Prisoner of Technology...

I put my phone away, took a deep breath, and took in the situation. All right… Ponyville it is… Lucky Clover Café… Great… I walked the streets for hours before finding the damn place… She was even waiting for me. Right after I saw her, I began to quicken my pace, even began running to an extent…

“Hey Ryan, man, this place is nuts…” She exclaimed.

“No need to tell me that…” I replied with a smile. “So, are you fine? Anything happened until you got here?” I wondered.

“Nah, I woke up in a hut, a zebra named Zecora saved me… But as you can see, finally I don’t have that damn sniper rifle…”

“Are you all right? That’s a tragedy!” I replied jokingly.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine I guess… What about you?”

“Ummpfh…” I went… “Let’s order something, because it’s a longer story all right…” I replied…

“Oh, I already have…” She replied, and the waiter arrived, placing a plate of what would seem to be french fries onto our desk. We thanked him, and I told her everything… Stoneden, Aldir, Umar, Kalin… Everything, but what I did in the desert…

“So yes, that’s how I got this sword too…”

“Huh, what happened? Suddenly we switched roles?” She wondered with a grin.

“Yeah… Uhh…” I replied, staring awkwardly at my left arm…

“Huh?”

“Do you know anything about the purpose of the Barrel ?”

“Not much…”

“I looked around in the instructions built in… Apparently it was designed by the military..”

“WHAT?!”

“Yeah, it even has a neuro connection control function… It allows me to gain full control of it, and use it like it was part of my body…”

“Huh, Freeman can go fuck his crowbar in his tin can…” She replied.

“Not quite… It turned out that we were meant to test it… That function literally merges the suit with the wearer’s body, never allowing removal anymore…”

“This doesn’t sound good…”

“And I activated it… To save Stoneden…” I replied with a slight sorrow in my tone.

“Ow… That sucks…”

“The pain, Cinthya… The pain I felt… Anyway, it also said this… This function may corrupt host body, mind, will in order to increase lethality, efficiency, and survival chances of host…”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me…” She replied in shock.

“On the bright side, this is the only prototype made, so in a sense, we saved Earth…” I replied, thinking about when will it start using me instead of the other way around… When our silence started to become awkward, thankfully a mare greeted us, who turned out to know Cinthya.

“Hey Cinthya, glad to see you’re better…” She exclaimed.

“Hey Twi, yeah, they told me a few things… Uh, I assume you two haven’t met, right?” She replied, looking at both of us. We simply shook our heads in response. “Twilight, this is Ryan, a friend of mine from our home world… Ryan, this is Twilight, another friend of mine… She helped me get to a hospital after a weird incident…”

We greeted each other accordingly, then shook… Hands and hooves, I guess… “What incident?” I inquired afterwards.

“Yeah, you don’t need to worry… But from what the doctors told me, I should be able to use magic now.” She replied.

“I still need to get used to this place…” I muttered quietly. “That’s great… So now you’re able to use magic, and I’m basically half machine, and can regenerate my whole body just from a drop of blood, turn off any basic reactions, such as pain, fear, hunger, or drowning… I’m done…” I replied.

“Basically, yes… Now that you mention… It seems like it’s not usual to your species....” Twilight noted.

“No… Not at all.” I replied.

“Oh, I thought you were joking..” Twi exclaimed.

“Oh, I wish it was…” I replied.

“Right… Now that you two reunited, what will you do?” Twilight asked.

“I was told maybe the sisters can send us home…” I replied.

“I see… Well, I can write them a letter, and ask them to come see what they can do…” She replied.

“That would be nice, I guess…” Cinthya noted, not having a clue about who we’re talking about… Neither did I have any.

“The problem is… You may have to wait a few days… Do you have anywhere to go until then?”

We swapped glances, then shook our heads. “Nope…” I replied.

“I guess you’ll have to come with me then…” She replied.

“Uhm, where?” Cinthya inquired.

“To my castle… You’ll spend the night there with me and my friends… There I’ll explain everything you should know for now.” She exclaimed, and lead the way.

Once we got there, the giant crystal ish looking doors closed, and we walked down a few hallways, clean as a mirror… No joke, I could’ve seen myself in the floor’s reflection if I were to look down. “This is where you live? How do you not get lost?” I wondered.

“What makes you think I don’t?” She replied with a grin.  “Here we are, do you mind if you’re in the same room? Separate beds, of course.” She exclaimed.

“Nah, we should be good... “ Cinthya replied, and we went in for the night, while Twilight probably wrote that letter.

“Together again, in a permanent shift… Aren’t we?” I asked, sitting at the edge of my bed.

“I miss the guys back home… I mean… At the facility I mean…” She replied.

“So do I, I hope they can send us back…” I exclaimed.

“But what if they can’t? I mean, there’s a chance…”

“Let’s hope for the best…”

“The last time you said that we came here.” She noted.

“Let’s just sleep, okay?” I asked nervously.

“What? You still need to do that?” She asked with a grin.

“Nah, but I’d be bored shitless…” I replied, and we went to sleep… Hours later, once again, I found myself in the same void. “Not this place again…”

“What’s wrong with it?” Asked Cinthya from my left, nearly startling me.

“Geez, what are you doing here?”

“What are WE doing here?” She replied.

“You’re here, because we received the letter from Twilight…” Replied a familiar voice… The same mare from my nightmare in Stoneden.

“You again?” We asked in unison.

“Ah, I see you two finally met… Now…” She replied, and slowly appeared in front of us… By the time she finished the sword was already at her throat, her face in Cinthya’s crosshairs. “Why so hateful?” She asked on a calm tone.

“You screwed me over last night badly, the fuck do you think?” I asked.

“Just reflexes…” Cinthya replied.

“Ah, yes… Have you enjoyed your nightmares, Ryan?” She replied.

“What do you want?” I threw back, slightly pressing it against her.

“Oh please, we’re in the dream world… In here, not only can you not harm me, but I’m more powerful than a God here…”

“What the fuck do you want?” I yelled.

“WE, my sister and I… Found no spell to be used in order to send you back…” She replied.

“Right… We’re fucked then…” I replied, then found myself lying on my back in my bed… I was unsure if I was awake or not, so I bit my tongue… I can assure you I was awake… Better than another nightmare… I thought to myself in relief, then turned to my left to see Cinthya sleeping… But instead, saw that mare standing in front of me, staring into what remained of my soul.

“Come, we have little time.” She exclaimed.

I stood up and approached her. “You’re shorter that you looked…” I replied.

“The best compliment I heard ever…” She replied with sarcasm, then started of toward the balcony. “Let us talk in privacy.” She exclaimed. I followed her outside, then closed the doors behind., which seemed to be welded shut afterwards, tho they were wooden.

“Yes?” I asked, arms crossed.

“Surprising response, your body gesture tells me you don’t expect a confrontation…” She replied.

“If you were to kill me, which would be harder than you would think, Cinthya would blow your brains out for it.” I assured her.

“It would still leave you dead…”

“Or would it?” I wondered with a confident tone, then took hold of my sword.

“Is that supposed to mean what I think?”

“Watch.” I replied, and hacked off my left arm, which hit the ground with a loud thud.

She was slightly terrified by her looks. “N-No blood? No pain?” She wondered, taking a few steps back against the railing.

“Not over yet.” I noted with a grin, and soon my arm began to grow back… First the bone around the endoskeleton, then the flesh, the veins and nerves, the blood, and lastly the skin. “Nice trick, huh?” I asked.

“H-How?”

“Now, what did you want to talk about?” I asked, having evened the odds.

“Since you are stuck here, what will yo-” *Knock**Knock**Knock*

“I think she woke up.” I noted, and the doors opened so she could join us.

“What are you two up to?”

“Just in time, would you do me a favor?” I replied.

“Sure.”

“I need you to trust me on this, okay?”

“What are you up to?” She asked nervously.

“Yeah, umm… Shoot me in the face and or chest…”

“WHAT?!”

“Do it!” I replied.

“No! You’ve lost your mind!”

“Do it already!” I yelled. *Bang* “Gah! Fuck! My ears are ringing now…” I replied with a gaping hole in my chest.

“The fuck?” She replied.

“Yeah, part of the functions… The suit you know...” I replied.

“So now you’re immortal or what?” Cinthya wondered.

“I hope not, who would want to live forever? That’s a fucking nightmare all right…”

“How would it be? Everybody wants to live forever!”

“He’s right… It IS a nightmare… The worst one to ever suffer…” The mare replied with a sorrowful, yet serious voice… It took me some time to realize she was actually agreeing with me…

“What? You two actually agree? That’s new.” Cinthya exclaimed.

“Right? But what do you know about it?” I asked the mare.

“I know it all too well… Believe me, I learned enough in my… How much was it? 2000 years?” She replied, bringing the blood in our veins to a stop.

“What?” I inquired.

“If you didn’t know, us, Alicorns are relatively immortal… Unless ve get killed, we never die.” She replied.

“Princess Celestia didn’t tell me anything about that when she made me into one!” Twilight yelled from behind, tears in her eyes, and ran off.

The mare slightly panicked, and meant to make her way after her, but I stopped her. “Let her calm down…” She stepped back, agreeing again. “I assume this… Celestia is your sibling?”

“Yes, and now that you know her name, mine’s Luna.” She replied.

“Aaaham, Now we know you, Twi, your sister by name, and that we’re stuck here… What do you expect us to do?” Cinthya wondered.

“Do as you please, only do so while minding our laws…” She replied.

“Good to know, could you suggest us a job perhaps?” Cinthya asked.

“Perhaps… Seeing as you were a security guard, and that he’s also immortal… Perhaps the Royal Guard will be a good start.” She replied, then vanished like in our dreams.

“That escalated quickly…” I noted.

“Yep… We need to ask Twilight what we need to know, now that we’re stuck…” She replied.

“Yeah, the question is… What’s the time?” I wondered.

Luna suddenly appeared once again. “5 AM.” She exclaimed, then vanished again.

“Uhm… Thanks?” I replied, unsure of her presence anymore.

“I’ll go set the beds, will you go find her?” Cinthya asked.

*Sigh* “Sure.” I replied and left… Only to meet a cyan Pegasus, who immediately pinned me against the wall.

“Hold it pal, what are you doing here?! Are you a spy?” She asked with so much venom in her tone, she might have even poisoned me.

“No, dipshit. Ask Twilight…” I replied.

“Just how do you know of her?” She asked, then tried to jab me in the face with one of her hooves… But I caught it in my palm, closed my fingers around it, and began squeezing it until i heard a loud crack, which made her reconsider.

“Are you willing to listen now?” I asked on a calm tone.

“You got something… What do you want?”

“Where’s Twilight?”

“Why do you care so much?” She wondered, I reached for my sword in response. “She’s in her room… You asshole.” She replied.

“You should’ve been nicer, and things may have turned out better...” I replied and walked on, trying to find her. Eventually I found her, sobbing in her room. *Knock* *Knock* “Are you okay?!” I yelled through.

“Who is it?”

“Ryan.”

“Come in.” She replied, so I walked in… Soon so did Cinthya, in the company of that one cyan mare, her hoof visibly injured.

“This fucker again?” She wondered.

“You want more?” I asked in response.

“Hold on, what happened?” Twi wondered, we explained. “Rainbow, come on, you should know there’s a reason if they’re here… You both should apologize.” She exclaimed.

“Fuck that.” I replied, and jumped out the window.

Ryan took a running start, and made his way through the closed window…

We watched in shock as he unexpectedly shattered the window. By the time I got there to see him, he crashed into the ground, and with a loud crack, his legs broke… Dumbass… Should’ve remembered the height...I“You okay?” I yelled. He simply looked back at me and gave me a thumbs up, then crawled away, only to stand up and begin limping on his left leg instead.

Soon Twilight too came to the window. “What happened?”

“He’s… Himself…” I replied, then looked back at the cyan mare. “I hope you’re glad, Rainbow.”

“I never asked him to do it.” She replied.

“You started it.”

“He nearly broke my ankle!”

“And his own legs!” I replied.

I limped away into the forest, soon having my legs fixed.

Why the fuck did I do that? Never mind, I’m not going back… I can’t, and won’t… I wandered through the forest for a while, when something caught my leg and caused me to fall. “The fu… Oh… Nice…” Guess what it was, her rifle… Let’s see if it still works… I can assure you, if you hold a sniper rifle incorrectly, it WILL break your shoulder… I decided to keep it, since it was almost my only means of combat… I continued walking and walking without an end, until I heard growling, and suddenly a few wooden looking huge wolves ambushed me.

Suddenly bolts of lightning began arching between my hands, and as one of them bit me, having my lower torso until my knees in his mouth.

“Suck on this, fucker.” I muttered, and hit it in the eye, as if I were to stab it… It let go of me immediately, and was set ablaze right away… The other two waited, by the time they would’ve had the chance, I just went another step, and a lightning struck me from above… Which I directed at the other two, killing them in a slow, burning and painful way. I should’ve brought some marshmallows… I dusted my hands off, and walked on even further, until I got to a city, Manehattan. “Now, this looks promising…” I muttered quietly, and started making my way toward it.

[End of Chapter 4-B]