Hmph, I wasn't going to put one of these author's note intro things at the beginning, but it seems the site doesn't like it when I put file extensions on the end of words. Maybe it thinks I'm trying to hack it or something, which I most certainly am not! Let's just pretend that Astra's computer doesn't show known file extensions by default; rest assured that "sburb_server" is most definitely an application.
While I'm at it, I'd just like to say that this site was certainly not designed to honor the format of pesterlogs, and it's a little frustrating to have to run through every uploaded chapter and convert all of the line breaks to singles instead of doubles. Colors would be nice to have, too. But oh well, I'll just continue to make do with what I have.
Heck, it probably wasn't necessary to go on about that, but I might as well leave it in as a reminder that I'm not a soulless story-generating entity. Not that I was worried about being accused of such, I mean... blargh you know what I mean. Here's the chapter, please read and enjoy it at your leisure :'L
Chapter 46: Taking Flight
- discotasticJubilation [DJ] began pestering spacefaringPioneer [SP] -
DJ: yo, sis!
DJ: DJ's at his house and ready to roll! 8D
SP: Excellent...
SP: I'm sending the server application to you now...
- spacefaringPioneer [SP] sent sburb_server -
SP: I have the client application running and awaiting a connection...
DJ: download complete, let's kick off the beat!
Before long, the plain black command console indicated that a server had established a connection. Astra gladly pressed the enter key and was treated with a loading screen consisting of a blue cloudy background, upon which danced a pulsating, ever-shifting spirograph, all backed with some light and energetic music. Various prompts outlined the many, many steps of the installation process in increasingly abstract vernacular, each one showing for less than half of a second on average. Astra felt almost invigorated by the entire show.
Eventually, the music stopped, the screen faded to black, and the letters "SBURB" drifted across the screen in bold green letters.
The computer screen returned to normal. The client application had reverted to the command console with little change. Beats's green text continued to fill her Pesterchum window.
DJ: whoa this is sweet
DJ: DJ can totally see your pad, sis!
DJ: wave to the camera for me, will you? 8P
Astra looked around her machinery-cluttered room for the camera that Beats mentioned, but saw nothing. She did see a floating object resembling a green house, however, which she recognized as the cursor from the server application.
SP: I don't see a camera, but I do see your cursor...
SP: Seems the thing has a physical presence of some sort... Interesting.
SP: Anyway, please familiarize yourself with the controls. You'll find the necessary equipment in the menu labeled 'deploy'...
DJ: on it!
Astra watched as the cursor swept in with smooth motions not unlike those of a record-scratching DJ, moving some of the heavy machinery around and dropping others. First, the tank-like Cruxtruder in the corner, and the Totem Lathe against a wall. The house shook a bit, indicating that the third device had been placed on the roof. Astra stared for a while, impressed at the size of the machines; perhaps it was the fact that she had only seen them on a computer screen, or perhaps Bellia's relative size further dwarfed them.
While distracted, Astra felt something with a thin surface area bounce off of her cheek. Margainally startled, she looked down to see the pre-punched card. Picking it up, she turned back to the computer to read her server player's messages.
DJ: heads up! 8D
DJ: aww, you weren't looking 8C
DJ: woulda been a real sweet catch, too
SP: Sorry...
DJ: hey, no biggie 8P
SP: I'll start up the machines. In the meantime, I would appreciate a more convenient way to reach the...
SP: ...whatever the thing you put on the roof is called.
DJ: queueing up some stairs!
Drawing her scythe, Astra stepped towards the Cruxtruder. She wedged the blade in between the lid and the rest of the machine, working some leverage under it. The lid popped off with a bit of work, and out popped a flashy yellowish orb, which immediately began to dart around the room excitedly. The countdown timer on the side displayed 1:29 and started counting down. 'A minute and 29 seconds...' Astra read in her head. 'Less time than it sounds.'
She turned the wheel on the machine, producing a shiny yellow cylinder. She wasted no time carrying it over to the Totem Lathe, plugging it in as well as the card. The newly carved totem barely stopped spinning when Astra retrieved it again.
Turning around, she witnessed Beats putting the finishing touches on his staircase to the roof. He seemed to have gotten the hang of the building controls pretty quickly.
Ascending the stairs, Astra emerged onto the roof of her dwelling, taking in the surrounding forest hillside view for what she presumed to be the last time. A shining object in the sky gradually grew bigger as it neared her position.
Her phone vibrated, reminding her that Beats had still been sending messages.
DJ: dang, sis, you're fast 8S
DJ: built the staircase, what's next in this place?
SP: Find something to give to the Kernelsprite...
DJ: you mean that strobe-lighting disco ball? 8D
SP: That's the one...
SP: Choose carefully. Our enemies will take on the form of whatever you put in...
DJ: there's nothing here but high-tech gadgets 8/
DJ: oh hey, here's one of eggman's old posse
DJ: that outta cramp those monsters' style! 8P
Before long, the orb followed Astra's path up the stairs, sporting Eggman's robotic, cartoonish likeness. Astra nodded and placed the totem onto the Alchemiter's smaller platform. In a flash of light, a yellow rocketship appeared atop the machine's central platform and blasted off, fading into the sky and leaving a similarly-colored star-shaped artifact behind.
With little time left for hesitation, she tossed the star into the air, striking it with the flat of her scythe on its descent. The star shattered, enveloping Astra and her house in a brilliant white glow...
Blahsadfeguie, Hailstorm, and Dr. Eggman unloaded themselves from the plane and onto the runway on the outskirts of Metropolis. The city looked exactly the way they left it, partial property damage and all. Robots frantically scuttled and flew around, repairing structures and each other.
Hail was the first to speak. "So, now that you're technically no longer evil..." he began, staring at one of the massive columns of black smoke.
Eggman quickly caught on to the pony's implication. "I may have patched things up with my daughter, but there's only one way to patch things up with the law. I'm not about to let myself get arrested, let alone just turn myself in, not when we have more important business to take care of. And until that's over, I'm not changing a single thing about my city! I like having a defendable position, thank you very much, and I need the resources to keep it that way!"
"He has a point," Blah added. "The police would only make things worse. Sometimes, the heroes have to bend the rules a bit."
Hail sighed. "Fine, whatever. Maybe later we can look into alternative energy sources, at least."
Eggman reverted the Egg-Desperado to its mech form, parking it in his tower where it belonged. Hail followed him into his lab, carrying Blah on his back. Needless to say, he was quite happy to have this two-riders-for-the-weight-of-one deal.
As they walked through Eggman's robot-cluttered halls, many questions popped into Hail's head, which he kept to himself for everyone's sake. Blah simply admired all of the former villain's work, even if most of it was killing machines. Eventually, they reached a giant storage room full of old, deactivated robots, prototype frames, and boxes full of blueprints.
Eggman stopped in front of a narrow, copper-colored locker. He cleared his throat. "Presenting," Eggman announced with an exaggerated flourish, "the brother of the infamous, destructive Metal Sonic... The fox-bot with rear-mounted spinning death blades... Metal Tails!"
He swung the locker door open, shedding light on the hyped prototype. It was a yellow, white, and red Tails-shaped robot, its lightweight chassis built with speed and aerodynamics in mind. Its visible joints, clawed hands, and piercing blue-on-black eyes made it a little unsettling overall, but it was an impressive design for a prototype.
"Eh..." Blah tilted his head slightly. "Do you think you could make it a little less... intimidating?"
"Oh, I suppose you just want to be a cute and cuddly fox?" mocked Eggman, somewhat offended. "Unless you want me to redesign it from scratch, you'll take it and you'll like it."
Blah shrugged. "We can talk about that later, I guess. How about its practical capabilities?"
"Like Metal Sonic, Metal Tails shares a lot of traits with its inspiration. I won't bore you with the details, but the short version is that anything Tails can do, this baby can do better!" Eggman gave it a proud pat on the head. "...well, at least that's how it was planned. I still haven't gotten the flight mechanics down. Those tails of his are an enigma of physics..."
"So what if we could bring Tails here to help you work on it?" Hail suggested.
Eggman hesitated. "...I wasn't going to say it, but that's the most logical course of action. I don't like the idea of working with him, and he probably won't either, but it'll improve the quality of this masterpiece immensely."
"I've got it!" Blah suddenly snapped his fingers. "Metails. Ha!" He received a couple of annoyed stares. "What, I like portmanteaus! This one was just begging to happen."
"...Anyway," Hail tried his best to focus, "anyone know where Tails is now?"
"The last we saw of him," Sera chimed in, "or at least the alpha timeline's version of him, was when we fought the Eho army on Angel Island."
"So who knows what he's up to now..." Blah remarked.
"Oh, so we don't know where he is?" Dr. Eggman said sarcastically. "That's too bad, guess we'll have to finish the robot without him!"
"Eggman, please," Hail retorted angrily. "Out of all of us, I think you'd have the best idea of where to find him."
Eggman scoffed. "Don't ask me. He has a lab, but most of the time he's just hanging out with Sonic, and that hedgehog really gets around. He could be anywhere, especially since we're dealing with eight universes instead of one. Well, technically six now. But you get the idea."
"So if we find Sonic, we'll probably be able to find Tails..." Blah inferred. "But how does one find the fastest thing alive?"
"Actually," said Hail, "I have an idea of what he might be doing. Waluigi told me that he's been in and out of Blahtown, gradually returning meteorite ore that he had mined out."
"Welp, Blahtown it is!" Blah hopped back on top of Hail. "Ready, Sera?"
"As always," the internal voice of the Kadabra responded.
"We'll be back in a jiffy!" Blah waved at Eggman as he and Hail disappeared, much to the scientist's bewilderment.
He didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, the two of them appeared in roughly the same place, Sonic and Tails each hanging on to one of Blah's arms.
"Eggman?!" Sonic and Tails instantly shouted, almost simultaneously.
"Hey, buddy!" Sonic accused Blah, refusing to take his eyes off of his enemy. Tails jumped behind Sonic. "What's the big idea, delivering us right to Eggman's door?!"
"I told you I'd have to explain after we got here," Blah sighed.
"You don't have to explain anything!" Sonic snapped. "I should've known you were working for that egghead all along! C'mon, Tails, we're outta here!"
The blue hedgehog made a break for the only exit in the room, his timid friend following closely behind. Blah felt the too familiar feeling of numbness seize his body as Sera reclaimed it for the moment, blinking in front of the door to block it off. Sonic jumped, easily clearing Sera's head, but the Kadabra had anticipated such a maneuver. Sera raised her arm, and Sonic unfurled, suddenly finding himself immobile from her telekinesis.
"You leave me with no other choice,"Sera calmly stated.
"Tails... run!" Sonic strained, but before he could even move, Sera had Tails in her psychic grip as well.
Sera closed her eyes. Blah suddenly felt rather crowded. The blackness was replaced with images of their journey from Bowser's Castle, to the Underworld, to Moros, the war in Metropolis, Charge, Discord, Astra and Eggman, and finally leading up to the current moment. Her eyes opened again, and she slowly lowered Sonic and Tails to the ground, gasping, yet ceasing their resistance. Blah found himself in control once again, realizing this just in time to catch himself from falling limply to the ground.
"Were those images... what really happened...?" Sonic panted.
"That was me..." Tails uttered. "I was so... old..."
"The things that happen to us, huh," Blah commented. "I assure you, it's all real. Eggman wasn't planning an ambush - he hasn't moved a muscle since you got here." He indicated Dr. Eggman, who had been leaning against a locker, his arms crossed, waiting half-patiently for the conflict to end. "And yes, I'm technically dead, but Sera was, er, 'kind' enough to save me."
"That would explain why Blah and Sera are apparently one and the same," Tails admitted, scratching the back of his head nervously.
"I don't believe it." Sonic walked up to Eggman. "So you have a soft-boiled side after all, huh, Eggman?"
"Buzz off," Eggman mumbled, unamused.
"Now that that's out of the way," Hail spoke up, "Can we please get down to business?"
Sonic and Tails directed their gaze toward the fox's robotic double that Sera had mentioned in her shared flashback.
"Whoa..." Tails approached the robot cautiously, as if it could come to life and attack at any moment.
"Hah," Sonic chuckled. "After Metal Sonic, how could I expect anything but a Metal Tails?"
"Metails," Blah corrected giddily, only to receive the same stares from the new arrivals.
"Please... don't say that again," Tails pleaded.
"Anyway, as you've probably guessed," Eggman addressed, trying his hardest to maintain a formal tone, "I need some data from you, Tails, in order to complete the design in a timely manner."
"Can we start by making him a little less creepy?" asked Tails, unable to look his doppleganger directly in the eye.
"That's what I said!" Blah agreed, "But Eggman didn't care. It's not like he's making this for someone or anything."
Eggman threw his arms in the air. "Fine! If it matters to you THAT much, we'll make him as adorable as the real thing. He'll be sooo cute, anyone who catches sight of him will spontaneously suffer a heart attack. Happy?"
Tails blushed a little. "I'm not... THAT cute..."
"I think simply rounding out the eyes will make a world of difference," Blah predicted. "I mean, I don't want to go around scaring people. And I certainly don't care to be a piece of eye candy. I just want to have a body. The fact that it's Tails is just a bonus. His image is certainly not one I mind having for a while."
"Stop," Sonic protested. "You're only making the poor guy more uncomfortable." Tails looked down at the floor sheepishly.
"What, I'm a big fan of his... Out of everything that Eggman's got, I'd be the happiest with Metai- I mean Metal Tails."
Sonic frowned, unsure what to say to either of them.
Tails looked up. "You're... a big fan... of me?" he repeated, feeling as if he were in a dream. "I mean... I could understand being a fan of Sonic, but... me...?"
"Oh sure, you've got lots of fans back where I come from," Blah assured him. "Almost as many as Sonic. And yes, a lot of them think you're cute." Tails's blush intensified.
Eggman sighed loudly, getting everyone's attention. "If we keep straying off-topic like this, we'll never get started..."
"Tails is on-topic, mostly," Blah argued jokingly.
"Well... as weird as it sounds, Eggman's right," Tails agreed, snapping out of it. "We should probably get to work. With both of us working on it, we should be done in no time... Probably." Blah could tell that he was having difficulty picturing himself cooperating with Eggman.
"And I'm sticking around too," Sonic asserted. "I can't bring myself to trust Eggman alone with Tails just yet. Not completely, anyway."
"We don't blame you," Hail understood as Eggman grumbled something unintelligible. "So until you're finished, what are our options?" Hail looked at Blah.
"Considering both me and Sera are kinda bound together at the moment," Blah began, "That leaves just you open to be Beats's server player. Are you ok with that?"
"I'm going to enter the game this soon?" Hail prompted, startled.
"We gotta go fast," Blah said, looking back at Sonic instinctively, who raised a confused eyebrow. Blah was slightly disappointed. "As soon as we have everything we need, there's no point stalling the game any further. Charge is probably planning on messing us up somewhere along the way, so we have to beat him to the punch."
"But what about Broshi?" Hail expressed his concern for the absent dinosaur. "We can't all enter the game without finding him first..."
"Ah... crap, that's right." Blah facepalmed. There was too much stuff to keep track of that he nearly forgot about him. He looked up at Eggman and Tails. "You guys wouldn't happen to have the capability to invent time travel, would you?"
The two tinkerers silently exchanged glances. Blah took that as a no.
"Really? Neither of you?" Hail glanced at Eggman. "Come on, your daughter is an expert on time travel. Surely you would at least have a chance at figuring it out?"
"Look, pal," Eggman retorted, "I'm a scientist, not a miracle worker. I don't know where Astra picked up that stuff, but it certainly wasn't from me."
"We'll just have to ask her, then," Blah gave up. "It's fairly obvious by now that her SBURB aspect is Time, kinda like my Space. She should gain the ability to travel through it herself eventually. And considering how I can already manipulate space to an extent, I doubt it'd take long for her. She's our best shot, short of an actual miracle."
Shortly after saying that, Blah looked around the room frantically as if searching for something. Hail had to ask. "What are you looking for...?"
"The TARDIS," Blah casually explained. "I was hoping that it'd show up at the word 'miracle' in a spurt of irony. Guess not..."
"Was that the blue phone booth that I was trying to invent in the alternate timeline?" asked Tails, to which Blah nodded. "If I made so little progress on it after 5 years, I don't know if I could ever finish it..."
"But it EXISTED," Blah pointed out. "Omega Pinkie Pie found it in Ponyville. So it's out there, somewhere..."
"It'd still take a miracle," said Hail. "There's no guarantee that whoever owns it would be on our side."
"Correct." Sera's voice caught both Hail and Blah by surprise. "Astra remains our best chance at recovering Broshi, but regardless of the method, it is clear that time travel is required. We will only need to worry when it comes time for him to be a server player, but until then, we should press onward and prepare Hailstorm."
"Okay..." Blah gave up for real. "I think we just need to get him back to his house."
"Ponyville it is," Sera earnestly confirmed.
"But I live in Cloudsdale..." corrected Hail as Blah approached to mount him.
"Sera can only teleport to places she, or I for some reason, have seen," Blah summarized. "You'll have to take us there yourself. Luckily, it's pretty close to Ponyville, right?"
"Relatively speaking..." mumbled Hail.
Blah turned to Tails. "Be sure to let us know when you've finished bringing Metal Tails up to date."
"Will do!" Tails nodded. "Good luck, you guys!"
"Goodb-" Hailstorm attempted to say, but before he could finish the word, he noticed that his surroundings had already changed to that of the pony-populated town. He became agitated. "Hey..."
"Well? We don't have much time to waste," Blah said in Sera's defense.
"But don't I need that computer in order to play the game?" Hail asked.
A few seconds of silence passed, shared by the growing crowd of villagers.
"Canterlot it is," adjusted Sera as the trio disappeared again, leaving many ponies unsure if what they had just seen was even real.
Two years in the future, the wasteland was indifferent to the confrontation taking place within it. Broshi and Tom Nook stood with their weapons drawn, facing a downed and heavily wounded Determinate Assassin. The two of them together were more than a match for the Dersite, and they had overwhelmed her in a short time to the point where she was no longer able to fight. Spike had watched from a close distance with Blah's bag at the ready in case his help was needed again, but it was never necessary.
Broshi menacingly stepped forward, his sword poised.
"So, it's come to this..." panted DA, unmoving. "Go ahead. Finish me off. It's not like I can return to the past anyway, not without the TARDIS."
"Heh, I would be glad to," Broshi chuckled as he took another step. Nook simply waited patiently, letting the scene play out.
Spike, on the other hand, wasn't so sure he wanted to let it happen. He thought back to the agreement between Blah and Discord. This woman was clearly the eighth member of Charge's team, all of whom they had agreed to kill. Doing so and reporting it to Discord would likely be enough to convince him to return Blah to normal. On the other hand, if they left her alive, she would be stuck here in the future with no way to return. There would be no need to kill her, and she would be out of everyone's way once and for all. That had to be just as good, right?
Spike's time to decide was coming to a close. Broshi's arm drew back. It was now or never.
"STOP!" Spike shouted, causing Broshi to halt.
"Just look away, kiddo," Broshi advised with a sigh. "It'll all be over soon."
"No... I mean..." Spike fidgeted. "We don't... HAVE to kill her, do we?" He decided it would be best not to mention the deal with Discord just yet.
"I think the tyke might have a point, hm?" Tom Nook added. "Execution is too easy. If you ask me, being stuck in this lifeless desert for the rest of one's life would be a fate worse than death, and one befitting an assassin. Don't you agree?"
Broshi froze. He remembered the difficult time he had surviving the past few days in the wasteland. Having been convinced, he lowered his sword. "Good thinking," Broshi concurred. "Have fun living in hell."
DA's face contorted in shock. "What... No way... You can't just..."
"Come on, let's get out of this place." Broshi started walking towards the TARDIS. Tom Nook casually followed, and Spike hastily picked up the bag and did the same, leaving DA to crawl after them.
"Come back here..." she grunted, clawing her way painfully across the sand as the three of them lifted the phone box upright. "You're supposed... to kill me... if I fail... he said that you would..."
The door opened, and they boarded the time machine one after the other. Before the door closed, Broshi turned around. "Here, I'll leave you with one last choice." He dug into the bag for another healing potion and tossed it into the desert, where it lodged itself in the sand several yards away from her. "You can drink that and live out the rest of your lifespan in misery here, or you could leave it and bleed out slowly and painfully. It's up to you."
DA said nothing and immediately began to crawl towards the potion as quickly as she could muster. Broshi smirked. "Just as I thought." He turned back to Nook, closing the door behind him. "Let's go, on the double!"
"Right-o!" Nook enthusiastically obeyed, darting around the console and operating the various buttons, levers, and widgets. "Next stop: the past!"
Using every last ounce of her strength, the Dersite hurried over to the potion, aware that the light on top of the phone box had started to glow. By the time she had the bottle in her shaking, sweaty hands, the box was already half transparent, but DA was committed to the action of drinking it. The majority of her wounds healed up rapidly, and she managed to stand, breaking into a sprint for the TARDIS... but it faded completely out of the present just as she reached it, causing her to hit the sand face-down where it had been seconds before.