Chapter Eleven

****Everfree Forest****
9/13/Afternoon

The Everfree Forest was well known around Ponyville for being host to some of the most dangerous animals in all of Equestria. It would only take a small venture off the forest path to meet with an unfortunate fate. Though for a select few, these fears were nonexistent to the point one such being lived within the forest itself.

Today was different though as the entire forest seemed to know that the biggest predators the forest had ever seen, where back and they were not being slow and stealthy anymore. Leon, Josh, and Alfred ran through the forest as fast as they could without risking injury, which is a little less than half their max. They dodged toppled over trees, ran through thick bushes as if they weren’t there, and cared not for any creatures they passed. For them it was a race against time, one the timer had already started for.

“Cave’s up ahead with the marker, looks like they never found them.” Josh mused as they closed on the clearing.

“Lucky break, let’s get them and make for the south-east.” Leon stated just before they burst through the foliage and into the clearing.

Their armor dug into the earth as they slid to a stop before the boulder covering their hideout. Alfred gripped it rolled it out of the hole with enough strength for it to gain a little air before coming to a stop in the grass. Josh and Leon went passed him into the hole just as the boulder was moved. Alfred crouched in place, keeping his eyes on his motion sensor and the surrounding shrubbery.

Leon and Josh began to move to the spots they had hid the weapons, it was going to take them a minute to dig them out. Josh began to uncover the ammo cache from behind some of the tree roots that had been growing through the dirt walls. Soon, he pulled out a few large boxes that were made entirely out of large leaves from the surrounding forest.

Attaching his own ammo to his belt and loading a round into his Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920, also called a Railgun, Josh stacked Alfred’s ammo to the side before Leon called to him, “Head’s up.” Josh did a half turn and caught his MA5D assault rifle in the air with his left hand while setting Alfred’s M395 DMR on the ground next to the ammo with his right. Quickly grabbing the last few shots for his railgun, Josh began to empty out his blowpack of the now useless books.

Leon grabbed the last of his magazines of 7.62x51mm FMJ-AP bullets and loaded one for his M395 DMR before moving to the next weapon stache. Josh, now with his blowpack empty of books and full of explosives once more, began grabbing his assault rifle ammo. After a few seconds Josh was done and moved up the incline to the entrance. Alfred saw him on his sensor and dropped down as soon as Josh was hopping up to take look out position with his assault rifle raised.

As Alfred arrived at the bottom of the sloping entrance walkway, he grabbed his own DMR, loaded a magazine into it, and chambered a round before grabbing his ammo and attaching it to is belt. After he finished with gathering his ammunition, Alfred walked over to the last weapon cache where Leon finally unearthed the last of the ammo caches.

Leon held out Alfred’s wrapped up SRS 99-S5 AM rifle to the Spartan as he crouched down. Both of them began unwrapping their weapons and ammo as if it was their first Christmas. It wasn’t long before each of them were loading new magazines into their newly reaquired weapons. Too soon though an alert from Josh came in over the comm channel, “Hurry it up guys, got seven bastardos moving in from the north-west.”

“Could they be Timberwolves?” Alfred asked as he worked faster to attach his ammo to his belt.

“Nope, they’re too closely packed, uncoordinated.” Josh said taking aim at the enemies’ direction.

“Shoot off a few rounds over their heads and wait for me.” Leon ordered as he grabbed the last of his BR85HB SR Battle Rifle ammo in the pile.

Josh got a small smile on his face as he finally got the chance to use his weapon, “Yes sir.”

Making sure all the targets were at roughly the same altitude, Josh began to fire a round after round over where the ponies were. The results were easily seen on the radar as the dots stopped and began to move erratically in the trees. Josh could hear one of the ponies scream as his assault rifle shot round after round into the canopy. Smiling, he watched as they hid behind the trees beyond the clearing, trying to shout to one another if they were okay.

“Leon were running low on time.” Josh said over the radio, ceasing fire.

“We’re done here. Split up, carry out your objectives, and rendezvous at Point Bravo.” Leon said over the radio as he and Alfred came up behind Josh. Two acknowledgment lights blinked at the corner of the Leon’s HUD as they all piled up at the entrance to the cave.

“Alright, so, go on three?” Josh asked keeping an eye on his HUD’s motion tracker.

“Just like always.” Leon answered smiling.

“One...” Alfred started getting ready to bolt across the clearing towards Ghastly Gorge.

“Two...” Leon chimed in, getting ready to run his curving route to the castle.

“Three!” Josh shouted, popping out of the hole, shooting his assault rifle, and moving towards the boulder that used to be in the entrance. Josh kept laying down suppressive fire with his assault rifle, shooting over the ponies heads, as Alfred sprinted straight out of the cave and into the foliage opposite of him. Leon turned and went opposite of where the ponies were coming from.

Josh began to move into the foliage he was closest to when he saw a purple light shoot out of the woods and right at him. His eyes growing wide, Josh jumped into the forest’s edge and heard the rock that he had used for cover explode behind him. With a smug grin on his face he stood and shouted, “You missed!” before running into the forest towards his objective.

****

As Twilight heard the Spartans run off into the forest she put a hoof to her ear to try and stop the ringing, “Is everypony okay?”

“What!” Pinkie shouted from right next to her, nearly scarring her out of her coat.

Twilight turned her head to the pink mare, “Shh, not so loud.”

As her friends came out from behind the cover of the trees, Twilight began to re-plan just how they were going to capture the Spartans, ‘We just need to get their shields down and then we can use Applejack's rope I enchanted to keep them tied up.'

“Twi, what now?” the apple farmer’s question pulled Twilight from her thoughts.

Looking up at her now assembled friends, Twilight nodded her head as a plan started to form, “Alright, we split up, and track them down. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Zecora, you will chase after the one that went towards Ghastly Gorge.” two of the three she named gave nods of approval while Fluttershy was still hiding. While Rarity and Zecora began talking to Fluttershy Twilight continued, “Applejack, Rainbow, you two will pursue the one that went towards the dam.” the two of them looked at each other and nodded before taking off. Twilight’s gaze fell on the pink party pony, “Pinkie, we’ll be chasing the one that went straight ahead of us into the forest.”

After making sure that Fluttershy was going to be okay, Twilight and Pinkie took off into the forest after the Spartan. As they moved as fast as they could, being safe from the Everfree’s animals thanks to Zecora, Pinkie seemed to barely be able to hold in her excitement, “We’re... hunting... ALIENS! This is awesome! What if they have traps hidden throughout the forest and we not only have to look out for the traps, but the aliens too! Then it turns into some survival adventure as we are hunted by the very creatures we came to hunt! Oh this is just like issue number forty-three of ‘Aliens took my Fillyfriend’ and Sun Drop hired a gang of mercenaries to help her search through the Jungles of the D-B Kingdom. Then they discovered-”

It hadn’t even been a minute as Twilight and Pinkie ran through the foliage after the Spartan before the purple unicorn let out a loud groan, ‘Maybe I should of taken Rainbow and let AJ have Pinkie...'

****

“I think I saw him!” Rainbow yelled as she and Applejack tore through the forest as fast as they could. Jumping over large tree roots and avoiding as many obstacles as they could, the two galloped like bats out of Tartarus after the Spartan. They were sticking close together as the forest was too narrow and dense for Rainbow to safely use her wings. Being the fastest of the groups, and most competitive, the duo was able to catch up to the Spartan after a few minutes.

The trail he left was easy to follow as the Spartan ran as fast as the forest would allow without tripping every few steps. Considering where the Spartan was heading, the two mares were very nervous he would do something... excessive. As they ran, Applejack grabbed the enchanted piece of rope from her saddle bags in order to get ready for the eventuality of catching up with the Spartan.

“If you think I’m gonna go back there just to die in a few days, your fucking insane!” the Spartan called Josh yelled back as the two mares closed in on him.

“Then you shouldn’t of attacked the Princesses!” Rainbow yelled back.

As the Rainbow continued with yelling at the Spartan, Applejack was at war with herself on the matter. Despite all the Spartans had done, despite who they have attacked and harmed, being completely honest with herself, she didn’t think they deserved to die.

‘They've yet to kill anypony, so why should we start?' the orange mare thought to herself as Rainbow gave another witty comeback to the Spartan, ‘Why ain't he gone for that loud weapon yet? Twi, practically drained herself puttin protection spells on us, but he don't know that.'

At the back of her mind, so many things weren't adding up that it surprised her Twilight hadn’t brought this up yet. The whole situation around these Spartans was weird, confusing, and down right frustrating since they were the only ones to go after them, ‘Ya'd think after hurting the Princesses we'd at least get a guard or two ta... well do somethin.'

While Applejack had been thinking the two of them had started to fall behind Josh as the trees started thinning out. Soon they began to see light as the edge of the forest drew closer. Just before the mares exited the forest they saw Josh run left across the opening. Rainbow and Applejack burst through the leaves and the vines and resumed their pursuit of the Spartan.

The water of the Ponyville dam was clear and calm to their right, while Josh was running down the edge of the water back towards the forest. It was a little weird to finally see one up close, but Applejack didn’t care about that and threw the rope at the running Spartan. It flew through the air perfectly and the Spartan’s head, torso, and arms were in the loop just before she pulled. Then the rope was jerked right through him, as if he was just an illusion.

“Okay,” something behind Applejack said, “Here’s how this is going to work.” turning on the spot, the apple farmer saw that the real Spartan was not only behind her, but had Rainbow locked in it’s arms.

Rainbow tried to yell something to her, but it came out so muffled by the spartan’s hand that she couldn’t understand, “Now, no need to hurt anypony.” Applejack said putting down the rope.

“In the deepest part of the water, right by the dam wall, there’s a case. You are going to bring it to me.” Josh said removing his left hand from Rainbow’s mouth and pulling a knife out from his belt and laying it down against her neck, sharp side going out and away, “And don’t get any funny ideas.”

The feel of the cold metal against her neck instantly shut up any response Rainbow had while Applejack just gave a very slow nod, “Alright, no need ta-”

“Just get the damn case now.” Josh interrupted motioning towards the water with his head. Applejack slowly walked towards the water, never taking her eyes off the Spartan that held the knife to her friends throat. Not wanting to test if he was actually lying like she thought he was, she looked towards the small lake, then back to Rainbow, and finally began to move into the water.

After a few moments, she found where he said the case would be and was confused that he came for it. It was a small silver box that had no real purpose from what she could see. It was too little to have been anything threatening like a bomb, but she couldn’t think of anything else it could be considering where it was. As carefully as she could, Applejack lifted the box and swam back up to the surface.

Upon getting to the surface of the water, the orange earth pony took a big intake of air and took a moment to get her bearings. She looked around and saw that the Spartan was still on the edge of the water, but didn’t see Rainbow anywhere in sight, “Good, now hurry up to shore.”

Fear gripped Applejack as she slowly swam to the shore and watched Josh pull one of the metal sticks off his back and pointed it at her. She began to question if he was lying like she thought or if he had just wanted to split them up and make them easier targets. Her questions stopped as the Spartan addressed her slow and hesitant behavior.

“The pegasus is fine, now give me the box and I’ll tell you where she is.” Josh said keeping the weapon pointed at her.

Putting the box down on the rocks that made up the shore of the dam’s water, Applejack couldn’t help but feel this pit in her stomach. Taking a few steps away from the Spartan’s box, Applejack began scanning the forest, the dam wall, and anywhere else her Rainbow maned friend could be.

“Alright, this seems to all be in order.” Josh said crouched down and looking at the box. Laying down his weapon, he pulled the other metal stick off his back and put it down as well. The Spartan then slid the straps of his backpack off and sat it down in front of himself before unzipping the largest pocket. Applejack watched as the spartan pulled a few large canisters of something out of the pack before setting the silver box carefully into it. Then he put back the canisters, re-zipped the bag, put it back on his back, and finally put the second metal weapon in it’s resting spot.

“Alrighty then, I used your rope to tie your friend to the lowest branch on the tree over there.” Josh said picking up his weapon and pointing to one of the trees that were on the forest’s edge, “Let this be a lesson, never try and hunt a Spartan.” without another word the Spartan kicked up rocks and dirt as he sprinted into the forest leaving Applejack to find Rainbow.

****

Rarity was not having a very good day. She had went to sleep late thanks to Twilight’s questioning of the Spartans and been woken up early on top of that. Then she fell asleep on the short train ride to Ponyville and awoke more tired and with a crick in her neck. From there she was told to get Fluttershy and meet up at the entrance to the Everfree Forest, which was the only thing to go right so far.

After meeting up with the girls and getting Zecora to help them, Rarity then had to walk through the dirt and Celestia knows what else as they made their way to the Spartan’s hideout. Then they’re almost there and suddenly the thunder of some weapon fills their ears and wood chips from the trees fly everywhere. A few chips landed in her mane and some more in her tail, it was just a complete disaster. Thankfully it hadn’t taken much to get Fluttershy moving, though Rarity silently wished it had taken longer.

For the past hour now, the trio of ponies had been walking through the forest and pieces of dirt, wood, and green flecks of foliage were stuck in Rarity’s mane because of it. Considering the daunting task ahead of them, it wasn’t about to get any better for the poor mare.

They traveled in silence, stopping every now and then for Zecora to pick up the small trail the Spartan left behind in the foliage. Rarity was amazed that the zebra was able to follow the trail the spartan was leaving. If she had been the one to try and make heads or tails of the trail then it would have been a very short adventure for her and Fluttershy, one ending with being lost and confused.

They had been going through the forest for the past few minutes when Zecora held her right hoof in the air, signalling them to stop. It was something that Rarity and Fluttershy had gotten used to as the zebra mare would occasionally lose the trail. Fluttershy went to see if she could assist her while Rarity stood under one of the trees, looking around for anything that could distract her mind from her thoughts on the mission.

‘Somepony should really get rid of that oaf Blueblood before he does any more damage. Surely I can't be the only pony to see that this isn't right, they don't-' Rarity’s train of thought was derailed as Fluttershy tapped her on the shoulder.

“Zecora thinks she found the trail...” the yellow pegasus said in her normally quiet voice. Despite it not being said, Rarity sensed there was a ‘but’ coming.

“But?”

“I-it might just be a normal animal this time.” Fluttershy said, hiding behind her mane.

Rarity let out a sigh, she knew it would eventually come to this after hearing the one called Leon explain that his team focused on stealth the previous night. On the bright side though, Rarity hoped they could just go back home now and let the Royal Guard actually do it’s job for once. As Zecora led her and Fluttershy away and further into the forest, Rarity shook her head to try and clear her thoughts.

‘Don't think like that, the Royal Guard do there job of... well I'm sure they do something, but it is my job, no, duty as an Element of Harmony to help protect Equestria. Even if it means getting this dirty.' Rarity thought to herself as she followed Fluttershy and Zecora. As she continued she noticed her scarf was about to fall off and... ‘I don't remember putting a scarf on!'

Letting out a scream, she used her magic to toss the scarf away from her while backpedaling into a tree. Fluttershy and Zecora turn on the spot to see what all the commotion was about and looked at her with confusion. Rarity didn’t look at them though as her mind was racing with thoughts of how that particular scarf had gotten draped across the back of her neck.

“Rarity... Rarity.” Fluttershy said slightly shaking the mare with her hoof, “Rarity, what’s wrong.”

“Please tell us friend, what has you at wits end.” Zecora asked examining the scarf that lay on the open ground.

“... Fluttershy, how long have I had that scarf on?” Rarity asked slowly looking at the piece of clothing in Zecora’s hooves.

“Just since we stopped last, why?”

“Because I never put it on.” Rarity said as Fluttershy looked from the scarf to her.

“This is very confusing, is this not your cutie mark in the stitching?” Zecora asked, showing the end that had the three blue diamond shapes stitched into the fabric.

Rarity slowly nodded her head, “Yes, but the last time I saw that scarf, I gave it to one of the Spartans when they were in the Canterlot Dungeons.”

Revelation sprung up on Zecora and Fluttershy’s faces before Fluttershy spoke with fear in her voice, “Th-then how d-did it get on you?”

“It doesn’t matter why or how, this shows it could of killed any of us by now.” Zecora stated before looking up into the canopy above, “There are still a few hours before night, we should end this search and find Twilight. The powder I use the keep Everfree creatures at bay only works on the predators of the day.”

“What about the ones at night?” Rarity asked, her eyes going wide at this new revelation.

“That powder is much harder to brew and I hardly have enough for any of you.” Zecora began to walk back the way they came.

“What now then?”

“We return to my hut for safety, our friends should’ve returned by now, hopefully.”

Rarity felt her eye twitch as she was just told she had walked through the forest for over a two hours for absolutely nothing. Letting out a loud sigh Rarity got up off the ground and began to follow the zebra with Fluttershy sticking to her side. Before they were out of sight though, Rarity grabbed the scarf with her magic and put it into one of her saddlebags. Together the three began the long trek back to Zecora’s hut, hopeful that one of their friends had been more successful.

****

“Then the evil Emperor Zinyak had Puckish Rogue locked away in a virtual world to try and keep him from interfering with his plans. Little did he know though that-”

“Pinkie! How many times do I have to ask you to be quiet before you actually listen to me?” Twilight asked the pink mare as they walked through the forest towards Zecora’s hut.

“But you said I could talk as much as I want on the way back if I was completely quiet while we were searching. You Pinkie Promised even.” Pinkie stated rather sadly.

“I know I know, and I’m sorry I snapped at you but, we searched for over three hours and just kept going in circles. How can something that big just up and disappear into thin air? If I hadn’t seen the scans myself, I’d think they’re using magic!” Twilight yelled in frustration as they finally reached the path that ran from the forest entrance to Zecora’s hut.

“Yeah, but can’t you use your magic to look for theirs if they had magic?” the pink mare beside Twilight asked.

“Yes, and I tried just in case, but I couldn’t find anything. We need some way of leveling the playing field and if at all possible find out what they’re doing so we can stop it.” Twilight said as they began to see the outside of Zecora’s hut.

“Waaaait a minute, Rainbow told me that we were looking for the aliens to invite them to a ‘Welcome to our planet please don’t take it over’ party.” Pinkie said stopping in the middle of the trail making Twilight as well.

Looking at the pink earth pony in confusion, Twilight said, “Why in all of Equestria would you want to invite them to a party! Pinkie, they put us and a good number of the royal guard in magical overdose comas, attacked the Princesses, escaped from the dungeons with information I gave them, hurt four Royal Guards in the process of the escape, and to top it off tried to kill us earlier.” as Twilight spoke her tone got angrier and her distance from Pinkie closed till they were face to face.

After a few tense seconds Twilight seemed to notice that she just released her pent up frustration on her friend. She backed away a little bit and began to stutter an apology when Pinkie surprised her, “So?”

Twilight looked at her friend as if she had just grown a second head, “So? That’s all you have to say? After all they’ve done you would still defend them?”

“Wellllll, going down the list you just made: One, they had to open the portal to stay alive and didn’t know it would do what it did. Two the Princesses kinda sorta started it since they didn’t even try to get the full story before threatening them. Three I’m guessing they would’ve escaped anyway, it would of just taken them longer to find their armor. Four they would of knocked out more guards the longer they looked for their armor. Finally earlier, they were shooting above us, never once coming close to actually hurting us.” as the pink mare finished with a smile, Twilight just stared at her, mouth open in shock as Pinkie actually used logic.

‘... Are they good?’ the thought rang in Twilight’s head over and over again as she mentally went through all the information that she had known up to this point. The thought was disturbing enough to distract her from the fact Pinkie was the one to put a hole in her line of thought with logic.

Twilight was so engrossed in her line of thought that she didn’t notice any of the things Pinkie was doing to try and get her attention. She barely registered it when the pink party pony closed her mouth and tried shaking her to get her attention. She didn’t even hear the voices that came in from behind her.

‘They still hurt the Princesses and need to be brought... back to Canterlot... for an excessive punishment... no.' Twilight shook her head, ‘The Princesses gave me this task of bringing them back and I won't fail them.'

Suddenly Twilight felt a large bucket of ice water dumped on her head and she became aware of her surroundings. The inside of Zecora’s hut was decorated with tribal masks that belonged to her culture as well as a lot of pots, jars, and other containers filled with potions or the ingredients to make them. Twilight resisted the urge to shake her mane to get the water out as it would of gotten water all over Zecora’s home.

“Twi, you with us now Sugarcube?” the familiar accent made her turn around and see Applejack and Pinkie Pie standing there, the latter holding a bucket and balancing on her hind legs.

Looking down Twilight noticed she was inside a large cauldron, “Why am I in Zecora’s cauldron?”

“We would of got water all over the floor if you weren’t, silly.” Pinkie said laughing, “You should see how funny you look!”

“Ya weren’t respondin ta us, no matter what we did. Pinkie suggested it and it actually worked.” Applejack said smiling.

As she climbed out of the cauldron, Twilight asked, “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh, when we got back she fell asleep on the floor over there.” Applejack pointed to the sleeping pegasus by the fireplace, “We caught up ta the Spartan though, just wish we’d of faired better.”

“He didn’t hurt you did he?” Twilight asked before Pinkie assaulted her with a towel.

“Nah, but he did hold Rainbow hostage while I got something from the dam.” Applejack saw Twilight’s next question a mile away, “She’s fine, like I said, nopony got hurt.”

Letting out a sigh of relief Twilight was about to ask a question when Pinkie stopped drying her and asked her’s, “Did you invite him to the party!? We couldn’t find our Spartan and never got the chance.”

Applejack looked at the pink mare with a raised eyebrow before looking to Twilight for the answer, “It’s what Rainbow told her. Look, what did you get from the dam?”

“Was a small silver box about yay big.” she brought her hooves a little less than half a meter apart, “Bout this high.” she twisted her hooves and made the gap between the two half of what it was before, “Rainbow thinks it was a bomb, but I don’t see how somethin so small could be threatinin.”

“Hey! Did you invite him to the party?” Pinkie asked again finally finishing with drying Twilight off.

“Pinkie there is no party, now did anything else happen?” Twilight pulled out a pen and a piece of paper from her saddle bags by the door. They were half way to her when her coat, mane, and tale suddenly poofed up making her look like a giant pony shaped ball of fuzz. Twilight let out a sigh as Applejack and Pinkie bursted out laughing, ‘Today is not turning out to well.'

****Everfree Castle****
9/13/Night

Slowly, Alfred moved from cover to cover using the shadows made by the moonlight to his advantage. Slowly he made his way into the castle, taking precautions despite the fact his two squadmates were already in the structure. Like a shadow without a body, he moved quickly and quietly through the destroyed doors and broken down interior till he came to the library.

He hugged the wall and glanced into the room, catching sight of two spartans looking at something glowing on one of the tables. Leon was blocking his view of the glowing object, but there was no danger that he could see, so he relaxed a little bit and entered the room. Both Spartans had their helmets off and seemed to be talking to something.

Once Alfred was close enough he was looking at one of the most perplexing sights he’d ever seen. On the table was an AI chip from one of their helmets and ontop of that was a holographic projection of something looking like one of the Princesses.

It was tiny as it was restricted by the device creating the projection and blue for the same reason. Despite it’s size, Alfred saw it possessed slit pupils, sharp teeth, and a crescent moon cutie mark. It’s mane and tail seemed to be like blobs of data, or smoke. It had a long spiral horn, flared out wings, and some sort of armor on it’s hooves, head, and chest.

Finally tuning into the conversation Alfred heard Leon ask, “And you thought if you possessed him, you could leave?”

The figure nodded and a frustrated voice came out of Josh’s helmet on the table, “Yes, I was imprisoned here when I was separated from my other half. Now I just want to leave and I’m stuck in this thing anyway, so why won’t you just take me!”

“I don’t trust you one, little, bit. I’ve read enough of the recent history to know you’re not some poor soul who was trapped here on accident.” Leon rebutled.

“I never claimed I was! The Elements of Harmony purify or lock away spirits. When they hit me they purified, but I couldn’t move to far from the castle or I would start to fade from existence.” the figure looked down with sadness while Josh saw Alfred and motioned for him to take a seat across the table, “I’m unable to possess ponies because of the Elements’ magic, I saw you Spartan’s as my last chance of being free.”

Leon looked at Alfred as he sat down, “The spirit-”

“Ghost.” Josh quickly cut in.

“-tried to take over Josh. We’re debating on if we should just leave the chip here or do the stupid thing and take it with us.” Leon continued, ignoring Josh.

Alfred looked at the little projected alicorn, not taking off his helmet like the others so as to keep a check on his motion sensor, “Why would we take her with us?”

“Because she could help us with understanding magic and how to get around it.” Josh answered.

Alfred nodded his head, it was a sound idea, if she didn’t learn how to control the armor through the AI port in his helmet. A thought passed through Alfred’s head as Leon and Josh began going back and forth on the pros and cons of the idea, “You said you can’t leave this place? What makes you think you can do it in our armor?”

“Ever since I was sucked into this, ‘chip’ my magic seems... distant, unfocused, like it’s not being used. Ever since I split with my other half I’ve had to constantly use magic to keep myself alive, it was only when I was near the Tree of Harmony that I was able to regain it faster than I lost it.” the hologram stated.

“You mean the glowing crystal tree in the fog down below?” Josh asked. The alicorn figure nodded, “... You guys got to use a crazy plan earlier, I say we trust her for mine.”

“I say the risks out weigh the benefits to much.” Leon said crossing his arms and leaning back away from the table, “What about you Alfred?”

Alfred brought his fingers together in front of his face and looked into the eyes of the hologram. He wasn’t sure if she could stare back from there, but after a few moments thinking out the risks, the pros, and the cons, he spoke, “If Josh keeps her in his helmet, I say we risk it.”

“Yes.” Josh said air pumping his fist.

“I hold the same rights as Josh. If this backfires, I’ll be the one saying ‘I told you so’ repeatedly.” Leon said grabbing his helmet and putting it on.

Alfred chuckled as he looked at Leon, “Alright, and when she helps us out of a tight spot, we’ll be the ones saying it.”

Josh put on his helmet and picked the chip off the table, “Welcome to the team Moonie.”

"Please don't abuse me with awful nicknames." the holographic alicorn said as Josh put her into the AI slot in his helmet, "My name is Nightmare Moon."

Author's Note

Wow, I have no reason for this being late. I kept putting it off till a few days ago when I got a little sick, but it is no excuse for breaking the once a month streak I had going... Oh well. *shrugs*

Now for the Community Question: Whose story are you following better, Leon's team or Chase's team?