Chapter 46: Snow Of Red And White

My vision swirled as I put down my empty glass and stared into it, the scent of alcohol wafting up into my nose and stinging my eyes a bit. I let out a huff as I slowly pushed the glass forward towards the barkeep, getting him to fill the glass again. The brownish liquid filled up the cup as my thoughts drifted back to earlier.

The capture, the escape, and the more recent dinner with a loving family. These thoughts disappeared as quickly as they came. I lifted the glass up and took a long swig, quickly emptying half of the glass, much to the dismay of my burning throat. I let out a drawn out sigh as I used my other hand to rub my eyes, my movements lazy and uncoordinated.

’I should probably call it quits before it gets out of hand...’ I thought to myself as I lifted the glass and quickly finished the rest.

“I’m done here.” I said as I pushed the glass forward again.

“Yeah I was startin’ to get worried I was gonna have to stop ya.” The scruffy looking pony said on the other side of the counter as he took the glass and placed it somewhere behind him. “How are ya gonna pay?” He asked me as I stretched a bit and cracked my back.

“USC. Print, not cash.” I said as he lifted up a flat glass rectangle and slowly tapped on it a few times before pushing it to me.

I picked it up in one hand and opened my eyes wide as I stared into it. A few seconds later after scanning my iris it flashed and a circle popped up in the center, where I pushed my thumb onto it and it turned green, made a chiming noise then shut off.

The pony took the piece of glass and looked it over for a second before shaking his head and putting it away.

’He probably still doesn't understand how it works. Going from their technology state to this one surely must have been a shock’ I thought as I slowly stood up and wobbled a little bit before getting my bearings.

I walked over to the exit door and pushed it open as I supported myself on the wall. A sudden gust of cold air blew onto my face, shocking me for a moment. I peeked outside to get another surprise, the ground was covered in a thick layer of snow with more still falling gently from the dark sky.

“Jesus... I didn’t know it was so close to winter on this planet.” I said aloud as I watched the gently falling snow onto the perfectly smooth white blanket.

I let out a shiver as I begin walking through the pristine snow and close the door behind me. I trudged through the snow, ruining it's perfectly smooth look as I held my arms together to try and keep warm. The last drink I had seemed to start more of an effect on me as I swayed a little bit now and again.

*Crunch*

I stopped in place, for a moment I could have sworn I heard another footstep in the snow. I listened and looked around, scanning my surroundings. Even with my low-light vision I couldn’t make out any others, and continued my journey ahead.

The silence didn’t last forever however, before I heard a voice directly to my right.

“Interesting.” The gravelly voice said as I spun to meet it and seeing no-one.

“Who’s there?” I said as I looked around me, still seeing no-one.

“You have a special energy surrounding you. And so many emotions swirling in that small head of yours, delightfully chaotic.” The voice said again, directly above me. “Bundle up, it’s quite cold out.” The voice said as a flash of light appeared in front of me.

I covered my eyes for a moment, before the light faded as quickly as it came. I opened my eyes, and saw a warm looking coat on the ground. The whole thing was brown and black, with a very strange looking creature on the right side of the chest looking to be in mid cheer. The creature looked brown and made up of many different species.

In a hurry I put the coat on, pulled up the hood and zipper then continued through the snow, looking around every few moments for the owner of that voice.

’I’m not sure I’ll ever fully understand this place...’ I thought to myself as I shook my head.

Time passed by as I walked through the empty streets of Canterlot. The only sounds that came to my ears was the occasional howling wind, and my own footsteps crunching into the fresh snow below. I looked up, and saw the castle approaching quickly in the distance.

Suddenly a loud piercing noise filled the quiet night, followed by the sound of a weapon firing. I immediately broke into a sprint towards the castle. That sound... I know it all too well.

’Oh nonono... oh god no please let it be something else’ I begged as I closed in on the castle.

As I approached the front gates of Canterlot, I noticed a small group of ponies clad in blue armor standing in a circle looking at something in the center. As I reached the group a couple turned to look at me. They must have recognized me because they immediately split and let me through.

What I saw made my blood run cold.

In the snow, lay the body of a Verix scout. The thing looked like it took a pretty bad hit to the chest as it was smoldering.

“What happened.” I said as I circled around the Verix, studying it.

“W-Well this thing just came out of nowhere and attacked a guard. He’s currently in the medbay. The thing looked invisible... we could barely-“ I raised my hand, getting the guard to fall silent.

I lifted my finger slowly to my mouth, and told him to be quiet.

The Verix looked absolutely dead as it lay there completely motionless. Of course to anyone who doesn’t know better. If there is one thing a machine can do, it’s play dead.

I slowly reached to my right, and motioned to the spear one of the guards had under his wing, he looked at me questioningly before relinquishing it. I took it and slowly moved forward, trying my best to keep my footfalls silent.

My memory flashed back to my training academy, and one of the most important lessons you will ever learn as I looked at this monstrosities glowing spine. It pulsed with red so gently it was barely noticeable.

I slowly raised the spear, and took aim, before plunging it down and severing it’s head from it’s shoulders. For a moment it let out a screech as it reached up, before quickly going limp as it’s blue blood drained from its body causing the snow around it to melt.

All of the ponies watched with curiosity and fear as I turned to them.

“They are NOT alive. They are machines, and machines are amazing at playing dead.” I said as I pointed towards it’s spine with the spear, which was now a very dark red. “If it’s spine is still bright red, it’s still alive.” I said as I threw the spear into the snow which now had a melted tip. “Don’t touch the blood or the body, use magic and get it in the castle before anyone sees.” I said with authority as ponies quickly scrambled into action.

As the body was lifted into the air and carried off I took at look at the area. Blue and red blood was sprayed everywhere, marking a grim looking scene. I looked around a bit before shuffling the snow around and covering up all the blood, then quickly followed them inside.

’Things just got a lot more complicated...’

Author's Note

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