Equestria Route Zero

Act Three, Scene Five – Where The Strangers Come From, Part 1

The light, although dim, was blinding in comparison to the crawl space we had just travelled through. Slowly, we emerged from the crawl, into a crouching stance & finally, we were fully upright once again. Soft earth squelched under our feet, low hanging fog sat as it covered said earth. Looking around, it was hard to believe we were even near the Zero anymore, or even in the same network of tunnels.

“Well, this can't be right. Looks like an old church.” said Shining Armor.

He was right. Against a dark green backdrop, a barely standing wooden church stood in front of us, many a hole in its sides & roof. Surrounding in front of us were a number of headstones, all about Misty's height.

“Worth a look inside.” I suggested. A grunt was all I got in reply.

“I want to stay outside.” An unusually quiet voice came out of Misty then. I remember asking why. “I... I think I saw a lizard.”

“I'll stay with her.” Flitter said. She's also told Cloudchaser to go back to the vehicles before he could say a word. He looked disheartened on leaving but after Flitter mentioned Winona was waiting for him, his eyes lit up & his stride returned to his step.

“OK. We'll make it quick.”

An hour had passed before we exited the church. We returned with some news, & had walked right into the middle of a conversation between Flitter & Misty.

“Why do you dress like a punk?” Flitter laughed loudly in response.

“A punk! Ha ha. Now what's a punk dress like, kid? Can you tell me? I dress like Flitter, specifically.” She said, swishing her blue hair in the air.

“It sounds lonely.” Misty's answer was simple.

“Not for us.” Flitter explained. “You've just got to make choices & own them. You think I was born this foxy? I came off the assembly line about a half-foot shorter, & all grey. No eyes. They were going to have us clear out the old mine. Doesn't matter what you look like under all that rock & water: a bunch of grey shadows shovelling & hammering invisibly at the walls, draining the tunnels.”

She took a seat on one of the nearby headstones, not in a disrespectful way like a punk, but more like a guardian angel.

“Cloudchaser found some old gear – an old tape player. We hid away in an underwater cave & listened to it over & over, & we knew we weren't miners... We slipped out onto the road, just these two featureless shadows, & ever since that night we've been detailing. Colouring in. Specifying. I feel more life myself every day.”

Misty was quiet for some time before she said something. “I feel more like myself when it's just me & Julian.”

Flitter jumped off the headstone. “Well, there – now you're getting specific.” She tussled the kid's hair slightly, a small giggle emerging from their lips. Flitter stopped the tussle as she noticed our presence.

“There you are! What'd you find in there?”

Truth be told, we hadn't even bothered to speak up & interrupt their conversation. Nor did we speak up when asked a question. For a good solid minute we stood there, Shining Armor & myself, our mouths too dry to say anything. When Shining did eventually say something, it was dry. It wasn't even a full sentence.

“It wasn't...” he croaked.

“Hey, what's going on?” Flitter took a few steps closer. “You look flushed, old man.”

I was quick on the draw. “It doesn't matter.” Shining took hold his senses, regaining them.

“Right. OK. We got what we need. Let's go.”

---

We followed the trail back to Dusty's cavern, the memory of our recent adventure still fresh in both Shining Armor's mind & my own. Not even Dusty's soft singing could pull us from that blank trance we had etched onto our very being.

...trace an orbit around the road

& close your eyes with holy dread

For we on mould & whiskey fed

& drank from rivers down below...

“We found your 'strangers'. We know how to fix your damned machine. But I'm not sure it was worth it.” Shining explained to him.

“Oh! Soon, the visions will return!” Dusty joyously proclaimed. “What have you found?”

“They say you need to type in a specific phrase to restore it.”

“Oh... a bit of a poem to rally the illustrious spirit!” He joyously shouted to his heart's content. “Well, then: type away! By all means, do not hesitate: type away!”

& with that, we made our way over to ZECORA. Following the instructions of the Strangers, Shining Armor typed in DOME IN AIR. Sure enough, ZECORA booted up into life, almost normally for any machine to do so, even if this one was the weirdest one of the lot.

A building before you, built from brick.

A forest surrounds, just as thick.

ENTER: BUILDING

You find yourself inside, the dark no reason to cry.

An electric lantern sits, a sensible option nearby.

TAKE: LANTERN

Taken,

if I am not mistaken.

EXIT: BUILDING

ENTER: FOREST

Please reconsider.

That is not something I can enter.

GO: NORTH

The forest surrounds you.

A deep valley to the side too.

GO: SOUTH

The forest surrounds.

Escape is not bound.

GO: WEST

Soldering a small hand-made radio.

Octavia is making no ordinary stereo.

SPEAK: OCTAVIA

“Hi Dusty. I'm getting the strangest interference out here. I've been tuning the radio's circuits gradually as we go, swapping capacitor values & tweaking resistor networks. It was working for a while, but... everything I can pick up sounds so distant & muffled.”

The radio you are given.

This is not a vision.

“Well, maybe you'll have better luck. You're good at this stuff. Just don't forget to give it back!”

GO: SOUTH

A small kitten sits upon his back.

A Braille slate is all Frederick has in his pack.

LISTEN: FREDERICK

“Dusty! I was just transcribing your footsteps. Sounded like...”

Frederick runs his finger from left to right.

He can see the Braille easily in the night.

“'Long, weary song, drearily gone. Dearly gone.' You beat a melancholy shuffle through these woods, Dusty. Ha! I've been noting down the sounds of the forest – with an ear for speech. & an inborn filter for poetry, I suppose... so maybe it's me being melancholy, after all. I'm eager to see what the poetics sub-system makes of these punched cards!”

GO: NORTH

At the edge of a massive hole.

The darkness could only be made by a gigantic vole.

A computer tied to your back in the sun.

Slicked with sweat is no fun.

Over your shoulder is a rope of the pack.

Digging into the bones of your back.

LIGHT: LAMP

The lamp is on.

The darkness gone.

SHINE LAMP: HOLE

Down below the light only reaches so far,

But the rocks look like they give way to the tar.

TIE ROPE: TREE

The rope is tied to the trunk.

Let us hope it does not bunk.

DOWN: HOLE

Stable you are, as you descend.

Octavia & Frederick will also attend.

You are now in Bedquilt, holes covering the passage.

Octavia & Frederick help in setting up the baggage.

“That's the last trip. So everything's down here now...”

SPEAK: OCTAVIA

Awkward as it may seem,

a quick joke takes you to the next screen.

ASK: OCTAVIA: CAVE

“Having second thoughts? I don't blame you; it's... unsettling down here. Weird acoustics. Earlier, as we were climbing down, I thought I heard voices for a moment. Or... not voices themselves, but the echoes of voices, singing. Some kind of eerie, tuneless working song. I'm glad I'm not down here alone.

ASK: OCTAVIA: GEAR

“Sure, Dusty. We may as well take inventory. I've got the tape machine & the synthesiser parts we 'borrowed' from the School of Music. It's all tuned up to my voice so we won't have to type much. Frederick has his slate, & the punched cards he's transcribed from the poems we read him. He's got the typewriter & the paper tape reader. & you've got the CRT display. How's your back holding up?”

Fred looks up with feelings in him,

discomfort a part of his gym.

LISTEN: FREDERICK

“Hey, Dusty, can you help me, uh... wire up these generators?”

LISTEN: OCTAVIA

“I'll assemble the synthesiser. But I could use some help with the serial interface, if you have time.”

An unfamiliar echo resonates from the east,

the tunnel itself amplifying a small beast.

HELP: OCTAVIA

“Thanks, Dusty. I can never remember which colour lead goes to which pin... DO you think there are paintings down here? Cave paintings, I mean. Maybe some old pottery shards, from when the world was young & early men & women huddled in these caves to... Do you know, I think cultural fossils are the saddest fossils? Sadder than animal remains, I mean... We might come across a petrified mollusc, or a partial dragon footprint, & we say: 'there was a point of contact here, where a body touched the earth, & maybe there's a little bit of evidential garbage, but the life who owned that body never card & has moved on anyway'. & that's the end of it.”

“But suppose I shine my lantern on one of these walls, & I see a crude painting, thousands of years old. Two men & a woman. Charcoal & blood, on rock. Someone put that there, to keep something on the rock after she passed. A hope, a relationship, or a moment, a worry, maybe... a regret. She made a painting to keep something alive for her, but like that dead mollusc or the itinerant dragon, she had to move on. Whatever it was is gone, & now we're looking at this painting. This dangling copy, with no original.”

As interested as you may be in the talk,

a large scraping sound interrupts & makes you gawk.

Down the tunnel you all rush.

The sound has no intention to shush.

The tunnel narrows to a crawl,

the mud & crystals create a brawl.

The sound of water appears soon,

as you venture out into a large room.

Crystalline projections surround the cavern,

this is anything but a friendly tavern.

Strangers of weird structures are here,

mould from the crystals scrape & tear.

One looks over & opens it's beak.

It looks as if it's about to speak.

LISTEN: STRANGER

The skeleton reaches for a box, a button inside.

A voice gargles & splutters, no longer in hide.

It looks to its friends, & then back to you,

its confused stare etched on them too.

Frederick flees. Octavia flees.

Opposite directions. Like bees.

FOLLOW: OCTAVIA

Her headlamp lights up the walls as you run.

Shadows loom, escaping the fun.

You meet an end you could not see.

Cornered, the shadows cover all but ye.

LISTEN: OCTAVIA

“Who are they?”

COMFORT: OCTAVIA

You reassure that they could be harmless.

After all, skeletons can be armless.

“Are you... are you sure? Maybe you're right. It sounds like they've gone back to work. Alright. Let's try to pass them quickly, now. Don't make eye contact. Then we'll find our way back to the equipment.”

FOLLOW: OCTAVIA

Back to Bedquilt you make your way.

How they did not notice you, I will not say.

LISTEN: OCTAVIA

“Did they follow us? Where's Frederick?”

REASSURE: OCTAVIA

“I know, but... never mind. I don't want to think about it. We should... I guess we should wait for Frederick here. This is where he'll go, right?”

WAIT

Time passes & Octavia nervously follows the wall back & forth.

& yet the passage of time does not begin to morph.

WAIT: ONE HOUR

A fluttering sound grows.

Maybe Frederick shows?

Five bats fly past,

their wings give a blast.

SEARCH: FREDERICK

I didn't get very far.

Please be specific & on par.

SEARCH: TUNNEL: FREDERICK

The lantern illuminates footprints on the floor.

Identifying them is such a chore.

SEARCH: EQUIPMENT: FREDERICK

The computers & audio equipment turn up nothing in your search.

Maybe it's high time you found a church?

The rope moves from the hole above.

Frederick appears as quick as a dove.

LISTEN: FREDERICK

“That damn sound! Those damn voices! I don't even know what direction I was running. I wove through that network of tunnels. I ran my hand along the wall, always turning left, but every turn felt the same. For all I knew, I was running in circles! Finally, I ended up here. & I hid... I panicked. I heard you talking, but... I didn't think I could trust my senses. But, listen: there's one thing I have to tell you.”

“While I was lost there in the tunnels & caves, I came across the Zero, &... I had no idea. It's like a real place: they pick up garbage, they deliver mail, they go to work & to church... but it has an awful kind of emptiness. Wandering through, I heard terrible echoes. Weird images got burned in my mind's eye: a television, a scarecrow, a crystal, a feather, a sandwich... a CRT monitor, a bottle... an anchor...”

Octavia looks down,

her face with frown.

CONCERN: OCTAVIA

“Nothing. Just... Frederick, you sound... disturbed.”

LISTEN: FREDERICK

“Octavia, you've heard the same damn stories I have – it doesn't matter now. I'm leaving. To hell with all of it!”

DIVERT: FREDERICK

You shout about the project to your friend,

maybe this will lead to the end?

“You'll die in these damn cold caves! & what about those men? You know they'll come back.”

SUGGEST: HIDING PLACE

You suggest to go deeper to escape the fiends.

Maybe a fire can be started with the right means.

“Did you hear their voices? They're not... they'll find you. But not me. I'm going back to the surface.”

LISTEN: OCTAVIA

“Stop! Your stupid fight is ringing through the whole damned cave. Frederick is right: we can't stay here. I'm leaving, too. But I'm not going back to the surface. I'm taking my station wagon & I'm heading down the Zero.”

PLEAD: OCTAVIA

You plead with her to stay.

Her mind is made up today.

“I'll send you this tape when I'm done recording. I'll put it in the mail. & then you can see what your damned machine does with it.”

Both parties have now left you.

You are now in a one-man zoo.

Abandoned by your friends,

you wander alone to make your ends.

After what may have been years,

you stumble out of your worst fears.

A large cavern stands before you.

A large rocky spire is central too.

Your legacy stays & builds here.

A story long forgotten for those to hear.

Now is the time to continue your work.

With help, you have no reason to shirk.

As time passed, Shining Armor put in the necessary numbers to pass the simulation's days. In it, students from a local university were hired to help Dusty in the creation of ZECORA. As the time went on, many students were hired over the weeks & months Dusty had spent to put it together. One that caught Shining's attention & bought him out of his blank stupor was one named Twilight Sparkle. She had been studying at this university & taken up the job as soon as it was posted to her campus noticeboard. She managed to increase the machines output considerably & began widening to tunnels of the local caves via ZECORA itself.

Black mould grew over the circuitry of the computer, as Dusty had said it would. But before any real progress is made, the Strangers come along & remove all the black mould, undoing any progress we had made in a few weeks. On one occasion, Twilight had followed them into the tunnels. She never returned to help finish with ZECORA, but the Strangers never returned after that point. However, growth of the mould was incredibly slow, almost at a standstill. Shining Armor tried his best in speeding up the process by hiring more students or even quitting & starting over again. But ZECORA didn't allow it. Finally, he input one command:

WAIT: INDEFINITELY.

ZECORA's internal clock fast-forwarded at mach speed. The years flew by, assistants came & went like the years. The mould grew at a steady pass, & the Strangers never paid attention to it, not once. As the computer nears the end of it's task to create mould, visitors appear during one night. Outsiders. & soon, an old friend.

“You really did go deeper into the caves.” The typewriter had written out. The screen then cut out at 99% mould growth, only to be replaced with some text.

PREMATURE END OF FILE. PRESS ANY KEY TO QUIT.

“Huh.”

Stunned by the computer, we looked it over, its circuits covered in head to toe in black mould. The stuff practically fed off of it. Relieved that we had finally completed Dusty's task, we turned our backs on ZECORA to speak to the old man one more time. However, he wasn't alone. Against the backdrop of the roaring fire that covered the central spire, two figures stood looking at each other. Dusty was up & about, out of his chair, pipe no longer in his mouth or hand. His acquaintance just stood there, her slate grey cardigan standing out against the orange & red flicker of flames.