Neo-Equestria Evangelion

Neo-Equestria Evangelion

Chapter Four:

'You will (never) be forgotten'

"Fine, then do it for revenge."

"Why did you come here? If you've come for revenge I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint. I may not be what I once was, but I've still got one good fight left in me," he called out into the darkness as the door to his sanctuary clicked open. The cold mountain air stung even through his thick gray fur, his eyes remained closed. 'If this is to be it...'

"Some of us do remember what you tried to do all those years ago, and fewer still remember what you did after. I'm proud to count myself among the latter," the refined voice spoke into the dull stale air of the thatch hut.

His eyes slid open in surprise and he let out a low chuckle as he turned to face the mare in his doorway. "Rarity, it's been years, I'm afraid they were not as kind to me as they were to you," he said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "I don't know what you expect from me though, I'm no more powerful than a Unicorn anymore, if that."

"We failed, on the plateau. New Canterlot was attacked last night. It's another one," she explained, "You helped us once before, in spite of everything... please help us again."

"I did that as a favor to Celestia..." he started before sighing, "No, that was just my excuse; I have still my pride you know. I did it because I had to, anything that could have woken me up so casually, it had to be dangerous. I should have killed it when I had the chance..." he trailed off, lost in the memory.

"Discord?" Rarity said softly as she placed a hoof on his shoulder, her snow white fur contrasted sharply with the mottled gray of the draconequus. He snapped out of his trance.

"Yes, I'll help. I still owe her that much."

~~

"Ma'am?"

"That will be all. Thanks," she said simply, waving the assistant off with a flick of her hoof. She flipped through the papers on her desk. Damage reports, combat suitability reports. Her eyes stuck to one folder in particular:

Aerofighter/Airship Mixed Unit After Action Report

...[REDACTED] was unable to be damaged or even significantly delayed by Aerofighter intervention, Airship cannons were only marginally more effective. The only positive thing to report is that the crash survival systems appear to have worked better than expected...

Pink hooves flipped through the pages, eyes scanned back and forth as the words poured into the mare's mind. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. The flight-crews had survived, as always, her primary concern in the design of her creations.

...in conclusion, it is the primary determination of this council that all future engagements with [REDACTED] be commanded and executed by the [REDACTED] organization, future involvement with Pie Industries will be at their sole discretion.

The mare frowned as a tremor crept up her foreleg, she took a sip from the flask on her desk and sighed, 'Of course, that would still work even when every thing else is broken...' She closed the file and leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling.

"I tried Twilight. I tried to find a way around it... but I couldn't. Twenty years with this twitching leg, Pinkie Sense telling me that something was coming." The pink pony sighed again and took another swig from the flask, "...and this is the only thing that makes it stop. It falls to those foals now... but..." she leaned forward and cleared off a patch of desk and flipped open her notebook, "That doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying."

A pink hoof slapped down on the intercom switch, the soft buzz of static came from the speaker box, "Trix, send the twins up to my office, tell them I have a project for you guys."

"Yes Ma'am," the mare's tinny voice replied.

The intercom clicked off, the call disconnected. The mare suppressed a giggle as designs flowed from the tip of her pen onto the paper in front of her, "If at first you don't succeed... try, try again!"

~~

"I haven't been here in years, and it hasn't changed since the day she left," Spike said as he surveyed the dusty old library, books sat on sagging shelves, dust and cobwebs covered the spines, the old floor creaked under each step. "After what happened that day, I never came back, never found the courage to. When they abandoned ponyville it seemed like a waste to even try."

"But we're here now," Luna answered as she picked up an old spell book, the soft blue glow of magic enveloped it as she flipped through the pages nonchalantly.

"I guess I was feeling nostalgic," he admitted as he picked up an old 'Daring Do' novel and brushed the dust off the cover, "I wonder what she'd think of us now, if she'd approve of what we've done to survive, what we sacrificed."

"I think we both know the answer to that," Luna added as she set the book back down, disturbing a pile of dirt and creating a small puff of dust.

"If she was still here, I wonder if she would have changed the way we did..." He laughed bitterly, "Or if she'd still condemn me for the worst things that I've done."

"Or those we're still doing, expecting Whisper to fight for us..."

"There's no-one else who can, not right now. Fluttershy knew this when she sent her to us." He explained as he walked towards the still open front door.

"I still feel guilty."

"That's why you abdicated control to me, Luna. I can do the things that you can't or won't, I can go far enough to do the things that need to be done, the things that would give you nightmares, because I have to," he paused at the doorway, turned his head back to the midnight blue mare, "because I'll tear down the heavens just to see her again."

As the dragon left the dilapidated library, a tear fell from the night princess's eye and splashed into the dust on the floor. "No..." she whispered into the silence, "It's because I wouldn't stop once I started..."

The library door closed behind her as she too exited the old tree, the monument to the world they lost, the memorial to the ones they lost...

Luna wiped her eye with the back of her fetlock and offered silent prayer to anyone who was listening, 'Please... give them back to us...'

The prayer, like so many others before, would go unanswered, though not unheard.

~~

The lavender unicorn stood silently in her hospital room, staring out through the window into the massive underground cavern. Sunlight filtered into the artificial forest through massive skylights built into the roof. The city of New Canterlot sat atop the armored dome, hiding the fortress from even the most dedicated observer.

Sunset sighed as thoughts drifted through her consciousness, it had happened before and it would happen again, but this time was different. She was naturally inquisitive, she was a reader, a thinker, a learner, but she was not social; her thoughts and studies were more likely to be on the subject of nuclear fusion than friendship or banter.

Her thoughts rarely drifted to other ponies, and even then as a passing idle curiosity. This was different. This pony she had never met, who couldn't have known her or anything about her, had taken her place in the Eva, ridden the construct into battle.

Out of kindness, as socially inept as she was, she recognized kindness. She was hurt, the other pony couldn't let her hurt herself further, and took on the responsibility to fight, despite her fear. The concern in her eyes, for that moment, chipped away at the cold loneliness that permeated her life.

There was something familiar in those kind eyes, something she couldn't place, couldn't... know. But she was going to find out, going to, for the first time, try to understand that kindness, try to understand that pony. She looked down at her forehooves, her bandaged legs, fetlocks. She turned back to the hospital bed and her expression slipped into one of determination, just for an instant.

She had to get out of this hospital, there was research to be done, important, critical research.