Prologue: Abmarego and the Animus
Prologue
Abmarego and the Animus
If you really want to know about my adventure, or rather, my ancestors adventure, and tell you how I managed to save the world from an ancient Pseudo-God and an old order of murderers and really, really bad guys, I’m going to need to explain a few things to you- Starting with the Animus and Abmarego.
What is the Animus? The Animus, or Animi, are virtual reality machines discovered, developed, and sold by Abmarego industries. It allows the user to delve into ‘genetic memories’ and project them onto an external screen in three dimensions. It works through a mix of archaic, forbidden, dark magic and modern technological advances. The Animus was created by Abmarego Industries in the latter half of the 20th century under the guidance of Dr. Wishful Vitality. Due to his leading authority on genetic memory, the machine's development and technology rapidly advanced, pushing him to become the overseer of the Animus Project. The earliest known use of an Animus was in the year 1980, when Dr. Vitality began his experiments on an unknown stallion codenamed ‘Subject 1’. Thanks to these sessions, Abmarego was able to extract the memories of Starswirl of Canterlot. Regretfully, the Animus was very unstable in its earliest designs, causing ‘Subject 1’ to suffer a fatal seizure. So, yes. The early Animi had their setbacks, but the ability to gather information about almost any period in time from anypony who volunteered was worth the risk.
In the thirty years that have passed since the first Animus, they have remodeled the device into a chair- that can fit in any room, in any building, anywhere in the world.
So yes, the Animus is a truly advanced piece of machinery that owes its success to years of scientific research and forbidden magic. To be fair, it’s extremely useful. As remarkable as this may seem to you, for us it’s just another thing. At first, sure. It was fantastically amazing and new, but after four years of working for Abmarego, you get used to the numerous amounts of the device littered throughout the offices. However, you can be sure that when my cutie mark made itself known in the visage of a double helix strand, I was overjoyed- Due to the fact that my colthood dream was to work at Abmarego.
Of course, working at Abmarego came after the internship at Abmarego. As per most internships, I was forced to get coffee and do morally degrading acts- Unpaid, of course. However, in the end it was worth it. I had my dream job, all I had to do to get it was forget that I was a living being with rights and standards. All I had to do now was take a career aptitude test to be ‘placed in the correct division of Abmarego’. The test consisted of four parts:
A multiple choice exam, thirty questions.
An oral interrogation of my past.
A short tour of the offices, all sixty of them.
A blood sample.
After all of this, my results came back with a… Not wanted result. They were placing me on the janitorial crew. The lowest paying, lowest quality, worst job Abmarego could offer. It turns out that my Bachelor’s Degree in Biogenetics was quite common at Abmarego, so landing my true dream job of Animi and Memory research would take however long it takes to get promoted from janitor to that.
Every pony who worked at Abmarego had their own ‘office’, most consisted of a six by six cubicle fully stocked with a computer, chair, desk, and its own water cooler. Pretty basic for the lower level jobs- The desk jockeys and whatnot. The higher-ups get a bigger office, around ten by ten, big enough for their own Animus. The ones who get that job are the ones who have my dream job: Memory collectors. They’re the ones who research, watch, collect, and review memories of selected Subjects and, if they’re lucky, their own ancestors. However, unlike the Desk Jockeys and the Memory Collectors, the janitors had one office to share. It was about the size of a public bathroom, most of the space was taken up by filing cabinets in the back and a single desk with two chairs. Oh, and the buckets and mops.
This is where a year of interning for Abmarego Industries got me. Cleaning toilets and picking up after the messes left by the Memory Collectors. To be fair, it could be worse. I could have been the lowest of the low in the janitorial rank, the guy who has to clean up the janitor’s offices. So, at least I have that going for me.
It didn’t help that I was also the newest employee at Abmarego, besides the interns who don’t classify as employees. It’s kind of tough to make a name for yourself in a company full of ponies who have never met you and only think of you as the colt who cleans the crap out of the clogged toilets. It’s even worse when you think about the fact that, as a Pegasus, I have to clean using my hooves- Unlike most of the janitors, who have magic. Needless to say, a large part of my day became about washing my hooves and sanitizing myself. There are only a few other Pegasi who work here and they mostly work on the fifth floor, I have no idea what they do on the fifth floor. I’m not allowed there, so I don’t go there. Nopony besides the ones who work there go there, besides that the fifth floor is completely avoided. Typically the Pegasi community are held at high regards in Abmarego, something about our genetics and the First Civilization of ponies. I guess my DNA wasn’t impressive enough to land me one of those jobs.
Janitorial staff is better than nothing, I could have been one of the other sixteen interns who got relieved of duty and nothing more than a ‘Thanks for trying’ sticker.
Kind if a waste, isn’t it? A cutie mark for genetics and biology, but forced to clean up after other pony’s… genetics.
Oh well, if I hadn’t of gotten the janitorial job, none of this may have ever happened. The world, as we knew it, might have ended. The evil organization I mention before may have taken it over, and I may have never learned about my ancestor’s adventures and how he managed to do what he did.
I owe it all to my blood sample, and the world has it to thank for its continued existence. After all, if I hadn’t been a janitor I wouldn’t have had access to— Well, I’ll wait to tell that part of the story.
In a few short months my life, and the lives of my friends, changed forever. I know my easiest days are behind me, but I don’t want them back- Not now, not ever. No matter what difficulties lie ahead of me in my future, or my ancestor’s past… I don’t want my easy life back.
My name is Fallow Heart, and this is my story.
Author's Note
I hope you liked it, chapter one is much, much, much longer.
Chapter One: Into the Animus
Chapter One
Into the Animus
“The DDS is now in sync. Thank you for your patience. We hope you’ll enjoy your experience. ☺ “
Bzz…Bzz…Bzz…
Three buzzes means a janitor is needed on the third floor, the Animus floor. In other words, it’s the sound that lets me know I’m about to clean up puke, blood, poop, or other bodily waste that exited the pony who just got done in the Animus. Most of the time, as you would expect from somepony who just got done viewing the past first-hoof, they will experience some kind of bodily rejection. Whether it’s blood, bladder and bowel relief, or vomit depends on the pony in question. Sadly, being the newest janitor, I got most of the Animus clean-ups while my supervisors slept on top of each other.
“Where is my bucket...?”
I allowed myself a few more minutes of relaxation by pretending to be looking for my bucket, which is actuality was located a hoofs-length away. I let my imagination wander to its own world. A world where I had my own Animus, my own memory recorder, and my own office- One of the big ones. I had two water coolers, a couch, and a bed to rest in. I had one of the newest modeled Animi and picture of my family. I also had my own buzzer to the Janitor Office that I would press quite frequently to piss them off. You see, at Abmarego your whole career depended on, well, your career. If you start at a janitor it’s very unlikely that you would ever get a promotion to Memory Collector, more often than not you would get fired before that ever happened. And don’t get me started on the pay difference. Janitors made around 30,000 bits a year whereas Memory Collectors made roughly 120,000 a year. Even the lowest level desk jockeys, the Data Organizers, made 12 bits an hour for 12 hours a day- Roughly 58,000 bits a year. Abmarego was liable for a strike, if I had a say in it. The other janitors accepted it, mostly because they couldn’t do much else besides clean.
It’s a tragic world we live in, one controlled by littler pieces of copper with a number printed on it.
The real world came crashing back as I heard the three buzzes again. The thoughts of one janitor didn’t outweigh the necessity of the cleaning up whatever fluid or solid left the pony who was calling me.
I grabbed my bucket and my mop, put on some rubber gloves, walked to the elevator, and went to the Animus floor.
“Oh thank Celestia, you’re finally here.”
I stood in awe for a moment, I had never seen a mare so beautiful. Her crème-coated body boasted a mane of silky, unruly, ringlets of mahogany red hair and her eyes shined a brilliant, emerald tint. Her voice sounded like a fine-tuned mix of gently woven thread and was as pure as a drop of water. I felt ashamed and embarrassed to be in the presence of such a stunning mare only to clean up after her waste.
Please don’t be number two. Please don’t be number two.
“Hello? Can you speak?” She giggled.
She giggled. At me. Did I do something funny? I couldn’t believe I was standing here, in the presence of a goddess, and couldn’t even introduce myself. I was so shocked by her appearance and too consumed by my worry that I would be cleaning up that I couldn’t even make out what she said. I opened my mouth and searched for something to say.
“H-Hi. Uh, w-what did you n-need?”
Fantastic, Fallow. Such a wonderful response.
I immediately wanted to get back in the elevator and never come back, but I needed a job. I must have had a blank stare on my face, because she giggled again and motioned for me to follow her.
She led me to her work station, she had her own office. One of the nice ones I mentioned before. The name on the name-tile above the door read: “Lucky Strand” and by the looks of her cutie mark, she specialized in DNA. Like me.
She put her hoof on the door and unlocked it, walked in, and motioned for me to follow again. In the room it was pretty clear what she needed cleaned up, something must have made her dizzy.
The floor from the Animus to the trashcan was covered in random bouts of puke. I didn’t care, I did this on a daily basis. She cared, however. She looked very embarrassed and apologetic.
Lucky Strand blushed immensely and pawed at the ground. “I’m sorry, I promise I am.” She looked even more beautiful when she blushed. I didn’t know how I was supposed to clean up with her standing in the room, I could hardly speak let alone clean.
“It’s… It’s okay. I- I do this every day.” I tried to chuckle, but it sounded more like a whimper. I slowly made my way over to her… Excrement and prepared to clean it. I forgot my cleaning supplies at the elevator. “I… Uh, I’ll be right back.”
After collection my missing supplies from the elevator I returned to Lucky at her office. After she let me in, I walked back to the puke and put my gloves on.
Lucky poked me in the side, which made me jump. She giggled at my jump and I almost hit myself in the face. “I’m going to go grab lunch, will you have this clean when I get back?”
Thank Celestia. “Y-yes, of course.” I smiled awkwardly.
“Alright then. I’ll see you in about an hour.” She smiled at me and began to walk away.
I turned back around and began to clean. It took me no more than five minutes to clean it up and bag it. After putting it in the large garbage-can I prepared to leave, but something caught my eye.
Her Animus was still on.
I wasn’t sure what to do, if she left it on it was for a reason. I wasn’t certified to use the machine, but I couldn’t help thinking about it. I must have stared at it for ten minutes before actually doing something. I slowly walked over and ran my hoof across it.
I sat down on the chair-like machine and leaned back.
Immediately I was watching somepony run around, possibly one of the subjects’ ancestors. I had no idea what was happening, the pictures were coming in all fuzzy and strange. The boxes were out of sync with the audio I heard. It was making my head hurt. I leaned up and felt the urge to… Well, vomit out of somewhere that wasn’t my mouth. I quickly grabbed my gear and stumbled to the door, tripping over a wire in the process. The only wire in the room of any significance.
“Fuck me…”
The wire led to a small vial of blood that was hooked up to a Blood Matrix on the Animus, it was the blood that allowed Abmarego to see the past. The blood ran through the Matrix, powered by that forbidden magic I mentioned, and into the Animus database where it was analyzed by more magic and then projected the image it gathered onto the screen for the user to see.
In short, I broke her Animus.
“Fuck me again.”
I had about ten minutes before Lucky returned, and I still had to go to the bathroom. I made a quick decision. After running to the bathroom on the third floor and relieving myself, I quickly went to the fourth floor. The fourth floor is where they kept the blood samples of all the ponies who volunteered, I figured it couldn’t be that hard to the blood that the other sample came from.
After three minutes of searching I discovered that the blood I had destroyed was the only copy of the blood in the entire building.
“Fuck me again with Celestia’s horn.”
I had three minutes to make it back to the third floor, replace the blood, and make it back to my station- All while not being caught carrying the blood. Only the geneticists on the fourth floor are allowed to place blood in the Matrix.
Screw it. Either way I’m getting fired. At least I have a chance this way.
I grabbed a random vial of blood and put it in my cleaning supplies. I hurried to the elevator and hit the call button. It felt like an eternity before the doors opened. I would have rather it had been an eternity after seeing what was behind the doors.
Two security ponies walked out and looked at me. They just stared, I knew what was coming. Either I would get kicked out of the building or taken to the small jail they had on the sublevels.
After a few more seconds of staring at me, one of them proclaimed: “You’re a janitor, right? I heard there was someone who needed one of you guys on the tenth floor. Better hurry there.”
I breathed a loud sigh of relief, “Y-Yeah. No problem, I just have to do one thing on the third floor, and then I’ll head up there.”
The guard pony nodded and walked off, his companion following him. I stepped onto the elevator and pressed the three. After a few seconds the elevator dinged to let me know I had arrived. I calmly walked over to Lucky’s office and used my master key to unlock her door.
I turned around and grabbed my gear then backed into her office.
“Oh, you’re back.”
I froze in my tracks and slowly turned around. Turns out Lucky had returned from lunch a few minutes early.
“Hah… Yeah…” She sat on a chair beside her Animus.
“Are you okay, Fallow?” She seemed to be genuinely curious. I wasn’t sure how to respond.
“Um, yeah. I’m alright. Are you okay?” I asked nervously.
She shook her head and pointed at her Animus, “Did anyone come in after you left? Someone broke my blood vial, my Animus can’t run without it…”
I glanced away and coughed. “I, uh, no. I don’t think anyone came in. I-“
She cut me off. “Did you break it? It’s alright if it was an accident. It’s just, if it was somepony from the fifth floor it could be bad.”
I wanted to ask why the ponies on the fifth floor would break it, but I didn’t. I, instead, reached into the cleaning supplies on my cart and pulled out the vial of blood. “It was me… I was going to leave, but I wanted to see what the Animus was like. So I tried it, it was confusing. My head hurt afterwards and everything was dizzy, I was leaving and tripped over a wire. I brought this vial to replace it?” I held it out to her, but she didn’t take it.
She stood up and walked over to the blood, using her magic to levitate it up, luckily it hadn’t dried yet. She then looked at me a somewhat unimpressed face and used her magic to pop the cork on the blood vial. She then moved the blood out of the vial and into the garbage, then put the blood from the floor in it.
“This should work for now. I have most of the things I need recorded from this already, so you didn’t really do any harm.” She smiled, “Just try not to do it again, okay?”
I breathed a sigh of relief, she wasn’t going to tell security. “Yeah, no problem. I’ll try...”
She trotted up to me and, about an inch from my face, asked: “Do you want to do it?”
I blushed immediately. “Do… Do what?” The blush was heavily visible on my face.
She giggled and tapped my head, “Try the Animus again, duh!” She grabbed my hoof and led me to the device, “Here. Get on.”
I did as she commanded and climbed on the machine, leaning back into it. “Now what?”
She did some button pressing and looked at me, with a sorry look. “This may sting a little.”
I turned my head and tried to ask what she meant, but at that second I felt a sharp pain on my right arm. I attempted to ask again, but my mouth wouldn’t open. I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t.
Whatever she did to me, it wasn’t start the Animus. This isn’t what it did before, and this is definitely not what I read about in the manuals.
The last thing I remember before I blacked out from the poison was Lucky telling me that it would be alright, and that she needed to do this.
*** *** ***
When I came to I was in a van, the back of a van to be precise. It was night, at least that’s what the moonlight coming through the one window to my left said. I looked around, trying to see if anyone was back here with me. To my luck, I couldn’t see anyone. Just the driver in front, but that pony was too focused on driving to keep an eye on me. I lifted a hoof, to no avail. I was strapped down. To my right I heard some shuffling and then the flick of a switch.
Immediately after the switch, I saw a light.
“I’m sorry we had to take you like that, we would have talked beforehoof, but Wishful Vitality was catching on to who you are, Fallow.” I couldn’t tell who it was, my eyes were still adjusting to the light.
After a few more seconds I could make out three shapes, a few more seconds and I tell who had taken me.
The furthest in the back was Lucky, to the right of her was a black coated stallion with a white mane and what appeared to be a dagger for a cutie mark. He was the one talking to me. Standing above me was a white mare with a black mane, the opposite of Dagger guy- She had a needle for a cutie mark, a nurse probably. She was checking my vital signs.
“Where am I?” I felt that was the most prevalent question to ask.
Dagger guy looked at me and chuckled, “Currently you’re in the back of a van on the way to a small city outside of Baltimare.”
“Alright… Who are you all?”
He pointed to Lucky, “You know Lucky Strand. She’s the agent we sent to Abmarego to retrieve you. The mare checking your vital signs is, Silent Poison. Certified poison master and nurse. And I am Plain Sight.”
At this point Silent Poison was done with my vitals and back away, sitting down across from me. She had also loosened the straps on my wrists and ankles. “Alright, so… You all know me, I assume. But, uh, who’s driving?” I pointed at the front of the van.
Lucky Strand raised her hoof, “I am. I’m steering from back here. I… I wanted to make sure you were alright.”
I would’ve told her thanks, but I remembered at that moment I was just fillynapped. “You… Drugged me, then you fillynapped me, strapped down in the back of a van, and are taking me to a town that I still don’t know the name of, and you want to make sure I’m alright? Why not take me back to my home? Back to my family? I don’t want any trouble, I didn’t do anything wrong…”
Plain Sight looked at me sympathetically, “I’m sorry. You can never go home. The Templars are after you, they’ll kill you. In your DNA is something special. Within you is a direct line to the First Civilization- An order of ancient, Godlike beings. The Templars want you because of your ancestors.”
I looked at him blankly, did he really expect me to believe this? If I was really as special as they say I am, why did Abmarego make me a janitor instead of a Memory Collector? His argument made no sense at all.
“I understand what you’re probably thinking, that you aren’t special. And you’re right, you aren’t. A lot of ponies are descendants of the First Civilization, but you are one of the known ones. There are some things you don’t know about Abmarego…”
I cut him off, “I know that Abmarego doesn’t kidnap ponies because of their DNA.”
He chuckled and shook his head, “On the contrary. They made you a janitor so they could take you with ease. It’s easier to take somepony who doesn’t matter to the company than somepony who does something important. As a matter of fact, those two guards you ran into on the stairs were there for you. Luckily enough, they weren’t very smart and didn’t recognize you. Now, if you can not interrupt me, I would like to explain what Abmarego really is.”
I huffed and nodded, “Fine. Say what you want.”
He coughed to clear his throat, “To start off, Abmarego is the corporate entity you know it as, but it also has a much darker side to it. What you know as Abmarego is actually the offset of an old organization known as the Templars. The Templars seek to control freewill, they believe that this will save the world. We, members of the Assassin Brotherhood, believe in setting all ponies free. This is where you come in, your DNA links you with the First Civilization. The creators of the Pieces of Harmony. You’ve hear of the Elements of Harmony, I assume? Those are six of the Pieces of Harmony, we have no idea how many of those there are. However, the pony who controls them, controls the world. For now, the Templars have given the Elements of Harmony to the Princesses to buy their loyalty.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, this was insane. Insane and treason. This pony was brainwashed, none of this could be true.
“The rest of the Pieces of Harmony are open for the taking. That’s what Abmarego uses the Animus for, to search for Pieces of Harmony. They take the DNA of all of their workers to find them. When they find DNA like yours, they appoint the pony to a low level position, and then fillynap them. They take that said pony to the fifth floor, where they… Extract the rest of your DNA. We’ve had an agent, Lucky, in this branch of Abmarego for a while, waiting for somepony of your genes to come along. The second Lucky heard about your results, she requested to use the sample for her research. She made herself throw-up, called you, and that’s brings us to where we are now.”
My gaze shifted from Plain Site to the roof of the van, where they remained for a little while. “I understand. So… Are you the good guys?”
Plain Site shook his head, “Good is a matter of perspective. I know there are some ponies out there would call us evil, no good, dirty rotten, scoundrels. And some who believe that we are the guardians of the world. So, when you ask if we are the good guys, you should ask yourself what you consider good. Abmarego has provided the means to many technological advances over the past twenty years, including cures for diseases. Whereas we have only tried to stop Abmarego from their goals.”
From where I was, it seemed that these Assassins were the bad guys. However, if what they said was true, they were the good guys.
“So… You try to free ponies, while Abmarego- the Templars try to control their freewill? I suppose that makes you the bad-good guys.”
Lucky opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped by Plain Site.
“He seems to need no more convincing.”
It’s true, I accepted what they were saying. If these ponies truly wanted to free the rest of the world, they seemed better than the Templars who want nothing more than to enslave us.
*** *** ***
By the time we arrived at the town, which I had since learned was named Ponyville and had been home to the Assassin Brotherhood for decades, it was nearing morning. The crescent of the sun was visible just over the horizon.
When the van finally stopped Plain opened the back door, revealing a town that looked like it belonged in a museum. Buildings were falling down, it looked like nobody had lived here in centuries. I climbed out of the vehicle and looked around the town, I could several pairs of eyes poking out of some of the undestroyed buildings.
“So this is the mysterious Ponyville? No offense, I was expecting something else. More… Civilization, you know?”
Plain Site nodded, “Yes, yes. I know. It used to look better, but after Princess Twilight left Ponyville it died out.”
I nodded, understanding. I can see that if the pony who everyone in the town looked up to left how the town would slowly fade away. “Well, it could be worse. The town could have been completely destroyed.”
Lucky made her way out of the van and put her hoof on my shoulder, smiling at me, “We like it this way. It’s easier to stay out of site in a city of rubble. Besides, not many outsiders come here. So we don’t have to worry about anyone finding out about us.”
I bought that, Nopony from Manehattan or Baltimare would want to come here, this place is a dump. No offense to anypony who lives here, not that they know what I’m thinking.
Silent Poison was the last out of the van, she motioned for the three of us to follow her. “If we’re going to beat the Templars to the Balance of Harmony, we’re going to need to actually get to work. If you three are done with your little gossip group, can we get started?” She trotted toward a building across from where we parked, to a building called: ‘The Carousel Boutique’. It was one of the few buildings not completely destroyed.
The inside of the Boutique was less than impressive, years of inept upkeep had caused the foundation to crack and the interior walls to turn a sickly shade of off-white.
“We’re going to the basement.” Silent pushed open a door and revealed stairs behind it.
The rest of us followed her, Plain Sight and Lucky Strand knew where they were going, but as far as I could tell- I was being led into a dark basement, in a destroyed town, by ponies who had just fillynapped me.
I was probably going to die.
Or not.
At the bottom of the staircase was a brightly lit room with metallic walls. It looked sort like a Stable from the Fallout games Abmarego Entertainment released. Besides the walls and the lights, it looked pretty basic.
There was a red carpet on the floor, some chairs, a few television monitors, a generator, and an Animus.
An Animus.
I pretended to not be totally impressed by this place, to tell the truth I was. I mean, somewhere so far away from a major city being this well teched out? These ‘Assassins’ are doing well for themselves.
“Well? We’re waiting. Get on the Animus, we don’t have all day.” Silent Poison was straight to the point.
“M-Me? But why?”
She facehoofed, “Because it’s your DNA. You will do the best in the simulation.”
It’s true, I read that once. “Alright… But don’t drug me this time?” I let out a nervous laugh, I shouldn’t have said that. Lucky immediately excused herself and left the room.
Great job, Fallow. Once again.
Plain Sight mumbled something along the lines of ‘I’ll go calm her down.’ And left.
It was just Silent Poison and I now, “Well, Fallow? We’re waiting for you. I thought I already told you that we don’t have all day. We need to find the Balance of Harmony ASAP.”
I rolled my eyes and walked to the Animus, my blood was already being filtered by the Matrix, the Animus would start playing the memories soon.
I climbed into the seat, leaned my head back, and waited.
“Here we go, Fallow.”
I heard an almost silent whoosh and in a short second, I saw the Animus loading my Ancestor’s reality.
I couldn’t make anything out from the loading shapes, but I could hear audio, at first it sounded like mumbles and random clicks, but when it finally loaded entirely and translated to English, I heard:
“Come on, Kodachi. I don’t want to fight a mare.”
Author's Note
Finally, a long one. Let me know what you all think!
