Sta.sh
Act 0
Introduction
--June 13th, 2,6 years after n.m.m.c., Equestria, Everfree Forest, Shadow Amp's hideout--
Narrator: The evil inventor was focused on the map of Ponyville for some days already. He was not sure about where he should strike or even how. Also, he was limited by the available resources he had left. Powering these robots up is not cheap. Not only they consume electricity, they also use magical amplifier gems. These were not a problem on short term, though. A gem could last three weeks in a full time operating robot. They are currently in «save» mode. So no big deal from that. But he only have three all purpose soldiers, two maintenance bots, one stealth recon and two heavy artillery units. At least he had all the time he wanted to plan his attack. He sighted that groups from Ponyville were formed to chase him. But He don't think they'll ever find him. First of all because he is very deep in the Everfree forest. Second, his robots are not coming back to this hideout. He can control em from a distance. They can refuel, repair, gather stuff on their own without the intervention of their creator.
That's exactly why he is really surprised to hear hooves steps coming his way. He activate the only all purpose soldier he kept «in case» for these kind of situation. He hide himself behind a counter and wait for the potential pony to come by. Shadow Amp dares an eye in the door's direction. What he saw is not really meeting what he expected.
Earth Pony: Hello? Is anyone there? Hello? I know someone is hiding here. I don't want to hurt you. I just want to talk.
Shadow Amp: Then you went to the wrong place. I hate to talk.
Earth Pony: Ah, Frederick. You're there.
Shadow Amp: H...How did you know my real name? I never told anyone.
Earth Pony: That's not important...
Shadow Amp: Anyway... you're lucky I won't kill you. Now get away and fast!
Earth Pony: If I do so, you might regret it.
Shadow Amp: I don't think so... You wasted your opportunity. Unit 478, kill him. Burn his body and leave no traces of his existence.
Unit 478: Target acquired. Starting killin...
Shadow Amp: Hun? Unit 478, terminate the target.
Unit 478: I... I... Caaaaaaaaan't...
Shadow Amp: That's bullshit! What's wrong with you.
Unit 478: Heeeeelp meeee! I...I can't staaaaand his presennnnnnce. Must fleeeeee!
Narrator: The robot start shaking from his entire body. He slowly stepped back and start running away from the mysterious intruder. Shadow Amp was freaking out.
Shadow Amp: Who are you? An hacker?
Earth Pony: Not at all. Your robot acted on his own...
Shadow Amp: «Fleeing» is not programmed in his brain. There are no conditions in witch he would have acted like this.
Earth Pony: But here are the facts: he flee.
Shadow Amp: Who are you? W...What do you want?
Earth Pony: Seems like you seek power, I do as well. Maybe we could join our forces...
Shadow Amp: Not that much of a bad idea... You look quite capable of... controlling.
Earth Pony: It's fear. We can control souls with fear, lots of souls at a time. We can paralyze em also.
Shadow Amp: Hum... Interesting... We'll see where it leads us.
Earth Pony: Excellent. Now's the time for me to show you my true form.
Narrator: The male's body become sand and is taken away by a virtual wind. It swirls in the room, making a small gust. The sand turns red and take the appearance of a gas. Two red glowing eyes are now starring at Shadow Amp.
Shadow Amp: Sweet Celestia! I...I can't... Believe it! Are you the...
Unknown entity: Maybe, my son, Maybe... MWHAHAHAHAH!
Act 1
Politics
--June 15th, 2,6 years after n.m.m.c., Equestria, Ponyville, Unigem's--
Air Swirl: Hey, Talon. Have you read the newspaper?
Talon: I never read the news paper. They contain too much lies.
Air Swirl: Well, it might be or not a lie, have you heard of this new colt in Canterlot? A «Politician» he call himself.
Talon: Not really. What are the news saying about it?
Air Swirl: Well, seems like he's having speeches... He's having good connections with the Princess.
Talon: I have connections with her also...
Air Swirl: Well, he's kind of popular by what he says. He's having great ideas and would like to apply em to the society.
Talon: Like what?
Air Swirl: Like road enhancement. He want to have better contacts with the Dark Lands.
Talon: Hum hum... Wait, Dark Lands?
Air Swirl: Are you listening to me?
Talon: Well now I am...
Air Swirl: Sigh* you do it on purpose... Anyway, he want to build a better railroad to connect it to the light lands. He also want to make life over there easier. He promise us better supplies of magical amplifier gems.
Talon: Naturally. He's he from the Dark Lands?
Air Swirl: Can't tell.
Talon: What's his name?
Air Swirl: I saw it earlier... Here: Mr. Dume
Talon: Hum... quite a weird name... never heard it before... even in the dark lands. It might just be a fake name after all... Hey, have you found something from your search parties?
Air Swirl: Nope. Nothing at all. It went silent. No traces of anything.
Talon: Quite strange... Sonic is back on his hooves, though. He's feeling way better. Kassini stuck to him at all time. So no worries from there.
Air Swirl: What are you working on right now?
Talon: Nothing too big. I'm updating my inventory list... Guess I could be doing something else more interesting right now...
Air Swirl: Maybe your gems might help...
Talon: Not likely.
Air Swirl: You're sure? What about these animated gems? They could take notes for you. Or even one of those memory gems...
Talon: Memory gems on short term are okay. But they tend to forgot...
Air Swirl: You might want to have it both written and kept in memory gems. So the gem could memorize it, then ask another gem to... write it down...
Talon: Nah... It won't... Hey... hey! HEY!
Air Swirl: What? What is it?
Talon: ... ... ... ... ... It might work. Thanks buddy. You just gave this day of my life a goal! I'll start working on it right away! But... Oh shit... I first need to complete my inventory... Well, I'll do it... right after that. Witch means... tomorrow.
Air Swirl: Is it that long? It's only morning!
Talon: Wait, morning? I though it was... Ahhhh... that's why! I actually wondered why you were bothering me during the night... because it's morning!
Air Swirl: Wait... Have you worked the whole night?
Talon: I think I made it obvious...
Air Swirl: Aren't you tired?
Talon: Not really. My tank childhood granted me the capacity to stay awake for very long time. I use to sleep a lot more now since I'm in Ponyville, but I can stay up for three weeks without sleep. It's handy when you live in the wild.
Air Swirl: Well, that's useful I guess...
Talon: I can't tell if I would have prefer a childhood instead... guess it makes me efficient.
Air Swirl: Do you have a lot of work left?
Talon: Maybe a good three hours... Three and a half.
Air Swirl: May I help?
Talon: I guess the task is easy enough...
Air Swirl: Does it means you think I'm stupid?
Talon: NO! Not at all. Here, let me show you something *magically grab a sheet of paper*.
Air Swirl: What's that?
Talon: Can you find the tangent points of these three circle that are all common to this line? I want the formulas of the functions that creates the arcs who are tangent to the line. I also want the angles that form the arcs... in radiant.
Air Swirl:... You... understand all of this?
Talon: Yes. But you know more about the weather than I do. I think you can help me with the inventory listing. After that, we will be able to work on these memory gems together. An outside mind can come in handy when creating new methods, helps to think outside the box.
Act 2
Dume
--June 16th, 2,6 years after n.m.m.c., Equestria, Canterlot, Royal throne--
Sonic: Why are we summoned here?
Talon: That's exactly what we all wonder since the beginning of the travel. I can't recall any illegal things I could have done recently... Maybe I sleep walk?
Air Swirl: Maybe... since you don't sleep often...
Scales: Maybe... she finally read my letter! I have a lot of things to discuss with her about that.
Kassini: Maybe it's about the sun... it might have gone unstable without me noticing it.
Dragon Shade: Before we start to imagine things, let's hear what she have to tell us first.
BackBeat: Ladies, Sirs, the Princess is waiting for you inside.
Scales: BackBeat! You look so cuuute in this armor!
Royal Guard 1: Hey, Lieutenant, you have fans?
BackBeat: Girlfriend, private!
Royal Guard 1: Oh! sorry, I didn't know...
BackBeat: Next time, keep it shut and it will be perfect.
Narrator: The Throne's room was pretty empty except for the few guards and the scribe. Princess Celestia was on her throne with, at her side, an colt wearing a bice uniform.
Celestia: Welcome, everypony. Today you were summoned hereto accomplish a specific task. But first, let me introduce you to Mr. Dume. He is the one who summoned you. Dume, you may begin.
Dume: Thanks, your Majesty. Welcome everyone. Some of you might have heard rumors about me. Well, I also heard rumors about you.
Air Swirl: Us?
Dume: I've heard that you defeated, a couple of months ago, a great threat known as The Keyes. From these events, I think you might be exactly the right ponies for the task. I want you all to retrieve 6 very rare artifacts hidden all across Equestria. Special... disks of great power crafted by an very old but extinct civilization.
Talon: Disks? What for? You know that Equestria is... Kinda huge. Do we have clues about their location?
Dume: There's a temple of this civilization located in the Dark Lands near the sea coasts.
Talon: The sea coasts? I lived in the dark Lands and traveled a lot but I never been there. They are... myths. So about the existence of the temple plus the existence of the...
Dume: Are you saying I am a liar? Talon Ke... uh, Java?
Talon: Wait, what was that?
Dume: Sorry, I was confused between You and your... sister?
Kassini: Not really. Let's call it a close friend.
Dume: Of course. What was I saying? Oh, yes! The Coasts. Well, you'll have to find em first I presume. What about the temple... I'll send you more information about it once you're there.
Dragon Shade: We could send a Pegasus recon team to...
Dume: No! No recon team. The Darksiders don't really like pegasus flying above their lands.
Talon: True fact. They even have anti-balloonium beacons around the main cities. Trying to fly around is suicidal. Your hooves implode and you splatter on the dark rock when you crash. Small dragons come to clean the corpse after. But what's so important with these disks?
Dume: The alloys used in their conception might tell us more about the resources that are present in the Dark Land's underground. We could then create a new economy engine for the Darksiders. You know, Talon, that your native lands are currently on the edge of extinction.
Talon: I would not say extinction... but something like that, indeed.
Dume: Poverty is the main adjective we could gave em. Ponies are starving, nothing's moving.
Talon: It always been like that.
Dume: But it could change. I have the conviction that we can potentially save em and make em a real part of the Equestrian empire. Maybe we could take down these anti-Balloonium beacons. Think about the possibilities we could make, the life these people could have.
Talon: Hum... the idea seems legit. I guess we don't really have the choice anyway... What do you guys think?
Air Swirl: I don't know... That's a big journey. I'll have to think about it twice.
Scales: I don't know if I'll be able to come in the first place...
Celestia: Don't worry about that, your parents will be informed.
Sonic: It sounds dangerous...
Kassini: Don't tell me you're afraid. Aren't you the strongest?
Sonic: Hum...
Dragon Shade: I agree with Air Swirl. If he's in, I'll be in also.
Dume: I'll leave you a day or two to think about it, but time is short. Please follow these guards, they will guide you to your quarters. Have a nice day.
so you're working on what happens next?
Still waiting for Fenrir to respond