Andrew woke up to the sound of a loud belch, causing him to jump and hit his head against the ceiling. He didn't care about the possible bruise, but what he did care about is where he was. He didn't remember falling asleep last night, and he didn't plan on falling asleep either. All he remembered was getting out of the train, and then... darkness.

"I swear, if I was abducted again..." He moaned, looking over the ledge of the bed to find Spike, Twilight's #1 Assistant as well as her faithful companion, he just finished up lunch it seemed. He reached for his stuff, which was sitting on a nightstand right next to the bed, and did inventory while keeping an eye on Spike.

Once Spike caught notice of Andrew, things got awkward real fast. They both stared at each other until Spike broke that silence between the two.

"Uhh, hey," Spike smiled and waved at him.

Andrew never really got to know Spike, since he was always with either Twilight or Rainbow most of the time. So he decided to go with the subtle approach, "sup?"

"Oh! I just finished lunch, and Twilight told me to come check up on you, so here I am." Spike shrugged. Andrew strapped on his tacpad, as well as his other things, such as his holsters and put everything else into his inventory.

"That's fine, but how did I end up here?" Andrew asked, he wasn't really surprised at the change of scenery, but he was more confused than he was anything else.

"Twilight told me you collapsed last night getting off the train, so she carried you home. She didn't have the key to the police station so she put you up there." Spike explained.

"I guess I should thank her then... Is she downstairs?" Spike shook his head and pointed towards the market from out the window, Twilight was somewhere in town.

Andrew nodded thankfully, and he activated his RIG's helmet, which slowly started to construct itself over his head. He gave Spike the thumbs up and walked out the door, he could hear Andrew's metal boots stomp on the ground, and he could feel the ground under him shake a little bit with every step he took. The shaking stopped once Andrew was a good distance away from the library.

Spike was left in awe as Andrew made his way towards the market, "that... was the coolest thing ever..."

Andrew wondered how or why his gravity boots were on the fritz, but something wasn't right with his suit. Twilight's magic could have interfered with the circuitry or the power source inside of the suit, but he wasn't too sure what to think of the malfunction.

"I should really get back to the police station. Change my suit before anything bad happens." Andrew pondered, getting unknowingly closer to his destination than he thought. And once he made it to the station, he unlocked the door with one swift motion with his kinesis, hearing an audible *click!* in the process.

Once Andrew was inside, the place looked just as clean and spiffy as he left it three months prior. Not a thing was touched inside of the complex, and it didn't seem like anything had been here recently either. He turned on the lights, which flickered for a second before turning on, and he went into the basement, all the way at the end of the hall.

He could hear sparking of electricity come from his back, which meant that this was no minor malfunction to his suit. He needed to find his Suit Kiosk quickly, before something bad happens to him... again. He completely shut down the suit and manually took off the helmet, leaving it on the workshop table

Once Andrew climbed into the Suit Kiosk, he changed into his Patrol Suit with haste, which is pretty much another variant to the Security Suit he was wearing before, except for the color scheme change from multiple shades of blue camouflage to a digital orange. His initials, "A. Hartfield," are printed on his collar guard, and his serial number, "0247," is on the back of his helmet, as well on one of his upper left arm plates.

He smirked as he climbed out of the Suit Kiosk and walked back upstairs to ground level. He stumbled his way through the doorway and into the first room to his right, which was his room. He entered to find it in pristine condition, just like how it was when he left it, except that everything was now covered in dust since nothing has been touched. His bed was still as small as ever, and the olive green covers were still the same as it should be.

His helmet retracted back into the suit, and he smiled as he saw that everything was in order. He then switched off the lights and closed the door behind him. He then exited out of the building and locked the door behind him, and the sun beat down on his head as he stepped outside.

"I guess I should find Twilight." Andrew followed the beaten trail towards the market, taking his time to think.

He knew for a fact that the Darkness was back for sure, since he's had a talk with Carmine. He didn't understand how or why they were back, all he knew is that they were. The only good thing can come from the Darkness was nothing, nothing good can come from this at all. The fact the he saw Carmine again just hampered his view on life, since he still thinks it's his fault his family died in the first place.

He checked the time, and it read "12:34," just about lunch time for him, and besides that he didn't eat dinner last night or breakfast this morning, he was very hungry to say the least.

"Twilight can wait, I'm starving." He headed towards the usual cafe on the street corner, and entered the building in a very nonchalant way. He wasn't planning on drawing any attention to himself, but every once in awhile the occasional customer stopped to stare at the robotic space man. When you were wearing a suit that made you look like a robot, it was hard not to attract any attention.

"Are you a robot?!" A little colt approached Andrew, with wide eyes and a baseball cap to match.

"No, I'm not a robot," Andrew sighed, but then he came up with an idea, and smirked, "you want me to be one?"

The colt nodded, and Andrew chuckled. He patted the little colt on the head, and the helmet started to construct itself over Andrew's head. The helmet changed everything, Andrew's voice was vented, making it seem robotic, and his breathing could now be heard. As the helmet finished construction, the suit automatically sealed itself airtight, gas being expelled from the ventilation seams. Every part of Andrew's body was covered in parts of the suit, and there were no exposed areas of skin or flesh to be found.

"Happy now?" Andrew chuckled. The little colt was in awe as Andrew stared back at him, with the blue visor slits letting out a small glow.

"That's so cool!" The little colt ran back to his mother, who was a few tables over from Andrew. "Mom! He IS a robot! I knew it!"

He didn't want to give the child a false impression, but it was for the good of the public, since the public doesn't seem to welcome his presence, even though he's lived here for quite a while. He had suspicions that nobody knew that he was still alive, but this was way out there.

"Heheh, schooling these kids." He mumbled, the helmet retracting back into his suit. As he focused back on his train of thought, the waiter took his order, and he took a giant bite out of his bread.

"So I heard you're good with kids?" Andrew looked up from his tacpad, and saw Rainbow. She had the most beautiful pair of eyes he'd ever saw, and that personality brought back memories of Carmine, or at least back when she was alive. Just looking at her brought a smile to Andrew's face, which wasn't often.

She seated herself across from Andrew, and he continued to organize things through his tacpad. He briefly thought about the question given to him, and he answered.

"Y-Yeah, I guess so, huh?" He smiled, looking at the colt who approached him earlier. The colt quickly whipped around as soon as Andrew caught sight of him, an audible giggle could be heard from the mother.

"Well, in that case, I need you to help me out. I'm stuck babysitting the Cutie Mark Crusaders today, I need your help to watch over them." She explained, taking a sip out of Andrew's iced tea.

"I'll do it, but what's the catch?" Andrew raised an eyebrow, from what he could tell, the CMC's were a pain to take care of. Hell, he heard Fluttershy had a hard time at first, until she gained their respect that is.

"It's the Cutie Mark Crusaders, that's all the catch you need." Andrew thought she had a pretty solid point, he couldn't deny that.

"I'm supposed to be a part-time Police Officer and Special Forces Operator, and you're giving me babysitting duty?" Andrew took a bite out of his salad, the only thing that seemed edible on the menu.

"You're on discharge right now, are you not? Cmon! It'll be fun!" She nudged Andrew, who only slumped over because he wasn't really looking forward to this.

"I don't see why not... Just let me finish eating and I'll meet you outside. Also, tell them that I'm dressed as a robot, so they don't freak out." Andrew took out a gold bit from his pocket, and placed it on the table.

"Don't worry about it, I got this! We'll be waiting outside!" Rainbow zoomed out the door, leaving Andrew in a wake of wind. Luckily, he was inside of his Patrol Suit, and the wind didn't have an effect on him. Once he finished up, he put his helmet back on, slowly sliding himself out of the booth and towards the exit.

Rainbow outside had gathered the Cutie Mark Crusaders outside the cafe, waiting for Andrew to come out, but Rainbow had a little trick up her sleeve to mess with him.

"Alright girls, there's a metal man terrorizing the town, and he's inside that cafe. When he comes out, I want you to surprise attack him when I give the signal, okay?" The CMC's smiled happily and agreed. They all took in a deep breath of air, and yelled really loud.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER ROBOT HUNTERS YAY!" Rainbow's ears flopped down due to the sheer loudness of their yelling, but she was about to be in for a huge laugh.

"Hey Rainbow, what did you mean by saying-" Andrew was abruptly cut off by Rainbow whistling really loudly, and what came next was raining fillies from above.

Andrew got pounced on by three fillies, the CMC's to be more accurate, and he was caught by surprise. He got a Scootaloo to the face, a Sweetie Belle to the back, and an Apple Bloom to the shins, he was not a very happy man at that point.

"Seriously you guys? I can't leave my guard down for one minute without being attacked!" Andrew attempted to pry Scootaloo from his face with success, and he tucked her under his arm.

Next was Sweetie Belle, and since she was on his back he had to use his kinesis to get her off. Once she was off of his back he held her by the scruff with one hand. Andrew looked down at Apple Bloom and kept her from kicking his shins by picking her up with ease. He glared daggers at Rainbow, who could be seen laughing hysterically. He could tell that they didn't know who he was, since the helmet covered his face and his voice was different.

"If I set you down, will you stop attacking me?" The three nodded, and so Andrew set them down carefully. The helmet retracted back into his suit, and he had look of disapproval plastered on his face.

"Andrew! You're back!" They all said in unison, leaping towards him to give him a hug.

"Hey girls, it's been awhile, huh?" Andrew dusted himself off as he got back up onto his feet. He also gave a look over to Rainbow, unamused at best.

"What are we gonna do? We got the whole afternoon to spend!" Apple Bloom seemed pleased, but Andrew could sense a hint of fear in her voice.

"Oh, I know! How about Andrew lets us shoot? Can you Andrew?" Scootaloo suggested, but Andrew denied by shaking his head.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Scoots, firearms are much too dangerous to be handled by a child. Especially the types of guns I have, those are even more dangerous in the wrong han- hooves." They all let out a big moan, including Rainbow, but the rules were the rules when it came to gun safety.

"Sorry girls, guns are super dangerous, one of these can probably bring down a Manticore, depending on the size of the bullet." Andrew brought out his Desert Eagle to showcase, Scootaloo laughed.

"That can bring down a Manticore? C'mon, I know that's a lie." She boasted... but Andrew had an idea.

He took out the magazine and emptied the one in the chamber, holding the .50 Action Express ammunition in the palm of his hand, "this is the cartridge, as you can see this thing is as big as one of my fingers. You don't want to be hit by one of these."

Andrew put the bullet back into the magazine, and loaded it back into his Desert Eagle, and gestured towards the police station, "anyways, let's get going, shall we?"