My name is Scootaloo. It started when I was just a filly, only twelve years old. It was nighttime in February when it happened, the strange flash of green light in the distance, not too far from Ponyville. Everypony was scared…they didn’t know what the weird light was. So early the next morning, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash went to go investigate. They were followed by at least half of Ponyville. Those poor, innocent ponies……they couldn’t ever even imagine what would happen to them…happen to us…when they discovered what had caused the green light.
They found a strange, alien, black meteor – like thing that had veins of green, glowing stuff. It was sitting there, nestled snugly in dirt and rocks in the center of a large crater. Twilight told everypony to stay back, and she went down into the crater to take a closer look at what they thought was a meteor. I remember every time I looked at the thing, I got this unexplainable feeling of uneasiness and…fear. I asked Rainbow Dash if that was a good idea, going closer to the thing. But she just ruffled my mane and said Twilight knew what she was doing. If only they knew……
Once Twilight had reached the meteor, she looked very closely at it. Then she slowly reached out to touch it. I tried to yell at her to stop, but the words were stuck in my throat. I was too scared. I didn’t know why, but I had the strongest feeling that the strange meteor was dangerous and it needed to be left alone.
Twilight touched it. She said it felt cool. Very cool.
And that’s when the meteor hatched…like an egg. Cracks ran along its surface, and the green glowing brightened. Twilight and the other ponies gasped and backed away, wondering if it was some sort of egg or something. What would come out? A dragon? An alien creature?
The meteor completely broke apart, and a bright flash of green light temporarily blinded everypony. When we could see again, we saw something that dumbfounded us all. The form of a bright, glowing, green pony stood before Twilight. It looked like some sort of spirit. Wisps of light floated around and from it, almost like it was a moving cloud or a small campfire flame. It didn’t have a particular form, just that of a pony in general. We couldn’t see a face, yet we saw what looked similar to eyes. It turned its head and looked around at all of us like a curious baby animal that was seeing the outside world for the first time.
Then it spoke. Its voice was wispy and hollow, and sounded almost like it echoed in a large cave. There was a mechanical, cold tone to its voice, but it spoke with polite and innocent words.
“What is the name of this place?” it asked. It was looking at Twilight, who was standing there with a shocked, confused and fascinated look on her face.
“E – Equestria,” the princess answered. The creature slowly tilted its head to the side.
“Population?” it asked. Twilight looked confused at the question for a moment.
“I……I’m not sure,” she answered. “But……what are you? How did you get here? What’s your name? I have so many questions!”
The creature seemed to give Twilight a cold, yet amused look. “I don’t have a particular name. But you may call me by my adopted title. I am the Hypershade, the essence of technology itself.”
“Technology?” Twilight asked, looking confused. “What’s that?”
Oh, how I wish I could go back in time and stop her from asking that fateful question!
The moment the final words had left Twilight’s mouth, the fate of Equestria had been unwittingly decided.
Scootaloo paused, her ears straining to catch any sound. There was nothing to hear except the hum and rumble of electronic motors and machinery both under and above her. The young Pegasus breathed quietly out with relief as she looked around the dimly lit garage she was standing in. Good...no Trap Ponies here. She shuddered, a brief image of the horrifying cyborgs flashing across her mind.
“Don’t think about them,” she told herself. “And they won’t come.”
She continued her way towards the end of the garage. She knew that once she stepped outside, she would be in constant danger of getting caught or killed. She was a rebel, rebelling against the unseen power that ruled over that part of Equestria now. The power known as the Hypershade.
Scootaloo reached the metal door at last. Had it always been metal? No. It was once wooden. This garage never used to exist. The word “garage” still felt new to Scoots. Everything that was wood had been converted to metal or fiberglass. The ground that had once been grass and dirt and rocks was now pavement and concrete. The young pony’s entire world...and life...had changed, and not for the better.
Scootaloo took a deep breath and slowly opened the door a crack. The noises of the world outside filled her ears as she peeked out. Subway trains, automatic cars, lights, machines, drones, tall glass buildings that looked like their tops touched heaven. It was all part of Scootaloo’s world now. It was everypony’s world, now.
She looked left and right, making sure no cyborgs were around. She quickly glanced at her watch...it read 12:00 PM. The Trap Ponies wouldn’t be making their rounds on this road until at least 2:00 PM. She was in the clear for now.
She stepped outside and breathed in the once – fresh air. She smelled gasoline, oil, smoke and other unpleasant things, but she had gotten used to those smells. Cars, drones and electric wagons streaked back and forth on the road. Crowds of ponies walked up and down the sidewalk, chattering either to each other or on their phones. Perfect...all Scoots had to do was hide in the crowds and get to her destination.
Scootaloo stepped into a passing crowd of ponies and mingled in with them, trying to look the part. She resisted the automatic urge to duck or hide whenever a drone whizzed by.
After a while of walking from crowd to crowd, Scootaloo finally reached her destination; an abandoned apartment. All the windows were shut tightly and locked, and shades obscured the view inside and outside. The fence around the front and back of the apartment was metal and had barbed wire woven into it. The door was also locked tightly. Scootaloo walked up to it after glancing around and reached up her hoof to knock. She knocked three times quickly, one time slowly, and two more times quickly in a sort of rhythm.
After a moment, the door opened a crack and the wide, frightened eyes of a pony stared out at Scootaloo. “Password,” the pony inside said, almost in a whisper.
Scootaloo cleared her throat and quietly sang a verse from a song she once heard a pony sing.
“Don’t you worry,
Don’t you cry,
We will all be fine.
Don’t you shout,
Don’t you fret,
We haven’t been caught yet.”
The pony inside the apartment nodded approvingly, and then stepped away to let Scootaloo inside.