MickeyAdaptus

"Your goal is good, but the execution of your goal is perhaps the thing that needs some changing, we all have had moments where we had very good intentions but we started acting worse then we wanted to, I know I have walked that path many times." Jack said. "It does sadden me that many don't realise that you can learn from others as well instead of depending on everything you know and can do, there is so much potential that can be unlocked in someone, but the question is how the person will attempt to unlock it, doing it all yourself is possible, but chances are big that you would miss out that things that you are not aware even exist, while with someone who teaches you to know and knows what he is doing, you could unlock things in yourself that you never knew you had." "Remember how I was so excited about the knowledge we found in that temple, but none of you were really interested? I think that was the sign that made me realise something, do any of you really want to become stronger, or want to stay with the standards that you have all been accustomed to? I do know for a fact that Auxilliriay would never try to get stronger on her own, I think there is a reason why she was chosen to become a member of the circle, she was eager to learn, to explore what was beyond that which she knew." Jack said, giving a quick glance to Luna. "If there was any reason why the Circle was starting to die out is that nobody was interested in learning from them any longer, which in turn drastically decreased the amount of stronger fighters that where around, there where some who where capable of becoming strong on their own via determination like, Maple, Evelyn Ember and more, but not everyone has that kind of mindset, and let me ask you guys this very question, do you think Equestria will be able to keep a strong foothold if we keep going at this rate?" "Let me explain as this, because still to this point, Equestria has a military that still relies on its old ways to handle its enemies, Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek etc, but will it really work on our current enemies? It might work to a degree, but there is a serious problem here because with swords and shields you will only get so far against enemies who are capable of space travel and produce soldiers at the expandable rate of paper, my point is, Soldiers, need to find another way to fight as of now, teach them how to use firearms, use more types of magic then just unicorn magic, and most all... don't limit them to just Equestrian teachings." "They need to learn from other races as well, allow or send some of your soldiers on pilgrimages, or rather what is more accustomed to Equestrians, send them on travels to other planets or civilizations across the stars, Equestria will dawn into a new age of technology within a good amount of decades if it is done like this. Because I am going to tell you a straight fact here, Equestria is not capable of surviving against its currents odds if it stay's in its current state, I know from what I read that Equestria is a peaceful based society, which means that technology in warfare has never been developed further since there never was the need except for magical spells that weren't based on warfare or destruction, but rather to improve your way of living." Jack stated. "I should have to say this long ago but now is the best time for it, what we need to do is unite all races, not just from Equestria, but *every race*, but if Equestria doesn't further their developments, it won't come to light and we will not win this war in the end."

"What you in those places is what could have happened to Equestria should things have gone bad, but it didn't. But Luna is also right here, you were converted and managed to tell the tale, in the end, it can still hold very bad memories, some who have experienced these things could have either gotten a trauma or even descended into madness from what they experienced." "Yet, you managed to avoid both of those things, I have to admit, during my imprisonment, it did not always consist of torture sessions and occasional salve pit fights. Because of my curse back then, they would sometimes drag me out of my cell and put me in this place... So many test subjects, they were all going to be part of a new conversion process, I saw.. terrible things where some of the test subjects would be merged together with other infected or creatures to see what effect it would produce. My mother was behind most of that, she may be an assassin, but she is a crazed scientist at heart." Jack said. "You know... You are really lucky Maple, really really lucky, despite you no longer having your real body, you escaped a fate that barely anyone has managed to escape from. Sometimes when I murder these infected, I seem to forget that they once used to be of my very same race, one of us, sentient and living beings, who also had families, daughters, sons and brothers, lovers... Sometimes we must ask ourselves the question, is it really justified? Don't get me wrong, I hate our enemy with all my heart, but... I hate what I do, because every infected I kill, I am murdering someone off my own kind at the same time." He said with a now sad tone. "I just wonder if others really feel this way as well, or if they use the murder of these infected to satisfy their own fighting nature, some feel the first way, others feel de the latter, while there are some others who feel both, i guess you would have to ask yourself the question, wich one of these do you see yourself to be? There is no wrong answer because none of these answers will make you look bad, because in these times, what are we really? Fighting is sometimes all we can do when we have nothing left, and some really don't have any other form of happiness left when they already had lost everything prior." Jack said, he was having one of his special talks about life and existance again, which was never really meant in an offence to anyone.

"But you have always been loyal to those around you, and have done everything you could to protect others, that is what matters. You see how loyal you are to Luna? You are willing to go all alone to fight against an entire army, even if it may be considered reckless, it shows your undying loyalty, that is one heck of an honourable trait to have. You are an honourable warrior Maple, even if I was getting tired of hearing all those boast and accomplishments being thrown around, what made me see you so special is not what you had accomplished or what you have done, but who you are." Jack said with a smile. "If anything... atleast you are aware of the true nature behind what is going on, something that many still don't know to this day, i could never stand when i tried to warn others, but they would just not take me seriously or not believe me, it was one of the things that drove me away from others in the first place." He admitted.

"Still, I cannot help but feel something will go wrong once we arrive at that conversion centre, everyone has been rather calm about the whole ordeal, don't any of you feel even the slightest sign of fear for this situation? If you feel scared, don't try to bottle it up, having no fear at all is rather disturbing if I have to admit. Having courage is fine and all but..." Jack said, still wondering why they never were really afraid of particular threats. "Because let's be honest here, if Valtrek where to arrive on Equestria, would any of you really be capable of trying not to be afraid? Perhaps at the beginning, it is possible to resist, but he isn't just strong, he drives fear into the hearts of others by just standing there.. I don't know that is possible either, but my father was almost devoid of fear, yet Valtrek managed to break through his mental barriers and make him shake from terror." Jack said, regretting having to recount that memory. "Maple, you had been captured once into a conversion centre, how did you respond to the situation? I perhaps do not understand the emotions of pony's as good as mine, but i really don't believe that any of you where capable of keeping a smile on your face for any of those moments, i really wan't to know what is up with that." Jack asked, he was wondering about this for quite a while, wanting to get rid of his earlier assumptions that his pony friends where devoid of such emotion.

"It is alright, you where atleast thinking about my safety like any mother should. I do apologize for the things I have said. I just can't really stay mad at you." Jack said as he hugged her back, but was careful to not hit her wings with his legs as he kept his legs close to her, they were in the air after all. "Have we got any radio messages back from Equestria? As far as i know, i am not aware of any." Jack admitted

"Alright, see you in a bit." Jack said to Festus. He layed down on his back on the saddle, as he started watching the sky, with his hands under his head. As he was looking the sky, he didn't say anything, but instead held his right hand up in the air, and then started forming an electric mass in it. He stared at it with a mixed feeling of curiosity and emptiness. 'Time and space are connected to each other, but at the same time are far removed from our understanding, only those who walk the path of the crimson king.' He thought.

Jack looked at Maple with a confused look. "Have you been ignoring what I was trying to tell you?" He gave a deep sigh. "Nevermind, it happens. But yes, it would be great if you could go get her." Jack replied with a smile. He then looked at Festus. "Sure, give me a moment." He told him as he cleared his mind a bit. He then shot some sort of small magical ball straight at the diamond part of Festus his blade. The diamond part started to get the same outline glow as its original color, and the blade itself started to brighten a bit, almost like the sun was directly shining upon the blade itself. "I hope you like it, it doesn't make it any stronger but its there just for looks," Jack said to him with a smile.

Jack laughed a bit at what Festus said, knowing it would be too unusual for him to not use a shield. He did smile a bit at Maple's answer, but then his smile faltered a bit soon after. "I see, good to hear everyone is doing alright. But as of now I can't help but feel I am feeling something that I shouldn't feel for what we might find there, I am not afraid, I am not scared, not sad, not angry, not happy, I don't feel anything, just... emptiness. Almost like am I having a foresight, *The light shall shine in the darkness, but struggles to show its true colours.*, for some reason those words I keep hearing my in head as of yet, something I don't really understand its meaning, it could be anything, but it holds value regardless." Jack said with concern. "But is Luna really doing ok? Or is she trying to avoid me out of shame? I can't imagine how much my words must have hurt her." Jack admitted.

"Wow, that looks amazing! It really has this transparent but also flowing feeling with that diamond material, like an ocean flowing, I must say, this must be crafted by someone very experienced, the edges of this blade are refined in a smart manner." Jack said with amazement as he looked at the blade closely. "Hold on, i actually know a spell that makes your blade have this glowing appearance, it makes the blade itself look a little brighter and have a surrounding glow that is the same colour as the blade part itself, it might look really good with that diamond material, do you want to see a showcase of it on your blade? I can remove it if you don't like it." Jack asked him with curiosity and interested. "Come to think of it, how is everyone doing? Can't say i really have spoken to them yet." Jack asked him.

"It sure looks good! I can tell that armour has a pretty efficient design, it mimics the scales of the dragons a bit in terms of design but has a light material to it. A mix of light and heavy armour, the one who made this really knew what they were doing." Jack said with a smile as he was observing it from close, leaning a bit out of the saddle.

"Thanks, that means alot to me." Jack said with a smile. "I will have to work on my mindset it seems, with time, i might actually be able to fix that." ---------------------------------------------------- It was about 30 minutes later that they arrived, but what Jack and Evelyn saw from above was a big army, many Terrans and Raukan armed with a varity of guns and some had their own modified melee weapons, from hatched to machete's. A large group of Vernomians was flying above the army, most of them mounted by either a Raukan or Terran, few of them equipped with sniper rifles while the Vernomians themselves where plated with strong armour. The Equestrian group itself was standing close to the army as well, Karthspire standing a bit more in the front as he was smoking a cigar.

The battle was starting to look a bit better for the Equestrians, even if the Orks still outnumbered them greatly, the royal guard now had a much bigger chance of winning thanks to the help they had gotten. Maple's method was working to a degree, some unlucky Stormboyz no longer had working Jumping packs after her arrows had disabled, but this was not an all-time situation, ork wargear was constructed in confusing ways, which made it hard to know if one would be more reliable then the other, but it was a gamble that would have success if lucky and if the very ork had already have messed with his own jump pack beforehand. It was then when Staunch and his other reinforcements were getting closer and where firing from above, some of the ork gunners started to take notice of this, and where firing at them from below. Despite they didn't have the best of accuracy, it was made up of the amount of firepower they had. Maple and her reinforcements where proving an good advantage, if Staunch and his reinforcements where to arrive, it could actually tip the battle in their favour.

"Y-you really think so? I mean, i know i am pretty well known in most parts of the galaxy, but i never expected anyone to think of me that way. I guess i am really my father's son huh?" Jack said, tough he blushed a bit about what Evelyn thought of him, but it was not in a bad way, it was a good thing to him, but he didn't know how to properly express it.

'Good point there, but there is a solution for this, you know Zukir right? That grumpy and silver grey Vernomian? He tends to act as Karthspire's bodyguard and second in command but is not always able to do it, because of political matters and other things, my advice is, when he has to go somewhere else because of duties, you take his role until he comes back, perhaps it is smart to tell him about this entire situation, he can't really do his job to his maximum if he doesn't know what he should expect.' 'While you are all attacking that conversion centre it won't be much of a problem as Karthspire is leading the attack, but once you all get back, things will get very serious, because we don't know when or how they could strike, be prepared for worst case scenario's.' Kiran advised her. "I am ready, tough i can't say i am looking very good with all this blood splattered on my fur.. o well, let's go!" Jack said.

'That could work, but you would have to do it after you get back from that conversion center, and also an important advice, do keep Jack with you at all times, because there is one thing that I might have overlooked a few moments ago, they might be after Karthspire, but they might take hostages for if they get in a tight spot, and Jack is most likely, he might be strong but he has trouble keeping his guard up in such unexpected moments, they would surely take that chance.' 'Tough at the same time, they are still civilians, we can't do anything to those we suspect unless they have committed a crime or anything in that regard, but you are already familiar with that I presume, just keep an eye out for anything suspicious. If anyone of Jack's friends suspicious, use the invasion rumours as an excuse, we won't want to arouse any suspicion.' 'But if you have any information or suspicion, just tell me instead, because in that city I've got quite a few contacts back from the early day's, then we can do some investigating.' Kiran thought "That does sound like a good plan, you are after all a pretty important figure here Evelyn, you have the authority of a law enforcement if I am not mistaken, so we got a really good advantage there should we need to investigate someone." Jack mentioned. Jack tried to climb onto her back but he couldn't really reach it. "A little help please?" He asked her with an embarrassed smile.

"Won't be easy to stop it, because from what I have heard there had been alot of rumours, meaning we *don't* know who thinks what, for all we know there is someone among them that will walk up to Karthspire and put a bullet in his head in order to attempt and grab that empty spot for leadership once he is out of the picture.' 'But think for a second, with Fluttershy being held hostage by a deranged slave dealer, Jack's sister on the verge of transforming into a conversion centre, and some of them feeling very guilty about Jack's situation, do you really think they will think clearly themselves about this situation? You will be adding yet another pressure point that they have to worry about. Why do you think I didn't want to tell anyone except Jack? Because *opinions* are going to get involved, if you want to have everyone keep a cool head, keep it among the 3 of us for now, Perhaps only tell Karthspire or at the very least Celestia, because those 2 will think twice before telling others, I am serious here... This need to be dealt with in subtlety for now, or else the very ones who are trying to start this grudge will hear about it as well.' Kiran thought. "He is right, we should wait to tell everyone else unless when we know for sure who is behind this entire grudge, we already got like 3 major situations going on, did you see how devastated Maple was? And if i am not mistaken, what Kiran is trying to say in short terms, this is not just a grudge, when he meant the assassination of Karthspire, he was talking about a grab for power." Jack explained.

"Y-yeah, I am alright, just need a moment," Jack said as he was panting hard. 'Things are starting to look dark, it involves the Equestrians and their current status in the city themselves. Many praise them as a sort of saviours and bringers of hope, but not everyone shares that same idea, not much is known what most Vernomians think about the situation, but...' 'As you might know, Terrans and Raukan are very patriotic and have a very strong sense of culture and belief, but with the Equestrian visitors being treated as an Honoured guest, some believe the general population is being seen as inferior and undermined. But that is not the biggest part in it.' 'The Equestrians haven't exactly been very friendly when it comes to cultural understanding, and as you know we are very connected to our history and accomplishments, but... The Equestrians are not particularly acting like they should, instead of acting like acting like *Respectful guest*, they have had acting like they are right at home, voicing all of their opinions without a second thought, which is one of the biggest mistakes they could ever make here, you know why? Many of us look for hope, and we see that hope in the form of beliefs, from the death of Aliah to the accomplishments that inspire us all, but then we can have a situation where an Equestrian walks in a barfs out *This is stupid and weird, why would you believe in the actions of a dead guy?*.' 'Because let me tell you.. they are rather eager to express something that with the way they are acting, which comes to the bad news... Chances are very high there are going to revolt, large groups of individuals who want change, which could involve in a civil war between everyone in this very city. And you know what the first act would be? The assassination of Karth Spire, so far he has been friendly and very generous to the Equestrian visitors, this is good, but in the eyes of the others? They see this an act of treachery to our kind, thinking that we are supporting a race that insults our very beliefs with their attitude. Why do you think Jack had a such an explosion of anger before? He felt like the Equestrians were seeing us as a bunch of martyr's and not equal to their own kind.' 'It might be a little hard to notice, but give it a days time, and everyone will start fighting among themselves, Terrans are no strangers to such civil wars, since their entire race is based on the ideology that was caused by civil war itself, I think you know what will happen should this arise?' Kiran thought to her.

"You are right, we have to. And don't worry about my training, give me 45 minutes tops and I will be more ready than ever." He said with determination. He then started killing infected with his knife, at first it started out small as he was calmly fighting, but as time went on he started to get more aggressive and aggressive in terms of his fighting style, instead of dodging the attacks from the infected he now started to jump straight into them and kill them in the fury that he had within him. It was after 40 minutes that the street of that town was filled with dead infected, and Jack's fur was covered in their blood almost completely, which made it look like he went to hell and back. He stood there panting as he was fighting an infected, but he was completely exhausted from his earlier fight, having killed about 56 infected with nothing but his knife had given him quite the fight. at this point, the fight between him and the last infected was rather pitiful, at moments he was just incapable of dodging at all, and instead let himself be pushed back to the ground, and quickly push off the infected with the strength he had left. But suffice to say, he had the training of his life.

"You are right, I shouldn't be worrying so much about it, if i would have died back then, i would have never met any of you guys... i would have never met you..." He said with a bit of tears. He hugged her neck tightly, but even this level of tightness would not even faze her. 'You know what they would say? *You are the Resistance*, it is a phrase used by most individuals these days because it represents us in a whole. I have taught you many things Jack, but if there is one thing you taught me... It is staying away from everyone is not always the best course of action, sometimes you prefer to stay near those who you care about, i don't really have anyone in that regard except for you.' The voice said to him.

"Indeed, Ember is very loyal, in times of danger she is always eager to defend us, and in times where I was forced to plan the situation, she never hesitated to try out my plans. Festus is very loyal as well but is also a very good friend, he and I have grown very close ever since we were captured and after that, when I look at him, he really reminds me... Of someone, i knew long ago, my friend William... That person was someone who truly managed to change, even after I had lost everything, he managed to make me see a reason to live, to see a purpose in life, and enjoy, even if we had to do it with what he had left." Jack said with a smile as he waved them goodbye as well. His smile, however, faltered a bit after what he was going to say next. "But... I just cannot help but feel afraid, of what has happened to him, for all we know, my old group, all 3 of them are already dead, or perhaps not. I just cannot help but think, have i really made the right choice? I managed to meet all of you guys when my spacecraft had landed in a wormhole, but what if.. that never happened? I could have landed in Cyril 5 months ago, and then... i could have found them, or.. i could have died.. a lonely dead... I just... don't know, the nightmares about this have become more frequent as time passes on, have i really been a good friend? Was it really worth that i choose to say sacrifice myself and let myself be captured so they could escape? Because in the end i... Abandoned them..." Jack said, barely able to speak out those last words. Jack was not sure on whether he had made the right choice, it was obvious he was feeling very bad about it, but even more of what he might find there, he just couldn't shrug it off, as guilt was eating him up from the inside it. "I.. apologize for bringing that up. It has just been plaguing me for so long..." He said with worry, and also a hint of grief.

Jack thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think I will stay for a while longer to practice more," Jack said with a smile. "By the way, Ember and Festus, if the 2 of you end up wanting to leave now, could you guys please give the others a heads up that I and Evelyn will meet them on their way there? I think they will be relieved to atleast know why we haven't arrived yet." He asked them

"Indeed, helping out Jack is my first priority right now, getting a body second, and when those 2 things are done, our fight will be golden." Kiran said with a smirk. 'Alright, kid, I think we should head back, I hate to say it but I don't have any time to train you right now.... YET, that is, for I will be training you in the middle of the battlefield.' He thought. 'Fine, could you please let me have control again? This feels a bit.. weird.' Jack admitted in his thought. 'Of course, i got my own fair share of killing for today done, now its your turn, and you will get lots, LOTS of kills today.' He thought Jack went numb again as he fell to the ground. A few seconds later he stood back up but now he was himself again, having his normal voice and his blue coloured eyes. "Man.. I don't think i can ever get used to that." He said. He then looked at Evelyn. "Shall we head back?" He asked her with a smile.