Ripples

CHAPTER 12

Alliance

        Sawblade and Greenstrike stood in the Parasprite Technologies citadel. PT’s leader remained in the shadows, unseen by all others. Guards surrounded the room and the leader, preventing any disruptions. The leader continued his negotiations.

        “The problem I have with your proposal...well, I simply don’t like it,” he laughed. “I am confident that you will return to your leader and ask for a better idea.”        Sawblade did not like what he was hearing. “We have headsets with a radio link, you know!”        The leader laughed. “Even better. Would you mind forwarding the connection to me?”        Sawblade reluctantly agreed. After selecting a few options in his augmented vision, the leader had established a connection with the Resistance.        “Oh, hello dear. I’m afraid your little...arrangement isn’t going to work out,” he spoke.        “...I apologize for your concerns, but I assure you, we already have it all planned out and coordinated. As soon as you’re ready, Project Revival will be deployed.” He swiftly severed the connection, and began speaking with Sawblade again.        “Good news. My plan is more than sufficient for our goal, and I exuberantly await its deployment. Your leader is skeptical about my methods, but she will come to understand the magnitude of this operation in time.”        “Yes sir,” Sawblade saluted. He did not agree with PT’s plan either, but disagreeing was out of the option.        “I eagerly await your return for Project Revival. I bid you farewell,” the leader said.        Sawblade turned around to walk out the door. “Greenstrike! Come.” Greenstrike obediently followed.

~ ~ ~

        Captain, Rage and I marched towards Appleoosa. Well, Captain was actually limping, but it was close enough. We had brought Captain’s wing to serve as a reminder of what Captain has hopefully overcome.        “Walking is boring,” Rage commented. “I hate walking.”        “Welcome to the club,” I told him empathetically. Captain grunted.        We were heading for Appleoosa, with plans to stop as soon as the smoke would be visible. I had gathered bunch of sticks from around Dodge City, as well as flammable materials and lighters. A road headed vaguely in the direction of Appleoosa, but it had not been used for years even before the takeover. It had faded into nothingness about halfway to Appleoosa from Dodge City, and we were approaching that area. That’s where we were going to signal Captain’s spies.        We all desperately needed a good washing. Rage was cleanest, but after his work on Captain, he had been left pretty messy as well.        “You know how Fury fell down those stairs?” Rage asked. I nodded.        “Well, turns out we had a heavy-duty healing potion in the fridge, hiding behind some cans of old lettuce. Fixed him up in about eight hours, then he was fine.”        “Where did you get that?” I asked, jealous of his impressive find. Would that replace appendages? Probably not.        “It’s been in there since before Ponyville was overrun. I hadn’t known what it did until recently, when I found a medical guide hidden on that computer. It was encrypted, but it wasn’t very strong encryption,” Rage explained.        I had no idea what that meant, but I just nodded. As we continued walking, I saw a small speck of something in the distance. The heat waves from the hot area made it impossible to distinguish, but it appeared to be moving.        “You guys see that?” I asked.        “Yes,” Captain muttered. “Normally I’d say that was probably a trade caravan, but what the hell are they doing on this road?”        “No idea. I suppose we should find out anyway,” I suggested. Captain made another grunt, and we continued walking.

~ ~ ~

        A red earth pony with a short brown mane trotted to us, pulling a cart loaded with miscellaneous junk and supplies. As soon as he was close enough to recognize Captain, he dashed straight for us.        “Captain!” he yelled whilst charging. His voice was somewhat high-pitched, and sounded panicked. The cart bounced behind him, almost tipping over from his aggressive dash towards us.        He skidded to a halt, stopping perfectly in front of Captain. I gave him a mental 9 out of 10, impressed with his expertly timed braking. Captain looked horrified, as if he thought he was about to be run over.        “Why do you always do this?” Captain said, scared.        “Don’t worry...about that...now,” he said, pausing to take some breaths. I still couldn’t seem to figure out why he was running a trade caravan in this area. “There’s something happening...in the Resistance. They’re...marching...away, towards PT!”        Captain’s neutral expression quickly turned into alarm. “The hell? What do they need from them?”        The unnamed red pony looked confused. It hit me he still didn’t know about PT’s continued existence. I was about to explain when Captain took off in a limping dash, heading for the Resistance HQ. Rage and I exchanged worried looks, and then chased after him. The red pony followed, abandoning his cart.

~ ~ ~

        “Captain!” I yelled, desperately trying to stop him. “When they see you, they’ll kill you!”        “You don’t...understand!” he yelled over his shoulder at us. “This is very bad!”        Rage, the red pony and I glanced at each other, concerned for Captain. We were going surprisingly fast, considering Captain’s injury.        The red pony spoke up. “Captain, this is the one thing you have refused to tell me about! What is this?!”        Captain continued running frantically, ignoring the red stallion’s question. Appleoosa finally showed on the horizon, with a huge black mass of ponies heading westward. Captain is about to get himself killed, I could feel it.        Rage was starting to fill with, well, rage. “Captain, what the hell do you think you’re fucking doing?!” Captain continued running. Rage only got rage-ier. “I don’t want you to die on me, you stupid little shit! Stop this fucking instant!”        Captain finally spoke up. “Fine, if you want me to explain, I will,” he said and slowed down. As we caught up, we found an equal pace to continue running.        “Okay, basically, what is about to happen is very, very bad,” Captain hurriedly explained. “Loste, those files I had you retrieve were relating to this issue. And now that they have them...shit is about to hit the fan, and get all over fucking everything!”        “I still don’t understand exactly what is so bad,” I stated.        Captain sighed. “Those files...they belonged to a very important group of three ponies. Young adult ponies. Ever since they were fillies, they had been obsessed with getting their cutie mark.” I pondered for a moment. Cutie mark...what would mine be? Would I get one?        Captain continued speaking. “Something very strange happened in their lifetime. They excelled in many different areas, and not so much in others. Nothing ever seemed to be any of their true...purpose, I suppose. They were a melting pot of talent and failures, intelligence and stupidity. They never had a cutie mark, none of them. Never showed up on those poor bare flanks,” Captain explained with a small tinge of sadness. “It had never happened before, making those three very unique.        “They eventually started a business when they came of age. They devoted themselves to helping young fillies and colts find their cutie marks, and were extremely successful with their methods. They called their company the Cutie Mark Crusaders, after their club name from their childhood. Eventually, when they acquired enough funding, they began taking up science and technology. Being young, they were quick learners, and created many successful and ambitious projects. Not just related to cutie marks, but also miscellaneous gadgets and magic devices. But they always stayed away from any kind of violence or devices that could cause somepony harm.”        We were inching closer to Appleoosa. I was beginning to get very worried about us and Captain. “So what do those files have to do with anything?” I asked.        Captain became very worried. “They eventually began looking into soul magic. Very dark and delicate stuff. Tampering with one’s soul is an extremely dangerous endeavor, and is essentially a one-way ticket to absolute disaster. Somehow, the CMC managed to successfully create a magical machine that could find a pony’s talent, and give them an idea about what their cutie mark would be. It was very unstable, but it worked. They barely had any time to refine it before PT took over. Luckily, the CMC hid it in an undisclosed location and kept it a heavy secret. It was also very difficult to use, requiring specific instructions. Those instructions were in that folder.”        I still didn’t quite understand. “So what would the Resistance need this machine for?”        Captain’s face drooped into an extremely anxious expression. “The machine was not locked down, exactly. You could run your own software on it, it was modular. This means that if you knew how to use it, you could do anything with a pony’s soul. However, in order for it to function, it would require a pony to temporarily feed it magical energy. Not just unicorns, every pony has magic in them. The more ponies who are feeding it, the more power it has.”        I was starting to see something very bad happening. “And what do you think they’re doing with it?” I asked, becoming anxious myself.        Captain picked up speed again. “I think they’re going to suck the life energy out of a whole lot of ponies, and most likely make Equestria loyal to them.”        I gulped. A lot of shit was about to hit a lot of fans.