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Eric was standing behind the table in the lab. He had a beaker bubbling hydrogen, one fogging liquid nitrogen, and another that didn't seem to be doing anything. He had brought Rainbow Dash with him after Leoj handed him a flash drive with the OS for the glasses. He had the terminal analyzing the operating system and breaking it down into single functions. Dash had gotten bored and asked that he do something cool. When he pulled out chemicals and beakers, she just shook her head. "Hold on a moment," he had said. "I bet I can make science cool." She hadn't believed him.
Eric placed an inch wide rubber ball bearing in the liquid nitrogen, and was catching the hydrogen in a balloon. It was about a foot around now and still growing slowly. The one beaker that looked like water was just sitting there. "How is this supposed to be cool?" she asked as he picked up a pair of tongs and pulled the rubber ball from the nitrogen.
"Like this," he said, as he dropped the ball in his gloved palm. "Its rubber right? It should bounce." He threw it at the wall. The rubber shattered as easily as a thin piece of glass. Dash jumped up grinning.
"Wow!" she shouted. "So it froze in there?" she asked, about to put her hoof in the fogging liquid. Eric took the beaker from her reach, spilling a little on the table and freezing a blank piece of paper. "Woah," she said, putting her hoof back down. "So it's dangerous, right?" Dash asked. Eric nodded.
"A lot of science is dangerous," he said as he tied a string around the balloon, letting it rise to the end of its tether. "But also fascinating. This is what got me hooked on it." He said, tying a taped lighter on a stick and holding it to the balloon. The blue rubber melted as the hydrogen caught flame with a loud bang. The fireball rose before burning itself out. Dash gave him applause. "And now for the really dangerous part," he said, tossing a pony shaped gas mask to her and slipping the full face mask over his head.
Dash did the same, looking at him through the glass view port. Eric picked up the final beaker, carrying it with both hands to a cone shaped depression in a foot thick cube of metal. "What is that supposed to do?" she asked, looking at the yellow fluid he poured into the basin. Acrid smoke rose from the metal, lines being carved in the walls as the apparent acid settled in the center, eating a hole quickly.
"That," he said lowering the cube with a pulley system before he slid a glass bowl under it to catch the remnants before it ate through the floor. "Eats through almost everything but glass. It is called hydrochloric acid. It's what's in you gut, dissolves your food." He tossed the empty beaker into a trashcan, turning on an exhaust fan to take away the fumes. He walked back to the table as the terminal displayed several things.
Eric took his mask off and sat at the computer. "Well, well," he said, picking up a curved sheet of metal and a soldering iron. He pressed the glowing piece of metal against several things, a wisp of smoke rising from the surface before dissolving in the air. "It looks like this should be quicker than I thought," he said. "All I have to do is connect the suit's onboard computer to the terminal and it should piece together an Artificial Intelligence."
"What is that," she asked, taking off her mask and looking at the screen before following a cord from the computer to Eric's glasses. Eric set the iron down beside the piece of metal.
"It is," he stopped, trying to dull down the description. Dash was smart, but not that into large words. "It's a computer system that can watch over things like a pony or human. The system in this case, will control the shifting surfaces on the suit so I can fly more controlled. It should keep the incident from yesterday from happening again." He picked up the curved sheet of metal, placing a pane of glass over it. He then picked up another piece of metal and fastened them together. It made a helmet, but without eyes. The computer made a noise, signaling it needed more data to complete the suit's OS.
"If that's your helmet," Dash said as Eric walked a cord over to the suit, plugging it into the back. "Then how are you going to see?" she asked. "I mean, it doesn't have any eye holes. So how could you?" Eric walked back over to the computer, plugging the helmet in and opening the face.
"Like this," he said, holding it close to Dash's face. It was a crystal clear version of what was before her. "The glass I used causes the lights the electronics emit to create an image." She looked at him as he waved smiling. He continued to explain. "There are tiny cameras imbedded in the face plate that transmit video to the computer. And from there, a light emitting diode, or LED, sends pulses of light that disperse in the polarization to create a three dimensional display." He took the plate away, closing the helmet and setting it on the table. He unplugged the cord and motioned to the lift. "Shall we go do something?" he asked.
They strolled through Canterlot for an hour, browsing the shops and such. Dash had nothing in mind for the day and Eric was also at a loss. As they walked by the hospital, Eric thought of something that might get the conversation flowing. "So, um, how's the wing feeling?" he asked. Dash raised the braced limb, making a mock flapping motion.
"It doesn't hurt any more," she said, continuing their walk. "But I don't trust it to fly with right now. I'd give it a week before I break the splint off myself." She spied a bench and trotted ahead, sitting down on it. She patted the spot beside her, motioning him to sit with her. "So, how much longer until the suit is ready?" she asked as Eric sat down.
"Not too long," he said, holding her hoof in his hand. "It should be ready before you're cleared to fly again." They were sitting in a small garden the sidewalk ran through. The road was blocked from view by an ivy covered wall. They sat in silence, just appreciating the presence of each other.
"Eric," Dash said after a while, breaking the silence and scaring a few birds away. "Tell me about Earth," she said. "I heard about it from Keith when we were playing together, but I suppose it changed a lot since then." Eric leaned back, watching the clouds float by in a sea of light blue.
"What do you want to know?" he asked. "Before or after the end?" she watched the clouds with him, noticing one that looked like a toy robot.
"Both," she said. "what caused the end of your world and how you survived it." She specified. Eric knew this might change her opinion of him, and he was loath to have that happen. She was the first being he had loved since his wife died.
"Well, I lived in a large city name Los Angeles," he began. "It was filled to the brim with people, and always had something going on. I was rather respected and revered by the science community for what I did. I had created several places on the table of elements, I even invented the structure for Devnium Nine Ten. But I was drafted into a top secret experiment and it all changed from there."
"Your job is to make this strand of genetic code stable," the suited man said. Eric was in a labcoat, a dossier in his hands as he reviewed the sequence. G-A, T-C, G-A, C-G. It looked rather simple to put into anything really, so why was it unstable.
"What am I being paid for my work?" he asked the group of men and women at the table. Eric was very respected and also expensive to contract for private work. The gathered people talked amongst themselves for what seemed like an hour while Eric read the dossier.
"We are prepared to take anything you ask for," another man said. "This project will take precedence over all current projects, and in exchange for your cooperation we are prepared to give you a blank check." Eric scoffed at the offer in his mind. They didn't want to pay what he would have asked. To put three military contracts, a cancer cure, and five other pet projects aside he could demand the rights to their bank accounts.
"I want seven trillion British pounds in U.S dollars," he said. "I need four months to completely finish this project to the extent of the information I have. So tell me," he said. "What is this gene, which I might add isn't very uncommon, going to be used for?" the group of businessmen became nervous.
The one at the head of the table stood up. he was around five foot eight, and his hair was silver. He was young in the face and well built from the looks of his shoulders. He walked around to Eric, motioning to a camera man to take a shot. "Eric Johnson, Welcome to the house of Rosschild." The man extended his hand. "Shake my hand son, it would be in your best interest. We can supply you with more funding than any government in the world." Eric wasn't stupid, the Rosschilds were an ancient banking clan. They had their hands in every nation's pocket and pulled the strings at the UN. To be an honorary member of the clan meant he would be watched by agencies and feared by world leaders. And if he didn't shake this man's hand, he would most likely be dead. Eric reached out and shook the silver haired man's hand, having his picture taken by the boy with the camera.
"I had agreed to develop this genetic sequence into a stable platform for anything," Eric said to Dash as they sat on the park bench. "they said they would use it in food, medicine, all things beneficial. But they had other plans I didn't know of."
"What?" Eric screamed at the silver haired man from a year before. He could not believe what he had heard. "You said nothing about this being used as a weaponized virus!" he threw his hands up and walked around the room. "I never would have agreed to this if I knew that you were weaponizing it!" he kicked the chair the man sat in, pulling an empty syringe from his coat pocket and pulling back the plunger.
"Now Eric, be reasonable," the silver haired man said. "You don't have to worry about this virus. We have talked with the UN. Humanity is over populated and war cannot keep the numbers down." Eric held the needle in his fist, ready to jab it into the mans chest. "They want this, you have the gene, your wife and son have the gene. You will survive!" Eric halted his hand just before the needle struck into the man's chest.
"I'm not a murderer, but are showing the signs of manic depression." Eric said. He looked at the man with the will to strike him down now for exploiting him like that. "It would be a shame if you were to decide to jump out of your office, sir." He walked out of the open door, slamming it behind him. He pressed the plunger, emptying the bubble it contained and capping the needle.
"I should have killed him," Eric said. "It may have given me the time I needed to make a counter virus while they had to go through the local law. But I wasn't a killer. Not then at least. It wasn't until my Roseanne and Liam died that I began to loose it."
Eric sat on his sofa, staring at the bodies of his son and wife. Tears stained his face and blood covered his shirt and pants. Moments before, he had held the two as they hemorrhaged from deep lesions that appeared on their flesh. He knew they couldn't be saved, the virus worked too quickly. Within an hour of contracting the pathogen they were dead, growing cold on the floor. The streets outside were filled with cries for help and the sounds of crashing cars. People were dying left and right, falling like flies in a pesticide cloud. The ambulances that dispatched to save lives became prey for the invisible predator.
Eric felt something in his mind break, the tears stopping and his heart beginning to slow its manic beat. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed the cook's knife from the block. Exiting the house, he saw a woman thrashing on his stoop, begging for help. He rolled her over onto her back, pulling her shirt up to expose her stomach. Eric plunged the knife into the flesh, blood spraying over him as the abdominal aorta was punctured. He reached into the hole he had made, finding her heart and holding it in a vise like grip. The woman became calm, ceasing to breathe and slumped in his arms. Eric knew his new job, to end the suffering of all he could. He stood up, taking the knife in his crimson hand and walked deeper into the city.
"You have to understand," Eric said, staring at the ground as tears fell from his face. "This virus had a one hundred percent fatality factor. Anyone who caught it was killed slowly, an hour of suffering and pain. I had to help them, but I could only end their lives and spare them the agony of the lesions."
A month had passed since the initial LA outbreak happened. The world had begun to decay, dying around them. The soil lost its fertility, lying dusty and parched. Eric's car had broken down in Utah, forcing him to walk alone across the barren road. The images of his wife and son were still heavy on his mind. Three days after their deaths, they rose up and attacked him. Liam had bitten into his side, Roxanne into his chest. They had become flesh craving animals. Not only the humans either. All life that had a brain became flesh eating monsters. A dog walked out in front of him, barking and whining for food.
"I don't have anything to give you, sir." He said to the dog. "I only have a can of Spam and a sleeve of saltine crackers." The dog laid down in the road, looking up at him. Eric sighed. "Come on then" he said, walking by and calling to the animal. "Maybe we can find some Alpo at the next gas station." the dog got up and ran to catch up with Eric.
"Do you have a name, sir?" he asked the animal. The dog looked at him strange. "No? well I guess I'll have to give you one." The dog cocked its head again, raising an ear. "How about dusty?" he said as the dog shook, dirt flying from its fur. "That's a good name isn't it?" the dog barked happily, following his new master on their journey.
"That damn dog," Eric said with a humorless laugh. "The dog became my closest friend. In my mad state, I thought of it as a person. I would talk to the animal like it was a human, and I would some how know what it meant when it responded. We held conversations all the time, talking about politics and the like." He shook his head, leaning back on the bench. "But just like everything else, he died."
Eric's hands dripped blood almost as fast as the creature that it belonged to. "Dusty! Dusty where are you!" he called, desperately trying to find his friend. The dog was lying in the corner, panting on his side as blood poured from a gash in his neck. Eric knelt in the expanding pool, petting the dog. "It's ok man, your gonna make it." The dog looked at him in a way that shocked Eric. "No! I'm not lying!" she yelled, starting to cry. "I'm going to get you out of here Dusty! You are not dying on me!" he picked up the dog, carrying him toward the door, scanning the shelves with hazed eyes for anything to cover the wound and stop the bleeding.
The dog began to wheeze erratically, his breaths coming in ragged bursts. "No!" Eric yelled as the animals heart stopped beating. "No! Don't leave me buddy! Please!" Eric fell to his knees setting the dead friend on the floor. The dogs jaw twitched. Eric put his ear next to the twitching jaw. "I cant man, you know there is no cure." The death throes continued, causing the jaw to move more. "Oklahoma? The National Guard base?" the dog ceased moving as Eric stood up. He covered the corpse with a white sheet, the last remnants of his sanity activating for the lost friend.
"I had never thought that I would become that crazy," Eric said to Dash. "My closest friend was a dog that couldn't really speak, that always seemed to know where things of importance were. The dog sent me on a four year long search for information on the west half of the country. And I ended up finding a doctor of science named Strauss."
"Hey! You there! I'm human!" The disheveled scientist jumped out of his seat and fell on the floor, scrabbling back towards the other wall in fright. "Don't worry," stated Eric. "I'm alive. Hey! You should let me in!" he reassured and suggested almost simultaneously. "I can help!" the scientist shook his head desperately.
"Aww… Please?" Eric pleaded innocently. The scientist stood up, over his fit of surprise. He walked over to the window and keyed his Mic.
"Who are you?" the man in the lab coat demanded. Eric gave the man a puzzled look.
"Me? I'm the guy with all the notes from other facilities!" Eric smiled, holding up several key chains with around a hundred or more USB flash drives. Jangling them gently. "These are from Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, South California, North California…" he continued listing off state after state, never ceasing for breath. Eric continued to name flash drives, now detailing which facilities by city or military base. Once Eric finished, the scientist nodded.
"Head into decontamination and I'll meet you at the door." He pointed to his right. Eric looked over in the direction that the scientist was pointing, nodding. Eric and the scientist, now distinguished as Dr. Strauss Ph.D., were reviewing the documents. "It seems you've gathered a lot of useful data, Eric." Dr Strauss congratulated. Eric smiled and nodded.
"But it turns out a cure was impossible." Eric continued. "There weren't enough humans left alive to terraform earth, and the best option was to leave. We didn't have space ships, so the governments began to look for other ways. They found weird magnetic fields deep in the earth before all humanity fell."
"Alright Eric!" Strauss shouted over the noises of the machinery. "When I say go, jump higher than one foot into the air! You will be caught in the event horizon! If you don't make the jump at precisely the right time," he shook his head slightly. "Let's not think about that, shall we?" Eric gave him a thumbs up, confirming he had understood. As the devices surrounding Eric began to whine and spark, he watched Dr. Strauss, waiting for the signal.
That's when things started to go wrong. Strands of energy and radiation began to arc all around the room. Strauss was panicking, and understandably so. But what caught Eric's eye was the Lazarus coming through decontamination. 'What the…' he thought. 'How did it get inside?'
'What's going on,' Strauss thought. 'This is wrong. I gotta stop the process. I'm getting to many gauss readings in this.' Strauss entered command after command but none seemed to be working. "Dammit," he screamed. "Eric! Get out of the area! Go!" he waved at him to signal him to run.
"Doctor! There's a Lazarus! Look out!" Eric fired at the zombie like being that had entered the room, running at Dr. Strauss. Even though he aimed for the kill, the bullets missed the target, landing in the creatures knee. 'What the…' He thought, but he found he had bigger problems now. The Lazarus was running towards him now, and his gun was malfunctioning. Eric dropped his rifle, grabbing a Kukri knife from his belt before a white light blinded him.
"And then I ended up here." Eric said as he stood up. "I killed the human zombie, burned its body so the virus wouldn't affect the world here, and saved Ponyville. I think you know the rest." Eric held out a hand to help Dash out of her seat. She sat there, tapping her hooves together and refusing to look at him for a moment.
"You killed all those humans to save them?" she asked, it didn't make sense. If the virus would destroy them, then how was killing them anyway helping? Eric knelt down and held her hooves in his hands. They didn't look like the hands of a killer.
"You have to understand," he said quietly. "It was either end their pain quickly, or let them scream and cry in pain for hours until they died." He looked down and let go of her hoof, rubbing his right hand. It felt like it was coated with blood again. "I was helping them by saving their mind from the debilitating agony. I gave them a quick and painless death compared to the virus." He looked up at her, staring into her eyes. He had never noticed before, but Roxanne had the same eyes. Soft, caring, if a little cocky, and the most beautiful shade of magenta.
Dash looked back into his eyes. They were gray with black rims. They were set with a soft position, slanting down slightly while still being rounded. They had a hardened look to them though, like they had seen things most ponies can only imagine. The sockets were sunken in and shaded, as if he hadn't slept for a week constantly. "I think I do," she mumbled, looking away. "You couldn't save their lives, so made the passing quicker than it would have been." Eric nodded. "You seem different somehow, Eric," she said, a hint of worry in her voice. He was afraid that it would happen.
"I can understand if you're afraid of me," he said, hoping she hadn't felt that way. "If you want me to leave you alone for a while I will." He stood up and walked away a few steps, staring at a tree with his back turned. He wanted to get wasted and forget everything behind him, to be free of the memories.
"I'm not afraid," Dash said, walking up and hugging him around the waist before laying her head on his shoulder. "You just seem a little more dangerous. And I don't mean angry, just like you have more of an edge to yourself." Eric set his hands on her hooves, relieved she wasn't afraid or hated him for what he did. "Come on," she said. "Lets go see how our house is coming along." She let go of him, walking beside him towards the walls of the city.
They sat on the same hill as the day before, this time watching the construction crew blast a cave out of the mountain, while keeping the side intact. They had erected the frame in the hour they had been watching, carrying plywood and re-bar into the cavern along with a cement mixer. "It's going to be nice to have a house I could stand to be in," Dash said, leaning on Eric's chest as they lay on the grass. "I just hope nothing goes wrong." Eric chuckled, causing her to roll onto her back and stare up at him. "What?"
"You've never heard of Murphy's law, have you?" she gave him a quizzical look, just before a snapping noise was heard. The 2x4 frame came toppling down, falling down the mountain side. Eric just laughed at the sight of Pegasi ponies flying after it. "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. But it's never as hard or as easy as you think it will be." He pointed to the site as the ponies began to build another quickly.
"You know everything, don't you?" she asked, rolling back over and cuddling closer to him. Eric chuckled again, watching as they lifted steel girders up the mountain side.
"Not everything," he said as a joke, getting a hoof to the knee. "Ouch!" he shouted, giggling uncontrollably. "Oh you know it was funny," Dash made an exasperated sigh, sounding surprisingly like a horse from earth. "What's up Dashie?" he asked, stroking her side. She shrugged.
"Nothing," she said. "Just your darn Murphy guy made our house fall down a mountain." She giggled, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "I have a question," she said. Eric nodded, waiting for her to ask. "Do you know how to fix my wing faster?" she asked. "I would love to be able to be with you on your first real flight."
Eric though about this for a moment. He had developed a medicine that could mend bone faster, almost cutting the healing time in half. "Yes," he said slowly, thinking about the compound again. "I can make it heal in half the time," he said, pulling a pen and paper out of the shoulder bag he carried. "But it will be painful," he warned as he wrote down the chemical make up of the injection. "The process has been know to cause severe pain in the affected area." Dash scoffed.
"don't you know how weed works?" she said. "It numbs you to pain, making the worst ache seem like nothing at all." She lifted her busted wing. "That's how I dealt with the aches from the last time this beauty got broken." Eric thought about the injection a little longer. He made some adjustments to the compounds, pleased with his work.
"I may be able to heal it instantly, but it would hurt infinitely more." He said, putting the notes away in the bag. "Come on," he said, getting up and helping her to her hooves. "I have to run a test before I give you anything." They hurried back into town, nodding at Mat and Sapphire who were watching the sunset again.
"Alright," Eric said nervously. "Break a rib Dash." He was standing shirtless in the lab. Dash was on her hind legs, preparing to hit his chest as hard as she could. She pulled back a hoof, setting up the swing. She was just about to let loose with the hit when somepony grabbed her arm.
"What the hell is going on here?" Sapphire demanded. "Why are you having her break your ribs?" she stood with her hands on her hips, waiting for Eric's explanation. He stood there, still braced for the pain. "I'm waiting, Eric!" she shouted causing him to flinch.
"I need to test a drug I made to heal bone, and I'm not testing it on anyone else." He explained. "She want's to be out of the splint sooner so she could join me when I finish the suit, and I said I would help." He picked up the syringe. "The worst that could happen is that it does nothing and I end up with a broken bone." Sapphire lifted her eye patch, scanning the injection with the steel eye. the composition said it would work the way it was designed to. Instantaneous healing of a damaged bone.
"Hold out your arm," she demanded. "Go ahead, you deserve the pain for making her do it." Eric did as she said, extending his right arm. Quicker than he thought possible, Sapphire slung the back of her mechanical arm on his. The radius and ulna snapped audibly, piercing through the skin and muscle and jutting out at an angle. Eric let out a yelp of pain before biting down on his lip and holding his breath. Sapphire grabbed his wrist and yanked on it, resetting the bones and stabbing him with the needle. "Calm down!" she yelled. Eric did as she said, gaining control quickly. She pushed the plunger and took out the needle, letting go of him.
Eric felt the pain increase ten fold, bringing him to his knees with an agonized and silent cry of agony. He could hear the bone snap and pop as it fit back together, an unbearable itch creeping over the limb. He was immobilized by the screams of protest his arm was sending him, unhappy with the recent abuse. He fell forward onto the floor as the pain vanished. "Great, he passed out." were the last words he heard.
Eric awoke to Sapphire slapping him gently on the face with her natural hand. "Come on," she repeated until he opened his eyes and mumbled a few failed words. She grabbed him by the arm she broke and pulled him to his feet, letting him stumble to the table. "It works, Doc," she said behind him. There were two needles on the table, both having the serum he had developed while he was conscious. He pointed at the empty needles. "She went ahead and had me do the injection." Sapphire explained, pointing to the passed out pony in his chair. "I'm going to let you wake her up," she said turning around and walking toward the exit. "Later," she said, throwing a peace sign over her shoulder.
Eric waited until he heard the lift rise to walk over to Dash. Her wing looked perfect, save for the splint the remained over it. "Dashie," he said, shaking her gently. "Can you here me?" he said. she mumbled in her sleep, moving and going back to sleep. He poked her in the side, causing her to wiggle and squirm. He chuckled, knowing she was faking now. "My sweet little Dash," he whispered. "It's time to wake up," he leaned closer, whispering her name repeatedly. He kissed her softly, getting a moan from her. He smiled and kissed a little more sensually. He got a response, feeling her kiss back. Eric tried for entry with his tongue finding her lips parted. He felt her press back, slipping her tongue over his. Eric broke the kiss.
"Don't stop," she said, looking at him with half lidded eyes. "Do you know how bad that hurt?" Eric chuckled and kissed her again, holding the contact as they explored each others mouths for a minute. When he pulled away, she blinked and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. "Ok, so maybe you do." She said seductively. Eric chuckled and picked her up.
They sat in the doctors office as he examined her wing. "I don't know how," the earth pony said. "But you've made a full recovery. And in record time I might add." He scribbled something on her chart. "I guess there's nothing to do now but discharge you fully." He said, handing the clipboard to a nurse. "I would suggest going home and getting rest, but I know you won't listen. Just take it slow, alright?" Dash nodded as he let them out of the room. Eric paid the receptionist the doctor's fee and led the way out.
"Finally!" Dash shouted as she jumped into the air and glided around the street. "This so beats walking," she said, floating beside Eric as he walked back to the motel. "I can't wait to teach you some moves," she said. "It's going to be so awesome!" Eric laughed as they went on their way.
"Just remember, that suit can go faster than you on a bad day," he said, waving a finger. "I may teach you something instead." Dash waved her hoof, brushing his facts off.
"Oh please," she scoffed, flying upside down. "I'm the fastest flyer in all of Equestria, there is no way you could beat me." Eric stopped and looked her dead in the eyes. She glared right back. "Not in a million years." she said, daring him to challenge her.
"The AI is running," Eric commented. "You want to be the first victim of speed?" he asked, challenging her. Dash did a back flip and flew back towards the lab. 'I guess so,' he thought, running to catch up.
Eric stood outside the castle the next morning, having set up the event with Celestia. The white Alicorn and her black sister stood on either side of him, looking at the black and red armor he wore cautiously. The suit made him look like a statue. The boots were flared just above the heel, presenting a vented thruster. The calves of the legs were tiled with metal, the kneed equally armored but with rotating joints. The thighs held open latches for arms. The abdomen was segmented in a scaled fashion, allowing for full mobility. The chest plate was a single curved piece of metal, a ridge on it to cause the air to separate. The neck guard was segmented also in bands that connected on the throat. The shoulders were shaped like the chest, and the upper arms looked like a solid plates. Spaces for blades to be attached were empty. the elbows resembled a more flexible version of the knee, and the forearm was made of some flexible material but still metal. They also held a stabilizing thruster on them. The back of his suit hummed ominously, a series of vests above the curve of his back sputtered flame and glowed constantly.
Rainbow Dash stood on the ground as the princesses announced the event. "Ladies and Gentlecolts, we seem to have a domestic dispute!" the audience laughed at the joke. "Rainbow Dash, winner of the Best Young Flyer award three years in a row, has been challenged by her mate! Eric Johnson, Knight of Equestria, Slayer of That Which Should Not Be, and Savior of Ponyville has challenged his mate to a challenge of agility and speed!" the crowd laughed, casting false boos and cheering his confidence. "On the word go," she called, only to be cut off by Dash taking to the sky.
"Cheater!" Eric yelled up, seating his helmet on and having the AI take over the minor systems. "Fifty percent power," he ordered. "Move away!" he yelled as the thrusters began to whine. The princesses backed away just in time. Eric crouched and launched with incredible speed, corkscrewing towards the mare he loved. He rocketed past her, causing her to stop and float. "Hover," he ordered the AI in his suit. Eric turned around and lifted the faceplate. "I thought you were the fastest!" he joked, lowering the plate again and activating the loudspeaker. "Race Me," the distorted voice said as he took his position beside her. "GO!" he yelled, letting her lead. "Raise power gradually. Twenty start off, raise by ten percent every five seconds." The AI brought up the thrust gauge, along with a speedometer as Eric began to move forward.
Dash looked back as she continued to lead. "Come on already!" she called back before increasing her speed, pulling a trail of vapor from a cloud behind her. Eric was gaining fast and she knew it. Was it possible he was faster? "Horse apples," she said. "I'm the fastest!" she continued to gain speed as Eric came abreast.
"How ya doin'?" he asked, turning off the wrist stabilizers and spinning upside down. He crossed his arms as Dash struggled to match his ever increasing speed. "I thought you said I could never outrun you?" he sniped as she turned further up. They continued to gain altitude as the Weather Patrol cleared the skies below them. Eric got a message. Altitude unsafe for un-supplied beings. Activating O2 systems. Dash was gasping for breath as she floated at ten thousand feel beside him.
"This is where I get my title," she huffed. She tucked her wings in tight, angling downward. Eric followed her, cranking the thrust up to full. He continued to gain speed, watching the sonic cone form around Dash. She passed through one, two, three mach speeds. Eric had just passed the fourth one, his sensors showing a thermal ahead. Dash sensed it and opened her wings to get extra hang time. Eric followed her example, releasing a steel mesh membrane from under his arms. The chutes filled with the wind and rose him up. they had both lost speeds, traveling a mach two.
Dash tucked in again, gaining further speed. Eric followed, passing through the fifth barrier. Dash glanced back at him, seeing his armor begin to heat up and glow red and yellow. 'I refuse to lose to anything!' she screamed in her mind. She flapped once, breaking the barrier and creating a horizontal rainbow burst. Eric was shocked, but had already heard of her "Sonic Rainboom". He might be able to one up it.
"Afterburner, flood the chamber!" he yelled at the AI. It obeyed, adding a sliver of Devnium to the thrusters. The suit shuddered, causing him to become nervous before he accelerated rapidly. He approached the ground at mach 5, 6,7,8,9. The meter stopped recording when he passed mach ten. He was approaching light speed. "WAHOO!"
Dash gasped as Eric shot past her, trailing a solid line of violet flames. "Holy cow," she said as she rode her mach 9 Rainboom. "That isn't possible,"
"OH MY GOD!" Eric screamed into his helmet as the world warped around him. His suit had gone from glowing white to burning in a violet light. The only objects he knew of that did that were asteroids on entry. He continued to gain speed as he approached Canterlot. Suddenly there was an explosion and Eric's display went blank.
"Uh oh," Leoj said, poking Soarin on the shoulder and pointing to Eric as he trailed violet flames. "This is bad." He said as Soarin's jaw dropped. "He's about to go hyper-light, he could tear open reality!" Leoj screamed at Mat and Sapphire. The blazing form of Eric's suit exploded in a ball of white light and disappeared. Rainbow Dash landed beside the princesses, looking at the glowing blast of light.
"No, no, no," she muttered, shaking her head slowly. "NO!" she screamed as the ball turned into a violet torrent of floating fire a mile wide. Tears streamed down Dash's face. Eric had exploded. There was a sputtering pop coming from the cloud. Everypony and human looked at the firestorm as it shrunk in size, becoming a glowing pinprick in the sky above. The small glow exploded out in all directions, a streak of glowing smoke being sent toward the city at great speed.
"Where are we?" Eric screamed at the AI. The screen showed one word. NOWHERE. "That isn't possible! There is always something in the physical universe!" he argued. SKYS ABOVE CANTERLOT IN 3…2…1. There was a massive explosion as the screen came to life, Eric was being thrown toward Canterlot castle. "Full throttle burst! NOW!" he ordered. The thrusters on his arms, back and boots kicked in and fired an explosive burst as he wheeled forward, launching him clear of the city and over the woods beyond. He rode the burst forward, righting the spin before loosing power and flailing as he tumbled. He gripped a failsafe and pulled the pin, the suit locking rigid and filling the armor's cavities with a gel.
The explosive burst could be heard over the sound of the fire that crept along the sky. Mat was first on the draw, having his glasses on and charting a trajectory. "We gotta move! He's bound to be hurt after that and the inevitable crash!" him and Sapphire ran to the wall, Mat throwing her over and following her. Leoj appeared beside Dash, grabbing her by the waist and falling backwards into a time rift.
They came out near a crater a half mile wide, a trench beginning a thousand yards away from it. "He bounced," Leoj said as he ran towards the trench. Dash flew behind him, confused by what she had seen in the rift. "Go! Go find him!" he yelled. She saluted and flew ahead. Mat and Sapphire caught up, holding onto Leoj's shoulders. He stepped forward with them, entering another rift.
Rainbow Dash flew fast, a blue streak in the sky to anything below. She followed the trench with her eyes, looking for Eric. She wasn't sure she wanted to find him, he could be… "Stop thinking, Dash." She said to herself. "He's fine, he has to be." She continued to follow the trench. It was over three miles long. "How fast was he going," she asked nopony. She spotted a pillar of smoke ahead, fearing the worst. "Please be ok," she mumbled to herself, landing next to another crater. This time it was only a hundred feet wide. In the middle was Eric in his suit. It was char black and stripped of all its paint, smoke rolling out of the thrusters. Dash ran up to him, trying to see if he was ok. "Eric! Can you here me!" she yelled as she reached him.
Eric was at an odd angle, his back was arched forward, his arms at angles that looked like he tried to brace against the impact. His legs were like the arms, only slightly staggered. She walked up to him, seeing a piece of the armor poking out. It had a push logo on it. She pushed it in, releasing the lock on the armor. Eric's arms and legs fell, his back straightening and his helmet lolling to the side. Dash walked up to his head, remembering how Eric had opened it before. He tapped the bolts on the sides and lifted the plate with her nose. Eric's face and neck were covered with a gray gel that fell away as the helmet opened. The display flashed a message before the suit ratcheted into smaller pieces. Every opening leaked gray gel.
"No…" Dash said through the lump in her throat. "No, you can't be dead Eric. You just can't…" she laid her self down next to him, nudging his face with her nose as she cried. "Please…" she pleaded. "Wake up, just wake up…" Leoj and the others appeared next to the crater. Sapphire gasped at the state of the situation while mat turned away and crouched before a tree. Leoj frowned slightly and walked into the crater. He placed his fingers on his jugular vein, searching for a pulse, something more than K.I.A.
Dash cried and continued trying to wake him, but to no avail. "Rainbow Dash," Leoj said in a soft voice. She ignored him and continued her attempts. "Dash, stop…" he said, but she continued to ignore him.
"Such a pity," a voice like smoke said from behind them all. "Tell me, how did he die?" Rainbow Dash turned and felt her breath catch. Before her was a winged human, a white hooded robe and a milk toned claymore sword in his hands. The deities black orbs fell on Dash and he nodded. "Of course," he said in a deadpan. "Love." Azrael walked into the crater, holding his blade upright in his hands. "Move aside mortal," He said in his smooth, hollow voice. Dash was pushed away by an invisible force as Death hefted the blade and brought it down on Eric's body. The blade passed through his chest without contact, pulling a translucent form behind it.
Hey Dashie, the figure of Eric said. her face was that of utter horror. What's wrong? Do I have something on my face? Eric lifted his hand, passing it through his head. Oh… Was all he said. He looked at Death with a deadpan expression. I'm dead, huh? He asked, receiving a nod. Eric sighed in an echoing voice. I'm sorry, Dash, he said, kneeling before her and placing an ethereal hand on her cheek. The contact was warm, flooding her mind with thoughts and images from Eric's mind. I was kind of looking forward to being with you. But I guess life has other plans. He stood, looking at all of the agape faces. What? Have you guys never seen a ghost before?
He turned around to see a woman with red hair standing next to a man with a golden glow around him. "Leave him be, Azrael," the woman said as the man bent and kissed Eric's body on the lips. A shard of metal floated between their mouths as he pulled away. "This one lives. He is possibly the last fertile one of his race." The angel bowed, sheathing his sword between his wings and vanishing.. "Eric, please return to the living." The beings touched his disembodied soul on the chest and absorbed him before placing their hands on his forehead and chest. They disappeared a moment later.
Eric gasped a shuddering breath, coughing as he sat bolt upright. He coughed more, flecks of blood landing on a stone in front of him. A shard of metal slid out of his mouth in a stream of blood. "Oh damn," he gasped after wiping his mouth. He looked around the crater, staring at each of the pale faces around him. "Well," he began. "Did I win?" Leoj raised a hand, turning around and walking over to Mat and Sapphire. "What?" Eric asked. "The hell are you all so freaked out by?" Eric coughed again, blood flying into his gauntlet. "It was just a crash, what are you all s-" Eric was cut off by a hoof. His helmet flew off, landing a few yards away.
Rainbow Dash Hugged him and cried on his armored shoulder. "Don't ever do that to me again," she cried, holding him as tight as she could. "You stupid Egghead," he wrapped her in his arms, holding her. He had no idea how close he was to dying. Seven ponies appeared with a soft pop in the trench, just outside the small crater. Keith looked around the area, his eyes covered in a negative light.
"Who died?" he asked, looking at the humans and Dash. Leoj glowed with a silver light, Mat with a red aura, Sapphire with a blue one and Dash and Eric shared a golden light. "You," he said walking towards Eric and pointed his hoof at him. "What did they say?" he asked, confusing the human. Keith stomped his hoof and separated Dash from him. Keith lifted Eric by his chest plate, holding him with his hooves. "You two have been touched by Gods, what did they tell you?" Eric was surprised by his strength.
"I'm not dead you fucking Jarhead," Eric yelled. "Put me the hell down!" Keith stared at him, listening to the songs his aura gave off. He let Eric go, walking back to the group as AJ held Dash with one hoof while she cried. "Now, would someone explain this shit?" Eric asked, looking around the crowd. Leoj shook his head, backing up with Mat and Sapphire into a rift. Rainbow Dash tried talking but couldn't stop her tears.
"You have been saved through divine intervention, Eric," Keith explained. "Two deities have altered you and Dash. One gave you live and healed your wounds, the other I have no idea." The Negative light left his eyes, replaced by the usual black irises. Eric shook his head, picking up his helmet. His legs gave way and he fell to one knee.
"I don't believe in gods or god or any of that bullshit," he said, reaching for a round piece of his armor. He pulled on the pin, turning the cylinder that appeared and pushing it back in. The armor covered his legs and stomach again. Eric stood, the hydraulics keeping him upright at the moment. "If anything is going to save me, it's going to be a doctor. He slipped the helmet on, looking at the display before lifting the faceplate again. "I need to…" was all he could say before he groaned in pain. He stepped forward, falling on his side. Blood flowed from his mouth as he passed out.
OH NOES!
Well this is an interesting development I would say. Bet you can't figure what their going to call what Eric did. :P
Anyway, the "Negative Light" does not mean black light or a black colored light. Keith's ability lets him see the soul of another. A negative light means it absorbs light. There is no light there.
Also the Deities were Apollo and Aphrodite by the way (and yes Apollo liked to play the field, if you know what I mean.)
Please review :)
Mat & Sapphire used with permission of Bahamut Crisis Core
Leoj used with permision of Timefather64