Chapter 13:

Now:

“This is the Cloud Disperser?” Venture asked, looking at the machine curiously.

“Seems so.”

“How does it work?”

“No clue.” I put the device down on the island in the middle of the lab, pulling journals and papers from the box as well. “These will teach us what to do I hope.” I said, shoving the bound books over to him. “You get started on these, I'm going to hook it up to my computers and see what I can get out of it that way.”

“Awe why do I have to do the paper work?” He groaned, shuffling the books around in annoyance.

“Because I had to scavenge through boxes of junk to find it while you sat here and browsed old archives of LOLbirds.”

“What? I did not!”

I pointed at the huge bank of monitors he had been rebuilding when we left, a picture of a flamingo eating shrimp on it with some inane caption on it.

“Oh right...damned dual displays...” He sighed. “I was running a search algorithm to go through all the data.”

“I'm sure you were. Now get to the books.”

“Damn.” He set to work on them while I dug through the drawers of cables I had, looking for the right cables to hook the PCDM to the computer.

“Uhh guys, I think it's time I actually tap out.” Brutus said from the couch, stifling a yawn. He was stretched out with Candy in his forelegs, now asleep, an empty baby bottle on the side table. It was coming up on 4AM and he looked exhausted, and rightly so.

“Yeah of course.” I said, floating Candy up and putting her down in the crib beside the desk again.

“Alright guys, g'night.” Brutus said, heading out of the lab, closing the door behind him.

Venture yawned too, pulling two Sparkle-Colas from the mini fridge under the island he sat at and setting one down beside me, before turning back to his work.

“Who the hell thought carrot was the best flavour for a soda?” I asked, taking a long swig from the bottle.

“I know right? What is wrong with avocado, or kumquat?”

“Seemingly everything.” I laughed.

“Dude, real talk?” He turned and looked at me.

“Yeah?” I asked, looking back at him.

“Can you believe this is our lives?”

“Living in a wasteland, under the aegis of a trade collective, trying to figure out how to make some kind of pegasus device work in order to free my fiancee from the clutches of some crazy pegasus military commander?”

“Well I was thinking the fact that you have a kid and you're actually doing a really good job of it, but yours is fairly accurate too I suppose.”

“What? I would have been a father either way.”

“Yeah I know. I just always pictured you as being kind of a bumbling father like in a Sitcom.”

“Not sure if insulted or proud...”

“Well I mean I see what you did with CB and how awesome you are with Candy. Despite everything that's happened you're still putting her first and making sure she gets as much attention as she needs.”

“You're not doing much to make this sound like compliments instead of insults.”

“I'm sorry, I'm not great at expressing things sometimes.”

“You? Unable to express yourself? You, who talked Princess Luna into giving over millions of bits in funding, got access to tomes so forbidden you had to be an alicorn just to go into the room that contained them? You're unable to express yourself?” I teased.

“Well...You know what I mean.”

“I'm not sure I do.”

“You're family, it's different, it's awkward, we're more candid with each other.”

“Is this supposed to be some kind of heart to heart?”

“I...I don't know what it is.”

“Well you've put your hoof in your mouth with more ease than Candy.” I said, gesturing to the sleeping foal, her hoof again firmly in her mouth as she slept.

“I...well...I just...” He stammered.

“Dude, come on, I'm just busting your balls, relax I know what you meant. Don't be so uptight.” I laughed. I disconnected one of the computers from the network and connected the PCDM to it instead.

“Yeah, yeah I'm sorry.”

“You gotta stop being sorry too.” I said, looking back at him again for a moment. “Right now, you have little left to be sorry for, at least between you and me.”

He just smiled and nodded a little, turning back to the journals and getting quiet while he sorted through the entries.

I plugged the PCDM into the outlet and hit the power button. It whined to life, data flying across the monitor, technical data, weather information, everything.

“Wow, so it's CPU is a quartz crystal matrix.”

“Really? It uses Zebra tech?” I asked, looking at the little box. “Makes sense I guess, how else could you fit such complex abilities into such a small device.”

“It also has a Quantum Gemerald focusing core.”

“Well it needs to pierce the cloud barrier so it stands to reason they'd use a strong magical device for it.”

“We can't give this over to the Enclave.”

“Hadn't planned on it.”

“They could tweak this thing a little too easily I think. Turn it into a weapon.”

“They already did remember? Destroyed a village with it?”

“Yeah but I mean against the surface, recalibrate the Gemerald's magical abilities and it could split the ground instead of the sky, it would cause massive sinkholes, devastating earthquakes, if it were used by the ocean it could cause tidal waves the size of buildings.”

“Well all the more we can't let them have it, but we can't let them keep Ruby either.”

“I know. I've been thinking about that. What if we gave them a fake one?”

“Uhh, I think it's super villain 101 that you check to make sure something like this works before you fork over the hostage.”

“We'll use the real one for a demonstration and then switch em out.”

“And how will we do that?”

“Magic?” He grinned. “It's not a perfect plan, but it's all I got right now.”

“Well it's more than I have I suppose.”

“Well we have ponies like Crackshot and Brutus to workout the logistics. I AM the think tank after all.” He grinned.

“You're something.” I shrugged, turning back to the computer and studying the data. “This thing is awesome...We should test it.”

“Won't that alert them to the fact we have it?”

“They gave us 24 hours, it's not going to jeopardize anything that's not already in jeopardy. Scourge Cloud isn't the type to give us leeway. If anything, this will show we have it and they'll know we have it and won't hurt Ruby.”

“I guess...But these notes...they're terrifying. I mean they could destroy the wasteland with this thing.”

“There's a letter in there to Ruby from her father, it says she should die rather than let the Enclave get their hooves on it. It even mentions Scourge Cloud by name in it.”

“Shit...” He sighed, looking at the machine beside me and shaking his head.

“Think we should go test it?”

“I think we shouldn't make that decision for everypony here.”

“We should talk to Crackshot and the council and see what they think?”

“Yeah probably best.”

“Well lets go meet with the council then.”

///////////

10 months ago:

I know you were probably hoping for an interesting resolution to the Cutie Pox thing, but once Karina was put down the kids got better we packed up and went home. When we left the next day Ike and Marcy were gone from town, checked out in the night and vanished.

We packed up the ship, took the Bushwoolies with us and we were off back to the base.

When we got back everypony was amazed by the Bushwoolies, they were hard working, they were small and adorable, the girls couldn't get enough of how cute they were...The council gave them jobs as the cleaning crew for the hospital, which the Bushwoolies were all to happy to accept. Safety, security, a home where they weren't abused, they were thrilled, so there's just nothing to tell.

“So you're thinking...” Venture trailed off his sentence as I walked into the lab. Brutus turned and looked at me too as Venture quickly turned off the monitor he was sitting in front of.

“Sorry, am I interrupting something?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Venture said, shaking his head, “we were...reconciling our differences after the whole cafeteria fiasco.”

“That was a month ago.”

“Well I was really embarrassed.” Brutus shrugged.

“Riiight.” I nodded, looking from one to the other, “It's not my birthday for another two months so I'd be shocked if you were planning anything this far in advance...My bachelor party perhaps?” I smirked.

Brutus just kind of gave me a confused look and Venture gave me that same neutral face he used so well in business meetings. Poker face of epic proportions really...I could almost feel the tension in the room and it was really off putting. I was starting to worry a little.

“Alright alright, I won't press.” I said, turning for the door. “You two have fun reconciling.”

I left them and walked out into the hall again, pausing to watch three Bushwoolies mopping the corridor, one pushing the bucket of water, then another with the third on his shoulders, moving along the hall as the one on top moved the mop around and dunked it in the bucket.

Ruby and CB came around the corner a short distance from them, giggling to each other, stopping short when they saw me.

“Oh, hi Daddy.” CB smiled, blushing a little.

“You two watching our new friends work?” I asked

“Kinda?”

“Why don't you just leave em to do their jobs?”

“They're so cute, pushing around the bucket and mopping up, it's adorable.”

“How about you two join me for lunch instead of harassing our new cleaning staff?”

“Uhh, we were actually going to go into town in an hour. We were just waiting for Lily to finish meeting with a caravan that was coming through here before it headed on to town. She wanted to make a deal or something.” CB said.

“Why don't you go get Brutus and Venture? They've been in your office for like two hours, I'm surprised they haven't come to blows.”

“They're 'reconciling' or something.” I said, shaking my head. “I think they're planning something for me by the way the conversation derailed when I walked in.”

“Really? But your birthday isn't for months.” Ruby said curiously.

“Well you can probably ask em and find out.”

“Probably.” She nodded, looking at the lab door quietly.

“Hey, there you two are. Ready to head into town?” Lily called to them as she came around the corner they had originally come from.

“Oh yeah, lets go.” CB said excitedly.

“So why are you two going into town?”

“No reason.” Ruby shrugged. “Doubling as an escort for the caravan, chance to see Firebird, stuff like that.”

“Oh please, we're going to look at wedding dresses.” CB said, rolling her eyes.

“Hey! Come on, don't spoil the surprises.” Ruby whined.

“I prefer the honesty, I'd be worried something weird was going on if everypony was being so secretive.”

“I guess.” She sighed.

“Guys, we gotta go.” Lily said, gesturing towards the elevators.

I rode down to the lobby with them, figuring I could go looking for Crackshot, breaking off from the group as they headed outside and I went towards the main area off the cafeteria. She had just gotten back from visiting with Sniper Joe. It seemed that the runes that fused him to the chair weren't the sort of thing that could be easily undone. Xem was still trying to find a way to get him out of the chair, but so far all attempts had failed, so for the time being Crackshot just spent a day or two a week out there with him since she could do paperwork there just as easily as she could here.

“Oh excuse me.” A young orange Earth pony mare walked into me as I entered the main area. I had been lost in thought and she looked to be terribly lost.

“Sorry, my bad.” I said, blushing a little. She was a very good looking pony. She had a pair of fully loaded saddlebags on her back and her cutie mark was...Nun-chucks? Shackles? Crossed against a pole to form an X. I figured maybe she was a weapon specialist or something.

“That's okay, it was just as much my fault, I'm afraid I'm a little lost.” She admitted.

“Well is there anything I can help you with?”

“Uhh, I'm looking for a technician named Star Venture?”

“Oh, yeah I can take you to him.” I said, nodding and smiling, “Star Venture is my brother.”

“Ahh, nice to meet you Mr. Venture.” She said, looking relieved.

“Sugar Cane actually.” I corrected. “Venture changed his name to annoy our parents...long story, anyway, I'm Sugar Cane. You can call me Cane.”

“Crystalline.” She said, shaking my hoof.

“Come on, I'll take you to him, he's in my lab.”

“So what do you do?” She asked as we walked towards the elevators.

“I'm the head of Information Technology and all around computer guy for the Collective.”

“Ahh, so you run all the computers and things?”

“That I do.”

“You know your Cutie Mark reminds me of one I've seen on computers elsewhere in the Wasteland.”

“Yeah I've heard that before.” I nodded, not really wanting to launch into a whole explanation.

“You must be really good with computers.”

“So I've been told.” I replied, getting onto the elevator. We headed back up to the fourth floor and off to my lab.

“If you don't mind my asking, what are you meeting with my brother for?” I asked.

“Ahh, well it's a private thing.”

“Fair enough.” I said, stopping in front of my lab door. I pressed a hoof to the lock, but it just buzzed and turned red.

“The buck...” I pressed it again, nothing. I could see Venture and Brutus still inside, their backs to the door, so I pressed my horn to the lock, my magic flowing through the system, the lock buzzed a few more times before finally turning green and opening the door for me.

“Wow, only 45 seconds, that's almost a record.” Venture smirked at me as I walked in.

“Why are you two locking me out of my own lab?”

“Privacy.”

“You want privacy meet somewhere else.”

“What can we do for you Cane?”

“This is Crystalline...” I started but Venture jumped to his hooves.

“Of course, we've been waiting for you, come in come in.” He said, pulling her along into the office.

“Uhh, guys seriously...”

“Seriously what?” Venture asked, looking at me flatly.

“I...I...” I stammered, put off by the tension in the room.

“Thanks Cane, we'll talk to you later.” Brutus said, pushing me out the door and closing it behind me.

Now I wasn't concerned about what they might be doing...I was terrified.

Footnote: 90% to next level

(So you guys have been quiet lately :P At the risk of sounding whiny I hope you guys let me know what you think of the story so far. I draw a lot of inspiration getting feedback from people so lemme know what you think :D )