Patrol Picket E-201, Cpt. Steadfast Commanding
Equestrian Royal Navy
Captain's Log, 15 Days After “Apocalypse”

It's safe to say that I’ve had plenty of time to process what we found in the mountains last week. While we have no answers regarding the presence of the Crusader and the Elements I’ve managed to get past it. Part of that was a natural process, while the other part was a bit of necessity. The necessity is the current worsening of conditions we’re facing. While there hasn’t been anymore radioactive snow, the melted material polluted all the topsoil in the area and made it unusable for planting crops. That introduces a problem for the long-term, as once the non-perishables in the facility are expended we’d need to find an additional source of sustenance.

With that in mind Porter and I took to discussing solutions to the current issue. After going through the database on site we’ve found reference to a research facility a few miles north of Poneva City. From what little we can tell the facility is an underground agriculture lab with room for a handful of staff to live on site. Assuming that the facility is intact it would likely answer the long-term food conundrum. But the issue would be moving everyone north with no guarantee of safe harbor, and the lack of space aboard the picket would require multiple trip.

Cold Storage Facility
Porter

“For the record I still don’t think this is a good idea.” Steadfast said as we strolled through the rows of cryopods.

“Well I still haven’t heard any better ideas.” I retorted as we stepped onto the elevator that was at the head of the large chamber. “Look, what’s the worst that could happen? At least if we’re all on ice we won’t be going through food and we’ll be safe if there’s any sort of radioactive contamination that breaches the bunker.”

“And I’m just supposed to leave you all here?” Steadfast asked.

As the elevator closed I couldn’t help but think. Steadfast obviously feels that leaving us is not in his best interests… And in that sense I can’t rightly blame him. As far as any of us know we’re all that’s left of the Equestrian military. As the door to the entryway a few levels up opened I reached down under my shirt and pulled out a brass key. “What if you had a reason to come back? Something that tied you here?”

“Is that supposed to make me feel any better?” Steadfast countered.

“No, but the best I can do is a consolation prize.” I said as I handed Steadfast the key. “This is the second arming key for the entire cryogenic array. To thaw the ponies downstairs out you’d need two identical keys. I’ll keep one, and you take the other for good measure.”

“But what if the research base isn’t viable? What do we do then?” Steadfast asked as I stepped into the cryopod that was built into the wall of the foyer.

“Then find other options.” I said. “It's not like we’ll have a problem. The cryo systems are designed with long-term operations in mind. They’re projected to function without maintenance or failure for at least three hundred years. Even if you don’t come back for us… Well, one of your kids could. The access panel I showed you upstairs will take the key if one of the fingerprints doesn’t match the records, so that’ll solve that problem.”

As the hatch to my pod swung shut I saw Steadfast standing there. “You do know that I can’t make any promise, right?” He said, the sound of his voice coming across as muffled from my seat in the cryopod.

As the glass slowly began to ice up I cracked a smile. “I know… And I can live with that.” I said, right as my vision faded to black.

Entry Continues

So we developed a plan. We would take the civilians with us and the Marines would go into cryo until we can return for them. There is a distinct possibility at this time that the research facility is no longer habitable, which would mean we would have to leave these ponies on ice until we could find a place to establish a proper settlement. It’s not a prospect I relish, that much is clear, but after much insistence Porter entrusted me with one of the system arming keys. As he put it he wanted to make sure that I had a something tying me to this place to give me or even my descendants a reason to return. Whenever that happens his pod will be triggered first. At that point we can assess our situation and determine if pulling the marines out of the pods would be wise. If not Porter will go back into his pod and we’ll revisit the issue again when other solutions are available.

As we left the underground vault one of the scientists asked for a few minutes alone at the elevator. When I went back for her I found that she had modified the logo on the elevator wall. Instead of the standard naval anchor, there was an anchor frozen in ice. I didn’t argue with the mare regarding protocol and how graffiti is a nuisance. There’s no one around to enforce the rules and maybe someone will see that logo as a clue to something greater hidden beneath the piles of scrap should we never manage to come back… I suppose one can only hope.

After we left the original plan was to go straight to the research facility, but that changed when the communications officer picked up a distress beacon while searching through the military frequencies. The beacon, like the ones detected last week, held a location. A cross reference of the coordinates revealed that it was coming from the Mall of Equestria, many miles south of us in the heartland. I remember the place well from shore leave about a year ago. For the duration of the flight south Spark and I kept tossing theories as to why a military distress beacon was activated at an ostensibly civilian marketplace, with the best one we managed to come up with relating to the possibility that a military unit had taken shelter there after the bombs fell.

But there’s an old adage that comes to mind after our excursion there… Truth is stranger than fiction. Well it certainly is in this instance. Upon arrival the Marine contingent didn’t find any signs of either survivors or potential hostiles. As such we took it upon ourselves to explore the Mall more thoroughly. It was through that exploration that we came across a weapons lab of all things! Surviving documentation on site revealed that we had stumbled upon a project of some “Special Weapons Division”. While it isn’t clear which ministry that the unit fell under the weapon in question was developed specifically for Princess Luna. It was a minigun, one with no requirement to reload due to the inclusion of a star metal core. All of the documents referred to it as “Stargazer”.

I suppose that such a moniker is appropriate considering the intended user, but its existence is concerning. We managed to simply walk in with no opposition and have no use for a weapon of with this level of destructive potential. But in the wake of the bombs falling I didn’t feel it wise to leave such a weapon undefended. Simply allowing someone to take it would cause insurmountable trouble for any survivors… So against the opinion of my Marine Sergeant I activated the local robotic security and programmed us as allowed personnel. We were able to walk out of that lab without incident and feel secure knowing that it would take a small army to reach Stargazer. It’s a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

In the meantime we’re headed farther south towards Manehattan. While it’s weak we’re picking up on some sort of radio signal on one of the Guard frequencies.We can’t tell much as we’re too far from the source of the transmission, and after some rough guess work the best we can tell is that the signal is coming from within twenty miles of the city center. With what looks to be a blizzard setting in I don’t predict an arrival in the region any time soon. So for now we’ll all just have to try and get comfortable…

Author's Note

I completely forgot, but Forest has another chapter of the audiobook up for the enjoyment of the masses! WOO!

Updated Chapter posted 6/6/17

And now we know what the deal was with the fancy logo on the elevator door. Readers of Broken Mirror Part II will recognize it from the early part of Arc II. And those of you who have read Volrathxp’s Fallout Equestria story will recognize the Stargazer reference... It’s an easter egg, what can I say?

Anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker