Equestrian Stranded

Sunset didn’t wait for the nurses to come into the room. She had already said her goodbyes and there was no reason for her to linger. In a matter of hours Celestia’s body would be taken to a crematory and burned. That was the fate of anyone who passed nowadays, to prevent them from becoming BT’s themselves.

“Sunset?” She was already heading down the hall when someone called out to her, causing her to stop. She recognized that voice all too well. She turned around and saw a woman close to her age smiling back at her, though it looked like a sad smile. The pink streaks in her purple hair gave her away immediately.

“Twilight.” Sunset’s tone came across as neutral and that was how she was feeling at the moment. She should’ve been happy to come across her closest friend whom she hadn’t seen in almost two years…should’ve been but her feelings were mixed at best.

“I just heard what happened and…I’m sorry,” Twilight said, looking down. “We never really talked much back when I was at school but…she was always so kind and she helped a lot with-”

“Twilight.” Sunset said her name again but this time there was more emotion in her voice. “I…it’s not that I’m not happy to see you I’m just not in the mood to talk.”

“Places to be?” Twilight had a slight smirk on her face. “I know you’re always busy but unfortunately this isn’t a social visit. I’m here to retrieve you.”

Sunset’s eyes narrowed. Of course it was that obvious. “Whatever Mare wants, I’m not interested. She says she wants to fix the world but how far is she willing to go for that?”

Twilight sighed as she crossed her arms. She was wearing her lab coat, a coat that she now wore as a badge of honor. “You’re not going to even let her explain what she wants?”

“I don’t have to hear it. Listen…I know the last time we spoke things went…south between us but you don’t have to play the hero. You don’t owe these people anything.”

“I know, but these last two years we’ve made huge breakthroughs. I can spend all day telling you what’s been going on. You know, if you ever wanted to catch up.”

Sunset sighed. “Do I really have a choice here?”

“Oh you do, but I think we both know what’ll happen if you refuse.”

“What, you’re going to drag me there?”

Twilight smiled sadly. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. I’m afraid I won’t be able to talk in person.” Her figure suddenly shimmered. “Work has kept me busy and…in the lab unfortunately.”

Sunset looked away for a moment. “If I decide to come, will you consider that an apology…?” She looked back at Twilight. “For all the stupid shit I said?”

“I’ll think about it. So, you know where to go?”

“Yeah…I know where to go…”

There was a time long ago when Town Hall was merely seen as a building that stood as the seat of government that seemed cold and yet still approachable. Now, the former remained and the latter was completely gone. Armed troops surrounded the entrance to the building, which in itself has been expanded to show as a reminder that here, it was the only form of government still standing.

The guards had apparently been anticipating her for when she arrived they didn’t give so much as a nod in her direction as she went inside. A woman younger than her soon escorted her to the Mayor’s office and upon opening the door, Sunset could see the mayor wasn’t alone.

The first person who she saw was Twilight, who at the moment had been talking to the mayor directly. Opposite her was an older woman with a rigid face. Sunset of course recognized her and only knew her by her last name, Harshwhinny. Before the Death Stranding, she had been head of the organization in charge of the Olympic Games, and now she was ultimately Mare’s second-in-command.

“Miss Shimmer, nice of you to finally join us, and unarmed as well,” Harshwhinny said with a testy tone.

“Sorry, just came from the hospital, didn’t have time to bring anything,” Sunset replied back with a smile. Harshwhinny could hear the sarcasm in her voice and gave a dismissive sniff.

“I apologize for the sudden urgency, I just heard the news,” Mare said, bowing her head. “I can only hope that Celestia has gone off to a better place.”

“So what’s so important that you had to drag me into it?” Sunset asked. “And don’t bother sugarcoating it, if it didn’t involve me possibly getting killed, I wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

“Oh believe me, we wouldn’t have you here if that were the case,” Harshwhinny replied.

“Now, now,” Mare said somewhat sternly. “You are right Sunset, we do need you for this mission and, well, I’m afraid you’re really the only one who can pull it off.” Sunset said nothing so she continued. “As you know, because of what has happened, we’ve essentially been cut off from the rest of the world. Even worse, our own country has been fragmented. No longer are we a nation, but merely a handful of cities, cities that can’t even communicate with one another remotely.”

She pressed a button on her desk and a 3D hologram of a map appeared, showing Canterlot and some of the neighboring cities. “When the Stranding began, all communication was essentially lost and the only way to get messages across was on foot. Since then, with the Chiral Network we have been able to get new supplies and materials and even establish short-range communication, but it was still not enough. Then, about a year ago, Twilight here was able to make a breakthrough.”

“The Chiral Network works much differently than the kind of networks we had in the past, so essentially I was starting from square one,” Twilight explained. “I was however able to convert chiral waves into a useable frequency, much like radio waves. It took a lot of time but I was able to establish a transmitter that used these waves to establish a new means of communication across each city. The only problem was…I hadn’t quite been able to connect them all together.”

“To put it simply, connecting all the cities together would require huge bandwidths, bandwidths we didn’t have at the time,” Harshwhinny continued. “However, Miss Sparkle was able to create a…uh, what did you call it again?”

“A ‘D-Bus’,” Twilight replied, pressing the bridge of her glasses to her face as she revealed a rectangular piece of metal the size of a packet of gum. It was connected to a metal chain. “It’s not the most creative name, mind you, but essentially it works like a USB device and…well it reminded me of a domino, hence D-Bus.

“Anyway, this little piece of metal contains a program that when activated in each city, will essentially expand and increase the Chiral Network’s bandwidth. In other words, we’ll be able to establish connection with each city and be able to wirelessly send materials and supplies.”

“Which brings us to you Sunset,” Mare said, her eyes focused on Sunset now. “As you can probably guess…”

“Doing this requires crossing through BT territory,” Sunset replied as she crossed her arms. “And because I’m the only one who can survive voidouts…”

“We tried to send out teams before but…they never made it past Fillydelphia,” Mare continued.

“Terrorists,” Harshwhinny added. “One group in particular.”

“Who are these assholes?” Sunset asked.

“Homo Demons, their so-called creed is ‘Nuntius mortis,’” Twilight answered.

“Envoy of death,” Sunset translated. “They know the world is ending, might as well bring everyone with it.”

“They’re not just some cult,” Harshwhinny said sternly. “They’re organized, and even if they’re mostly hired guns, they’re not stupid.”

“Now do you see why you would have to go it alone?” Mare asked.

“Anyone getting killed would be a liability…and if it’s just me I can probably sneak by them undetected,” Sunset said in thought. “You’re assuming I’ve already agreed to this. Why should I?”

“I won’t pretend to know what you’ve gone through,” Mare said as she went up and put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “But I believe if your friends…the ones that didn’t make it, were here, they’d want you to do this.”

Sunset shrugged off her hand. “Let me get a couple things straight. If I do this, I better be rewarded handsomely for this. Second, I’m not doing this for you. For all I care, you can all go fuck off. But I’ll do it…”

“That’s all I ask,” Mare said with a small smile. “Now, I probably don’t have to tell you this, but it’s not going to be as simple as making your way to each city. Not everyone will trust the idea of a ‘new network’ and they certainly may not trust establishing a new government, so it may take more than words to convince them. Now then, Miss Sparkle will escort you to the R&D lab and get you all you need for this mission. We’re counting on you Sunset, and thank you.”