“Welcoming”

STABLEGRAD (Formerly known as Celestia City)

NEW MANEBASSA

Being designated as a ‘guard’ of the cargo, I was handed a suppressed Designated Marksman Rifle and wore a dark green UNSCOE marine helmet. I was meant to look like I fought a marine and won it.  To back up my story, November Flare etched scratches into the weapon and dented the helmet after he painted part of it red.

Blades and Lipizzaner were also similarly disguised as guards, taking a rifle and some parts of marine armor.  November was obviously going to say he was the pilot of the Phoenix Dropship. And Silverblitz said he would be ‘the negotiator’ or ‘tradespony’. He was just saying in a fancy way that he was still in charge.

Since I decided tp sleep out the entire trip, I got my first glimpse of New Manebassa in the flesh when the Phoenix Dropship’s loading bay opened.

The yellow sun of New Manebassa blinded me briefly as I trotted alongside my team.  Wide cobblestone streets in a bustling city were split in half by fresh palm trees.  Building after building was unique in architecture and color. And all the shops were open with ponies pouring in and out.  We landed on some kind of public air pad at street level, overlooking a beach on one side

The picture of this vocational colony was ruined, however; red Insurrectionist flags and banners were draped on anything three stories high.  Stallions (unicorns and earths specifically), with their coats dyed in coal black and their manes in red, marched side by side.  Pegasi took to the sky, scanning for suspicious activity on the ground.  Megaphones on roofs blurted out propaganda of ‘the great pony race’ and ‘their rightful rebellion’ and ‘their loving leaders’….blah, blah, blah…basically, innie buffalo-feathers.

I couldn’t believe my eyes “It almost like no invasion happened here…” I breathed out loud.  The innies were good at covering up their darkest actions...

Lipizzaner hovered next to me, wrapping her rifle around her neck so she could walk on her fours. “Um…I’m sorry, Destiny….but we have to stay focused…” the earth pony whispered softly.  

I hear Lipizzaner think to herself, …oh, I hope Destiny can just put her brother behind her for today…I’ll never know what she feels…

I simply replied “Yeah…I’ll be careful, L.Z.”

This was jolly great place for a vacation; Papa always said we’d come here for one… Blades sighed to herself in her mind.

I knew that crimson-haired mare with the skull cutie mark was responsible for ordering the death of brother on this planet, but I just had to let go of hoping to bump into her. The chances were one in a million.

Meanwhile we waited patiently as Silverblitz was consulting with doc manager.

“Honestly, why do you have to see my identification now?” Silverblitz asked.

“You think I wanna lose mah job? I have to check any identification or yah’ all can’t be here.” The male unicorn stated as he levitated a clipboard. “All I just need to see is yer ID card or yah passport. Yah do have either with yah, right?”

Silverblitz scratch his head “No, but how about I pay three times the docking fee, instead?”

This made the manger furious. “Are yah trying tah bribe me, Cap’n? What’s hooked up to dat ship? Who is the cargo for anyway? It’s a mighty big box….”

Silverblitz remained clam “The cargo is merely specific items for a bar; and I bought some defectors along,” He pointed to Blades, Lipizzaner, November Flare, and I. Silverblitz continued “There were ten of them, but only those ponies made it out. We were lucky to get hired on the Innie outpost Trotton 9.”

“Innie?” the manger neighed as if insulted.  I sweated that our cover was going to be blown.

“That’s what they kept saying in the prisons:‘the innies are evil, the innies are bad!’ It was hard to get all that ranting out. Many apologies, fellow rebel.” Silverblitz replied, calmly, as to pretend it was a minor oversight.

The manager starred at the rest of us then returned his eyes to Silverblitz. “What about their Identification?”

“My crew lost their previous identification cards. They were told to do this job, first – then they could have citizenship. Think of it as a trial of trust.” The Silverblitz reasoned.

The manger cocked an eyebrow trying to see if Silverblitz was just spewing out nonsense.

“Okay, I don’t care much for ‘em defectors, but you are going to be held responsible for ‘em.  Still, can’t let one of you leave dis ‘ere pad without seeing yer ID.”

Silverblitz silently sighed to himself, “I didn’t think it would come to this but….In the future I will remember this moment and I will bring that ID to me.”

“Huh?”

Silverblitz then told the manger he would have took look in the phoenix dropship for his card.  Well….that was what he told him.  And us.

Without another word, he marched into the dropship.

------------------------

ZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!

Just then, in a flash of lighting, another Silverblitz stood next to the original one.  The only difference was that the second one had an eye patch.  They were alone in dropship troop bay.

“Greetings, present Silverblitz! I’m future Silverblitz!” The eye-patched clone introduced himself

Silver hoofbumped his ‘future’ self.  “Hello there, future Silverblitz. Did you bring that ID as you promised years earlier – or in other words, now?”

“Yes, I did. But I didn’t forge it – November Flare will take the credit for that. Here you go, present Silverblitz.” The eye patched pony handed him the ID.  Silverblitz took a good long look at it, seeing that it could fool anypony.

“Thank you future Silverblitz; by the way what’s with the eye, patch?” present Silverblitz asked.

Future Silverblitz explained, “Speaking of it, I also came to remind you that whatever you do, don’t -”

ZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!

In another flash of lightening, future Silverblitz was gone.

“Hah! Star Swirl’s time traveling spell always helps me and future-me, anytime!” Silverblitz chanted as he tossed the ID in the air.

--------

After presenting Silverblitz’s identification, Team Indigo’s next step was flagging down a taxi chariot.

“How come it took you that long to find the identity card? It looks more suspicious since you didn’t have it on you the first time.” I tell him.

“Exactly – so let’s be brief here...” Silverblitz replied, trying to avoid my question.   He looked up from time to time at the innie pegsai patrols.   “…Those eyes in the sky will mark anything as suspicious - anything.  And they do take direct action from time to time”

I was about to get back onto the subject of his ID but instead his consciousness flows into my head Yeah, 117 is right….I should have just used that time travel spell sooner...I’ll note my future-self that do he doesn’t forget.  

“Uh, sir?” Lipizzaner tapped Silverblitz’s shoulder “How come your broker couldn’t give you Watts’s location before we started this mission?  That might have been faster than, uh, having to come here first…”

“I’m sorry, are you questioning how this operation is planned, Greenhorn-039?” Silverblitz asked giving dumbfounded look.

Lipizzaner stammered, backing beside me “Oh no, no sir….I, uh...”

“Good,” Silverblitz huffed “That means you know better than to go to Luna’s Moon. And to answer your question, I cannot risk communication over our networks being intercepted.  Meeting in person is less risky.”

“What do you mean ‘go to Luna’s Moon’?” I asked.

Silverblitz’s response was that it was classified information.  My mind-reading doesn’t work on him on this time, so I couldn’t get any of that info squeezed out.

“Silverblitz, are there different kinds of PONI types?” November Flare breaks in.

Silverblitz nods, saying “Why yes, pilot, and each has their own section; you have the trollers, the spooks, the geeks, the cold-hearted, the left-brained, the office-desk ponies, the interrogators, the recon teams, the assassins, the test subjects, and the main ring of ministers. We’re a lot bigger than the UNSCOE and the public think we are.”

“It’s just that you keep all those facts under a file named ‘top secret’ too.” I added playfully.

My thoughts exactly, November Flare comments.

Silverblitz smirked, “Yeah…pretty much the desk ponies throw everything under ‘top secret’.”

In midst of our conversing, Blades shouted that she had successfully ‘called a cab over’.

----------------------------------------------------

There wasn’t much to say more about New Manebassa when you’re in a crowed taxi chariot.  Other than that it’s filled with gibberish-speaking preachers owning nothing but rags and marching bands repeated playing their nation anthem, The Parasprite Polka, at every corner.

What made my shoulders jump was when a red-and-black innie pegasus patroller zipped down from the sky and tackled a pony on the sidewalk, with the pegasus patroller starting to interrogate the pony loudly. Before the poor pony could answer, the pegasus soldier started to maul him, again and again.  Surrounding ponies started to trot away, not wanting to look at the distressing scene.

I was tempted to slide out of the taxi chariot and confront that brutal soldier, but November Flare tugged my arm, signaling me to look away.  I was supposed to think that the soldier was doing the right thing and the poor pony was a lawbreaker or criminal; I prayed that I wouldn’t have to keep acting this way.

Blades and Silverblitz were having an even more interesting discussion. Each one tried to compare their magical talents to one another, to see who the better unicorn was.  Both had impressive telekinesis and quick teleportation, but Silverblitz had cloaking and ‘mind-persuasion’ spells, while Blades could regenerate wounds and ‘armor-lock’ herself.  But deep inside their heads, Silverblitz was concerned that the Greenhorn-II would quickly surpass him in skills, and Blades was worried that she couldn’t come close to the PONI officer’s potential in magic.  Honestly, I can see them dating right now; they have plenty of things in common.

Finally, we reached ‘Beatlejuice Bar’ an old dinner imbedded in the line of shops along the city streets.  Beatlejuice Bar was made of mostly brink on the outside.

…They still haven’t made any renovations since my last visit… Silverblitz observed as we got out of the taxi chariot. Once it sped off, Silverblitz talked us through the plan gain.

“Now remember; you four are my newly acquired trading crew. I’m supposed to be an old friend of one of the servants in there. So just play along and let me do the talking.”

Me, Lipizzaner, and Blades threw on our helmets and slung our rifles around our necks, while November Flare was told to trot at Silverblitz’s side.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

To get past the bouncer, Silverblitz said he was here for a friend; the bouncer let him pass in the main dining hall, noting him to be careful and at least have his manners

The style of the bar seem to have woolens walls and floor lighting bright and prominent, but there didn’t seem to anything else special about it; just an average restaurant on the sidewalk.

Our group brushed past a few tables, gaining a few second looks.  I noticed that only military-uniformed ponies and suited figures drinking, smoking, eating and having good time. We almost looked like pirates compared to them, with our ‘looted’ UNSCOE gear.

I began hearing thoughts of others as we pass by their tables:

Would you look at that! Bounty hunters in our bar!

Those ponies have UNSCOE gear…They must be back from the front!

Meh…another trading party…

Why all the guard are females escorting males?

I was going to tell Silverblitz that we were attracting a lot of attention, only to be shushed immediately.

We finally reached the populated order stand, filled with various ponies preparing meals one on side. I look closer and see that these ponies were in poor condition.  Some of them looked tired and weary, as the elite-class ponies behind the stand kept throwing out orders, as if they owned the working ponies as property.

Silverblitz told us to wait off to the side and then he cut into the one of the order lines.  

I couldn’t stay being quiet any longer “Who are we here to see? And why here?”  In my books, secret agents always met in dark places an alleyways – why in lively dinner?

“While you feel asleep in the dropship, Silverblitz said something about his ‘friend’ working here; claiming it was the last place security would look for her.” November whispered back.

----

Silverblitz waited in line before finally standing in front of his info broker, who had alternated between the jobs of a cook and a cashier at the restaurant. Silverblitz stared at the broker right in her green eyes, for he already noticed her straight raspberry mane, her freckles, and her hourglass cutie mark.

“Bad hair day, huh?” Silverblitz greeted, noticing that his young info broker’s mane was usually poufy and standing up when she was happy and turned straight down when she was saddened. It was some sort of weird magic that was genetic in certain earth ponies.

The red earth pony looked up and gave sad smile.  “Yeah…the boss took his anger out on me. He threw out that cake I made for him. Then he slapped me.”

“Does it get worse?” Silverblitz asked

“No, but in a few minutes my shift will be over. So…If you need anything I’ll have it ready.” The broker sighed.  “But just to let you know, Operative Pan Cake…isn’t here with me at the moment…”

Silverblitz hissed into her ear “We’re doing the final phase of the operation in few days. But I need the statics on wherever Watt’s is hiding…”

Shaking her head, the broker whispered, “Meet me in the basement upstairs, okie-dookie-smookie? We’ll talk there.”

“You mean the attic, right?” Silverblitz corrected as his broker left.

------------------

BEATTLEJUICE BAR'S BASEMENT UPSATIRS

After Silverblitz was finished speaking with broker at the stand we were led to ‘an upstairs basement’ (actually an attic) that held unevenly stacked boxes of frozen food.  Once we were up there we all took cover from a huge shotgun blast….

*BLAM* Chug-click!

….of streamers and confetti launched at high speeds.

Once we pulled out of cover, we could see a young red earth pony, holding a rusty shotgun and standing on a tea table set up for all six of us.

“Hi! I’m High Hopes! Did I surprise you?” The broker greeted.  

I was surprised; before her raspberry hair was straight down and she looked somewhat depressed at the counter; now she was fervent as red as her coat was, smiling from ear to ear with teeth whiter than pearls. Her hair was…like dark cotton candy sticking out of her flank and tail – it somehow wildly reminded me of a tree.

“High Hopes? This is your broker?” I turned to Silverblitz, very uncertain.

I was very skeptical that anypony would be happy under an innie-control government or taking job as a broker. Silverblitz merely said that he could trust her – with info and cooking.

Setting aside our guns and armor, we sat down for High Hopes’ ‘tea party’, munching on hay-sprinkled kebabs and chugging down some milkshake in cider jugs.  Well, I accidently mistook some hot sauce for a bottled drink.  When I had drunk enough to realize it, Lipizzaner and Blades had to throw the contents of their milkshakes into my burning mouth. Still, smoke bellowed out of my ears and nostrils with my mane erupted into fire.

“Whoopies-daisy! I forgot to put the label on that hot sauce!” High Hopes giggled, while Silverblitz levitated the hot sauce over and poured it on his kebab, having no side effects.  

Form High Hope’s behavior and her high pitched voice, I could see she was close to coming of age. This is great! A real life tea party with Blitzy’s friends! she thought.

“Do you have any apple pie by any chance?” I queried. High Hopes shook her head, saying that all the apples and flours were used up this morning.

November Flare finished his drink, saying “I do appreciate your hospitality High Hopes, but aren’t you supposed to have given us the data?”

“What data?” High Hopes asked.

“The information; Where Colonel Bulb Watts is hiding.” November specified.

“Oh…It’s not on me.” High Hopes stated, blissfully.  

We all stopped eating and shouted “It’s not?!”

“Nope,” High Hopes admitted “But it….on its way….”

“Are you bloody seriously, mate?!” Blades shouted, starting to walk away from the table. “We’ve got a high value target to capture and all you can think about is having a damn tea party!?”

High Hope laughed “Oh come on Bladey-wadey! Let’s just have some fun while we wait! You’re just too serious…”

“And you know what else? You’re too daft to be a broker. No, beyond daft - an idiot!” Blades hissed without thinking twice about what she had said.  The rest of us were speechless.

Now High Hopes shivered “But…I…I thought y-y-you would be happy….I only wanted t-to…do something while we wait.”

*Pop* FZZZZzzzzzzzz……

Then all of sudden, High Hope’s poufy hair deflated, turning back into its straight form, creating the sound of a popped balloon. How this was possible I wasn’t sure, but we could see it clearly with our eyes.

Now Blades seemed guilty, see thing instant change in High Hope’s mood. She uttered “Hey mate…I’m sorry. I just lost my senses. It’s a soldier thing you know….”

High Hopes continued to sniffle as I shot Blades an upset look. “Nice going…mate” I mocked.  This was the first time I was angry at Blades; usually she was never like this.

“Oi!” Blades argued “You once said wanted to bring down Watts more that I did. After all, your brother died on this world.”

That started me up “Cogneto….Cogneto would have…Ponyfeathers! We’re the same age and all I see is one us more with a shorter temper than the other.”

“And every second we’ve been ‘ere, you have been dishonoring your kin! We should be killing these innies instead of hiding from them!”  Blades shot back.  Ooh, that got me so mad; I tried to blink back tears.

“I can’t believe I have a poophead like you for a friend!” I yelled as I shoved Blades, who then falls into a pile of boxes, spilling out fish.

Blades then yells, “I worked my flank off at farm!  While you were some rotten egghead in a Library!” And then were both at swing of hooves at each other.

November Flare watched the two of us argue it out, unsure what to say, except “Hey, uh, girls…girls?” Oh man what should I say?  

Silverblitz kept rooting in his mind ….Cat fight, Cat fight…  

High Hopes frowned and sniffled thinking that this was all her fault.

So it was very unexpected when Lipizzaner came up between and pushed us away from each other.  “Girls! Is this any way to behave at a guest’s place?” Lipizzaner questioned.

“She started it!” I blurted out, sounding like angered filly.

“We’re on a mission in enemy territory; not on an olly-jolly vacation!” Blades spat.

Lipizzaner continued to listen to both of our sides of the argument, and then she separated us from High Hopes and the others.  November Flare wanted to help, but Lipizzaner told him to take care of High Hopes.

--

Somehow I’ve never seen Lipizzaner like this; she was always hiding and shy, scared of everypony around her.  Maybe it was because of our friendship, and she cared a lot about us

Once we were in a far corner of the attic, Lipizzaner said “I know we have important things to do and we are too busy for High Hope’s party; but if we wrap this mission around our heads, then how are we going to do this? Destiny, would your brother love you seeing this angry at a teammate?”

That was tough thing to refute with; Cogento liked it when I got angry – he called it part of ‘adrenaline’.  After I punched a bully at school, he blamed himself for telling me that and specified that I should use that adrenaline for ‘better things’ – like staying up or exercising.

“Lipizzaner, my brother loved seeing me angry…” I admitted “…but at a teammate…no…I guess…” I growled at the last two words.  Lipizzaner then turned to Blades.

“And Blades, you were promised a vacation here; why can’t you treat it like one?” Lipizzaner spoke in a softer tone.

Blades tried to look away, but Lipizzaner’s red eyes kept locking her in the conversation. She said, “Mate…It’s not the same; I was going to come here when I was young,  my parents promised me every night until the news fed me the Innie invasion on this place.”

“But Blades, just because it’s a different way of being on New Manebassa does not mean that it can’t work in a same way by little bit.” Lipizzaner stated, then turning to me.

“And as for you, Destiny, you don’t always know what under a pony’s surface, despite being our squad leader. Please be there for your soldiers when they cause trouble….uh, ma’am” Lipizzaner shyly said, noting I was still the leader of Team Indigo in their hearts (Dispute the boasting from ‘PONI-Recon-Operative’ Silverblitz).  

If only Lipizzaner should have known I had telepathy, that could I actually could see what was under a pony’s surface, she would think differently….what if I decided to just tell them right here and right now? Would everything be easier or harder in the long run?

“Destiny?” Lipizzaner wondered.

I stopped spacing out and just said “I’m fine…and I’m sorry”.  Then I pulled her and Blades into a hug.

I decided I wasn’t going to tell anypony I had mind reading powers; we just solved one problem; why bring up another?

“Uh, guys…Was I too assertive? I’m sorry if I was.” Lipizzaner squeaked shyly.  That made us laugh and we embrace her even more.

--------------------------------------

“What’s….what’s a time lord?” High Hope asked with her raspberry hair and her mood still down.

November flare had studied the Hourglass cutie mark on High Hope’s flank and asked the red earth pony if she knew about the best-selling Baltimare Sci-fi franchise ‘Doctor Whooves’ or the concept of time lords.

“Well…” November Flare began thinking of how to explain the concept. “Basically it’s a pony who...travels through time in a vehicle called the ‘Tradis’. He is has been around for thousands of years but he reincarnates himself as new pony after he dies, the latest one to be known was Time Turner, who was alive around until 3 ARL…”

“Why are you telling me this? I’m bored…and very confused…” High Hopes murmured

“Oh, uh….” November scratched the back of his neck, feeling slightly hurt “It’s just that you just have the same hourglass cutie mark as him…”

Fzzzzzzzzzzzzz *PHEW*

All of sudden, High Hopes’ face beamed.  Her mane exploded back into its poufy state upon the sound of confetti going off.

She happy rambled “No kidding, I hate pears too! Oh wait, maybe I do know him! You wait here, Novy Flare!” she strenuously ran to one of many boxes and started to dig out knickknacks and other items, looking for something.

“But I…never said anything about pears…” November Flare silently added. High Hoes didn’t respond, humming happily as she kept searching.

“Well that’s High Hopes for yah; the kid’s mood is wilder than a hurricane.” Silverblitz said, smoking on a Sweet Apple Cigar.

November seemed surprised “She’s still a kid? And she is your info broker? That’s not good occupation unless it’s something to put on a resume for a government job.”

Silverblitz replied “She’s not even close to being a full adult like us two; but she said she would do anything just to help me when we bumped into each other….”

Before November could ask how the two met, High Hopes rushed back clutching a scrapbook in her hooves.

She flipped though the book until she came to an old picture of a rock-farming earth ponies.  “See! This was my family when ponies only lived in Equestria!” High Hopes shouted.

November scanned the ponies, but found none of their cutie Marks matching High Hopes’.

High Hopes and November kept scanning though the book, finding many generations of earth ponies but no sign of High Hopes’ branch.

“High Hopes, do you remember anything? Do you have a family?” November asked.

“Nope!” High Hopes replied, as if it didn’t matter to her “Somehow I just can’t remember anything – like how I was born or who I am…meh…I just don’t know much, Novy.”

“Never mind about it then, Could I look around for a moment…I want to see if I can just craft something.” November asked, for crafting was his way of making use of his intelligent mind.

“Oh, you just make yourself feel at home! I’ll look for something” High Hopes leapt over a set off boxes to find a workbench.

Silverblitz then had to answer a call on his concealed wristed communicator, which was beeping loudly.  As he answered, it he whispered in a hushed tone.

---------------------------

After some hugs and apologies, Lipizzaner was making us go and say sorry to High Hopes.

Only when we got back to the tea table, Silverblitz and November Flare started to pack up their gear, taking our rifles with them. I asked what was going on.

Silverblitz hastily said “Operative Pan Cake has found Watts’s location – but he has no extraction; me and Flare will are going to give him.”

“So what about us three?” I asked.

November Flare then put his hoof on my shoulder a little worried “Look….I hate to do this after what you were kidnapped…but we’re going be taking the Pheonix….so it looks like you’ll have to stay here for at least the night.”

“At least the night?” Lipizzaner wondered.

November explained “Operative Pan Cake is on the other side of the planet – don’t expect us to come back soon.”

“What if you don’t come back? Why can’t we go with?” I asked, a little too quickly.

In his head November said I wished it wouldn’t come to this…I already lost you once and I was close to losing you for good.

“It’s just a simple pick-up. What could go wrong with me in charge?” Silverblitz asked.

“A search and recuse party!?!” High Hopes crashed though some boxes of tuna, making us all jump “CanIcomeCanIcomeCanIcomeCanIcomeCanIcomeCanIcome…”

Silverblitz calmly put a hoof over her mouth, a little irritated. “No, Hopes. The more ponies that are with us, the more we put at risk. It will be only us two stallions…but in the meantime-”

“I COULD HOLD AN ALL-MARE SLUMBER PARTY! WAIT RIGHT HERE!” High Hopes wailed and zipped off somewhere in the attic.

“Holy Dooley! She is filled with more surprises than all the grain on Bronze Harvest!” Blades exclaimed.

---------------------------------------------------

Few hours after November and Silverblitz left, there wasn’t much else to document. Other than all the ‘fun’ we had. Oh, and we also apologized to High Hopes, but she seemed to have forgotten everything.

We found an old slumber party guide to make this evening enjoyable. First we did truth or dare…which then led into an embarrassing dress up...with glittery dresses and hoof polishes.  Blades and I were humiliated while Lipizzaner and High Hopes enjoyed it.

Listening to High Hope’s favorite band ‘Zap-apple-jam’ on her radio, us four had a campfire inside the attic, using cleaned metal rods to stick our marshmallows on.  High Hopes put cashews with her marshmallows. Then she added gravy, pickles, mushrooms, some kebabs.

“Luck save the Princesses… you gonna eat all that?” Blades exclaimed.

“No – I’ll eat it and digest it!” High Hopes smiled then stuffing all that food into her mouth in one gulp.

After playing a board game we all decided to hit the hay, or rather the straw.  High Hopes pulled out three mattresses, claiming she keeps them around when she was locked in.

“Why three?” I asked.

“You can’t write ‘locked in’ without three syllables! I was locked in at least three times by the boss, until I leanred my lesson.” sang High Hopes setting up the straw mattresses.  'Locked in' actually had two syllables

Me and Blades were going to decide on draw spoons on who should share a straw mattress, but before we can start, High Hopes hugs me from behind happy saying “Can we share a mattress please, Desy-wesy!!?”

So after brushing my teeth and hiding the rest of our equipment, me and High Hopes collapse onto the bed, pulling a blanket over us. Lipizzaner and Blades feel fast asleep quickly, but before I could -

“Long day, huh, pal?” High Hopes chimed in my ear.

Gritting my teeth and wanting some sleep right away, I grumble “Yes…A very happy time; you sure know how to make friends…”  I shift uncomfortably on the straw bed; I missed my old hay bed back in ponyville library.

“Actually….I can’t…” High Hopes mumbled.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Well…you know how I change quickly between moods and my hair goes up or down? It happens to be so that ponies think I’m sensitive when they seem me do that…and there aren’t many mares my age that are nice to me…”

“What do they do? Can’t be that hard to fit in.” I ask placing a hoof on her shoulder.

“It’s not about fitting in! They…throw paper balls at me…wreck my tea parties…one time they wanted to turn my gunny into a scrap metal.”

“Your ‘Gunny’?” I wonder.  The answer to my question was High Hope’s confetti shotgun.

“You see…just by pulling the trigger on gunny and then pumping him makes me feel better; he never runs out of confetti, streamers, or joy…but I think he’s getting too old.” High Hopes rubbed the rusty parts of her shotgun resting by the mattress.

“Don’t you have a family?” I asked.  It was hard to ask but I wanted to know as much as I could about High Hopes.

High Hopes started to tear up and her hair was returning back into its lowly, straight state. “N-no….all I just remember is me working in factory…before I was sold here…”

“You’re…a slave?” I asked horrified.

High Hopes nods “Basically all I can do is try to be as happy as I can be…b-but…I don’t know if I have a family out there. I just…try to make things up; you know….that I’m related to Pinkie pie…b-but…”

“It’s okay, Hopes…” I say.

High hope’s thoughts trail into my head No….it’s not…I’ll be here, like always…while Silverblitz and you will go on adventures…it’s not fair…why can’t anything be fair?

I immediately whisper “Hopes…how come you never left? With Silverblitz I mean. You said you two worked together…”

“Uh-huh…but Blitzy always kept me here because I was a valuable asset…I don’t want to make him mad because I owe him…much…but that’s a long story…”

“Hopes…what if I took you on an adventure with me? You could come to my Greenhorn complex.” I offered. Silverblitz could get mad at me all he wanted but I wasn't going to let the innies do any more harm to this little pony.

“You….you…really meant it?” the red pony wondered.

Fzzzzzzzzzzzzz *PHEW*

When I gave a confident nod, her hair when back up.  She had smiled so wide, it was almost impossible to not smile back.

“WellgoodnightDestiny” was all I heard from High Hopes before she slammed her head on the mattress, instantly asleep.

As for me, I was having trouble falling asleep, since I was always trained to stay awake and partially because of the straw mattress.  I understood Blades’ previous concerns; we were in enemy territory where we could die without a fight…This was no joke….we were separated from November and Silverblitz… I still remembered Mendez’s words: “This will be the most lethal strike that we shall buck the innies with.”…we were in just as much danger if my team was found out.

I’m suddenly coaxed out of my worries as High Hopes nuzzles my wing, her tiny nose tickling against my feathers. As she snores cutely, I bring her closer, because Raysin did the same with me when I was young.