a 'wall' shoot out into Rainbows path.  Rainbow Dash had to break this time.  Fortunately, she did so before she slammed into the wall.  Several more walls shot around, trapping rainbow.  The wall of the new 'cube' rippled before the AIa walked through it.  "You really have no idea...thinking like you're still in the other world." said the AI smugly.

Rainbow Dash jumped towards the AI in an attempt to tackle him, but it sidestepped her easily.  "Huh...if you're the best hacker this team has, then they're already dead." said the AI smugly.  Rainbow growled and tried to tackle the AI again.  The AI simply phased through her.  "Your stress levels indicate I've pushed on a sensitive subject.  Such a shame...if you'd only complied and remained in the VR machine...still." taunted the AI before readying an energy orb and throwing it into Rainbows back, tazering her.

"Either way, your companions are still doomed," said the AI, showing a video of Matt and Pinkie being chased by the drones, "They shall be eliminated and all your efforts shall be for naught."  Rainbow Dash glared as the AI continued "I don't know what I'll do with the other one though...the yellow version of you...she is technically a prisoner...but she has escaped because of you..." said the AI, showing another view of Fluttershy trying to find a way into the tower. "Oh well, I'm sure the anti-virus programs will take care of her soon enough."

Rainbow Dash glared and said something, causign the AI to look over.  "What was that?" it said tauntingly only to hear the cyan pegasus say "Leave my friends alone."  The AI smirked cruelly "Make me." it said.  Dash charged again, but this time she was moving too fast to move around the AI ended up getting heatbutted in the abdomen.  The AI looked more surprised then hurt before losing concentration and causing the cube to disintegrate.  "Hmm...I guess you're a fast learner.  I actually felt that." it said.

"You're gonna feel a lot more if you don't leave my friends alone," said Rainbow Dash as she pawed the floor.  "You are nothing but criminals...and you will be dealt with as such." answered the AI, making a blast appear and firing.  Rainbow Dash jumped out of the way of the blast, but she saw it turn around go after her again.  She quickly flew for it, the orb shooting after her.  "Oh horse apples." she said to herself as the orb blasted through an obstacle, disintegrating it.

"You won't escape this one," said the AI, "It will follow you wherever you go."  Rainbow Dash managed a glare at the smug Ai before she got an idea and the glare turned to a smirk.  "Is that so?" she said before swerving to fly at the AI.  "What do you think you're doing?" demanded the AI.  "Giving you back this." shouted Rainbow as she flew past the AI.  The AI turned back in ti8me for his own scorcher virus to hit him.  

The explosion that followed was rather impressive.  The aftershock rippled out of the tower and across the digital space.  Rainbow Dash looked around as the lights in the room seemed to flicker and a dull voice said "Alert...AI has been deleted...emergency protocols online...suitable replacement detected in CPU hub..."  "Oops, I don't this is a good thing," said Rainbow Dash before frantically searching for the door.  The room started toglow brighter before there was a flash...

...

Fluttershy backed up from the approaching defence programs before she felt a tingle and everything went black.

...

By this point, the drones had managed to box Matt and Pinkie in.  They all aimed their blasters at them and started charging up.  Matt had a feeling his life would end like this, but the pony was a surprise.  It began when the bots seemed to stagger before falling over.  "Oh...we won?" said Pinkie cheerfully.  Matt poked a bot with his foot.  “I think so...I wonder what..." he began before a shape appeared in the air and Fluttershy fell with a yelp on his head.  "Hi Fluttershy," said Pinkie.  Fluttershy had a dazed look on her face before Matt said in a desperately casual voice "Fluttershy?  Please get off my spine."  

"Oh, sorry," said Fluttershy apologetically before moving aside.  Matt got up unsteadily.  "Thank god this is over...Aria...purge every little bit of that psycho out of this ship....Aria?"  he said.  "Matt?  Matt?  Is that you?" called a female voice over the intercom.  Matt went rigid as a small part of his brain rebelled against reality, only giving up as Pinkie said "Dashie?  Is that you?"

...

The animals of the everfree forest fled as the sound of a blood curdling scream echoed through the forest.   

...

"Ooh, are we doing screaming contests now?" asked Pinkie, "I wanna go next."  Matt said weakly "Rainbow?  Why are you talking from the computer?"  "That's why I'd like to know," said Rainbow Dash's voice, "I'm locked up in this tower thing the jerk guy was in and I don't know how to get out."  "Oh no...are you sure?" said Matt, worry appearing in his voice.  "I'm looking all around, but I don't see anything, just a bunch of screens," said Rainbow Dash's voice.

Matt ran up to the core, Fluttershy and Pinkie following confused.  "Whats wrong?" said Pinkie, sounding worried as even she caught on that something serious was happening.  Matt apparently didn’t hear her, saying to himself “I told her not to delete the AI...va tula mo tida." the last phases in splitter.  "What?  What's going on?" asked Fluttershy.  

Matt clicked up a readout that showed a load of details that were obviously bad from the way his head fell.  "No..." he said before saying "The computer thinks Rainbows the replacement A.I. "What?  Me?  But I don't know how any of this stuff works!" said Rainbow Dash's voice.  "You don’t need too...but the computers like a business...the workers can’t do their jobs without a boss." said Matt, sighing.  Rainbow said 2So?  Just get it to let me out then."  Matt said "I...I can’t do that...the reactor needs the computer to work...without it...boom...as in BIG boom."

The other two ponies gasped.  "You mean Rainbow Dash is stuck in there?" asked Fluttershy.  "Forever?" asked Pinkie Pie.  Matt couldn’t bring himself to answer, instead pressing a few buttons.  A second later, Rainbow Dash seemed to appear in the middle of the room.  "Rainbow Dash, I was so worried," said Fluttershy as she walked towards her fellow Pegasus, "I thought you were trapped forever."  She reached over to hug her, but she fell right through Dash.

Rainbow Dash looked just as upset as Fluttershy.  Matt also felt as guilty as hell.  "Bloody disaster.” he said to himself.  "I don't wanna stay in here," said Rainbow Dash, "I wanna race and feel the wind against my mane and join the Wonderbolts..."  She suddenly gasped in horror and said, "What about my body?"  Matt said "Its still plugged into the VR machine..." before sighing...and then punching the screen.

Rainbow Dash looked severely shaken.  "Uh, guys, I need some time...alone," she said.  The hologram flicked off.  The two ponies turned to look at Matt, looking stricken, Matt noticing that Pinkies hair seemed to deflate, coming flatter.  "I'll...I'll do what I can." he said, turning to another control panel.

...

Rainbow sat down sadly in the tower, several screens showing illegible readouts while others seemed to show views from the security cameras and drone son the ship, a few showing static and errors.   "Oh man, I don't want to be stuck in here," she moaned, "This isn't the life for me."  

A voice from one of the screens said "Danger...hostile software intrusion detected...scanning...firewall override recognized...access granted." before part of the wall rippled and a human walked in, an african wearing a white lab coat and jeans.  "I leave for 2 hours for a self scan and I come back to a mess." the newcomer said.

Rainbow Dash looked at the human curiously before asking, "Do I know you?"  "Miss dash...I didn’t expect to see you here..." said the newcomer, walking forward.  "I believe you know me...I left for one virus scan...what in the name of cyberspace happened to put you here?"  "Well, I was in that racing thing when a jerk took control of the computer," said Dash.  "D-1...I thought he was sealed away." said the figure, a nametag visible on her coat that said 'Dr E Aria'.

"Wait a second, Aria?" asked Dash.  "Doctor Eliza Aria to be exact.  Head of Cyber Research at Chimera Aerospace for 12 years." said Aria, sitting down, a seat materializing under her.  "Uh, I don't know what that place is, but it sound like you are really important there," said Rainbow dash.  "I was...important enough that, when I was killed in a lab accident, my mind was uploaded to the company computers...that was 400 years ago." said Aria, a wistful tone in her voice.

"Wow, that's a long time," said Rainbow Dash.  "It is...it is.  Its not a life for the young." said Aria, a sad tone slipping into her voice.  "Yeah, speaking of which, when I got that jerk to blast himself with his own, uh, fireball thing, the computer put me in charge," said Rainbow Dash, "And I don't really want to be in charge."  

"It has too...without it...the computer would crash...and the reactor would also explode...destroying everything within 20 miles.  However...I am perfectly capable of assuming control..." said Aria, igniting a blue orb in her hand.  "You can do that?" asked Rainbow Dash.  Aria paused and said, "Then again, I could just take your vacant body and leave this computer.  True, the hooves will take some time to adjust to, but I could manage."

Rainbow Dash looked horrified before Aria rolled her eyes "AI humour." she said flatly before tossing the orb at Dash.  Immediately, Dash's vision began to blur, Aria's voice saying "The best of luck, Miss Dash."  

...

Meanwhile, the others were in the VR room.  Rainbow Dash's body showed no signs of consciousness, despite Matt's efforts.  The ponies looked up as Matt slapped the machine before letting his face fall on the keyboard.  "Matt, do you need any help?" asked Fluttershy.  Matt sighed before saying “Maybe if I....I don’t know what to do...dammit...the one time I need Techo's help..."  

"Matt, you can't give up," said Pinkie Pie, "Rainbow Dash needs you."  "I've tried everything...nothings working." said Matt, angrily before looking at the screen when it began to beep, the brainwave scanner that showed if a person was plugged in starting to ripple with activity again.  "Hey, something's happening," said Matt, hope in his voice.  

The message 'emergency log out systems rebooted' appeared and Matt held his breath before pressing a few buttons and finally one marked with warning symbols.  "Emergency ejection active...in 3...2...1...activating." said the VR's system.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash's body jumped like something had shocked it.  Matt ran over to another control and began flicking switches, muttering "Come on...don’t you dare, you hunk of metal."  Fluttershy and Pinkie watched in worry before Rainbow Dash coughed twice and opened her eyes with a groan.  "Man, that was the craziest dream ever," said Rainbow Dash.  

Matt let out a sigh of relief as Fluttershy and Pinkie immediately hugged their friend.  He walked over after a bit and carefully pulled out the interface needle.  "There we go..." he said.  "Yay!  Dashie's back, we should throw a party," said Pinkie, her mane poofing up again.

Matt nodded in agreement before Aria's voice came over the intercom.  "This is the last time I let you play without adult supervision."  "What?  Hey, it was not my fault," said Matt, "An energy eel made a nest in the reactor and it rebooted the ship and let that military AI take control."  "Talking of which...you should come outside.  You may want to see this." said Aria.

...

The group, Dash a little unsteadily, watched as the group of energy eels seemed to dance around in the sky, their musical calls filling the air.    "Aw...they're so cute," said Pinkie.  "And lethal." muttered Matt to himself.  "Uh, they won't attack us, right?" asked Fluttershy.  

"Nah...I think." said Matt, the last part a little uncertainly.  The eels however, if they were still annoyed from earlier weren’t bothered as they flew into the treeline, their glow visible for a few more seconds before vanishing too.  "I wonder if I'll be in trouble for introducing an invasive species to this planet," muttered Matt.  

...

<Log activated>

"Ok...I nearly screwed up bad today.  My ship nearly got us all killed...and then to top it off, I nearly turned Dash into a Ipad rip off.  Clearly my skills as a technician needs to be improved.  Of course, as Aria would put it, and has done so several times since, 'you can't improve what isn't there at all'.  However, I managed to sort out the problem...and Aria is making sure nothing like this can ever happen again...I hope it doesn't."

“However, there is the small matter of the AI sending out a distress beacon.  But then again, there's no way it got anywhere before it was shut down, right?"

<Log ends>

...

<Intercepted Exo Gene transmission>

Echo: This is Echo One to Home Nest.’

Icarus: Home Nest, Go ahead, Echo.’

Echo: We lost the signal about 3 minutes ago...Requesting new orders.

Icarus:  Continue sweeps...we want the merc alive

Echo:  Roger that.

<Transmission ends>


> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP Fic pt 4 


Darius sat in his quarters and sighed.  The last week had been hard on him and his men.  The problems that the local magi energy field had caused had been fixed but there was still no sign of the rogue merc.  However, the reconnaissance seemed to strongly hint that they were the only humans upon this planet.  Darius sighed "Captains log:  More then a few men are muttering.  The board have given us strict instructions to not return to control without the AI lynch stole...that we're alone here...that we're not getting home.  Morales at an all time low.  I haven’t been able to say that the board hasn't even communicated..." he said before a incoming comm appeared on his computers screen.

Darius paused his recording and shifted his attention to the computer screen.  "This had better be good news," he said to himself.  The Executive Genetics logo appeared on the screen for a second before a enshadowed room appeared and the gravelly tone of a splitter said "Report, Darius."  "Well, as you already know, we've...cornered Lynch on an uncharted planet.  He can't leave it, but neither can we," said Darius.  "We don’t care for your excuses, Darius.  That A.I that the mercenary stole has information that will link us to everything ranging from Kurata's operation to the Sy Yong incident.  Its alot more valuable then YOU are." said a female voice.  The speakers icy tone suggested that, given the choice, the voices owner would have no qualm about killing everything to make sure the AI was dealt with...Darius included.

"We're trying the best we can," said Darius, "But the natives aren't of...the usual humanoid variety."  "No excuses.  The N.S.C has no presence at your location.  If anything gets in your way...shoot it." said a third, human voice with unconcealed contempt.  "You're lightyears from the nearest NSC monitored sector." said the splitter voice.  "Now get out there and prove that you can do what we pay you for...clean this mess up...or don't bother to return." before the screen went blank.  Darius realised he’d been sweating...calls with the board of directors usually did that.  

"Collins...tell me you have a lead." he said, managing to stop his voice from shaking.  Collins voice came back through the comm.  "Echo 4 has a lead they're following up on..."  "Then let's stop fooling around," said Darius.  "The sooner we've rubbed out that overconfident gun for hire and got back the boards property, the sooner we're out of this madhouse." he added, turning off the comm and saying with relief "Finally, some good news."

...

Everfree Forest

Matt looked up at the ruined castle and said, "Ok, why are we wasting our time with looking around some old ruins?"  Twilight looked over and said "This is the place where we got our elements of harmony.  I've been wanting to come back and explore for months.  Who knows what old books or scrolls are still here?" her voice sounding excited.  Matt looked up and said to himself, a bit annoyed at being woken up ay 7am for the trip "Looks like the perfect place to catch asthma from dust inhalation."

"I had to bring you along," said Twilight, "There might be a few monsters that would come here that are too much for me to handle on my own."  Matt said to himself "Of course." before saying out loud.  "You do know I don’t do 'leaving monsters alive' well?  I doubt Fluttershy will like it if I vaporise a few locals."  "You don't have to vaporize them, just scare them off," said Twilight.  Matt sighed and said "We do remember the manticore two days ago?  My chest still has phantom pains from that tail." He rubbed his chest on cue.  The medical nanites had healed it straight almost at once but there were still a few aches, as if it was still there.  

"Well, we should be safe now," said Twilight, "The animals seem to avoid this place."  "Gee, I wonder why?" said Matt sarcastically, looking up at the ruins again.  Something about the place set his teeth on edge.  "You know...you can check it out...I'm gonna stay out here." he said.  "Fine, just keep an eye out for anything that could be trouble," said Twilight.

...

As soon as Twilight had gone inside, Matt turned his comm on and said quietly “Aria...you still tracking that Exo Gene comm traffic?  I do NOT want a surprise.”  "Still monitoring," said Aria.  "Fine...just keep an ear to the ground." said Matt, looking around nervously.  Aria said in her usual monotone voice "I do not have ears, sir."

...

Twilight had decided to start her search in the very room where she and her friends had defeated Nightmare Moon the previous year.  Not much had changed from that night, even down to the hoofprints in the dirt on the floor.  Still, she felt that there was more in this castle.  Surely the five elements were the only things in here.  Her search of the room didn’t reveal much however, except for a few dusty tomes in a connecting room.  This however was not much, newer versions at her home in Ponyville, except for one, entitled 'Legends of the Stars and Sky'.

"Hmm... I wonder what this one is about," said Twilight before lifting the book up to her face.  There was a click from the bookshelf as soon as Twilight had removed the book, followed by another as the bookshelf moved aside to reveal a staircase, probably leading into the cliff the castle was built on.  Twilight was so surprised she dropped the book onto the ground.  "Wow...didn't expect that." she said to herself before stopping as a faint voice, almost like a breath of wind seeming to come from the staircase.  Twilight said to herself nervously "Ok...definitely didn’t expect that."

A large part of her said she should stay away from the staircase, but her curiosity urged her forward.  The staircase seemed to have been built after the castle had been complete, several of the stones looking less worn then their companions above ground.  The staircase finally came out into a surprisingly pristine room, a large opal in the ceiling, over a set of armor with a crescent moon on it.  Twilight was quick to realise what this armour was.  “Nightmare Moons armour?" she said, partly in awe and partly in fear.  She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching her. 

She carefully probed the armour with her magic, sensing something.  However, before she could work out what she was sensing, the ground suddenly shook with a dull boom followed by the 'ratatatatat' of the weapons Matt used.  "What's going on up there?" asked Twilight as she started up the stairs, levitating the armour after her after noting how the ceiling shook and cracked.  

...

Matt ducked as another hail of gunfire shattered the stone over his cover.  "Hey, Aria...have you found them yet?" he yelled sarcastically into his comm before firing his blaster at one of the Exo Gene mercs, sending the guy sprawling with a smoking wound in his chest.  "There are currently 13 mercenaries in the area, including yourself," said Aria, "Three of which are dead."  "Yes, I was the one who shot them." snapped Matt, losing his cool a bit before peering out to see the remaining 8 mercs...wait...Aria had said 13...not 12.  He turned in time to see the merc who had flanked around swinging his rifle butt towards him.

...

Twilight had gotten up the stairs to see several bipedal beings like Matt but clad in white carapace-like armour and with full face-covering helmets surrounding him.  However, unlike Matt they did not look friendly at all.  Matt had been forced into a kneeling position and had his hands tied.  To Twilights horror, one of the other humans punched Matt before saying “Ok...lets do this easy...you tell us where you stashed the A.I and you don’t get handed over to Darius." said the puncher.  One of the others chuckled coldly and said in an amused tone "Yeah...the colonel is seriously pissed at you, dragging us to this madhouse."

"Glad to know I'm doing my job," said Matt.  "You don’t get it.  You pissed off the wrong people.  You're gonna die one way or the others...depends what speed you wanna die at." said the first merc.  Twilight took a step back in horror at those dark words and jumped as a piece of rubble fell down.  The mercs all turned to where the noise came from before they turned to Matt.  The first merc said "Ok...who else is here, Lynch?"  Matt smirked and said "Puff the magic dragon." which earned him another punch across the jaw.  

"Ok, funny guy, let's see you make jokes with a piece of you missing," said one merc, igniting an energy knife before saying to another, "What do you think, eye or nose?"  Twilight actually yelped at this.  This time the mercs did look in her direction, one of them raising a rifle.  "Ok...come on out or we blow you out." said one, pulling an orb off his belt.  Twilight hesitated for a minute before thinking, 'Ok, these people can't be reasoned with.  And I don't think just charging in would do any good.  I'll have to use my magic.'  

...

Echo Team were still aiming at where the noises had come from before somehow managing to prevent their mouths dropping as a purple unicorn walked into view.  "What the smeg?" said one, in a distant voice.  "You guys leave Matt alone or...or else," said the unicorn, sounding terrified.  The mercs, hardened veterans to a man all started laughing.  "Oh yeah?  What're you gonna do?  Magic you and Lynch away in a puff of smoke?" said one of the mercs, with a sneer.  

The unicorn smiled at that and said "Now that you mention it..." before her horn glowed, the unicorn vanishing in a flash of light, a second later, a surprised Matt also vanishing.  The mercs stared dumbfounded for a second before their leader pointed at the doorway that the unicorn had emerged from and said angrily "The fuck?  Harrison...check that door that thing came from."

Harrison walked towards the door, muttering something about 'hallucinogens in the air'.  The team waited until Harrison came back, carrying several pieces of armour.  "Just this stuff, sir.  Should be worth something at a trade station."  The squad captain said in a tired voice "Colonel Darius is gonna blow a fuse..."  

...

Not too far away, Matt was lying in a dazed and singed heap not too far from Twilight.  "Please...warn me...next time." said Matt, in a shaking voice, trying to forget the unpleasant feeling that the teleport had caused.  "Sorry," said Twilight, "I've been trying to improve that spell."  

"Its ok.  Its not the first roasting I ever got..." said Matt, still dazed before Twilight looked worried.  "What?" he said.  Twilight said "They're taking that armour I found.  If thats what I think it is...I don’t think they should be touching it."  Matt peered up to see the merc team looking at the armour Twilight had found, one trying to use a knife to pry the silver crescent moon off it.  "I thought you guys were a non-warring race," said Matt.  "We are.  I think thats Nightmare Moons armour...but it can’t be.  We beat her." said Twilight.  Matt looked at Twilight before saying cautiously "I get the feeling that I wouldn’t have wanted to meet this person."

"She was Celestia's sister, Princess Luna," said Twilight, "When they first ruled together, Celestia was the one who made the sun rise and brought day while Luna was the one who made the moon rise and brought night.  But Luna eventually became jealous and bitter that the ponies played during the day and slept during the night."  "Wow...and I thought me and Chloe were dysfunc...garrgh." said Matt, grabbing his head as the armor glowed blood red, The Echo 4 mercs also letting out cries of pain and grabbing their own heads as the armour let loose an ear splitting shrieking noise.

"Matt?  What's wrong?" asked Twilight in concern, the noise having no effect on her.  Matt had fallen to the floor, making pained noises.  Twilight looked up as a scream came from other mercs.  She was in time to see a black mist shoot from the armour, engulfing the mercs.  One turned and ran for it while another, screaming at an unseen sight, fired, hitting a third merc.  "What's going on?" cried Twilight.  The rest of the mercs were now completely terrified, despite nothing being there except for the glowing armour.  They were shooting wildly in any direction, evidenced when a few rounds hit the rock Twilight and Matt were behind.

Twilight turned to Matt who was whimpering something about ‘the infected’ and said urgently, "Matt, you need to snap out of it.  Whatever you're seeing, it isn't real."  Matt didn’t seem to be focussing properly before the armour let loose another shriek, causing Matt to scream again and pass out.  The other mercs, closer were not so lucky, collapsing dead, judging from the blood coming from their noses and mouths.

Twilight looked in shock over the scene, not sure what to grasp.  Just then, the armour turned, the empty eyeholes pointing directly at Twilight.  This was too much for her and the pony fainted herself.  

...

She came too to see what she thought at first was a red eyed monster.  Twilight screamed and bolted back, her horn started glowing to hit the monster with a spell.  The 'monster’ however held up its hands and said in Matts voice.  "Wow...hold up there."  Twilight lowered her glow to see the 'monster' was only Matt, whose eyes were looking bloodshot.  "Oh, sorry," said Twilight, "You scared me for a second."  

"Then you probably don’t wanna see our friends over there." said Matt, glaring at where two of the drones from his ship were pushing the armour into a container they had brought, a sign claiming the container as ‘hazardous’.  "That...thing cooked those guys brains...and it almost did the same to me." said Matt, glaring harshly at the armour before saying to it "You're fooling nobody."  "Wait, the armour did it?" asked Twilight.  "I dunno what did it...but I’ve seen exo gene lackies stare down things worse then you...no offence, Twilight.  Thats the only reason I can think of." said Matt.

"But it's only armour," said Twilight, "Ok, it may have been Nightmare Moon's armour, but it shouldn't be able to do anything without someone controlling it."  "You willing to take that chance?  Something scared these guys to death then microwaved their brains like popcorn for good measure." said Matt, before saying darkly "Either way...I'm locking it up in my ship armoury until we know for sure.  Better safe then sorry."  "I suppose it's for the best," said Twilight.  Matt nodded before heading off back towards his ship, the drones carrying the container.  

...

Darius looked at the ships medic in partial disbelief before looking thriugh the observaton window at the restrained member of Echo unit...the only one to have returned.  "...and you say he was a gibbering wreck when he came back?  Wheres the rest of Echo 4?" he said.  "From what I've been able to make out from his rabble, they've had their brains fried." said the medic.  "What the hell coulda done that?  We don’t equip our teams with anything less then the best.  Did he say who did it?" said Darius, sounding shocked at the thought of almost an entire team erased so easily.  "Uh, I'm pretty sure he was just babbling when he said that," said the medic.  "What did he say?" said Darius, harshly.  "Uh, a purple unicorn did it," said the medic.

"What?" said Darius bluntly.  The medic shrugged and said "You wanted to know.  We can’t check his equipment cam cause there was a gigantic magi surge at the time."  Darius blinked and said, "Well, we need to find a logical explanation.  I don't want a repeat of this."  "We have been able to get the frequency of the magi surge that we presume is what killed Echo and drove Private Johnson off the deep end." said the medic.  Darius glared "Get Echo 1 and 2 suited up for heavy combat.  I want them to find out who or what did this to my men." he said angrily.

...

Matt didn’t stop worrying about what had happened to the team Darius had sent.  He refused to leave the ship for the next few days, having Aria listen in case any other teams turned up to either find out what had happened or to get revenge.  He and Twilight had also both agreed to keep the find of the armour to themselves at least until they found out what had killed the mercenaries and nearly killed Matt. 

However, on the fourth evening, he was forced to head out to Applejacks farm to stock up on food.  Applejack had allowed him to take a few apples from the trees near to the edge of Everfree as long as he didn't get greedy.  Matt usually did his 'harvest' after the sun had set to avoid unwanted attention so was surprised to bump into Applejack herself as he arrived.   

"Bit late to be out, isn’t it?" he said cheerfully as he came out of the tree line.  

"I'm just making sure you won't be rustling any more apples than you need," said Applejack, suspiciously.  

"I haven’t been out the ship since my trip with Twilight.  I've been living off survival rations." said Matt, confused.  

"Then how comes the trees here have been losing so many apples?" demanded Applejack.  She nodded up towards some trees, where several branches were barren of apples.

Matt looked up at the evidence.  "Smeg." he said to himself before saying  "Maybe Darius has a team in the area.  Aria can only listen so much.  You probably heard about the close call me and Twilight had.  Just be careful...these guys do not play games."  

"Yeah, I heard about it, alright," said Applejack, "How did you two get out of that pickle?"  

"Uh...dumb luck mostly," said Matt, the response carefully worded.  

Applejack frowned at that, having gotten the same question dodge when she had asked Twilight.  However, she also knew when someone wasn’t gonna talk so she dropped it.  

Matt, on his own part, mentally sighed with relief when Applejack seemed to drop the subject and said "I'll keep an extra eye out...if they were really looking for trouble, they'd have marched into town."  Matt then headed over to a tree that looked like it still had some ripe apples on it, vanishing from sight among the trees.

Applejack watched Matt walk out of sight before sighing.  The missing apples were probably just one of the Everfree forests inhabitants after a free lunch.  She was about to go make sure Matt hadn’t gotten lost in the orchard when she heard footsteps coming from the forest...lots of footsteps.  She quickly hid behind one tree, keeping an eye out for whoever or whatever was coming. Just over half a dozen humans came into view, heading for the apple trees.  

One said in a cocky voice "Apples again, sarge?  It’s bad enough we lost our rations to that manticore but having to eat this smeg?"  "Would you rather eat roots?" replied a voice.  "It'd at least be a change." said the first voice again, its owner kicking an apple out of the trees.  

A third, female voice said "Don't forget, we need firewood.  Thermal flares aren’t any good without wood to burn."  "Do I look like a woodchopper?" asked the first voice.  

"Just shoot a few branches down." said a new voice, one of the humans pulling out a rifle.  Applejack snorted with anger.  "Poachin' apples is bad enough, but no one's choppin' down our trees," she grumbled before she charged out.

...

Echo 1 had spent the last 4 days in misery.  First, a manticore of all things had attacked their camp. Their dropship had survived but they’d lost half their supplies.  Then, they'd lost 3 men to some kind of lizard/chicken hybrid with a very...unique stare...and now some talking orange pony was in front of them.  

"What the hell is that?" said Corporal Higgins.  One of the men, who had taken a bite from an apple, stared at the fruit in question before throwing it away.  "Ok, I think something's wrong with these apples," he said.

The orange pony seemed to get annoyed at that.  "What?  First, y'all poach our apples, now you're insultin' em?" it said angrily.  

Sergeant Andrews grinned as three of his men had gotten behind the local.  "Yeah...so what?" he said, pulling out his pistol, only for one of his corporals to say "Darius said no collateral casualties."  "It's a smegging horse," said Andrews, "I doubt he'd even care." 

"Jenkins gibbered something about talking ponies...maybe this one knows something?" said one of the troopers behind Applejack, adding nastily "Plus I don’t like it when farm animals talk back." 

One of the troopers behind Applejack pulled out a stick and clicked it on, causing electricity to crackle from the end of it.  But Applejack wasn't about to let herself get zapped by some two bit apple poacher and kicked out behind with her hind legs.  The trooper took the kick to his chest and was sent into the tree behind him with a crunch, a visible dent in his armours chestplate.  

One of the other troopers snapped out of his shock first and growled "You little..." only to receive a buck himself, sending him spinning like a top before he fell.  

The third one aimed a downward attack, only to find AJ had moved.  "Oh cra..." he began before being bucked in the visor of his helmet, instantly knocked out.

A fourth one moved in, wielding his energy knife to stab Applejack, but Applejack kicked him as well, only lower than the others.  Collins and Andrews winced, their eyes watering in male sympathy although their female teammate just laughed.  Andrews finally clicked his blaster to stun and fired, catching Applejack on the left hind leg and knocking her to the ground, dazing her.  

He walked towards her, glaring and saying icily "You're worse then Lynch.  Now then...how'd you take out echo 4?  You don't look capable of reducing people to gibbering wrecks." before pausing and looking at the squealing trooper, adding "...most of the time."

"I ain’t never met anypony named Echo." said Applejack, wincing from the numbness the blast had caused.  

"The last stable memory Captain Jenkins had was one of you freaks...so DON’T LIE!" said Andrews, yelling the last part and pointing his blaster, having set it back to kill.  

"I don't know what happened to them cause I never met em," said Applejack, glaring defiantly at Andrews. 

Andrews glared back and clicked his blaster.  "Maybe I should blow a limb off?  Pains always a good motivator..." before the merc jerked, collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut, smoke rising from where a blast had hit.  The other mercs raised their guns as more stunner blasts shot around em.  

"Its the NSC.  Grab the sarge..." yelled Collins, panicking.

The troopers quickly picked up their stunned sergeant and ran for it, several of them limping, particularly the one with his hands between his legs.  Matt came into view a half minute later, firing his blaster after the mercs before looking over at Applejack and running over.  

"Damn...you ok?  Lucky their sergeant got such a good pair of lungs." he said, concerned.  

"I'm fine," said Applejack, "I don't think they hurt me.  Though I can't feel much of my flank."  

"Its just a stun round.  Its literally sent your leg to sleep.  It'll be fine in a few minutes." said Matt, peering around, adding jokingly "Shame I gotta hide, otherwise I could just run for help."

"Ah, tain't nothing to fret about," said Applejack, "Them apple rustlers will think twice before poaching here again."  

"Yeah...I saw one of them.  Man, you fight dirty." said Matt, grinning.  "I was aiming for his diaphragm, but he moved a bit," said Applejack, returning the grin.  Matt looked up before aiming his wrist comp and firing a flare from its launcher.  

"That ought to get some attention and some help.  What were those guys asking about, anyway?" he said.

"About what happened to their friends," said Applejack.  "Oh..." said Matt, his voice going distant before asking "Did they mention any specifics?"  "Only that their friends went crazy," said Applejack, "But you'd know more than me, wouldn't you?"  

Matt said "I wouldn’t know." with certain truth, given that he’d almost ended up in the same boat.  Matt sighed and said "I'd better go...your little sister knows me but nobody else does and I do not wanna see the inside of a jail cell."  

Applejack stared after Matt as he grabbed some of the fallen apples and ran back into the tree line just as Big Mac came into view.  She may not have been a certified genius, but her element of harmony meant that she could tell a falsehood when she heard one from a mile away.

...

It was the same nightmare again.  Canterlot in flames...blurry machines hovering over the streets, firing energy pulses at movement.  Twilight ducked down and covered her head with her hooves as a store front was hit by a pulse blast and blossomed into a fireball.  The culprit shot away while humans, wearing the same gear as the ones from Luna’s old castle walked into view and past her hiding place.  Blasts of energy were quickly reducing the beautiful houses and buildings into rubble, with the citizens screaming and running for their lives.  Twilight could only watch as some citizens ran into the sight of the humans on the ground...and their guns.  

"Twilight!" called two voices.  Twilight turned to see a blue unicorn stallion with two crescent moons for a cutie mark and a unicorn mare with purple mane and hair with three purple stars for her cutie mark.  "Mom?  Dad?" asked Twilight.  Her parents looked in her direction and ran over.  "Twilight...thank Celestia you're alright...when we heard what happened to ponyville..." said her mother, anxiously.  "What?  What about Ponyville?" asked Twilight.  "They burnt it to the ground...They said nopony escaped in time." said her father, sadly.  "What?  But that's impossible," said Twilight.  

Her father said "We're sorry about your friends...but the city needs your help.  You're the only one other then the princesses who can stand up to them..."  "I don't know," said Twilight, "Those guys look really tough.  Shouldn't we try to find Princess Celestia?"  "There's no time." said her mother, urgently, looking over her shoulder.  "We can't wait any longer," said her father, "Where is Matt?"  Twilight sighed "I'm having the dream again.  You’ve never met Matt." she said to herself, before walking over to a wall and headbutting it.

...

Twilight opened her eyes to find herself back in the library.  "This dream is really getting old," she said to herself.  Spike was downstairs, already up and dealing with his chores.  "Hi there, Twi.  Same nightmare?" he said, in greeting.  "I think the fifth time," said Twilight, "Slightly different.  This time, it was my parents asking where Matt was."  "That human living in the forest?  When are you gonna let me meet this guy?" said Spike.  Twilight sighed and said "He’s not exactly sociable."  "Ah, he can't be that bad," said Spike, cheerfully.

Twilight conjured a vision in her head of Matt, a creature that seemed a single, very small step from taking a one way dive off sanity...a person who always carried one of his weird energy weapons with him.  "Maybe next time." she said in compromise.  After all, the human had already had one close call with a manticore so he would have to come out soon.  "You know, the weird thing about these dreams is that they seem so...fake," said Twilight.  "Uh, they're dreams, they're not supposed to be real," said Spike.

Twilight smiled at that.  I know, silly.  There's just...something off about them...like they're scripted." she said before the library door burst open and the CMC trio burst in, all talking at once.  "Whoa, whoa, slow down girls," said Twilight, "I can't understand you talking like that."  The crusaders stopped talking for a minute to take breaths before Applebloom said in a upset and frantic voice "Some of those varmints that Matt said were after him got big sis."  "What?  Applejack's in trouble?" asked Spike.  

"They were hustlin the apple trees last night.  Applejack surprised em.  Matt wuz there and helped to chase em off but they got her." said Applebloom, gloomily.  "We have to go after her, immediately," said Twilight.  Scootaloo said "They didn’t take her but she was limping when we saw her."  "Oh, that's not as bad," said Twilight, "I think I have a book on healing spells in here."  

...

Twilight, Spike and the CMC headed down to Sweet Apple Acres to where Applejack could be seen, helping pull a apple wagon.  The clear difference was a bandage around her left hind leg and the flank above it.  "Twilight.  Nice of you to drop by." she said in greeting as she spotted them.  "Are you hurt?" asked Twilight, "I've learned some healing spells recently that could..."  Applejack went wide eyed for a second.  "No thank you, sugarcube.  Ah still remember whut happened when you performed a healing spell on angel." she said.

"Well, Angel was a little small for his age anyways," said Twilight, "And he turned back to normal...eventually."  "Yeah...doc said ah'll be fine in a couple of days so there ain’t no need to put yourself out...and Matt said he's gonna make sure the rest of them stay in the forest huntin ghosts." said Applejack, just concealing a sigh of relief.  "Did you say ghost?" asked Applebloom nervously.

"Don’t worry, applebloom.  Just repeatin what Matt said.  You know he talks a bit weird." said Applejack, thinking of Matts habit of screaming the word 'smeg' over and over when annoyed.  "Well, those varmints better not mess with our orchards again," said Applebloom, enthusiastically.  "Ah don’t think they were after the apples...kept askin about their buddies." said Applejack.  "What buddies?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Some of them tried to get me and Matt when I was visiting Luna's old castle.  We just got away." said Twilight.  "So they have friends that are lost in Everfree Forest?" asked Sweetie Belle.  "Ah don't think they're friends." said Applejack, to herself.  "Hey, maybe we can earn our cutie marks by guarding the apples," said Scootaloo.  The two ponies both said "NO!" at the same time, earning an 'Awww.' from the crusaders.  Applejack sighed and said "These humans aren't like Matt."

"They're very dangerous," said Twilight, "And they don't play nice at all."  Applebloom said "Like that cockatrice we met with Fluttershy?"  Twilight said "As bad, yes."  "Ah, just when I thought Everfree Forest was getting safe enough to explore in," said Scootaloo.  Twilight sighed as the Cutie Mark Crusaders left before she said "Are you sure you're ok, Applejack?"  

"Now, now, it's nothing to worry about," said Applejack, "I'll be fine in a few days and I'll be getting back to work."  "Just be careful." said Twilight with concern.  Applejack sighed "Those nightmares again?" she said before saying "They're just nightmares, hun.  They're not the future."  "I know that," said Twilight, sighing "But these don't feel like ordinary dreams."  "Just ignore em.  You can always wake up from dreams." said Applejack, with a smile.  "Now don’t you worry none.  Ah'll be fine."  "If you're sure," said Twilight, "Just don't try to overexert yourself."  

...

Meanwhile...

Andrews was not in a good mood.  "I can't believe that...smeghead shot me in the back." he was ranting, a bandage round his head where he had hit it when he’d fallen down.  "Well, you're hardly the one who suffered the most pain," said one of the men.  "Yeah, the way Ted's whining, you'd think he'll never have kids," said another.  Lance-Corporal Andrea laughed to herself, saying "Men." under her breath before seeing a few dropships flying into view.  "Uh oh...guys...the other teams are back." she said.

"Maybe they have some good news," said one of the men.  The first dropship landed as Andrew said "Yeah...like they found the target on the other side of this rock."  The looks on the faces of the mercs coming out though seemed to indicate that Andrews’ theory wasn't likely.  "Well, status report," snapped Andrews.  "Shut it, Dave.  We've had a crappy week...This place is worse then Mythicos for wierd smeg." said one of the team leaders before noticing the wrecked camp.  "What the smeg happened here while we were gone?" he said with amusement.  

"We tried gathering apples from the orchard, but we ran into a security problem," said Andrea.  "This place looks like a manticore hit it." said a merc coming from the last dropship before noticing Andrews' glare "Man.  Sucks to be you." he said.  "I'm in a bad mood right now, the 'I will shoot whoever bothers me too much' kind of mood," said Andrew.  "Cool it...we managed to work out where the target is.  Its practically next door." said the first merc again, smirking.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" asked Andrews in an annoyed tone.  "Coming from the center of that tow..." began a merc and everyone jumped back as Andrews screamed 'WHYYYYYYYY?'

...

That night Twilight was getting ready for bed.  However, she was feeling a bit of anticipation about going to sleep.  She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed before saying to herself "Applejacks right...it was just a dream." before getting into bed and shutting her eyes

...

Outside the town, two of echo's mercs pushed what looked like a pole with a disc glued to the top into the soft ground.  "This is Night light.  Last Psy-sleepers in place.  Nobodies gonna wake up tonight.  Its all clear." said one merc.  "Then start them up," said the voice on the other side of the comm.  "Roger that.  It'll cover the forest too so if Lynch is camped there, we won’t get interruptions from him either." said the merc.  "Brilliant...lets get this done.  You saw the magi readings from that city nearby...I do not wanna meet its owner." said the voice again, a mix of agreement coming over the comm.

"How come we're stuck on Psy-sleeper duty?" said the other merc, as a dropship flew over.  The first merc said "The sleepers'll keep anyone who was asleep when they came on, asleep till we're done...including the target.  We gotta make sure nothing damages the network."  "So what if we nod off?" asked the other merc.  "We were awake when it turned on.  Unless someone stuns us...we'll stay awake." said the first merc, sighing as he did so.  The second merc said "So nobody can wake up."

"Yes, yes, we've been over this," said the first merc, "Why do you keep asking that?"  "Because I think I saw something moving in the trees," said the second merc.  The first merc looked at the nearby orchard.  The network type units the duo had set up had to be set up evenly and it was dumb luck that this one had been set up near where the crazy orange pony that had nailed Ted was.  "It can’t be...that hat wearer again...could it?" said the second one, holding his blaster rifle in shaking hands.

The two of them slowly approached the treeline, looking for anything suspicious.  After a few minutes of shining their lights through the trees, the first merc sighed "Man...I'm jumpy.  You shoulda seen..." he began in relief, not finishing as Matt, who had been spending the night keeping an eye on the farm from the everfree treeline and, who up until that moment had been sneaking up, punched the first merc across the jaw hard enough to spin him before blasting the second with his plasma magnum.

Matt then noticed the psy sleeper.  "As much as I need the sleep, I don't need it that much," said Matt before blasting it.  He had, of course only overheard part of what the mercs had spoken about, otherwise he might not have shot it.  As the psy sleeper powered down, the wrist comp on one of the downed mercs began to beep urgently.

...

Meanwhile, the rest of echo looked up as their dropship took position.  "Ok...lets move.  I want whatever the target is stunned and ready to go in 10 minutes..." said Andrews.  As the troopers headed in the direction of the signal, they were not impressed by the scenery.  "Sheesh, do they have any kind of paint that's not too bright," said one.  "I've seen dollhouses less silly-looking than these," said another.

"Remember...no shooting unless you meet a psy immune." said their squad leader, referring to the slang name for the rare cases of individuals immune to psy sleepers.  "I half hope there is a few." muttered the merc that had mentioned the doll house comment.  They stopped, looking at a tree house...as in a house inside a tree.  "Signals coming from there...some kinda magi lock on the door." said the tech with the scanner.  Andrews sighed and pointed to the others.  "I want a perimeter.  I don’t want any chances.  Davis...open that damn door.  I want out of this toyland as soon as possible." he said.  The tech sighed "One mythicos lockpick special coming up...in 10 minutes." he said.

"You have 5," said Andrews.  "This isn’t like a normal lockpick.  You want me to pick the lock or vaporise 3 square blocks?" said Davis, irritated.  "Just get to work on it," said Andrews.  "Fine...just give me peace and quiet to do it." said Davis, before turning to work on the lock.

...

Squad 2 was near to the wierd candy building, one of them poking its side.  "How the smeg did they manage this?" the merc commented thoughtfully.  The other merc was trying to call the sleeper team.  "Night Light...harrison, you there?" he was saying, annoyed at no answer.  

However, between the candy building and their attempts to contact the sleeper team, the mercs failed to notice when one merc that was standing next to an alley was suddenly pulled out of sight.  Another merc finally got an alert.  "Guys...we got a problem.  Psy Sleeper 2 and 4 just auto deactivated...and sleeper 3 is sending a system crash alarm." he said, urgently.  "That can't be, double check," said another.

"I'll go check it out.  If one of them got damaged, all the others will turn off...then so much for a quiet mission." said the merc, running in the direction of the outskirts.  Just then, one of the mercs looked around and said, "Hey, where's George?"  The two remaining mercs raised their rifles and shone the attached searchlights around.  "George.  This ain’t funny." yelled the first merc, neither of them noticing a light coming on in the building behind them.  Matt was slipping out of the alley, 'George' knocked out, tied up and propped up behind him and the mercs stun stick in his hand.  

He was getting just within striking range of one of the mercs when the door of the candy building opened and one of its owners appeared.  "What's going on out here?" asked Mr. Cake in a tired voice.  The two mercs turned, raising their rifles automatically and it would have ended badly for Mr Cake then and there, had Matt not brought the stun stick down on the left mercs gun arm, before firing the liberated gun at the other.  He turned to the shocked pony and said "I’d get inside and stay there if I was you..." as four more echo mercs, having heard the gunfire, ran into view.  "Its Lynch...waste that smeghead." yelled one of them and opened fire.

Mr. Cake wasted no time shutting and locking the door.  The mercs however let loose with everything they had.  Matt ran for it down an alley, the hogtied George glaring at him as he ran by.  

...

Andrews jumped as the sound of gunfire was heard, several lights turning on in the surrounding houses.  "What the hell is going on, perimeter?  And why the smeg can I see activity from the locals?" he yelled into his comm.  "It's Lynch," came the reply, "The bastard's probably messed with the sleepers.  We got locals waking up all over the place"  "Fine...weapons free.  I have had enough of this smegged up dimension." said Andrews angrily, before switching channels.  "Eyeball.  Put that dropship to use...Nobody leaves till we're finished." he said.  The reply said "Not a problem, man."

...

Of course, with the gunfire and the psy sleepers down, no pony was asleep anymore.  As a matter of fact, practically every single one was running and screaming, mainly towards the edge of Ponyville.  None of the fleeing ponies seemed to notice that any mercs taking aim at them tended to get shot rather quick.  Two ponies, a sea green unicorn with a lute cutie mark and a white earth pony with three wrapped sweets as hers were at the head, the unicorn calling out "Come on, Bonbon.  We're almost at the canterlot road."  "We'll be safe there, Lyra," said Bonbon with relief.

The two ponies turned the corner onto the final road leading out to Canterlot before what looked like a metallic hawk screamed overhead and hovered facing the road, before firing a hail of energy rounds and creating a wall of flames.

...

Eyeballs pilot smirked as the two ponies fled into a building.  "This is eyeball...doors are locked.  Nobodies leaving this party." he said with a evil grin.  He hadn’t had this much fun in years...

...

Matt ducked behind a stand that happened to be standing across the street from Carousel Boutique.  Echo squad had also set up opposite, ignoring the panicking locals for now, probably in favour of bagging the no doubt astronomically high bounty that their employers had on Matt.  

Matt peered out and had to duck back as several pulse rounds nearly removed his head.  He turned to the side to see Sweetie belle and Rarity peering out and motioned for them to stay there, firing blindly over his cover, a yell indicating he’d hit one of echo.

"Rarity, what's going on?" asked Sweetie Belle in a frightened voice.  "I'm not quite sure," said Rarity, staying calm for her little sisters sake "But I believe it's best we stay inside."  One merc fired a few random rounds at the duo before Matt fired the last of his captured SMG and sent the offending merc sprawling.  Matt pulled out his plasma magnum and shot another merc before a lucky shot sent his gun flying out his hand and into the open ground between his cover and the boutique.  "Smeg," said Matt, the crossfire discouraging a retrieval.

...

Twilight opened her eyes to find herself in what looked like a pure black void.  "Twilight." said a voice behind her and she turned to see her parents, just like in the other dreams.  This time however, they didn’t look frightened...they looked deadly serious.  "Mom, Dad, what's going on?" asked Twilight.  "Twilight...your friends are in danger." said her father, his horn glowing and what looked like a hole in the void appeared, showing the main street of Ponyville near the boutique, where Echo were raining a merciless hail of fire on Matts cover.

"Oh my gosh, I must do something," said Twilight, in shock.  She immediately galloped at the view, only for it to vanish into mist.  Her mother said in a grim voice "You don’t have enough magic to stop them all.  There are too many of the humans."  "But I can't stay here and do nothing," said Twilight in horror.  Her father said in the same grim voice "Let us help you.  Together we can stop them."  "You sure?  This may be a bit much for you and if you got hurt..." said Twilight.  Her mother said, with a smile.  "My daughter...together we can do anything."

"You really think so?" asked Twilight in a unsure voice, looking at the re-emerged view.  Her father said with a identical smile "Of course we can, My daughter." before holding his hoof out.  Twilight probably should have been more wary about her parents' smiles and the strange look in their eye, but the desperate situation going on didn't leave much time for careful thinking.   As a result, as she held out her own hoof, she failed to notice the star speckled smoke heading towards her.

...

Back in reality, Matt had his head covered as the round impacts sent splinters around him before waving to Rarity.  He’d seen her and Twilight levitate stuff...surely they could levitate his gun over...it was only a matter of time before echo worked out he was defenceless.  "What is Matt waving about?" asked Sweetie Belle.  "I'm not sure," said Rarity, "I think he's trying to make us look at something."  Matt made pointing motions to where his gun lay in the grass before a shot nearly blew his hand off and he backed further into cover.

"I think he's pointing at that stick thingy," said Sweetie Belle pointing at the plasma magnum.  Rarity looked where her little sister was pointing before catching on and nodding at Matt.  With a little concentration, she easily used her magic to slide the gun over to Matt, but she also noticed the sparking dent in the side.

...

Matt readied the blaster and noticed the dent, followed by the guns computer saying "Danger...recoil dampener is damaged...please do not discharge this weapon until a qualified Archeon and Recaris technician can replace the damaged component."  "Sorry, no A&R repair shops here," said Matt.  A footstep got his attention and Matt turned to see a echo merc flanking him.  He didn’t waste time aiming at the merc and firing.  The result was quite impressive.  The blast sent the echo merc flying back into a pile of crates with a smoking hole in his armour while unfortunately the recoil also sent Matt flying backwards into Carousel boutique, over the heads of the two unicorns and into the far wall with a painful sounding crunch.

"Ok, gonna need to find an A&R repair shop," winced Matt.  Rarity and Sweetie Belle and ran over.  "My goodness, are you alright?" said Rarity in shock.  Matt said weakly "I don’t think so." confirming as when he tried to move, his vision blurred from pain.  One of his ribs must have broke, despite his armour.  His medical nanites would fix it...but they might knock him out to do so.  

"Should I get some bandages?" asked Sweetie Belle.  "Nah...I'll be fine." said Matt before hearing a voice outside say "Ok, Lynch...you come on out before we turn this building and its inhabitants into a colander."  "Ok, this is trouble," said Matt.  "You got ten seconds to come on out...and we might leave a few survivors." said the merc outside, earning a few nasty laughs from his fellow teammates.

...

Davis grinned as the lock finally clicked.  "Yo, boss.  We're in...wow...magi levels are going nuts." he said, looking as his scanner began to beep like crazy.  "There's no way they can spike that fast," said Andrews.  Davis looked at the readings again, the readout flashing red as the levels shot past the danger level.  "Shit...target must be awake." he swore, backing up from the door.  Andrews glared at his men.  "Kick the door...if darius wants this alive, he can clone it."  He walked forward, kicked the door and died with the rest of his team as a blast of psy-energy engulfed him.  

...

Eyeball's pilot watched in shock as what looked like a blast of star speckled smoke shot out the door, engulfing Andrews and his team.  "What the hell?" he said in shock, spinning his ship around for a clear shot.  Suddenly, the dropship's sensors picked up a magi reading that was almost off the scale.  The pilot looked ahead to see the smoke swirling to a single spot, apparently getting ready to leave.  The pilot glared and said angrily "Nobody wastes my teammates and gets away." before firing.

However, the shots didn't appear to do anything at all.  "What?  How could that thing still be standing?" said the pilot before a crippling pain shot through his head.  The pilot screamed as blood came out of his nose and eyes, before he slumped over the controls, dead as a dodo.

...

Matt, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were worryingly waiting for the mercs to storm before the trio heard panicked yells outside.  Matt limped over to the door and was in time to see echo's gunship spiralling out of sight, a fireball burst into the air just outside the town.  "Uh, that's a good thing, right?" asked Sweetie Belle.

Matt turned to see several mercs firing in panic at a shape covered in shadowy smoke.  The shape sent out several tendrils of smoke that hit the echo troopers, leaving nothing behind.  The others were running for their lives.  Sweetie Belle said “Is it over?” in a small voice.  "It might be, but I'm going to make sure the job's finished," said Matt before staggering for the door.  "Matt, I don't think you should move like that," said Rarity.

Matt didn’t seem to be listening as he grabbed a discarded blaster and shot a retreating Echo merc in the back, vaporising him before trying to aim at another,  "Attacking me...I can take...attacking...people who...can’t...fight...back...is...." he said, angrily, his voice slurring before he fell on his face, out cold. 

Just then, the starry smoke started swirling into a maelstrom in the sky.  And enough of it lifted from the ground to reveal that they were actually the greatly extended mane and tail of an odd-looking unicorn.  Rarity stared in shock as she recognised the cutie mark on the newcomer.  "Twilight?" she said in shock.

The unicorn turned to look at Rarity, though 'unicorn' may not apply so well.  A pair of black wings suddenly extended from her shoulders...except that they weren't merely wings like on a black Pegasus, but completely black, like they were made of shadow.  However, the rest of the unicorn had the same familiar colors.  Rarity and Sweetie Belle took a nervous step back as the unicorn turned to look at them before a hail of energy rounds from more echo survivors shot past her.

The unicorn turned towards the mercs and her eyes and horn glowed dark purple.  The troopers took a step back nervously before the ground seemed to open under them, black holes under their feet swallowing the luckless mercs.  The mercs didn't have long to scream before they disappeared completely.  The ponies looked terrified as 'Twilight' or whoever that was turned her head towards them before saying with a cruel sneer "Isn’t any pony going to thank me?"  

Just then, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew down.  "What was all that scary noise?" asked Fluttershy.  "It woke me up in the middle of a racing dream," said Dash a little sourly.  Dash's voice trailed off to see some of Matt's targets laying down, as well as Matt himself, the embers of 'Eyeballs' fire block and the smoke from the aforementioned downed dropship outside town.  It also fell on the dark alicorn hovering in front of the library tree.

"Nightmare Moon?  But I thought she changed back to Luna," said Rainbow Dash.  The alicorn turned its gaze on the pegasi and said "Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash...do you like the new me?"  Fluttershy nearly stopped flapping her wings in shock.  "Tw-tw-Twilight?" asked Fluttershy in a shaking voice.  Rainbow dash, naturally was more to the point.  "Twilight?  Are you crazy?  How did this happen?" she said, in shock.  Behind her, the other ponies in the town were coming out of hiding.

Twilight looked at the ponies' frightened faces.  They feared her, they feared her power.  And for some reason, it felt really good.  As a matter of fact, it was quite intoxicating.  She turned to look at the horrified and frightened faces of the citizens of ponyville before at the faces of her friends...no...former friends.  What need had a goddess for friends?  Rarity was saying in a concerned voice. "Twilight...you have to stop this.  This...power you've used...its dangerous."

"Only to those who lack the knowledge to control it, and I possess plenty of that," said Twilight, proudly.  This...power you've used...its dangerous."  Fluttershy said in a small voice "Please...Twilight.  You have to give this magic up...if you don’t mind....sorry."

"Give it up?  Why on Equestria would I want to give this up?" said Twilight, "I am all-powerful."  Some of the ponies looked towards Canterlot where a dozen or so royal guard could be seen heading towards the town.  Rainbow Dash glared "You're gonna give up that power if I have to make you.  Its too dangerous." she said, flaring her wings to take off only for several black tendrils to tangle her up painfully.  "So thats it..." said twilight darkly.

Unnoticed by the ponies, Matt was started to stir.  His ribs weren't completely healed and his head felt like a blacksmith's anvil, but he was at least conscious.  The other ponies were backing up in horror as Twilight descended down to ground level.  "So, you're jealous...you want my power for yourself." she said, squeezing the tendrils with each harsh word.  "No...not...at...all..." gasped Rainbow Dash.

While the ponies were watching in horror, Matt was working with his wrist comp.  "C'mon, anything, a bazooka, a stun grenade," he muttered.  The wrist comp's however replied, "No available weapons are capable of damaging target."  "Smeg..." said Matt to himself as Twilight said harshly "Well...I don’t need you anymore..."  Matt sighed and reached for the blaster next to him.  "Ok...time out," he said, firing a few rounds.  While it didn’t do anything, it did make the proto-goddess release her grip on Rainbow Dash.  

Twilight's eyes blazed with fury, as well as dark magical energies.  "Who dares attack me?" she demanded.  The crowd had scattered again when Matt had fired, revealing Matt, barely managing to sit up, the blaster in his hand shaking.  "Told you...that armour was...bad news." he said, weakly.  Just then, Applejack and Pinkie Pie arrived to see Matt shooting at a dark winged version of Twilight.  "What in tarnation's going on?" asked Applejack.  "Is it Nightmare Night already?" asked Pinkie.  The two of them didn't get much time to process the situation as Princess Celestia and her guards flew down from the sky.

Celestia looked...well, the only word to describe her mood was 'fuming'.  A group of creatures had attacked her subjects and only luck had stopped deaths.  Her angry look turned to shock as she saw the other alicorn...more so as recognition dawned.  Twilight hissed a bit at the brightness of Celestia's coat.  She felt an urge to extinguish that brightness, but common sense told her now was not the best time.  Celestia looked at Twilight and said in a sad tone  "Oh...twilight...what have you done?"

Twilight's mane and tail flared as she said, "I am no longer your student.  Now I am the master."  The two alicorns glared before both looking down when matt said in a slurred voice "Oh, shut up.  WHY DOES EVIL DO CORNY LINES?"  Unfortunately, Celestia was distracted by Matt enough to take her eyes of Twilight.  Twilight took advantage of this as she seemed to disappear into the starry smoke of her mane and tail.  "We will meet again, Celestia.  And next time, I won't be so merciful."

Matt, realising what he'd just inadvertedly caused said weakly "Oh...bugger." before he passed out again.  While the townsponies weren't very sure about what had just happened, they did know that there was at least one of the attackers was still alive and he had just passed out.  The remaining Mane six, getting a good idea what the furious ponies had in mind for Matt, got in the way.  "Y'all crazy?  He ain't done a thing wrong." said Applejack.

"He's one of the attackers," said one of the ponies.  "They tried to destroy our town," said another.  Rarity said angrily to the pony "Don’t be so foolish.  He is as much their enemy.  He stopped them hurting me and my sister."  "How can we be sure?" demanded the same pony.  Pinkie said with her classic bounciness "Don’t be silly.  He may be a bit grumpy-wumpy and look a bit strange but he’s not a bad guy."  "Enough," said Celestia, "This is a matter that concerns the safety of all of Equestria.  I shall see to this...stranger."

The ponies parted as Celestia walked up to the human and looked at him closely.  The human looked like a young adult...barely out of his teens but there was a...air.  He’d seen too much for someone his years.  Applejack said desperately "He ain’t like those others..." only to stop as Celestia said softly "I have to be sure.", her horn glowing.

...

Matt opened his eyes and experienced the headache from hell and to be in a cell.  He didn’t expect to be standing on a floating island in a void he’d never expected to see ever again.  "Oh boy...well, I can safely say the chronicler isn’t responsible this time." he said, in a tired voice, turning to see a castle not unlike the caste he and Twilight had explored...but not ruined.  "I'm pretty sure there weren't any buildings the last time I was here," said Matt when he heard some voices from the direction of said castle.

Matt automatically reached for his holstered weapon, his hand almost there before he remembered that all the other convexity visits had not given him a gun, so he was surprised to find his blaster in its usual place.  "Ok...now this is weird." he said to himself in a shaken voice before heading through the gates.  The scene he saw was an equestrian being backed into a corner by two Black 13 mercenaries.  "Hey...what the smeg are you doing?" said Matt, angrily.  The first of the mercs turned to say in a nasty voice "None of your business.  This is our contract.  Combine confeds have been after this guy for years."

"I only ate a few leaves!" cried the pony, "How was I supposed to know that rose bush belonged to someone important?"  Matt stared.  He heard that the Combine Confederation had a strict law system to the point on insanity but this was new.  "You're kidding, right?  You're arresting him for having a snack?" he said to the black 13 duo.  "That rose bush happened to belong to a high-ranking member of the Council and he was rather distraught to have his prized roses maimed," said one of the mercs.

Matt said coldly "Then I expect you have the papers to do this."  The right merc said with a smirk "Fuck papers...this guys worth 150k per merc."  The other gave his companion a glare and said more reasonably "You don’t even know this guy."  Matt looked at the pony and seemed to hear a gentle female voice saying faintly "Would you act to help a pony you have never met?"

Matt looked over his shoulder, looking for the speaker and asked, "What was that?"  "Oh, please," said one of the mercs, "That's the oldest trick in the book."  Matt looked at the pleading face of the pony before at the mercs, one saying "You coming quietly or do we have to deliver damaged goods?" as they drew their blasters.  Matt rolled his eyes and said "I'm gonna regret this." before pulling his own blaster and shooting the two mercs blaster hands, disarming them.  "Get lost." he said to the two mercs, who without their weapons suddenly had a loss of courage.  The two mercs looked at each other before running away.

Matt turned to the pony to see it staring at him with unnerving intensity.  "You have heart..." it said with worrying calm, before adding "...but do you have the courage to sacrifice everything?" before Matt's vision was blinded, changing to a burning starship corridor, a AI saying "Warning:  Core breach.  General Order 13 in effect.  All hands, abandon ship."

"What is this, a video game?" asked Matt, already getting annoyed.  A NSC crewman, bleeding from a cut on his forehead ran from a side corridor, guiding a family along.  "Lynch...what the hell?  Get your butt in gear.  Combines torn us a new one.  Help me get these civvies to the lifepods." the crewman yelled.  Matt was a bit confused about his surroundings, but was quick to react to this new environment.  

As he ran along, he spotted a name on the side of the corridor, the 'NSS Triton'.  He stopped for a second at that.  It had been a colony ship that had been ambushed by Combine raiders...the incident that had sparked the Combine/NSC war.  He'd only read about it, he hadn’t even been born when it had taken place.  "Dammit, Lynch...move your ass." yelled the crewman before an explosion threw him back, dead.  The children in the family screamed in terror at that.  Matt said desperately “Ok...lets move."  It may be some in a dream, but he’d felt the heat from the blast as real as anything.

However, the children were too scared to move an inch.  Matt said, soothingly "Come on...I know you're scared.  Ancients know I am.  However, the sooner you get to the pods, the sooner you're to safety."  The children still looked terrified, but they moved forwards a little.  Their mother said, a doctor judging from her white uniform, with the nametag 'Dr C' visible, the rest burnt away. "Come on, children.  Sgt Lynch is here to help us."

"That's right, I'm-" started Matt before pausing.  He didn't say what his name was.  Was he wearing a nametag?  The AI shook him from his thoughts when it said calmly "Core meltdown imminent.  Detonation in 3 minutes."  "Ok, no time to dawdle," said Matt, "Let's get moving."  The corridors led to a row of 'lifepod' class escape shuttle hatches.  A pilot was prepping the only open one.  "Come on...we're leaving yesterday." the pilot yelled before noticing the number.  "Sorry, man.  Only room for three."  he said solemnly.

"Don't tell me you didn't stock this ship with enough lifepods," said Matt.  "We did, but the Combine blew up about two-fifths of them," said the pilot.  Dr C said sadly "I will stay.  Go with the sergeant, children." gently pushing her charges towards the shuttle.  Matt said "No way you can stay here...its a death sentence."  "There's not enough room for all of us," said Dr. C, "Just look after my children for me."  Matt grabbed her by the shoulders and said "This place is gonna go up like the fourth of july." before saying with his usual grin "I'll go to the launch bays...maybe there's a starfury still in dock?" before pushing her into the arms of the pilot.  "You're not gonna make it in time," said the pilot.

"Whats your point?" said Matt.  The pilot rolled his eyes and said "Your funeral...good luck, man." before getting into the shuttle.  Dr C's smile was the last thing Matt saw before the hatch shut and the light above turned red as a 'whomph' was heard, indicating the shuttle had launched.  Matt sat down on the floor just as he heard the same voice from earlier say "Willing to sacrifice even your life for people you never met."  Matt glared up at the ceiling "Who the smeg are you?  Get out of my head."  The voice didn’t seem to listen, saying "But are you willing to swallow your pride?" before his vision white’d out again.

...

Matt shook his head as he looked around his new settings.  "Ok, where's the hidden camera?" he said.  His hearing stopped ringing to hear a raid siren and screaming.  Matt shook the vision clear to almost be knocked down in a tide of panic.  Matt's eyes spun a bit as he stood back up.  "Where's the fire?" he asked in a dizzy voice.  

Matt looked up to see a familiar sign.  "No...anywhere but here..." he said in a terrified voice.  The sign said 'Welcome to Sy Yong Colony.'  He looked down at himself to see he was wearing the armour of a colony special security officer, basically a SWAT officer.  A scream got his attention to see a colonist pinned down by what looked like a hybrid of human and reptile...an infected.  "When will these nightmare morality lessons end?" said Matt before he charged at the infected.

The infected raised its head as Matt charged and easily backhanded Matt back, before dragging its prey into a sewer grating.  Matt got up again and pulled his rifle off its grip on his armour, firing as another infected group charged into view, all the time screaming "NO NO NO NO!" almost insanely. His arm ached and he looked down to see a very real slash in his arm from the backhand.  At that, it occurred that it was possibly likely that he could die...especially in this hell.  His armours comm beeped "This is dispatch to all units in the market area.  What the fuck is going on down there?  We're getting flatlines across the board."

Matt paused before activating the comm, "Uh, this is security, we've got a breach."  "We read you...Alpha 6.  We're getting emergency calls across the colony.  We have 4 tac teams ready to move..." said the dispatch tech.  "Uh, that's probably not the best option," said Matt.  "We're getting dozens of emergency calls from your sector...we're gonna send those..." said dispatch only for Matt to cut him off.  "No...its a meat grinder down here.  Anyone you send down won't leave intact...and they definately won't leave human." he yelled.

"What do you mean 'won't leave human'," said the voice on the other end.  There was swearing on the other end and the voice said, "I knew they were getting too far with their research."  "Ok, kid.  We're getting a hovership to you...sit tight.  Helps on the way." said Dispatch, only for Matt to swear himself "NO...I don't need help...nobodies dying to help me." he said.  A snarl got his attention and Matt turned to see an infected behind him.  "Oh crap." Matt said, tiredly.

The infected opened its mouth, but instead of a snarl, the voice from before said, "You have failed."  Matt, who was wincing, expecting a mauling, opened one eye.  "Pardon?"  The infected said "However...it is clear you do not reject help from pride...rather to take danger off of others."  Matt paused and said, "Ok, is the part where the Matrix Agent shows up?"  The infected grabbed Matt by his collar at that before saying "No...this is when you wake." before his vision whited out again.

...

When Matt woke up, he was aware he was being constricted.  At first, he thought they were manacles, but he then realized they were bandages.  He managed to look over at his wrist computer to see a display indicating the nanites had finished healing the injuries ages ago.  Something had kept him out cold longer.  "Man...when I oversleep..." Matt said to himself, before pushing himself up to a sitting position to see two white pegasi in golden armour at the doorway, their backs to him.  

The soldier in him, placed after his subliminal flash training, sneered at the fact they weren't keeping an eye on him as well as listing all the ways Matt could get past them.  His more sensible part told him that there were probably more guards outside.  He craned his neck to look at himself.  Apparently, the ponies, probably through inexperience with his species, had overdid it with the bandages.

He carefully tore the bandages away to see that he still had a few bruises, such small injuries usually being ignored by medi-nanites.  "Well...could be worse." he muttered to himself just as a pink haired white pony, a red cross on her flank, came in.  Matt, to his internal shame, reached for his empty holster from the surprise.

"No offence, miss..." said Matt, apologetically leaving the ending hanging The pony said soothingly "I'm nurse Redheart.  You're in Ponyville urgent care clinic."  Matt couldn’t help noticing the tone of voice was the sort that would be used to someone a inch away from snapping or who was on a high ledge.  "Well, Nurse Redheart, thanks for the treatment, but I heal a bit faster than you think," said Matt.  

Matt said as kindly as he could "Well, I'll be leaving then...those insults to my species can't have gotten far."  He didn’t get far, the two pegasi on guard, blocking his way with their wings.  "Excuse me." he said in a annoyed voice.  "Can't let you go," said one.  "Orders from the Princess," said the other.  "I could move you myself." said Matt, his temper rising.  He'd had the night from hell, including being attacked by 3 squads of exo gene mercs, blasted into a wall by his own gun and to top it off, had a re-enactment of his own personal nightmare.

"The Princess will want a word with you eventually," said one.  "You're not going anywhere until she does," said the other.  Matt sighed and walked back to the bed and muttered in splitter "I hate this planet."

...

It was an hour before the guards parted to let Celestia in.  Matt had his head in his hands, deep enough in thought not to hear her come in.  "You're awake." she said, her voice making Matt jump.  Matt looked up at Celestia and said, "Uh, I think I have a lot of explaining to do."  Celestia didn't say anything, leaving the sort of silence that begs to be filled.  Matt sighed and began to say "I didn't plan to land here..." before muttering something in splitter.

"I think you might want to start with who you are and where you came from," said Celestia.  Matt sighed and began to explain, starting with the disastrous mission to retrieve Aria, the destruction of Anaconda Colony before finally telling what had happened at the castle.  "It was my fault.  I shoulda vaporised that armour as soon as I could see straight." he said bitterly.  

"You couldn't have done anything," said Celestia.  "But if I had-" started Matt.  "No, you really wouldn't have been able to do anything," said Celestia, "NightMare Moon's armour destroyed those other beings when they damaged it.  You wouldn't have done any better."  Matt thought back to how the armour had only killed echo after one of them had tried to prize the crescent moon off it.  "That...thing in Twilights got a name?" he said, bitterly.

"I'm sure you've heard of how my sister was corrupted by her own envy," said Celestia.  "Not really...I’ve been hiding in the forest nearby for the last week.  I'm guessing I haven’t exactly got a fan club outside." said Matt in the same bitter voice.  "Ages ago, Luna and I ruled over Equestria, I watched over the day, she commanded the night.  But since the ponies slept during the night, she eventually grew bitter over how much more praise they had for the day than the night..." said Celestia.

...

Matt sat back and listened patiently as Celestia told how eventually her sister, Luna's bitterness grew so much that one night she refused to let the sun rise, becoming the creature known as Nightmare Moon.  Celestia had been forced to banish her to the moon for a thousand years until recently she had returned and been cured by Twilight and her friends.  

"Ok, so I'm assuming that Luna was as completely surprised as you were when you heard about the armour," said Matt.  "She was...surprised." said Celestia sadly, remembering how upset her sister had been.  Matt said "Good thing I locked that junk up good and tight.  To get past my security, you'd need to be..." Celestia finished sadly "...an alicorn."  "Er, I'm assuming that's what you are, right?" asked Matt.

Celestia nodded sadly.  Matt turned his wrist comp on and said "Aria...lock the ship down...nothing in or out until I get there...if I get there."  "I do not mean to detain you," said Celestia, "But as you can see, a great threat is upon Equestria and I need to make sure I know where you stand."  "Those jerks killed an entire colony to get Aria back.  They're criminals and an insult to mercenaries everywhere." said Matt, his temper rising.

"I cannot pass judgement about those other beings until I am certain," said Celestia, "But I fear Twilight might be a more imminent threat."  Matt stopped at that "Yeah..." he said sadly before saying "As long as she doesn’t get the armour..."  "If she puts it on, it would be almost certainly impossible to remove it," said Celestia before pausing and adding, "Or bring the real Twilight back."

Matt seemed to stare ahead at nothing.  Celestia didn't say anything.  When she had peered into his mind, she had seen a sad soul, barely holding together under repeated losses...one standing out in particular.  Those kind of spectres did not leave a person easily.  Matt finally said "There must be some way...I can get that armour anywhere you want...including the sun if needed."  

"I think I could provide the latter," said Celestia, "But right now, I need you to keep it away from Twilight.  And also, we need to find out how Nightmare Moon could get a hold over her in the first place."  "What I don’t get is, how could this...thing exist still?  She's a part of your sister after all." said Matt, thoughtfully.  Matt's comp beeped and Aria's voice said, "I believe I may have an answer to that."  "Aria?  I told you about listening in..." began Matt, only for Aria to cut him off.

"The laws of physics, concerning the conservation of energy, state that energy cannot be truly destroyed, it can only be transformed," said Aria.  "Yeah, but it also can't be created, remember?" said Matt.  "Are you forgetting the magi addendum?" asked Aria, "Magi can be removed, but it is not deleted, but rather dispersed."  "Crud...Nightmare moon probably made a spare...it acted like a lifeboat after Twilight and company kicked her out of Luna." said Matt.

One of the pegasus guards cleared his throat and said, "Pardon my interruption, but are you suggestion that we are dealing with the ghost of Nightmare Moon's magic?"  "Why not?  I've seen weirder...alot weirder." said Matt.  "While Luna may have given up her attempts to overthrow daytime, it would appear the will to do so lived on separate from her," said Celestia.  Matt looked at his wristcomp and said "Aria...try and come up with a game plan."

"Matt, are you certain you know what you are dealing with?" asked Celestia.  "This is my fault.  Its only right that I try and fix it." said Matt, getting up.  "That's not what I-" started Celestia before Matt went outside.  Celestia sighed and said, "He would have found out eventually, but I think I should have prepared him."

...

When Matt walked out of the clinic, he found Twilight's friends waiting for him.  He also found several other ponies he didn't know and did not look happy to see him.  Matt looked around, glaring at one pony who was giving him the evil eye before rolling his own eyes and walking over to the five.  “Hey, girls.” He said, gloomily.

"Hi Matt," said Fluttershy, in a small voice.  "Uh, we probably would have introduced you to everypony a little better than this," said Rarity.  "Yeah, like throwing a welcome party like we did for Twi-" started Pinkie before she quickly covered her mouth.  Matt winced to himself before he turned back and said "Don't worry about it."  He turned to see several ponies behind him.  "Yes?" he said, snapping.

The ponies backed up a little, apparently they weren't wanting to test Matt's temper.  Matt glared at them before rubbing his forehead.  "Lets go.  Your princess wants me to make sure I keep my hands on something." he said.  

...

The Mane Six, or Mane Five as it was at the moment, followed Matt down the trench towards his ship.  "So, you're saying you found NightMare Moon's spare armor in the castle?" said Rainbow Dash, shocked.  Matt sighed "Yeah." he said, tired and jumped as Rainbow Dash said angrily "Why didn’t you and Twilight say anything?"  Matt turned to glare and said "It was my idea not to say anything.  What do you think would have happened if we'd said 'Hey, guess what we found?  An armour that melts brains’."  

"You should have turned it in to Celestia," said Fluttershy.  "Uh, you expect Her Highness to believe that Twilight just found the armour by herself?" said Matt, "And I was trying to stay out of the public eye, remember?"  Applejack said "Can't say that you're gonna be able to stay out of sight now."  Matt sighed "Yup...and I'll have to face the music when this is over.  Least nobody'll get into my...MY SHIP!" said Matt as he crested the edge of the hole his ship rested in and shrieking the last part in horror.

The place looked like the aftermath of a massacre.  Parts of drones, small parts in some cases, were scattered everywhere.  The remaining spider drones were scuttling around and trying to pick up the mess.  But Matt was more likely concerned about the damage to his ship.  The ponies ran up at Matt's outburst to see the damage.  "Whoa nelly.  Looks like a dust devil hit this place." said Applejack in surprise at the damage.  Matt was just saying 'Muh.' over and over with a distant expression of horror.  

"What's wrong with him?" asked Dash.  "Ooh, I think I saw the same look when a family of rabbits saw their home sat on by a bear," said Fluttershy in her timid voice, gently poking Matt.  Applejack waved a hoof in front of Matt and said "Y'all alright? Its just a ship.  You can fix this easily."  Matt suddenly yelled "RIGHT!" making the ponies jump back before he walked down into the crater.  "I've had ENOUGH...this is 3 weeks of work...3 WEEKS.  I need to kill something...please let the guilty party still be here." he said apparently to himself with a manic glare on his face.

"Uh, Matt doesn't really mean 'kill', right?" asked Fluttershy.  A yell of 'ARIA...WHERE'S MY SMEGGING ION CANNON?' made the others exchange nervous glances.  "I’m not saying...In your state of mind, there’s no telling what you’ll shoot." said Aria's voice, "Please repeat request within proper hearing range."  Matt glared "Who did this?" he snarled, not noticing the ponies coming up cautiously.  Aria's voice sounded unsure "I cannot say for sure...they appear to be members of Exo-Genes Echo 3 mercenary team.  I detained them in the vault area and flooded it with Dyamedes petrification gas...however it has not effected them."

Matt seemed to become rational for a little bit, "I'm not sure which is more unnerving, that we have Dyamedes petrification gas or that it didn't work."  "They appear to be trying to breach the vault.  The door itself is at 12%.  " said Aria.  "Ok, Aria, fetch me my hunting blaster, I have a lot of steam to blow off," said Matt with a dark glare.   

...

The inside of the ship was even worse, the only clear way in was via the cargo bay ramp, which had been forced down.  "Wow...echo's been taking their vitamins." said Matt, shining a light up the ramp.  "Uh, you sure you want to go in there all by your lonesome?" asked Applejack.  Matt looked up before saying "I think so" a bit nervously.  The bay in view was only lit by a few flickers, probably caused by damage.

"Maybe we should come along," said Rainbow Dash.  "Ok...but just don’t do anything dumb.  I do not wanna see what their gear does to living things" said Matt, seriously before going slowly up the ramp, stopping at a locker just inside and pulling a laser rifle out of it.  "I'd offer you girls some weapons, but I don't think you can hold them properly," said Matt.  The group slowly walked into the cargo bay, Rainbow Dash stopping for a second to look at a four wheeled machine in the corner.

"Uh, I wouldn't touch that," said Matt, "It's a little temperamental."  Rainbow Dash looked at the innocent looking machine. "I'm not gonna break it." she said to Matt who said casually "Ok...but it's more heavily armed then I usually am."  Dash gulped a bit and walked the other way from the vehicle.  Matt finally stopped at the end of a row of crates and peered round the corner.  "There they are." he muttered, pointing to a human shaped figure hunched at the door leaving into the main ship, lights flashing from the doorway.

"Uh, you're not really going to hurt them, are you?" asked Fluttershy, nervously.  "No...I wanna know what they want from my vault." said Matt before jumping out of cover and yelling "FREEZE, SMEGHEAD!" aiming his rifle at them.  To his personal surprise the figure didn’t even jump.  "Ok, I am in a very bad mood today, so no fooling around," said Matt, "Just turn around before I blast off what makes your backside your backside."

The other ponies peered out as Matt advanced on the figure before saying "Did you not hear me?  After what you pulled in town, I am in a killing mood...I said FREEZE!" before hitting the guy with his rifles butt.  The figure staggered before making a guttural snarling.  "Dude, you need to gargle," said Matt, "Have you been shouting yourself hoarse?"  The ponies watched as the echo merc at that point turned to face Matt who yelled "BLOODY HELL!" and fired, blasting the merc back through the door.  

The ponies gave yelps of fright.  "I can't believe you just shot him!" cried Pinkie Pie.  "Girls, get back, get far away," said Matt, "This guy is nothing but bad news."  Rainbow Dash said "I don’t think he’s gonna be a problem." darkly.  Matt said "Oh really?" looking back as the 'dead' merc pulled himself up and practically roared.  Matt gibbered "Why is it always the bloody undead?" before the merc walked into view.  

The 'merc' didn't look like the ones seen in town.  Mainly because his flesh was replaced with fire, but still not covering enough.  "I think I know how they beat my drones...time to run." said Matt, in a shaking voice before the merc, whatever he was now, threw a blast of energy that just missed the group and blew several crates to pieces.  "Ok, not so hard to believe you shot him now," said Pinkie.  

The 'thing' ran past the ponies, heading for Matt who sidestepped down an alley of crates.  It was clear that the mercs transformation had not boosted his brainpower...but it had made him persistent...such as dealing with the thing that had blasted him off his feet.  "Ugh, that is the most repulsive creature I've ever seen," said Rarity.  "Doesn't look like the friendliest thing I've ever seen either," said Rainbow Dash.

The thing the merc had been turned into snarled before making a pitching throw motion.  A second later, a blast of familiar star speckled smoke blasted through another crate nearby, the ponies seeing Matt dodging another such blast from the creature.  Suddenly, it was deadly clear what these things wanted from the vault.  The Mane Five ran towards the vault, only to see two more monsters trying to burn their way in.  Rainbow Dash said "Hey...ugly." causing the two mercs turned monsters to stop and turn slowly to fix their glowing eyes on the group.  "Uh, you have a plan, right?" asked Rarity, nervously.

One of the creatures said "Oh...you lot.  This time, you'll find stopping me a little more difficult."  "Uh, does that voice sound familiar?" asked Fluttershy, backing up.  The thing laughed coldly while its companion continued to burn its way in and said smugly.  "This time you won’t be able to use your precious elements to stop me."

"Yep, that sounds like who Ah'm thinking of," said Applejack.  "Uh, so what do we do?" asked Fluttershy.  The merc laughed as the vault door finally fell inside and its fellow walked in, grabbing a container marked with a post-it note that said 'Never ever open...ever' before the first said "Nothing...except saying goodbye to your friend and your precious day."  The two undead mercs suddenly started sinking into the ground, and yet they didn't leave a hole.  "Ooh, this is bad," said Pinkie, for once not looking bouncy.

"At least they're gone." said Fluttershy faintly before a scream from the cargo bay reminded them that not all of them had left.  "Uh oh." they said in unison.

...

Matt screamed as he was thrown into a supply crate.  "I hate undead." he said dizzily, before shaking his head to stop his eyes spinning.  The merc grabbed Matt before slamming him into a wall again and again and again before throwing him down again.  "You've been eating your greens, haven’t you." said Matt in a dazed voice before being grabbed by the foot.  "Erm...surrender?" tried Matt, being held at eye level before being thrown across the bay to land in front of the old combine Combat SUV he'd brought a year or two ago.  "Ooooh...pretty stars." he said, with the faint smile of the heavily concussed.

The merc growled before picking Matt up.  "Aw, Mom, do I have to get up now?" said Matt in the same dazed tone.  The ponies ran into view to see the thing holding Matt down on the hood of his SUV and readying a fireball.  "Hey, ugly." yelled Dash, causing the merc monster to turn and receive a rock bucked into his face.  He practically roared and threw Matt at them.  

The ponies got out of the way, but Matt ended up crashing against the wall again. "Thanks for catching me." he said dizzily, upside down against the wall.  The merc monster threw his fireball, brought his fist down angrily on the vehicle when it missed and charged at the group before the SUV beeped.  A voice said "Vandalism detected...commencing judicial responce in accordance with Confederation code 21-F." before a beam of energy shot out and hit the merc in the back. 

The merc suddenly exploded into several bony bits.  The pieces rained down with the skull ending up at the ponies' feet.  The fire in the sockets quickly dimmed and went out.  Matt got up, wincing as various limbs supplied their complaints at him over being a punching bag before saying "And thats why nobody touches it"   "You ok there?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "I'm fine, are you two fine?" said Matt, looking at Rainbow Dash unsteadily before falling over.  "Back to the clinic for him," said Rarity, firmly.

"No...I'm fine." said Matt, shaking his head before saying "Tell me they didn’t get it."  "Uh, they kinda did," said Pinkie, Matt swearing the party ponies hair looked a bit deflated.  Matt sighed before thinking.  "There's only one place they'll be taking it." he said after a bit.  

...

Luna's castle

Everfree forest

The two ex-mercs emerged from the floor, holding the container they had taken from the Skyraid before slashing the seal open and reverently removing the armor, holding it up to the alicorn on the rooms podium.  "Excellent," said Twilight, "Soon, the Final Twilight will fall upon Equestria and darkness shall reign over light."  A small part of the true Twilight said, only visible or audible to the alicorn "My friends will stop you.  You won’t be able to do this."

"You forget, you're the centerpiece of their group," replied the alicorn, "Without you, their Elements of Harmony won't be able to stop me."  With that, Twilight Moon laughed as her 'weaker' side looked down in sadness before vanishing.  "Now then, all we need do is wait until the moon has entered perigee," said Twilight Moon.

...

Since there were few other places that they know where Twilight Moon would have gone, Matt and the Mane Five were heading through Everfree Forest to the ruins of the castle where they had found the armour.  Matt had walked ahead, deciding to not bother the five after all that had happened so far.  As such, he was the only one to hear Aria on the comm.  "Sir...I have finished simulations.  I have come to the conclusion that we do not have the facilities for containment." she said.

"Gee, ya think?" said Matt with great sarcasm.  "I have uploaded a new weapon to your wrist computer nano constructor.  The IRV-200's specialized ammo will be enough to terminate the hostile lifeform before she can become a threat.  "Whoa, whoa, whoa, that ‘hostile lifeform’ happens to be a friend, just a friend who's not in control at the moment," said Matt.  "A 'friend' who has already killed and reanimated 12 members of echo, breached top of the line security measures and attempted to choke Miss dash to death." said Aria with frustrating logic.

"I prefer to try exorcism before execution," said Matt.  Aria didn’t say anything to that before signing off.  A second later, Matt's wrist comp beeped to confirm a weapon pattern had been downloaded.  "I think I'll keep that as a final resort," said Matt.  The castle came into view at that.  It was alot different.  "Wow..." said Matt faintly.  The castle had been practically restored to good as new quality, no sign of any decay visible.  

"How does a castle get rebuilt that quickly?" asked Matt, staring in surprise at what had been a ruin under a week ago.  As if on cue, a cloud of the star speckled smoke that Twilight moon and Nightmare moon had liked surrounded one of the few broken towers.  When it vanished, the tower was good as new.  "Thats how." said Rarity.  "Ooh, I bet she could set up a great party with that," said Pinkie Pie with a cheerful grin.  "Yeah, her coronation/victory party," said Rainbow Dash, darkly

Matt said "Well, lets go crash the housewarming." readying his blaster rifle.  Applejack had spotted movement at the gates and said "Ah think those guys may not want us in." pointing to where two more of the merc minions were standing, clearly on guard.  "Oh, how will we get past them?" asked Fluttershy, "They're really tough."

Matt shrugged before saying to himself "It'll save lockpicking time." before opening a secondary attachment on his rifle and loading an orb.  "You know what they say...when in doubt, C4...or in this case...G14." he said, firing the orb between the two guards who turned to follow it until it stuck in the doorframe.  The guards didn't have much time to look before the orb exploded, with a lot of force.  The blast itself removed the door, doorframe, most of the wall surrounding it and of course, the zombie mercs.

"Great, now let's go through before she covers it back up," said Matt.  The group ran through the 'doorway' just in time as more smoke surrounded and repaired the damage.  Matt couldn't shake the feeling he’d just charged into another problem.  "Ok...now then, If I was possessed by pure evil...where would I be?" he said before seeing the ponies glares "What?  Its a normal question." he said innocently.

"If I were, I would probably want to be in the place of greatest importance," said Rarity.  "Like the throne room?" suggested Pinkie.  "That sounds exact...what makes you think that?" said Matt, confused.  Pinkie pointed a hoof at a set of open double doors where a glow was emanating.  "Smart arse." muttered Matt to himself.  "Now, do we have a plan for getting Twilight back?" asked Applejack.  "I'm working on it." said Matt, more to himself.  A memory of aria's 'solution' came up before he said "Yeah...definately working on it."  

The group slowly headed up to the double doors and peered in.  The throne room had gotten a small improvement in the form of a large opal in the ceiling, under which hovered the armour pilfered from the skyraids vault.  The room itself was deserted.  "What's with the big rock?" asked Rainbow Dash.  Matt looked at his wrist comp and brought up the scanner, only for the magi scanner to go off the chart.  "Thats alot of magic...who wants to bet its not friendly magic?" he said.

"I've never seen a gem that size before," said Rarity, "It must be filled to burst with magic."  Matt looked up at it.  "I don't like it." he said, thoughtfully, adding "Lets grab the armor and I'll 'open' the door again."  "What if it's a trap?" asked Applejack.  "I don’t wanna find out what happens if Twilight puts that stuff on." said Matt, walking out towards the armor.  

Suddenly, the door slammed shut.  "Oh smeg," said Matt, suddenly worried.  The ponies had also jumped when the door shot shut.  Matt said in an annoyed voice "I do not want to hear 'I told you so'." before aiming his blaster at the closed doors.  "Don’t worry...this won’t hold us for long." he said cheerfully.  He fired several rounds at the door, but the door didn't even get a scratch.  Rainbow Dash said sarcastically "That worked well." earning a glare from Matt.

"Now there's fine craftsmanship," said Applejack, impressed. "We could use a set of doors like this for our barn."  "Not now," snapped Matt, spotting the attempts to wind him up.  Matt sighed before reaching for the armour, only for a flash of light to occur and for him to be thrown into a pillar.  "I think I don’t have touchy feely rights." he said weakly before noticing smoke flowing into the room.  "This is not good," said Fluttershy, nervously.  

The smoke shot up to the throne before imploding into the shape of Twilight Moon.  "Twilight...how's your day been?" said Matt, mock cheerfully.  "Soon, there shall be no more day, only night," said Twilight Moon smugly.  Applejack spoke up next "This is wrong, Twi.  This isn’t you." she said, trying to get through whatever was pulling her friends strings.  "You never wanted that much power," said Fluttershy, "All you ever wanted was to help your friends."  

Twilight glared at Fluttershy "That was the old me." she said angrily.  "Twilight, you don't really want to give up being friends, do you?" asked Rainbow Dash.  Twilight turned her glare, full of contempt on the cyan pegasus.  "A goddess doesn’t need friends." before her gaze widened and she sent a blast out, knocking Matt, who had been trying to pull the armour off the plinth, off his feet.

Matt was sent straight into a pillar, causing a few cracks in it.  There was a brief pause before Matt said, "I'm okay."  Twilight glared at Matt before levitating the breastplate of the armour over to her and slipping it on, the armour shifting to fit better.  "Much better." she said, her eyes getting a creepy green glow.  "You don't really want to wear that drab thing," said Rarity, "I mean, that thing is begging for a good polishing and it has dust coated in all the greaves.  I can see the rust stains from here."

Twilight sneered and said "That may work on dragons and diamond dogs...but not on me."  "You know, you could really spruce up this place," said Pinkie Pie, "If you got enough decorations, you could throw the biggest party in Equestria and be able to invite everybody."  Twilight simply said "Why invite peasants?"  Matt turned to see several minions phasing in.  "Girls...problems..." he said nervously as Twilight said "Now what to do with you?"

"Uh, you wouldn't want to make us undead," said Matt, "I look terrible in bare bones."  "I wasn’t thinking of killing you.  I would prefer it if you all saw sense." said Twilight glaring at the minions who stopped in their approach.  Pinkie Pie looked around before she said, "I don't see Sense.  What does she look like?"  "I require advisors...ponies I can trust..." began Twilight, only to wince as Matt yelled "Not if you threw in a portal home and a ham sandwich."

"Silence!" snapped Twilight Moon before knocking Matt into a wall.  "Note to self: mouth off at villains only if you can avoid their blasts," groaned Matt.  Twilight levitated Matt up and threw him out the doors, which opened briefly.  A dozen or so minions could be seen waiting before the doors slammed.  "Now that we have no interruptions..." she said before several blasts of her mist shot out, hitting her friends.

...

Rainbow Dash woke up with a headache.  "Did someone drop a bowling ball on my head?" she groaned.  "Hey, Dash.  You ok?  It's almost time for our performance." said a voice.  Rainbow Dash turned to see Spitfire, one of the wonderbolts.  "What?  Our performance?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Yeah, everyone wants to watch all the Wonderbolts perform, right?" said Spitfire.  Rainbow Dash was just staring, trying to process what Spitfire was saying, her mind stuck in her usual 'fan girl’ mode of just being spoken too by one of her lifelong heroes.

"C'mon, everyone's waiting for us," said Spitfire.  Rainbow Dash shook herself from her mental state of 'ohmygoshohmygosh' to see her reflection.  She was wearing a wonderbolt uniform.  "What?  How did I...what happened to twilight?" she said in shock.  "She's out there with all your other friends," said Spitfire, "We don't want to keep them waiting, do we?"  Dash just shook her head.  "The last thing I remember was at Luna's old castle..." she began.

"Oh, that whole Twilight Moon was months ago," said Spitfire, "I can't believe you're still thinking on that."  Rainbow shook her head.  What Spitfire was saying did make sense but she also remembered how Nightmare moon had used hallucinations against them so she decided to try something.  "So...we going to use the Buccaneer blaze move in todays display?" she said.  

"Oh sure," said Spitfire, cheerfully "That'll definitely impress them all."  Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed.  "You're not Spitfire.  The wonderbolts never used that move. I made that myself." she said, angrily "None of this is real."  At those words, the room seemed to blur and warp.

...

Meanwhile, Applejack was rubbing her head as she was getting.  "What in blue blazes hit me?" she asked.  The farmer pony looked around the room she was in, confused.  It definitely wasn’t the castle, posh furnishings, modern clothing...it reminded her of Carousel Boutique.  Only there was a particularly noticeable apple motif about the place, with everything either being apple-shaped or have pictures of apples on them.

Applejack looked around the room,. coming to the window to see the orchard...but the farm looked wrong, resembling a mansion instead.  "Ok, something's not right here," said Applejack.  

Applejack looked around one last time before deciding to find out what the hay was going on.  She opened the door and immediately Apple Bloom tackled her.  "Big sis.  You're awake.  We all thought that mind leech had got ya good." she said to Applejack, happily.  "What?  One of those varmints was on me?" asked Applejack.

"Yeah...It got ya as you were checkin’ one of the fields." said Apple Bloom, clearly happy that her sister was ok.  "Well, that makes sense, Ah guess," said Applejack.  "By the way, Granny Smith wanted ta see ya," said Apple Bloom.  Applejack perked up at that "Really?  Ah'd best go see her." she said, her and Apple Bloom trotting out.

Applejack paused when she saw a large golden fountain with various apple-shaped spouts.  "Ah don't recall a fountain being there," she said.  Apple Bloom looked puzzled at that and said "We've had that fountain for years."  "You'd think Ah'd remember something as gaudy and impractical as that," said Applejack.  "That thar mind leech again.  We had it after you got a loada new clients durin the gala." said Apple Bloom.

Applejack paused before asking, "Uh, how long was I out?"  Apple Bloom said "A few months.  We were all really worried."  "Ok, uh, where's Granny Smith now?" asked Applejack.  "In the dinin’ room." said Applebloom, leading the way down some stairs to a set of double doors, also emblazoned with the apple symbol.  "You think we got a few too many apples around here?" asked Applejack.

Apple Bloom laughed at that before the doors opened and Applejack saw her grandmother, Granny Smith but with one noticeable difference.  "Applejack...you're finally awake." said Granny Smith, happily and trotting over...with no zimmer frame.  "Granny, you look...great," said Applejack with surprise.  Granny Smith smiled warmly "So are you.  If it weren’t for you, Ah'd still be usin that old walkin frame."

"Your hip's all better?" asked Applejack.  "Ever since y'all raised that money to get it all fixed up." said Granny Smith.  "Well, it's great to see you movin' about," said Applejack.  Just then, Applejack heard laughter.  She turned to see Big Macintosh walking in, a mare at either side.  "Oh, Big Mac, you are positively the finest stallion in Equestria," said one.  "Not to mention the handsomest," said the other.  Applejack just stared in shock at this.  This was definitely not normal.  

"Scuse me, ladies," said Big Macintosh, "But I'd like a little time with my kin, if ya'll don't mind."  After the two mare had left, Applejack finally said "Big Mac, what the hay has gotten into you?  Ah'd have thought you'd have been bushed doin the applebuckin by yourself."  The others laughed loudly at that before Granny Smith said, "We don't do the applebuckin' anymore.  We've got several workers doin' it for us."  "And these neat apple-picking machines," said Apple Bloom.  "Eyup," agreed Macintosh.  

Applejack's eyes narrowed at that.  "The apple clan ah know wouldn't let the farm be handled by anypony but themselves..." she said, as the air seemed to ripple, whatever illusion at work starting to come undone as the orange pony questioned it.  "And they certainly waste their time lazing about with all these eccentric doodads and whatnots," she added.  With those final words the room seemed to melt before a flash of light blinded Applejack...

...

When Fluttershy opened her eyes, she was surprised to find herself back in her house.  "Oh, was it all a dream?" she asked, looking around.

She looked around nervously at the room before seeing that everything seemed to be normal.  "Well, I better check on my patients," she said, flapping her wings and flying out of bed.

She flew up to the rooms birdhouse and said happily to its occupant "Oh...you're looking much better today." 
The robin turned to her and said, "Yes I am, thanks to you."  Fluttershy stared in shock for a moment before shooting back with a "EEEEEE!"

A squirrel came out of its nest and asked, "Fluttershy, what's wrong?"  Fluttershy shot behind the sofa and peered out shaking "Y-y-you're talking." she said ina  terrified voice  "You can hear us talk?" asked the squirrel.  "Why not?" said the robin, "She is the best veterinarian in Equestria."  Fluttershy stared and said shaking "I...I am?"

"Well of course," said the squirrel, "No one knows how to take care of animals better than you."  Fluttershy looked at the animals in her home.  "Erm...you've never spoken before." she said quietly  "Maybe you just weren't listening," said a mouse right next to her.

Fluttershy jumped back at surprise. sure that the mouse hadn’t been there a second ago.  "But is it really any surprise?" said the mouse, "After all, Fluttershy is the best nurse."  "Oh yes," said a hedgehog nearby.  "No one greater," said a turtle sitting on a chair.  "The greatest nurse ever," said a magpie perched on a shelf.  Fluttershy looked around to see more talking animals praising her.

Fluttershy, despite everything and her own shock at the last few minutes, felt a bit flattered at the praise she was getting from the unlikeliest of sources.

"Say, Fluttershy shouldn't just be our nurse," said a snow owl, "She should be our queen!"  Almost immediately, all the animals started chanting, "All hail Queen Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy looked worried at that "Erm...I'm not sure thats a..." she began in her small voice before the chanting drowned it out.

Eventualy, Fluttershy couldn't take it anymore and shouted, "QUIET!"  This immediately stopped the animals' chanting.  "Oh, sorry," she said, "But I have something to say."

The animals stared as her as she said “I don’t want to be queen or anything like that.  I'm happy just looking after you all." 
"But you have to be our queen," said the robin.  "No one else would be better," said the mouse.
"But I don’t want to be..." said Fluttershy, backing up a bit.  The group or animals were starting to seem less friendly.
"But we want you to be," said the squirrel.  "Shouldn't you want what we want?" asked the owl.

Fluttershy gulped and said "Thats not what I want?"  One of the animals said "What about at the gala?"  and Fluttershy looked even more worried...realising you’re in a figment of your imagination will do that."  "I admit that I don't like be avoided," said Fluttershy, "But too much attention is as bad as not enough attention."

The room seemed to be rippling at that.  "But you do want to be loved." said the animals, all at once this time.  "Yes I do," said Fluttershy, "But I think the love of my real friends is more important."

At that, white shining cracks appeared in the room before Fluttershy was forced to cover her eyes as the light turned blinding…

…

The girls may have been struggling with their morals, but Matt was definitely not.  His opinion of 'if it's trying to kill me, I have to kill it back' was proving to be completely right.

These minions were almost human in their appearance compared to the one from the ship, moving quickly to cover and still using their old firearms.  This didn’t mean fighting them was easier, quite the opposite in fact.  "JUST DIE ALREADY!" screamed Matt from his cover as one of the minions soaked up several rounds without any effect.

The minions just fired back at Matt, perforating the area around him.  "If there's anything worse than evil minions, its evil minions who don't provide me any material for witty comebacks," said Matt to himself.

He peered around his cover to try and find anything he could use.  "Why can’t life be more like video games and provide explosive barrels?" he muttered before looking up and grinning.  An old chandelier, covered in rust from age was handing just above the minions.  Matts eyes followed the chain securing it to the pillar next to him.  "That works too." he said before shooting the chain.

The chain broke and the chandelier started falling.  The minions looked up just before it came crashing down at them.  Matt looked over his cover to see the carnage, but one minion had completely avoided by standing in the middle where the open area of the chandelier was.  "Strange, that normally works," said Matt.

...

Pinkie looked around as the world blurred into another vision for the 5th time in as many minutes.  "This is great...who are you gonna be this time?" she said happily to the blur.  Eventually, it stopped blurring and formed into her old home at the rock farm.  Pinkie looked around before saying "You did this already."

The world shredded apart and a boiling cloud of darkness appeared in front of her.  "Oh for darkness' sake!" snapped a voice within the cloud, "What does it take to tempt you?"  "Well...I do like to party..." began Pinkie before the same voice interrupted her "THATS IT.,.YOU CAN GO...JUST GO AWAY!!!"  Pinkie Pie frowned and asked, "What?  No party?"  "NO...Just go away...what is wrong with your brain?" snapped the cloud before the world flashed...

...

Rarity looked around at her new surroundings, which appeared to be a formal dance like the Grand Galloping Gala.  She looked around, a little confused, given her last memory had been of her and the others at Luna's old castle in everfree.  However, such thoughts left via the window when she heard one of the guards call "Announcing, Lady Rarity of Ponyville."

"Ooh, I've always wanted to be announced," said Rarity as she trotted forward.  She was about to walk forward when a familier, but unwelcome voice from memory said "Shall we?"  Rarity turned around to see a very handsome white unicorn stallion standing there.  "You!" she snapped.  It was indeed Prince Blueblood, the unicorn who had more or less ruined the gala for Rarity with his selfish attitude.  At this point however, he seemed more surprised.  "M'lady?  What is wrong?" he said, sounding genuinely surprised at her outburst.

"You think that I would want to be within 6 feet of you after what happened?" snapped Rarity.  Prince Blueblood now looked genuinely surprised "Are you alright, my dear?" he said sounding concerned.  "My dear?  I doubt you've ever said that to anyone, except your own reflection," said Rarity.  "My dear?  Did you have that silly dream again?" said Blueblood, starting to sound relieved.  "And what sily dream would that be?" asked Rarity.  "The one where the gala was some ind of disaster." said Blueblood.

"But it was, Applejack's cake got all over my dress...when you pushed me into the way to save your sorry hide from being soiled," said Rarity, her tone becoming less unpleasant.  Blueblood laughed pleasantly "Thats the exact same dream you’ve been having."   "That wasn't a dream, I know it was real," said Rarity.

"The doctors say its caused by stress.  Now then, dear, come and mingle." said Blueblood pleasently.  "I wouldn't go in there with you if you were the last stallion in Equestria," said Rarity.  "Rarity, please...what is wrong with you?" said Blueblood in a hurt tone of voice.  "What's wrong with me?  What's wrong with this whole picture?" snapped Rarity, "Anyone who knows Prince Blueblood for even one minute would know that this isn't even close to what he's really like."  Blueblood took a step back from the sheer fury, managing to say 'How dare..." before Rarity continued.

"And another thing, I've been meaning to give you a piece of my mind ever since that awful Gala.  Using me as a shield to avoid getting dirty is one thing, but you have been an intolerable jerk that entire night!  Have you ever even heard of the term 'chivalry'?"  she yelled, finally venting all the fury that was built up on that night.  

Blueblood just stared before the room seemed to ripple like water in front of Rarity as she continued "A true gentleman would have opened a door for a lady instead of making her, or place his coat over a puddle instead of making her drape a part of her dress over.  Not to mention he wouldn't have eaten both plates.  I don't think you even bothered to learn my name!"  As soon as her hoof made contact, the world seemed to flare...

...

Twilight Moon glared as each of her spells seemed to flicker as the minds being targeted spotted the illusions.  "Why isn’t this working?" she said before hearing a hissing and looking up to see the double doors explode open, destroying the minions that had been on guard.  When the dust and smoked cleared, Matt stood there.  "Ok, the only reason that's keeping me from blasting you to Kingdom Come is because you're in my friend's body," said Matt, "So do me a favor and evict yourself so I can blast you to Kingdom Come."

Matt looked around to see the others floating in energy orbs, though Pinkies was flickering alot.  "What the smeg?" he said before the orbs glowed and shattered.  Twilight Moon glared at Matt and said, "I have not yet begun to fight."  "Yeah...about your minions...they're suddenly very flat." said Matt, taunting.  "I still have more to use," said Twilight Moon before her horn started to glow.  Matt looked before saying “I think your batteries need chan...” before he was bucked in the side by Applejack.

Matt was knocked into a wall before he said reproachfully, "Ow, what was that for?"  "Ah...Ah can’t control mahself...Look out." said Applejack, effort clear in her voice before she yelled out her warning.  Matt looked up to see Rainbow Dash coming in to knock him down.  "What the?" Matt said, rolling to avoid it as Twilight Moon laughed, walking towards the now glowing remaining armour sections.  Matt glared at her and said, "Mind control?  Really?  That is low even for you."  "Oh, it's not their minds, I'm controlling, just their bodies," said Twilight Moon.

Matt managed to dodge another swoop from Rainbow and was hit in the side by Fluttershy who immediately squeaked "Oh...I'm so sorry...I didn’t mean to...Oh...sorry." apologising again as she scored a second hit.  "Thats...fine." wheezed Matt.  Rarity was struggling to keep her hooves still, but she still found herself charging towards Matt.  "This is going to hurt," she said as she slammed into Matt.

Matt was sent sprawling and rolling across the ground to hit the far wall.  He opened his eyes slowly, expecting to have a brand new hole in his chest, only to see he was fine.  "Oh thank god for stab-proof armour." he said, relieved before hearing a noise and being forced to dodge a levitated rock.  "I'm sorry, I really don't want to be doing this," said Rarity.

"I...can see that." said Matt, weakly looking at the boulder embedded in the wall.  Twilight Moon however was getting ready to seal her new host by putting the last part of the armor, the helmet on.  She stopped briefly to watch Matt dodging the various attacks.  "Rather spry for a two-legger," she said, "But it'll not matter very soon."  Matt obviously heard cause he yelled out "Bite me, you parasite."

"Oh well, time to assume my godhood," said Twilight Moon.  She was about to levitate the armor on when Pinkies face popped into view.  "Godhood?  That sounds like fun...but aren't you a girl...so it should be goddess-hood, right?" she said hyperactively.  “What are you doing?  You’re supposed to be attacking the human.” Said Twilight Moon, angrily. "Why would I wanna attack him, silly?" said Pinkie, cheerfully.  "Because I'm ordering you to," said Twilight Moon, her horn glowing.  Pinkie looked expectant before saying "What happens now?"

"What, but how?  My magic can't be resisted by mere mortals, let alone a pony with no magical abilities at all," said Twilight Moon.  "Silly pony.  Why would I wanna beat up Matt?" said Pinkie with a grin, only to be levitated up and shot into Matt.  "Ow...oh...hi, Pinkie." said Matt weakly.  "Hi Matt, are we playing a new game?" asked Pinkie Pie.  Matt looked up "Yeah...I believe its called death tag...and we're it." he said sarcastically.

"Four against two doesn't sound very fair," said Pinkie Pie, who Matt realised didnlt know and probably had never even heard of the word ‘sarcasm’.  Matt sighed and said, "Pinkie, here's a little lesson for you: evil doesn't play fair.  That's why it's considered bad."  Pinkie said in a worryingly devious voice “Nopony can beat me at tag."  Matt inched away “Thats...good?" he said uncertain and slightly worried by Pinkies expression.  "Just watch and learn," said Pinkie.  

Twilight's horn flared and the remaining four ponies shot at Pinkie and Matt who went opposite directions.  Matt looked over his shoulder to see Pinkie effortlessly dodge Fluttershy and Applejacks lunges.  Matt saw Rarity and Rainbow Dash coming at him as well.  "Sorry about this, girls," he said before grabbing the sides of their heads and smacking them together.

Matt winced as the two flopped down out cold.  "I'm gonna deserve the next rock." he said to himself before Aria's voice came over the comm.  "Captain?"  Matt was backing up from Rarity and Rainbow, as it turned out whatever was controlling them did not need consciousness judging from the way that their unconscious bodies had gotten up.  "NOT NOW!" he yelled.

"If I may, I think I've observed a simple means to eliminate this dilemma," said Aria.  "Really?  And what is that?" he said, sarcastically while seeing Twilight levitating the helmet up.  "The source of magi energy is not the armour, it's merely a receiver," said Aria, "The power is actually coming from a particularly large crystal that's nearby."

Matt looked up to see the giant crystal in the roof above the armor.  "That?  Its huge." he said before having to move to avoid Rarity.  "Yes it is," said Aria, "One has to wonder what geological activity took place to produce a crystal that size.  I mean, can you imagine the sheer mass of the deposits"

"Can I just blast the thing back into the bloody fifth dimension?" snapped Matt, barely avoiding Dash's attack.  "Well, that should work," said Aria, "Of course, it may be simpler to use a sonic vibration to weaken..."  "Yeah, sure, whatever," said Matt before pointing his blaster up and firing at the crystal.  

The blasts seemed to dent the crystal but it was clear Matt needed more firepower.  Before he could think of anything, what felt like a freight transport hit him in the side and across the room.  Twilight extinguished her horn from the telekinesis blast and levitated the last part on before heading to where Matt was slumped in the open doorway.

"Clever of you to deduce the source of my powers," said Twilight Moon, "But it makes no difference.  You cannot stop me, nothing can.  The sun shall never rise again and Equestria will be dark forever.  And I shall reign supreme over all.  That only leaves the question of what to do with you?"  "Well...first...make sure..." began Matt, dazed.  Twilight Moon leaned in and said sarcastically "Yes?" only for Matt to roll over to reveal he had one of the minions energy blasters from earlier "Make sure I don't land near a gun." he finished before firing a shot that skimmed past the wide eyed Twilight Moons head.

The blast shot up and hit the crystal, causing a series of cracks to radiate all over it and energy to leak through them.  Twilight Moon looked at it in horror before turning back to glare at Matt.  "Have a nice day." taunted Matt before passing out as his medi-nanites went back to work.  The crystal itself let out a shrieking noise before exploding, a ring of energy shooting out.

Suddenly, Twilight Moon felt like she being torn apart from the inside out.  The pain slowly diminished when a thick cloud of darkness exited through her mouth.  The ponies watched as the cloud seemed to spread out, escaping through the cracks, Rainbow Dash and Rarity waking up from matt's earlier attempt to stop them trying to kill him.  Their watching was drawn from the thud of Twilight, now back to normal, collapsing out cold...oh and the rumbling as the dark magic holding the renovations up vanished as well.

"Uh, I think we need ta be moseying on along," said Applejack.  The ponies ran over to Matt and Twilight and started trying to drag them, but with the roof literally cracking.  "Guys, we gotta move it, faster," said Rainbow Dash.  "Matt's too heavy," said Rarity.  "Maybe he should try Weight Watchers," said Pinkie Pie, cheerfully.  "It's a little too late for that," said Applejack.  "I hear it's never too late if you really stick with the program," said Pinkie Pie.  The group looked up at a sickening crack as a support pillar leaned towards them...and everything froze.

...

Mr Black walked, seemingly out of nowhere and looked at the vision in front of him before sighing and walking over to Matts frozen form.  "You do make my job difficult...any other universe and I’d let that pillar crush you." he said.  Then Mr. Black looked around and said, "Now, let's see, is there any way to save the lot of you and make it look like it was just pure luck?"

He looked around the room, walked around the collapsing pillar and at other places before shaking his head.  "Ah well....I tried," he said before clicking his fingers, the group teleporting away.  

...

The girls' screams continued where they had left off literally a second ago, however, it was no longer accompanied by the sound of collapsing castle in the same way.  Rainbow Dash was the first to speak.  "Ok...what the hay just happened?"  Rarity looked backwards towards the re-ruined castle and asked, "Weren't we just in there a second ago?"

Fluttershy looked at Twilight and Matt.  "We need to get them back to Ponyville quickly." she said urgently.  "Uh, Matt ain't really welcome there, remember?" said Applejack.  "He's hurt badly.  Nopony would be so heartless especially after how he helped to rescue twilight." said Fluttershy, sounding shocked at the thought that Matt might be left to fend for himself.

"Maybe we should take him to the farm, it's less public there," said Applejack.  "He needs a doctor." said Fluttershy, firmly.  "I think Fluttershy's right," said Pinkie, "He does look pretty bad."

...

Matt opened his eyes to see a familiar roof.  "Oh...not again." he said before raising his head to see the same winged unicorn from last time.  "I'd get up...but I think my ribs are on fire." he said weakly, laying back.  "You may rest," said Princess Celestia, "You have had a most trying experience."  "I've had worse..." said Matt, more or less to himself before adding "How's Twilight?"

"Still resting," said Celestia, "My sister's former essence fed on much of her energy."  "Good riddance to that...thing." said Matt, a little darkly before saying "So....what happens to me now?"  "That is a good question," said Celestia, "This world is not your home, is it?"  "No...my homes a long way away...too far away." said Matt, seemingly fascinated by the roof in the way he continued to look at it.  

"I couldn;t leave if I wanted...My ships too heavily damaged for now...and the people who attacked town...their ships up there somewhere...and its alot bigger." He added.  Celesita blinked and said, "I see, but it sounds like you could use a place to stay for a while."  Matt made a pained chuckle "Hah...I doubt the locals will like me as a neighbour." he said.  "I can arrange for a secluded home, somewhere you can have the privacy you need," said Celestia.

"I won’t take anything for free...thats not me...but I can make sure that Darius and his men leave you alone..." said Matt, adding "I'm not going to let other people get hurt because of me...not anymore."  "I understand," said Celestia, "It is very noble of you to be so concerned for others, but you might want to consider about how hurt you are yourself."  Matt said "I'll...take it under advisement.  Thank you."

"Don't worry, we shall have you back on your hooves in no time," said Celestia.  "Feet...back on my feet." said Matt, chuckling again.  "Oh, right," said Celestia, suddenly looking embarrassed and worried.  Her tone caused Matt to shoot upright and pull the covers off his feet to see they were still in their boots.  He could have sworn he heard the princess chuckling to herself as she left.

Matt immediately felt his vertebrate crying out in protest and lied back down.  "Ok, just take it easy, rest and recover," he said to himself.  

...

<Log activated>

Well...so much for hiding...thanks to Darius and his goon squad, I'm currently the bane of the town and to top it off, I had to prevent a doomsday today.  And not from Darius, but from Twilight of all people.  But you can't blame someone for being the unwilling host of darkness personified.  

However, you can blame the stupid merc who's had enough tangles with this sorta magic to spot bad mojo a mile off.  I shoulda spotted it when it took out that squad and had it vaporised in the ships incinerator.  That won’t happen again.  At least the local boss is friendly...

...

Everfree Forest

Darius looked out at the teams sweeping the ruins.  The losses that Echo had suffered meant that it had taken nearly 36 hours for Darius to prepare a second team only for them to arrive too late.  "Have you slackers found anything yet?" snapped Darius, "I don't want to have to try one of those locals for a meal."

"The only thing we found was some kinda helmet...only thing with thst energy residue left.  We found some other bits...but they're torn apart." said one of the troopers, nodding over to where two others in combat hazmats were putting an armoured helmet into a container.

Darius glanced at the helmet, which looked like it was made for one of those unicorns.  "Well, keep it storage, that thing gives me the creeps," he said.  "Ok...wheels up in 5.  I want us out of here before sunrise." he yelled, he and his men heading to the dropship.  A few of the troopers had noticed the crescent moon on the front of the helmet.  Unfortunately none of them knew who Nightmare Moon was...





















> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Authors note:  Just in case of any confusion...during this chapter, when characters are tsalking to Sparks, they are really talking to matt...

MLP Fic pt 5

Matt stood outside the house...well...barn really given that most of the local houses were too small as the drones moved a crate sized device into position.  "Easy...easy." he said before a voice said "Whatcha doin?"  Matt turned to see Apple Bloom and Rarity's little sisters and their friend.  "Just some moving-in stuff," said Matt, "You probably don't want to stand in the way."

The filly trio looked out at the dozens of boxes spread out.  Given that Twilight Moons minions had more or less turned the Skyraids defences into scrap, he and Aria had decided to have Matt move into the offered accomidation, at least till repairs were done...which meant that most of the boxes had either: 
a: fragile things, 
b: explosive things or... 
c: items from both a and b.  

"Erm...maybe you should go..." began Matt.

"Hey, maybe we can help you move your stuff," said Scootaloo.  "Cutie Mark Crusaider Movers, YAY!" shouted the trio heading over to some of the boxes.  "Erm...please...please stop." said Matt, panicking a little.  He could already imagine what the town would do to him if he accidentally exploded one of their kids.  Scootaloo pulled her head out of a box and spat out a small orange sized orb.  “Hey...is this supposed to beep?" she asked as a red light came on.  Matt yelped and kicked it into the tree line...where the grenade proceeded to explode.


"This is...very delicate and sensitive stuff," said Matt, "You really shouldn't-"  "Hey...look at this thing." interrupted Sweetie belle, levitating a riot pistol.  Matt went wide eyed  "Put that down before you...AAARGH!" he said, yelling as the gun went off, the beam bouncing around before shooting up and stunning a low flying bird.  "Cool..." said Scootaloo, "Do it again!"  Matt snatched the gun away and snapped, "It is not a toy!  This is no place for young-"

Apple Blooms voice behind him said "Hey...whut in tarnation dies this tube thingy do?"  Matt whimpered before slowly turning to see that the crusaders final member had managed to get the plasma cannon aiming at him.  "Whyyy?" he whimpered before the cannon fired. 

The fillies and the drone winced as Matt was blasted through a wall, leaving a smoking hole shaped like his silhouette
"Please...please...leave." came his pained voice.  Aria, via one of the spiderdrones said "Its just as well the reality generators online now."  The drone scuttled around to stare at the three fillies, again cutie mark-less and said "The captain is unconscious...can I take a message?"  Matt's next visitor was Pinkie, who came hopping towards the old barn Matt was staying at.

"Hello?  Anypony home?" she called through the open door before saying "Well...thats a bit weird cause a pony doesn’t live here but..." before one of the spiderdrones said in aria’s voice "Miss Pie...can I help you?"  On cue there was a metallic clang from the open double doors leading to the cellar at the back of the barn.  "Is Matt here?" asked Pinkie.

"He's in the basement, working on a...project that he never had the chance to finish...why he carts that overgrown junk heap around is beyond my processing capacities." said Aria, tone going darker as she went into rant.  Pinkie didn't notice or didn’t care as she said "Okie dokey lokie." before bouncing towards the stars down to the basement.

...

Matt had just finished welding a circuit board when he heard someone come in.  "Ah, good, hand me that screwdriver, would you?" he said, not looking up.  "I dunno where it is." said Pinkie voice, making Matt jump up and bang his head.  "Gah...I mean...Pinkie..." he said, deactivating the face shield on the helmet he was using for a welding mask.

"Whatcha doing?" asked Pinkie.  "Uh, something delicate, and the last time someone asked me that, I got sent through a wall.  So, please go away before something happens," said Matt.

Pnkie peered in and said "I wanted to invite you to look around Ponyville seeing as you were busy fighting those meanypants the last time." before saying "You crossed those wires." Matt turning to stare in shock at the spotted problem .
"Uh...thanks," said Matt before putting the wires in their proper places, "I wouldn't mind a tour, but I've been kinda busy lately."

Aria's voice said "That is correct...my last psy-scan of you showed dangerous stress levels...which is why I have just auto locked your weapons into safety mode.  I am ORDERING you to go out and relax."  Matt pouted and said, "You can't make me."

There was several clicks as the concealed drones activated their laser stunners "You can go out the door or the window, sir." said Aria pleasantly.  Matt turned to Pinkie Pie and asked, "So, where shall we start that tour?"
...

Matts main worry about the tour was a vague memory of the nasty glares he had gotten the first time he’d left their local clinic, after echo teams; attack.  "Hey...pinkie...what are the...general thoughts about me?" he asked as they walked towards the town.

"Uh, most people are wondering what you are," said Pinkie, "Some of them say you're a monkey of some kind."
Matt sighed and cut straight to the point “How many think I should be locked up?"  "Uh, quite a lot," admitted Pinkie Pie, "But you won't be because Celestia said that you shouldn't be."

"That just means mobs." muttered Matt to himself in a dark tone before saying cheerfully "Well, maybe seeing me not attacking anything will make them believe I'm not hellbent on world dominaton."
...

In town, Matt found himself on the receiving end of more than one angry glare.
Pinkie didn’t seem too or didn’t care about the glares being aimed though Matt could hear a few of the muttering and was finding it harder to not react.  "So, you wanna visit the library first or the Carousel Boutique?" asked Pinkie.

…

Matt looked around.  "Man...nice place.  Again...sorry the spiderbots trashed it first night we arrived here." he said, before seeing a persian cat.  "Cool...you got kitties here." he said, kneeling.  "What its name?" he said.

"Opalescense," said Rarity, "Opal for short.  I'd be careful around her.  She's a bit picky of who can touch her."  Matt said "I dunno...Cats usually like..." before Opal hissed and jumped on his face, prompting a scream of 'GAH...FURRY FACEHUGGER...GET IT OFF!"

"Oh dear," said Rarity, "Pinkie Pie, go and fetch Fluttershy.  She'll be able to get Opal off."  Opal however ended it, jumping off just before Matt hit a wall, sitting down and starting to wash herself in a air of 'that'll teach him'.  "Evil...cat." muttered Matt, sliding down to the floor.  "Oh, never mind, Pinkie," said Rarity, "But please bring the first-aid kit."  

…

Matt glanced around at the books on the shelves on the wall.  "Huh, I didn't think you ponies had so many books," said Matt.
Spike said "Yeah...Twilight does like books." Matt noticed the slightly cold tone and sighed "How's Twilight been?"
"Well, her magic's been on the fritz lately," said Spike, "She needs to stop using it too much."

Matt sighed and said "As long as she’s getting better." Before seeing Twilight coming down the stairs and his gloom vanishing behind a mask.  "Twilight...nice to see you up and about." he said, trying not to wince at some kind of medical covering on her horn.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Twilight, "I've forgotten how much work it is to not use magic."  Matt said "I can only imagine." before looking at a few of the books.  He'd need something to do without the ships VR machine to amuse him, though admittedly after the problem with the rogue AI, he'd been a bit more reluctant to play with it.  Matt picked up a random book and opened it.  However, the writing in it was completely illegible to him.  "Hey, Aria, why can't I read this book?" asked Matt.

"I'm afraid the plasma blast wiped the database...I'm working on visual translations...maybe if you borrowed an alphabet book..." said Aria before Matt said “Don’t be a smartarse." and aria finished “...then I can upload a translation update by tomorrow."  Matt rolled his eyes "I'll have died of boredom by then...maybe Twilight and co can help?"  Sir...I really think thats..." began Aria only for matt to hang up.

"So, you wouldn't happen to have any language-teaching books in here, would you?" asked Matt.  Twilight nodded with a smile "There is one spell I've been practising.  Its sometimes used in Canterlot when ambassators visit." she said.  Spike said "Twi?  Is it a good idea to try a spell like that while you're recovering?" concern in his voice.  Matt laughed for a second "Oh please...whats the worst that could happen?" he said before stopping and saying "Did anyone hear thunder then?"  "I'd keep your mind blank for a while," said Twilight as her horn glowed, "This could get complicated."

Matt shrugged before getting a distant expression.  Spike muttered "That didn’t take long."  "Ok, hold it," said Twilight as her horn shot a beam at Matt's forehead.  The beam suddenly seemed to hit an invisible wall, matts wrist computer starting to beep urgently.  

Matt glanced at his wrist comp and said, "Huh, now what's up with that?"  The spell's beam had finally compressed into an orb that finally shot through and hit Matt between the eyes.  At the same time, Matts wrist computer began to crackle and spark, a small voice saying "Danger...reality field core failure imminent."  

"Uh, Twilight, maybe you should stop," said Spike.  Twilight had stopped the beam already, Matt getting up unsteadily and looking at his wrist computer.  "Danger...solinium 12 core breach in 10 seconds.  All non-indigenous lifeforms evacuate at once."  Matt gulped at that and pulled a piece of it off and ran to the first window he could find before trying to throw it out.

Unfortunately, just as he was throwing his arm out to hurl it, a bright explosion suddenly flashed through the library, temporarily blinding everyone.  Twilight, Pinkie and Spike were forced to turn away but they heard a thud as Matt hit the floor, hard by the sound of it.

As Twilight and Spike slowly opened their eyes, Twilight said, "Ok, no more big spells until my horn is better." Her head feeling like it was splitting.

There was a weak groan from ground level and the two turned to look.  "Oh boy." said Spike after a minute.  Pinkie said "Look on the bright side....nopony'll be angry at him as much."  

…

Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were all heading towards the library as fast as they could after they got the message from Twilight.  "Whats the trouble, Twi?" said Rainbow dash, landing at the door.  Spike appeared behind Twilight and said "Twilight...I think he’s waking..." before there was a scream from inside the library and Spike finished "...up."  "Oh dear, is there a burglar in the house?" asked Rarity?  "Burglar?  Where?" asked Fluttershy before hiding behind Rainbow Dash.

Twilight said nervously "Not exactly." before stepping aside to let them in and see a grey coated pegasus colt with a black mane and a firework explosion cutie mark in what appeared to be full on freak out mode.  "Who's that guy?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight gulped at that before saying "Its...Matt."  'Matt' seemed to snap out of it at that, a worryingly unhinged tone in his voice  "Yes...this is just a weird dream...or another smegging mind leech."

The ponies blinked before Rainbow Dash laughed and said, "Oh, good one.  This is your best joke yet, Pinkie."
Pinkie smiled "It wasn’t me, Dash...but it would have been a great prank."  'Matt' turned to fix Dash with a stare "A prank?" he said, his left eye visibly twitching  "Ok, all jokin' aside, where's Matt?" asked Applejack.

"I'm right here..." said the colt, the unstable quality vanishing from his tone before he said "I'm not dreaming, am I?  I’d say the lack of pants proved it...but you guys probably haven’t heard of them."  "Ok, prove you're Matt," said Applejack, "When did you first meet my little sister?"

"She and her buddies found a downed fighter that one of them got into, forcing me to chase it down...they recently almost killed me with my own gear." said Matt, promptly.  The ponies' jaws dropped with an almost audible thunk.  "Yeah, pretty big surprise, isn't it?" said Spike.  Matt said in a matter-of-fact voice "It's not been my week really, has it?"

"Twilight, how did this happened?" asked Rarity.  "He asked me to help him read the books because he can't read equestrian.  I tried that translation spell I've been practising...then part of his wrist bracelet exploded." said Twilight.  Matt sighed "Stupid cutprice reality shield generator overloaded." he said.  "So, you turned him into a pony?" asked Fluttershy.


"No...the exploding generator did it.  I'll be like this till it wears off...if it wears off." said Matt, a little bitterly.  "I can just imagine how the town'll act if they think I’m a smegging shapeshifter..."  "Well, nopony has to know," said Twilight, "It can be our little secret."

Matt stopped and a watcher would have almost have been able to hear his mental gears working the problem.  The flash of the exploding reactor had not been that big so nobody outside would have seen it, the populace had been so busy ignoring him that nobody had seen him come in...what could go wrong?  "I like that plan." he said.

Just then, Matt's wristcomp on the floor beeped as Aria's voice said, "Matt? What's going on?  I could feel the reality pulse from here.  You didn't do something stupid, did you?"  Matt looked at it as if it had just spat acid.  "She's going to laugh, I just know it." he said before going over and saying “I'm right here...If I said nothing had happened, would you believe me?" he said.

"You got tangled up in some magi energy, didn't you?" said Aria.  Matt gulped and said "What makes you say that?"
"It's hanging like a thick fog around you, so obviously you allowed Miss Sparkle to perform a spell.  And that presumably caused your reality generator to overload, which would explain the reality pulse," said Aria, "A moment please while I use the vidcam to ascertain the damage."

Matt looked at the wrist computer in horror as it gave a whirring noise as the camera engaged.  Aria didn’t answer for a minute "Erm...Aria?" asked Matt only for Aria to break out in laughter.   Matt's ears drooped as he said, "There goes my last shred of dignity."

Aria said "Oh, stop being dramatic.  As if you had any to begin with."  "This footage better get deleted," snapped Matt.
"Make me, pony boy." said Aria, mirth in her voice.  Matt glared and switched to splitter "When this is over, Your CPU has an appointment with a fire axe."  "Ooh, how will you hold it?  In your teeth?" asked Aria in the same language.  Matts glare intensified before Aria continued "I suggest you get used to it while I calculate how long it will take for the excess energy to bleed off."

Rainbow Dash walked over to Matt and said, "Looks like I can take you for a real tour now.  How does seeing Ponyville from the air sound?"  "Um, I want to, uh, be his tour guide," said Fluttershy, a blush noticeable on her face.  Matt gulped a little before saying "I'm not even sure how to fly with these...I'm used to starships."  "Trust me, flying with your own wings is much more fun," said Rainbow Dash, "You don't want to be cooped up all day in here, do ya?"

Matt thought to how Rainbow had outflown the grav cars in the VR simulation...if anyone could teach him how to fly in his current predicament, it was her, plus his current form seemed to have a gentle form of claustrophobia, nothing major…but enough to make him feel constrained indoors.  "Not a chance.  Lets go." he said  "Uh, you don't mind if I came along, do you?" asked Fluttershy.

Matt, who probably at this moment, couldn’t spot a hint if it hit him from a great height, said "More the merrier."
As the pegasi went out the door, Twilight said, "Maybe I should start looking for a counterspell."  The rest, including the voice of Aria from the wrist computer said "NO!"  Aria adding "This may do him good...if he gets any more stressed, his heart might explode."  "Besides, you really need to lay off the magic," said Spike.

"Agreed." said Aria, "Plus, this was not caused by a spell, just Matt not keeping his wrist computer up to spec."  "Ah, I was wanting to see if Twilight could turn me into a woozle next," said Pinkie.  "What's a woozle?" asked Rarity.  "It's very confuzleing," said Pinkie.
...

Matt, Rainbow and Fluttershy walked through Ponyville, Matt feeling a bit unnerved from how...normal everyone was treating him.  He hadn’t realized held gotten used to the 'alien' treatment over the past 2 years.  As a matter of fact, no one was paying him any mind at all...except for some of the mares, particularly the pegasus mares.  But the look he was giving was...something he can't identify.

The looks were starting to make Matt feel nervous when he walked round a corner and almost walked into two pegasi mares.  "Wow...sorry about that." he said.  "Oh, it's ok," said one.  "More than ok," said the other.  "Erm...ok." said Matt, backing up a bit.  "So, what's your name?" asked one of the mares.

Matt visibly gulped.  Almost everybody in town knew his name...and not in a good way.  "Spark." he said, desperately.  "Hi Spark.." sighed the two mares.  Matt tried to pull himself together and said "Erm...whats your names?" looking pleadingly at Rainbow and Fluttershy  "I'm Slipstream," said one.  "I'm Cumula," said the other.  "Uh, nice to meet you," said Matt.  "Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you, but we've got places to be," said Rainbow Dash.  "But we want to know more about Spark," said Slipstream.  "We don't get enough winged stallions in Ponyvile," said Cumula.

Fluttershy said “Erm...excuse me..." only for Cumula to say over her "So...where are you from, Spark?"  Matt said nervously "You wouldn’t believe me if I told you."  Fluttershy tried again "Excuse me...can i say...?" before Slipstream said "Oh...will you be staying here long?"

Suddenly, Fluttershy jumped in front of Slipstream and Cumulua and snapped, "Back off, sisters!"  This alone was uncharacteristic of Fluttershy, but the stern glare she was giving was even more so.  The mares glared at Fluttershy for a minute before Slipstream said "Fine...come find us when you're tired of her."  Matt was cowering, shocked at Fluttershys brief personality flip.  

As soon as the two mares had flown off, Fluttershy turned and said as sweetly as if nothing had happened, "So, shall we continue our tour?"  Matt and Rainbow Dash, who was also staring from the outburst, nodded slightly.    Matt whispered to Rainbow "Remind me never to piss her off."

Eventually, the trio stopped for lunch at a small cafe.  Matt wasn't very happy about the menu, particularly since it was almost exclusively vegetarian.  Not to mention unusual.  "Flowers in sandwiches?  Now I've seen everything...and that includes that time Xander cooked for the team....the squirming." he said, shuddering at the memory.

"Well, you can't have sweets all the time," said Rainbow Dash, "You'll lose your aerodynamic figure."  "I suppose...hopefully this won’t be too permanent...I miss my thumbs already." said Matt, adding the last part to himself before overhearing two familiar voices and vanishing under the table with a yelp.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy glanced over to see Slipstream and Cumula at another table, talking with some friends.  "I can't believe that the princess is letting that creature live so close to town..." said Cumula.  "Yeah, it might come into town and eat someone," said another.  "Not to mention what it did to poor Miss Sparkle."  said Slipstream to a round of agreement.  Matt had slowly reappeared in his seat, a look of intense fury on his face.

"Now, now, Ma-, I mean, Spark, you shouldn't listen to what the other girls say," said Fluttershy, carefully.  "Is this the smeg they're saying about me?  I eat ponies?" said Matt, in a dark tone.  "Oh, you know those crazy rumors," said Rainbow Dash, "You should hear what we told about Zecora."

"But...blaming me for what happened to Twilight?" said Matt, sounding furious now.  "I nearly killed myself saving her butt and this town as well and thats the thanks I get?" he said, his voice raising a bit from blind fury.  "Keep it down," said Fluttershy, nervously "You're not supposed to be Matt right now, remember?"

Matt closed his eyes and took a few breathes "You’re right...sticks and stones and all that." before Cumula said behind him.  "Spark.  How nice to see you again."  Matt turned to see Cumula and Slipstream.  "Oh...you two." he said, the dark tone slipping back in.

"So, you finished with whatever you're doing with them?" asked Slipstream, pointing a wing at Dash and Fluttershy.  "No...but I wouldn’t go anywhere with two shallow smegheads who pass judgment on people they hardly know...good day to you." said Matt in a sub-zero tone before getting up and leaving with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

The two mares stared after them before Cumula said, "Why do the cute ones always have to be crazy?"  "Yeah, he's a lost cause," said Slipstream, "Let's go."  Matt, Rainbow and Fluttershy wandered back into town.  "So...apart from the cakes...everyone thinks I'm a walking talking apocalypse waiting to happen." said Matt gloomily after a few minutes.
"Oh, they'll lighten up eventually," said Rainbow Dash, "You just gotta show how nice a guy you really are."

"Its hard to do that when their mind appear to be already made up." said Matt, gloomily before a gust of dusty wind blew through the square.  "That's odd, we're not supposed to get a wind from that direction today," said Rainbow Dash.  The trio turned to see several ponies running the opposite way.  "Oh, what now?" muttered Matt before a market stall flew into view to smash against a wall.  What looked like a whirlwind with burning red eyes came into view.

"What is that?" asked Matt.  "A dust devil," said Rainbow Dash, "These things are nothing but trouble."  The dust devil, to prove its point, grabbed a pony and span it around before letting it spin off into a dazed heap.  "Really?" said Matt sarcastically as two more dust devils came into view.

"We gotta get rid of these things before they wreck the whole town," said Rainbow Dash.  "Um, maybe if we asked them really nicely, they'll leave," said Fluttershy.  Several other pegasi were already arriving.  "Erm...maybe I should stay here with Fluttershy?  I can’t actually fly yet, remember?" said Matt, nervously.  "What are you talking about?  This is a perfect time to learn," said Rainbow Dash, scoldingly.  

Matt watched as Rainbow Dash flew off to spin around a Dust Devil, the whirlwind collapsing into dust.  He gulped "This can only end badly." he said only for Fluttershy to say reassuringly "You'll be fine."  Matt closed his eyes and concentrated on flapping his wings.  

Despite what most of the laws of aerodynamics and gravity would say, Matt started lifting up from the ground.  "Hey...this is actually pretty co-" began matt cheerfully before a half barrel, sent flying by a dust devil impacted with him.  The dust devil in question closed in on the duo.  "Hurhurhur...pigeon ponies." it said in a deep, and not very intelligent voice."

Matt poked his head out of the wreckage, the way his eyes were spinning evidence to the barrels effectiveness.  However, one thought was riccocheting around his scrambled brain and went 'That pigmy tornado called you a pigeon...are you gonna stand for that?'  "No, mr concussion." gibbered Matt out loud before taking off again and managing to swoop at the dust devil.

Unfortunately for Matt, the dust devil saw him coming and sucked Matt into its vortex.  It spun around a bit before hurling Matt out towards the fountain in the square.  Fluttershy winced as the ballistic Matt hit the water with a 'ow'.  The splash however went over the dust devil which made a shrieking noise and seemed to melt into a puddle of mud that said in a bubbling voice "No like water."

Fluttershy gasped and said, "Matt, that's the answer!"  Matt's head popped over the side of the fountain.  "What is?" he said, his voice slurred from the double whammy his skull had just endured before his gaze fell on the complaining ex-dust devil.  "Part of me's happy its that easy...the other thinks its a bit anti-climatic." before he grinned, an idea blossoming in his mind.  He said "I'll go get Dash...if anyone can make what I have in mind..."  

"I'll go get a bucket," said Fluttershy.  "Good idea.  Make sure that muddy over there doesn’t try to dry off." said Matt before looking around to where the ponies were doing their best to rein in the dust devils.  He finally spotted the pegasus he was looking for and with a little concentration took off towards her.  "Rainbow...hold up" he called.  "Matt, we don't have time to talk," said Dash.  "We do if we wanna deal with these things." said Matt, before explaining what had happened with the first dust devil.

"That's all it took?  Water?" said Rainbow Dash, "That's too easy."  "There is a saying to go with this regarding gifts...but you might take it as an insult.  Come on...I got a plan...but I need a waterspout from the fountain to do it.  Doesn’t need to last long...just long enough." said Matt.  Rainbow Dash looked suspicious "What are you gonna do?"  Matt smirked "Use my skills."

Matt then flew over to a dust devil and said, "Hey, I hear you once lost a fight to a vacuum cleaner."  The dust devils stopped what they were doing at that and turned to glare at the cheeky pegasus.  "Yeah, you heard me, you windbags." called Matt.  The dust devils all let out howling cries of rage before shooting after Matt, who blew a raspberry before flying off.

"I amaze myself sometimes," said Matt as he flew back to the fountain.  He yelped as one of the dust devils literally sent a piece of the road at him, nearly turning him into a pancake.  "...AT HOW DUMB I AM!" he finished with a scream, turning a corner to see Rainbow Dash hovering over the fountain.  "Dash, start the spin cycle," said Matt.  

Rainbow Dash nodded and began to do a variation of her Rainbow Spin-dry, a tornado of water rising before she stopped, sending it shooting at the dust devils as they came round the corner.  "Uh oooh." said one of the dust devils gloomily before the waterspout hit dead center, causing them to join the first dust devil in mud mode.

Matt shook off the water that landed on him and said, "Well, that went well."  Rainbow landed smugly and said “They don’t call me Rainbow and Dash for nothing."  Matt laughed and said "No, they don't.  Now we just wait for Fluttershy to get that bucket and we can dump these dufus's in the lake or something."

The ponies that had been hiding the buildings came out as soon as the dust devils were gone.  "Hey, they've been defeated," said one pony.  "Who did it?" asked another.  "I think he did," said one pony, pointing at Matt.  Matt looked over his shoulder for the person they were pointing at, completely unused to actually being thanked before his brain supplied the theory that maybe they meant him.  "Me?  No...but It was Rainbow Dash who..." he began.

However, the ponies apparently didn't hear him as they started cheering.  "He's a hero!" yelled one.  "He saved the town!" yelled another.  "What's his name?" called a third.   "Erm...I'm nobody...just passing through." sad Matt, nervously before wincing as someone in the crowd said “Hey...Isn’t that Spark?  The new pony?"  Matt, in automatic response practically shrieked "PROVE IT!"

Then the crowd started chanting, "Spark, Spark, Spark, Spark..."  "Hey, wait a minute," said Rainbow Dash, but she was completely drowned out.  Matt, on his part looked completely terrified  before being carried off, screaming in splitter, if anypony had been able to understand, the words 'ITS THE MOOOOOB!!!"

Just then, Fluttershy trotted up to Rainbow Dash, a bucket in her mouth.  She looked around and asked, "What did I miss?"  Rainbow Dash glared as Matt was carried round a corner by his new adoring fans.  "Just somepony getting some praise he didn;t earn." she said darkly.

...

Rainbow Dash had gone back to her cloud house to let off some steam.  "I can’t believe he took the credit for stopping those dust devils.  He's not even a real pegasus.  I;d like to see him clear out an entire sky in 10 seconds flat." she muttered to herself before hearing a frantic knocking at the door.  Rainbow Dash and said, "I'm so not in the mood for Fluttershy right now."  Nevertheless, she went over to the door and opened it.

As soon as the door was open, there was a grey and blue blur that shot into the room and behind the furniture.  "SHUTTHEDOOR!" screamed Matt's voice.  Rainbow Dash was about to ask why when she heard a cheering throng of pegasi outside.  She quickly shut the door and locked it.  Though exactly how a lock would work for a door made of clouds was a bit perplexing.

"You...people can’t do anything half way...first you despise my very existence...then I can’t even get back home without being mobbed to death by admirers." said Matt in a shaking voice, peering out from behind the chair he’d taken cover behind with a  wide eyed expression.  "You don't deserve to be mobbed to death," said Dash in a sour tone.  "Finally, somebody who shows some-" started Matt before Dash snapped, "I should be the one with the mob!"

Matt stopped himself from an annoyed reply as he thought about it.  "I agree entirely.  You did all the leg-hoofwor-I dunno...the something work...My head hurts." he said, moaning a bit.  "I don’t like this kinda attention.  People in my line of work with this kinda attention have a special nickname." Rainbow dash said unsympathetically "Showoff?"  Matt turned to look at her and said darkly "No...Target practise."  

"Well, you sure aren't denying of that attention," said Rainbow Dash bitterly.  "Did any of what I said get through?  People in my career choice do not last long with this amount of attention.  We actually get relocated...6 feet below the surface of whatever planet we happen to be on." said Matt, a frantic tone entering his voice as he spoke.  "You sure aren't acting like it," said Rainbow Dash.  Matt frowned and said, "Is everything I'm saying just passing straight through those pointed ears?"

When no response came Matt said darkly "I've spent 2 hours trying to communicate to the town that you stopped them.  They called me 'modest'."  he said through gritted teeth before stopping and trying a different approach.  "Who cares what they think?  In a few days, 'Spark' will be long gone and that'll be that.  Anyway...I probably haven’t got a patch on you." he said, in a smooth voice.  "Flattery will get you nowhere," said Rainbow Dash.

Matt glared, muttering "I shoulda left you in the computer." Rainbow Dash turned and said, "Oh, so you wanna get rid of the competition, huh?"  Matt jumped back a bit in shock and said "Erm...Yes?" he said, unsure of how this would go.  "Well, big hot shot, how about we prove which one's the better flyer?" snapped Rainbow Dash.  Matt thought about this.  "Sure...why not?" he said. "Fine, the Dragonwing Pass Endurance Race, two weeks from now," said Rainbow Dash, "Be there or be square."

Now if Matt, like all mercs had one fault, it was pride...in spadefuls.  "Huh...I've done my own versions of endurance.  A race'll be a piece of cake.  I will see you at the race..." he said before turning to leave and suddenly stopping.  "Actually..." he began.  "You need to wait until the cheering mass leaves, don't you," said Rainbow Dash.  Matt said suspiciously "Maybe..."

...

<Internal Memo system activated...>

<Recording now...>

'I am starting to wonder if choosing Mr Lynch and his team to liberate me was a good idea.  The captain is clearly unhinged.  Two weeks have passed and instead of aiding me in finding the dimensional frequency to re-code him back to human form, he has been training for a stupid race.  

Apparently, he had been goaded into it by the blue pegasus who appeared to be jealous of the attention Mr. Lynch had gained for his assistance with the dust devil incident.  This is even more irrelevant when one considers that is so-called 'hero worship' stopped after a day or two.  Except for a certain yellow pegasus.  

It doesn’t take a hard drive my size to know that Miss Fluttershy seems to have formed a...whats the word?...Crush on Mr Lynchs current form.  I would have thought he would have caught on to it..."

...

Aria was interrupted when Matt came in.  "Matt, you do realize that this race is foolhardy and incredibly dangerous," said Aria.  "Hey...I didn't start this." said Matt, trotting over to slump down on a seat.  "Man, this training hurts." he said.  Aria sighed.  Matt had insisted that his medical nanites be disabled till the race was done, quoting that he wanted to 'win fairly'.  In Aria's opinion, that was just stupid.

"Matt, you've only been a pegasus for two weeks.  Which in itself is foolish.  You should be helping me build the reality generator," said Aria, "And as an extension of that first observation, all the other competitors have been pegasi for all their lives.  And have trained much longer and harder than you have."  "...And none of them have been shot at or had to flee for their lives.  I can do this." said Matt, stubbornly.

"Have you ever been in high mountainous terrain before?" asked Aria, "Are you aware of the dangers that exist there?"  "Oh...its just a mountain race...They probably have plans to stop accidents." said Matt, not really listening.

Aria gave a growl of frustration, or something close enough to it.  "There are blistering winds up there, barely sufficient levels of oxygen, and the frostbite will cause you hooves to fall off," she said, trying to be as blunt as possible.  "Thanks...That reminds me, Rarity said something about a flight suit." said Matt, before turning to leave.  Aria watched Matt go before she said, "Now I remember why I prefer the company of scientists."

...

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was going through her routine training, spinning around at high speeds before swerving through trees.  She finally completed her course and landed next to Fluttershy.  "How'd I do?" she asked.  "Two seconds faster than last time," said Fluttershy, clicking her stopwatch.  "Hah...That race is in the bag.  No way he can beat me." said Rainbow in her usual cocky form. 

"Uh, don't you think you're being a little harsh on Matt?" asked Fluttershy.  "He's the one who started it, taking the credit for those dust devils." said Rainbow, annoyed.  "It was really an accident," said Fluttershy, "I'm sure he didn't mean to take the credit."  “Yeah right." said Rainbow Dash under her breath before remembering herself and saying unconvincingly "Yeah, right."

"Matt's really not a bad guy," said Fluttershy.  "He's smart, kind, funny, clever, cute..."  Fluttershy stopped when she saw Rainbow Dash staring at her.  "What did you just say?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Oh, nothing, nothing important," said Fluttershy, a blush becoming very prominent on her face.  Rainbow smirked and said "You've got a crush on him?  He's not even a real pony."  Fluttershy's blush became even brighter, "Uh, well, he is good-looking, and, er, he is, uh, sweet," she said.

"He's not a real pony...plus...does he even know you have a crush on him?  Guys a bit dim sometimes." said Rainbow Dash.  "Well, uh, I'm hoping he would have picked up a hint or two," said Fluttershy.  "I wouldn’t count on it." said Rainbow Dash to herself.

...

As anyone who's ever been at a fitting knows, they tend to taking agonizingly long amounts of time, most of which the person being fitted has to stand in uncomfortable poses.  "This is just a race suit...right?" said Matt, a little uncertain.  "Matt, you must take pride in what you wear," said Rarity, "It's not just functional, it's fashionable."  Matt rolled his eyes.  "Usually, I look for energy blast protection over looks." he said to himself.

"Well, I don't know about that, but you need plenty of insulation against those dreadfully cold winds as well as streamlined to be more aerodynamic," said Rarity, "Now tell me if this is too tight."  She then picked up a thread and pulled it.  Matt went bug eyed as he felt like he’d just been put in a pneumatic press.  "Too........tight." he gasped.

"Oh, sorry," said Rarity before loosening the thread.  Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was sitting nearby and flipping through a book about the Dragonwing Mountains.  "Matt, are you certain you want to go through with this?" asked Twilight, "The race is really for professionals more than first-timers."  

Matt took a few breathes as soon as the suit was looser before looking over at Twilight.  "I've been in some bad situations before.  How bad could this race be?" he said confidently.  "Well, in the last year, plenty of ponies ended up in hospitals," said Twilight, "Lots of broken legs and wings."

Matt stopped at that.  "Erm..." he said nervously before shaking his head as the usual merc pride overrode common sense.  "I've been in a few scrapes...I'll be fine.  I can handle one endurance race."  He also added under his breath "...And I am not letting Dash beat me that easy."

"Matt, this isn't just an endurance race," said Twilight, "It requires a lifetime of experience to get through this."  "And you're not a real pegasus," said Rarity, "Opalescence, could you bring the silver thread?"  Matt began to glare as Opal rolled a spool of thread over to Rarity.  "I am not backing down.  I can do this." he said, starting to get annoyed.  

Twilight sighed and said, "Matt, just don't push yourself.  You're not built for this kind of endurance."  Little did Matt know, but Opal was watching his swishing tail with interest and was getting into a crouching position.  Matt sighed "Encodings pretty thorough...I'm exactly the same as a normal pony until..." he said before getting a strange look at the same time that Rarity and Twilight heard a 'shrik' noise from behind him.

"Rarity...does Opal often...attack customers?" asked Matt through gritted teeth.  "Well, sometimes if she's feeling playful and she knows the customers well," said Rarity.  "That's what I thought," said Matt before jumping twenty feet into the air with a yelp.

...

Later...

Matt looked at the finished suit before glaring at Opal who he was sure was smirking at him.  "Nice suit." he said, a little impressed despite everything.  "Yes, it is a fine piece of work," said Rarity, "I don't get to work on stallions too often.  Apparently, there's something about tailor-work that disinterests them.  I wonder what it could be?"  Matt kept a neutral expression and said diplomatically "I have no idea...being an alien and all that."

"Speaking of which, you do remember that you'll be changing back to a...hoeman, right?" said Twilight.  "Yeah...I need to work on retuning the reality generator at some point." said Matt, absently.  "Well, good, but it's not just getting attached to your form that you should be worried about," said Twilight.  "It's others getting attached to that form," said Rarity.

Matt blinked "Pardon?" he said, a little confused from the sudden subject change.  "Well, er, you are aware of how much attention you attract as a stallion," said Rarity.  "You mean those two idiots that I met when Fluttershy and Dash gave me that tour?" said Matt, not catching on.  "Oh...fluttershy sent em packing.  She's got a real temper on her when you get her going."

"Ah, well, that's pretty close," said Twilight, "But I don't suppose you've wondered why Fluttershy snapped at them like that."  Matt seemed to think about it before saying.  "Not really..." before noticing their expressions.  "Wait...you think...I...heheh...Thats silly." he said, sounding nervous.  "Well, I'm not quite sure I agree with Fluttershy's taste, but this is certainly something you should address soon," said Rarity.

Matt said with a shaking voice "But...that...I'm not even...ggnnnh." before passing out.  "Perhaps we should have been more gentle," said Twilight.  "Well, he needed to be told at some point," said Rarity, "I'm quite surprised he didn't figure it out himself."  Matt woke up suddenly before saying nervously.  "Tell me I dreamt about you telling me...I didn’t, did I."

Rarity opened a drape and said, "Have a look for yourself."  Matt looked outside and saw Fluttershy, lying on the ground and plucking petals from a flower.  Even Matt wasn't oblivious enough to not know what she was saying.  "Ah....smeg." said Matt to himself, gloomily.  "I know you'd hate to break her heart as much as the rest of us, but we all know it would never work," said Rarity.

"I know...I can only imagine how she'll take it...I'll have to think about how to break it gently to her." said Matt, gloomily.  Twilight and Rarity exchanged a glance before saying at the same time, "You need some help."  Matt looked at them "Help?" he said.  "No offense, but you don't seem like the kind guy who knows how to be gentle," said Twilight.  Matt opened his mouth to disagree before he realised they had a point.  

"Yes," said Rarity, "if a lady is to be told that the stallion of her affections is not available to her, it must be done with finesse and great care.  Otherwise, she'd think he was nothing but a conceited, arrogant, uncharming clod that should be trampled under a stampede of-"  Matt watched politely as Rarity's look began to darken and her tone get angrier as she tiraded on before he slowly edged over to Twilight and said from the corner of his mouth.  "I'm presuming she's had bad experience?" he said, in a worried voice.

"Uh, let's just say that she had her expectations dashed and not say anything more about it," said Twilight.  Matt nodded slowly.  "The secret dies with me." he said.  Eventually, Rarity calmed herself down and said, "Also, Fluttershy is a gentle creature with delicate feelings.  You'll want to be extra careful with her."  Matt nodded, thinking back to when the AI on the skyraid had gone nuts.  "No worries...but it might have to wait till after the race...its tomorrow and I should think about what to say." he said.

...

The race itself began early, given that the organizers didn’t want to risk any competitors not reaching the stop-over camp before nightfall.  The morning sun was shining upon the Dragonwing Mountains as the pegasi prepared for the race though there were already some black clouds on the horizon.  Matt was still thinking about his problem when Rainbow said behind him.  "You ready to lose?"  Once Matt confirmed that his heart hadn't exploded, he turned.  Rainbow took a step back and looked at the flight suit Matt had, obviously of Rarity's make.  It was done in the weird camoflage design Matt liked in his usual clothing with faux fur built into the collar and the hoof holes and Matt/Sparks cutie mark on the flank.

"If I'm losing, at least I'll know that you'll be behind me," said Matt.  Rainbow Dash glared at that.  "Oh yeah?" she said pushing forward till the two were eye to eye.  Matt said "You're the one who wanted this race...you sound like you're worried the 'fake' will kick your ass."  "No way a rank amateur's gonna beat me," said Rainbow Dash.  Matt shrugged "We'll see." he said, calmly despite the fact his nerves were at breaking point inside.

"I see you came prepared for the cold," said Rainbow Dash.  "I'm allergic to hyperthermia." said Matt, sarcastically.  "Hope you know how to keep your wings warm," said Rainbow Dash, "Wouldn't want to lose any feathers."  "Could say the same about you...lets just get this over with so we can put this behind us and Spark can 'leave town'." said Matt, a little annoyed.  "Fine, I'll see him one last time, at the finish line," said Rainbow Dash. Matt shrugged "Yeah right." he muttered.

...

As the racers got ready though, Matt began to think that maybe he should try to extinguish a few of the metaphorical burning bridges.  As the pegasus in charge began to count down to the start he turned and said "Hey...Rainbow...this is just a race...a friendly race.  We don’t need to..." he said before the referee reached zero and Matt was sent spinning.  

The referee pointed politely at the direction the other racers were going when Matt stopped his spinning top impression.  "Erm...thanks." he said before shooting off after the others.

...

Twilight and the others watched as Matt shot off after the other racers.  "Well...he’s off now." she said.  "Ah sure hope he knows what he's getting into," said Applejack.  Twilight nodded "I hope so too."  

...

Meanwhile, Aria was working on the reality generator in Matt's absence.  "Must I take care of everything around here?" she grumbled.  She walked around the cube that formed her interpretation of the CPU and checked the software for the generator was writing when a new view appeared, flashing as urgent.  "If it's another spyware bug, so help me..." she grumbled before selecting it.

Her fury stopped when she spotted the serial number flashing, matching to Matt's nanites.  "Oh, this isn't good." she said as a voice from it said "Nano-recoding program complete.  ETA to recode: 30.25 minutes."

"Are there any ways to communicate with Lynch?" asked Aria.  "Negative, no communication device detected on person or in vicinity," said the voice.  "Dammit...right.  Despatch drone 21A to find Miss Sparkle." said Aria, annoyed.  A beep and a line of code on one of the holo screens indicated compliance.  All aria could do now was wait...

...

While waiting for news of how the race was going, the other ponies decided it was time for a little heart-to-heart with Fluttershy.  "Fluttershy, darlin'.  About..." began Applejack before noticing all the nearby ponies who might overhear before saying "...about 'Spark'."  "Doesn't he look great in that racing suit?" asked Fluttershy.  "Yes, I think it brought out his inner nature quite nicely," said Rarity, "And it matches his..."  She paused before saying, "Er, now's not the time for personal pride."

"Fluttershy, Spark's a nice guy, but he's not going to be staying around forever," said Twilight.  "Yeah, besides, there are other cute stallions out there," said Pinkie Pie.  "But he said he's not going to be able to fix that ship for months.  Maybe I can convince him to stay," said Fluttershy.  "Fluttershy, 'member when you were takin' care of that lil' hawk?" asked Applejack.  Fluttershy nodded, remembering the hawk chick she had found one summer.

"Ya'll cared for him until he was big enough to fly away, but you couldn't let him go that easy, could ya?" said Applejack.  Fluttershy nodded, sniffing sadly.  "But you had to let it go," said Applejack, "It didn't belong with you, it belonged out in the wild, being free."  Fluttershy nodded sadly.  "...and it would be wrong to make Matt stay as well." she finished, in a small voice.  "Right, besides, I don't think he's your type," said Rarity.  

Fluttershy smiled weakly at Raritys joke before there was a scream from the crowd, the ponies parting to reveal one of Matt's spiderdrones scuttling forward.  "I thought Matt was keeping them at his camp." said Twilight.  "Oh, I invited a few over to my place," said Pinkie, "They don't seem to care for milk and cookies though."

The optic on the drone flickered to the blue that showed Aria was steering it.  "Miss sparkle...ladies...it is urgent I find the captain at once.  Where is he?" she said, sounding panicky for once.  "He's probably halfway through the course by now," said Rarity.  "Oh...oh...crap." said Aria, forgetting to swear in splitter from panic.  "This is extremely bad.  I received a update from his internal nanites.  They are preparing to recode him to human form."  "What?!" shouted all five of them. "But what if he's over a chasm?" cried Fluttershy.

"Then he will fall probably a good 40 to 45 feet." said Aria, promptly before stopping.  "The emergency recode will not last long...but any injuries will carry over.  We must inform the officials immediately.  Where is the overnight stop?"  "It's too far away from here, we'll never make it there in time," said Fluttershy.  "And I don't know exactly where it is so I can't teleport there," said Twilight.

Aria didn’t speak for a full minute, apparently thinking before she said "We may have a way after all.  Tell me...has Mr Lynch mentioned his 'special project'?"  

...

The quintet of ponies followed the spiderdrone back to the barn Matt was using.  The spiderdrone went to the basement door and said, "What you are about to see is top secret.  Do not tell the landlord."  The old cellar doors lock didn’t provide much resistance to the drones cutting laser and soon it was wide open, revealing the ring device that Pinkie had seen Matt working on the day he;d ended up as ‘Spark’.  

"Ooh, what is it?  Is it some kind of portal to jump through space and time and end up in another galaxy?" asked Pinkie.  "Close enough.  Its the beginning of a class 6 rip engine portal.  At the moment though it is only capable of short distance teleportation...about...400 miles...give or take." said Aria, steering the drones body towards several controls on the wall, its wires leading to the ring.

"So, you can use this to go anywhere in Equestria?" asked Twilight.  "Yes...as long as there are Map coordinates to enter...I took the liberty of researching the race course...it should be simple enough to deposit you just outside the camp with only a 1.4% chance of catastrophic molecular failure." said Aria.  "Catastrophic what now?" asked Applejack.  

"Nothing you need concern yourselves with." said Aria, smoothly.  The drone she was steering flicked a switch and several red crystals on the ring lit up, a humming coming from them.  "Uh, has this thing been tested?" asked Twilight, a little nervously.  In simulations, yes.  You'll be proud to know this is the first physical test." said Aria, in a creepily cheerful voice as another voice from the ring said "Target coordinates locked...traveller DNA logged and saved...teleport in 10 seconds."  "Oh, one more thing, don't hold hands, or hooves," said Aria.

The ponies as one gulped before the entire cellar was filled with a blinding light.  When it faded, the only sign anyone had been there were four sets of hoofprints in the dirt.  "Teleport successful." chimed the jumpgates computer.  

...

Meanwhile, Matt was trying to force his way through a blizzard and had popped out of nowhere half an hour previously.  He was so glad he had remembered to bring flight goggles.  'Man, Twilight wasn't joking about this.  This is nasty.' he thought as he wiped snow from his goggles for what felt like the 30th time.  As he cleared it away he got a surprise to see rainbow up ahead, the snowstorm, despite everything having slowed her down too.  Matt, being Matt couldn’t resist a smartarse comment as he overtook.  "Hey Rainbow...see ya at midway.  BYEEE!" before he flew over.

"Yeah, after I get there first!" shouted Rainbow Dash.  However, she wasn't able to go any faster than she currently was, what with the blizzard.  Matt lost sight of her pretty fast in the blizzard, grinning to himself.  He had a good idea that she'd probably win the race overall but he'd consider it a good job to beat her to the midway poi...  A unexpected beep from his left front hoof got his attention to reveal his wrist computer slowly appearing.  A calm voice said "Emergency recode charge ready.  Engaging in T minus 30 seconds.  Please stand by."

"Wait?  What?" asked Matt, the idea of suddenly turning human in the middle of a blizzard about 60 feet above a mountainside filled his mind.  "Uh, cancel, override, stop, desist," he said quickly.  "Manual cancel disabled under NSC medical law 42-A...emergency recode in 15 seconds." said the computer smugly.  

"Stuff medical laws, I command you to not change me back this-" started Matt before the computer said, "Initializing emergency recoding."  Matt paused in midair and said, "Oh smeg."  To any of the other racers, it would have been impossible to see the flash of or hear the electrical crackling of the recode field engaging...or hear Matt's yell.  

...

The racers who had already made it to the midway point were trying to rest and regain their strength for the rest of the race when it resumed the following morning.  This attempted relaxation was interrupted by a sudden blinding light.  It came as a shock to see a perfect half sphere of snow in the middle of the camp appeared to have been evaporated...even more to see four half dazed ponies standing in the middle...well...three of them were dazed if we're honest.  "THAT WAS SO COOL...Maybe Aria'll let us go again." said Pinkie, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Uh, I think I'll stick to my balloon for long distances," said Twilight.  A shocked pegasus with a whistle cutie mark trotted up.  "Wh...Miss Sparkle?  How did you...?" he began.  "No time to explain," said Twilight, "We've got an emergency.  Spark, uh..."  "Forgot to take his vitamins today," said Fluttershy, "He has a slight potassium deficiency and he could end up losing consciousness from all the stress of the race."  

"He never mentioned that on his race form." said the pegasus, confused before saying "He could be here soon.  I'll brief the rescue teams to be ready to go out just in..."  "What was that about rescue?" asked a voice.  The ponies turned to see Rainbow Dash coming down for a landing.  Twilight said urgently "Dash...did you see M...Spark?  He might be in trouble."  "He passed me in the pass," said Rainbow Dash as she alighted, "I thought he'd be here."

The gang looked worried at that before the pegasus official nodded "He might just be lost but no sense in taking chances.  I'll get the emergency teams sent out at once." he said gravely before trotting in the direction of the tents.  Rainbow Dash looked at them confused "Whats going on?" she asked.  "Uh, well, you might say Matt had an inconvenient recovery," said Rarity.

Rainbow Dash almost went pale at that.  "You don't mean...its freezing out there."  she said, horrified.  "And I doubt he was standing on solid ground at the time," said Applejack.  Rainbow dash turned and got ready to take off.  "I gotta go find him.  If I hadn’t gotten him to enter this dumb race..." she said.  "Rainbow Dash, you've been flying all day," said Twilight, "You're too tired to go search for him right now."  "I can’t leave him out there.  Its not like he's got a coat." said Rainbow, turning to look at Twilight.

"My racing suit probably has been torn to shreds," said Rarity, "And after all the work I put into it."  The others turned to glare at Rarity at that before Rainbow shook her head and shot off into the storm.  "I have to go with her," said Fluttershy, "We'll be able to cover the mountainside better."  Rarity said concerned "Darling...Rainbow Dash will probably struggle in this weather.  You can’t fly in this."  "But Matt needs all the help he can get," said Fluttershy, "I have to try."

"Fluttershy.  Its too dangerous.  You won't be able to help him if you need rescuing too." said Twilight.  Fluttershy sighed before suddenly flying off into the snowstorm.  "Fluttershy, you fool, don't be a hero!" shouted Applejack.  If Fluttershy heard them, she was ignoring them, following Rainbows already fading trademark trail.

...

Matt pulled out an adrenaline shot from his wrist computer and injected himself.  The snow had been deep enough to stop him being pancaked...but he was sure he'd broken his arm and from the tightness and pain in his chest, several ribs were in a similar state.  

"Ok, most important rule of being stranded in a cold area: don't fall asleep," he told himself, "If you doze off, you'll freeze off."  He'd managed to drag himself into an overhang out of the worst of the storm.  It was made worse that with a busted arm, he couldn't enter in the reactivation code for his medical nanites.  The wrist computer said "Danger:  Severe skeletal injuries detected...medical nanite network: disabled.  Enter reactivation code immediately."   

Matt felt a moment of relief.  It would seem that staying awake through all those tedious code lessons would pay off.  However, with the wrist computer on the arm that wasn't broken, punching it in was another matter entirely.  He tried to lift his arm to type it in and nearly blacked out from agony.  "Ok...lets not do that.  Computer...audio code entry." he said.  The computer buzzed before saying  "Error...damage to audio recievers detected...please repeat or manually enter command."

"Oh for the love..." grumbled Matt, "I knew I should have tried to learn how to type with my nose.  But no, 'as if that situation would ever come up' I said."  He looked at the wrist computers temperature, now slipping into negative double figures.  "Crap...not how I planned to snuff it."  "Really?  After all you've been through, this is how you shuffle off the mortal coil?" said a familiar voice.

Matt shot his head round to see his sister, wearing her merc uniform from the last day he'd seen her and covered in scorches and judging by the way Matt could see through her, an hallucination to boot.  "Ok...now I know I'm too cold." he said, tired.  "You're not going to just give up like that," said Chloe, "We made a promise, remember?"  "Yeah...we'd go home together.  You know...I'm still working on that portal device." said Matt, half dazed from the dropping temperature.

"Well, you can't work on anything if you're dead," said Chloe, "Believe me, I know."  "You're not dead till I see a body." said Matt, stubbornly.  "And you won't find me if you're dead," said Chloe.  Matt just shuddered as the snow soaked into his clothing and doubled the cold effect of the wind.  He looked up weakly as the cold driven hallucination of his sister seemed to dissolve into nothing with a parting shot of 'If you die on me, I'll work out a way to resurrect you so I can too..."  

"Right, can't give up now, can't fall asleep," muttered Matt.  His eyes slowly began to drift down before he thought he heard someone calling his name out in the snow.  "Whu...wuzza?" he slurred before his eyes went wider, seeing several silhouettes in the blizzard.  He managed to lift up his wrist comp, activating its flare launcher only for it to start to flicker like a bad TV signal.  “No...not now.” he muttered as a voice said “Alert...emergency encode charge depleted.  Encode in 30 seconds."  Matt managed to hit the flare launch switch before the last of the emergency encode gave out along with his consciousness.  

...

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying through the snowstorm.  Despite her lack of experience, Fluttershy's determination allowed her to keep up with Rainbow Dash.  The two pegasi were buffeted by a particularly strong gust of wind for a second.  "This is crazy.  He could be anywhere." yelled Rainbow Dash over the wind.  Fluttershy managed to turn and was about to say something before what looked like a brightly glowing ball shot between them to explode like a miniature sun for a second, bathing a good section of the canyon in red light.

"What was that?" asked Fluttershy.  The two looked around to see a faint shape, just visible under a rock overhang slump down in the snow.  Several other calls from further down the canyon seemed to indicate that some of the rescue teams from the midpoint had also seen the lightshow.  "I think that's Matt, come on," said Rainbow Dash before flying over to the overhang.

The two landed unsteadily in the snow to see that it was Matt, trapped again in pegasus form and looking like he’d gone three rounds with a manticore and lost, one of his front legs clearly broken and one of his wings looking just as bad.  "Oh man, this is not good," said Rainbow Dash.  "He needs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," said Fluttershy before bending down towards Matt's head.    

Matt opened his eyes at that slowly "Am I dead?" he said, weakly.  Fluttershy jumped back, her face bright pink.  "Um, no, we're going to get you some help," she said.  "Thats nice..." said Matt, dizzily as Rainbow Dash flew up to get the attention of the rescue team.  "You know...when we get back...I'm gonna fix that reality field.  I think being a pegasus...should be left...to the professionals." Matt said.

...

Matt opened his eyes to find himself in the clinic in Ponyville.  "You know...I should just live here...its easier." he said under his breath.  Fluttershy, who was nearby, held her breath in anticipation.  "I get injured so often it'd probably save the clinic leg work." finished Matt to himself before he turned his head and saw Fluttershy.  "GAH...I...how long were you there?" he said, almost jumping out of bed (and regretting it as his broken front leg objected).

"Oh, uh, just...since you were brought in," said Fluttershy meekly.  Matt looked at her suspiciously before noticing a calender.  "2 Days?" he said, sounding surprised before sighing.  "Fluttershy...I'm sorry.....you know I can't stay here, right." he said as kindly as he could.  "Well, I'm sure we can move you back to your...hideout pretty soon," said Fluttershy, sounding sad.

Matt sighed, laying back a bit.  "Man, this is not how I envisioned myself last month." he said before saying "You gonna be ok, Fluttershy?"  "Oh, just fine," said Fluttershy, "Though I am a little hungry."  Suddenly, a large grumbling came from her stomach.  Matt grinned at that.  "I'll be perfectly fine.  Even I can't get injured in a hospital.  Go get a bite to eat." he said.  

"Ok," said Fluttershy, "If you insist."  She started walking out of Matt's patient room, though she seemed to be keeping an eye on him as she left.  Matt said with as warm a smile as he could "I do...I'll be fine.  Look after yourself.  I'll almost certainly still be here."  Fluttershy nodded before walking out.  

...

It was a few days later...

Matt was back at his camp, human again and still wearing a few bruises that the med nanites were yet to clear up, something he also had to do in regard to the damage caused when the CMC had 'helped'.  "This is gonna take a while." he muttered.  "Well, you've had plenty of time to play, now it's back to work," said Aria.  "Can't I even go to that 'end of the race' party?" asked Matt.

"Your reality field was half adapted when you finally let me re-code you.  A few more days and you would have been a permanent resident.  It is not worth the risk." said Aria, stubbornly before noticing Matt looking at a box of plasma flares and a launcher thoughtfully.

"Matt, those are for emergencies," said Aria.  "We're already in an emergency...and I still have plenty in my wrist computer." said Matt, picking up the launcher and getting a few drones to grab some of the flares.

...

A small festival was going on to celebrate the end of the Dragonwing Pass race.  It might not be a major celebration like the Summer Sun Celebration, but it was still fun.  However, one pegasus was not feeling particularly happy.  Fluttershy sighed to herself as Rainbow Dash came over.  "Hey...whats up?" she said cheerfully before catching on.  "Cheer up.  Aria told us why 'Spark' had to leave town." she said, being careful not to mention 'Sparks' proper name given how many other pegasi were around,

"I know, he has his sister to find," said Fluttershy, "It's just...you ever wonder if you'll find the right stallion one day?"  Rainbow Dash smiled and said "Mom always said there's somepony out there for everyone.  You'll find him one day."  "I hope so," said Fluttershy, "I just felt like Spark could have been the one."  

Rainbow Dash was about to reply before the crowd were shocked to see some kind of small rocket shoot up into the sky before exploding with a green flash that caused some impressed 'ooooh's' from the watching ponies.  "Wow, I didn't know we were gonna have fireworks," said Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy had jumped behind Rainbow Dash in surprise and so was able to look to see a figure in the distance waving to some familiar robotic spiders.  She nudged Rainbow Dash with a smile and pointed to where Matt was loading up another salvo of flares.  Rainbow Dash looked at where Matt was and smirked.  "No wonder he had that firework Cutie Mark," said Rainbow Dash.

...

<Log active>

Well...talk about walking a mile in someone elses shoes...or hooves in this case.  Despite any misgivings I had at first, spending some time as a pony wasn't so bad.  I mean, the strict vegetarianism and the lack of arms was kinda tough, but being able to walk around in broad daylight was nice.  

And, well, spending time with Fluttershy was nice.  She's a nice girl and would probably make some lucky stallion happy one day, but it wouldn't have worked.  I mean, she like to tend to woodland creatures, I like to blow up alien monsters.  Still, the thought of settling down was pretty tempting.  Can't settle down.  My sis is still out there and I gotta find here...Ok, Aria?  I want this log sealed away in the electronic equivilent of a bottomless pit.  This is never to be read...ever."

<Log saved to secure file....>

<Log copied to ARIA personal files>



> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer:  All MLP: FiM characters belong to Lauren Faust and Hasbro.  Capt Lynch is mine.  


MLP Fic pt 6

It had been a week or so since Matt had been returned to humanity and he'd been trying to use the time to catch up on some repairs at the Skyraid.  While the automatic repairs had handled most things, some repairs demanded a gentle touch...but Matt was the only crewmember left so he had to do the calibrations on the warp engine.

Of course, reading from a manual and doing the actual work are two pretty separate things.  Matt glanced from the wrench he was holding to the manual he was reading from.  "Is this supposed to be a metric or a bolt wrench?" he muttered to himself.

Aria gave a electronic sigh and said "Its supposed to be a screwdriver...are you sure you are qualified for this?"  "Hey, I installed a VCR once," said Matt.  "Really?  And how many times did you have to go buy a new one to replace the one you were trying to install?" said Aria.

Matt glared up at the camera that Aria was probably using to watch him and said after a minute "....Twice....THATS NOT THE POINT!"  "No, the point is that you don't have the mechanical training to repair so much as a clock let alone an advanced piece of equipment like a warp engine," said Aria.  "Ok then, smartarse...who else is gonna do it?" said Matt, smugly.

"Oh, if you allow me a few minutes at the wheel, so to speak," said Aria.  "NO...I know that AI's and minds can switch places but I do NOT want a repeat of the VR machine incident...plus I don’t trust you with my body." said Matt, a little hastily.  Aria sighed and said, "Fair enough.  Of course, by the time you finish repairing that, you'll be too bent over to see over the steering wheel."

"Bite me, Aria.  You want a body so bad...make one." said Matt, sulkily before managing to connect a wire and causing several readouts to pop up.  "See?  Perfectly fine." he said before the readout screen exploded in his face.  Matt blinked before wiping the soot off his face.  "I can fix that," he said.  “Of course you can, sir.” Said Aria sarcastically.
"Aria?  Where's the fire axe?" said Matt in a dangerously calm voice.  Aria said smugly "I'm not telling."  

…

Pinkie Pie felt that Matt could use some company so she went over to his ship.  It didn’t do anypony or any alien good to be by themselves all the time, after all.  For some reason, when she arrived she found that he seemed to be very determined to get into the AI core room with what looked like a red axe.  "YOU CAN'T KEEP ME OUT FOREVER!" yelled Matt at the door before Pinkie said "What ya doing?" causing Matt to scream and fall over...then scream again when the axe landed on his foot.  "Ms. Pie, a...delight to see you again," said Aria, sounding as if she were gritting her teeth.

Matt sat up, wincing and thanking his usually mouldy luck that the axe had landed flat first.  "Yeah...whats up, pinkie?" he said.  "Just wondering if you wanted to do something today," said Pinkie, "The swimming hole's just cool enough today."  "Sorry...I've been taking the chance to do a few repairs on the ship.  Engine needs alot of work." said Matt apologetically before saying "Hey...you wanna see it?  I didn’t really get a chance to give you a tour last time due to homicidal computers."
"Sir, I really must advise against-" started Aria before Pinkie said, "Ok," before hopping down the stairs.

Matt walked after her, showing the way to where the warp column stood, the crystal matrix humming away creating a kind of rainbow strobe effect at reality energy pulsed through it.  "Ooh... pretty," said Pinkie.

Matt walked in behind her and said "That it is...hard to imagine there's enough energy through there to encode anything within 30 miles if it breached."   Pinkie continued looking at it before saying, "There's a smudge on it."

Matt managed to stop her before she touched it.  "I wouldn’t do that...packs a shock..." before he stopped, remembering something about smudges in the safety guide.  A crackle came from the engine as a pulse of energy encountered the smudge, actually a shorted crystal.  On cue the other crystals began to glow...

"Ooh, does it clean itself?" asked Pinkie, "I wish I had something that cleaned itself because parties are so fun to throw but then there's so much work cleaning up afterwards.  Sometimes I have clean-up parties where all we do is clean, but they don't seem to be that popular for some reason.  Maybe I should stop putting soap in the cupcakes I make for those parties."

A voice from the reactors VI said "Maintenance alert.  Power surge detected...attempting to reroute...failed.  Overcharge imminent...please evacuate."  "Uh, Pinkie, I think we should move," said Matt.

A energy bolt, almost like lightning arced out and blasted a neat hole out of a section of metal, prompting Matt to yell. "MOVE IT!"  The voice said again "Warning:  Emergency energy purge in progress...all organic lifeforms evacuate."

Even Pinkie wasn't oblivious enough to know this was dangerous.  She quickly turned tail and headed back towards the stairs.

Matt had reached the door and was waiting for pinkie, hands on the blastdoor control when a energy blast from the core hit the stairway, supercharging it with the electricity-like reality energy the ships core made.  Matt jumped back from the stairs.  Fortunately, he wasn't close enough to have been zapped by them, but the next person to step on them...

"PINKIE...STOP!” he yelled too late before the once heard, never forgotten sound of a reality energy discharge was heard.
Pinkie lit up like a neon sign, perfectly showing her skeleton underneath before being thrown back by the surge.
Matt yelled at Aria "SHUT THE SMEGGING CORE DOWN...NOW DAMMIT!"

Immediately, the core shut down, dimming the lights in the room considerably, except for the glow coming from Pinkie's body.
"Get the CSUV ready...and if you have any drones in town...tell the locals that I'm coming in." said Matt, looking concerned at the scrambled readings coming from his wrist computer before lifting Pinkie up.  "Sir, Ms. Pie has received a massive shock," said Aria.  "Tell me something I don't know," snapped Matt.  "Sir...this is not electrical...The reality energy should have had no effect...these readings cannot be correct." said Aria before seeing Matts glare on the camera feeds.  "The vehicle will be prepared shortly."

...

Pinkie's friends hurried over to the nurse's clinic as soon as they got the news.  Pinkie was known to bounce back quickly from injuries, but this one sounded serious.

They were surprised to see the vehicle from the cargo bay on matts ship outside and Matt slumped against the wall outside the clinic, head in his hands.  "Matt, what happened?" asked Twilight.

"Accident in engineering...reality energy burst from the core got her as we tried to get out." said Matt in a depressed voice, not even bothering to string a proper sentence.

"A burst of what?" asked Rarity.  "The stuff that...brought spark to town." said Matt, lowering his voice a little.  "But Pinkie's already a pony," said Fluttershy, "You don't mean it made her...like you?"  "No...The energy shouldn’t have done anything...except make her even more hyper...Even Aria is stumped and she’s got an I.Q in the 6 digits..." said Matt,  "So what did happen to her?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"She's out cold...but she was glowing like a night light...that stopped on the way over though." said Matt, remembering the wierd glow.  "How long do you think Nurse Redheart will be with her?" asked Applejack.  "I dunno...Aria's going over the data from the surge...maybe she'll work it out.  Nobody really knows how reality energy works..." said Matt.  "How do you use something if you don't know how it works?" asked Twilight.  "Some of the rumors say the NSC got it from ancient tech they recover.  To be honest, I think they're right." said Matt, gloomily.

Just then, Nurse Redheart came out.  "Well, I've done the best I can," she said, "She'll definitely live."  Matt began to say "If there's anything me or Aria can do to help..."  "Well, I'd like to know what happened," said Nurse Redheart, "She was struck by lightning, right?"  The other ponies turned to look at Matt suspiciously as he said "Yeah...my damn ships a lightning rod."

"Well, I don't see any scars, and her pulse is strong, but I think there might have been some psychological shock," said Nurse Redheart.  "As long as she’s going to be ok..." said Twilight, still glaring at Matt until Redheart left.  Matt immediately said "What?  I shoulda said that my ships core almost deep fried her?  That woulda made me REALLY popular."

"She could have used the information," said Rarity.  "Oh sure, like there's a chapter in her medbook as to how to treat reality energy shock," said Matt.  Matt was about to continue before his wrist computer beeped.  "Alert...incoming wormhole."   "Oh no, Darius is coming!  Take cover!" cried Matt before hiding behind the vehicle.  

The ponies looked around, noticing the abscence of any human death squads before Matt got up, dusting himself down in a feeble attempt to salvage his self-respect.  "I think that fancy watch of yours need tuning," said Applejack.  Matt glared at the ponies grins.  "This never happened." he said, looking at the warning angrily before pressing the diagnostic button.

The wrist computer beeped before saying, "All systems are working perfectly."  "Stupid junk" muttered Matt before saying "I suppose all we can do is wait till Pinkie wakes up."  Fluttershy paused and turned.  She thought she saw something pink in the corner of her eye.  And not her hair, but the same bright bubblegum pink that Pinkie's coat was.  But when she looked properly, she didn't see anyone.

…

Matt spent the night going over arias scans, trying to work out what the hell was going on.  "C'mon, there's got to be a glitch here somewhere," muttered Matt.  "Sir, the scanners were working fine," said Aria.  "I think I would have noticed if a wormhole was opening up," said Matt.

"It is probably a micro-wormhole caused when the core grounded the overcharge." said Aria, calmly.  Matt sighed "That doesn;t explain why Pinkie is in the land of nod.  All she should have is even frizzier hair."  "Well, Ms. Pie is hardly the most stable of sentient beings," said Aria.  "Oh please...she seemed...seems perfectly fine to me." said Matt, correcting himself when he noticed he’d started verbally drafting a obituary.

"Well, perhaps being a coma would do her some good," said Aria, "I bet she's rarely been able to stay still so long."  "ARIA...HOW COULD..." began Matt angrily before the wrist computer beeped again "Danger:  Unidentified wormhole detected...sector 2-5.  Distance: 2 Metres"  "Right here?  This thing has got to be busted," said Matt, glancing around.

"Alert:  Biological entity detected." said the wrist computer, a waypoint on its map showing it was in the basement where Matt's portal project was.  "Oh, hell no." said Matt, getting up.  Nothing was gonna damage his and his sisters ticket home  "Sir, I advise armaments," said Aria, "There is a large chance that the creature may be of...an unfriendly nature."

Matt already had his plasma magnum out.  "If its another damn veridian eel..." he began heading down the stairs and opening the door to see...nothing.  "The hell?  ARIA...NOW I'M CERTAIN MY WRIST-COMP’S BUSTED!" he yelled, walking into the room.

Suddenly, a cream-colored blur sprang out and yelled, "SURPRISE!"

…

The scream was easily auditable from ponyville.  Unfortunately by now, the town had gotten used to Matts screams so paid it no attention.

…

Quite fortunately, his finger didn't pull the trigger of the plasma magnum.  It was too busy with the rest of the hand checking to see if Matt's heart was going to pump again.

The pegasus hovered in front of Matt, a familiar grin on its face followed by a familiar cheerful voice saying "Are you ok?"  Matt blinked and kept blinking because he was sure his eyes were playing tricks on him.  The pegasus looked exactly like Pinkie Pie, only with a cream-colored coat, blonde hair, and purple eyes.  The wings also made a difference.  Matt managed to say "I'm dreaming...this is a dream...GO AWAY DREAM!" starting to snap.

But I just got here," said the pegasus.  "Buh...not...real...brain...burble." managed Matt before his brain decided a time out was in order and he passed out.  The pony shrugged and said, "Oh well, I've got places to be anyways."  She bounced out of the room, her wings flapping half the time for longer bounces.

…

Matt woke up the next morning.  "Urgh...Aria?  Did a white pegasus pinkie invade last night?" he said weakly.  
"You have not had any visitors last night," said Aria.

"Oh thank god...have the auto doctor set up a psych-test for me later.  The stress is getting to me." said Matt, full of relief
Aria sounded surprised, which was a bit of a feat for a computer, "You're questioning your sanity instead of finding a rational explanation?"  "Yes." snapped Matt before picking up his cap and putting it on.  "Now I'm going into town to check on Pinkie..." he added sulkily.  "Sir, would you care for some breakfast?" asked Aria, "I believe your metabolic fuel is starting to run low."  "No...smeg off, tin can." said Matt, his eye twitching before he left.

…

As Matt walked into Ponyville, he noticed a couple of odd things.  Someone had been hanging streamers, ribbons, and a couple banners.  And there were a few balloons floating around.

A small thought began kicking his mind, trying to get his attention but Matt ignored it, starting to get a manic grin.  "Nope...I won’t believe that." he said to himself, getting a few worried looks.  Just then, Matt passed a table that had a large bowl of pink punch on it with some glasses nearby.

The same thought trying to pierce the veil of self-denial tried to point out that even for Ponyville this was unusual but Matt stomped down, deciding he was thirsty, before pouring a glass and taking a sip.  Matt glanced down the street and paused.  What looked like an elephant was crossing the street.  However, it wasn't any larger than any of the ponies and it was the same shade of pink as Pinkie Pie.

Matt noticed this and something snapped, as a few minutes later, Twilight and Rarity arrived to see Matt giggling to himself.
"Hey Matt, where'd you get that punch?" asked Twilight.  "Over here," said Rarity, noticing the punch bowl.  "Strange, why would anyone leave punch out here?" asked Twilight.  "Well, no sense in standing here with a parched throat," said Rarity before using her horn to fill up a glass with punch and lift it to her mouth.  Matt slapped the glass aside "DON’T DRINK IT!  I think someone spiked it...I'm seeing the pink elephants...or I've snapped...hehehe!" he said, giggling faintly.

"Uh, pink elephants?" asked Twilight.  Rarity gave Matt a disgusted look and said, "Why would anyone make punch with Spike in it?"  Matt stopped as he spotted another.  "THERE...PINK ELEPHANT!" he screamed and pointing.  "Pink what?" asked Rarity, but the elephant suddenly disappeared.  However, it did leave something behind.  "Curious, where did those balloons come from?" asked Rarity.  "The elephant left it." said Matt, grinning manically.

"Matt, are you feeling ok?" asked Twilight.  "I...I think I'm losing the plot.  Last night I got a late night visitor of a flying pinkie pie...." said Matt, gibbering a bit.  "But Pinkie's still at the nurse's clinic," said Twilight, "I checked her this morning.  And someone apparently is planning a party there."

"Ok...ok...hold it together, Matt.  You've been through worse." said Matt to himself before looking to see another elephant behind Twilight and Rarity and screaming.  "What?" asked the two unicorns before turning around.  They barely got a glimpse before the elephant disappeared and confetti fell all over them.

"Tell me you saw that...TELL ME I'VE NOT SNAPPED LIKE A DRY TWIG!" screamed Matt, one eye now twitching violently.
"I saw something pink, but I didn't get a good look," said Twilight.  "Me either," said Rarity.  "It was the elephant." said Matt conspiratorially.  "Something weird is going...and the pegasus is behind it." he said.

"Uh, Matt, I think you're stressing a bit too much," said Twilight.  "Yes, you shouldn't blame yourself for Pinkie's accident so much," said Rarity, "It'll do horrors to your complexion.  I suggest you get a nice cup of tea and..."  "SURPRISE!" shouted a voice behind them.  The two unicorns jumped and landed in Matt's arms.

Matt snapped out of it to see the same pegasus.  "YOU!” he said in a low voice before saying "HAH...I WAS RIGHT!" before a new message arrived pointing out that he could barely hold one pony, let alone two, and he fell down under them.  Twilight and Rarity quickly got off of Matt.  "Are you alright?" asked Rarity.

"See?  White pegasus...I'M NOT CRAZY!" gibbered Matt, pointing at the hovering pegasus pinkie.  Twilight turned to look at the pegasus.  She looked so much like Pinkie, she must be a relative.  "Who are you?" asked Twilight.

"Oh...I'm Surprise.  Nice to meet you." said the pegasus, in a hyper voice.  "Your name is Surprise?" asked Rarity.  "Very appropriate," said Matt.  "Oh...you must be Twilight...I've always wanted to meet you properly." said Surprise cheerfully  "You know me?" asked Twilight.  "Oh, I know all of you, Rarity, Matt," said Surprise, "I didn't think you'd be this jumpy though."

"Have you been spying on us?" said Matt suspiciously, glaring eye to eye with the pegasus who was completely uneffected, still grinning like a loon.  "No, I just got here," said Surprise.  "Then how do you know us?" asked Rarity.  "Because Pinkie Pie told me all about you," said Surprise.

"Pinkie never said she had any pegasi in the family.  How come she’s never mentioned you?" said Twilight thoughtfully.  Matt said "And how come I've never seen you around?"  Surprise suddenly seemed to be nervous.  "Well...uh...you see...it's like...  Ooh, pink elephants!" she said before suddenly pointing.

"Oh, please.  Like I’d fall for....oh yeah." said Matt cockily before falling into gloom as he remembered about the rest of the day so far.   Matt and the unicorns turned around to see three pink elephants standing on each other’s shoulders and hanging up banners.  "Ok...this is too wierd.  Surprise, what do you...where'd she go?" said Matt, turning around to see a lack of the pegasus pinkie.

"You're right Matt, this is too weird," said Twilight, "Where are all these elephants coming from?"  "And why are they decorating the town?" asked Rarity, "I would have heard something if there was a festival being planned."
"I have a feeling our little white friend knows." said Matt, darkly.

"Ok, she's a pegasus, which probably means she's from Cloudsdayle," said Twilight, "So maybe Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash would know her.  Matt, can you check at Sweet Apple Acres if they've been seeing any pink elephants there?"  "Gotcha.  I'll head straight down there." said Matt, nodding before looking at the elephants "This has to be the weirdest invasion in history." he muttered.  "You should have seen the parasprite swarm," said Rarity.

...

Matt arrived at Sweet Apple Acres to see that there was already evidence that the 'new arrivals' had paid a visit, the same party gear all over the place.  "Ok, when this is over, I'm swearing off alcohol," said Matt before thinking about it and adding, "For the week."

He looked around and spotted Applejack looking at the streamers in confusion.  "Hey...I see the elephants got you too...that just sounds wierd." he called  "Tell me about it," said Applejack, "I'm startin' to think I'm goin' plum crazy."

"Join the club...you know why I screamed last night then." said Matt, before saying "I would ask if you’ve sene any pink elephants here but I'm guessing the answer is yes."   "They've been poppin' up everywhere and leavin' all this party stuff lyin' around," said Applejack, "How's a pony supposed to work with all these streamers and trappins everywhere?"  "Thats not all...Does pinkie have any pegasi in the family?" said Matt.

"Pegasi in the Pie family?" asked Applejack, "Well, my family's all earth ponies, but Pinkie might have some.  But I don't think it's very likely.  Can't imagine anyone with wings pushin' rocks around for a livin'."  "Wierd...this new pegasi knew all about twilight, Rarity...even me." said Matt thoughtfully  "Not that I don't mind family members droppin' by, but I gotta get rid of these here pink elephants," said Applejack, "They're leavin' a big mess."

Matt looked around "Hey...where's your sister?" he commented  "Oh, she and her friends went chasing after them elephants," said Applejack, "Somethin' about gettin' 'elephant hunter cutie marks'.  Frankly, I don't mind if it keeps them elephants away."  "At least they're safe.  Look, if you see a whte pegasus, try and get her to stay in one place.  This didn;t start till she popped up." said Matt.

"When was that?" asked Applejack.  "Last night...she surprised me in the cellar." said Matt, leaving out that she’d caused him to faint.  "How'd she get down there?" asked Applejack, "I thought we were the only ones who knew that place."  "Thats why I wanna talk to her.  She nowd alot she shouldn't." said Matt.

Just then, the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up to Matt and Applejack.  They were talking excitedly and loudly about different things that it was impossible to tell what they were talking about.  "ONE AT A TIME!" yelled Matt, his fragile nerves threatening to crack again.  "There's gonna be a parade!" shouted the Cutie Mark Crusaders at the same time.  "Y'what?" said Matt, confused.  Applejack said "A parade?  Who told ya?"

"The pink elephants," said Sweetie Belle.  "They're gonna show up in the middle of town," said Apple Bloom.  "They're gonna have a big marching band and everything!" said Scootaloo.  "They can talk now?" said Matt, dully before saying "No, of course they do...I’ve given up expecting sanity on this smegging planet."

"When's this parade happenin'?" asked Applejack.  "In 30 minutes," said Sweetie Belle.  "Can we go, Applejack?  Please?" said Apple Bloom, "It's been a long time since I saw a parade."  "Maybe our little flying spy'll be there?  It’s as good a chance as any." said matt to Applejack, adding "I can keep an eye on the girls...whenever I’m near them, all the injuries happen to me."  "Ok, but we better tell the others," said Applejack, "I think they'll need to know about this."  "If it’s happening in town...they'll find out." said Matt.
...

Matt, Applejack, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly went to Sugarcube Corner.  Twilight and Rarity were waiting for them with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.  "Glad you made it," said Matt, "You guys find out anything about Surprise?"
"Well, not really," said Twilight.  "I've never heard of her before," said Rainbow Dash.  "Me either," said Fluttershy, "And I haven't seen any pink elephants either."  "Oh yeah?  Maybe the madness is contagious?" gibbered Matt before a cloud of pink fog was spotted coming up the street before a deafening fanfare came from it.

As Matt and the ponies watched, columns of pink elephants marched out of the pink fog.  Several of them were carrying percussion instruments on their backs which they beat with their trunks.  Others, with unusually long trunks, had twisted them like horns and playing them as such.

Fluttershy yelped and hid behind the others.  She peeked out nervously and asked, "What do I do?  What do I do?"  "Ok…that’s new.”  commented Rainbow Dash.

"Ok...when did we end up inside Pinkies head?" said Matt after a minute.  "Wait a minute," said Twilight, "This is like Pinkie.  Matt, when did you first meet Surprise?"  "Last night...after I got back home." said matt, remembering the incident very well.  "As in after Pinkie got zapped," said Twilight.

"You mean...I gave her reality bending powers?  Oh, god...what has science done?" said Matt, his eyes getting the look of someone snapping...again.  "But Pinkie Pie is still in a coma," said Rarity, "She couldn't be doing all of this.  Could she?"  "I think I should take another scan." said Matt, in a distant voice.

"Well, those elephants do look like her," said Apple Bloom.  Indeed, not only were the elephants the same color as Pinkie's coat, but the tuft of hair at the end of their tails was the same color as her mane and they had the same big blue eyes as her.  "Yeah, I’m taking another scan." said Matt after a minute.

...

Matt looked at the readout.  "Same as last time...alot of reality energy...mind scans a little wierd though." he commented to Twilight, looking at the results.  The others were talking to Redheart in case the sight of Matt using the scanner caused comment.  "Well, I have found Pinkie to be...puzzling," said Twilight, "Say, do you think she's dreaming?"

"No...if I'm reading these scans right....its like somethings missing..." said Matt before the wrist comp said "Danger: Incoming wormhole."  "Uh oh...here we go again." said Matt, worried.  "Well, I don't think it's going to be Darius this time either," said Twilight.  "Locating target...Alert...proximity to epicenter." said the wrist computer as a glow began in the corner of the room.  "Er, we probably ought to step back," said Matt.

The glow was blinding for a second before it formed a shape and seemed to implode, forming a familier pony...except for the grey colours and look of permenent annoyance.  "...Pinkie?" said Matt, confused, transferring his look between the Pinkie in the clinic bed and the new one.  "Uh, ok, I didn't expect anything like this," said Twilight.

"What're YOU two looking at?" said the new pinkie angrily.  Matt smiled nervously before saying to Twilight out of the corner of his mouth.  "You know this one?"  "Uh, she looks like when Discord turned Pinkie into a grouch," said Twilight.

"Oookay...I'm guessing I never wanna meet this 'Discord'...Ok...first off...containment.  OK...What’s your name?" he said, saying the last part to Grumpy Pie in a cheerful voice.  "None of your business!" snapped the new Pinkie.  Matt paused and said, "That's a bit of a mouthful, and you don't seem like Noyb."

Grumpy Pinkies glare seemed to double at Matts joke attempt and he tried a different approach.  "I'm not sure you should go anywhere...not till we know if erm...other....you is ok....man, that sounded better in my head."
"Uh, would you mind if I studied you for a minute so I know how you got here?" asked Twilight.

Grumpy Pinkie turned to look at Twilight "I hate being studied." she said annoyed before Matt said "Do you hate being stunned?  My patience and sanity is at an all time low...DON'T PUSH ME!!!"

"Impatient?  You wanna see impatient?" snapped Grumpy Pinkie before turning around and standing on her front legs.
"Oh...don’t you d-" began matt before being kicked in the chest hard enough to hit the back wall.  Twilight winced before saying, "Uh, don't you think that was a bit rough?"  "You want some too, princess?" snapped Grumpy Pie.

Twilight backed up before Grumpy Pinkies mane stood out with a buzzing noise before she fell sideways, rigid like a statue, revealing a equally annoyed looking Matt holding a crackling stick.  "I warned her." he said, annoyed.  "Is she ok?" asked Twilight.  "Oh sure," said Matt, "That wasn't even near a large enough voltage to do permanent damage." Before he poked the new pinkie and said "Ok...what the smegging hell is going on here?"

"I'm not quite sure..." started Twilight before a soft moan caught their ears.  They turned around to see Pinkie (the one on the bed) starting to stir.  Matt and Twilight crowded around Pinkie.  "Pinkie...thank god...any that can hear at this moment." said Matt, cheerfully.  Twilight said just as happily "Pinkie...are you ok?"

Pinkie's eyes fluttered open and looked around.  Then she noticed Matt and said, "Ah, Matthew, I'm so sorry for that dreadful incident within the ship.  I should have taken more precautions regarding that energy discharge."

Matt stared at Pinkie, the eye twitch from earlier coming back as small but significant parts of his brain rebelled while Twilight said, cautiously "Pinkie?  Are you sure you’re feeling ok?"  "Well, I feel a little dilapidated, but I'm sure it's nothing some fresh tea won't cure," said Pinkie, "Now, would you mind telling how I came to be relocated within this domicile?"

"Erm...I brought you here?" said Matt, his voice shaking with strained nerves before looking at Twilight.  "A word if you please." before dragging her away.  "Ok...now something is definately up." he hissed.  "I know, I know," said Twilight, "Pinkie sounds more like Rarity than her usual self."  "Plus I doubt I could get her angry if I set fire to her house..." added Matt.  "Angry..." muttered Twilight before glancing at the twitching Grumpy Pinkie on the floor, "Matt, do you think Pinkie's capable of surprising you now?"  

"I had no doubt in the first place...its like her personality is taking a holiday from the rest of...her...no....way..." said Matt, stopping as what he was saying caught up with him.  "First Surprise, then the pink elephants, now Grumpy," said Twilight, "Matt, I think that reality energy is having a greater effect on Pinkie than you thought."

"And probably why the scan seems like some parts of her mind are missing...cause they are." said Matt, darkly.
"Right, so we need to put them back in before more get out," said Twilight.  "Good....how do we do...oh no." said Matt, noticing that angry pinkie seemed suddenly abscent.  "Pinkie...where did...monochrome you go?" he said.

"I am not certain," said Pinkie, "I do not see any probably means of egress from this room besides the door and she could not have passed through without your notice.  However, I'm not sorry to see her missing.  She has such a dreadful temper."
"Oh great...they can pull the same tricks original recipe can." said Matt, gloomily.  "Well, they shouldn't be too hard to find," said Twilight, "I mean, they ought to stand out like a pink…"  "Elephant?" suggested Matt.

Twilight sighed "We've got to find them.  Can;t you use anything to help?"  Matt shook his head "Aria didn’t detect surprise when she popped up in my house...I don’t think these things show up on scanners." he said.  "Well, maybe locating spells will work better," said Twilight.  "Worth a try..." said Matt hopefully.

...

The others were just as confused by Pinkies depleted personality as Matt and Twilight had been.  "Ya'll mean that all these elephants here are parts of Pinkie's mind?" asked Applejack.  "Believe me...I'm having just as much trouble getting my head round this too." said Matt, gloomily before adding "Plus there is a black and white one running around with a temper just as dark."

"Oh my, that's not good at all," said Fluttershy.  "And worse than that, it seems to be draining the real Pinkie of what makes her...Pinkie," said Twilight.  Rarity said horrified "Thats horrible...whatever can we do about it?"  Matt said under his breath to himself "I could shoot the angry one."  "I think we need to corral all these loose bits and herd 'em on back to where they came from," said Applejack.

"But how do we get them back inside Pinkie?" said Rainbow Dash.  Matt shrugged and said "Well there is a trick with a teleporter pod and a fly.......but I don’t think that will work too well."  "There has to be something," said Rainbow Dash, "We can't just let them parade all over town.  Look at the mess they're leaving."  "They haven't been at my house," said Fluttershy, "I wonder why that is?"

"Pinkie would never prank you." said Rainbow Dash.  Matt twitched "So she'd happily give me a heart attack on a regular basis...but...but..." he said.  "Maybe," said Twilight, "But there may be another reason.  Let's go to Fluttershy's house.  It'll at least give us enough peace to think."  "Why not?  As long as its quiet...I feel like there's a fighter battle in my skull." said Matt, weakly.

...

When the gang got to Fluttershy's house, it was rather quiet.  Well, there was still the chatter of animals, but it was quiet compared to the constant fanfare in town.  "Quiet...wonderful quiet." muttered Matt happily.  "If you don't mind, I need to check on a few of my patients," said Fluttershy.  The others nodded and Fluttershy wandered off to check the animals.  

"Ok, girls...and Matt, we need to think of a way to get the pink elephants and Pinkie's...extra selves to cooperate," said Twilight.  "What are we gonna do, scare them into submission?" said Matt, annoyed.  "That could work," said Rainbow Dash, "I'll get a bunch of thunderclouds and shoot lightning at them."

Applejack said "That ain;t gonna work.  Pinkie ain't scare'a nothin.  Remember when Nightmare moon made all of those scary trees?"  "Right, she just laughed at them all," said Rainbow Dash, "I thought I was onto something."  "Pinkie's mind wasn;t in a collection of pieces at the time." said Matt.

Suddenly, there was a piercing scream.  The others jumped up to see Rarity standing on top of a rock and shrieking.  "Keep it away from me!" she cried, "Keep it away!"  Matt drew his blaster and looked around "What is it?" he yelled, panning the blaster around

"A RAT!" screamed Rarity.  The others look where she was pointing to see the 'dangerous' rodent in question.  "Uh, Rarity, that's just a field mouse," said Applejack.  "Oh," said Rarity, "Well, it was a large one, and who knows where it's been."
Matt stopped before saying to himself "I'm in a world where the orbital bodies are controlled by flying unicorns...it probably will work." before saying out loud "Hey guys.  I got an idea..."

...

The pink elephants were keeping their party going.  It was apparent that they do not tire, seeing how it's been going on for 12 hours now.  The ponies had enjoyed the spectacle, but then it got very tiresome and obnoxious.

"When is it going to end?" moaned Bonbon, trying to hide her head under a pillow.  Lyra, looking just as tired peered out a window and took a double-take.  "Erm...whats the human doing?" she said, confused, spotting Matt peering out from behind a water barrel and running across the street behind the elephants in what was supposed to be stealthy, except that even the elephants stopped to watch.

"If it keeps the noise down, I don't care," said Bonbon.  The ponies walked out from the alley calmly and followed to where Matt was peering out.  "Erm...y'all know everyponies watchin, right?" said Applejack.  Matt shrugged and said, "If it'll help my PR, I don't mind."

Fluttershy said nervously "Are you sure they'll be ok?" two mice peering out from her mane.  "Relax, I saw this in a cartoon once," said Matt.  "What's a cartoon?" asked Twilight.  Matt carefully picked up the mice and, despite everything said "You know what to do, lads..." before letting them go in sight of the two elephants in the street.

The mice went up to the elephants and squeaked.  The pink elephants reared up, trumpeted in fear, and then exploded into a cloud of confetti and streamers.  Pinkie blinked before saying, "You know, I feel a little...happier all of a sudden."  "Thats good...I guess." said Matt, cheerfully.  "Now then...how many of those damn elephants are there?"  Just then, a parade of elephants went down a parallel street to them.  "We're gonna need more mice," said Rainbow Dash.

...

The last of the elephants exploded and flowed into Pinkie.  "Finally." said Matt with clear relief as Fluttershy gathered up the mice  "Well, that should take care of that," said Twilight.  "I'm not sure," said Rarity, "Something still seems off about Pinkie."

The group turned to look at Pinkie who seemed a little happier, though far from her usual bubbly self.  There was also something else different.  "Hey...her balloon tattoo is all faded." said Matt, pointing to Pinkies cutie mark.

"Oh, that's not good," said Twilight, "A cutie mark is a symbol of a pony's special talent.  If Pinkie is losing it, she must be losing that talent."  "That does sound bad.  Wait...we haven’t finished...there’s still two bits of Pinkies brain running amok." said Matt.  "Yeah, but we can't just spook them with mice," said Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah...I dread to think little miss grouchy will do if we try that...plus surprise will probably hug them." said Matt, gloomily.
"If we can only figure out how they're getting out," said Twilight, "We could push them back through."  "Hmm...Surprise appeared in my basement...my jump gate." said Matt before running in the direction of his house.  "Aria...is the project active in any way?" he said into his comm.  "The warp engine is currently stuck in standby mode," said Aria.  "Crud..." muttered Matt, darkly.

...

The group looked at the glowing warp engine, more precisely, at a patch of air on the very stairwell that had zapped pinkie that seemed to have a heat haze around it.   "Uh, what exactly is that?" asked Twilight.  "I don't know," said Matt, "Like I said, reality energy's a big enigma.  Still, I wouldn't recommend walking right through it."

Matt, to test the theory, picked up a tool from a cabinet and slowly poked it into the rippling air, only for the tool section that entered to become covered in rust...and then fall off before disintigrating into dust.  Matt looked at the stump in horror.  

"Oooookay...definately not healthy." said Matt, somehow keeping his voice steady.  "So, you got a backdoor we could use?" asked Applejack.  Matt looked at the far wall where the manual shutdown was.  "Hmm...the only other corridors still wrecked from the veridian eels...but its better then nothing." he said.

"I don't see what the big problem is," said Pinkie before walking towards the stairs.  "PINKIE, NO!" shouted everyone.  But Pinkie passed through the shimmering air on down the steps.  Surprisingly, nothing at all happened to her.  Matt just stared, his jaw hanging open before saying  "This...I......just press that button already." his voice becoming dull.
"Very well," said Pinkie, "Which button would that be?"

"The one marked 'emergency shutdown'." said Matt.  Pinkie shrugged and pushed the shutoff button with her head, causing the warp engine to power down...and as a result all the lights to go out.  Matt’s voice from the darkness said "I shoulda stayed in bed."

Just then, the lights came on and Surprise was in the middle of the group.  "SURPRISE!" she shouted.  Matt was probably the most interesting reaction, screaming, jumping back and as a result falling down the stairway.   Surprise landed to watch the unfortunate mercs progress down the stairs.  "Ow...you don’t think he’s angry, do you?" she said, cheerfully before a laser blast parted her mane.  "Uh, hun, I'd keep your distance," said Applejack.

A stream of alien and fortunately untranslatable words streamed down as Matt stomped back up, holding the smoking blaster.  "Patience...gone...must...kill...something." he said, looking furious.  

He grabbed Surprise by the neck and shoved the blaster up to her nose.  However, she kept grinning as he had shoved a bouquet into her face.  After a few seconds, he pushed away and said, "I can't kill someone grinning like that.  It takes all the fun out of vengeance.  I need someone who knows how to react right."  "Oh...what about her?" said Surprise, cheerfully, pointing to where Grumpy was.  Matt spun.  "YOU...!" he said annoyed.  Twilight said nervously "Matt, er...I think you should calm down a bit."

Matt turned to her and said, "I think I'm due some anger relief, don't you?"  "Er, speaking of anger relief," said Fluttershy.  "What?" asked Matt before turning and noticing Grumpy was standing in front of him, rear legs raised to strike.  "Not again," he whimpered.

The girls whimpered as Grumpy delivered a rather eye watering hit that caused Matt to double over, squeak "God, I hate you." and keel over back down the stairs.  Grumpy turned to see the others  "What are you looking at?" she said angrily before seeing the original.  "Oh...you."

Pinkie looked at Grumpy and said, "Was I really that antisocial under Discord's influence?  I'm not surprised that you found me hard to put up with."

Surprise looked at Grumpy in shock for the first time.  "That wasn’t very nice." she said, a weak voice from the bottom of the stairs saying "I agree."

"Who cares about nice?" snapped Grumpy "Ponies only try to butter you up so they can laugh at you later."  Twilight took a step forward, saying "You can’t keep running around like this...you're a part of Pinkie Pie."  "What?  You want me to be locked back up inside Ms. Bubbly Sunshine?" said Grumpy, "No way, just thinking about it makes me sick."

"But you're hurting Pinkie...look at her cutie mark." said Fluttershy, sounding horrified at Grumpy's attitude.  "Ah, she still has one balloon left," said Grumpy, "Besides, she can find a new cutie mark."

Surprise said "Twilights right though...getting out and about is fun but we've got to go back."
"You can't make me," snapped Grumpy.  "I...can." said Matt, limping up the stairs.  "You have a choice...back in Pinkie...or I shoot you...alot." he said, his voice shaking with anger and rightly so, given the events of the last few minutes.  "Matt, let's not do anything rash," said Twilight, "We can talk our way through this."  "Oh no, no more fiddling around the bush," said Matt, "You're going back, all three of you fragments."

"Erm...dear?  Did you hit your head on the way down?" said Rarity, sounding worried.  Matt pointed behind them.  "Number three." he said.

The group turned and saw another Pinkie.  This one didn't look very different from the original, except her colors were a shade darker, her main and tail were all straight and droopy, and she had several lines under her glaring eyes.

Matt didn’t like the look of those eyes.  He usually saw them on assignment with colony security on the faces of particularly twitchy criminals...oh, and recently in the mirror in the mornings.  "Huh, that kinda looks like Pinkie before I dragged her to her surprise birthday party," said Rainbow Dash.

"She looks nuts." muttered Matt, grabbing Grumpy's tail as she tried to slink away.  "Don’t even think about it." he said when he spotted her glare.  "Uh, ok, I think we have all the Pinkies in one place," said Twilight, "Let's work on putting them back together."  "Ok...any ideas?" said Matt, casually.  "Maybe if we push them all down the stairs at the same time, they'll go back together," said Applejack.

Matt got a crazy grin.  "Great idea...GRUMPY PIE GOES FIRST!" he said, happily  "Uh, I think we need to think this out more thoroughly," said Twilight.  "Ok...YOU are going in the brig...come on." said Matt, pulling grumpy in the direction of the Skyraids single cell.  "I'm not moving," said Grumpy before sitting down.

Matt aimed his blaster.  "Conscious or unconscious...you're coming with me." he said darkly.  "Uh, Grumpy, I'd do what he says," said Fluttershy.  Matt nodded "Listen to Fluttershy...she's talking sense." he said.  "I'm not listening," said Grumpy, putting her hooves over her ears.  "You don;t have to listen...you just need to move." said Matt, cheerfully, before dragging Grumpy Pie away.

...

Matt sat, staring at the newest addition to what he was thinking of as the 'pie collection'.  "So...I'm guessing you're Pinkies gloominess." he said in a half attempt at conversation and the other half to stop her stare.  Twilight and the others had gone to the library with Surprise to see if there as was anything in the books about a cure.  The new Pinkie didn't say anything.  She just kept glaring forward.  "I'll take that as a yes." said Matt, desperately.  "So...this must be interesting for you...actually being out and about...please say something, you're creeping me out."

The only thing the new Pinkie did was fix her glare on Matt.  "Oookay, that increases the creepiness.   Do you actually have a name?" said Matt, nervously.

This time, he did get a response.  "Pinkamena," she muttered.  "Erm...nice name." said Matt, the nervousness still evident.  Pinkamena didn't say anything, just continued glaring.  "Hey...Twilights working on a  way to pull you guys back together...soon you won’t be so lonely...nice eh?" said Matt, grinning manically, adding mentally 'Please let it be soon'

Suddenly, before Matt could even see it coming, Pinkamena had him pressed against a wall and holding a knife to his throat.  "I'm not going back," she hissed.

"How the hell are you holding that?" said Matt, sheer insanity making him ask it while his common sense added 'WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ASKING?  NUT HER!'  "I'm not going to be locked up again," said Pinkamena, "I'm my own pony now and I'll do what I want.  And nothing's gonna stop me."

"And what is it you want to do?  I'm your friend...friends should have their heads attached." said Matt, desperately, while pressing the silent alarm on his wrist comp.  "Oh, your head'll stay on.  I'm just gonna cut you.  I'll cut you bad," hissed Pinkamena.

"Really?  You do that, I’m certain Aria will be pretty annoyed." said Matt, his eye tracking two spiderdrones slowly but silently edging out an open vent.  "I'll just cut her too," said Pinkamena, "or smash her eyes."  "She doesn't have eyes and the security cams are smash proof." said Matt, conversationally.  "Oh really?" sneered Pinkamena.  "They are, believe me, I've tried," said Matt.

Pinkamena glared as Matt continued "But if you wanna try, there's two right there." nodding up.  Pinkamena looked up in time for the two drones to drop on her.

Matt quickly stepped out of the way and out of stabbing range.  Pinkamena didn't take too well to being attacked.  She reared, bucked, and kicked out to get rid of the spiderdrones, shouting things that Matt was shocked that Pinkie Pie would know.  "Just knock her out already." yelled Matt finally, one of the drones complying by electrifying its outer shell

Pinkamena twitched before falling over, her legs twitching a little.  "Ok, now chain her, don't allow any of her legs free," said Matt, "I don't care if she's the Houdini of ponies, I won't feel safe unless she's bound."

"Very well, sir.  I will get several heavy duty cables from storage." said Aria over the intercom.  Matt looked at Pinkamena.  "Man, she's nuts." he commented.  "Obviously a manifestation of Ms. Pie's darker side," said Aria, "Though I did not imagine she was capable of such violent and psychotic behavior."  "It’s always the ones you least suspect." said Matt as the drones dragged the semi-conscious pinkamena away.

...

Twilight and the others were surprised to return to find Matt toting one of the heavy plasma cannons he’d salvaged off the Exo-gene team.  "Uh, what's with the heavy artilery?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Pinkamena is not a nice pony...and she has a knife." said Matt, adding "Oh...and I get the feeling she’s not gonna cooperate."  "Where'd she get a knife?" asked Applejack.  "Hell if I know...I wanna know how she held it." said Matt.  "I've had the drones chain her up and lock her in the vault." he added, before saying "With airholes."  "Uh, Pinkie Pie's been known to appear in inexplicable places," said Twilight.  "Has she been known to 'threaten to cut people up good'?" said Matt, quoting from Pinkamena's threat.

"Not that I know of," said Rainbow Dash, "But when she thought we were going to abandon her, she replaced us with some inanimate objects."  "Ok..I think it’s safe to say that pinkamena represents the little voice that tells us to burn things....what?  I thought everyone had one of those." Matt said, adding the last part as the ponies backed up a bit from him.  "Uh...Twilight, darling, have you determined a method of reuniting the four Pinkies?" asked Rarity.

Twilight shook her head "There's nothing in any of the library books because...I think this is a first.  I can ask the princess to send some of the more advanced books but I don’t think we'll find anything." she said, sounding tired.  "Did you actually sleep last night?" said Matt.  "Well, I was reading up on everything I could find on comas," said Twilight.

"I had Aria doing some of her own work.  in the history of the NSC there has been three exposures to reality radiation." said Matt.  "And what happened?" asked Fluttershy.  "They died...via complete genetic breakdown as their bodies reality fields couldn’t decide what they were and tried to compromise by making them everything." said Matt.  He noticed their stares "Probably not the result you wanted." he said.  "And you definitely don't want to see the pictures related," said Aria.

Matt said jokingly "Shame we can’t just toss em all in the jump gate at the same time."   "Actually, sir, that isn't a bad idea," said Aria.  "Pardon?" said Matt, his train of thought not just derailing but flying into a canyon.  "I believe you recall Brundle's Law of Teleportation," said Aria.  "Ah, yes, the Fly Syndrome," said Matt before pausing and saying, "Aria, do you realize what you're suggestiong?"

"Yes sir...but I recently detected genetic breakdown in Miss pies DNA...It is restabilizing...if we don;t do something soon, there will be a point of no return." said Aria, calmly.  "Guys, what are you talking about?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Brundle's Law of Teleportation states that unless maintained carefully, if two or more forms were teleported at the same time, they will be fused together," said Aria.  "And this fusion is often not of a pretty nature," said Matt, "Particularly if the forms are of different species, hence the synonym 'Fly Syndrome'."

Matt translated "Horrifying pony eating offspring of science run amok." he said promptly.  Aria said "Indeed...however, it should be simple enough to reprogram Mr Lynches basement jumpgate to perform a safe re-fusion...the trio are after all...simply solidified reality energy." said Aria before an alarm rang.  "Security breach:  Storage vault." said Aria, adding "Oh....crap."  "I was afraid she wouldn't be held for long," said Matt.  "I am attempting to track....oh dear.  Her course will bring her to the camp...and the portal...I'll give her this...she’s very clever." said Aria.

"What does that mean?" asked Fluttershy.  "I believe she is going to derail our plan by either destroying the portal or using it to leave this dimension.  However both results will be a beacon to the Icarus, resulting in certain attack." said Aria.  "Then what are we diddlyin' around here for," said Applejack, "We've got a wild mare to round up."  "We'd better bring the other two as well." said Matt.

...

The group emerged from the forest facing the hill the barn that Matt had converted sat.  "Seems easy enough." said Matt before Aria said "Sir...I have lost network control from the house."

Matt sighed and said, "I should know better than to say such things.  Murphy's Law, MURPHY'S SMEGGING LAW!"
Twilight was about to ask what was going on when a whirring noise came from several patches near the barn and two metallic barrels appeared.  "Aria?  You are never redecorating again." said Matt as the two ion blasters turned to aim.
"Uh, is this the part where we run?" asked Fluttershy.

One of the barrels said ina  metallic drone "Intruders detected:  Lethal force authorized!" and the barrels started to hum.  "Yes it is." said Matt, promptly.  The group quickly scattered before the barrels started blasting red beams at them.  "Really starting to hate Pinkamena...no offence, Pinkie." said Matt, he and Pinkie diving behind a small rise to avoid a turret that had decided they were a priority target.

"None taken, my other side seems to be rather intolerable, doesn't she?" asked Pinkie.  "She's clever though...hacking a mainframe like Aria's is quite a feat....talking of which...ARIA...TURN THOSE DAMN LASERS OFF RIGHT NOW!" said Matt, yelling the last part into his comm.  "I am trying, but she seems to have set up a firewall," said Aria.  "Then BREAK IT!" yelled Matt, angrily, pulling out his blaster and firing a few shots only for a orange energy field to block them.   "Shielded turrets?  Really?" Matt said.

"It wasn't meant to be used against you," said Aria.  "Oh...that’s it...you have a date with a fire axe." said Matt, furiously before a blast knocked him into Pinkie, sprawling her into the sights of another turret.  It turned to aim before intoning "DNA clearence reqognized."  "DNA?" asked Matt before glancing at Pinkie.  "Of course," he said, "I doubt your double would have wanted it to fire at herself."

"That means only three of you can get inside." said Aria, adding "And one of you won't want too."  Matt glared "We'll see about that...HEY, GRUMPY PIE...PINKAMENA'S LAUGHING AT YOU!!"  Grumpy glared and yelled, "I'll show that jerk!" before galloping towards the barn.

Rainbow However seemed to have lost patience, taking off.  The turrets tried to track but couldn’t look far enough up.  "Miss Dash...land at once." said Aria's voice apparently from the house, her adding “I have regained control of the intercom."
"Those peashooters can't hit me from up here," said Rainbow Dash boastfully.

"Yes...I took aerial fighter attack into concideration and added..." began Aria before a section of roof withdrew and a double barreled weapon folded out "...a AA plasma cannon."  'Alert...hostile aerial intrusion confirmed.' said the same turret voice from earlier.  "Oh, that might be a problem," said Rainbow Dash.

The pegasi was forced to dive back down as the plasma cannon began firing a stream of plasma blasts at her, landed where Matt was speaking to surprise "...and if Aria is right...the power shut off is next to the front door." he was saying
"Matt, I don't think I can get in," said Rainbow Dash.  "Then lets send a flyng pie to do it..." said Matt, firing a few futile shots at a turret.  Rainbow gave him an odd look and said, "How can you think of pie fights at a time like this?"  Matt pointed at Surprise.  "I wasn’t." he said.

Rainbow gave Surprise a doubtful look and said, "Why would she do any better than me?"  "The turrets won’t turn her into dust." said Matt promptly, a cloud of dust billowing up as one of the turrets reacted to the noise.  "But I'm a better flyer," said Rainbow Dash, "There's no way she could move around all those blasts."  "I am almost certain the turrets won’t even bother to fire at her." said Matt, confidently

Rainbow gave Matt an odd look before saying, "Fine, I guess I'll have to pull her out of the line of fire then."  Surprise carefully peered up out of the cover, only for the dot of a turret laser sight to appear on her before the owner of the sight said "DNA Clearence verified." and nothing happened.  Matt just smirked, saying "See?  The mad mercenary knows things." 

Rainbow Dash pouted and grumbled, "So not fair.”  "Now...if I was the one setting these traps, I would have booby trapped the shut down." said Matt, more to himself before a lowering hum was heard and the turrets lowered their aims, the lights going out.  "Then again, Pinkie's not me." he added.  "Let's not take chances," said Rainbow Dash, "Let's get in there quick before Pinkamena does something else."

The rest nodded in agreement and headed for the house to see a extremely pleased looking Surprise hovering near the smashed control panel that contained the shut down.  "You...you only had to push the red button." said Matt, horrified.  
Surprise shrugged and said, "I shut it down anyways."

The others turned as a smashing noise came from the basement followed by a noise Matt knew, the once heard, never forgotten liquid noise of a dimensional portal establishing.  "I think we'd best hurry." he said, charging down the stairs.
Grumpy left quite a trail of wrecked stuff in her wake, to Matt's growing consternation and professional dismay.
He turned the corner into the basement to see the swirling vortex of a unstable jump gate in the middle of the room.  

Pinkamena and Grumpy were glaring at each other, clearly taking a quick pause.  "Alright, nobody move!" snapped Matt.  Fluttershy, who was floating behind him, stopped flapping her wings and fell down with an 'oof'.  Matt sighed and said, "I was talking to the extra Pinkies."  Matt continued, saying "You really don’t wanna go in that..." gesturing to the energy vortex.  "Yes, you would most like come out puree on the other side," said Aria.

A voice from the portal generator said "75% alignment complete...attempting to find suitable class A."  "Er, anyways, I don't think there are many places you'll be likely to fit in," said Matt.  "Why, is it because I'm considered dangerous?" snapped Pinkamena.  "You held a knife to my throat...most colony militias react with bullets to that behaivour." he said, adding mentally 'And you're a talking pink horse...thats wierd even by NSC standards.'

"Pinkamena, you belong here," said Twilight, "We wouldn't be complete without you."  "More specifically, she wouldn't be complete without you," said Rarity, pointing at Pinkie, who was starting to look more listless.  The portal device intoned "Portal stabilization at 90%.  Suitable target found:  Paradiso V targetted..."  Pinkamena smirked and said, "I guess that's my ride.  I'll be leaving now."  "You're not going anywhere!" said Rainbow Dash before charging forward.

Pinkamena turned angrily as Rainbow Dash charged, side stepping and slashing out.  Rainbow Dash gave a cry of pain and skidded to a stop.  Fortunately, Pinkamena had only got her left front knee, but there was a steady trickle coming from it.

Pinkamena turned to finish the job before Matt lost patience and shot the knife into the portal, a glob of molten metal hitting the wall behind.  He switched to stun to end the problem when the three remaining pinkies charged forward, tackling their dark doppelganger.

"We should do something," said Fluttershy.  "It's too dangerous," said Matt, "We might hurt our Pinkie and the rift's gravity could pull you in."  "But Rainbow Dash is hurt," said Applejack.  "Aria...get some drones down here...NOW!" said Matt into his comm.  Aria however replied "I cannot do that...the ones on the ship are all trying to re-engage the core and the ones at your location lost power when the defence grid did."

Suddenly, the portal seemed to...jiggle.  The vortex shimmered before brightening to a bright pink.  The group backed up, Matt saying "Aria...whats wrong with my jump gate?"  Aria didn’t answer for a bit until the jumpgate computer answered for her.  "Alert...exterior re-alignment detected."

"What?  But that's impossible," said Matt before suddenly the sound of trumpeting came from the portal.  "Er, speaking of impossibilities," said Twilight.  Suddenly, a small herd of pink elephants charged out of the portal.  They immediately went to where the Pinkies were fighting and separated them.  They wrapped their trunks around Pinkamena's legs to keep her from moving.  "THATS IT...MY BRAIN CAN;T TAKE ANYMORE!" screamed Matt, grabbing both sides of his head.

One of the elephants wandered over to Rainbow Dash.  It looked at the cut on her leg before putting the tip of its trunk on it.  Rainbow Dash winced and there was a little flash of pink light.  When the elephant lifted its trunk, the cut was completely gone.

"I can;t handle this anymore...I'm gonna go find a bottle of Kr'ta and try to dissolve my liver...call me when this is over and sanity reigns again." said Matt, gloomily.  "Hold it together a little longer," said Twilight, "We still need to put the Pinkies back together."

Matt sighed "Well...they're all together finally...lets just try the teleporter idea...before I need to get a straightjacket." he said, walking over to the portal, avoiding the furious Pinkamena and opening a side panel and removing a single crystal.  "Warning...DNA filter deactivated." said the system.  "Are you sure this will work?" asked Rainbow Dash as she got back up.  "Either it'll work or you'll end up with a four-headed Pinkie," said Matt.

"Sir... have regained control of systems...according to scans...to quote a saying 'Its now or never'." said Aria.  "Right then," said Matt, "Toss those Pinkie’s through the void."  Pinkamena practically shrieked "I'M NOT GOING BACK...YOU CAN'T MAKE ME." before Matt paused, turned and gave her a kick that Applejack would have been proud of, sending her flying into the portal.  The other three were a lot more cooperative, Grumpy mainly because she 'will walk through the portal because she wants to, not for anyone else'.

The real Pinkie was last, actually seeming a bit hesitant.  "I can;t hold this for long...the system'll fry." said Matt, from a readout station.  "I...I'm not sure I want to rejoin with those...degenerates," said Pinkie Pie.  "But they're a part of you," said Twilight.  "They were a part of me," said Pinkie, "But now I can be somepony different."

Rarity said calmly "Pinkie dear.  Flaws are a part of what makes us who we are...just look at Mr. Lynch." earing a 'OI!' from matts direction.  She continued on to add "Seperating yourself from them won’t make you a better pony but accepting them will."

Pinkie hesitated for a few more moments before saying, "Ok, I'll do it."  Matt said "Oh that good...as long as we're all agreed...can we do this before something horrible happens?"  Pinkie took a deep breath before charging forward and leaping into the vortex.  The group covered their eyes as the portal blinded them, several alerts starting.  "Danger...T.F.S situation confirmed...unable to engage emergency shutdown...cutting power." said the computer.  "You sure this will work?" called Twilight.  "I have no idea!" replied Matt.

All of the sudden, the portal cut off, some overrides unable to be bypassed.  It had however caused alot of smoke as it shut down.  Matt and the ponies coughed as the room filled with smoke.  Even the elephants were choking a bit, though not as much as the others.  "Oh great, it's probably fried the engine," said Matt between coughs.  Matt tried to wave some smoke away, spotting the elephants and sighing.  If some of Pinkies pet hallucinations were still on the loose then the plan had failed.  "Pinkie?" he called.

As the smoke faded, Pinkie hopped out, back to her normal cheery self.  "Ooh, that was fun," said Pinkie, "Can we do it again?"

The others all crouded round her asking her if she ws alright.  However, Matt was staring at the elephants.  "Erm...girls?" he said, trying to point them out.

"I'm glad you're back to normal, Pinkie," said Twilight, "But how comes your elephants are still here."  "Yeah, shouldn't they be going back inside you?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Oh, they're not my elephants," said Pinkie, "They're my friends from the forth-dimensional planet of Partiagogo."  Matt just stared before yelling "THAT IS IT...ANYTHING NOT FROM THIS UNIVERSE...GET THE SMEG OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!"

The pink elephants looked at Matt for a minute before waving 'goodbye' with their trunks and disappearing in puffs of pink smoke.  Matt just continued to stare, twitching every so often.  "Er, how long have you known them?" asked Twilight.  Pinkie giggled before saying, "It's a secret."  Matt just giggled faintly before walking off stiffly."


…




<Log active>

"It's a fact that's been proven over and over again during the centuries that NSC has been in existence: continuous travel to other worlds wears the mind thin.

Never before has that been proven then today.  In the last few days, I’ve seen psychotic pink ponies, talking elephants and a unstable wormhole...I need a break.

Frankly, I wonder how Pinkie can hold herself together like that.  Hopefully, I won't find out myself one day.  Still, she did manage to get that portal working, or rather her pink elephants did.  I think I heard somewhere that insanity is a hindrance on innovation.  Frankly, I find that thought terrifying.

However...this has also resulted in the portal device working...shame that Pinkamena jammed it on Paradiso.  If I had to run, I wouldn’t choose there...."
But figuring out how to change the destination coordinates can't be that difficult, right?”




> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP Fic Pt 7

'Everything has a beginning, the heroes.....and the monsters.  In many cases that beginning comes from the era of the ancients when the atlanteans fought the dark ones.  Unfortunately...like all things that have a beginning...they never truely end and if you know where to look...and if you are foolish...you might find something...'

Extract from 'Nullspace, a history'

...

20 Minutes since the emergence of Twilight Moon...

This was definitely not one of Echo Team's proudest moments.  Sure, they'd had to deal with strategic types before, but nothing that involved this much screaming.  It had been a simple job, move in...find the killer of Echo 4 and get some payback.  What they hadn’t counted on was Target Alpha bumbling in, disabling their Psy-Sleeper network and then running interference.  Then some kinda...thing had flicked their air support away like it was a fly and killed half the squad with about as much effort.

And if that wasn't bad enough, there were quite a few monsters in this forest that didn't like being woke up in the middle of the night and were having their fill of human flesh.  Private Mackinson came to a stop by a tree, panting and trying to ignore the fact that he was almost certainly being watched.  "Fuck...fuck...this isn’t happening." he said in a shaking voice to himself.

"This is supposed to be a planet of talking horses, not monsters," he said to himself.  After waiting a minute to make sure nobody was following, he walked out of his hiding hole and fell head first into a crater.  Several pieces of starship armor, probably from when the Skyraid had crashed were scattered around it, surrounding a metallic oval slumped up against the edge.

"Well, I can at least make sure this bastard pays," said Mackinson.  The orb pulsated as the merc drew his blaster, intent on spreading his annoyance around a bit.  If Mackinson had been in a calmer mood, he would have had more caution.  As a result, he was unprepared when a hidden nozzle sprayed a translucent liquid at him, causing him to scream in pain as it paralyzed him.  

'What...what kind of defenses does this nutball have?' thought Mackinson.  The pod hissed before several unknown symbols glowed on its surface.  The top of it opened like a flower, a claw tipped hand visible in the smoke.  Mackinson's muscles may have been paralyzed, but that didn't stop him from breaking out in a cold sweat as he watched something climb out of the pod.

The thing, still shrouded in the smoke from its pod said in a dry rasping voice.  "Ah...lunch." before reaching down.  It was at that point that enough of the paralysis left for Mackinson to speak...but by then all he was doing was screaming...

...

Present day...

Matt reached into a bush and pulled out a ion pulse rifle emblazoned with Echo Teams insignia before tossing it over to a hovering pallet drone.  "And another one.  Man, at least those three kids aren’t here...after the plasma cannon..." he said to himself before shuddering in recollection of when they had managed to blast him through the side of the barn he currently called home.

"You sure you don't want a wagon?" asked Aria sarcastically.  "Oooh...a V-414 repeater cannon.  These are top of the line." said Matt, happily, either not hearing or not caring what Aria said.  "Yes, it's a shame you won't be using these anytime soon except to scare off some vermin," said Aria.  This managed to get through to Radio Lynch and Matt said thoughtfully "True...usually I would have been attacked 12 times by now."  Hmm...maybe they've finally learnt?"

"The amount of activity in this area is alarmingly absent," said Aria.  "Oh no...lets just go back.  I just know if we go further something’s gonna happen to ruin what was basically turning out to be a peaceful week." said Matt, gloomily before yelling to the sky "ONE WEEK...IS THAT TOO MUCH?"

Aria was quiet for a bit before saying, "I'm not sure whether I should agree with you or point out that one week may be too much."  "Bite me, Aria." said Matt, walking around a corner.  Aria, via the drone mentally counted before she heard a yell of surprise followed by a thud.

"Let me guess, you have involuntarily spelunked into an unexpected geological depression of significant depth," said Aria.  "No, I just fell into a hole," said Matt.  Aria steered the drone around the corner to see a crater in the ground, Matt sitting in the muck.  She could also see something poking out from a bush behind Matt.  "Sir...I wouldn’t turn around."  

Matt sighed and said, "Now I'll have to," before turning around and seeing a human body that was clearly dead and unnaturally pale.  He screamed and scurried away from it.  Aria chuckled before she took a closer look at the body.  "Hmm...I think this accounts for the last of Echo..." she commented.  Matt said weakly "What the hell happened to him?"  "It would appear he has been drained of all his blood," said Aria.

"I can see that...great...mind leeches...manticores...and now vampires.  What next?   No...don’t answer that...we're going." said Matt, in a shaking voice.  "I'm detecting more tech to be salvaged nearby," said Aria.  "We come back for it later," said Matt, "It's not like it's gonna rot."  The two turned and left as fast as they could, not noticing the eyes watching from the undergrowth.

...

Despite the dangers of everfree forest, there was always a few foals who would do something silly like dare each other to explore.  For example, two siblings, High Gear V and Lil’Smarty, were trying to goad each other into going deeper into Everfree Forest.  

Lil’Smarty, a purple earth pony filly named after her mother looked over at her brother.  "Gear...this is stupid...what if we bump into a basilisk or a hydra?" she said nervously, looking around at the trees.  High Gear V, smarty’s Pegasus brother who was the fourth in his family to inherit that name, said, "Everyone knows that hydras only live in swamps and bogs.  And all you have to do to keep a basilisk from petrifying you is not look it in the eye."

"I dunno...I think we've gone deep enough in.  I don’t wanna get lost." said Lil'Smarty, nervously looking around.  "I can get us out of here, easy," said High Gear V, "I'll just fly over the trees and point us back to Ponyville.  Don't tell me you're turning chicken now."  Lil'Smarty glared and said in a annoyed voice "I'm NOT chicken...just cause you've finally gotten the hang of flying..."  "Still a lot more than you can do," said High Gear V, smugly.

Lil'Smarty intensified her glare at that before turning and walking back towards the tree line.  "Hey...I didn’t mean it like that." said her brother apologetically before a rustling from the bushes got their attention.  "A basilisk!" Lil'Smarty squeaked in fear.  "Remember, don't look at it," said High Gear V.

"Basilisk?" said a hissing voice from the bushes before a shape jumped into sight.  The creature's body looked like those new 'human' things.  However, it was wearing all black which was stretched tight against its thin body.  The only parts that weren't covered were its hands, which had clawed fingernails and its head which was bald, pale, had pointed ears, red eyes, and sharp-looking teeth.

The two foals stared for a few seconds before screaming and running in the direction of Ponyville, High Gear V forgetting in terror that he could fly.  However that had barely got a few feet before their pursuer shimmered into view in front of them.  "Why do they always run?" it hissed.

The two foals screeched to a halt before turning around and running the other way.  Unfortunately the monster simply pulled the same trick, appearing in front of them.  "On any other day, I'd welcome some adrenaline in my meals...but not today." it hissed, pulling out a small rod.  "Now be good little snacks and hold still," said the creature.  High Gear V looked at his sister before saying in a shaking voice "You...you get away...l-l-leave us alone."

"Hmm...courage, not much, but more than the other," said the creature, "You'll probably have a richer taste."  High Gear V said nervously "Wh...what?" he stammered before the creature lunged at him, its mouth opening un-naturally wide to reveal fangs.

...

Matt was out again, looking for any other gear that Echo had dropped when he heard a scream.  Matt jumped and spun around, holding one of the guns he had collected out.  "What the hell?" said Matt in shock, panning the gun around.   Aria said via the cargo drone.  "The scream came due east near the treeline...oh...and the blaster might work better if you took the safety off."

“I knew that.” Said Matt, innocently, clicking the safety.  "Whatever lets you sleep, sir." said Aria smoothly before watching via the drone as Matt ran towards the scream.

...

Matt ran round a tree to see a humanoid looking like it was kissing a foal on the neck...except for the blood.  "HEY...UGLY!" he yelled.  The creature glared up at Matt and hissed, fresh blood dripping from its fangs.  Matt actually took a step back at the sight before the creature dropped the moaning pegasi foal and hissed "NSC."  Matt took aim and said Try this instead.” before pulling the trigger and jumping as the plasma ion rifle sent an orb out that blasted the creature into the tree behind it with a cracking noise.

"Nice gun," said Matt, impressed "This one's a keeper."  Matt ran over to the foal, before spotting a purple earth pony foal cowering in terror.  "Its ok...I got it..." he said, checking the Pegasus’s wound.  Luckily the bite looked worse then it was.  "Easy there..." he said before the earth pony screamed again.  Matt looked up to see the creature getting back up.  "Ah, tough guy, eh?" Matt said tauntingly, clicking the blasters setting up.  

The creature hissed and said, "It will take more than that to finish me."  "Good to know," said Matt before firing a bigger blast.  This one was more impressive, carrying the creature back into the same tree...which exploded.  "I win." said Matt happily before looking down at the pegasi.  "Hey, kid...can you hear me?  Kid?"

...

Of course, two explosions are bound to get some attention.  And since it came from the direction of Everfree Forest, it drew quite a bit of concern.  Especially for Twilight and her friends.  The blast had also woken up the rest of the town, a few of the more panicky ones thinking it was the other humans attacking again.  The view became a little darker when the local human was seen coming down the road carrying a unconscious foal and leading a terrified looking second one.

"Accusations and questions later, medical support now," said Matt, "This little guy's lost some blood."  Some of the more sensible ponies ran forward, helping Matt get the pegasi to the clinic.  The other foal ran towards a brown pegasus and purple earth pony, screaming 'Mom...dad.' in tears.

The mother, whose Cutie Mark was that of a book with glasses and a wrench on the cover, nuzzled her daughter and said, "Shh...it's alright, you're safe now."  "It...it was..." said Lil'Smarty, sheer terror stopping her from stringing words together as her father, his cutie mark of a clockwork gear with two lightning bolts across it, headed for Matt who was handing his son to two medical ponies from the clinic.  "What happened in there?" he said to Matt, getting straight to the point.

"Uh, this might be a little harder to swallow," said Matt, "You ever hear of anything called 'vampires'?"  The pegasus raised an eyebrow in the classic 'you're kidding, right?' fashion.  Matt conceded "Ok...might not have been a vampire...doesn’t matter really.  At the moment, its deep fried." he said.  "What did it do to my son?" asked the brown Pegasus, concern clear in his voice.

"To be honest...I dunno.  It was biting him, I think.  I wasn’t taking in details.  I just tried to get it off him.  At least its dea-" began Matt before a shriek was heard from the forest.  "-d..." finished Matt in a terrified squeak.  "Are you going to go get it?" asked one pony.  "Er, it'll be a lot weaker when the sun's up," said Matt, "That would be the best time to take it out." 

Unfortunately for Matt, the sun began to appear at that point.  "Good luck." said the same pony, cheekily.  Matt, to his credit didn’t break out in his usual tirade, instead just letting his head drop and muttering "I hate this planet."

...

However, Matt wasn't alone when he went back into the forest.  Some of the girls had tagged along to help.  Pinkie Pie was looking over the ground with a magnifying class.  "Now, where did that buggy get to?" she asked.  "What buggy?" said Matt, confused, looking around the ex-battlezone.  The blasted tree had acted as a good signpost.  However there was also a silhouette in the ash on the ground, showing where something had, against all logic, walked away after being blown apart.

"That mosquito's around here somewhere," said Pinkie, "I haven't found his trail yet, but I've got a couple of questions for this spider."  Matt stopped for a second before his sanity retuned for what the psych-bot in the ships med-bay had called 'exposure to pinkie'.  "Ok...looks like our little blood sucker got up and went this way..." said Matt, looking at the footprints in the mud.

"Pinkie, I'm pretty sure this thing we're after isn't a mosquito," said Twilight.  "But what else sucks blood?  Couldn't have been another leech."  "Its was a human...or humanoid.  To be honest, it reminded me of a old movie I saw...dracula, it was called." said Matt, conversationally as the group followed the footprints.  "What was it about?" asked Twilight.  "Bloodsucking monster called a vampire." said Matt, remembering the movie.  "Guy could only be killed by a stake through the heart or sunlight."

"Did you say bloodsucking?" asked Fluttershy, stepping back nervously.  "Yeah, they're the living dead," said Matt, "They rise from their graves at night to feast on the blood of the living.  And if they suck all the blood out of you, you become a mindless minion or even a vampire yourself."  Pinkie turned at that and looked around "Hey...where did fluttershy go?" she said cheerfully before a rustling made everyone look up to see Fluttershy clinging to a branch with a look of sheer terror on her face.  "Hmm...Ok...I'm not letting fluttershy watch any of my movie collection." said Matt to himself.

"What?  Movies?  Have you been holding out on us?" demanded Pinkie.  "Wait...do you guys even have tellys?" said Matt.  "Of course," said Pinkie, "That's how everyone watches us."  Matt suddenly got a nervous feeling.  He glanced around, as if some invisible crowd were watching him.  After a minute Matt said "Man you're random...right?" adding the last part nervously before he spotted where the creature had apparently fallen down.  "Looks like he keeled over here." he commented, happy to change the subject.

Twilight looked over the spot and said, "You sure it didn't go anywhere else?"  Matt looked around "Maybe something ate it?  That'd be nice karmic justice..." he said.  "But I'm not seeing that many tracks," said Twilight, "Fluttershy, you know animals well, can you help pick out which tracks came from what kind of animal?"

The group looked around for any sign of what had dealt with their prey but after a few minutes, all Matt could find were a trail of hoofprints heading away.  "Wierd...maybe it was a flyer?" said Matt, to himself.  "They would have come back to Ponyville, wouldn't they?" said Twilight.  "If it shows its face beyond the treeline, I'm blowing its head off." said Matt, simply.

...

Fluttershy had 'stepped out' for the moment when Matt had started talking about the creature being a ‘flyer’.  The thought of bloodsucking monsters was too much for her and she needed to find something to calm her down.  Fortunately, a nest of chipmunks was enough to draw her attention.  She was singing pleasantly to them when a cultured voice behind her said "Such a pleasant voice.  You have a true talent."

"Oh, thank you," said Fluttershy before looking around and asking, "Who said that?"  The voice said "Up here, my lady." and Fluttershy looked up to see a black pegasus with a white made sitting in the tree above.  "Oh, hello," said Fluttershy, "I don't think I've seen you around Ponyville.  Are you new here?"  "Oh...I just arrived.   I’ve been...travelling for a long time." said the pegasus before bowing and saying "Vanka Nocturis at your service."

"My name's Fluttershy," said Fluttershy in a quiet voice.  "Such a lovely name." said Vanka with a pleasant smile.  "Maybe we will meet at a later date.  "Oh, but there's no real rush," started Fluttershy.  "Fluttershy, where are you?" called Matt's voice.  Fluttershy looked down and called, "I'm up here!"  But when she turned to look back at Vanka, he was gone.

The others came into view at that.  "There you are.  Lets go.  The trails cold." said Matt, peering at the treeline.   “I'll have Aria send a few drones around but I doubt we'll find the creep...who were you talking to?.  "Oh, a Pegasus who's just arrived to Ponyville," said Fluttershy.  Pinkie said cheerfully "Oh...a new pony?  I gotta get a party ready for him."  

"Just how many ponies come and go through Ponyville anyways?" asked Matt.  "Quite a few in the summer, coming and going from canterlot.  Its on the main road to there." said Twilight.  Matt said to himself "Great...an all-you-can-eat buffet if you think about it."

...

Meanwhile, Vanka was sitting at the top of a large tree that gave him a clear view over most of Ponyville.  "Hmm, a sizeable town with quite a bit of traffic going through it," he said, licking his lips before adding, "A virtual smorgasboard just for me."  He looked down at his form and sighed.  He hadn’t expected the foals blood to have an effect so quickly...nor for a NSC soldier to blunder upon him.  "When I have control, that monkey reject will be the first to go." he muttered darkly.

"But still, I have more time than he does," said Vanka, "And quite a lot of fresh blood to feed on."  He spread his wings at that, stretching "Now...time to go meet my future subjects."

...

The next evening, Matt had decided to 'stroll' through the town in case the creature from the previous night decided for another snack.  "I'm telling you, Aria...it looked like damn dracula.  You sure Executive Genetics never documented something like that?"

"There have been some accounts of vampiric species," said Aria, "However, not all of them fit strictly into the 'vampire' description.  Did you perceive any wings on this creature?"  "No...my suspicions were aroused when blowing it up didn’t work." said Matt, sarcastically, a few ponies giving him funny looks at his outburst.

"Hmm...while most 'vampire' aliens are known to be very hardy, very few could shrug off an ion blast," said Aria, "That is not a good sign."  "I know that tone...thats the 'I know something about this but I don’t wanna tell' voice." said Matt.  "Well, there has been one account of a vampiric race that would fit your description.  It was considered a plague in Nullspace and was thought to have been wiped out," said Aria, "They were called revenites."

"Never heard of them." said Matt promptly.  Aria replied "I;m not surprised...the NSC doesn;t like them mentioned.  They were a hostile race thought to date back to the ancients and are thought to be the progenitors of most of the 'supernatural' vampire sub-races found in fiction.  The Combine Confederation and the NSC were responcible for their eradication..." Matt said "Then how do you..." before Aria finished "And Executive Genetics supplied the weapons."

"Well, supposing you're right, how would one of them end up here?  This isn't exactly Transylvania," said Matt.  "The last fleeing revenite vessels were tracked to the uncharted territories before being destroyed.  Most likely, an escape pod from one of their ships crashed here recently." said Aria before predicting what Matt was thinking.  "I hate to say this sir...but we should consider surrendering to the Icarus.  Even though I can nano-forge the weapons that will effect this revenite, you do not have the skill or experience to defeat one."

"It's a vampire, I just need to find its coffin during the daytime and drive a stake through its heart, right?" said Matt.  "Sir...thats just a story...a revenite can survive, albeit weakened in direct sunlight, will only get high off of garlic and will certainly survive being staked long enough to tear your head from your shoulders." said Aria, darkly.

"Er, don't suppose that holy relic stuff works, does it?" asked Matt.  "It didn't work for the NSC...it won't work for you...can we please stick to facts?" said Aria.  "Ok, ok," said Matt, "At least it won't be too hard to spot.  A Nosferatu like him will stick out like a sore thumb among the thumbless."  "They are also shapeshifters...they adapt from the DNA in their meals." said Aria, causing Matt to look around nervously, Aria adding "It could be anyone."  

"Er, I'm open to suggestions now," said Matt.  "Like I said, our best chance will be hailing the Icarus," said Aria.  "What would the Icarus do?" said Matt, trying to keep calm.  Aria said "Standard localised sanitization via Solarite bomb.  Everything within 200 square miles would be incinerated."  Matt said coldly "Ok...Icarus is out.  I;m presuming this 'solarite' stuff is their kryptonyte."

"In a way," said Aria, "Like I said, sunlight weakens them, but if they're exposed to enough ultraviolet rays with enough concentration, they'll burn like their namesakes.  Solarite is an artificial crystal that was developed to enhance UV-based lasers to proper revenite-slaying levels."  "Oh...lemme guess...the Icarus has the only lot around." said Matt darkly, only to be pleasantly surprised when Aria said "No...its quite easy to make...I could produce several with the Skyraids nano-forge."

"That's good," said Matt, "How long will that take?"  "It may take a few days...the purity of the crystals needs to be exact and the process for production is not easy to calibrate.  I suggest you find out who the revenite is before we act." said Aria before signing off.  "Ok, he'll be a new guy in town, so Pinkie will be able to point them out," said Matt.

...

However, the next few days proved that this was not going to be easy after all.  The first hiccup in Matts master plan was that it was tourist season for the area and many ponies had come to visit ponyville from Cloudsdayle and Canterlot which brought the situation straight to problem 2...there were more new ponies then townsfolk. 

"This is like trying to find a needle in a haystack," said Matt to Applejack as she was checking on the apple blossoms.  "Y'know...Maybe that critter didn;t come back.  Plenty of nasty varmints livin in Everfree." said Applejack.  The 6 of them had been a little worried for how much effort Matt had pushed into finding the creature during the last few days, even refusing sleep to patrol the towns outskirts at night.

"From what I hear, this is the type of monster that would eat other monsters," said Matt.  "Y'all need to rest, Matt before you make a mistake.  Ah've done the same in the past and you won’t believe what ah caused." said Applejack, remembering back to when she had tried to bring in the apple harvest solo.  Applejack sighed and said "Y'all ain’t gonna be much good against it if you can’t stand up."

"I am not that flimsy," said Matt.  A snapping noise from the nearby bushes caused Matt to jump and pull out one of the new solarite weapons Aria had finished, firing a needle thin yellow beam that sliced the bush down, revealing a shellshocked fox.  Matt didn’t turn back to Applejack before saying "It might be a vampire fox."

"I'm pretty sure any blood he may be after is chicken blood," said Applejack, "And I think you need to lie down before some other innocent critter could get hurt."  The fox had already headed off for the forest at an impressive speed.  Matt sighed "Yeah...yeah.  I don’t wanna be like private badris...poor guy.  We told him to take a few hours..."  "Private who?" asked Applejack.  "You don't wanna know," said Matt.

...

Matt leaned against a tree in the park, sipping on some hot coffee and despite Applejacks recommendations, still keeping one eye open.  Finally, he got up and turned to leave, he nearly tripped over a white-maned black pegasus.  The pegasi yelled in shock and fell over.  Matt was already up.  "Crap...sorry, man.  You alright?  Wow...you're lucky...no scaldi-" he said only for the pegasi to glare and say "You idiot."  "Hey, I said I was sorry," said Matt.

"Idiotic human...do you make a habit of walking around blind?" said the pegasi coldly.  "Well excuse me," said Matt, "Maybe you should be the one watching where you're walking."  The pegasi seemed to remember something then before saying in a warmer voice "I suppose accidents happen...would you happen to know the way to Madam Fluttershy's house?  We met in the forest a few days ago."  

"Did you?" asked Matt before thinking back, "She said your name was...Vanya, right?"  "Vanka...I am visiting from the north." said the pegasi, seemingly amused by something.  "Yeah, we're getting visitors from everywhere these days," said Matt.  "Well...it was a pleasure to meet you, Mr Lynch.  Maybe we will meet again." said Vanka.  Matt nodded "Yeah.  Fluttershy’s is that way...near the forest.  Look for the tree house with the chickens outside."  "Thank you," said Vanka before walking away.

Matt walked on, muttering "Wierd guy...wait...I never told him my name and my tags in splitt...oh no." said Matt to himself.

...

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was watering her little garden.  It wasn't that much, just some flowers.  But the bees and butterflies sure seemed to like it.  She had just finished when she heard a hoofstep behind her and turned to see the pegasus she had met in the forest a few nights ago, Vanka.  "Miss Fluttershy...a pleasure to see you again." he said with a smile.

"Oh, Vanka," said Fluttershy, "Er, I didn't know you would be coming."  "I said I would visit you if I was in your little village and so here I am.  Your human friend told me the way.  I literally bumped into him." said Vanka.  "Oh, Matt.  He can be a bit...clumsy at times, but he's really sweet," said Fluttershy.

"Hmm...I suppose such a lovely pegasi such as you could be wrong." said Vanka, smoothly.  "Wait?  What?" asked Fluttershy, her emotions twisting two ways in response to Vanka's remark.

Vanka said, "Well...you're his friend...and I have only been here a few days.  I hardly know anyone here." his eyes glowing very faintly.  "Yes, you do need to take time to really get to know someone," said Fluttershy.  "Well...may I be frank, Miss Fluttershy?  I have travelled...to many places in my life but it’s rare that I meet such a kind jewel." Vanka said, seeming sheepish in his speech.

"Oh, I'm sure you've met kinder jewels, uh, I mean, ponies," said Fluttershy, her cheeks turning almost as pink as her mane.  "Oh no...in my...career choice, kindness was a rarity." said Vanka.  "Oh, that's too bad," said Fluttershy, "But I'm sure you'll find a lot more kindness here in Ponyville."

"I'm sure I will.  Tell me...surely it gets lonely here." said Vanka.  "Not at all," said Fluttershy, "I have so many animals to take care of here.  And Angel is particularly helpful."  "Angel?  Where?" said Vanka, sounding terrified.  "Oh, he's probably taking a nap right now," said Fluttershy, "He usually sleeps after lunchtime."

"Erm...I beg your pardon?" said Vanka, confused.  Fluttershy said happily "Angels my pet bunny.  He helps me look after the other animals."  Vanka coughed embarrassed "Yes...er....I have...a....bunny......phobia."  "You're afraid of bunnies?" asked Fluttershy.  "I had a rather nasty experience with a rabbit when I was a colt," said Vanka.

Fluttershy seemed confused "That’s strange...they're usually so docile" she said, turning to help a chipmunk so missing Vanka mouthing 'She fell for that?'

Just then, a familiar voice called out, "DIE, YOU UNDEAD BOTTOMFEEDING BLOODSUCKER!"  This was followed by a small barrage of energy blasts.  Fluttershy leapt back with shriek as Vanka was forced to do an impromptu tapdance to avoid the energy blasts before being sent flying by a kick from a ballistic mercenary.  

"HAH...THOUGHT YOU COULD PULL THE WOOL OVER MY EYES, EH?" Matt yelled, advancing on the seemingly dazed Vanka.  Fluttershy said "Matt?" in a small terrified voice.  "Ah, good, I caught him before he could get his nasty little fangs into you," said Matt, "Now stand back, this could get messy."

Vanka said in faked but convincng terror "What the hell?  What are you doing, you mad thing?" trying to back away.  "Oh, drop the act, vampire boy." said Matt.  "Matt, wait a minute," said Fluttershy, "Aren't you being too rash?  Maybe you're confused about this."

"Not a chance...I'm not letting fang boy out my sight." said Matt, getting a yellow crystal out and loading it into his blaster.  "One solarite enema coming up." he said.  "Matt, I really must insist that you stop acting so violent," said Fluttershy.  

"Ok...after I atomize vampy over here." said Matt, aiming.  Vanka said in a terrified whimper "Please, Miss Fluttershy...I don't know what he’s talking about."

Then Fluttershy became much more serious.  "Matt, stand down," she said.  Matt scoffed and said, "And what should-" before making eye contact with her.

Many years later, when asked exactly what it felt like to be given what the equestrians had nicknamed 'the stare' Matt never really gave a clear answer but at that moment there was something about the ferocity of Fluttershy's glare that went straight down to the little metaphorical button on Matt’s spine marked 'primal terror' and jumped up and down on it, causing his blaster to fall to the grass.

"Matt, I don't know what crazy notion makes you think that Vanka could be the vampire," said Fluttershy, "But you're going to stop attacking him right now and apologize."

Matt’s brain, to its surprise found itself obeying, turning reluctantly and making Matt mutter "Sorry I tried to vaporize you."  Vanka appeared to be similarly shocked about this as he only said, "Er...fine, just don't do it again."

Matt glared, picking up his blaster and walking out.  Fluttershy headed into her house, allowing Vanka to flash a 'unique' smile at Matt.  Matt's eye widened and he would have gone into 'blast-blast killy' mode, but somehow, he felt like he shouldn't be here right now.  So he just glared back at Vanka before walking away.

It hadn’t been Vanka's cheeky grin...it had been the two fangs that had gotten his attention.  Surely once he told the others of this, he’d have some help...

...

It was 2 days later...

Matts plan hadn’t gone...well...as planned.

"Come on, guys," said Matt, "Vanka's the vampire, I know it.  Is it really that hard to believe?"  "When did you last get some sleep, Matt?" said Twilight, looking concerned at the dark fatigue rings around Matt’s eyes.  "Not since that kid got bit...why?  I'm fine...my med nanites can keep me going for at least another week." he said.

"Matt, it isn't healthy to stay awake so long," said Twilight, "Your body needs to rest." "Not to mention what's left of your mind," said Rainbow Dash.  "What about the sudden neck scarf thing in town? Ten credits says each of those ponies has a little mark under their neckwear that consists of 2 little puncture marks." said Matt, his eye twitching a bit.

"Scarves are the latest fashion trend," said Rarity, "A bit odd for this time of year, but who am I to question the customers?"  Matt glared "Fine..." he said before looking out into the street and pouncing on the nearest pony before pulling her scarf off and saying triumphantly "SEE?"

"Uh, there ain't nothing there," said Applejack.  Matt glanced at the pony to see her neck was unblemished and her expression was very irked.  "Oops, my bad," said Matt before wrapping the scarf back around her neck.  The pony glared before walking off.  Matt however said stubbornly "Coincidence."

"Are you going to yank off every pony's scarf until you find something?" asked Rainbow Dash.  Matts left eye twitched and he said "Great idea..."  "Really, Matt, you're starting to act most uncivilized," said Rarity, "And the local opinion about you is low enough as it is."

"So...we wait till someone has less blood then a banana.” said Matt stubbornly.  "You said that this thing can't drain a pony's blood in one go," said Twilight, "It would take it a few days for it to drain a pony dry, right?"  "Yes...but I'd prefer not to give it time to do that." said Matt darkly

"But still, there would be some ponies who would be showing signs of blood loss.  And once the victims become clear, you'd able to trace them back to the source," said Twilight, "Just running around and yanking scarves isn't going to help.  You need to approach this logically."

Matt sighed "Fine...I’m gonna be keeping a very close eye on the clinic." he said reluctantly.  "You can have your robot things take care of that," said Rainbow Dash, "You need to lie down before you crash."  "I'm perfectly fine...both of you stop complaining." said Matt, looking a little cross-eyed at Rainbow.

"Maybe what you need is a lullaby," said Pinkie, "Just a little song to help you get to sleep."  "I'm perfectly capable of falling as-" began Matt before falling face down and starting to snore.

…

Meanwhile, Vanka has become somewhat of a regular visitor for Fluttershy.  He was often popping up around lunchtime and sharing a meal with her.  Although, for some reason, he doesn't seem to eat as much.  "Miss fluttershy.  I have to say you are a...unique individual." he said this night.

"Really?  How so?" asked Fluttershy.  "Well...It is rare that I find a person so capable of enforcing her will so easily." said Vanka.  "Oh, it's not really a conscious thing," said Fluttershy, "I can't really control it.  It just happens when I need it to happen."

"Exactly.  I know the sort of tricks that go in touch with such an ability." said Vanka.  "What do you mean?" asked Fluttershy.  Fluttershy looked up confused and looked right into the red eyes of Vanka.  "Thats right...just close those beautiful eyes of yours...it won’t hurt as much then.”

Fluttershy suddenly started feeling very woozy.  She briefly had the idea that Vanka was opening his mouth wide to reveal a pair of sharp fangs before everything went black.

...

Fluttershy shot upright in her bed with a yelp.  "Oh...it was just a nightmare." she said to herself.  Then she blinked and looked around.  "Funny, I don't remember going to bed," she said.  She got up dizzily and staggered over to her bedroom mirror before yelping again when she saw two small marks on her neck

"Oh dear, where did those come from?" she asked, trying to think back to anything that could have caused them.  However, nothing sprang to mind...in fact the whole previous night was a strange blur.  However, she didn't feel any pain from the marks.  All she felt was rather thirsty…

...

Matt however had finally and reluctantly had his rest and was headed to fluttershys to apologize for nearly vaporising someone.  

As he approached her house, he noticed something a little off.  Normally, there would be some animals hereabout, most often some visiting birds.  However, there was no living being in sight.  "Hello?  Fluttershy?" called Matt, looking around the tree house.

He heard some movement coming from the henhouse.  "Fluttershy, are you there?" he called as he walked over to it.  Matt peered in to see the hens trying with moderate success to pile on each other in an attempt to stay as far away as possible.  Matt shrugged "Its not even like I eat chicken nuggets." he muttered.

Matt then walked over to the tool shed and opened the door.  "Anybody here?" he asked.  There certainly was something in there: virtually every small animal under Fluttershy's care, looking like they're desperately hiding from something.  "What the smegs going on?" said Matt to himself.

As he looked back at Fluttershy's house, he noticed something white at one of the windows.  It looked like Angel, who was waving his front paws out the window desperately.

Matt could spot a cry for help. albeit one from an unusual source and ran round to the front door.  "Fluttershy, open up before I get drastic," called Matt.  Matt waited for a reply before muttering "I am so gonna get into trouble for this." before aiming a kick.

However, the door was a lot sturdier than it looked.  And clearly Matt didn't have much experience with this, judging by the way he was then hopping around and clutching his injured foot.

Matt glared at the door and took a few steps back.  For all he knew, something nasty could be waiting inside.  "Ok...one....two......THREE!" he said before charging at it.

However, his charge didn't go exactly as planned.  It wasn't that the door was too hard for him to bust, quite the opposite.  It's just that someone inside had opened it just before Matt could come into contact with it.  "Oh sh-" Matt managed before his momentum brought his head into a meeting with a ceiling beam and caused him to backflip onto his back

He heard Fluttershy's voice say, "Matt, are you ok?" but the spinning stars were getting in the way of his vision.  "Oh...what do you think?  Something spooked your animals...I thought you were in trouble..." groaned Matt.  "I'm fine, but I am worried about them," said Fluttershy, "I've never seen them act this way before."

"Urgh..." groaned Matt as a reply before shaking his head to clear his vision.  The first thing he noticed was that the inside looked...darker than before.  "Erm...fluttershy?  Whats with the curtains closed?  Its not like its raining." he said, heading for one of the closed curtains.

"The curtains are closed?" asked Fluttershy, "That's strange, it seems bright enough to me."  "You must have insanely good eyes." said Matt, before banging his knee.  "Ow...thats it...you may have good eyes...I don;t." he said before opening the curtains.

The sudden increase in light didn't seem much to Matt, but it made Fluttershy wince and turn her head away.  "Wow...sorry.  Maybe you strained your eyes?" said Matt before walking over.  "Lemme take a peek." he said "I'm fine," said Fluttershy, "I'm just not used to the morning light yet."

"Ok..." said Matt, looking around before saying  "Thought  saw your bunny friend.  He seemed worried."  "Oh, Angel gets worried about a lot of things," said Fluttershy, "He was just probably trying to tell me that I need to take care of the animals.  I just don't understand why most of the animals are acting so scared.  I thought they were comfortable here."

Matt looked around before spotting a wolf in the corner.  "He's fine." he said, a little nervously cause the look the wolf was giving him was the sort of look Matt gave dinner.  “Yes, he seems quite at home," said Fluttershy, happily "Which is odd because I don't even recall having any wolves before, let alone him."

"Can you tell him to stop eyeing me up as breakfast?" said Matt, backing up a little from the wolf.  "Uh, I know you're new here, but we don't eat friends here," said Fluttershy to the wolf, "And Matt is a friend."

The wolf made a huff that seemed a little disappointed to Matt before getting up and trotting out of the room.  "Ok...this takes the wierd award previously held by the pink elephants." said Matt, calming a little.

"Well, the wolf's not the only one in here," said Fluttershy, "We have a few bats and owls that are staying around.  And the rats and insects and spiders have been behaving well too.  I'm not sure what to make of it."  Matt had been looking around for any possible connections when he glanced at Fluttershy's eyes and noticed they partially red.  "Uh...beats me, I don't know animals like you do," said Matt.

Inside Matts brain, a little tick box was checked. 'Ok...its not what I'm thinking it is...maybe she has conjunctivitis?  At least she doesn’t have-' Matt thought.  "Anyways, care for some apples?" asked Fluttershy, holding up one, "Applejack brought me some yesterday."  She opened her mouth wide, revealing some slightly sharper teeth then you tended to find in a herbivore, before biting down on the apple.  She chewed for a bit and said, "Odd, it seems...dryer than I would have thought."

Matt however had gone pale.  "Erm...I'm ok, thanks." he said in a surprisingly calm voice, given then all his mental warning bells had gone off at once.  "I can't stay.  I forgot to lock up and I do not want the crusaders getting in again." he said, grinning desperately.

"Well, stop on by whenever you want," said Fluttershy.  "I...I will, thanks...erm...Bye." said Matt before turning to run and bashing into the same rafter that had floored him.  Matt rubbed his face and muttered, "Why couldn't they be as tall as actual horses?"

He looked at his hand to see a little red.  "Oh...damn nose...bleed." he said, stopping as one final alarm klaxon drowned out all the rest.  "Matt, are you alright?" asked Fluttershy.  "Fine, fine, nothing to worry about," said Matt quickly.  

Fluttershy said "Wait...you're bleeding..." before getting a distant expression.  "Erm...no I'm not...erm...its katchup." said Matt, pathetically before getting up "Oh...look at the time...erm...SEEYOULATER!" he said, rushing the last part and running out. 

Fluttershy blinked and shook her head.  "What was that about?" she asked, not sure whether the question should be directed towards Matt's behavior or her own.

...

Twilight and Spike had been spending the day tidying the library, as well as reading the only vampire story they could find, by some pony called Buck stoker.  Twilight had just finished when Matt burst in, out of breath.  "Vuh...vuh." he said  breathless.  "What is it, Matt?" asked Spike, "Vole?  Violin?  Voltage?"

"Vuh...vuh...vaaa...vaahahahaha." said Matt, starting to giggle a little as certain parts of his brain entered panic mode.  "Vulture?  Vulpine?  Vanity?" asked Spike.  "Vampire." Managed Matt before slumping face down.  "Huh, I wasn't anywhere close," said Spike.

Matt suddenly shot up and picked spike up "Fluttershys a vampire." he rasped, a manic look on his face.  Twilight snorted before laughing a bit.  "Fluttershy?  She's the least vampire-like person I know," said Twilight.  Matt spotted the vampire book before saying "Ok...check list...one...aversion to sunlight."

"Fluttershy loves sunshine," said Twilight.  "All her curtains were closed and she didn;t like it when I opened them.  Number two:  Red eyes.  They were very red...and following on to number 3:  Control of certain animals and fear responce in all others." said Matt, calmly

"Fear response?" asked Twilight, "Animals love Fluttershy.  Unless you count the animals at the Canterlot Royal Gardens."  "Either her chickens practice acrobatics or they were trying to get as far away as possible...even her little bunny friend looked worried." said Matt before saying "And finally...the last two...tell me...do you guys usually have sharp teeth...and get mesmerized by nosebleeds?"

Twilight stared at Matt and said, "Matt, I know you mean well and you're trying to help out with the community, but I'm afraid that's a bit too much.  It's nothing personal, but I think I need to see the evidence myself before I can accept anything like that."

"Very well...this way please." said Matt, confidently before turning and hitting the door frame.  Luckily he chose to swear in splitter...

...

The two of them were soon at Fluttershy's, which had the same eerie stillness about it.  "Exhibit A: a definite lack of happy animal friends scampering about," said Matt.  Twilight looked around "It does seem a bit quiet." she said unsure.  Matt walked up to the door and knocked "Fluttershy...you in there?" he called.

"Matt?  You're back already?" asked Fluttershy's voice.  "Yeah...I brought twilight along....that ok?" said Matt.  "Of course, do come in," said Fluttershy.  Matt opened the door and said "After you, twilight." before following her in.

Not much changed since Matt's brief departure, except the curtains were closed again and the wolf was back.  Also, several bats were hanging from a rafter.  Matt looked around "Fluttershy?  You in here?" he said, a little smugly that he was finally gonna get proved right.

"Just a minute," called Fluttershy.  A few seconds later, she walked out of the kitchen, clutching a lit candlestick with her teeth and balancing a tray of sliced apples on her back.  Matt looked at Twilight "Told you so." he said.  "Told her what?" asked Fluttershy after she put the candlestick down on the table.

"Tell me, fluttershy.  Have you inspected your fan…teeth today?" said Matt.  "Well, I did notice something odd," said Fluttershy, "I think I may have chipped a few teeth.  I had better see Zecora about that."  Matt and Twilight both nodded slowly as the aforementioned new pointy additions to Fluttershys dentistry came into view.  Matt muttered "Final test" before saying "Hey...come on outside...its a great day."

"Uh, no thanks," said Fluttershy, "I have a bit of a migraine and the bright light will only make it worse."  "I got some medicine at my place that'll help.  Come on." said Matt cheerfully, walking forward only for the wolf to growl.  "Now, now," said Fluttershy to the wolf, "Matt means well, don't be upset."  Then she turned back to Matt and said, "I appreciate the offer, but I just don't feel like being in the sun today.  Besides, I have a few little things I've been meaning to work on."

Matt looked at Twilight before saying "Ok..."    "Fluttershy, have you been feeling exhausted lately?" asked Twilight, "You know, feeling...drained of energy?"  Fluttershy nodded "A little...I don’t understand it...and everything tastes dry."

"Hey Fluttershy, you've got a little smudge on you," said Matt.  "What?  Where?" asked Fluttershy, looking at her shoulders.  "Right...HERE!" said Matt before pulling Fluttershy's mane back and exposing two small puncture wounds on her neck.

Three things happened then.  The first was fluttershy screaming in surprise.  The second and third were that the wolf and bats all lunging at Matt.  "Uh oh," said Matt before he was tackled backwards.  "Ah!  Nice doggy, nice doggy!  Get off me you stupid flying rats!" yelled Matt as he tried to push the wolf off him..

Twilight quickly used some levitation to pull the bats away from matt but the wolf was already about to make a snack of the poor merc.  Fluttershy stared before whimpering in fright for the wolf to stop.

The wolf growled before reluctantly skulking away.  Fortunately, the animals were called off before Matt could be serious hurt, asides from a few bite and scratch marks.  "Ok...what the hell?" said Matt in a shaking voice.  "Ok, Matt, you've more than proven your point," said Twilight.  "What point?  What's going on?" asked Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy?  I'm afraid mr vampy bit you." said matt, not one for sugarcoating things.  "What?" asked Fluttershy in shock.  Matt nodded "You have fangs." before showing a reflection.  "But, but, but, ponies don't have fangs," said Fluttershy.

"Then who bit her?  Fluttershy wouldn't let that monster into her house." said Twilight, concern in her voice.  Matt shrugged "Ten creds that its that Vanka guy.  I tell you, I don;t trust him."  "But...Vanka's just a gentleman," said Fluttershy, "He wouldn't do such a thing."  "Most monsters are gentleman...right up till they aren't." said Matt.

"But...but...but..." started Fluttershy before this all proved to be too much for her and she fell over in a dead faint.  "Nothing worse then waking up as the wrong species." said Matt, adding "Take it from me...I know."  "Matt, we have to do something," said Twilight, "We can't just leave her like this."  "Right, she ought to be ok on her bed," said Matt, "Just glad she hasn't traded up to a coffin yet."

Matt carefully carried the peagasus up to her bed and put her down, pulling the cover over her.  "Ok...from what I read on this vampire thing...we're fine until she gets a taste of someones blood.  If we vaporise the guy who bit her before then, she'll be fine." said Matt, confidently.

"Are you sure it will work?" asked Twilight.  "Sure, it works in all the vampire books," said Matt.  "Er, are those books actual guides for dealing with vampires or just stories someone wrote?" asked Twilight.

"Well...the NSC claims they fought vampire aliens...but they sealed all the records.  Exo Gene supplied the guns to fight em so aria was able to make some for me." said Matt, before saying "We gotta tell the others."  

...

The other ponies were called to Matt's where they were given the low-down about the current situation.  "So thats more or less it.  Somehow Fluttershys been bitten by this...what was it again?" said Matt, turning to a hologram of Aria that he had insisted set up.  Aria said calmly "I believe the species original designation was Revenite."

"And you're saying this 'Revenite' is turning Fluttershy into one too?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Yes...the species itself augmented their ruling caste with biomechanical glands that allowed them to inject one of two biological viruses.  The first required constant concentration on their part, allowing them to control the actions of those bitten.  Unfortunately Miss fluttershy seems to have been infected by the other one...usually used to create the hybrids that most modern vampires are descended from." said Aria before noticing the blank stares from everyone.  "Oh for trons sake.  Yes...she is turning into a revenite hybrid." she said.

"Oh, who would have thought poor Fluttershy would be turned into a vampire?" said Rarity.  "Yeah, I'd have pegged you as the most likely vampire candidate," said Pinkie, "Fluttershy seems more like the werewolf type to me."

The group stared for a minute before chalking it down as pinkie being pinkie and allowing Aria to continue.  "Unfortunately revenites also have the unfortunate ability to....well...who has heard of the saying 'you are what you eat.'?" 

"Oh, I hear that phrase all the time," said Pinkie, "Especially when I've been eating a lot of sweets, but I don't think I'm getting sugary."  "It applies to revenites.  Their DNA is constantly unstable, meaning that they assume the species of those they feed on.  It probably accounts for how it has been able to operate for so long without detection." said Aria.

"So what do they look like when they're themselves?" asked Applejack.  There was a bit of sneakiness in Aria's tone as she said, "Allow me to show you."

Matt leaned over too, curious to see what he was up against and so jumped with everyone else when some kind of anthromorphic bat thing appeared and lunged at the group, freezing mid pounce.  "This is a revenite caught on helmet cam during the battle of Travindas III." said Aria.  "Wow, now THAT is scary," said Rainbow Dash, distantly.

"That was only a civilian...the revenites are not tolerant of any outsiders...and they have been documented to survive fully automatic plasma fire.  While solarite crystals and concentrated UV blasts are effective...I doubt you would want to use a sunlight spell of that magnitude...as it would need to be powerful enough to incinerate 5 square miles." said Aria, calmly.

Matt gulped at that "Lets put that on the backburner.  You made some solerite weapons for me.  I could take this guy," he said.  "Still, I would not waste any ammo," said Aria, "Not only is there considerable collateral damage that could result from a misfire, there's a limited amount of solerite to use."

"Well...what else can we do?  Wait till fluttershy wants a midnight snack?" said Matt, drawing his blaster.

"Finding this Vanka's lair would be the most sensible approach," said Aria, "I highly doubt you'd be stealthy enough to catch him in his sleep, but cornering him may be the key to victory."

"I am perfectly capable of catching one fang pony." said Matt confidently.  "It is far more than a 'fang pony'," said Aria, "Consider how active it has been, it is probably close to regaining its full power.  Not to mention that it may be a matter of time before it has Miss Fluttershy under its thrall."

"Crap." said Matt, gloomily.  Rainbow dash said concerned "And what do we do if Fluttershy does fall under its power?"  Aria said coldly "I don;t think you wish that information."  "Then there's no time to lose," said Applejack, "We need to find where that creep nests."

“We can't leave fluttershy alone.  What if creepazoid goes back to finish her initiation?" said Rainbow Dash, annoyed at the situation.  "Right, someone has to stand watch over her," said Twilight.

Everyone turned to look at Matt who despite everything turned to look behind him before turning back.  "Oh no...I'm the only one with the anti-vamp guns." he said, adding mentally 'and a trigger finger.'

"Well, someone has to watch over Fluttershy," said Twilight, "Who can fend off those wolves and bats or possibly Fluttershy if she tries to escape."  Rainbow Dash said confidently "I can deal with a few bats."  "I'm sure you could, but wolves are tougher," said Twilight.

"I'll be fine, Twi.  I can handle a wolf.  They can't fly." said Rainbow Dash, her confidence clearly back.  "You have to keep her indoors, remember?" said Twilight, "As in keep next to her."  Rainbow Dash nodded as Matt added "And whatever you do...DON;T let that creep near her."

"Of course, we need to find this uncouth being," said Rarity, "Now, let's see, if I were a blood-draining creature of the night, and thank goodness I'm not, where would I stay if I were not out hunting?"  "Well...I'd be somewhere comfy...close to where I eat.  Is there any inns or hotels in town?" said Matt thoughtfully

"A couple," said Pinkie Pie, "I go to them a couple of times to deliver some cakes for parties."  "We start with them then...check for any night owls that checked in recently..." said Matt, checking the solarite crystal in his blaster.

"Are we sure we want to confront him there?" asked Twilight, "There could be too many innocent ponies there and they could end up in danger."  "So we wait till its night and he's at full strength and hungry too?" said Matt.  "Well, maybe we can force him out of the hotel," said Applejack, "You know like makin' a gopher leave its hole."

"Hmm...I suppose if we made it a little unsuitable...brighten the place up." said Matt thoughtfully.  "Ooh, like open a tanning salon?" asked Rarity.  "Tan?  We're covered in hair," said Applejack, "That don't make a lick of sense."

"We could order up some sunshine...you control the smegging weather.  You can’t schedule some extra sun?" said Matt, a little annoyed.  "I do clouds and winds," said Rainbow Dash, "Sunshine's something else entirely.  I just clear the skies, Princess Celestia's the only one with power over sunlight."

"So?  Just lose the clouds for a day." said Matt before sighing and saying "Lets just go vaporise this creep."  "Let's try to think this out all the way," said Twilight, "First of all, we need to find out which hotel he's at."  "How do we do that?  Walk up and ask if they have any vampires staying?" said Matt, sarcastically.

"Would he have any reason to use another name if only a small amount of people even know about vampires?" asked Twilight.  "Why not start with ponies who turned up after the kid was attacked?" suggested Matt.

"Ok, but nobody jumps in until we're all sure where Vanka is," said Twilight.  "Ah...so we agree its that guy." said Matt, happy for once.  "It seems most likely," said Twilight, "After all, he's a new pony in town, he has been visiting Fluttershy often, and he's rarely seen during the daytime.  I just wish there was a definite proof, like if he doesn't have a reflection."

"Fluttershy had one...I don’t think all the vampire stuff applies to these guys." said Matt before saying "We know his name...lets just ask."  "Alright, let's go and round up that varmint," said Applejack.

...

Meanwhile, Vanka wasn't at his hotel, instead choosing to finish Fluttershys 'conversion'.  He floated up near a cloud, checking the house given that the door had been locked.  "Come on...how to...who's that?" he said spotting a cyan pony at the balcony he'd been eyeing.  

He thought for a minute and recalled that this was one of the friends Fluttershy 'hanged out with'.  "Hmm...she may be trouble," he said to himself, "Best to get rid of the obstacle."

With that he flew down silently before aligning behind the cyan pegasus as she turned to go back inside.  After a second he cleared his throat.  The cyan pony jumped and turned around.  "What are you doing here?" she demanded.  "I could ask the same thing," said Vanka smoothly.

"You're that vanka creep.  I know exactly what you are." said the pony cockily.  Vanka raised an eyebrow at that.  "Oh...do you?" he said.  "Yeah, and if you think you're getting your fangs in Fluttershy again, you've got another thing coming," said the pony.

"I don’t need to bite her again.  Good grief...don’t they teach anything?" said Vanka, trotting into the room  "Aha, so you’re the creep who bit fluttershy.” said Rainbow Dash, accusingly.  "Guilty as charged, Madamoselle." said Vanka, giving a sarcastic bow.

"You are so gonna get it when Matt shows up," said Rainbow Dash, "You're gonna regret ever coming here."  "That idiot?  I have killed thousands of his kind.  They breed like blak'ni.  I have nothing to fear from him just as you're hardly a threat either." said Vanka, a little angrily.

"Oh, you bet I'm a treat," said Rainbow Dash, "How's about I buck you into next week?"  "Oh, why do you things always try the macho approach.  Please...take your best shot." said Vanka, smirking.  "With pleasure," said Rainbow Dash as she started winding up for a fierce kick.

Vanka didn’t even move until just as Rainbow's kick was about to meet, he seemed to blur, vanish and reappear to the side.  "Is that all you have?" he said with a smirk.  "Hey!" snapped Rainbow before trying to kick him again.

Again, Vanka blurred and reappeared out of range.  "Are you even trying?" taunted Vanka.  Rainbow growled with frustration before charging at the vampire pony.

This time, Vanka responded with a kick of his own, sending Rainbow Dash sprawling into the corner of the room.  "Check and mate, madam." said Vanka to the unconscious pegasus before getting an idea.  "Well, as long as the cat's coming out of the bag, might as well sever any ties," said Vanka.

...

A few minutes later, Fluttershy was up again.  She still felt a bit shaken about being told she's becoming a vampire thrall, hoping there may have been some mistake.  She opened her eyes properly to see Vanka's face looking at her, a fearful look on his face.

"Vanka?  What are you doing here?" asked Fluttershy.  "Getting you away from your so-called friends." said Vanka, pointing to an unconscious Rainbow dash, a crude wooden spike next to her.  "If I hadn’t arrived when I did...Oh, I am sorry this happened to you."

"What...what is Rainbow Dash doing with that wooden stake?" asked Fluttershy.  "She was about to use it on you, my dear." said Vanka  "Use it on me?" asked Fluttershy.  "Is that so hard to believe?  People always fear what they do not understand." said Vanka, helping his view along with a simple lacing of psychic energy.

"But...Rainbow Dash wouldn't want to hurt me," said Fluttershy, "She...would want to help me, right?"  "That has plenty of meanings...like ending suffering." said Vanka, a little coldly.  Fluttershy gasped and said, "She wouldn't?"  "Oh, but she would," said Vanka, "That stake virtually has your name on it."

Vanka smirked inwardly as he watched Fluttershy stare in horror at the stake.  "You will be safer with me.  I have been working on a way to leave." he said.  Unfortunately this was a complete lie, Vanka having already come up with a plan that would land him his own personal kingdom...but once this pony tasted a fresh kill, all that troublesome morality would go with it.

"Leave?  As in, run away and never return?" asked Fluttershy.  "Would you prefer to die?" said Vanka.  "No.." said Fluttershy, "It's just...I've lived here so long, made so many friends..."  "The same ones trying to kill you." said Vanka in a 'matter-of-fact voice.

Fluttershy looked hesitant and said, "Maybe I could try to reason with them..."  "I have lived a long time...they won’t listen.  Come, I have one more thing to gather.  Wait for me near the forest.  I won’t be long, my dear." said Vanka.  "Well...ok, I'll wait, I need to think some things out," said Fluttershy.

"Very well.  Remember...stay hidden till I find you." said Vanka before spreading his wings and flying out the window.  Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash and the stake before flying out too with tear filled eyes.

...

Matt and the rest of the ponies were headed towards the second of the two inns in Ponyville, the Green leafed Inn.  For some reason, the town seem quieter today.  There wasn't anyone in the streets nor at the windows.  "Hey...does anyone get the feeling that we're in the right place?" said Matt, looking around.

"Odd, we're the only ones who know Vanka's a vampire, right?" asked Twilight.  "Yeah...this is not good.  Lets get in there, shoot Vanka and celebrate." said Matt, sure that he spotted someone duck out of sight in an alley.  "Let's not be too hasty," said Rarity, "I mean, if we have the wrong place, this could be disastrous."

"Oh, you're in the right place." said a voice.  Matt span and fired at a shape that blurred across the top of the street.  "Hold it, partner," said Applejack, "You don't wanna hurt somepony."

Matt panned the blaster around.  "Hey...pointy.  Whats wrong?  Afraid of a fair fight?" he yelled out.  Vanka's voice replied "Of course not...but I wouldn’t want that nasty little solarite pistol to burn a hole through me."  "Well...that's the idea, so come out and take your blasting like a man, or stallion, or whatever," said Matt.

"Oh very well." said Vanka, landing behind the group before he said "However...if I was you...I would be wondering why your gunfire hasn;t caused a commotion." gesturing around them.  "Let me guess, you mass-hypnotized the town to be your personal 'all-you-can-drain' banquet for you and Fluttershy," said Matt.

"Not exactly...but they should be sufficient to trample you into jam." said Vanka.  Matt noticed now quite alot of eyes staring from the darkness surrounding the group.  "Oh, you gotta be kidding.  Zombies now?" said Matt, annoyed before sending a blast at Vanka which surprisingly winged him.  

"Ha, not as fast as you think, eh?" said Matt confidently.  Vanka just smirked before saying "Kill them all please." to the thralls.  "Guys, stick close together," said Twilight before concentrating hard.

Matt spotted what was about to happen and remembered the last time it had.  "Hey...he, wait a minute.  Last time you almost cooked-" he began before the group vanished in a flash of purple light.

...

The group reappeared outside sweet apple acres, Matt blackened with soot and gently smoking.  "durble popcorn." gibbered Matt before spinning and falling down.  "Now this is a real pickle," said Applejack, "How're we supposed to stop Vanka if everyone in town's been brain-scrambled?"

Matt shook his head "I think Aria said that virus needs concentration.  So the 'kill the vamp' plan probably still works.  Ow, I hate teleporting." he said, moaning the last part.  "Aria...I don’t care if the Icarus might spot us...use the skyraids scanners.  I wanna find that Vanka jerk."

...

Meanwhile, Vanka was hurrying to the place where he was to meet up with Fluttershy.  His side still hurt from where Matt had shot him, but if it worked out as he planned, it'll be worth it.

Fluttershy was hiding near the treeline when Vanka landed, purposely messing up the landing for extra theatrics.  As he planned, Fluttershy ran out with a shocked look.  "Its not as bad as it looks." he said, sounding as pained as possible.

"Mr Lynch and your friends took a shot at me the minute I came into their sights." said Vanka, bitterly.  "No, they wouldn't have," said Fluttershy, not wanting to believe it.  Vanka sighed "They fired at me...with a solarite weapon no less.  If they had hit me in the right place, I would be dust.  They will do the same to you." he said.

"Me?  They wouldn't shoot me, would they?" asked Fluttershy.  "Well, they were going to give you a stake to the heart, weren't they?" said Vanka.  Fluttershys head fell and Vanka spotted a few tears hitting the ground.  He sighed inwardly and said "Come, my dear.  Let us leave this place."  "Where can we go?" asked Fluttershy half-heartedly.

"I know a few places...and I even found a ship to take us there..." said Vanka, before his eyes glowed and his voie echoed as he said "Now forget about those others."

Now…it was worth noting that while a Revenite's sense of hearing was very refined, there are somethings that could escape its notice, namely things that do not produce a heartbeat.  Which is why the spiderdrone was able to observe the two without being detected.

...

Matt and the others had been forced to play the waiting game as they waited for a hit.  Matt could see the others were all worried...espetally when a bruised Rainbow Dash had limped in a few minutes previously and told of her own encounter.

"Like I said, the Revenite is not to be taken lightly," said Aria, "The situation is starting to spiral out of control."  "We can NOT call in the Icarus and thats final...I can take a guess at standard procedure for a revenite." said Matt, harshly.

Aria paused before saying, "A sanitization strike to eliminate the Revenite and any possible infected.  No, I don't think you would prefer that."

Matt looked over at the others who were not listening, instead talking to Rainbow.  "Ok...tell me you have something." he said quietly.  On cue his wrist comp beeped with an incoming video feed.  Matt looked down at the info before grinning "Gotcha, creep." he said, looking at the feed showing the retreating backs of Vanka and Fluttershy.  "Oh great," muttered Matt, "Girls, we have a problem."

...

The group headed through the forest, relying on the signal from the spiderdrone on Vanka;s trail.  "He's heading along the trail I;ve been clearing of Echo teams lost gear." said Matt, curious   "Where could that be leading them?" asked Rarity.

"All I can think is the old basecamp.  I never found it...too many hungry nasties." said Matt, shining a light that caught the tail of a basilisk headed away through the undergrowth.  "What would he want there?" asked Pinkie.  "Well...we only saw one gunship transport when Echo came to town.  Standard ops is to have two...one for backup." said Matt, thoughtfully before something occurred.  "Oh boy."

"You mean they're leaving the planet?" asked Twilight.  "No...those ships are short range...but it will have plenty of firepower.  I don’t think Vanka wants to leave.  I think he wants to set up home...and to do that...he has to evict the current owners." said Matt, his voice getting colder as he realised himself.

"But, wouldn't he want someone to feed off of when he's finished?" asked Pinkie.  "He'll have an entire planet to pick from." said Matt, checking ahead.  "We're almost there...there's the drone." he said, pointing.

The spiderdrone was hopping up and down to get the group's attention.  Matt and the group ran over, Matt saying "Whats his problem?" he said before a spotlight blinded the group, along with a jet like roaring.  A slightly rusted echo gunship transport hovered into view, the cargo bay jammed open.  "Uh, I think we found him," said Applejack.

The gunship slowly hovered over the group before starting to move in the direction of Canterlots distant lights.  Matt looked at his wrist comp before activating an old device from it.  "Please still work." he muttered before firing the grapple at the open cargo hatch

Fortunately, the grappling hook managed to wrap itself around one of the pistons that opened and closed the door.  Matt grinned "Yes." before common sense reappeared, reminding him that he wasn’t even close to heavy enough to slow it down.  "Oh smeg it." Matt muttered gloomily as the grapple wire got tighter.  

"Oh dear, Matt, hold on," cried Rarity before biting his belt as the others ran forward to help.  However, even her weight was nowhere near to be enough to keep it down.  As the ship lifted off, so did Matt and Rarity, too fast for the others to do anything but watch.

So it was that the gunship headed off on its voyage with a dual scream trailing behind it.  After a minute Matt managed to trigger the grapples reel to pull them in before he just grabbed the floor inside the ship.  “We never ever mention this...again." Matt said distantly

"Agreed," said Rarity, "Incidentally, you may want to consider getting a new belt.  The one you're wearing has a rather bad stench to it."  "It was the only one I had with me when I crashed." said Matt, getting up before looking around and spotting several worrying things.  "Plasma warheads.  This thing musta been carrying the teams munitions." he said, looking at the blue flame symbol that was the warning for weaponized plasma.

"Which I assume would be sufficient to pulverize Canterlot," said Rarity.  "No...but it could demolish say...a palace.  If this guys continuing the personality he's seen...he'll want plenty of survivors to rule over."  said Matt, adding icily "Shock and awe wins lots of battles." before he attached a stick device to one of the warheads.  "Shame it'll blow up before we get there."

"What are you doing?" asked Rarity.  "Setting a few surprises.  Don;t worry...we'll be long gone when they explode." said Matt before saying "Now lets go shoot vanka in the face."

...

The ship was strangely deserted as they headed through the corridors towards the cockpit.  "Strange...you think mr pointy would be all over us." muttered Matt, peering round a corner.    "He wouldn't have more servants with him, would he?" asked Rarity.

"I doubt it.  We'd have met them by now." said Matt, before hitting the control on the door into the control room.  The room beyond was deserted apart from a familier yellow pegasus laying in the middle of the floor.  "Fluttershy." called Rarity, galloping over to her while Matt ran over to the controls.

"Huh, he set the autopilot to do the whole attack," said Matt, "What else could he be doing in here if he's not directing the ship?"  Matt looked at the course, a circle around canterlots central area obviously showing the radius of the warheads.  

Matt looked at the controls before messing with them so that the course altered to go over the river in the nearby ravine instead.  "Can’t have him changing back so..." muttered Matt before stepping back and firing into the panel.  "Ok, all that's left is blasting that creep's head off and getting Sleeping Beauty there out of here," said Matt.

Rarity was trying to wake Fluttershy up as Matt ran up to her.  "Anything?  I'd like to be gone before Mr pointy finds us." he said.  Just then, Fluttershy started to stir.  "Ah, Fluttershy," said Rarity, "I'm so relieved to see you're alright.  Now, we must hurry and find a way off this-"  

Suddenly, Fluttershy kicked out and knocked Rarity away.  Fluttershy, red eyes almost glowing said nastily "Oh...Rarity, come to end my suffering like rainbow did?" showing off the now obvious fang canines.  "What?  Fluttershy, I'm here to help you," said Rarity.

Fluttershy sneered "Just like how Rainbow tried to help me?  With a stake?  Vanka told me how you attacked him."  Matt yelled "Of course we did...he brainwashed half the town and tried to have them kill us."  "And can't you see what he's turning you into?" asked Rarity, "I mean, those fangs and red eyes are completely unflattering."

Fluttershy glared "Is that all?  You'd kill me because of an accident?"  Matt said in an annoyed tone "He did this to you on purpose...how thirsty are you feeling?"  "Quite thirsty, actually," said Fluttershy, her tone turning nasty, "I think it's time to quench it."  She bared her fangs before lunging at Matt.

Matt jumped back at the same time that Rarity Managed to grab Fluttershy;s tail with a telekinesis spell.  Matt was already reaching for his blaster.  

"Fluttershy...get a grip.  You aren’t a killer." he said desperately before Vanka's voice said “True...but I am." before a blur shot past Matt, spinning him to the floor with a 'crack' noise.  "I'm not surprised that you found your way in here," said Vanka's voice, "You are probably the most persistent being I've ever encountered."

Matt got up unsteadily as Fluttershy tried to reach Rarity instead and said cockily "We at CPS deliver quality."  Vanka's voice sneered "And you even brought my dear some food.  So considerate."  

"I don't know what kind of rubbish you've been filling her head with," said Matt, "But you're sorely mistaken if you think you can make Fluttershy turn on one of her closest friends."

Vanka laughed "Then you really need to use your eyes.  She seems to be trying quite hard to snack on her unicorn friend." he said nastily.  Matt glared, finally getting an idea of where Vanka was "Oh shut up." he said, shooting one of the light switches and causing the control room to be flooded with light.

The light exposed Vanka was hovering near a far corner of the room.  He was hissing and covering his eyes from the light.  Fluttershy also hissed, but she didn't recoil as much as Vanka.

Matt aimed a hail of blasts at Vanka, who was forced to shield himself with his wings before flying out of the control room.  "I;m gonna go after Vanka...make fluttershy comfortable." he said before running out in pursuit.  

Fluttershy shook her head and opened her eyes, which were less red than before.  "Oh...I feel strange," she said.  Rarity kept her distance, a little frightened after Fluttershy's 'episode'.  "Fluttershy, darling?  Are you alright?" she said cautiously.

"I think so," said Fluttershy, "I just remember Vanka saying you had hurt him, I felt sad about feeling betrayed.  After that, just a big red blur of anger."

"Fluttershy.  He attacked us.  He's controlling all our friends in Ponyville." said Rarity, walking a little closer when it was clear Fluttershy wasn’t going to go mad again.  "But why would he do that?" asked Fluttershy.

"He's the same monster that attacked High Gears son...Aria called him a revenite." said Rarity before the sound of gunfire echoed from the cargo bay.  "He did this to me on purpose?  He said it was an accident." Said Fluttershy in a saddened voice.  Rarity nodded, hoping the gunfire indicated that the beast, Vanka was gone before a device on the wall squealed.

...

Matt yelled in shock as Vanka threw him into a pile of equipment.  "You fool.  You really thought you could beat me by turning the lights on?" roared Vanka, not noticing Matt had hit a device on the wall behind him.  "My race has conquered hundreds of worlds far more threatening and hostile than this simple one.  You're the only real challenge this place has to offer.  Even enthralling that skittish pony was too effortless.  And once you're out of the way, this planet will fall to my power and the Revenite Empire shall rise again."

Matt groaned "What is it with megalomaniacs and gloating?" he said weakly.  Vanka snorted and said evilly "I have a feeling these 'princesses' I;ve heard so much about might be a problem...which is why I snacked on that town.  From what I hear, they're too soft to even defend themselves from their subjects.  Once they're gone...the rest will be easy."

"I don't know," said Matt, "I think these ponies have stronger wills than you think."  "Hah...the only person I saw was Fluttershy.  Her stares worthy of a revenite.  The others wouldn’t have spotted me if I had paraded in front of them in my primary form." laughed Vanka, harshly.

"I'm telling you, mate, you're rattling a hornet's nest," said Matt, "And, boy, are you going to get stung."  "You mean like this?" said Vanka before suddenly lashing forward.  Before Matt could respond, he had landed on the other side of the room, out colder than a frozen flounder.  Vanka looked down at him before grabbing his trouser leg and started dragging him easily back towards the control center.  'At least you'll be a good meal for Miss fluttershy.' he thought.

...

Vanka tossed Matt into the control center before trotting in.  "I brought you a meal, my dear...that is if you are still hungry after that unicorn." he said, pleased with himself.  "Actually, she didn't want to spoil her appetite," said Rarity.  Vanka turned to glare at Rarity before looking around.  "Hmm...where did she go?" he muttered to himself, confident that one unicorn was no problem for him.  

"Oh, trust me, she won't be long," said Rarity, "I wouldn't miss this for the grandest fashion show in Equestria."  "What are you blabbering about?" said Vanka, now more then a little confused.  In his mind this situation was a little off script now.  The computer chimed at that "Approaching Target zone...stand by."  "Ah, the fireworks should be starting any moment now," said Vanka.  In a way, he was right, but they weren't exactly the fireworks he had wanted.

A yellow blur shot past him, its hooves connecting with the back of his head and knocking him on his front.  "Gah...what in the four moons?" he yelled, looking around for his attacker, before a second hit made him spin like a whirlwind.  He span to a stop on the far side of the room, his vision filled with stars and sparks.  "Ok....ow." he said.  Rarity had calmly trotted over to Matt and said to herself, "Let's see, I'm sure there was a simple wake-up spell Twilight showed me.  I would hate for Matt to miss out on this.  How did it go?"

Her horn glowed as she tried out the spell she had in mind and Matt's eyes shot open and he gibbered a bit.  The spell itself was made to emulate the effect of coffee, Twilight using it to keep awake on all-nighter studying.  The effect on the already highly strung human was for him to shoot upright fast enough that his feet left the ground for a full second.  "Nnuuurrgh...what...the...hell?" said Matt, trying to keep his voice slow enough to be understandable.  

"Oh, Vanka is about to get his comeuppance," said Rarity, "Thought you would like to watch."  Matt grinned "Of course, my dear.  Its a shame we haven’t got popcorn." he said happily, watching as another blur knocked Vanka on his ass for a third time before slowing to become a red eyed and clearly furious Fluttershy.  "You know your motivation." said Matt.

Vanka's eyes were finally starting to stop spinning when Fluttershy yelled, "HOW DARE YOU?!"  Vanka managed to focus his eyes to meet a full on, revenite augmented stare.  He shot back into the wall fast enough to dent it.  "Wh-whats the problem, my dear?" he said, nervously.  

"Everything you told me was a lie!" shouted Fluttershy, "You've tricked me, manipulated me, tried to turn me against my friends, tried to turn me into the same disgusting creature you are, you're no better than a mind leech.  No, you're worse than that!"  "Whats a mind leech?" said Vanka, a little confused before the stare made him shut up.  "You're gonna turn me back and you're going to leave and never come back." said Fluttershy harshly.  Matt called out "Hey...I wanna shoot him."

"Er, I'm afraid that only my...expiration would undo the changes done to you," said Vanka, the power of the stare forcing the truth out of him.  "I can arrange that," said Matt cheerfully.  Vanka gulped as Matt got up, readying his blaster.  "Stand aside please, fluttershy.  I’d like a clear shot."  "Really, Matt, this crude execution?" asked Rarity, "This is quite uncouth."  "We don't have to be that harsh," said Fluttershy.

"He;s a psychotic rabid bloodsucking alien scumbag." said Matt in defence before clicking his blaster.  The computer broke up the arguement when it said "Implementing course correction." and the floor tipped to the left by 45 degrees.  Vanka leapt forward as soon as Fluttershy's eye contact was lost, straight at Rarity.  "At least I get lunch." he snarled before screaming as a crackling blade came through his shoulder from behind.  Matt stood behind, his ion blade in hand before using the blade as leverage to send Vanka flying into the wall with a clunk.  "Time to go." he said urgently, looking at his watch.

"Er, shouldn't we land?" asked Rarity.  "No time for that," said Matt, "Definitely no time."  Fluttershy was about to ask what was upsetting Matt so much when another lurch threw them all down, coinciding with a deafening explosion.  "Danger:  Explosion in munitions storage.  Engines at 12%.  Eject at once." said the computer calmly.  Matt was first up, emptying a clip into the exterior door till it opened and looked out to see the ravines river getting closer.

"I'd say 'ladies first', but I think in this case it would be redundant," said Matt before picking up Rarity and heaving her out the door before following himself.  Fluttershy flew out with a whimper a minute later, the dropship falling away.  She flew down to where two sets of ripples were in the river and was in time for Rarity and Matt to surface,  "I cannot believe you did that." shrieked Rarity before another explosion made the three look up.

...

Vanka got up unsteadily and looked around the damaged bridge.  "No...nononono." he said to himself, trying to limp over to the open hatch before looking out to see the wall of the ravine looming large.

...

Matt winced as the dropship scraped along the side of the ravine before its fuel tank exploded, blasting the ship to scrap.  "Lets go." he said to himself before swimming for the shore.  

...

When the group got back to Ponyville, everypony were back to normal, although heavily confused and quite dizzy.  However, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie were all waiting for them.  "You're all ok.  Everypony fell over for a second when we heard that ship explode." said Twilight as they ran up.  "Vanka's toast...at least everyone back to normal." said Matt, sounding tired "Erm...excuse me." said Fluttershy, quietly.

"Yes, what is it, dear?" asked Rarity.  "Er, I don't feel quite myself yet," said Fluttershy.  It was true that her eyes were still reddish and her fangs were still there.  "No, no way..." said Matt in an incredulous tone, "Not even he could survive-"  Suddenly, the air was rendered by the most piercing shriek Matt had ever heard...and it was coming from the ravine.

"Oh, you've GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" yelled Matt at the night sky.  "That is IT!  I am gonna go get the nastiest, most destructive gun I have and shove it right up his-" said Matt, interrupted when Twilight said urgently "I’m going to go and write to the princess.  I think we need her help."  "Right, an' I think we need ta get everypony else out of the way," said Applejack.

Twilight looked to where Matt was stamping off towards his house, obviously intent on fulfilling his threat.  "I think you're right." she said.

...

Matt slammed the door open and walked over to the ammo crate he kept his guns in before kicking the lid off.  "That little creeps DEAD!" he muttered, tossing a pulse grenade launcher aside.  "Sir, might I offer some advice before you inadvertedly demolish the town as you take down this Revenite?" asked Aria.

"What would that be, Aria?  I literally blew up the ship he was inside and he;s STILL coming." said Matt, hysterically, before pulling out a nasty looking rifle that looked like it had a claw on the end.  "That's because it wasn't a solarite explosion," said Aria, "Of course, if it was, you wouldn't be here to talk about it.  Anyways, the solarite ammunition is your best chance of taking this thing down."

"What am I supposed to do?  Shove it down his gob?" said Matt, his eye twitching.  Aria was about to reply when all the lights cut off.  "Oh, now what?" moaned Matt.  Then he heard something hissing in the dark.  "Uh oh," said Matt.  "Youuu over evolved chimp.  How DaRe yOu inTerFEre?" said a distorted voice from the shadows.  

"Ok, where are my night-vision goggles?  Or a flashlight?" asked Matt to himself hastily.  “You wON't neeD thEM when I TEAR YOUR EYES OUT!" said the voice before a blur shot out and hit Matt hard enough to send him through the wooden wall into the next room.  

"Ouch," muttered Matt, "Ok, Matt, just keep your wits about you.  You're being stalked by a vampiric alien monster in the dark who means to eviscerate you.  This is no time to panic."  "I can SmELL yOU." hissed the voice, saying "YoU DARE to think you could STop mE?  ME...VANKA NOCTURNIS...MASTER OF 5O WORLDS!”

"50 defunct or nonexistent worlds by this point, right?" said Matt, his mounting fear forcing him to use his smart mouth as a defense mechanism.  "Such a SMaRT Mouth...lets see how SMaRt YOU are without a VOiCE box." said Vanka before the batlike creature from Aria's file, albeit covered in nasty burns leapt at him and backhanded him across the room.

"I can take a hit, or two, or five," said Matt as he got back onto his feet.  "Cute...you think you can win." taunted Vanka, having vanished again.  Matt pressed a button on his wrist comp at that and the devices flare launcher fired a shot that flooded the room.  Matt covered his eyes before uncovering them to see Vanka on the ceiling.  "GOTCHA!" he yelled, drawing the solarite blaster he had and firing.

However, Vanka wasn't as stunned as Matt had thought and was able to lash out and smack the blaster out of Matt's hands.  Matt watched in gloom as the gun smashed from the force, the glowing solarite crystal rolling across the floor.  The rest of his thoughts left at high speed as Vanka grabbed him and threw him in the same direction.  Matt managed to grab the crystal before what felt like a vice squeezed his windpipe shut and he was lifted into the air.

"YOu pAthTIc moRtAl fOOl," hissed Vanka in his distorted voice "YoU maY haVe DEstrOyed mY guNShiP, buT thAT WiLl onLy dELay ThE inEVItaBLe.  THIs wORld wIlL fALL tO Me, BuT yoU woN'T liVE tO sEe IT!"  Matt made a rasping noise at that.  Vanka loosened his grip on Matts neck a little to say "WhAT wAs THat, MoNKey?" before Matt shoved a gem into his mouth that made Vanka drop Matt, trying desperately to pull the now burning solarite gem out.  "I said If you're gonna kill me, just do it!" rasped Matt before noticing that Vanka appeared to be smoking.

"You know, in retrospect, I should have stabbed it into his heart," said Matt, before deciding he should watch behind something sturdy.  He walked towards the sofa a little before noticing that Vanka was glowing "Ok, further away!" he said urgently, limping for the door.  He made it halfway down the path before a whomph lifted him off his feet and sent him a extra 10 feet to land with a crack on his arm.  Matt lifted his head to see that the front of the barn was now missing.  "Ok.....so instead of turning to dust they EXPLODE?" moaned Matt.

"Congratulations, sir, you've managed to kill a Revenite single-handedly," said Aria.  Matt looked down to see a drone staring at him.  "You arrive...now?  I hate you." he moaned before adding "Do we have any medical nanites left?"

Just then, the six ponies who Matt has gotten to know so well ran up to Matt.  "Matt, we heard the explosion," said Twilight, "What happened?"  "He defeated Vanka," said Fluttershy, "Look, I'm back to normal."  The others saw that Fluttershy had indeed gotten her own eye color back and was fangless.  Matt said from ground level "Thats nice.  Turns out vampires explode." he said before adding "You think they'd mention that." before passing out.

...

Matt picked up a piece of singed wood and tossed it aside to reveal the stairs down to the basement where the jumpgate was still stabilizing after Pinkamena's hijacking of it the week before.  "So...at least thats still intact." he muttered gloomily.  The pegasi had been fast enough to put the fire out but not before the barn had been gutted. 

He himself had come out of his final fight with Vanka with more withstandable injuries.  Ok, so he had a couple of bruises and his arm was in a sling, but he's had much worse.  

"Oh well...at least the ships livable now...or I can sleep in the combat SUV." said Matt to himself gloomily before hearing several dozen hoofsteps.  He ran back out to see several dozen equestrians, wearing builders gear heading towards the ruin.  "Oi...what the hell?" Matt began as they started moving some of the wreckage before he spotted the brown pegasus from the night Vanka had turned up.

"Hey, aren't you...that one colt's dad?" asked Matt.  "High Gear the fourth.  I don't think we properly met that night.  I run Mequestria Industries over in Fillydelphia." said the pegasi with a warm smile.  “I owe you one for saving my kids life and last night I hear from a Miss Sparkle how your home had a little..." he stopped to look at the barn "...lets just call it an accident and I saw a chance to repay the debt."  

Matt glanced at the construction ponies working on the barn and said, "Well...while rebuilding's on the subject, think we can go over a bit of remodeling?"  High Gear smirked "Let me guess...bigger rooms?" he said amused.  "For a start," said Matt, "And also, there's the issue about proper furniture..."

...

<Log active>

Ok...this was an interesting couple of weeks.  First I meet Pinkies darker side and she locks the jumpgate online and then smegging vampires?  At least its deep fried now.  It also looks like the towns starting to warm a little to me.  Not to mention I have cosier accommodations.  Aria says I shouldn't get too comfortable since I am planning on leaving.  But given the probable weeks it'll take to get off this world, I see no problem in padding my pad a bit.

Shame that we're outta medical nanites till Aria can cook up a new batch however a badly sprained arm is a nice excuse to do what I’ve always wanted to do till I started as a merc...absolutely nothing...

<Log ends>





















> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP Fic pt 8

You would think that getting a new house...one that now had doors that you could fit through would be a bonus.  Sadly for Matt, he was now learning that maybe he should have checked the defence systems wiring before he'd plugged it back on...given that the security turret in the kitchen now kept firing at him whenever he went in.  

...

"Dang it, I just wanted some toast, not be toasted." said Matt, gloomily.  "Thats terrible.  Isn't there anything you've been able to do?" said Rarity, concern in her voice.  Matt had given up for the time being and decided to leave Aria running a debug on the turrets...for the third time.  "Its not that bad...I got some food." said Matt, sipping some water.  It had been a week since the Revenite had been dealt with and so far his security system had tried to kill him three times...the worst being when the guns in the hallway leading to the toilet had declared him hostile.

"Still, one should be able to feel secure in the comfort of one's home," said Rarity.  "The only place I can get to is the basement.  Lucky, really.  I wouldn't want the turrets thinking the jumpgate was hostile." said Matt.  "That thing is still working?"said Rarity, surprised.  Matt nodded "I can’t turn it off till it finishes whatever portal Pinkamena was making."  

"How long will that take?" Rarity asked.  "Should be finished tomorrow.  To be honest, I might be willing to risk using it.  Paradiso V's pretty far away from Exo Gene stations that I could get some supplies that I need." said Matt.  "Do you know what that world's like?" asked Rarity.  "They're testing some kinda beacon there to draw in people who fall through natural null rifts...but apart from that, I hear its one of the few resort colonies near this sector." said Matt, conversationally.

"A resort, ooh, that sounds fabulous," said Rarity.  Matts mind realised that he might have mis-stepped.  "Erm...you wanna come?  I don’t think that'll be a good idea..." he began.  "But it would be such a fun vacation.  Of course, I'll have to pack what to wear at the beach.  You think opals go well with water?" said Rarity, happily.  

Matt said desperately "But...but..." before he reminded himself that Paradiso had improved alot in the recent years before saying "Fine...I'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning.  Meet me at my place...ask the others if they wanna come too." he said, cheerfully.  "Oh, delightful," said Rarity, "Oh, I better make sure Opalessence is taken care of while I'm gone.  Opalessence?"

Matt was about to reply before there was a 'shing' noise and his eyes went wide.  "He's...on my.....leg...." he rasped.

...

Matt, wearing his NSC gear was looking at the now stable portal, the view through it showing what was clearly an alley of some sort.  "Oh...where are they?" he muttered, looking at his wrist comps time."  Just then, he heard the doorbell ring.  He walked back to the cellar door and opening it.  "It's about time," he said, "What did you pack?  Everything but the kitchen-"

All six ponies were present, plus one baby dragon by the name of 'Spike'.  "...sink?" finished Matt before rubbing his eyes.  "Erm...Ok." he managed.  "So sorry, but I had such trouble deciding what to take," said Rarity before levitating three large suitcases forward.  

Matt just stared before turning to the others and saying "Ok...Rarity I can understand coming...may I hear why you guys wanna tag along?" he asked as politely as someone who had been up since dawn could be.  "Well, I would like to be able to study this new culture," said Twilight, "There could be much to learn from a society of non-Equestrians."

Matt nodded "Fair enough.  Next." he said.  Fluttershy said quietly "I'd rather like to see what kind of animals your world has."  Matt was about to point out that as a class C and an avianos world, Paradiso V was unlikely to have accessible animals before his mental voice said  'She's a Pegasus...your arguement is invalid.'

"Ah've been hoping on seein' greener pastures," said Applejack, "Maybe find new apples I can bring back to the farm.  Course, don't think anything can top Zap Apples."  "Zap appl...you know...I don’t think I wanna know." said Matt, tired, turning to Pinkie who said happily "I wanna be the first pony to throw a party on another planet...that'd be so much fun." bouncing in place.  Matt just rolled his eyes before turning to spike.  "You?" he asked.

"Well, Twilight will probably need me and maybe there's...jewels..." said Spike before starting to drool.  Matt looked puzzled "Oooook." he said before turning to Rainbow Dash.  "Your virtual car thingies were ok, but I wanna see how much faster I am than them in real life," said Rainbow Dash.

Matt shrugged "Ok...but...well, ok then." he said, before grabbing a duffel bag, something in it glinting.  "Ok...one ground rule.  Paradiso V may be a resort...but its in Consortium territory.  Don’t go off alone." he said before adding more reassured "But I wouldn’t worry...the colonial securitys pretty efficient at its job plus...also...don’t worry too much about looks.  If they're walking around...they aren’t gonna eat you." he said, tossing the duffel bag through the gate, the air in it rippling for a second before the bag was seen hitting the far wall.

"So, we can get back through here, right?" asked Twilight.  Matt nodded "Safe as crossing a bridge.  Aria says it'll stay open for about a week so think of this as an extended weekend." he said before climbing through the portal.  His voice from the other end sounded like it was coming through glass.  "Come on." he said grinning.

"CANNONBALL!" shouted Pinkie before jumping through the portal.  The others all winced as Matt failed to get out the way in time and vanished from view when Pinkie collided with him.  "Uh, I don't think ya need to put that much force into it," said Applejack before yelling, "Geronimo!" and jumping through.  Matt, whose head was appearing over the bottom of the portal went wide-eyed before being knocked out of view again.

There was a moment of silence before Matt's voice said weakly,  "No...more...jumping...just...walk..."  Matt, happily for his ribs managed to avoid being used as a landing pad by the others and after some time for him to get his breath back, the group walked out into the street the alley was attached too, after Matt had pushed a few crates in front of the portal.

"We wouldn't want too many things crossing back there," he said.  "Like what?" asked Fluttershy.  "Uh...vermin, the really bad crop-spoiling kind," said Matt.  The street beyond opened out onto a seaview area, a beach stretching out.  The group, minus Matt who had seen it before were amazed to see the dozens of different species walking around, chatting amiably, though Fluttershy shrunk back when a young pair of the dragonic splitter species walked by.  

"Relax, most of these people are on vacation," said Matt.  Rarity nodded "Its ok, fluttershy dear.  Its like Matt said.  These people are not going to eat you no matter what they look like." she said assuredly.  "Uh...ok," said Fluttershy timidly.  "So, where's the best place to party around here?" asked Pinkie.

"Not really that kinda district...and you definitely won’t like the others..." said Matt before what sounded like a thunderclap was heard in the distance.  Everyone jumped before turning to see a tower in the distance, the tip glowing from the energy discharge.  "Space elevator...don't worry about it." said Matt after a minute before leading the way up the street.  "If I remember right...there should be a CPS safehouse around here..." he began.

"A safehouse?  What for?" asked Twilight.  "We're not gonna sleep on the streets.  Don't worry...its not far.  One of the bonuses of being part of one of the top merc groups." said Matt, turning a corner to a fenced area containing resort buildings.  "Isn't there a hotel we can check into?" asked Rarity, "I mean, this safehouse seems like awfully low class."

"Huh?  CPS has the security contract on the resorts here.  Bonus being: The safehouse is one of the buildings." said Matt, nodding to a human and a splitter in armor like his that were leaning on either side of a gate.  "Lynch...we heard you were dead.  Running bodyguard?" called out the human cheerfully, looking briefly at the group as if talking ponies were perfectly normal.  

"Uh, sorta, it's complicated," said Matt before glancing back at the girls and said, "Uh, not to be one to point out the painfully obvious, but you don't seem that surprised about a small herd of small magical horses."  "Nah.  Not that unusual.  We've been stationed here a year." said the splitter in a rasping voice.  "Just be careful, man.  Romanov's still fuming over that contract you and your sis ran on him."

"What?  Romanov's here?" asked Matt.  "Yeah...Colonial securities planning something big.  He came in here 4 months ago...took out the local gangs and made camp." said the human, before saying "Don't worry...he's not gonna know you're here.  Safehouse is in shack 3."

...

Matt had never volunteered for the resort or corporation contracts before and wondered, looking at the luxury holdings of the paradiso safehouse why he hadn’t before now, given the quality of the inside.  For one thing, there were several chairs and couches that looked plush and comfortable to several races.  Then there was the humongous TV screen that took up half a wall as well as the game consoles attached to it.  And that was only the living room.

Matt opened a door that had a access lock on it to reveal a small security station.  Matt noted it for future reference and closed it again before seeing that Pinkie had already gone up the stairs.  "Bed bouncing." he muttered to himself.  Applejack had looked out a window and said, "Alright, they got a swimmin' pool here."  She paused at the door and said, "Now how's a pony supposed to open one of these confounded things?"

Matt walked over to the touch pad next to the door and pressed it, the door sliding open.  "Me and my sisters first experience was a splitter manned search and rescue ship...you needed a ladder to get into bed." he said cheerfully.  "Uh-huh, that's nice, hold onta this fer me," said Applejack before handing Matt her hat.

Matt took the hat, a little puzzled before seeing Applejack backing up for a run up.  "You wouldn't." he muttered before as Applejack jumped into the air over the pool with a 'GERONIMO!' he muttered "She would..." shortly before the splashes collateral drenched him.  

Matt spat the chlorinated water out of his mouth and said, "Well, I suppose now would be a good time to check out the bathrooms."  Matt walked back into the main room to see that Dash had already found the game console but had discovered one flaw...hooves had never been taken into account when the controllers had been designed.

"C'mon, you stupid things," muttered Rainbow Dash as she fruitlessly tried to work the controllers.  Matt grinned a bit at that.  "Yeah...not much call for hoof-customized controllers." He teased.  Rainbow Dash gave a growl of frustration before throwing the controller.  "Then how am I supposed to play those games?" she snapped.  "With great difficulty?" said Matt before he could stop himself before saying "Ok...sorry.  There's plenty of other things to do.  The aquillans can fly and they 'officially' run the colony.  They probably have some races set up around town." 

"Cool," said Rainbow Dash before pausing and asking, "What's an aquillian?"  Matt said simply "Bird people and very competitive.  I met one of them a couple of years ago."  "Bird people, got it," said Rainbow Dash before heading towards the door.  Matt called out "Wait...they're also a warrior...race." he finished, the last word a little quietly.  Of course, Rainbow was already out the door by then.  "Oh great, now I'm gonna have to catch up with her to explain their customs," muttered Matt.

Matt walked up to the bathroom to get a towel only to find rarity there, presuming that Rainbow Dash would be safe for a little while.  The unicorn was apparently trying out the showers and judging from her singing, she was obviously enjoying them.  Matt cleared his throat and said, "Uh, excuse me..."  Rarity gave a yelp of fright before yelling, "How dare you?  Walking into a bathroom while a lady is bathing?  Get out, get out right now!"

Matt winced before closing the door again uttering an apology before a fact occurred to him.  "Wait a second...you don’t wear clothing anyway." he said, annoyed.  "Well...still, I'm not presentable right now," said Rarity.  Matt glared at the closed door before rolling his eyes and walking back down.  "I'll go catch up with rainbow dash before..." he said before pausing, seeing Pinkie playing one of the game consoles with no difficulty.  "...erm...yeah...I'll just go get dash." he said a little confused.

"Hey Matt, there's this really neat thing I've found, wanna see it?" asked Pinkie.  Matt said "Found what?" his brain still a little knocked off kilter by Pinkies usual display of logic defiance.  "This really cool chair," said Pinkie before pushing Matt into one of the armchairs, "Isn't that the comfiest chair you've ever sat it?"  Matt said dully "Yes...its a chair...I have them on the skyraid."

"But wait, there's more," said Pinkie, "It also jiggles and buzzes in a funny fun way."  She then pressed one of the previously unnoticed buttons on the side of the chair.  Matt went cross-eyed as the chair started to vibrate.  "Mmmm....relaxing." he said before his brain reminded him of the original objective:  Find Dash before she ended up pissing off a wing of aquillans.

But another voice in his head told him there was no need to rush.  How much trouble could she get into in five minutes?  On cue the TV's system linked to a resort announcement.  "Please be advised:  Aquillan race gangs are operating in sectors 2 to 5.  Please avoid travel through or to these areas as aquillans are easily offended." it said pleasantly, causing Matt to shoot upright.  "Right, no time for vibrating massages, gotta help Rainbow Dash," said Matt, getting out of the chair.

...

Rainbow Dash flew over the resort, looking for these 'aquillans' that Matt had mentioned.  Surely talking birds would stand out.  Just then, she heard something faint, but it sounded to her like a call for help.  Rainbow Dash looked around before she heard the call again coming from behind a large barn-like building.  She flew down low to see what looked like humanoid versions of falcons around something.  "You thought you could screw up and then hide from us, Jump Star?" said one of them in a strangely accented voice.

"It was an honest mistake," said someone who Rainbow couldn't see behind the falcons, "Anyone could have mixed it up."  "You were supposed to bring me a VS-12 grav booster for my ride...not a damn regulator." said the aquillan, stepping side briefly to reveal a grey coloured pegasus cowering in the center, a cutie mark of the jumpgate device Matt had used to bring them to Paradiso visible.

"The packages all look alike," said the pegasus, terrified "How was I supposed to know it had the wrong part in it?"  One of the other aquillans said with nasty amusement "Maybe a few days with a wing cast on'll make you think straight?"  Rainbow gulped a little at that.  It was every pegasus's worst nightmare to lose their wings, even for a little while and while she was surprised to see a equestrian living here, she sure as hell wasn’t gonna leave him to these bullies tender mercies.

She flew back a bit before flying in a circle to build a bit of speed, then she flew straight towards the group, yelling to add a little shock and awe.  The aquillans jumped back a bit at that, avoiding being knocked down.  "What the hell?" said their leader, looking up before Rainbow Landed in front of Jump Star.  "Who the hell are you?" said another accusingly.

"The fastest flier in Equestria," said Rainbow Dash, "And if you don't want a hoof going into your face at Mach 2, I'd leave this guy alone."  "Equestria?  Never heard of it...now move it before we ground you permanently." said the gangs leader coldly.  "Ok, you asked for it," said Rainbow Dash before charging the leader.

The aquillan was set flying back into a dumpster with a clang.  The rest of the gang however just stared as Rainbow smirked "Anyone else?" she said cockily...a feeling that drained as the three remaining gang members drew blasters.  

The aquillians aimed their blasters at the pegasi when suddenly, a blast of lightning hit them in the back, causing them to spasm before falling over.  As they fell to the ground, they revealed Matt standing behind them, a tesla rifle in his hands.

"There you are, Dash." said Matt, cheerfully, stopping briefly to clock the recovering leader on the beak.  "Are you sure you're not a reincarnated merc?" he said cheerfully.  "How'd you do that?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Riot rifle...perfect for sending idiots to sleepyland." said Matt, cheerfully.  "I'll put a police beacon on them and colonial security'll pick them up...who’s your friend?" noticing Jump Star before double taking.  "Oh...I knew I shoulda locked the basement before we left."

"I don't think this guy's from Ponyville," said Rainbow Dash, "And I'm pretty sure I haven't seen him in Cloudsdayle before."  Jump Star looked confused "Cloudsdayle?  Grandma used to talk about that place.  I always thought it was a story." he said.  "Uh, let's try it again at the start, who are you?" asked Matt.  "I'm Jump Star.  I work for the spaceport post office as a high speed courier." said Jump Star proudly.  Matt nodded "Your family are rifters." he said knowingly.

"Rifters?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "People who ended up in Nullspace by falling through a rift...like me." said Matt.  Jump Star nodded "Yeah...some people call me that.  Granddad used to say he worked researching teleporter spells."  "Let me guess, one of those spells went horribly wrong and warped him and your grandma to this place," said Matt.  Jump Star nodded "Thats what he said." he said.

"So there are ponies here?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Apart from my family, you're the only other pegasus I've met, miss Dash." said Jump Star.  "Well, are there unicorns or earth ponies here too?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "The only unicorns I know are my mom and her dad.  My dad, other granddad, and both my grandmas are pegasi," said Jump Star before Matt pulled Rainbow Dash aside "Hey...I think his families the only equestrian one around...I mean...you woulda heard if people vanished." he muttered to her.

Rainbow Dash looked over at Jump Star. "His entire families here?" she said.  Matt shrugged "His granddad must tried home research.  Wierder things have appeared."  "So...why exactly were those guys ganging up on you?" asked Rainbow Dash to Jump Gate.  

"Jetser there's a racer up at the grav circuit on the other side of the resort.  He's gone and got some mean sponsors and I was supposed to pick up a new part for his racer.  I was late and I grabbed the wrong one by mistake." said Jump Star.  "And they were gonna break your wing over that?" asked Rainbow.  

"He's a real jerk but his sponsors been the only one giving out jobs recently." said Jump Star before sighing "I'm gonna get grief for this."  Matt, who was looking at Jetser and also at him computer grinned "I don’t think so...Jetser here's got an outstanding warrant on his homeworld.  Its my job to collect...and if that means he can’t come after you, thats a happy bonus." he said with glee.  "But what about his sponsors?" asked Jump Star.  "Eh, what's the worse they could do?" said Matt, "Sue me?"

...

One of the perks of being in the top tier of the Splitter consortium was that the local security forces rarely bothered you or made trouble.  Auric Romanov was one such high tier and so was annoyed to find his top racer, Jetser was communicating with him from the local security station, apparently waiting for a transport back to his homeworld where he had a few outstanding assault charges awaiting him.

"You know, I invested plenty of creds in you," said Auric, clearly irked.  "Yeah?  Tell that to the damn merc who tazered me and my buds and tossed a bounty beacon on me." said Jetser, angrily before he realised who he’d just yelled at and looked sheepish.  "And who was this merc?" asked Auric, letting the outburst slip...for now.  "I dunno...some human or other.  They all look alike." said Jetser dismissively.

"Perhaps a picture might narrow it down," said Auric as he pulled out files on several human mercenaries who have been causing problems with the Romanov clan.  Jetser peered at the pictures before saying "The third one."  Auric frowned as he looked at the file.  "Lynch, yes, he has been quite a troublemaker," he said.

"What about me?" said Jetser desperately.  Romanov waved a hand dismissively “Plenty more when you came from...Mr Lynch is one merc...and the CPS is very protective of its employees and very vengeful.  I can make up what you brought in easily...good day." he said before cutting it off.

Aquillians don't have sweat glands, but if they did, Jester would have broken out in a cold sweat.  He doubted the justice he'll get back home would be as merciful as the security here.

...

Meanwhile, Jump Star was meeting the rest of the gang.  "Y'all lived here all your life?" asked Applejack, trying to understand why a pony would live in such a built up place like Paradiso.  "Born and raised," said Jump Star.  Jump Star noticed the looks before saying quickly "Its not that bad.  I got a good job and the security force has been doing well in cleaning up the gangs."

"But everything's so...hoof-inaccessible," said Rarity.  "Yeah, and the languages are really complex," said Twilight.  Matt shrugged "Its not that bad." before he said "Oh...no translator."  "Translator?" asked Twilight.  "What?  You think everyone here had to take language classes?" asked Matt, "Hang on, I'm sure they've got a spare one here somewhere."

"You sure they will fit?" asked Twilight.  "Don't worry, they're universally adjustable," said Matt, checking a box on the wall and pulling out a box containing several pea-sized metallic earpieces, adding "So long as you have actual ears."  Jump Star nodded "Its ok...I got one too." He said, showing one of the earpieces in his ear.  The ponies looked a little sceptical before putting the earpieces in...except for Pinkie who had grabbed one already.  "There, that should clear up any language barriers," said Matt, "Unless someone's speaking in gibberish."

Rarity tapped the earpiece carefully "Are you sure that its working?" she asked.  Matt grinned "Well, given I said the last two sentences in splitter, I'd say yes."  "Well, now we know what we're hearin' and readin', let's go see the town," said Applejack.  Jump Star looked at Rainbow Dash and said in a voice almost reminiscent of Fluttershy "Erm...maybe I could show Dash around?"

Matt may normally be oblivious to more tender feelings, but his more recent experiences had made him a little keener on this sort of thing, but not by much.  He wandered over to Rainbow Dash who was just getting her translator comfortable "Don’t look now but I think you have a fan." he muttered.

"Well, I am pretty awesome," said Rainbow Dash, "I'm not surprised if I get some new fans here."  Matt simply said "Wrong type of fan...let him take you out.  If anyone knows how to get the best view of this place...its probably him."  "Ok, hope he can keep up with me," said Rainbow Dash.  With that Rainbow waved to Jump Star "Come on...see if you can keep up." before she shot out the open  door in a rainbow blur.  A second later, Jump star shot out after her.  "I hope Jump Star knows what he's getting into." said Matt.

"Um, can we go meet some of the animals here now?" asked Fluttershy.  Matt nodded "Sure...transport rail goes to the reserve." he said.  "Yay, alien safari!" cheered Pinkie Pie, suddenly in a safari hat.

...

'The reserve guide had probably never had a day like this.' mused Matt as he watched Fluttershy practically go pinkie pie with excitement as the group was led around the paradiso reserve.  He was just watching the group being shown an alaxian skeeter, type of dog/reptile cross creature from a backwater dimension, when his wristcomp beeped. "General announcement to all mercenary personnel.  You are ordered to report for colonial security duty under black knight protocol.  Failure to respond is punishable by suspension of licence." it chimed.

"You think that means me?" asked Matt.  His wristcomp beeped again, "Yes, it does mean you, smart guy."  "Dammit...I hope this isn’t like last time." muttered Matt before confirming his licence.  "Hey...girls?  Job came up that I can’t avoid.  I might be a few hours...hey, mate...make sure they get back safe." he called, first to the girls then to the warden leading them around.

"Sure thing, mate," said the warden, cheerfully.  "Have fun," said Pinkie.  "We'll see you back at the safehouse," said Twilight.  Matt nodded and waved "I'll see you later.  Don’t wait up for me."  he said, fake cheerfully before walking off.

...

Meanwhile, Jump Star and Rainbow Dash were both sitting on a cloud high above Paradiso.  Fortunately, Jump Star's family hadn't lost their ability to cloudwalk after being here for so many years.  "Impressive sight....eh?" said Jump Star, happily, looking out at the city below, lit up like a constellation.  "I come up here when I want some peace and quiet."  "Yeah, all that hussle and bussle can get to be too much," said Dash.

Jump Star looked out for a second before asking "Whats your home like?  Is it as busy as here?"  "Well, I don't live in Ponyville proper," said Rainbow Dash, "I mean, I'm still a resident, but my house isn't like the others.  It's a cloud house.  Ponyville can be busy at times, mostly during the festivals, but it's pretty quiet."

Dash looked over at Jump Star "What about you...where do you live?"  Jump Star pointed to a much less lit area.  "Down there." he said.  

Rainbow looked down and said, "It's pretty dark down there."  "Yeah...Most rifters find it hard to get high paying jobs." said Jump Star, a little gloomily.  "But you guys have been here for years," said Rainbow Dash, sounding horrified.  "Its not that bad." said Jump Star a little too quickly.  "Not bad?" asked Rainbow Dash suspiciously, "Then how bad is it?"

Jump Star looked worried before sighing "Mostly splitter gangs...but they're usually not too much trouble...you saved me from the main problem." he said in a defeated tone.  "But you're still being bullied, aren't you?" demanded Dash.  "Well, Jetser's gone, it'll get better now," said Jump Star in an unconvincing voice.

Dash glared before saying harshly "You can't keep letting people push you around.  You gotta be more assertive."  Jump Star said a little more confidently "I wouldn’t worry too much.  I heard the colonial security were planning a big raid on the guy who's running all the gangs here.  They're even calling in mercenary support for it."  "Wait, wait, mercenary?" asked Rainbow Dash, "Did you say mercenary?"  "Yeah...they're calling in tons of them." said Jump Star, cheerfully.

"From everywhere?" asked Rainbow Dash, starting to sound worried, "Even ones that just got here?"  "Whats wrong?" said Jump Star, confused.  "Matt's a mercenary," said Rainbow Dash, "If they're calling him in, this could be a lot of trouble."  "Why?  Its not like he’s upset one of the corporations...and even if he had...Paradiso's days away from any of their ships.  They're too busy looking for one of their missing cruisers in the uncharted sectors." said Jump Star, trying to be reassuring.

"Well, I suppose Matt could be just one mercenary among dozens," said Dash, sounding less worried now "He couldn't be in that much trouble."  Jump Star nodded "Yeah...its not like he’s; gonna rob the crime boss...right?" he joked.

...

Matt and several other troopers were crouched at a back door.  Unlike the other mercs though, he was sweating in his armor.  Of all the jobs...it had to be the sort that'll be plastered all over the infonet.  And if that weren't bad enough, the leader of their 'squad' was a face that Matt had met before...and didn't like.  

Dante, the squad leader had plenty of reasons to hate his CPS rival and was enjoying the fact that for once, Matt had to take orders from him.  "Lynch...wake up.  I think they're giving the go order...you get to go first...in case of booby traps." he said without even bothering to conceal the glee in his voice.

"Of course..." muttered Matt, "When expecting booby traps, send the boob in first."  Matt stopped muttering darkly when he realised that the rest of the team were sniggering and he forgot his helmet mic was voice sensitive.  "Exactly...Now go." said Dante, annoyed.  Matt growled and stopped forward towards the door.

Almost immediately a teammate pulled him back as several lightning bolts blasted through the door.  At the same time gunfire was heard as the security teams burst in at the front.  Matt blinked and said, "Ok, why are we needed here?  They seem to be able to take care of it."  "All auxiliary units...Romanov may be trying to get out a side entrance...stop him." said the security chief over the comm.  "Thats why." said a disperse inc merc cockily.

"Auxiliary?  I get dragged over here in case of a 'might be'?" asked Matt, clearly very annoyed.  However, he put his growing irritation aside when he noticed movement at the side of the building.  The group all ducked back down as a splitter, with some clear difficulty squeezed out a window and started to make for where a grav car was parked.  "No way are we this lucky." said the disperse merc in shock.

"First merc to grab him gets the big bonus!" said Matt before running towards the grav car.  The splitter turned in shock at those words and managed three desperate steps before the promise of credits got to all of the team and he vanished under a dog pile with a surprisingly girly scream.  There was a bit of tussle to get a pair of handcuffs on the splitter, and more than a few mercs end up handcuffing someone else.

Matt finally held up the cuffed wrists of the splitter "MINE!" he yelled out before failing to notice that in his enthusiasm, he’d forgotten to engage the grounding field, meaning the splitter got a petty final shot in.  Matt twitched from the electrical shock before saying, "I still got 'im.  I'll take my bonus and a first aid kit."  One of the mercs said in a worried tone "Does anyone smell baco...oh, hell...really...get that medkit."

...

Despite Matt telling them not to wait up, the gang had stayed up, at first waiting for Dash to get back then, when they found out what they thought Matts 'job' had been, waiting for him too.  "I hope he's ok," said Fluttershy, sounding worried.  "Aw, ain't nothin' to worry about," said Applejack, "Good ol' Matt's as tough as nails."

The TV had been left on as Spike channel hopped out of curiosity before he came across something. "...and repeating our breaking story:  N.S.C Colonial security raided the home of consortium member and suspected arms smugger, Auric Romanov earlier tonight.  Combined with Mercenary forces, Security teams stormed the mansion and despite heavy resistance, arrested the splitter without losses.  Captain McNeil, acting on a tip from a courier, ordered, planned and conduced the raid earlier, quoting the operation as a complete success." said a news reader, showing an image of a large mansion surrounded by a high tech fence...its gate hanging on one hinge and several police hover cruisers parked in front of it.

"See, nothin' to worry about," said Applejack.  Suddenly, the reporter said, "This just in, we have just received a message from Auric Romanov.  And it would seem to be directed towards the mercenary who had captured him, Matthew Lynch."  The seven ponies looked at each other before Jump Star said "At least he's gonna be locked up...right?" in a small voice.  "Yeah, and Matt should be home any minute now," said Twilight.

"Talking of home...I should fly back too." said Jump Star with a yawn.  "I'll pop in tomorrow...if thats ok, Dash.  Maybe race you again."  "Sure, I'll meet ya at the race track," said Rainbow Dash.  Jump Star smiled and flew out the door.  "He's cute," said Fluttershy.  "Yeah, have you been doing anything nice together?" asked Pinkie.  Dash blushed before saying "No...he just showed me the view from the clouds." "Oh, I'm sure he was a gentleman," said Rarity, "It was only your first date, he shouldn't have done more than that."  "No, tomorrow will be their first date," said Twilight.

"Come on...cut it out." said Dash, trying to hide her head under her wings from sheer embarrassment.  "Ah, our little Rainbow Dash is finally gettin' ready to leave the nest," said Applejack.  "Gaaah." yelled Rainbow in an exasperated voice before heading for the bedroom she had claimed.

Just the front door opened and Matt stumbled in.  He didn't look quite right.  He seemed dizzy, but not in the normal way.  "Oh, hey girls," he said in a slurred voice, "Fun town, ain't it?"  He gave a loud hiccup and said, "'Scuse me."  Twilight was the first to speak "Erm...Matt...are you alright?" she asked, concerned as Matt tried to sit down and missed the seat, apparently not bothered as he giggled away.

"Oh, I'm fine," said Matt, "Just been partying with the guys."  The group just stared as Matt tried to get back into the seat with little success.  "I thought I'd celebrate hitting the paydirt...which is weird cause creds are made of gold...not dirt..." he said in a distant voice before hiccuping again.

"Wait a minute," said Applejack, "I think I know what's wrong with him."  She bent forward to sniff Matt's breath.  Matt grinned aimlessly before going cross-eyed and burping.  Applejack coughed at the cloud of alcohol (kr'ta in this case) as it left.  "Yep, he's drunk," gagged Applejack.  "Drunk?" asked Rarity.  "Yeah, we brew some hard cider back on the farm that'll knock your wits out if y’all drink enough.  Guess he's had something like that, but stronger."

"Kr'Ta...good for the soul...as long as you don’t serve it in metal." said Matt in a happily slurred voice.  "Yeah, I think he's just about had it for the night," said Applejack, "Let's get him to bed."  "But I’m not tired yet, mummy.” said Matt slurred managing to get onto the seat for a second before slipping sideways onto the floor and snoring loudly.

"He'll be more sensible in the morning," said Applejack, "If a might bit grouchy."  "Why will he be grouchy?" asked Pinkie.  "Thing about gettin' drunk, the more buzzy you get, the worse you'll feel when it wears off," said Applejack.  

...

Lockjaw however was not having a good day.  He was a cyborg and also Romanovs top freelancer mercenary...he was also a bit stupid.  "Lockjaw not know how policy people get tip off that you were on colony.” he said to the face of his furious employer who was in the orange jumpsuit of a kryos prisoner.

"You probably let it slip to the wrong person, you tin-plated idiot!" snapped Romanov.  "No...Lockjaw never do that..." said the cyborg desperately.  Romanov sighed before remembering that Lockjaw was probably too stupid to be disloyal.  "Fine...who was a recent hire to our Paradiso operations?" he said with an annoyed sigh.  Lockjaw actually nodded at that "Ooooh...dat easy...birdy pony."  Romanov just deadpanned "I beg your pardon?" he said.  "Little pony with birdy wings," said Lockjaw, "Came for box."

"Lockjaw?  When was the last time you changed your oil?" said Romanov in a tired tone of voice. "Uh..." started the cyborg before slowing counting on his fingers, "One...two...three...four days."  Romanov just face planted and not bothering to lift his face again muttered "I could  have hired a professional but nooooo...lockjaws family." he said to himself before he remembered something "Wait...wait..." he said remembering Jetsers complaint.  

"This...birdy pony, did it have a mark on his flank?" asked Romanov.  "Yaaa...little portal...vas so cute." said Lockjaw happily, causing Romanov to facepalm again.  "Lockjaw...please try to concentrate...that...little pain is the only person who could have ratted us out...I want you to find him.  My lawyer says I will be out within the hour.  I want you to bring me any winged pony you can find...alive.  Think you can do that?" he said darkly.

"Find a winged pony, ok," said Lockjaw before asking, "Which winged pony?"  Romanovs eyes actually blazed at that "I DON;T CARE...ALL OF THEM...DO YOU HEAR ME?" he roared before vanishing under a pile of security guards, the comm thankfully going dead at that point.  "Ok, Lockjaw get all the ponies," said the cyborg as happily as if Romanov had given him a cake.

...

Meanwhile, some of the ponies were talking among themselves or in the case of Pinkie and Spike, playing on a game.  "Ah can see why Matt's so highly strung.  This here place is nonstop." said Applejack, looking over at where Matt had been slumped in the vibrator chair to sleep off whatever he'd drunk.  "Well, they got good ways to relieve stress," said Pinkie, "Ha, got you now, Spike."

Spike yelped as his onscreen character flopped down to Pinkies worryingly good shooting skills before the entire screen suddenly blacked out.  "Hey, I didn't get to set my high score yet," said Pinkie, in an annoyed tone.  "Alert...power failure...switching to backup systems." chimed a voice from the TV before a knock was heard at the door followed by frantic whispering that sounded like "Why the hell are you knocking?"

"Who can that be?" asked Spike before walking towards the door.  The TV flickered back into life but instead of showing the game, it showed lots of smaller screens including a view of the living room.  "Is this a new game?" asked Pinkie, immediately amusing herself by making her doppelganger on one of the screens copy her before another screen enlargened to full, showing the outside of the front door...and the guys with guns.

"Uh, Pinkie Pie, I don't think this is a game," said Applejack.  "Alert:  Illegal weapons detected.  Please alert your nearest CPS employee and evacuate." said the TV voice calmly before the guys on the outside screen aimed at the door.  "Uh, I think it's time we mosey on to the back," said Applejack.  

Spike was about to open the door, saying "I’m coming...hold on." before the thugs outside fired at where they thought his head would be...presuming it was a human coming to the door.  As a result they missed by several feet though that wasn’t really that comforting.  "Uh, maybe I should open it later," said Spike.  

One of the thugs started trying to reach through the hole for the touch pad to open the door.  "Almost...hey...there's one of those winged horses Lockjaw wants." said the guy reaching through before spotting Fluttershy.  "Eep," squeaked Fluttershy before hiding behind the couch.  "Xorn...kick the door." said a unseen voice before the door was literally ripped off its hinges to reveal a splitter...this one clearly grown up and meaning business.  

The girls screamed and scattered around the room.  The noise half-woke up Matt, who stared around in confusion shouting, "Huh, who, what, where's the fire?”  Unfortunately, Xorn tossed the door at him, knocking him back out of sight.  "We'll deal with him later...get that winged pony or Lockjaw'll have our heads." he said in a gravelly voice before adding "In fact...get them all..."

...

The aquillian followed Pinkie into the kitchen.  "Now where'd you-" he started before a pie splatted him in the face.  "What the he-?" he began before several cakes hit him and wincing as a frying pan impacted on his beak.  "Caw...come here, pinky." he snarled, rubbing his beak.

"That's Pinkie Pie to you, crow face!" shouted Pinkie before throwing a saucepan.  The aquillan yelped before diving for cover and Pinkie opened fire with more culinary artillery.

...

The human of the team had followed Applejack and Fluttershy into the corridor leading to the pool.  "Where are you, you little winged freak?" he muttered, panning his rifle around.  A slight rattle got his attention, causing him to spin towards the source of the sound.  

He turned to see a cleaner bot heading out before shrugging.  "I hate night ops...creepy crap." he said before hearing another clatter.  "Gotcha." he said, walking towards the door, never bothering to think that resorts didn’t use cleaner bots as it turned to follow him.

"Now, where did you get to?" he muttered, switching his visor to thermal vision.  He looked down to see two rows of hoofprints and grinned walking towards a door before kicking it open.  "Aha!" he shouted before pausing.  All he could see was the indoor swimming pool.

He looked around to see the trail heading to the edge of the pool.  "Clever girls." he muttered before calling out.  "Ok...shows over...out or I toss grenades in the pool." picking up a few tennisballs from some sports equipment left near.

A couple of bubbles appeared on the surface.  "Fine...FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he called out, before throwing the tennis balls in and starting to count.  More bubbles appeared on the surface before Fluttershy surfaced, gasping for breath and looking terrified.  The merc grinned, aiming his blaster at her nose.  "Hi there, lady." he said evilly, not noticing the cleaner bot finally navigating the step and ambling towards him.

Fluttershy yelped and cried, "Look out behind you!"  "Huh...you think I'm gonna fall for that?" he said, adding "Its just a damn cleaner bot." before the bot said “Threat confirmed.” and the eye glowed.  "The merc turned confused at that "What the he-ACK!" he began before a plasma burst from the bot sent him flying into the pool.

Fluttershy screamed a bit and scrambled to get out of the pool.  Applejack surfaced with a gasp and asked, "What in tarnation was that?"  The bot turned to face them "No weapons detected.  Threat level: 0.  Standing down." before hovering towards a tiny hatch in a wall like the worlds most dangerous mouse.  The radio on the now deceased mercs chest said "Everyone...heads up.  This damn safehouse is a death-trap.  Where the hells Team 2?"

...

Meanwhile, another merc had followed the two unicorns and the lizard creature up the stairs.  "You can't get away from me," he said.  He ran up the stairs to see several doors.  "I hate this damn place...I know there wasn’t that many doors in the floor plan." he said before the safehouse computer announced "Threat level now beyond local ability...contacting nearest CPS barracks for support."  Xorns voice on the radio then said "Thats it...we are out of time, gentleman...grab those freaks and lets split...Team 2...get here now."

"Working on it," muttered the merc before opening one of the doors.  He jumped back as a flamethrower in the back wall attempted to roast him, slamming it shut again.  "GAH...damn CPS and their booby traps.  I'm gonna skin those freaks when I catch them." he snarled, before heading to the next door.  He started opening it, but this time he was much more cautious.  He slowly creaked it open, careful to stay out of the door frame.

After nothing happened he peered in and nearly got a terminal crew cut from a plasma javalin gun.  "Fine...door number 3." he said, aiming angrily and blasting the hinges.  This time, he struck gold, finding the unicorns and the lizard there.  "Ha!  No getting away this time!" he said, levelling his gun at them.

"Ok...you little pains are coming with me...dead or alive." he said angrily, aiming between them.  Twilight and Rarity screamed before suddenly pointing their horns at the merc and shooting out bursts of light.  Spike also let out a gout of dragon fire at him.  The merc was hit three ways and hidden by the intense glow.  The three of them could only hear the sounds of stretching before something went 'pop'.  They stopped, only to see a confused-looking badger there.

Spike looked at the confused and cross-eyed badger before looking at Rarity and Twilight.  "Nice one." he said impressed.  "Uh, I didn't for my spell to do that," said Twilight, "I just wanted send him out of the house."  "I wanted to freeze in place," said Rarity.  The three of them looked at the badger again before Spike said, "So, mixing different unicorn spells and dragon fire is a bad thing?"  "Looks like it," said Twilight.

"Oh...its worse then you think, ladies." said Xorn, walking into view, several mercs who were clearly this 'Team 2' mentioned.  "Our intel had 6 of you here...where's your friend?" he said in a polite voice that seemed out of place on him, especially as he added "I will not ask twice."  "Uh, think we could try that unicorn spell and dragon fire thing one more time?" asked Spike.  "Don't bother, my species are naturally immune to magi, your spells won't work on me," said Xorn, confidently.

The ponies gulped at that while Xorn said "On the count of 3...shoot them." to his men before he said to the girls "Until 3: 1...2..."

Just then, what looked like a rainbow slammed into him at high speed, throwing him down the hall.  Xorn however was hardier then a aquillan and was already up.  "Ah...the missing member." he said, with amusement, raising a hand for his men to lower their guns.

"You leave my friends alone are you're really in trouble," said Rainbow Dash.  "You really are either dumb or suicidal...you're lucky Mr Romanov wants you alive." said Xorn, unimpressed as electricity began to crackle around his fist.  "As if you could take me," said Rainbow Dash, "I can fly circles around you backwards.  "You are fast...but are you really as fast as lightning?" said Xorn before sending twin bolts at Dash.  

Whether or not Dash was or not (most likely not), she was taken by surprise and zapped into unconsciousness.  The others all looked horrified, more as a comm said "Xorn...we found richards in the pool...and the last two runners...its the one we looking for?"  Xorn looked at the unconscious form of Rainbow Dash.  "Negative...we've got the courier...meet with team 2 and take the others out back for disposal...wait...where's Lynch?" he said before two of the team 2 mercs jerked in time with a laser flash.

Xorn turned to see Matt with a foul expression on his face, "You break into my temporary dwelling, you attack my friends, electrocute one into unconsciousness, and, above all, you hit me over the head with a thrown door while I still have a hangover.  Now, I'm mad."  Xorn glared and waved the last two team members forward "Kill him." he snarled, before grabbing Dash and spreading his own wings, blowing the window out with another bolt before taking off.

"Smeg it!" snapped Matt before zapping the two mercs with his riot rifle.  The mercs juddered before falling down in smoking heaps.  Matt ran to the window and aimed down his sights at the already distant Xorn.  "Dammit." he swore angrily when he realised Xorn was already too high.  "Matt?  What do we do?" asked Twilight.  Matt sighed "For now...there's not much.  Applejack and Fluttershy are fine...their new mates made the mistake of waking me up first." he said, adding the last part darkly.

Just then, the intercom stated, "Alert, additional intruders detected in the foyer."  Matt said in a tired voice "And thats our cue to leave.  Lets go." Matt ran down the stairs, opened the kitchen door to make sure there wasn’t any hiding places and was immediately brained by a low flying frying pan.  Matt staggered a bit before snapping, "Who threw that?!"  

Pinkie, wearing a tablecloth like a bandanna peered out with a growling look before immediately smiling when she spotted Matt.  "Oopsie.  Sorry, Matt.  I thought you were another of those meany heads." she said cheerfully.  Matt looked down to see an aquillan with corkscrewing eyes gibbering on the floor.  "Uh, right, good shot," said Matt, "Let's get out of here."

Matt and Pinkie returned to the others just in time as Xorns backup teams turned up via the back door.  "Lets go." yelled Matt, firing a shot at the first thug and forcing the others to duck out of sight.  The group scrambled for the front door, keeping low to avoid getting shot.

Matt was last out, firing to keep the thugs down before running out after them.  Unfortunately, it turned out Xorn was a clever strategist, having had a team waiting at the front as well.  "Ok...hands up...NOW!" yelled one of the thugs as the pursuers ran out of the safehouse.  "Oh, you've got to be kidding," said Matt.  "Drop that rifle." yelled another thug.  Matt reluctantly complied.  "Mr Romanov put a big money bonus on your ass, rifter." said another thug with a grin.

"I had a feeling that last job would come back to bite me," said Matt, "Didn't expect it to be this soon."  "Les just cap them and get outta here." said the third thug before the group all raised their blasters to aim.

Just as Matt had resigned himself to the great big spaceship in the sky, a blaze of gunfire slammed into the group of thugs as a dozen black armored troopers appeared on the roof of one of the nearby chalets, firing down.  "Now who's shooting at us?" asked Applejack.

Matt, however was grinning, yelling up "You took your smegging time!" cheerfully.  "You know these people?" asked Twilight.  Matt nodded "Yeah...these guys are on our side." he said cheerfully as the surviving thugs ran for it.  "Well, that's certainly a relief," said Rarity, "But what about the one who absconded with Rainbow Dash?"  

Matt nodded as one of the troopers jumped down "Sorry we're late, Lynch.  Board wouldn’t let us respond at first.  Hey...thought there were 6 of those guys." he said through a helmet filtered voice.  "Yeah, one of them got nabbed," said Matt a little darkly.  "Xorn Aladaster...bloody freelancer.  We've been after him for years.  Stands to reason he'd park his talons under Romanov's table." said the squad leader.

"Still, why would he want to kidnap Rainbow Dash?" asked Twilight, "It doesn't make sense."  "Hell if we know.  Security channels have been flooded with Romanov's thugs for hire hitting a hamlet in the rifter sector.  Grabbed someone called...lets see here..." said the squad leader, looking at his wrist computer before saying "What kinda name is Jump Star?"

"Jump Star?!" said all of the ponies at once.  The squad leader took a step back from shock.  "Wait...you know him?" he said surprised.  "He's one of the pegasi who lives here," said Fluttershy, "He said he worked as a courier."  "Shit...he musta been C.S's informer.  Stupid kid." said the squad leader gloomily.

"Informer?" asked Fluttershy.  "It means he was the one who was digging up dirt for these guys," said Matt.  "I didn't know he was a digger," said Pinkie, "He looks awfully clean for one."  "Stupid white collar lawyer weaselling," growled Matt.  "Thats the other thing.  He's put a huge bounty on your head.  Every freelancer in consortium space is gonna want to cash in on it." said the squad leader gloomily.

Matt sighed and said, "So much for my mini-vacation.  What next?"  "I'd say get you and your little buddies outta here." said the squad leader.  "I would, but one of my little buddies needs rescuing," said Matt.  "We can handle it.  You haven't got anything he wants." said the squad merc.  

...

Elsewhere, Rainbow Dash was being roughly manhandled, er, ponyhandled by the creep who had nabbed her.  And to add insult to injury, he had her wings clamped down.  "Stop struggling or I might forget my orders and take a bite out of you." snarled Xorn as he glided through several skyscrapers.  "You're going to be so much trouble when I get free," said Rainbow Dash, "And even bigger trouble when my friends catch up."

"My team are the best in the sector.  Your friends are already dead." said Xorn with a little too much amusement before he glided down towards the mansion that had been on the news.  The police vehicles were already gone and the gates had been repaired already.  A guard in a suit waved Xorn down.  "That the courier?  Thought the courier was a guy." said the guard, looking at Rainbow.

"That's more than likely inaccurate," said Xorn, "It's not hard to think of this creature as not feminine."  Rainbow Dash glared at that and delivered a buck that Made the guard wince in male sympathy.  "Ow, man...you ok?" he asked.  Xorn, to his credit barely reacted apart from tearing up a bit.  "I'm...fine...just give me the smegging bounty so I can drop this multi-coloured pain off." he said in a strained voice.

The guard was getting out the credits before pausing and asking, "Er, how am I supposed to get her inside?"  Xorn glared and used his free hand to pick the guard up to eye level.  ""Ask me if I give a shit." he snarled, the stress finally reaching breaking point for him.  "Ok, ok, I think I can manage her," said the guard, though the look Rainbow was giving him promised that she'll be making as much trouble as she can.

He pulled out a hand device and aimed it at the wrist comp.  "There we go, 2 mill as agreed." he said before looking at the 'I'm gonna make your life hell' look on Dash's face before pulling out his comm.  "Erm...control...can I get some help with the courier please?"  Xorn took off immediately and a minute later, a group of human freelancers walked in laughing and dragging a tied and gagged grey pegasus.  "Line up the bounty, man.  We got your courier." said their leader.

"Wait a minute, I've got the courier, don't I?" said the guard, looking between the two pegasi.  "Er, which one of you is the courier?" he asked.  "I am," said both of them quickly.  "What?  She's just a visitor here, I've lived here for years," said the grey one.  "No, I'm the pony you want," said the blue one, "He has nothing to do with this."  The guard looked at them.  "Please tell me...I've had a really shitty week...which topped when I tried to ask for my rights during the raid.  Cut a guy a break." said the guard desperately.

The ponies gave each other a smirk before pointing at each other and saying, "Never mind, I'm not the courier, that pony is."  The guards eye twitched for a second...

...

Romanov and his guards walked out to find the doorman in floods of hysterical tears and two pegasi tied up.  "What the hell happened?" he asked in a confused voice.  The guard wailed "THEY WON'T TEEEELLLLL!!!"  Romanov just looked at the ponies who both said "I'm the courier you want."  Unfortunately for them, Romanov shrugged "Fine...bring them both."  "What?" asked the guard.  "If I get rid of them both, I can make sure I get the actual courier," said Romanov.

"Wait...Mr romanov.  She’s got nothing to do with this...she's just an...erm...cousin from off-planet.  Please let her go." said Jump Star desperately.  Romanov shrugged "Do I look like I care?  Lock them both in the basement...and keep the wing clamps on them till I have a good idea what to do with them."  The guards shrugged and picked up the pegasi.

Romanov strolled back inside and practically expected the call on his comm.  "Let me guess...Mr Lynch survived?" he said sarcastically.  "Yes sir...rapid response hit us.  We barely got away.  Xorn got one of his buddies though.  Blue pegasi." said the thug on the other end.  "Ah, well, that answers the question of which one of them is the courier," said Romanov.  "Orders, sir?" said the thug.  Romanov thought for a second before saying "I'd like you to send him a little message..."

...

Since the safehouse was no longer safe, the group decided to check in at an actual hotel.  However, for Matt...this was a problem.  Not the price as any merc who lived longer then 3 months in the CPS quickly became well off cash-wise, but more the sign exclaiming that the hotel was a 'proud member of Executive Genetics publcity department.'

Which would explain why Matt was wearing a pair of sunglasses, a cowboy hat, and a jacket which had a collar that went all the way to his nose.  "Not a word.  You get your hat back when I’ve finished disconnecting the camera in our suite." said Matt to Applejack, whose hat had ended up as part of his desperate disguise which clearly hadn’t worked as the receptionist had happily greeted him by name.

"Ain't this overy-excessive?" asked Applejack.  "Executive Genetics want my head on a silver platter...minus the rest of me.  I’m not taking chances that I will wake up with half a dozen Exo-Gene mercs pointing guns up my nose." said Matt, shortly before screaming as a aquillan courier said behind him.  "Sergeant Lynch?”   "YOU CAN'T PROVE THAT!" snapped Matt.

"I have a message here for you, sir.  By the way..you're still wearing your ID tags." said the aquillan, pointing helpfully to where Matts dog tag was visible.  "That doesn;t prove anything." said Matt pathetically.  The courier sighed "Message reads:  I have something of yours and you have 15 million things of mine.  Come to my mansion with your friends otherwise I will be forced to use your item to recoup my losses.'  The guy said you'd know where it was as you were there yesterday." said the courier.

"Can this get any worse?" muttered Matt.  The aquilian cleared his throat and said, "That'll be 30 credits, plus tip."  Matt turned to fix the courier with a glare that had 'roast chicken time' written all over it.  "Erm....never mind." said the courier nervously before running for it.

...

"This is the most obvious trap in the world." Matt muttered, the group looking at the gates of Romanovs home.  "There isn't any other choice," said Twilight.  Matt nodded "Lets get this over with."  Rarity looked at the dirty looks the gate guards gave Matt as they walked in.  "What did you do to upset this...Romanov so badly?" she asked.  Matt sighed and said "Me and My sister once got hired by NSC security to recover something from him...we cleaned out his vault as well." 

"You robbed him?" asked Fluttershy, sounding astonished.  "He's a criminal who supplies weapons to marauders, raiders and various monsters.  Less money he has, the better.  We gave most of it to a frontier colony so they could develop." said Matt a little harshly.  "Oh, well, I suppose that's good that you gave the money to people who needed it," said Flutttershy.

"We kept a little...We stole about 900 million...me and chloe kept 15 mill each." said Matt, more to himself before the door opened to reveal Romanov and what looked like a guy who had lost a fight with a tin opener.  "Mr Lynch...I haven't seen you for so long...oh, don’t mind Lockjaw." he said politely, gesturing to the cyborg who said "Hallo leetle pony peoples."  

"Uh, hello," said Fluttershy nervously.  "Hallo." said Lockjaw, grinning and causing the ponies and Spike to step back a little.  Matt sighed "Whats this about Romanov?  I didn’t think you'd lower yourself to kidnapping.  Isn’t that against the consortiums code of honour?" he said.  "Well, I take it very personally when someone snitches on me," said Romanov.  

"Rainbow didn’t do that and you know it.  If you want the 15 million back I still have, I'll give it to you..." said Matt, angrily only for Romanov to say "No...you also have ruined a very important event for me when you got one of my employees arrested."  "Er, that would be...Jester, right?" asked Matt.  

"Jetser.  He was supposed to race for me in the upcoming Gravity Racer event.   I believe it is only fair that you replace him as the pilot." said Romanov, simply.  Matt glared and said "Not a chance.  I’m taking Dash and Jump Star now or...URK!" before Lockjaw, at a nod, grabbed Matt round the throat and lifted him up with no apparent effort.  "Again...no...this time I hold the aces.  You will race or none of your friends will walk out of here alive..." sad Romanov coldly, at the same time that half a dozen guards walked into view.

Matt glared at Romanov and managed to gasp, "What kind of sick twisted creep threatens innocent ponies and dragons?"  "A businessman.  You don’t have to help.  If you are really intent on being stupid, I can have Lockjaw here squeeze until your head pops off like a cork...or you can race and your debt is wiped clean." said Romanov, casually.

Maybe it was Applejack's position of being the bearer of the Element of Honesty or maybe it was basic earth pony instinct, but she had a feeling that Romanov wasn't telling something important, but she wasn't exactly sure.  Romanov noticed that Matt wasn't speaking much and gestured to LockJaw.  "Loosen your grip a little.  He has to be able to answer." he said, coldly.  Lockjaw complied and Matt managed to gasp before saying "How do I know you'll keep your end of the bargain?"

"Oh, I'm hurt," said Romanov mockingly, "Don't you trust me?"  "About as far as I could toss Lockjaw over here." said Matt, sarcastically.  Romanov made a mock expression of hurt.  "What kind of splitter would I be if I went back on a deal?  So you will race in Jetsers place?"  Matt yelped as Lockjaw dropped him before saying "Do I really have a choice?"

"That's the spirit," said Romanov, "You better clean up if you want to get ready for the race."  Matt sighed and said, "Let me guess, I'll be doing some illegal street-racing."  "Of course not.  You'll be representing me in the Arc Canyon grav racer event." said Romanov, relishing the way the colour drained from Matts face.  "Oh, don't tell me you haven't competed in racing before," said Romanov, "I'm sure you've had loads of experience of running, with your non-existent tail between your legs."

Matt glared before muttering "You know perfectly well that there is a good reason that humans don’t take part in grav racing."  "Something about your delicate composition, I believe," said Romanov.  Matt glowered as Romanov said "There are quarters prepared on the premises...and Lockjaw here will be your bodyguard...in case you get....lost." with a evil smirk.  “Ladies, hatchling." he said before walking off, leaving Lockjaw.  "Ok...dis vay please, leetie pony peoples." he said.

Matt pouted and said, "I'd like to see you make me move."  Lockjaw simply said, "Ok, weird mercenary person" before grabbing Matt by the foot and dragging him along.

...

The group were led to a pretty fancy set of rooms that could almost pass for the safehouse...had it not been for the two guards in each room...and Lockjaw of course.  Jump Star and Rainbow Dash were already there when Matt was unceremoniously tossed into the room by Lockjaw.  "You stay like good racing person or I vill have to hit you on ze head and zen Romanov vill yell at me." he said.

Matt glanced at Lockjaw's mechanical fist and said, "Right, I don't think I'll be leaving."  The rest of the gang however were happy to see Rainbow and Jump Star alive and well, apart from the metal rings around their midsections that stopped them using their wings.  "Oh, we were so worried something terrible might have happened," said Fluttershy.

"We're ok.  These jerks put these things on us so we can’t fly.  Turns out Jump Star here stood up to this guy and told the cops about what Romanov was doing." said Rainbow Dash, sounding a little proud of what Jump Star had tried to do.  "I just wanted him to be gone.  Nobody in the rifter sector could even sneeze without Romanovs permission and the cops had nothing to allow them to get rid of him." he said, gloomily, adding "I just made it far worse.  His thugs threatened to hurt my mom and dad if I didn't come here."

"So why did they take Rainbow?" asked Pinkie.  "Apparently, they couldn't keep track which pony is which here," said Rainbow, "I mean, they thought I could have been mistaken for a guy.  How insulting is that?"  "Tell me about it." said Jump Star before saying “I'm sorry I got you all into this mess."  Matt shrugged and said, "I probably would have been dragged into this eventually."

Twilight said curiously "Whats this 'grav racing'?  You looked horrified when he mentioned it."  Matt sighed “Apparently it was started after the NSC/Combine war.  All these surplus combat speeders.  The NSC of the time couldn’t afford to have them sitting in storage...so they sold them to the consortium who removed their speed inhibitors and used them for racing.  No human has the reflexes to fly one." he said.

"You seemed ok with those virtual ships," said Fluttershy, confused.  "The simulations slowed down by safety programs.  The real sport has about 2 fatalities per race." said Matt, darkly. One of the guards smirked and said "Yeah...it'll be fun to see you smeared on the track after what you did to the guys who went with Xorn."  "But your boss wants his prize money, right?" asked Applejack.  "Romanov is NOT my boss.  Most mercenary companies won’t give the consortium the time of day, let alone employees." said Matt, angrily.

"Still, he wouldn't want to waste all the money he invested into this race, right?" asked Applejack.  "No...but he’d be just as happy to see me dead." said Matt, darkly.  "Well, there's a least one thing that hasn't gone bad," said Matt.  "What's that?" asked Pinkie.  "Exo Gene isn't here," said Matt.

...

<intercepted transmission...>

<Decoding....decoding complete...Message as follows>

<Is this Colonel Zara's office?>

<Who is this?  This is a secure Executive Genetics Internal Security number.  I;m going to have to ask you to...>

<I have information that you will be interested in.  I believe you've been looking for a Matthew Lynch?>

<...Stand by.  I'll connect you...>

<...This is Zara>

<This is Talos Dramidis...manager of the Shimmering Comet Hotel on Paradiso V.  You will not believe who's staying here...>

<Warning:  Connection lost due to anti-intrusion programs>

...

Matt was being escorted to Romanov's private garage.  "Every racer should know their own vehicle," said Romanov, "Even if they only to make sure they don't crash it on the first lap."  Matt looked at the old Viper speeder in disgust.  "You're kidding.  That things junk." he said, horrified. "Junk?  This is a classic," said Romanov.  "Yeah, a classic antique," said Matt.

"Its not all about looks." said a old aquillan in the corner, the pit mechanic.  "Jetser added his own mods to this baby."  To hammer the point home, the aquillan opened the pilot canopy to reveal brand new control systems and readouts.  "Looks aren’t everything." said the mechanic with a smirk.

"Well, okay..." said Matt, "But can it hold together?  Some of these panels look ready to fall off."  "I treat this thing like its my own chick.  It'll last." said the aquillan confidently as Romanov walked off, leaving a guard to watch.  "Ok then," said Matt, "Better do a systems diagnosis just to be on the safe side."  The aquillan glared "You don’t trust my work?  Jetsers flown this in 12 races.  The day my work fails is the day I join the astral flock." he said angrily.  "Ok, ok, can't blame a guy for being cautious," said Matt, "Er, how about a practice lap?"

...

It was a annoyed attempt at torture that Romanov had expected Matt to take a few practises and had piped the feed to his friends.  Rainbow Dash winced inwardly as Matt span the practice speeder off the track again, a guard who was a racing fan helpfully explaining that the practice models only ran at 1/4 speed.

"Uh, I'm sure Matt can get better in time for the race, right?" asked Pinkie.  "How is he supposed to steer that thing?" asked Applejack, "It's goin' way too fast."  One of the guards, they having forgotten their duties temporarily to enjoy this entertainment laughed as Matt span out again.  "He isn’t.  He'll be part of the first corners wall on the first lap." laughed one before starting to yelp as Twilight cast a spell that caused his mouth to zip shut temporarily.

"We have to help Matt," said Rainbow Dash, "He doesn't stand a chance on his own."  "But how, we're trapped inside this room," said Rarity, "Which isn't really a bad room to be locked inside of, though the furniture could use a bit of rearrangement."  One of the other guards glared and readied his rifle.  "You're not going..." he began before there was a 'FROOM' and he was knocked into the far wall.  Lockjaw lowered his now smoking arm cannon and said "Romanov say no hurty pony peoples." in a angry low voice.

"Uh, thanks for that," said Twilight.  "Pleasure is being mine, little purple pony thing.  Lockjaw do what Romanov says and Romanov say 'Lockjaw, silly tin person.  Make sure dunderhead guards no hurty pony peoples'...vat so funny?" he said, adding the last part in confusion as Pinkie laughed at his romanov impression.  "Oh, don't mind her," said Rarity, "She'll laugh at anything.  Just watch."  She walked over to Pinkie and was quiet for a moment before saying, "Pudding."

Lockjaw watched in polite confusion as Pinkie started laughing harder.  "Hmm...Lockjaw see point.  Me go get you foody now." he said, wandering off, one of the remaining guards dragging his 'retired' companion out.  The other muttered in a low worried voice "Damn, I hate cyborgs."  Twilight turned to Jump Star and asked, "Is Lockjaw always this...thick?"

Jump Star said "Not really...Usually he's at the orbital station to intimidate Romanov's staff.  I think its the magnetic field here...plays hell with his cerebral implants." he said.  "Hmm...maybe we can use this to our advantage somehow," said Applejack quietly.  Jump Star blanched "Are you nuts?  Lockjaw'll rip us to shreds if it goes wrong.  You saw that riot cannon.  It nearly blew that guy in half and he was wearing armor." he said horrified.

"It was just a suggestion," said Applejack, "No need to get riled up about it."  Jump Star stopped before looking thoughtful.  "It might work though if we can get it on his forehead.  The problem'll be the other guards.  We need to choose a time they'll all be occupied...the race.  I bet Romanov'll take us along to watch Matt fail.  The race arena wll only let him bring a few guards." he said.

"How'd get to be so knowledgeable about being covert?" asked Rarity.  "Well, let's just say that customs isn't the only thing a courier has to learn to sneak around," said Jump Star.  

...

<Intercepting comm traffic from colonial monitoring...stand by...>

<This is Iris orbital monitoring vessel to unidentified cruiser.  State name and intention, over>

<This is CBC Daedalus of Executive Genetics Internal Security...Colonel Anastasia Zara commanding.  We have information that a saboteur is groundside on your colony and we have authorization from the NSC Council to apprehend.>

<The situation can be dealt with by local forces.  Your assistance will not be necessary.  You may depart now.>

<You're mistaken.  This call is simply a courtesy.  My men WILL apprehend our suspect with or without flight clearence>

<Alert:  Orbital defences activating...>

<This is your last warning.  Warp out or you will be considered hostile.  Landing clearance is de->

<Additional ships detected:  Tags for CBC Zodiac, CBC Taurus, CBC Leo, CBC Vornbane and CBC Chimera detected>

<Orbital defences deactivating...>

<Landing clearance approved.  Please proceed to the designated spaceport.>

<Thank you for your cooperation.  Inform Colonial security to stay away from my personnel.  Daedalus out>

...

Two days later...

There was quite a big turnout at the race track.  Many citizens and plenty of tourists had come to watch the grav-race.  If one was familiar with Earth culture, it would remind them of NASCAR.  Matt looked at the flight suit he was wearing "I look like the candy man.  This is stupid." he groaned, looking at the green and blue suit.  "I agree," said Rarity, "That suit is a crime against fashion."

"Yeah...a laser blast would go right through this stuff." said Matt, absently.  The group had been allowed to come down to the pit to see him off.  Matt had managed to improve his skill from, as the mechanic had said 'Suicidally bad' to 'passably bad'.

"I don't think lasers are your top concern," said Applejack.  "I just hope you know how to deal with the ramming," said Rainbow Dash.  The mechanic walked in at that, squalking angrily.  "That reptillain jerk.  That smeghead." he was saying to himself before he saw the others "Lynch...Romanov pulled some strings wth the arena...this is gonna be a weapon free race.  Dammit...its like he wants you to get atomized."

"Oh, that's not so bad," said Pinkie, "No one will be allowed to shoot at you if it's weapon-free."  The mechanic sighed "No...its based off of old military jargon.  Means they'll be releasing weapon activators." he said.  "Which means..." started Fluttershy.  "Pretty much the opposite of what Pinkie said," finished Matt.  "Which means your friend here'll be lucky to survive the first lap." said the mechanic before a muffled announcement was heard followed by a PA saying “All racers, report to your vehicles."

"Uh, I'd say break a leg, but I don't think you want that kind of luck," said Applejack.  "He'll need all the luck he can get...uh oh.  Looks like your chaperones are here." said the mechanic, concern in his voice as Lockjaw and two guards walked on.  "Viewing booths this way." said a guard.  "Of course," said Rarity before the ponies and Spike followed after them.

...

Matt gulped as a mag-crane lifted his racer onto the track...not only cause he was worried about the others...but also cause the look some of the other racers were sending his way was not friendly.  Matt was the only human racer there.  The others were either splitter or aquillians.  And each one of them was looking at him with contempt.

It also didn’t help that the commentator was referring to him as 'roadkill' already.  "This does not fill me with confidence." he muttered sarcastically to himself.  Of course, he knew he was going to hear worse taunts from the other racers once the race had begun...that is until he was knocked out...or worse.

“Hey...roadkill...you sure you got the right race.  The kiddie rides are on the other side of the resort.” Said one of the splitter pilots with a cruel laugh.  "Not in the mood for jokes today," said Matt, "I just want to finish this stupid thing in one piece."  "I'm gonna fry your ass, mammal." said the same pilot, with cruel amusement.  "So you're going to stick behind me then," retorted Matt.  "Why you little..." began the splitter as his fellow pilots laughed.

"All racers, this is Track control.  Please stand by.  Grav locks will release in T-Minus 30 seconds." said a voice over the comms.  The pilots stopped bantering with each other and started focusing on getting ready to go.

...

The commentator's voice greeted the group as they walked into the viewing box Romanov had reserved.  "Ladies, gentlemen of all races.  Welcome to the final of the Ashur sector grav races here on sunny Paradiso 5.  We've had a surprise pilot change from the Consortium team.  Loos like they've given up on winning this years, having chosen a human to replace their usual pilot, Jetser."  There were plenty jeers and boos coming from the crowd.  Clearly, Matt was going to be the dark horse here.

"This isn’t fair one bit.  Look at some of these racers." said Spike, pointing to where the others racers stats, including their wins...and their kills were appearing on a screen.  "I know, but we don't need Matt to win," said Twilight, "We just want him to finish this."  Spike nodded, unable to shake the feeling that everypony was no doubt feeling...that Matt would be lucky to finish at all.

...

The grav racers rocketed across the starting line.  It was easy to tell which one was Matt's, namely because his was lagging at the back.  Matt watched as the others shot off as he struggled to get the racer to respond...before yelping as the racer immediately sped up.  "Hey, roadkill...try not to crash too soon." said one of his opponents jeeringly before the laugh turned into a cut off scream, a billow of flame in the distance marking the first casualty.  "Ooooh...looks like scarclaw got the first kill of the race in." said one of the commentators as Matt passed a pile of flaming wreckage.

"Well, I'm guessing some people lost a large bet that I'd be first to crash," said Matt.  Matt was almost ended then and there as another racer in front of him nearly rammed him off the track.  "HEY...JERKOFF...WATCH IT!" yelled Matt into his comm as he flew by.  "It's survival of the fastest here, roadkill," came the reply before the racer rammed him again.  

Matt yelped as the crash jolted him.  "Warning...damage to rear armor." chimed the speeders computer.  "Ya think!?" yelled Matt before the speeder flew over a lit pad resembling a shield.  "Defensive software pickup detected...defence mines active." chimed the computer as a few buttons lit up.  "Use the damn mines, rookie." yelled the mechanics voice in his earpiece.

The splitter pilot behind him had just enough time to swear as Matts speeder dropped three red globes onto the track before the third one slammed into his speeder and exploded, sending the grav racer flipping end over end.  "Two down, seven to go," muttered Matt, "Of course, who cares as long as I live?"

...

Back in the booth, the group watched in horror as a racer attempted to ram Matt out of the race before being despatched.  The commentator also seemed impressed "Looks like this roadkills still got a little bite in him." he said, tauntingly.  "Well, he's still in the race," said Rainbow Dash, "And since he's last, no one will be able to get the drop on him."

"Lets just hope he's not lapped.  Ok...we all ready to deal with the walking tin can?" sad Jump Star quietly, looking over at where Lockjaw was.  "Ready and willin'," said Applejack.  The ponies (and dragon) all nodded to each other before looking around.  Twilight and Rarity immediately walked towards the two guards who were enjoying the race while Jump Star and Applejack walked towards Lockjaw who turned to look at them  "Vat ist problem, little orange cowboy pony?" he asked.

"Er, uh, I've been wonderin'...how you got all them fancy metal doo-dads," said Applejack.  "Got zem after big fight with combine where I got boomed." said Lockjaw, seeing no reason not to answer as Jump Star slowly hovered up behind him, holding what looked like a metal rectangle in his mouth.

"You don't say," said Applejack, "I bet it was hard to drag yerself out of that mess."  "Yah...very hard due to legs havink fallen off." said Lockjaw before one of the guards turned "Hey...HEY...WHAT THE HE-?" he began before being hit with the lip zipping spell.  At the same time, Jump Star tossed the magnet he was holding onto Lockjaws forehead.

"Vat-" started Lockjaw before there was a buzzing sound and his face went even more vacant than usual.  A quick sleeping spell on the two struggling guards quickly put them out of the equation.  "Ok...now lets get outta here before Romanov thinks to check on them." said Jump Star hurriedly.  "How are we going to get Matt out?" asked Fluttershy.  "I don't know..." said Jump Star, looking at the view screen where another racer had just been taken out.

...

Matt shot his speeder through what was left of Racer 3 before continuing on.  The one called Scarclaw, apparently the champ according to chatter had been slowly picking off the others...but soon it would be matts turn and there was still 2 laps left.

He was fortunate that he's been able to manage the turns, but of course, that was the least difficult part of surviving this race.  He was reminded of this when machinegun fire peppered the rear armor of his racer, one of the competitors deciding that he was an easy target.  "Where are those defence bonuses when you need them?" muttered Matt.

"Offensive bonus detected...missiles online." chimed the computer.  Matt looked thoughtful before looking through his front viewport and grinning.  "You know what they say, the best defence is a good offense," he said before aiming and firing the missiles.

The missiles slammed into a abandoned tower built near the track, causing it to topple inwards, narrowly missing Matt and crashing down on the racer behind.  "Ha, another one bites the dust," said Matt.  "You are now in pole position." said the race computer calmly.  "Ha, I'm actually winning," said Matt before realizing that means the others were now behind him, including Scarclaws.

On cue a red streaked speeder wept out the dust just behind him, its main cannons blazing away "You're mine, roadkill." sneered Scarclaw over the comms.  "If you can catch me," called Matt before putting on the speed.  'Or if I don't splat first,' he mentally added.  

Matt immediately stepped on the gas, Scarclaw still on him, blasting away.  "Where do you think you're going, roadkill?" he taunted, blasting away at Matt's speeder.  "Hopefully not into a wall," said Matt to himself as he was getting close to a turn.  Scarclaw however was already proving why he was a good racer, keeping behind Matt all the time while chipping away.

Matt was starting to get a little frantic, trying to figure a way to evade Scarclaw while avoiding becoming one with the pavement.  "Just give up and I'll make it quick." sneered Scarclaw.  "Obviously you don't know who I am," said Matt, "I never quit."  'Not like I could if do so anyways,' he thought.  Matt managed to dodge another shot before a warning light came on.  "Danger...fuel line ruptured." said the computer urgently.

"Oh no," muttered Matt.  As if the situation wasn't bad enough, his fuel cells could explode at any minute.  "Emergency.  Ejecting primary fuel cells." said thre computer calmly.  Matts head slammed into the console as the speeder decelerated, deprived of its main cells before it was only doing a fraction of Scarclaws speeder.  "Oh smeg," said Matt as he saw the red speeder rapidly catching up with him.

The speeder was already firing as it bore down...only to suddenly explode as a plasma blast slammed into it.  Matt blinked and asked, "Did I do that?"  Several troopers in the white armor of Exo-Genes private merc force clambered onto the track, one sporting a colonel insignia and the biggest plasma cannon Matt had ever seen.

"Well, this is a big twist," said Matt, "And just when I thought this race couldn't get any worse."  "Sergeant.  Don’t make this harder then it has to be.  Come out with your hands where we can see them." said one of the troopers.  "Can't stop right now, racing," said Matt as tried speeding up.

One of the troopers pulled out an EMP rifle at that and shocked the car.  "Warning...sys...tem...off.......line." said the computer slowly.  "Ok...maybe now?" said Matt, getting slowly out.  

...

Meanwhile, Spike and the ponies were making their way towards the pit area.  The commentator could be heard apologising for what he said was 'Unforseen government intervention.'  "Maybe local security got sick of these races?" said Jump Star, uncertain.  "I hope so," said Twilight, "As long as they don't arrest Matt."

"Ah don’t think these guys are on our side." said Applejack slowly, pointing to where a gunship almost exactly like the one that Echo had used in their attack circling the track.  "Oh, we have to get Matt out of there," said Fluttershy.  Three more gunships in jet mode flew overhead in formation, covering a stockier ship that was allowing troopers to rappel down.  "I don’t think they're gonna let us." said Jump Star, pointing to where a white version of Matt's combat SUV driving into view before a handcuffed Matt was pushed out of it.  At the same time a chorus of clicks were heard behind the group and a familiar, if more intelligent version of a voice said "You know...I really hate....magnets."

"Uh, we're in big trouble, aren't we?" said Spike.  The group turned to see several of Romanov's thugs wearing race track staff gear and Lockjaw, who had a more intelligent and definitely angrier look.  "I have half a mind to blast you all." he said icily.

"Uh, aren't you supposed to be...less effective on this planet?" asked Twilight.  "The magnet depolarized me...so I am definately smart enough now...Romanov gave me very specific orders...if you try to escape..." he began, his mechanical hand rotating to turn into a cannon before he aimed "...I was to make an example of one of you..."

Just then, one of Romanov's men went over to Lockjaw and said, "Er, we've got a problem on the racetrack.  Exo-Gene just swooped in and bagged Lynch."  "What?  Romanov'll have our hides if we lose him.  Bring these lot and come with me.  We'll head them off at the pit area." said Lockjaw angrily.

The ponies didn't have a chance of escape.  Even with this distraction, they'd sure to be gunned down if they made a break for it.  Lockjaw turned to glare at them "...and don’t even think about another magnet." he said icily.  

...

Matt's day just seemed to keep rolling down hill.  Sure, he survived the grav race, but being hauled away by Exo-Gene's forces was not the way he wanted to end it.  "Move it." said one trooper, shoving him along only for the colonel in charge to say "Watch it, private.  A little respect is in order."

That did lighten Matt's up a little.  Even if he was in enemy hands, at least he was getting a little respect.  "So what?" said the private coldly only for the colonel to turn, taking her helmet off to reveal.  "Sarge?" said Matt dumbly, spotting the face of the person who had taught him and Chloe.  "Matt, you're a long way from home, aren't you?" said Zara calmly.

"What are you doing with these losers?" said Matt, forgetting his situation for a minute before losing his grin as Zara said "I'm LEADING these losers.  Look...I dunno what you stole but Exo Gene’s board is up in arms."  "Oh..." said Matt, "I'm guessing the CPS payroll wasn't good enough."

"I was retired, Lynch.  Maybe if Layton was in charge...but no, command wanted new blood." said Zara, her tone getting darker as she slipped into what was apparently a regular rant judging from the other squad members eye rolls."  "New blood?  You were one of the best," said Matt.  "Yeah, yeah...and here I am...hunting down one of two of my best students...by the way...drop the stun disc." said Zara, adding the last part in a matter-of-fact voice.

Matt sighed, dropping the stun grenade he had behind his back and said, "You always could guess what I'm planning next."  "I taught you that trick...plus the force keeps records of all their tricks you pulled on Kurata." said Zara as the group walked towards the pit.  "Ah, you heard about that," said Matt, "That was some of my finest work."  Zara nodded "Yeah...Darius was in charge of security there." she commented.

"Ah, I wondered why he seemed to take my capture so personal," said Matt, "Kinda hard to keep track of faces when you're trying to avoid being shot."  "True...you know I gotta hand you in.  You stole a damn super computer, Lynch." said Zara, sounding stern as they entered the pit...and saw a line of freelancer mercs aiming at them.

"Oh, I nearly forgot," said Matt, "Did I mention I was in that race to pay off a debt?"  Lockjaw walked into view and said "Dat is far enough.  Hand Lynch over and you leave alive."  Zara glared and said, "I'm sorry, but Mr. Lynch is in the custody of Exo-Gene.  We've been looking for him for quite a while."

"Wrong answer." said Lockjaw, coldly before being caught in the spotlight from one of the gunship fighters.  "You don’t scare us as easy as security, corporate." he said.  "If you don't want to lose what little's left of your organs, I suggest you step aside," said Zara.  

"You are in no position to ask anything.  You hand over lynch or his little friends end up as glue." said Lockjaw coldly.  Matt slowly slipped back and behind a speeder...just in time as the sound of gunfire from further back caused all hell to break loose, Zara’s and Lockjaws men panicking and opening fire.  "Ok, I think it's time to get out of Dodge," said Matt, "Just need to pick up the girls and Spike."

Matt peered up from his cover to only almost lose it.  There were so many mercs around that nobody would get out without a...Matt stopped to notice the speeders hatch was unlocked.  "...a distraction." he said out loud.

...

Zara was calmly blasting away at the thugs with practised ease, Lockjaw having melted away when he recognised a losing battle, before noticing that Matt had vanished "Sergeant...where the hells-?" she began before the speeder in the corner thrummed into life.  "Oh shit...STOP THAT SPEEDER...ALL UNITS!” she yelled on her comm, spotting Matt in the cockpit, him giving a cheeky wave as the ship flew out.

...

"Now, let's see," said Matt, "There ought to be some weak structure in the wall that I can make even weaker..."  A orange beam from one of the gunships slammed into the ground by the speeder, attempting to track it before accidentally blasting the wall.  "Or I can wait for these morons to do it." he said happily.

...

Matt wasn't the only one who's interference allowed for their liberation.  Seeing how their guards were so preoccupied right now, Spike and the ponies decided now would be a good time to make a covert escape.  The guard was laughably easy to deal with, one sleeping spell knocking him out, though he;d shot the ceiling by accident.  From the sounds of things, the shots had been a spark for something bigger.

"I think it's time we headed back to Equestria," said Twilight.  "What about your friend?" said Jump Star before the track barrier behind him exploded and a speeder flew out.  "I think Matt's found a way out," said Rainbow Dash.  "Yeah, he's even harder to keep tied down than Pinkie Pie," said Applejack.  Matt opened the hatch for a second and yelled out "I'll run a little interference...you leg it for the portal." before shutting it again and speeding off, two of the gunships flying overhead in pursuit.

"You heard the man," said Rainbow Dash, "Let's head for that portal."  Jump Star was hesitant for a minute before following.

...

The two security officers sat in their car, lunches in front of them when they got the call.  "All units: Code 12.  A grav speeder has been stolen and is being driven through the resort.  E.G.I.S units requesting support in apprehension of suspect."  "A grav speeder?" said one of the officers, "What kind of addle-brained nutcase would try to drive one through civilian streets?"

"Its probably a prank call.  Remember when they said we were gonna get a merc coming that had a slug for a head?" said the second officer with a laugh, reaching for his drink before the 'imagined' grav speeder shot by, causing him to crush his drink and shower himself with it.  "Well, that's breaking at least 10 traffic laws," said the other officer, in a faint voice.

The first officer looked in his rear mirror before going wide eyed and diving out the cruiser, dragging his partner.  A second later, a E.G.I.S combat SUV ran the cruiser over before following the speeder.  "Thats it...I'm taking the week off." said the first officer shakily as three more CSUV's drove by.  "I hope that cruiser's not coming out of our paychecks," said the other.

...

Matt checked one of the cameras to see one of exo-genes SUV's open fire, laser fire peppering the speeder.  "Wow...they're really pissed." he chuckled to himself.  He glanced at the dashboard and said, "Let's see, are there any tricks left to pull now that I'm off the track?"  He grinned as he spotted almost all the lights were lit up before he had to swerve to avoid a passenger cab, tourists scattering into buildings and shops to avoid the mayhem.  "Damn...I can’t let loose here." he muttered.

He glanced over the options while muttering, "What I wouldn't give for an oil slick or some carpet tacks right now."  A blast hit the side of the speeder at that "Danger...coolant rupture." chimed the computer.  Matt winced before hearing tires screeching and looked to see the lead SUV spin out on the coolant to smash into a infonet terminal.  "Eh, close enough," said Matt, "Now to get to that portal."

He turned the corner and was lucky he took it wide as two NSC security APC's were blocking the road...clearly the cops were trying to stop this now.  "Well, now I can add 'driving on the sidewalk' to the dozen or so traffic laws I'm breaking," said Matt.  

He turned to see the last two CSUV's slam into the cop vehicles.  "Ow...that'll hurt...well, this went well and I;m almost at the portal." he said to himself cheerfully  before the following gunship fired a shot that sliced the engine block clean off.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding," said Matt as he tried to bring the speeder to a halt.  The speeder skidded to a halt just past the alley they had used to arrive.  "Now...thats just luck." Matt commented, getting out unsteadily.  Just then, a spout of flame shot out of the hole where the engine block was.  Matt yelped and ran into the alley just as the engine exploded, almost falling over Jump Star.

Matt got up to see the rest there.  "Ah, the gang's all here," said Matt, "Afraid we don't have time to go get our luggage though."  Pinkie surprisingly was the most annoyed "Aw...I brought my best party cannon as well." she said, disappointed.  Jump Star however said "You look after yourselves."  "You're not coming with us?" asked Rarity.  "I can't," said Jump Star, "I have my own family here."

Jump Star turned to Rainbow Dash and said with a grin.  "Hey...maybe I will come visit one day.  I still have to give that race."  "Yeah, and I'm not gonna take it easy on you," said Rainbow Dash.  Jump Star said cheerfully "Its a date then." before the sound of approaching vehicle sirens was heard.  "Time to go." said Matt, urgently, taking a pot shot at a head peering in, forcing it to duck back.

The group didn't need any more encouragement.  They quickly filed through the portal.  Matt, the last to go through, turned to Jump Star before saying "You stay safe...and try not to piss off criminal cartels anymore."  "Right, I've already irked enough people already," said Jump Star.

Matt nodded "Try out for a merc crew...with your talent for trouble, you'd be a natural." he said jokingly before jumping through the portal.  Zara and her team ran into view just as it vanished.  "Dammit." she swore.  "Ma'am, there's still one of them left," said one of the troopers, pointed to where two troopers were aiming at Jump Star.  "What should we do with him?"  Zara sighed and said, "Leave him.  It's not worth grilling one of the locals."  "The board said they want witnesses for questioning..." said another trooper before Zara spun and pointed her gun at him.  "Is the board commanding this unit?  No, I am," she snapped, "I'm the one who calls the shots here and we are professionals...not marauders."

The trooper took a step back before eventually nodding "Yes, ma'am."  Another trooper looked at Jump Star before saying "Get lost, kid."  "Uh, sure thing," said Jump Star before taking off.  Zara looked to watch Jump Star flying off "Winged horses that talk...just when I thought Nullspace was outta surprises..." she said to herself before muttering "What have you gotten yourself into, Lynch?"

...

The group were once again back in the barn basement.  As soon as Matt was through, he ran over and shut down the portal.  "Well...thats another colony I can NEVER visit ever again...wasnlt that bad this time." he said to himself.

"Well, it wasn't all bad," said Fluttershy, "I mean, yes, the being held hostage part was scary.  But we had some fun there.  And I got to bring home a new friend."  Just then, a badger popped out of her mane and looked around.  "Isn't he the cutest?" asked Fluttershy.  Spike looked at the badger, saying curiously "Isn’t that the guy we turned into a ba-?" he began only to be silenced by both Rarity's and Twilights magic.  Matt looked over "What was that?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," said Twilight, innocently  "It is a darling little badger," said Rarity, equally innocently.  "I'm sure Fluttershy can find it a nice home."  "Yes, nicer than that place was," said Twilight.  Matt stared "Do I want to know?" he asked flatly.  "Not really," said both unicorns at the same time.

...

<Intercepting Transmission...>

<Origin:  NSC NewsNet transmission...>

<Playback initiated...>

<And continuing the top story tonight, Riots that broke out on the popular resort of Paradiso V appear to be coming under control as elements of Executive Genetics Internal Security and NSC military continue to force consortium underworld elements into retreat>

<We managed to speak with Col. Zara about their business here, but she could not reveal much as the information is highly classified.  When they departed, the Exo-Gene forces appeared to be heading towards the unchartered sectors.  The only information that we have been given on this is that they're going to be assisting a ship that has been assumed lost there for the past month, the Icarus...>

<Transmission lost due to wormhole interference...Logging to Skyraid internal memory for review by central AI...>
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP Fic pt 9

The Ponyville dam was known for how it had needed repairs several times in the past, at one point being reconstructed by a spell after collapsing and, after yet another incident where emergency repair unicorns had been needed, finally Canterlot had sent a survey team to check the area as to why a dam was constantly being cracked.

Most outsiders would presume that ponies wouldn't be very good at digging.  Of course, they would also assume that ponies weren't capable of building construction vehicles…boy would they be in for a shock…

"Ok...all the survey spells say there's something here...something big enough to cause cracks in a three foot thick dam." said the unicorn in charge confidently while looking at an old map and back up at the other ponies either checking survey gear or running the construction diggers.  His companion muttered "I don’t get it...there's been nothing here since we started making maps."

"There's no fault lines around here, so there has to be something down there," said the unicorn.  "It’s probably diamond dogs.  Remember that trouble in hoofington last year?" said one of the construction ponies in a bored voice.  On cue, one of the diggers suddenly smashed through the top of something concealed just below the surface, causing several cracks to radiate out from the hole.

"Back up, we've hit something!" called the forepony, waving to the others.

The cracks suddenly began to get worse on cue with a rumbling.  "Sinkhole...everypony back." yelled the forepony, the digger’s driver diving out as the ground below the vehicle gave way.  After a minute, everypony peered out to see a sizable hole in the ground, in an almost perfect square.

"That can't be natural," said one of the construction ponies.  The unicorn peered down before sending a light spell in, showing walls made of what looked like dirty crystal and metal before highlighting something...a skeleton...a human one.

"Looks like this job just got a whole like bigger," said the forepony.

...

Matt was trying to relax and avoid tempting fate.  So far the week had included a happy lack of psycho mercenaries, alien monsters and killer bunnies (don’t ask) and he was in no mood for it to change.  The only road hump on easy street was that Aria had commandeered the skyraid’s Nanoforge to make something that involved her handing control back to the ships old AI.

"ETA to decontamination: 12 minutes.  With respect, sir.  I have been offline for 2 months and now have to run a ship AND an exterior facility.  Please be patient." said the male voice of the skyraid’s computer in an annoyed voice.

"I think some facilities need to be more freely open to use, PARTICULARLY THE TOILET!" snapped Matt.  "Then you shouldn't have had all those tacos," muttered the AI.  “WHAT WAS THAT?” Yelled Matt as the door was knocked on, swinging open.

The unicorn that had just peered in through the open door jumped back in shock.  The stories of the alien living just outside ponyville had more or less gotten all over equestria by now but seeing it in person and in a clear state of agitation was a whole different experience "Erm...you are Captain Lynch?" he asked, worried.  "Unless someone else has moved in with the same name and title, that's me," said Matt.

"Erm...I represent the Equestria Safety Department and my team is currently checking the area near the dam.  We appear to have found some kind of underground building..." said the unicorn, getting his confidence back before Matt said "Not interested.  Day off..." before stopping as the unicorn said "...with what appears to be a human skeleton present."
Matt paused and said, "Describe this building."

"All we have uncovered is a shaft leading at least 8 feet below the surface.  The ponies who went down say there is a large vault-like door blocking entry.  As one of...your kinds remains was present, we thought we would ask for your expertise in the matter." said the unicorn, calmly.

Though he had a pretty good feeling all he'd get was a 'busy signal', Matt tried to bring up Aria on his wristcomp.  "Aria, are you getting this?" he asked.  To his surprise, he heard her reply, "Yes, I did, I'll be there in 20 minutes."

"What?  You're a program...you know what...I don’t care...just get to my location." said Matt, tired before turning it off.  "Ok...let’s see your big hole.  If it’s what I think it is...you came to the right alien." he said.  

...

When Matt got to the big hole in question, there was a noticeably large crowd of ponies gathered around it.  He was pretty sure the girls were here, though it was a little hard to pick them out.  Except for Rainbow Dash, who was hovering above the crowd as usual.

Matt gave a wave to them as they headed over before heading over to the hole and shining a light down it and onto the familiar spread winged symbol every NSC merc and trooper was trained to spot a mile off.  "Congratulations...you've dug up an Atlantean facility." he said a little sarcastically.

"Atlanteans?  I read a brief reference about Atlantis in a book, but I thought it was just a myth," said Twilight.  “Yeah…The NSC’s never worked out what wiped them out.” Said Matt, in a casual tone.

All of the ponies took several steps back at that.  "Er, nothing bad is going to come out of that hole, right?" asked Fluttershy.  "I doubt it...if anything nasty was gonna happen, it would already have happened." said Matt, casually

"Then what are we supposed to do with this thing?" demanded the forepony.  "Not much you can do...something must still be running inside it.  I could go in and turn it off...but I'm not going in alone.  The research corp have a saying along those lines.  ‘A explorer who explores ancient facilities alone is tired of life’." said Matt, still talking casually and shining the light around the hole

"Now who'd be plum crazy and foolhardy enough to jump in that there hole?" asked Applejack.  "I'll go," said Rainbow Dash, "That place can't be too scary.”  "I'm sure Princess Celestia will want to hear as much as she can about this," said Twilight, "I better come too."

"Ok...two...anyone else?" said Matt, peering down and wondering why Rainbow wanted to come.  "I get the feeling yer gonna need plenty of rope," said Applejack, "Not to mention someone with a sensible head.   I'm comin' too."

“I will come too, sir.” Said a new and familier voice behind Matt…Aria’s voice.  Matt spun around, looking for where Aria's voice came from.  He had a feeling it was coming from the African woman with her hair in a business bun, glasses perched on her nose, and wearing an archeologist's outfit.  Matt immediately pulled his blaster "Hands up right now!" he yelled.

Surprisingly, Rainbow Dash seemed to recognize her.  "Aria?  What are you doing here?" asked Dash.  "Aria, how would you know?" asked Matt.  "We met in the central mainframe when she was digitized," said the woman with Aria's voice.

Matt glared before holstering his blaster as 'Aria' continued, "You did say I should make my own body if I wanted to get out and about."  "This is what you've been doing with the nano-forge?" asked Matt.  "I wanted it to make sure my body was as close to my old one as possible," said Aria, "I thought the outfit would be appropriate for this venture."  "Neat," said Matt, "So how real is it?"  He reached a hand forward to poke her face before Aria smacked it aside.  "Hands to yourself, please," she said.

Matt sighed as Aria simply stepped off the edge of the hole, landing at the bottom of the hole, feet first.  "Interesting...I don’t think I’ve seen this insignia before," she said curiously, ignoring the stares from everyone.  "Insignia?  There were different factions?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Different divisions...guilds...warrior, research...space...similar.  This is a new one." said Aria, calmly before looking at a panel beside the door.  "This should be simple to bypass." she said to herself as the others climbed down.

"So, what would the Atlanteans be doing here anyways?" asked Twilight, before teleporting down.  "They probably came here millennia ago before you guys had even finished evolving." said Matt casually before looking at the door.  "This thing isn’t gonna move.  Probably stuck..." he began before the door let out a hiss and began to slowly retract.

"Huh, guess this place wasn't considered very important," said Matt.  Aria sighed "No...the magnetic locks are damaged...the power is off." she said, peering into the darkened messy corridor beyond. "Good, that's means all the other defenses won't have power either, right?" asked Matt.  "Indeed." said Aria.

...

The inside of the facility was almost pitch black, the group passing several collapsed corridors.  "I know no power is good in this situation, but I think a little light would be appreciated," said Matt.

Matt, applejack and Dash gulped a little at the sight of Aria's eyes lighting up like searchlights.  "Better?" she asked.  Matt just nodded numbly.  "That’s creepy." he said.  "Where else would you expect light to come out?" retorted Aria.  "Anywhere that doesn’t mean you look like an extra from the exorcist?" said Matt weakly.  "Can we focus on the more important things?" asked Twilight, "Like what's buried down here."

Suddenly, the cave was flooded with light.  Matt winced a bit as his eyes adjusted to the brightness.  "Well, that's better," said Matt.  "Ba thuna vatalis." chimed a female voice as what looked like crystal ornaments suddenly lit up, holographic displays appearing.  At the same time a huge hologram of a planet appeared in the middle of the room, dozens of dots covering it, all but four of the dots flashing red.

"What is all this?" asked Twilight, looking at the rotating image with curiosity.  "Looks like a world map." said Matt, looking in awe at it.  "Nala tin go-lation complete.  Indigenous dialect confirmed." said the female voice again.

"Well, at least it's not saying gibberish anymore," said Rainbow Dash.  "Unidentified personnel detected.  Please check in at security at the next opportunity."  exclaimed the voice cheerfully.  Matt and Twilight however were looking at the map.  "This looks a awful lot like the globe at your treehouse, Twilight." said Matt, thoughtfully.

"Yes, it seems to be a complete map of Equestria," said Twilight, "Though there seems to be some differences."  "This thing was made over 10,000 years ago or something," said Matt, "Things easily could have changed since then."  Matt looked at the dots and the runes by them "I guess these dots must be other Atlantean bases." he said.

"Indeed," said Aria, "I better record this."  Matt shrugged "Fine...hey, where did dash go?" he commented.  Dash, meanwhile, was looking around the place.  She had no idea what most of these things are, but they were neat to look at.

"Please note, sectors 25, 29 and 34 are off limits indefinitely due to a internal security breach." said the computers voice as she wandered around.  After a minute dash wandered into a well lit room with a glowing crystalline pillar.  "Welcome Test subject, to VD Lab 2-14.  Test will commence in 10 units." said the voice cheerfully  "How long's a unit?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Query not reqognized...please try again." said the computer as the others came into view.  "There you are...are you nuts, wandering off like that?" said Matt, annoyed as he and aria walked in.  "Guys, you know how long a unit is?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Why do you ask?" asked Aria.  "Because the voice said the tech will commence in 10 units, whatever that means."

On cue the voice spoke again.  "Test now active...sealing chamber." it exclaimed  before a blastshield shot down in the doorway.  "I'm guessing a unit's not very long," said Matt before he started banging on the blastshield.

"Commencing charging sequence...scanning for source material." said the voice before a translucent cone came from the pillar, passing around the trio.  "Er, any idea what's going on?" asked Matt.  "In my experience, countdowns are typically bad, so..."  Matt redoubled his efforts to force the blastshield open.

"5...4...3…2...1...firing." said the computer before the pillar flashed...and the room was empty again.  "Jump complete...beginning VD program..." said the computer...

...

The next thing Matt, Aria, and Rainbow Dash knew, there were standing in a big white expanse of nothingness.  Rainbow looked around and said, "I'm getting this weird feeling I've been in a situation like this before."  "Deja vu," said Aria.  "Geseundheit," replied Dash.

After a minute there was a flash of light and the trio were in the middle of a crouded street.  "Ok, where are we?" asked Matt.  Rainbow Dash looked around "I dunno..." before she stopped, apparently spotting something in the crowd.

"What?  What is it?" asked Matt, looking around.  The more he looked, the more this place reminded him of an Arabian town.  There were stone buildings, stalls with clothes hanging over them to keep out the shade, and the ponies he could see were wearing stuff that was close to what you'd expect from a suburb in Cairo.

"She went that way." said Dash urgently, flying off down a side street.  "Wait...dash...oh, come on.  Lets go, aria." said Matt, annoyed before following.  "This is not how I wanted to spend my first day with my new robot body," said Aria to herself before following after the two.

The duo finally caught up with Dash after a minute "For smegs sake...why all the running?" panted Matt.

"IT'SDARINGDOO!" squealed Rainbow Dash.  "Uh, pardon?" asked Matt.  When no responce came, Matt tried again.  "Who the hells Daring Doo and why should I care?" he said darkly.  "Daring Doo, the most awesome and amazing archeologist who's ever been a book series!" squealed Rainbow Dash.

"Book series." said Matt dully.  "Book series?  The logic of this does not compute." said Aria.  "But she's right there!" said Rainbow Dash, pointing towards a pony who looked a lot like her, only with a different color scheme, a compass cutie mark, and an archeologist's outfit.

Matt looked at her "We're in a book...we're in a frigging book." he said in a disbelieving voice.  "Wait a minute," said Rainbow Dash, "I read this book.  This is 'Daring Doo and the Sphinx's Treasure'!  We're in the city of Mareaco!"  "Is there any city here that isn’t ripping off ours?" muttered Matt.

Aria looked thoughtful and said, "I think I know what is happening here."  "Please, enlighten us, o'talkie toaster." said Matt sarcastically.  Aria ignored Matt and said to Dash “I am guessing from your reactions that you have read these ‘Daring Doo’ novels.”  "Read them?  I know them by heart," said Rainbow Dash.

"I thought so...the device probably scans memories for ‘source materials’.  The NSC always had theories that the atlanteans tried to make dimensions as well as contact them.  The device that got us must have been a recreational device based off the research." said Aria.  "So...this whole thing's like a holoshed?" asked Matt.

"More then that...this is probably an actual universe...created by the device and now independent." said Aria, before thinking "The exit will probably appear at the 'books' conclusion."  "So what are we supposed to do, follow the story and keep up with the protagonist throughout her adventure here?" asked Matt.  "Precisely," said Aria.

Matt stopped at that "Didn’t the machine say it was 'modifying content'?"  "It did," said Aria, "This might not be an exact replication of the book's plot.  Some changes may have been added to accommodate our presence."  "Ok, dash...what happens after Miss Doo leaves the market?  You read the book, you're our map." said Matt, confidently.

When Dash didn't respond, Matt looked around to see she was gone.  "Where'd she go?" he asked.  Aria pointed to a doorway.  "She followed Miss Doo into there."  she commented.  Matt rolled his eyes "Fine...lets get this over with before my head explodes from logic deficiency." he sighed.

Aria and Matt walked into the building, which was evidentially a tavern of some sort.  The room they were in appeared to be the lounge and had several cushions scattered about for customers to sit on.  Matt immediately spotted Dash in the corner, walking over to her.  "Can we try to stay together?" he said sarcastically before waving a hand in front of Dash’s face.  "DASH...WAKE UP!" he yelled after a minute.

"There she is!" squealed Rainbow Dash, pointing across the room to where Daring Doo was sitting at another table.  Matt sat down and said as calmly as he could "Dash...we don’t know when or even what the exit portal will be...we have to stay together." Aria said after a minute "She's not listening."  

"Oh, look, she's getting the map to the sphinx's lair now," said Rainbow Dash.  A wizened diamond dog had been talking with Daring Doo and was now unrolling a sheet of parchment on the table.  Matt however was looking at the heavies that the dog had brought along.  "Thats alot of security for an antique." he muttered to Dash, pointing them out.

"An antique?" said Rainbow Dash, "That map leads to a fortune.  You have an idea of how much treasure that sphinx has stored in its lair?"  "Oh please...don’t you think its a bit wierd?" said Matt, looking at the other tables.  "...that almost all the tables are taken up with these doggies?"  

"Well, the jackals have been looking for this treasure too," said Rainbow Dash, "So they had their agents here and ready to attack Daring Doo as soon as she has the map."  "Good...cause I think they just slipped something in her drink." said Matt, concern in his voice.

...

Daring Doo studied the map.  She had been searching for weeks for the sphinx's lair and now it was at her hooftips.  Still, something wasn't quite right.  "You're asking for a pretty small price considering how much this map is worth," said Daring.

"First, toast to...good profits," said the dog before taking his drink and passing one over to Daring.  Daring shrugged and took a drink as well.  But there was something odd.  Her drink had a bitter aftertaste to it.

The diamond dog and his bodyguards grinned at that "Is pony feeling strange?" asked the lead dog.  "Strange, what are you-" started Daring before starting to feel woozy.  "Is sad...dago weed make drinks nice for diamond dogs but nasty for ponies...we give cure for map.  Aniba pay better for map." said the dog gleefully.

"You...dirty...dogs..." growled Daring as she struggled to remain conscious.  "Now give map, little pony." said the dog, all glee vanishing before a voice said "Barney...I haven;t seen you for a dogs age." and some kind of hairless monkey, apparently drunk put his arm around the dogs neck, much to the dogs surprise.  

The dog gave the newcomer an annoyed look and said, "Get off me, ape.  I don't know you."  "No...no...you're definitely the guy...right, aria?" said the ape with a happy grin.  A female version had silently appeared behind one of the bodyguards "Thats right, captain...I believe I remember him."  

"I never saw you before!  Now go away!  I have busi-" snapped the dog before a clicking sound stopped him.

Daring was sure it was the dago weed but she thought she heard the ape mutter "What I have pointed at you is the XR-220 plasma magnum...if I pull the trigger…well, it can go through a tank so I doubt that where I am aiming will present any problem at all."  There was a yelp as one of the bodyguards tried to grab him and was held in the grip of the apes partner, who was apparently holding the arm of a fully grown diamond dog as if it was nothing.

"You don't have grapes to-" started the dog.  "Any more than you do to poison Ms. Doo here?" retorted the ape.  "Give miss doo the cure and we'll say no more about it and you'll leave with a normal sounding voice and your bodyguard won’t have his wristbones reduced to powder by my associate here." said the ape with deadly calm before calling out "Dash...why don’t you grab the vial off our new best friend here?"

A brightly-colored pegasus trotted over and grabbed a bottle that was in the dog's belt.  She poured the contents into one of the drinks on the table before giving it to Daring.  "Here you go," said Rainbow.

The ape grinned triumphantly as Daring gulped it down before looking at the diamond dog.  However, the dog had noticed the ape's shift in attention and managed to kick him away into another table that was occupied by more dogs.

A dozen or so dogs got up and glared.  "Aniba pay lots of gems for map.  GET PONY!" said the dog angrily before a stun blast made him judder in place before falling over.  "Matt, I think we have overstayed our welcome," said the female ape as the arm that had changed into some kind of projectile weapon charged up again.

The dogs looked at each other before charging at once.  Aria sighed and aimed her blaster arm at the wall.  "Seeing as we cannot use the door..." she muttered.

…

The ponies outside jumped back as the tavern wall suddenly exploded outward.  Matt picked her up and said, "You're probably still weak from that poison.  Just tell us where to go."  Daring glared and said "Not a chance.  I’ve been searching for this treasure for months.  I'm not gonna give up now."

"I didn't say that," said Matt, "I'm saying that until you can walk or fly in a straight line without crashing into something, I'll be carrying you.  Which way to the edge of town?"  Daring sighed "Ok...lets just get somewhere where I can look at this map." she said.  "Any suggestions?" asked Matt to Rainbow.

"We can head back to Darings hotel." said Dash.  Daring gave Rainbow a suspicious look.  "How do you know where my hotel is?" she asked.  "Long story, miss doo...and you wouldn’t believe me anyway...I just hope the others are ok." said Matt casually. 

…

Meanwhile, Twilight and Applejack were trying to figure where their friends had disappeared to.  "Ya think they woulda told us if they were goin' somewhere," said Applejack.

"Test program now in effect...Alert:  software damage detected.  Safety protocols:  offline.  Emergency logout:  offline." said the facility voice.  "That doesn't sound good to me," said Applejack, "Any idea what it means?"  "I'm not sure," said Twilight, "But I bet it has something to do with where the others have disappeared to."

"Program is in effect...unable to log units out.  Please try again later." said the voice.  "Uh...from what little I can make out of that, wherever they are, they're stuck," said Applejack.  "Warning...weapon fire detected at surface level...please stand by." said the computer...

...

Darius stepped through the camp with his men.  The Icarus had picked up a energy burst from this area and Darius had decided to come personally.  The cowardly locals had fled as soon as his men had fired a few rounds into the air.  "Spread out.  I don’t want any interruptions." he called out.

It was pretty easy to tell where the energy was coming from.  The crystal-lined hole was a dead giveaway.  "Payday...NSC pays top dollar for stuff from these places." said one of the troopers cheerfully.  Darius however was looking at the grapple at the rim.  "Lynch...Team one...with me.  Team 2...you're on overwatch up here." he called out before grabbing the grapple line and shooting down the rope.

"Uh, sir, what about the defenses?" asked a trooper.  Atlantean ruins were infamous for the deadly booby traps that made an Egyptian crypt seem like a funhouse.

"If Lynch is down there, the defences are probably already down...NOW I GAVE YOU AN ORDER, CORPORAL...GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!" said Darius before yelling the last part angrily.  The troopers quickly got their own grappling lines set and started sliding down into the hole.

...

"Warning...Intruders detected in access corridor theta.  Going to alert status 2…Hacking intruder comms……Leader identified:  One Colonel Anton Darius in command." chimed the computer, a holographic view appearing on a wall, showing Darius and his merc  team walking in.  "So that’s the Darius guy chasing Matt." said Twilight, spotting the nametag on the groups leader.  "Figures a no-good varment like him will come snoopin' around," said Applejack.  "Uh, computer, is there anything you can do to make those guys go away?" asked Twilight.

"Stand by.  Attempting to uplink to nearest warrior guild facility...failed.  Attempting to uplink to secondary site....failed.  Attempting to uplink to tritary Shield System site...failed.  Warning:  Ragnarok class alert now in progress.  Entering emergency lockdown and deploying countermeasures..." said the computer in sequence, finishing ominously with "Thank you for your cooperation."

"Uh, 'lockdown' means we ain't gettin' out, right?" asked Applejack.  On the screen, the door that had so happily opened to allow them access into the building could be seen slamming shut with a certain finality, a secondary door slamming down over it for good measure, causing the two troopers guarding it to turn in silent surprise.  "I'm pretty sure it does," said Twilight.

...

Meanwhile, Matt, Dash and Aria had helped Daring back to the hotel she had been staying at in town.  "So what so awesome about this treasure?" asked Matt curiously adding "...that has people wanting to kill you."  "Are you kidding?" asked Daring, "Sphinxes are as big at hoarding as dragons and this sphinx has been around before Equestria was founded.  Can you imagine how much stuff is in its lair?"

Matt stopped as his brain did the mental maths and melted when its internal calculator ran out of big enough numbers.  "Once you've cleared the vision of dollar signs out of your head, I suggest we acquire some rapid transportation," said Aria, "Doubtlessly those dogs will be after us."

Matt shrugged "Those guys?  I doubt they have enough brain power to light a bulb.  I think we're s....no....nononono...NOT gonna say it." he said, stopping and covering his ears before going 'Lalala...can't hear myself'.  Daring just stared puzzled “Is he ok?" she asked concerned.  "He's...been out in the sun too long.  His brain is cooked," said Rainbow Dash.  Aria said "You have no idea...I've read his last psyche report.  Now, shall we review this map?"   

"Oh, right," said Daring Doo.  She took the map out from under her hat.  She was about to unroll it when she paused.  "Wait...how do I know you guys aren't trying to trick me into taking you to the treasure so you can have it all to yourselves?"  Aria said "Mr Lynch may be a mercenary but the CPS prides itself on the honor of its employees and the policy of ruthlessly hunting down those who betray that trust."

"I don't know, I've been backstabbed by traitors before," said Daring Doo.

Rainbow Dash nodded "Like in Daring doo and the griffons goble-mmmph." she said before Aria slammed her hand around Rainbows muzzle.  "Miss Dash has also been in the sun too long too." she said with a worried smile.

Daring gave the group an even more suspicious look.  "What are you two anyways?" she asked, looking at Matt and Aria.  "Mr Lynch is a human...he is from.....overseas.  I am also human and definately not a combat grade android." said Aria a little desperately.

"A human?" asked Daring, "I've never heard of those before."  "I can safely exclaim that if I told you all the facts you would either think I was insane...or you were." said Aria with complete truth before looking at the map.  "Well, you got me out of there, so I guess I owe you," said Daring, "But I've got my eye on you."

Aria said "Take it from me...we're professionals..." before looking at where Matt had a manic look, expecting his precious tempting of fate to come back on him any second “...despite appearences." she added after some thought.  She turned her attention back to the map.  "Hmm...it seems we will need to cross a considerable expanse of desert."

Aria peered before noticing several circles marked "Sandworms?  Really?" she said skeptically.  What is this?  Arrakis?" she added.  "They're pretty nasty," said Daring, "They're either big enough to swallow you in a gulp or smaller but can shoot burning acid."

"Oh...goody...I presume thats why the map maker plotted the dotted line through the middle of that area." said Aria a little sarcastically.  "Big deal, we can fly over them," said Rainbow Dash.  "You and Dash can...I cannot...and Mr Lynch cannot either." said Aria pointedly.  "Besides, the supplies will be too heavy to let us fly that fast," said Daring.

Dash growled in fustration to herself as Aria looked at another section of the map.  "We will need extra water...you most likely stocked for yourself alone, miss doo." she said.  "Yeah, and we're gonna need more food and I'll probably have to get a bigger tent," said Daring.  "I will not require a space...Mr Lynch however...maybe you should buy the extra large version?" said Aria.

"I'm not that big," said Matt before he whacked his head against a rafter, "Stupid miniature horse dimensions."  Matt sat down a little uncomfortably.  "So who's Aniba?" he asked.  "The leader of the biggest jackal tribe around here," said Daring, "She's just as nasty and greedy as Ahuitzotl.  She'll stop at nothing to claim the sphinx's treasure all for herself.

"Ah...a smeghead." said Matt knowingly.  "A what?" asked Daring.  "It pretty much means jerk," said Rainbow.  "Big jerk." corrected Matt.  "Which means her forces will be moving in on us the longer we stay here," said Aria.

Matt was looking at a newer map he’d grabbed from the hotel reception desk shortly after they’d arrived.  "Bingo.  There's a train that goes through the area on its way east.  We can ride it till we pass the nests then jump out and go the rest of the way." he said triumphantly.  "A train?  Anubi's minions are bound to catch us on it," said Daring.

"Yes but it is defendable...and will be too public to risk an attack.  Attacking a public transport will almost certainly end with the local government taking decisive action." said Aria before turning to Matt.  "Are you feeling ok?  That was actualy a good idea."  "What?  Just because I prefer a 'blow them up' approach doesn't mean I always go with it," said Matt.

Aria ignored that and added "And if they are stupid enough to attack us...they will find us very tough to subdue."

…

The train itself was surprisingly comfortable, travelling through the desert at a decent rate.  Aria was staring out the window in thought while Dash and Daring had gone further up the train to get some food.  “There is something…strange about this situation…surely you have noticed.” Aria said finally.

"What?" said Matt a little sarcastically as he tried to work out what she found wierd in this situation.  "I have an internal clock logged into NSC temporal speed...it has only logged a single minute change in all the time when it has been nearly a day." commented Aria.

"So...this is one of those Narnia things were time moves faster in here than it does in real time," said Matt, "That's convenient."  "It is probably similar to the phenomenon you encountered in the Z class you encountered in the dragon eye nebula...probably artificially induced so users do not end up losing days during programs." said Aria.

"Hey, how would you know about that?" snapped Matt, "That was top-secret classified."  "Exo Gene has more connections than you think," said Aria.  Matt glared "When this is over...we're gonna talk about that." he said before Dash and Daring came into view.  "I could get into this treasure hunting...getting halfway there by train is quite peaceful." Matt said to them cheerfully.

"Don't get used to the luxury," said Aria, "We'll be walking the rest of the way once we've reached the halfway point."  Matt nodded before looking out the windows.  "Oh look...talk about omens.  Vultures." he said darkly.

"I don't like vultures that much," said Rainbow, "They really stink."  Daring however headed to the window and peered out.  "Great...this isn’t good." she muttered.  "What's so bad about a bunch of vultures?" asked Matt.  "All the vultures here work for Anibu." said Daring in a worried voice, looking at where the vultures were keeping pace with the train as best they could.

"So, they're just vultures," said Matt, "It's not like they're eagles."  "They're probably following us to see when we get off." said Daring before what looked like a snake slammed against the window...a juvenile sandworm.  "At least they won’t land." said Matt weakly as the sandworm slipped back down, leaving a translucent green goo on the window.  "But they will swoop in once we're off the train," said Aria.

"I think they're already doing that." said Matt nervously, pointing to where a trio had broken off and were heading for the train.  "We can take those mangy buzzards," said Rainbow Dash.

On cue a small rock came smashing through the window, its thrower peeling off with a caw.  "That's going to make things a little more difficult," said Matt.  "I think this is close enough for us to get off." commented Aria, readying her arm cannon and firing a few bursts.  Matt pulled out his blaster and took a few half hearted shots as another wing of vultures flew at the train.

"Are we far enough away from the sandworm nest?" asked Matt.  Aria glared "If we stay here, these birdbrains will derail us.  All it will take is one hit on the ponies pulling the train." she said, firing another shot that sent a vulture spinning to the ground.

"Seriously, they haven't discovered steam power yet?" said Matt.  Another rock shot through, hitting aria between the eyes and knocking her down.  "Ok, fair point," said Matt, "Rainbow, Daring, get ready to fly."

"What about you?" said Daring in concern.  Aria, getting up with a dent on her forehead commented "He'll be out shortly.  I...know a spell that will help."   "Spell, what do you mean 'spell'?" asked Matt, giving her a suspicious look.

"Trust me, sir." said Aria as the two pegasi flew out.  Matt turned to look out a window.  "Ok...this had better..." he began before Aria clonked him on the head and, as he fell over, grabbed his wrist computer  "This is for your own good," said Aria as she interacted with the wrist comp.  "Reality generator disengaged..." said the computer's voice.

"Warning...subject unconscious...encoding imminent." chimed the wrist computer as Matt began to stir.  Matt shook his head and asked, "What just-"  "Encoding commencing," said the computer.  Matt glared as reality energy crackled "I hate you so much." he managed...  Aria shielded her eyes for a few seconds before looking at the glaring new pegasus.  "Welcome back, ‘Spark’." she said.

"I REALLY hate you, you.....tin can." said Matt angrily, once again stuck as the pegasus, Spark.  "Hate later, fly now." said Aria primly, grabbing Matt and throwing him out the window.  Matt panicked a bit before remembering how to operate his own wings.  He started flapping them in time to keep him from crashing.

After a minute he managed to get the other two in sight, looking down to see the vultures too focused on Aria's weapon fire from the train to notice the pegasi flying away.  "Ok, this should be simple," said Matt, "Just catch up with the others.  It's not like it's a race in a dangerous environment."

After a minute he had managed to get close enough to call out "Hey...slow the hell down in front."  Daring looked at Matt with amazement.  "Matt, how did-"  "Talk later," said Rainbow, "We need to keep moving."  "Lets just go before they realize Aria's alone in the train.  She'll catch us up." said Matt, panting from effort, adding to himself "She doesn’t need to sleep for a start."

"Ok, we need to make up for lost time," said Daring Do, "Keep an eye out for any more vultures."  Matt and Dash nodded before keeping pace.  "If we get out of this, I'm gonna dismantle Aria permently." said Matt annoyed.

Some time later, the three pegasi stopped for a rest.  "You think we should go back for Aria?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "I'm sure she'll be fine," said Daring.  As if to prove her words, Aria came walking over the rise of a nearby dune.  However, she was covered in sandworm goo that they could smell from their distance.

"If I EVER see another sandworm again." she was muttering darkly before coming towards them.  "I HATE this pla...country."   "Consider it karma for that little 'spell'," said Matt smugly.  "Bada do tisama, Matt." swore Aria, angrily in splitter.

"Let's get back to the treasure hunt," said Daring before looking at the map.  Matt, Dash and Aria walked over to look at the map.  "So where too from worm town?" commented Matt.  "Well, it says the temple should be here," said Daring, pointing to a spot on the map.

"Great...and from the looks of things, we've lost these vultures." said Matt, confidently  "Still, it'll take a while for us to get there since we have to slow down for Aria," said Daring.  Aria said "I'm faster then I look.  I don;t tire for a start."  Daring glared at Aria "What the hell are you?  You know...never mind.  We should move at first light.  The last thing we want is Anibu catching up."  

...

Meanwhile, the vultures were flying their way back to where their masters waited for them.  They could see the tent pitched between two dunes.  They glided down and landed at the entrance.  The two jackels on guard glared at the group before letting them in.

There were two more jackal guards inside, each standing beside a pile of cushions on which sat Anibu.  Although she was slimmer, shorter, and wearing comfortable Arabian-styled clothes instead of armor like her guards, there was a definitive air of power around her.

"Well?  Where is it?" said Aniba coldly.  The vultures looked nervously at each other before pushing one of them forward.  "Er...we ambushed the train like you said as it was passing the sandworm dunes...but..." he began nervously.  "You have returned in failure?!" snapped Anibu.

"The two newcomers had advanced weapons.  Three of our flock were lost attempting to attack them before they escaped." said the vulture desperately.  "I will brook no failure," snapped Anibu, "That treasure is more valuable than all your carcasses put together.  A hundred times more valuable.  I will not let that winged mare get it to it before me."

One of the vultures dropped Matts blaster, disgarded when Aria had gotten him encoded "Her companions used these." he said.  Anibu gave the blaster a long look.  "What sort of weapon is this?" she asked to herself.  "It shoots fireballs of some kind." said the vulture, pointing to one of their number who had a neat half circle burnt from his tail feathers.  "Interesting," said Anibu, "Does this companion have more of these devices?"

"Her arm was one...we had her cornered when she blew out the wall behind her and jumped out.  She must be a mage where she comes from." said the vulture.  Their leader said "We want double...you said this pegasus doesn’t use weapons or use hired warriors."

Anibu glared at them and said, "You're lucky I don't have you beheaded right now.  Your failure has cost me precious time and my time is worth more than any of you."  "Hey...what about our payment?" said the vulture leader angrily, as anibu looked at the blaster before working out how to grip it.

"You are allowed to leave with your lives now.  Don't be greedy," said Anibu.  "How dare you..." began the vulture leader before anibu blasted him out the tent.  "I think I like this device...are the rest of you still here?" she said, amused, before snarling the last part at the horrified vultures.

The vultures quickly turned tail and ran out of the tent, taking to the air as fast as they could.  Anibu put the blaster on the small table next to her seat and turned to one of her jackels.  "Send out the scouts.  They will not have gotten far." she ordered.

…

Meanwhile, Darius had found out that the facility wasn't quite as defenseless as they had thought.  His men were busy clearing out the various machines that were attacking...even atlantean medi-bots from the facilities sickbay were joining in.  His temper wasn’t helped by the fact that he knew he was on a clock...no doubt the ponies that had fled were getting help.

Still, he had managed to get far enough.  There was still quite a bit of base to cover, but he was able to see a very interesting map of this world.  "This place musta been an administrative hub...or flight control or something." said the tech next to him.  "These red dots must be destroyed facilities...dunno about this yellow one here...but two of these other dots are marked with the rune for 'vault'." 

"I should make a copy of this," said Darius, "It'll be simpler than coming back here every time I need a refresher."  "Already done, sir..." said the tech.  Darius nodded before his radio crackled "Sir...we spotted the last two runners...its that purple smeg that wasted echo."

...

Meanwhile, Applejack and Twilight had found out that the lockdown wasn't as secure as they though, seeing how they were running away from Darius' men right now.  The computer calmly stated "Alert...unauthorized energy weapon fire detected." as blue stun bolts bounced off the walls behind the duo, a hatch opening to allow a four armed machine to roll out on caterpillar treads to distract them.  The two ponies ducked into a side room.

"You know, I'm startin' to not like this place," said Applejack, "I don't mind the runnin', it's all the doors that are rubbin' me up the wrong way."  Several lights came on in the darkened room, showing rows of raised platforms along the walls...and rather creepily, one of them still 'occupied'.

The two ponies stared at the clearly human skeleton slumped down before Twilight said, "Um, maybe we should find another place to hide."

A voice outside said "Hey...I thought I heard something in here."  Another saying "Check the rooms...stay together...that purple one wiped out echo in under 2 minutes."  The computer spoke up "Powering up neuro-training systems...preparing previous program...Magi series stasis training."

"Trainin'?  What kinda trainin'?" asked Applejack.  "I think it's talking about magic training," said Twilight.  "Uh, I don't think ya'll want to learn any magic from these guys," said Applejack, "It probably ain't the good kind."  Banging was heard on the door, a voice saying angrily "They're in here...damn computers grav locked it.  Get a sonic cutter." before a white dot appeared on the door and began to move down it. 

"I don't think we have a choice," said Twilight before saying, "Computer, begin magi training, maximum learning speed."  She looked at Applejack and asked, "Does that sound right?"  "One compatible subject detected...please step onto the platform." said  the computer, another platform lighting up and what looked like binoculars attached to a robotic arm lowered down.

"You sure you wanna do this?" asked Applejack.  "If I don't, those guys will get us and I don't want to imagine what they'll do with us," said Twilight before stepping onto the platform.  "Indigenous lifeform detected.  Rescinding clearance in light of ragnarok class attack.  Please stand by." said the computer, several mechanical arms reaching out and carefully but firmly holding twilight in place before the goggles moved forward.  "Please note...discomfort will occur." said the computer calmly as a whine began "Beginning in 3...2...1...engaging..."

The next Twilight knew, it was like she was being hit by a lightning bolt, about 20 times, at the same time.  Her body twitched and shuddered as all her hair stood on end.  Applejack could only watch as Twilight juddered in place, lights flickering on the goggles covering her eyes before she finally slumped down as it finished.  "Program complete." said the computer calmly.

Applejack ran over immediately.  "Twilight, are you okay?  Twilight?" she called.  "Urrrgh...I feel like I;ve been holding the moon up." groaned Twilight before a cracking noise got their attention.  The door was giving way to whatever Darius's men were using.

"Well, I hope your legs are workin', cause we're gonna be usin' them real soon," said Applejack.  The door gave way at that and two troopers ran in, rifles raised.  "Freeze." yelled one of them.  Applejack would have applied her two back hooves to their abdomens, but she knew those rifles would hit long before she could lift them up.

Twilight however glared before her horn blazed and there was a flash of light.  Applejack was braced for the imminent response when she noticed the troopers weren’t moving.  She walked up to one and poked him with her hoof.  Nothing happened, even when she bucked him hard in the chest.  It was like kicking a granite statue. 

"Twilight, what did ya'll hit them with?  They're they've just loss a starin' contest with a cockatrice," said Applejack.  "I...I don’t know.  I think I..." began Twilight before the computer butted in.  "Temporal stasis magi weapon test complete successfully."  "Temporal?  You mean I froze them in time?" asked Twilight.

"ConfIrmed. Designed for mass riot suppression." said the computer calmly.  "Wow, that'd be useful if there were another stampede in town," said Applejack, "It does wear off, right?"  "Neuro training implants knowledge directly into the neural cortex." said the computer calmly before saying "Alert...intruders approaching neuro-training lab."

"Well, Twilight, looks like you'll be tryin' out that new spell of yours a lot more," said Applejack.  "VD program 58% complete.  Danger...external object corruption detected..." said the computer before saying "Alert:  Unauthorized download in administration block."

"What does all that mean?" asked Applejack.  "I don't know, but it sounds serious," said Twilight.  "Alert:  Contact with Atlantis secondary ‘Ark’ command confirmed.  Initiation of countermeasures authorized.  Countermeasures will engage in 10 units." said the computer calmly, all the light crystals turning red.  "Ok, now I'm really lost," said Applejack.  "Arming implosion charges 1-9.  Countermeasures will engage in 9.9 units." said the computer, gravely.  

...

After a brief rest and a long journey through the night, the small team of archeologists/treasure hunters found themselves facing the sphinx's temple as dawn was cresting over the horizon.  Matt whistled at the sight, impressed.  "Miss sphinx sure knew how to live it up." he said, looking at the large temple, the remains of a ghost town surrounding it.

"The hard stuff's not over yet," said Daring Do, "According to my research, this sphinx was a bit on the paranoid side."  "Oh, goody.  Traps, monsters, undead.  As if I don’t get enough of this in my dayjob." muttered Matt to himself, darkly.

"And I don't think we should subtract the jackals confronting us from the equation," said Aria.  "Oh...thanks for that reminder, Aria.  Nothing but a ray of sunshine." said Matt, sarcastically as the group walked down towards the town.  Rainbow was looking at the buildings.  "People lived near a sphinx?" she said out loud.

"Just because the sphinx was overly-suspicious doesn't mean she didn't look out for other people," said Daring, "A lot of people felt safe near her temple so they built up a town around it."  Matt looked at one of the buildings, that looked like a wrecking ball had smashed through it...and then burnt it.  "And I'm guessing some other people would have just wanted to loot this town in spite of the sphinx," he said.

Daring doo nodded "Yeah...young dragons would love to try and raid sphinx hoards if they had the chance too." she said.  "But no one's been here for centuries," said Rainbow, "The town's been picked clean long ago and only we know the secret entrance to the sphinx's lair."

Daring looked at the ruined hut.  "Some young dragons tend to have tantrums...especially if they don’t find what they wanted." she said, worried.  "I suggest we reserve our concern for the jackals," said Aria, "They're more likely to be an imminent threat."

Daring nodded "Yeah...the dragon that did this probably left months ago." she said a little more confidently.  Suddenly, Rainbow paused and said, "I think I'm getting that 'been-here-before' feeling again."  "Deja vu," said Aria.  "Geseundheit," said Rainbow.

"Like what...a dragon round the corner?" said Matt jokingly before noticing the terrified stares on rainbows and darings faces and Aria's amused look.  "Its behind me, isn’t it." he said dully before a deep voice said "Oh good...breakfast in bed."

Matt glanced over his shoulder at the large yellow dragon that had been lying in the ruined remains of the hut and was now right over him.  "Pardon me for shouting any obvious cliche, but...RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" yelled Matt.  The group ran for it as the dragon roared and took off, circling and waiting for a good chance to swoop in for his 'lunch'.

"Why couldn't it have been another sandworm?" griped Matt.  "Believe me, this is a welcome change," said Aria.  A blast of flame shot down, blowing a empty hut apart on the side of the street.  "Really?  This is better?" glared Matt, galloping for his life.  Daring skidded round a corner and saw salvation in the form of the temple doors...the heavy temple doors with the pony sized open hatchway.

"Guys, through here," she called.  "Please tell me you have the secret key or something," said Matt.  Daring reached under her hat and pulled out what looked like a ankh amulet.  "Of course." she said, smugly, before pushing the amulet into a indentation in the gates frame.  There was a slight rumble before the hatchway opened a crack.

The dragon was heard roaring overhead as it spotted their intent.  "Everyone in the creepy temple." gibbered Matt, flying through the hatchway.  The others quickly followed.  "Wait, if we leave the amulet in-" started Daring.  "It's not like the dragon can use this door, CLOSE IT!" snapped Matt.

Daring took one look at the amulet before following the others inside...just in time as the angry dragon landed and tried to reach through.  Matt grinned “Nyer nyer.  Can’t get us." he taunted cheerfully before a blast of flame singed his mane.  "The cropped look suits you, sir," said Aria mockingly.

Matt gulped as the dragon peered in before rolling its eye and taking off again.  "I prefer avalarians." he said weakly.  Since going back out through the door wasn't an option, the group moved inward, deeper into the temple.  Daring and Dash looked around for possible windows they could use for exits, but they didn't spot any.

"Hey...we’ll get out of here." said Matt, spotting their worry.  Hell, he was already feeling confined...stupid pegasus instincts.  "The sphinx would have had more than one point of entry or egress," said Aria, "It shouldn't be difficult to locate a useable one when the time comes."  "Good...I wonder how close Aniberk is?" commented Matt.

...

The jackals had not wasted their time.  They had gone through the night and had arrived at the ruins just as the sun had cleared the horizon.  The dragon could be seen circling the temple before giving up apparently and flying towards the nearby mountains.

"Is it safe to go?" asked one of the jackals.  "That flying lizard could return," said another.  Anibu looked as the dragon flew out of sight.  "We'll be fine.  The dragon should not worry you...I should if you fail." she said darkly.  The jackals then headed over to the temple.  "You have to admit, they did an excellent job in building this place," said one of the jackals, "The sands and winds have barely damaged it after all these years."

"Earth ponies probably...or a zebra tribe.  I don’t care.  If daring beat us here, we'll have enough trouble getting..." began Anibu before seeing the open hatchway and finishing in shock "...in?"  "Daring must be here already," said one of the jackal guards.  Anibu smirked "And she kindly left the door open for us."  "And maybe she'll spring all the traps for us too," said another jackal.

...

Meanwhile, Aria and the pegasi were progressing further into the temple, keeping an eye out for any trap.  "Ok...so...what kinda traps can we expect?" said Matt, trotting ahead, a pendulum axe swinging past him as he went.  "Oh, the usual kind," said Daring, "Spikes, pits, darts."

Matt turned, a spike shooting up just in front of him as he turned "I haven’t seen anything." he said, turning back just after the spike had retracted.  "Is he always this lucky?" muttered Daring to Aria as Matt trotted on, oblivious to the fact he was walking through a death trap.  Aria shrugged "Usually...you should read his files if you think this is impressive."

"I'm rapidly losing a bet with myself over him," said Rainbow Dash.  "A bet over what?" asked Matt, turning his head just in time to avoid some darts hitting it.  Aria burst out laughing at that "Ten credits says he makes it to the end without noticing." she said amused.  Matt vanished a second later as the walls of the section he was passing sandwiched together...before retracting to show they had missed him.  "What the hell was that crash?" he called.

"Probably the sound of my expectations being smashed," said Rainbow a little numbly.  "Oh please...why are you guys being so cautious?  All the traps musta rusted up." he said, turning and almost getting a terminal haircut when a spinning blade shot over his head and sliced through a pillar.  "Nnnngfh...maybe....not." he said in a weak voice.

"Finally!  I thought he was going to ignore all the traps," said Rainbow Dash.  "Spinny...steely...death." said Matt in a distant voice, Aria finally resorting to picking him up and carrying him, his pose not altering statue style.  "We can't be far from the treasure chamber now," said Daring.

"Good...I think Mr Lynch needs time in the prescience of calming materials...like large amounts of currency." said Aria in a matter-of-fact voice before looking at the others "He’s a mercenary...what do you expect?"

Not long after that, the group came to a huge bronze door, though time has made it green.  The door had carvings depicting a sphinx sitting on a pillar.  Dragons decorated the bottom of the door, with heads jutting forward and mouths wide open.

"Hmm...It seems that showing off is a aspect not limited to mercenaries." said Aria, leaning the petrified with terror Matt against a wall.  "I've heard about this door," said Daring Do, "It's the sphinx's last line of defense.  The only way to open it is by answer its riddle correctly."

Aria looked at the door skeptically.  "A talking door?  This I have to see." she said amused, leaning against the wall next to Matt who was finally moving again.  The eyes of the carved sphinx suddenly glowed red as a deep feminine voice boomed out;

“No matter where you go, 
No matter what you do, 
You will always need me, 
And I will be there for you."

Matt looked over at Dash and Daring, Dash shrugging.  Clearly the riddle had been changed as well.  "Erm...sister?" he tried cautiously.  The dragon heads at the bottom of the door let out a snarling sound as their mouths started glowing a familiar red.  "Uh oh," said Matt, before the dragon heads each shot out a fireball at him.

Dash and Daring were impressed at how Matt managed to do what looked like a tapdance to avoid the rapid fire fireballs before the voice said a little sarcastically "Wrong."  Matt glared "Really?  I'd never have guessed." he said, shakily.  "Hmm...you will always need me..." muttered Daring, looking thoughtful.

Daring opened her mouth to speak when Matt butted in "A partner? " he said before shrieking as another burst of fireballs shot at him.  After narrowly avoiding the fireballs, Matt spoke up again, "A big gun?"  Another wave of fireballs was shot towards him.  "If you cannot think of a sensible answer, don't speak," said the voice, angrily.

"Bite me, you sorry excuse for a catflap." returned Matt, angrily before sniffing "Does anyone smell smoke?"  Rainbow nodded, pointing to Matts tail where a little pilot light was visible.  "Ah...that....ARRRRRGH!" said Matt, pleasantly before shrieking and running off.

Rainbow turned to Aria and asked, "Do you have any idea what the answer is?"  "Oh, I think I could guess, but it's more fun to watch Matt do the fire dance," said Aria.  There was a distant splash, followed by a hissing noise before Matt trotted back into view with as much dignity as he had left (which wasn't much).

"Ok, you girls answer the stupid riddle now," snapped Matt.  Seeing Matt wasn't going to interrupt now, Daring finally spoke up, "Air!"  There was a long pause before the door slowly started to creak open.  "You have got to be kidding." said Matt, dully, following them in.  "Don’t even say a word, Rainbow Dash." he said as he passed the smirking cyan Pegasus.

The hallway within was very dark, but they could see a light at the end of it.  "We're almost there," said Daring Do.  "We better be," said Matt.  Matt followed the others before stopping.  Despite appearances of being a gung ho psycho who's response to a  problem could be measured in megatons, he liked a good book and it occurred to him that they were getting to a good point for the villain to suddenly pop up and spoil things.

He continued on, keeping an eye out for any sign of the jackals appearing.  After a minute though, he rolled his eyes and trotted to keep up.  "It wouldn’t be that cliche.” he muttered to himself.

Then the group walked into a huge chamber, one that had a skylight shining above illuminating the room.  The entire chamber was filled up with treasure, mainly gold coins covering the floor.  There were plenty of jewels and pieces of jewelry.  Not to mention a few chests and some ancient-looking artifacts.  And at the back was a huge ovoid marble statue that bespeckled with rubies and topazes.

Matt just stared, the mercenaries internal calculator attempting to work out the value of a 1/4 share of the treasure and failing due to not finding a large enough number.  "Its...beautiful." he said in awe.  Aria would have pointed out that Matt couldn't take any of it with them when they left this 'story', but she doubted he would even hear her.

Rainbow looked around and said, "He better not get comfortable.  The bad guys are gonna be here soon."  Daring, not noting the certainty in dash's voice nodded "Yeah...Anibu is probably right on our tails." before a plasma burst shot into the room and impacted Aria in the back, knocking her into a pile of jewels.

Daring and Rainbow spun around to see the jackals coming through the doorway, Anibu holding the smoking plasma gun.  "Many thanks for finding the treasure for us," said Anibu, "We'll take it from here."  Matt glared "HEY...THATS MY BLASTER!" he yelled angrily.

"Finders keepers is the law of the desert," said Anibu.  "If I had fingers right now, I’d be giving you the middle one." said Matt darkly before slowly trotting over to join Daring and dash.  "Good, now, don't do anything rash.  We'll need as many workhorses as we can get to haul all this treasure out," said Anibu.  "I find that insulting." said Matt, sulkily.  "Do I seem like the kind that cares?" asked Anibu.

Another jackel ran in at that "Anibu...the dragon...its coming back.  We spotted it on the horizon." he said out of breath.  "Well, that certainly is problematic," said Anibu, "I guess we'll have to use these ponies to divert the dragon's attention now."

The ponies looked at each other at that "Erm...who'd haul the treasure then?" said Matt, nervously.  "Well, I suppose we could get some more diamond dogs to take it all out, though it'll take longer," said Anibu.  "I hate you, you...dog." sad Matt, darkly.

"Dog?  Dog?!" snapped Anibu, "How dare you compare me with those dirt-shoveling mongrels!  I am a jackal, a far-higher breed of canine with a distinguished lineage.  To even think of me being anywhere close to be related to those curs is...is..."  Apparently Anibu couldn't think of any proper words to express her outrage and settled for shooting at Matt.

Matt yelped and dodged the plasma burst by sheer luck.  "Tie their wings and take them outside." she said annoyed.  "What about the other one?" asked a jackal, indicating Aria's still form.  "Leave her...I doubt she's any trouble now." said Anibu dismissively, gesturing to the fatal looking scorch mark.

The three pegasi would have put up a fight, there were way too many jackals to deal with.  In less time than they would have like, they found themselves with their wings bound and being carried off.  "Does this happen often?" asked Matt to daring.  "You'd be surprised," said Daring.

Matt stared before saying with absolute truth "I know exactly how you feel." before the jackel carrying him snarled "Stop talking."  Matt glared at the jackal before saying, "I'm sure we'll get out of this.  Me and Dash have some friends waiting for us.  I hope they aren't kept waiting too much longer."

…

Another two mercs froze in a flash of light s Twilight used her new spell again before knocking a third trooper over with a  blast of red energy "There's too many of them," said Twilight, "I can't freeze them all if they come at me at once."  "Let's hide in here," said Applejack, pointing at a door, "That seems a safe enough place."

The room inside looked to be some kind of storage room, rows and rows of identical crystals stacked carefully.  However, while the other rooms had all shown some form of decay or damage, this one had no damage at all, looking almost brand new.

"What kind of fancy gems are these supposed to be?" asked Applejack as she looked at the shelves.  All the crystals had a marking on them, applejack noticed as she peered before double-taking on one, sure she’d seen movement inside it.

"I bet these crystals are enchanted somehow," said Twilight, "If I could only figure out how to use them."  "Unless they show us how to get out of here, get rid of those guys, or bring Matt, Aria, and Rainbow Dash back, I don't think we have time for that," said Applejack.

Twilight however had trotted round a corner to where a crystal was mounted on a plinth of some kind, a holoscreen coming from it.  The view was already resetting, a line of runes obviously the title of the recording being shown before flickering to a large room where three tables had been set up around a central one.  Four humans that were clearly guards standing to attention as a container was brought in.  "Oh my, what's this?" asked Twilight.

The container was opened and two people pulled three recognizable objects to the two.  "Wait a minute, I've seen those things before," said Twilight, "It was in 'Lost Legends of Lost Treasures'."

Applejack looked as the artifacts were placed on the three plinths before the people placing them ran to get out the way.  "Whut are they?" she asked, getting a bad feeling about how they were starting to glow red.  "According to legend, each of those three artifacts had the ultimate power of each of three races of ponies," said Twilight.  “They belonged to the three tribes before Equestria was founded.”

"Hey...that helmet looks a bit like the prop rainbow wore at the hearts warmin pagent." said Applejack, now noticing the helmet properly before the three artifacts fired beams into the center and the screen whited out before resetting.  "So these Atlanteans must have known where the artifacts were," said Twilight, "You think they're still here?"

"All class 12 artifacts were evacuated to backup facilities to await evacuation.  Evacuation is overdue by 42,426 solar orbits." said the computer, calmly  "Then this place has something that knows where those artifacts are," said Applejack, "We better find that before them thugs do."

"Scans indicate backup facility 12 and 24 are still active...all other facilities were destroyed internally or via orbital bombardment.  Alert...countermeasures will engage in 4 units." said thee computer calmly, a mini version of the map planet appearing, two of the white dots highlighted.  "Twilight, you think you can remember those spots?" asked Applejack.

"File was downloaded to ranking personnel mobile storage device." said the computer calmly, footage of the group when they first came in appearing, a circle around matts wrist computer.  "Ah, that's great," said Twilight, "Now we just need to find out where Matt and the others had gone."

"Program is still in effect...warning...emergency shutdown inoperative." said the computer.  The footage showing the accident flickered again, this time showing something different.  The viewer had been knocked down, smoke visible before a familiar yellow and red eye peered at the camera before resetting again.  "Now why does that ring a bell?" asked Applejack.  "I'm not sure, but it seems familiar," said Twilight.

"Ah just hope we don;t meet him.  That eye didn't look a mite friendly." said Applejack, in a worried tone.  A voice sounded "Ok...this thing working?  Good...ok, guys...something bigs coming from that city nearby...we are bugging out.  I repeat...get the fuck outta here."   "Alert, unauthorized use of intercom system," came the female voice.

"Dammit...ok, everyone out.  Now, dammit, now." said the other voice, clearly a merc.   "Whew, looks they're all leavin'," said Applejack.  "Hostile units have evacuated.  Commencing shutdown of countermeasures...stand by." said the computer calmly, causing the two ponies to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Great, now all we have to do is wait for Matt, Aria, and Rainbow Dash to come back," said Twilight.  "Danger...shutdown failure.  Countermeasures will activate in 3.4 units.  All personnel evacuate immediately." said the computer urgently.

"Uh, what was that?" asked Applejack.  "I think it's what Matt would call a 'computer bug'," said Twilight, "But I've never seen any insects like that."  "Main charges now primed...detonation in 3 units." said the computer gravely.

...

There are times when a person thinks 'Where did my life go arse end up?'  For Matt, it was now, after he, Daring and Dash had been pushed out into the open for a ravenous dragon. There was a small mercy that the jackals weren't the 'gloating as you die' type, since they'd rather not end up as the dragon's second course.

"So...anyone got a plan?" asked Matt, innocently.  "I'm working on it," said Daring.  Matt looked up as a shadow passed over them "Daring?  Think faster." he said, agitated.  "Wait, my magnifying glass," said Daring, "If I can get out of my pocket, I can use it with the sun's rays to burn through the ropes and get us free."

Matt looked up "Someone has to run distraction..." he said before seeing the others looking at me.  "Fine." he said dully before trotting out into the main street.  "Free lunch...come and get it.” he called.  The dragon spotted Matt and flew down to enjoy his first helping of pegasus.  At that instant, every survival instinct in Matt, both human and equine, seemed to be going off at once.

After a few microseconds, Matts body came to the consensus that his brain was currently dead weight and turned him to make with all speed for the nearest intact building.  Matt ran up to the door and banged on it, yelling, "Let me in, let me in!"  He pauses and said, "Oh, wait, this house is abandoned."  He then opened the door and quickly went inside.

Matt slammed it and breathed a sigh of relief.  "Ah....that was easy." he said relieved before there was a granite ripping noise and the entire roof was torn off.  Matt looked up to see the dragon looking down at him.  "Er, I think I need to find another house," said Matt before quickly going back out the door.  It was just in time as the dragon breathed straight down into the house.  "Why me?  Its not like dragons usually hate me...one of my best friends a dragon.” he yelled as the dragon gave chase.

Apparently this dragon wasn't much of a conversationalist as he just shot another fireball at Matt.  "Asshole." retorted Matt angrily before realizing he had slowed down too much.  The dragon took advantage of this to aim a slash that caused Matt to stumble when he tried to dodge. 

Matt rolled across the sand for a while before hitting a wall.  He got up again, a bit shaky, and quickly headed to an alley between two buildings just before the dragon landed there.

This time he didn’t hang around to gloat, given how the dragon had made short work of the hut earlier.  It was good too as the dragon began ripping the alley up to try and catch him.  "Get back here..." the dragon snarled angrily.

...

While the jackals had the sense not to gloat, there were still a few who wanted to watch the dragons tear the ponies apart.  "Ten bits says he lasts another few minutes." said one of the jackals in an amused tone as Matt was seen running screaming across streets, the dragon demolishing the area behind him.

"Twenty bits says that dragon will end up smashing all of those old huts down before its done," said another.  Another of the jackels came up.  "What are you idiots doing?  The fourth ones vanished.  Anibu says to be careful...she could be anywhere." she said angrily.  "I think a hairless ape would stand out pretty clearly," said the first jackal.

"Really.  She could be right behind you and you wouldn’t know it." said the new jackal, only for the others to turn their backs on her.  "I wonder where those other two ponies are," said one jackal.  "Maybe the dragon already-  Wait a minute, didn't Anibu chase out the last female three months ago?" said another.

They turned to the jackal and one of them was blasted out into the street by the jackals new plasma cannon arm before the other was grabbed and lifted up.  The remaining jackal whimpered as the fake jackal shimmered and changed to be the ape from earlier, the hole in her chest sparking.  "Normally, I would have just knocked you out with a loose brick, but this was a brand new robot body," said Aria.

The jackal whimpered before Aria said coldly "Goodbye." before she threw him out across the street and into a hut.  A roar got her attention and she turned to see the dragon.  "Work, work work." she muttered to herself before striding in the direction of the dragon.

Matt was rapidly running out of hiding places to use, seeing how the dragon kept smashing everything in its path to get to him.  It didn’t help that he was having to avoid an entire block of possible covers to make sure the dragon didn’t find the others.  "Sucksucksuck." he gibbered to himself before groaning out loud as the dragon tossed some masonry to block the next alley before landing behind him.  "Right...you...really made me...work for my...meal." he panted, growling.

"Well, I think it's important to getting plenty of exercise before eating," said Matt.  "Then I think I've earnt this." said the dragon, reaching out to grab Matt before a white orb of plasma slammed into his side.  Matt turned to look at Aria.  "I knew you couldn't be kept down for long," he said cheerfully.

"Oh, shut up and get moving." yelled Aria as the dragon got back up, barely singed from the blast only to be knocked on his tail again by another blast.  "I'd be going a lot faster, but I still have this stupid rope around my wings," said Matt.

Aria glared and fired another blast at Matt, it skimming over the ropes.  Ignoring his horrified gaze, she said "Well?  Get moving."  Matt flapped his wings a bit, mainly to make sure they were still there.  After that, he quickly took to the air.  He looked over his shoulder to see the dragon now fully focused on Aria before he turned to fly down to where he left the others.

Matt landed near the building and called, "Rainbow?  Daring?  Have you got those smegging ropes off yet?"  He looked in to see Daring pulling the ropes off Dash.  "Ah...good...Aria's keeping the dragon busy...and I'm in a really bad mood now...so lets go trample Anibu into a  greasy smear.” he said, furiously.

"But she still has that weapon," said Rainbow.  "How did she get it anyways?" asked Daring.  "She dared nick a CPS mercenaries weapon...I'M GONNA INSERT IT DOWN HER THROAT AND TAPDANCE ON HER SPLEEN!" sad Matt, starting to shout as a little internal dam of frustration gave way.

The duo watched as Matt snapped and ran in the direction of the temple, screaming wordless angry defiance.  "Uh, is he always this on edge?" asked Daring.  "You should see him when he's like this in his normal form," said Rainbow. 

"Huh, and people say I run into danger without second thoughts," said Rainbow and Daring at the same time.  They looked at each other before Daring said, "I better make sure he doesn't damage any artifacts."  The two ran forward, noting a dazed jackal in a hut, luckily too dazed to be bothered about or even notice a pegasus...except for the fact that he was in matt's path.  One buck later and he was out cold again as the others went by.

...

Anibu wasn't quite as happy with her treasure as she thought she would be.  Mainly because it seemed less secure now.  "How can a clearly dead ape get up, walk away, and take out my two guards?" she snapped.  "I don’t know, matriarch.  We didn’t know she was up till she was hitting hako." said the guard, rubbing a bruise on his face.  "Don't call me that!" snapped Anibu, "It makes me sound old."

The ground shook, a rumbling heard from outside "And what the hell was that?" yelled Anibu furiously before a sound was heard getting closer.  It sounded like someone screaming "SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEG!"

"What the-" started the guard before a grey and black blur suddenly shot through the doorway and knocked him flying.  Anibu stepped back to watch with amusement as the blur, one of the pegasi went to town on her best guards, clearly so marinated in fury that he wasn’t even noticing the hits he was taking.

"Wait, if he's here, then where's the dragon?" asked Anibu.  "He's got a bigger problem, anibu." said the voice of Daring as she and Dash came in, both parties giving the ballistic Matt room to vent on the luckless jackel guards.  "You're very difficult to dispose of," said Anibu, clearly irked.

"Its take a little more then a dragon to deal with us." said Dash a little cockily, both sides wincing as one of the guards landed with the thump and was dragged struggling back into the melee by Matt who exclaimed "Don’t start what you can’t FINISH!"

"I see that once again I have to take care of business myself," said Anibu before pointing the blaster at them. She aimed before being shocked at the ballistic scream of "MINE!" and Matt tackled her, trying to pull the gun out her grasp with his teeth

"Get off me you walking piece of glue!" snapped Anibu as she hit Matt.  "Not till you give me back my blaster, you sorry excuse for a b-movie villain." yelled Matt, before she kicked him across the room.  "I'll give it to you alright," said Anibu before firing at Matt.

Matt was sent flying into one of the treasure piles with a crash.  "Ok...being shot sucks." he muttered.  "Not so tough now, are you?" sneered Anibu before suddenly some of her remaining guards came in.  "Ma'am, I think we have a problem," said one.  "That dragon's acting peculiar," said another.  "What?" said Anibu angrily.

...

Aria staggered as the dragon tried to fry her again before returning fire to no effect.  "Right...enough of this...STOP IT!" she said to herself before yelling the last part at the dragon.  "Why should I?" growled the dragon.

Aria muttered to herself "Daring'll be pissed...but its better then being dead." before saying out loud "Because we're both being played for fools...while you've been chasing me and my associates, a jackal warband has been looting the temple dry."  "What?!" roared the dragon, "I've been waiting to get inside there for 300 years!  I will not let anyone, let alone a pack of filthy jackals, get that treasure except me!"  Aria held up a hand "Allow me." she commented before aiming at the doors.

...

Inside the temple, everyone was knocked to the floor as a boom shook the room.  "What was that?" demanded Anibu.  "I think the dragon may be trying to get in," said a jackal.  "Sounds like its already in." said Matt.  "That's impossible.  If it had been able to get in, none of this treasure would be here," said Anibu.

Anibu snarled before resuming blasting at Matt.  Matt yelped and dived for cover before Anibu noticed that Daring and Dash were rushing her, too late to avoid being knocked over and the blaster being sent sliding away.  "I've been looking too long for this treasure!" snapped Anibu, "I won't be denied!"

One of the other jackals grabbed the blaster only for a metal hand to grab him by the scruff of the head and lift him into the top of the doorframe at speed.  Aria, part of her robotic bodies covering gone from scorch's came in shortly after, stopping briefly to retrieve the blaster.  "Miss Anibu..." she said coldly.  Anibu stared at Aria with shock.  "What kind of monstrosity is that?" she asked.

"I'm the person you shot.  I've only had this a few days." said Aria, casually, ignoring Darings and Dashes horrified stares as she walked forward.  "St-stay back, you freak!" shouted Anibu.  Aria just smirked before she was nose to nose with the terrified jackel.  "Make me...I'll even give you a free shot."

Anibu quickly tried to punch Aria in the face.  Of course, the clang of metal being hit and the pained look in Anibu's face made it clear that it didn't work at all.  Aria smirked and grabbed Anibu's wrist as she tried another punch.  "Now then...what to do with you...if this was the NSC, we'd be perfectly at leisure to kill you." said Aria, conversationally before looking over at Daring and Dash.  "Ladies...any suggestions?"

Just then, there was a loud roaring.  "Uh, I think she might have to wait," said Rainbow.  Aria looked over with a bored expression as the vault door was smashed down by the dragon from outside.  "Ah, I was wondering where he went." she said.

Unlike Matt, the dragon wasn't able to walk around all the traps, thus resulting in his hide being covered with scratches, scorches, and darts.  It also reflected in his killing gaze "Where is that jackel who played me for a fool?" he snarled.  Aria turned to look at Anibu with a cold smile.  

"Whoa, whoa," said Rainbow, "You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"  "That would be going way too far," said Daring.  "Yeah, she might be a smeghead, but she doesn't deserve that," said Matt, "Well, maybe she does, but that doesn't make it ok."

Aria looked at them "Miss Anibu here was willing to do the exact same to us less then 10 minutes ago." she said conversationally, before looking at Anibu who was trying to pull her wrist free.  "I'd stop that if I was you..."  The dragon though was glaring "Thats the jackal?" he growled.

Just then, Rainbow jumped up and said, "Forget her, you're about to get a big hoof of Rainbow."  She then flew at the dragon at high speed.  However, just before she could hit, the dragon swatted her away, making her shoot back and hit against the large elliptical statue in the back.  She slowly slid off the statue's front and fell onto the floor.

"Hmm...good reaction time, I;ll give him that." said Matt to himself before trotting over "You ok, there?"  "I'll be fine, as soon as the rooms get back together," said Rainbow Dash, her eyes spinning in her sockets.  Just then, a cracking sound was heard.  They looked up to see the statue rapidly cracking all over and shaking.

Matt looked as it cracked "Hmm...you know...I'm sure I saw this in a movie a little like this." he said conversationally before noticing how the cracks didn’t stop at the statue and kept spreading out.  

Suddenly, the statue shattered into several dozen pieces.  However, it soon became very clear that wasn't a statue.  Mainly because right in the center of where it stood was what looked like a lion cub with fledgling bird wings.  "Hmm...crap." said Matt, as evenly as he could.

The dragon looked at the sphinx cub and snorted.  "Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?" he said.  The sphinx cub stared up at the dragon before suddenly a pair of beams shot from its eyes and into the dragon's.

The group watched as the dragon seemed to shrink, while the sphinx got bigger until a surprised looking dragon hatchling fell to the floor.  Matt gulped, not really wanting to look behind him to where he just knew a angry, fully grown sphinx was almost certainly sitting.  "Wow, I didn't see that coming," said Daring.

"I did." said Matt weakly "Something like this always happens." The sphinx glared, looking around "Right...who are you...who dares to barge into my home..." he said, looking briefly at the demolished vault door "...and breaking half of it?"  The ponies quickly pointed at Anibu and said, "She did it."

The sphinx turned to see Anibu now desperately trying to run while Aria held her in place, resulting in her simply running on the spot.  Aria grinned "I like this idea more." she commented, pushing Anibu in front of the sphinx.

The sphinx glared down at Anibu and said, "For this sacrilege, I should tear you limb from limb.  However, since I have just been reborn, I am feeling merciful.  Therefore, you and your tribe shall work until this temple and the town around it are restored."

Anibu, despite everything snarled "I will not do such menial..." she began before yelping when the sphinx pinned her in place with a single paw.  "I'm sorry?" he said in a pleasant voice.  "Er, we shall begin reconstruction immediately," said Anibu.  Aria nodded "Good dog." she commented, finally letting go.

"So, I guess this treasure won't be going to a museum then," said Daring.  The sphinx turned to look at Daring "This is my treasure.  There are things here too dangerous to leave,"  "Well, now that you're back, there's no need for them to be removed," said Daring, "They're perfectly safe here."

The sphinx nodded "I presume I can trust you not to reveal this place." he said, sweeping his gaze over the group.  "No problem about that," said Rainbow.  "As good as forgotten," said Aria.  "Like anyone would ever believe me if I did tell," said Matt.  The sphinx nodded, apparently satisfied "Don’t worry about the jackel...when she has completed her task, she won’t remember a thing."

"I don't know, I bet she'd make a good guard dog," said Matt.  Anibu glared "How dare you?" she snarled, running at Matt only for Aria to grab her and toss her into a wall.  "What?  She shot me...I should at least get to be even." she said, at the groups annoyed glares.

"Well, it looks like this adventure's just about wrapped up," said Daring, "Now I just need to head on back to Mareoco."  Matt sighed "We still got more?" he muttered before a crackling noise was heard from the side of the room.  "Nope, I think our train's just pulled in," said Rainbow.

Matt and Aria turned to see a glowing arch appearing before shimmering to show the room from the facility, though Matt noted with worry that it seemed to be lit by emergency lighting.  "Well, I guess we'll be going now," said Matt, "Goodbye folks, I'll remember you all in therapy."

Daring looked confused before saying “Who are you people?”  "Let's just say I'm your biggest fan," said Dash before going through.  Daring just watched as the archway shrunk back down before vanishing.  "Ok...noponies gonna believe this." she said, before the sphinx said sagely "You'd be surprised."

...

Dash landed neatly, the portal closing again and was immediately greeted  by the computer saying gravely "Alert...countermeasures will engage in 1 unit."

Just then, Twilight and Applejack ran in.  "Guys, you won't believe what we've-" started Twilight before noticing Rainbow had sand in her fur, Aria's skin was half burned off, and Matt was Spark again.  "What happened to you?" she asked.

"Don’t ask...what happened here?" said Matt, annoyed, adding "And please tell me the computer didn’t say 'countermeasures'...cause if it did...we should start running...about now."  "I think it said something about needing you to turn it off," said Twilight, "But I'm not sure."

Matt was already in the corridor looking both ways, saying "A unit is one minute...RUN AWAY!"  "Oh..." said Twilight and Applejack at the same time before the group started running.  "45 microns to countermeasure." said the computer calmly, a faint humming now auditable.  "RUN AWAY FASTER!" yelled Matt.

The group ran as fast as they could, running out into the pit to see that Darius’s men had, ina  fit of pettiness, cut the grapple line.  "Uh, Aria, does that robot body have super strength in all the limbs?" asked Matt.

Aria nodded, grabbing Twilight and Applejack.  "I'm very sorry for this." she commented before throwing them up the shaft.  "How's she's gonna get out?" asked Dash.  "No problem, she can jump like a flea, right?" asked Matt.

A second later there was a whomph from the pit and the ground around it seemed to lift up a few inches before sinking down several feet.  A few seconds later, Aria climbed out of the pit, looking even more disheveled and severely disgruntled.  "'She can jump like a flea, we don't have to carry her'," she grumbled mockingly, "Stupid winged horses."

"...and that, kiddies is why atlantean facilities are dangerous." said Matt, a little sarcastically before the sight of a dozen or so armoured pegasi came into view, being led by Celestia.  "Oh boy...here comes the boss." muttered Matt.

Celestia looked around before spotting Twilight.  "Ah, my favorite pupil," said Celestia, "Do you know what has been happening here?"  Matt slowly slipped backwards, looking for anywhere he could run to, envisioning a free trip to the dungeon of his choice if the days events came out.  "Well...it's all very complicated," said Twilight, "I'm not sure if I can explain it all."

Celestia nodded before spotting Matt.  "Ah...Spark." she said in a friendly voice, causing Matt to yelp.  "Uh, Princess Celestia," said Matt, "It's a honor to actually meet you in person for the first time."  

Celestia smiled before saying in a quieter voice, "I know who you actually are, Matt.  Fluttershy told me about you in her friendship report."  Matt gave an annoyed look and thought, 'Never trust a woman, even if she's a horse.'

"Thats nice." said Matt, his grin a little forced before calming down enough to add. "Its nothing to worry about...some kinda VR machine the ancients left behind." he said, quietly.  "Then why would those other humans be after it?" asked Celestia.  "What?" said Matt, puzzled.  "Yeah, those guys who came here before were all over the place," said Applejack, "Don't know what they were lookin' for."

"Dammit...must have been when the place powered up." said Matt, scolding himself.  One of the guards looked at Celestia.  "Princess?  Whats he talking about?"  "It's nothing for you to worry about," said Celestia, "Please go make sure the area's secure and I think the construction ponies can start working again."

The guards nodded before taking off to get some pegasus-eye views.  Matt sighed "Ok...places like what that...was.  Its priceless to the NSC...to any of the Nullspace factions.  Hell, almost all the stuff I use is reverse engineered from tech that was dug up.  They probably didn’t know or care if I was there.  They just wanted to strip the place to the bones." he said, looking at the hole.

"You think he was after the room with all those crystal recordings?" asked Twilight.  Matt turned at that "What?  You saw some Memory Crystals?” he said before sighing and continuing  “I doubt it.  All the tech woulda been in the computers...what, did you see something?" he asked.

"I'm pretty sure it was a recording about the three Prima Artifacts," said Twilight.  Matt stopped "Wait...what?" he said, confused.  Celestia also looked puzzled "What did you see, Twilight?"  "Well, it looked like the Atlanteans were using the headpieces that the ancient tribe leaders wore," said Twilight.

Matt said "If the atlanteans were playing with them...thats probably not a good thing."  "Then it's probably for the best that this place was destroyed," said Celestia.  Matt nodded "Yeah...you're probably right.  Darius can keep whatever he got...fat lot of good it'll do him." he said, before saying in a tired voice "Now...I'm gonna head back...and reset my wrist computer....again."

...

Meanwhile, Darius was in the Icarus' lab, looking over what they had managed to take from the Atlantean facility.  "Whatever this is...its extremely conductive.  We've ran enough charge through it to melt a hole in the hull and its sucked it all up." said a tech, looking at the readout in front of him.

Darius looked at the item in question, which looked like nothing more than a chunk of metal.  "How malleable is it?" he asked.  "Its the same stuff as that armor we recovered several weeks ago." said the tech, adding "If its the same stuff, we can’t do shit to it."  

"Then what good is it?" asked Darius before poking it.  However, the metal responded by sending a shock that caused Darius to fly across the lab.  "I'm fine, a little tingly, but fine," said Darius.  The tech nodded and headed back to the intercom to cancel the alert...as a result he failed to see Darius's eyes glow for a second.

Editors note: Sorry it took so long to update but I have had real life issues...I'll try to update more regularly from now on.


> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP pt 10

'The atlanteans have much in common with us, the NSC...we both are expanding faster then we can protect.  Unlike the atlanteans, we have to deal with their failures.  Every Nullspace race has built their civilizations on the ashes of this once proud empire.    However, we still find things that come back to bite us later, Nocturnis, the sy yong accident...the 'ghost fleet' in the uncharted sectors.  These are all things that prove that sometimes, you shouldn’t go looking...’

Extract from ‘Lecture on the dangers of technological archaeology’
Held on 2116AD Nullspace time at Centuris VII


...

It is well known that males of most species are indifferent to fashion most of the time.  So even if someone's going to a fashion show for a friend, there's a very good chance that they'd be bored stiff.  

Unfortunately for Matt, he had been forced to come as he STILL owed Rarity for the spiderdrones 'raid' on the boutique the first night he had been on this planet.  As a result, he’d been forced to use a shuttlepod from the Skyraid as a taxi when Rarity had gotten a golden opportunity to show some of her new designs at a manehatten show.  Luckily he had picked up the talent of all mercs to snooze while standing and was practising this just outside.

Matt stirred as the sound of mischievous giggling disturbed his rest.  He looked down to see a couple of colts.  "What are you looking at?" he snapped, annoyed at being woken up.  "Nothin, mister.  Nice Moustache." said one of the colts, a unicorn mischeviously.  Matt looked confused before clicking his helmet and taking it off to reveal someone had magicked the aformentioned moustache onto it.  "I hate kids." he muttered to himself before looking at the colts.  "Go away before I vaporise you and make it look like an accident."

"Vaporize?  What's that?" asked one of the colts.  For a point, Matt pointed a blaster at a manhole cover and shot a blast that quickly disintegrated it.  "Coooool..." said the colts.  Matt's brain stalled at that.  In his mental script, the colts were already running away but somehow this wasn't happening in reality.  "You're not gonna go away, are you." he said dully.  The colts all said "Nope."

'Ok, threats probably aren't going to work, anything you can bribe them with?' thought Matt.  The only things he could think of was carrots or sugar cubes, which probably wouldn't be that effective.

Luckily backup arrived as Rainbow Dash, who had been as dis-interested as Matt, came into view.  "Help." he called out desperately.  "Ok, boy, break, nothing to see here," said Rainbow.  The colts were apparently losing interest and trotted off.  "I'm so glad that fashion show's almost over," said Rainbow, "I'm not sure how much longer I could have waited."

"Least you got to walk around.  I have to stay here in case Rarity needs help hauling something.  Why does she bring so much stuff?" moaned Matt.  "Frankly, I have no idea," said Rainbow Dash, "I only care about fashion if it's aerodynamic."

"The sooner I’m back in my nice warm barn thing, the better." said Matt, happily "I don't think the manehatten ponies like my ships parking job." referring to how he'd accidentally squashed a empty guard stable when landing.  "I told you it should have been parked on that cloud," said Rainbow Dash.  "How many times do I have to tell you?  Just because my ship can fly doesn't mean it can land on clouds.  It doesn't work that way," said Matt.

"Why not ask Twilight to cast a cloud walking spell on it?" suggested Rainbow.  Matt shook his head "No...magic and tech mix like fire and oil...only a bigger explosion." he said warningly before the show began to empty.  "Well...lets get this over with." said Matt, turning to go in only to be blocked by two large earth stallions inside the reception.  

"Sorry, authorized personal only," said one of the stallions.  "I'm with one of the designers...designated driver." said Matt, dully before trying to push past again.  "Do you have a pass?" asked the other.  "No...I have a laser pistol...does that count?" said Matt, not really paying too much attention to the question.  "Sorry, no backstage pass, no pass," said the first stallion.

"I'm with rarity...and I'm started to get annoyed." said Matt, starting to glare.  Dash joined in "He really is with Rarity.  Anyway, the fashion shows over." she said.  "A clod like you, get serious," said the first stallion.  Matt's eye twitched as he said in a worrying tone, "You want me to get serious."  Fortunately, Rarity just happened to come out at that moment.  "Oh, Matt, Rainbow Dash, I'm so sorry it took so long.  But you know how it is with the world of fashion."

"Thats fine...I was about to help this place do some job cuts." Matt said in a over-friendly tone glaring at the stallion bouncers.  Rarity nodded "Its ok, gentlecolts.  Mr Lynch helped me and my friends get here in time." she said to the stallions who trotted off towards the stage, glaring at Matt.

Matt leaned against a wall and muttered, "Whoops" when one of the ropes tethered to the sandbag just happened to break loose.  Rarity and Dash winced as a sandbag scored a direct hit on the head of the stallion bouncer who had insulted Matt before looking suspiciously at him.  Matt shrugged and said "Karma?" hiding his combat knife.

Then Matt turned to Rarity and said, "Anyways, where's all the stuff you want me to haul?"  Rarity said "Just in here." leading the way backstage to several dozen boxes...at least a dozen more then had been brought.  "Whu?  what?" said Matt weakly looking at the stack before rolling his eyes "Fine..."  Rarity said proudly "I got so much orders from this show.  I do hope they invite me again next year."  "Yeah, next time you should rent a dump truck to move this," said Matt.  Rarity and Dash looked confused at that as Matt grabbed the first box.  "Whats a dump truck?" asked Dash.

...

Twilight trotted up to where Matt had parked the metallic winged egg Matt called a 'shuttlepod', spotting that Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie were already there, loaded down with the things they had gotten in the city.  "Hi girls.  Have you seen Matt?  I would have thought he, Rarity and Dash would be back by now." she said happily.  "He oughta be here soon," said Applejack, "That show ended 10 minutes ago."

Several griffons could be seen walking into view when the spotted the group and the ship "What the?  What kinda tin cans that?  Somer stupid earth pony toy?" said one of them rudely looking at the pod.  "For your information, this happens to be a high-tech flyin' transport-type machine," said Applejack.  

"You ponies obviously didn;t make it then." said another of the griffons before the trio laughed.  At that point they stopped as the sight of what looks like a stack of crates with legs came round the corner and this sort of thing usually gets attention, if only for the novelty value.  Rarity walked besides it and was giving directions, "Now a bit more to the left, no, you're drifting, go right now, now straight, you might want to slow down a bit."

A stream of angry alien gibberish sounded from behind the crates, causing Rainbow, who was hovering overhead to laugh a bit followed by a thud and a yelp which caused her to laugh more.  Eventually, the crates were set down and Matt said, "There, finally, now to pack all this-OH COME ON!"  The last part was when he noticed the other girls' packages.  "What in the great egg?" said one of the griffons in shock, spotting Matt.  "That your pet?"  "Pet?" said Matt, darkly, his nerves starting to crack.

"It looks like some sort of balding monkey," said one griffon.  "Sure is ugly," said another.  "Monkey?" growled Matt, his voice rising a bit.  "Now, boys, there's no need for this blow out of proportion," said Twilight, nervously as she remembered the temper Gilda had shown off the previous year.  "I've faced things that have more tentacles then teeth and the disposition of a rabid jaguar...and thats just the drill sergeant.  I will not take beak from a trio of overgrown seagulls." snapped Matt, his eye twitching.

"Seagulls?!  This ape has the nerve to call us seagulls!" shouted one of the griffins.  "I think we should take this guy for a ride," said another darkly.  Matt smirked coldly "Feel free to try.  Everyone tells me I have feathers in my cap...maybe I should add some?" he commented.

"I think we should move them away from each other," said Fluttershy.  "Yeah, they're as fit to scrap as two bulls with their tails tied together," said Applejack.  The griffons slowly moved to surround Matt.  "I'm gonna show you how griffons fi-OOF!" began one, lunging at Matt, only to recieve a boot to the beak from Matt.  

"And there's plenty more where that came from, Polly!" snapped Matt.  The other two griffons growled and lunged at Matt, who ducked down, grabbing one of them by the wing and sending her flight into the side of the shuttlepod with a clang, getting stuck.  The third one span in the air to grab Matt from behind in a bearhug...only to be headbutted in the face followed by an elbow to the chest.

"Oh my," said Fluttershy, nervously as Matt clocked the second griffon across the head as she pulled her head free, knocking her out.  "We should do something."  Rainbow was whooping and cheering Matt on "Nice one, Matt!" She called out as Matt span to catch the first griffon on the beak again before she noticed the others glaring at him "I mean, maybe we should stop him." she said sheepishly.

"Well, time to see if that time freeze spell still works," said Twilight before her horn started glowing.  It seemed too as a bolt of magic caused the griffons to freeze in place, surprising Matt a little but certainly surprising the griffons themselves.  "There, now we can separate them," said Twilight.  "Er, can we?" asked Applejack.  Matt, taking a few calming breaths said "I'm fine...perfectly fine." mostly to himself before looking at the annoyed expressions of five of the ponies.

"What?  They were practically asking for it," said Matt.  "I can't believe you did that, Matt." scolded Twilight, gesturing to the bruised, battered but probably still defiant Griffons.  Applejack nodded "Twi's right...Weren’t no need beat down on them like that." she said.  "They called me a monkey and an ape," said Matt.  Pinkie said promptly "Sticks and stones and sometimes aliens may break my bones but words will never hurt anypony."

"Well...they still could have used an ego deflation," said Matt, "Let's just load up and get out of here before that spell wears off."  Fluttershy said with a sigh "I'm disappointed in you, Matt." as Matt opened the ship.  Dash said a little unconvincingly "Yeah...disappointed...though the way you backflipped that griffon..." before seeing Fluttershy's glare "...erm...yeah, disappointed."

Matt glanced the ponies' packages and commented, "Not sure there's enough room for all this."  He sighed before realising that maybe this was a bad time to upset his only friends on this planet at the moment before going in to check what he could fit in his wrist computers storage buffer.  

...

The flight back to Ponyville was rather uncomfortable.  Not just because of the ungainly amount of packages in the back, but the cold air the ponies seem to be giving Matt.  

"Its not like they don;t know to expect my approach." said matt, talking to Aria over the comm.  Aria sighed...how to explain to someone like Matt.  "Sir...this is not the NSC or independant colonies.  Kicking seven shades of crap out of people is usually frowned upon." she said as calmly as she could.

"They weren't hurt that badly," said Matt, dismissively "The worst they'll probably have after the spell unfreezes is a limp for a few days."  "Sir...you are lucky you left before the authorities arrived.  I am certain you have committed a large enough infraction to be incarcerated." said Aria, harshly.

"That sounds a little over the top," said Matt, "It was just a small tussle."  "Sir...you are a trained private military contractor.  They are civilians.  You could have quite easily terminated them." said Aria, now sounding angry.  Matt thought back and realized she had a point.  "Ok, ok, maybe I got a bit carried away," said Matt.  

"The least you can do is apologise to the girls...I will attempt to find out WHO you ended up tenderizing so an apology can be issued to them too." said Aria adding "Be careful...your flightpath is taking you close to the blizzard in sector A-6.  The shuttlepod is not rated for arctic planets.  Skyraid Out." before signing off.

Matt sighed, switching to autopilot before getting up.  He was about to head into the passenger's area when he heard Fluttershy's voice, "He was pretty brutal with those griffons, wasn't he?"  "Ah, I've got into worse scraps," said Rainbow Dash's voice, "I'm sure he could have lasted a little longer."  "Rainbow Dash, those guys could have seriously hurt each other," said Twilight, "If I hadn't stepped in, the guards would have had to come."

Matt stopped, leaning down to listen closer.  He'd always been curious if their thoughts about him were genuine.  "I'm sure Matt means well most of the time, but that temper of his is almost savage," said Rarity, "Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we ever made him too mad."  Matt stopped at that before the little voice that lived in his head reminded him that his idea of a collectors item was a anti tank rifle.  "Hmm...I suppose I let that slide...surely I'm not that scary..." he muttered to himself.

"It's not his temper that's so bad," said Pinkie, "It's his reaction that you need to worry about.  I mean, I'm sure everyone likes a surprise now and then, but he's more likely to hit something when something startles him."  Matt stopped at that "I do not...most of the time." he said to himself.  "Not to mention he seems to prefer using violence to solve most of his problems," said Twilight, "I don't know about where he may come from, but that just isn't healthy for someone who lives with others."  Matt did stop at that "Wait a second..." he began

"I mean, suppose he should go too far with someone," said Twilight, "He's bound to get himself into serious trouble.  I'm not sure if Princess Celestia would allow him to live on his own."  Matt stopped at that, thoughts of an apology gently roasting away in a conclusion jumped fury. before opening the door "Hi." he said coldly, making the ponies jump.  "Just came to say...we're a few hours away...its either that or a thunderstorm over Everfree."

"Oh, I see," said Twilight.  "Why must the weather always be so inconvenient over Everfree?" said Rarity, "Letting the clouds run wild there seems so wrong."  "Yes...you'd think something would be done about all that violence." said Matt in a sub-zero tone before stomping back into the control room and slamming the door.

"Autopilot, I'm taking a nap, wake me up when we get there," said Matt.  "Protocol dictates that at least one capable pilot should be alert at all times," said the autopilot.  "Pilot commands you bite me." said Matt angrily, putting his hat over his eyes.  The autopilot beeped before claiming "Unable to comply...this unit is not fitted with dental equipment."

...

Sometime later, Matt was woken up by the sound of someone tapping on the door.  "Hey Matt, Matt, what's going on?  Why are we flying through all this snow?" called Rainbow Dash.  Matt yawned "No snow...ship can;t fly in snow..." he said half asleep before opening his eyes in time for a giant clump of snowflakes to hit the windscreen.  "GAH...SNOW!" he yelled, grabbing the controls.  "Warning...fuel temperature dangerously low...ice crystals detected in main feed." said the computer calmly as the ship started to shake.

"What the hell?  What are we doing here?" yelled Matt before trying to pull the ship up.  "Priority location was extracted to nav computer from wrist computer.  Location 2 was detected in vicinity.  Course re-routed to intercept.  Alert...high energy magi lifeforms detected." claimed the autopilot unit.  "Energy what?" asked Matt before suddenly he heard an unearthly howling.

He looked up to see something shooting towards the cockpit.  "Oh fu-" he began.  

...

Quite suddenly, the ponies felt the ship lurch before it started dropping.  The worrying part was that it was fast enough for the non-winged ponies to be floating.  An automated message began. stating calmly "Alert...a engine error has occurred...we at Starline industries apologise and promise a full refund if you survive...thank you for using Starline industries."  After a second or two gravity returned and Twilight managed to make it over to the cockpit door, opening it to show that all the controls were frozen or destroyed, Matt leaning back in his seat out cold and covered in frost.

"Uh, girls, I think we have a problem," said Twilight.  The others peered in to see the unconscious Matt, as well as the shape of several buildings in the blizzard straight ahead, as if on a steep slope "Uh, Matt, now's not a good time to not be awake," said Twilight before using her wake-up spell.  Matt's eyes shot open with a scream of "UUUUCK...please tell me thats just a cliff we’re heading for." he said, saying the past part more calmly

"Uh, I think there's some buildings on that cliff as well," said Fluttershy, as reasonably as a pony in her situation could...which wasn’t much to be honest.  Matt screamed and pulled back on any control that was still working, the ship starting to level out after a few seconds of this...  "Ah...nothing to it...just keep your head and..." began Matt, before all other thoughts were shaken out as the pod clipped the roof of a hut and smashed into the snow.

Fortunately, the snow was thick enough to cushion most of the force of the crash.  But still, there were some definite sounds of metal cracking and breaking.  The ship finally skidded to a halt in what had once been a town square, though the snow covering indicated that nothing had lived there for years.  Matt groaned, pushing himself up from where the crash had forced him over the controls.  "uuuugh...everyone ok?" he called.

"I think I lost my stomach in the crash," said Pinkie, a little green in the face.  "Thank god for gravity dampners.  Any landing you can walk away from and all that..." moaned Matt, rubbing his forehead and bringing his hand back to show blood, a cut from when the windscreen had shattered.  "What the hell was that thing?" he said, remembering the sight of the horse made of snow smashing through enforced glass like it was nothing.

"I believe the common term for it is a mountain," said Rainbow Dash flatly.  "No...mountains don’t scream at you." said Matt, distantly before adding more normally "Except on Mythicos...weird place that."  "What screaming?" asked Rarity.  "Urgh...I dunno." said Matt, getting up and searching the gear on the floor to pull a yellow and black backpack and what looked like a cylinder out.  "We gotta find shelter..." he said before spotting what looked like a castle overlooking the town.

Apparently the castle had been well-built as it seemed durable despite being abandoned for who knows how many years.  "We'll stay in there," he said, pointing.  The group climbed out of the pod and were immediately buffeted by the blizzards wind.  Matt took a moment to look at the pod...or what was left of it.  The port wing had been sheered off at some point in the crash and one of the boosters was gone.  It wouldn;t fly again.

"But what about the packages?" yelled Rarity over the wind.  "Leave them, they'll only slow us down!" yelled Matt, "Beside, the cold will keep them fresh or something!"  Rarity was about to reject that idea when a particularly strong gust of wind caused what had looked like solid snow under the pod to vanish, the ship tipping down into what had once been a river of some kind, now full of snow.  There was a crunch from inside.  "Still want to get them?" said Matt dully.

"We need to keep moving," called Twilight, "If we stay still too long, we'll start to freeze."  Matt nodded "Lets move." he called out over the howling wind.

...

Unfortunately it appeared the previous owners had locked the door with a spell.  Twilight probed the lock carefully as Matt seemed to be looking up at something.  "How long will it take to get that open?" asked Rainbow Dash, "I'm getting icicles on my wings."  "I don't know...this is a really powerful spell." said Twilight.  "Does it make the door invincible?" asked Matt.  "Well...not particulary," said Twilight, "It just keeps the door closed."

"Good...step aside please.  I found a key." said Matt, drawing his plasma pistol and setting it to narrow beam.  "Wait, wait, if you blow the door down, how will we keep the storm out?" said Twilight.  Matt aimed and blasted the lock, either not hearing or not caring.  After a second for the lock to cool he tried the handle.  "There...doors open..." he commented.

Still, the door was heavy so it took the combined strength of Applejack and Rainbow Dash to open it.  Matt aimed his blaster into the room beyond before lowering it and whistling...espetially at the large unicorn statue in the hall.  "Wow...your ancestors had bigger ego’s then Capt Dante." he said.

"I've read about this place," said Twilight, "We must be in the royal castle of the Unicorn Kingdom.  This place has been abandoned for over a thousand years."  "If it's warm enough, I don't care if it was built last month," said Rainbow Dash.  Matt looked at the icicles on the statue and the roof.  "Well...its warmer then outside." he said finally before putting the backpack down and starting to go through it.  "C'mon...I know there's one in here." he muttered before pulling out an orange tube.  "Bingo." he said triumphantly.

"What's that?" asked Pinkie.  "Thermal flare.  Instant heat without the problem of burning your shelter down." said Matt happily, bending the tube with a crack and shaking it till it started to glow before dropping it.  Instantly the room around the flare began to feel the benefits, warming up as the tube glowed brighter.  "Well, we won't freeze here," said Applejack, "But won't do us much good if we don't have soemthin' ta eat."  Matt pulled out a silver covered tray.  “I;d like to say there was food in here but..."

"Ooh, let me try," said Pinkie before swiping the tray and shoving it into her mouth.  She chewed a little before getting a disgusted look and spitting it out.  "NSC 'Meals ready to eat'.  Full of vitamins and minerals but sadly lots of taste.  Luckily they taste the same when they go off." said Matt, sympathetically.

"Is that all we have?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "It's not like we packed a picnic," said Applejack.  "Right, that's the only food here," said Matt, "I don't like its taste any more than you guys will, but it's all we have to...Pinkie, why are you sprinkling salt on my leg?"

...

The mood hadn;t improved after the first few hours, Matt trying to get his wrist comps comm to work.  "Come on, you piece of junk." he muttered.  "Why did you have to fly us out here anyways?" snapped Rainbow Dash.  "Oh...its my fault?  Stupid autopilot decided to give me a guided tour...oops." yelled Matt.  "Autopilot?  As in you weren't the one flying?" said Dash darkly.  Matt returned the glare before noticing the others had joined in.  "What?  Even violent aliens need their naptime." he said annoyed.

"You can't let a flyer sleep when they're flying," said Twilight.  "Even I know that," said Fluttershy.  "I'm not a flyer...my ship...was...and it has an autopilot to do it for me..." said Matt, angrily.  "Then why did it take us to this dreadfully cold and desolate place?" demanded Rarity.  "Something went wrong with the nav computer...said something was here." said Matt, calming down a bit before a blast of wind shot through the hall from the east door.

The ponies shuddered from the cold and Fluttershy said, "I thought this place would be warm."  "It's been abandoned for a thousand years," said Applejack, "Parts of it are bound to break down."  "I'll go check." muttered Matt darkly, picking up his blaster and walking for the door.

"Matt, you don't have to go," said Twilight.  "No, it's probably safer," said Matt, "You probably wouldn't want such a dangerously violent guy right next to you all the time."  The ponies stopped at that as Matt walked off.

"Did he just say..." started Applejack.  "Oh, you think he heard what we said about him earlier?" asked Fluttershy.  "I'm pretty sure that's proof he did," said Pinkie.  "You don;t think he thinks...he thinks we're gonna lock him up?" said Rainbow.

...

Matt's hotheaded mood was just about hot enough to keep the wind from freezing him, but not much hotter than that.  "Stupid ungrateful hay-munchers," grumbled Matt, "I pull them out of the heat all those times and this is what they think of me?”

He turned a corner before noticing the silence.  Even the wind sounded muted...apart from a faint skittering noise that went on for a split second after he stopped moving.  "I hear you." he muttered, slowly readying his plasma pistol before continuing, the skittering starting again. 

"Ok, you little rats," said Matt, "Come out with your paws up."  A humming noise began at that, a faint glow appearing near the roof.  "Ooooh shit." began matt before dodging back as what looked like a fireball shot out, blasting a hole in the masonry where he had been standing a second before.  Matt span back, firing a hail before seeing a enshadowed shape crawl away rapidly.  Matt ran after it, gun out...turned the corner and ran into Pinkie.

"Uh, Matt, me and the girls just wanted to apologize for..." she noticed Matt's somewhat manic look, "Is this a bad time?"  "Did you see anything?  It was big...and fast...and its armed." said Matt, manically, looking up.  Pinkie blinked and said, "Oh, I get it.  You took a big bite of ice, didn't you?  I did that once and my brain was scrambled with cold."

"It spat a fireball at me." glared Matt, leading Pinkie round the corner to point out exhibit A: the large and still glowing hole.  "Oooh...did you do that?" said Pinkie, looking at the melted rock.  Matt glared "No...the thing did it." he said, kicking the wall angrily, only for the ancient masonry to give way and the rest of the wall to fall...revealing something neither of them expected.  What looked like a ancient sea creature was smashed into the side, having demolished most of the east wing.  Matt had only seen it in pictures.  "Thats an atlantean ship." he said in a small voice, looking at the crystalline vessel.

"You sure it's not one of those fossil thingies?" asked Pinkie.  "Pretty sure," said Matt, "Especially since I don't think you have any fossils here."  Matt looked at the ship and the black scorch scores in the side.  The crash had clearly not been intentional.  "Well...looks like we found the draft." Matt joked before running down the open sided corridor to where a open hatch in the ship was revealed.  The corridor inside was surprisingly still lit, though it was cracked from damage.  "Hey...wanna explore, Pinkie?" said matt with a grin.

Pinkie looked down at the countless cracks in the floor.  "I don't know," she said, "It doesn't look safe."  "Safe?  Of course it's safe," said Matt as he started pushing her forward, "This stone was built to LAAAAAAAAAAAAST!"  The last part came from when the floor gave out from under Matt and Pinkie and sent them falling down.

Pinkie jumped up immediately and looked around at the various crystalline boxes around the room.  "Oh...It was lucky that I landed on something soft." she said happily before hearing a groan.  "Oopsie...Sorry Matt." she said apologetically, jumping off Matt who had been the unlucky crashmat.  "Stupid lousy-quality stone," groaned Matt.

Pinkie hopped over to one of the boxes and poked a hopeful looking rune which glowed, the top of the box segmenting and folding away to reveal rows of fruit, veg and other foodstuffs, as well as bottles of clear water, though the latter was frozen.  "Yay!  Food!" she called.

Matt leaned up "Thats...nice." he said weakly before noticing a smaller case at the side.  "oh...what we got here?" he commented, elbowing the case top and fracturing it to reveal "A tiara?  What the hell?" he muttered.  Still, Matt could tell this tiara was valuable, mainly because it was made of platinum and had amthysts set into it.

Matt settled for dropping it in the open food chest and, with pinkies help, started dragging it out.  "Least you don;t have to eat my leg now." said Matt, cheerfully.

"Ah, I wouldn't really do that," said Pinkie, "Just looking at it is enough to make me lose my appetite.  I mean, it's got such an uneven coat of fur and all those toes are just icky."  Matt just stared before shaking his head with a sigh.  "You are too random." he muttered.

...

The arrival of the food crate was met warmly when the duo returned.  "Dig in...there's months worth of that stuff...more then enough to wait this storm out." Matt said cheerfully.  "This is a lot better than that other stuff," said Rainbow, "Thanks a lot."  She quickly started eating some of the apples.  Rarity reached in with her magic to pull out a fruit and ended up pulling out the tiara instead.  "Oh...Matt.  Where did you find this?" she asked.  Matt looked over from telling Twi about the crashed ship "Oh...it musta been cargo like everything else."

"Hey, I saw that doodad before," said Applejack, pointing at the tiara.  Rarity scoffed and said, "Where could you have possibly seen a fabulous crown like this?"  "In one of them crystal recordin's down in the Ancient pit," said Applejack.  "She's right," said Twilight, "I think that's the Unicorn Tiara of Eliteness, one of the Primium Artifacts.  It belonged to the leader of the unicorns."  "The what now?" said Matt, confused.

"The Primium Artifacts are the most ancient relics known in Equestrian history," said Twilight, "Each of them contained the purest embodiment of each of the three races of pony and can bring out the highest potential of whoever wears them.  But they've been lost for ages."  "Hmm...so if you put that on, your magic would be supercharged." said Matt, looking at the innocent looking tiara.

"That's what the legends say," said Twilight, "But why would those Ancients keep it here?"  "Atlantean techs the only sort that’s magi immune." said Matt before seeing their look "Magi energys our name for magic.  I didn;t come up with the name." he said.  "How do we know it's the real thing?" asked Rainbow Dash, "It could be just a tiara."

"What you gonna do?  Put it on?  I don;t think thats such a good idea." began Matt.  
"Oh, I don't see what the problem would be," said Rarity as she lifted up the crown with her horn's power and moved it towards her head.  "Oh no you don't," snapped Matt before swiping the tiara, "No one's using this thing.  And to make sure, I'm keeping it right here."  With that, Matt shoved the tiara into the backpack from the ship.  "Its perfectly safe there.  Who knows what it'll do if you put it on?"

"Besides, I think we oughta get workin' on findin' a way back home," said Applejack, "I don't think we'll be able ta climb down this mountain."  "We'll just wait for the blizzard to stop.  It can’t last forever...right?" said matt, before noticing Twilights look "I know that look...thats the 'uh oh' look.  I’ve seen it too many times to not spot it." he said.

"I have a feeling that the Ancients chose this place for a reason," said Twilight.  "Uh, besides the near-inaccessablity?" asked Matt.  "Anyway...you didn’t see the ship.  No way that landing was intentional.  Something shot it down." said Matt, thinking back to whatever had ambushed him before he’d met Pinkie.  

"Who could have done that?" asked Fluttershy.  "I'm not sure, but I think it may have been those ghostly horses," said Matt.  He turned to look at them "What am I saying?  Even for this planet there isn’t ghostly hor...there are ghostly horses, aren’t there?" he said cheerfully before his voice went dull as he saw their looks.

"Matt, did those creatures make a scary howling sound?" asked Twilight.  "Yeah, and did it go like this?" asked Pinkie before making a very strange-sounding howl.

"Worryingly like that." said Matt a little unnerved.  "That must have been a windigo then," said Twilight, "They're winter spirits of hatred, who drove the three pony races from their first homes.  And this must have been the original Unicorn Kingdom."  "Uh, are they going to eat us?" asked Matt worriedly.  "Uh, no, but they'll feed on our animosity," said Twilight, "Where did you get that idea?"

"Over the years, I’ve been on the menu of many lifeforms." said Matt, conversationally.  "Well, it won't be hard to get rid of them, right?" asked Fluttershy, "Twilight can make that Fire of Friendship to keep them away, right?"  Twilight shook her head "I think we'd need the elements for that." she said gravely.  Matt shrugged "Lets just not get angry then." he said conversationally.  "Right, we will just calm and civilized," said Rarity, "Not a discourageable word among us."

"Yes...and nobody think about how we're probably in their nest." said Matt sarcastically to himself.  "So, how long do we have to wait in here?" asked Rainbow Dash, "I mean, they'll give up at some point, right?"

...

Two Days later...

"'They'll give up at some point.'" said Matt, sarcastically while chewing on an apple from the supply crate.  It had been two days since the crash and if anything the storm had increased...as if the things causing it knew they were there...which seeing as Matt had flown the shuttle through one of them was almost a certainty.

Of course, the most likely reason they hadn't left was because of the growing tension of being stuck in one place for so long.  The six girls may be good friends, but even the best of friends can become really irritable if they're together for too long.

For Matt, this wasn’t too bad as he had turned an empty room in the still intact west wing into a inprompt shooting range or as Matt was calling it 'the stress relief room'.  It was a worrying indication to any outside force watching of his sanity that the targets had pictures of darius, the merc known as dante and various other pains in Matts butt on them.  "I'll shoot that smirk off your face yet," said Matt as he aimed at a picture, "Won't be so happy for long, will ya?" 

After a second he looked at the emergency beacon that had been in the survival pack.  This whole incident was a catch 22.  If he didn’t engage the beacon they could be stuck here forever...but if he did, it was a guarantee that the Icarus would pick it up.  "It might not have to come to that," said Matt, "I mean, somepony's eventually gonna notice the girls missing and send out a rescue party."

The little niggling doubt in his head said 'True that...except the stupid autopilot took you off course by a few hundred miles in the wrong direction.'  Applejack wandered into the room in time to see Matt yell at empty air "Shut up, brain." "Matt's finally startin’ to crack," said Applejack to herself with a sigh "Why am ah not surprised?"  Matt shrieked in surprise at that "DON’T...do that." he said, twitching.

"Well, now that you're listenin' to a voice besides the ones in yer head, ya got any bright ideas for gettin' out of here?" asked Applejack, "Them food storages won't last forever."  "There's nothing we can do.  The emergency beacons....broken.  Musta been the crash." said Matt, lying smoothly.  If they thought it was broken, less chance of them accidentally activating it.  

"Well, them windigos aren't going away anytime soon," said Applejack, "Surely you got somethin' that can make them go.  Maybe a really big torch or somethin'."  "No...there's some arctic survival gear in the pack...but only human sized.  Ok...there must be a way out of here...hell, your ancestors managed it." said Matt, a little tired before noticing Applejack looking at the impromptu targets, more precisely at how dante's picture had earnt the most shots.  

"You think you oughta be wastin' your shots on these?" asked Applejack.  "Its better then going nuts.  Pinkie tried to make a rock cake from real rocks an hour ago...though that might be the wierd purple fruit she ate from the crate." said Matt, reasonably.

"Exactly, we can't stay here much longer," said Applejack, "It's just a matter of time before Pinkie snaps and, well...I'd rather not think on that."  Matt shuddered “Either surprise or pinkamena." he finished in a worried voice.  "I'll raid the wreck tomorrow.  There must be something we can use...a shuttle, survival gear...even an escape pod could get us far enough away."

"Better hurry with that," said Applejack, "The others won't be able to stand bein' cooped up much longer either."

...

Rainbow fluttered around the atrium where the gang had camped down for the last two days.  While it had been big enough for her to fly a little, now... "I gotta get out of here...I feel like the walls are closing in." she said, looking around worried.  "For the twelfth time, the walls are not closing in," said Rarity, "They're exactly where they're supposed to be."

"For now, but sooner or later they're going to come tumbling down on us," said Rainbow Dash, "I have to get out of here before- WHAT WAS THAT?"  "What was what?" asked Fluttershy looking around.  The group turned to where Rainbow Dash was pointing "I don't see anything, darling." said Rarity, carefully using magic to shine a light into the alcove to reveal nothing.  "I'm sure I saw...something.  It looked like it had rubies for eyes." said Rainbow.

"Rainbow Dash, I'm getting worried for you," said Fluttershy, "You've been inside for too long."  Matt and Applejack walked in at that "Ah, the hallucination stage...did you eat that purple fruit?" said Matt, teasingly.

"I'm sure I saw something," said Rainbow Dash.  "Rainbow, I think you need to lie down and get some shut-eye," said Applejack.  "Yeah...and I'm gonna run a toxin test on the rest of the alien fruit." said Matt, strolling towards the depleted food crate before seeing his bag was open and "Hey...who took the tiara?" he said.  "Not me," said Fluttershy.  "Why would I want it?" said Rainbow.  "I already have my own hat," said Applejack.

Matt looked at Pinkie who was sleeping off the kogana fruit, a fruit only really meant to be eaten by combine, that she'd eaten before dismissing her and looking around "Twilight in that library in the north wing again?" he asked, spotting the unicorns absence.

"She spends all her time there," said Rarity, "I don't know how she stay in such a dusty room for so long."  "The same reason I use that old ballroom as a shooting range." said Matt before walking off to find Twilight.  As Matt was walking away, Rarity saw that the tiara had slipped out of his bag.  "Oh Matt, I-" she called, but he had already left.  She looked at the tiara and said, "Well, I suppose there's no trouble in just trying it on for a little while," before levitating the tiara to her head.

The tiara seemed to flash for a second before altering to a more comfortable fit on Raritys head.  Fluttershy looked at Rarity, saying "You look just like you did in the hearts warming eve pageant." kindly.  "Yes, it was a faithful representation of the original," said Rarity, "But I still need a royal cape to match.  I wonder if there's one preserved around here somewhere."

The trio looked around for such a thing, nopony thinking to look up to where rainbow dash's 'hallucination' watched them with cold logic.

...

Matt walked into the old castle library to see Twilight at one of the reading tables that were still intact.  "Hey, twilight...you seen the tia...what you got there? he asked, noticing Twilights grave expression as she read.  "I think one of your Ancients used this book for a log," said Twilight, "Apparently, they were trapped here like we were."  

Matt looked at the book before picking it up and beginning to read, his translator nanites allowing him to understand it "Entry 212:  The ashen caught us off guard.  Between the abomination from the administration lab and their fleet, it was over in minutes.  Our ship was evacuating essential devices and artifacts when they hit us.  There are 12 of us plus the cerberus project left.  We have enough food for months...hopefully Taleth will send reinforcements." Matt read out loud.


Matt looked down to the next legible entry “Entry 220:  The local lifeforms are more diverse than we thought, though this is not a good thing here.  We've been stranded here for several days because some sort of weather creature has been creating a blizzard.  If that weren't bad enough, Cerberus has been acting-  Just a minute, I'm needed elsewhere.”

"Sounds bad." said Matt, worried before looking at the next page and paling "Last entry:  Cerberus must have been damaged in the crash.  It is concidering us all intruders...I think I am the only one left.  I can hear him outside...he knows I have nowhere to run.  If you find this message...GET OUT!" read Matt out loud.

Twilight also looked scared.  "Did they say what Cerberus is?" asked Twilight.  "No...the rests all burnt away." said Matt weakly before looking sat Twilight.  If it killed its own crew...what'll it do to people who looted the ship?" he asked weakly before the two started running back to the atrium

They ran into the atrium, Matt yelling, "Girls, we have a-"  He stopped when he saw what looked like a mechanical dog with red optics "Oh boy...girls...lets all back away from the potentially homicidal robot." Matt said calmly.  The bot turned to look at Matt "Multiple weapons detected...class 2 technology...threat level 4 percent." it chimed calmly

"4 percent?  Hey, I'm a bigger threat than that!  I've a big list of enemies who want to whack me," snapped Matt.  The bot looked at Matt for a minute before saying, "Exaggeration to compensate for shortcomings, re-evaluating threat level to 3 percent."  

"Why you little..." began Matt angrily before the bot looked around "Untriggered beacon detected." it said calmly, focussing on the emergency beacon in Matts pack.  "Erm...its broken." said Matt lamely only for the bot, in a few bounds to reach the pack and lift the beacon out "Internal scan indicates 100% functionality."

"Wait, ya mean we coulda called for help all along?" asked Applejack accusingly.  "Yes...the sort of help that nearly blew the town up...have we forgotten who else has a starship?" said Matt, annoyed "The icarus'll pick up the beacon too."  "And so the only other option was to stay trapped here?" snapped Rainbow Dash.

"When the other choice is to be shot, I think I'd prefer to wait for a local rescue team." snapped Matt before looking at the bot "...And as for you...what rock did you come out from under?"  The bot returned the look, saying calmly "On-board administrative unit 2-9-7."

The bot continued calmly "The chance of an orbital ship detecting the beacon without orbital assistance is 4.5 percent."  "In that case, let's get this thing working," said Pinkie before walking over to the beacon.  It took her a few tries to activate it, partially because she didn't know how it work, but mainly because she didn't have fingers.

Matt tried to grab the beacon but was too late, the top of it opening and a rhythmic beeping beginning.  "Great...we're dead." he said, matter-of-fact'ly.  "He just said that there was a small chance that the Icarus would find us," said Fluttershy.  "Yeah, but who else would respond to this beacon?" retorted Matt, "It sends out an electronic signal, nopony here would be able to pick it up."

"What about your ship?" suggested Twilight.  Matt sighed "Thats only if Aria isn’t joy riding in that body she made." he said glumly.  "The icarus has better gear...plus, their ship hasn’t crashed."  "This is a matter of survival, Matt," said Applejack, "Ya gotta consider every option, even if ya don't wanna."  "We're gonna die." muttered Matt to himself.

...

A little later...

Matt had decided that, if he was gonna be shot later, he’d explore the shipwreck first.  "Stupid junk." he muttered, picking his way through a debris strewn corridor.  Matt knew that a crashed ship wouldn't be very neat, especially if it's been crashed for thousands of years, but this ship seemed to be especially messy.  

He finally came to what he thought was the armoury and storage room.  "Finally...lets see how darius's men like plasma staff fire." he muttered, trying the door control, only for it to open a inch.  "Stupid ancient..." he muttered, pulling at it and finally getting it open...for a skeleton to fall on him.

Naturally, Matt screamed and jumped back, pulling the skeleton off of him and throwing it to the floor.  "Bloody hell...guess its not as deserted as I....thought." he said, his voice trailing off as he looked into the storeroom.  The skeleton had not been alone, the room containing at least 11 other human skeletons as well as a mix and match of locals.  "Dear...lord." Matt muttered, walking into the room slowly.  The console at the far end appeared to still be active, a video feed on pause.

Matt carefully walked over and pressed a button, causing the vid to restart.  "This is zandi...Cerberus has gone nuts.  He just shot the chief engineer.  Someone get down here before he gets in..." said the panicked face of an atlantean on the feed before a blast hit him  in the back, causing him to slump down before a familier face loomed on the screen.  "Intruder neutralized...continuing sweep." said the face of the 'administrative unit'.

"Oh smeg, oh smeg, oh smeg," said Matt, "I just left the girls with a psycho robot."  Matt turned to look around before running for the door.  A droning noise overhead got his attention and he spotted a exo gene dropship landing near where the shuttle had crashed "Oh, come on." he moaned

...

Back with the others...

Twilight was looking at the tiara.  "Rarity...shouldn’t you take that off?" she asked, noticing the way the bot was also apparently staring.  "It's not doing any harm," said Rarity, "I've barely used any magic with it.  Besides, it looks so perfect on me."  "You are wearing property of the tech guild." chimed the bot, still looking at the tiara.

"Well, I would return it to them if they came to collect it," said Rarity, "But that doesn't seem likely now, does it?"  "Classified cargo must be protected from intruders." said the bot coldly, its optics glowing.  "Quite right, we wouldn't want any ruffians to damage this beautiful diadem," said Rarity.

"Remove classified cargo at once." said the bot, rearing up...and a trio of bolts shot into its back from a doorway, sending it sliding across the room.  Matt strode in, firing another volley at the crippled machine.  "Matt, why did you do that?" asked Twilight.  "Because your buddy's real name is Cerberus," said Matt.

"Thats nonsense.  We've met cerberus..." began Rarity before a whirring got their attention.  The bot slowly got up, the blaster damage visibly vanishing.  "Stealth approach:  Failed.  Initiating combative measures." it said in a much deeper voice.  "Get outta here..." yelled Matt, firing again at Cerberus.

The girls didn't need much more convincing.  Cerberus was looking more unfriendly by the second.  They quickly headed down a corridor.  Matt turned his head for a second to make sure they'd escaped before turning back...to see the bot had vanished.  "C'mon...show yourself, you glorified toaster." he muttered.

Just then, a blast of energy knocked the blaster out of Matt's hand and when it hit the floor, it was a puddle of molten metal.  "Ok, maybe you're more like a glorified microwave," said Matt.  

He looked around before spotting a shape crouched halfway up a pillar.  It lunged at him in a blur and only luck allowed Matt to avoid it.  Matt stood up unsteadily and heard a grinding, turning to see the statue in the room slowly sliding in half.  He gulped nervously before the bot landed in front of him, delivering several rapid fire punches to Matts chest before backflipping, kicking him under the chin.

Matt was thrown into a wall with a crack.  Fortunately, he was still wearing his battle armor so it was just the walk that cracked.  Matt groaned weakly.  Though the armour had saved him from broken ribs, the kick had scrambled his marbles.  He looked up to see what seemed like three blurry shapes.  "That musta been a good kick." he moaned "Neutralizing subject." said the bot before a plasma blast hit Matt in the chest.  

...

Unfortunately, Matt hadn’t been seeing triple.  The name 'Cerberus' had been given to a model of bot that operated in threes.  Matt had been outnumbered the whole time.  "We should completely eliminate him," said one Cerberus bot.  "Acknowledged, he is a threat to the cargo and the artifact," said a second Cerberus.  "Objection, his armor is capable of withstanding our weaponry," said the third, "He could provide important data."

"Agreed...with coercion, he may be able to draw out additional intruders.  They have activated a magi field over the west wing entrance.  Entry impossible." said the second bot coldly, looking at Matt before claiming "Target lifesigns fluxuating." before he stopped "Additional intruders detected on ranged scan." before the trio leapt into the shadows.  

A minute or two later, the gate exploded inwards and a dozen or so troopers in exo gene armor ran in.  "Clear." called one of them before spotting Matt.  "Shit...Man down." 
"Wait a minute, that's Lynch," said one of them, "We should just leave him.  It'll save a lot of trouble."  The captain of the team, a captain alandros glared "Cause I like to think we're mercs...not marauders.  Medic...get him some med nanites...and I want this area locked down.  Thats a plasma burn...someone or something shot him."

"This place has been abandoned for who knows how long," said a trooper, "There's no way those ponies could have developed plasma technology, they don't even have computers."  "That means we're not alone." said Alandros before calling to where his men were trying to open the west door.  "Whats the hold up?" he yelled "Somethings locked the door.  I think someones behind here." one of the troopers yelled back.

"Then break down the door," called Alandros.  "We tried...the demo charge turned into a rock." yelled the trooper before kicking at the door.  "Open the fuck up.  We know you're in there."  "GO AWAY!" shouted Rainbow Dash's voice.  "Like hell...get out here before we show you what we do to CPS killers." retorted the trooper.  Alandros rolled his eyes before looking down as Matt coughed, the nanites having already closed his wounds and now working on replacing the lost blood.  "Lynch...what did this?" he asked gravely only to look confused as Matt went bug eyed and pointed weakly at the ceiling.  

Alandros looked up to see what looked like a robot dog clinging to the ceiling.  "What the-" he started.  A plasma blast arced down, narrowly missing Alandros and slamming into the medics back.  "HOSTILES!" he yelled as two more skittered into view before leaping down into the midst of the squad.  It was at that point that all hell broke loose for the squad.

...

"GO AWAY!" shouted Rainbow Dash's voice.  The ponies winced as a human voice yelled "Like hell...get out here before we show you what we do to CPS killers." The group had run into a corridor, twilight quickly casting a locking spell on the door.  It had just been in time as they had heard the fight before hearing an explosion...and other humans.  

"I hope Matt's ok out there," said Fluttershy.  "Well, it's not like those guys would just shoot him on sight, right?" asked Pinkie.  A plasma blast was suddenly heard and the ponies paled before one of the voices yelled "HOSTILES!" and the sound of weapon fire was heard, coupled with shrieks of pain.  The voice that had told them to open the door was heard again, panicking "Open the door, man...open the damn door...c'mon ma-urk." it sad, cutting off with a gurgle.

"Uh, I really don't think you should open that door now," said Rarity.  "But Matt's still out there," said Twilight, worried.


Matt was pulled to his feet by alandros.  "Get the hell up, Lynch and start shooting." he yelled, handing a pulse blaster to Matt.  Matt was about to reply when they were forced to roll to avoid one of the bots who had tried to drop on them before it sprang at a trooper banging at the door, neatly taking the guys head off.  "Shit...what the fuck is that?" swore alandros.  

"All I know is they're Atlantean, they're homicidal, and they are extremely territorial," said Matt.  "All are excellent reason to keep moving," said Alandros before they ran for the door.  Matt banged on the door desperately “Open the door...open the door or we’re dead." he yelled panicking a little hysterically.  "Quick, Twilight, let them in," said Applejack's voice.  "Wait, how do we now it's Matt?" said Pinkie's voice.  

Matt yelled "PINKIE!" angrily only for Pinkies voice to say cheerfully "Thats definitely him."  The door glowed for a second before Matt tried the door again ant it swung inwards.  Alandros yelled "Squad...over here...now!"  Two troopers ran into view, one tossing his rifle aside to try and run faster, only for the trio of bots to tackle him.  The other one managed to dive inside.  "CLOSE THAT DOOR!" yelled Alandros

Matt kicked the door shut just as Twilight cast the locking spell again.  It was just in time as one of the bots was leaping at the doorway.  "What the hell was that, man?" gibbered the trooper who had made it, the same one who had asked why they should bother healing Matt.  "The watchdogs of this place," said Matt, "I don't know what they're malfunction is, but they aren't about to let anyone leave her alive."  

Pinkie said glumly "Aw...it seemed so nice earlier." Matt said darkly "Believe me...I found the previous visitors...these guys like to collect."  "Ooh, what do they collect?" asked Pinkie, "Do they like to collect seashells?  I don't collect seashells, but I know a pony who does.  She lives on a beach where she spend a lot of time collecting sea shells.  But she doesn't keep every sea shell so she sells sea shells by the sea shore."

"They collect bones." said Matt coldly before getting up only for the trooper to aim at him “Hey...you stay right there...you're still under arrest."  Alandros rolled his eyes "Oh, shut up private.  I don;t think Lynch and the marshmallow ponies are in any position to escape...neither are we.  That halls the only way back to the damn dropship." he said annoyed.

"Hey!  Who are you calling a marshmallow?" snapped Rainbow Dash.  Alandros sighed "I'm not in the mood...and the commander said we wouldn’t be held responcible for collateral...I just seen friends of mine slaughtered...don;t push me."  

"Listen, we all have a problem here," said Twilight, "Those robots are not going to stop until they get us.  So we need to stop fighting with each other and start thinking of how to escape."  Alandros puts his hands in the air "Finally...the first voice of reason all day.  I shoulda aborted when I saw the wrecked ship.  Look...this doesn;t change much.  Lynch is still under arrest...but that can wait.  This place must have a back entrance...we're not using the front door...not unless we take those bots out." he said methodically.

"I did read that the unicorns had a secret back tunnel in case of emergencies," said Twilight, "It was in one of the books at the library.  Alandros muttered "And knowing how this days going its in the east wing..." Twilight said "It mentioned it was in the library somewhere but I never got a chance to look."  Alandros and the trooper looked at Matt "Are you always this lucky?" asked the trooper.

...

The trip to the library was short and uneventful, but that didn't mean the group was on edge.  Once inside, the mercs started pulling the books off the shelves.  "What are you doing?" demanded Twilight.  "Everyone knows that if there's a secret door in a library, it's triggered by moving one of the books," said the trooper.

Matt rolled his eyes "Guys...GUYS!" he said, before yelling the last part, "This is a magi verse...its probably some wierd spell or a sneeze or something." He said more normally once he had their attention.  "Then let's see some magic already," snapped the trooper.

The ponies glared before Twilight lit up her horn, looking around before trotting over to the wall.  "Somethings here...but it'll need alot of magic..." she said before the gang turned to look at Rarity.  "You did say that tiara supercharges magic, didn’t you Twilight?  Lets see if it can do it for you." said matt, reaching for it...and being thrown across the room with a flash and a crack of thunder.  "Ow...I guess I don’t have touchy feelie rights." he moaned.

"Sorry, maybe Twilight should use it," said Rarity.  Rarity reached for the tiara with her magic and carefully lifted it off before passing it to Twilight.  Matt, Alandros and the trooper exchanged a look and slowly got into cover.  "Ok, this could be tricky," said Twilight before her horn started glowing, followed by the tiara's amethysts glowing.

Matt covered his ears as Twilights magic burst demolished the wall covering the passage door.  Alandros just stared "Damn." he muttered, impressed.  "Wow, I didn't know the magic was that powerful," said Twilight.  "It belonged to the boss of the unicorns..." said Matt, weakly, shining a light into the passage beyond.  "If it gets us out of here, I don't care if belongs to the queen of the fairies," said the trooper.

"Lets just go." said Matt before the distant sound of splintering wood was heard.  "Yeah, lets go now." he added urgently.  The group quickly hurried into the passageway, though it was a bit cramped as it wasn't made for a large group of escapers or for beings much taller than ponies.  "Screw that plan.  I'm not going in there." said the rookie trooper, staring at the tunnel.  Alandros just sighed "Get in there, you idiot...that things coming."

"If he doesn't want to go, let him stay," said Matt, "Those things will be slowed down when they stop to deal with him."  The trooper gulped and said "Well...maybe I should-" before being knocked forward as a plasma burst hit him in the back.

The group turned to see the smoldering hole in the door and the glaring face of the mech peering through it.  That immediately eliminated any disapproval for the tunnel and they scurried to get in. Alandros pushed Matt in and pulled a stick out his armoured vest.  "Bombs away." he said, tossing the tube into the room before pushing the tunnel door shut.  A flash was seen round the door and the ground shook with a 'WHOMPH'.  “Lets see that jerk survive that.” alandros muttered.

"You...you destroyed the library..." said Twilight in horror.  "What would you prefer...dead library or just being dead?" said Alandros in a matter of fact voice.  "But most of those books and scrolls were irreplacable and one-of-a-kind," said Twilight, angrily.  "As far as I'm concerned, you are neither and I suggest you get your priorities straight and keep moving," said Alandros.  "C'mon, Twi...listen to the nice mercenary with the demo charges." said Matt, mock cheerfully.

Twilight gave them a disapproving look but turned and headed down the tunnel.  "Alandros...word of advice...I'd not burn any more books...she's got a real temper." muttered Matt.  "I've got bigger worries than hurting a bookworm's feelings," said Alandros.  "Bookworm knows many spells...some probably hurt." said Matt casually going past Alandros down the tunnel.

...

Since the humans had to crouch to go through the tunnel, they took a little slower than they all probably would have preferred.  The tunnel eventually began to level out after a half hour of sloping down before coming to another door.  "Ok, Twi...door blasting time." said Matt before he and Alandros fought to be the first round the corner.

"Ok, just a minute," said Twilight before her horn and the tiara's gems started glowing.  Matt covered his ears before the door simply opened slowly, Twilight having gotten used to the tiara's boost.  "Ok...that was anti-climatic." said Alandros, dissapointed.  "Who cares as long as we're getting out of here," said Matt.

The group scrambled out to find themselves what had been a bedroom, though now it was almost buried in snow thanks to one of the walls missing.  Alandros slowly looked up to see the 'roof' consisted of the hull of the crashed atlantean ship.  "Crap...bad place to be." he muttered.  "Uh, you did park your ship nearby, right?" asked Matt.

"No...we parked in the town below the castle...didn’t wanna risk you just gunning us down before we could even land." said Alandros, a little bitterly.  Matt looked up at the ship.  "Ah, crap...we're in the east wing again..." he moaned.  "So we're back where we started?" said Rainbow Dash.  "Nope...this is much worse." commented Matt.

"Now where are we supposed to go?" asked Applejack.  "Uh, back into the main hall?" suggested Matt.  Fluttershy cringed at that "But...that...things there." she said.  Alandros shook his head "Not likely...its probably following the same tunnel...we should be able to sneak out the doors and get out of here."  "Then we better hurry before it catches up," said Applejack.

...

Apart from the weapon damage, the hall looked like no battle had taken place at all, the bodies removed by the cerberus bots.  "Ok...thats just creepy...it does house cleaning too?" muttered Matt.  "What if it...eats them?" asked Fluttershy in a scared voice.  "Robots don't need to eat," said Alandros.

Matt heard a scuttling and looked up to see one of the bots on the roof.  "Oh hell.  However, they can climb." he said, firing up at the bot.  The bot dropped down from the ceiling, neatly turning so it landed on its feet.  "Girls, get going, we'll hold it off," said Matt.  "We can;t just..." began Rainbow before a blast bounced off the wall next to her, Alandros yelling "Get moving, pony girl." he yelled, turning his gun to another bot.

The girls decided they didn't have time to argue, especially since the third bot will probably be arriving soon.  Matt and Alandro backed up ,back to back.  “I'm presuming you have a plan other then 'die'." said Matt, out the corner of his mouth.  Alandros shrugged as the two bots slowly circled like wolves "Thought I'd take a leaf out of your book and wing it, Lynch."

"I don't always wing it," said Matt, "Just when I don't know what I'm up against."  "Like now?" said Alandros, adding in a low voice "And there's the last of the three stooges." nodding to where the third bot was coming in through the smashed west wing door.  "This is your final warning," said the third bot, "Surrender and your destruction will be mercifully swift."  "Oh yeah...do your worst.” yelled Matt, Alandros facepalming and saying "Tell me, Lynch...does your brain ever visit the planet earth?"

"Activation gestalt program," said the bots.  Two of them seemed to collapse halfway on the left and right sides respectively, their front and back pairs of legs being drawn into one.  The third retracted its limbs and seemed to bulk up even more.  Then the first two attached themselves to the sides of the third, resulting in a large three-headed version of the dog bots.

Alandros and Matt looked at each other before Alandros said "The board doesn;t pay me enough." and the two ran for it.  The Cerberus bot followed after them, two of its heads blasting at them.  "Bloody atlanteans and their bloody stupid robo-pooches." yelled Matt as the two ran out into the snow, dodging plasma bursts.

"You just had to provoke it, didn't you?" snapped Alandros.  "How was I supposed to know they could combine into a three-headed death machine?" snapped Matt.  "Its called 'CERBERUS'...what did you think it would do?" yelled Alandros, as they dodged into the ruined village.  "So...maybe we can play some music and it'll go to sleep?" suggested Matt.  

"How the hell have you dodged us for so long?" said Alandros in a tired voice, peering out into the street for their pursuer.  "I try to be as unpredictable as possible," said Matt.  "For gods sake...Lets just get the hell out of here...hopefully your friends had the sense to run for the dropship." said Alandros.  "Uh...you mean your dropship?" asked Matt.

"Yes...the heavily armed assault ship with cannons that can turn that tin can into so much scrap." said Alandros angrily.  "Good, I just hope it's fast enough to keep up with Fluffy's movements," said Matt.  There was a cracking noise at that "What the hell was-" began Alandros before the wall beside the group seemed to explode, Cerberus easily smashing the wall apart to reach them.

"You have got to be kidding me," said Matt before shooting wildly at the dog bot.  The machine roared angrily as the two mercs fired at it, swatting them both out into the street, the only thing stopping them from being smeared being the deep snow from the eternal snowstorm.  

"Ok, the Atlanteans were really, really advanced, but they weren't perfect," groaned Matt as he slowly got back up, "This thing has to have a weak point."  "Like what?" said Alandros, sorely as the cerberus tore its way out of the building.  "Well, I don't think it spent too much time outside since it's been here," said Matt, "Maybe if we keep it out in the snow, its systems will freeze and it shuts down."

"It'll probably have to be out here for hours...we can’t be lucky for that long." said Alandros, wincing.  Matt looked over "Whats wrong...aw hell." he asked, before spotting where the bot had slashed Alandros through his armor when it had knocked them into the street.  "It hurts, but it's not stopping me from moving," said Alandros, "We can't afford to stand in one place for too long."

Are you nuts?  You’re almost sliced in half." said Matt disbelivingly, pulling Alandros up and putting an arm round him to help him along, the two heading up the street.  "I'm just going to slow you down," said Alandros, "Those locals won't stand a chance if that thing gets both of us."  "Like hell I’m leaving you to that things tender mercies." said Matt angrily.  Alandros returned the glare before holding up a demo charge "That thing slaughtered my men...call this payback..now sod off." he said, pushing Matt back.

"You don't have the strength to hurl that thing right," said Matt.  "Who said anything about hurling it?" said Alandros coldly, twisting the top of the charge and starting its timer.  Matt really didn't want to leave Alandros's side, but he only had a limited amount of seconds to get clear of him.  "See ya on the other side, Lynch." said Alandros mock cheerfully as the cerberus pulled itself round the corner.

...

Alandros watched as Matt reluctantly ran for it before looking up at the atlantean machine.  "Can I help you?" he mocked before wincing as it picked him up by the neck.  "Got...something...for you." he rasped.  The six optics barely had time to register the fact that Alandros had a live grenade before it blew up.

...

The ponies had managed to find their way to where the exo gene ship had been parked, the large ship both familier from its sister vessels attack on ponyville and the fact that its black/grey pattern stood out in the snow.  "Ok, we just hide in there until Matt comes back," said Twilight, "We should be safe."  "Uh, how do we get in?" asked Rainbow Dash.

A loud explosion was heard from the town, a fireball visible over the roofs.  "Ah hope that wasn;t Lynch." said Applejack in a worried tone before Matt was spotted heading round the corner.  "Matt, what happened to-" started Twilight before Matt said, "He gave us a chance to escape and we have to do it now."

The dropship itself was already half iced up, a testimony to the storms ferocity.  Matt opened up a hatch and gulped, the meter on the display inside showing a blue sliver and several warnings.  "Engines are iced...they'll need to warm up." he said, pressing a button on the display and shutting it.

"Maybe we should have brought Spike along after all," said Rarity, "Oh, why did he have to start shedding this week?"  Matt turned as a column of snow was seen fountaining up in the distance.  "You have got to be kidding me.  Get in the dropship and try not to attract attention." said Matt, gravely, heading up the ramp to open a gear cabinet and pulling a pulse cannon out.  "If this doesn;t kill it..." he muttered, not finishing the thought.

"Matt, you can't fight that thing, it's too powerful," said Rainbow Dash.  "And the windigos are still out there," said Fluttershy urgently, as roar from the clouds reminding Matt of the storms architects.  "If I don't slow that tin can down, it'll get here before the ships finished warming up.  You'll be able to call Aria to come pick you up...anyway, I didn’t put 'dying' into my diary this week..." said Matt, adding the last part a little cockily, thinking '...cause I don;t own one.'  

As Matt walked out with the pulse cannon, he said to himself, "Ok, that thing took a grenade to the face, er, faces.  Surely that's got to have done some damage."  The ponies watched as Matt headed back towards the town, the pulse cannon slung over his shoulder unsteadily.  "We're following him, right?" said Rainbow dash out the corner of her mouth.  "About 20 paces behind," replied Rarity.

...

Matt peered around the corner into the main square.  "Hello?  Where are yoooou?" he called.  Matt peered around and said to himself, "It's a huge robotic three-headed dog, it should stick out like a sour thumb."  On cue, the building at the far end, the ruins of some kind of town hall exploded to allow the atlantean bot free, its six optics focussing on him.  "There he is.” whimpered Matt before pulling the pulse cannon down.  "Ok...button here." Matt muttered as the droid began to slowly lope towards him through the thick snow.

"Just gotta hit it right in the middle," muttered Matt as he reached for the trigger.  "Warning:  safety is enabled." chimed a male voice from the weapon "You gotta be kidding." whimpered Matt, before hearing a thud, looking up and being knocked flying across the square.  "Ow...uh, can you give me a minute to get my gun ready?" called Matt.

The bots reply was to throw a piece of masonry at Matt, who only just rolled in time to avoid.  "Oh, come on!  It's common courtesy!" yelled Matt.  Matt shook the pulse cannon desperately as the bot strode towards him.  "Come on...please work." he whimpered before being grabbed and hung in front of the bot upside down.  "Oh...erm...hi," he said nervously before a green light came lit up on the cannon.  "Safety disabled." it chimed.  Matt aimed in the bots face.  "Erm...its for you." he said, firing at point blank.

Fortunately, the safety disable included the kickback inhibitor, which allowed Matt to be thrown clear of the explosion.  "Ow..." moaned Matt, getting up unsteadily before seeing the bot face down in the snow, smoking.  "Heh...HAHAHA...Take that, you sorry excuse for a Ipet." he said, laughing a little hysterically.

"Yay!  You beat the monster!" yelled Pinkie Pie.  Matt turned to see the girls there.  "I thought I told you to stay on the ship," said Matt.  "We thought we might be able to help beat that big metal meanie pants." said Pinkie cheerfully, bouncing in the snow.  "Yes...I guess I did." said Matt a little tired, adding "Well...revenge is meant to be served cold...we are in the right place."

"You sure that thing won't get back up?" asked Applejack.  "Oh please...I shot it with an anti-ship weapon.  Its not gonna get..." began Matt before a plasma burst shot skyward as the bot got back up, the dents and slashes in its armor visibly vanishing.  "This unit is inconvenienced...full termination authorized." it said coldly before a angry pain filled shriek was heard from the clouds.

"Oh, now what?" snapped Matt.  "Er, you think that thing can feel hate?" asked Applejack.  "I’d say so." said Matt, gulping before looking up to see three ghostly white horses descending, one sporting a black scorch on its side from the wild plasma blast.  Their gazes seemed to say 'Who did that?' as they peered angrily at the group.  Matt pointed at the bot and said childishly "He did it."  

The windigos shrieked before soaring towards the Cerberus bot.  The robot looked at the windigos and stated, "Abnormal decrease in temperature detected, source confirmed as ice-based anomaly.  Neutralizing threat."  Then each of the three heads spat a blast at each of the windigos.  Matt pushed the ponies back "Leg it while they decide who wins." he said panicking.

The group quickly ran back to the ship, the windigos' shrieking and the sound of gunfire was heard as the battle behind them intensified.  Matt was first into the dropship, climbing the ladder in the troop compartment up to the cockpit.  "Please work." he repeated under his breath before grinning as the control board lit up green across and the whine of the engines starting was heard.  "Time to go..." he said, closing the troop compartment and starting to lift the dropship up.  

He got a good sight of the windigo's trying to freeze the cerberus bot, only for the bot to smash free and fire several ineffectual shots.  He then looked down to see that the dropships dashboard indicated a full loadout.  "Waste not, want not." he said, firing every missile the ship had at the combatants.  

Considering that the payload was enough to completely demolish the whole village, Matt decided it would probably not be a good idea to stay too close.  "Time to leave." he commented, pulling back on the controls and making the dropship spin in place before he hit the afterburners.

The dropship sped away from the mountain before a huge explosion engulfed one side of it, nearly causing the dropship to tumble out of the air.  Matt winced, realising his 'final word' must have hit the crashed atlantean ship to have caused such a spectacular result.  "If anyone asks, I did that on purpose." he muttered to himself, before peering down the ladder into the troop transport.  "No auto pilot this time..." he said cheerfully before adding a little nervously "I might have blown up the castles library...again.  My bad."

Twilight didn't respond, she just had a shocked expression frozen on her face.  "Uh, Twi, you ok there?" asked Applejack.  Matt winced "I had a similar expression when techo blew up my room." he said sympathetically.  "Is she going to be ok?" asked Fluttershy.  "Don't worry, she'll be just fine," said Pinkie, "It'll take a lot more than that to break her."

"If I ever see another robot, it'll be too...ah smeg." said Matt, his cheerfulness stopping when he realised he lived with bots 24/7.  "Well, it wasn't a total loss," said Rarity, "True, I had to leave behind a lot of items back there, but at least we have the tiara."

Matt peered at the Tiara on twilights head.  "Yeaaaah, lets take that off Twilight before she wakes up." he commented.  "Uh, I thought only she could take it off," said Pinkie.  "Uh oh...I hope we land before she wakes up then." said Matt nervously.  "How far is it to Ponyville?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"A few hours......I'm doomed." said Matt, adding the last part, gloomily.

...

Back at Ponyville, the girls were drinking plenty of hot cocoa to warm back up.  Although Matt would probably be needing more than hot cocoa.  He was currently half frozen, luckily Ponyvilles warm weather meaning he was thawing quickly.  "I....c-c-c-can;t believe th-that you fr-fr-froze me." he chattered at Twilight.  "It was an accident," said Twilight, "You know, a reflex."  

"J-just c-c-c-cause I'm a merc...doesn;t m-mean I'm.....stupid." said Matt, his eye twitching.  Twilights first action upon waking had been to blast Matt with a ice spell, much to the mercs horror.  "Well, maybe the tiara was reacting to my subconscious desires," said Twilight.  "Oh.....goody.  Its....sentient.  I hate it when they do that." said Matt, annoyed before shivering again.  "Keep chipping."

The spider-drones who had been working on freeing Matt from his ice block sped up a little.  "You know, it would be much quicker to just thaw the ice off," said Aria.  Matt shook his head "Hell no...I like my arse where its located...not burnt off."  "Girls…and guy, I just thought of something," said Twilight, "If those Atlantean guys had one of the Primium Artifacts, they probably have the other two."

"Where would the other two be anyways?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "I dunno...underground..." said Matt, bored.  "Well, I reckon we oughta find them 'fore someone else does," said Applejack.  "Huh..." muttered Matt.

...

<Log initiated>

'Ok...not been my best week....though venting on those griffon jerks was great fun...crashing in a winter wonderland was NOT!  Not to mention having to deal with not one, not two, but THREE rogue Atlantean robots were fully intent to rend me to pieces.

Hate to say it but if Alandros and his team hadn;t turned up to catch me, none of us would have left.  Poor guy... Still, I hope I can put this whole week behind me.  I don't see any particular reason to go chasing after magical hats.  I mean, it's not like there's any wrong hands around here for them to fall into, right?’

...

The night watch on the Icarus was boring, even with the current operation.  The tech in charge of the scanning that night was therefore surprised to see Darius coming in.  "Sir..." he said urgently, jumping up with a salute.  "At ease...got a job for you.  Decoded some of the info we got from that atlantean base." Darius said, tossing a removable drive to the tech.  

"Sir, we haven't heard back from Alandros and Viper Team for some time," said the tech.  "Lynch probably did them in.  He's been going through a lot of our men lately," said Darius.  The tech looked at the new info, a list of coordinates appearing on a map with several atlantean runes at points.  "It'll take a while to integrate this into the scanners...what are we looking for?" he said, missing the faint glow in Darius's eyes as he said "An advantage."


 



> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP pt 11

Matt had spent most of the time after the impromptu trip to a blizzard, updating the Exo gene dropship he had claimed from that misadventure mostly so people wouldn't panic like when he had landed it outside ponyville on the groups return.

Matt paused as he looked at the work he's been doing on the gyroscopic stabilizers.  "Hmm, I think I'll need to replace this diode.  Now where did I leave the spares?" he said before heading to the equipment closet.  "Probably something in here I could use," he muttered before opening the door.  "Hi Matt!" shouted Pinkie as she popped out of the closet.

Pinkie hopped out as Matt made a 'hrrrk' noise and fell backwards.  "You're not gonna believe how lucky I was.  I entered a cooking competition and entered in my speciality and I managed to win and....Matt?  Matt, are you ok?" she said happily before looking down to see Matt thumping his own chest.  

Matt gasped until he felt his heart kickstart and resume its normal pace and gave a sigh of relief before he said, "Now then, Pinkie, why must you keep surprising me and why should I not retaliate with strangulation?"  

"Well, I got some extra tickets and even if all of us go there is a spare one so I thought you might want to come along.  Its supposed to be nice and warm there." said Pinkie, pulling what looked like a ticket out of her mane.  Matt took it and looked at the writing which looked about as ticket-like as Matts gun collection did.  "You wrote this, didn’t you." he said flatly.

"Well, there aren't exactly tickets, but the place we'll be going is a long way away and we only have until the weekend to get there," said Pinkie, a little embarrassed.  "I don't think Twilight's balloon or the train can take us there that fast so..."  "You wanna rent my ship...again," said Matt, his tone not changing a bit.  

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically.  Matt put his hand on his face and said in the same tone.  "You do remember what happened less then a week ago...right?" he said dully, referring to the magic boosting crown currently in Twilights basement.  "Oh, don't worry.  I know exactly where we're going," said Pinkie, "It's a safe and peaceful resort."  Matt rolled his eyes as a treacherous little voice in his head said 'Whats the worst that could happen?'

Of course, his common sense was screaming at him, 'Remember the last time you went to a resort?'  "I don't know.  This could backfire too easily," said Matt.  "Don't be silly," said Pinkie, "Here, take a look at the brochure."  She pulled a pamphlet out of her mane and handed it to Matt.  Matt peered suspiciously at Pinkie, all his mental voices thinking 'How much smeg is in that mane?' before he opened the brochure pamphlet.  "Hmm...seems safe enough." he said suspiciously.

The place was pretty distant, being on an island in the southern seas.  Asides from the obvious beachside perks, it had a spa, fine meals, tennis courts.  There was even a hiking trail through the jungle that covered most of the rest of the island.  Matt sighed "Fine...when do you need to set off?" he said before noticing the other 5 outside the door peering in with hopeful smiles.  "Man, I am too predictable." he muttered gloomily.

...

The ship might not have been the fanciest model in Nullspace, but it certainly had more than passable standards for the group.  The flight down to the island barely took more than five hours.  Matt was sitting with his feet on the controls, rather pleased with the new acquisition...especially its more intelligent autopilot AI.  Aria, sitting in the co-pilots seat said sarcastically "Have you forgotten what happened less then a week ago?  Eyes on the road." she said, annoyed mostly cause Matt had insisted she disable her weapon systems.

"Relax, I checked the weather forecast before we left," said Matt, "There's no storms scheduled for this area within the next week."  Aria said with a smirk "Like there cannot possibly be everlasting snowstorms?" Matt jumped up at that, taking over from the autopilot, Aria standing up and going into the back to check on the girls.

"Ok...we're almost here and Matt is happily not letting the autopilot steer us in." she said in a pleased voice.  "Good," said Rarity, "I certainly don't want to lose all of my luggage again."  "That was an accident." yelled Matt from the control room, annoyed.  "One that we shouldn't let repeat," said Rarity, "Still, I'm glad the foresight of travelling lighter this time."

Aria rolled her eyes, thinking of the several chests and suitcases filling the hold below.  "Of course...lighter." she said diplomatically.  "I hope the family back home can hold the farm while I'm gone," said Applejack.  "AJ, we're on vacation," said Rainbow Dash, "You gotta think of things to do for fun.  Like how I'm gonna see how fast I can fly around the island."

Pinkie was hopping up and down, her usual hyper self.  "I can’t wait to throw a party or explore the jungle.  It'll be so much fun." she said happily.  "Just try to take it slow," said Matt, "Vacations are about relaxing, remember?"

Matt looked down to see a nice clearing not far from the hotel resort where he could land.  "Ok...don’t leave anything on board...I don’t trust all the systems." he called out, being the dropship down.  "Do we have permission to land here?" asked Twilight.  "It's a jungle, nobody sentient lives there," said Matt.

...

It turned out that there was something in the jungle.  Two creatures, looking like winged stags watched calmly as the dropship came into land.  "More intruders...that zebra is pushing the tribes patience." said one of them.  "Yes, something must be done soon," said the other.  "But not yet..." said the first coldly as the ship finally landed, the back opening and a group of ponies coming out.

"But we can so easily overwhelm them," said the second, "We should attack now."  "Look at the purple one...The sun goddess's student...would you bring down fire on our people?" said the first one scoldingly, pointing to Twilight  "Then when are we supposed to attack?" complained the second one.  "The time will come when our leader will arrive...until then...we wait." said the first, before glaring at the second "Until then...know your place."

Just then, an odd spectacle exited the ship.  It looked like a small tower of packages walking on a pair of odd legs.  "Travel lightly, my arse," the thing said before heading after the ponies.

The two watched until the tower had gone before seeing another person walking down.  It looked like a hairless ape, except that the eyes were red...and staring directly at them despite their cover.  "Perhaps we should report this," said the first stag.  "I think we should..." said the second, before the two melted into the jungle.

...

The resort gates finally came into view, Matt happy at that given that he had again ended up as a pack mule...metaphorically.  "Aria, why don't you ever help with the luggage?" snapped Matt.  "I'm not a cargo bot." said Aria smugly.  

Matt grumbled and said, "If I'm the highest ranked here, why am I so low on the pecking order?" "Because of karma." said Aria promptly.  The gate to the resort swung open suddenly and a zebra could be seen, several diamond dogs and burlier looking zebra stallions standing inside.  "Welcome to the Jungle jewel resort." said the leading zebra pleasantly.

Pinkie Pie zipped forward and said, "Ooh, I'm so happy to be here.  I won a contest to get here but I never imagined I would have gotten here.  Oh, this is going to be so much fun."  

"Ah...you must be the winner from equestria.  I apologise for the security but there are some dangerous animals in the jungle nearby." sad the zebra, taking a uncertain step back in the face of a full on Pinkie encounter.  "What kind of dangerous animals?" asked Fluttershy in a nervous tone.

"Mostly some locals we missed when we were finding a place for the resort.  We have tried reasoning with them to no avail.  However, as long as you keep to this side of the island, they will ignore us." said the zebra.  "I guess you're the manager of the resort, Mr..." started Applejack.  "Raya," said the zebra, "But my close companions call me Ray."

Raya was about to continue when Matt finally managed to get through the gates with Aria, coming into Raya's view.  "ARGH...MONSTER!" the zebra screamed, jumping back as his 'associates' clearly the security he mentioned started towards Matt.

Matt's head stuck around the corner of one suitcase and said, "Bellhops?  Thank God, you have no idea how much this is killing my back."  Aria watched as the two diamond dogs picked up Matt with a growl and she started walking towards them with the intent of slapping them...into the next area code.  "Wait, he's with us," said Twilight, "He's a little odd, but he's not dangerous."  One of the dogs said "Me don’t know.  He looks dangerous to me."  Matt glared "Oi...cheeky."

"Nah, it's Pinkie who you gotta keep an eye on," said Rainbow Dash.  "Oh, I'll be fine, dashie.  Its not like theres a big mean robot around-mmmph." Pinkie said cheerfully until Applejack hurriedly stuffed a hoof in her mouth.

Just then, Aria walked through the gates.  "They're right," she said, "Matt is no threat unless he has been threatened first."  "Shut up, aria.  I just flew them in, sir.  I'd appreciate it if I could have somewhere to stay." said Matt.

...

A little while later, the bellhops had carried the girls' luggage in.  Matt and Aria were about to follow them into the hotel but then Raya stepped in front of them and said, "I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid you two can't stay here.  You see, the contest prize only extends to ponies, not...whatever you are."  "You're kicking us out into a place you have just admitted is dangerous?" said Matt, annoyed.  His mood had not been helped by the fact that Raya's security had not left him in peace.

"I apologize, but this is a five-star resort," said Raya, "I cannot allow just anyone to be let in.  However, we could potentially make some arrangement if you do a little something for me."  Aria glared "We are on holiday...and you do not have clearance to hire us." she said icily.  "It's a simple little job," said Raya, "Surely that's worth a stay at my fine resort."  Matt glared "Whats the job?"

"There's a temple in the jungle with something very valuable inside it," said Raya, "All you have to do is go there, get it, and bring it back."  Matt glared before looking at aria.  "Come on, aria.  There's a nice comfy pilots chair in the dropship waiting for us." he said, coldly, spotting bribery a mile off.  Aria gave a distainful sniff and said, "I'd prefer to be uploaded back into the mainframe."

Raya gave a theatrical sigh.  "Oh well...I am afraid my security will be along shortly to relocate your ca-." he began before noticing Matts blaster.  "I won’t be blackmailed...warn your rent-a-cops." said Matt, coldly.  Raya watched the two of them walk off before muttering, "Why is it so hard to hire the right people?"  "But why hire them?" asked one of the diamond dogs, "Why not hire pink one?"

"Miss pie will be hard to steer where we need her if the stories are true...especially since she brought the other elements.  From what I hear, this human is better equipped.  It was worth a try." said Raya.

...

Pinkie hopped into the girl's suite and said, "Girls, guess what?  Since I was the one who won the contest, I get to take a special tour of the island tomorrow.  Isn't that great or what?"  "Good for you, Pinkie," said Twilight, "But I can't help but notice that Matt and Aria aren't here."

"I wondered that too so I asked Raya and he said that he offered a place for Matt but he wanted to stay at the ship." said Pinkie, hopping up and down.  "Sounds like Matt to me," said Rainbow Dash.  "But he seemed to be looking forward to staying at the resort," said Fluttershy.  Twilight was however looking thoughtful.  "I am sure I’ve heard of this Raya person." she said to herself.

"He must have been in a magazine," said Rarity, "I mean, the owner of a five-star resort is sure to have a lot of publicity."  "I don't know...I would have thought we would have heard of this resort before now." said Twilight.  "You're overthinking it, Twilight," said Rainbow Dash, "Your brain needs to take a vacation."

...

Matt yawned before wincing as the cricks in his back protested.  He had spent the night on the dropship and it had not been a pleasant one, the ships proximity alarms ringing every hour or so as some...thing had looked at the vessel.  "Stupid  zebra." he muttered, getting up, stopping briefly to bang on Aria who was sitting in a recharge station.

The recharge station hummed before Aria's platform activated.  "Good morning, Matt, sleep well?" she said.  "No.  Some people do not have ears they can turn off at night." said Matt, angrily.  "15 intruder alarms in the night...15!"  "Strange, I wonder who it could have been," said Aria before checking the security cameras.  Aria called up nothing but static feeds before glaring at Matt who said "I never got round to repairing them."  "Well, that's something for you to do today," said Aria.

"No...first we check in on the girls.  I don't trust that 'Raya' character.  He reminds me a bit of Kurata." said Matt.  "You do recall we're not allowed at the hotel," said Aria.  "He said we couldn't stay there," said Matt, "He didn't say we couldn't check on friends.  Besides, since when have I followed the rules?"  "Good point." said Aria, pulling a blaster out of a weapons cabinet before seeing Matts stare and tossing him a rifle.  "In case we run into whatever set off the alerts." she said.

"Probably just some curious wild animals," said Matt, taking the gun anyways.  

...

The duo walked into the hotel to be greeted by the two goons from the first time.  "Raya say you not allowed in." said the first one in a voice indicating a room temperature IQ.  "Not even for a little bit?" asked Matt, trying to skirt around one.  The second one glared and said "You deaf?  YOU NO ALLOWED!" yelling the last part before being punched through the wall by Aria.  "I bet he didn't say we couldn't use that door," said Matt, heading towards the new hole in the wall.  The remaining diamond dog nodded nervously, stepping aside.

"Good boy, have a treat," said Matt, tossing the dog a bone.  The diamond dog glared at Matt and Aria as they went in.  He looked around to see if anyone was watching before he started chewing on the bone.

...

The ponies were in the lobby, staring at the dazed guard 'dog' before seeing Matt and Aria coming in.  "Really, Matt, did you have to be so rough?" asked Rarity.  "You could have just asked," said Applejack.  "You mean how we were asked to stay out when we first got here?" said Matt.  The ponies looked shocked at that, Rarity saying "Mr Raya said you turned down a room."

"Correction: Mr. Raya wouldn't let us have a room," said Aria, "Apparently, he felt our presence would affect the five-star rating of his resort."  "Then the cheeky git tried to hire us for some retrieval job." said Matt, annoyed.  "I think I'm starting to understand why I haven't heard of this resort before," said Twilight in a sour tone.  "Treasure collector?" suggested Matt.

"I wonder what he really wants with Pinkie?" asked Applejack, "He probably ain't very sincere about that tour around the island."  "We'll go find pinkie.  You stay here." said Matt.  "How comes we can't come along?" demanded Rainbow Dash.  "Because this is a big jungle...the last thing we need is the rest of you getting lost too." said Matt.

...

Meanwhile, Raya and Pinkie have been walking along the jungle trail for quite some time now.  "Boy, it sure is hot here," said Pinkie.  "It's not really heat, it's humidity," said Raya.  "Where are we going?  This isn’t a very fun tour so far." asked Pinkie, looking around.  Raya said "I have a...associate who needs some help.  He'll be showing off the tour." said Raya, with a smile.  "Tour of what?" asked Pinkie, "There isn't anything around but big plants."

The group turned a corner to reveal a vast chasm, a shining temple on the other side, only ruined by the vines covering it.  "There...wonderful, isn’t it." said Raya, in awe.  "I guess," said Pinkie, "Doesn't seem like a very fun place." "It's a lot more fun than it looks," said Raya, "You might say it's a game."

"Oh oh oh.  I love games...whats the game?" said Pinkie, happily.  "It's a treasure hunt," said Raya, "It's pretty simple.  In the center of that temple is a fancy hat.  You just need to go in there and bring it out."  Pinkie grinned "Sounds like fun." she said happily.

...

Meanwhile, Twilight was flipping through a book she had brought, one about islands in the southern seas.  If she could find an entry for this island, she may have some idea what Raya was up to.  "I just know I heard his name before, but where?" she muttered.  Matt had left a radio behind, his voice sounding out "Maybe he is just a resort owner?...dammit, something bit me...I hate bugs." said his voice

"I don't think so anymore," said Twilight, "A resort owner wouldn't want something in a temple that badly...  Wait, now I remember.  Celestia told me about him a few years ago.  He was known to be a notorious treasure hunter and jewel thief.  But he managed to get out of Equestria before Celestia could deal with him."  "Explains the thugs for hire...doesn’t explain why he'd want pinkie to come here." said Matts voice.

"Pinkie may not be the sharpest tack around, but she does know how to keep one step ahead of dangers," said Applejack.  "Like a temple full of booby traps," said Rainbow Dash.  

"Dammit...I'll see what I can do...the jungles too thin to spot any temple from the air...we'll have to go in on foot...stay at the resort.  He may have lied about this resort but I don’t think he was about the locals." said Matt, before the comm began hissing, Matt having signed off

Applejack looked at the other girls and said, "I don't know about y'all, but I ain't just gonna sit here while our friend's in trouble.  I say we go after them."  "Through the scary dangerous jungle?" asked Fluttershy in a terrified tone.  Rainbow Dash was grinning however, "I never thought Pinkie would get to live a daring doo adventure."

Twilight gave Rainbow a wary look and said, "I know that look in your eye..."  "Hey...I could find her in a flash.  This islands not that big." said Rainbow cockily.  "It's not the size of the island that matters," said Rarity, "It's the matter of the density of the jungle.  And thinking about what horrid things could be lurking in there makes me shiver."

"Oh please.  Raya probably made that up too." said Rainbow.  "I wouldn't be too sure," said Twilight, "It says here that a couple of islands are inhabited by unfriendly natives."  "I doubt even this guy would have built on one of those islands." said Rainbow.  

"Maybe, maybe he didn't," said Twilight, "I'm trying to find which one this island is in here."

...

Pinkie looked at the rickety rope bridge before looking back at Raya who nodded encouragingly "Well?  What are you waiting for?" he said.  "This is safe, right?" asked Pinkie, "It looks like termites have been gnawing it."  "Of course it is." snapped Raya.  Pinkie poked one plank and said, "Well...ok!"  She then started hopping across the bridge.

Raya's group watched as the party pony began crossing.  "What do we do once she has the crown?" asked one of Raya's fellow zebra's.  "As if she'd know what it really was," said Raya, "As far as she knows and ever will know, it's just a fancy hat."  "What if she does realise what it is?  She's earth clan after all." said the same zebra.

"The Earth Ponies are the least magical of the pony races," said Raya, "She would have no way of knowing what the crown can do."  "Ok...its getting dark...her friends will be asking questions soon.  I'll go back to the resort...say how she is on a camping trip with two of the staff....you two.  Bring her back to the resort as soon as she emerges." said Raya, turning to leave.

The two other zebras looked at the darkening jungle and were becoming well-aware of how creepy it was.  "But..." began one of them nervously but Raya was gone.  "We'll be fine...the perytons don’t dare come here." said the other zebra.  Just then, the sound of something growling came from the bushes.

"Oh...buck." said one of the zebra's nervously as they turned to look at the bushes.  They could hear the bushes rustling as something was moving through them and the growling sound was heard again.  "Lets get out of here." said the first zebra turning and bolting for it.

The second quickly turned heel and fled as well.  A few seconds later, the bushes parted and Matt and Aria climbed through.  "Must you make so much noise?" said Aria.  "I can't help it.  I've had anything to eat in hours," said Matt as his stomach growled again.  

"Matt...we could have been ambushed..." began Aria before the two looked across at the temple.  "Here we go again." Matt began before taking a testing step onto the bridge.

The termite-eaten plank quickly gave way under his foot, which Matt quickly drew back.  "It seems that all we can do is wait, sir." said Aria, sitting down on a rock.  Matt sat down too, not noticing the message on his wrist comp, showing a feed from the dropships radar...and a trio of dots heading for the center.

...

Raya wasn't the only interested in the temple.  Currently unknown to Matt and Aria, three of Darius' men were sneaking closer to them through the bush.  "This is recon 2...we're at the target...and you are not gonna believe who else is here." whispered one of the troopers, the trio watching Matt and Aria through a combat scope.  "It's Lynch, isn't it?" came Darius's voice over the comm.

"Yes it is, sir.  Looks like he's too heavy for the bridge.  We observed a local go inside 2 minutes before he arrived.  We're observing for now." said Recon 2.  "The local's probably getting the crown for Lynch," said Darius, "He'll be there for a while.  Make sure he'll be staying a lot longer."  "We'll be ready, sir." said Recon 2.

...

Pinkie trotted through the main hall of the temple, looking around.  It looked...faked...as if someone had read about what temples looked like then guessed.  The fakeness was confirmed by a collapsed wall at the far end, revealing a corridor leading deeper in and down.

"Do temples normally have basements?" Pinkie wondered to herself before going down the corridor.  The corridor itself was littered with rubble and broken devices that would have looked at home on Matts ship as well as various primitive devices like axes and arrows.  Pinkie walked through the area with the air of a sightseer, missing the various traps attempting to get her, ranging from spikes that fired a fraction too late to laser beams that vaporised the rocks just next to her.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Pinkie, looking close at the ground and thus narrowly avoided having her head smashed by a huge log.  "Oh, it's just a funny-looking bug," she said before continuing on.  

The path finally ended at a door that had long since given way to the abuse of the elements, revealing another room that seemed to have once held dozens of things but now only held a single item, laying in the middle of the damage.

The hat was resting upon a small head-shaped stone on top of a short pillar.  At first glance, one would think it was just a farmer's hat.  But upon closer inspection, the crown of the hat had been expertly woven to resemble a three-layered cake with ribbons and garnets for frosting and decorations.  Pinkie was the first to recognize the hat...after all, she'd worn the near-replica in the hearts warming pageant.

"Now there's a fabulously-delicious-looking hat!" said Pinkie, "Rarity will be so impressed."  Pinkie immediately grabbed the hat and threw it onto her head before shuddering as the hat glowed faintly for a second.  "Ooh, tingly," said Pinkie before she noticed the pillar the hat was on starting to sink.  

A disembodied voice, grave in its tone said "Security breach.  Omega class artifact removed from containment.  Security drones deploying."  Pinkie glanced around and said, "Security?  Raya didn't say anything about security."  A caterpillar tracked drone rolled into view, a single red optic focusing on pinkie.  "Breach located.  Neutralizing." it intoned, raising one of its arms to fire a blast of lightning.

Pinkie jumped out the way in time.  "Ok, I don't think this is quite so fun anymore," said Pinkie.  The drone seemed to concider this before firing at the roof, causing water to flood the floor.

"What?  Water?  Where's all that water coming from?" asked Pinkie before a wave of water splashed her face.  She licked her lips and said, "Not salty, so I guess it's not seawater."  The drone didn’t seemed bothered, aiming its arc cannon at the water instead before firing.

Not even Pinkie could avoid this blast and the water surrounding here would have made it useless to try.  The room lit up as the lightning hit home.  After the light faded, the drone looked at the floating body of Pinkie and stated, "Breach neutralized."  Suddenly, Pinkie's eyes popped open and she said, "Whoa, what was that?"

"Error...breach augmented by omega class artifact." chimed the drone, aiming at pinkie again.  "Omega class artifact?" asked Pinkie before glancing up at her hat, "Is that what this is all about?"  The drone simply began firing again, forcing Pinkie to flee.

She quickly swam towards the corridor until she could get back on to dry ground.  Then she ran up the corridor as fast as she could.

Another lightning blast shot into the wall just behind her, blocking the corridor with rubble.  Pinkie didn’t stop, heading through the temple and back into the open to see Matt and Aria at the far end of the bridge.  "Matt, Aria, what are you guys doing here?" asked Pinkie.  The far figures turned and waved to her.  

...

Matt and aria turned at the sound of Pinkies voice, though she was too far away to make out what she was saying.  "Pinkie?  Hey...come on...lets go." he yelled, waving to her to get over to the other side.  "I don't think she'll be able to hear us," said Aria, "Our voices don't appear to cover the distance between us and her."  "Huh, I though horses were supposed to have better hearing that humans," said Matt.

Aria shrugged "She is wearing a hat..." she began before spotting something.  "What the..." she started.

...

"This is Recon 2.  Local has emerged...she has the subject...transmitting feed to basecamp." said the voice of Darius;s scouts.  He had been here several days with a full squad looking for the artifact that the coordinates had revealed and now some pony was beating him to the prize.

"It's about time someone got that crown out," said Darius' voice, "Retrieve the artifact and dispose of the local."  The feed revealed a pink pony crossing the bridge.  Suddenly, Darius felt utter fury at the sight of it.  Reaching for the comm he growled "Recon...kill that annoyance...NOW!”

...

Suddenly, Pinkie paused as her nose itched and her eyes fluttered.  "Nose itch and eye flutter?  Oh, something going to try and hit me," she said before quickly jumping aside as the sound of gunfire filled the jungle air.  Matt and aria began firing at a ridge further down the ravine, clearly where the shooters were hiding, some of the shooting beginning to focus back on them.

...

One of Recon 2 fired a burst at their attackers, causing the mercs to duck down.  “Shit...if that local gets off the bridge, we’ll never catch it.  Andies...plasma launcher on the bridge.” Yelled the team leader.  Andies pulled out a launcher tube with a glowing blue canister on the top and aimed it at the far end of the bridge, firing a orb of plasma at it.

...

Pinkie wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but she knew she'd be a lot safer if she was with Matt and Aria.  So she was running across the bridge as fast as she could.

Suddenly a glowing orb shot out with a earsplitting whistle to slam into the far end of the bridge.  The glow stopped to reveal a beeping canister, the glow having come from a slit in its top, showing a sliver of a glowing substance.

Pinkie had been around Matt long enough to know what that beeping was supposed to be.  She skidded to a stop before turning around and trying to run back to the other side.

It was too late as the timer on the plasma launchers mortar ran out and it compressed in, shutting down the ammo's magnetic stabilizers and detonating the warhead.  The blast was large enough to knock aria and Matt into the bushes as well as cause the rope bridge to buck like a cut cable.

Pinkie was flung up into the air by the tension of the snap and her trajectory was nowhere near the bank of either side.  She fell with a scream down into the small chasm to the river below.  

...

Recon 2's leader grinned as the figure of the pony took a nosedive down the canyon.  "Gotcha, you little marshmallow.  Ok, boys...lets get down there before Lynch does." he said.  The other two nodded and pulled out rappel line grapplers.

As the troopers started climbing down the ropes towards the river at the bottom of the chasm, a sound started to become more apparent.  It sounded almost like huge bird wings flapping.

Recon 2's leader was first down, looking around the long grass that littered the floor of the canyon, looking for any sign of pink.  "Control...This is recon 2.  We've nailed the local...securing artifact for retri..." he began before looking around as his merc 6th sense kicked in.  "Hold...we may have contacts." he whispered.

The sound of feathered wings flapping was alot closer now.  "Maybe they're just big parrots," said one trooper.  "More likely her pegasi friends have found us," said the leader, taking his gun out.  The two troopers stopped when they realised that they were one man short.  "Dawkins?  Hey, dawkins." yelled the squad leader, looking around.

Just then, one of the troopers pointed and called "Over there!"  There was a small tree growing beside the river and there was a branch barely hanging on, as if something large had fallen and snapped it.  

"Bingo...we'll worry about dawkins later.  He's probably caught on an outcrop." said the recon team leader.  The two headed for the broken tree...and so missed it when the two halves of Sgt Dawkins landed in the brush.  The group looked around on the ground for any sign of the target or the crown.

"Where the hell did it land?" muttered one of the two troopers before spotting a hint of pink.  "Here...hey, boss.  Over here." he called, heading for it.  

The troopers headed over there but paused once they got close.  The pink pony was there, but there was also a pair of odd-looking creatures.  At first glance, one would assume they were deer, but then they'd notice that instead of fur, they had blue and green feathers as well as the wings, forelegs, and tails of large birds.  One was a doe and the other a stag with particularly sharp-looking antlers.

"What the hell are those?" said one of the troopers.  Recon 2's leader glared "Who cares?  Waste em before they use the artifact for a chew toy."  The two 'deer' had heard them and quickly took to the air.  They let out vicious-sounding screeches before lunging at the troopers with their talons bared.  The two troopers barely had time to raise their rifles before the creatures dragged them down.

...

Pinkie's eyes spun as she started to come around.  She tried to get to her feet, but she had such a throbbing pain in her head.  What had hit her so hard?  And what was she doing here?  For that matter, what was her name?  She looked around dizzily to see several winged deer standing in the nearby long grass.  "Erm...hello?" she called out, causing the two deer to whip their heads in her direction.

Pinkie felt pretty nervous, especially since their antlers looked sharp enough to cut her.  The two walked out towards Pinkie before one of them focused on the hat Pinkie was wearing and taking a worried step back.  

Pinkie slowly got up to her feet, this time managing to keep her balance.  She looked around to get some idea where she was, not like she knew any places she could be.  She spotted a small pond and managed to walk over to it.  She glanced at her reflection and said, "Wow, I am really pink.  I wonder if that has something to do with my name?"

The two deer were keeping a respectable distance, peering at her with a worried look and muttering to each other.  Then Pinkie took another glance at her reflection.  "Wow, thats a great hat," she said, "I wonder where I got it."  The two deer slowly walked forward, each one trying to push the other ahead of him.

"Er, we need to be moving now," said one of the deer.  "Yes, there will be more invaders coming and you mustn't go with them," said the other.  Pinkie looked confused "What?  What invaders?" she asked before a voice from the canyon wall above yelled "Hey...hey...stay right there."  Pinkie and the two deer looked up to see two figures, one of them calling.  

"My lady, you are too important to let those invaders get to you," said one of the deer.  "We must carry you to safety, no disrespect intended," said the other.  Another voice from the other side called out angrily "Hey...look what those freaks did to recon 2...waste em." before more weapons fire shot down.  "No time to lose," said the doe before grabbing Pinkie with her talons and taking off.

The trio left in such haste that they failed to notice that the two groups weren't helping each other, having turned to fire at each other.

...

Twilight was working on getting the radio working.  "Hello, Matt?  Are you hearing me?  Hello?"  The sound of weapon fire came through the comm followed by a colourful exclamation in matts voice.  "Twilight...this is NOT a good ti...DAMMIT...Aria...on your left."

"Uh, maybe I should call back later," said Twilight.  "No...we're ok...the dufus's can;t reach me...HAH...TAKE THAT YOU FU...ok...never mind.  I got some news....good and bad." said Matts voice. "Uh, what's the good news?" asked Twilight.  "I found Pinkie.  She was going into some kinda ruin on the far side of a ravine." said Matt's voice, cut off briefly by some weapon fire.

"Is that the bad news I'm hearing?" asked Twilight.  "The idiots blew the bridge when Pinkie was coming out.  Gave her the express elevator straight down into the ravine.  I dunno how she survived it...some...deer things carried her off after taking three mercs out...oh, I almost forgot...Darius is in town apparently..." said Matt, adding the last part sarcastically. 

"Wait, wait, Pinkie was carried off by deer?" asked Twilight.  "Flying deer, actually," said Matt, "With feathers and talons."  Twilight went wide eyed at that.  "Twilight darling...are you ok?" asked Rarity, concerned.  "Pinkie's been captured by perytons," said Twilight weakly.  "Perywhats?" asked Rarity.  "Perytons, they're half deer, half bird, and very unfriendly to people who intrude on their land," said Twilight.  "I'm guessin' that's who Raya was talkin' about," said Applejack.

"Must be...dammit...I’m heading back to the resort...STAY T-" began matt before an explosion cut the channel off.  "Why am I not feelin' confident with Matt's rescue attempt?" asked Applejack.  The sound of the main foyer doors was heard at that point.  The five ponies headed to the balcony to look down and see Raya walking into the hotel reception with a smile.

"Why does he seem so glad?" asked Rarity.  "Probably not for a good reason," said Applejack.  Rainbow however was glaring.  "You heard Matt.  That jerk used pinkie...probably to get something from that temple." She said through gritted teeth.  "Oh, she may have been badly hurt," said Fluttershy, "And those perytons are taking her away to who knows where?"

"We gotta find her." said Rainbow, urgently.  "But we don't even know where they're going," said Fluttershy.  Applejack turned to look at Raya who was talking to the diamond dogs that Matt had knocked around earlier and pointing to the damage it had caused.  "Nope...but ah bet he does." she said.  "But he won't just tell us where they are," said Fluttershy.  "Oh, you better believe he'll tell us," said Rarity.

...

Raya had been in a good mood...until he’d seen the state of the staff when he had returned.  Apparently the 'hooman' had barged in, despite his orders to keep him off the grounds.  "And you didn't do anything to stop him?" snapped Raya, "What kind of security am I paying for?"  "We try to stop him.  Female tougher then she seem." said one of the dogs.

"I don't care," snapped Raya, "I expect better results for my money's worth."  "Not worst part." began the other diamond dog.  Raya rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, please, what could possibly be worse than that?"

Just then, a blast of magic sent all of the diamond dogs flying.  Raya turned to see the girls, each looking furious.  "Er, ladies," said Raya, "Can I help you with something?"  "You...fiend.  You;re almost as bad as that mule, Blueblood." said Rarity, angrily.

"What?  What are you talking about?" said Raya.  "Don't play dumb with us," said Applejack, "This whole so-called vacation is a big set-up, ain't it?"  "I, er...I don’t know what you're talking about." said Raya, nervously. "Oh yes you do," said Applejack, "You better start being honest with us before we make you.  And I know dishonesty when I smell it, so I'd quit lyin' right now."

Raya snorted "Huh...fine...Like anyone would believe you." he said before continuing "If you really must know, I have research that indicates that the temple in the jungle stores the long lost crown once worn by Councilor Puddinghead of the Earth Ponies long ago.  Of course, that same research also says that the temple is built atop alien ruins so that's hardly something you can be expected to believe."

He waited for the laughter to start with a annoyed look before seeing instead, their horrified looks.  "What?  The temples got hardly any traps in it." he began.  "You sent our friend into a near-certain death trap so you could claim one of the most powerful artifacts in Equestria?" snapped Twilight, "Doesn't her well-being matter at all to you?"  "Huh...Who do you think you are?" said Raya, with a amused snort.

"Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's protégée," said Twilight, her tone deadly serious.  Raya’s grin froze in place at those words, the rest of his face looking terrified.  "About that....erm...of course I care about your friends well being.  I...left two of my staff at the temple." he said in a shaking voice, a free trip to the moon already playing out in his imagination.

Just then, two zebras ran out of the jungle yelling, "THERE'S MONSTER IN THE JUNGLE!"  Raya and the others looked surprised, though Raya looked annoyed "What are you fools doing here?  You're supposed to be waiting for the ar...I mean for miss Pie to emerge."

"When there are growling monsters in the bushes waiting to eat us?  I don't think so," said one of the zebras.  Raya gulped and turned back to the now furious mares.  "Er...I'm sure they're kidding." he said unconvincingly.

"Sure, I bet the perytons are real hospitable," said Rainbow Dash sarcastically.  Raya sweatdropped "You....know about them?" he said shakily, that mental vision of a trip to the moon looking more like reality.  "Not a lot, but enough to know that Pinkie's probably their prisoner now," said Fluttershy.

"Erm...well....its like.....THIS!" said Raya, yelling the last part before throwing a vial down, the potion inside bursting into a smoke screen.  He bolted for the door....and got it in the face as something outside shoved it shut in his face.  Raya fell onto his back and said, "Ow, who's the dolt who-"  He stopped when he saw Matt in the doorway and he did not look happy at all.

Matt calmly strode into the lobby, some unidentifiable green goo on his gear.  "I'd like to make a complaint about this resort." he said in a calmness that his twitching eye and plasma blaster proved wasn’t genuine.  "Er, of what nature?" asked Raya.

"Well...the locals are really violent...and you never said in the reviews that you only set this place up to use a friend of mine as a amateur tomb raider." said Matt, his grin becoming a snarl as he advanced on Raya, who was backing up.  "Wait, wait, you don't know the whole story," said Raya.  "You mean like how you've also hired a bunch of mercenaries to ambush Pinkie as soon as she left the ruins?" snapped Matt.

"What mercenaries?  What are you talking about?  EEEEK!" said Raya, shrieking as Aria also came in, the girls joining in.  Aria had clearly been the priority target, what looked like scorched metal bones visible.  She effortlessly picked Raya up by the leg.  "Answer the sergeant, Mr Raya." she said in a distorted voice.

"I don't know anything about mercenaries," said Raya, "I just had my staff placed there to relieve her of the treasure.  I didn't hire anyone else.  I couldn't afford it if I wanted to."  Matt glared as Aria stared closer.  "He's telling the truth..." she said, dropping Raya on his head, dazing him.  "I figured as much," said Matt, "No way he'd have the green to hire out Darius' boys.  I just wanted to make him squirm."

He turned to the others.  "What?  No scolding?" he said, referring to how he and Aria had teased Raya.  "Not this time," said Twilight, "Mostly because we're more worried about Pinkie, but also because we're not very sympathetic with him."  Matt nodded "Ok, Raya...where do these...Perytons live?  You must know where they are." he said, turning back to Raya.

"What?  You're not thinking of going to those savages, are you?" said Raya.  "Yes...yes I am..." said Matt, confidently.  "But they're bloodthirsty brutes," said Raya, "They'll rip you apart as soon as..."  He paused before saying, "Very well, I can tell you where their tribe is."

"Good...and while we're getting Pinkie...Aria can look after you..." said Matt, before leaning in and hissing "With the express order to snap you in half if you even think of running."  Then Matt turned to the ponies and said, "So girls, ready for a rescue mission, safari-style?"  "Uh, hang on a minute," said Rainbow before dashing off.

The others watched as Rainbow Dash flew back up towards where her room had been, Aria firing a blast into the floor suddenly, causing Raya's hench-zebra's, who had been creeping for the door, to freeze.  "The sergeant did not say you could leave." she said.

"Right," said Matt, "not sure who's clean or dirty, though I'm certain the diamond dogs are."  "Both figuratively and literally," said Rarity.  "That goes without saying," said Matt, "Anyways, nobody's going anywhere, except us."  Aria nodded "I'll make sure everyone is comfortable here." she said with a sinister smile.

A few seconds later, Rainbow Dash flew back, only now wearing a safari outfit that looked extremely familiar.  "I've always wanted to wear this on a rescue mission in the jungle," said Rainbow Dash.  Matt just stared before shaking his head "At least this can’t get any wierder." he muttered

...

A little time later, everyone was dressed for a jungle safari, though Matt had to call Rarity's into question.  "A dress doesn't seem like appropriate jungle wear," said Matt.  Rarity, who was also wearing a matching hat, said, "Well, someone needs to bring a bit of beauty and culture to this backwater place."

"Good grief, I'm starring in a tarzen movie." Matt muttered, holding a ion arc rifle he'd grabbed from the ship.  But that wasn't the only competition for most annoying companion in this picture.  Rainbow Dash was getting into the adventure a bit too much, including some self-narrating.

"Rainbow Dash.  If you narrate one more puddle, I'm gonna shoot you." snapped Matt.  "Yeah, there's always a lot of boring parts before the real action actually starts," said Rainbow Dash, "But you gotta stick with the story."

Matt growled and was about to actually make good on his threat when a snapping noise got his attention.  "Hey...anyone hear that?" he said, tapping his goggles to turn on the motion tracker.  Fluttershy was already hiding behind him.  "Is it dangerous?" she asked nervously.  Matt looked around "No idea." he said, his eye looking at the mini radar circle on the top right of his vision.  "Can;t see them."

"They're probably hiding in the bushes," said Applejack before kicking one bush.  A spooked lizard shot out of the bushes and into the foliage at the far end. "Man...lets stay calm and watch where we're goIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNG!" said Matt, screaming the last part as he walked into a bush and fell down a slope it had concealed, various yelps of pain and swearwords getting quieter as he progressed down.

After a little while, the yelping and swearing stopped.  "Matt, are you ok?" called Twilight.  "I'm fine...just fine...I hate this jungle more then everfree." replied Matt.

"You just need to take every pitfall in stride," said Rainbow Dash.  "Easy for you to say," snapped Matt, "You can fly over them."

Matt got up again, annoyed "Stupid useless jun-" he began before hearing a rustling.  "-gle?" he began, drawing his blaster.
The girls had also heard the rustle and clustered close together.  "What was that?" whispered Fluttershy.  "Maybe it was just one of them monkeys," said Applejack.

Matt looked around, panning his blaster around,  "I don’t think its a monkey." he said, gravely before spinning round and firing at a blur shooting at him with a angry shriek.

The blast hit, but the blur was moving too fast for it to just drop, so Matt had to duck under as it went overhead.
Matt fired a three blast burst as the creature shot back into the undergrowth, missing.  "GIRLS...GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled, firing at a shape speeding through the bushes to his right.

The ponies quickly started galloping back down the path, but a blur in front of them forced them to stop.

The sound of weapons fire could still be heard in the background as the blur, hidden by the shadows from the trees walked into view to be revealed as a winged stag.  "Unicorns..." it said in a slightly disgusted voice, looking at Twilight and Rarity.
"Erm, hello," said Twilight nervously, "I am-"  "We know who you are, student of the sun goddess," said the stag.

Twilight gulped.  This creature did not seem like it was worried by the fact that she was Celestia's student.  "Your princess knows that this island is our domain." said the creature, icily, two more emerging from the bushes on the left and right of the gang.

"Well, I can explain why we're here," said Twilight, "You see, we were invited here by that zebra who runs the resort-"
The peryton growled and made a slashing noise at a bush with its hoof, a neat slice of the bush falling off.  Twilight immediately fell silent at that with a gulping noise.  "Our leader will decide what to do with you." said the peryton nastily
"Er, I'm sure there's a civil way to settle this," said Rarity.  The closest peryton turned to glare at Rarity before pushing her along.

...

Meanwhile, Matt was climbing up out of the trench he fell in, with slow progress.  He managed to finally pull himself over the top to see the trail the girls had used before running down it.  "Girls?  Rarity?  Twilight?" he yelled before saying "Anyone?" quieter.

He heard a slight rustle and Matt turned, hoping to see one of the girls.  Instead, a peryton limped out of the bushes.  Judging on the burn on one wing, it was the one Matt had hit.

Matt pulled out his blaster, aiming at the creature.  "You keep back." he said, backing up a couple of steps.  The peryton glared at Matt and tried to take to the air.  It only got a few inches off the ground before its wounded wing spasmed and it fell.

Matt continued to glare before rolling his eyes and holstering his blaster and reaching for a pouch on his belt.  "Look...stop moving or you'll make that blaster wound worse." he said, sternly while pulling out a hypo-injector.

The peryton growled before turning and trying to run.  Matt glared “Look...you can take your medicine or lose your wing to infection.  Your choice." he said, annoyed, pulling the activator strip off the injector to activate the med-nanites inside.

The peryton stopped and turned to look at Matt, wincing as Matt injected him in the burn.  "Why should I trust you?" he asked suspiciously, wincing before his burnt feathers dropped off, replacing by new healthy ones.  He flexed and flapped his wing experimentally, but he didn't feel any pain.

"I wouldn’t try to fly yet, buddy.  The nanites still need to reconnect the nerves...if you strain it, the wing could become useless." said Matt, conversationally, making the peryton gulp a bit before it sat down and glared at Matt.

Matt put the hypo-injector away and said, "Now then, why were you guys attacking us?"  "You were invading our territory," said the peryton.  "Yeah, I get that, any other reason?" asked Matt.

The peryton glared at Matt before saying "You are not from the sun goddesses lands.  One of her guards would not have the...air that you have about you."   

"That and they wouldn't likely have these," said Matt before raising a hand and wiggling his fingers.

The peryton nodded "The sun goddess knows that these lands are ours and promised to leave us be." he said.  Matt sighed "No wonder stripe boy wanted someone else to do it...scapegoats."

The peryton snorted and said, "If it weren't for those hounds of his, we would have ran him off the island months ago."
Matt said, apparently to himself "Where were my friends taken?"

The peryton glared at Matt and said, "And why should I tell you?"  He jumped back as Matt pointed his gun at him.  "Because if you don't, I will mount that empty head of yours on the wall of my room and make the rest of you into venison," growled Matt.

The peryton didn’t seem impressed and recovered quickly "You're not a killer..." he began only for a energy bolt to shoot past his head and split a tree sapling.  Matt adjusted his aim.  "Wrong.  Try again." he said icily, addng "Where are my friends?"

The peryton gulped and said, "They'll have been taken back to the village.  The new chief will want to dole out their punishments."

"Ok...get up...now." said Matt, gesturing with his blaster before saying "You're gonna lead me there...and pray they're still alive cause if they aren't..you will find out exactly how little like them I am." threateningly.

The peryton nodded and started flapping his wings.  "Ah, ah, no flying," said Matt, "Unless you can carry me there, we're walking."

"But the camp is many leagues away..." the peryton began before jumping as another blast incinerated a patch of grass.  "MOVE IT!" yelled Matt.

The peryton started walking quickly before Matt said, "Slow down, Bambi.  You're walking at my pace and I'm not letting you out of my sight."

The peryton grumbled before slowing down, muttering something about 'Bambi'.  After the group left, a metallic disc, a camera lens visible on it hovered down, having seen the entire thing. 

...

Darius watched the drone's visual through his monitor.  "So, Matt's going to where the bird-deer live," he said, "This will certainly save on the slash-and-burning."

A trooper walked into the tent.  "Sir...dropships have delivered the first of the tanks and combat exo-suits.  We'll be ready to go where you need us."  Darius nodded, finally something going right.  "Ok...corporal...set the drone to relay its position when it finds the camp." 

...

The perytons lead the ponies into the deeper part of the jungle. The only distinction of where they were going was a faint deer trail which would have taken a lot of time to find on their own.

The shift to pavement was unexpected, but even less expected was what it would lead them to: a small village of houses, made of stone and significantly dilapidated.

The perytons had added a wooden wall, complete with gate to keep out their fellow jungle inhabitants...and there was ALOT of perytons, members of all sizes coming out of the huts to look as the leader led them in, towards a larger building in the center, the remains of a sign saying 'istra' on it. 

"Wow, them perytons are hard workers to build all this stuff," said Applejack. Rarity gave a distainful sniff and said, "If they were that hard working, these buildings wouldn't be half-ruined."

Twilight spotted something "I think this was already here, applejack." she said, nodding towards a rune on one of the huts...the same one that had been in the facility that had been under the ponyville dam.  "Keep moving," snapped one of the perytons before prodding Twilight with his antlers.

"Yow...don’t get yer tail in a bunch. We're movin." said Applejack, annoyed as one of the other perytons jabbed her as well, leading the group into the ''istra' building.

The building had several holes in the roof, but there was still plenty of shadow. On the opposite side, a tall throne could be made out and someone was sitting on top of it. It was too dark to see who it was, only the eyes could be made out.  "Chieftain. We found these intruders." said the leader peryton bowing before the throne.

"And what were they doing in our jungle?" said a deep voice that sounded slightly female.  "We know not...but they were led by one of the creatures that attacked you." said the peryton.   "So they are allied with the enemy and you brought to me for their punishment," said the voice.

"Yes, o'pink one." said the peryton leader reverently, the girls looking gobsmacked at those words.  "Bring them forward, and turn on the lights," said the voice. There was a 'fwoomph' as adjacent torches were lit. The torchlight revealed that the sitter on the throne was wearing a clock made of tropical bird feathers, several bead necklaces, a scary tiki mask, and an oddly familiar farmer's hat.

As the ponies were pushed forward, they could hear the leader breathing in deeply, making them nervous. Eventually, the leader reached up and pulled off the mask with a gasp. "I can't breathe with this thing," said Pinkie.

The girls stared again for a second before Twilight found her voice and said in shock "Pinkie? You're the perytons leader?" 
"Pinkie? I am Queen Pinkatika and don't you forget it," said 'Pinkie', "Now how about you tell me why I shouldn't punish you for trespassing?"

Rainbow Dash flew up and swooped down to glare in Pinkies face, Pinkies 'guards' not trying to stop her. "Pinkie...its us...and why are you wearing that old hearts warming prop?" she said, prodding Pinkies hat...and being flipped into the wall by Pinkie. 

"Wow, I'm stronger than I thought," said Pinkie, looking at her hoof.   "Uh, listen...Pinkatika, we're your friends," said Twilight, "I think you're just a little confused about who you are right now."

Pinkie/Pinkatika glared at Twilight. Something about the unicorn was familiar, though she couldn't put her hoof on it
"How can I trust you?" said Pinkie, "For all I know, you could be fibbing."

Rarity stepped forward at that "Pinkie, darling. You're one of our best friends.  "Oh yeah, prove it," demanded Pinkatika.  Rainbow Dash had gotten back up by now "Hey...don’t you remember the cool pranks you and me pull in Ponyville?" she said, a little dizzily from the blow earlier.

Pinkatika looked thoughtful before saying, "Not really."  Fluttershy walked forward and said "I remember when I was ill with the pony-pox and you helped look after the animals at my cottage..." she said.

"That kinda rings a bell..." said Pinkatika.  Twilight said carefully "We're your friends...I dunno how you lost your memory...but I know a spell to help get it back...if you'll trust me."   The perytons snorted. "A spell?" snapped one, "We will not allow you to curse our chieftain."

"Hold it...what if they're right?" said Pinkie, holding up a hoof to stop the perytons.  "Anyways, there's no such thing as a curse," said Twilight. "But what about-" started Fluttershy before Applejack put a hoof over her mouth. 

Twilight slowly walked up to the throne, her horn lighting up as she prepared the memory spell. Sadly, it appeared that whatever curse of timing that followed Matt around had finally declared Twilight and co fair game as well as an explosion was heard just outside.

...

A few minutes earlier...

After a long trek through the jungle fraught with bug bits and tripping over roots, Matt and his 'guide' finally made it to the peryton village.

"Ok...here's the plan...I'm your prisoner...until we get inside...they you leave me to find the girls...I leave with them...everyone lives...ok?" he explained to the peryton with him. just out of sight of the gate.  "How do I know you won't go on a murderous rampage?" said the peryton. 

"That depends how intact my friends are." said Matt, with a grin  The peryton backed away from Matt and said, "I don't trust you at all."  "Let me put it this way...this is the hard plan...the easy plan involves me blowing things sky high." Matt said, nastily.

The peryton gulped and said, "Well, er, I guess I should show you where your friends will be taken."  "Ok...remember...I’m a prisoner..." said Matt, before pushing the peryton into view of the guards.  "Er, right," said the peryton. The guards looked at Matt's 'guide' and said, "What do we have here?" Matt's 'guide' couldn't speak, looking like he was caught between a pair of headlights.

Matt kicked his 'guard' covertly.  "Er, I managed to catch one of the...intruders," said Matt's 'guide'.  "And I need to take him to the chieftain for his due punishment," said the 'guide'.  "Yes...wait, what?" said Matt.

"The chieftain is already taking care of the other intruders," said one of the peryton guards, "He'll have to wait."
"What?" said Matt, shocked.  "It appears this one seems to be slow of thought," said one guard. "We should make it simple then," said the other guard before saying to Matt, "You...stay...chieftain...busy...wait...your...turn."

Matt glared before saying "I...not...tied up." before revealing his untied hands and banging the guards heads together. 
"What are you doing?" demanded the peryton that led Matt here.  "Cutting through red tape," said Matt as he took out his blaster.

"You said you wouldn;t blow anything up." yelled the peryton, angrily.  Matt thought for a second "Well, thats the problem.  I only lie to people that I don’t like...and I really don’t like you guys so you're smeg out of luck, buddy...KNOCK KNOCK!" he said, yelling the last part as he blasted a hole in the wall next to the gate.

"Are you crazy?!" snapped the peryton.  "Why yes, yes I am," said Matt with a creepy smile, "Thanks for noticing."
One of the guards on the other side had managed to get his marbles to regroup and was charging Matt, only to be sent head over tail by a stunner blast from matts blaster.  "WAIT YOUR TURN!  There's plenty of time for vengeance if my friends are not healthy." he said, manically cheerful.

Matt's guide would have rushed in to stop Matt, but seeing how berserk he was, it would probably be better to stay out of his way.

The mental argument through this followed the lines of:  'I'm just a trainee warrior...and this creature has the mental fuse of a manticore sitting on a thorn plant.  I should go guard a food hut as far away from him as possible...not cause I am frightened at all......yes, lets go with that.' 

The peryton flew off as the rest of the guards started throwing themselves at the psychotic Matt.  If the guards had not been so intent on slicing Matt into bits/getting concussions and tazer shocks from his weapons then they might have noticed that he was only hitting anyone who tried to attack him...but as a brain doesn’t work well when hit repeatedly with a branch or electrocuted, this wasn't occurring to them.  

Matt finally reached the most promising building when a larger peryton came out.   "Let me guess...you're gonna stop me." said Matt, tauntingly.

The peryton snorted and said, "That's right.  You're not getting past me."  "Funny, they all said the same thing," said Matt, pointing at the piles of stunned perytons behind him.

The peryton glared before tackling Matt to the ground.  "You will pay for...NNNGH!" he glowered before going cross-eyed with pain as Matt used the only retaliation available to someone wearing combat boots.  "Yeah, I think you're the one who's paying right now," said Matt.  "Thats....not....honourable...or fair." squeaked the poor peryton as Matt walked inside.

...

Matt walked into the door, firing sideways into the guards waiting either side of the door.  "They always hide there." he muttered as the perytons twitched into semi-consciousness from the tazer blasts before seeing the girls.  "Hey...you found her." he called cheerfully.

'Pinkie' gave Matt an angry look before yelling, "Guards, seize him!"  "What guards?" said Matt conversationally before realising who had gave that order. "Hey...!" he added annoyed.

The few guards left flew at Matt, only him to easily stun them.  "Say girls, mind explaining what's up with Pinkie?" asked Matt.  "Uh, I think she might have some amnesia," said Twilight.

"Oh, that...I know how to fix that...now where can I get a mallet?" said Matt, cheerfully, adding the second half to himself.  "I don't think Matt's right in the head himself either," said Applejack.

Matt shook his head a little to calm down "So how bad is this amnesia?" he said, walking towards Pinkie.  "It must be if she forgot me...my trainer once said I was tragically unforgettable...his eye was twitching at the time though."

"It looks like I'll have to take care of this intruder myself," said Pinkie, "However, I'll give you one last chance to surrender."
Matt's eyes narrowed at that.  It was worth noting that while sane Matt would never pick a fight with his friends, the last few weeks had been straining on his sanity...and the perytons had pushed him over the edge...as a result he was also less then cautious...otherwise Pinkie's steely look would have set off his internal alarms.

"Yeah, there's no way I'm surrendering," said Matt, "Especially to a pink pony.  And definitely not to a pink pony dressed up like that."  "Ok, you asked for it," said Pinkie before winding up her foreleg for a punch.  "Oh please...what you're gonna do with..." began Matt.

...

The peryton captain had finally recovered and had gotten some of his men together.  "Ok...when it comes out...we all jump him at once." he said, coughing when his voice was still high pitched.

"Didn't we already try that?" asked one peryton.  "Not all of us together," said the captain.  There was a distant 'thrak' noise from inside and the creature emerged again...at a flat trajectory that took him through the side of one of the guard huts.  "Do we still jump him?" asked one of the trainee warriors.

"Er, he still might get up, we better secure him," said the captain.

...

'Pinkie' however had rounded on the girls.  "I knew I couldn’t trust you...its all secrets and lies with you ponies." she said, angrily as several guard perytons peered through the hole Matts rapid exit had made.  "Pinkie, we can explain," said Rarity before glancing at where Matt went, "Well, most of it."  Pinkie glared and yelled "I'm not this 'Pinkie'. I am Pinkatika, leader of the Peryons...Guards...lock them up."

...

When Matt woke up, the first thing he felt was the pain in his ribcage.  "Ouch," he said, "Did someone catch the license plate of that freighter?"

The second thing he noticed was the ceiling.  It didn’t take long for two and two to equal 4.  "I'm locked up, aren’t I." he said, out loud to himself.

"Yer darn right we're locked up," said Applejack's voice.  "Ah...smeg." muttered Matt, sitting up to see the girls, minus Pinkie in seperate cells.  "Fancy running into you lot in here." he said, unable to resist a smartass comment.

"Well, we had an audience with Queen Pinkatika, as she's currently calling herself," said Rarity, "Twilight was about to restore her memories when a certain hooligan ruined it."

Rainbow Dash glared and said “You said you were good at stuff like this.  What kinda job did you have?" she said angrily, before derping as Matt said promptly "Demolitions."

"Oh good," said Rarity sarcastically, "We have a delicate diplomatic dilemma to resolve and one of our associates is a glorified wrecking ball."

"I would grace that with a appropriately snarky response...but my ribs hurt too much.  When did Pinkie get a punch like a railgun?" said Matt, with a groan.

"Well, she is wearing the Primoris Corona of the Earth ponies and you know how it amplifies the power of the pony who wears it if it matches her race," said Twilight.

"We may not be able to cast spells or change the weather, but we Earth ponies ain't something ta sneeze at," said Applejack, "Sure, them unicorns and pegasi have their horns and wings, but only we Earth ponies can work the land to make enough food for everyone."

Matt looked at Applejack "It doesn’t work like....wait.  I forgot what sort of planet I was on for a second there.  Makes about as much sense as everything else today.  Carry on." he said.

"Well, since we Earth ponies work the land to make food, it only makes sense that fancy hat of Pinkie's makes her superstrong," said Applejack, "It probably gives her a lot of stamina too."

Matt shrugged "Basic physical boosting.  Fun for the whole family." he said.  "But why does she not remember us?" asked Fluttershy, "And why would she think she's the Queen of the Perytons?"

"She took a nasty tumble when darius’s boys blew the bridge.  The hat musta made sure she landed intact...but that didn’t stop the bump scrambling her marbles." said Matt.

"So all we have to do is get Twilight to zap her memories back," said Rainbow Dash.  "Not like she's going to let me near her now," said Twilight.

"Yeah...and I'm guessing the guards won’t give me back my gear if I ask them." said Matt, noting his empty holster.

Just then, Fluttershy's ears perked up and she looked around.  "Does anyone hear that humming?" she asked.  Matt looked up, listening before hearing a steady 'thrumming' noise.  "What is that?" he muttered, getting up to look out and falling back at the sight of a hovering camera drone.  "YAH...I hate those things..." he yelped before a buzzing came from it...followed by a steady series of beeps.

"It's not going to shoot us, is it?" asked Fluttershy, hiding behind her cells bed.

Matt was looking around before shrugging, reaching out and pulling the drone in and starting to bang it against a wall.  "Stop transmitting, you piece o...YOW! he growled, yelping as the drone electrocuted him and a voice began to speak from it.  
"Lynch, you do turn up in the most unexpected places," said Darius' voice, "At least this place is one more appropriate for you."

"The same." said Matt.  Darius’s voice could be heard chuckling.  "And you're the ones harboring a fugitive." he retorted.
Rainbow Dash glared at the drone and said, "If you're the law where you come from, then being a fugitive probably is a good thing."

"Huh...Mr Lynch is unstable and dangerous...you should have tossed him out the first chance you had." said Darius's voice with disgust visible in his voice.

"He can be scary sometimes, but at least he's a lot kinder than you are," said Fluttershy.

"Doesn't Matter.  You are just as guilty as he is...and the board of directors has told me to leave no witnesses...unless you could make it worth my time...say telling me where the other artifacts are." said Darius.

"So that you can abuse them?  I think not," said Twilight.  "Ok...I gave you the choice.  Its not like you'll be a problem for much longer." said Darius, seemingly bored before the drone shut down.

"What does he mean we won't be a problem much longer?" asked Applejack.  "I think that the perytons are the least of our worries now," said Matt.

He stood up before rattling the bars a bit.  "We gotta get out of here.  Can’t you just...poof us out of here, Twilight?" he said.  Twilight concentrated and her glowed for a few seconds before it went out.  "Uh oh," she said, "This cell is magic-proof.  I can't do anything."

"Its never that easy.  Well, we can at least warn them." said Matt gloomily before several peryton guards came in.  "That was quick.” muttered Matt.  "The time for your punishment has come," said one of the perytons.

"Not what I was envisioning." said Matt, as his cell was opened.

...

The group was marched to a different room of the building where the roof was a lot more open.  The reason could be seen as there was a large bed of fiery coals in the middle of the room.

"We're gonna be sacrificed to a lava god, I just know it.  Its Acheron V all over again." said Matt gloomily.  "Lava god?  What do you think we are, savages?" said one of the perytons, "You're going to be sacrificed."  "Oh thank goodness," said Matt.  "We're going to roast you and serve you for dinner," said the peryton.

Matts relieved smile fossilized at that.  "You're gonna eat us." he said flatly.  "Wait, aren't you vegetarians?" asked Fluttershy.  A peryton smiled, showing sharp canine teeth.  "Not all the time," said the peryton, "If we catch something big enough, we eat it."

"I coulda been a freighter pilot but noooooo, I had to go for adventure." muttered Matt.  "But, but you can't just eat us," said Rarity, "It wouldn't be civilized at all."

"I don’t think they're listening." said Matt pointedly as Pinkie came into view.  "Trespassers, you have invaded our sacred lands and inflicted destruction upon our village.  So by my high and royal decree, your punishment is to be roasted over these coals until you're good enough to eat," said Pinkatika.

"Pinkie...this is insane, even for you." yelled Matt  "Silence!" commanded Pinkatika, "Just for that little outburst, you'll be among the first to be roasted.  Now who else should be cooked first?"

One of the Perytons poked Matt in the stomach, earning a slap across the back of the head "Bad mutant pony thing..." glared Matt.  The peryton didn’t seem bothered, saying "O'great one.  This one has plenty of meat on his bones...we'll only need one pony for the feast."

"Hey, I'm not that fat!" snapped Matt.  "Hmm...well, that makes the choice a lot more tricky now," said Pinkatika, "Which pony should we have now?"

"I vote you need to miss a meal...this one." called out Matt

Rarity gave a slight distainful sniff and said, "Well, when it's my turn, I intend to show a lot more dignity than that."  Then Pinkitika pointed at Rarity and said, "Ok, we roast her too."

Matt watched as Rarity immediately fell to her knees. wailing various things including the classic excuse of not being tasty.  "I intend to show a little more dignity." muttered Matt to himself in a bad imitation voice.  "Get them ready for the spit," said the peryton captain, "We want them properly and thoroughly roasted."

"But spittings rude..." gulped Matt before he was grabbed.

…

Not much time later, Matt and Rarity were both tied up to a long wooden pole and were being suspended over the fiery coals so that their backs were getting hot.  "You know, I had a feeling Pinkie would get me into a situation like this at some point," said Matt in an overly calm tone.  The rest of the girls were looking horrified.  “You can’t do this...its...horrific." said Twilight, staring in shock at the Perytons.

"The chief has spoken.  You will all pay the price for intruding on our lands," said the peryton captain.  Matt said, as he was passing "Look...you kinda have a bigger problem coming to get you...can you stop spinning this?  I'm trying to speak to the psycho stag." 

"I need to be sure you're cooked evenly," said the peryton, "We wouldn't one side to be raw while the other's well-done."  "I'd tell you to bite me but you'd take me literally." said Matt, dully.  "Ya'll won't get a chance to eat 'em when dem other bad guys get here," said Applejack.  "Yeah...E.G internal security don’t like witnesses...they cause paperwork." called out Matt.  "They will stop at nothing to steal your chieftain's hat," said Rainbow Dash.

The perytons all stopped at that, except for one, causing Matt to growl in the background “You bring that pepper shaker any closer and so help me..."  "Uh, I don't think they think the hat's that important," whispered Applejack to Rainbow Dash.

Matt thought for the second before calling out "Erm...would you believe me if I told you that you were about to be invaded by aliens?"  "More invaders?" said one peryton.  "Will the intrusions never end?" said another.  "Yes...erm...they have lasers...lots of lasers." said Matt pathetically, having not expected them to even half believe him.

"What's a laser?" asked one peryton.  "Sounds like a weapon," said another.  "It is...it is...erm...for smegs sake, can someone untie me?" said Matt, losing his cool.  "Hmm, we should prepare for more invaders.  On the other hoof, it could be an attempt to misdirect our guards," said Pinkatika, "Hmm...oh, I know a way to take care of both.  We'll just double the guards everywhere so we can be ready for either event."

"Pinkie...I swear to god...if this is another of your gags, I’m gonna throw you in the skyraids reactor." yelled Matt, angrily.  "Oh shut up already," said a peryton before stuffing an apple into Matt's mouth.

...

The Perytons on the gate looked around, hearing some of the yelling from where the feast was being cooked.  "I hope the others don’t complain as much...that apes giving me a headache." said one of the guards, gloomily.  "I wonder how good he'll taste," said another peryton, "He certainly looks like a big meal."

"Yeah...you really think there's more like him out there?  When he was ranting on about 'aliens'?  What is an alien, come to that?" asked a third guard before stopping, noticing a red dot panning across the wood above their heads.

"I don't know.  I think he was just, what are you looking at?" asked the second guard.  "Look...what is that?" said the third guard, curiously as two more dots appeared.  After a second two of the curiosities highlighted themselves on the chests of two of the guards.  One of the guards scratched at the red dots.  "Stupid bug," said the peryton, "Why can't I touch it?"

A second later, two blue beams lanced out of the treeline. striking the two guards exactly where the dots had been.  The two perytons glowed brightly for a second before vanishing with a sizzling noise.  The surviving guard jumped back in terror before seeing at least 2 dozen of the hairless apes coming out of the jungle, armoured up and accompanied by metallic....golems of some kind.

He turned to fly, forgetting fatally that there had been a third dot when another disintigrator blast hit him between the shoulderblades...

...

Darius, at the controls of his command exo-suit heard the afirmative as the sniper teams finished off the guard patrols.  "Ok...Remember...for once, Lynch is NOT a priority.  I want that artifact intact!”  "Where are we supposed to find that hat?" asked one of the troopers.  "That is what searching is for," snapped Darius, "Now spread out!"

"Yes...sir." came the sarcastic reply before the same voice said "Cobra 2...blow the gates."  'Cobra 2', one of the smaller MA-24 exo suits stomped forward before leveling its 30mm guns at the gate, its pilot saying jokingly "Knock knock." and firing.

The gates were torn apart like they were made from styrofoam.  "Is it me, or does this seem a bit overkill?" asked one trooper.  One of the other mercs on the channel said "Remember Echo team?"  "Right, no holding back this time," said the trooper.

…

Back at the feast, the sound of two 30mm explosive shells 'opening' the gates had gotten one good thing for Matt...they'd stopped turning the spit...sadly they;d done this while he was on the bottom.

"Oh sure, now the attack starts," said Matt, "I swear, I get the worst timing."  As if to confim that, an ember from the coals shot up and bounced off Matt's backside.  "That...is...IT!!!!  THIS IS THE WORST VACATION I’VE EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE TO BE ROPED INTO GOING ON!" yelled Matt, breaking the ropes holding him in sheer rage.  However, he made the slight oversight of not changing his position before freeing himself and ended up landing on the fiery coal pit.

Most of the perytons had left the hall with Pinkie to do battle when the first explosion had been heard, meaning that nobody was around to stop Matt getting free...sadly that meant there was nobody to stop a exo gene trooper bursting in and seeing Matt hopping around, Twilight and Rarity trying to cast a water spell to put his t-shirt out.

"Alright Lynch, you're coming with me," said the trooper but stopped when Matt turned and gave him a look that screamed, 'Get away while you still can, wait, too late'.  "I think I'm gonna call you Stress Relief," said Matt in a menacing tone before picking up a large stick.  The trooper raised his rifle far too late, Matt knocking it out his grasp before grabbing the luckless trooper and making him headbutt the wall a few times, chanting manically "Stop hitting yourself."

"Isn't Matt hurting him too much?" asked Fluttershy.  "Matt's been having a bad day," said Twilight, "I think he needs to unwind."  Two more troopers ran in, one saying "Wilkins, whats taking..." before Matt grabbed the rifle off the floor and shot them, sending them rolling down into the hall.  "WAIT YOUR TURN!” he screamed before seemingly coming back to planet sanity.

Matt turned to the girls and said, "Ok, Darius and co are here.  I suggest you girls find Pinkatink or whatever she's calling herself and zap her memory back.  Feel free to get rough if you have to."  "What're you gonna do?" asked Rainbow.  Matt shouldered the rifle "Do what I do best and be distracting." he said cheerfully before kicking open the doors to the outside "OH DARI-oh crap." he called, his retort becoming a swear when the two exo suits leveled their weapons at him.

Matt closed the doors and turned to Twilight, "Say, you wouldn't happen to know any super-enhancing spells or anything like that, would you?"  A section of the wall, about basketball size, blew inwards and Matt added innocently "No reason."  "Well, there might be one spell, but..." started Twilight.  "I don't care, just do it!" yelled Matt.

A red beam lanced through the wall, cutting a large 'N' shape in in the wall, before one of the exo-suits stomped through the hole, its shoulder beam glowing from the cutter shot.  "NOW!  DO IT NOW!" yelled Matt.  "Ok, here goes nothing," said Twilight before her horn started glowing and a beam of light hit Matt.  Then Matt suddenly surged up in height until he was about 18 feet tall.  He blinked and said, "That's...not quite what I had in mind."

The tinny voice of the pilot inside the suit said "What the fu-?" before Matt kicked the suit back out via the wall.  "...of course, it still does the job." commented Matt as two more exo-suits stomped in and aimed at him.  "Go on...best shot." said Matt, cockily before there was a flash of light as the spell wore off.  "Erm...I was joking?" said Matt nervously as the two exo-suits readied guns.

"Uh, Twilight, think you can hit me with that spell again?" asked Matt.  "I can't," said Twilight, "If I cast it on you too soon, something unpredictable could happen."  The two suits were ready to fire when what looked like a bottle was tossed in before exploding in their faces in a cloud of blue smoke.  

Applejack sniffed the air and said, "Hey, ain't that...poison joke?"  This prompted the other ponies to quickly move backwards.  Matt noticed that and, given his track record so far when he hadn’t paid attention to their caution, stepped back as well.  The suits had turned and were firing out the hole at whoever had tossed the 'poison joke' grenade in.  "Lets go before they decide to get back to us." he said.  The ponies nodded before heading out another door.

…

The outside was a warzone, Darius's troops methodically moving through the town and shooting down any resistance.  The perytons, to their credit, weren’t making it easy for their attackers either as several slumped troopers and peryton warriors attested too.  Matt peered round a corner and ducked back as a exo-gene trooper was thrown back with a yell.  "Either one of these deer has a really powerful kick, or that was Pinkie's work," said Matt.

He peered out to see Pinkie and a couple of perytons attacking a squad of Exo-Gene troopers before he did a double take as several laser blasts literally bounced off Pinkie.  "Wow..." he said weakly before another shot parted his hair and he ducked back.  "I found Pinkie." he said desperately.  "Great, does she still have the Primoris Corona?" asked Twilight.

"You mean the wierd hat that let her kick a trained merc 30 feet and makes particle beams bounce off her?...Sure, she has it." said Matt, a little sarcastically.  "Good, we can't let Darius take it," said Twilight.  "But how are we supposed to make them go away?" asked Fluttershy.  "The hard way, I suppose...I've never seen those sorta exo-suits they're using...must be something Exo-Gene cooked up." said Matt.  

Speaking of which, Matt spotted an exo-suit in the process of being abandoned.  Considering the dents in the front and its trajectory to a hole in the wall, it looked like the one Matt had kicked out.  "Oh, Christmas time." he said to himself, peering out before running across the street to the abandoned suit...much to the puzzlement of the girls.  "Whats chrismas?" asked Twilight, puzzled before they spotted Matts intention as he opened a hatch in the mech and climbed in.

A few seconds later, the exo-suit started up, but a lot of creaking could hear from the dented metal.  Matts voice, with the same tinny accent as the last pilot said "Ok...now we can go get Pinkie."

...

The Primoris Corona gave Pinkatika great strength and invulnerability, but even she couldn't defend the village all by herself.  Fortunately, her loyal subjects were ready and willing to aid her in her defense.

The perytons were doing their best, their sharp hooves and speed making them formidable in close quarters.  Unfortunately, the Exo-Gene squads were professional in making sure that didn't happen.

Another laser blast winged a peryton warrior, knocking him into a wall as another squad of exo-gene troopers came into view, flanked by two more of the exo-suits and a much larger, bulkier version.  "Chieftain, it looks like their leader has come," said one of the perytons by Pinkatika.

A squad of warriors charged out, galloping at the attackers.  The leader mech seemed to order the others to step aside before aiming its arms at the attackers and firing the miniguns mounted there.  Darius cut a huge swathe through the squad before turning to his men, "Keep the pressure on them.  I'm expecting a big venison dinner tonight."  He then marched off in another direction.

The smaller exo-suits and troopers began firing as Pinkies guards literally tried to drag her back.  "See sense, those weapons are too much even for yo-WHOA!" said one, trying to pull her back, only for her to effortlessly drag him along as well.  "Those raiders aren't destroying my village," said Pinkatika, "Not while I'm around."

Pinkie/Pinkatika immediately charged into the open and into the gunsights of the three Exo-Suits, two of them opening fire and causing several columns of dirt to shoot up from the explosive rounds.  The third one seemed dented in the chest armor...and puzzled in the way it seemed to limp.

Pinkatika paused suddenly a series of odd sensations happened, "Back itch, ear flop, knee buckle?" she said before suddenly hopping backwards.  On cue, the dented exo-suit seemed to finally work out its weapons, aiming the arms at the back of the first one and firing, blowing it apart.  A voice said “Now this is what I’m talking about!" before firing at the second exo-suit and the troopers.

Pinkatika looked at the dented exo-suit with an odd expression.  That was definitely the voice of the 'hooman' who she was going to have roasted.  But why would he be helping her?  And why does his excitement at blasting people sound so familiar?

The aformentioned mystery pilot seemed to have cracked as the exo-gene troopers ran for it.  "HAHAHA...YEAH...LETS SEE YOU TRY AND BLAST ME NOW, EH?" it yelled.  The remaining peryton defenders had also come out to watch...something about the clear insanity was strangely fascinating to watch.

Quite soon, nearly every trooper had hightailed it out of the village, with mainly the other exo-suits remaining.  The exo-suit finally turned to face Pinkatika and the perytons, the other ponies from earlier peering out.  Then Pinkie heard the voice of the other person she was going to roast, "You know, all that destructive madness is a really bad way to relieve stress.  Matt ought to consider something more peaceful, like a trip to the spa."

The back of the exo-suit opened to reveal the hooman from earlier.  He called out "Ok, Pinkie...are we going to cooperate with the nice people or do I have to use this to hold you down?...WHO SAID THAT?" Pinkatika stayed silent, having also heard the mutter of 'Good luck with that.' from one of the perytons

"Say, Matt, don't cha think it's a might early to be blowin' your victory horn?" called Applejack.  "I don’t think so...these things are top of the line...you'd need a tank or a combat mech to-" began Matt before a wall at the far end was demolished as Darius's mech, with the regrouped squads, came into view.

"I think that guy's higher up on the line," said Rainbow Dash, pointing at Darius's mech.  The mechs shoulder opened up suddenly, Matts eyes widening before he jumped out the mech.  It was just in time too as two rockets shot out and blew his new 'toy' sky high.  Matt went over to Twilight and said, "Uh, can you use that giant spell on me again yet?"  Twilight looked at a little pocketwatch she had in her bag and said, "Not quite yet."

Darius's voice came from the mech "I don’t believe my luck...must be chrismas back home.  Lynch AND one of the artifacts."  "Uh, can we take five so I can arm myself?" asked Matt.  A shot parted his hair almost too close to his scalp.  "Ah, that's a no," said Matt.  To his surprise, Pinkie strode past him with a stern look.  "Erm...he has missiles." he tried to point out.

"I am the chief of this village.  I must protect it from attackers," said Pinkie.  "No you aren't, you work in a bakery!" snapped Matt.  Matt glared as Pinkie ignored him and made a similar mistake to earlier, grabbing her tail to get her attention.  "Now look..." was about as far as he got.

Matt hadn't thought that Pinkie's super strength would apply to her tail as well.  Obviously, the poofy thing didn't seem dangerous at all to him.  Of course, his opinion changed when he was slammed against the ground several times before being flicked into a wall.

"I am never going on holiday with you girls again." he moaned from where he had landed.  Darius however was laughing inside his mech.  "You?  Hand over the artifact, powder puff." he said, readying his mechs miniguns.  "This hat may only be worn by the worthy and I can easily see that you are definitely not worthy," said Pinkie.  "Fine...have it your own way....shoot her." said Darius casually.

"Er, sir, haven't you noticed that-" started a trooper before Darius turned his gun towards him.  "Either you shoot her or I shoot you," said Darius.  The troopers didn’t need much more encouragement, all of them opening fire, even Darius joining in.  Of course, the magic of the Primos Corona protected Pinkie from the hail of bullets, allowing her to keep walking forward.

Darius sighed, wincing as the pony got close enough to begin laying into his men.  Pinkie had started punching and kicked the troopers within her reach.  Her blows sent them soaring back, sometimes over the wall of the village.  Darius, despite this was impressed until she got close to his mech.  "Really?" he said before using the mech to kick her flying.

The hat may have made her invulnerable to physical damage, but that didn't mean she was any heavier than before.  She was sent flying high into the air.  "Wow...good air." muttered Matt, despite everything.  Quite soon, another drawback of the hat became apparent as the rushing air from Pinkie's flight blew the hat off her head.  Then she reached the peak of her ascent and started to plummet like a stone.  "Uh oh." muttered Matt, his eyes following the trajectory.  "CATCH THE PONY!" he yelled.

Several perytons took to the air, but Rainbow Dash had taken off before many of them could flap their wings.  She streaked upwards to where Pinkie would fall through.  Matt however was following something else, as the remaining troopers approached cautiously before reaching out and grabbing Pinkies hat.  "Hey applejack...you reckon you could punt darius's robot?" he said before snatching her stetson off and replacing it with the artifact.

Applejack smirked as the hat glowed briefly and said, "Can a frog jump?"  Matt turned to Twilight and said, "Think you can make her new hat look like her old hat for a few minutes?"  

…

Darius turned his mech to see the orange pony heading straight for him.  "Might as well calibrate." he muttered before opening fire, only for the pony to easily dodge every shot.  Darius glared before trying to narrow his fire, but this pony was able to weave her way around his shots.  "STAY STILL!" he yelled only to see the pony comply, right in front of him.  Some 6th sense at that point supplied his imminent future.  "Ah, crap." he managed.

Just as the pony was about to reach Darius, she spun around on her front hooves and used her back hooves to kick his exo-suit.  Matt and the group watched as the mech went sailing back, despite the fact several walls got in the way before vanishing into the treeline.  "Thats gotta be a record." muttered Matt as Rainbow Dash landed with the struggling Pinkie/Pinkatika.  "Ok...back to todays second problem..." he said.

…

Pinkatika hadn't be very worried when she was thrown into the air.  However, when she lost her hat, she got the distinct feeling that falling would be a lot worse.  For Rainbow Dash however, it was almost a flashback to the best young fliers competition, when rarity had lost the wings Twilight had made for her.  "C'mon, just a little more speed," she muttered as she zoomed towards Pinkie.

The sound of more weapon fire from below went unnoticed as Rainbow focussed on the pink pony plummeting for the ground until with a final swoop she managed to grab her.  "Another perfect save," said Rainbow Dash proudly, "You can thank me later, Pinkie."  "I’M NOT PINKIE!" yelled Pinkie, adding "Now let me...on second thoughts...never mind."

As Rainbow Dash was heading back to the ground, she watched a large mech sent flying sky high.  "Wow, Applejack knows how to work your hat fast," said Rainbow Dash.  As she landed, she could see the last of the exo-gene troops running for it, apparently the sight of a 3 ton machine being bucked into close orbit was bad for their morale, as well as Matt talking about ‘todays second problem’.

"Well, it looks like everything's taken care of," said Rainbow Dash before glancing around at all the destruction caused, "Except for the clean-up."  Matt nodded before noticing the remaining warriors approaching "Uh oh...here come the cops again."  Pinkie got up a little unsteadily.  Pinkie was about to speak when Matt suddenly tackled her and wrapped her mane around her mouth.  "ZAP HER!  ZAP HER NOW!" yelled Matt.

Twilight quickly galloped forward before concentrating and touching her then glowing horn gently to Pinkies forehead.  Matt waited a second before saying “I’m going to let go now...if you scream the word 'guards', I’ll stun you."  Pinkie blinked and said, "Boy, have I been having the craziest day.  I mean, seriously, I was going to have you guys roasted.  Can you believe that?"

Matt said darkly "Yes, I can." before a peryton knocked him over.  "You will pay for this attack..." began the peryton before Matt yelled "PINKIE...CALL EM OFF!"  "Oh, right," said Pinkie before putting on an authoritive tone, "The Great Pinkatika commands you all to stop being mean to her friends."  

The perytons stopped at that, the one holding Matt down stopping his hoof an inch from Matts neck.  "What?  I thought these guys were the feast?" said another, trying to get past a shield bubble Twilight had raised.  "Sorry guys, I don't eat meat," said Pinkie, "How about we just throw a party instead?"  The Perytons looked at each other, the one holding Matt looked down at him when matt pointed out "Hey...I’m less likely to shoot you at a party."

"What do you mean by...party?" asked one pertyon.  "Uh, it's pretty much like a festival," said Pinkie.  "...And the food rarely fights back." added Matt "Can you move your hoof of death please so I can swallow?"

"Yeah, there'll be decorations and games and cake," said Pinkie.  "What is 'cake'?" asked a peryton.  "Its that food that doesn’t fight back that I mentioned...unless its a splitter 'k'tari' cake." said Matt.  The perytons considered this before one of the elder perytons said, "We shall try this 'cake', but only because you insist upon it."  "Good...glad we're all in agreement...NOW GET OFF ME!!!!" Said Matt before yelling the last part.

"Too bad there ain't stuff to mix up some cake out here," said Applejack.  Suddenly, the hat on her head started glowing.  In a flash, several baking supplies appeared before her.  "Well dip me caramel and call me a candy apple," said Applejack.  Matt stared at the hat before sighing "I don’t want to know...lets get this over with."

...

Raya was not a happy zebra.  At first he had considered it easy to simply drug this 'Aria' so he could get away...only to find out she didn't eat, drink...or even sleep.  Of course, none of his staff wished to help him.  The diamond dogs were too terrified of Aria to try to oppose her.  The other zebras were scared, but they didn't like Raya that much either.

Of course, Aria was only one person and Raya knew a few back ways out...such as the one he was using at the moment.  "Ok...simple...get to the dock...get a boat...hide in the griffon kingdom for a few years." he said to himself.

He was confident he'll be long gone before anyone noticed him...until he opened the door and found himself facing the six ponies, the human, and several perytons.  The two groups just stared at each other for a second before Raya slammed the door and ran back down the corridor, said door blowing open a second later.  Matt walked through the new hole with a worrying grin.  "Oh, mr striiipy.  I wanna discuss our bill." he called out.

Raya just bolted into the elevator and started rapidly pushing the 'close' button.  A faint purple glow grabbed him unfortunately, pulling him back out.  "I hate unicorns." muttered the luckless zebra.  As Raya floated backwards, Matt said, "You know, as much as I'm tempted to throw this guy to the angry locals, I can't help but look at him in the air like that and think 'piñata'."

Twilight dropped Raya in front of Matt before saying "We should hand him over to the royal guard when we get back."  Matt grumbled "Huh...I never get any fun."  Raya was sweating like crazy.  Being brought before Princess Celestia would be a terrible thing for him.  After all, not only was he a wanted criminal back in Equestria, but his behavior with the princess's personal student would not look any better

On the other hoof, the less time he spent with the unstable hairless ape, the better.  Matt must have noticed his worry as he said "Hold on...these perytons need a new place to stay...and Raya doesn't need this place now.  Maybe we can convince him to let them use this place?" Raya blurted out "I’m not letting those sava...." before stopping as the accompanying perytons turned to glare in unison.

"Yeah, this place is a lot better than those old ruins," said Pinkie, "It has air conditioning, heat, soft beds, electricity, and a swimming pool."  Raya managed to get a hold of himself.  "Not a chance.  This is still my property and I will not hand it over to you." he said calmly before Matt said "Does it still belong to you posthumously?", the girls all yelling "MATT!"

"I think we could arrange to have him still live here," said Rarity, "Provided he works for the perytons instead of against them."  Raya seemed uncertain, only for Matt to say "Its either their solution...or mine."  

"Sir, please try to be sensible," said Raya.  "Sensible?  I've been rudely kept out of your hotel, had to fight my way into it, then fight some mercenaries, fell down a trench, got insulted by perytons, nearly roasted by said pertyon when their then-wacko leader nearly punched me into next week, and then I had to defend said perytons from said mercenaries which involved being blasted several times.  I am not in the least bit sensible right now," said Matt, manically with a nasty twitch appearing in his eye.

Raya gulped "I'd....be happy to have the perytons stay at the resort." he said weakly, gulping a bit.  "Ah, ah, they're not just staying at the resort, they're running the resort," said Pinkie, "As in they're the new managers."  Raya opened his mouth to protest before noticing Matts twitching eye again.  "...that sounds perfectly fair." he said, worried.

The perytons didn't look so sure.  "But we don't know anything about resorts," said one of them.  "Oh, it's not that difficult," said Rarity, "I've read enough about hotels that I can give you a few pointers.  And Twilight could lend you a few books that should help you get on your way."  "...And I doubt any of the creatures in the jungle will be stu-be able to get past your warriors to attack the resort so you can lose the corny wall." said Matt cheerfully.

"And get rid of them mangy mutts," said Applejack, indicating the tied-up diamond dogs.  Matt looked at the dogs.  "Oh...I knew I forgot to untie something." he commented.  "What about those other guys?" asked Rainbow Dash, pointing at the other zebras.  Raya's associates backed up at that, one of them saying "We're....happy with the new management...but can we go?" said one of them.

Matt shrugged and said, "Sure, it's fine with me."  The zebra's nodded at high speed and shot off in the direction of the docks at a speed that almost put Rainbow Dash to shame, Matt absently stepping on Raya's tail as he made to follow.  "NOT you." he said.  "That's right, you're the new bellhop," said Twilight.

"Good...so get bellhopping," said Matt, with an evil grin and holding up one of the bellhop hats from the other zebra's before adding just for Raya "Be careful...these guys REALLY love their BBQ's.  Raya glared at Matt before putting on the hat and stomping off.  "Ok, the bad guys are all beaten, let's party!" said Pinkie Pie.

…

<Log active>

Ok...the last couple of days have made me realise why Captain Leyton told me never to take a holiday...espetially the part about 'work finding me'.  On the plus side, we got another of those wierd killer hat things and this time...no wait, something did explode...but nothing I owned exploded...yeah, that counts.  

Still, at least this vacation is finally becoming relaxing.  The perytons are definitely enjoying their new home and since the resort isn't so exclusive, I can finally enjoy its benefits.  Aria's enjoying keeping the bellhop in line too..."

<Log paused>

...

Matt looked up "Hey...another drink here please." he called out.  Raya glared, muttering something only to yelp as a small tazer blasted him from Aria "The customers always right." she said with amusement.  "I don't deserve this level of degradation," grumbled Raya as he carried the tray over to Matt.  

"The customer is always right...and has a blaster." commented Matt, taking a glass, before seeing Twilights glare "I'm joking....mostly."

 









> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP Chapter 12

Twilight looked out the window of the sky chariot she and her brother were in.  The gang had caught a break on the last artifact with it being at an Equestrian archeology dig on the border with the dragonlands but Shining armor, once he’d heard about the other misadventures had come along with a couple of guards as well.  

"Shining Armor, there really isn't anything to worry about," said Twilight, "I know how to deal with dragons."  "And most of your experience comes from Spike and you know he isn't like the others," said Shining Armor, "I can't let my little sister be carried off by a dragon, now can I?"

"Well...we found the helmet and even a few curios to research as well.  No dragons turned up." said Twilight, pleasantly, putting a hoof on the saddlebag sitting between them

"It's fortunate that no dragons did appear," said Shining Armor, "You know how greedy they can be.  But that's behind us now.  However, I have heard some concerning things about Ponyville."

"Is this about Matt?  He does his best to fit in and he saved us once or twice." said Twilight before Shining said concerned "Is that smoke?" before they both looked out to see a couple of columns of black smoke just outside the town.  "Corporal...land us in the square...fast." he said, looking down and gulping.

There was a very large crowd of ponies outside, though the term 'mob' may be more appropriate judging by their mood.

The two got out. Twilight grabbing the saddlebag before Shining called "What’s going on?  Uh oh." adding the last part as the mob turned to see him and advanced saying a slew of complaints, though one name kept appearing...Matt’s.

The complaints came so rapidly and loudly that Shining Armor couldn't distinguish a single one.  Finally, he shot a purple flare into the air which made the mob be quiet.  "Now, what is all this about?  What has happened here?" asked Shining Armor.

"That human started what sounded like a dragon attack at his home...I could see the flames from Cloudsdayle." complained a pegasus, pointing a hoof at the smoke.

"There are flames falling onto the rooftops!" complained an earth pony.

Shining armor and Twilight looked around at that, looking at where uncontrollable fires failed to burn or exist anywhere before looking at the earth pony who said defensively "I never said they hit."

"The racket's keeping our children awake!" shouted a mother unicorn who was carrying her crying fillies on her back.
On cue, the crack of gunfire echoed out.  "We'll go see what’s going on..." began Shining armor, being interrupted by the earth pony who said "I hope you lock him up.  That...thing doesn’t deserve to be in civilized towns." before Shining said more forcefully "...and we'll find out his side of the story."

Twilight led Shining and the other guards towards where Matt's house was.  Though it wasn't too hard to find, what with the sound of war being a very strong indicator.

They turned the corner to Matts hut to see several troopers in exo-gene armor slumped near the burning wreckage of one of their exo-suits.  A second exo-suit sat in pieces in front of a slowly rotating turret, one of Matt’s 'additions'.

By the looks of it, the battle was just about wrapping up in Matt's favor.  However, the carnage and wreckage were not a pretty sight at all.

Shining stared before a couple of exo-gene troopers ran into view, one throwing his gun aside to get better speed.  His fellow was blasted on his front as an energy blast shot out and literally went through him from behind, hitting the other one in the back of the leg.

What few troopers were left were running, or more often, limping or being dragged away from the house.

"He's fucking nuts...the board don’t pay us enough." yelled one injured trooper, not even bothering to acknowledge the ponies as he fled.  The runner who had been nailed in the leg was trying to pull himself along, saying "Ohshitohshit." over and over as an armored figure walked round the corner.

"I told you guys that today was a bad day to bother me, you should have listened," said the armored figure in Matt's voice before shooting the limper.

The two ponies jumped back as the trooper was nailed in the other leg, screaming.  "Now what have we learnt today, children?" said Matt in a manic voice

"Matt, stop!" cried Twilight.

“I'll be with you in just one second." said Matt with bloodthirsty glee, aiming the blaster rifle an inch from the now crying troopers face.  "C'mon man...I surrender..." he sobbed

"That's enough!" shouted Shining Armor before his horn flashed, a shield appearing around Matt.

The trooper managed to drag himself back as Matt glared.  "Oh shit...oh shit...we were just there to grab him...he went batshit." the trooper gibbered, his hand fumbling for a hidden sidearm holster in his armor.

"I don't know what this is about, but I am getting straight to the bottom of this," said Shining Armor sternly.

"I'm not sticking around..." gibbered the trooper before looking at Twilight.  "You teleport...I saw the reports...get me outta here." he said as Matt seemed to calm down.

"Fine..." said Twilight before her horn flashed and the trooper disappeared.  "Where did you send him?" asked Shining Armor.  "The Everfree Forest, he can find his way out," said Twilight.

Matt laughed at that silently in his prison, getting a good idea of the life expectancy of a crippled trooper, muttering something about the forest inhabitants liking tinned food.

Shining Armor turned to Matt and said, "And as for you, what I saw was the worst example of unnecessary aggression I've ever seen.  You had no right or reason to be so merciless to those people, whatever they could have done."

Matt just stared and Shining shivered.  He had heard that eyes were windows to the soul...or mirrors...and what he saw was broken...someone who was at least temporarily mad...mad as Discord.

"Matt, you don't have to be this angry.  Just try to calm down," said Twilight, "We're not your enemies."

Matt just stared before the usual softer glint came back and he seemed to come to his senses, sitting down inside the field.
“Shining, you have to believe me, Matt’s not normally like this,” said Twilight.

“Twilight, I know he’s your friend, but what I just saw…”  Shining shook his head and said, “I don’t think it’s safe for him to be near ponies.”

Matt seemed to have calmed down, slumping over out cold as Aria, using her mech body, ran into view with a swarm of spiderdrones.  "Oh thank goodness...I see my attempt to get his med computer to sedate him finally worked.  I'll take it from here." she said

Shining Armor looked down at the spiderdrones and asked, "What are those?"

"General use drones from Mr. Lynch’s vessel.  I guess it was right." she said, adding the last part to herself.

"And who is this?" asked Shining Armor.  "This is Aria, well, at least she's speaking through that thing," said Twilight.

"Doctor...Aria, if you please." said Aria, as several drones scrabbled over the shield around Matt, a few testing their cutters on it
"Shining, you can let that shield down, Matt's ok now," said Twilight.

Shining glared at Matt before reluctantly releasing the spell.  The drones immediately moved in, grabbing Matt and carrying him in the direction of the hut he was calling home.  Aria said gravely "As a doctor however, I believe there is information he should have told you."
...

The holoscreen flashed with an image of Matt rotating on it.  Details such as name, rank, specialization as a mercenary among other information was displayed...but the main 'attraction' was the flashing red words exclaiming 'Medical Discharge recommended'.  The update note indicated that it had been added a week before he had arrived.  

"As you may have noticed, Matt isn't very emotionally stable," said Aria, "The reason is not because of a personal flaw in his character, but because of a traumatizing event that happened recently to him."

Shining sighed before asking "Does it say what it was?"  Aria turned and typed a few commands in, only for an omega symbol to fill the screen and a male voice to say "File Sealed with omega grade clearance." 

There was a long pause before Aria said, "I'm sorry, I cannot tell you what that event was."  "Can't or won't?" inquired Shining.  "Both," said Aria, "If you want to hear about it, it needs to be from Matt himself.  And I don't believe he'd be willing to tell anyone."

"What makes you..." began Shining only for Aria to call up a vision of one of the rooms.  Matt was sat in front of a screen, speaking silently...there was no sound.  This was confirmed when the door soundlessly exploded inwards and a half dozen troopers ran in.  "It was from a drone that was performing maintenance." explained Aria, typing as she tried to restore sound.

"I'm warning you...this will end badly for you all." said Matt in a dark voice, not even turning as the sound kicked back in on the recording.  "Then resist...then you can join 'er faster." taunted a trooper, the group laughing before one of them grabbed Matts shoulder...and was pulled face first into the table Matt was at before being used as a shield, Matt using the guys blaster to gun down three trooper before using his ion blade* to…worrying effect.

Aria paused the footage and said, "As you can guess, it escalated from there."

"How many..." began Shining only for Aria to say "Mr. Lynch expected a visit after the nightmare incident...he had several high end weapons installed...you probably saw some of them.  His mistake was setting their activation to manual...but once he turned them on...Mr. Lynch should be fine by tomorrow.  His file indicates 2 other incidents on this date."

"Sounds like whatever happened must have been really bad," said Shining.  "We shouldn't pry too much if it hurts him this much," said Twilight.  "Sis, if Matt does this again, innocent ponies could be hurt.  I know Matt needs time to heal, but as Captain of the Guard, my responsibility is to ensure the safety of Equestria's citizens."

"Sir...If you want to throw Mr. Lynch in the cells at this moment in time will only invite a very hostile response, given his flash training in escape procedures.  He will be fine and almost certainly somber about any grief he has caused by tomorrow." said Aria
"Well...this time, I can let him off with a warning.  But next time, I'll have to use force," said Shining Armor.
"I will let him go.  Miss Sparkle...if you would remain here...I would like to place the helmet in storage." said Aria, several spiderdrones proceeding forward…
...
When Matt woke up from his anesthetic-induced sleep, he had a vague recollection of what happened beforehand.
"Oh no..." he moaned to himself before hearing the sound of hooves and a vague memory of seeing Twilight came to the surface.  "Twilight...did you...oh, sorry." he said, seeing a white unicorn stallion in the doorway.

"Matt, this is my brother, Shining Armor," said Twilight.

"I'm guessing he's not a librarian." said Matt, carefully as he eyed up the armor

"I am the Captain of the Royal Guards, and as such, it's my job to keep Equestria and its citizens safe," said Shining sternly.
"Oh...is this about the same reason that Aria had my wrist-comp sedate me?  Last clear memory is of a team of EGIS taunting the memory of my...well." said Matt

"It caused quite an outburst," said Shining Armor.  "No one in town was hurt, but they're not too happy either," said Twilight.
"Great...just great." muttered Matt darkly before saying "So...how was your trip?  No killer robots or deer people this time?"
"No, we got the helmet and a few other things," said Twilight.

"Huh...maybe some quiet time helping find out what that helmet does will help me cool off?" said Matt.

"I'm not sure letting a powerful artifact like that in your..." started Shining Armor.  "I won't be able to do a thing with it.  It's not like I'm a pegasus," said Matt before shooting a warning look at Twilight and the camera that Aria was presumably watching from.
"He'll be fine, bro.  Nopony ever caused trouble by just doing research." said Twilight before aiming her own warning look at Shining armor who was trying not to grin at that.

"Fine, maybe he can help you identify that mystery artifact," said Shining Armor before turning to Matt and saying, "Consider this your community service."

Matt muttered "...again." as he left before slapping his hands together.  "How hard can this be then?"
...
24 hours later...

"SO BOOOORED!" yelled Matt, after reading yet another book with no result.

"Matt, you can't expect the answer to be on the first few pages you read," said Twilight, "These artifacts have been missing for hundreds of years.  They're more likely to be in the most obscure book."

Matt faceplanted on the folding table he had brought to the library.  "Oh goody...this is certainly punishment enough." he said in a muffled voice before looking at the page he was on.  “Ooh...this is interesting...The 'Disorder’s eye diamond...apparently gives you what you actually need." he said out loud

"What?  Let me see," said Twilight, making the book move towards her a little too fast.  "Ow!" yelped Matt before nursing the paper cut on his cheek.

"Sorry...but I remember Starswirl the Bearded writing about these diamonds in his journals...he said they were really dangerous." said Twilight, reading the article

"There could be exceptions," said Matt, "This might be one of them."

Twilight however didn’t seem convinced.  "I hope there isn't one here.  The diamonds maker wasn’t exactly the most trustworthy." she said

"And who would that be?" asked Matt.

"You don't want to know." said Twilight with absolute honesty.

"Hmm...well, I better put it in the vault with the other stuff.  Wouldn't want it falling into the wrong hands," said Matt.
Twilight seemed suspicious before saying "Just be careful...chaos can be....tricky."  

“What’s chaos got to do with anything?" said Matt, shoving the helmet on his head for ease of transport.  "So...where's the evil diamond of doom?"

Twilight snorted a bit with laughter and said, "It's in the saddlebag."

Matt, with a mock British accent, said “Very well, I, Lord Toilet brush, shall take this diamond where it can do no harm." causing Twilight to break down in a laugh.

After Matt left, Twilight said, "Ok, I better read more about... Hey, where'd it go?"  She looked around for the book that mentioned the Disorder’s Eye.

She realized how homesick Matt was for his world...as well as the new fact that he was a little unstable.  "Oh no...SPIKE!"
...
"Oookay...maybe the third time's the charm," said Matt, a little shook up by his briefly and accidentally summoning of an eldritch horror.  Fortunately, this one was in a friendly mood and had given Matt a little advice before departing the plane of existence.
"Ok...remember what the tentacled horror said...don’t forget to carry the three unless I want a mind flayer in my left ear." Matt said to himself.  "Ok, Aria, let her rip."

"Matt, I really don't think this is wise..." started Aria.  "Wisdom's overrated, hit it," said Matt.

"Sir...the chances that we will get the hypercoil part instead of another 20 tons of vanilla cheesecake is almost astronomical." complained Aria before stopping "Miss Sparkle is back...and so is her brother...and a dozen guard.  Should I activate defenses?"
"No...if this works..." began Matt before noticing a blue glow.  “Oh cra-" he began.

...

"You let him go with the Diamond and the book that shows him how to use it?" asked Shining Armor.  "Well, I didn't know he took the book," said Twilight, "But on the bright side, I don't think he knows how to use magic."

A glow was coming from Matts hut before a brief discharge shot out, hit one of Matt’s defense turrets and turned it into a very surprised-looking skunk which immediately fled.  Needless to say, it was the sort of thing that commanded attention.
"Ok, the Diamond could be used by non-magical ponies, but that doesn't mean that Matt..."

Twilight didn't manage to finish before all the windows in Matts home exploded outwards, the force also flipping his nearby jeep and knocking everyone over.  Strangely enough, most of the fragments were immediately sucked back towards the blast.  "MATT!" called Twilight in horror before seeing two figures staggering out of the smoke.  

"Ok, that is the last time I use science to make magic," coughed Matt.

The second figure said in a voice Twilight knew "Coming from the guy who got involved with that stuff on his first day?"
Both Matt, who came to his senses and Twilight to look at the second figure more properly.

"I...no...no...That’s not possible." said Matt in a small voice before the figure spoiled the moment by coughing on the smoke and complaining “Bloody hell...the one time I want my helmet...what’s wrong, bro?  You see a ghost?" 

Matt rubbed his eyes and said, "This has to be a dream, that blast musta knocked me unconscious."

The figure sighed before turning "You can see me as well...right?  Just so Mr. Denial here snaps to it?"
"Uh, yeah, I can see you," said Twilight.

Matt stopped at that, getting up unsteadily and saying "Chloe?  You look well for..." he began before his eyes rolled into his head and he fell backwards.

...

"Well, it's nice that Matt's sister came, even if it involved Matt be a little sneaky," said Fluttershy.  "Yeah and he's not so grumpy and mean now," said Pinkie.

"I can't believe he used that diamond...they're dangerous." said Twilight glumly.

"Asides from a big polecat and his house exploding...again, it didn't seem that dangerous," said Applejack, "It's the thieving that's got my dander up."

"Not to mention that ponies are being worried by those soldiers that are chasing him.  There is talk at the spa that a petition is going to be sent to the Princesses." said Rarity

"We can take those soldiers, we've got all three Primo...uh...Primal...uh...all three magic hats," said Rainbow Dash.

"I'm not sure we should use them at all...remember what happened when me and Pinkie used them?" said Twilight.

"What?  So you nearly froze us and I almost knocked Matt into next season," said Pinkie, "We were just getting to know how they worked."

"I don’t get it...Aria said he was just trying to get the energy coil he needs for his ship.  His sister though..." said Rarity.  Applejack said with a smirk "Bet she was darn surprised to be zapped here."

"The book did say the diamond gets one what they need most," said Twilight, "Maybe Matt needed his sister more than he thought he did."

Dash said "She does seem to be the sane one." before they turned at the sound of laughter, Matt and Chloe walking into view.  "You stole their own exo-suit?  That’s too much." said Chloe.

"You should have seen the looks on their faces," said Matt.

Chloe laughed again "And your buddy Pinkie was roasting you?  I wanna meet this girl."
"Well, there she is over there," said Matt pointing.

Chloe turned and found herself nose to nose with Pinkie "WHAT THE SMEG?!" yelled Chloe, jumping backwards in shock as Pinkie said cheerfully "Hi there."

"Yeah, she's surprising like that, actually, more than that," said Matt.

Chloe looked at Pinkie.  "The pink elephants story was real?" she said carefully

"It sure was," said Pinkie before tilting her head as if she was listening to someone.  She turned back to Chloe and said, "They say hi."

Chloe stared for a second before saying "Ooookayyyyyy." and slowly stepping back a few steps and looking at the others "So you girls kept my bro here on the sane and narrow, eh?"

"Eh...it's been harder lately," said Applejack.

"Yeah...was it the spark thing that did it?" she said, before looking at the shocked passersby.  "What?"

Matt grinned nervously and said to the passing ponies, "She's new in town, just showing her around."  He turned back to Chloe and said, "Sis, there are some things that shouldn't be broadcasted, you know that."

"Oh...sorry...dunno why I made that goof," said Chloe, shaking her head.

"Just try to keep a lid on that," said Matt.

"So...you've been looking for these helmets?" said Chloe conversationally

"The first two were quite a hassle to get," said Twilight, "Fortunately, the last one was easier."

"Weird...I remember Darius...real whack job...but why'd he want a few magic helmets?" said Chloe, sitting down...and falling backwards off the too small seat.  "Yeah, that happened to me too." said Matt sympathetically

"Maybe he's just after trophies," said Applejack.  "Yeah, I don't think he'd go through just much trouble for some souvenirs," said Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah...you don’t send an army to get a helmet...not even these helmets." said Matt before saying "Isn't there anywhere where we could find out more about these helmets?  Maybe they can tell us."

Twilight thought before saying, "Canterlot Library ought to have a more extensive collection.  Or maybe Princess Celestia would know more."

"So let’s go..." said Matt before noticing their looks "What?"

"Er, Matt, I don't think Canterlot is, er, your type of place," said Rarity.

"Oh please...I can be good plus it’s the best chance we have to beat Darius at his own game...and I can drop the artifacts off there too." said Matt, Chloe chipping in "And if he messes up, I'll beat him senseless."

"Er, what she means is that Canterlot ain't a good place for roughhousin'," said Applejack.

"That’s what I meant by my dear brother 'messing up'." said Chloe with a grin.

Twilight sighed and said, "Look, the thing is..."  Rainbow Dash cut in and said, "It won't be a good idea for you two to go because you're going to make yourselves look bad and get thrown in the dungeon."  The other ponies gave Dash a shocked look at her bluntness.  "Hey, it was the only way they'd get it."

Chloe nodded "I get it...this is like why mercs have to go in dress uniform...what?  We do have uniforms other than battle armor." she said.

"Will you girls relax, I'll be on my best behavior," said Matt.

...
Matt was feeling rather uncomfortable walking down one of the streets in Canterlot, mainly because of the looks ponies have been giving him.

"This is ridiculous." he said out the corner of his mouth to Chloe, the two of them in grey and black Camo style uniforms.  "It could be worse...no pitchforks or burning torches." whispered Chloe back

"Not like they could hold them anyways, except for the unicorns," said Matt.

"They're all unicorns here I think." said Chloe smiling innocently as a couple of them walked by.  Matt gulped and said to Twilight "How much further?  I don’t want to be lynched...despite my surname."

“Not too far, I know this city like the back of my hoof…well, most of it,” said Twilight.

"Good..." said Matt, waving innocently to a unicorn guard "Morning." he said a little manically, causing Chloe to bite her tongue to avoid laughing at the guards 'wtf?' expression.

As the group entered the palace proper, they could hear someone saying, "No, I am not exaggerating, those ruffians in that rundown hamlet need to learn to properly respect the crown."

Matt looked to see Rarity starting to look a little angry as she heard the voice.  "Someone you know?" he asked as he heard another voice saying "This is thy fifth request for retribution.  Ponyville has done nothing to earn such wrath,"

"Hmm, maybe we should give that voice a 'hey-howdy-do'?" said Chloe, cracking her knuckles at the same time.

The ponies winced and Matt said "Hey...that guy deserves to flushed out an airlock...wait, was it the knuckles?"  Fluttershy nodding before Rarity said "I cannot believe that awful mule is still around."  

Matt peered around the corner to see a blond maned white stallion standing in front of an alicorn he’d yet to meet...a dark blue, almost black alicorn before looking at Chloe who shrugged

"Go for it...crazy frightens morons." she said causing Matt to grin and walk round the corner.

"Done nothing wrong?  What about harboring that lunatic that has nearly destroyed the town more than once?" said Blueblood.  Princess Luna glanced to one side and said, "Is that the lunatic thou arst referring to?"

Blueblood spun to see the creature that he had heard his auntie Cellie talking about and gulped.  He was as large as his spies had said.  "Hi...are we late?" the creature said, arms outstretched in what was either a greeting or a threat.

"No, thy arrival be prompt.  We welcome thee to Canterlot, I am Princess Luna, Keeper of the Night," said Luna.  "And I am Prince Blueblood," said Blueblood, trying to sound more calm than he was.

"Wait...you guys are immortal...how?" began Matt before Luna said "It is thine long story."  Matt turned to Blueblood "Fair enough...so, Blueberk...why are you asking for permission to bulldoze my friends’ hometown?" he asked, his tone partially concealing the knife-edge in it

"I was not planning to 'bulldoze', as you so crassly put it, the commoners merely need a reminder of the power of the crown," said Blueblood.

"Then let’s ask them.  I've met your boss...you are not it...and I have met people like you...they usually end up being at the wrong end of a blaster." said Matt, whispering the last part for the unicorns benefit.

Blueblood glared at Matt and said, "Is that a threat?  That's high treason."

"Haven’t you heard?  Me and my sis aren't from this country...or even this dimension." said Matt mock cheerfully as Chloe and the others came in.

Blueblood gulped a bit and said, "Well, then it would be an act of war..."  "You don't want to start a war with us, not that you really can," said Matt.

Chloe leaned down next to Blueblood "We like Ponyville and the girls...if we find so much as a brick out of place..." she said, allowing Matt to add "...they won't even find your tacky little jacket."

Luna stepped in and said, "I assure thee, there shalt be no attempts to molest Ponyville.  We weren't even considering the thought when thou stepped in."

"That’s cool...we just wanted to put our two cents down, so to speak." said Matt, cheerfully before looking at Blueblood before leaning in.  “Smile...we're all friends here...but know if you come after my friends, I'll gut you like the slimeball that you are." he muttered.

Blueblood blustered before saying, "I have more important things to attend to anyways," before quickly leaving.

Matt watched Blueblood all but run out before saying “What a slimy little toad.  You and Celestia are related to that smeghead?"
"It is complicated," said Luna.

"I don't doubt it." said Chloe.

"Anyway, Princess Luna, we need some help," said Twilight, "I'm sure Celestia has gotten my letters about the Corona Prima, but we can't find any more information about them in Ponyville.  May we please use your library?"

"It would be thy pleasure to help...but I should warn thee...the librarian in charge is...unusual." said Luna with a smile before casting a mass teleport spell on the group, depositing them in a darkened library.  

"I haven't been in this section of the library before," said Twilight, lighting up her horn for illumination.

"The books kept here are...not for public use." said Luna before calling out in a deafening voice "FANG...THY PRINCESS DEMANDS THY PRESCENCE!"  Matt who had been right next to her adding his own scream of "OH GOD, MY EARDRUMS!"

"We apologize, I suppose thy ears are not accustomed to the Royal Equestrian Voice," said Luna.  "Also, must you keep talking in 'thy' and 'thee', and what's with the 'we' anyways?" asked Chloe.

"We...I am sorry.  I am still getting used to this time after my...time away." said Luna in a more normal tone before looking down at Matt who was making a gurgling noise.  "Is he ok?" she asked

"I suppose you were a little loud for being in a library," said Fluttershy.

Chloe was looking around, a thought coming to the forefront "What kinda name is 'Fang'?" before hearing what sounded like a Brooklyn accent say "What kinda names Chloe, smartass?" and she turned to see the face of the largest spider she had ever had the misfortune to see who said “Yo.”.

If Luna's shout was piercing, Chloe's scream literally rattled the castle and made every pony in Canterlot cover their ears in pain.
However, Chloe was a mercenary...and when a mercenary is terrified, they use violence on what caused the terror which is why the surprised spider was clocked on the head "What the fu-ow?  what the hell is wrong with...OW...LUNA...call her off...she's nuts!" it yelped, before scuttling away with Chloe in pursuit holding a 3000 page book entitled 'how to kill spiders'.

Unfortunately, horses and ponies have sharper hearing than humans so the ponies were incapacitated for a minute while they rubbed their assaulted ears.

Matt slowly got up unsteadily before spotting what looked like a diary.  "Huh, what's in here?" asked Matt opening the diary to look...only for a boxing glove to somehow spring out of the pages and hit him in the face.

Luna winced at that, levitating up the book and sighing “I thought Fang said you were chained up." she muttered, looking at the title 'My Diary, By Discord' on the cover.  On cue Fang vaulted a bookshelf as Chloe charged after him.  "Luna, babe...little help here." he said, scuttling up a wall and hanging just out of reach of Chloe like the worlds creepiest piñata.

"What's with her anyways?" asked Applejack.  "Pfft, she's obviously scared of spiders. I mean, how pathetic would have to be, right Fluttershy?" said Rainbow Dash before looking around and asking "Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy was hiding behind another bookshelf as Chloe jumped up and down, taking swings at the unfortunate Fang who now, in the smug tone of someone who can hang out of reach all day, said "Ok...while the crazy monkeys calming down...what y'all need?" he asked, smirking as Chloe missed “Aw...so close, girl." he taunted.

"We are seeking knowledge of the Corona Prima," said Luna.

"Man, that’s a name I ain't heard since before my ma ate my pa." said Fang, scuttling across the roof before grabbing a book at random and tossing it over.  "That should be good to start...the who's who of the pre-princess era magical artifacts..." he called
"Pre-Princess?  I didn't think they would be older than you," said Twilight to Luna.  "While I and my sister have ruled over Equestria for a long time, we have not always ruled as you know," said Luna, "There are many ancient things in this world that predate us and the First Crowns are among them."

"Does that include killer diaries?" moaned Matt from ground level.  

Luna gave the offending book a scornful look and said, "That ought to be locked up and out of trouble.  Fang, I expect it done next time I come here."

"Hell...you try and lock that creeps diary up.  I swear that thing thinks for itself." complained Fang, webbing the diary.
Twilight, meanwhile, had started leafing through the book for information on the Corona Prima.

Chloe, now bored with trying to get rid of the giant spider had wandered over "Can do whatever its master desires." she read out from a line about the effect of all three helmets

"I thought the hats only worked with the type of ponies they're meant for," said Applejack.  "We alicorns have all the traits of the other three types," said Luna.  "Yeah, but you only have one head," said Pinkie, "It's not like you can stack them on top of each other and wear them."

"There are other ways to bend the helmets to your will." said Luna darkly

Matt said "Good thing we have them all then...locked up good and tight in a secure container.  I thought they'd be safer here then my ship so I brought em along."

"That's probably for the best," said Twilight, "If I was able to do it, those other mercenaries probably could as well."

"Yeah...I got em locked up in the hotel...with a few surprises..." said Matt with a knowing smirk. 
"Uh, ya sure keepin' them in the hotel's a good idea?" asked Applejack.

"Only an idiot would break into a mercs belongings." said Matt with absolute truth.
...
Blueblood obviously didn’t trust the 'humans' one little bit.  So he had one of his loyal servants go investigate their room.
"This is a bad idea." said Lockpick, one of the two unicorns working on the door "Who knows what monsters keep in their luggage."
"Hey, what the prince wants, the prince gets," said Tumbler.

"Yeah...but still...” said Lockpick before the door opened with a click.  "Nice one, Lockpick...you still got it." said Tumbler
"Er....that wasn't me." said Lockpick nervously 

The two of them looked at the door and Tumbler said, "Why don't you go in first?"  "No, no, after you," said Lockpick.
Whatever was inside decided to make the choice for them, shooting the carpet they were on into the room, dragging the duo in before the door shut and relocked with an ominous click.

"Ok, we better find out what those humans and leave," said Tumbler.

A scuttling noise was heard in the darkened room, a trashcan falling over as something knocked it over.
The two unicorns looked around.  "What was that?" asked Lockpick.

Several blurs shot under the bed...where a heavy duty looking container sat.

"Um, that looks like it," said Tumbler.

Several red lights came on under the bed and what sounded like half a dozen dentist drills began to rev.
Tumbler gulped and said, "On second thought, let sleeping dogs lie, right?"  "Those are not dogs," said Lockpick.  "Exactly."
A mechanical spider the size of their hoof scuttled out and looked up at them in what was the robotic equivalent of puppy dog eyes.
"It's not that scary," said Lockpick.

On cue two small drills folded out and the two ponies yelped before the bot jumped on Tumblers face
...
Meanwhile, Chloe was looking through the books for more about the diamond that had apparently brought her here.

Matt was in the corner, looking through a book about any word on the facility that had been near the dam, Chloe taking a looks before reading on  "The diamonds of discord would find out what its user needed and recreate it.  However, this yet another cruel trap of the spirit of chaos." read Chloe, looking at the picture before dropping the book in pain.

In her mind, she could feel emotions that weren't her own flare up: mischief, deceit, callous disregard for others, and treachery for treachery’s sake.

A voice spoke to her...but what was the fun in listening...wait, what?  "I said, you ok, Chloe?  You look like me after the mind leech." said Matt, shaking her.

"Just...a headache.  I guess all the screaming took more out of me than I thought," said Chloe.

"Sure...we got what we need anyhow." said Matt.  Twilight nodded "From what I read...these helmets, if you put them together wouldn’t need to be worn..." she said

"You mean put together like a puzzle or just put together in one spot?" asked Pinkie.

"I think me and Applejack saw it done...in that place we found under the dam." said Twilight.  "The facility?  When me, Aria and Dash took a trip to bookland?" said Matt

"Yeah, we had to keep busy there with Darius's creeps lurkin' around," said Applejack, "Twilight even learned a time-freezin' spell."
"I wondered where Twilight learnt that." said Matt before looking at Chloe’s book.  "Watcha reading?" he said only for Chloe to slam it and blurt "Nothing...it was a dead end."

"You feelin' okay, sugar?" asked Applejack.

"I'm fine...being pulled across the multiverse can do that to someone." lied Chloe in a smooth tone
"Maybe you should go lie down," said Applejack.

“Yeah...someone should check on the helmets anyway." said Chloe before walking off to ask Luna to teleport her back out.
Applejack turned to Twilight and said quietly, "Ya think somethin' might be wrong with her?"

"Who knows what my sis has been through?  Give her time." said Matt, putting a book back on the shelf
"I just get the feelin' that she ain't what she appears to be," said Applejack.

"She's my sister..." said Matt angrily

"I don't mean to be in your family business, but I just can't ignore that funny feelin'.  It's like Pinkie with her twitchin'," said Applejack.
"...I'll talk to her...ok?" said Matt before walking off.  "Why would Chloe have lied about that book?" said Twilight, looking at the book Chloe had been reading only to her horror to find several pages had been torn out.

...

As Chloe staggered back to the hotel, her head was overflowing with treacherous thoughts, thoughts of ratting out Matt or setting him up to take the fall for...  Why was she thinking these thoughts, he was her brother, wasn't he?

"Oh please...you know better than that." said a voice from a puddle next to the wall she was leaning against.  Chloe immediately pulled her blaster out.  "Who's there?" she snapped, before her shaking hand caused her to drop the gun

"What do you owe him anyways?  Did you really want to be dragged to this little world?" said the voice.

"Come out...who's there?" said Chloe, despite everything starting to get a little frightened.  "Is that any way to speak to family, my dear?  Look down." said the voice, Chloe complying after a second

Reflected in the puddle was the face of what looked like the oddest antelope Chloe had ever seen.  "Ok, I'm pretty sure I didn't have anything to drink today," said Chloe.

"Oh, trust me you didn't." said the antelope.  "Ok, Mr. hallucination...I know for a fact none of my relatives look like you...not even that time we pushed Matt into the teleport booth with five vials of DNA from the medilab." said Chloe in a 'inch from snapping' voice
The antelope laughed and said, "Oh, that does sound like a good prank.  I simply must have a look at that."  Suddenly, Chloe felt like someone was rummaging through her memories.

The antelope started laughing like crazy as he apparently found what he was looking for.  "Oh, that is too much.  Celestia never lets me out for fun anymore." he said before apparently noticing Chloe’s look.  "Discord...or daddy, if you prefer." he said in a mock introduction.

“No, that's not true, that's impossible!" snapped Chloe.

'Discord' clicked his talons and in a flash of light was suddenly wearing a Darth Vader helmet, saying in a Vader voice “Search your feelings; you know it to be true."

Discord continued "What’s your last memory before appearing in that human’s room?" he asked

"The explosion...at our apartment..." said Chloe.  "The explosion Matt believed you died in," said Discord, "Matt believes my pearl brought you back to life, but we both know you can't be the real Chloe."

"Magi energy’s done stranger things..." began Chloe only for Discord to say in a surprisingly grim voice "Explain no body then." before she said "Face it...you're about as human as I am, my dear."

"I look more human than you do," said Chloe.  "You know what they say, beauty's only skin deep," said Discord.

"What are you talking about?" said Chloe, only for Discord to snap his fingers again, causing Chloe’s hand to spasm....and tear.
Chloe watched in horror as the hand distorted as the skin was stretched against inside.  Eventually, it split open to reveal a bird's talons.  "Try to deny that," said Discord.

More of the treacherous, cold thoughts slipped up Chloe squeezing her eyes shut.  "He's my brother...he's my brother." she repeated.

"Oh stop trying to fight it, accept it," said Discord casually.  "I won't...siblings have loyalty..." strained Chloe.  Discord laughed and said, "Loyalty?  Leave that burden to Rainbow Dash.  Betrayal is your true nature...and your true name."

Chloe settled for screaming out loud, Matt running into view. "CHLOE...What’s wrong?" he said.

Chloe looked up when she heard Matt's voice before glancing at her hand and seeing it had five normal human digits again.  "Just...a bad dream," she said.

"Yeah...let’s get back...I think the bots caught someone...I heard drills." said Matt, mock cheerfully.

...

The two looked up at the makeshift cocoons made out of curtains and the gagged ponies tied in them.  "Ok, that’s impressive." admitted Chloe.

"Yeah, they didn't just shove a bucket on that guy's head, they superglued it," said Matt, pointing to the unfortunate Tumbler, though the spiderbots had drilled two eyeholes for him…It was just a shame it was in the back of the bucket...

Chloe reached up and tore the gag off the second pony who immediately blurted out "WHAT THE HAY IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?  NORMAL PONIES JUST PUT ALARM HEXES ON THEIR LUGGAGE!"

"Humans can't do magic," said Matt before pausing and saying, "Well, at least I can't."

Chloe nodded before paling as she spotted Discord in a mirror giving the spiderbots a thumb's up.  "Erm...yeah." she said, cutting the ponies down.  "Get lost." she said, to Matt’s shock

"But, we're all tied up," said the second pony.

Matt clicked his fingers and one of the spiderbots tore their bonds off.  "Hop it." Matt said icily

The two ponies quickly ran out of the room...well, except that the bucketheaded one kept running into the wall instead of through the door.  "C'mon, Tumbler," said the other before grabbing him and vamoosing.

"Ten creds says that that fool blueblood sent em to snoop." said Chloe, checking the lock on the container.  "Yeah...they tried to break it...that musta been when the bots jumped em." she said

"As tempted as I am to go and confront Bluephlegm about this, I promised the girls I'd stay out of trouble.  I suppose the least troubling way would be to complain to the manager," said Matt before going out the door.

Chloe nodded "I'll keep an eye here." she said.  However as soon as Matt was gone she heard Discord again "Maybe you are related to him?  Such rigid self-denial." he said

Chloe turned and saw Discord's reflection in the mirror.  "Don't you have anything else better to do?" she snapped.

"Not really.  Just counting how many pigeons land on me." said Discord in a bored voice

Chloe gave him an odd look and said, "Well, I don't care, just leave me alone."

"Oh, don't be like that.  Father and daughter should do more things together...let’s start will giving those primus artifacts to somepony who could actually use them." said Discord

"I suppose you mean yourself," said Chloe.

"No...someone has to get rid of that...urgh....do-gooder...and you, my dear are in the right place." said Discord 
"If you expect to betray my brother..." started Chloe.  "Of course I do," snapped Discord, "Your name isn't Betrayal because it's a nickname for Beatrice!"

"MY NAME IS CHLOE...!" snapped Chloe, trying to drown out the cruel thoughts swimming around, one pointing out how much Darius would pay for the full set of artifacts.

"You aren't the true Chloe, must you require further proof?" said Discord, "Maybe you should what your face should really look like."
With that, Discord clicked his fingers again and Chloe moaned as her face began to ache and warp before she fell down.  After a minute she pulled herself up to see a green scaled draconic face with one antler and one dragon horn staring back with yellow and red eyes.

"There now, I think it really brings out your inner backstabber," said Discord.
Chloe just stared with an almost sad expression, lifting her re-taloned hand up to press against the mirror before her eyes narrowed as her self-denial broke.

"Now then, let's see about contacting that Darius I've been hearing about," said Discord.

"Sure...but first I think it’s time I took my dear 'brother' out of the loop." said Chloe with a fanged grin.

...

Blueblood was less than satisfied when his spies got back to him, especially one was 'out of uniform'.
"But they had some kind of...golem things guarding their luggage." said Tumbler in a echoing voice, mostly cause the bucket was STILL on his head, though Lockpick had managed to cast some proper eyeholes and a horn hole into it.

"A pair of...spies like you should have been able to find a way around those lumbering brutes," said Blueblood.
"We tried...oh, Celestia we tried." said Lockpick in a distant horrified voice.

"Obviously, you didn't try hard enough," said Blueblood, "I want to know what those monkeys are hiding.  So you're going back and..."

"NOT A CHANCE!" yelled Tumbler, his eyes pinpricks that caused Blueblood to jump back.  Lockpick added "We quit.  Being attacked by homicidal constructs was NOT in our job description."

Blueblood glared and said, "You dare refuse a Royal Prince?"

Lockpick and Tumbler paused before Tumbler said "Quite easily actually...the dirt you've had us hoof through...imagine if Equestria Daily or the Canterlot times heard."

"Wha...Bu...Bu...FINE!  Get out of my sight!  You two are banished from Canterlot!  Begone!" shouted Blueberk.
"Don't call us...we'll call you...erm, before I go...do you know any anti-glue spells?" began Tumbler only for Blueblood to yell "GET OUT!"

The two unicorn thieves quickly turned and left, Tumbler muttering to Lockpick, "We never should have agreed in the first place."
Blueblood glared before using his magic to close the door.  "This is what I get for hiring peasants." he muttered, trotting over to his cushions before hearing a clink from the next room.

"What was that?" he muttered before walking towards the door.

He slowly trotted towards the door to the other room.  "Clearcut?  Is that you?" he called nervously, saying the name of his butler.  A new noise began, sounding like one of those newfangled drills dentists used. 

"Clearcut, is that a new mop you're using?" called Blueblood.

At no reply Blueblood gulped and slowly opened the door to see a shadowy humanoid figure in front of his houses safe.  "HEY.  HOW DARE...EEEEEEEK!" he began before the figure aimed a device that spat an orange orb at him, blowing a burning hole in the doorframe.

Unaccustomed to violence, let alone direct threats against his life, Blueblood did what most aristocrats would do...he toppled over in a dead faint.

The figure looked at him before shrugging and using the blaster to burn the safes lock away and pulling out a handful of the gems.  "Too easy." it said in a voice distorted by its helmet mask.

The figure then strode towards the door, but paused and kicked Blueblood in the side a few times for good measure, I mean...who'd pass up that opportunity?

...

The next morning, Matt and Chloe were using the SUV to drive the artifacts up to the main castle when he spotted a half dozen guards outside one of the estates.  Matt slowed down and peered out to see Shining "Where's the fire?" he joked.

"We've had a break-in, assault and burglary," said Shining Armor, "Against one of the Royal Family no less."

"How's the thief?  I pity whoever takes on your princesses." said Matt cheerfully before spotting a limping Blueblood yelling at a few guards.  "That smeghead?" he said with a lack of sympathy

"Well, Blueblood isn't an alicorn, so he isn't as powerful.  Sometimes I wonder if he's legitimately...."  "THAT'S HIM!" screamed Blueblood suddenly, pointing at Matt.

"I'm sorry?" said Matt.  "You're the one who robbed me.  Captain Armor...do your duty and arrest that miscreant." yelled Blueblood, pointing hysterically.  Matt and Chloe looked at each other "You're joking...right?" she said.

"I saw it with my own eyes!  That's the one who broke into my safe and beat me senseless!" yelled Blueblood.

"Oh please...I was in bed last night...ask anyone at the hotel...apparently I snore like a dragon according to the guy in the room next door." said Matt.

"Then explain how the intruder was your size and shape and attacked me with a handheld fireball," snapped Blueblood.
"Exo-Gene?  Darius has a whole army that’s my 'size and shape'." said Matt, only for Blueblood to say evilly "Then you won't mind turning out your pockets."

Matt sighed and said, "Fine, if it gets me out of here any fast-"

Matt and Chloe climbed out, Matt tripping only for Chloe to steady him.  "Easy there..." she said before saying "Hey...what’s this?" pulling out what looked like a ruby out of Matt’s pocket.  

"Uh...something I found while...rock hunting," said Matt, pretty sure he hadn't seen that ruby before.
Blueblood was looking like the cat that had just eaten the canary and gotten the cream to boot.  "Captain...as I said...arrest that miscreant." he said in an aloof voice

"Now wait a minute, there's no proof this is yours.  Rubies aren't exactly rare around here," said Matt.

Blueblood immediately levitated the ruby over, turning it over to show an interconnected BB symbol cut into the bottom.  
"That could mean anything," said Matt, stubbornly.

Matt could easily have overpowered the guards and make a break for it.  Heck, he had a getaway vehicle ready for him.  But he made that promise...  "Ok, fine, it's not gonna stick anyways," said Matt.

...

Chloe sat with a grim smile in the corner as she watched the element bearers discuss their friends 'betrayal'...sometimes it was too easy.

"I don't understand why Matt would do that," said Fluttershy, "I thought he was a nice guy."  "Well, Blueblood may be an obnoxious clod...but I don't think that gives Matt the right to rob him," said Rarity.

Rainbow Dash however said "No...Matt wouldn’t rob anypony.  He may be a little crazy but he’s not a thief."  Pinkie Pie nodded "Yup.  Matt would have just blown him up." she said

"O'course, this wouldn't be the first time Matt's done somethin' rotten behind our backs," said Applejack.  "Matt had a good reason when he took the pearl, not a smart one but he meant well," said Twilight, "I just can't believe he'd betray our trust like this."

Chloe finally said "Don't judge him too hard...I saw his file when I got to the ship.  Poor guys unstable...he probably didn’t even know what he was doing." she said smoothly.

Rainbow gave Chloe a stern look and said, "How could say something like that?  Matt's your brother you know."

"Yeah....right." muttered Chloe to herself before saying "Yeah...so I know he's not the same.  He just needs a little time out."
"Well, if Matt is innocent, they won't be able to make the charges stick," said Twilight, "He'll probably be out before tomorrow night."
Chloe nodded thinking "Not if I can help it." before saying "I'm gonna head over...have a chat with Aria."

...

As soon as she'd entered her room, she grabbed Matt’s spare wrist-comp and began looking for the frequency she knew Matt would have on its restricted list...Darius's.  

...

The mess hall in the Icarus was rather quiet, considering very few show up at any time other than mealtime.  However, some of those few were in the mess hall and discussing the latest going-ons.  "Have you noticed the captain's been rather...quiet since that island fiasco?" asked one trooper.

"Been summoning everyone into his room except Andaka and his boys.  Guess it’s our turn." said his fellow trooper, the two glaring at a tableful of laughing Black 13 mercenaries.  A third trooper said "Hey...you didn’t hear this from me...but I think the cap's been exposed to reality energy...the magi levels in his room blew out the sensors."

The troopers exchanged glances and one of them said, "You don't think he's been practicing the...dark stuff, do ya?"  "I don't know, but if I hear any eldritch language from his quarters, I'm bailing out," said another.

"With what?  We're still stabilizing the wormhole so the only other place is local lockup downstairs." said the first trooper, thumbing out the window at Equis, the name they'd given the planet Matt was hiding on.

There was a bit of silence before one of them said, "Out of curiosity, what would you say our chances would be on his side?"
"He managed to evade Mark and his entire garrison back at Balwak...took out over 30 of our boys over the duration of this whole clusterfuck operation...I'd say pretty good if we manage to stop him blowing the smeg out of us on sight." said the third trooper
"Well, he can't be completely unreasonable," said another.  However, one of the more loyal troopers said, "I think I need a better reason before I even consider desertion and possible mutiny."

"I hear CPS let ya keep 60% of what ya earn." said the second trooper absently.  You could almost hear the internal gears starting to spin as their mental compasses swung round to due money.

"There is such a thing as code of duty," said the more loyal trooper, "I can't just abandon my post because the captain might seem a little off."

"Uh oh...here comes the zombies." said the one who had mentioned the CPS money nodding to where some of their fellow troopers had come in.  The nickname was cause of the strange stare the troopers had.  Even the Black 13 troopers stood up and moved away, one muttering about freaks.  One of them yelled "OFFICER ON DECK!"

The three troopers immediately stood to attention.  However, they didn't see the captain walk in.  Instead, they saw a woman in uniform with violet sparkling hair.  "Er...where's the captain?" asked one of the troopers.

"She's right there, you fools." said one of the guards, causing the trio to desperately fight the urge to not smirk.  In their minds, Darius had clearly had an accident messing with magi energy.

The more loyal trooper said, in as a straight a tone as he could manage, "I trust the...captain is feeling well today?"

The woman said "I'm feeling....much better, thank you." waving her hand and causing a faint glow...before seemingly waiting.
The troopers glanced at each other, wondering what was supposed to happen.  The woman looked annoyed before repeating the gesture, the glow a bit brighter.

The trio watched politely as the woman glared at her hand a shook it a bit before one of them said "Erm...boss?  Are you ok?"
"Whatever you three are doing, stop it right now!" snapped the woman.  "Er...does that mean we can sit down?" asked another trooper.

"Just...just go away." said the woman in an angry voice, the trio shrugging before wandering off, one of them saying "Woo hoo...day off."

One of the officers stepped in and said, "Message for you, ma'am.  Seems like someone has an interesting offer to make."
The woman took the note and read it before smirking.  "Looks like this body has its uses...so somepony picked up Discord's old diamonds.  " she said.  The nightmare had, after the disaster on the island had finally decided to do the job herself, destroying Darius's mind and taking up residence...after a few improvements.

There was still some more work to be done, but a human form does have some benefits, namely hands.

"Get some men together.  we might as well try our luck with this...given how you imbeciles keep missing." she said.

"Yes...Captain Daria..." said the men.  'Daria' looked a little annoyed.  She'd much rather be addressed by a more appropriate name, but there seems to be a limit to how much you can bend others' minds without affecting their capabilities.

...

Chloe/Betrayal smirked as the confirmation of the exchange popped up before she turned to her reflection.  "I don’t get it, dad.  Why hand Miss Sparkle over to them too?" she said

"Trust me, Celestia's pupil is a lot tougher than she appears and she has the record to prove it," said Discord, "Besides, busting up their little group and handing her over would be so delicious, wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose..." said Chloe/Betrayal a little uncertainly before saying "Well...this Darius guy will be there..." she added before saying to Discords apparently surprise "Matt'll be ok...won’t he?"

"Matt's safely in the dungeon," said Discord, "He won't be out until it's too late.  It's not like you still care for him."

"Yeah...obviously." said Betrayal with a cough before shifting back to human form and picking up a high tech looking collar.  "I'll say this for the NSC...they're prepared...an anti-magic collar...used for Mythiconians." she said with a evil grin.

...

Fortunately for Matt, the Equestrians didn't believe in torture, so they had to result to the toughest method they had: grilling under a hot lamp.

"Where are the rest of my jewels?” snapped Blueblood who, despite Shining armors objections, had insisted on being at the interrogation.  "Don't know, don't care." said Matt with a yawn

Blueblood turned to Shining Armor and snapped, "Why are we wasting time with this questioning?  Let's just pull the answer out of his head!"  "You first, well, second," said Shining, gesturing to another guard who had a block of ice strapped to his head.
"A-001* mental blocks(1)...I did warn him." said Matt, apologetically.  "Hell, even I dunno how it works.  I didn’t steal your stupid jewels...I got more than that from bounties anyway."

"Then explain why my ruby was in your pocket!" demanded Blueblood.

"No idea...I left my jacket in my room all morning.  Anyone could have entered.  I never lock my door...most people know I shoot trespassers." said Matt in a bored tone.

"Matt, this isn't helping your case," said Shining Armor.

"Look...I wouldn't dare steal.  That’s a firing offence to CPS...and that’s not a metaphor." said Matt whispering to Shining "Come on...this is rubbish.  I got no reason to steal from anyone...except for apples and Applejack let me before I was found out by the town."

"I wish I could believe that but unless I have any proof, I have to keep this case open," whispered Shining, "If you had an eyewitness to where you were last night, that may clear you."

"My sis...man, I've been expecting her to kick the door down all this time.  Can I have my wrist-comp back so I can call..." began Matt, reaching for his wrist comp on the table, only for Blueblood to pettily levitate it away.

"Prisoners aren't allowed to make calls," said Blueblood.  "Oh, c'mon, I do get one phone call, right?" complained Matt.  There was a pause before Matt asked, "You guys have invented the telephone, right?"

"No...If I get my way, you'll never set foot in Equestria again.  Thugs like you are worse than Diamond dogs." said Blue blood loftily before striding out, dropping Matt’s wrist-comp at a guard's hooves.

"You know its aristocratic jerks like you that made the French revolt back in my world!" yelled Matt.

Shining Armor snorted at that when he spotted Bluebloods glare before he said "Look...we'll find your sister and get her side of the story." said Shining, giving Matt his wrist comp, only to sigh as Matt immediately started readying a call.  "Hey...this is weird." Matt muttered as a red message appeared.

Matt activated the message and got a notice saying 'You are not cleared to be using an EGIS comm frequency.  Please extend your contact permit before making another call or there will be a fine.'

Matt rolled his eyes, cursing his smartarseness for coming up with that warning message.  "I shoulda kept it at factory settings." he muttered before looking at the contents before saying "Where did you see my sister last?" he said in an ice cold tone.
"Last I had saw was when she was in that vehicle with you," said Shining Armor.

Matt turned to the guards "Well?" he asked, his voices temperature now at ice age levels

"Uh, I think I saw her near the main gates a few minutes ago," said one of the guards.  "Blueblood said we weren't to allow you two out of the city so I don't think she'll be able to go any further," said the other.

Shining armor put a shield up over the door as Matt walked for the door.  "Hey...what’s this about?" he asked Matt, who said “She called Darius...I want to know why."

"You're not suggesting your sister may be fraternizing with the enemy, are you?" asked Shining.  "Maybe she slipped that ruby into his pocket too," said a guard.  Matt and Shining turned to glare at the guard.  "It was just a theory," said the guard.

Matt stopped before saying "No...she must have a good reason.  My sister wouldn't backstab me like this." 

...

Twilight slowly opened the door to Chloe’s room, levitating a few equestrian law books in behind her.  "Chloe?  I'm here." she called.
The interior of the room was darker than Twilight had expected.  "Uh, Chloe, would you mind if I turn on the lights?" she asked.

"No problem." said Chloe’s voice, though it sounded a little distorted.  At the same time Matt’s spare comm turned on as it detected Twilights voice, chiming it had connected.  "Twi?  Twilight?" said Matt’s voice

Twilight looked at the comm and asked, "Matt?  Is that you?"

"Twilight...I dunno why but Chloe set me up.  She called Darius...get out of there...just get o-" said Matts voice before it cut off with the crack of a taloned fist smashing it.

"Uh, I just remembered, there's another book I should grab.  I better go get it," said Twilight before turning back to the door.
The door glowed before slamming shut, several bars appearing across it with a frighteningly familiar flash.  Twilight spun to see a silhouette against the window that she knew.  "D-discord?" she said before the figure said "Not exactly...but I guess Dad has met you."

"Dad?  What do you mean?" asked Twilight.  "Well, not a father in the proper sense, but I am born from his magic.  Just like someone else who would like to see you again."

Twilight’s eyes narrowed and she began to ready the time-freeze spell only for an arc of lightning to shoot from Betrayal’s hand...more precisely the blaster in her paw before she walked towards the semi-conscious Twilight.  "You know...if I hadn’t found out how Matt basically brought me from limbo...I'd go with him...technologies fun." she said, attaching the collar before she said "Now then...we have a date to kee-" she began before hearing someone trying to open the door.

Betrayal gave an annoyed look before saying, "I don't have time for this," before shifting into Chloe's form.

The door finally gave way under a kick and Matt ran in, aiming his blaster at Chloe.  “Hands up, sis.  I was always the better shot." he said warningly, before seeing Twilight with the anti-magi collar on.  "Oh, there had better be a good reason for that...drop the tesla...now." he said coldly

"Matt, don't you trust your little sister?" asked Chloe in a too-sweet tone.

"After you framed me?  Not a chance. Now drop it before I knock you out." said Matt, angrily.

"Me?  Frame you?  How could you think something like that?" asked Chloe.

"I didn't till a guard mentioned how you could have reverse-pickpocketed me with that ruby." said Matt as Chloe tossed the tesla blaster aside.  Twilight groaned something that got Matts attention.  “Not....not." she said weakly.  "Twi?" said Matt, making the mistake of looking down to see Twi mouth "Not...your sister."

Matt was about to turn back to confront 'Chloe' when what felt like an ostrich's leg kicked him into the wall.

Matt staggered a bit before looking up to see what looked like an amalgamation of half a dozen animals, both normal and mythical.  "Chloe?" he asked slightly dazed, only to duck as the creature nearly clawed his head off.  "No...Betrayal..." said the creature in Chloe’s voice only to apparently stagger back as Matt emptied a clip of tazer rounds into her chest before he ran over to Twilight.
"Ok, now to slip this off...I said, now to slip this off..." said Matt with growing frustration as the collar proved more difficult to remove.  He soon tried to yank it off and only stopped when he could hear Twilight gagging.

"Twilight...what is that thing wearing my sisters face?" he asked, before finding the keypad and trying his code, only to get a buzz as the code was rejected.

Twilight couldn't respond but she started pointing with one of her hooves.

Matt turned in time for a paw to smack him across the room into the wall above the bed.  "That actually hurt." said Betrayal in an annoyed tone before turning to her reflection and asking it "When do I get fireball?....what do you mean 'not till my third millennium?"
"As curious as I am about what's going on, I'm just too mad," said Matt before taking out another gun and firing.

Betrayal made a quick gesture, the blasts vanishing in the air before she shot forward and grabbed matt.  "So...you got off, did you?" she said, clocking her talons and causing Twilight to vanish.  "Let’s see you get out of this." she said before yelling near the window "MATT...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" and then tossing Matt out said window.

Fortunately, they were only up one floor so the fall wasn't that far.  In fact, Matt barely got injured apart from a few glass cuts and bruises.  It's something that comes with experience.

However, landing on cobbles hurts even if you are wearing body armor.  Matt dizzily got up with a wince to see the ponies in the street staring in shock before Betrayal, wearing her skinsuit leaned out and took a shot at Matt, forcing him to roll to his feet.
"That maniac tried to shoot me!" yelled 'Chloe' before trying to shoot Matt again.  Considering how bad the situation look plus the difficulty in getting anyone to believe the truth which even Matt was having trouble grasping, Matt decided a healthy retreat was in order.

Matt quickly ran for it as a few guards galloped after him.  He quickly skidded round a corner into an alley before jumping at and kicking off one of the side walls to vault the fence at the end...sometimes pony scale walls had advantages.  However Matt wasn’t dumb tossing two small knives at the metal fence before the two 'tazer-blades' stunned the guards trying to follow.
However, one of the guards, being a pegasus, was able to avoid that obstacle and intercept Matt.  "Halt, you are under arrest in the name of..."

The guard never got a chance to finish as Matt grabbed the hoof reaching for him and pulled, his other hand connecting with the pegasus's snout in a stunning blow before the momentum was used to steer the pony into the alleys side wall, knocking him out.  "No touching." said Matt, turning a corner and being grabbed in a levitation spell.

Matt tried to run, only for him to float into the air.  "Hey, no fair!" snapped Matt.

He managed to make himself spin to see the girls coming out.  "Hey...this isn't what it looks like.  I think Chloe’s gone insane." he said as calmly as he could before noticing their stares at the gibbering guard.

"He'll be fine, though he'll have a massive headache later," said Matt.

Rainbow Dash glared and flew close to Matts face.  "Where's Twilight?  Chloe said you just burst in and started shooting...and that..." she said, unable to finish, clearly buying into 'Chloe’s' show

"Wish I could tell you, but I don't know.  You're gonna have to ask Chloe where she poofed Twilight to," said Matt.
"You guys don’t have magic." said Rainbow Dash only for Matt to say "I don’t think that applies to her anymore...she looked like she’d been glued together from half a dozen things."

"Glued together?" asked Applejack.  "Yeah, she looks like some horse, dragon jabberwocky…thingy," said Matt, finishing lamely before adding  "And she doesn't play nice.  Ok, Chloe's not known to place nice all the time, but there's a limit to how much she goes."

"That sounds like that varmint, Discord...but he's a statue." said Applejack before glaring at Matt.  "Did y'all hurt Twi?" she asked, Looking Matt in the eye.  

Matt said sincerely "No...I'd sooner shoot myself."

Applejack gave him a long look before saying, "He's tellin' the truth."

Pinkie was next up before saying "You pinkie promise you didn’t do anything?" she said, causing Matt to simply look confused "Erm...yes, sure." he said carefully before hearing "This way." from the distance.  "Erm...can I run now?  Can't do anything if I'm in a cell."

Just then, the sound of galloping hooves was heard getting close.  Rainbow flew upward and looked around.  "Twilight's brother's coming, and he's got a lot of guards with," she called.

Rarity reluctantly released the spell on Matt, causing him to fall with an 'oof'.  "I'll get her back." said Matt, jumping up before running for it, turning the corner just as Shining and his team ran into view.

"Have you seen Matt?" asked Shining Armor.  "Uh...no," said Fluttershy.

Shining looked suspicious before turning on the others "I got to find him...he and his sister have vanished and...ponies are saying he killed Twilight." he said icily

"There's no proof of that," said Rarity, "I don't know where Twilight is, but I'm certain she's alive."
"If he's hurt Twilight...I won’t forgive myself...I let him go." said Shining gloomily

"Oh, don't worry about Twilight, she'll be alright," said Pinkie, "I bet she'll be back home tomorrow."

...

Twilight groaned as the world came back.  Being temporarily sent to limbo was not pleasant.  She looked up to see Betrayal in her human guise, sitting on a crate near a metal gantry extending out...an airship dock judging from the muted roar of Canterlot falls.
Twilight tried a spell, but the collar was still around her throat.

"You're not going anywhere....well....not yet.  Look on the bright side...you'll probably be released when Darius goes back to the void...of course it'll be impossible to find your way back." Betrayal said

"Why are you doing this?" asked Twilight.

"I'm the spirit of betrayal...and why didn't you or my dear step-brother tell me what I was?" said Betrayal coldly

"I...I didn't know.  The only book had the pages missing and..."  She suddenly realized something, "You took those pages.  You put that ruby in Matt's pocket."

"Well done...it’s the least I could do after Matt backstabbed me and 'forgot' to tell me I'm just a talented copy...My human form and memories are all from his memories...even the ones he doesn’t want." said Betrayal with an evil smile

"Matt had no idea what he did," said Twilight, "He didn't even mean to bring you here.  He thought that you really were his sister, until now."

"Huh...well, he's getting what he deserves.  It’s not like a cell here could hold a professional mercenary when he wants to leave."  said Betrayal

"Matt's done nothing wrong to you, and this is how you're repaying him," said Twilight, anger entering her voice, "I know you're a creation of Discord, but even that's too low."

"I'm betrayal...what should I do?  Hand myself in and give your dear princess matching statues for her garden?" spat Betrayal
"Matt could have given you a better life," said Twilight, "You may not be the real Chloe, but he wouldn't have cared if you hadn't betrayed him."

"Except once he realized he's pining after a corpse...oh, wait...he sealed that file.  You've been in his head...you really should learn to pay attention." said Betrayal evilly before a dropship flew slowly into view, landing on the airship dock.  "Ah...your rides here...and I got your fare." said Betrayal, clicking her fingers and making the crate with the artifacts appear

"The Corona Prima?!  You can't hand them over!  If Darius got his hands on them, there's no telling what he'll do!" cried Twilight.
"Sell them probably...why should I care?  I'm gonna have a father/daughter reunion later," said Betrayal as the walkway lowered a dozen or so troopers ran down followed by a woman in Darius’s uniform.  "Ok...where’s Miss L...Miss Sparkle...always nice to see an old host," the woman said darkly, showing a shard of blue metal on a pendant round her neck

Her form may be different than before, but Twilight recognized her.  "Nightmare?  But how?  Why?" she asked.

"Well...My host says that Mr. Lynch's employers have a motto: Always clean up your mess...you failed to do that when you destroyed my armor." said Daria/The Nightmare, petting Twilight tauntingly on the head.

"But why Darius, and what have you done to him?" asked Twilight.

"Moved in...but there's only room for one soul in any one body..." said Daria with unconcealed glee.  Twilight looked ready to be sick as she realized that Nightmare would have probably done the same to her once the ritual had been done.  Betrayal/Chloe also looked ill.  “That’s just wrong...chaos yes, but killing ponies?" she said

"Darius isn't a pony," said Daria as she examined her hand, "Of course, I’m considering changing that.  Or maybe I should just change halfway, what do you think?"

"I'm sorry...my families got the copyright on mix'n'match forms, thank you.” said Betrayal

"Well, there's one disadvantage to your being human," said Twilight.  "And what, pray tell, is that?" asked Daria.  "You can't fly on your own and you can't use magic," said Twilight, "Honestly, humans' only remarkable features are their hands."

"True...but that 'human technology' has reduced you to the magical ability of a rock..." said Daria, evilly, tapping the anti-magi collar.
"However, I must admit that as useful as humans are proving to me, I do miss the noble and righteous form of an alicorn.  Hmm...I have an idea.  With all three Corona Prima under my control, I'll be capable of any feat of magic, such as exchanging this body for yours.  So I'll be getting your body back and become the Dark Ruler of all Equestria and you get to experience what humans are good for.  Sounds like an even trade, doesn't it?"

"No...not a chance." said Twilight stubbornly.  Daria glared and seemed ready to react before a trooper in ebony uniform, one of the reptilian creatures from Paradiso, said "Hey...contractor...something set off the motion sensor at the 50 meter mark."
Daria turned around as her eyes and pendant glowed deep blue.  "Excuse me, what did you call me?" she asked.

"Oh...so sorry, ma'am." said the splitter in a sarcastic tone before continuing. "It’s not a local...silhouette says it’s human...hiding out in one of the other warehouses.  You want him breathing or cold?"

"Lynch has lived his purpose.  He does not need to live any longer," said Daria.

Betrayal who, to Twilights notice was watching the conversation in mounting apparent horror, said suddenly "We'll need his code for the crate.  These things tend to be unbreakable."

"She has a fair point," said the splitter before tossing a lightning bolt at the crate.  There was barely even a scorch.
Daria snorted and said "Bring him to me alive."  Andaka nodded and made a motion to three of his men who jogged for one of the side doors.

...

Matt opened the door out of the warehouse he had been in and ducked back as he spotted two EGIS troopers on the roof.  "Sneaky...but I'm better." Matt muttered, despite the contrary to his track record.

"Hold it right there," said a voice behind Matt.  Matt rolled his eyes and said, "You've got to be joking."

He turned to see an EGIS trooper aiming a pistol at him.  "You new?" asked Matt, slowly raising his hands.

"What's it to ya?" snapped the trooper.  "Oh, nothing, nothing, ok, I'll go quietly, just need to tie my shoelace first," said Matt.
The trooper looked puzzled as Matt kneeled down, leaning in...and gotpunched in the throat by a chop from Matt and finally punched between the eyes.  Matt grabbed the guy’s blaster as he keeled over, out cold.  "They let anyone have licenses these days." Matt muttered, opening the door smugly...and sighing as two blasters were aimed, one on each side of his head.  "Drop em, Lynch."
"I really don't want to spend my day doing this," said Matt.

"Fine by us...we're paid by the hour." said a voice behind Matt, who turned and saw a scaly fist heading towards him
.
...

Daria smirked as Andaka and his mercs returned, dragging a semi-conscious Matt between them.  "Is this yours?" said Andaka, rubbing his hand as his troopers dumped Matt on the floor.

"Well, Mr. Lynch, it looks like you've finally met your match," said Daria.  Matt stared blearily up at Daria and said, "Maybe, who am I addressing?"

"Really?  I thought you'd remember the pony you dropped her palace on." said Daria, her eyes glowing blue.

Matt blinked and turned to Andaka, "Ok, what's her real name?"  "Well, he was Captain Darius, but she prefers Captain Daria now," said Andaka.  Matt stared before laughing loudly and asking, "Ok, where's the hidden camera?"

Twilight and Betrayal winced as Daria delivered an eye-watering kick.  "Ok...is that a 'no camera'?" rasped Matt.
Daria grabbed Matts hair and yanked his head back, hissing "Open that container...you put a lock on it...so open it."
"What?  Can't you crack codes yourself?" taunted Matt.

"OPEN IT!" screamed Daria.  Matt said "I didn't put a lock on it, dumbass...I just added a latch.  No fingers makes security easy."  Daria stared manically and snapped "Do I look like a fool?"

"Considering you're under the belief that you're an evil spirit reborn and have rearranged your sexual structure to emulate that being...my opinion is that you're demented," said Matt.

A second later, an arc of blue lightning grabbed Matt by the throat and lifted him up.  "Then again...I've been known to jump to conclusions..." Matt gasped desperately

"If your mouth will not give me the right answer, let's try a more direct approach," said Daria as an arc of lightning touched Matt's forehead.

Matt gurgled as Daria got a thoughtful look, ignoring Twilight as she cried "Stop it...you're hurting him."  Andaka said grimly "That’s the point, I think."

"Now let's see what you're hiding," said Daria.

The nightmare carefully probed through Matt’s maze-like mind, shocked at the insane amount of mental defenses hiding for her should she be unwary.  All she could find was a brief glimpse of some kind of oval being placed in a building....the other warehouse.  "What is..." she muttered before a deafening smashing noise was heard as something roared out of the other warehouse into the sky and began wailing while bathing half of canterlot in a green light.

The effect on the ponies was very evident: dozens ran around screaming about invasions and the end of the world.
Shining Armor though had a decent idea what it was, more so when he got a look at the cause through a spyglass.  "Lynch...Ok...this way." he said, nodding to his men who began to gallop towards the airship docks.
...
Daria, her hands on her ears, shrieked "TURN THAT HAY-BLASTED DEVICE OFF!"  One of the troopers aimed a blaster at the flare-droid, ignoring Andaka's cry of "NO...DON'T!"  The blast shot out and hit the droids shield, the ripples flowing round before back and sending a needle-thin bolt back, knocking the trooper backwards and over the falls.

Andaka gave an annoyed look at the droid and said, "Is a big distraction the best you could do? All that thing's giving me is a headache."  He sent the 'all-clear' signal through his comm which shut off the droid.

"No...But thanks to my 'dear sister' here...I'm on the local most wanted..." said Matt, with an evil grin.  Andaka's eyes widened at that "Ma'am...we gotta go." he said, several red lights showing motion alarms being tripped.  "No...not till the artifacts mine." snapped Daria angrily

"Then drop it from orbit and pick them out of the shards," said Andaka, "We don't have time to force Lynch to open it."
"Contacts." came a yell from the roof.  Daria's eyes narrowed and she yelled "Kill them...nothing gets in until I am free of this form."  Andaka growled at that "Are you INSANE?"

"No, but you're about to be!" snapped Daria before sending a blast of dark magic into Andaka.

Matt pulled himself up to see Andaka having a seizure before going limp.  Daria said coldly “Now kindly rip that human to ribbons."  Matt jumped as Andaka turned, his eyes black and he took a fighting stance.  "You gotta be kidding me...if we survive this, sis...you and me are going to have words." he said, backing up.

Andaka snarled before delivering a kick that literally sent Matt right out the door.
Betrayal backed up a little as Daria said "As for her...kill them both."

Andaka roared before charging at Betrayal, only to slam into a brick wall that wasn't there a few seconds ago.
Betrayal grabbed Twilight and pulled her into the maze of crates with her.  "I suppose it’s too late to say I'm sorry?" Betrayal said "Ignoring her 'dads' reflection shaking his head.

"I think someone else needs to be told you're sorry more," said Twilight.  A lightning bolt fried a nearby crate.  "But this isn't a good time for that."

The sound of gunfire was heard from above along with what sounded like lightning spells.  "Hey...look on the bright side.  I hear matching garden statues are in this year." Betrayal added

"I might be able to ask Celestia to give you another chance," said Twilight.  "Oh, yeah, sure, like she'd ever give my dad another chance," said Betrayal.

"It could happen." said Twilight in an 'I don’t think that'll happen' voice.

"Enough posturing, get that draconequus!" snapped Daria's voice.

"Huh...and I thought my human form was flawless." said Betrayal, before turning to her 'normal' form, causing Twilight to blanch a bit as the skinsuit was torn off.

"That's disgusting," said Twilight.  "I haven't figured out shapeshifting all the way yet," said Betrayal, "Now if you excuse me..."
She conjured a white flag and peered out "Parley?" she tried before wincing at the sound of multiple blasts and pulled back a colander of a flag.  “Ooookay." she said

"I have no use for you anymore," said Daria, "If you have any sense, which is doubtful, you will leave now."
Betrayal glared before readying a fireball.  "I guess that’s that...now where's my step brother?" she said.

...

Matt got up unsteadily before seeing Andaka clambering through the hole and out into the dock, now being drenched by a storm that had probably been started by some pegasi who thought the flare drone was a fire alarm.  "Hey...let’s talk about this, man." Matt said
Andaka snarled and threw a lightning bolt that nearly missed Matt.  "Hey, I know you're mad, but you can at least talk to me," said Matt.

"The mistress of darkness demands your soul." said Andaka in a droning voice before readying another lightning bolt, only to find the rain was dampening his abilities

"Sorry, I think I owe me soul to my last ship creditor," said Matt, "No, wait, just 1000 credits."

Andaka lunged with a roar, the two rolling across the dock before Matt managed to kick up and send Andaka tumbling over the falls...until he flew into view.  "Bloody space dragons." muttered Matt, backing up again

Andaka swooped down at Matt and Matt tried to punch him, but the splitter grabbed his fist and squeezed it hard, forcing Matt to his knees.

"Foolish." said Andaka, punching Matt with his other free hand and sending the human sprawling.  "I will enjoy destroying you in my mistress's name." he said, before yelling as Matt threw some dirt in his face and scrambled to get away

"I think I preferred him when he was arrogant," muttered Matt.

Matt staggered to a side gate, leading back out and ran immediately into view of two royal guards led by Shining Armor who yelled.  "THERE HE IS!"  

"Sorry, wrong address." said Matt manically, slamming the door again.

A hissing roar behind Matt made him briefly consider if dealing with the guards could be worse than Andaka.
A spell blowing a hole in the gate decided for him and he turned and ducked to avoid a claw slash before delivering a kick that felt like it hit a wall...and being thrown back towards the dock for his trouble.

"Ok, I think my luck has settled down to the bottom for me to safely say this could not possibly get any worse," said Matt.
The wall behind Andaka suddenly blazed before exploding outwards, Betrayal shooting out.  "Then again..." muttered Matt.

"Did I miss anything?" asked Betrayal.  "Not yet, my impending doom is coming, here to get a front row seat?" asked Matt sourly.
"I dunno...I think you need a paw or two." Betrayal, said, her tail whipping out and pulling Andaka's feet from under him, Twilight jumping out the hole she had made and galloping for the gate Matt had used.

"How do I know you're not just trying to get my hopes up only to flatten them again?" said Matt.

"The family business doesn’t include getting people killed." said Betrayal casually, dodging a few blows from Andaka before vanishing his wings with the click of her talons...and staring at her paw in shock.  "That’s ne-OOF!" she managed, distracted long enough for Andaka to send her spinning to the floor with a backhanded blow.

"Ok, if I avoid the tail, I might have…" stared Matt before an electrified punch sent him flying across the wharf.

Betrayal got up dizzily before being lifted up by her throat, wincing as electricity arced over her from Andaka.  "You...traitorous..." he snarled before being knocked sideways as Matt swung a plank against his head with an angry yell.

However, the slitter's skull was thick enough that the plank snapped on impact.  But there was a big enough shard of it for Andaka to grab and ram into Matt's leg.

Matt fell with a yell before being picked up and thrown, rolling almost to the edge.  "This...isn't good." Matt managed through his haze.
...
Twilight bucked the gate open to see a dozen or so Night guard and royal guard mages exchanging a fight with Daria's men who were firing from the roof, a few slumped troopers showing clearly who was losing.

However, one of the troopers fired a weapon that went over the guards' heads.  But the explosion it caused was enough to scatter them.

Twilight ducked down and again tried to pull the collar off before looking up to see Shining armor.  "Shiny?  SHINY!" she called, surprised that the troopers above ignored her.

"Twily?  TWILY!! Get out of here!  This is no place for-" shouted Shining before a nearby explosion made it impossible to hear.
Several troopers ran out a side door and ended up getting a taste of what twilight had written in her letter about the Paradiso trip 'Mixed spelling' from two mages, turning into, in order, a statue, a surprised chicken and a bottle of something called 'Pepsi Cherry flavor'.  What it did do was distract the gunners enough for Twilight to gallop across to her brother.  

"Matt's not to blame for this.  His sister Chloe turned to not really be his sister but a draconequus named Betrayal who was made from Discord's Eye Diamond which seemingly gave Matt what he wanted but just made a betrayer who framed Matt by stealing Blueblood's jewels and putting them in Matt's pockets and now Matt's fighting Nightmare who's now in Darius who's now Daria and Betrayal and you have to help!"  After the very lengthy explanation, Twilight had to gasp for a minute.

The guards and Shining armor just stared for a second, after all...it wasn't every day you heard such a story and at least one guard looked skeptical...but not Shining armor...he knew his sister too well.  "What is that?" he said, curiously, looking at the anti-magi collar, before using his own magic to release the clasp.  

"It's what Betrayal was using to keep me from using magic," said Twilight, "Speaking of which..."  She turned and zapped several of the troopers' guns, turning them into cheese and causing them to drop their now edible weapons and run..

"Wait...we followed Matt here...where is he...AND WHAT IS THAT?" said Shining armor, yelling the last part as  Daria's dropship roared into view, its nose cannon showering the open ground, not caring when the now weaponless troopers were in the way before turning and leaving skywards.

"That's Daria's ship and Matt's in trouble," said Twilight, "We better find him before it makes another run around."

...

Matt and Betrayal, wearing her human form to use a dropped EGIS rifle were both thrown back.  "Ok...OW...this guy's tough even for a splitter." Matt groaned before noticing a readout on his wristcomp, identifying Andaka as the rare 'elder' variant, widely agreed by mercs everywhere to be walking tanks.  "Oh, bollocks." he moaned.

"I could turn him into a garter snake," offered Betrayal.  "With our luck, he'll become a hydra, and not the sea creature kind," said Matt.

A lightning bolt, tinged with black energy blasted between them.  “Oh look, his hands are dry again." said Matt sarcastically.
"Oh, they'll wet soon, it is downpouring after all," said Betrayal.

On cue the rain stopped as the clouds ran out.  "Are you sure we're not related?" said Matt scathingly.

"If my dad can make chocolate rain, I'm sure I can make normal rain," said Betrayal before snapping her fingers.  The clouds rumbled and pretty soon, they let loose a torrent...of frogs.

"Does chaos come with an instruction manual?" said Matt sarcastically, before noticing that even Andaka had stopped to watch, the mercenary sense for free entertainment having survived

"Quick, while he's distracted," said Matt.  "Right," said Betrayal before snapping her fingers.  This time, the frogs mutated, becoming four times bigger, growing sharp fangs, horns, extra red eyes, and tongues like snakes...including the fangs.
"Undo, UNDO!" screamed Matt, as Andaka actually sat down to watch, which annoyed Matt a little.

After watching the frogs chomp Matt for a while, Andaka eventually decided he's seen enough and started towards Matt, kicking aside any mutant frogs in his way.  "Hey, wait a minute, the frogs are supposed to attack you, not-" started Betrayal before Andaka knocked her into a stack of crates which collapsed over her.

Matt grabbed the last frog, which has a cross-eyed dumb look before looking up to see Andaka charging at him.  "EEP!" he yelped, holding up the frog on reflex.  The frog stared dumbly at the roaring Andaka before giving a frog version of a shrug, shooting his tongue out and reeling itself in to chomp over Andaka's head, causing him to flail around trying to drag it off while Matt ran to the pile of crates Betrayal was under.

Matt frantically pulled off the wood until he uncovered Betrayal.  "Are you alright?" he asked.  "I'm fine," she said before wincing and adding, "Except for my wings."

Matt saw that Betrayal’s skinsuit had torn at the back, showing a crumpled bat wing.  "Look...I can hear the guards outside...let’s just go and see if that guy can take on 20 instead of 2...uh oh." said Matt, as a claw grabbed his arm and dragged him back.  Betrayal desperately tried to get her leg free as Andaka strode towards the edge of the dock and calmly held Matt over the edge.
Matt looked down and saw the sheer drop down the waterfall.  The bottom was covered with mist, but Matt had a feeling there would be sharp rocks at the bottom.  There typically were.

Betrayal however was yanking harder and harder before time seemed to slow and she heard 'dear' dads voice from a puddle.  "My dear...why do you care so much?"  his reflection said

"Because he's my brother and he's in danger," said Betrayal.  Discord sighed and said, "We've been over this.  You aren't the real Chloe.  You have been conceived in her image, but you're not her.  You have no familial connections with him."

"Step brother then..." said Betrayal stubbornly as she continued to pull

Discord sighed and said, "Well, it seems you aren't going to change your mind.  If it'll make you feel better, I can show you how to get out."

“Dad....please." said Betrayal in a pleading voice.  Discord sighed "Anything for family." he finally said before clicking his own talons and causing Betrayal to go bug eyed for a second.

"There, now go save your step-brother," said Discord before his reflection disappeared.

Time immediately flowed back and Betrayal shook her head before 'remembering' the new knowledge and clicking her fingers, the box vanishing and re-appearing over Andaka.

Andaka didn't have time to look before the box crashed onto his head.

Matt yelped as Andaka dropped him on reflex, managing to grab the side before, in a similar flash, ending up sprawled at Betrayal’s feet, the draconeuus looking pleased with herself.

"Finally got the hang of teleportation," she said smugly.

"Good..." said Matt, dizzily before seeing Andaka stagger and fall over the falls, grabbing on.  "I suppose we'd better help him." Betrayal said, the two walking forward.  "Need a hand?" she asked.

"I...cannot...accept...your...help..." growled Andaka before he let go.

The two ran forward the last steps in time to see him vanish into the spray.  "Man...what made him do that?" he said before they heard the dropship taking off.  "Oh no...THE ARTIFACTS!" Matt yelled, throwing himself down as the ship fired at apparently where the guards were and then taking off.  

"Artifacts...artifacts...oh, of course," said Betrayal before snapping her fingers and making the container appear in front of her.  "I hope Daria likes that little joke," she said.

Matt looked up at the shrinking exhaust flares of the dropship.  "Ooooh, she's gonna be pissed.  She didn’t take jokes well before her brain was melted."

...

Daria smirked, clicking the clasp and opening it, ready to revel in the artifacts magic....and finding a trio of party hats.

...

Matt nudged Betrayal as the guard galloped in, blocking the ways off the docks.  "I’d raise the talons." Matt suggested, raising his hands slowly.

"Why should I raise my hands up when they don't even have hands?" said Betrayal stubbornly.

"Cause you can't control your powers apart from teleport and they outnumber us." said Matt with a glare before he heard the dropship's whining getting louder again, turning slowly and seeing the dropship flying back towards them.  "I told you she wouldn’t take the joke...everyone off the dock...NOW!" he yelled as a pod under the dropship's wing opened.

"No sweat, I can just poof that thing somewhere else, like right inside it," said Betrayal before snapping her fingers.  However, nothing happened.

"Run...RUN!" said Matt, yelling the last part and grabbing the artifact crate as a rocket shot out from the dropship as it passed over, it shooting under the docks and blasting the struts stopping it from following Andaka down the falls.

Betrayal tried to run off the docks, but her mismatched legs weren't built for running.

As it was, Matt barely made it before the dock gave way, keeling down and falling into the abyss.  Betrayal barely made it, gripping the wood of the now vertical dock with her talons.  Matt turned, tossing the crate aside and running back, reaching down and grabbing her just before she lost it.  "I gotcha...I...oh shi-" he began, firing his wrist comps grapple at the roof of the warehouse as the weight dragged him over the edge.  “Danger...weight capacity exceeded...cable integrity failing." chimed the wrist comp.  "Let me go." said Betrayal over the waterfall.

"I don't care if you're not my sister, I'm not letting you drop," said Matt.

"If you don't let me go, we both go." Betrayal yelled, a metallic 'twang' heard as part of the cable gave way.
"Matt, I'm not your real sister, you don't have connections to me.  The guards will lock me up or have me turned to stone.  And I'm bound to betray you again, it's in my nature," said Betrayal.

"Tough...I'm pulling you up..." said Matt, desperately trying to hold a grip as another twang was heard as the cable continued to give.  Betrayal rolled her eyes "Fine." she said simply...before digging her taloned paw into the arm Matt was holding her with
"Betrayal, ow, stop, ow, that really hurts, OW!" yelled Matt.  "That's the point," said Betrayal as the pain started to loosen Matt's grip.

"No...NO...stop." he tried before a final stab caused his hand to go limp as it caught nerves.  The nanites would fix it in a minute...but that was 58 seconds too late as Betrayal went tumbling away.  "Weight now in acceptable parameters...beginning ascent." said Matt's wrist comp.

"NO!" yelled Matt, though powerless to do anything about it.

"Alert...incoming hostile ship." chimed his wrist comp as Daria's ship began another run...before a blast of lightning hit it, forcing it to peel away.

Matt looked up and saw what he thought was a dark blue pegasus until he noticed the bright purple light coming from her horn...Princess Luna.

Daria seemed to be worried by it though, the dropship making a U-turn and heading for orbit as fast as its afterburners could manage.  Matt's grapple slowly lifted him back over the edge, the winder motor dumping him unceremoniously on the piece of the dock that was left intact.

Twilight immediately ran over to Matt and asked, "Matt, what happened?  Where's Betrayal?"

Matt just stared ahead, looking down the falls as a couple of guards, not unkindly put a holding spell on his hands...more so as a few of the faster thinking ones had a good idea.

A few guards flew down towards the bottom of the falls.

Luna landed, having briefly followed the escaping ship before taking a look at Matt, who was still staring numbly over the falls, the two mages trying to drag him away, without much success.

"I saw what happened," said Luna, "It was a rare show of self-sacrifice.  Few ponies would be willing to their lives for another, let alone a product of Discord's magic."

Matt just looked up with a numb expression.  For now, at least, nobody was home.

"Matt, there was nothing anyone could do.  Your line would have snapped under your combined weight and no could have arrived in time," said Luna.  Just then, the guards flew back and one said, "We searched below.  We didn't find any sign of her."
"I should have let go..." said Matt in a small voice.  

"You couldn't have let her drop.  You wouldn't have done anything like no matter what she did to you," said Twilight.
"No...not that..." said Matt to himself before letting himself be led away.

...

Sometime later, Matt was led into Celestia's court.  While he was clearly innocent regarding the robbing of Blueblood and the kidnapping/murder of Twilight, Matt still had a few other things to answer for.

"This...human brought his enemies to our fair city...and resurrected one of Discords race, however brief.  The airdock will take months to rebuild." said the pony doing the prosecution

"It wasn't his fault," said Twilight, who was defending Matt, "He had no idea what the Discord's Eye Diamond would have done.  Nopony would have.  It could have happened to anypony."

"Is this not the same creature you found in Everfree?  That resulted in the nightmare inhabiting you?" said the prosecutor, one of Bluebloods 'friends' as if his condescending tone wasn’t evidence enough

"Matt didn't have anything to do with the Nightmare infecting me.  It would have infected me if I had gone to the old castle alone.  But Matt was the one who got rid of it," said Twilight.

"He is a violent creature.  He almost killed three griffons in Manehatten, you and your friends are witness to this.  Such a monster deserves to be sent to Everfree where he belongs." said the prosecutor, a few of the elite ponies present clopping the ground in approval.

"Matt never hurts anyone unless provoked.  He's saved us at least eight times now," said Twilight, "Not to mention he's been doing a good job in keeping very important artifacts away from those who would definitely misuse them."

"Yes, these Corona Prima's.  Hardly dangerous looking." said the prosecutor dismissively

"You haven't seen what happens when anypony wears them," said Twilight.

"This is getting off the point, your majesties.  The discussion is the human." said the prosecutor, a little unnerved by how convinced Miss Sparkle had sounded, as well as seeing the dark look the human had fixed him with since he had begun speaking.

"Indeed," said Celestia, "And since the matters of theft, kidnapping, murder, arson, and assault have been lifted, what charges yet remain?"

"Releasing a threat to ponykind for a start.  The draconeuus's corpse was never found...and his violent tendencies are a danger.  Tell me human...You have apparently boasted to the elements how you have travelled the multiverse, whatever that is with your sisters...where is she?" he asked smugly...and was knocked on his flank as Matt proved that, to a professional, putting manacles on just made the guys arms into a hammer.

"YOU DON'T MENTION HER!" he snapped angrily, his eyes now full of insanity.
"Matt, this isn't going to help," said Twilight.

The prosecutor pointed vaguely through his daze.  “Did you see that?  Did you?" he gibbered.

"What I saw was deliberate badgering of the witness, concerning information irrelevant to the case," said Celestia.
The prosecutor glared as Matt, grinned darkly.  "To answer your question...you have no business knowing." he said
"Your majesty, this information is valid for this case..."  "In what way is it valid?" asked Celestia.

"He speaks of his sister often...where is she?" said the prosecutor.  "I told you, it's none of your business," said Matt.  "Perhaps it is because some action of yours is responsible for her lack of presence," said the prosecutor.

Matt snapped at that, attempting to reach the little annoyance.  As it was, only the chain on the manacles prevented ...incident
"Objection, that was way out of line," said Twilight.  "Objection sustained.  The prosecution must refrain from unnecessary aggravation of the defense or a replacement will be found," said Celestia.

The prosecutor calmed down and said "You are a danger...how many people have you killed, human?" he said.  The ponies present were horrified as Matt said grimly "Too many."

"The prosecution rests its case," said the prosecutor smugly.

...

During a short recess, Twilight said to Matt, "You weren't actually serious about what you said about killing too many people, were you?"

"I had my reasons." said Matt, not looking at Twilight

"Matt, you need to take your defense seriously.  Celestia could send you to the moon if you don't try to stand up for yourself," said Twilight.

"I caused this...That prosecutor’s right...I caused all that mayhem.  Would you have gone to that castle without me as escort?  Would any of those damn hats have been found if I wasn’t here?" shouted Matt, angrily

"Matt, you had no way of knowing or preventing those things from happening.  You can't blame yourself for everything that happens when you're around," said Twilight.

"She's dead...dead because we rattled too many cages..." said Matt, before dropping into silence again

"Who are you talking about?  Matt, you can't just-" started Twilight before noticing Matt had fallen asleep.  She sighed and said, "Maybe he'll be more cooperative when he wakes up."
...
Blueblood sat with a smirk as the human was led in.  "There is not a chance he won't avoid his guilt." said the prosecutor as the princesses came back inside, the two of them looking particularly sad for some reason.

"Court is back in session," declared Celestia, "New evidence has been obtained in association with the defense’s new plea of innocent by insanity."

Twilight looked confused at that as the prosecutor said “The accused is clearly in control of its faculties."

"Uh...I don't know, Matt's been known to flip out every so often, isn't that right, Matt?" asked Twilight.
"I am not-MMMPH!" began Matt before Twilight forced his mouth shut, nobody but the princesses hearing a 'ghostly click of talons and Matt getting a dazed look for a second. (2)

"Really, Matt's been known to spot hallucinations such as..."  continued Twilight

"Blue monkeys!" Matt suddenly yelled, pointing in one direction.

Despite everything, everyone turned to look before turning back as Matt stared at his finger like it had personally offended him.  Only the princesses heard a familiar chuckle from the direction of the garden maze.

"They're there, I tell you, spitting rainbow streams everywhere!" yelled Matt before looking at his hands and yelping, "Oh god, I'm a polka-dotted platypus!"

The group watched as Matt keeled over sideways, a painful clang as his head impacted his manacles.
"Er...he could be faking it," said the prosecutor.  "Dear lord, the floor is crawling with Scottish crabs.  Get the children out of here!" yelled Matt, Celestia aiming a quick glare in the direction of the garden maze where a ghostly chuckling was auditable only to her.

The prosecutor finally said after a minute "Fine...he's clearly nuts."

"In which case, I sentence Matt to intensive care until his faculties, or at least a majority of them, are under his control again.  After which, his criminal charges are to be cleared," said Celestia.

"Wait, what was the last part?  Oh god, it’s Area 51 all over again." said Matt from ground level, suddenly and suspiciously coherent.

"Please restrain Matt before he hurts somepony or himself," said Luna.  A quick zap from the bailiff and Matt found himself in a straitjacket.

...

The recovery didn’t take that long, just a day or two, but the girls were now curious as to what that locked file was now and as such were pestering the pony person able to open it...Aria.  "For the umpteenth time I will NOT open a sealed file." she said stubbornly, her holographic self crossing her arms

"Aria, it's obviously at the heart of all this business, we need to know what's inside it," said Rarity.

"The Sergeant sealed it for a reason.  The NSC deleted AI's for breaking privacy laws." said Aria

"But Matt's never gonna let us find out and I can't take the curiosity any longer," whined Rainbow Dash.

"I have read his psyche evaluation...this was to be his last job...I suppose finding out why won't matter...hmm, it’s a holofile...head to room 413 on deck 2." she said.

"Uh, which room is that?" asked Fluttershy.

"Follow the lit path." said Aria with a bored tone, a row of light strip appearing in the corridor outside and leading the way round a corner.  The path itself didn’t turn out to be that far after all, a pair of double doors with the number 42 on the front. 

"The program is waiting...simply enter.  Be aware that this is a 'replay'.  Nobody can see, hear or touch you and vice versa." said Aria, the door opening onto what looked like a projection theatre.

"Oh boy, a movie, should I get popcorn?" asked Pinkie.

The screen on the far wall flickered into life before a serious sounding tune played as the initials N.I.N appeared with the words 'Nullsec InfoNet' underneath...clearly a news reel.

The image of what looked like a street plucked from Paradiso appeared, a splitter standing in front of the burning remains of a building surrounded by flipped security force speeders.  "This is Krais Banika reporting live from CPS’s Central Control Compound on Central station where it appears that the Splitter Consortium has finally retaliated for the repeated operations conducted against then by CPS."  

The splitter gestured to the burning rubble, continuing “The remains behind me are all that remains of CPS's sector 12 quarters after what appears to be a plasma charge was detonated.  Sources inside CPS say only one person was in the facility at the time..."
The girls all gasped as the thought of who that one person might be entered their minds.

The splitter paused, holding a claw up to where his ear would be before saying "The station appears to have received footage of the explosion...please be aware...some viewers may be disturbed."

The image flickered to an aerial view, showing the building surrounded by three security speeders as a figure walked round the corner.  The imager zoomed in, the figure immediately recognizable.

"Matt?" asked all six girls at once.

The Matt on screen walked up to one of the security troopers before apparently finding what the trooper said amusing, turning to the car as the imager zoomed out...and the whole mess of them being blown over as the front of the building exploded.

The image flickered back to the journalist who was again listening.  “We can now confirm the ID on the CPS officer inside the building at the time.  'Corporal C.E Lynch'.  Rescue teams are searching the rubble but hope is already fading.  Her brother seen in that footage is confirmed to be in a stable condition after security teams were forced to stun him on site to stop him entering the flames."

The image flickered before changing to what appeared to be the NSC's answer to a speech platform, a trooper with CPS on his uniform walking onto the set.  "Ladies, gentleman and sentients.  We have confirmed that the explosion that killed Corporal Lynch and almost killed her brother was of Splitter consortium design...The consortium have denied all involvement and we are unable to prove that the bomb was not set by outcast splitters.  Sgt Lynch is physically stable and will be returning to-" he said before the image froze.

"Hey, who stopped the movie?" asked Pinkie.  "I did," said a cold voice behind them.

The girls turned to see Matt in the hatchway out.  “Crew override...delete file 212." Matt said angrily, the theatre rippling before vanishing to become an empty bare room.  "Get out." said Matt coldly

"Matt, we-" started Twilight.  "OUT!" yelled Matt.

The ponies immediately jumped back at that.  Aria said "Sir...this is my doing...I accessed the file for..." she said before Matt said "System mute."

Immediately, Aria's voice cut off, though she attempted to keep talking, to her growing frustration.

"You had no right...YOU HAD NO RIGHT!" yelled Matt, advancing on the girls.

"Matt, you couldn't keep it a secret.  This is why Discord's diamond made, or tried to remake, Chloe.  I know it hurts losin' a sister.  If anything happened to Apple Bloom, I don't know what I would do.  But hangin' on to her like that isn't helpin'," said Applejack.
"I killed them..." said Matt in an aimless voice.  “I found out who set that bomb...they were freelancers...6 of them...they never told me who hired them...no matter what I did." his voice getting darker as he spoke.

"But...but you aren't like that anymore," said Fluttershy, "You only fight when you have to.  You don't hurt anypony unless you need to.  You're better than that."

"They told me she wasn’t dead...that their job had been to fake it...transport her to a sector in the badlands..." said Matt, apparently not hearing.  "They got the suffering they deserved and more." he said his voice taking on a cruel tone and a faint red glow coming to his eyes.

"Matt, calm down.  You can't brood on things like that.  Do you know who you're sounding like?" asked Twilight.
"They took her away from me...my only family in this nightmare...killed or worse." said Matt, his voice getting darker before he felt something hugging him.  

Matt blinked and looked at Fluttershy who was crying on his shoulder.  "I'm sorry, Matt, I'm so, so, so sorry," she sobbed.
The faint glow flickered like a broken light before vanishing.  "You don't have to be sorry." he said in a small voice, returning the hug as kindly as he could.

"I'm sorry too," said Pinkie, hugging Matt.  "I said you don't have to be-"  "I feel so guilty," said Rarity as she hugged Matt.  "You don't need to be-"  "Could ya ever forgive us?" asked Applejack as she hugged Matt.  "There's nothing to-"  "We shouldn't have gone behind your back," said Twilight, joining the embrace."  "I-"  "Yeah, we should have gone straight to you and-" started Rainbow Dash.  "OK, OK, ENOUGH ALREADY!" snapped Matt, "Geeze, I might be opening up, but I'm not that open."

"This was my fault.  I'd insisted on doing the operations.  Maybe it was the consortium...and if it was...I was the one who kicked the hornets’ nest.  You did what any friend would do...you wanted to find out what hurt so you could help fix it." continued Matt before saying “Thank you...I haven’t thanked you once for all you've done since I crashed here.  You went far out of your way to help me hide...to make me feel welcome when none of your other people did...I wouldn't have lasted 2 days by myself."

He finally said "My sister would have loved to have met you."

"Ah, tweren't nothin' a friend wouldn't do," said Applejack.

Matt stood up before walking out.  "Just one more thing to do." he said.

...

The rain, a wild Everfree storm was coming down hard as Matt watched the spiderbots drilling a small hole.  In his hands was the only thing he had gotten off the freelancers...A pair of holotags and a half burnt combat helmet. He remembered standing in a similar storm back at their NYC headquarters, the only one refusing to wear a black band.  Now he was the only one wearing it.
Well, unless you count the excessive funeral outfit that Rarity was wearing.

Aria, in her robotic body was wearing a full NSC uniform, the only one in her hologuise's files, muttered "That really isn’t necessary, Miss Belle."

"Belle?  You mean me?" asked Rarity.  "Well, yes, your sister's name is Sweetie Belle so logically yours should be-"  "Oh, that's silly," said Rarity, "You don't hear anyone calling Twilight 'Miss Armor'."

Aria made a 'blah blah blah' motion with her hand as Rarity turned back as Matt walked towards the hole as the spiderbots scuttled back to give him space.

"Sis, I know you've been...gone for a while.  I wasn't willing to accept that until now.  I know you wouldn't want me to keep clinging on to you, so it's time I put you behind me," said Matt.

He stopped as suddenly, he was back in the deserted cemetery plot near CPS HQ that the CPS used for...their employees.  The same dark day...the same row of grim troopers holding ion rifles at attention.  A hallucination clearly...but a realistic one.  He walked towards the hole, hearing a 'stand hut' from the captain present and the thud as a dozen mercenaries all stood to attention...mercenaries may not be serious...but something’s they took very serious.

He thought about what his sister would want to hear before saying "I'll find who did this...I promise I will." before gently putting the helmet down and lowering the tags on top of them, the forest coming back without a sound.

"I wish I could say something, but I didn't really know her, at least the real her," said Twilight.  "That's ok.  Just being here's enough," said Matt.

Matt nodded to the spiderbots who immediately began filling the hole in with professionalism.  "Cya sis." he said quietly.
> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP Chapter 13

Following the attack at Canterlot, Matt decided that the artifacts were better off back in his vault.  Of course, that means he'll need to prepare if Daria comes after them again.

As such he had finally rebooted and reactivated the VR chair and had gotten Aria to modify the combine invasion training scenario in case Darius, or Daria as the nightmare insisted on calling her new host dove straight off subtlety dock into insanity bay and launched a full scale assault.

As such Twilight was watching the video feed as it showed Matt’s first person view as he blasted another EGIS trooper in a frighteningly accurate recreation of the dream Canterlot the Nightmare had used on her.
"Matt, are you sure you need to be so...brutal?" asked Twilight.

Aria, who was watching sighed before pulling a mic round to Twilight.  "Try now." she said, calmly.  "Matt?  Are you in there?" Twilight said cautiously, causing the figure to pause, sadly as some mechanical device was aiming at it, the screen then flashing white and Matt jerking awake.

Matt gave Twilight an annoyed look and said, "Do you mind?  I was in the middle of a combat simulation training exercise."
"I know.  You haven’t come into town since..." said Twilight, stopping as Matt gave a 'don’t go there' look.  The 'Betrayal' incident was still a sore point, both with Matt and most of the town who seemed to have forgotten how Matt had helped them several times.
"Daria, or Nightmare, or whatever she's calling herself won't give up on those headgears so easily," said Matt, "She'll be back for them and I need to be prepared for what she could throw at me."

"They'll be safer in Canterlot.  I got into your vault far too easily," said Twilight carefully, expecting Matt’s usual reaction to somepony dissing his pride and joy only to be pleasantly surprised when Matt didn't seem bothered.  "Yeah...but this time she's in a regular old fashioned human.  He's got no magic whatsoever and the auto-defences'll make mince out of anything he sends against me that'll leave his prize intact." he said smugly

"So...you don't need to train with this?" asked Twilight.

"No...knowing this Nightmare, she might just decide to try and take over the old fashioned way.  The Icarus has everything she’d need," said Matt, now gloomy.

"Matt, you shouldn't be staying in here all day," said Twilight, "For one thing, I don't think it's good for your eyes."
Matt said, "I'm perfectly fine.  I just have trouble with the Lightning tank," before saying "Ok, what do you want?"
"Well, it's about the last Corona Prima we found," said Twilight.  "The pegasus helmet?  What about it?" asked Matt.
"I kind of need to borrow it," said Twilight wincing as Matt yelled "NOT A DAMN CHANCE!"

"The data we've acquired about the artifacts show that they will only work for their respective races," said Aria, "You would only be able to use the crown anyways."

"Look...we need the..." began Twilight before Matt said "No...these things are poison...no superpowers for you."
"What do you mean 'poison'?" asked Twilight.

"When you wore the crown...you were able to cause more damage than my ship’s main gun.  When Pinkie and Applejack wore that hat, they were bulletproof and super strong.  I dread to think what that helmet does," said Matt sternly.
"I'm pretty certain it has control over the weather," said Twilight.

"Oh great, that’s not good at all.  You already have your weather teams for this.  You don't need this helmet," said Matt.
"I think we actually might," said Twilight, "You haven't been outside lately, have you?"

"No, there was a problem last week.  The quarantine alarm went off...oh no," said Matt, face palming.  "Ok...what’s happened?  If it’s another bloody alien vampire..."

"No, no monsters, but it is pretty bad," said Twilight, "You should come see yourself."

...

As Matt walked out of the ship, he was immediately blasted by two things: the brightness of the sunlight and the heat of the air.  "Ok, I've been inside for too long," said Matt covering his eyes.
"That’s it, we haven’t been able to get any water up to Cloudsdayle.  There hasn’t been any rain apart from what clouds the remaining pegasi got out of Everfree," explained Twilight as they walked towards Ponyville.  "I thought you had weather teams for this?" said Matt, keeping a half eye on the forest.

"They've all caught the feather flu," said Twilight, "There's barely anyone left who can fly."

The duo walked out of the treeline at that.  "Wait...flu as in virus?  Uh oh," said Matt, as his wrist computer buzzed...and armor plates formed a facemask and gloves, causing him to fall back, screaming something muffled about his nose being trapped.
"Matt, what's wrong?" asked Twilight.

"mmmph, mmmph aaace." yelled Matt, his voice distorted far beyond understandability before he finally sat up, the smoked glass lenses in the mask somehow emitting the air that he was glaring.

"What?" asked Twilight.  "Mmmbmm bmmmfph mmmmm!" yelled Matt.  "I can't understand you," said Twilight.

Mat facepalmed before pointing in the vague direction of town, before shrugging and writing in the dirt 'Let’s just get the smeg on with it'.

Twilight shrugged and said, "Ok, let's head over to Fluttershy's.  That's where the others are-"  There was a clang and a thump as Matt tried to walk forward but ended up going into a tree.

"Erm...do you need some..." began Twilight, only for Matt to hold up a finger in a 'I got this' fashion....before walking into another tree.  Twilight waited patiently as Matt tried to proceed forward only to keep running into a tree, sometimes the same tree more than once.  After a second he seemed to swallow his pride and made a 'after you' gesture.

"Ok, just take hold of my tail and- YAAH!" yelped Twilight when Matt yanked her tail.  "Not that hard!" she said, annoyed.
Matt made a sighing before simply keeping his face mask pointed at her, clearly only able to see what it was directly looking at.  "Mon fada yoda,” he muttered.

...

A trip that could have been shorter if there had been less stumbling later, the two of them were at Fluttershy's cottage.
"Mmph kiginh?" said Matt, clearly annoyed at his translator malfunction...and the new bruises he had.
"Yes, we're there," said Twilight, her patience a little thin from Matt's pratfalls.

"Boogeh!” said Matt, apparently satisfied and also proving that one species swearword was another lifeform’s happiness.
Of course, entering the cottage was another matter since Matt kept bumping into the door frame.

Luckily at that moment, his wrist computer beeped and his armors new additions folded away.  "Dinato ka-ank god that’s over.  Stupid quarantine nanites," snapped Matt

"What was that all about anyways?" asked Twilight.

"The flu bugs set off the environment alert on my armor," said Matt, annoyed before seeing that Fluttershy looked like death warmed up.  "Wow...and I thought human flu was bad," he said.

"Matt...nice to see...see...see..."  Matt instinctively braced himself before Fluttershy let out a small sneeze.
"Slightly anti-climactic....oooh," said Matt, catching on as his brain did the maths.  No pegasi = no weather teams = no weather = DOOOOM!  "Now I think I get it," he said carefully

"We hafta do somethin' soon," said Applejack, "The apple trees can't take much more of this.  We've already got a few startin’ ta wilt."

"You need the helmet to let someone take the weather wheel," said Matt.
"And soon, if the temperature goes up one more degree..." started Rarity before suddenly there was a 'poof' and her mane and tail went all puffy.
The group just stared for a second before Matt said desperately, "Ok...so I'm guessing you got a victi...I'm sorry, a volunteer in mind?  I'm sorry but I still rate this as a phenomenally bad idea."

"I'd try, but I'm not...not...not...choo!" said Fluttershy.  "Just take it easy.  Ya ain't in no condition to do any flyin'," said Applejack.  Just then, Pinkie hopped in and said, "Sorry I'm late.  The Cakes had to get their yeast in the basement before it all got big."  She paused when she saw Rarity's new hairdo.  "Ooh, nice look, it looks so springy and bouncy."

"No...No...I remember the last time Pinkie wore one of these.  I am NOT being roasted on a spit again," snapped Matt, backing up.
"The helmet won't work on her anyways," said Twilight, "We need another pegasus."

"That leaves...oh, now I KNOW this is a bad idea." said Matt, as Rainbow Dash came in.

Rainbow Dash wiped the sweat off her forehead and said, "Wow, this work's hard enough when it's so hot.  I mean, I'm pretty much trying to run the whole sky myself."

Matt sighed before pulling Twilight aside “Ok, now I know it’s serious if you're considering giving ultimate power to Dash," he whispered.

"Celestia's away on a diplomatic visit and the post service is down since all the mailponies are sick.  If we don't do something soon, Equestria's going to completely dry up," said Twilight.

"Ok, I'll count that.  I'll get the helmet and meet you in town.  Hey, always put on a show, that’s what I say," said Matt, noting Twilight’s expression.

...

Despite the sweltering heat, many ponies showed up at the meeting in front of the town hall.  Mainly to protest the human's 'sticking his nose into their business'.

One unicorn stallion who seemed to be leading the crowd yelled "We don't need that humans help.  He'll just make things a whole lot worse."

"How could anything be worse than this?" asked an earth mare.

"He's violent...and he's related to a draconequus." said the stallion a little manically while also voicing one of the more popular rumours the papers had thrown out.

"For the last time, that draconequus was only a copy of Matt's sister.  He wasn't really related to her," said Twilight.
The stallion’s words had already had the desired effect, many ponies muttering between themselves.  The stallion, seemingly sensing this said, "He's a dangerous monster, he should stay in Everfree."  not noticing the muttering dying down...and that everyone was looking past him.

"What?  Don't you agree with me?" asked the stallion.  "I don't," said a cheerful voice behind him.

The stallion froze up at that before slowly turning to see the 'monster' in question, pulling a metallic crate out of the back of his transport machine...the 'SUV' or whatever he called it.  "Am I missing something?  My ears were burning...IT’S METAPHORICAL!" he said, snapping the last part as he noticed the crowd apparently straining to see the smoke.

"Anyways, the reason I asked you to come here is that Matt has something that will help us.  But before he gets them out, I should explain a bit of Equestrian history," said Twilight, only to get a chorus of groans.

Matt said, "Do we have time for this?" pulling the crate over to Twilight and kneeling down to type onto a keypad on it.
Twilight gave Matt an annoyed look before saying to the crowd, "Well, if you want the short version, we have a magic helmet that will allow a pegasus to control the weather all on her own.  And since most of Ponyville and Cloudsdale's pegasi are out of commission, our very own Rainbow Dash will be taking up the mantle, so to speak." Carefully ignoring the constant buzzes as Matt got the code wrong over and over before he resorted to banging the lock and eventually blasting it.

"Take that, you bargain bin lock," yelled Matt a little too eagerly as the keypad smashed from the bolt, pieces flying around, and pulling the lid open.  The three artifacts were sitting in a row inside, Matt lifting a metal helmet out.  "Here we are, one questionable weather control device," he said.

He placed the helmet on Rainbow Dash's waiting head.  She shook her head a bit and said, "Wow, fits great, how do I look?"
"Like an escapee from Rome," said Matt, ignored as several runes appeared briefly on the helmet, glowing with energy before fading out of sight again.  "Ok...did it work?" said a pony, curiously.

"Let's see..." said Rainbow Dash before concentrating.  A cloud suddenly shot out of the sky at unbelievable speed and hit Matt in the face.

The crowd all winced as Matt was knocked flying.  "HEY...WATCH WHERE YOU'RE AIMING...OW!" snapped Matt, before being zapped by a mini-lightning bolt.  "STOP IT!" snapped Matt, his eye twitching

"Alright, alright," said Rainbow Dash before concentrating and causing the cloud to spout water at the stallion who was opposing Matt before.

"Much better, do it again," said Matt, with an evil grin

…

One of the stallions, a pegasus who had, if you had asked anyone, strangely escaped the flu ran into his hotel room and slammed the door and locking it.  Anyone, especially Matt would have also found the jury-rigged Subspace comm unit in his hotel room very interesting.  "Come on...work, you smegging hunk of junk," he muttered, using a piece of collateral wiring from the blasted lock to fuse a connection.

"Watcha got there?" asked Pinkie who was right behind him.

The stallion yelped.  "What the he...how'd you get in here?  I locked the door!" he said, in an 'inch from freak out' voice.
"You didn't lock it very well.  I was taking a few cakes to someone down the hall and I heard you muttering and I got curious about what you were muttering about," said Pinkie.

The stallion sweatdropped and said "Absolutely nothing." backing up to behind the bed where a rifle similar to Matt’s sat, though recently modified to be used by hooves and a mouth.

"It's a puzzle isn't it?  Oh, puzzles can be so tricky.  I once got one of those puzzle cube things and I still haven't figured out how to get all the colors on one side so I eventually gave up and started using it as a paperweight but then Gummy found and started teething on it so I ended up giving it to him," said Pinkie.

"No offence...ma'am but I really need peace and quiet for this," said the stallion, his hoof fumbling with the rifle.

"That's what Twilight always says when she's working on puzzles.  Well, they seem more like homework to me.  I mean, who could sit for hours and hours over a sheet of paper?  But I leave Twilight when she's working so I'll leave you alone, bye," said Pinkie before going out the door.  The stallion gave a sigh of relief before Pinkie popped back and said, "Oh, I almost forgot, I didn't catch your name."
"I didn’t give it," snapped the stallion, finally losing it before slamming the door to find to his shock that she had finished the wiring.  “Well...I'll be damned," he muttered, switching it on and immediately covering the speaker as multiple bursts of speech burst forth.
This time, the stallion made sure the door was completely locked before looking at his little device.

One of the voices suddenly seemed to realize "Hey...hey I got a unknown in channel 12...who is this?" said the voice.
"Er...hello?  This is Eagle 5...reporting in....very late." said the stallion a little uncertainly
"Eagle 5, you've been gone for months.  We thought you were dead," came the reply.

"I was hoping I was too...or at least asleep.  I got encoded, guys.  This is fucked up...the pink one’s driving me nuts...GET ME OUT OF HERE!" said the stallion, screaming the last part.

"So...you're one of the ponies now," came the reply.  "A winged one to boot," said the stallion, "Not like I can get these things to work right.  Birds make it look so easy."

"Hold on...the boss lady might have a job for you." said the person on the other end causing Eagle 5 to pause.  "Boss lady?  Erm...am I talking to the right universe?" he said, carefully.

Sometime later, a woman's voice said, "Eagle 5, your tardiness may become your salvation, if you can perform the task I have for you successfully."

"Erm...who is this?" said Eagle 5, seriously considering hanging up and taking the job at the apple farm outside the town.
"I am Daria, your commander," said the woman's voice, "As such, you are to show absolute obedience and not the slightest deviance from your mission."

"Ooookaay." said Eagle 5, deciding to play along for now.  "Sooo...what do you want me to do, miss?" he said before leaning back as the woman screamed "DO NOT CALL ME MISS!"

"Er, would 'ma'am' be more appropriate?" asked Eagle 5.

"I don't care...you are going to steal those artifacts...do you understand me?" said Daria
"Uh, artifacts?  As in those magical hats that Lynch had?" asked Eagle 5.

"You saw them?  AND YOU LET THEM OUT OF YOUR GRASP?  You STUPID HUMAN!" snapped Daria, before seemingly guessing what Eagle 5 was gonna say and adding in a bored tone "Metaphorically speaking."
"Well, I've been busy lately trying to jury rig a working radio together," said Eagle 5, "I haven't received any new orders, or any communication at all, for months."

"Well now you have orders...your mist...what do you mean he'll freak out?...fine.  Your new orders are to secure those artifacts...ASAP...what does that even mean...WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S STILL ON?" said Daria before the comm turned off.

...

The first thing Rainbow had to do before she started working with the weather was get enough water to Cloudsdayle to make clouds with.  And since condensation doesn't seem to be an active force on this world, there was one way to do it.
Matt had decided to sit down to watch, not really believing that this was how they got crappy weather.  He’d ended up sitting next to a grey, wall eyed pegasus mare with a bubbles cutie mark and a mail bag.  "Ten creds says this goes wrong,” he said, not looking away.

"Rainbow Dash is the best flyer, better than me," said the pegasus, turning to look at Matt.  At least, that's where her head was pointed.

Matt said darkly "Yeah...and given she’s wearing that...we're probably doomed.  I've seen this sorta thing before...there'll probably be ape skeletons." 

"Nah, Rainbow's the best.  She can do it no problem," said the pegasus.

“I've seen my fair share disasters caused by overzealous ambition and this probably...uh...say, would you mind turning the other way?"  Matt said, causing the pegasus to cock her head, which in Matt’s opinion, upped the wall eye creep factor. "Er...you aren’t worried about me?  The horrible space monster?" he asked carefully in an attempt to change the subject
"You don't look scary," said the pegasus, her eyes rolling a little.

"That’s nice to know." said Matt distantly, getting the dreadful feeling that his own eyes were trying to copy hers.
"Alright, Rainbow Dash, whenever you're ready!" called Twilight over a megaphone.  With deep concentration, Rainbow Dash started flying in circles above the lake, getting progressively faster.

Matt watched in interest as the water began to ripple before he also noticed that something that Derpy had done that he hadn't...tied her hooves to a stake in the ground.  He quickly found out why as he began to slide along the ground.  “Erm...Dash?  Stop please." he called, unheard over the roaring

Matt quickly tried to dig his hands into the ground to keep himself from being sucked in, but his grip was nowhere near good enough.

…

Derpy and Twilight watched in morbid interest as Matt was sent flying up and into the new tornado, his scream rapidly falling and rising as he span round before he was sent flying in the direction of the treeline.
"Oh, that's gonna hurt," said Twilight wincing.

Derpy nodded in sympathy as the tornado finished.  "Not exactly 10 seconds flat...but pretty close," Rainbow Dash said, smugly before looking around “Hey...where's Matt?"

"Right here," said Matt from against a tree, his voice so rigid with self-control, you could use it as a crowbar.
Aria, viewing from a spiderbot, sighed and said, "I'll get the medicast...again."
"I'm ok...really...are we finished with the doom device?" said Matt

"Unfortunately, there aren't that many workers at the factory," said Twilight, "Rainbow's gonna have to cover for all the sick ponies."  "With these powers?  I'll cover for everypony, for all Equestria," Rainbow boasted.
There was silence for a second before Matt said "We’re doomed."

"Rainbow, you sure you could handle that?" asked Twilight.  "Yeah, what about the natural order of things?" asked Matt.  "What natural order?" retorted Aria.

"I'm pointing out that not everywhere has pre-ordered weather...and not everyone will want it." said Matt before noticing he wasn't carrying the audience before saying "You're not listening, are you."

"Rainbow, running all the weather on your own sounds like too much a burden," said Twilight, "You burn yourself out."  "Please, all I have to do is point my hoof and..." started Dash.  Matt had a feeling what will happen next and scrambled to move away from where Dash was pointing, just in time too as the mini-thundercloud from earlier zoomed into place and blasted the unlucky tree stump that had been in Dash’s pointing path.

"Hey, somepony's gotta make sure Equestria doesn't become a desert," said Rainbow Dash.

"You just vaporized a tree stump." Matt pointed out.  “I’m getting the hang of stopping that.” said Dash calmly
"No...give me that...I shouldn’t have agreed...why do I agree to this stuff?" snapped Matt, walking towards Dash
"Sorry, Matt, I've got a job to do," said Dash before almost literally rocketing off, causing a huge updraft of air in her wake.
After the group had picked themselves up Matt said "Like I said...doomed." 
"Nopony likes a complainer." said Derpy.

...

A few days later, Twilight took a little balloon trip up to Cloudsdayle to see how Rainbow Dash was doing.  She hasn't been seen in Ponyville in days.

She was surprised to see the weather factory, which dominated the city’s skyline seemingly at full tilt, though she knew for a fact that most of its staff was still laid up from the flu.

The rate of which the clouds were going out and spreading meant that Twilight had to land a bit further from the factory than she had hoped.

A simple cloud walking spell later and she was trotting into the main area of the factory.  "Rainbow?" she called, looking around for her friend

At first glance, it seemed the machines were running all by themselves, but then Twilight noticed a rainbow-colored blur zipping around.

"Rainbow dash?" she called up, causing the blur to turn and zoom at her, suddenly stopping to reveal the elusive pegasus still wearing the helmet.  It took a second for Twilight to see that Rainbow Dash's colours looked faded...not like when Discord had gotten to her but still looking ill.

"Twilight...what brings you...here?" asked Dash, as she stopped to catch her breath.

"Dash...what happened?  You look dreadful." Twilight said, gasping in horror at her friends appearance.

"Well...running all the weather in Equestria...isn't very easy...but I can handle it..." said Dash before yawning loudly.
"All the weather?  Isn't anyone left to help you?  You look exhausted." said Twilight, gently using her magic to pull Rainbow Dash down to the ground and being shocked at how little effort it took.

"Hey...I've got all the weather power of the world on my head..." said Dash, "I might as well use them to help as many ponies as I can..."

Twilight narrowed her eyes "When did you last have a bite to eat...or sleep?" she asked
"Uh...there isn't any time, I've got precipitation to maintain," said Dash before pulling out a weather chart and saying, "Ok, I've got thunderstorms to send north and blizzards to send south."

Twilight looked at the map "Er...Rainbow?  I think you might have that backwards." she said, noticing a sign that the map might be the wrong way up

"What?  Oh, common mistake, could happen to anyone..." said Rainbow Dash before her head started drooping.
"Rainbow?  RAINBOW DASH!” said Twilight, before yelling Rainbow’s name in the pegasus's ear.

Rainbow startled awake with a clap of thunder.  "No time to sleep, gotta keep the clouds moving," said Rainbow.
"No...you're barely standing, let alone flying." snapped Twilight, trying to pull the helmet off, only for the holder charm that meant only the wearer could remove it drag the pegasus back down.

"Twilight, I have to do this.  There's nopony else who can handle all this weather," said Rainbow Dash, "Equestria needs me."
"You can't help anypony if you end up in Ponyville general hospital." snapped Twilight.

"Ok, one quick snack break, but then it's back to the weather," said Rainbow before dashing off.
Twilight shook her head before heading back for the balloon.

Matt was half-asleep at the converted barn he called home when he heard Twilight and co.  "5...4...3" he muttered to himself.
"Rainbow's letting this whole 'responsibility' thing go to her head," said Twilight's voice.

"Ah hope she don’t end up like when ah tried to bring in the harvest solo." said Applejacks voice "1...hi girls." said Matt, sitting up suddenly

The girls gave a yelp of surprise.  "Don't do that," said Rarity.  "Why not?  You do it to me all the time, especially her," said Matt, pointing at Pinkie, the party pony agreeing with a nod.

Matt sat back at that "Lemme guess...power gone to head...and she doesn’t want to take the hat off." he said smugly
"She's running herself ragged," said Twilight, "She's trying to care of all the weather over Equestria and she's working herself down to the bone."

"You've come to the right psychotic Everfree monster." Matt said, a little bitterly.  "I got more than a few stunners.  Should be simple."

"Matt, we don't want to hurt her, we just need her to stop working so hard before she collapses," said Twilight.
"I was joking...but still...there’s the problem of that artifact...she's the only one who can remove it." said Matt with a sigh
"Yeah, only the one who put it on can take it off," said Pinkie before pausing and saying, "Wait, didn't you first put that helmet on her head?"

"Yeah, I suppose....oh no, this doesn't mean what I think it does, does it?" said Matt, suddenly going gloomy
"That Rainbow Dash can't remove it herself and thus will feel compelled to manage the sky until she runs herself into the ground?" asked Rarity.

"That and there's only one way I could catch her without resorting to high powered stun guns." said Matt gloomily
"Enchanted boots that allow you to walk seven leagues in one step?" asked Pinkie.
"No...dammit, here comes Spark." said Matt darkly

"It may not have ta come ta that," said Applejack, "She can't be more ornery and stubborn than I was, can she?"
"Erm..." said Matt before his wrist computer saved the day...sort of.  "Alert...aerial targets detected at 80km outer marker.  Class 12 magi units.  76% probability of hostile intent.  ETA: 2 hours as current speed." it chimed.

"What does that mean?" asked Rarity.  "It means something's flying over this way and are not very happy," said Matt.  "We better tell Rainbow Dash about this," said Twilight.  "Ok, but first I wanna watch that falling star," said Pinkie, pointing upwards. 
Matt looked up, tapping his glasses to turn the zoom on.  "That’s not a star." he said slowly.
"It's not another spaceship, is it?" asked Applejack.
"No...its Dash." said Matt, urgently

"WHAT?!" yelled the other girls.  "She's either fallen asleep at the wing or she's unconscious," said Matt.
Matt followed the trajectory.  "Good news...she's gonna land in water...I'll get some med nanites." he said after a pause where he realized this might not improve things.

"We have to save her," said Twilight.  "But none of us can fly and Fluttershy's still sick at home," said Applejack.
Matt noticed everyone looking at him.  "You are all going to owe me big time." he said, turning on the 'recoder' that Aria had come up with

In a bright flash of light, Matt disappeared and was replaced by Spark.  He quickly took off towards the plummeting Rainbow Dash.  "Ok, been a while since I last did this, but it shouldn't be too hard," he said to himself.

The girls however winced when Matt nearly ended up falling as well, clearly out of any practice whatsoever.  The embarrassment continued when Matt...sort of caught her, becoming a crash mat as Dash landed on him in mid-air.
"Well, at least he slowed her down," said Applejack.

There was a 'oof' in the distance shortly after Matt vanished, the girls galloping over to see Matt squashed under Dash.  "Somebody get her off...she's crushing my spine...I like my spine.  I use it for standing." he said with a faint rasp.
"Guess she wasn't going to land in the water after all," said Pinkie.

"Please get her off..." gasped Matt

Twilight and Rarity levitated Dash off, who was still unconscious.  "Matt, you need to get that helmet off her before she can object," said Twilight.
Matt reached forward and pulled at the hat, using the plume to yank it off before slipping, causing the hat to shoot into the air...and plunk down on his own head.

"That helmet does not look bad on you," commented Rarity, "It gives you a decidedly masculine appearance."
"Get it off, get it off, GET IT OFF!” yelped Matt, pulling at the helmet only for the locking spell runes to flash and the hat to remain firmly located where it was

"Odd, Matt put the helmet on himself, didn't he?" asked Twilight.  "Well, it was more of an accident," said Applejack.
"OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF!” gibbered Matt, still tugging at it frantically

"Let me help," said Pinkie before yanking at the helmet.  "No, no, Pinkie, that ain't right.  Ya gotta get more leverage in," said Applejack before pushing Pinkie aside, putting her back hooves on Matt's shoulders and then yanking the helmet with her front ones.

"YOU'RE PULLING MY HEAD OFF....STOOOOP!” yelled Matt

Applejack let go of the helmet and said, "Phew, that thing's stuck on tighter than a knothole in a tree."

"I hate these things...I...want...it...OFF!" yelled Matt, causing a lightning bolt to strike the helmet...and him dead center
"Like it or not, it's stuck on there, along with the weather powers and super flight," said Twilight.
Matt stared for a minute before yelling "CRAAAAAAAP!"

"This don't look good," said Applejack.  "I know, imagine having Matt be in charge of the weather.  I can already feel my ends starting to split," said Rarity as she smoothed down her tail.

Matt looked down to see his wrist comp still clamped over a hoof as it chimed “Alert...incoming contacts have increased speed.  New ETA is predicted at 35 minutes.  Classification confirmed:  Roc class magi lifeform."

Just then, Fluttershy ran over and cried, "Girls, girls, I have bad news, where's Rainbow Dash?"

"Oh, good, she's getting some rest.  I mean, no, that's bad.  She needs to wake up.  I just heard my bird friends tell me that the rocs are flying this way," said Fluttershy.  "Rocks can't fly, silly," said Pinkie, "Not unless you throw them."
"Roc...roc, roc roc...Wait...roc s in giant killer bird dino thing?" said Matt, gulping

"Well, I think they might not be as mean as I heard, but they do sound unhappy.  Apparently some of our clouds has been getting into their territory," said Fluttershy, "I was going to tell Rainbow Dash to stop making so much weather but she's not even awake."
"Sooo...they're probably gonna want to eat the person responsible." Matt said, raising a hoof as Fluttershy opened her mouth to reply "I didn't know but that’s how it always goes."

"And with that helmet stuck on ya, that makes ya look more guilty than a dog with a stolen bone in its mouth," said Applejack.
"I'm dead." said Matt dully.

"Well, uh, maybe not," said Fluttershy, "I heard that they heard that Rainbow Dash was responsible for this.  They may not go after you, but that's not really a good thing for her."

Matt seemed to be thinking before he said "Do they know what she looks like?"

"Unfortunately, yes," said Fluttershy, "Well, at least they know she's a cyan pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane and tail."
"I have an idea." said Matt.

...

"I'm not so sure this will work out," said Twilight.  "Trust me, I know how to touch up a pony's hair," said Rarity, "If that particular pony would stop wriggling that is."

"Why have I gotta get a mane job too?" complained Rainbow Dash with a yawn.  Matt, sitting in the corner, said "Hey...I hate costume make up too...I'm not looking forward to this at all...but unless you wanna be bird food."

"I got overproductive with the clouds, I should be the one cleaning up after them," said Rainbow Dash.  "Yer in no condition ta be lockin' horns with rocs," said Applejack.

"Personally, if it wasn’t for the fact that the guard aren’t gagging for a reason to throw me in the slammer, I'd break out some plasma launchers and send the birdies packing." said Matt, darkly

"The only way we can settle this is with diplomacy," said Twilight, "But I still don't like having Matt be the diplomat."
"Hey...if it all goes south...I can lead them to the Skyraid’s defense guns...that'll chase them off." said Matt.

"Let's try not to resort to that," said Twilight, "The rocs might not be completely unreasonable.  I'm sure there's a way everyone can be happy."

...

Matt trotted out, scratching at his rainbow tuned mane.  "It’s itchy." he muttered, keeping another eye on his wrist comp, where the v formation of dots were almost on top of them.

"Ok, just be polite, try to compromise, don't let anything else take your attention," Matt muttered to himself.
Matt gulped and tried to empty his mind of anything remotely insulting...which proved harder than he thought it would be.
Sounds of commotion were heard as the biggest bird of preys Matt had ever seen landed in the square.  The leading one, resembling a gigantic falcon said "Where is the one called Rainbow?" in an icy tone.

Matt unconsciously started moving backwards until Twilight gave him a little kick to the side.  "Ow, I mean, I'm Rainbow...er, Blitz," said Matt.

"You are the one who plagues our land?" said one of the smaller ones in a voice that reminding Matt of the avianos he had met briefly during the Balwak incident.

"Uh, that was an accident," said Matt, "I've been doing so much work with the rest of Equestria, I sometimes lose track of some clouds."

"Natair...hold your tongue.  We are guests in their land and this one is one of the ones who serves their leader." said the leader roc harshly.

"Uh, yeah, that's right, you're guests so...I should offer you some refreshments after your long flight," said Matt.
"We...have already eaten on the flight." said the lead roc before focusing on Matts/Rainbow Blitz's helmet.  "The helm of Commander Hurricane." he said in shock.

"Uh, yeah, it's a little rigid for my tastes, but how else is one pony supposed to manage the weather for all of Equestria?" said Matt.
"Well...its good you found it.  We will take it now." said the roc, holding a talon out expectantly
"Excuse me?" asked Matt.

"You sent storms that threatened the nesting grounds...our code demands compensation...or blood." said the roc calmly
"Oh, of course you'll get compensation.  It's just that, uh...the helmet's on loan.  It's not fully mine to give away.  Maybe we can offer you something else," said Matt.

"Your spine will do nicely." snapped Natair, spreading her wings

Twilight quickly stepped out and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you don't have to do that.  There's obviously more than one reason you came all the way to Equestria."

"Yes...we came for compensation.  Be it blood or material." said the lead roc.
"Oh, but there's so much more than that," said Twilight, "You should, uh..."  "Take a tour of our great town," said Pinkie, popping out of nowhere, "You flew all this way, why not take in the sights?"

The rocs all jumped back, in standard 'WTF just happened?’ mode which was usual for people who had just met Pinkie without warning.  "Er...how'd you do that?" said another Roc

"You guys just weren't paying attention," said Pinkie, "Anyways, there's a lot of cool sights in Ponyville.  There's Sugarcube Corner, the Carousel Boutique, Sweet Apple Acres..."

Matt and the others watched as the Rocs got the glazed look of ones being overexposed to Pinkies personality.
"Uh, sure, take in the sights.  That's what I always do when travelling," said Matt, inwardly adding 'as well as shooting at or being shot at'.

"It was a long flight, I admit..." said the leader roc, to himself.  The group breathed a sigh of relief before the roc added "Unless you plan to appeal to the sun goddess."

"Uh, she's busy, she won't be available for quite some time," said Twilight.

"She knows our laws as well as her own...she will not dispute our claim to the artifact.  Commander Hurricane dealt us many blows in her career...the helmet will make a grand compensation for this recent event." said the roc leader
"Did she now?" asked Matt a bit nervously.

"Yes...what did you expect?  She was the leader of an army." said the roc.  "Erm...do you have a name...erm, sir?" said Matt, noting the birds sharp beak

"I am Okliss," said the roc.

"Erm...nice name." said Matt nervously.  Okliss continued "I am surprised...my agents said that you were a mare...is she ok?" noting a black pegasus mare glaring at that

"Uh, common mistake, really," said Matt, "I mean, there are so many mares compared to stallions that most visitors don't realize the difference at first glance."

Oklis's eyes narrowed before he smirked “I suppose so...if you wish to contact your leaders to...negotiate then so be it, but we will not change our minds so easily...now I heard there was some kind of hairless ape running around here..." he said, causing Matt to yelp

"Uh, there may be, what importance would it have?" asked Matt, somewhat nervously.
"I hear it is a warrior...a proper challenge for once." said Okliss

The thought of getting into a fight with this overgrown eagle wasn't nearly as thrilling for Matt.  It took all his self-control to keep him from screaming and running.

"That sounds.....fun." he said weakly while making a mental note to sleep with a SAM launcher when this was over.
"Now there's something I'd like to see," said Natair, "Some good old-"  "Friendly competition," interjected Twilight, "That's the best way to settle this matter."

"What?" snapped Matt quietly

"Hold on...need to talk to my pal here." said Matt with a manic grin before dragging Twilight into the library.  "Are you NUTS?" He snapped.  “The last time I took a race I ended up with broken bones and hyperthermia."

"Well, this next race should be a lot safer," said Twilight, "We'll keep the course within a less hostile climate."
"This is crazy.  I may be pretty fast but Dash is a natural...literally." snapped Matt, before noticing Spike glaring out the window at the rocs, wearing a tin helmet he’d gotten from somewhere, probably Pinkie before losing his cool “Yes...giant pigeons...cool eh?" he said sarcastically

"Yeah, giant dragonling-eating, egg-stealing pigeons," said Spike nervously.

Matt, who had in a previous adventure spent time as a dragonling shot to the window “They eat dragons?  Fire and ice breathing, time freezing dragons?" he said nervously

"Well, not the big ones, but they say the little ones are always the tastiest," said Spike.

"I miss Spyro and Cynder." whimpered Matt, before briefly smiling aimlessly as he imagined the arsekicking the duo would have dealt those overgrown pigeons.

"Uh, Twilight, those rocs aren't going to be here long, are they?" asked Spike.

"I hope not.  I'm going to write a letter to Celestia, just in case." said Twilight before looking at Matt.  "You'd better get ready.  The rules that rocs use for their challenges say they can choose the first challenge."

"Right, get ready to face off against giant birds, no problem," said Matt numbly.

He continued "Ok...so what kind of challenges do these things like?" he asked.

"Well, rocs typically go by three challenges: Strength, Wisdom, and Speed," said Twilight, "I think we can expect them to start with Strength.”

"I am so dead." whimpered Matt.

...

A clearing near the everfree forest had been chosen for the first challenge, Brawn as Twilight had said

"The match of Brawn is one of the highlighting events for our warriors," proclaimed Oklis, "However, considering the challenger is a weaker creature..."  "HEY!" yelled Matt.  The roc leader ignored this and continued, "The rules have been simplified.  All the challenger has to do is remained airborne for 2 minutes.  If he is pinned, he loses."

"That seems easy...who's my opponent?" asked Matt before jumping back as Nadair landed "Me." she said with uncontained glee.  "I'm dead." said Matt in a tiny voice

Oklis gave Nadair a stern look and said, "Rainbow Blitz is not allowed to be seriously harmed.  He has to compete in the other challenges."

As Matt gained altitude, he said to himself, "Ok, just keep out of her reach for 2 minutes.  That shouldn't be too hard.  I've plenty of practice avoiding-"  He was cut off, and nearly cut in half, by Nadair lunging at him with talons bared.

"OH DEAR LORD...RUN AWAY!” screamed Matt turning and heading in a random direction, causing Dash on the ground to facehoof.

After a minute he shot into a cloud bank.  "Ok...just hide here and..." he began before Nadair shot through from above, tackling him while heading for the ground.  “Oh, this is gonna smarrrt.” moaned Matt before everyone present winced at the crash of impact.
The referee counted, "5...4...3...2...1...the winner of the match of Brawn is Nadair."

"Oooooooh....did I win?" groaned Matt from his mini-crater, Nadair not even having to have pinned him
Rainbow groaned and Twilight said to her, "Well, we expected him to lose this match.  But I think he has a fair chance in the other two."

"I just feel pain." gurgled Matt from the crater.  "Has anypony got some painkillers the size of the moon?"
Little did anyone know, that a certain pony who wasn't who he seemed had been watching all this.  He knew this was a golden opportunity to steal the helmet, but it was too darn funny.

"Oh...this is too rich....Oh it hurts." Eagle 5 laughed to himself, rolling on the ground
It was nice to see that someone else is faring worse than him.  Even better that it's the same guy that has caused him so much grief.

After a minute he realized he'd bodged a ticket to get off this rock.  “Oh, smeg it." he snapped, watching his meal ticket being led away by the others

"Ok, he's sure to get smashed in those other two matches.  Then I'll grab that helmet," he said to himself.

...

Matt groaned as a spiderbot injected another medi-nanite shot.  "What’s the next challenge?  Bomb disarming?" he said bitterly
"Well, the next match will be in Brains," said Twilight, "I think you'll have a better chance at that one."
Matt thought for a second before saying "Can I pick the subject?"

...

Nadair watched as Rainbow Blitz limp-trotted into view, several of the metal spiders they had seen around the settlement dragging a canister.

"It’s something I got fr...borrowed from the hairless apes starship." said Rainbow Blitz, innocently as the spiders dropped the canister between them.  "It’s called a jump engine coil...apparently it’s my turn to set the challenge...so you have to guess what this does and make it do it." he said with a evil grin

Nadair gave an angry shriek and snapped, "That's not fair!"

"Like how you pile-drived me into the bedrock was fair?" said Blitz

Nadair turned to Oklis and said, "This can't be allowed, it's not a proper match!"

"It is in his right.  You chose how brawn would be decided...he will choose how cunning is decided...plus I want to see what it does.  Continue." said Oklis

Nadair glared at Rainbow Blitz and looked carefully at the 'jump engine coil'.

"Hmm...what’s this do?" said Nadair, poking a exposed section with her talon and taking off as a green pulse shot out, hit a sapling and caused it to turn into a full grown tree.  Rainbow Blitz was the first to look up.  "That’s not what it does...but well done...you made a temporal pulse cannon."

Nadair glared at Bltiz and snapped, "This is an unfair challenge!  Not even you could know how this thing works."

Blitz nodded to a spiderbot who opened up a hatch in the side and exposed a mess of wiring.  Blitz reached in and pulled one specific wiring out causing it to light up.  “I'd duck if I was you." said Blitz, getting back as the coil began to hum before the air around it rippled and the coil vanished with a sonic boom.

...

Eagle peered out of his hiding place at the sound of a sonic boom.  2What the heck was that?" he muttered before hearing another one over his head and looked up in time to see a drive coil descending rapidly towards his face.  "Oh no." he said in a resigned voice.

The drive coil landed on him with a clang.  From underneath it, Eagle's pained voice said, "That's it, I'm calling for backup."

...

Matt grinned “Oh, that was too cool.  Hat off to Nadair though...I've never seen someone actually weaponize a drive coil like that.” he said

Twilight was looking at the fully-grown tree.  "I didn't know you had the technology for ageing spells," she said.

"Jump drives basically rip holes in time and space to get to Nullspace and from it.  It stores all the unused temporal energy...she musta opened the proverbial valve." said Matt, adding “It'll wear of in a day or two."

Nadair glared at Matt and said, "You won't get off so easy next time."  "Let me guess, we both have to decide on the next one?" asked Matt.  "No, the match of Speed is always the same: a race," said Oklis.

"Just a race?  Too easy." said Matt smugly.  Dash stopped saying “Erm...can we talk in private?"

As soon as Matt and Dash were far away enough from the rocs, Dash said, "Matt, don't you remember how your last race ended?"
Matt stopped as memories came to the front.  "Almost frozen to death on a mountainside?" he said faintly

"I mean, I don't expect you guys to do the same course, but know how competitive rocs are by now.  They won't make it easy, even if you have the helmet," said Dash.

"Oh bloody hell.  It’s NEVER EASY!" snapped Matt before saying “Ok...what’s the plan?"
"Twilight said we have some leeway about how the race goes, mainly with the course.  I think I can find something that's more your level," said Dash.

"Like what?" said Matt suspiciously

"A few laps around Everfree Forest sounds the safest," said Dash.
"That sounds like the beginners course,” Matt said suspiciously

"No, it's higher than a beginner's course, but probably as low as the rocs will go," said Dash.
"Oh goody." said Matt darkly

"I suppose we may be able to haggle the rocs into something simpler, like a simple flying across the valley and back," said Dash, "But Nadair will probably won't want to go with the rookie levels."
"That’s something." said Matt.

...

Nadair and Oklis glared at the group.  "You jest...You wish to turn down this simple race?" he said darkly, the rocs choice having been a place Matt had never heard off called Ghastly Gorge.

"You have heard about the quarry eels, right?" asked Twilight, "They're supposed to be pretty territorial, not to mention carnivorous." Matt paling behind her.

"Indeed...it will be a proper test of skill...not some simple circle." said Oklis, stubbornly
"Uh, that reason is supposed to be tectonically unstable," added Twilight causing Matt to pale even further and make a whining noise.

"Again...more tests of skill." said Oklis in a tone that said he was not going to be dissuaded.

"It looks kinda crowded in there.  You won't be able to spread your wings to their full width," said Blitz, a little desperately.
“Then it will be an equal challenge for my daughter as well." said Oklis
Twilight gave Matt an apologetic look.  Clearly, there was no other way.

"Can I at least prepare?" asked Matt.  Oklis seemed thoughtful before nodding.  “One day...then we will see." he said
Dash said "I've flown the gorge a few times.  I could teach you how to fly it...as long as there isn't a rock slide this time."
"Didn't you say that this place was tectonically unstable?" asked Matt.  "Well, that doesn't mean there's a quake every day.  Besides, we can check for any loose boulders," said Twilight.

"Sounds good enough.  We'd better get started...I wish I knew where that coil went..." said Matt.

...

Sigma team watched as their missing pilot trotted into view.  “What’s your problem?" the team leader said before a drive coil appeared in front of them and crushed their sniper’s foot, vanishing again.

The other members of Sigma team watched with some amusement as the sniper hopped around, clutching his foot in pain.
"What idiot took the stabilizer off that drive coil?" snapped the sniper before being clocked over the head as the coil materialized above his had

"Hey...I thought Lynch's pets had the artifacts." said the heavy weapons operator on sigma.  "What?  It’s Lynch we're after.  He's camped on the edge of town." said Eagle

"Lynch is secondary, getting those artifacts is topmost priority," said Sigma team's leader.
"Are you nuts or just cash happy?  The board'll have us for lunch...literally in the case of Director Flagis, if we don’t get Aria back." snapped Eagle

"Who?" asked one trooper.  "Uh, that AI that Lynch has," said another.  "Oh yeah."

"The commanders altered the plan.  You got a problem with that?" said the team leader, glaring down at Eagle
"Uh, as long as it gets me off this acid trip of a planet, I don't really care," said Eagle.

"Fine...Sigma 2.  We'll follow...see what they're up too." said Sigma leader

...

As Matt followed Rainbow Dash towards Ghastly Gorge, he said, "Uh, it's not really as bad as everyone's saying it is, right?  I mean, it may have some giant eels and shakes, but that doesn't mean it's impassable, right?"

"I held a race there when I got my pet, Tank.  You musta seen him by now....the tortoise with the helicopter?" said Dash, noticing Matts expression before it turned to one of painful recollection…one involving a unwanted headbutt by a flying ballistic reptile
"Uh, how exactly did that race go?" asked Matt.

"Well, I got my wing pinned under a rock.  I'm glad Tank entered the race anyways or who knows how long I would have been stuck under it," said Dash.

“Ah...so this'll be a race where I will most likely die under a rock slide or be swallowed whole by a reject from Tremors." said Matt overly cheerful

"Don't forget, you've got the helmet, so you can fly much faster than normal," said Dash.

"That just means I’ve got less time to react." said Matt, adding "You were born to this.  No offence."
"I'd be doing the racing if I could, but it's too late for that now, isn't it?" said Dash.

"Hey...I don't even wanna do this.” snapped Matt.

"You can't be serious.  Most racing ponies would give most of their pinion feathers for a race like this," said Rainbow Dash, pointedly.

"I'm not a racer...I'M NOT EVEN A PONY...Usually.  I thought we solved this last time when I nearly froze to death." said Matt, snapping a bit.

"Matt, racing against a roc is a great honor and challenge.  How could you just say no to that?" asked Dash.
"Easily...Like THIS...NO...I WANT MY THUMBS.  He can keep the damn helmet...he can probably guard it better." said Matt, stubbornly

"Matt, those artifacts belong with the ponies.  What if they somehow manage to get the helmet to work for them?" said Rainbow Dash.

"I doubt it'll even fit them...let alone work." said Matt

"It probably won't work for humans and Daria seems to really want them," said Dash, "We just can't let them fall into anypony's possession, even if they aren't a pony."

"Fine...I...oh my lord." said Matt, his voice trailing off at the sight of the gorge.

The gorge stretched an impressive length.  And the way it curved made it impossible to see the end.  "And that's not even the tough stretch yet," said Dash.

"It gets worse?" moaned Matt

"Well, there's the wind tunnel and the cacti," said Dash, "And that's only before the quarry eels."
Matt was staring ahead in horror "And this...is supposed to be an easy run?" he whimpered

"Well, keep away from the walls.  You don't want to smack into them and start a rock slide," said Dash.
"I'm guessing that’s from experience?" teased Matt

"Well, I got a little overconfident," said Dash, looking embarrassed, "But at least I learned an important lesson."
"Yes...never hit the walls." teased Matt

"And also watch your feet," said Dash.  "Wait, you were flying, what does that have to do with-" started Matt before Dash did a low sweep with her legs and knocked Matt off his feet.

Matt immediately jumped back up, backing up and keeping low as mercenary flash training kicked in.  "Ok...what?” he said in a low voice

"Just testing your reaction time.  Pretty slow reflexes," said Rainbow Dash.
"Urgh...fine, let’s do a run." he said, taking off into a hover

"That's the spirit.  Try to keep up," said Rainbow Dash before speeding off.

...

Eagle and Sigma team were also staring at the gorge, and at the two pegasi now racing along it.  "I can see how we do this...a few charges in that final section...collapse it on em...dig em out later.” said Sigma thoughtfully

"The multicoloured one’s a primary kill target...orders from the leader." said Sigma 1

"Speaking of whom, I've noticed there seems to be a change in command," said Eagle.

"There's been no change.  She has always been in command." said a member of sigma.  Eagle nodded slowly “Of course.” he said carefully

"Ok, we bury the demo charges there, there, and there," said the leader, "We want to get plenty of rock rolling."
"Erm...I've heard rumours of some kinda sub-t creatures using the gorge for home..." began Eagle

"I think we can handle a few mole people or giant bugs or whatever they've got here," said one of the troopers.
"I heard they were giant eels." said Eagle, "Or dog miner things...I dunno which."

"Giant eels, yeah right," said a trooper, "There's not nearly enough water for them."

"Ok...but I'm staying here." said Eagle, mentally adding that the fact that every townpony had agreed on the eel story exactly and as such there was probably something to it

"Fine, like your hooves will be any use," said the leader.

"Screw you." said Eagle, making sure he had a good view of what he predicted to be a momentous screw up before sitting down.  Sigma's leader rolled his eyes "Ok...get the las-drills out and get those charged placed near those wall holes." he called
Some of the troopers started working on the rock, finding it a lot easier to crack than they had anticipated.

They were so busy that they didn’t see one trooper, leaning into a hole to place a charge, suddenly get jerked inside.
Suddenly, the rock gave way beneath then and two troopers went tumbling down.
Sigma leader rolled his eyes “Hey...you guys ok....hey, where’s Rogan?" he called

There was a loud hissing before what looked like a giant reddish-purple came up out of the hole, Rogan hanging out from its teeth.
"Oh....shit.” muttered Sigma as what was left of Rogan was swallowed, the eel, against all logic having a "Don't mess with me' expression before tail whipping the two other troopers out.

Sigma Team was pretty shocked by this.  Which made it easier for them to ignore Eagle's laughing, but barely.
"Ok...new plan...oh shit, here they come...hide everyone." said Sigma leader, looking around desperately before realizing to his horror that the only choice was the holes.  "Oh man.” he moaned.

...

Matt and Rainbow Dash were flying past the quarry eel nests and there was something amiss.  "I thought you said they don't like anyone getting near their nests," said Matt.

"Yeah...unless somepony’s dug into their nests again.  Sucks to be the diamond dogs." called Dash over the wind rucking past them.  As it was, nobody noticed the group of troopers finally giving up and jumping out one of the nests and running for it, one with a dog sized eel gnawing on his arm.

However, even without the eels, the course was not easy, particularly with the winds blowing like they were.
More than once, Matt nearly ended up as part of the wall or another obstacle.  "This is insane..." he yelled.
"That's one of the reasons this place is called Ghastly Gorge," said Rainbow Dash.

"Maybe some clear, calm skies?  How do you work this piece of junk?" Muttered Matt, tapping his helmet
The helmet flashed briefly, only to cause the wind to start blowing in the opposite direction.

"Oh no...nononononono." moaned Matt, being blown towards one of the nests, an eel peering out and opening its mouth open eagerly.  "Undo, UNDO." Matt screamed

The wind stopped blowing, causing Matt to give a sigh of relief.  However, he forgot to slow down and ended up inside the eel's mouth anyways.
The eel looked pleased with itself before getting a bug eyes look and spitting Matt out with a 'bleah' noise.

Matt landed with a wet splat at the bottom of the gorge.  "Ew, eel saliva, why would anyone want this?" he said in disgust.

The eel, turning away at that stopped before slowly turning back with an annoyed look, Matt not noticing.  "Stupid eel...it’s probably got a tiny brain." he carried on, oblivious to the eel pausing and slowly turning to glare at him.

"I don't know where people got the idea, but I bet eel tastes disgusting too.  They probably taste as rotten as their breath," grumbled Matt.

Dash said slowly “Erm...Matt?  Maybe you should take that back." as the eel slowly closed on Matt.
"Why?  It's just a dumb overgrown snake with a flat head," said Matt.

Dash gulped  before Matt, guessing the reason continued gloomily "Aaaand he's right behind me." turning and being roared at.
"Uh, I taste bad, remember?" said Matt.

The eel simply reared up before landing its full weight on Matt, heading back to its lair after it was satisfied the little pain had gotten the message

Dash landed at the small indent in the ground Matt was in.  "Yeah, animals here aren't as stupid as you think," she said.
"That hurt more then you could possibly imagine." moaned Matt

...

By the next day, Matt had recovered in time for the race.

"Oh well...I'll either get eaten, lose or win?" he said, slightly sarcastically

"Relax, just remember what we've done yesterday and you'll be able to get through no problem," said Rainbow Dash.
"I'm going to be some land eels entre." said Matt icily.

“They’re just as likely to go for Nadair.” Said Twilight.

"They definitely would if you'd have let me get the spiderbots to glue pork chops to her." said Matt gloomily
"Pork chops?  You humans eat pigs?" asked Dash disgustedly.

"They'd be quorn ones...vegetable based...the eels won't tell the difference...especially if they catch her." said Matt with an evil grin
"I'm pretty sure the rocs will count that as cheating," said Dash sternly.
"Not if they never make it back." muttered Matt darkly.  

At that moment the rocs landed on the other side of the gorge, Nadair smirking as best a beak could.  "I don't like her...she's evil." said Matt

"You just don't have a competitor's spirit," said Dash.

Nadair called out "That helmet is mine."  "Neither does she." said Matt
"You're the better flyer, you just have to stop doubting," said Rainbow Dash.

"She's gonna eat my dust." said Matt, coldly watching Nadair
"That's the spirit," said Dash.

Oklis said "I assume we are prepared."

"Ready as we'll ever be, right Blitz?" said Dash.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Matt said, trotting towards the starting line.

"The rules are simple," declared Oklis, "The two of you are to fly through this gorge.  You may not fly over the top at any time.  Avoid the obstacles and get to the finish line."

"Simple enough." said Matt.  Nadair nodded, adding "Are there any other rules?"

"I think the rest of the rules should be obvious enough to not need stating" said Oklis.

"As you wish." said Nadair, smiling predatorily at Matt, who gulped nervously.

"Now, on your mark," called Oklis, "Get ready, get set...GO!"


Matt and Nadair shot out into the gorge, Matt immediately getting a lead as Nadair seemed to hang back before the two shot out of sight

Matt wasn't going to waste any time.  He was planning on getting through this gorge as quickly as possible.
He turned a corner before he felt something trying to grab his tail.  He turned to see Nadair trying to get a grip with her talons.
"Hmm, I think she has fowl play in mind," said Matt to himself.

"Stay still." squawked Nadair as she missed again....before looking up and seeing the vines straight ahead.  Matt winced as he heard a thump coincide with a 'boik' noise.  Exactly the sort of noise a hard object covered in spines made.
"That's gonna smart," he muttered.

He turned the corner...and rolled on instinct as a rocket shot past him.

"What the?" said Matt before looking up and saw Daria's troopers on the ridge.  "Oh c'mon, I've got enough to deal with already," griped Matt.

He heard, over the wind, the words of 'Open fire' before he was forced to do a few moved that would have impressed Dash to avoid the hail of gunfire.  

...

Sigma leader looked at Eagle.  "What are you standing there for?  Use those wings and move it." he snapped
"Er, I'm not really good with them yet," said Eagle.

"MOVE IT!” yelled Sigma leader, kicking Eagle.

Eagle yelped and flapped his wings desperately to keep himself from plummeting.

After a second he had the hang of it and noticed he also had a good turn of speed as he gave chase.  "Come on, my little ticket to sanity." he muttered, focusing on the helmet

...

As Matt flew on, he grumbled, "Why do they have to pop up whenever it's the least convenient?  Don't they have better things to do than shoot at me?"

He looked up to see the eel holes ahead, a familiar one already waiting, somehow with a napkin round his neck.  “Oh no.” he groaned

Just then, something flew over Matt's head, just missing him.  Matt glanced backwards and muttered, "What was that?"
He also heard a cut off...was that someone saying 'Oh smeg?' "What the hell?" he said before there was a 'ptwi' and another pegasus shot over his head.

Matt glanced over his shoulder and muttered, "I wonder who that was?"  He shrugged before flying onwards.

Eagle was up again, a little unsteadily which was understandable seeing as he had just impacted a granite cliff  "Hey....slow up." he said dizzily, only to be sent spiraling as Nadair shot past him.

"AIR HOG!" he yelled before noticing, too late, another wall heading for him.  “Oh, this'll hurt." he moaned just before impact.

...

Sigma 1 winced as the cam feed from eagle went to static  "So much for that.  Ok, let’s move.  We'll head them off at the last turn."
"What about that big bird?  It may be trouble," said a trooper.

"that’s why we've got bazookas...Now MOVE!" yelled Sigma 1.

By then, Matt was nearly to the end of the gorge.  There was one last turn, which was basically one large U turn.  It kinda made one wonder if the gorge was a natural formation.

Another grazing was felt and he turned to see Nadair this time trying to grip him with her beak.  "Hey...rules do not include eating the competition...this isn't a grav race." he yelled

"Survival of the fittest.  That's the only rule that matters," said Nadair before snapping at Matt again.
"Are you nuts?  I think your boss wants a fair race." yelled Matt

"Accidents happen," said Nadair before swiping at Matt again.

"You are insane!" yelped Matt before leading down low where the going was made harder by the fallen boulders
As if fate was listening, more gunfire shot down just as the two entered the last turn...Matts new 'pals' were back
"Can't I get a break?" snapped Matt.

He turned to see that Nadair was also under fire.  "Least that’s something." he muttered before two rockets shot down, hitting the sides of the gorge ahead.

Quite naturally, that started a rock slide, probably with more boulders than the one Rainbow Dash accidentally caused.
Matt and Nadair were both forced to slow to a halt.  "Surrender the artifact and you get to live." came the call from on high
"The artifact is my prize!  I'm the only one who's getting it!" called Nadair.
"Wrong answer." muttered Matt before the gunfire started again

Matt briefly considered telling both sides that the helmet was stuck on his head and he couldn't take it off even if he wanted to.  But then again, that would probably prompt both of them to try to remove his head and pry the helmet off later.
A second later, half of an EGIS trooper narrowly missed him.  "I've seen enough." he yelped, getting ready to set off before another body hit and pinned him.

"Hey, you did that on purpose!" snapped Matt.  "Of course," said Nadair with a smirk before flying on.

…

The girls and the Rocs had just arrived at the finish when they heard the sound of battle.  "What is that?" said Oklis coldly, already imagining what he would do to anyone who harmed Nadair

"Ya don't think another rock slide happened, do ya?" asked Applejack.

"That sounds like no rockslide I have ever heard." said Oklis just as another round of gunfire was heard.
"You're right, sounds like Darius’s sent more of her men after Ma... I mean, Blitz again," said Twilight.
"Who is this 'Darius'?" asked Oklis suspiciously.

"He's a big jerk who wants the artifacts too," said Pinkie.

"If he attempts to interfere...his agents will die." said Oklis in a 'matter-of-fact' voice before he perked up, a blur coming round the corner, another in pursuit.

"Oh, it looks like they got away," said Rarity.

The blurs quickly became properly visible, Nadair with a comfortable lead over her opponent.

"C'mon Blitz, put some hustle in it!" yelled Applejack.

Matt however was clearly too far behind, evident when Nadair slowed down on purpose smugly, something that Oklis didn;t approve of judging from his sigh

"C'mon Blitz, you're almost there!" called Pinkie.

The two were finally neck and neck until another gunshopt was heard, off to the groups left.  Oklis was the first to turn in anger at whatever was interrupting to see one of the rumoured hairless apes, sporting more than a few talon marks.  "THAT ARTIFACT BELONGS TO US!" the ape screamed as Nadair and matt shot across the line, Nadair leading by a nose...or in this case beak.

Oklis glared at the ape and shouted, "This has got to stop!"  He took to the air, followed promptly by the rest of the rocs.
The trooper seemed to be half insane, proven when he continued firing at the Rocs right up until two grabbed him and lifted up.
The ponies quickly turned their heads away, not wanting to see what would happen to the luckless trooper.

Luckily the two rocs that had grabbed the luckless trooper had flown out of sight, though the screaming continued for a bit.  Oklis however was looking at Nadair who looked pretty smug and was saying "My prize, pigeon."
"Prize?!  I've seen splitters that race cleaner than you do!" snapped Matt.

"I won and you lost.  Hand over the prize or I will take it." said Nadair icily

"Hand over one of the most powerful artifacts in this world to a dirty cheater?  I'd rather have nails driven into my feet!" snapped Matt.
"I did not cheat..." said Nadair loftily.  Matt settled for saying “You tried to kill me...twice."

"Survival of the fittest," said Nadair loftily.

Oklis however had landed "Daughter...is what Blitz is saying true?" he asked

"She's his daughter?" asked Twilight with surprise.  "No wonder she has an unbearably overinflated opinion of herself," said Rarity.
Nadair seemed to stutter a bit as she tried to come up with an excuse.  Matt gave Nadair a smug look before Oklis sighed and said, "Nadair, trying to kill lesser competitors is hardly sportsbird-like."  "THAT'S IT?!  After she tried to eat me, you just tell her it's bad sporting?!" yelled Matt.  "Well, there's no actual rule against it," said Oklis.

"She even flew over a damn rockslide that I had to bypass." snapped Matt, causing Oklis to pause.
"How high did she fly?" asked Oklis.

"Over the rim...she cut a bit of the corner off." said Matt, a little bitterly "After leaving me to dodge those psycho's."
Oklis gave his daughter a stern look and said, "Nadair, you know it was against the rules to fly above the gorge during the race."
"What?  But...but..." began Nadair

"You have knowingly broken the rule and by doing so, you have forfeited your victory," said Oklis.
Nadair just stared before glaring "Fine...dad."  Matt muttered to Twilight "Teenager."

Oklis turned to Matt and said, "And since you have won two of three competitions, albeit unorthodoxly, you may keep the helm of General Hurricane.  However, the other rocs will demand a compensation for the bad weather you have sent us."
"Like what?" said Matt cautiously

Oklis thought about it and said, "We will want at least three days of good weather, done by you ponies."  "That's it?  All you want is clear sunny skies?" asked Matt in disbelief.

"Is there a problem?" said Oklis in a tone that hinted that it could be alot worse.  "Nope...no problem." yelped Matt quickly, falling over himself...and causing the helmet to fall off.

The ponies stared at the helmet a bit numbly, hardly believing it had chosen now to come off.

Oklis also noticed something else.  "Hey...what’s up with your mane?" he asked, causing Matt to notice his reflection in the helmet...and how the mane from under the helmet wasn’t dyed.  "Erm...you got me...I colour my mane.” he said quickly
Oklis peered at him suspiciously.  "Is that all you color?" he demanded.

"Yes." said Matt, in the tone he used to the CPS board of directors to hide why his equipment had been melted.

"Then you wouldn't mind a little shower on your flank," said Oklis, reaching up with one wing to smack one side of a cloud and cause it start pouring onto Matt's hindquarters.

Luckily, or to Matt’s horror, the dye turned out to be waterproofed.  After making a mental note to take revenge if the hair dye carried over, he said "See?" his eye twitching.

Oklis gave Matt an odd look before saying, "My apologies.  For a moment, I thought you might have been an imposter."
"that’s fine." said Matt, glaring at Rarity and mouthing 'this isn't over'.

"Well, as soon as I have a talk with my daughter about the conduct of good sportsbirdship, we'll be on our way," said Oklis.
Matt watched as the Rocs left before turning on the girls.  "Its PERMENENT DYE?" he snapped, eyes bulging a little.

"Oh, I'd hardly say permanent," said Rarity, "Just long lasting."

"Gravity put it on me...it had to take it off." said Matt gloomily.

"Well, since the rocs have left, the helmet's off, and Daria's men are...gone, I guess you don't have to keep being a pegasus now," said Twilight.

"Fine." muttered Matt, using his nose to prod some buttons on his wrist comp only for it to make a negative buzzing.  "What?  Oh no...don’t you dare." he muttered, doing it again only for it to say "Foreign substance interfering with generator...please remove substance and retry."

Matt slowly turned to fix Rarity with a glare so dark it rivaled most black holes.

"Oh, uh, I believe I hear Sweetie Belle calling.  I better go see what she wants," said Rarity before dashing off.

"NO...GET BACK HERE!" screamed Matt running after Rarity with Dash in tow, who had already realized that she was now in the same boat.

...

Sweetie Belle was actually with her friends, having just failed to earn Cutie Marks in one of the 'critter divisions'.
The trio were trying gem hunter cutie marks in the rocks near Ghastly Gorge.

"Hey, you guys ever hear how this place came to be called Ghastly Gorge?" asked Scootaloo.  "Does it have someting ta do with them quarry eels?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Worse, they say that the dreaded Slendermane's lair is somewhere in here," said Scootaloo.
"Slendermane?  Who's Slendermane?" asked Sweetie Belle , shuddering at the name.

"He's a tall skinny pony with no face," said Scootaloo, "He waits for careless little fillies to pass his way and then steals them away."

"That sounds a mite spooky.  This varmint lives here?" said Apple Bloom, looking around nervously.
"That's what I've always heard," said Scootaloo.

Scootaloo's friends looked around nervously, Scootaloo chuckling at her prank.  Suddenlt a moan came from the mist that had gathered in the gorge, echoing creepily around

That made all three fillies jump with fear.  "Wha-wha-what was that?" asked Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom said nervously "Sl-slendermane?"  Scootaloo shook her head "But it’s just a story I read." she began, the other two gulping as they saw a pony silhouette behind the orange pegasus.

"Guys, what are you staring at?" asked Scootaloo nervously.

Sweetie Belle slowly raised a hoof to point over Scootaloo's shoulder.  Scootaloo turned slowly in tile to see a pegasus with a skull for a head come out the mist.  "SLENDERMANE!” the trio screamed and took off at high speed for Ponyville.  After a minute, 'Slendermane' managed to get the skull off his head revealing Eagle with a huge bruise on his head and wall eyes.  "What happened?" he slurred.

Eagle's head had been pretty murky for the last few...minutes, was it?  He had no idea where he was, why he was here, why he was covered in drool.  He wasn't even sure who or what he was.  All he could remember was something like a name.  Eagle something.  Eagle...eye, his name must be Eagle Eye.

After a minute his brain and stomach, which was growling, came to a consensus and he decided to head for the nearby town.  “Bugger this for a game of smeg." he muttered


> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP Chapter 14

To an outsider, it would appear that Daria was simply staring at the full moon out her starships porthole.  However, if one had a more innate tuning to magic, they would be able to tell that something was going on in the moonlight.

"Master please, I served you faithfully when I had the Night Princess in our thrall...and more so when I took the Sun’s protégée into my thrall.  Surely that deserves some...leniency?" her mind was saying, desperate for approval.

"And yet, you've let both slip through your grasp," replied a dark voice, "Why should I expect you to perform better in the body of...an ape?"

"Necessity, my lord.  I have a plan in motion but I need my old body back to secure the certainty of success," replied Daria, desperately.

"Even if I were so inclined, such a transformation is not made so simply," said the dark voice, "This body you now wear isn't even remotely related to a pony.  The best that could be produced would be one of the three lesser races and possibly not even a full transition."

"I can secure the life energy needed to secure the change, my lord.  I just need help," tried Daria, only to be horrified as the reply said “No, you are a failure.  I don't need a failure.  I already have a plan.  Goodbye."

"No!  You can't leave me like this!  Not in this prison of flesh!" cried Daria, but the moonlight was already losing its magical vigor, returning to its simple property of mere illumination.

A technician that was waiting, jumped back as Daria creamed "NOOOOO!"  After a minute, the tech said weakly "Ma'am, long range scanners picked up another ping, the third in a week.  This one came with a transmission you should hear."

"It doesn't matter now," said Daria in a dark tone.

The tech however pressed a button and a voice said "This is CBC Daedalus to CBC Icarus.  Respond on this channel ASAP...I repeat, CBC Icarus, respond at once.  The board is ordering your immediate return to the nearest Corporate stardock,"

"Leave?  I cannot leave this world," said Daria.  She didn't even want to think about living amongst more of those bipedal weaklings.  The ones she had to command where almost too much.

"Ma'am, if we don’t return, the board might tell the Daedalus to force us..." began the tech only for a blue bolt of magical energy to blow his head off.  "I said we AREN’T LEAVING!" Daria roared.

She incinerated the rest of him to take off a little steam, but that wasn't nearly enough.  She would have had this planet under her thumb by now if hadn't been for Matt.  It's almost like he's always behind her back, mocking her, tripping her up, always pushing her down.

She then remembered some of the military tactics that her first host, Luna had learnt: if you are hunting an enemy, make sure he has nowhere to run to first.  "Ready a team.  Do we know where the mercenary’s ship is?" she said.

"Er, yes, but it's considerably close to the capitol and thus would there would be a rapid response if we were to go there," said an ensign.

"I only need 5 minutes," said Daria, coldly.

...

After the roc incident, Matt has decided to stay at his base.  Mostly, it was to improve on the security and trying to get the jump engines full working.  Although, a plausible reason could also be that his hair wasn't completely dye free.  Oh, it looked black, but it tended to shimmer different colors in the right light.

As such he was happy to have company in the form of Fluttershy and Applejack, the latter with her saddlebags full of food.  "Hi girls.  To what do I owe the pleasure?" Matt asked, cheerfully, jumping down from where he was fixing a damaged hull plate.

"Well, it's lunchtime and we figured you could use some extra grub," said Applejack.

"Great...lets go inside." said Matt, cheerfully, activating the ramp.  As they walked, or trotted up, Matt asked cheerfully "So...how's public opinion back in town?  Can I actually show my face?"

"Well, I think they're starting to be friendly," said Fluttershy, "I mean, you did help with the drought."  "Shame they couldn't know how you dealt with them overgrown buzzards," said Applejack.

"True..." thought Matt, the trio walking towards the mess hall before saying "So...how many complained?"

"Well, there's still complainin', mostly from the same ponies as before," said Applejack, "I figure Blueblood's still sore about those threats you and your 'sister' gave him and he's still stirrin' the pot instead of lettin' it boil away."

"Ah, let him.  I fixed the energy processor yesterday.  It just needs a day and I will be out his hair forever...and I'll drop the hats into a sun on the way out.  We're yet to make sunblock PH 7 million," said Matt, cheerfully.

"Are you sure that is the best way to keep them away?" asked Fluttershy.

"Only your princess can get in a sun last I checked.  That nightmare’s as flimsy as I am," said Matt cheerfully before a beeping was heard.  Matt looked down at his wrist-comp before turning it off.  "Just a broken beacon.  All this magic shorts them out like crackers.  I got suited up last night for a moth," said Matt cheerfully.

"What kind of moth?  If it was a luna moth, it may have been enough to set off your alarm things.  They have great moon magic, at least that's what I'm told," said Fluttershy.

"It was big and it did turn my head into a pumpkin for 5 minutes...you may be onto something," said Matt thoughtfully.

Suddenly, a door banged open, causing the two girls to scream in fright.  Their screams were soon justified when a pair of troopers walked in.  "Ok, Lynch, you're coming with us," said one of them.

Matt’s answer took the form of an energy burst that threw one of the troopers back out the door, the other one opening fire at Matt who dived for cover.  "Girls...could you be so kind as to go to room 305?  I turned it into a saferoom in case the ship needed smacktard fumigation,” he said, growling a bit as he exchanged fire.

The girls quickly galloped off where Matt pointed.  Oddly enough, the troopers didn't even seem to notice them leaving.

The remaining trooper finally noticed as Fluttershy was leaving.  "An eleme-" he began before a blast took him down.  "Aria?  I thought we put up sights: no salesmen, Bluebloods or EGIS morons," Matt snapped, picking up the dead trooper’s gun.

"The ship's sensors are still down," said Aria, "I would have repaired them sooner, but they were slotted into a lower priority."

"Bring internal back on...how many on board?" said Matt, peering round a corner and sighing with relief to see the modified security center, ‘room 305' sealing.  "Least they're safe," he muttered.
"10 detected, troopers like what you're fighting.  However, I'm detecting another who's not like the others," said Aria.

"Oh?  Any information other than that?  Hold on," said Matt, firing a burst at the two troopers who had stopped in front of room 305.  "Make that 8," he said, heading down the corridor.

"Well, one of them seems to be unarmed as I'm not picking up the energy signals from typical firearms him or her." said Aria.

"Ok...where are they?" asked Matt.

"One group is about to open one of the bogus crates you set…” began Aria before the ship shook with a blast from the cargo bay.  "There is now 4 personnel left on board...SIR, BEHIND YOU!" said Aria.

Matt turned around quickly and got a face full of blue energy that sent him tumbling back.

"Lynch, maybe I am lucky after all.  You’re just the human I was looking for, leave us," said Daria’s voice, the 'leave us' aimed at someone else.

Matt sat up and shook his head to get the world back into focus.  When everything realigned, he saw Daria standing over him, her hands glowing with blue energy.  "Been practicing?  Uh oh," said Matt, yelping and jumping aside as Daria threw an energy bolt at him.

"You've cost me everything...GIVE ME THE ARTIFACTS!" snapped Daria, before running after Matt.

"I wouldn't give you a handkerchief if you had a runny nose.  Aria...is there anything that could give me a fighting chance?" tried Matt, dropping a blastdoor down and running only to hear it explode as he ran round a corner.

"The engine room, the reality energy bleed will water down her magi energy," said Aria.

"It could also turn my insides into custard," remarked Matt, "But considering she wants to incinerate all of me, I think it's worth the chance."

"Very well, be aware, my scans of the energy from the core indicate it is increasing the..." began Aria before the comm died.

Matt span as Daria came into view.  "Shit!" snapped Matt, diving through a door...and rolling down the several flights of stairs heading down to the engine room, Daria following his progress down.  A little later, Matt's voice said, "Ow, I can't believe I did that again."

"GIVE ME THOSE ARTIFACTS!" yelled Daria before hearing hoofsteps behind her.  "Ah, hayseeds," she said dully before Applejack bucked her down the steps after Matt.

"That'll teach her," said Applejack triumphantly with a grin.

Fluttershy poked her head out of Room 305 and asked nervously, "Is it safe to come out now?"

Another bang was heard before an inhuman shriek was heard, Aria's voice saying "I recommend you stay in the saferoom."

...

Daria got up unsteadily from her landing before shrieking in a way that nearly bleached Matt’s hair.  “Feeling better?" Matt asked before claws made of light appeared on Daria's fingers.  “Oh no," whimpered Matt.

Matt quickly got out of the way to avoid being sliced by the claws.  He didn't really expect Nightmare to be able to do that.  Of course, Nightmare's previous hosts didn't have fingers to have claws on.  "Can't we talk about this?" he tried, jumping over a pipe that Daria simply sliced apart.  "I know you're under a bit of stress, being a species completely foreign to you can do that," said Matt before having to avoid another swipe that left a long slash in the wall.

"ARIA...VENT THE BLOODY RADIATION!" yelled Matt as another slash nearly took his head off only to get a busy signal.  "Oh bugger," said Matt, weakly before another slash breached a tank attached to the reactor which immediately began venting a blue smoke.  "Erm...Daria...I think you just broke something bad," said Matt, backing up as the smoke somehow reminded Matt of Balwak Station.

As the amount of blue smoke in the room began to rise, Matt held his breath to keep the fumes out his lungs.  That may not have been necessarily stop it, but he wasn't taking chances.  Daria however realized what it was, grinning icily before resting her claws on the metal of the wall.  "You wouldn't..." said Matt in horror, Daria’s grin widening.  

"I'll be back to pick the artifacts out of the ashes," said Daria as she started to glow blue.

"Oh no you don't," said Matt before jumping forward and grabbing her.  Before she could get him off, her teleportation spell zapped them both away, her vanishing claws raising sparks that easily ignited the leak...

...

Applejack was slowly headed down the stairs when she heard a 'whomph' and saw a glow down below getting brighter.  "That's probably not a good thing," She said nervously shuffling around to go back up the stairs.  She looked back to see a blue fireball shooting up the shaft and was forced to dive into another floor before the flames shot past, the stairs falling away.

...

Matt's vision came back only to see Daria just as dazed.  “Gotcha, lady," he said, holding her by the collar and pointing a blaster in her face.

But before Matt could pull the trigger, there was a big 'BOOM!' and a huge blue fireball shot out of the top of the ship.

Daria was first up laughing.  “Oh dear, did someone forget their fire insurance?" she laughed.

Matt glared, getting up "Laugh it up, I still got you." he snapped.  “But aren’t you forgetting someone?” laughed Daria.

Matt stopped.  "Oh crap," he said before running for the ramp.  "This is not over, you psycho!" he snapped at Daria before running up the ramp and almost being knocked over as his armor deployed its mask due to the smoke.

Daria just laughed before going on her comm.  "Stage two, gentlemen," she said before vanishing.

...

Applejack came too with a headache to see that the lighting had turned red, a klaxon wailing and flames roaring from several rooms and the stairway she had just been in.  “Warning...core breach imminent...fire suppression failure." said a male voice.  

"Matt, Fluttershy!" called Applejack before coughing from the growing smoke.

A figure came into view in the smoke at that, Aria's voice saying "Miss Applejack?  Is that you?  I'm afraid that I have soot on my optics."

"It's me, we need to find Matt and Fluttershy and get out of here," said Applejack.

Not a chance...we need to evacuate now...this floors cut off from the rest of the ship.  I detected Matt on the same floor as 305 before I downloaded but we need to go NOW." said Aria, sternly before an explosion from a side room engulfed, her, just burning most of her faux skin off.

"Aria!" cried Applejack.  However, the figure walked out of the flame, mostly unharmed.  However, most of Aria's skin had been burned away to reveal the skeletal robot beneath.  "Can't I use this body for one day without getting the skin damaged?" complained Aria.

Applejack nodded weakly, the sight being extremely creepy not helped that Aria's uncovered optics glowed a pale green.  "This way, ma'am," said the machine, aiming a thumb at an airlock.

...

Matt staggered through the smoke, trying to remember the way to room 305 without signs to help before falling back as another plasma conduit overheated to explosion.  "Alert:  Core temperature now 455% above safety levels.  All personnel abandon ship." said the main computer calmly.

"I'm trying to help with that," said Matt.  Fortunately, his suit could filter out the smoke and ash which allowed him to breathe more easily.  However, he had a feeling that the girls will soon be running out of oxygen.

Room 305 quickly came into view, and as feared, Matt could see the door had been opened.  "FLUTTERSHY...FLUTTERSHY, SAY SOMETHING!" he yelled as another distant explosion of another conduit going was heard.

Unfortunately, the explosion drowned out all the other sound.  But as it faded, Matt could hear a weak coughing inside.

Matt tapped his helmet to turn on its IR vision before peering inside and spotting Fluttershy.  “Hey, girl.  I'm right here," he said, running over.  

"Matt...it's so hot...it's getting hard to breathe..." wheezed Fluttershy before coughing again.  "We have to go...get up...come on." said Matt, trying to pull her too her hooves.  "I'm...too weak..." said Fluttershy, her legs trembling too much to stand.

Matt pulled harder "We have to move or we're toast...oh, I'm gonna regret this." he said, clicking his helmet off, setting it to auto fit and putting it on Fluttershy, the helmets nanites modifying its shape to fit.  "Ok...come...cough...on." he coughed.

Fluttershy took several deep breaths before saying, "Ok, I think I can move.  Maybe I should fly us out."

"No...just get out...I 'cough'...I'll be right behind you." said Matt, coughing from the smoke and looking over at a wall safe.

"But Matt..." protested Fluttershy.  "Hey, I've gotten out of worse scrapes than this...'cough'.  Just fly out now," said Matt.

Fluttershy hesitated for a second before flying out of the door.  Matt waited for a second before running over and opening the safe, grabbing the contents.

...

Aria and Applejack looked up in relief as Fluttershy, wearing Matt's suit helmet's rebreather flew down the ramp.  “Miss Fluttershy, where's the sergeant?" asked Aria.

"He said he'll be right out behind me," said Fluttershy.

A series of explosions could be heard from the ship, just as Matt staggered down the ramp.  A final explosion blew out the bridge viewport and the top most shuttlepod hatch as well as out the ramp, causing Matt to roll forward.  "My ship." he wailed in horror.  

"That two-timin' Daria has a lot of nerve to just stomp in and blow up your home," said Applejack.  "At least we're all okay," said Fluttershy.

"I think it’s time I left...use the jump portal back at the camp to go to Paradiso and get the authorities...Daria's lost it to try this." said Matt, gloomily.

...

"They blew up this too?" moaned Matt, looking at the fire brigade pegasi clustered over what was left of the barn.  

"It was either them or the fire salamander nest we found," said the fire chief, "They may have put them there, but there's no way to determine."

"Fire salamanders?  How?" Matt began.

"Well, they are drawn to enclosed warm spots.  Have you been disposing your compost correctly or have any unguarded electrical wires?" asked the fire chief.

"My house is wired up like ve...neighgas." said Matt, stopping briefly to retune his head, due-Equestria.  "Excuse me?" asked the fire chief.

"Never mind." said Matt gloomily before noticing one of the defense guns for the house smashed and looking at Applejack.  “How much you want to bet that someone has searched my house top to bottom shortly before it burnt down?"

"That ain't a bet, that's a certainty," said Applejack, "Probably the same time your other place was being trashed."

"Just as well I hid the hats in here then." said Mat, holding up his wrist comp and adding "Oh, she'll get something from the crate...maybe something that'll last...it just won't be very nice." he said with a grin.

...

Daria laughed as the crate was put in front of her.  "This was too easy..." she laughed, opening it.  

However, as soon as it was open, a spring-loaded pie launched out and plastered her face.  "Erm...ma'am?" asked a guard, grabbing a note from the crate that said "Care to try again?"

"Find...that...man..." snarled Daria under her pie mask, which was started to smoke around her eyes.  "Erm...yes, ma'am," said the guard, before running away.

...

News of the fires at Matt's two homes quickly spread around Ponyville.  Public sympathy was turning towards Matt, but he didn't have time for that.  He had three ancient artifacts containing near-godlike magic and a crazy demonically-possessed transvestite who wanted to steal them.  Fortunately, the other girls were able to come as soon as he had called for them.

"I gotta get rid of these...it'll be days before I can dig down to the basement and the gate...and even longer to bring it back online...these need to go." Matt said sternly, the three artifacts upon the table between the group

"Just give them to Celestia so she can lock them up with the Elements," said Rainbow Dash.

"Ok...I doubt even the Icarus can get past those two..." said Matt with a nod.

"But Daria will still be coming after you," said Twilight, "I mean, I suppose we could ask the Princess if you could move into Canterlot, but I think somepony would object, besides Blueblood I mean."

"I won't sing." said Matt in an annoyed voice to the confusion of the girls.

"Well, maybe we can ask that nice Mr. Gears if he could build you a new house," said Pinkie.

"Tried that...he's headed back to Manehatten last I heard." said Matt, gloomily

"Maybe he could stay at my house for a while," said Fluttershy, "I mean, I'm sure I can make some room for you."

"No...not gonna do that...Won't take long for the nightmare to add up two and two and realize I've got these on me...and come after me." said Matt

"And she'll go through anything and anyone in her way," said Rarity, "I suppose you shouldn't go to Canterlot then."

"No...She won’t be dumb enough to go against your princesses as a human.   I doubt even a PC class ship could stop them," said Mat, choosing wisely to use the initials for the 'Planet Cracker' class.

"Well, unless anyone has any better ideas, I say we mosse on over to Canterlot quickly," said Applejack.

Matt nodded "Let’s go."

...

Twilight’s prediction proved to be quite right.  It only took 10 minutes and the sight of Matt’s SUV to cause Blueblood to gather some friends to 'petition' the princesses, though Matt enjoyed how the accused was allowed to be there to face his accusers...and Matt was wearing his full combat equipment.

"This creature is a menace to everyone around him," protested Blueblood, putting on a show of bravado to cover the nervousness he got from Matt's armor, "If his homes were destroyed, that's his own fault.  How do we know he won't bring that same bad luck here?"

"Because the boss lady here could make them wish they'd never been born?" said Matt with a happy grin.

"The Princess is royalty.  Royal ponies should not be bodyguards," said Blueblood haughtily.

Matt blew a raspberry at that, causing Blueblood to look at him in confusion as Celestia said "Matthew has done nothing but try to help, keeping dangerous magic out of the hooves of those who will use them against us.  He is welcome here."

"You heard her.  That was an official royal proclamation," said Matt.  "No it wasn't," protested Blueblood, "An official royal proclamation requires..."

"Yes it was." said Celestia with a grin that made Matt want to high five her except he got the weird feeling she might actually return the high five.  

Since the Princess's word was law, the protesters started to file out.  Blueblood just stared in horror and then fury as Matt waved at him.

"You'll wear your welcome soon enough and then the Princess will see it was a bad idea to let you come," said Blueblood before walking off.  Matt turned to Celestia and asked, "How are you related to that smeghead again?"

"It’s a long, long story," said Celestia with a sigh.  "I bet," said Matt.

"I shall have to make out some official fliers so Blueblood won't be able to complain so much.  But in the meantime, I'm sure Twilight can show you around the palace," said Celestia.

"Great...wait...you'll want these..." said Matt, reaching to give the helms over.

Celestia picked them up with her telekinesis and said, "I'll lock these away immediately.  Thanks for doing such a good job with protecting them."

"No problem..." said Matt before he noticed a strange green smoke wafting in.  “What the he-?" he began before, with a pop it turned into a scroll and clonked him on the head.  "Bleh?  Air mail." he gibbered.  

Celestia immediately picked up the scroll, unfurled it, and read its contents.  Her brow furrowed and said, "This is grave news.  Las Pegasus has just been attacked.  'By some sort of flying metal ship'."

Matt paled at that, running up and taking the note, reading down it before his survival instinct kicked in.  “Erm...here you are." he said weakly passing it back.

"If this is your enemy's ship, I'm afraid I'll have to take personal action against it.  I may need Luna's help as well," said Celestia.

"Nobody will cry a tear...If Exo-Gene knew what they were up to, they'd blow it up too..." said Matt, darkly.

...

"He did WHAT?" snapped Zara, though the report was on her screen in black and white.  “He attacked a local settlement...our scans indicated he's either killed or taken 2 thirds of the population of the target city hostage." said her second in command.  Zara sighed at that "What is wrong with you, Darius? What does the board say?"

"They've given you full digression to deal with Darius as you see fit," said her second, "Though I suspect they would prefer one solution over the others."

"Yeah...ok...get us there ASAP.  We end this...fuck Lynch and fuck that AI." Said Zara.  "Speaking of which, what are we to do about them once Darius has been dealt with?" asked her second.

"We'll arrest him...if he's there." said Zara, making it clear that she wanted her men to be as short sighted as possible when it came to Matt.

"Aye, ma'am," said her second, a little reluctantly.

...

Daria looked out the window at the smoking ruins of the city below.  At least a third of them had fled but the rest had been captured...perfect blood fuel for her backup plan and even part of her primary plan.  "Are the last of my devices in place?" she said into her comm.

"They're in position, but we are having trouble get them to work the way you instructed," came the reply.

"They'll work...get back up here and prepare for orbital drop to the next location as soon as the princesses come on the sensors." said Daria, coldly.

"As you command," came the reply before signing off.

"Soon...very soon." said Daria to herself as the dropships could be seen returning.

...

The girls were shocked to hear as to why the princesses had gone west so quickly.

"I can't believe Daria would strike out at Las Pegasus like that," said Twilight.  "Well, she is possessed by Nightmare and Nightmare is pure evil, right?" asked Rarity.

"Yeah...look on the bright side...the princesses are going to squash her." said Matt, a little mock cheerfully.

"But if the princesses are over there, who's going to be guarding the castle?" asked Spike.  "Me?" tried Matt.  

There was a long moment of silence before Spike said, "Uh, I hope the princesses will be back soon."

"Your heartfelt support touches me," said Matt darkly.

"Well, I bet the princesses will finish with Daria in a flash," said Rainbow. "And we'll gonna have a big party to celebrate when they come back," said Pinkie.

"Sounds like a...plan," said Matt, noticing a pink tinge outside.  

"What's that?" asked Matt.  Twilight looked and said, "Looks like my brother's put up a shield barrier around the town."

"Hmm...wait, what?" said Matt, double taking.

...

"I'm sorry, Twi.  The prince insisted," said Shining Armor, glaring at Blueblood who as grinning smugly at Matt.

"You haven't even heard that there's an attack coming," said Twilight, "You're just wasting energy with this."

"We cannot be sure with a troublemaker inside the city." said Blueblood, Matt's temper flaring up at that.

"It's just a standard security measure," said Shining, "It doesn't take too much energy to hold it up for a while."

"Ok...what can it handle?" said Matt, suddenly all business.  

"That is classified information that shouldn't be shared with unpermitted inquirers, particularly those who might attempt to abuse the information," said Blueblood.  "Oh get off your high horse already," said Matt, causing the others to give him an odd look.

"The shield's pretty strong.  It’s one of my best spells." said Shining Armor, ignoring Blueblood who glared.  Matt nodded “It should be ok...The Icarus is an old class of ship...and...we might get to test the theory." he said, his voice trailing off.

"What makes you say that?" asked Twilight.

Matt pointed out a window to where it seemed a cloud was on fire and slowly headed for the city limits.  "That’s trouble." whimpered Matt, his eyes wide with recognition.

"Is that a dragon?" asked Shining.

"No...it's re-entry vapor." said Matt weakly as a shape could be seen in the smoke and a faint 'frum frum frum' could be heard through the shield.

"It couldn't be Daria, could it?" asked Twilight.

"Yes and no." said Matt before the smoke cleared from the front to reveal a grey metal nose slowly flying out, the smoke peeling away to reveal a huge ship slowly working forward, its underside still glowing faintly from re-entry.

"Captain, double the shield, triple it if you can," said Blueblood in a panic.

"For once I agree." said Matt panicking as a dozen vapor trails shot towards the shield.

Shining closed his eyes with concentration and his horn glowed.  The shield seemed to become more opaque, but it was obviously a strain on him.  "Let me help," said Twilight before adding her own magic to the shield.

It was just in time as the incoming missiles exploded against the shield, making a brief wall of flames.  "Ah...it seems I was right...WHO SAID 'FOR ONCE'?" snapped Blueblood before more explosions were heard as the Icarus let rip on the shield with everything, causing it to ripple.

The two unicorn siblings nearly buckled under the assault and it seemed they were going to be within sight of their limit.

"Come on, Twilight...it’s just missiles." Matt said in a desperately supportive voice, watching as dropships and gunships flew out of the Icarus...before the guns stopped firing.

Shining panted before saying, "Why did they stop?  They couldn't have given up that quickly."

"Out of ammo?  They've been around a long time." suggested Matt before squinting.  “What the hell is that?"  

Though the shield's thickness made it harder to see through it now, it was vaguely discernible that there seemed to be someone standing on the prow of the Icarus.

"Is that...that’s Daria." said Matt, using the zoom on his helmet and snorting with laughter "She's dressed like a reject from lord of the-uh oh." he said before what looked like a dragon made of light flew up above the ship.

"What is that?" asked Blueblood.  "My guess, a big-arse magic attack that's going to do considerable damage to the shield," said Matt.

The dragon immediately shot at the shield, spreading over it and causing cracks to form quickly.

"The shield is failing, do something!" shouted Blueblood.  "Me?  Why not you try helping, unless that horn of yours is only for polishing," said Matt.

Blueblood gulped and his horn glowed...and on cue the shield smashed with the sound of the world biggest chandelier going to the great big ballroom in the sky.

"That had better have been because of Daria's attack or I'm going to have commit regicide," growled Matt.

"Bigger problems,” cried Dash as a missile shot overhead and hit a tower.

"Ok, tell me you guys have some back-up defense systems," said Matt.

The look he got told him everything he needed, the sounds of the guard mobilizing already heard, coupled with the sound of gunfire from the invaders.

"This is not gonna end well," said Matt, "Twilight, you girls can get the Elements out of their vault, right?"

Twilight, who looked a bit dizzy, nodded "What are you going to do?"  she asked.  Matt grinned "What I do best?  Get their attention."

"But Matt, you don't have as many weapons now," said Dash.  "I have enough.  Plus, I can improvise," said Matt.

...

Daria walked towards the gates where she could practically smell Matt.  "Blow it." she said before the gates exploded outward and a SUV shot out.

"What the-" she started before it slammed into her and sent her flying into a wall, something bouncing off her head a second later.

Her men fired after it as it skidded round the corner and she looked up to see a rock on her chest with a note saying 'Catch me if you can, psycho'.

Daria snarled before tossing the rock away and yelling, "Get him!"

She smirked as the trooper ran after the SUV, a few radioing for air support before she heard movement and turned to see the element holders sneaking out.  “Well, well," she muttered, walking after them.

...

"You know, I should do this kind of demolition derby type thing more often," said Matt as he turned a corner, "This is pretty fun."

"Warning...pursuit detected...Model: Type 29 FAV...EGIS affiliated." chimed the computer, a rear view appearing to show an EGIS Humvee in pursuit.

"Just try and keep up, you junker," taunted Matt.

"Danger...incoming fire." chimed the computer before bullets echoed off the rear armor.  "Cheeky...what’s this button do?" said Matt, pressing a button and causing a disk to drop into the road.

As soon as the other Humvee rolled over it, an explosion tossed it high up into the air and over quite a few buildings.

Matt laughed to himself as it landed the wrong way up and exploded.  "Try that." he laughed before wincing as two more drove through the smoke.  "Spoke too soon...I need a path outta here."  The computer beeped.  “Plotting escape route under combat conditions."

"This had better be better than my old GPS," muttered Matt.

"Turn left...now." chimed the computer, Matt turning as commanded and driving into a  firing line of EGIS marines firing on their royal guard opposite numbers and scattering them like ten pins.

"So far so good," commented Matt, looking back to see the remaining royal guard squad taking advantage of the scattered marines.

The next hit however was a plasma burst that briefly lifted the back of the SUV.  “Danger:  Anti-tank weapon detected...replotting route." chimed the computer, the windscreens HUD highlighting a gunship hovering nearby.

"Ok, I hope this thing's equipped with something anti-aerial," said Matt.

"Negative...please contact the manufacturers and request model 6." said the computer.

"This is no time for advertisement!" yelled Matt before flooring it as the gunship let out another plasma burst.

"Rerouted...proceed on heading 2-mark 46." chimed the computer, Matt turning a hard right and the gunship wailing overhead as it overcompensated.

"Ok, I can handle the ground forces.  The girls should be able to take care of the air forces when they've gotten their Elements.  I just need to hold out long enough," said Matt.

"Warning...emergency reroute...hostile forces are approaching timeline specifics times 6." said the computer urgently.

"Can't I get one break today?" snapped Matt.

...

Daria walked calmly up the steps with some of her men in pursuit, hearing the girls trying to get the element store open.

"C'mon Twilight, I though Princess Celestia modified her lockin' spell for you," said Applejack's voice.  "She did, but I haven't had a chance to practice it before," said Twilight's voice.

"On the count of three...and I want them alive...at least one of each of the race...and definitely Twilight sparkle." said Daria, coldly.

"Guys, my knee's feeling pinchy," said Pinkie's voice, "Something scary's about to happen."

Daria glared and pointed a blaster at the doors, blowing them open.  “Please, please don't try anything." she said calmly as she walked in, hearing Pinkie say “Told you.”

The six ponies immediately stood in front of the locked door.  "You are not taking the Elements of Harmony," said Twilight.

"Oh...we don’t want them...we want their owners." said Daria with a cold smile, nodding to her men.

"Even if that made any sense, we're not going with you," said Rarity.

"Oh, you are...shut them up." said Daria, icily, her men aiming tesla stun-rifles.

...

Matt skidded his SUV round the corner, knocking a trooper off his feet as another FAV skidded in pursuit and span out.  "Enemy coms cracked...outgoing transmission." said the computer before Daria's voice echoed out "All units...we have what we needed.  Full retreat...but blow the exits...I don’t want anything following...am I clear?"

"Crystal, ma'am," came a reply.  The gunships spun around to aim at the town's gates.

Matt turned away from the plasma glare as the main exit out of the city was vaporized before seeing a transport flying overhead from the direction he had been headed.  “No...NO!” Matt snapped, turning the SUV round and hearing a crunch as his pursuit became one with a wall and lost the fight with it.

He quickly sped back towards the castle, which wasn't so easy since the rubble made it a very bumpy ride.

"Analyzing...0% chance of intercept under current conditions." said the computer.  Matt swore before spotting a destroyed section of wall.  "Please work." he muttered, driving for where the rubble had formed a ramp...

...

Twilight and the girls slowly came too in the transport, anti-magi rings on the unicorns and guards on everyone else.  "Awake I see." said Daria with a cold smile.

Twilight immediately spotted the three Prima Corona on a nearby table.  "When did she steal those?" she asked.  "It probably happened off-screen," said Pinkie.

There was a pause as everyone’s brain processed this and filed it under ‘Pinkies randomness’ after a minute…it was either that or go crazy trying to work it out.  "What is the pink one talking about?" asked Daria after a minute.

“I just kinda tune out the weird things she says," said Rainbow Dash.

Daria shrugged before the pilot said "Ma'am...we got incoming."  Daria ran up front to see a combine SUV driving at high speed towards them on the rear camera.  

"That fool, he's just going to smash himself against the ship," said Daria.  "Er, actually, the cargo door's still open," said the pilot.

She turned back to see the girls cheering on, clearly recognizing the vehicle.  "Shoot it...SHOOT IT!" she gibbered, shaking a trooper.

"Open fire on that vehicle!" yelled another trooper into the intercom.

The troopers at the back began firing wildly, even when the rounds bounced off before the SUV hit a ramp of rubble and took off, flying straight and true....and falling short by a quarter of a meter.

The girls just gaped as the SUV started to plummet.  "Well, that was an interesting half a minute," said Daria, a little confused.

"I think that’s crushed their wills...take us out of here." said Daria, the pilot nodding before Daria added with cruel mirth "And close that rear hatch...the smell of smoke offends me."

Daria's dropship slowly steered up towards the Icarus, which was already making to fly slowly over Canterlot on its way to part unknown.  The mood of the ships captives was...low to say the least.

"I can't believe that Matt's gone," said Twilight.  "I woulda thought he'd make that jump," said Applejack.

“You thought wrong, Honesty." said Daria, sounding happy.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt you to learn our actual names," said Rainbow Dash, a little annoyed.

"Really?  You'll be dead by the end of the day so I consider it a waste of my time." said Daria calmly as the dropship came in for a landing.

"Dead, ha, we're not that easy to kill," said Pinkie, doing a passable impression of Matts usual suicidal self-confidence.  "Pinkie, please don't encourage her," said Rarity.

"Oh...I'll be testing the theory later.  Once I offer you up to my master, I'll get the body I want...and then, who knows?" said Daria before the ship shook with a landing.  "Take them to the chamber..." she ordered, before a guard asked "Not with the others from Las Pegasus?"

"No, I have special preparations for them," said Daria.

"Yes' ma'am," said the trooper, running down the ramp.  Daria turned to smirk at the girls.  "For once...I win." she said

...

When the dropship landed, no one noticed the smaller thud of Matt dropping down over the louder thud of the ship.

"Ow...ok...jumping off an airborne vehicle....bad idea...grabbing onto a dropship that’s in flight with a grapple gun.......worse." he winced, luckily shielded from view.

However, he was able to see the troopers marching out with the girls captive.

“Ok...Now I'm...uh oh." began Matt, before ducking down as another dropship, this time a troop transport landed and let a squad out.  "Sneaky it is." he muttered, spotting a vent next to him and dropping down.  

...

Back in Canterlot, Shining Armor and Aria were assessing the damage done to the city and considering how they'll be able to rescue the girls.  It wasn't easy, mainly because Blueblood wouldn't shut up about how it was everyone but his fault.

Aria said "The Icarus won’t go far...I've detected radio chatter from another E.G.I.S ship...and it looks like the Icarus isn’t acting with permission anymore."

"I would certainly hope this type of destruction wasn't allowed where you come from," said Shining.

"No...there are rules against attacking uncontacted species." said Aria before stopping as Blueblood said 2Clearly not enough...at least that troublemakers gone." causing Aria to spin and lift Blueblood up by the neck.  "You have no idea who you are talking about...the SUV wreck had no body in it, you little worm..." she said, her voice getting a rasp as the fire damage shorted her voice unit.

"Aria, as much as I'd like him to shut up, the princesses will be very upset when they get back and find that you've broken his neck," said Shining Armor.

Blueblood rasped "Where...are the...princesses?"

"As much as I dislike admitting it, the prince has a good point," said Aria, putting him down, "Your princesses should have noticed the Icarus was no longer near Las Pegasus and would have returned immediately."

Aria seemed thoughtful "Something this...nightmare left behind in the city to slow them down?"

"Maybe," said Shining, "I wouldn't be surprised if she irritated an Ursa Major enough to go on a rampage there.  But I think we should at least try to communicate with them."

"How?  If Las Pegasus is an alternate of the city I think it is, it’s on the other side of this continent..." said Aria.  

Shining smirked and said, "We have a rather rapid method of contacting the princesses.  We just need Spike."

"The dragon?" said Aria.  Shining armors smirk increased "Trust me." he said.

...

Matt peered out a side room and adjusted the EGIS helmet on him, the dazed trooper tied in behind him.  It had been shockingly easy to ambush a trooper, all of them zoned out on whatever mental whammy that Daria had used to control them.

So long as he didn't ask anyone how they were, he should be able to stroll around undetected.

He looked around before spotting a dataport and running up to hack it.  "Secure line established." chimed the wrist comp after what seemed like an eternity.  "Finally...aria?  Anyone there?" Matt tried. 

"This is CBC Daedalus...who is this?" said the reply.

Matt hesitated at that.  CBC meant 'Corporate Battle Cruiser'.  That didn't necessarily mean it was a bad thing, but the only corporation he could think of that would anywhere close to this planet was Exo-Gene.  Exo-Gene probably wouldn't be pleased with what Darius, or rather Daria, was doing, but that probably didn't mean they'll let him walk away.  But then again, it was desperate times...

"Hello?  This is...CPS unit 412.  I'm on board the CBC Icarus...the-" began Matt before a female voice butted in.  "Lynch?  I don't believe it."

"Zara?  What are you doing here?" asked Matt, unable to believe his luck, though where it's good or bad he couldn't tell yet.

"The board sent us to see why the Icarus stopped sending reports." said Zara.

"Ok, are sitting down right now?  You aren't going to believe this one," said Matt.

"I don't want to hear it...we picked up what that psycho did.  We're firing him...literally." said Zara.

"Good, good, though you might want to know that you're using the wrong pronoun," said Matt.

"Like I said...I don't want to know...Ok, The Icarus is outside our weight class.  I need you to take out the shields so we have a fighting chance to take the ship down." said Zara.

"Just to let you know, there are hostages onboard, civilians and at least 6 timeline specifics," said Matt.

"You have 20 minutes till we're in range." said Zara before turning off the comm on her end.

"Ok, disable the shields, rescue who knows how many ponies Daria has captive, and live to see tomorrow.  Sounds like a routine challenge," said Matt.

"Uh...routine check-up, need to make sure all the systems are operational.  You don't want anyone trying to make a jailbreak," said Matt.

"Ok...I...wait, let me see your ID." said the left trooper, walking forward.  

"Uh, sure thing," said Matt, fishing around the stolen uniform's pockets until he pulled out an ID card.
The trooper peered at it closely before snapping "Get down to cargo 3...you're supposed to be on guard duty.  Get down there before our lady makes you wish you had." he snapped.  

"Uh, sure, no problem," said Matt, "Remind me, which way is it to cargo 3?  Is it on the port or starboard side?"

"Starboard, you idiot." snapped the second guard.  "Ok...and which ways engineering...I erm...need to get something from there."

"It's down that hallway, two rights, did you fall asleep during orientation or something?" snapped the first guard.

"Yeah...thanks...idiot." said Matt, adding the last part under his breath.

As Matt walked away, the first guard said, "Is it me, or are they getting dimmer every day?"  "Depends, who's 'they'?" asked the other.

A second later the troopers heard a moan from the side room but by then Matt had smartly ran round a corner

…

Matt quickly headed to the engine room and looked around.  "Let's see, where does EGIS like to hide their shield generators?" he said to himself.

He wandered into a lift and the AI asked "Floor please."

"Uh, shield generator," said Matt.

"Error...did you mean: Main engineering...Security...armory...main bridge...?" asked the computer.

"Main engineering," said Matt.

"Confirmed." said the computer before Matt was forced to the side as the lift hit full speed.

About a minute later, the AI chimed, "Main engineering."

Matt groaned "Thank you." from ground level and pulled himself up, walking into the bustle of the main engineering room.  "Shields, shields, shields." he muttered, looking around.

"Hey, are you supposed to be down here?" called one of the engineers.  Matt turned around and asked, "Who?  Me?  I'm just here to pick something I forgot here last time."

"Security...we got an intruder down here." said one of the engineers as his others pulled sting blasters out, deadly weaponry not used near reactors since Balwak.

"Guys, if you're gonna start fights, things are only going to get messy," said Matt as he prepared something behind his back.

An energy burst shot past his head at that, causing him to stumble and a blue orb to roll out his pack and down behind a generator.  "Crap." swore Matt, reaching for it before several pairs of hands grabbed him, one pair taking his helmet off.

"Well, well, Lynch," said one of the guards, "The boss was so sure you were a messy puddle.  Guess she'll have to do it herself now."

"Crap." said Matt darkly before being dragged away.  

...

A little later, Matt was thrown into through a door roughly into a somewhat dark room.  "Matthew Lynch, your survival tendency's almost inhuman," said Daria's voice.

"Really?  The only inhuman around here's you...that sounded better in my head." said Matt before properly looking at Daria and jumping back.

Asides from the medieval armor, she didn't look too much different.  However, her eyes were blue with slits for pupil and glowed with unholy power.  "Like what you see?" she taunted.

"You're creepy." said Matt childishly.

"I admit, this body is hardly suitable for a goddess.  But I'm about to get a trade-up very soon," said Daria.

"Going after Twilight again?  That ship's sailed. She beat you once...she'll do it again...and again...and again," said Matt, nastily.  Daria just smirked "Actually...you caused that when you broke the ritual half way through."

"Well, your big magic rock's broken, remember?  Along with the rest of your castle," said Matt.

"Oh...but you were kind enough to leave the artifacts in the open." said Daria with a cruel laugh.  "Princess Luna knew how to use them...so now I do." she added.

"I don't know, you have a pretty faulty memory.  I doubt you'll be able to remember how to do whatever it is you're supposed to," said Matt.  Daria glared and said, "But I'll have a perfect memory of your agonizing demise."  She held up a blue fireball only for a trooper to run and say, "Ma'am, we have a situation."

"What IS IT?" she snapped before seeing the problem out her viewport.  The sky on the horizon was glowing with a nullspace rip appearing, before with a sonic boom, another vessel appeared.  "What the hay?" she snapped before the intercom was overridden.  "CBC Icarus...this is Colonel Anya Zara of the CBC Daedalus...halt your movement and prepare to be boarded or we will fire upon you...Darius…answer me, you idiot."

Daria snarled before shouting, "Darius is no longer in command!"

"Who is this?  Identify yourself.  Theft of an EGIS vessel is a capital offense." said Zara sternly.  

"I am Nightmare, Queen of the Night and soon-to-be ruler of Equestria," called Daria.

"Nah...you're dead..." said Zara, signing off.  Daria turned to her staff.  "Shields up and fire." she ordered, just in time as the Daedalus began firing.  "As you can see...your help isn’t going to...what was that for?" she said, pointing at an empty clip on his belt.  

Matt glanced down at what she was pointing at and said, "Huh, lost one of my spare grenades.  Wonder where it rolled off to."

"What?" said Daria harshly before Matt said with an evil grin worthy of Nightmare Moon “Oh yeah...it’s in engineering."

...

Unnoticed by anyone, the old plasmite grenade finally beeped as its failsafe kicked in before exploding, knocking out the energy to shields...

...

Daria and her men were thrown off their feet from the blast, Matt immediately jumping up, punching out one of the guards and grabbing his rifle before running for it.  "AFTER HIM...AND KEEP FIRING ON THE DAEDALUS!" she roared.

…

"Ok, time to free the captives now," said Matt to himself as he ran towards the lift.

A boom was heard as the Daedalus began to land hits.  "Faster before Zara shoots the wrong bit." Matt muttered, diving into the lift and yelling "Cargo bay 3."

...

"We lost main drive, ma'am.  Icarus is way outside this old girls weight class." called Zara's tactical officer.

"I've come too far to lose everything now!" snapped Daria, "I don't care what it takes, stop that ship!"

"The Icarus may have better guns, but we have better management," said Zara, "Besides, if I know Matt, and I very well do, he's given them trouble of their own."

However a plasma burst from the Icarus ended that as it blew several people away from their consoles.  "Reactor 2 is down, down here ma'am...we lost shields and point defense...I can’t even guarantee we'll achieve orbit.  We have to go." snapped the Daedalus's engineer on the intercom.

"We're not leaving until the job is done," said Zara, "Keep on his, I mean, her tail."

"Ma'am...we can’t arrest that bitch if we're a nuclear cloud." snapped the engineer.

One of the technicians looked up at that "Ma'am...we have 2 class 12 magi signals, closing at 100 air knots...whatever the hell that they are, they are pissed."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they're locals that Darius, or Nightmare, got on the wrong side of," said Zara, "Put them up on screen." A tech nodded before complying.

"The smeg?" commented Zara, looking at what looked like a blue and yellow comet closing on them.  "Who are they going after?" asked Zara as another hit shook them.  "Looks like the Icarus." said a technician.  Zara nodded "Good...they can have him."

...

The captives in cargo pod 3 were a mix, zebras, griffons and ponies, all visitors to the city when it had hit.  

They had no idea why there were in this metal ship or who was holding them.  But the sound of explosions was probably not a good sign.

"Stupid humans...first we meet one of them in Manehatten and now these guys." muttered a griffon.

"Bet that guy has something to do with this," said another griffon.

An announcement sounded at that "All units, level 12 starboard.  Target alpha is in your area and has raided security armoury 3.  Full alert.  Report all sightings."

"What do you think's going on out there?" asked one donkey.

"I dunno...hey, someone’s coming in." said a pegasus, pointing to where the door above was opening.

...

The guards on the walkway above all aimed their guns at the now open door.  "Who's there?" called one.

There wasn't any sound for a moment but there was a metallic tinking as something across the walkway towards them.

"Grena-" yelled one of the troopers before there was a blinding flash and the troopers nearest the door were blinded, an armoured figure walking round the corner and firing an auto-rail rifle at them.

The troopers were cut down quickly, though the noise had left the captives nervous.

The new trooper looked around before looking down at the crowd below and opening his helmet.  

"Hey, that IS the jerk from Manehatten!" shouted one of the griffons.  "Of all the rotten luck..." muttered Matt.  With no guards, the griffon flew straight up and said, "You have a lot of nerve showing your ugly mug here.  After what your friends-"  CLONK!  The griffon landed on the walkway, a big lump on the side of his head.

"Oh shut up, you chicken...I'm actually here to save all of you..." said Matt, pulling the dazed griffon’s face up and making his wrist comp display a holopic he’d taken of the girls at Raya's resort.  "Have you seen these ponies recently?" he asked.

The griffon just made a stunned groaning sound.  "Oh for the love of-," snapped Matt before slapping the griffon a few times.

"No...they said...something...about observatory." groaned the griffon.  "Good chicken...now everyone make sure you're nice and sturdy and stay seated till the ride comes to a complete halt." Matt called down, walking to the door and hitting a button next to it.  "Warning...cargo pod 3 primed for deployment in 10...9...8..." Matt hopping through the door before it shut.

...

To watchers it would look like part of the ship broke off from damage from the Daedalus until the part falling away deployed boosters to land safely.

...

"My lady...the sacrificials...they've been ejected." panicked a technician in the observatory, the girls held in place surrounding a perfect clone of the stands that Twilight and Applejack had seen in the dam facility.

"Setbacks, setbacks, always setbacks!" snapped Daria, "I suppose I’ll have to use something else for the ritual now."

"I'll need to work on....ma'am?" said another technician as what looked like two comets shot past the ship to stop in front of them, ignoring the retreating Daedalus which was already vanishing under its cloak.

"Oh no, not them," moaned Daria, "I thought the anti-teleportation devices would keep them longer."

The comets immediately shot at the Icarus.

...

Matt was stuck in a firefight when the wall between them exploded, a blue light shooting by.  "Bloody hell!" snapped Matt.

Fortunately, he was able to grab onto the side of a bulkhead before the air pressure sucked the other troopers out the hole.

"WRONG SIDE!” he yelled for all the good it would do as another explosion indicated another hit.  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out who was tearing holes in the ship.  "Memo...never get on Celestia's or Luna's bad side." he said to himself before several more troopers ran into view, took aim...and fell to the floor, gripping their heads and screaming.

"That's weird, I haven't started singing yet," said Matt.

He headed over to see blood pooling and the troopers definitely dead as dodos.  Matt gulped and began running for the observatory where a light was leaking under the doors.  

"That's not a good sign.  But I'm not leaving my friends with that maniac, crashing ship or not," said Matt before kicking open the door.

He was immediately blinded by the light that highlighted a shape between the artifacts that were shrieking.  "GIRLS!" he yelled, before seeing energy limbs trying to grab Twilight, to no affect it seemed as they were repelled by something else.

Daria noticed Matt had entered the room and shouted, "Stay back, you fool!  You'll ruin the ritual!"

"Oh shut up." called Matt, firing a pulse blast at Daria and knocking her flying.

The girls were dropped by the magical restraints that were holding them in place and the three artifacts dropped out of the air as well.  "That was unpleasant," said Rarity dizzily.  "I hoped I wouldn't have to do that again," said Fluttershy.

The ship shook again at that.  "I think it’s time to land this before we crash this." said Matt, urgently.

"I think we can fly everyone out, right Fluttershy?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "I think so, if there's not too many to carry," said Fluttershy.

"Yeah...I dropped the people they were holding off...they're a couple of miles back...they're fine." said Matt, adding “I however cannot fly that well...we gotta land this...this ship’s a floating bomb."

"Where can we land this?" asked Twilight.

"Anywhere so I can power down the engines..." said Matt before an announcement said “Emergency landing required...engine overheat in progress...containment failure in: 12 minutes and counting."

"Better figure out a landing place fast," said Rainbow Dash.

"Warning...100% crew termination confirmed by internal...self-destruct protocol to engage." said the computer.  “After we find the override...and you lot get off the ship." said Matt sternly.

"But we can't just leave you here," protested Fluttershy.

"Yes you can...cause we'll explode alot faster if your bosses keep blowing holes in the Icarus." yelled Matt over another impact.

"But how will you escape?" asked Twilight.

"Escape pod...a drop ship...grav-chute...ships have plans for this." said Matt, assuredly while thinking 'As long as they're not in bits...ulp.'

"What about the magic hats?" asked Pinkie.  "Put one on and get ready to jump," said Applejack.

"Come on...escape pods are this way...I vote we leave these hats here to be vaporized...they're nothing but grief." said Matt.

"But they're..." started Rarity.  "NOTHING BUT GRIEF," said Matt sharply.

The group left at that, not noticing Daria twitching from where she was slumped.

...

"Code red emergency...all remaining personnel abandon ship." chimed the computer, though luckily it appeared the Princesses had ceased their attack for now.

Matt raced for the bridge, thinking frantically of a safe place to crash this ship.  A distant asteroid would be preferable, but he doubted he could get it any higher than it already is.

It also turned out that the ship had lost most of its escape pods, the note indicated that Captain Crazy lady, aka, Daria had ejected most of them.  "Finally." snapped Matt, spotting that the captain’s lifeboat, attached to the bridge was still prepped.

"Ok, now to find a good place to let this wreck explode," said Matt as he looked out the viewport.  It seemed that the ship had been moving away from Canterlot since its capture of the girls and artifacts because he could see the ocean not too far away.

He shrugged before turning the Icarus out to sea.  Once it was safely over open water, he can bail out and let it sink.

“Altitude control reestablished...plotting safe detonation zone for splashdown." said the computer, Matt sighing with relief and the girls cheering.  "At least that’s-OH COME ON!" said Matt, yelling as the Princesses began their attacks again.  

There was so much noise from the Princesses attacking, that one couldn't notice the bangs that accompanied the lumps appearing in the door, unless you were actually looking at it.  "Uh, Matt..." started Pinkie.

"Not now, Pinkie...I’m trying to get the outer loudspeakers working." said Matt, typing at a control board and getting constant access denied messages.

"Oh, come on, it's not like anyone else is going to be using this again," snapped Matt as he bounded on the control board, oddly coinciding with the banging on the door, which looked just about ready to cave in.

"Erm...Matt?" said Twilight, who had now also noticed the bumps.  "WHAT?  Oh poopie." snapped, Matt turning in time for a lightning bolt to demolish the door and smash him into a far console.

"Ok, now you have my attention," said Matt's muffled voice as he tried to move the door off him.

“That felt so good...it’s nice to stretch ones magic after such a long time." said a familiar voice.

"Oh come on," snapped Matt, "Why could you stay dead like the rest of your crew?"

The sound of hooves was heard before a black alicorn without a cutie mark trotted into view, surveying the group with reptilian eyes.  “You gotta be kidding..." snapped Matt, getting up unsteadily.

"But, you weren't in a pony's body.  You couldn't have fully returned to your Nightmare form," said Twilight.

"I had a backup spell to kick start the ritual in case I was...interfered with...the crew were so helpful." said the nightmare, amused.

"Crew?  You mean your slaves," said Rainbow Dash fiercely, "If they had any freedom of their own, they wouldn't be anywhere near you or stand for the horrors you've done."

"That’s fine...they're not exactly alive anymore...AWAKEN!" the nightmare said, yelling the last word as her horn blazed.  Matt immediately jumped back as a slumped technician twitched and began to slowly rise

"Not zombies again," complained Matt.

One of the other technicians immediately tried to grab Matt.  "GIRLS, RUN!" he yelled, fighting with the undead techie.

Seeing the dead starting to rise up was plenty enough encouragement for the girls to run and they quickly galloped out the door.

Matt followed after them, albeit thrown.  "Run faster." he yelled, before he glowed all over and was dragged back inside.  "GET OUT!" he yelled before the metal in the wall plugged the open door with the same glow.

Matt was rotated around to face Nightmare.  "So, why keep me here?" asked Matt with a false calmness, "The bearers of the Elements of Harmony just escaped with the Primoris Corona, so why let them go and keep me?"

"Revenge." said Nightmare simply before smashing Matt into another console.

Matt winced before saying, "And you prioritized vengeance on me over the Elements and the Princesses, that's quite flattering."

"There is no way off this vessel...and the elements will not survive when the core breaches" said Nightmare in a matter of fact voice.

"You're underestimating them, yet again," said Matt.

"Maybe...but you'll still be dead." said Nightmare before throwing Matt at the makeshift door.

"I know at least one of us is going to die today," said Matt as he reached for a blaster one of the crew had dropped.

"Really?" said Nightmare, using her telekinesis to drag it out Matts grip, crush it...and be knocked flying as it exploded, her blockage collapsing as her kinesis failed.

"And you better put some effort into it if you want that one to be me," said Matt before running out the door.

"GET HIM" roared Nightmare

...

Matt skidded round the corner, following the girls.  "In there...IN THERE!" he called, pointing to a door. 

"Why there?" asked Rarity.  "No time for questions!" yelled Matt.

The girls ran inside and turned as the hatch sealed.

"Matt, what are you doing?" yelled Twilight.

"Making sure you leave." said Matt, his voice dampened by the hatch before he suddenly became a dot as the lifeboat popped off.

…

Matt turned to see Nightmare not too far behind.  "How noble, too bad you lacked the sense to leave with them," she said sarcastically.

"I just need to keep you distracted...catch me if you can." said Matt, hopping round a corner.

"This game is quickly become tiresome," said Nightmare before spreading her wings and commanding, "Find him, tear his limbs off.  I want to drive my horn though that soft head of his."

The ex-crew snarled before pursuing Matt...

...

"Alert...emergency beacon unable to link to NSC Search and Rescue...stand by for amphibious landing." chimed the lifeboat computer.

"What exactly does that mean?" asked Rarity.  "Sounds like we're gonna get a little wet," said Applejack.

"Brace for impact and please prepare your reality plug ins on your wrist computers...class 3 field detected....impacting in 3...2...1...impact." chimed the computer before the floor briefly became a wall.

"That was fun, let's do it again," said Pinkie.  "Let's...not..." said Twilight as they slid back onto the floor.

"Alert...life support offline...blowing airlock." said the computer before a section of the roof slid away.

"It's about time," said Rainbow Dash before flying up.  "Where are you going?" asked Fluttershy.  "To go save Matt, are you with me?" said Rainbow Dash.

"Princess Luna, am I glad to see you," said Twilight.  "The feeling is quite reciprocal," said Luna.

"You've got to stop hitting that ship..." said Twilight before another explosion was heard from above.

"My sister and I are in the midst of dismantling that monstrosity," said Luna, "As soon as it has been smote, we shall return for thee."

"But Matt’s still on board!” cried Fluttershy.

Luna paused and said, "That complicates matters.  But why did he not egress with you and remain upon that burning vessel?"

"Daria grabbed all of us and the artifacts so she could do some sort of ritual thingy to get all her powers back but Matt had freed everyone else and interrupted so she had to substitute with the rest of the crew so while she's Nightmare again, she isn't as powerful as before and Matt stayed behind to keep her occupied while we all got away," said Pinkie quickly.

Luna blinked for a second before taking a deep breath, the girls plugging their ears as Luna used her 'royal voice' to yell "SISTER!"

...

Meanwhile, Matt was learning just how well zombies can shoot as he ran down the corridors.

"CRAPCRAPCRAP!" he swore, lowering another blastdoor as he ran.

The blastdoor slammed shut, but the undead troopers still kept firing.  "Why do they never run out of ammo?" complained Matt.

"Because they're what you soon will be." said a voice behind him.  “Oh no," moaned Matt as a familiar glow lifted him...and began to squeeze.  

"Now, let's see if my power is fully back," said Nightmare as she exerted more telekinetic pressure on Matt.

Matt made a gagging noise as his body was squeezed before managing to drop a device to the floor, a tazer blast shocking them both.  

Unfortunately for Matt, instead of letting him go, Nightmare reflexively slammed into and through a wall.

Matt came too to see he was slumped in a launch bay, a furious Nightmare floating through the hole e had made.

"This game has gone on long enough," snapped Nightmare, "Now you shall die!"

Matt looked up before apparently panicking and dragging himself back.

"I...I..." began Matt, stuttering in terror and using a console for cover.

"Strangely enough, though I'll revel in your death, it is your fear that gives me the most satisfaction," said Nightmare.

"You...need to know something." stuttered Matt, standing up behind the console.

"And what would that be?" asked Nightmare.

"Look up," said Matt, pulling a lever and disengaging the cargo grapple.

Confused, Nightmare turned her head upwards.

On cue a cargo container landed on her with a crunch that dented the floor.  "TAKE THAT...AHAHAHA!" yelled Matt.

However, starry mist started to seep out from underneath the container.

"Oh COME ON...STAY SQUASHED!" snapped Matt.

The container was then lifted off of the floor by the mist and Matt was pretty sure where it was about to go.

"ARRGH!" Matt screamed, diving for cover before the container crushed where he had just been before.
The mist swirled up before resuming the form of Nightmare.  "Did you really think I can be crushed so easily?" she said, "I suppose I should have suspected you were up to something when you acting so scared."

"YOU'LL NEVER GET ME!" yelled Matt, running for it again.

"It seems I'll have to keep trying," said Nightmare before flying after Matt.

Matt ducked down behind a dropship before peering out.  “Need to burn her down somehow...hmm." he said, stopping as he got an idea.

"Matt, where are you?" called Nightmare, "Haven't you grown tired of this futile game yet?"

“Oh no...I hope she doesn’t find me," came a sarcastic yell from the section of the bay that held several ships and vehicles.

"Well, Matt, you know you cannot hide from a creature of magic.” said Nightmare before dissolving into starry mist again and floating towards where Matt's voice came from.

"Oi...cheating." snapped Matt, floating into view where he was holding onto a support girder.

"All games have to end sometime," said Nightmare.

"Not letting go." said Matt childishly.

"I'll take the whole thing if I have to," said Nightmare as the glow of her magic spread over the girder.

The girder, with Matt flew forward...only for Matt to flicker?  "What in Equestria?" Nightmare began before the sticky grenade on the girder went off in her face.

Nightmare was knocked back into some empty crates.  As she tried to get up, she found parts of her fur were stuck to one of the crates.

"You little foal...how dare you...glue me?" she snapped, before hearing footsteps running towards the vehicle section of the cargo bay.

With a cry of fury, she stood up.  However, she did end up ripping a large part of hair out of her side.

With a flash, her 'bald spots' vanished though she was now furious.  

"This insolence shall not be abided," snarled Nightmare before becoming mist again and drifting towards where she last saw Matt.

Matt peered out, uttering "Come on, you pain...where are you?"

Suddenly, Nightmare's voice echoed, "If you wish to keep playing 'cat and mouse', I think we should make it more appropriate."

"Say what?" muttered Matt, peering round a corner.

Suddenly, he heard an angry growling sound.  Matt slowly turned around to find himself face-to-face with a huge black panther.

"KITTY!" screamed Matt, running in the opposite direction.

The panther roared before charging after him.

"BAD KITTY...BAAAD KITTYYYYY!" screamed Matt, skidding round a corner.

The panther leapt over a pile of crates and landed in front of Matt.

"This is unfair...you have more legs." moaned Matt, backing up before looking up to see a Starfury hanging overhead, ready for a launch.

The panther hissed, extending all of her claws and baring her fangs.

Matt gulped, trying to remember what flaw the boosters on the old E series Starfuries had suffered from that had forced them to be relegated to corporation fleets before grabbing a metal bar and throwing it desperately, Nightmare swatting it up and into the booster above her.

Nightmare crouched and started to spring forward when the booster suddenly ignited and shot white hot flames down upon her.

Matt winced as the nightmare shrieked, Starfury booster backwash capable of vaporizing steel.

Matt peered out to see the Nightmare slumped but trying to drag her way forward.  "You lose." said Matt, as several explosions were heard at the same time that the core breach alarm rang.

With a surge, Nightmare resumed her equine form, but she still couldn't stand up.  "I...will not...lose...alone..." she hissed.

"True...but at least you go boom." said Matt, happily.

"Your death...will be...swifter...and much more painful..." hissed Nightmare as her mane tried to grab at him.

Matt jumped back at that before a louder crash was heard and water began to pour in through a breach.  "Better be quick...our flight has landed." taunted Matt.

Nightmare hissed and tried to crawl closer, her mane making more swipes at Matt.

Matt dodged back again.  "Erm...help?" he whimpered as he backed into a crate.  "Core breach imminent...detonation in 10...9...8…" said the computer.

Nightmare smiled and said, "If I must be destroyed, at least I have the satisfaction of taking you with me."

Matt gulped before there was a blaze of light that blinded them both and another that left the Nightmare alone.  "No...NO...NOOOO!" screamed the equine as the computer calmly said "5...4...3...2...1...thank you..."

...

The Icarus was already below the waves when the core gave out, a dome of energy appearing before blasting skywards.

The girls who were watching from the shore now gave a gasp of horror.

The blast seemed to contract until there was one final flash and thunderclap and a ring of energy shot out in all directions harmlessly.  Princess Luna materialized a second later, a blackened Matt gibbering to himself before falling face first into the surf, where he sizzled.

"It was...a very narrow escape," remarked Luna, who looked rather winded.

"I hurt all over." bubbled Matt from where he was laying down.

The girls immediately ran over to him.  "Gently, he needs to recover," said Luna.

"I agree...I feel like a hot dog...barbequed." rasped Matt

"Then we should take him to the hospital," said Celestia, "As soon as possible."

...

2 days later...

Matt tossed one of the burnt planks aside.  With the Skyraid burnt so went his last chance off Equis.

However, there was a plus side in that everyone treated him nicely now.  Well, except Blueblood, but he kept away from Matt, which was pretty nice.

He looked up to see the girls and Aria headed his way.  "Don’t want to hear it...I know you're nice but I'm not staying...maybe I'll go exploring the planet." he said.

"Matt, you're not completely out of options," said Aria.

"Name one." said Matt, throwing another piece of rubble aside.

"The rip engine," said Aria.

"There isn't any rip engine." said Matt, annoyed at that.

"There is in the dropship," said Aria.

Matt stopped at that "And you didn’t tell me...why?"  Aria, sensing Matt losing it, said "The Icarus would have shot us down the second they detected the engine charging."

"And since the Icarus is destroyed, that means you can go home now," said Twilight cheerfully.

Matt sighed at that "I was actually getting used to the peace and quiet." he said to himself before turning around.  "Let’s get ready then."

"Do you have to leave now?  Everyone was starting to really like you," said Fluttershy.

Aria said "We have a trial to get too..." Matt nodding "Aria's got to testify to what Executive Genetics has done all the times I’ve met them."

"Can't we at least throw you a going away party?" asked Pinkie.

Aria shrugged "I don’t see why not...it'll be weeks before another EGIS ships nearby."

Pinkie let out a squeal of joy before saying, "Oh, there's so much to do.  I better get ready."  She zoomed off so fast it was almost like teleporting.

...

Matt had to admit, when Pinkie threw a party, she really threw a party.  Seems like everyone in Ponyville had shown up to wish him well.

He even spotted Twilights brother, out of his armor and talking to a pink alicorn.  "One hell of a party." he muttered.  

"Yes, it is quite a festival," said a voice beside him.  Matt turned and saw Princess Luna.  "Uh, not that I don't appreciate it, but don't you have nightly duties to attend to?" asked Matt.

"I wished to ask you...what happened to the Corona Primas?" asked Luna gravely, adding "You have seen what they can do...you know how dangerous they are."

Matt shook his head "The exploding reactor would have had enough force to make Canterlot's mountain into a crater...no little crown could survive it," he said.

"I wish I could be that certain, but it said that those crowns are indestructible," said Luna.  "Even if they did survive, they're at the bottom of the ocean where nopony can get them," said Matt.

"I hope so...now then...thou should play a game we heard of...involving pinning a tail." said Luna...

...

The next day, Matt and Aria were packing stuff into the dropship.  Well, Aria was doing most of the packing.  Matt was recovering from the revelries from the night before.

"What...did she...put...in that......punch?" rasped Matt, still not over the sheer sugar overload from it.

"Analysis shows that the punch contained various types of fruit juice, a generous amount of sugar, and extravagant portions of soda pop," said Aria.

"I'm glad I still keep my old diabetes kit on hand...it overloaded my medical nanites," moaned Matt.

"I have a feeling it may do it to anyone, though most would end up a vibrating blur than passing out," said Aria.

"True...lets go before the girls turn up...I hate goodbyes...I've said it with finality to too many people..." said Matt before stopping as he heard hoofsteps.

"Sorry Matt, I just couldn't say no," said Aria.

Matt sighed "Prep us for takeoff." he said before turning as the Girls walked into view with the Princesses apparently there too.

"Matt, I would personally like to offer my sincere gratitude for all you have done for us," said Princess Celestia.

"No...I won't accept that." said Matt, causing the girls to gasp.  “If I hadn’t come here, none of this would have happened.  Las Pegasus wouldn’t be one big construction site, Canterlot wouldn’t be repairing and alot of people on the Icarus and here would still be in the land of the living."

"None of that was your fault," said Twilight, "It was all Darius or Nightmare's fault."  "But if I hadn't come, Darius wouldn't have come either," said Matt.

"I have to get out of here and to the core holes before Exo Gene sends more ships...they won’t give up till I get them arrested." he continued.

"You do know that you'll always be welcome back here," said Celestia.

"Maybe...but not for a while...there's alot of things I have to do first." said Matt.

"Ok, don't make us come after you," said Pinkie before hugging Matt.

"I won't...just...promise you won’t mess with what’s left of the Skyraid..." said Matt.  

"Well, it's not like there's anything in there that we could use," said Applejack.

"Cool...one more thing though...cause the guys will never believe me otherwise." said Matt, pulling a device off his wrist comp and placing it on a tree stump before running over to the others and turning to it.  “Say cheese." he said.

...

Matt saved the holosnap to his wrist comp before looking out the viewport at the now welcome multihued sight of a rip rift.  "How we doing, Aria?" he said into the com.

"Rift beacon detected, Kelvin 229...core sector..." said the autopilot before the ship was flooded with light, a voice saying "This is central station control to unknown vessel...kill your engines..."

...

<Intercepted Transmission>

...and we have just received word that the entirety of the Executive Genetics board of directors has been found guilty as charged for repeated violation of the NSC charter.  Newly promoted Captain M, J Lynch is considered to be responsible after retrieving the AI that presented the damning evidence to the Council tribunal.  


In related news, the search for the missing ship, the CBC Daedalus was called off today after rift storms cut off the uncharted sectors indefinitely...

...

The self-destruct systems on the facility long buried below Ponyville dam had, at the height of the facility’s use, been inspected and mock-tested every week.  As such when the facility had finally engaged the explosions, one section had failed to detonate, a room containing harmless looking devices...pne of which began to beep.

...

At the bottom of the sea, there was little left of the Icarus, most of it was destroyed in the explosion.  However, there was something that shown brightly.  The three Prima Coronas had remained unharmed by the destruction of the ship, though they were nestled on the ocean floor far from prying eyes.  Or they would have been if a shadow wasn't moving among the wreckage.  The crowns weren't hard to miss and they definitely attracted its attention.  After a bit of careful observation, the shadow swam forward, snatched up the hats, and swam away in a flurry of fins.