A Man Of Science

The heat of the sun slowly slammed down onto his face. He opened his eyes, his vision quickly adjusting to the world around him. Birds darted from tree to tree, singing their hearts out as they did so. The wind slowly whistled as it passed Rigdon’s head, its hand gently caressing his hair, causing it to slowly wave back and forth. His eyes slowly looked down, finding Twilight’s head against his lap. He slowly reached down, his hand gently nudging against her figure. “Twilight, get up,” He called out softly.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, blinking away the tiredness as she was slowly brought back into the waking world. Her eyes quickly opened, slowly tilting up as her brain slowly processed the position she was in. Rigdon didn’t want to miss this chance of giving her a couple of lighthearted comments. “You good down there? You slept pretty good,” He gave a large grin. Twilight quickly pulled off from him, giving quick apologies in quick succession.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you! I was just tired a-” Rigdon silenced her with a raise of his hand. He had a knowing smile on his face; One that could even put Celestia’s to shame.

“It’s alright, you don’t need to apologize about something that doesn’t need it.” He slowly stood up, reaching up to a nearby apple tree. He picked out two apples, raising one to his face, taking a couple of chomps and chewing. He reached his other hand out to her. Twilight stared at the apple for a moment, the red fruit eventually getting engulfed in her magic. She brought the apple close to her face, slowly taking a bite from it. With all the commotion going on, Spike slowly woke up.

He gave a small stretch, opening his mouth and giving off a big yawn as he did so. His hands slowly reached up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He slowly stopped what he was doing, his green eyes dotting around. He quickly stood to his feet, his tail swinging in agitation. He pulled his head back to Twilight and Rigdon, a sorrowful look grazing his features. “So… everything that happened yesterday was real?” He questioned the both of them. Twilight’s head hung down as Rigdon gave him a small nod.

“Wait, Princess Celestia! I was so caught up with everything, I didn’t even think of telling her about this!” She lifted a nearby pen and paper in her magic. She hurriedly scratched down a couple of words. Once finished, she quickly rolled it up and handed it over to Spike. He gave a firm salute before grabbing the scroll. Taking a deep breath, he puffed out a green fire. The ashes of the letter blew against the wind as it was carried off to its intended target. Spike looked back to the both of them, his hands clenching into small fists.

“We need to go back to Ponyville,” He called out to them. “We need to save as many ponies as we can. It just… doesn’t feel right standing here and doing nothing.” His hands relaxed, his head tilting up to look at the both of them, bravery and confidence filling his eyes. Rigdon’s gut kept on telling him that doing that was going to be stupid and get them both killed. But, like usual, it was overruled by his heart and his mind. He let out a small sigh, giving a nod in agreement.

“Yeah, you’re right, Spike,” Rigdon swallowed a bit of his pride. He reached down, grabbing the rifle off from the ground. He slung the weapon onto his back, the gun swinging back and forth a little bit before it finally calmed down. “We should help as much as we can. I only got a few bullets, so I can’t be using this weapon unless it’s an absolute emergency.” He took a couple of steps forward.

“What’s going to be the plan?” Twilight questioned as she walked up to him. “I know we can’t just run in there. We’ll just end up captured, or worse,” She huffed out. Rigdon looked over to her, his hand raising upwards to his chin. His fingers slowly rubbed against his face as he wondered what they should do.

“Alright, come over here—I think I got something,” He called out to Twilight as he looked down to the ground. Twilight trotted over, quickly planting herself on the ground next to him. “You teleported us away yesterday, right? I got a question; How far can you use it?” He questioned her.

Twilight put on a thinking face as she sat there in silence. She looked back up to him, her eyes still conveying one of confusion. “I… don’t think there’s a limit. I think it’s limited to the magic that a pony has. So… maybe about thirty yards. Why are you asking?” She would tell him. Rigdon gave a small nod. He reached out, his fingers intertwined as he began to crack them. He then grabbed a nearby stick to use as a pointer.

“Alright, so let’s just say the bad guys and hostages are here, alright?” He looked back to Twilight who gave a nod. “The idea is that with this gun, I cause a distraction over here under the cover of trees.” He pointed over to the left with the stick. “That way, you can come up when they leave to rescue everybody,” He quickly added. “Then, once everyone is safe, you teleport me out of there.” Twilight stopped nodding, her face contorting into one filled to the brim with horror.

“Are you insane?!” She started off, offended by the fact he would even think of doing something like this. “You’re going to get yourself hurt by doing that!” She looked down, her ears folding back slowly. “I don’t want anypony else to get hurt.” She mumbled out, her words growing softer by each moment that went by. Rigdon gave a confident grin, reaching forward as he gave her a small pat.

“Look, I’m not going to get hurt! I’m going to be alright… After all, I got you to save my ass.” His voice slowly melted away Twilight’s worry. She lifted her head upwards, her ears slowly lifting back up. Her gaze slowly fell onto Rigdon.

“You promise you won’t get injured?” She questioned, her eyes slowly filling with hope. Rigdon slowly raised his left hand into the air, his right hand reaching up and resting over his heart. He was about to summon the devil with the words he was about to say.

“I Pinkie promise, Twilight. I’m not going to let anything happen to me.” He would say to her, finally pressing his fingertip and thumb together, drawing a cross along his body.

“Ooh, ooh! I love this part! Cross my heart and hope to fly—Stick a cupcake in my eye!” A familiar voice called out. Spike, Rigdon, and Twilight all slowly deadpanned their heads to the left, finding Pinkie inside a hole on one of the apple trees. Rigdon and Twilight seemed to share the same look of cluelessness, while Spike wasn’t even going to question it. She got out of the tree, bouncing in place slightly. “Sooo… Whatcha three doing?” she let out a small gasp “Did you have a sleepover? Aww…But I wasn’t even invited!” Her face contorted into a pout as she stopped bouncing.

“Pinkie? How long were you in there?... Also how did you even get in there?” Twilight questioned her friend. Pinkie lifted her hoof up to her lips, giving off a small ‘Hmm’ in response.

“Well, I just have a couple of tunnels under Ponyville in case of disasters like these! I was able to get a lot out before everything got bad,” She gave a huge grin. “As for how long I’ve been here… It’s about how long you’ve been discussing that plan!” She chimed in as she put her hoof down.

“How did you even know where to find us?” Rigdon quickly added, still a bit shaken up about how she could have this much foresight.

“Just a hunch!” She rebutted. That doesn’t really explain anything else, but it’s the best answer that Rigdon and Twilight were going to get. Spike walked up to Pinkie, his claws gently fiddling with each other as he asked an important question.

“Is Rarity alright?” He looked worried. Pinkie gave an enthusiastic nod, causing Spike to let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh yeah, she’s okie-dokie-loki! I helped her, Dashie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and a few others out! I told them I had a hunch where you two were at, or three in this case! They were following me, so they should be here any minute!” A squee came from her as she sat down, waiting for the others to arrive. Rigdon felt a bead of sweat as he stood there. Hopefully their first impressions with him won’t be soured by what just happened back at Ponyville.

He could hear galloping in the distance, the noise slowly growing faster. The first thing he saw was a light blue and rainbow blur racing towards him at top speed. His body froze up, eyes widening slightly. He was a deer in headlights. “Get away from my friends, you monster!” Rainbow called out, a clear hint of rage in her voice.

Rigdon closed his eyes, brows furrowing as he prepared for the imminent pain, which surprisingly never came. He opened his eyes, now finding Rainbow just out of hoofs reach from giving him a good thrashing. What held her back by her tail was a mare wearing a cowboy hat. “Hold on, sugarcube! I think this one is on our side,” She groaned out as she continued to hold her back. She had a distinct drawl of a southern American, which took him totally off guard.

“Oh come on! He’s probably just waiting to get the jump on us!” Rainbow continued to call out as she repeatedly tried to kick Applejack off, but to no avail. The two stragglers now arrived on the scene—A yellow Pegasus and a white Unicorn.

“Rainbow,” The Unicorn called out. She had a posh and refined note to her accent. “I understand your mistrust, but I think that Applejack may be right about this one. I think we should at least give him one chance.”

“I-I agree with Rarity. I think we should give him one chance. I don’t think he would harm anypony.” Fluttershy said in a hushed tone. Rigdon barely even heard her words! Rainbow flared her wings, her body slowly returning towards the ground. She put on a pouty face. Applejack, trusting that she was calm enough, let go of her tail. Spike, meanwhile, had ran up and gave Rarity a big hug, which she returned.

"I guess I can trust him... But the moment he tries anything funny, he's toast!" She threatened as she gave Rigdon a stink eye. Well, at least she tried to. Twilight slowly walked forward, tears welling up in her eyes. She took a couple of steps forward. She took a moment to find the right words, but she quickly found them.

“I-I… I thought I was never going to see you gals again. I thought that something bad might’ve happened and…” Twilight trailed off. The group quickly descended into a tight hug, a few of them sending words of encouragement.

“You know it’s going to take a lot more than a couple of monsters to take someone as awesome as me down!” Rainbow said pridefully. The group continued to comfort Twilight for a couple of more seconds before breaking off. Rigdon walked up a bit, everyone looking towards his direction.

“It’s nice to meet y’all,” He gave a small nod and a smile. “My name is Rigdon. I was meant to meet all of you yesterday, but clearly fate had other plans.” He would tell all of them. They all went one by one, offering their names to him. Rigdon looked back to Twilight. “Twilight, are we still going forward with that plan I made?” He questioned.

“What plan?” Rainbow asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice. Rigdon looked over to her, now finding her a couple feet away from him, eyes squinted slightly. He rolled his eyes. Well, guess he now had to share his idea with everyone.

“Well, the plan was pretty simple. I distract the Soviets, while Twilight was supposed to help others out. Then, when done, she was going to teleport me out.” He said to everyone else. Applejack shot him a glare, a worried look soon falling onto her face.

“Surely ‘ah ain’t the only one who thinks that this plan is a bit dumb?” She looked around, finding Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow agreeing. Pinkie, of course, was just being Pinkie and agreed with everyone.

“You’re saying that you want to take the brunt of the attack yourself? Are you insane?! You’re gonna get yourself killed!” Rainbow chimed in. Her choice of words caused Twilight’s ears to pull back. She was worried so much about him even getting a scratch from the plan, let alone him dying.

“Look, that was the original plan. But, Pinkie brought up a good point about how she even got you gals out in the first place. We can just use the tunnels instead. It’ll be easier for everyone to quickly leave without being seen. B’sides, when it’s all said and done, I’ll take one myself.” He would say softly.

“I wanna go with you!” Twilight called out, catching everyone off guard. The group turned their heads, their gazes now falling onto her. “If anything goes wrong, I can at least shield you… Plus, It’ll be much easier for me to teleport us out if the need arises.” She pawed at the ground with her hoof a little bit. Everyone seemed at least a little more confident in this plan, even giving a couple of agreeing nods. Now, it was just Rigdon’s approval that was left. He stood there, staring down at Twilight. He almost said no, but the puppy eyes that she gave him was too much for him to deny.

“Fine… Just stay close to me, alright? I don’t want you getting shot,” He called out to her. She stood up straight and triumphantly. Rarity slowly walked up to Twilight’s side. She leaned into Twilight’s ear, whispering a couple of choice words. Twilight’s eyes quickly shot open. She raised her hoof and slapped Rarity’s leg.

“It’s nothing like that!” She quietly snapped back at Rarity, a huge blush descending on her face. Rarity had a smug grin on her face. Twilight shook her head before walking up to Rigdon. She looked up to him, a small smile falling on her lips. “You ready?” She questioned. Rigdon looked back down to her, giving a quick nod of his head. He slowly swung his gun around, his hands tightly gripping the weapon.

“Ready as I’ll ever be…” He began to walk forward, stopping only a moment to remind everyone else of their jobs. “Y’all be with Pinkie. Since she knows the tunnels well, she’ll be the best to lead.” He looked back forward. Pinkie gave a small squeal of excitement, bouncing over to a small tree.

“C’mon everypony! Follow me!” She grinned as she jumped into the hole in the tree. The group looked a bit skeptical, but they quickly followed suit. While he and Twilight walked towards their positions, he looked over and broke the ice with some bit of conversation.

“So, Twilight… What did Rarity say to you earlier? I’m curious as to what would make you act so defensive.” He questioned her. Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, stopping only for a moment before giving him a vague answer.

“She was just teasing me. Nothing more than some joke.” She shook her head in embarrassment. Rigdon raised a brow at her answer, but decided not to push her further. Before they both knew it, they were on the outskirts of Ponyville. Soldiers were walking in between the houses, carrying out orders and having fun with their free time. Twilight looked over to him, a determined look in her eyes as she waited for the signal. Rigdon looked at her, his eyes locking onto hers. He gave a small nod, cocking the charging handle of the gun.

“It’s go time..”