The Caretaker

The Caretaker

With an almost-silent click, the room lit up. Crystal walls shone rather brightly, along with a few mirrors and old paintings from times long gone. Furniture here and there, tables, closets, wooden reminders that years had already passed.

Upon a certain table sat a particular object that defied the vintage feeling of the entire chamber. Its flat screen shone with a dim orange, awaiting the day it would be used once more.

The clopping of hooves echoed throughout the crystal chamber as a mysterious pony walked further into it, closing the door behind her with an abrupt slam. Her purple coat made itself visible once she stepped into the light. Her horn lit up, focusing on the wooden table with the strange object.

She sat down, staring at it with bags under her eyes. A dim purple hue enveloped the object as it lightly floated to where her tired eyes could see it. The object in question—a flat pad—glowed stronger once activated. To her eyes, it gave her words. With her own mind she was able to command it to do as she wished, display all the information she wanted to see; it was a slave to her—a slave that would never fight back, never become tired, never fail, and never question.

She sighed, tired. The pad’s gentle glow awaited her input. Closing her eyes, her mind raced through various memories and feelings. Ready, she opened her mouth…

…And spoke.

“This is… What should I call this?” she mused, mouth dry. “Diary?” She shook her head. “No, too personal. Journal? Yes, journal…” Her chest inflated as she drew in air, then exhaled with another weary sigh. “Twilight Sparkle’s journal…” She smiled, still impressed by the technology of such a simple-looking object. “Entry number one...”

“How long has it been… Eleven?” The pony shook her head. “Twelve. Twelve years ever since they happened. The Terrans, I mean… Bipedal, massive in size, usually clad in unbelievably advanced suits of armor that thwarted the strongest weapon we—our entire planet—had at the time. They came with a massive ship, spanning dozens upon dozens of kilometers in length…”

“But, oh… They were stuck, unable to go back due to a technical failure in the ship itself.” She frowned. “War broke out between Equestria and the Gryphon kingdom… The Humans, they stopped it—in exchange for ground to settle down and a stream of supplies. It wasn’t long before a mutiny took place, dividing them into two groups. Eventually things calmed down, but not without the moon being split into two pieces…” She winced.

“Luna, still… She…” Twilight shook her head.

“The settling of the humans brought most of the species on our planet together, including the changelings, to the dismay of many of us. These militarized apes brought order to chaos, whatever that means anymore…”

Her brow furrowed as she bit her lip. “Huge, metallic megacities with towers reaching farther than any mountain!” Her voice cracked as it raised in volume. “Both underground and aboveground sections, splitting the populace into two! Drugs, meritocratic councils, law enforcement…”

Twilight took a deep breath and sighed again. “Massive corporations sprawled out, bent on making credits at the lowest cost, at the expense of the poor… Automated machines sometimes act as police…”

“But…” She looked up. “I guess not all is bad…” Twilight huffed. “Scientific knowledge shot through the sky. Medicinal development… The blind were able to see, the crippled walked with new mechanical limbs, the deaf could hear and the mute could speak!” She smiled, raising one of her hooves up. “We learned that there was so much more than the eye could see! So much beyond our own planet! Billions of stars that— made us realize how small we are…”

“My crystal castle is surrounded by taller buildings now…” She giggled sarcastically, waving her hoof around. “ ‘Princess of Friendship’… The title is nothing but a commodity now. Only other ponies really care. The rest of the species? Not so much.”

“There’s so much that’s changed…”