Cleared to Engage
Chapter 36
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Day 2 of 4
"Are you sure you want to go through with this Andrew?" Helena asked him, unsure of his thought process.
"Hey, you guys have family to go back to. In no way, shape, or form am I to get in the way of that." He replied in a stubborn tone.
"Andrew, you know the girls won't like it when we leave, you haven't even talked to one of 'em since you came back with Night Shade." Nick explained. He wasn't too fond of the idea of staying here, but then again he had mixed feelings about going back to Earth.
Andrew sat down on a nearby bench, looking down to where you couldn't see his eyes. He let out a very heavy sigh, due to all the stress that has been put on his shoulders. He couldn't decide what to do himself, he didn't want to leave, but he didn't want to stay either. He really needed help, because this is a life changing situation.
"You know what? I'm going to talk to them, make sure everypony's alright. Hopefully I won't draw out too much attention along the way." He could clearly see that they were on the newspaper, as he picked one up this morning. When he was at the newspaper stand he was crowded by multiple fillies, colts, and even some full grown ponies, asking for autographs.
Andrew jumped into the Suit Kiosk, putting on the regular Security Suit. The RIG's health management system went down his back, and he thought it would have been more comfortable standing up straight instead of the older models. The older models made Andrew have to slouch over, and he did not want to get hunchback at a time like this. His helmet retracted back into his suit, and he went nextdoor to Twilight's Library.
Andrew knocked on the door, and he heard someone walk over to open it. Andrew looked down and saw Spike open the door, he looked up to see the 6'6" foot tall man staring right back at him.
"Hey Spike, may I come in?" Andrew asked.
"Yeah sure, but I wouldn't talk to Twilight right about now, she's really upset for some reason. Oh yeah, and I saw you guys on the newspaper, that was pretty awesome." Andrew fistbumped Spike and sat down on the couch.
"I think I may know why Twilight's upset, Spike, I really need your help."
"Shoot. I'm always here for a fellow guy." He said in a manly way, making Andrew chuckle.
"Night Shade has given us the offer to go home, like back to Earth home. I don't know whether to stay here or go, because it feels like we don't belong here, in Equestria. Then again, we're needed here, because there's more and more violence everyday, and the forces in the Royal Guard are dwindling. I don't know what to do here, and no one is helping me decide. It's just one simple question: Do we go, or do we stay?" Spike sighed.
"I dunno Andrew, but it seems to me that everypony wants you to stay. They even held a secret meeting about you guys, but I couldn't hear anything they were saying. Rainbow Dash was bawling her eyes out, I kinda feel bad for her especially. If I were you, I would do what's right." Spike said in an unsure tone of voice.
"Thanks Spike, do you mind if I could speak with Twilight?" He nodded silently.
Andrew slowly crept upstairs, noticing that it was very dark. There was a lit candle in the center of the room, and he could sense that Twilight was hiding in the darkness. He looked around, the glowing feature from his visor activated, shining a dim clue light wherever he looked. He looked up to the beds, where he saw Twilight, sobbing into her pillow. He silently made his way to her, and sat down on the side of the bed.
"Hey, how are you?" No answer.
"Shh, it's alright. It'll all be okay, Twilight."
"No, it won't be alright! Andrew, you guys are leaving here, forever! Never to be seen again! What about us? You think you can just leave us, as if you never existed? Well, it's quite the contrary."
"Twilight, you don't understand-"
"I'm well aware of what's going on. You're leaving us, we forget you guys existed, everything goes back to normal, problem solved." She spat.
"No Twilight, the thing is... we don't belong here, or at least, me and my team don't. We were never meant to end up here, this is not my home world. We have to go back." Andrew's helmet retracted, he had gritted teeth, and a frustrated look.
"Twilight, do you ever wonder, what would happen if you never existed? If I, never existed?"
"Well, I would have never met Princess Celestia, or my friends." She explained.
"You see Twilight, you and I, are the opposite. If I never would have existed, I would have never gotten innocents killed, never would have gotten my old team killed. Without me in the world, it would have been a better place." He looked down.
Andrew remembered back in his university days about psychology, but not much ever since the war. Everything he learned when he was younger was thrown out once he saw actual combat. He tried to cheer up Twilight by bringing himself down, try to put himself in her hooves.
"Andrew, you can't always think about the cons in life, you always have to be positive, the pros in life." She sniffed
"Well, I can't have that with a sad mare crying, now can I?" He put a hand on her chin, making her look up at him.
"Don't think of this as a bad thing, Twi. We finally get to go home, it's been so long I don't even remember what anything even looked like. I'm sorry, Twilight, we were bound to leave eventually."
"Hey, I'll see you tomorrow night, I'm going to try and get Pinkie Pie to throw a going away party." Andrew said, smiling at her.
"What are you going to about Rainbow? She's taking it pretty hard as well." Twilight asked.
"I don't know yet, but at least I know I can walk on clouds." Andrew sighed.
"Don't worry about the others, Drew. I'll let them know." Twilight smiled.
Andrew made his way downstairs, where Spike just came out of the kitchen with a tea set. Andrew smirked at him, and he looked back at him. His eyes widened as he saw him.
"How'd it go?" He asked, anxious.
"It went well, I actually got her to talk." He said, surprised.
"What are you going to do now?" Spike asked.
"I have a certain Pegasus Pony to talk to. I'm NOT looking forward to this." He complained.
Next Chapter: Chapter 37 Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 38 MinutesAuthor's Notes:
Sorry about all the drama, there will be a lot in the chapters to come.