The Tower

Twilight looked around the at the tower one last time, making sure she hadn't missed anything before she headed back inside. She began to retrace her steps down the walkway passing the drone once more. Eventually the walkway ended inside a small room illuminated by a small light in the ceiling.

"Wait, what? How can their be a pathway that has two dead ends?" Twilight asked herself in frustration. She turned around to face the way she came thinking she missed something when she saw another red panel next to the door. Remembering her teacher, Twilight pressed her hoof against the panel causing it to light up. The panel read five words: Artillery Deck, Sky Deck, Command Center, Ground Hanger, and Lab Complex.

Hoping for answers Twilight pressed her hoof against 'Command Center' causing a metal door to slide up from the floor enclosing the room. After a moment the entire room shuddered and Twilight realized the entire room was moving down. The room shook again and the door slid back into the floor.

Twilight stepped out of the elevator and walked into a large round room containing more signs: Personnel Quarters, Central Control, and Stasis Lab. She walked into 'Central Control' and was met with several dimly glowing screens. Unlike the red control panels each monitor glowed with a full spectrum of colors one of which caught Twilight's attention.

Twilight walked up to an odd object in the center of the room. It was a chair but not for a pony. Upon one of the chair's arms rested an array of buttons each containing an different character from the equestrian alphabet. Curious as to their purpose Twilight pressed one. A loud beep sounded and each of the screens went dark one after another. A few seconds later the screens simultaneously lit up displaying a logo identical to the one on the drone.

"Oh, what am I getting myself into?" Twilight asked backing away from the monitors. The center monitor's logo disappeared and was replaced with the text, "Warning stasis pod 1 = Time limit Exceeded: Beginning Reanimation process."

"Stasis pod? Wait a second, their was a room on this floor called Stasis Lab." Twilight realized as she ran out of the room and to the lab. The door to the lab opened with a hiss and Twilight stepped inside. Steam pored out of the room causing her to cough. When she opened her eyes she saw the steam was emanating from a large cylindrical container marked 'one.' After another thirty seconds the steam subsided and the pod opened. Something stepped out of the pod but Twilight couldn't see it because of the amount of steam still in the room.

The creature cried out in pain grabbing at it's head. "Hello is anybody there?" it asked waiting for a reply, "I- I can't see yet so If your there just make a sound or something."

Twilight searched for words, "Hello." she responded.

"Ah good, I'm not alone after all."

"I'm sorry theirs so much steam in this room I can't see very well either."

"Oh, hold on a moment. Quantx please reconnect my neural net to the central computer." The figure responded. A moment later a loud droning sound became audible and the steam drained from the room. For the first time Twilight saw what she had been talking to. At the opposite side of the room stood what could only be the last surviving manlin.

"Ah, that's better." The manlin exhaled, "Hello, are you still there?"

Twilight built up the courage to speak knowing what she said could make or break his trust, "Y- Yes I'm still here."

"So how long was I out?"

"Um... I'm not sure."

"Hm... So what side are you on?"

Twilight realized that he had been asleep when the war had ended and therefor didn't know it was over. Twilight had to tell him, "Sir, the war ended over five-thousand years ago."

"How- How long did you say? Five-thousand years!" He said sitting down, "I've been asleep five-thousand years!"

"I'm so sorry."

"Everyone I know, gone. What could have possibly happened to the pod that could have caused me to sleep for so long?"

"The power failed and the system didn't restart." Twilight repeated the words that she'd seen on the display.

"The power? How could it have taken the Alliance five-thousand years to reset the power?" The manlin asked growing suspicious.

The manlin stood up and started towards the sound of her voice before stopping and looking off into space.

"Base reports all systems are functional and that the last power failure was... five-thousand years ago." He continued not believing his own words.

Twilight realized she wasn't getting anywhere with this; all she was doing was supplying him with answers she didn't have and she couldn't ask him anything about what was going on or he'd realize something was wrong.

Suddenly he announced, "Good news Quantx says my eyesight has been restored."

Oh no! Twilight thought realizing he would know her secret in a mater of moments.

The manlin opened his eyes and looked around the room before finally noticing her. He darted backwards and yelled, "What the fuck is going on here!?"

Confusion subsided into anger as the manlin looked her in the face and snarled, "Level one security breach in Stasis  Lab!"

Twilight had to leave, now! She turned and bolted for the door and to find a way out, but was stopped by two large metal beings that resembled manlins. They drew their weapons, pointed them at her, and without a second thought, fired. Twilight's world faded to black.