One issue I never thought I would run into in my life would be cargo distribution, although Cosmo did give us an easy way of solving it with his largesse. After having our fill, Silver and I took inventory of our remaining supplies in the beige box, among our supplies we were lucky to have a first aid kit with instructions in Ponish. The way we distributed the weight of all the items we had to lug would be the following; Silver is going to wear Cosmo's saddlebag with the supplies and I, with the backpack, would carry the case with the Astro... Parallel... Sugar Cane... You know what I am just gonna call it the Nerd Scanner.

The radio has an interesting perch, Cosmo enlightens us about the exterior compartment of the backpack. It was a 'frame' of sorts that could fit the radio snugly, it also had an opening on its front to allow access to the controls of the radio with and a large overhead flap to conceal it. The only parts sticking out was the antenna and microphone. Even the thermos, although sadly empty could still be used so it was dragged along too. The only thing we actually left behind was the now empty beige box, no point in carrying that cumbersome thing around. It served its duty well but there was no more need for it, the box was left behind in the complex. One more old, useless thing added to the piles of debris and refuse.

Now we find ourselves trudging along on a snow covered road through some snowy plains, you can even see a smattering of trees in the distance. Around an hour into our journey of a thousand miles my focus and determination was being cracked by the unending boredom. Unable to take the quiet any longer I pick up the microphone and speak into it. "You know Cosmo, for being the so called 'Red Zone' it is rather peaceful. The trees nearby might have even made for a nice park some time ago. Its certainly not hard to imagine some fillies and colts running around, laughing and causing a ruckus." I humorously remarked.

As I wait for a response from the stallion my steps falter in the smallest fraction, now certainly isn't the time to reminisce on the kind and gentle world I know. "Mechanoids don't normally patrol empty space if they do not know ponies are there. They mostly stick to their bases and factories."

"Are we near any of those?" I ask, needing intel on our enemy.

"Negative, this route I charted is the furthest from any of their known bases. You should be in the clear." Was the answer I received from Cosmo, it was a relieving one as well.

"How deep are we in the Red Zone? Are there other colored zones?" I ask another question.

"Pretty deep, at this rate it'd take you two days to get out of it, and to answer your other question, Yes. The Yellow and Green Zone exist too, they are moderate and low Mechanoid activity respectively." Cosmo replies.

"That is good to know. I will call again if anything props up."

"You got it!" Cosmo responded enthusiastically.

As I holster the microphone. Then I turn my head to face the private, "So, Silver. How are you holding up? you know, after all... this...??" I asked.

Silver takes a moment to think before answering. "To be completely fair Ma'am, Even though we are in a alternate reality I find this really exciting."

"Exciting?" I deadpanned, "Of all the words you could have used, you use 'exciting' to describe it?"

Silver gives me a curious gaze. "Well, how would you describe it then?" She asked.

"Terrifying." The answer comes out as a sigh. "There are so many emotions swirling through my head. So many possible answers, frustrated, desperate, resentful... But that feeling that's screaming at me. The feeling at the forefront of my mind is nothing but pure, unadulterated fear".

"That is... uh... Certainly a way of putting it, Miss." Silver answers as she awkwardly tries to conjure an answer.

I give her a relaxed look, whether its to comfort her or me I'm unsure. "Silver, no offense but being stuck in an alternate dimension with 'Death Bots' is not exactly my definition of exciting." I replied.

"Well... I'm... not saying that I am bright-eyed and bushy-tailed over this but being all doom-and-gloom will get us nowhere, I tend to see things on the bright side." She gives me a smile as she finishes.

She has a point, I suppose I should be less pessimistic about things. Although, you got to keep yourself grounded at times. "Hmmm, I guess I did not see it that way. Anyhow, keep your eyes peeled for anything strange. We got a long road ahead."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Silver salutes.

We have trotted for over an hour now, the journey was more than uneventful but I prefer that than being actively hunted by Mechanoids. On the road we found some of those mangled carts that I now know are called 'cars' when I asked Cosmo, the scenery has not changed much. I was about to zone out when Silver spotted something.

"Ma'am I see something in the distance, just off the road." She points with a hoof. Just at the horizon something large was sticking out of the blank snow.

We trotted over to get a closer look, it seemed to be some sort of large vehicle. Unlike the cars on the road this one was almost three times the size of any of them, as we got closer we saw some square objects nearby too.

"Crates... must have been a cargo transport." I commented on the matter.

"There might be something useful in them, we should check it out." Silver suggested.

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Come on.' I ushered my companion. We got closer to the derelict vehicle and took a quick gander at it, unlike most of the cars this one had six wheels and the cabin was all the way to the front. We made our way to the scattered crates, three of them to be exact, and inspected them too. They were made of wood and had locks keeping them shut. However the locks were severely rusted and looked like breathing on them would turn them into dust.

I simply turned around and bucked the first lock off, It shattered into a dozen bits. Silver was taken by surprise by my sudden straightforwardness. I flipped the top and took a look inside.

"Bottles?" Silver commented on the find.

They were indeed bottles. They were clear bottles with a gray label, some black boxes were in there too which I assume was packaging. But whatever these bottles contained, some of them broke and spilled all over the insides of the crate and all of the contents was frozen over forming one giant mass of ice, shattered glass and cardboard. I think the label is some sort of fish? No matter, nothing is worth salvaging in this crate.

I closed the crate and we made our way to the second container. I get into position and buck the second lock off, this one flies off the crate as a singular piece. Silver then opens the crate and looks surprised.

"What is it?" I ask her. She just beckons me closer with a hoof motion.

I walk over and see inside. it was full of tall blue, white and red cans, like that of a soft drink. But unfortunately it has suffered the same fate as the first crate, some of the cans have spilled and had frozen over, trapping the rest of the cans in a prison of ice. Besides, the ice had a distasteful yellow color of who-knows-what and gave off a foul smell, it must have gone bad at some point. Nothing worth saving here either.

I walked over to the third crate, this one was smaller. The lock on this one was already damaged so a simple pull-and-twist broke it open. I flip the lip and take a peek inside.

There were more cans. It was a miniscule amount, maybe three recoverable cans from the damaged goods but this time it was not encased in ice. I inspect the surviving cans closely and see Hoovestroyan writing on one.

"Cгущенное Mолоко"

The other two I levitated out with my magic and looked at the label, but the used font is too stylized for me to discern which letter is which, however the picture on the label is still legible.

"It looks to be apple slices." I commented. I silently hope that when I open this I do not come into contact with a previously undiscovered type of super-fungus, I levitate the three surviving cans to Silver and she stows them away in the saddlebag. We then inspected the vehicle some more. Searching the cargo bed didn’t reveal any useful loot. In the cabin we were able to find an intact bottle, just like the one from the first crate. However continuing to look around the wreck was pointless, as we were unable to recover anything else.

"Alright then, we stayed here long enough. Time to get going." I ordered, we both regrouped and began our trek to Black Mare City again.

"For a first scavenge we did alright." Silver answered chipperly.

"That is good, I guess our luck is changing." I replied, it was little what we acquired but it was something at least. "Now let's get back on track. Remember, keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual. We still have an hour or so until we reach the city and hopefully we do not run into any Mechan.."

*Clink*

I feel my heel armor snag on something. I try to balance myself but it is too late, I stumble and fall face first onto the snowy road

"Ma'am! Are you alright!" Silver yells out, with her never ending helpfulness she rushes over to me and assist me out of the snow. I may not be hurt physically but my pride was mortally wounded, first I embarrassed myself yesterday night with my little emotional breakdown and now I do it again by tripping over some piece of scrap buried in the snow like a damn comedy skit.

"I am... Alright Silver, I just tripped." I answer to the Pegasus as she helps me wipe snow off my armor. Silver just smiles at me, I simply give her an awkward smirk.

I shot daggers at the piece of metal crap on the snow that made me trip, it was buried deep in the snow, concealing it from my sight. Its cover now disturbed I take a gander, It looked like a malformed metallic...

…Hoof?

"Now hold on..." I mutter, I gingerly make my way to the oddity with Silver in tow. My mind was rattling in what it could it possibly be, I hoped it's not what I think it is. I got within mere inches of the strange piece of scrap and it indeed looked like the hoof of a pony that was encased in a sort of armor, my curiosity began taking control over me. With my magic I remove the snow around the limb unearthing the rest of the foreleg and part of the barrel. The armor had multiple fissures and cracks revealing the insides, I silently breathed a sigh of relief as there were only wires and metal structures in place of a possible organic occupant.

My eyes go wide as I realize it did not have an organic occupant.

Silver gasps in disbelief. "Ma'am, is it really one of... those?" She says as she takes a step back, almost like she is ready to bolt away in case the metal freak reanimates out of nowhere.

"Silver, calm down." I told the quivering Pegasus. "If anything it's dead." I then resume to magically remove the rest of the snow from the body revealing the rest of the machine pony. We finally get to see what the enemy looks like.

It was... Intimidating.

The Mechanoid had the general form of a pony, its frame was angular and sharp and covered in segments of armor. It had a weathered coat of yellow paint with black accents, the eyes were not big or circular but narrow slits. Its belly and neck had some sort of synthetic fiber. The mane was segmented plating in the shape of a circular saw with oversized teeth.

The tail was the most noteworthy aspect, on its rear where its tail would begin there is an 'I' shaped component connected to four metal flat bars arranged like a rake. They seemed a little too wide to be some sort of blade but still thin enough to lacerate flesh it swung hard enough. What was that odd looking tail used for? Cutting? Bludgeoning? some other nefarious deed involving mangling something?

And its horn, it is not petite or elegant like that of a real pony or long and regal of that of an Alicorn but a segmented spike of solid, tarnished metal. It would not look out of place at the end of a spear or war hammer. It was unnerving to look at this twisted facsimile of a pony, who or what created them?

I unholster the radio once again. "Cosmo... Can you hear me?" I spoke into the microphone.

"Loud and clear. What do you need?" He asked cheerly, blissfully unaware of what I am about to report.

"We found a corpse of one of those Mechanoids..." I replied somberly.

The stallion took a moment to respond. "Is it a recent body? Are there any more of them?" He answered in a serious tone, all sense of glee gone.

I took a closer look at the exposed insides of the downed machine pony, all of it was rusted into oblivion. A good sign that this Mechanoid was buried under the snow for a while. "No, It looks old. I think this is the only one here."

Cosmo took several seconds to respond, and various electronic beeps were heard in the background. "Hmmm... Focused scan indicates that no Mechanoids are near... So no danger of its friends looking for the body. Describe it to me, does it have horns or wings? Other weird bits on it?" The stallion inquired.

I recant the Mechanoid's descriptions to the stallion. "Oh... Okay... You just found the body of a Mekhanoid Yedinoroga. Unicorn Mechanoid, most common infantry type. It uses its horn to fire magically infused plasma at their targets, although not very strong but if it scores a direct hit something to vital its game over, keep clear of them." He answers coldly.

I shiver at the thought but I keep my cool. Cosmo's overwatch keeping us clear of those things is a small comfort.

"Another thing. There are hundreds of variants out there with all sorts of armaments, gear and gadgets. But all you need to know when dealing with them is that you should avoid them at all cost, and if you have to butt heads with them, destroy them with prejudice." Cosmo stated.

"Copy that..." I reply as I ruminate on Cosmo's words, I was wondering what sort of other weapons Mechanoids had. But I guess that is something I will have to discover as we go on. I usher Silver to group up and resume our journey to the city.

As we walked away from the ruined cargo vehicle I could not help but look back at the Mechanoid, something inside of me was hating it. I can not help but feel a disgusting feeling when I look at it, some metal pretender that destroyed a world for no apparent reason whatsoever. A word forms from within me and escapes my lips as a whisper under my breath.

"Abomination."

Author's Note

ALERT! ALERT! NEW HOSTILE ENCOUNTERED!
-Unicorn Mechanoid - Common Infantry Unit: Although not very strong on its own, it makes up for it with numbers.