Archer
Location Unknown

As I began to realize that I was no longer seeing through Dusk’s eyes back at Neighfair, I started to feel more like… Well, me. I wasn’t stuck in the body of some other pony anymore, but I was back sitting on the stool in the mist-filled room. I looked around and noticed that I was alone with Dusk nowhere to be seen. “Hello?”

In a flash of light Dusk reappeared with a new garb. Instead of the human-supplied armor he had worn he had gone down to cargo pants and a sleeveless top that looked like it was made of the same material as his armor’s undersuit. “Sorry, had to go take care of some errands.” He said.

Well that’s an interesting point. “What sort of errands?” I asked. “You’re a ghost that’s in my head.”

Dusk simply shrugged. “Oh you know, messing with reality and hiding away some tools. Oh and if anyone asks you where the new magnum and armor came from, don’t tell them shit.”

“Wait, what armor?”

With a snap of his fingers a black suit of some rather unusual looking armor formed out of the mist along with a silver pistol. “You’ll find a case under your bed back at the hotel. In it you’ll find this suit of combat armor and this pistol. The armor itself is a spare set of Marine combat armor that’s been in the store room for years. It’s form fitting, water resistant, and I made some tweaks to the helmet so it has a heads up display. If you take it apart you’ll find that the guts of a pipbuck are making it work.”

I nodded and grabbed the floating pistol. “And what about this?”

“That is a gunfighter variant of the Human-designed M6H. The smart-link module has been removed, leaving just the iron sights. That slide is a lot lighter now so you’ll find that the fire rate has picked up over the stock model. And without the hand guard there’s nothing for the armor’s gloves to snag on. With it you’ll find four loaded magazines with twelve rounds each, which should be enough for now.”

I nodded and sighted the pistol like how I’d been shown by Dad countless times before. We had a few of the magnum pistols like this that I’d been taught to shoot with and even in this dream-like environment I could definitely tell that the pistol would be far lighter. “It’s a nifty little thing…”

“It’s also the only pistol I’d carry if I were you.” Dusk advised. “That armor weighs just about ninety pounds, so anything else will just be dead weight.”

As the armor and pistol dissolved back into the mist that they had been formed from I could only nod. “So no dragging around a rocket launcher… Got it.”

Dusk smiled and proceeded to ruffle my mane. “That’a girl!”

I grabbed Dusk’s arm and pushed him away from my now distressed hair. “What happens now?” I asked.

“Well…” Dusk droned. “I think current me and your Dad are trying to get that hundred-pound barbell off you.”

I didn’t even realize that the setting changed until I blinked the crust out of my eyes. I was staring up at a white panel ceiling as someone off to my right struggled to lift a heavy weight off me.

“Come on, come on!” I heard my father mutter. “Move you piece of shit!”

Dusk finally stepped into view, still wearing the undersuit that came with his human-designed armor. “Hey there Archer, what’cha doing?”

I could only roll my eyes as my arms were pinned under the bar. “Oh the usual round of stupid shit.” I managed to turn my head off to the right and realized that my father was frantically getting nowhere as he struggled to get a grip on the weight itself. With a heave I managed to get the weight to roll down my chest and free my arms. With nothing else holding me down I managed to slide out from under the weight and get back to my feet…

...Only to immediately get caught in a choking bear hug by my frantic father. “Thank the Godess you’re alright!”

By the time I realized that my feet were off the ground Dusk had decided to get involved and separated me from my father. “Cosmo, weren’t we talking about something earlier?”

Almost immediately my father’s face changed from an expression of relief to a visage of absolute concern. “Right, we were.”

“Mind telling me what’s so concerning?” I asked.

My father and Dusk exchanged glances only for Dusk to sigh. “I think that the exposure to the memory orb has done something to you.”

Well this will be a fun discussion… How do I tell them that a ghostly copy of Dusk came back from a future grave to help me stay sane as I still processed the orb’s memories? “Like what?” I asked, trying to look as confused as possible.

“I don’t know.” Dusk replied. “But just in the few hours since you’ve been up I’ve already seen some changes. For instance you’ve stopped fidgeting when you’re standing around doing nothing.”

A lack of fidgeting? That’s the big concern? “Alright… That’s it?”

Dusk shook his head. “You’ve also developed the same smile that I’ve used when I know that something is up but want to make it look like nothing is going on.”

“Which this genius keeps calling creepy.” My father added. “Dart, I’m worried about you. Are you sure that you’re all right?”

I just shrugged, mostly in an effort to deflect any further questions. “I think so…”

Dusk and my father exchanged looks once more before my father decided to make a move. “Maybe I should take her home. It’s already been a crazy night-”

“But what about the synths?” I asked. “We’ve still got to do something about them.”

Dusk furrowed his brow at that. “You may be right Archer, and I have no issues with you helping us. But you’ve had the definition of a wild night. Maybe some rest will do you some good.”

Well I can’t argue with that… Tonight started with a simple party so Dusk could get engaged, but instead turned into a massive clusterfuck. “Well all my stuff is back at the hotel…”

“I’ll have one of the troopers give you a ride.” Dusk replied as his expression softened. “Does that work for you Cosmo?”

Cosmo nodded. “As long as I can tag along with my girl.”

“What?” I asked, the confusion now setting in.

“You’re a target now Archer.” Dad pointed out. “I wouldn’t be doing my job as a parent if I didn’t make sure that you were safe.”

***

Half an Hour Later, Canterlot Royale Hotel

I didn’t wait for Dad as I flung the door to my hotel room open. Hell, I knew that he was behind me but I didn’t really care. At this point I need to prove to him that I’m equipped to protect myself, and I know just the tool to use.

Dad shut the door behind the two of us as we walked into my suite and I could tell just from the tense atmosphere that he was thinking about something. “You weren’t entirely honest with us back there.” He said.

Well I could probably attribute this to his uncanny ‘dad-sense’. “You’re right.” I said as I got down under the bed. Right before my eyes was a large black hardcase,

I pulled it out and tossed it onto the bed. Dusk certainly wasn’t kidding, that armor is definitely heavy. “Uh, what’s that?” Dad asked.

He was standing next to me as I undid the latches and swung the case open. Sitting on top was the gold-visored helmet that capped off the armor, four loaded magazines and the pistol that the Ghost-Dusk had promised. “It’s a full set of Marine combat armor and a gunfighter magnum.” I replied as I picked up the pistol. Yup, still just as shiney as in the dreamscape.

“And just where did you get this stuff?” Dad asked.

I turned around and sat down on the edge of the bed. “I’ll tell you on one condition.”

Dad pulled up the chair that was next to my nightstand and plopped himself down. “Name it.”

I took a deep breath and steeled myself for a potential backlash. “What I tell you stays between you and me, no one else.”

But there was no argument. Dad simply nodded. “If it means I figure out what I can do to help you, then you’ve got a deal.”

Alright… That was easy. “I’m still going though the memories that I picked up from that orb. I’ve already gone through Neighfair and the Northern Wastes salvage mission. The only reason I’m still sane is because there’s a little Ghost-Dusk from the future that’s throttling everything back so I don’t get overwhelmed, and he can apparently manipulate reality because while I was out after that barbell dropped on me he said that this case of equipment would be here. And to top it all off you probably think that I’m absolutely insane and I’ll end up like the orb’s test dummy!” Wow… That was a lot. But instead of the abject horror that I’d expect Dad to be exhibiting he instead looked worried. “Dad?”

“And I thought that I’ve seen some crazy shit in my day…” He muttered. “So where did this ‘Ghost-Dusk’ come from?”

“He said something about getting blown up between universes.” I said. At that Dad started to look more worried. “Is there something I should know?”

“Kovac wanted Dusk to escort him to Canterlot with a live Havoc nuke…” Dad muttered. “This ghost, did it say anything about the Nexus?”

“Nexus?” I asked, the word not ringing any bells.

“I’ll take that as a no then.” Dad sat back and seemed to put something together in his mind. “He must want to do something with the Nexus… And eventually did something. That’s the only thing that could tie everything together.”

“But what’s the Nexus?” I asked.

“The Nexus is a concentration of energy situated beneath Canterlot Castle.” Dad explained. “Other than having amazing healing properties it’s a bridge between different universes. As Celestia put it, the Nexus only exists because it's a point of intersection between universes. If a future Dusk passed through that portal and something happened in that void… Who knows what could happen, but from what I can see that’s a distinct possible explanation as to that extra voice in the back of your head.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t work that way dad.”

“Oh really?”

“Really.” I insisted. “I have to either be sleeping or unconscious to be able to interact with him.”

“Hmm… So it’s a dream state.” Dad muttered. “I’ve got an idea.”

I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. “Mind telling me what you’re planning?”

As Dad’s horn lit up he simply smirked. “I’m thinking that some dream walking is in order.”

***

Location Unknown…

Well now I’m back in that mist-filled room. But I’m not alone this time. Standing next to me, in the old Desert Ranger outfit that is in his armory display case, was Dad. “Since when did you learn dream magic?” I asked.

“Luna taught me and your mother the tricks as our wedding gift.” Dad explained. “She was concerned with your constant nightmares at the time and thought that the parental touch might produce better results.”

“Did they?”

Dad nodded. “Although I’ve got to admit, your nightmares were all sorts of messed up.”

“Hey, what the hell?” The ‘Ghost-Dusk’ exclaimed as he materialized. “How the hell did you bring a passenger?”

“Dreamwalking.”

That was all that Dad had to say to get Dusk to deadpan. “Right… Luna’s wedding gift. I take it that Archer told you what was going on and you thought that she was crazy?”

Dad shook his head. “I never thought for a moment that Archer was crazy. But I needed to confirm something.” His horn flashed, but nothing happened. “Well that confirms it… You’re the real deal.”

“A dream check?” Dusk muttered. “Alright I’ll hand it to you, that’s a clever way to make sure I’m real.”

“I’m glad you thought so.” Dad admitted. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what’s on the docket for tonight?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Dusk and I must have been wearing the same looks because Dad was simply wearing a shit-eating grin. “Well you’ve covered Neighfair and the salvage mission. What happened after that? You’re showing Archer all this stuff for a reason, so why quit if I’m here?”

Well Dad has a point. “What did happen after you found the picket?” I asked.

“The Enclave launched a counterattack against Chicacolt.” Dusk immediately rattled off. “But you both can tell there was more to it…”

“That goes without saying.” Dad pointed out. “So how does this whole thing work?”

“Well you’ll be a spectator to the memories, while Dart will see everything from my perspective.” Ghost-Dusk explained. “After they run their course we’ll end up back here.”

Dad offered a curt nod. “Sounds simple enough.”

Dusk offered a simple grin as my vision began to fade to black. “Believe me Cosmo, what you’ll see is far from simple.”

Author's Note

And there goes the second Interlude gents!. For now I'm off to the editing role and working on E-201.

In the meantime, anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker