Memories of a Future's Past

Twilight and her friends just sat there for a few long moments not saying anything to anypony. How could they after what they just witnessed. There were a few uncomfortable shuffles along with some looking away from each other when one of them tried to make eye contact in hopes to not be the one to break the silence. It was finally Rainbow Dash who spoke first that began the flow of questions.

"Fuck me, Twilight!" she said as she looked at the princess. "What the hell are we watching?"

"Like I said I don't know and even if I did then I wouldn't subject you all to it." She seemed saddened at her own statement.

"It is not your fault, dear." Rarity reassured her. "We started this together and we will finish it together. I do not recognized any of the area though. Does anypony see anything familiar?" Looking around the table everypony just shook their heads or shrugged for nopony knew anything. "That's a shame. Any light to shed on this young filly or where she is from could be a big help."

"Are you sure you haven't seen or read of anything like this in your books, Twi?" AJ asked.

"I'm sorry I have not. Otherwise I would have remembered if I did. The only thing I could think of is that we just keep on watching and learning all we can about Prism and then maybe we can figure out where she is from." Her friends nodded their heads in agreement for her suggestion seemed like a sound plan. As all eyes turned up towards the pale green screen Twilight gave the command to play the next file.

File: 0009 loading...

"Some pony help...*cough* me! I'm trapped *cough* in here!" were the first things they heard before the black screen came to life to show Prism banging her hooves upon her window trying to break the glass. She kept alternating her hooves like she was standing on ground which was very hot. Turning around and telling herself to stay calm and think the six noticed her door was shut but there was an orange and red glow around the frame as if the fire was about to burst through at any moment.

"That's it! I can use that." she cried out as she stumbled over to her chair that was knocked over by her desk. "I hope my *cough* magic is strong enough..." she said as she concentrated and the chair began to slowly raise up but fell back down only after a few short inches off the ground. Prism began to cough more serious now for the smoke has already filled one third of her room. "Please....please work for me..." she begged her horn as she tried again this time being able to lift it up higher and able to steady it.

"Here goes nothing!" she yelled as she threw her whole being into her magic making the chair fly strait at the window. With a mighty crash and a whoosh of air the shattered glass fell to the ground below as the pressure pushed the smoke out of the broken window. It was now or never as Prism got up and with the last of her strength galloped towards the window and jumped through right as the fire burst through her door and half of her bedroom's floor collapsed.

The broken glass that was still in the window frame cut her body in various places as she landed hard onto her side the force of the impact rolling her over several times before she came to a stop near a tree. Three of the ponies gasped as they watched her jump and the screen rotate until it came to a stop with it facing her. There was a deep gash on her right cheek as Prism opened her eyes slowly and took in her surroundings.

There were ponies gathered on the opposite side of the street and she could hear the sirens of the emergency crew in the distance but everything seemed fuzzy and out of place. It seemed that nopony saw her as she made her way shakily to all hooves before staying out of view the best she could and hiding behind some nearby bushes. Looking into her Z.I.N. she saw the blood dripping from her cheek and wiped it away with her other hoof.

"I don't know what's going on....some pony please help me..." the look in her eyes was a mixture of pain and fear as she continued quietly. "Who were those people..? What do they want with me? Is it because of this?" she shook her hoof a few times which made the screen wobble up and down slightly. "Well they can have it then." she said as she tried to take it off with her other hoof but to no avail. She tried using her back hoofs, tried gripping it with her teeth and even tried using her magic to get it off but was unsuccessful in every attempt. Sighing she turned it back towards her and added one more thing before turning it off.

"They will probably still be looking for me. Maybe some pony at daddy's work will know of a way to help me. I'll talk to you soon." and with that the screen went black for a moment before returning back the menu archive.

"Oh my. I was so worried for her." Fluttershy said quietly.

"She's one brave pony that's for sure." Twilight added. "So this Z.I.N. must belong to her but we still don't know where it even came from let alone how it ended up on Sweet Apple Acres."

"Maybe it's from outer space or something." Dash said aloud as Twilight turned to her. "What?"

"Rainbow, please. There's no way it could have come from outer space. That's not scientifically possible." Twilight commented as Rainbow just rolled her eyes at her. Turning to Apple Jack she asked, "And there was nothing else with it or around it?" AJ just shook her head as the frustration showed upon the princess' face. Usually she could figure something out with enough clues to go on but Twilight was really having a hard time with this one.

"Maybe we can ask Princess Celestia or Princess Luna?" Fluttershy chipped in.

"Unfortunately they are both on important matters in a distant land." Twilight sighed. "It looks like it's up to us this time girls. Let's find out what happens next." As Twilight asked to play the next file they came across the same problem from earlier. "File corrupt." it kept saying over and over and the ponies were getting anxious to know more and more about Prism. It wasn't until the 16th file that they finally got something again.

File: 0016 loading...

The screen was dark but heavy breathing could be heard for a few minutes as Prism tried to catch her breath. They couldn't tell where she was at but they could hear all kinds of noise going on in the back ground.

"Shit, shit, shit...." she muttered. "This is not good..." her face came into view as she created a small light from her horn. The wound on her right cheek was healing up but still pretty fresh as she recorded her thoughts.

"It's been about a week now and things are going crazy. I couldn't even make it to daddy's work for they had the place surrounded and were executing all the ponies that worked there. I need help. I don't know what to do anymore. What is..." she stopped briefly and the light of her horn went out suddenly. For the next few minutes all they could hear was her ragged breathing and all that stuff going on in the background which seemed to be a bit muffled but still loud enough to be heard.

"Oh my god..." she said as she moved around and placed her hooves on a nearby dumpster as she looked over the top of it. The six now could tell she was in an alley of some sorts as the sounds became more clearer. They could hear ponies running and a lot of screaming and shouting followed by what seemed to be loud bangs in the distance almost like thunder. One particular sound was louder than all the rest and it seemed to be some kind of long siren going off.

"What am I going to do? Daddy always said if we ever heard that sound to make our way as quickly as we can to the shelters.." Prism seemed to be shaking slightly as she tried to make a decision. "But if I go there with this on then everyone will know..." Prism got down and made her way towards the street where there was nothing but chaos going on around her and nopony was paying any attention to her. The six could now see that she was dirty, her hair was in a mess and not that beautiful style she liked to wear it in which made Rarity frown and pity the poor filly. Prism started to gallop down the sidewalk but then suddenly stopped and placed her hooves upon some glass as the six could hear voices but did not know who they belonged to.

"This just in: everypony needs to stay in doors and find a place to secure themselves. If you are not in a shelter please make haste to one near you or find some where safe to be. Once again please get to a shelter as quickly as you can. If you can not get to..." the voice started making funny sounds as if it was being cut off as a very loud whoosh made Prism quickly turn and the last thing they heard her say was "Oh fuc..." before there was the sound of an explosion along with broken glass, brick, stone and earth as the screen seemed to move very quickly across the street and then going black.

The six just sat there a few of them with open mouths as the screen remained black for quiet some while. Twilight thought it might have broke and was about to get up when more sounds began to be heard. It seemed like some pony was digging or moving rocks around before some light was shed and the girls could see that Prism was unconscious. A pony with a short black and purple mane came into view and then turned and called out to some other pony.

"Hey Cutter come 'ere!" Turning back to Prism he said to himself, "Looks like we found ourselves a pretty little pony.

"What's up, Dice? You find something?" said Cutter just off screen and then whistled as he spotted Prism. "Hey what's that on her hoof?" he asked as Dice moved her hoof around before trying to take it off of her making the screen shake before he gave up and threw her leg back down.

"Who knows but it looks like it won't come off. Might be worth something if we sell it." he added as he started to move more of the rubble from around Prism.

"Well we'll just cut the bitch's leg off if we have to. Hurry up the boss wants us back before sun down." the other pony said as he could be heard walking away. It wasn't long before he had Prism dug out and lifted her up onto his back. Before the screen went to black they could see the street on fire with buildings blow apart some half standing while some not standing at all. There were bodies of ponies every where and with screams in the distance followed by strange popping sounds it seemed the six have found themselves watching a nightmare.

"I don't want to watch anymore." Fluttershy said frighteningly. Rarity went over and comforted her friend as Rainbow turned to Twilight.

"What just happened? I mean what's going on here? Is this for real?" Twilight had no answer for her friend and just looked down. She knew about as much as they did and that wasn't a lot. "Answer me Twilight, what the fuck is going on? What part of Equestria would let this kind of shit happen?" she yelled at her friend standing on all four hooves.

"I don't know!" the princess replied her eyes shown with signs of sadness in them. Rainbow's face softened as she sat back down in her chair and looked down at the floor.

"I'm sorry, Twilight..." Dash apologized to her good friend.

"It's alright, Rainbow." Twilight said as she addressed them all. "This...story...is getting to us all. I think maybe we should stop here for now and take a little break." Fluttershy was all for that idea but the others had different plans.

"No it's okay. I'll be fine and want to know what happened to her." Dash looked back over to Twilight.

"I agree with Rainbow." AJ commented. "I'm worried about her and want to know what happened to her."

"Alright then. We will continue on with the next one." Looking up at that pale green screen Twilight asked to play the next file.

File: 0017 loading...

The screen was sideways again and they could see part of Prism's horn and mane as the sound of a gate closing and locking could be heard followed by the same voice of the stallion they heard from before.

"We'll just keep the little bitch in here for a while." He commented as the sound of his fading hoof steps became part of the background noise. The sky was getting darker and they could see part of the city which had a back glow of red and yellow which told them that it was still burning to the ground.

A slight moan was then heard as Prism moved very slowly as she tried to sit up but seemed to not have the strength to. After a few long minutes she tried again and this time was able to get up most of the way as she ended up resting her head against some bars. Her right hoof was in her lap and she noticed the Z.I.N. looking back at her and from seeing her own reflection brought tears to her eyes. The gash on her right cheek was bleeding slightly and her mane was burnt in various places and in a total mess. Her left eye was swollen shut as she touched it gently with her other hoof and winced at the pain it caused her.

"Have you been on this whole time?" she asked it as if it could give her an answer. She then just realized where she was at and looked up and at her surroundings. "Where am I? Why am I locked in here...?" They could see the panic begin to set in as she had no idea what to do as she brought her hooves to her head as if she was in great pain. Looking back into the Z.I.N. she said, "I'll get back to you...I just need to lay down for a bit..." and with that the screen went black.