Part Two - The Spark

         I closed my eyes for a minute, relaxing a bit before opening them again. The 25 MEWOD-T35´s rolled in toward another small village and I stared out at the scene bitterness in my eyes. The hatred, I could truly feel it burning inside of me, now being stronger than ever before.

The MEWOD-T35´s stopped and I put the Obliterator on my head. I then jumped off, villagers ran desperately in panic. I walked up toward them, took an aim against a young mare and fired. I started running throughout the village, aiming and firing at ponies all around me.

As I ran, I kept hearing the screams and simply felt it, coming from everywhere. That certain feeling of accomplishment, the so unbelievably addictive feeling which now ran through me, and I stopped my rampage only for a mere second just to embrace it. It felt lovely, it felt wonderful, and this was my life. I could never get enough of it.

It had gone a total of about five days since me and Aldeus had been having that little conversation, before everything had returned back to… the way it used to be. And sure, I should have been delighted by this fact… but, it wasn’t that simple for me. Even though I felt better than ever, it just wasn’t like I wanted it to be.

I felt trapped, back in the tiny bubble I once liked to call life. But at the same time, I hated what “it” had done to me. Breaking me down to pieces and nearly ruining me; I was disgusted by “it”. “It” just felt so wrong and unnatural and all I wanted now was to be rid of it forever.

What a predicament, I couldn’t live with it…nor could I even do without it. Nevertheless, the truly important thing to me was to keep doing what I was supposed to do and follow my true purpose. And it was crystal-clear to me that this only purpose was to follow the will of Aldeus. He had given me both life and meaning, a way to really make a true difference and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

I turned around and looked at the MEWOD-T35 located in the other side of the village before I then saw A0087 standing there. Ever since everything had returned back to normal, she had been following with us on every raid. Our group that is, I wondered if it perhaps was because she couldn’t trust me herself... or if it simply was because Aldeus had told her to do so.

Either way, she had clearly been keeping an eye on me for those past days. The chief of the UNIFBOT department, what was it that made me so important so that she would sacrifice half of her day, more or less, just to keep an eye on me? It just wouldn’t make sense to me, was she afraid that I might go on some kind of murderous rampage on our own kind?

I laughed lightly at the thought and she suddenly stared at me, quite confused as it appeared, I saw her doing so and stopped laughing.

“Come over!” shouted A0087 from across the village.

It seemed I had to be much more careful, I sighed and started walking toward her MEWOD-T35. When I arrived, I slowly climbed up on it and walked up to her.

“You see all this, F5262?” asked A0087 with clear devotion and made a quick gesture toward the burning village.

I looked out and could once again feel the hatred burning inside of me. “Justice!” said I with the same devotion.

“Maybe he was wrong about it all…” said A0087 thoughtfully.

So it was Aldeus who’d told her after all, thought I to myself, distracted to a degree. We both heard the noise stop and looked as one final pony, a young colt, escaped toward the outskirts of the village. A0087 gave me a meaning look and I aimed at him before firing, the bright beam hit the young colt and he simply screamed as his body slowly pulverized into nothing but gravel.

She turned toward me with a smile, “By the way, it is quite the device you got there.”

I smiled back and felt a little enthusiasm as I spoke, “Yes, it is without doubt the crown jewel of my work!”

I started thinking about my creation. The Obliterator, it was probably one of the most brilliant weapons in existence, having the means to channel and focus massive amounts of energy in just seconds. Its creation was a mere coincidence and a subject of both wild imagination and frustration. Who would have guessed crossing three ideas into one would come to stand as such a success?

“Well, you’ll come to have good use of it tomorrow because then, your group will be entering a temporal “cooperation” if you get my word.” said A0087 in a reserved manner.

“What for?” asked I confused over what she could mean.

She looked straight at me and answered with more enthusiasm, “Because then, you will be attacking the great city of Pegasquire!”

An actual city, it had been awhile. Maybe this is just the change of pace I have really been looking for, thought I gladly. The MEWOD-T35´s turrets and manual controls had been shutting themselves down as soon as I had killed that young colt and now, they were all standing here and there across the village in one big mess. A0087 gave me another meaning look; I jumped off the MEWOD-T35 and returned to my own.

There sat E1324, a green stallion earth robot with black spots staring out in the middle of nowhere. I looked into his eyes but I didn’t see emptiness, all I saw was purpose. The MEWOD-T35´s all somehow succeeded in finding a way out of the area consisting of burning ruins that had once been a village. They then swiftly accelerated; it was time to return back home.

I had just finished the blueprints for Prototype IIX which now actually looked like a completely functional device, in theory of course. I had to get it built first…still, I had no doubt it would work like a charm when I was done with it. I flinched at bit as I heard the three short beeps coming from the two speakers in the upper corners of my room.

Time for that then, thought I a little stressed. I left my room in hope that it would be something simple this time, although I had a bit of time to think over what may happen. As I walked through the hallway, I stopped since my eyesight was suddenly blocked by a metal hoof showing up right in front of me.

I looked to the right and saw the owner of this hoof; A0087 lowered it and said, “Not so fast! I have a new task I’d like to give you.”

She sounded quite eager. I fell into shock for a moment but calmed myself a bit before answering, “And what might this be?”

She spoke a little calmer now, though she did answer me almost immediately, “The weapon has become fully functional, but there is still one small problem!”

I looked at her, confused… ”The weapon?” asked I slowly.

“I’m talking about “the” weapon!” answered A0087 now a little annoyed.

“The” weapon of course, thought I to myself. “The” weapon, the mythical concealment surrounding the mystical north tower.

“But why ask me?” asked I, now a little confused over this seemingly strange fact.

“Because this lies in relevance to your last project!” answered A0087 with a clearly impatient voice.

I thought back on “the lock” which I had just finished a couple of days ago. What could this even have to do with the weapon at all; I had just basically been designing a big door. Nothing more. But I decided to stop asking these kinds of questions seeing as she was clearly annoyed as it was and I didn’t want to anger her more than necessarily.

“What is this problem then?” asked I with undeniable curiosity. She looked almost relieved before she started talking,

“The weapon is missing something, something important! And I think you just might be the one able to get me this “something”.” I gave her a curious look and she directly responded with a smile.

I took a seat behind a desk in the big room. Of all times A0087 could have stopped me, she had to do it right before the test. It was 21:54 and I had just experienced the ultimate terror of being late and having to walk around blindly looking for a seat for about half-an-hour.

The desk opened itself and before I had even gotten a chance to look, A0087´s voice coming from the speakers echoed throughout the room, “You can begin your tests, NOW!”

I looked down with curiosity and saw a big white shining crystal ball and a small ring, seemingly consisting by the same kind of crystal. I tried scanning the material, to no use since it proved to be in the “CLASSIFIED INFORMATION” database.

The crystal ball and ring both flashed and so, I took a closer look at them. The word “WILL” was carved into the crystal ball in big shining letters and the word “PURPOSE” on the ring. I thought over what I saw, purpose and will. These objects… I looked at them very carefully.

I then lifted them both and pushed them at each other, to no use. No matter how much I tried, the crystal ball would still be all too large to be able to fit through that ring. How ridiculous of me, I dropped them both and tried thinking about it a little more. Purpose… it… there is a purpose, me and then the will to fulfil this purpose.

We had learnt that you must follow your will and let it guide you in the direction of which the purpose begs to lead you at the moment or these elements will have lost their meaning completely, because lost separately… they are nothing. Hmm, if it is a metaphor, then… I thought about it as I picked up the ring once more, levitating it before my eyesight and looked at it carefully.

I then slowly lifted it above my head and carefully placed it onto my horn. If this works now, thought I in utter frustration. I tried using my magic yet another time and felt a warm sensation piercing throughout my forehead, the crystal ball floated in the air and I tried shaking it, hoping that something would happen.

Nothing did, of course, I then just placed the crystal ball back on the desk and gently touched it with my horn. The crystal ball shined brightly and quickly vaporized into nothing along with the ring. The familiar screen came down from the ceiling and greeted me with the word “COMPLETED”. I rose up and slowly left the room, now deeply in my own thoughts.

As I entered my room, I simply walked up and took a seat behind my own desk. A0087 wanted me to create a special kind of apparatus, one that would be able to channel massive amounts of power in seconds or else, the weapon wouldn’t be functional.

And of course I could put two and two together and realise that the Obliterator which was generally built for these measures could serve as the final key to make the weapon functional. Of course it wasn’t that simple nevertheless, I couldn’t expect that one would just be able to take the Obliterator and stuff it right into “the weapon”.

A0087 had given me a blueprint of a strange kind of slot which I for the record, had never seen before and had told me to make this machine compatible with that slot counting it up to a clearly unreachable energy drainage level. I had decided that instead of wasting two weeks or so, putting all my work into a new construction, I was going to build a much less complicated kind of adapter.

It would not take very long, but I was going to need some careful analysis on the Obliterator to be able to get this right. A thing I was all too tired for, so that would have to be after the raid the next day. To attack the great city of Pegasquire, thought I with enthusiasm. I left the desk and laid down in the small bed to begin the re-powering process and to once again, rest for the night.

I woke up to the three familiar long beeps and quickly got out of bed. I felt beyond fantastic; it was time for the next big moment of my life! I hurried out of my room and took the ordinary path entering the big yard. The final MEWOD-T35´s was rolling into place making three long lines with 25 MEWOD-T35´s in each one of them.

I climbed up on one and sat down for a second, looking around myself and admiring the towers, structures and buildings surrounding the yard. They arose all around me, so many that they became impossible to keep track of and covered in the black metal which were the fruit of the miners hard work.

The miners groups were solely consisting of earth robots and probably had some of the toughest and most important tasks. Working in the mines didn’t just involve gathering precious metals but had an evident benefit; they were also serving as torture chambers for the Equestrian’s.

For as far as we did kill everypony, there were some who were always assigned to bring a couple of so-called POWs with them. This rule mainly went for the larger constructions, as they were occasionally thrown out into smaller groups to bring this task to life. They were later heavily secured and transported to the mines.

This process didn’t serve any other purpose than to prolong their suffering and perhaps a small bit for the amusement of the workers too. I didn’t really know what happened down there, speaking about the mines was a strict taboo for all of us. And this is to say, as far as “communication” went when it wasn’t turned toward others than our superiors.

I turned my head around and my gaze got stuck on the one single place I often had a hard time ripping it away from. The humongous north tower was easily the largest building in the fortress, what in the world could Aldeus be keeping in there? It had always bothered me, especially considering my annoyingly infallible curiosity.

The yard was really nothing more than a relatively small outdoor area with a big lawn, but I still liked it there more than any other place at the fortress. Even if I perhaps would say that I did like the journeys even more, they offered the exact right kind of relaxation which I was often longing for and to top it off, went on for hours.

It was just so quiet before anyrobot had started arriving and I could easily find peace there at those times. The sunset was astoundingly beautiful, seemed to become even more beautiful each time I was alone out there.

I suddenly heard a metallic sound and turned around, the MEWOD-T35´s shutter slowly opened and I saw a metal hoof grabbing to ledge before quickly climbing out of the machine.

“Surprised?” asked A0087 with a smile on her face. I fell in complete shock for a second but then quickly pulled myself together without any hesitation.

A0087 kept speaking and I could just taste her anticipation, “Ah, today is a great day! When was the last time you got to follow on journey in the likes of this one?”

I took a moment to think before answering, “I believe it was about four months ago…”

She looked at me very calmly and then suddenly looked away with a clearly bitter expression on her face, “I trust you and I sincerely hope you won’t disappoint me, are we clear?”

Her very sudden words confused me rather than shocked me! What was all this coming from, what could possibly have made her think that I would betray us during these past few days? Because I could certainly not gain one single differing impression judging by her earlier behaviour during those past days and of course, I liked jumping to conclusions. I snapped out of my thoughts as I realised she had now started staring at me.

“Yes, chief!” said I quickly with an awkward tone.

She then went on and drilled her gaze into me as if I was a complete moron before walking back to the shutter. She pressed the button on the side and it opened.

“I’ll come back out when we arrive! And F5262, please do not disturb me this time.” said A0087 with clear authority and an obvious bit of annoyance in her voice before she jumped down inside of the MEWOD-T35 and the shutter closed behind her. All that anger and bitterness…out of nowhere?

The ride there wasn’t very interesting at all…in fact; it may have been one of the longest and most unnecessary ones as of yet in my experience. The city was located high up in the mountains of Equestria, surrounded by high cliffs.

Now, here’s the fun part: There were two paths in and out of town, one that everypony actually used for travelling and shipping supplies to the ponies living there. And one that no pony ever used which would take about an extra two hours reaching instead of the much shorter one and to top it off, more pleasant route.

But of course, we needed to take the longer one, always just to be certain that everything went exactly according to plan. Every necessary little precaution had to be made! I couldn’t believe why it was so important, just as long as they got to suffer… what did it matter if a few of them escaped?

I spent the final hour getting there considering aforementioned fact and when we were all finally about to arrive at Pegasquire, I heard a familiar dull, metallic sound behind me and turned around. A0087 came climbing up and turned around against the rest of the MEWOD-T35´s standing behind ours.

“Attention!” A0087 shouted loudly. The rest of us turned around quickly as well and we all watched and listened carefully as she spoke, “As you all can see, we are about to enter the city now. I trust you know what to do! Aldeus will soon be here to watch over your work! No survivors, am I making myself clear?”

All of them nodded understandingly but did not say a thing, and neither did I. Aldeus was going to be there, that pretty much explained her behaviour…or at least part of it. There was something odd about her, something very unusual. The first few MEWOD-T35´s rolled into town including ours and I could already hear the screams of panic and see ponies running for their lives.

I gazed down at them, running off the streets, running toward alleys, running inside houses and closing the doors behind them. I felt rage; I hated them as they were… more than ever, running like cowards. Pitiful creatures. The anger bubbled up inside of me; I jumped off the MEWOD-T35 with the Obliterator on my head and got right into business.

I ran down town square, the area was quadratic, surrounded by tall colourful buildings and with a big statue in the centre presumably representing the mayor or something like that. The peculiar cube-looking buildings several doors on each side all stood tall as if they were staring down at me and for some reason, even woke a bit of ridiculous offence which I immediately came to ignore.

The mare displayed was a bit young-looking; though still a bit more mature judging by her well-handled white mane, her tense way of standing, as if she was just always ready for something to happen. And of course, the expression which was the strongest signal of them all, signifying a powerful leader with the ability to take action when necessary.

The buildings felt as if they slowly rose up around me, creating a plain area which was to be filled with despise, gathering around the despicably obnoxious ones who once even dared to claim the gift of life as something only given to the worthy. They were everywhere, unbelievably measly creatures.

I aimed and fired at them; an unlucky mare got hit and suffered the, oh so painful death. The satisfying feeling of accomplishment came back to me; I all of a sudden saw the mayor’s office up ahead and thought that I’d take a small peak.

The building was plainly grey, cube-looking and with a much greater appearance then the rest of them considering both the size and the fact that it was located on the top of a bizarrely misplaced hill.

I ran toward the building and fired at everypony reachable in my surroundings, the feeling of accomplishment was so incredibly arousing that I just had to stop for a second so I could even get a chance to catch my breath. I just stood there breathing and smiling in a manic sense of enjoyment.

I then ran up the steps reaching toward the building where the mayor may have presumably been hiding. I reached the door and entered, it was very warm inside and the floors were covered with books lying everywhere around me. The entire floor, the walls and ceilings all had a strange pattern which very much confused me rather than awaking my normal sense of curiosity like a situation like this usually would have preceded by now.

They were chequered in not only one or two, but so many colours that I even had trouble registering them all. I just stood there for a couple of seconds, throwing out confused looks all over the funhouse which was apparently to be referred to as a public edifice.

I then turned my head, glancing across the floor which was as stated, covered with books in mountainous piles. I looked at them and sighed, had she really never heard of anything called a “bookshelf”?

I had a very hard time getting through the mess and literally zick-zacked around the hallway trying to reach the stairs at the far end of the room, leading to the next floor.

It was too difficult or perhaps impossible for me to just walk right through the lot of it; most of those piles were at least twice my size. When finally arriving, I sighed in deep appreciation and walked up the long staircase. There was a door to the right and a presumably long corridor to the left.

I slowly left the staircase and turned to the left, about to enter the small corridor but then flinched as a spear flew through the air. I barely got a chance to duck just before it was about to hit me, I then watched out toward the dark corridor looking for the source of the sudden attack. A silhouette shaped itself in the dark and I made myself ready to fire at it.

Suddenly, it disappeared; I walked closer to the corridor trying to see the silhouette again before hearing a furious voice from behind me, “You come here……you defile our great kingdom…”

I turned around but the one I saw wasn’t the mare pictured by the monument outside. She was dressed in rugs, her clothes were soiled and most of her mane was burned off. I could barely make out if she was actually black, or if it only was dirt covering her body. In fact, I couldn’t really make that out at all.

“Who…who are you?” asked I, shocked by her appearance.

She looked at me like I had just said the worst and most offensive thing possible, “Be quiet, nuisance! You have no right even saying a word in my presence.”

I flinched again as I was then paralyzed in shock, no pony or robot for that matter had ever spoken to me in that manner before. No…no, I have to pull myself together, thought I in frustration.

I strongly doubted before deciding to say something again, “You…you’re the one who doesn’t deserve to be here.”

Yes, not very thought out on my behalf but what was I supposed to say? She looked at me with bitterness and I saw as she slowly got a crazy smile on her face, “So that is what they teach you?”

What the… what did she just say to me, thought I as the shock kept growing and growing for every mere second. This entire scenario felt inexistent, like it just shouldn’t be supposed to happen.

“What… what do you mean by “teach me”?”

“Hmph, it doesn’t even matter! You will be part of the dead when I’m done here so it won’t do you any good!”

I looked at her as my shock somehow slowly transformed into pure anger and hatred and started slowly backing up, ready to fire if she would try something.

“Oh, how cute! You want a piece of me?” she said in a sarcastic manner.

I sighed and stared at her, I wasn’t intending for her to react this way. She quickly ripped off some of the rugs revealing a horn behind it all and before I was even fast enough to react, she aimed at me.

I looked at her in confusion before realising what she was about to do. I had to work fast or I would be dead, without even thinking it through properly, I aimed my horn at her as well and fired at the exact same moment she did.

Our beams, hers, lightly blue and mine, shining white. They faced each other in the middle of the hallway where colours gathered and swiftly switched nuances in a hypnotising manner, reshaping into a shining ball of light.

It seemed she was in complete shock due to clear ignorance of my ability and I decided I could take that to my advantage. I strained myself and quickly forced the ball closer to her; she pulled out of shock and quickly started pushing from the other side.

The ball of light slowly moved away from her and back toward me, I put all my power into the beam in hope that it would turn back. But it kept moving closer to me and I watched rather more in frustration than terror as it did. Suddenly, I felt anger and hatred bubbling up inside of me. I am not going to meet my doom at the hooves of somepony like her, a cocky unicorn.

The thought felt as if it crawled out and bit me right in the middle of my face. The hatred consumed me and the beam started shining even brighter still without having the ball turning back toward her. Suddenly, it came to burst out right into hers and within the blink of an eye, the ball of light reached her and hit her with a trembling sound.

I stood there, exhausted from what I’d just had to endeavour while listening to her loud moans of pain. But…something was different now! She started turning into… I tried identifying the strange sight before me… solid… stone? Yes… but how? I stood there, confused as I suddenly heard the door opening downstairs, I ran to the ledge of the staircase and watched as the black alicorn came walking in with A0087 following tight on his heels.

“You look surprised, perhaps I could explain this?” said Aldeus immediately, with a smile on his face.

I looked down toward A0087 who seemed to be experiencing a not-too-obvious mixture of both frustration and mere relief. Her reaction almost made me forget how shocked and confused I actually was right at the moment. I turned around before I was about to walk down the stairs when I was faced by a mare in solid stone.

I flinched a bit and looked at it… her. I turned away, back toward the staircase and looked at Aldeus with a big question mark on my face.

He looked at the mare and then back to me before responding, “When two separate energies meet and become one, one kind of a bond is formed. A thread in between respective sources if you so will, this thread connects them and will not be broken unless one is overpowered by the other. Now, her current state is the result of your power facing hers, but you should of course be able to reach the same result anytime just as long as you have got an opposing force structure, am I clear enough?”

I listened closely to every word he said and nodded when he was done. I still would have nodded whether I really understood him or not, not to do so was considered an obvious sign of disrespect. He kept smiling and slowly walked up the stairs, A0087 waited downstairs and stood there with the exact same expression. When he reached me, he just stood there and admired the statue like he was admiring some precious monument.

He turned toward me and looked at me with a sense of satisfaction, “Very well done, F5262! I have been hunting her for years and now, she is finally in my grasp.”

I looked back at him and asked curiously as the thought showed up in a classically immediate sense, “But there is no way for her to escape, is it?”

“That would be if whoever originally unleashed the opposing force upon her died, then the bond between them would become completely obliterated and the she would be free to walk Equestria as she pleased once again. Otherwise, it is theoretically impossible! But we would not go as far as to take that risk, would we? I mean, now when there is a much easier way of working out a situation such as this one.”

He slowly backed away from the statue looking like he was anticipating something, he kept backing away from it until he finally stopped and tilted his head slightly to the left making an indication for me to get over there. I ran over to him in a confused manner.

And as soon as I reached him, he aimed his horn and fired a seemingly small, dark beam toward the statue. The beam hit it and the statue slowly started cracking up before suddenly exploding into millions of pieces. I reflexively closed my eyes but all I could hear was a shattering sound.

I opened them and saw how all pieces even getting the slightest bit close to us pulverized into nothing. I turned against him and waited patiently, he was now just staring at the place where the statue had been a moment ago.

I hesitated but then asked, “Shall we go?”

He looked at me and his smile went away just like that, “Yes, it is time now!”

As all three of us left the building, I kept noticing that even though A0087 was a bit calmer, there was still something very tense about the way she carried herself. We walked down the steps and I kept asking myself, what in the world could Aldeus have told her?

I suddenly remembered something and looked up at Aldeus as we kept walking down, “What about the mayor?”

Not that I truly thought it was of any real concern, but due to the annoyingly neck-itching curiosity I had always been trying to hold to myself I just had to know.

He calmly answered and did it without even looking at me, “She was taken care of a very short time ago.”

This was getting a bit confusing for me so I gave him the most inquisitive look I had to offer, he understood and answered immediately without the least bit of hesitation, “Yes, you did come here before me… and then did as expected and let your eyes deceive you.”

It was…surely it couldn’t have been, the mare that anyrobot could have mistaken for an exile was actually the mayor? We left the stairs and he immediately stretched out his wings without even looking the other way. He then flew off and landed on the big statue in the centre of town square. He stood there and watched over the destruction, although this part of town did seem to be much calmer now.

I inquisitively turned against A0087 but before I had even gotten a chance to say anything she aggressively responded, “None of your business!”

I sighed deeply in my disappointment and responded back, “Yes, chief!”

She stood there trying to calm herself down a bit before saying, “I have a very important job for you now! You see, even though we’ve put exquisite efforts in keeping ponies away from the town borders, they still keep coming in large numbers. We need somerobot to guard the actual exit out of town and considering the skill you’ve shown using that device…well, I think you see where I’m getting at. So, up for the job?”

I gave her somewhat of a confused look and answered sarcastically, “So you say I actually have a choice?”

“Of course not!” said A0087 like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well, can I at least hitch a ride to be able to get there quickly?” asked I hopefully.

She looked at me, a little annoyed, “I think we’re going to need the machines here! You can run over there, okay?”

I was becoming a little frustrated; did she really want me to run all the way there, to the other side of town? I answered accordingly in somewhat of a whiny manner, “But it’s on the other side of town, and if I got there faster it would only give me opportunity to… A0087 interrupted me by yelling right into my face… “No, no, no and no!”

“Fine!” I responded calmly and almost immediately, I was doubting if I should really go on and continue since upsetting her had not proven to be the most wondrous idea in the past. So I guessed I was going to have to run… to the other side of town.

Still, I unwillingly took it up in my mind once again… just to be sure, should I maybe ask her for… I looked at her and saw how furious she truly was at the moment… perhaps not. Without saying anything, I ran away from there and left town square. I just simply had to use my sense of direction for this one, yet another ability to put to the test. One I wasn’t too fond of using either.

After looking for half-an-hour… and with the help of a little luck, I arrived at the town borders. Or to be more precise, at the only exit out of town as of now. It was a small mountain pass guarded by virtually no robot. There were a few MEWOD-T35´s around the area which were very obviously nearly drained of their energy supplies.

This wouldn’t do…this would certainly not do. I took a good look around, the place felt empty. It was very quiet, the only sounds I could really hear were distant screams coming from further inside town. There were two abandoned buildings behind me, in ruins.

All that could really be made out of these ruins were merely remainders of what used to be, of a distant past. Even though we had just come today, it felt like the place had been like this for perhaps as much as weeks.

I walked up right in the middle of the mountain pass which was quite small, the MEWOD-T35´s had apparently been rolling around like blind turtles… or whatever likes rolling around the way they had been.

“Still keep coming in large numbers, huh?”

Bah, it felt more like A0087 had just wanted to get me out of the way… for any reason. I turned around, looked upon the ruins before me and tried to clear my thoughts.

Fine, if she wanted to get me out of the way then why not, I would just stay there and do nothing. I heard a dull sound coming from behind me and reflexively turned around. I looked upon the great mountain pass and could once again feel an utter silence.

There had probably not been anypony even having a slim chance of escaping, I couldn’t help but to think over the following points even though I knew I would probably never get the answers for them, why was A0087 doing this to me, and why acting so cryptic?

I couldn’t think of anything she could possibly be hiding from me, it was of course a fact that she wanted everything to be perfect seeing as Aldeus had come but to give me this kind of assignment after me proving myself again and again. It just didn’t make sense, though it did feel like it was because of something Aldeus had told her… recently… yesterday she had been acting normally.

Just whatever might be referred to as “normal” on her behalf nevertheless. I heard yet another sound coming from the distance but didn’t pay much attention to it.

I just laid down on the cold, plain ground and tried to stop thinking for at least a minute or so. Another sound coming from the distance was heard, I kept trying to ignore it and curled up, attempting to make the best out of what the ground had to offer and very unexpectedly, actually found myself in a total state of relaxation.

I suddenly flinched and rose up immediately as I heard hoofsteps coming in this direction. I was about to call on the MEWOD-T35´s but then quickly changed my mind. At the very most, they would just make a distraction the way they handled themselves and I’d had enough of those by far in the most recent time.

The hoofsteps were getting closer and I suddenly heard the sound coming from right behind me, I quickly turned around and saw a couple. A blue unicorn stallion and a yellow younger-looking unicorn mare, the feel of the entire situation could not be described by many other means than the word bizarre as both of them suddenly burst toward me, running as fast as they could.

To me, the mere fact of them thinking they were going to ram me down was measly on its own. I aimed my horn at them but unexpectedly, they stopped as quickly as their hooves could bear them to, both with shock on their faces.

I fired the beam as the mare quickly took a leap toward the great cliff right in front of me which looked like it could probably have been their hiding place all along. The stallion reacted the same way just a second later, but he wasn’t getting away at this rate. He jumped and the beam merely touched his back-hooves as it passed by.

But that is all that was needed; I listened with a manic smile as he screamed in misery...just wanting it all to be over. His screams then almost drowned in hers as she cried begging him to… live. Suddenly, his screams stopped and all I could hear was her sobbing over the dull sound of gravel hitting the ground.

It all was a very strange experience for me, killing him felt wonderful and the well-known feeling of accomplishment kept growing up inside of me. I just couldn’t help but to feel an even stronger urge to see her dead as well. I considered it a favour myself; ending her misery… it was only for her own good.

I slowly walked toward the cliff feeling satisfyingly amused; it wasn’t like she was going anywhere so I started strutting a bit on the way there, very entertained by the boldness the couple had just showed. I could suddenly once again hear hoofsteps, this time coming from right behind me.

I slowly turned around in a manic manner and saw a green neon-coloured unicorn filly standing there. It felt like everything was just getting better and better. And I who thought I was going to be bored to death by staying there, but I had truly been wrong about that one as it occurred.

I heard the mare screaming behind me and all pieces fell into place, so that was her daughter, huh? The rare opportunity of seeing a pony who has just lost everything dear to her die before me. All I had to do was to take care of this abomination, this monster. She looked me right in the eyes with so much fear before just curling up on the ground, shaking.

I looked back into her eyes focusing all of my anger and hatred on her alone; she seemed to be shaking even more. I then just aimed at her and shot… she was still standing there. I looked at her, confused over what could have happened…she should have been in grave pain by now.

I flinched as I realised I wasn’t wearing anything on my head anymore. I looked around and let my eyes scan the plain area around me very carefully. Still nothing, I hopelessly dropped my head and suddenly flinched again. There, on the ground, right at my hooves, there it was.

How silly of me, I bent down to pick it up but as I was about to put it on my head, I accidently dropped it. This was…strange, this had never happened to me before. I tried bending down to pick it up again…but I couldn’t. I strained myself as much as possible but I still couldn’t move a muscle.

This is just madness, what is wrong with me, these thoughts built up in my head and hit me like lightning…but soon they all shattered at the very same moment making way for a new sensation. Suddenly, I felt I could move again, if only barely. The feeling was familiar, I couldn’t feel anything but fear.

I dropped out of my thoughts as the filly strangely enough, started walking closer to me. My reaction was as unreasonable to me as the entire situation was itself. I backed away from her, slowly and insecurely. What was she doing? As she slowly got closer, I felt the desire to strike her down, crush her and tear her to pieces.

She stopped right in front of me and I pulled back, at this rate I suddenly realised why I really was doing this. But why would I, my thoughts stopped at once as the hatred and bitterness overwhelmed me. This is just ridiculous, thought I as she stood there with a curious expression on her face.

I made short gesture to pick up the Obliterator but suddenly stopped myself. She was smiling at me, I looked at her. This wasn’t like anything I had ever seen or experienced before. I felt warm inside, I simply forgot all about the desire to kill just like that and looked into her eyes.

They were all playful, yet so full of love and curiosity. Suddenly, I remembered what I was actually doing and made another short gesture in order to pick up the Obliterator. This time, I stopped myself immediately. Why, was all I could come to think of. I didn’t see any reason; those were not the eyes of a monster. Were they?

I looked back inside of myself once again, I felt nothing. No fear, no hatred, everything was gone right now at this very moment. All I could feel was a strange sense of relief, as if I was freed…freed? The feeling was…unexplainable, it was like some kind of dream. I kept looking into her eyes as she started doing the same, I couldn’t feel any supposed evil inside of her.

But…what could all this be coming from? Without thinking about it, without even a mere second of consideration, I stretched out and reached a little closer to her. And curious as it seemed, she did the exact same thing. Our horns barely touched one and another, a white shining sparkle flattered down from between us as they did.

Then, everything around me once again started moving and as I heard the plagued voice of the caring mother, “Jelly, get over here now. Now!”

We both snapped out of it and she ran away toward the mountain pass. The mother came out from behind the great cliff and the filly who’s name was apparently Jelly ran right into her embrace. I looked at them and could suddenly feel some kind of warmth somehow coming from beneath my fur, not an unpleasant but instead rather soft, relaxing feeling.

A lone tear swiftly ran down my left cheek, I had only gone as far as to read about it but no words would ever be able to describe the sensation that was lying behind that single tear at this very moment. Both of them ran down the road as fast as their hooves could bear them. I simply just watched as they both ran down the mountain pass.

The “watching” soon turned into doubtful staring as I just stood there, speechless. And as they vanished out of sight, I still stood there…staring. Then, I slowly turned around and was to be met with a new surprise. There, stood Aldeus back by the ruins looking at me with a very thoughtful expression on his face, hardly interpretable on any level whatsoever.

In front of him stood A0087 with a furious and very much comprehensible expression to say at the very least since furious may not have been enough to describe her anticipated anger at that very moment.

She honestly looked more like she wouldn’t have much doubt in executing me by pushing me off the twisted road going down the great mountain pass and thus crushing me on the sharp cliffs located beneath. I swallowed and stared at her, I was too shaken to be able to say a single thing in my defence.

She walked up to me as she kept shouting louder and louder, “This is what you make out of your situation?! You idiot! You pathetic, ignorant fool! When I’m done with you…”

Aldeus came in and immediately interrupted her ranting, “No need, A0087! This is not the time for any of that.”

She stopped very unwillingly and slowly walked back to him. He started talking to me in a calm and reserved tune, “It is time to return back home. You have done a splendid job.”

A0087 immediately started protesting against his both to me and her, all-too-sudden and strange praising, “But you saw that she…” He gave her a seemingly meaning look and she stopped.

I was now sitting on a MEWOD-T35 on the way home. A0087 had locked herself in inside of one of the other MEWOD-T35´s. This time though, for some very different obvious reasons. But I didn’t have any plans on protesting, or ask her any question about whatever it was they were hiding from me.

I was just glad to get away from there without any kind of punishment whatsoever. No punishment even though I’d done what A0087 had expressively told me not to do. But no, I hadn’t just let “two lucky ponies slip through the defences”. No, I had literally watched as they ran off. That usually didn’t pay off one bit… but for some reason; I got out of the trouble easily this time.

Was it because of all my earlier praised work that Aldeus let it slip through? On the other hand, he had never stroked me as the merciful type. I realised it didn’t matter either way, he would still find out about what had just happened to me before sooner or later. How all hatred and anger just vanished, and how it never returned… or perhaps if it so was going to or not.

If so, then it wouldn’t matter the slightest bit, even from the beginning. But what would he do then? Same as he did last time? I thought of it and it struck me how easy it really was. No sudden doubt, no nothing. No tense feelings or…well…I thought back and remembered her eyes, those curious playful eyes.

How, in the deepest moment of embrace concerning one feeling turned and my eyes were opened for something new. Something I had never stood before and I was apparently welcome to accept it, let it into whatever should be referred to as my life. Or was I? I couldn’t answer the question myself; I simply didn’t hold the means to do it.

Science, mathematics and clever tricks… a breeze. Then what was this? I tried not to think of it just like that out of fear for what might happen, but what could? How could I be under the ridiculous impression that something like this would ever be able to hurt me in any way whatsoever?

A question I didn’t have the means to answer either, thus creating a loop of insignificance all surrounding some harmless, still judging by impression, inopportune thoughts. I paid an oath to myself that I would never forget that moment, the very moment that had… just given me something else.

I successfully stopped thinking about it all and looked out toward the great and dark wastelands. It was all a place that offered the greatest amount of relaxation possible for me; it was only on these kinds of journeys that I really got a chance to think like this undisturbed.

Though my thoughts were now very differing, whether I liked the fact or not. I felt a small breeze and looked as Aldeus flew by, incredibly fast. I kept watching as he slowly vanished out of sight, a long journey for us but a rather shorter one for him. I thought over the time schedule and made some notations.

Yes, now is the time, thought I to myself. Soon, maybe right when we got back, our tests would begin. I wasn’t in the right kind of mood for this, many of these trials would need me to use abilities that I wasn’t… no… couldn’t comprehend at the time.

What was I supposed to do then? Well, the only reasonable thing if something. Just keep hoping for the best, this was certainly not a good time to look out and stare the future right in her black hollow eye sockets. But instead, I could just keep my hopes up and embrace the moment.

Not that it was the best thing to do, not in any strange alternative dimension would this be the best thing for me to do at this obvious moment of weakness. But it felt so much easier and “easier” is just what I needed right at the time… all the newly opened doors standing before me.

And I was left shocked because of all the things I didn’t think of, what I should have been bound to think of on the journey back home. A fact that seemed more and more frightening to me as time moved on. I tried my hardest with all means necessary to get back into my earlier state of mind… to no use.

Not that I actually thought anything was going to work considering the disastrous outcome from when I tried the last time this happened. Then again, this wasn’t the last time and there were plenty of obvious differences which I had already encountered, yet some similarities that would not put an individual to the least bit of doubt in what to believe.

I slowly walked through the great hallway being in poor hurry since I wanted to “embrace the moment” to say, before I had to go through the probably rather difficult challenge that was ahead of me. I arrived and unwillingly walked inside the big room. It felt just so much more familiar than before, closer somehow. The shiny roof, concrete walls and floors all felt so clear before my eyes.

But the room was still all the same and as it was getting crowded with more and more of us came to feel a little more familiar. I did what I usually did and although relaxing and taking a seat quite frankly did not prove to be the easiest task as of now, I managed. I sat there feeling extremely tense, it all felt so… different by the time.

Due to our recent arrival, the gathering went quite swiftly and it didn’t take long until the final one of us had taken a seat. I looked at the gate and waited for it to close just as always. But… nothing happened; I immediately started asking myself if it could be another emergency.

The risks of it happening again were of course minimal but in which other way was I to speculate? The question woke an unexpected feeling which suddenly grew intensely stronger from the back of my head; I flinched and literally almost fell off of the seat when I saw what now happened.

Aldeus, A0465, A1043, A7934, A0967, A1635 and A0087 entered. All of the department chiefs and our father himself. Nothing would be enough to describe the shock that followed. Having such a great responsibility on their hooves as it already was, what could possibly be so important that they had to sacrifice their time for a mere daily routine?

I dared myself to think the thought, “It just doesn’t make sense!” It was a big “no” for me, especially right now. I had always been trying to ban myself from thinking these kind of thoughts and as of so, I went through a mental self-punishment as it occurred.

Aldeus started speaking and his dark calm voice echoed throughout the room, “You may all be wondering what we are actually doing here? Should we not be having anything better to do? Well, it will truly please you to know that not even half of you will know why by the time I am done!”

I nervously looked around myself a bit and wondered what was going on, his words felt so uncomfortable and I glanced over to the other side of the room in a hopeless try to interpret his expression.

Aldeus kept speaking, now in a calming tone, “Do not worry, it shall be easy this time! No riddles or limericks, just a simple question for each and every one of you!”

I wasn’t sure of what he was going to do but the newly spoken words sure made it much easier to speculate. Aldeus stood there for a minute without saying a thing, studying us carefully. He liked to do so, studying our reactions and note all we did and said.

I had never liked him doing so one bit, it made me feel like some kind of test subject, which I ironically enough surely was in his eyes. But who was there to blame him, weren’t I just a big pile of metal? Aldeus was now done as it appeared and I prepared myself to hear what he was about to say next.

He opened his mouth and spoke in a self-satisfying tone, “As I said, you are to answer one and one simple question alone! What is it that you feel right now?”