Chapter 2; Isn't life peachy?

'Well, it's a plan, but not a really good one. The ducts have at least fifty different fans, and that's only in the science wing alone.' I rested my head on the bottom of the air duct, sighing in a manner I hoped would convince anyone that might happen to be beneath me that it was just a gust of wind in the vents. I pulled up my navigation system, trying to make sense of the twisty mess that made up the vents. I rolled my head around, trying to work out a crick in my neck, and then double tapped a spot on the map, dropping a waypoint. Holding my left hand out slightly, a blue orb lit up in my hand, and a thin sky blue ribbon wound it's way through the ducts, around a junction, and out of sight. 'Well, as the saying goes… Follow the blue ribbon line, follow the blue ribbon line, follow the follow the… ah screw it.' I sighed again, 'Note to self, no chance of a career in singing.' With this new knowledge, I began the long crawl, pulling myself along while trying to be as quite as possible.

I got about a hundred forward pulls before I encountered a snag in my plan. With a grunt and a screech of metal, a section of the old vent beneath me gave way, leaving me hanging upside down by one boot, directly behind a group of startled raiders. Raising my hands slightly, I attempted to diffuse the situation. "Hi. Your probably wondering what I'm doing here." I attempted a laugh, but it came out as more of a bark, which probably wouldn't work in my favor. "Well, funny story, but really, I'm just hanging around…" I attempted a relaxed pose, extending a hand out to one of the closest raiders. "Now, what can I do for you, Mr.…?" The raider simply stared at me, then my hand, then me, my hand. He snorted, batting away my hand before turning back to his groupies. "Well would you look at this? A piñata! You know what we do to piñatas, don't you boys."

"We break 'em!" They cheered, sneers forming on their faces. I put my hand behind my back, grabbing my plasma cutter and flicking it on. "Are you sure you want to do that?" I said, trying to make my tone as pleading as possible. I don't enjoy dismembering living beings, no matter how badly they deserve it. The group laughed at me, trading glances between each other, obviously to say, 'You believe this?' The leader spoke up again, "And why wouldn't we?" I whipped my plasma cutter out, dismembering one raider at his kneecap and another at the wing. The third raider's left ear bit the dust next, and the leader of the pack… well, he got a special shot. Even I winced a little when he realized what he had lost. (Author's note; I'm not going to say what Zero shot off specifically, but I'll give you a hint. All the raiders Zero has shot were male. I know, it's a terrible joke, and I apologize.) Pointing the cutter at the grate that still held me; I aimed a careful shot, which sliced through the jagged corner that my boot had caught on. I fell to the floor unceremoniously; I got to my feet, and towered over the whimpering raiders. Pointing my Plasma cutter in the leaders face, I spoke quietly. "Now, where was I…? Oh yes. Now, I have three questions for you, and your going to answer them. Who is leading your group? Who helped get you into Arc Station? And where did you get an Electro-Magnetic Pulse bomb?" The leader whimpered again.

I snarled, and gave the leader a forceful shove with the muzzle of my cutter, sending him to floor in a heap. "I'm going to ask you once more. Just once. Then I'm going to start hurting you, and I don't know when I will stop." The leader made a pathetic whimpering noise, and then spoke, "I don't know who sent us here! Our gang got contracted to break in here, trash the place, take no prisoners, you know the drill. They said it would be a cakewalk! I don't know who helped get us in either! It was an inside job, probably one of the security guards, maybe a citizen. It was them who set off the EMP, not us!" I backed up slightly, giving the raider some room to ease the pain he was in. He might have been prepared to crack my head open like an eggshell, but, as Alice always says, 'treat others how you would want to be treated.' Words to live by.

I lowered my plasma cutter, staring into the face of the gang leader, watching with a not so small amount of satisfaction as he began to quiver. Not that he didn't have a right to, considering I just gave them a sound beating while at a major disadvantage. The menacing look of my RIG probably added to the effect in no small part. I spoke, my voice quiet, but with obvious malice and resolve. "If you ever come near Arc Station again, you will be shot on sight. And I will personally make sure that each of you does not get a quick, clean shot. Do you understand?" The leader of the group whimpered, "Good. Now get out of my station before I change my mind."

The raiders left so fast that they left floating after images made of dust and dirt.

Once more I found myself in the cold confines that were the vents. Coming to a access panel, I lifted my hand, the hidden scanner matching my palm and a multitude of small details, like the fiber that made up my RIG's bodysuit, my heart rate, among other things. With a hiss of pneumatics, the hatch slid open, it's split halves looking like nothing more than jagged teeth ready to cut me in two should something go wrong. It was with these thoughts that I quickly pulled myself out of the vent and into the small office. Looking around, I spotted a photograph on the desk. I had never been in this room before… had I? I picked up the photo in one hand, carefully examining it. The brittle piece of paper was worn at the edges, and the picture had obviously been taken before the balefire rained from the sky.

With a click, I remembered…

I was still in the same office, but it was much cleaner, the picture in my hand still worn at the edges but notably in better condition than the other. A knock rang from the door (Why wasn't that door their now…) and I spoke, "Come in." I carefully placed the photo on the desk, my desk, as a dark purple unicorn with a lavender mane entered. I felt my past self smile, and warmth filled his heart. "Twilight! It's good to see you!" Twilight simply gave a half hearted smile before plopping down on one of the bean bags in the room.

I sensed something was wrong, quickly stepping around the desk and coming to a kneeling position next to her. "Twi? You ok? What's wrong?" I could feel the warmth in my past self's heart growing colder by the second, the smile cracking. Twilight simply leaned into him (me, I? Us?), wrapping her fore-hooves around him tightly and shaking with sobs.

I gave a start, but quickly wrapped my arms around her, stroking her mane, making soft, calming noises in her ear. "Twi, it's ok… Tell me what happened?" Twilight sniffled, choking a little on her sadness, but made the effort to speak. "I-It's too much, too much, too much." She looked into my eyes, and my heart broke, "Big Macintosh is dead, Applejack was in that accident, Pinkie Pie's addiction isn't getting any better… I can't help but feel that everything that I've ever had in my life is being taken from me. I don't know what I'd do without the girls or you…" My past self leaned over, resting his lips on Twilight's muzzle. Instantly the distraught mare calmed down, the tension in her simply melting away as she leaned ever closer to me.

I tilted her head up to look at me in the eyes, and smiled happily. "Don't worry Twilight; everything's going to be fine. We've made it through worse, and we'll do it again."

With those closing words, the memory ended, and I found myself back in the messy room that had so long ago been one of my offices. My breath hitched, and I could feel tears threatening to spill. "Everything's going to be fine…" I hobbled over to a corner of the room, the picture still in hand, a life preserver in the storm my emotions and memories had whipped up. Sliding down the wall, I stared numbly at the picture of Twilight and me after I had taken her on our first date… and the rest of the gang tried to spy on us the entire time.

The picture floated to the floor, and for a while, I let the tears come.