*Knock Knock*
"Twilight darling are you in there!?" Rarity called, rapping on the door.
What a coincidence, the first pony we meet knows the pony we're looking for.
Well, Ponyville is a small tight knit town. It's not much to think that ponies would go to each other for help.
Rarity had lead bounty and her cargo to a tree in the middle of the town. Apparently it was the library and the residence of the Unicorn named "Twilight." They had exchanged idle chit-chat and Rarity had discovered Bounty's name.
"Are you sure that she's in there?" Bounty asked out loud.
"Twilight is always in here with her snout stuck in a book, she doesn't get out often." Rarity replied still rapping on the door.
"I'm coming hold on!" a voice comes from inside.
The clicking of footsteps echoes from inside and the tree and the door open to reveal a small purple and green dragon.
"DRAGON!" Bounty cried, her wings snapped out and she their extra propulsion to tackle Rarity out of the way.
"Stay down!" She cried, making a full 360 to watch the drake carefully. Her wings out to make herself look bigger, Bounty faced off with the scaled denizen of Tartarus. She let out a low growl "What are you doing so far out of your lands before the migration creature? Are you a forward scout!?"
"Er, what?" came the reply from the "creature"
Rarity jumped from behind Bounty "Bounty wait! It's only Spike!"
"What?" came her confused reply.
"That is Twilight's assistant!" Rarity said to the riled-up pegasus.
"Hmph, sure he is." Bounty grumbled slowly closing her wings. "The only reason that a dragon would be living among ponies would be to find what they could steal. Then the rest of the horde came to wipe the town off the map." She continued eyes flickering with hate.
Looking rather angry smoke began to leak from his nostrils, "So you immediately assumed that I'm like every other dragon?"
"Spike you know that not everypony is as accepting as others." A magenta unicorn, with a blue and pink striped mane, stepped into the light revealing a cluster of stars and a cutie mark. Twilight turned on Bounty, "But that doesn't mean that it is ok to just immediately try and beat down every dragon you see."
Bounty snorted, "I have my reasons, and the scars to go with them." She says steadfastly.
Rarity break in to try and broker some peace, "Twilight, Bounty here needs some help with the pack she is currently wearing."
Twilight's scowl turns into a look of confusion "Why would you need help with a pack?"
Rarity jumps on the opportunity to break out of the awkwardness, "Well why don't we go inside and talk about it like civilized ponies?"
Twilight's face jumps between the scowl and a look of curiosity, but the curiosity wins out "Yes, please come in." She says grabbing Spike in her magic and whispering something in his ear, the dragon nods and scampers off deeper into the library.
Twilight sits down in a chair and pulls two couches over for her two other guests "So a pack?" she directs at Rarity.
"Well yes, I ran into her and thought that she would look absolutely amazing in a saddlebag that I made a while ago. I brought her into my shop and then she informed me that that pack doesn't come off. Then I did a fabric test on one of the front straps, I exerted force on a small part and found out something interesting." Rarity looks at Bounty, "Sorry about this darling." She grabs the pegasus in her magic and slides her over in front of Twilight.
Rarity stands up and trots over to where Bounty is held, "This isn't fabric, it is some kind of woven metal. Where the straps meet the bag it is sewn with more of the metal and some kind of super adhesive." She says pointing to different parts of the bag as she talks.
Twilight frowned, "And what makes you think it is metal and not some super strong composite fabric that hasn't been released yet?"
Rarity shook her head, "When I put force on it, it began to heat up instead of stretching. Bounty can attest to this fact with the singe marks on her coat." She says with a small smile.
Twilight looked at the white pegasus "And where exactly did this pack come from? More important why did you put on a pack that doesn't come off?" she asks with a confused look.
Released from the telekinetic field bounty sits down and gives them a serious look "What I am about to tell you cannot leave this room." She says. "I am an archaeologist working on a top secret dig and the details haven't been published or made public yet."
The last of the mistrust on Twilight's face is replaced by a look of crazed excitement "Really!? Now I have to know!"
That is the most terrifying face I have ever seen.
Rarity shakes her head at the scholar before a contemplative look takes over her face, "You know you never really told me the full story of how you got stuck with that bag…"
Bounty trots over to the couch she had been lounging on previously, "Well it is a long story, so get comfortable. It started when I got a lead on a 'crash site'-"
"What do you mean-"
Bounty holds up a hoof and Twilight falls into a meek silence, "Please save all questions for the end. As I was saying…"
"And then I ran from it and out of the ship. I returned to the little inn and decided to come to you for help, as you seemed like the nice sort from what I'd heard."
Bounty conveniently left out the run-in with the glowing blue armored creature because she still wasn't sure what to make of it.
Twilight, who had taken everything remarkably well, finally got to ask questions. "So you discovered an alien ship?"
Bounty nodded.
"And it was still somewhat functional?"
Affirmative again.
"You are either on the cusp of the greatest scientific discovery since fire, or you are a few screws short of being firmly anchored in reality." Twilight finished with a dead serious look on her face.
Rarity, who had been skeptical all the way through the story stood up "Well I wish you both the best of luck, but I have afternoon appointments to keep. Ta-ta!" and with that she pranced out the door.
Bounty let out a sigh, "She doesn't believe me." she said looking down.
Twilight nodded, "I'm not sure that I believe you either, but I will help you get that bag off."
Bounty hopped up out of the chair and started jumping up and down in excitement "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! You have no idea how uncomfortable this thing is!" she said ecstatically.
Twilight smiled "No problem, follow me." she said before turning and leading the way to a set of stairs downward, "Spike I'm going to be working in the lab!" she shouts before she begins descending.
Bounty's smile wavers slightly when she remembers the dragon nearby, but it doesn't ruin her good mood.
They both come into a lab of beeping blinking machines, "So what do you plan to do?" Bounty asks, curious.
"Well I plan to see if the pack has a magical signature, then depending on if it does I will take an x-ray and we'll find out what's inside. While the x-rays develop I plan to do a whole bunch of tests on the material it is made out of." Twilight says over her shoulder as she pulls a sensor array over.
"Now this might tingle a little."
After several tests that did a whole lot more than "tingle," a small machine let out the toot-toot of a train whistle as it began to spew a long string of data-filled papers. Twilight grabbed the slowly growing stack of papers and scanned it slowly.
"Oh my!.." She said trailing off.
"What!?" a rather singed and beat up Bounty galloped over and asked.
Twilight brandished the paper with an X-ray of Bounty's skull "It appears that there is some sort of device installed in your skull. It connects to your optical nerve along with a lot of other regions including your auditory nerve."
Bounty sat down stunned.
Twilight pulled back the paper and took a second look, "I don't think it is worth trying to remove, as it doesn't appear to be doing any damage and would be a challenging and possibly deadly procedure."
"So you mean I have metal in my brain?" Bounty asks.
Twilight nods looking back down at the paper "What is more interesting is what you have inside a large sealed pocket in the bag." She says passing the Magical Imaging Scan to Bounty with a smile.
Bounty takes a long hard look at the MIS before looking back up "So what exactly am I looking at?"
Twilight's smile grows "I don't know." She says excitedly.
Bounty rubs her temples, "So lemme' get this straight, I have metal in my brain touching numerous important parts of it and a bag with a hidden pocket full of unknown items of alien origin?" She asks.
"Yep!"
Bounty groans and lets her head fall into her hooves.
"I do have good news though!" Twilight says, trying to raise Bounty's spirits.
"What?" Bounty grumbles, head still in hooves.
"I've discovered how to remove the bag!"
Bounty jumps to her hooves, troubles temporarily forgotten, "You mean I can finally get this stupid pack off of me!?" she exclaims excitedly.
In his hidden pocket in a certain stupid pack, Quantum begins to get nervous.
"Yep! When I looked at the composition sheet there is a small deviation in the middle of the strap from a steel alloy of to a slightly weaker version one that shows signs of having been heated very quickly many times. I took the MIS of the straps and checked what is in that position and from there I pieced together that inside the metal straps there are special little thingies that appear to lock the straps via a spot weld. To release they rapidly heat to cut the weld cleanly leaving the straps in two sections. It is actually quite ingenious and would work quite well in hoofcuffs if we could replicate them." Twilight finishes her explanation and stares at Bounty with an 'I found the answer' happy smile on.
"So how do we take them off?" Bounty asks.
"Well since the energy scan turned up blank on that part of the bag, so I assume I will just send a small shock and see what happens." Twilight answers, leaning down and charging up her horn.
"Wait!"
"Hmm? Yes, what?" Twilight asks surprised at being interrupted.
"What do you mean 'That part of the bag'?" Bounty asks.
"Well in the hidden pocket there appears to be some kind of energy signature. It is faint, almost as if it is behind some kind of shield spell, but it is there and it fluctuates dramatically." Twilight answers.
"Well is there any chance that the shock could damage that item? If there is an energy signature that means that there is a functioning artifact in there and that would be a huge discovery!"
Twilight draws back to think "Well…" you could almost see the gears turning in the scholar's head, "I don't think it would, if the bag is made up of a metal alloy it would have to have some kind of dispersal system in it. Otherwise every time that you happened to shock it with built up static it would damage everything inside of it." The unicorn finally answered.
Quantum was now very worried and slightly impressed, not only had the unicorn managed to discover how the straps functioned, but she had managed to figure out a way to both release them and do it without harming anything in the bag (As there was indeed a static discharge dispersal system built into the pack.) Thankfully there was almost no chance that she could release the locks just by shocking the exterior of the pack.
"OK, well… Let's give it a shot." Bounty says unsure.
Twilight's horn reignited and dropped to the strap. As the charge built up all of the white pegasus's fur and mane began to stand on end before there was a ZAP and a SNAP as the straps released.
"Uh-oh" Quantum muttered as time seemed to slow for him. While the odds of an electric shock to the outside of the pack triggering the release were simply astronomical the one time that it had mattered was the time that he happened to need them to stay sealed. He began to think of a backup plan, if he lost direct contact with Bounty he would be stranded without a means of communication. The pack only had limited gyro sensors and a next to useless recovery beeper. Short of throwing himself at the mercy of the locals he couldn't think of a plan that would have a favorable outcome.
He didn't want to be alone again.
"Yes!" Bounty crowed as the straps released.
"Wait!" A masculine voice called as she stared to slip the pack off. A tall bipedal figure appeared in front of her, it was purple and see-through with a patch of short fur on top of its head.
"YOU AGAIN!" Bounty cried jumping back, the pack staying on somehow
A very confused purple unicorn stared at the pegasus glaring at thin air.
"Please don't take the pack off!" Quantum pleaded.
"And why shouldn't I!?" Bounty asked holding the pack in her wings protectively. It was a good question, Quantum racked his memory trying to find a good answer. Bounty took the hesitation as an inability to answer and continued. "Last time I saw you I was knocked out, had something put in my brain, and I woke up with this stupid pack strapped to me!"
"Because if you take it off you condemn me to a fate worse than death." He replied desperately.
"Good!"
Twilight wasn't sure if this pony was quite sane, she appeared to be having a quite animated one sided conversation. "Err 'Bounty' what exactly is going on?" she asks.
Bounty points to the air and yells "This plot-hole is the one that stuck me in this damn pack!"
Twilight cocks her head "Who?"
"HIM!" Bounty yells pointing angrily at nothing.
"She can't see me." Quantum supplies, "The only reason you can see me is that 'metal' in your head. It's a neural net, it allows people, or in this case ponies, to see and hear me along with various other built in functions."
"Wait, you mean that only I can see you! Do know how insane I must look right now!?"
"Yes, and-" Quantum's brow creases "Dodge left!" he shouts.
Bounty drops to the ground and rolls left narrowly avoiding a spell. She leaps to her hooves and glares at the unicorn that cast it, "What the hay Twilight!?" she yells.
Twilight, who now looks very nervous, backs up with her horn still glowing.
Quantum disappears from view "She's charging a sequence of three, get ready to jump straight up and fly!" he calls out.
"I'm really sorry about this, but I don't know how the artifact is effecting you!" Twilight apologizes.
Three bolts come out of her horn at once as a scatter burst, Bounty jumps straight up and flaps her wings once avoiding the shots. Unfortunately, this makes her drop the bag that she was holding in her wings seconds before. The bag, containing a certain AI, flies out of her grasp and with a thunk bounces off the wall of the lab and behind some lab equipment.
"You don't need to do this Twilight!" Bounty calls landing behind some cover. She looks at the machines and coils her muscles preparing to jump for the bag once more, she jumps.
The sound of a spell hitting flesh fizzles out and Bounty hits the floor.
"SPIKE! I NEED YOU TO TAKE A LETTER!"
Then everything goes dark.
Dear Princess,
I currently have a pegasus archaeologist by the name of Bounty incapacitated in my home. I was assisting her with removing a bag that had locked itself onto her, it was an artifact from a dig that she was exploring. After some vigorous scans I discovered that some kind of metal apparatus had been implanted in her brain, and the bag contained multiple artifacts along with one with an active energy signature. We were able to release the straps and this is where it began to strange.
Bounty began to talk to something that see could only see. It became a quite heated conversation in which whatever she was talking to pointed out that I couldn't see it. Since I had no way of telling if this thing that Bounty was talking to had any hostile intentions I attempted to knock her out. Somehow she was able to dodge the first blast so I tried again. The second time I used a scatter knockout spell, it was as if she was able to tell exactly where I was going to fire and she dodged once again. While she was able to dodge it the pack containing the artifacts was separated from her. She immediately was unable to dodge any further shots that I fired and was dropped only seconds later.
Twilight Sparkle
Princess Celestia lowered the letter from her student. "Lieutenant Gilded Skies."
A tall unicorn guard in Solar Armor at the base of the throne turned to look at the princess.
"Yes Princess?"
"I need you to recover something since Shining Armor is needed here. There is a pegasus by the name of Bounty at the Ponyville library, retrieve her and the package that my student will give you when you arrive. Take the pegasus and put her in the Dungeon, and put the package in a DMAC (Dangerous Magical Artifact Containment) unit."
"Yes princess."
"Treat the pegasus with respect, as we only need to hold her in the dungeon until my niece's wedding is over and the threat against it has been handled."
"Of course princess."
Gilded Skies came from a military background and had devoted his life to his princess. He had started military training as soon as he was of age, graduated officer's school top of his class, and had served his princess for well over 15 years with hundreds of missions under his belt. By all means this was a simple mission to add to that total.
He rode in a chariot with two pegasi solar guards pulling it, Scorched Earth and Golden Bracers.
"ETA!?" He called over the rushing wind.
"Five minutes Sir!" Came the shouted reply.
He relaxed, this would be just like every other mission.
Soon Ponyville came into view and the pegasi landed the chariot with a rattling thump. Gilded jumped out of the chariot and knocked on the door to the library three times. The door opened and the princess's student stood there.
"Oh please come in!" she said cheerfully. Gilded entered and let the door shut before he spoke.
"The sun may set but it will always rise once more."
Twilight visibly deflated "Thank goodness you're here. Bounty is knocked out on the couch, the spell should keep her out for at least three more hours, I was told to give you this." She held a black bag with five silver-ish straps out to him. The guard pulled the DMAC out of his magic storage and slid into the bag into it.
Twilight grabbed a picnic basket and nodded to the guard "Now if you'll excuse me I have a picnic to go to."
Gilded Skies grabbed the pegasus and towed her behind him gently placing her in the rear of the chariot along with the sealed DMAC. The pegasi took off back toward Canterlot.
Another mission success, he would never disappoint his princess.
Too bad she wasn't his princess.
His eyes flashed blue as he communicated with The Hive.
"Tell the queen that I have an item of interest in my possession."
Bounty comes to with a wheezing cough, from what little she can see she is in some sort of cell. There is a cot hung on the wall and a bucket in the corner paired with some straw for doing the dirty business. The front of the cell is made up of iron bars with a door built in, it looks out on a hallway with cells across the way. The air is damp and chilly, but not so bad for an explorer like her that had been through some pretty nasty caves.
"Hello!?" She called.
The faint clip clop of hooves can be heard and they steadily grew louder as the pony grew closer.
Bounty rolled to her hooves in the small space that was her cell. She shook out her body before looking back at her wings, yup they badly needed to be preened.
A light grew steadily stronger with the sound of a walking pony and soon enough a guard in golden armor stopped in front of the bars. "Yes miss?" the guard asked.
Bounty cocked her head at him "Why exactly am I being held here? What charges have been raised against me?" she asked curiously.
"You are being held here temporarily as per the demand of her majesty Princess Celestia. No charges have been raised, but there are questions about the nature of the artifact you recovered." The guard answers robotically.
"Why do I need to be held in a cell then?" She asks.
"There has been a threat made against Equestria-" The guard stops and looks back down the hall as a clang is heard from the direction he came from. "Hold on one second." He says, he begins walking back where he came from.
He barely gets out of sight before the sound of a spell being cast reaches Bounty, a sickly green light flares down the hall and the sound of a helmet hitting the ground and rolling followed by a wet splat echoes down to Bounty's cell. The clicking sound of hoofsteps begins coming closer.
And closer…
And closer…
Before a large black shape walks into Bounty's view. It has glowing blue eyes, a black armored chitinous carapace leading to hooves with holes in them, a frill in place of its mane, along with bug like wings, and a curved horn.
"Changeling." Bounty hisses at the shape.
The changeling's horn glows once more and fires a spell at the pegasus huddled in the corner farthest away from the door. It fires its spell and Bounty attempts to dodge, failing due to the confined quarters, it connects and slowly slime begins to creep over her vision and everything goes black.
Quantum was alone.
It was dark.
He could see nothing.
It was silent.
He could hear nothing.
There were no tasks for him to complete.
He couldn't distract himself.
He was alone…
Again.
"I'm alone" he muttered. His matrix beginning to fragment under stress.
"I'm alone"
"Nothing too bad, I managed to handle it on the ship well enough..."
"I'm Alone"
"Not like it mattered too much it was a long shot that this crackpot plan would work anyway…"
"I'mAlone"
"It'sjustme."
"I'maLonE"
"I'mOK."
"I'mal0Ne"
"I'mAl0n3"
"1'w L()n$"
Warning AI Matrix Unstable
"/;&lq^#"
Infinite Loop Protection Activated
Recovery Beacon Activated
*beep*
Activating Low Power Mode.
*beep*
*beep*
*beep*
End Log
A/N:
Well that when to shit quickly.
But, you can't exactly plant technology in people's brains these days without telling them anyway, so eh. What did you expect Bounty to just go "OK" and then everything is all daisies and fluffy kittens?
The plot thickens!
I wanted to say that (Auto-correct tried to change that to pot for some reason)
Hoo baby a 4k word chapter I must be going crazy. Anyway like, review, tell me I'm a horrible person, ect.