"Greetings, S-74......... or would you like me to call you Cyphy?"
The voice paused for a reply but nothing was returned. It cleared it's throat.
"It does not matter what your name is. I have very little time to chit-chat with you, Mr.Cy. Maybe at a later time we could have a....discussion on some specific topics. But right now I have something for you. A gift for your troubles......for somebody you hold dear. Yes. Very dear. What I am about to give you can help a.....unforeseen consequence that will....punish that certain dear of yours to a permanent......beginning of no return. The gift......of knowing. Yes. Knowledge."
The voice cuts out for a minute to cough.
"Your "dear" is in a lot of danger my boy. It is up to you to prevent such danger before it strikes and puts a.....end to your "dear" suffering. I'm afraid though I am restricted in telling you, Mr.Cy, the mere future.....incident that may or may not happen, depending on your choices from now on. I am allowed to bestow on you another gift. Yes. A hint."
The voice starts to fade a bit, indicating that the conversation is nearly over.
"Oh would you look at the time. I have to get to my....other contacts. It's a very busy week you know. Don't want to be behind. Oh and before I leave. Yes. The hint. It's a painful hint really. More of a....reminder of your....past...Yes. Your past."
The voice was really low when all of a sudden it boomed with an authority like voice.
"Don't.......repeat.....past....mistakes...... Now wake up, Mr.Cy, wake up. Wake up and play god."
The most terrifying last words it said will haunt me forever.
"Play God"
I opened my eyes.
I was back in my room instead of that....abyss. What a nightmare.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The alarm clock rang without any sympathy to my ears. Lowering them, I try to bring my hoof to hit the snooze button. My hoof missed completely from the alarm clock and accidently knocked over my lamp instead. The lamp fell to the floor, braking the bulb attached to it.
"Crap." I muttered with drowsiness.
Getting up from bed I slowly walked over to the alarm clock and hit the snooze button without breaking anything else. I looked over at the mess I've made. Sighing I went over to a panel next to my door. I pressed one of the buttons on it and called for service.
"What did you happen to destroy this time, Cy?" asked a female voice in a teasingly manner.
I rolled my eyes. "Made a mess. Would you mine cleaning it up, Dawn?"
Over the call I could hear some kind of chuckling in the background. "Yeah, Yeah. I'll be up there in thirty, ok?"
"That would be fine, Dawn." I then suddenly wanted to ask something else. "Hey Dawn, when are you free today?"
"Eh I'm a bit booked, Cy. At ten I have to help the Cupcake family with utility repairs and at twelve I have to fix Cleanot-345. It has been going off it's routine route for the past few days."
I drooped a little. The sliver of hope of spending time with her vanished almost instantly.
"Damn it" I mumbled under my breath. Wait a minute.
"How about eleven, after I assist Engineer Holfhoof?" Oh come on please, please, please say yes. She was a bit hesitant for some time until she came up with a reply.
"Alright I'll see what I can do. I might be late by a couple of minutes though. Would that be fine?"
My insides screamed with glee. "Yes! Absolutely!" I replied in a childish manner, like a filly getting a birthday present that he or she really wanted. I immediately went red. I could hear her holding back a laugh in the background.
"Oh, Cy. See you in two hours." She hung up. So did I.
Wow. She actually said yes. Yes! It was unbelievable really. Dawn was always very busy. I'm not surprised either for the magnitude amount for work she has each day. Dawn is one of the most popular and hardworking ponies here at the station. Always ready to help. Always knows what should be where. Always there for anyone. Always.
Dawn gets most her fame from helping run the entertainment events to raise the moral of our staff and residents. Her plans are always successful for the event. Because of this she was put in charge of planning out each one each year. She does entertaining stuff that makes the audience cry out in joy. One of those talents is singing. And boy is she an awesome singer. She comes up with such soothing melodies on her free time. When she is done writing her piece she attends a weekly show on the radio called the +M, standing for positive morale. She sings her pieces over the speakers, catching the attention of all of the residents. They all just stop and sit with a smile on their faces.
Dawn is a very positive influence in our dreaded days. The ponies and other creatures here always have a negative, depressing attitude for they are constantly reminded of the past. Some are bored or miserable, causing a recent rise in crime activity here at the station. Others are miserable for the increase of security and the security's way of doing their job. And to be honest I agree on a few of their concerns of the activity taken place in the security department. The security mares and colts have been immature, always trying to come up with an excuse to get you into some sort of trouble allowing them to decide your punishment. They seem to be very nosy as well. One time I overheard a conversation between a civilian and a security mare while walking over to the cafeteria. Apparently there was a rumor around saying that the old geezer stole a few prescriptions from the medical department. This news however came from a really despised pony named Servia who has multiple accounts on her record of thievery and rape. How she was released from her cell I have no idea but apparently since she had supposedly information about a lot of ponies around here, mostly being deep secrets. Security took her out for her to work as an undercover informant for them, spying on the suspicious and word in the underground. But I digress. The old colt allowed the mare to come in his room for inspection though it didn't turn out well. Instead of doing her job the mare looked through some private things the old geezer didn't want anyone to know about. Thus provoking a heated argument between the two. However it didn't last long since the security mare used a device from her belt to shock the pony to unconsciousness. Of course she made the excuse that the pony was going to physically harm her. Funny thing is the head security mare believed this and immediately put him under-arrest for assault against an officer. Unbelievable.
I went over to my dresser and brought out my daily official uniform that everypony has to wear and got changed. My uniform was a blue jumpsuit with the E.M.P official badge with their logo on it. It was a bit difficult to zip up the zipper as it constantly got stuck midway no matter how many times I pull with my teeth until it gave in and cooperated. The jumpsuit was moderately a discomfort to wear as it was always so tight on your body. You always have to stretch first with the suit on just to get used to it. I went over to my desk to grab a recording device for my daily audio logs that I do out of habit. Main reason for doing such an abnormal activity here at the station? Because if I ever have to leave Reality to proceed to the next world I might as well leave some kind of part of me for others to know my story.
I pressed the record button and immediately started doing my routine start.
"Hello listener! My name is Cyphy, resident S-74 on board the E.M.P station known as the LightBringer. Today I'm going through my normal routine on these logs. First of all I have some business with one of the lead engineers of the LightBringer, HolfHoof. Or Holfman. Holfwhooves? His name is fairly hard to pronounce and the easiest one to make a mistake out of. Anyways he is having some errors with the repairs on some wiring near the main bay and requires some assistance. Which is me. After helping with what ever I get to go visit the Main Bay where the LightBringer's controls are at! Exciting! Hopefully this time though I won't accidently open an airlock or shut off some generators when touching all of those colorful buttons. But before that I get to spend some time with an old friend and I'm betting if you listened to my other logs you would know which specific pony I'm talking about."
"Yes indeed after the last time we spent time together Dawn has agreed we could spend some more time today. Wooo! I'm very excited that's going to happen since I barely get to have the simplest conversations with her out in the hall. It's going to be fantastic! And that's the news for today unless the Captain gives an open announcement later for Initiation Day. The day in which I get a permanent job here instead of the usual nitpicks here and there. I am absolutely excited for this as well. Finally know what my purpose is here at the station. Able to contribute to society with a bigger difference. Any who I'm nearing the end of the free time I have to record this. Might as well go with my daily update on my sleeping habits. Um...It's not getting better. I'm having the same problems as before, each and every night. Nightmares. I spoke with the local doctor in this sector about it. He offered some certain treatments that can help bring down the amount of stress that I happen to have during the nightly hours. Though the medication did bring down the horror levels that I usually see at night it's still very disturbing to have. It hurts my head and my soul. But with the most recent dream last night it could be the most unnerving dream that I ever had here since I went aboard here."
"A weird voice was having a discussion with me even though it had no body to begin with. It greeted me and starts bringing down his reasoning of being there. He gave me a warning. Telling me that something fairly wrong is going to happen in the future. Now what is very unnerving about the whole incident is he said I was going to lose somebody I hold dear. A special somepony is going to "Begin with no return" or however he put it. Which mean death in a reassuring way. It wasn't very reassuring. And I am hopeful that the pony the voice was talking about was not Dawn. Oh dear Celestia I need to talk to Dawn about it. Anyways it's time for my audio session to end. Have a marvelous day everypony. This is Cyphy signing off"
The halls were filled with music being broadcast to the entire station. Classical. Good choice.
As I walked down the hall to the Engineering Room I glance at each screen above the door. Each screen will tell if the pony is on duty or is sleeping in, which is against the rules unless you have a special pass in order to do so. It was a sense of habit to look at each one for I don't want a tired pony to be punished for accidental extra sleep. Also it's the only thing besides other ponies that I can be interested in looking at while walking down the halls. There was no arts on the sidewalls in the halls, lowering the general optimistic mood despite the beautiful music being played above. The Majors was supposed to discuss about it, adding some kind of art on the walls. Maybe tomorrow.
As I was walking over to my destined route one of the screens had in bold red letters: Inactive.
Now why is this a problem? Because the colt or mare slept past the due time everyone is suppose to sleep. The consequences for such action could be a beating with batons. Yeah things were that desperate here. The station was having this sort of problem for the past months, ponies not going to work and choosing their own day offs without asking a high authority if you can. Selfish but undeserving the outcome if they are caught.
I approached the door and tried to open it up. Locked. Why would it be locked? I input the same passcode into the door in case I've put in the wrong numbers. Locked still. That's weird. The lock system should only activate if either a chemical hazard was exposed in this sector or if there was a major situation involving a weapon or an disease.
I brought up my forehoof that has an attached device on it. This device is a Multiple Assisting Purpose Tool or MAPT for short. Every resident has to wear this. It gives the route toward your first destination of the day, gives a map for there were some problems awhile ago for misdirection and confusion. The tool also has a 'Light' mode that can be toggled anytime, able to bright up a room with a push of a button. It can do a few other things too but I can't exactly remember at the moment. I used a certain app that is only given to security and technician ponies. Engineer HolfHoof installed it onto my MAPT for certain reasons. One of them being "You'll never know when you might need it". Yeah I guess what I have is illegal in my state.
I brought up the program and connected it to the door. The program was simple.....enough. I mean you have to import the required passcode everypony was given when they are old enough to start helping around. Then I have to put in the security passcode that only the security and technicians should know. HolfHoof taught me this as well. When that's done I have to perform the final step. Transferring the anti-security override program over to the door panel for it to unlock. Doing this can take about a few minutes. So I hit Send and just stood back from the door.
The door's Locked notification disappeared, giving me the indication the door is now unlocked. I went back over to the panel and pressed the 'Open' door button. The door scrolled up, revealing darkness in the room. Uneasiness started to come over me. Something was off. I turned to my MAPT and toggled the light tool. I started to glow a bit, hard to tell in a light hallway. I walked over to the door cautiously.The closer I walked the more illuminated the dark room becomes. I entered the room.
There room was a mess. The same cabinet was toppled over with broken glass everywhere from the mirror and lamp. The desk had a leg broken, leaning against the wall to prevent it from becoming like the cabinet. The bed had a weird lump in it. My thoughts were telling me that I shouldn't get any closer but I needed to warn the pony to wake up and get ready for his or her routined work of today. Maybe even clean up the room a bit. As I approached the sense of danger the sheet was emitting made me feel even more uneasy. I put my hoof on the sheet.
"Excuse me sir-I mean miss or whoever you are. You are way past your regular ti-"
I stopped talking when I unraveled the sheet to what I expect a pony's head but there was nothing there. Nothing. I sighed in relief, thinking to myself that there was nothing to worry about. The owner of this room was probably at work by right now. Work.....Oh horseshit. I checked the time on my MAPT. On it said 10:10. I'm late. Very late. I sprinted out the door and ran as fast as I could toward my destination, in high hopes that HolfHoof would be able to forgive me for being unexceptionally late. As I ran toward the Engineering room my thoughts went back to that room. Why was everything in there destroyed? Why was it locked without any good reason? Also why did it say inactive on the screen if there was nopony in there? I shake my head, switching my thoughts to getting to my job.
I burst through the door panting.
"I-I made it."
I felt like laying down for hours after that run. No I wasn't out of shape, just running through five miles of twists and turns get to you.
"Yeah you did. Bout twenty minutes late,boy" grunted a broad, big looking red pony with an appaloosa accent.
HolfHoof. He is one of the high ranking engineers and technicians here in the station. Not much to him though except rumors. One in particular says he's a descendant from the famous apple-bucking pony named AppleJack and the Apple family. I can see how that rumor would be true. Just HolfHoof's Bio records are mostly wiped or corrupted. I don't understand really why the Majors didn't think this was suspicious. I guess it just depends on how much to bring to the table.
"Mind explaining why you late this time?" questioned HolfHoof. Yeah totally forgot this was my....er....third to fourth time late. Not on purpose though. It just happens when you are trying to lend a helping hoof with everypony here.
"The usual sir." I replied.
HolfHoof grunted again, turning his head back to the repairs.
"I'm warning yah boy. If the uniforms catch yah you will have trouble. And so will I for not putting you to work." HolfHoof said with a stern look on his face.
My ears drooped a bit. "I understand sir." I replied.
All of a sudden a loud bang came from where HolfHoof was working. A burst of some kind of cloud came from the pipes, hitting HolfHoof in the eyes. "Dammit!" HolfHoof said in frustration, rubbing his irritated blind eyes as he staggered backwards. I rushed over to the gaping hole of the pipe. It was a pretty big gaping hole in the pipe, shooting out more of that gas everywhere. And I'm awfully sure this isn't breathable.
"HolfHoof we have to get out of this room!" I yelled over the screeching sound the broken pipe was emitting.
No response. "HolfHoof!" I yelled once more. Where is he? The room started to cloud my vision. I couldn't see anything. My lungs burned when I took a breath. I dropped to my knees and shimmied to the door.
Then there was another loud bang behind me. Another pipe burst, letting lose some more of that toxic gas in the air. Shit! This is not good at all.
There was an emergency button next to the door. Pressing this will cause an alarm in this sector, probably sending forth several security personal and technicians over here. For the safety of the station I needed to press that button before I leave. But before I reached the door however there was a spark from a broken wire to the left of the door. Now remembering my teachings from school, gas plus fire equals boom. I frantically got up and ran threw the door whilst hitting the button while passing it. I thought that with the time I had I might make it in 10 seconds.
The gas ignited at 5 seconds.
