"If we take out Priscilla first, then the rest are sure to follow," I said as we moved quickly aft of the battle field. Priscilla was like a princess, privileged as she sat back and watched events unfold. She was so preoccupied she didn't even see us coming. I ran straight at her, my head lowered and flames rolling off me. Cheshire was yelling but I couldn't hear him over the roar of my magic.
I charged her and yelled, "Yahhhh!" and she had wide eyes when she realized what speeding bullet was on her way. Me. I smashed into her and she screeched then went crashing through the stone wall here. I saw she was unconscious. I doubled back and stood in front of her, making sure she was really down. "She's not getting up anytime soon," said Cheshire. "She'll miss tea time."
I turned around and peered across the battlefield. I had been right, the ashlings were regrouping and the synths had all fallen. I smiled as I saw Buck approaching and he nodded to me as he passed. Priscilla was just coming to as Buck was slapping a pair of hoof cuffs on her. "You fools!" she screamed and tried to resist but I lifted a hoof with an orb in it and glared at her. She was quiet then.
"I think we could use a Courser Magistrate, don't you?" asked Buck.
"I mean, we don't have any pylons, but she does have a horn and the capabilities to travel to and from the Institute. I'd say we got lucky." I agreed with Buck and walked side by side with him. Cheshire was gone, I saw him across the way by Capper's side. When we got there I gave Capper a huge kiss and he grinned.
"To the victor goes the spoils huh?"
"Do I spoil you?" I asked him.
"Maybe just a little bit." He held his index near his thumb paw pad.
"I think those ashlings are going to circle back!" called Heart as she sank back to the ground.
"Don't worry," said Pumpkin Spice as she rolled a huge pink and blue cannon onto the scene.
"Where in the…?" Buck's voice trailed off.
"We're gonna need some more supplies, to make a really big surprise…" Pumpkin was singing quietly to herself as she prepped the cannon. I wondered what was in it. The ashlings stopped their advance when they saw what Pumpkin was up to. They began to back pedal. Then Pumpkin had a match and she lit it on the side of the canon. Next she went to the back, aimed it and lit the fuse. "She'll be so shocked, she's sure to love it too!" she giggled and the fuse blew. Out popped a huge cake, heading straight for the ashlings.
I saw the confused looks on their faces and I can't say I blame them. It was a cake after all. What harm could a cake…It landed right on top of them and they popped out of the top, about 8 feet off the ground. The candles were somehow lit too. Pumpkin always had some sort of party trick up her sleeve, a good thing too. The candles' wicks were getting shorter and shorter and the ashlings stared with wide eyes as they realized they weren't candles but sticks of dynamite! "Shit!" I heard one shout and then the cake went blewy!
The ashlings were toast, their parts scattered in a million different directions. A leg landed in front of me and I backed up right away to avoid it touching me. "Good going Pumpkin," said Buck.
"Don't thank me just yet, I still have one more surprise on the books."
"Oh I don't think we need one more surprise." Buck shook his head.
"Awe pone!" she pouted but cantered off, dragging her party cannon with her.
Orange Juice
"Have y'all heard? Clydesdale Valley is now another safe haven in a long list of safe havens the Minute Hooves have set up all around Broncston. I hear they got some help from Fort ponies, some sort of alliance going on. I mentioned that before but I'd like to touch on it again. With the Fort's help, the Minute Hooves have managed to set up more settlements around Broncston than any I've ever seen before. Keep it up y'all, you're fightin' the good fight. Now, what's this all leading up to? I don't know, but there is a summit taking place between the Minute Hooves, Railroad and the Fort ponies over in Clydesdale Valley. They just won a huge battle over there, and I wonder what the win means for them. Stay tuned for some more updates, now here's yesterday's hits. DJ Pon3 oww-woww-out!"
Music started playing and I smiled as I clinked my glass against the glasses of my friends in a toast. We really had won a huge battle, an important battle. Now we had Priscilla in our custody and somehow that made me feel happy. There was a chance now we'd be able to save her. We had her moonstone, so she wouldn't be using it any time soon, meaning she may come off its evil magic all on her own. We would have to see the Guardian told me.
For now, we celebrated as the Railroad and Minute Hooves worked to set up the pieces they had brought. Blitz and Capper were helping a little, as were some of my group, but it seemed they didn't need our help as much other than connecting the pieces. As I understood it there was a control panel connected to a fast travel gate that had been set up where Ashe Erza had placed a Dalemascan teleportation crystal right in the center of. She had activated its magicks in that way she did, where the ruby red lines were swirling with the golden lines. I held up the teleportation stone I carried with me, the one that Priscilla had given me and Erza had modified. It definitely matched.
There were wires everywhere and I saw a few of them were connected to an arcana generator. It hummed with energy and I noticed the control panel was vibrating with that same energy. Everything was close to starting. "Don't you need a wire from the control panel to the crystal?" I asked. "Otherwise, how will it control the destination?"
"Smart thinking, babe," Wonder winked at me and went to tell somepony. At that point everything was connected to each other and it seemed all ready to go.
"You're all going to fail." called Priscilla from her cell. I walked up to the jail and entered.
"Why do you say that?" I asked her as I got close to her cage.
"You have no idea who or what you're dealing with. You enter that Institute and the Maker will not hesitate to kill you."
"It seems that you're the one who isn't hesitating." I stuck my tongue out then continued, "You're not supposed to be evil, Prissy…it's the moonstone. You got it from the ashlings, right?"
"Why would I tell you my source of power?" she narrowed her eyes. Then she caved under my gaze. "Fine! Yes, I got it from the ashlings. What of it?"
"Then the Institute may not be as scary as you make it out to be."
"Maybe, maybe not. There's no way of knowing."
"Well, I'm willing to take the risk if it means saving you." I told her.
She rolled her eyes, "How very noble."
"OJ!" Pumpkin Spice called to me from just outside the jail. "Come on slowpoke, everyone's waiting!"
We cantered up to the teleportation crystal sitting within the folds of the fast travel gate. It was magic swirling on magic, and energy flowed from every which way. It was a spectacle to look at. "It's like a multilayered cake," Pumpkin Spice was licking her lips.
"It certainly isn't for eating," Ashe Erza said.
Pumpkin pouted, "I know, but I certainly wish I could eat it."
"Is it time to go?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at the jail house. I could still see Priscilla's cage and I hated to see her locked up, much like I once was. It wasn't fair. I really hoped the Maker was a good pony.
"Some final preparations are being done," the Guardian walked up, "then we can go."
"Making sure every wire is in its proper place." said a Railroad pony. "This is some high tech stuff!" she gasped.
"You guys got this though, right?" asked Blitz, looking weary. It had been a long day and we were all exhausted from the recent battle.
"Of course we got this," a Minute Hoof soldier nodded at us. "Just give us a minute and the destination will be set for the belly of the Institute."
"Wherever that is," I stared down at the dirt between my hooves, head bowed. I couldn't bear another minute being free while Priscilla was locked away. It just wasn't fair. I wanted to leave right now, so that I could find the Maker and force him to fix her.
"Exactly, wherever that is. Why do you think the calibration is so difficult? It's like the gate knows where it's supposed to go, thanks to the crystal, but at the same time, it's just lost." said the Railroad mare.
"At least we're working on it." I stepped up to the gate and I felt a warmth emanating from somewhere near me. It was in my saddle bags. I used my magic to lift the stone Prissy had given me. The gate brightened, swirling fast.
"By Faust! No wonder it wouldn't work! It was locked!" somepony yelled.
"He's unlocking it!" another pony called.
"OJ," Ashe Erza put a hoof on my shoulder, "Keep doing what you're doing."
"Okay!" I nodded and walked closer to the gate. The closer I got the faster it spun, and the crystal started to float in the air. It was spinning too, in the opposite direction. It was like a gyroscope and my eyes went round and around with it.
"OJ! Leave the key or we won't be able to follow!" I heard Ashe's voice from very far away. I looked over my shoulder and realized just how deep into the gate I was. I tossed the stone in my magic back through the gate and saw Ashe catch it up in her own magic. I nodded firmly and promptly and then I continued on my way. This gate was long, like a tunnel, nothing like the other fast travel gates I'd used before.
I felt a breeze on my fur, and I whinnied in delight. It was the kind of breeze you felt on a warm summer's day, or I imagined it would be, since I never actually experienced a true summer. But all in all, this breeze was nice. I liked the way it brushed through my fur and the way it caught in my mane, playing with me. I giggled and shook my hips in happiness. Then my hooves touched cold metal and I jumped back, out of the gate and in a new place entirely. This place was spinning too, and it hurt my head to look at. It was all around me. Then it stopped and the door opened.
"Admit one." said a computerized mare's voice. I stepped through the doorway and I heard her again, "Admit two." Ashe was behind me and she came through. "Admit three…" on and on until finally, "Admit thirteen. Anomaly detected. Admit fourteen." Capper and Blitz had been the last ones through and I saw Cheshire flowing through as well, since he wasn't all there he must be the anomaly.
We were in a small generator room, computer banks all along the walls and a small one in the middle of the room. All lights all around and they flashed in sequences, letting us know exactly what, I wasn't sure. It probably made more sense to Blitzfire or the Guardian…
Ravager Blitzfire
We spread out into the room and I looked around in awe. This place was like a candy land for anypony with tech experience. I had experience in a lot of things, and computers were one of them. "This must be what powered that pod we all came out of." I looked over my shoulder at the spinning room, now no longer spinning.
"It looks like some sort of control mechanism," Ashe Erza was examining the computer in the center of the room. I walked around and took a look too. It definitely looked like a control panel, not dissimilar to the one we'd set up in Clydesdale Valley.
The computerized mare's voice spoke again, "Please proceed to the elevator."
"I can't believe we're actually here," said Buck as we all trotted over to the elevator. It dinged open and we all boarded. It was a huge thing, surprisingly plenty of room for all fourteen of us. It went up, up and up and what was revealed to us was a vast underground city. The elevator was made of glass and we could see the ponies all bustling about. Some turned to stare at us before they went about their business. The elevator came to a stop at a skywalk overlooking the main promenade.
"This place is beautiful!" Pumpkin Spice gasped.
"I'm with you there," OJ nodded and we exited the elevator oohing and awing.
A blue unicorn mare in a lab coat walked up to us and we all halted. "My goodness! With the current crisis we expected visitors, but damn are you late!" she clicked a pen in her magical grasp and wrote something on a clipboard. "My name is Flight Control." she told us.
"Late?" asked Riggs in a huff, "How dare you! Where's my son?"
"We are keeping him safe. If you follow me this way, I can introduce you to the Maker."
"Who is this Maker anyway?" I asked.
"You'll find out, won't you?" she led us on and I was growing irritated with her.
"You mean to tell us that you've been expecting us this whole time?" Buck questioned.
She looked over her shoulder and clicked her pen a few times. "Why wouldn't we? When one of our Courser Magistrates strays from the path we set her on we take a great interest. When you first did battle with her, Colonel, we were very pleased with both your efforts and hers."
"Wait, you were pleased, even though you are disappointed with her path?" Ashe Erza cocked her head.
"We collected a lot of valuable data." was all she said.
We went down a winding path and through a doorway where we came across another doorway across from here and a staircase leading up. The lab coat stopped and turned to us. "What's up, doc?" Combat laughed and that got a few snickers from Cherry and Salem.
"You can all go ahead, Blitzfire, you stay here for a moment, I was asked by a colleague to give you a short pep talk."
"A short pep talk?" I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes.
"I stay where Blitz stays," said Capper.
The mare nodded, "That is fine." Capper stayed with me while the others headed upstairs. OJ's eyes watched me as he went away until he could no longer see me.
Orange Juice
"So we just go to the top of these stairs…or…?" the second I was unable to see Blitz was when I stared straight ahead. The Guardian was ahead of me and he was walking rather slowly. Riggs Bailey did a trot as he walked up the stairs and in general. I thought the way he walked, picking his feet up high and going clickity-clack was the cutest thing ever. I really hoped we'd find his boy here.
"Hello," an all gray synth with gray eyes approached us and both the Colonel and the Guardian drew weapons at once. "Oh, there is no need to fear me. I am uncorrupted unlike the synths you have encountered out in the wastes." she said politely. "I am No. 867B and I am here to guide you to the Maker, glory be him."
"Wait, so you worship this stallion?"
"Not worship persay, just glad for him." the synth mare beamed at us over her shoulder before staring straight ahead, leading us to the maker. We passed a glass wall and on the other side was a drop to the area below. We came to another staircase and the synth said, "Up this way is the Maker's office. I can go no further. Thank you for visiting the Institute today. If you need further assistance I shall remain here." the synth stopped and turned about, stationing herself at the bottom of the stairs.
"She's quite unnerving, if I may say so," whispered Ashe to Buck.
"You may," Buck nodded his agreeance.
There was a set of doors at the top of the stairs and a control panel on the wall. Beside the door was a shaded window. Buck clicked the control panel and the door hissed open on its hydraulics. Inside was a huge glass wall the radstag colt laying on a bed behind it. There was a door to the left of the bed. The Maker was at a computer station and he seemed to be caught off guard by our sudden arrival. He was a black colored unicorn pony wearing a green coat, the collar folded up. His eyes were neon green and his mane was three shades of green. He had a nexus of neon green lines making their way upward on his flank, his cutie mark.
He had on a white earpiece and he tapped it, "Does nopony tell me anything anymore? "Next time you send me visitors, Flight Control, I'd like to be notified." there was a short pause and he then said, "No, I'm not mad. Just a little annoyed. Thank you." Then he turned his attention on us. Tapping the earpiece again, presumably to turn it off now, he said, "I am sorry, I am a little unprepared for your arrival."
Ravager Blitzfire
"We've been watching you for a very long time and I have to say, the Maker is not happy that you're here."
"Me specifically or…?"
"You specifically. He's glad your team has brought Riggs Bailey along for sure."
"Why him specifically?" asked Capper.
"A conundrum to be certain," Cheshire floated into view. Flight Control lifted a small pen looking device and a light emitted from it. She shined it in Capper's direction and Cheshire was illuminated. "Oh!" he gasped. "It tickles."
"I imagine it does. You're a synthetic program, this arcana emitter is designed to detect rogue programs."
"I'm a rogue program she says!" Cheshire giggled into his hands.
"You're quite the anomaly, the Maker would love to take a closer look at you."
"What makes him an anomaly?"
"A rogue Wonderland program out wandering free in the wasteland? It's a mystery to be sure."
I rolled my eyes, "If you knew how he came to be with us it isn't such a mystery."
"Then explain it."
"Right!" I nodded, taken aback. "Well, the Wonderland program was being used as a training program by some Children of Arcana over on Cumberland. Cheshire got downloaded into Capper's brain quite by accident."
"Knowing where he is could help us isolate him and print him a new synthetic body."
"Print?" Capper cocked his head, a little confused.
"Exactly! If you'd like, he could become real. Or, well, more real than he already is."
"I would like that." Capper gushed.
"Hey now!" I nudged him.
"You know what I mean," he shrugged.
"Okay, okay." I nodded.
"Once your friends are done with the Maker, I will lead them on a tour of the facilities, until then, let me bring you two on that tour while we wait."
"Sounds good," I nodded and the two of us followed her away from the stairs.
Orange Juice
Riggs rushed forward, a gun in his hoof, "You tell me why you have my boy in a glass cage and there won't be any troubles, mate." he snapped.
The Maker used magic to lower the gun away from his face. "If that weapon goes off in here and damages any of the equipment, your boy very well could die."
"What?! Why's that?" Riggs backed up a few steps.
The Maker lowered his eyes, looking deeply upset, "He's dying and I can't figure out why. His body is full of radiation."
"He was just fine when your people picked him up." Riggs stared between the Maker and the glass cage, fear in his eyes.
"Actually, that's where you're mistaken. He's been ill for a very long time. There's dark arcana in his heart, something I cannot identify."
"Do you even know what's going on in the wastes?" Buck stepped forward, taking the gun from Rigg's hoof and pocketing it.
"Not particularly, no. I never had any need to." the Maker shrugged.
"Then you are a damned fool," said Ashe Erza.
"What brings you to that conclusion?" asked the Maker.
"You're synths are running wild, none knowing what their purpose is and so losing themselves in the process. The few who do find purpose stray from their original path and become free synths. Most of those synths are now evil or part of a hive mind, also evil."
"That was not my intention!" the Maker went to a computer bank and clacked a few keys. He then turned back to us and clicked his earpiece. "Get me a 10-20 on all my top side synths." there was a short pause, "What do you mean you don't have the locations of all my synths? You what!?" he clicked his earpiece. "I'm sorry, this problem has not been brought to my attention before. I'll look into it. I've had a lot on my plate."
Riggs had tears in his eyes as he walked up to the glass and touched a hoof gingerly to it, "Can I see him?"
"I would like to take a look at him too, if neither of you mind," said Ashe Erza.
"He may be contagious." said Nexus. "That's why he's behind the glass barrier."
"Then give them oxygen mask thingies, you know the kind nurses wear?" I put forth. I hoped they knew what I meant.
"Surgical masks. Of course. Sorry, my brain is scattered of late." he went and got them some masks. "As for the rest of you, I'm going to have Flight Control take you on a quick tour."
"Wait a moment!" Buck snapped, "I still have a few questions to ask you."
"You can ask me later. I have something I need to get done now."
"Fine…but we aren't finished." he said.
"Not by a long shot." said the Maker and Flight Control appeared to lead us out of the room.
Ravager Blitzfire
My eyes were wide when I saw him…"Nexus?"