The building was cold… cold and close to collapsing like many of the two century old structures that dotted the Equestrian landscape. However this one, this one in particular was special in that it was an old military research base. Three stories and a lonely gray color with shattered and melted windows, a sign near the roadway leading to it read ARGENT-TEK Research Labs #3 on it. A stone wall went around the base standing at six feet tall with razor decorative spikes running along it in the shape of floral patterns that looked around a single metal spike going upwards. In the lot sat several carriages and a single broken down Vertibuck that was gutted completely save for a rotor and some wheels.
And one pony was headed for this building after a rather brisk walk from the nearest settlement. He was a snow white stallion donning a lab coat fit for a scientist, however he had modified it over the course of his journey with a few metal plates and some barding underneath it to protect himself. While he was a pony of science, that didn’t mean he was stupid in anyway. As he adjusted his glasses, he looked around the area leading towards the research lab, the roads had been clear for a while with no sign of raiders nearby or slavers for that matter.
His name was Snowflake, a pony originally from a stable out west near Manehattan.
He recalled the stories told to him of this area, and it was odd to him, but he just figured it had something to do with what the ponies in the town thirty miles back told him. ‘That place is cursed mister, don’t bother with going in there.’ ‘It’s full o’ ghosts Ah ‘eard, ghosts from before th’ war.’ ‘Nasty curses an’ strange magic be in there, so don’t go in there, lest ye be unleashing hell upon the world once again,’
He had no idea if these were just strange rumors, the ideology of crazed superstitious ponies, or if there was actually some proof to the crazy tales the townsponies wove to him when asking about ARGENT-TEK facilities in the area. He was ecstatic to hear there was one nearby, but the rumors and legends surrounding it made him feel a bit nervous about actually going. But regardless, he needed answers regarding ARGENT-TEK, and he was going to find them.
Bah, those rumors are nonsense, there is no such thing as ghosts… superstitious wastelanders. He muttered in thought as he kept his rifle handy, a lever action rifle he picked up from back west during his travels to Los Pegasus… what was left of the city, anyway. He carried it in his magical grasp as he headed down the road and up into the lot towards the building. What little he knew about ARGENT was that they created very dangerous technology that rivaled that of many other companies during the war, but they had very few facilities in the main area Equestria where Manehattan and Canterlot were located.
Almost all of the ARGENT facilities were located in remote locations, and he only found one, a small burned out, office building in Los Pegasus. But it was more than enough to throw him into this journey of finding out what they made and why it was so dangerous. From what he read about ARGENT-TEK, they were a company that specialized in various high-end weapons that made some heavy weapons look like pea shooters in comparison. He didn’t know exactly what these weapons were, or even where they were but it aroused his curiosity enough to get him looking.
So now he was here after having traveled for weeks.
The building’s front doors were locked shut, but their glass windows had been shattered long ago. Above the doors, he saw an old security camera, busted and broken looking yet the light still glowed an unnatural red coloration, still watching and recording after two centuries.
He paid it no mind as he slipped inside, stepping onto a surprisingly polished marble gray floor. Looking around him, the atrium area had a few couches setting off to either side with nice looking tables. The desk nearby setting in between two halls leading deeper into the building was cleaned off, with neatly stacked folders and terminals that looked as if they hadn’t aged a bit. Paintings hung on the walls around him giving the feel that this place was supposed to be welcoming, however he felt a sort of… darkness after entering… he shook it off as feeling nervous before heading in further.
He perused the desks, holstering his rifle by his side as he looked at one of the terminals before turning it on. He tapped his hoof as he waited for the machine to boot up, once it did it displayed a company message about staying safe and keeping company secrets a secret and rooting out espionage agents. It was all boring so he moved on, heading out of the room and down the hall to his right.
The halls were just as clean, making him wonder who kept it all clean. A humming in the room next to him drew his attention, and upon peering inside, he saw an odd robot arranging someone’s desk, the worker still in the seat with a gun in their hoof and a hole in their skull. The bot was round, with three arms and cleaning equipment attached to each end, a broom’s end to one, a mop to the other and the last one had a hand on it with five ends that proved to be very articulate. It hovered from a jet below it and looked around with a snake like eye that protruded from the top.
Snowflake moved past the room, unsure if it was an insane robot or perhaps just still following its mission to clean even after all these years.
It did explain how the place was so clean and tidy, something he subconsciously appreciated that stemmed from his time in his old stable.
The stallion ventured down the halls still, passing by many offices with work areas and many terminals that still looked like they worked, filing cabinets sat next to each desk with some having locks. The desks were all neat and tidy, with some having a knickknack or two on them, perhaps a doll of sort or a family photo set up, perhaps some other random object like a snowglobe that he saw and found himself drawn to.
Snowflake trotted over to the snowglobe, which had a small little colorful town within it, and an inscription that read Ponyville - The Town of Friendship and Harmony! For some reason he picked it up, and put it into his saddlebag, perhaps he could pawn it off on someone for some caps.
He didn’t know who would want it, but it was worth trying to sell.
With a sigh he turned and looked at the terminal he stood near before turning it on and taking a seat in the chair. He sniffled, stifling a sneeze from the dust covering the desk and device as it booted up. Equestrian technology always continued to amaze him, even after two hundred years it continued to work perfectly. If only I could have been alive during Equestria’s technological golden age. A beeping told him the terminal booted up, and upon looking through it, he saw several tabs and clicked on the first one.
-Want to please your mare the way she deserves? Or maybe you just want to impress your stallion friends at the pub? Click now to buy MegaSize-X today!-
He frowned, it was just one of those advertisements. Is that all stallions worried about back in old world Equestria? Snowflake pondered as he shook his head. He exited out of the message before clicking through the other messages, most of which were porn advertisements…
The seat he was in suddenly felt uncomfortable as he gave a grimace, before getting out of it.
“Disgusting.” He muttered, as he turned and left the offices, before heading down the halls once more.
Snowflake busied himself with checking most of the terminals, some, despite their working appearence didn’t turn on, or outright fried up when he tried to boot them up. The ones that did work had a few private messages to other co-workers about some party that was going on a floor above. He wasn’t sure what the party was, but he figured it must have been one to celebrate a major event, if the newspaper nearby reading Spartan Legion Ship Sunk! And the title of the party messages involving the ship being sunk were any indication.
Why celebrate that? Did ARGENT have something to do with its destruction? He looked around more, only finding tax papers and reports about various technologies that sounded interesting. He lifted up his Pipbuck, recording most of the information he found on the terminals as well as writing down every bit of information he found into the device. His Pipbuck proved to be exceptionally useful for storing information, and he was glad to have it in his possession.
As he kept looking, he found himself becoming drawn to the Spartan Ship. He picked through the trash nearby, finding a newspaper with the full article and deciding to read it.
“Recent reports involving the Spartan Legion Ship, the Scourge of the Seas sinking have been confirmed by many sources, most of which being the survivors of the Equestrian battleship The Sleepy Hollow informed us. It had been a regular patrol for them when the massive Zebra ship sailed into view of the coastline city of Steelhoof, and an evacuation order was issued.
The Sleepy Hollow was sent in to intercept the ship alongside several Raptors but as they confronted the ship, they were fired upon, with two raptors being destroyed with all on board dead, and the Sleepy Hollow suffering extensive damage. It was a dreadful day for all those lost, but all was changed when the ship suddenly started to, and I quote ‘crackle with unnatural red light before screams filled the air’.
No one knows exactly what happened, but reports say the Scourge of the Seas began to melt! But the thing is, the heat appeared to have come from inside the ship, ‘crimson red like the blood of the damned’ one sailor had to tell us.
The ship sunk shortly after with no survivors.
No one is sure what happened, but celebration began shortly after. Perhaps we’ll never know what exactly caused it to sink, but one thing we do know is that as long as we believe in our glorious nation, and our leaders and the Ministry Mares… nothing can stop us from winning this war.”
~ Fine Ink
Snowflake hummed to himself as he wrote down what was in the newspaper into his Pipbuck. Scourge of the Seas, Sleepy Hollow, interesting… what could have caused that kind of destruction? He thought about the unnatural red light that destroyed the zebra ship from the inside. It was very odd, it didn’t sound like magic… but then again it could have been some sort of energy weapon, but what caused it to destroy the ship in such a way? ARGENT may have had a hoof in that… He theorized as he walked out of the offices, and headed down the halls into the back where he found several walls made of glass, showing the labs of the building.
Research equipment sat around on tables, with beakers and test tubes, terminals that had shattered screens and destroyed keyboards. He saw waste bins filled with burnt and charred papers, all of which was no longer readable, cameras were smashed and there were old brown stains covering the floor up ahead. He pulled out his gun, eyes narrowed as he made his way to the edge of the wall before rounding the corner.
What he saw caused him to raise an eyebrow. In a line near a bullet riddled and blood stained wall were a row of bodies in tattered lab coats, with broken and snapped bones, holes in their skulls. The tables in the room were flipped over, their surfaces riddled with bullet holes, and the fragile equipment that they once held was smashed on the ground. When he checked behind the tables, he found the corpse of an Equestrian marine, her weapon still attached to her battle saddle. He could tell it was a mare, from how her pelvis was shaped and how small she was, all those years of working as a medical officer in his stable proved handy right now it seems.
Execution? The bodies lying on the floor, in the way they were slumped against the walls told him they were executed… but why? He shook his head, confusion filling his mind as he focused on the corpse. The body was peppered with so many bullet holes it had been rendered useless, but the weapon looked to be in good shape, so he plucked it up and looked it over. “AR-66, A decent rifle, not my cup of tea of course.” He spoke to himself, before slinging it over his back and checking for ammunition, which he found in the form of four magazines that he stored in his saddlebags before moving on and looking through the thrashed laboratories.
The next laboratory was filled with more burnt papers and smashed terminals. The stink of decay and lab fumes filled the air making his nose crinkle as a familiar feeling washed over him, of his time spent in the Stable’s Labs, working on creating various medical remedies for the sick and injured. He sighed to himself, such simpler times they were for him, but now…
He shook his head as he continued to search, after looking around he concluded there was nothing else of use in the area before moving onto the second floor.
The second story of the Research Labs appeared to be somewhat the same as down below, with a few lab areas and offices, a break room which was decorated with party banners and hats, and another set of stairs going up. Snowflake made his way into the party area, finding a very old cake sitting on the table nearby, not a single slice had been taken out of the old brown and faded magenta colored treat.
His stomach rumbled at the sight, reminding him he had not eaten in quite some time. With a sigh, he moved on and started to look in the labs around him, finding the same as down below, thrashed workplaces and destroyed terminals. He saw black scorch marks near one work area, with a pile of charred bones lying on the floor in burned lab coats. More bullet holes covered the walls around him, making him wonder exactly what happened here.
Dead bodies, execution style deaths… a purge? He moved on from the labs, eventually finding an office belonging to a Mr. Double Diamond. He opened up the room, finding the body of said individual slumped against a window showing a perfect view of the very distant pink blob of Canterlot from the northside, the dark cloud that loomed over the city ever present. The body held an empty bottle of heavy duty painkillers in one hoof, and a folder in the other, Snowflake took the folder and grabbed what appeared to be a gun before storing the simple 10MM pistol in his pack as he opened up the folder.
Project Juno continues to exceed expectations in the field! It’s unlike anything our earlier projects have managed, and I eagerly suggest funding this project, it has proven extremely effective after months of stress testing and the occasional skirmish against the Spartan Legionaries.
As a part of the Eden Project Bundle, we need to make this a reality! Juno is the future of combat and war!
He read, as he looked at the cover of the folder. Eden Prime Power. “Odd… this company is ARGENT’s rival, why would one of their folders be here of all places?” He pondered, taking the folder and storing it in his pack for later. He knew of Eden Prime Power as well, an energy company that was birthed after the recent success of ARGENT’s own technologies, however they were probably even more secretive than ARGENT was. Perhaps this fellow stole it for ARGENT to use? Again, he had no idea.
But it caused his curiosity to grow even further with the discovery of this Project Juno. What was it? What did it do? He had no idea, he had more questions than before, and he was going to get answers for them all somehow.
Snowflake continued rooting through Double Diamond’s office, finding little to nothing inside save for another broken terminal. With a grunt, he figured he’d head above to the executive offices on the third floor, perhaps there was something there. He left the office before heading for the stairs, trotting up each one as he pulled out his rifle again, if he knew his buildings, there would no doubt be some sort of danger above…
That and his E.F.S. was telling him there were two threats above, how it knew that was beyond his knowledge but he was grateful for it. He carefully trotted up the stairs, rifle by his side as he took cover by the corner with a path going left and right. He peered out slightly, looking right and spotting two turrets above, blocking off access to what looked like a very important looking office. To the left he saw a few other offices, lacking the heavy defenses the one to his right possessed.
With a bit of daring, he moved over to the left and galloping out of cover before ducking into the only open office as he heard the turret whir. However they didn’t fire, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he ran a hoof through his mane. “Whew.” He breathed, as he looked around the office, finding a single terminal on a desk, and the body of a pony on the floor with a hole in their skull but no gun.
He trotted over to the terminal before turning it on. He found a few things, some of which were emails from fellow staff workers, one he clicked on out of curiosity.
-Hey, Bee, you still up for the party tonight? I hope you are, I’ve been looking forward to taking you out for awhile.-
~D
-Hey Diamond Dust, I’m… sorry, I can’t really go tonight, I got roped into another project and they need me to help out… sorry.-
~B
It read, and he hummed in interest at the mention of yet another project. He continued to read through the messages, eyeglasses adjusted as he clicked on the next one to see what this D had to say.
-It’s always about some project! Or you’re ‘busy’ or something like that… why don’t you just come out and say it already-
~D
-What? What are you talking about?-
~B
-I’m talking about us, I’ve been trying so hard to be the pony you want me to be but… you keep coming up with excuses not to hang out with me and… it’s making me wonder if you even give a damn about me.-
~D
-Diamond, no no no, I told you I’m involved in this super secret project! I promise on my life that once I’m done, we’ll do whatever you want, it’s just work has been so busy for me and with Big Macintosh’s death...-
~B
There were no replies after that, so he simply closed out the messages as his mind digested whatever this Bee was speaking of. Secret project… hmm… He found himself growing more and more curious as time went by, First Juno, now this project? Curious… He clicked through some of the files on her terminal, most of which consisted of private messages to other coworkers about the party and how they couldn’t go and was very sorry. At the bottom of the mailbox, he saw one message simply titled, Project News: [DELETE AFTERWARDS]
He didn’t waste time before clicking on it.
-I’m curious about the status of Project Harmony, care to tell me?-
~RD
-We’ve been working around the clock ma’am, I promise. We’ve fixed a few bugs with the firing system, and we had to… appropriate some zebra balefire missiles to fill up the bays with, but it’s close to being finished.-
~B
Snowflake’s eyes went a little wide at the mention of Balefire. Balefire missiles? Why on earth would they steal something so dangerous? He pondered, confusion filling his mind. What kind of project needs Balefire missiles to function? Needing answers, he clicked on the next message.
-Update?-
~RD
-We’ve run into a problem with getting the parts to the lab in Steelhoof without anyone stopping us. We’ve almost been caught!-
~B
-Don’t worry about that, just make sure it gets done… for Equestria’s sake.-
~RD
-Yes ma’am, the cannon parts should be there shortly...-
~B
A cannon? Snowflake wrenched his eyes shut, taking off his glasses and rubbing them. First Balefire missiles, now a cannon? What on earth were they building? He looked at the office, thinking maybe it had something in it that could tell him… but he saw nothing and he just growled. “Okay, a few more messages, let’s see...”
-Status?-
~RD
-All parts have been installed, everything’s been green lit by Doctor Crow and Doctor Animus, systems are all green and it’s ready for combat testing… we did it.-
~B
-Good, I’m going by the lab in Steelhoof to check on it now, I expect to see you there as well Bee. You’ve done good, for both Equestria, and Blackwatch...-
~RD
-Thank you! I’ll be sure to head out right away ma’am!-
~B
There were no more messages after that, and he saw these were dated a day before the bombs fell. He looked at the body, pondering if this was Bee, or perhaps another employee who was unfortunate enough to be inside this building. He had no idea, as his mind processes the messages he downloaded into his Pipbuck, cataloging them as he thought about the word Blackwatch. What is Blackwatch? A branch of the military? If so I’ve never heard of it… maybe a Ministry of Awesome security force? Perhaps… He downloaded the messages, before going towards the door and looking down the hall at the office at the end.
He didn’t know whose office it was… but perhaps the answers he was looking for were inside it. Blackwatch, Harmony, Juno. He would find out what these were, as well as everything else, for his journey to this place would not be without reward.
He pulled out his rifle, taking a few breathes before pulling out the pistol and assault rifle as well, he checked them all before sighing. “A bit overkill I suppose, but perhaps it shall aid me.” He told himself, before walking out of the room, he didn’t waste time before aiming his guns and firing them at the turrets. Both of them fired on him, causing him to gallop forward as he continued to fire what ammo he had at the two metal contraptions.
As they both exploded, he slid to a stop as he heard something whirring to life behind him. With a slightly confused expression, he turned and saw a robot on treads staring at him, with robotic two arms that held four drum magazines on the sides and four barrels pointed at him.
“Bugger me.” He said quietly, as the robot’s eye was bright red.
“UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY, PREPARE FOR TERMINATION STRIPE.” It yelled at him in its robotic drone as he jumped down the stairs, firing his guns at the robot as the barrels spun, and to his absolute horror he saw both heavy rifle rounds and shotgun slugs being fired out in a hellfire storm of death.
“Shit!” He cursed as he fell down the stairs with a yelp of pain. Who makes something like that! He wondered before he managed to stop his fall, groaning as he picked up his guns again, reloading the assault rifle as he tossed the pistol, it being empty before firing them at the bot again.
His rounds managed to take off one arm and damage the lense that acted as its eye, causing it to fire wildly before he jumped out of the way of some of the bullets, only to have his leg grazed as one slug caught him in the chest. “GHRK!” He choked as he flew back, hitting the wall as the air escaped his lungs and causing him to gasp for air as the robot gave a whir before firing again.
Thankfully it missed him by a mile.
Snowflake got to his hooves, coughing as he aimed his rifle carefully at the thing’s back, where he saw several important looking parts. He fired three rounds in rapid succession, all three bullets hitting the robot’s back before it started to spark. “MALFUNCTION DETECTED… MALFUNCTION… DE...TEC...TED...” It droned, before falling still and causing the stallion to let out a sigh of relief.
Coughing once more he stood up, looking down at his barding and yanking out the slug that hit him. Nothing felt broken, but he had a feeling a rib or two might have been fractured from the sheer force of the piece of metal. Snowflake slowly made his way up the stairs, tossing away the slug as he checked his E.F.S. and saw that he was in the clear, so he made his way to the office after passing by the robot.
He had seen many robots over the years, small ones like the Ministry Of Morale sprite bots and the bigger combat bots he had seen wandering the wastes or in storage. But this one was a new one, and it actually scared him a little bit, he felt some kind of darkness from it… his horn tingled as he saw the back of it emitting some red fumes, crimson red fumes as it continued to spark. This thing was evil in his eyes…
But he ignored it as he went to the last place that might hold some answers. Sparking turrets aside he saw no threats, so he opened the door and entered into a rather clean looking office with a large desk, two black terminals and a few bookcases. The office window had a nice view of the outside, showing a parking lot and a landing pad nearby, all of which must have looked rather nice before it was scorched away in a wave of balefire. A nice maroon colored carpet covered the floor, fitting in nicely with the dark walls, with a few vases filled with wilted flowers were positioned around the room.
As he went into the room, he felt something… something magical in the room. Looking around, he went towards the desk where he found a glass cube sitting on it next to the terminal, and inside he saw a rare sight...
"A Memory Orb?” He looked down at the blue orb, with swirling clouds inside it that drew his attention. He knew all about these devices, small orbs that held the memories of ponies, most of which held priceless information that was extremely valuable in the right hooves. He took the top of the glass cube off of it before picking it up, he looked over to the door before closing it with his magic and locking it.
Then he pressed his horn to the orb and made the connection…
-
00000ooooo00000
-
Snowflake found himself in the body of a mare, and he suddenly felt uncomfortable as he felt a part of her that was slightly heated. It made him want to leave now but he knew he was trapped inside until it ended, so for now, for the sake of science and his own curiosity he’d deal with it. Looking out ahead he saw a large building near the coastline, seven stories with a large part of it standing over the water with a few ships docked nearby. ARGENT-TEK was on the side in large letters that shimmered as he approached, before landing on the helipad.
He barely noticed that there was someone with him.
His host took the time to straighten out her clothes before looking out into the ocean, where she saw several large cargo ships sailing out east. “How did it all come to this?” She asked, and looked to the left where Snowflake saw a pony in solid black power armor with blue eyepieces that looked at her. It was obvious to him that it was a stallion, a large winged pegasus that made him raise… or at least try to raise an eyebrow. He also felt the mare’s heart pick up its pace upon looking at him, making him wonder...
“I don’t know ma’am.” He responded, sounding sullen. “Bad luck… destiny… fate?” He offered as he looked out at the ocean as well, making his host sigh.
“It’s shit fate… if you ask me.” She said as she moved towards the roof access, entering in a code on the keypad nearby which beeped green, before opening the door and going inside. “Let’s go.”
The staircase led down to several doors, and his host descended down every step as Snowflake felt her heart pounding in her chest. But she forced herself to stay calm, it wasn’t so much of a scared heart beat, but more of an anxious one.
I’m afraid to think of why she’s feeling hot down there… He thought to himself as his host continued down until reaching the ground floor and going to the door, opening it wide up and entering a clean looking hall with ponies walking around. She walked inside with a purpose, many ponies looking at her and moving out of her way. Obviously this is someone of importance… but who?
The pegasus he was in kept trotting, passing by several labs where ponies worked on devices, some that had glowing runes on them, armors and weapons that all drew his attention. He had never seen these kind of weapons in the wasteland anywhere, not even in the most well off of places. To his right he saw all kinds of weapons, all glowing a hellish red color as ponies worked on them. To his left were odd bardings, and even modified power armor units that were currently being outfitted with runes and heavy armor plates that made them look even bigger and more intimidating.
After a brisk walk he found himself in a large lab, with large equipment sitting around. Terminals and computer equipment, large towers with blinking lights of red and yellow with sparse amounts of green on them hummed as six individuals were gathered near a table with papers on it, and a terminal or two sitting nearby.
“I’m telling you, the power output of this… thing is massive! It shouldn’t even be possible, even with the reactors we be into it!” A stallion said, obviously distressed looking as he talked with a griffon that donned a pair of sunglasses. “Something about this bugs me, we should run another test.”
“I don’t see the problem, more power means more power for the cannon.” The griffon told him, looking down at what appeared to be blueprints as Snowflake’s host walked over to them. The griffon looked up, before bowing his head. “Hello ma’am.” He said respectively, as the others did the same.
I can’t be one of the princesses, I‘m too small… maybe someone else who’s respected? Snowflake wondered, before his host spoke.
“Doctors.” His host said, looking at them all in turn. There was a single griffon and zebra in the group, and only one mare, all donned lab coats. “I’m here to check on Harmony, what’s the status of it?”
Harmony? This must be the place from the messages! Snowflake felt excited as the scientists looked at the mare nervously.
“Harmony is ready, like I said in my messages,” The mare said, who appeared to have a bumblebee on her flank. “Everything checks out, the engines work and the reactors run just fine, it didn’t take much… it was incredibly expensive however.” She said with a sheepish expression.
“Money’s no issue.” The pegasus told her as Snowflake wondered just how expensive it was. “We have plenty of ways to obtain the funding for this.”
The stallion who spoke before however, looked up and said, “The reactors...”
“Enough about the reactors you old coot.” The griffon told him with a roll of his eyes. “They’re just fine.”
With a slight frown, the stallion looked at the griffon. “They are producing five times the amount of power they normally should, even for a city class reactor.” The stallion yelled, whirling on the griffon and forcing him back. “The weapons are basically supercharged because of that making it far more dangerous than intended!“
“Supercharged?” Snowflake’s host questioned, her tone one of interest as her heartbeat accelerated. “That sounds good to me, that means the main weapon will be more powerful… right?” She asked, a slight tone of hopeful expectation in her voice.
“Of course, but from my tests, the main weapon, when its fired will be so powerful it’d level an entire city, maybe even a mountain if you wanted to fire it at one” The stallion told his host, who frowned slightly as she adjusted a hat on her head. “This is too powerful for any one pony to wield in war, even against zebras. We haven’t even run actual combat tests with it, but I can tell it exceeds your… expectations."
“If I’m being honest,” His host started, eyes narrowed. “I don’t give a damn.” She told him as she advanced on the table, her power armored comrade following her. “They’ve taken too much from us, too much Equestria blood has been spilled by their guns and too many graves dug… we need to end this war and this is the way… so hearing that Harmony exceeds my expectations is a good thing… it just puts us at the top of the food chain.”
The stallion just huffed, adjusting his glasses in a way that reminded Snowflake of himself. “Even so… the output of power is immense, we haven’t even tested the cannon itself… for all we know it could explode when it’s used.”
The griffon scoffed. “I highly doubt that Chemical,” The griffon told him with a grin. “We’re working with the best that Equestria has to offer in terms of funding and equipment, I’m positive that this work of art we’ve created will work just fine.” He turned towards Snowflake, or rather, his host before saying, “It’s all ready to go…”
After a moment, the mare asked, “The keys?“ as she held out a cyan hoof towards him.
Chemical levitated up a silver case, before sliding it over to the mare and opening it up, revealing six shiny keys, all of which made Snowflake look on in shock within the body he was trapped inside of. He saw six keys, all silver with two prongs on the end and each with a colored tag… emblazoned with the cutie mark of the Ministry Mares.
Keys… what are these for? He wondered, as the mare ran a hoof over Rainbow Dash’s key. He didn’t know of any dangerous weapon that used keys… but these weren’t normal keys, these were something… else, something special.
“Harmony is ready to go, it just needs these keys for activation.” The griffon told him as the building suddenly began to shake, a distant explosion going off above as ponies started to scream. Everyone in the room began to look around, as a distant alarm went off. “What the...?”
The mare grabbed the key and stuffed it into her pocket before saying. “Evacuate the lab now, burn any evidence about Harmony.” She told the six, before saying. “We are the first and last line of defense… now go.” She told them as looks of recognition appeared in their eyes before she turned and ran.
-
00000ooooo00000
-
Snowflake gasped as he came out of the orb, looking around as he digested what he just learned. Project Harmony… some kind of weapon? But what… whatever it is, it’s immensely powerful. He shook his head as he picked up the orb gently, placing it inside his saddlebags as he looked at the terminal before turning it on. Harmony uses a cannon and balefire missiles, powered by reactors… what on earth were they building down there? It must have been a weapon of some sort… He had no idea, but it was enough to make him want to know more. As the terminal booted up, he thought about what his host said. We are the first and last line of defense… could that be a reference to something?
Another question that needed answers as the terminal booted up, showing several messages that didn’t look interesting to him. But he clicked on them anyway, each one detailing private messages to TS and PP and even more to AJ.
One of which read.
-Hey… the armor I told you about, it’s been completed.-
~AJ
-Really? That’s awesome! Can I come by to see it?-
~RD
-Sure, it’s at th-WF87DG0S9G07GK-[warning, message corrupted]
“Damn it.” Snowflake cursed as he leaned back in the chair, looking towards the window as his thoughts whirled around inside his head like a hurricane. Everything I’ve heard and read all leads south… and this just confirms my suspicions… it’s in the Coastline. He sighed, having heard many tales of the areas near the coast. How there were dangers there that were like that of the Hoof further west, only different looking.
He didn’t want to go there… but for the sake of finding out more about Harmony… he’d risk it.
“The Coastline...” He sighed, standing up as he made his way towards the door. “Looks like I’ll have to obtain some more ammo for this venture.” He made a note in his pipbuck as he walked towards the exit of the building.
He wasn’t sure if he would find any more answers in the Coastline involving Harmony, Juno or even Blackwatch… but he could hope...
Author's Note
GoogleDocs fucked up the formatting so horribly, I had to re-edit the damn thing...
Regardless, welcome to my Fallout: Equestria series!
Huge thanks to my Awesome Editor: Ranger88 for helping out with making this look a lot better, and for pointing out some crap that didn't sound right.
And big thanks to my Swaggin' Pre-Reader: PrinceUniversa for giving this a look over and approving it for all of you guys!
This is the first in a long line of insanity and war...
Strap yourselves in kids... you're in for a bumpy ride.
