"I wonder... why would ponies have a need for guns... and awfully powerful-looking ones at that..." The Doctor wondered to himself, he couldn't understand why anypony that could be close to what Derpy was like would have a use for them. "I guess... War truly doesn't change..." he thought with a sigh.

Derpy noticed this and walked a little bit closer to him, "It's ok... We're gonna get through this just like we got through everything else..." She smiled broadly when she noticed him get a little grin.

Renko stopped the group just short of the edge of the clearing that led to the castle.

"Everyone get down!" He commanded in a harsh whisper, a few rustles could be heard by anyone who was within about ten feet.

"Why are we stopping here?" Rainbow Dash asked in a similar harsh whisper, "We should go in and knock some heads around until they give us the Princess back!" Renko sighed, knowing that Rainbow had no idea whose head she was trying to knock around.

"You understand that without lifting a hoof... or finger... or whatever this mastermind has at the end of his arm they managed to capture the princess... Who is supposed to be far stronger than any of you. These monsters will be here in force, and if they are led by another human... there will be more soldiers where that Lurker came from." Renko gave a dejected sigh as he leaned to the side of the bush to get a good look at the castle. He saw several soldiers in armor that was similar to the Elite Spetsnaz that he had fought in the past.

"Well... I can only hope that they aren't wearing anything bulletproof... at least I can grab a gun and get back to doing what I do best..." he thought with ironic happiness. He turned back to the rest of the group and began to come up with a plan in a hushed whisper.

"Ok, I can't bring any of you who aren't trained as soldiers because the beings we are about to face have guns that they are... honestly... better trained than anyone else with."

The Doctor waved a hoof to get Renko's attention before asking his question, "What exactly is going on here? As far as I've been able to find out, Humans aren't supposed to exist in this world... Would you care to explain just WHY everything has become far more violent in Equestria?" The Doctor had expected more of an angry glare to answer his question, which he also assumed everypony else was expecting, but he was thrown for a loop when Renko finally looked him in the eyes. The Doctor could see the eyes of a tired soldier that just wanted to go home, he could see pain... sadness... even, a kind of lonliness in Renko's eyes.

"I am here because my original plan to stop a superweapon either failed... or... well... there is no other explanation, A superweapon that was never supposed to be harnessed by humans had not been destroyed completely and I have to make sure it gets destroyed." Renko gave an almost unnoticable sigh as he turned to the rest of the group.

"Where I'm from... Death is an everyday occurence, I wanted it to stop... so I tried to stop the source of the Reverts... something went wrong with my plan and now I'm here, I know it has something to do with the Singularity so I have to stop it." With one final look that seemed to put all the questions to rest, Renko continued to explain how they were going to get into the building... at least, until Twilight pointed out a large, unprotected, opening in the defenses with a scrying spell

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Emperor Renko walked from the balcony he was standing on, with a snap of his fingers the rest of his lurker team appeared as if they had materialized out of thin air. He only spoke one sentence to them before they left for their new objective.

"Kill the remaining ruler..."

He walked back out to the balcony once more, he could feel the presence of the Other Renko getting much closer... He also felt the E99 energy flowing through his body a bit more than before.

"I will not be lost to oblivion, I will be the one to take the world and unite it under one unending power... and after I kill you, there will be noone left who could possibly stop me." The Emperor braced himself against the wall of the castle as visions flashed before his eyes; The deaths of the innocents on the island, the deaths of soldiers that opposed him, the countless monsters he had faced in an unending nightmare... but worst of all were the memories of him dying... over... and over... and over again. He no longer knew if they were memories of his or the alternate Renko's that died to do what he had succeeded in doing.

"How many of them were there? how was I the one that made it out of all the possibilities? The questions never cease, they only continue... no matter how much stronger I get MORE QUESTIONS ALWAYS FIND ME!" He slammed his fist hard against the rock of the archway in frustration as he finished his thoughts. As he slid down to his knees he could feel the emotions that he had long forgotten, had they always been there? had he just never had time to focus because of the panic of survival in a hostile wasteland? he still could not think of answers. Each unanswered question would bring more emotion, and each time he felt an emotion he thought of another question that he couldn't answer... To him it had become a violent cycle of question, anger, repress, repeat. The one constant in his life had become his anger, anger at everything... it gave him clarity, it gave him a reason to ignore everything else... without anger, he would've succumb to madness long ago. He buried his face in his hands and tried to wipe away the pain that came with the emotions, and at first it seemed to work, until he thought about it again.