The Last Soldier of Equestria

Finally a normal morning. I thought as I opened my eyes, but in the next few seconds I quickly realized that I was wrong. My mouth was dry, the mere lifting of my head was a stab of pain, and I was very thirsty. It's not surprising that I feel this way, considering that I've only drunk about three liters of water in the last couple of days and I've started to get slightly dehydrated, but I needed to conserve water until I found a way to open the warehouse.

Now, the first thing I did was take a new bottle out of the red box and drink a third at a time, as usual throwing in half the contents of the canned food. A little salt, which, judging by the taste, was in them, along with water, should have better helped restore the water-salt balance, and banal I also satisfied my hunger.

By the way, here is a goal for today — I need to thoroughly inspect the warehouse to get out everything useful. Just smoothing my mane, as I had done yesterday, I went outside and walked along the once-designated gravel road in the middle of the base, past the generator building, to the building that stood not far from the wall protecting our military facility.

Inside, there was another wall, on one side of which was a barred door that was always left open, and on the other side was a thick metal door that could only be opened with a card. So the warehouse was divided into two parts: the main one and the closed one, which had limited parts and something else that needed to be locked up. Emergency crates were also in that room.

I didn't need to look at the main part of the warehouse yet, because any food stored there had long since rotted away, and I had come here for that, so I went straight to the metal door.

"Strange, the panel doesn't light up."

I stuck the card in, but nothing happened. Maybe the panel is out of order, but how do I get inside?

"I think I can take it apart and fix it. I'm sure that everything I need will be found somewhere in the warehouse."

The main part of the warehouse was completely dark, so I had to find a breaker panel hanging on the wall to turn on the light. The high-ceilinged lamps lit up and illuminated several rows of shelves and crate-lined walls.

Parts, steel sheets, a few glass panels, everything was there, but there were no tools in sight. There was nothing useful in the crates either, and I didn't even bother to look into the disabled freezers in another part of the warehouse, because it's not hard to guess what happened to the food that was once there.

Finally, I came across a large, dark green metal box, labeled "tools." It wasn't very heavy, so I just dragged it to the door in the closed part of the warehouse, so that I wouldn't have to go out every time to get something I might need.

Using a screwdriver, I unscrewed the screws holding the outer cover of the panel with a small one, and pulled it out, with the wires stretching to it.

"The wiring is fine, so the problem is in the microchip."

Digging deeper, I carefully pulled out a small board that was connected by wires between the main line, the panel, and the lock mechanism.

"There is no visible damage, the capacitors are not swollen, the fuses, as well as the circuit itself, are not burned out, so it should have worked."

Of course, I could try to find the same circuit and replace it, but I have nothing to solder the wires, and a spell capable of such fine work is simply unknown to me, and it is unlikely that it is a problem. Digging even deeper, I checked all the wires for breaks, but it seemed that the breakage was somewhere out of my reach and I had no idea what to do now. The last time I checked everything and stuck the card in, I made sure that the panel was still not responding.

If there was an ordinary door here, I would try to knock it out with something, for example, with a sledgehammer, but in front of me was a thick steel door, on which I would leave a couple of dents at most.

I couldn't think of anything, so I decided to change my mind — it was high time I figured out how to get off the island. The supplies won't be endless, and being left alone on an island without food isn't the best prospect.

Once outside, I again thoughtlessly looked at the building opposite, which I had not yet visited. It's strange to see how many times I pass by and still don't pay attention to it, because it's just... an arsenal!

There must be explosives in there, I thought. So I found a way to open the door of the warehouse, and with a weapon somehow calmer, because who knows if I'm really so lonely on this island?

Immediately after the entrance to the building, there was another room where there was a post where one or two soldiers were sitting, guarding the arsenal. The terminal on the wooden table was unlit, and another dead pony lay beside the chair, holding a slightly rusted rifle in both hooves.

There was also a thick steel door leading into the weapons storage area, which was opened by a nearby panel, which fortunately worked. Inside, the armory was small: to the left, two tables with long drawers under them, and on the wall, hanging stands with recommendations for the handling of weapons. In front are two large metal boxes of dark green color, closed with a padlock, and on the right are four more large boxes of dark brown color and marked "ammunition"standing on top of each other.

Returning to the previous room, I searched the table and the soldier's uniform to find the key to the arsenal's locks. A small bunch of signed keys was found in one of the pockets.

I pulled one of the drawers out from under the table, read the sign - "Careful! Explosive!" - and began to pick up the key I needed. Inside, there were several shrapnel and smoke grenades arranged in compartments, as well as a couple of magic grenades, which were clearly not enough to break through the steel door of the warehouse.

In the second, with a similar note, there were several packages of explosives such as TNT and RDX, as well as two prepared strips of plasticite, just for blowing up armored doors.

"That's what I need."

I laid out the explosives I'd found on the table and began examining the gun cabinets. In the first, six assault rifles stood upright, and above them a shelf with four holstered ten-millimetre pistols. In the next one, four rifles and two nine-millimetre sub-machine guns.

I took out the magazines of the three pistols, put them in my pocket, and put the holster with the fourth on myself, then took one of the assault rifles and, having also previously discharged the others, left it on the table, next to the explosives.

There was another barred door near the ammunition crates that I hadn't noticed before. Unlocking the door, I entered the same small room with weapons cabinets and immediately noticed the tables displayed along the right wall: a real sniper rifle stood on bipods, and next to it a combat saddle with a light machine gun inserted into it!

I certainly don't need a machine gun, but a sniper rifle is a godsend. But the surprise did not end there, because in the first open weapons cabinet there were two rocket launchers with single charges. The other two carried bulletproof vests with belts for hanging weapons, saddlebags, and protective helmets.

There were four laser-beam rifles in the last one, but it was unlikely that the base would have spark batteries for them. I've looked around the arsenal and I'm sure I won't find anything else here, and it's time to go back to opening the warehouse.

I put on my stripped-down armor straps, strapped on my assault rifle, and took the explosives back to the closed warehouse door. Once again in front of the disassembled panel, I roughly identified the place where the lock mechanism should be located and attached one plate of explosive substance to it. There was no fuse, but I could try to set it on fire with a spell, as long as I could find something to hide behind.

I built a small wall of boxes from the main part of the warehouse and stood behind them. The horn lit up with a light gray light, from the spell being prepared, and the next second I was hiding behind a makeshift wall, from the deafening explosion that echoed through the walls of the room.

"I didn't think about that. I can go deaf for not long!"

After recovering a little, I went back to see if my idea had worked out. There was light coming from the half-opened passage, and there was an impressive hole in the door and wall. Leaning on the door, I finally opened it, not without effort. It seems that for greater protection, the hinges were also closed by a special mechanism, but the force of the explosives was enough to break it.

Along the left wall of the small but long room, there were cabinets with padlocks, which contained various limited parts for various complex mechanisms, and something else. A few dark gray steel boxes, and ahead of them the familiar red boxes.

"Huh, only ten?"

I expected more, but if it count on one pony, then the food should be enough for exactly a month. But I have problems with water; since it will end at least a week earlier.

Well, the food problem was temporarily solved, and in a month I will definitely think of something to escape from this island. I put one of the crates on my back and decided to take it to the headquarters building so that I wouldn't have to go to the warehouse for food every time.

When I returned to the medical room, I left my box next to the first one I brought here and decided to go up to the second floor. Since yesterday, I had been thinking of transferring control to the main terminal of the base, and it would be nice to move from a small medical office with an uncomfortable bed to one of the officers rooms.

Going into the captain's office, I turned on the terminal, but there was a password on it.

'Yeah, and who said it would be so easy?"

Now I was terribly glad that the generator terminal did not have a universal password, otherwise I would have had enough for just a few more days. After some thought, I decided to try my luck and enter the code from the card, but, as I expected, it turned out to be incorrect.

Basically, there shouldn't be anything very important to me right now. Directly opposite the office was the base commander's private room, which I wanted to check first. Inside, it was a fairly spacious room, about the same size as the captain's office itself.

There are several bookcases along the right wall, two facing the interior of the base, windows and a wide table with a lamp and a chair standing next to it. To the left is a large bed, and next to it is another desk with a terminal, a small safe and wooden cabinets standing along the wall separating the room and the corridor.

"Yes, this is clearly better than huddling in a medical office."

The terminal also demanded a password, there was nothing interesting in the desk except some papers, and the cabinets had locks built into the door. Of course, it was possible to break down the doors, but that's later. First, I want to look at the other offices, in case there is something useful there?

"Lieutenant Leaf – deputy base commander," — read the inscription on the door of the office next to me. It was half the size of the captain's office, and the first thing I saw was another dead pony lying in front of a table that was perpendicular to the door, and a couple of empty potion jars.

On the table, next to a photograph of a blue, white-maned mare, was a terminal with a cassette protruding from it.

"I wonder what's on it?"

When I turned on the terminal, I was surprised that there was no password on it. After sticking the disc to the end, I started recording and began to listen:

"I hope the recording is going on… *ugh-ugh*

My name is Leaf. I'm a lieutenant in the Equestrian Forces, recently released from the LSC. It looks like there's no ele… electricity and only the terminals are working. *Khh* Huh… Blood after coughing is not the best sign, I think… I hope that these creatures were as bad as I am now…

I managed to get some healing potions from the drawer below, but they don't help at all… I barely made it to my office… I don't know how long I have left.

Base on the alarm mode, so all terminals needs a password, and without them do not start anything. The universal code for them is: seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, ten.
Also, Rins, I saw you down in the camera… I'm sorry... I should have said that earlier. I love you too, but ... but it looks like it's too late and... I'm sorry…"

And on there recording ended. I stood there for a moment, confused and completely silent, just looking at the flickering screen.

"How I want to help you," — I said softly.

What I heard made me wonder again, how many ponies died? And what is it all about? Now I was not so happy that I had survived, and without even looking around the room again, I went out.

When I got down to the first floor, I ate a little and went to the warehouse, brought two more boxes. But I took them up to the former captain's room, in which I was now going to settle myself. I dropped the rifle on the table and lay down on the bed. It was getting late and I needed to wake up, so I just lay down on the bed and waited for sleep.