Author's Notes:

Bold - Character Narrating (Either Perspective or Narrator)
Italics - Character's Thoughts
Brackets - Author's Comments
Color - Character Who's Narrating or Thinking: Princess Platinum
Joseph
Rubert
Sharp Sight
Vallan
Smart Cookie
Chancellor Puddinghead

A roadway between Canterlot and two other pathways; two forces meet each other at the crossroads.

After the attack at the military camp, and the somewhat attempted – but failed – trap at Canterlot to catch the prisoners and the attacker, Princess Platinum’s entourage, and an army of ponies from the military camp, meet in the crossroads that were made for safer travel. High Commander Meteor Shatter stayed behind to do repairs on the walls and fortify defenses, while Commander Hurricane – and his personal forces, also consisting of some earth ponies and unicorns – was sent to meet the princess.

Many casualties have been harmed both in Canterlot, and the military force from all three of the tribes, which only left a quarter of those forces standing. Three major areas were built, with Canterlot being the capital/first city built, the military camp to host the majority of the military might, and a small farming community which wasn’t named or considered a town as of yet.

Princess Platinum’s entourage stopped as they encountered Hurricane’s group; stepping out was Princess Platinum, who approached Hurricane, and noticed his furious look in his eyes. It appears he too has taken a major blow.

“How are those within the military camp? I was told many ponies died and some injured… I also heard that two of the unicorn’s leading commanders have ‘fallen’,” said Platinum.

Commanders Star Gleam and Moon Glaive were both absented from duty – Star having gone through injuries gained from the attacke, and Moon for shaming her title and family name – and with some of the other commanders having gone through similar wounds or… death. This only meant that three commanders remained, but only Commander Hurricane and High Commander Meteor were active as Commander Smoker was… “mentally unstable”.

“You are correct; our forces are scattered and through the guidance of High Commander Meteor, they still stand… I was sent to meet you for the simple reason that you and I have more encounters with each other than anypony else. I also have heard of the recent betrayal at Canterlot, and that they’re in the loose… especially one of your guards, correct?”

Platinum hated being mentioned of the incident as not only it was an embarrassment on her part, but Clover gotten injured in the incursion. She was luckily unharmed and only had a minor bruise, but she was dazed and had difficulty thinking.

“Yes, but forgot about my own problems; we must head to Chancellor Puddinghead and warn her of these invaders. We shall both go together, but I want both our forces to surround the community while a few of us go and see her… I just hope these bastards aren’t keeping the ponies there as their hostages.”

“YIPPEE-KI-YEAH!”

Puddinghead’s Community; somewhere around a current construction zone.

Joseph skidded down a slope of dirt, as he parkoured through the construction zone for another building. The brothers were accepted by all the ponies who were under Chancellor Puddinghead, and became good friends with the small community. Joseph bounded over into a recently dug hole with wires going to said hole; inside the hole were two other ponies – one a muscled stallion, the other a skinny mare who were both earth ponies – who were actually some worker ponies who were helping with the construction of this building, but had a problem.

The problem involved a sizable bolder that was too big to move, and was so dense it couldn’t be shattered with normal earth pony strength. From the help of Joseph’s expertise with explosives, the bolder would be no problem… not when a bomb the size of a pony’s leg was set upon the bolder.

This is going to be fuuuun! Placing both hands firmly on the device to set the explosive off, Joseph glanced at the two ponies to each of his sides – they both covered their ears quickly – and shouted with all his might. “FIRE IN THE HOLE!”

With a push, a booming sound to rival the crack of thunder echoed through the area; debris that consisted of earth, stone, and some material from the explosive flung from all directions – mostly to the sky – until falling down to land around the area. Some pieces fell upon Joseph, and the two other ponies but were small enough to cause no damage.

The three stood from their hole and glanced to see a small plume of smoke to rise from where the explosion happened. Approaching forward, they found a giant crater that was as black as night, leaving no bolder behind. The stallion sighed, and looked to Joseph with a thankful tilt of his head.

“Thanks for helping us with this bolder issue; we tried everything, and while we did have explosives, we weren’t sure how much to use… We recently found this stuff a couple of so months, and are still trying to figure out what kind of uses it has. I never imagined to meet someone with some expertise on the stuff,” said the stallion.

The stallion moved to look at his fellow pony, who was still ogling the hole. “Go get the Chancellor and tell her that her friend here was a great help, and we got the bolder removed to continue construction.”

The mare nodded and trotted off; Joseph grinned at his success of an explosion that he began to examine his master-piece… really close. Joseph tumbled down while the stallion wasn’t looking, and when he turned around he gave a bewildered look of where Joseph go. “Wha… Uhhh, where he go?”

Puddinghead’s Community, a random tent; Puddinghead, Smart Cookie, and Rubert stood around a map and blueprints for the settlement they were to set up.

“This building here we’ll use to store food, while this building will store material we may need in the future… OH! We should also place a farm here to grow more food; I walked through there dozen of times and the ground is just right to grow some carrots!” said Puddinghead.

“Alright Chancellor, I’ll get the builders to set those buildings up, and send some of our ponies to make a farm there,” said Cookie.

“Oh, also ask if that candy soup of mine is ready!?”

“Uhm… I don’t think you can make candy into soup Chancellor.”

“Nonsense, if we can fly and use magic, what makes you think there can’t be candy soup?”

“We can’t do that either… those are the pegasi and unicorns abilities.”

Puddinghead took a moment to pause, before turning to look back at Cookie with a smile. “I knew that… I was just testing if you remembered.”

Cookie sighed and looking in the corner of her eye, she spotted Rubert looking at a particular blueprint. He was leaning down examining the same blueprint ever since he entered inside; while Jospeh handled any help he could find, Rubert decided to see what sort of plans they had for this community of theirs.

“Hmmm… These are some ‘interesting’ plans you have, though I believe they need some improvement.”

“Improvement how exactly?” asked Cookie.

“Well for starters,” said Rubert. “Once you start expanding and building settlements across this new land of yours… you’re going to need a better mode of transportation than by wagon. I of course have an idea, but its going to take a lot of materials to take to make this… unless you have a mine nearby.”

Rubert laughed at his own comment, when he got a look from Cookie and Puddinghead who looked at one another. “Uhhhhhh,” said both of them at the same time.

Rubert stopped his humorous thought and noticed the somewhat awkward reply. “...You have a mine nearby… don’t you.”

“Weeeellll… sort of; the capital and the home to the unicorns has an underground tunnel system that has enough gems, ores, and stone to make whatever we need to make dozens of settlements… But what exactly do you have planned that might help with our transportation problem?”

This was where Rubert grinned and pulled out something from his pockets. “Have you ever heard of something called… a train?”

Cookie gave a tilt of her head while Puddin was just ecstatic at the word, and new idea; the blueprint Rubert pulled out showed the design of a strange snake-like machine that was capable of traveling far distances and powered by coal… there was one problem though.

“We don’t have coal; I mean if we found some back at our old home, the whole winter problem wouldn’t be one… Sorry to say this won’t work...” said Cookie, giving a solemn look.

Rubert thought of this but gave a snap of his fingers. “That won’t be a problem; we can change the design slightly that it won’t be powered by coal… but something else…” Rubert remembered that these unicorns mentioned by the ponies here can use magic, and since this magic was strongly similar aura… meaning they can use thunder-based aura or magic in this case. “The trains can be powered through electricity; these cells will be filled with water, and once powered by electricity from unicorns, it will create steam that will move specialized pistons to move the train, and boom – steam-powered trains!”

Suddenly at that same time, Jospeh came tumbling inside the tent with some smoke coming from his head; he was grinning like a maniac and had some soot on his shoulders… and smelled of smoked wood. “Did somebody say boom?”

“Not now Joseph,” said Rubert, automatically.

Cookie liked the idea… but frowned having forgotten one fact about the tribes. “That may work but not for long; the unicorns are to snooty and arrogant to try anything physically, especially working somewhere stuffy like these train things.”

“That’s why there’s another method to move the trains; you see, since these unicorns can use magic, it reminded me of how others can use aura. If they work the same way, it means they can make these crystals called elemental crystals. Using a certain element for example – thunder – then you can create a thunder crystal that can be handled by any of your kind, by putting it in the slot, which would-”

“POWER THIS TRAIN-THINGY!” shouted Puddin, finishing Rubert’s sentence. “With this machine, it can solve almost all our problems in one fell swoop; transporting ponies and materials, giving work to almost everypony for this train project, expand our borders, and allow trade to other nations – both old and new! Thank you Rubert, you practically solved all our problems!”

“Well almost, we need the other group leaders to agree on this idea. It may be costly, but worth the risks,” said Cookie.

Rubert bowed with his arm on his stomach, and the other extended somewhat forward as he faced the ground before Puddin and Cookie. “Well it was a grand time helping with you two, but I must go back to my personal plans; let’s make our leave Joseph,” said Rubert, leaving.

The Crane brothers left were just when they left, a pony came in who wore a getup that showed he was a messenger of some sort. The stallion stopped who seemed to be sweating; whether this was because he was running or worry was hard to tell. “Chancellor Puddinghead and her secretary! I have a message from Princess Platinum and Commander Hurricane!”

After hearing these two names, Puddin smiled; after the three tribes united, they became friends in a way – well their second-in-commands did but the leaders too had to have some sort of relationship too. “OH! I wonder if they got my letter?!”

The messenger opened his satchel and handed the letter to them, which Cookie took it and read it while messenger stood by for some reason as most messengers would leave afterword. Looking at the letter, it stated the following…

To Chancellor Puddinghead,

These strange new beings that came to our world aren’t to be trusted; they have massacred our forces stationed with Commander Hurricane and the other commanders. Two of their kind who were staying at the castle have betrayed us and caused damage to the castle and harm to some of its citizenry. I sent this letter in hopes that you have no encountered these ‘things’ and prepared for them. If you however do know of their whereabouts, I must tell you to capture and interrogate them of the locations of their other allies.

Myself and Commander Hurricane with a small company of our respective forces are heading to the community you had set up. We wish that you have not fallen to the hands of these foul beings.

From,
Princess Platinum

P.S. We shall arrive around noon as soon as we can; we have passed the crossroads so we should be sighted by your sentinels sometime soon.

After Cookie read out the letter, Puddin had a sad look and frowned from the news; the messenger pony stood by still, but spook out. “I received the letter by another messenger who was sent by them Chancellor… I asked what happened, and everything written on that letter is all factual… I must urge that we must make a response, and to tell our guests of this. I shall await by if you wish to send me to Princess Platinum of any letters related to the matter; I shall take my leave.”

The messenger left, leaving the two mares to contemplate the news from the urgent letter.

Puddinghead’s Community, Outside of Puddinghead’s place; Rubert has his own workplace outside of Puddin’s home, while Joseph is busy with his own devices.

Rubert was sitting a stool he made from some leftover material during one of the projects led by Puddinghead; Rubert was examining and attempting to fix a radio he found yesterday. The radio was partially broken but possibility of fixing the device was very likely.

If I can fix it, I need to hope that another radio made it to this world and is in the hands of one of our comrades… if not then I’m literally holding an antique.

While Rubert continued to focus on the hand-held radio, Joseph cleaned and built more various forms of mini-bombs for his weapon – the grenade launcher. These bombs consisted from the material they found near the crater and from the hospitable ponies. So far Joseph has made more smoke bombs, some sound grenades, and a couple of shrapnel grenades, the shrapnel being some rocks, wood, and metallic junk.

Joseph set up several test dummies on an empty field by the house, and as he fired one shrapnel grenade, it landed right into the dummy’s head and exploded. Straw and pieces of debris flew everywhere from where the dummy’s head was; Joseph grinned and hummed to himself in glee.

“Well my grenada works...” said Joseph, noticing Rubert working on something. Joseph slung his weapon over his head as a strap accompanied the weapon so it was left hanging on his back; he approached his distracted brother before leaning over to see what he was doing. “Wha cha doing bro?”

Rubert at first didn’t answer as he had some goggled over his eyes before removing them but still keeping his eyes on the radio. “I found this radio by the crater the other day when we were looking… I’m trying to get it to work so we can contact the others. Now don’t go telling our equine hosts about this, alright?”

Joseph gave a confused tilt from the sudden secrecy. “Why though, they ain’t that bad. I think Puddin likes my booms.”

Rubert sighed and turned as his stool swiveled so he can face his brother. The two brothers before joining Psycho Corps were notorious thieves, known for armed robbery, dangerous getaways, and often not, an explosion after every heist… but they made one promise, and it wasn’t to hide anything from one another.

“Because… I just don’t trust these ponies, I mean we only met them yesterday… They can easily betray us and give us to the authorities… just like the others.” Rubert pulled out his baton, eying the weapon with some distant look to it; memories of old, an old gang, betrayal… he saw it all, and he never wants it to happen again.

Joseph knew what his brother knew, but combined with his deranged mind and somewhat whimsical attitude… he was a hard cookie to bring up any form of doubt to anyone – whether a person or equine.

“...They gave us pie,” said Joseph with a shrug.

Rubert looked up at his brother who wore a stupid smile; the smile became infectious and Rubert too joined in. You may be the youngest, but half the time I wonder if your the older brother here.

Rubert settled his things and stood up, and joined his brother with building his ammunition, when he remembered something that might help. Pulling out another blueprint, Rubert stared at the blueprint of a vehicle he never gotten the chance to make… until now.

With a grin that would make most maniacs shun before it, Rubert turned to his brother – he had a plan and it was glorious. “Joseph… I need you do something for me.”

“Yeah bro, what you want me to do? Do I get to explode something?!” shouted Joseph, giddily.

“No, not yet… I need you to get metal… Lots and lots of metal.” With that, Rubert placed the blueprint down; a picture of a machine that screams mayhem was shown, built for several people where one seat showed the driver seat, a few gunner turrets, and one bomber turret. A name was plastered above the picture of a monstrous RV – The Insomnia Truck.

Elsewhere, some distance from Canterlot; after escaping, Vallan and his group returned to where he woken up after the crash.

After tumbling downhill on a barely usable wagon, the group followed Vallan to where he woken up the first time they came here; crossing an empty grass field, they made it to a forest that was the same one where Lov and Eliya were caught. Swuen was still pissed by A.I. for his act of nearly getting them killed, Sharp was getting use to all this craziness but relaxed once they finally arrived at their destination.

“Finally… we’re here...” said Sharp, slumping down against a tree.

Vallan walked ahead of the group while everyone relaxed for now under the shade of some trees. Walking up to a pile of leaves and sticks, Vallan uncovered the hidden stash he hid here when he left, and not a single piece was moved. Making sure the surrounding area is clear, Vallan calls forth his companions to come to the pile he collected.

Swuen stopped her fiery upon A.I. to examine the junk and grabbing a few rations from a metallic box. A.I. was handed the prototype weapon Vallan used to free his nieces, checking for any damage or glitches to its systems. Lov and Eliya stayed by the shore – Lov busied herself on cleaning her katana, while Eliya drew doodles on the sand with one of her kunais. Sharp was the last to arrive at the pile and gave a perplexed look, tilting her head in fascination of the strange objects before her.

“By Faust, what is this stuff? I’ve never seen these sort of items before,” said Sharp, picking a piece of… something.

Said something made a click noise, and at that instant Vallan grabbed before Sharp could protest, and lobbed it into the water. A few seconds later, a column and blast of water sprayed upward before small droplets fell upon them like rain. Sharp’s eyes dilated as Vallan glanced at her; it was hard to tell if he was angry or not, but she could tell who was angry.

“Don’t… touch anything else...” said A.I, his tone cold.

Sharp shivered – both out of fear and almost killing herself – before Swuen knelt down and gave her something. Sharp was afraid it was another exploding rock but the object was a strange rectangular thing covered in something that make a crinkling noise.

“Here, you haven’t eaten for awhile – its food.”

Sharp looked at the strange thing that was food, and after holding it with one hoof, she was about to bite it when Swuen stopped her. After that she showed Sharp that it had to be opened, and what was revealed was this strange bar with nuts and other things stuck to it, but what really caught her attention was the smell. Sharp sniffed it in like sweet honey, and took a cute nibble before chomping on the delight without mercy. DELICIOOOOOUUUUUUUUS!

Sharp kept on going until she licked the strange covering, and heard Swuen chuckle. She didn’t care if it looked disgusting, she was hungry and this “food” was absolutely heavenly.

“Seems you like that chocolate bar, huh. Well don’t eat it all; we don’t have a lot and there’s more of us to come soon.”

“Uh huh,” said Sharp, licking her hooves of the chocolatey goodness.

Vallan focused on the pile and pulled a metal box; after opening the box was an assortment of bullets, and other things – grenades, crystals, and a few magazines. After grabbing what he needed, he approached the boombox they had with them, when a thought crossed his mind.

This boombox’s works… so if there’s a chance this works then that means-

Vallan raised his head and faced A.I, a plan already boiling in his head. “A.I, if the others were to have a radio on them… Can we use this boombox to contact them in anyway?”

A.I. thought of this after fumbling with the prototype weapon, and nodded in agreement. While the chance of any of their other comrades having a radio, there was the possible chance to use the radio to track their aura signatures – he was A.I. after all, if he can make a bomb out of what he had in that room, then he can make a tracker to find their remaining allies.

“Better; if I use what we have and the boombox, I can find our friends’ by their aura signature alone. Just give me the right materials, and a couple of hours… We might be here until sundown… better start getting some rest and a fire started.” A.I. left to check the pile, and with that everyone was given their roles.

“Okay then; Lov, Eliya, go check and guard the area at least a ten meter diameter. Swuen go find anything that looks edible, I’ll find some sticks for us to make a fire. Be back when it gets dark soon,” said Vallan.

Everyone left to do what they needed to do… except there was still one other person or pony who was left to do nothing.

“What can I do?” asked Sharp, expecting to help in someway. “I don’t want to just stand and do nothing.”

With thinking as quick as lightening, and reflexes to boot, Vallan grabbed a bendable stick, some string, a piece of metal – voila he made a fishing rod. Handing the rod to Sharp who gave a confused look before Vallan pointed on a rock near the edge of the lake.

“Go fishing… Fish for… fish...”

Sharp gave a gawked stare; while she doesn’t eat fish, the pegasi do occasionally eat some fish, and there was that one time she tasted it but only a lick, nothing more. There were a lot of things Sharp thought she never think of doing… apparently fishing was going to be one of those things.

Sharp wanted to shout, scream, throw the rod at Vallan… except she didn’t for two reasons – it would be rude to do that to the one who practically saved her, and… Vallan just left. With a frown and huff from her snout, she stomped to go fishing.

I better not end up eating fish, or I swear by Faust I will shove this rod right up his-

A loud boom, and Sharp thought they were under attack only realizing A.I. was checking if the prototype weapon was still working. A stray beam nearly hit Sharp, and she glared back at A.I. who simply shrugged back. “Huh, I guess it still works.”

Back at Puddinghead’s Community; Puddinghead, Smart Cookie, and some of her ponies waited for Commander Hurricane, and Princess Platinum’s arrival.

Puddinghead sat by a tree as she busied herself by examining the bark of the tree, while Cookie paced back and forth with a panicked look. She wasn’t alone as the other ponies with them were too freaked out, but kept a calmed cool as to see how will things go. Puddin hasn’t made her decision about what to do with the brothers, but her silences spoke volumes that she had something planned, but as usual… she hasn’t mentioned what said plan was going to be.

What should we do? If we don’t respond properly back to Princess Platinum and Commander Hurricane about this situation, we’re doomed! We haven’t even sent a letter about the Crane brothers, and now apparently their allies have gotten themselves in trouble. We can’t simply detain the brothers either, they haven’t done anything other than helping us so far. What should we do!?

“Do not worry Cookie, just relax and we’ll think of something,” said Puddin, staring at the tree still.

Cookie while trying her best to be calm – especially when working under somepony like Puddinghead – was unable to hold all the frustration that came upon in well fell swoop. Just like that she began to pull her mane and bite her own tail. “CALM DOWN! We’re standing here waiting for the other two tribes’ leaders, and not doing anything like sending a response or warning to Rubert and his brother, but sitting here! HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM ABOUT TH-”

Cookie was stopped mid-yell when Puddin shoved her hoof into her mouth. “My decision has been made… we will bring Princess Platinum and Commander Hurricane to our community, they will tell us their side of what has happened. For the Crane brothers, their fate has already been decided… for now; have some tea and sit with me Cookie.” Puddin pulled out a kettle and teacup out of nowhere and settled it on Cookie’s hooves, who sighed and joined the chancellor.

Cookie sipped her tea which calmed her nerves a little; movement was seen in the distance, and coming to the group of earth ponies was Princess Platinum and Commander Hurricane’s escorts. The escorts stopped, and stepping out a sizable wagon was said leaders.

Since the leaders were the only ones to come as Clover was still recovering and Pansy was left to help with repairs, the two leaders while keeping a composed look were still effected by their own recent problems. This combined with the fact that neither of the two knew that the Crane brothers were secretly being harbored by Puddinghead… would lead to some interesting complications.

Standing up from where she was sitting, Puddin approached the two and acting as her usual self, smiled jovially and with a wave was back to being… her. “It is good to see you two; it has been ages since the last time the three of us were in the same place together. How are Clover and Pansy doing?” asked Puddin, smiling.

Cookie sat there with a dumbstruck look, afraid of what their responses would be but as usual from these unexpected events, the two leaders gave a nonchalant response.

“Clover is… doing fine so far,” said Platinum in an absent-minded manner.

“I order Pansy to help back at the camp; she is in temporary command of my forces as are a trusted few,” said Hurricane, gruffly. “Now may we speak somewhere in… private?”

“Oh of course! This way!” With that Puddin bounced off with the two leaders following; their escorts simply parked somewhere nearby while a few followed. Cookie stood up and followed while the other ponies went back to their previous projects. Puddin decided to continue her conversation with the two as they trotted by tents and incomplete buildings.

“I must ask, what are these ‘aliens’ like? They must be interesting from your… letters.”

The two seemed to stop in pause before continuing to trot forward with Hurricane speaking first. “The two I captured were capable fighters but young; the older one was… ruthless is my best description.”

“The same can be said for myself, but while one was rude and had some feminine charm, the other was… cold – he lacked emotion and seemed to keep himself in a solitary manner. How about you chancellor, had anything interesting pop up?”

Here Cookie began to sweat bullets, but as usual Puddin had ways of giving her response without sounding suspicious. “Oh why of course; we got some help with some new workers and have been most helpful!”

Here Platinum wanted to ask who these new workers were but… something came up, or in this case a much needed distraction. “OH LOOK SNACKS!” At that Puddin ran away to a table of food; while this sudden distraction derailed Platinum, she was famished and needed to eat something.

The two leaders joined Puddin as they ate – Platinum taking a small meal, and Hurricane taking a lot for some odd reason, taking harsh bites from a piece of bread. Cookie sat by taking small bites watching nearby, but trying her best to not get some attention… but of course, fate has a strange way of making things go another way.

“How has your day been Smart Cookie, you been quiet though I assumed it was because you don’t usually see the three of together often and wished not to interrupt,” said Hurricane, chewing his bread.

Here Cookie froze mid-bite and nearly choked on whatever she was eating – it was a muffin of some sort – and looked up in deliberate slow manner. Why me?

“Oh well… I guess it started when I was sleeping under a tree two days ago...”

Puddinghead’s Community, Rubert’s Workshop; Joseph continued to help Rubert with his small “pet project”.

After Joseph gathered a number of resources from who knows where – most likely from the ground by blowing it up to find an ore vein in random. Rubert began work on what was given to him, using some tools he had on him at the time and started to fuse pieces of metal together to create a strange vehicle unseen by any being in this world before. The plan for building this was for an easier way to travel in this strange world; Equestria… that and Rubert was bored and needed to do something.

Finished with the engine, now I need to complete the weapon’s system and the gunner seats.

Rubert continued using his blowtorch when he heard a loud crashing of metallic objects behind him. He turned around pulling his welding mask up; Rubert saw Joseph tumbling onto a pile of scrap he found around the crater they were found at by Puddin. Joseph was scrambling up to his feet when one of his grenades – a smoke one, luckily – fell off his satchel and caused the pin to come off.

“Ohhh… crap,” said Joseph.

“...Sunava bi-” A large blast of smoke covered the whole workshop; it took a several minutes to fan out all the smoke, but afterwords Rubert had to postpone his work, due to the fact that something was happening, when one of Cookie’s workers came by.

“Uhhh, Mr. Rubert? Are you here sir?”

Rubert approached the young stallion who wore a hat with some stitches on it. The stallion was the same stallion who gave Puddin the message that the other two pony tribes’ leaders were coming. “Yeah I’m here, what you want kid?”

“Well… Miss Puddin wanted me to tell, no wait I mean warn; to warn you that the other leaders have arrived. They met your other companions… and let’s say they did not have a good first impressions to say the least.”

Rubert scratched his chin, with Joseph approaching, pointing his weapon toward the messenger. “And how can we believe you? You could just be some spy from said leaders, eh.”

Rubert raised his hand to stop his brother from doing anything reckless. “His not lying; I knew something like this would happen, which is why I started building this in the first place,” said Rubert, pointing a thumb to the skeleton of a vehicle. “I think I got a plan to make sure we make it out of this place, aaaand… to make it look like we aren’t friends with Puddin and her folks. Grab your stuff Joseph, we’re leaving!”

Joseph grinned wildly, already ready to blow something up. “HECK YEAH; TIME TO BLOW THIS JOINT! …We will come back some time right?”

“We’ll see Joseph… we’ll see...”

Back with Puddin’s group; as Cookie continued to tell her story of the past few days, she was nearing the end of her story.

“…And then we received news of you two coming here; so far the past few days have been… ‘peaceful’.” Cookie retold her story but left out the parts that involved the Crane Brothers, as all she mentioned for them was they received new workers when more of their kind made it to their new home. This was half true as before Ins0ne Par1y’s arrival, a caravan of their kind came here while some went to the military camp or Canterlot.

“Hmmm… I see; you two are lucky to not have encounter these strange beings, that’s for sure. But as a future warning, be wary of these strange beings… they’re not to be trifled with,” said Platinum, sipping some tea.

“Will do!” said Puddin.

At that same time… a quiet rumble came by the town, unsure where it was coming from when something the size of a house came rolling by. It was made of metal, and had four strange wheels made of something bouncy – other details were three domes around it, one on each of its sides and one on the top, the front was somewhat boxed like with a see-through part of it similar to a window where it had two doors on the sides made of the same metal. The back had massive door which had two smaller windows for only one’s eyesight to look through but not showing who was inside.

Out of all of this, there was one noticeable thing about the strange thing… who was sitting inside it on the driver seat; Rubert Crane. Rubert seemed to be wearing a motorbike helmet, and had a scarf on his neck that was a deep blue. Joseph appeared on the top dome, that was also different from the other domes as it had a strange nozzle than the two thing metal pipes.

From inside, Rubert flipped a switch which turned on the vehicle’s microphone and speakers – it was time to start the show.

“HELLO! My name is Rubert Crane, my brother Joseph Crane – the maniac on top – has a grenade launcher turret, loaded with deadly grenades as big as a rock that can blow up anything it makes contact with. Let us leave, and we won’t detonate this place to rubble; we got a deal or what?!”

Rubert’s voice echoed from the speakers for all to hear; many were confused – mainly those who knew the brothers for the past day – and were unsure what was going on, even Puddin had know idea what was happening. Hurricane approached and had a grimace on his face as he stared at the two other ponies who he thought knew what was currently happening.

“I thought you said you didn’t had any of these things here?!”

“I-I-I-” Cookie was interrupted by another outburst… from Rubert?

“They don’t; we been hiding nearby using some of their stuff in secret! Now that we got what we need, we’re going to skedaddle – is that right Joseph?”

Joseph seemed to have a far-off look before staring at Pudding; he then returned to his sadistic smile and cackled devilishly. “Time.. for… BOOOOOOOM! AHAHAHAHAH HAH AHAHHA HAHAHAHAAAA!”

With that… all hell was loose; a flurry of greenish-sized rocks – aka grenades – were sent flying everywhere. Buildings that were in mid-construction, and some already built ones, exploded in a cloud of dust and debris. Everypony ran for cover from the destructive mayhem… and Puddin watched this all before her eyes; her ears we folded down and had a sad look in her eyes, as she watched the Crane Brothers drive off.

After the destruction, everypony got out of once the close was clear; Cookie approached her leader when the other two leaders came by. Cookie was ready for them to be yelling and calling Puddin a traitor… instead she got the opposite.

“It is said that these ruffians destroy all your hard earn work Chancellor Puddinghead… We must to something about these troublemakers, quick!” shouted Platinum.

“We need to call a meeting; can we contact Starswirl anyway?” asked Hurricane.

Cookie raised her head at the mention of Starswirl, coming close to respond. “I can; Starswirl has given myself, Pansy, and Clover a way to contact him in case of emergencies ever since the Windigos Incident. Just give me a couple of hours to sent a letter and messenger where he is right away.” As Cookie was about to leave, she stopped before Puddin and coaxed her by placing a hoof and rubbing her back.

Everything will be already Puddinghead mam, I’ll do everything to find out why our friends did this.

Cookie went off, when at the same time one of Puddinghead’s workers came up to her. It was the mare who was working with Joseph before. “Chancellor Puddinghead; there’s something you got to see!”

Puddin shook away her stupor and followed the worker. “I… I am sorry about this, but I need to-”

“It is alright Chancellor; you have a lot of work to catch up. Myself and Hurricane will meet you at Canterlot for the meeting, farewell,” said Platinum, taking her leave.

Both the unicorn and pegasus leaders took their leave as they left with their own escorts. Puddin watched hem leave before following the worker. They arrived at what remained of a building that Joseph destroyed; the building was a charred mess as nothing remained but smoked wood and ash.

“What do you want me to see?” asked Puddin, taking a closer look.

“Well mam… After this building crumbled… we discovered that the foundation here was unstable. If this building had any occupants during heavy weather… the building would of collapsed. And the other buildings – both the ones that were under construction and finished – had similar problems. A few had rotten pillars in them that we needed them destroyed, while a few had design flaws that needed to be re-thought of… in general… if those brothers hadn’t done what they done, it would of taken us more time to destroy them and rebuilt them…” The worker seemed to smile, and looked at the distance where the brothers seemed to went off to. “I don’t know what others may think of this incident, but they were a help, even when they weren’t trying to… I wonder if they knew?”

Puddinghead looked to, and grinned when she giggled happily. Myself included… Those Crane Brothers are some tricky folks.

At Vallan’s Camp; sun-down approached as the group settled for the night to come.

After everyone had done their part with success, they prepared to eat, and luckily their fisherpony got some excellent catches. While Sharp fished, she managed to get enough fish for everyone and save some for the coming trip. Sharp nibbled a piece of a small fish… and liked it; Vallan cooked the fish, having some knowledge when it comes to surviving in the wilderness… or another world in this case.

“What do we do once we finish resting?” asked Sharp, nibbling on her fish.

“We won’t be here forever. We will leave around midnight, as I can tell your kind doesn’t travel at night, and considering I don’t want somepony to find our campsite from the smoke it’s making,” said Vallan.

“I agree with this plan… but what about the others?” asked A.I, who busied himself still with the prototype weapon.

“We will just have to find them some other time, or they can just handle themselves. I don’t want to help that scrawny brat as much as I can throw him.” Swuen snickered at her own joke, when she – and the others – heard a new voice.

“Ha ha, reeeeaaly funny, cunt.”

The group stood at the ready; stepping out of the shadows of the trees… were two familiar figures. A short child with a smile of killer, and a tall muscled man with unwavering body. Everyone had mixed reactions at the duo – Swuen crossed her arms, the twins either did not care or laughed, A.I. didn’t bother looking up, Sharp tilted in confusion at the child’s behaviour, while Vallan simply gave a small smile.

“Missed us you crazy bunch of psychos?!”

Back at Puddinghead’s Place, Puddinhead’s Kitchen; Puddin sat on her seat as she looked a list.

The list held what they needed to start rebuilding the building that were destroyed, and to ask for stone to make a stable foundation for said buildings. Puddin continued looking through her list… when she saw something on her table that she didn’t see before. It was a note… and it was from Rubert; opening the note and reading it, Puddin’s expression slowly changed from her curious stare to a smile.

To Chancellor Pudding Puddin,

I’m sorry about the destruction I and my brother had left behind during our escape, but the buildings we destroyed were already going to fall down… If you knew this… good for you.

I just wanted to write this down as a thanks for letting us stay and not running us away like any other kind of situation we’re usually used to. Your hospitable and homely response to the two of us… we haven’t seen kindness like that for a long time…

As our thanks, we left the blueprints I showed you that could help with your nation grow – trains, lampposts, electricity, skyscrapers, ships, and a heck more – it may take you a couple of centuries to get the resources and tech to reach this stuff… but when the time comes, remember to tell your grandchildren who helped you guys.

From,
Rubert A. Crane

P.S. Joseph wants to say goodbye.

BYYYYYYYYAAYAAAAAHHHHEEEEHHHHH!

Farewells from,
Joseph F. Crane

Puddinghead sighed and noticed a box under her table; after bringing the box on her table and opening it, she saw a good pile of blueprints, a map of Equestria that had spots circled for perfect settlement locations and possible locations to find resources. Those brothers… They might be tricky… but they sure are too nice for a bunch of troublemakers. Puddin snickered and snorted a cute laugh as she carried the box somewhere safe, for the future.

“It seems we may bring change to this new nation of ours, sooner than I thought...”