Equestria: The Fallen Utopia

“On the day I was born, my family was living here, in Canterlot.” Velvet Remedy began. “We were very rich, and I was given pretty much anything I wanted. But I never wanted much. I just wanted other ponies to be happy. So I would give my allowance to charity. My family loved how caring I was. But everything changed on my sixth birthday. I was praying to the Princesses of the Sun and Moon, when I saw Canterlot Castle go up in flames. I watched, terrified, as guards escaped, and a single mare and stallion get into a car and drive away. Another mare, a tall one, chased the couple on hoof. I closed my blinds after I saw a purple and yellow explosion from the castle.”

Remedy stopped for a moment to try and remember other details. I was shocked. She was telling the story of the destruction of Canterlot Castle from her perspective. Velvet Remedy continued.

“I ran downstairs and told my parents what happened. They told me that there was nothing to worry about, and that the Princesses were OK. That made me feel better. Just then, two Pegasus ponies knocked on the door. My father let them in and my mother made them some tea. When she set down the tray, the one with the green and yellow mane stabbed her with a knife, killing her. My father tried to fight back, but the one with the yellow mane held him up while the other one slit his throat. I watched all this in horror. They put a leather bag over my head and took me away. I got a quick look at my home before they flew away. They had set the house on fire and left it to burn. They took me to that factory and forced me to use magic to make extra amounts of Spectra. I stayed there for years, being barely fed and allowed little rest. Then you came and saved me. I owe you my life for that.”

I let her story sink into my brain. The workers in the Rainbow Factory were truly evil. I thought they only were killing off flight test failees, but they had foalnapped a Unicorn, a filly no less, and forced her to make Spectra. This made me wonder how many other Unicorns had been captured, then possibly killed because they gave up or refused to work. I was quiet.

“Are you ok?” Remedy asked. I came back to reality.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m fine. You should go back to bed. It’s late.”

“OK,” Velvet Remedy said. “See you tomorrow.” Remedy stood up and walked back to my room. I slumped on my couch and slept there. My head was full of thoughts. Thoughts of pain, loss, torment, and fear. I fell asleep thinking about my promise to Pip. To take care of Velvet Remedy and prepare her for the future. I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t gone to the factory. Velvet Remedy would have died there, and Equestria would have been doomed.

~~~

I woke up early in the morning. I got up, stretched out, and went to the kitchen. I poured myself a cup of milk and sat down. I heard a knock on the door. I walked over and opened it. Derpy Hooves was there with the morning paper.

“Thanks, Derpy,” I said.

“No problem,” Derpy said. “Bye.” She flew off to deliver more mail. I walked back inside and sat back down at my small table. I opened up the paper and looked through it. There was one article that caught my eye.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie Arrested for Murder!” The title said. Confused, I read through the entry.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie was arrested on March 26 for supposed murder. When her sister, Maud Pie, was being beaten by a city guard, Pinkamena rushed in and beat the guard to death. Another guard ran up to arrest Pinkamena, but Maud Pie got up and sacrificed herself to protect her sister. The other guard ended up dead along with Maud Pie and Pinkamena was arrested shortly after. She is currently awaiting execution in the Canterlot Humane Asylum. Her execution will commence today at 9 AM.” I was shocked at this story. Pinkie killed somepony again? I suppose it was out of defending her sister, but still. Now she was awaiting execution at the hooves of the authorities. Velvet Remedy walked into the kitchen.

“Morning Remedy,” I said. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good,” Remedy groggily said. She sat down at the table and laid her head down on it.

“You want something to eat?” I asked.

“Sure,” Remedy said. “Cereal, if you have it.” I got up and made her a bowl of cereal with an orange on the side. Velvet Remedy ate as I got myself a bagel with some jelly on it. As we ate, I pulled out a bracelet from my bag. I gave it to Velvet Remedy.

“Thank you,” she said. “I love it.” It was bright purple with a small gem on it. She put it on and tested its fit. It fit perfectly.

“I have some things to take care of,” I told Remedy. “I won’t be gone long. Can you take care of yourself?”

“Yeah,” Remedy said. “See you later.” I waved and left the house. I left for Pinkamena’s execution. I wanted to see my friend before she was gone. I couldn’t do anything about it this time. I arrived at the Humane Asylum. The guards at the door stopped me.

“I’m here for Pinkamena’s execution,” I said.

“You’re not on the list,” the first guard coldly said. I frowned. I showed the guard my final letter from Celestia. The guard read it over. He moved out of the way.

“My apologies,” he said. I walked inside the waiting room. It had a large window with a curtain covering the other side. The rest of the Mane 6 were there, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Cake with their foals, Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake. I sat down next to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. We didn’t wait long. The curtain moved away from the window as Pinkamena was raised up in a restraining board. She looked at us with regret in her eyes. She and I met gazes, and we exchanged mental goodbyes.

“Do you have any last words?” the executioner asked. Pinkamena slowly shook her head. She was brought back down flat on the board. The scientist at the controls flipped a switch, and medications were inserted into Pinkamena’s bloodstream. She slowly slipped from the world of the living as the curtain closed. I hung my head in silence as everypony else left the room. I was the only one left. I stood up and walked out of the asylum. I suddenly got a letter from Shining Armor. I read it over. I flew off to the Crystal Empire. Shining Armor had requested me to make a final inspection of the defense software. As I flew, birds flew above me in huge flocks, squawking loudly. I heard howling from the Timberwolves in the Everfree Forest as I flew over it. The magic from the Crystal Heart was in static and shortening out. All signs pointed to disaster, but I believed my head was messing with me. I flew through the protective field and into the Crystal Tower. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were waiting for me.

“Thank you for coming, Braveheart,” Cadence said. “The defense system is ready for uplink. We thought you might want the honors of activating it. Would you do that?”

“Of course,” I said. Cadence and Shining Armor showed me to the main computer. It was near the Crystal Heart, which powered the computers. The computer commands had stopped scrolling with a final command at the bottom. It said “EXECUTE STARNET? Y/N”

“You may execute the command when ready,” Shining Armor said. Every worker in the area watched me with intent. I looked at the computer screen, then at the keyboard. I raised my hoof and moved it toward the Y key. Before I pressed the button, I looked at Cadence and Shining Armor. They nodded. I turned back to the keyboard and pressed the key. The computers started to run the software.

“We’re in,” one of the workers said. “The defense network should be fully operational within a few moments.”

“Good,” Shining Armor said. “All of Equestria should be fully protected from any threat.” I was a little skeptical.

“Let’s pray to Celestia this works,” I whispered. As soon as I said that, the computer screens went black. Cadence inspected them.

“Power outage?” she asked a worker.

“No,” the worker said. “I don’t know what that was.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” I mumbled. The screens suddenly came back on. They were glitching out and going static, like somepony was mounting a cyber-attack. Shining Armor started to panic.

“Braveheart, what the hell is going on?” he asked me. I didn’t hear him. I was gone from reality. I was seeing visions in my head. Visions that showed a barren wasteland, with the ruins of Equestria scattered here and there. Survivors living in underground fallout shelters, where everypony was kept until the fallout subsided. The random survivor out of these shelters, living elsewhere in the ruins. Then I saw Velvet Remedy, leading a resistance against machines. Terminators, HKs, and weaponized, auto-piloted vehicles.

“Braveheart!” Shining Armor yelled. I snapped awake. I looked at Shining Armor with a worried look on my face.

“What’s going on?” he asked me. “What’s wrong with the computers?” I didn’t answer right away.

“The Starnet defense network has become self-aware,” I said after a moment. “All of Equestria as we know it is going to be…gone.”

“Self-aware?!” Shining Armor cried. “What do you mean, ‘self-aware’?”

“Starnet has learned almost everything about Equestria,” I said. “Its history, its vulnerabilities, everything. The program has viewed us as a threat to its existence, everypony. Not just the ones in this room. The bombs we created will fall in a matter of hours. We need to get everypony to shelter immediately.”

“I don’t understand,” Cadence said. “How can a computer program become a thinking entity?” I looked at her, forlorn. I didn’t have an answer. All we could do now was to get to safety.

“We have fallout shelters scattered around Equestria,” Shining Armor said. “But I never thought we might actually use them. They are all linked. We called them ‘Stables’. It’s our only chance of survival.”

“Get everypony in the Crystal Empire to the Stables,” I said. “I’ll take care of the rest of Equestria.” I flew off to get everypony to safety.