Chapters Prologue - At first, everything was normal
I am a royal guard. I wake up everyday in the barracks, untangle my mane, put on my armor and report to my superior for my duties of the day. Being a castle guard means standing in the same place for hours at a time and rarely seeing any action other than to shoo a visitor straying too far into restricted areas or greeting VIPs.
One day I was assigned to a new area I have never been to before, deep inside Canterlot castle there is a room, perhaps a study or reliquary. I was ordered to look over the adjacent corridor, to not let anypony other than scientist or ponies escorted by royal guards to pass through. But this time it was a little different as another sentry, a Pegasus mare named Silver Spirit, was assigned to the opposite side of my corridor. I was so used to being on my own that it took a moment to get used to the near constant, uncomfortable eye contact. I could tell that my acquaintance was new to her job as a royal guard, likely her first post.
For around eight hours we stood opposite to each other before the night shift relieved us from our post, in that time we saw very little movement. Courtyard-watch had at least one or two ponies other than guards in my line of sight, the birds singing faintly and the breeze howling by. But here in this tucked away corridor you’d believe time itself had frozen if it weren’t for the constant shuffling of my compatriot.
Apart from my fellow guard Silver being somewhat unprofessional, other ponies did pass down the corridor to bring a sense of life. From higher ranking guards to royal scientists wheeling in boxes upon boxes of who-knows-what. When I was first assigned to that corridor it was rare, but it went from perhaps once a week to every other day rather quickly. I would be lying if I said that I was happy about that, soon I would find myself lost in thought as my mind desperately tried to fight the near lethal levels of boredom.
My mind was numb from the eerie quiet, the occasional creek of the ancient walls or the hoof steps of ponies broke the silence every now and then. I am not afraid to admit that I would catch myself midway drifting into sleep. How I managed to survive the soul-crushing stillness of that corridor for so long is beyond me, perhaps it had something to do with my family's history of military service.
It’s against the code of conduct for guards to speak casually amongst each other during duty, but down here that rule slowly downgraded to a suggestion. It started innocently enough with a “hey” or “how are you doing?” to kill the monotony but soon enough we found ourselves holding sporadic conversations while keeping our voices down so we didn’t get busted by a lurking superior. We’d often joke about being the uglier mares in the ranks and that was the reason why we were stuck here since all the other better looking mares were posted on more public areas, as the days passed the more we began to know about each other.
There is a lot you can learn from somepony when you are legally obliged to stand right in front of them for hours. Silver Spirit is apparently a huge comic book fan and for years she has collected all sorts of comics. She then subsequently tells me all about them. To be completely frank I was not enthused by her nerding out, I don't want to hear the plot of "IronMare" or "Doctor StrangeHooves" because I'm simply not interested in foal's stories. But at the end of the day she makes time fly-by a little bit faster, so she has that going for her.
During my time in the "Corridor of Immense Boredom" I noticed some patterns. One being that a small group of scientist ponies brought crates and canisters into the room at the end of the corridor, every end of the week at sundown. Another being a group of higher ranking guards escorting some rather important looking ponies into said room in the morning and then escorting them out around the end of our shift. I'm not suppose to ask questions so I just don’t think about it too much. Besides, if I ever did I'd probably get told "that's above your paygrade Specialist Frost Blossom" .
But one day everything changed, It was like any other day. I woke up in the barracks, untangled my mane, put on my armor and reported to my superior for my duties of the day, but when I stood at my post I could feel something was off, like one of those gut feelings you get when something askew is going on. I couldn't figure out why I had this ugly feeling, and It didn’t help that the royal escort with the important ponies didn’t show up. As more time passed, I started to feel more and more uneasy. Something, somewhere deep inside of me was telling me that something bad was brewing, something really bad. I could feel my stomach bubbling with dread, I felt like I was going to hurl my lunch onto the corridor that I watched over for so long. Silver asked if I was ok, I told her what I had in mind, that I was getting a feeling about something bad that was going to happen. She then told me if I needed to see the medic.
But before I could respond, the air around me felt electric, my fur stood up. I then felt weightless, like if my armor suddenly vanished from my back. I think Silver told me something but all the sound around me became muffled like if somepony place enormous pillows on my ears, what ever she told me I will never know.
My heart was beating madly inside my chest like a lovestruck stallion on Hearts and Hooves day.
All of my muscles tensed up like if they were made of concrete.
Time seemed to stop, but for real.
Then everything went white….
My eyes suddenly shoot open and was greeted by the bite of the cold. I tried to stand up but a wave of pins and needles metaphorically stabbed my back legs. I tried not to move them but even the slightest twitch made me feel like thousands of ants were biting my haunches. The best I could muster was an awkward sitting position where I rested on my flank. As I waited for the sensation to subside I began to scan my surroundings wondering why it was so cold, but I didn’t have to wonder long to see the culprit.
Snow…
“wait...SNOW!!?” I blurted out, I could feel the gears in my head grind to a halt, saying I was perplexed would be an understatement. I tried to recall my last memories to explain what could have happened to me to end up in the middle of this frigid wasteland. But it did not produce any results, my last memory was inside Canterlot castle in that hallway feeling sick.
During my stupor the imaginary pin-pricks jabbing my legs relented enough so that I was able to gather the strength to stand up. Slowly I checked myself to see if any anomalies or injuries were on me, but a quick self-pat down thankfully uncovered nothing. Now with more mobility I took a better look around me, the snowy landscape was shrouded in the darkness of the night, barely visible by the glow of Luna’s moon. I kept looking around in hopes of finding some sort of clue that would tell me what happened. Then I manage to see some sort of figure laying on the ground a few feet behind me. An awfully pony-shaped figure with wings laying on the ground.
“PRIVATE!” I yelled
I felt a burst of energy course through me and sprinted to my downed cohort as quickly as I could hoping, no; praying that she was ok and still breathing. the needles’ onslaught seemingly returned, albeit with less intensity. I got close to the downed Pegasus and began inspecting her for any visible injuries. Celestia seems to smile upon us today as I couldn’t see any damage, so I began prodding her shoulder to wake her up.
“Private Silver Spirit! Wake up!” I raised my voice as I pushed against her, she merely grimaced and let out an annoyed groan. “Good, she is responsive” I thought to myself.
With a little bit more force I shook her trying to coax her back to the land of the living, “Come on Silver, Wake up” I said breaking military formalities. She must be having a really good dream for her not to wake up in this cold. Admittedly I was holding back a little bit, with no immediate danger apparent I tried using the polite route but seeing that she is deep within dreamland I decided to use a tactic my old drill sergeant would use when she’d catch me slacking off.
“FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE WAKE UP YOU PATHETIC SACK OF PONY-FEATHERS!” I outright screamed at her but it worked, she immediately shot her eyes open and stood up.
“S-Sir, M-mam! I mean MAM!” Silver stumbled over her words while doing a half hearted attempt at a salute as she regained her footing in the real world. The poor mare looked like she was hit by a train, her mane and tail were completely tangled in a storm of knots and her armor was unadjusted in all the aspects that would make an instructor pop a blood vessel.
“Private, It’s nice to see you are alive but right now I have a serious question to ask you”
I clear my throat.
“Just where the BUCK are we?”
Silver looked dumbfounded like if I were asking some sort of trick question. She then swiveled her eyes around and I saw her expression change from an alert state to a horrified gaze. Her mouth went agape and took a few steps back, her brain was still carbureting from waking up so perhaps that was why it took her a second to realize our situation. She just stood there in silence just staring at the endless void of snow. Then I quickly laid a hoof on her chest to break her trance, if I didn’t intervene she might have screamed her lungs out.
“Silver, listen. What was the last thing you remember before waking up here, I can’t recall anything” I stated bluntly.
The piston inside the Pegasus’ head began cranking but after what seemed like the longest minute in my life she came up with nothing.
Aw horse apples.
Ok, so we have no idea how we ended up in the middle of “Snowsville, Snow-where” with no supplies and it is freezing cold. Great, just...Great. With no other task at hand I began looking at the horizon to see if anything looked out of the ordinary.
I look forward, snow.
I look leftwards, more snow.
looking rightwards revealed water vapor frozen into tiny ice crystals that piled up on the ground, also known as even more snow.
I turn backwards and look to see blue light in the distance
I tur-WAIT A SECOND!!!
I immediately did a double take and stared intently at my previous direction, but what I thought was some sort of blue light was no longer there. I was going to dismiss it as the cold messing with my eyes…
…until it turned on again.
I saw this blue sparkle shimmer for around ten seconds before turning off and then turning on again after another ten seconds. Now my curiosity was peaking, I told Silver about my discovery and soon enough we were analyzing the light thoroughly. We initially thought it was somepony trying to communicate with us but our hopes were quickly shot down as the blinking was in perfectly timed intervals, way too on point for a pony to pull off, and also the fact that the light did not react to our hoof waving nor shouts.
So the next best thing in my mind was to trot towards this mysterious blue beacon. It was literally the only thing of interest besides the mounds of snow surrounding us and who knows, there is probably a small chance that thing is the reason we're here in the first place.
And so we began walking towards this blue light, the snow was half a foot deep so our little journey already had an obstacle from the beginning. We had to lift our legs a little bit for every step we took as the little blue light on the horizon seemingly taunted us with its constant blinking.
We trudged through this ocean of powdery white, the blue light barely inch-worming itself towards us. As we did that I pondered what could happen to us to end up in this fridge, did a spell go wrong? Did some ancient evil awaken from its slumber and decided to cast some sort of reality warping hex upon ponykind? Or are we puppets for a twisted story for the amusement of some chaos entity watching us from some alternate reality?
Ugh...the cold is making me think weirdly.
After twenty minutes of slogging through the snow the blinking light was much closer as its blue glow glinted off my armor, the closer we got I began to notice some sort of strange structure above the glowing beacon. It looked like a tower similar to those used in scaffolding. This particular tower looked slightly wider on the bottom compared to its top, and on the top more of the scaffolding stretched outwards in opposite directions forming a giant “T” of sorts.
It felt familiar. I feel like I’ve seen something like this before so I began thinking of what could it possibly be reminding me of, but before I could even conjure up memories, Silver commented on them.
“Mam, those are power pylons aren’t they?” Silver beats me to the punch.
Those were in fact power pylons. You see those a lot in places like Manehattan or Vanhoover where it's just filled to the brim with ponies, you don’t see fancy technology in places where magic is more than common. Even Canterlot does not have many mechanical marvels besides a power grid and some telegrams since magic does most of the heavy lifting.
As we came in just a few feet from the blue sparkle we finally saw the silhouette of the object giving it off.
It was a metal sphere no bigger than 3 feet wide laying on the ground just in front of the power pylon, connected to it was a mess of tarps and cables tangled on the frame of the pylon. when the blue light turned on it revealed some sort of text written on the metal sphere, but the hue of the light blended in with the color of the text making it difficult to read.
I needed to see what was written on it. My desperation for knowledge was reaching its apex, I needed to know just what the BUCK happened to us and I was definitely not going to let low visibility starve me from that.
So I took a deep breath and then focused my mind to materialize small motes of magic light around my horn, then the motes converged onto the tip of my horn and formed a small ball of white light illuminating my surroundings, the light was strong enough to brighten the text on the orb to a more readable clarity, and what was written on was...
"ОРБИТАЛЬНАЯ КАПСУЛА "
I just stared at the text again. I rubbed my eyes to see if it helped me read it more clearly. But another glance at the scripture did not yield a different result. I simply could not believe it, this was clearly another language. A language I definitely couldn't read.
Silver moseyed over to look at the odd scripture and the result was the same. In a way I felt insulted by this as if destiny were mocking me even further for our sudden misfortune with even more bad luck.
"Gaaahh!" I exasperated outwards as I shook my head. I needed to proceed with this more logically and not let my emotions take me over. I inspected the metal orb more intensely as I also brighten the ball of light on the tip of my horn to give me the maximum amount of clarity, surely something this out of place had more than one curio on it.
And there I saw it.
A small red lever located on the other side of the metal orb. It had more of that odd language on it too
"ПОТЯНИТЕ ВНИЗ"
oh I wish I could understand this language, it would make things a whole lot more easier.
I debated whether or not to pull the red lever. On one side it could give us a much needed clue on where we are and what happened us. On the other it could be dangerous to do so and it did not help that all of the visible text on it was written in that odd language.
"So Silver, what do you think?" I motion my head towards the lever, "should I pull it?".
Silver stared at the lever for a few seconds before making her decision. "I don't know what else to do, so I say yes"
With Silvers approval giving me a little bit more confidence I envelope the lever with my magic but not before stepping as far as my magical grasp could take me with the private right besides me. In the event it may be dangerous we'd have a chance to react to it.
I take in a deep breath and concentrate my magic once again, and with one mighty tug I pull the lever down.
*CLUNK*
Several seams on the orb now made themselves visible, arranged like the wedges of an orange on its top half as they pop outwards. for a few seconds they remained liked that until the wedges burst off the orb revealing the interior.
It was a small metal rectangle. I analyzed it from where I was trying to figure out what it is until another, smaller blue light began blinking on it. This one blinked much faster compared to the now defunct bigger light on the metal orb.
"What...What is it?" Silver asked, rather sheepishly.
"Well, the only way to figure it out is to get close, no?" I answered. "Just stick close to me".
We both huddle up, I was taking point while Silver watched my back. We then slowly began moving towards the blinking blue light, my eyes very carefully surveying the area in front of me. We got close to the fallen 'wedges' of the orb, with the light on my horn I quickly inspected one that was flipped over and was surprised to see that they were not simple hunks of metal.
Pipes, mechanisms and cables of all sorts of sizes and colors constituted the inside of the wedges. I ponder for a second, "just what in the buck is this anyway?" I put the thought aside, my task right now is to investigate that weird, blinking rectangle.
We finally reach the mystery orb, I shine my horn on the rectangle an all of its details were clear to me. Well...Not clear as in "I understand," its more of a "I can see it now" clear
The rectangle had an assortment of knobs and buttons on its left side. on its right it has a little black mirror on it with a slot of some kind above the mirror and a bar of buttons just below it. One of said buttons was the source of the blinking blue light. I had no idea what this thing was, I've seen my fair share of technology but this seems to be an entire league above my knowledge on that field. I was about to raise a hoof to get a feel of the device when silver interrupted me.
"Mam, I think that's a radio," the Pegasus spoke.
I stare at Silver with confusion, "...Radio? What in Celestia's mane is a radio?"
Silver tilted her head at me, "You don't know what a radio is, Mam?"
"Well why do you think I'm asking?" I retort, mildly annoyed.
Her ears perk up "A radio is a device that allows two ponies to talk over long distances! Its fairly new so not many places have one." She explains it with such enthusiasm.
She then gives me an embarrassed look, "I...just, like technology a lot."
"Ok...then, if you know so much about technology then can you tell me what do I do with this radio?" I ask.
The Pegasus expression turns hopeful, "Its a radio! surely somepony is on the other side, it would not hurt to try."
Silvers reasoning is sound. But there is a couple of questions that still needed to be answered, like the weird orb thing the radio was in, the odd language or the reason why are we here in the first place? But I put those questions in the back burner as my objective right now is to survive, in this cold without supplies or shelter we won't last long. If there is a chance for somepony to bring help with this thing then I'll take it.
"Alright, you are the one who knows about radios, call somepony." I ordered as I stepped aside to let Silver do...Something.
Silver approached the device and with the help of my light she inspected it. She pointed some other aspects of the radio I did not notice at first. A smaller metal rectangle connected to the radio via a coiled up wire she calls a microphone and a thin telescopic metal tube on the top which she calls the antenna, more of the strange language was visible too. only a minute elapsed when she turned to me.
"Mam, I think this will turn it on" she motions a hoof to the blinking light, something is written on it.
"МОЩНОСТЬ"
I raise an eyebrow, "are you certain?"
Silver looks hesitant, "Uhh...Uhm, I don't think something like that blinks for no reason. So my educated guess is that it may be the power button." She finalizes with an awkward smile.
I give out a sigh. "Well, since there is LITERALLY nothing else noteworthy, go ahead and press it."
Silver got within reach of the radio and extended her leg to press the blinking button, she gingerly placed her hoof on the button and with a little push...
*Click*
The buttons on the radio suddenly lit up like an arcade cabinet, then they began blinking in a seemingly random pattern. Shortly after that the black mirror on the radio started displaying a small image on it. It looked like the silhouette of a stallion jumping with a five-point-star for a cutie mark, two more stars were besides the stallion, all of it glowed in dark green. More of the weird text appeared but this one looked more angular and stylized compared to the previous instances.
"МагиТек Телекоммуникации"
After that a wall of text began scrolling down, It did it so quickly that I could not see clearly what was written on it. It was like this for around five minutes as we both gawked at the screen. This device looks much more advance than anything I've ever seen before. Then the wall of text stopped scrolling, at the end of it a phrase was highlighted.
"Установление шифрованной линии связи со станцией Полякова"
"Wow..." Silver announced in amazement, I too was astonished by the small lightshow. After the moment has passed we were not sure how to proceed afterwards, I began formulating ideas of what would be my next course of action.
"Okay, the thing is on now. Now we must figure out how to call somepony so they can send help, Silver what do yo..."
*Kzzzt* "Allo? vy menya slyshite?"
We both nearly jump out of ours skins, the voice of a stallion came through the radio with a slight metallic tone. I just stared at the device in silence, I was definitely not expecting that nor was the Private.
"Vy menya ponimayete??"
I could not believe it. Somepony was on the other end of this machine and he was asking questions, I also noticed that the voice spoke in a strange tongue, likely in the same language as the text. We were in trouble, we had somepony that could maybe help us but a language barrier is impeding that. Then a thought went through my head, I immediately passed it on to the Pegasus.
"Silver! Answer! even if he does not understand us at least he'd know somepony is here!"
The winged mare snapped out of her startled state and quickly cupped the microphone with her hoof and brought it near her muzzle, but before she could utter a word the mystery stallion spoke.
"Kto tam???"
The mystery stallion sounded confused. Silver then spoke into the microphone, "H-hello? can you hear us?"
After Silver said those words there was silence, if it were not for the cold I'd be breaking into a sweat. And then the mystery stallion spoke once again.
"Ohhhhh! Vy ne govorite na khovestroyanskom!!!"
This time the mystery stallion sounded, jovial? Silver just stared at me with a confused look. I was about to lose hope thinking that whoever was speaking to us was not taking this matter seriously, until...
"Privet! Can you understand me now?"
Author's Note
So don't freak out over the other language. One is written Russian and the other is Phonetic Russian
"OH THANK CELESTIA SOMEPONY SPEAKS PONISH." I yell out, the linguistic barrier was causing me to lose my mind but hearing those words might as well been a choir of angels. I unceremoniously skitter towards the radio's microphone and shove my muzzle close to it. "You cannot imagine how relieved we are to hear a familiar language, both of us woke up here and we have no idea where we are can yo-"
*Kzzzt* "Woah! cool your jets kobylka ," the stallion interrupts me. "I know you are pro*Kzzt* bly very confused right now, and I would gladly answer all of your ques*Kzzt* s but right now you have to get going! you are in DANGER!"
My blood freezes, "Danger!? what do you mean we are in danger!?" I question the stallion. This is not good, our first interaction with another pony in this unfamiliar land and its a warning of some unforeseen hostile.
"Metal Monsters and lots of them. Heading your way."
"M-Metal monsters?" The private whimpers. So much for Celestia's fearless guards.
"Monsters!? What monsters? who are you??" I raise my voice.
"Look, I know this is a lot to take in but you got to get moving NOW! you don't got much time, at any moment they will b*Kzzt* ..." The stallion suddenly goes silent after a shriek of static noise. Silver then stares at me, with an obvious worried look on her and then she speaks to me.
"Mam, do you think we a-are actually in danger?" The Pegasus looks like a scared filly saying those words.
If it were any other situation I would reprimand Silver for being so fearful but right now I too was feeling a tinge of dread, I stare into her cadmium green eyes and speak. "Keep your head cool Private, remember your training." My words seem to ease her mind a little, she nods in acknowledgment.
Then suddenly, the stallion speaks again. *Kzzzt* "SUKA! they are close!"
After those dreadful words I hear a faint thumping sound in the distance, it echoed in a slow rhythmic pattern. my ears began swiveling madly trying to pinpoint the origin of the mysterious sound. with each passing moment the thumping became more sonorous, I was growing more agitated.
"MAM, LOOK!" Silver yelled at me pointing a hoof at the horizon, a pair of yellow lights in the distance were sparkling faintly. I squinted my eyes to try to focus what exactly it was but before I could begin on figuring it out more pairs appeared. A lot more pairs appeared followed by more thumping, it looked like dozens of eyes were staring into my soul.
I just froze. I've been with the royal guards for years. I've faced off against an innumerable amount of threats including the supernatural that nothing really fazed me anymore, but this felt different. this felt like something no pony has ever faced of before. The thumping felt like drums of war as the lights bounced in-sync. For the first time I felt something I thought I buried a long time ago, something I thought I lost when I donned my helmet for the first time, something even as a filly didn't really hinder me.
Fear.
"HEY!" the stallion screamed through the radio, it momentarily snapped me out of my trance. "You can see in what direction they are com*Kzzt* ing from right?"
"Yeah..." I meekly respond.
"Listen, you have to run as fast as you can in the opposite direction, take the radio and FOLLOW THE PYLONS! it will take you to an abandoned town. Once you get there hu*Kzzt* ker down."
I shake my head to ground my self back into reality "How far is this town?" I Inquire
Silver then suddenly bumps in a question, "And why is it abando-"
*WHAAAAAARRRRRRR-RR-R-R--R-R-RR-RR--R-RRRBBBBBBBBBB-B--B-B-B-B--B-B*
A horrendous metallic warbling noise thundered around us, my ears ring in pain.
"*Kzzt* RUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNN!!! *Kzztzzttktz* " The stallion bellowed from the radio. Suddenly I felt a surge of energy overtake my body, I felt like I could run a marathon.
As my mind shifted into survivor mode. I lifted the radio with my magical grasp, freeing it from the now half-orb. My eyes looked above to locate the power lines that normally interconnected these pylons and tracked it to the next one opposite from the encroaching lights. In the distance I see another tower.
Time to go.
"COME ON SILVER, ON ME!" I ordered the Pegasus. We immediately began booking it to the next tower, the snow was still a problem as we couldn't break into a full on gallop but we moved as fast as we could. In no time we ran pass the second tower, then the third, then the fourth and then the fifth, after that I lost track. The singular thought in my head was to get away ASAP!
I would occasionally look behind us to see if the yellow lights were still in pursuit but thankfully none of them were in sight. I don't know how long we ran, maybe it was an hour or two? It doesn't matter, as long as the distance between whatever those things were and us grows larger the better. I asked the stallion how far is the abandoned town, he says it shouldn't be long. At some point we managed to trot over a hard surface, our only source of light was my pink telekinetic aura that carried the radio, it glowed faintly so it was difficult to discern at first. but as we briskly trotted by, some holes on the blanket of snow appeared revealing what was below. An asphalt road
As we trotted by, some large metal carts appeared. They were covered in snow and mangled and some had strange trails of holes on them, but I was intent in keeping my pace so I did not stop to inspect them. As more time elapsed more of these carts appeared, some were large and others small. There were ones that had massive boxes with wheels attached to them, as well as more of those strange trails of holes. We marched on, more disfigured carts littered the asphalt. By this time our pace was reduced to a slow trot since the thumping lights are nowhere to be seen, so we had an opportunity to relax a bit.
And there we saw it. We trotted besides a large sign that stood right next to the road. But it was destroyed, it looked like somepony went to town on it with a baseball bat, removing any hope of decrypting what was written on it.
"FrostHaul... " a soft masculine voice emanated from the radio's speaker.
"Huh?" I respond indignantly.
"FrostHaul. That's the name of the town, used to be an industrious little place before they turned it into rubble." The stallion answered with a hint of sorrow in his voice. Then a thought passed my mind.
"Wait a second, how did you know we are near the town's sign?" I interrogate him, suspicious on how he knew that information.
"Gah! *Kzzzt* Now is not the time for questions, find a safe place first and then I'll talk, I do not want you to get sniped."
I sigh in annoyance, there is only so much cryptic crap I can take. "Well, if you are going to be like that then can you at least tell me your name?"
The radio was silent for a moment before he answered, "Oh, how could I forget something like that?" The stallion audibly clears his throat. "My name is... Cosmo!!!" He said with overflowing suave. Like if he waited for that moment for a long time. I just stared at the radio's microphone slightly surprised at the tonal shift, silence again permeated around us.
"*Kzzzt* Ugh... Just head forward a couple of blocks more *Kzzzt* you will find a old apartment complex, look for an accessible room and hide in it." Cosmo deadpanned.
Silver then got close to the microphone, "Why are you so focused on us finding somewhere to hide?" she asked thoughtfully.
The radio again fell silent for another moment before springing back to life, "Because you are in an area called the Red Zone. And from what I hear its infested with those metal freaks. The less exposed you are the less likely the chance of you getting turned into red mist. Those things only have one directive and that is to inflict as much pain as possible." Cosmo speaks with a somber tone.
Red Zone? that does not sound like a friendly place. And if his words are true, just how dangerous are these metal monsters anyway?
I shake my head to clear my thoughts, I'll interrogate him thoroughly when we find a place to hide. We marched on for maybe another twenty minutes before we spotted a large building in the distance. Despite the low light some details were visible like that it was five stories tall, walls devoid of decorations and the obvious mounds of snow on its roof and window overhangs. This looked like our destination, I gave its description to Cosmo and he confirmed it indeed was the place. Now to find a way in.
As we got closer a tall metal fence came into view, at first I dreaded the idea of climbing a ten foot fence but our luck seems to have changed for the better recently. Part of the fencing was missing and gave a way to the inside, I was curious on what created such a convenient entrance but I soon discovered my answer. As we entered, one of those mangled carts was inside with the missing fencing in front of it. I guess somepony crashed it through the fence at some point. We entered the courtyard and made a couple of more discoveries, one being that the building was a giant 'U' shape and second that a large, unusual mass of metal was resting in the middle the courtyard, It kind of looked like one of those carts but the shape was to angular, perhaps it was beat up more than the others.
At first glance we realized that the buildup of snow and rubble blocked most of the first floor doors so we began inspecting more thoroughly, but it did not take long to find another access point. A stairwell entrance located in the outside had enough room for a pony to squeeze through. We both made it to the second floor's outer corridor but we treaded lightly, the wood flooring under us creaked and groaned menacingly so we tried not to apply too much pressure. Using the glowing aura enveloping the radio as a weak lantern I tried to find a suitable way of entering.
Silver and I tried to push the doors open as we went along the corridor but none of them budged even in the slightest. We almost traversed the entire corridor before we found a door ajar, we pushed the door opened and entered.
We found as much as you'd expect from a rundown apartment. Broken furniture, damaged tiles, cracks in the walls, dust and dirt. We quickly shut the door and began exploring our new surroundings. We entered on what seemed to be the living room, ripped sofas encircled a broken coffee table. I also noticed another black mirror mounted on the wall, it looked similar to the one on the radio but much larger. Further inspection revealed nothing out of the ordinary, a bathroom and a kitchenette that doubled as a dining room were adjacent to the living room.
I sat down on the floor, a wave of relief washed over my aching hooves as hours of walking and running finally ceased. Silver did the same besides me. I Then placed the radio in front of me and floated the microphone close.
I sigh deeply. "Cosmo, we are in the building."
"Good! just in time actually, those metal freaks are spreading out but don't worry, none of them managed to tail you so they wont bother searching ruined buildings unless they knew you were there." Cosmo sounds relieved saying that. Did we really dodge that much of a bullet?
"Ok Cosmo, we did our part now its time for you to do yours." I demanded.
"Oh yeah, that part... look, there is no easy way of saying this so I'm going to try to break this down as mu-"
"I, don't, care if you are as blunt as a brick, just tell us what happened to us," I practically begged Cosmo, I am tired of being left in the dark for so long, I just want to know what happened.
"Oh... Ok then, I can do that." Cosmo then clears his throat.
"You two knuckleheads got warped into an alternate dimension"
"what?..." That was all I could respond to. Was this guy being serious? No, this has to be some sort of twisted joke he is pulling on us.
"You heard me, You two got warped into my dimension via a fracture in reality itself. " Cosmo said.
"What!?" I issue the same response. Has Cosmo lost his sanity? Is he really insinuating that Silver and I ended up in an alternate reality? I've heard of rumors of some sort of magical mirror portal in Canterlot, but those are simply rumors right?
"Hey, you asked me to be blunt and I obliged" Cosmo responded smugly.
"WHAT!!?" I answered. I was beginning to question my own sanity now, perhaps whatever happened to me got some screws in my head loose.
"Ok then... How about if I put it like this. Have you not noticed all the strange things lately? you somehow ended up in the middle of a snowy wasteland with no previous memories on how you got there, dealing with a language you have never seen before with technology that seems a little bit too advanced and not to mention the ominous horde of lights that were heading your way."
He has a point. I have noticed all the weird events occurring and I was trying to find a logical reason for all of it but all of the events seemed so... Disjointed.
"H-How? How can you possibly know something like that??" Silver butts in.
"Because I was part of the experiment that brought you two here." Cosmo answered.
After Cosmo's words all three of us went quiet for around a minute, all of Cosmo's previous answers had some sort of emotion behind it, even if it was subtle. But those words he utters were full of cold straightforwardness. A feeling began germinating in the pit of my stomach, something was telling me that he was telling the truth but I was not going to so readily accept that, I needed to question him more.
"No... this is not happening... this has to be some extremely lucid dream I'm having right now!" I simply blurted out, my cognitive processes were about to go into meltdown trying to decipher what he just said, but Cosmo intervened before that could happen.
"Okay then, how am I going to convince you?" After his comment I could hear faint mumbling and beeping noises coming from Cosmo's end before speaking up again. "OH! I know, I'm going to ask you some questions, just answer 'yes' or 'no' to them."
"Huh?" Silver gave her lively commentary on the subject matter.
"Bear with me here, if this trick does not work then I don't know what will." Cosmo answered.
I think about it for a second, what could he possibly say to us that will help me not think I'm not having a fever dream right now? Well, what do I have to lose now? Why not give it a shot? If anything it would amuse me what could possibly be my subconscious breaking down and cobbling together what little sanity I have.
"Alright, Shoot..." I quipped.
The stallion clears his throat, "before waking up here, did you feel like the air around you was full of electricity? Almost as if your fur was about to stand up?" He asked.
I recalled my memories from the crevasses of my mind, it did not take long for the memories to replay in my head. I was back in that corridor standing guard at my post with Private Silver in front of me, then I was greeted by a familiar feeling once again. That ugly sense of despair I felt on that day began replaying in my head, that horrible sensation making me feel ill throughout the entire day. As the memory echoed in my head the sensations I felt were also replicated in my mind. In my last moments before blanking out I recall my fur standing up, feeling the air itself charged with static.
"Yes..." I answered cautiously, I was suspicious on how specific that question was. I wonder if his next question is about...
"Good! Now, after that did you feel weightless? like floating?" Cosmo asked, interrupting my thought process.
Weightless. My memories once again recall that feeling, right after the first one. The sense of being lighter than a feather.
"Yes..." I echo my answer, I preemptively recall the rest of the memory. Is he going to...
"Very good! And after that everything sounded muffled?" he continued.
"Yes..."
"And just to prove it to you; After that your heart began to accelerate, your muscles seized up, time seemingly froze and finally-"
No, no way he knows all that.
"-everything went white. " He finalized.
I just had a vacant stare. It was so much information to process, my head began spinning and I felt lightheaded. The magical grasp I had on the radio's microphone weakened as I struggled to process all of that information. Then it slipped, clunking onto the ground.
"Hey! don't break the radio!" Cosmo responded mildly annoyed.
I just can't believe it. The reality of the situation was sinking in; The royal guards, Canterlot castle, Equestria, Celestia... My friends and family. All of them are gone from my grasp, locked away in my original world while I'm here stuck in this bizarre alternate reality I'm in. I then look at Silver, the same, blank stare plastered on her face. She was likely going through the same emotions as I was. I tried formulating words to make a response of some kind but none managed to manifest properly, the deafening silence once again permeated around us.
"Where... Where are we then?" I asked Cosmo as dread filled my core once again, the radio still on the ground.
"Alright, a good place to begin. You two fillies ended up in my world, its called Chevalier. Specifically the Island-Continent of Hoovestroya, It's a wonderful place to live in if you like the cold. That is up until seven years ago , when The Great Fracturing occurred"
My ears perk up. "The Great Fracturing? What is that?" I ask.
Cosmo remained silent for a moment before answering. "For that I need to give you a little bit of backstory, the great minds of Hoovestroya asked the question if there were alternate realities out there. At first it was simply an idea, then it was a theory, and then it became an experiment. Like I have mentioned before, I was part of said experiment. I was in charge of gathering data for the scientist leading it, nothing too flashy. But one day all of that changed." Cosmo then paused for a moment, faint mechanical noises were heard in the background.
"What happened then?" Silver butts in.
Cosmo still gave no response, we started to think the radio began malfunctioning but the stallion spoke once again.
"There was... There was no warning." Cosmo inhales sharply, He sounded like he was about to choke up. "Honestly I don't know much about what happened down there but something happened during a test, something REALLY bad." Cosmo takes a brief pause, a deep sigh is heard. "All systems were reading nominal and then, boom. It was as if a rainbow the size of a country shattered into a billion fragments. A ball of multicolored fire suddenly engulfed the capital of Hoovestroya, it was so massive that it breached the damn stratosphere..."
Both Silver and I gasp. I was struggling to comprehend the magnitude of the descriptions he was giving, I have seen displays of magic that could shock entire crowds of ponies but something like that? I don't think I've ever witnessed something similar.
"... that giant explosion created the Fractures and spread them all across the planet. And as ponies struggled to get back on their hooves, The Uprising soon followed."
"The Uprising?" Silver asked cautiously.
"Remember those metal monsters I warned you about? They have a name, they are called Mechanoids. They used to be mechanical servants, but after The Great Fracturing something happened to them"
"Woah woah, now hold on. What do you mean by mechanical servants?" I interrupted him.
Cosmo composes himself. "Mechanoids, huh. Perhaps I should quickly explain what they are." The radio gives off a series of soft beeps." It's an automaton in the shape of a pony made out of metal and powered by magic, designed to be a servant for its creators. A completely artificial creation, they were made to be able to do any task a pony could do. Some were as simple as Maids and Greeters or as complex as a Construction Worker or even a Nurse. Of course, with the guidance of a pony of flesh and blood"
I took a quick glance at Silver, she just stared at the microphone starry eyed. She seems enthralled by the concept.
"Now you know what a Mechanoid is. The Uprising was when the Mechanoids turned on their creators, the ponies."
Silver's expression quickly sours.
"To this day I'm not sure what even caused it but all of a sudden there were reports all around Chevalier of the Mechanoids beginning to attack ponies. Things were bad because of The Great Fracturing but The Uprising made things several magnitudes worse."
I just couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"The Mechanoids out of nowhere began attacking ponies? But how? Did the Fracturing have to do something with it?" I rapid-fired questions at the stallion.
"That is a popular theory. But still, nopony is sure what exactly caused them to go ballistic all of a sudden." Cosmo answered solemnly. "What happened after was a massacre, those Metal Freaks soon hijacked the very factories that made them to create swarms of bastardized versions of themselves. Even the greatest armies struggled to fight against the sheer number of Mechanoids hurdling at them." The radio went quiet for a moment after Cosmo's retelling.
I could swear my jaw dropped to the floor, even my worst nightmares look like a bad school play compared to what Cosmo was describing to us. Silver and I stared wide-eyed at each other in complete disbelief.
"W-what happened after that?" Silver inquired.
"What happened after?" Cosmo audibly sighs, sadness in his tone of voice.
"Chevalier fell"
There was only silence after his comment. None of us dared to break it, not wanting to risk offending Cosmo. And also, how do you respond to somepony that just told you that their entire world just fell to a horde of metal ponies? What words do you conjure up to make somepony feel better after they tell you the story of how their home was ravaged?
Then the stallion speaks up again. "Yeah, in just seven years Chevalier went from a sprawling blue marble to a desolate wasteland infested with killer robots and fractures in space-time." Cosmo said.
"Sweet Celestia, Cosmo..." those were the only words I could utter, it was just so much to process.
"But we survived! So at least we got that going for us, hehe." Cosmo remarked lightheartedly, if you can even call it 'lighthearted,' in an attempt to change the mood.
I pondered for a second, letting all of that information sink in. In the span of more or less ten minutes I went from barely knowing where I was to discovering I'm stuck in an alternate reality full of bloodthirsty machine ponies. Yet for some odd reason I feel calm, but not the sort of calm you get by laying on your back on the grass on a sunny day. No, this calm was because I knew what was going on now. I still felt dread in my heart but at least I knew where it was coming from.
I was about to simmer in the thought for a moment until Silver began speaking. "Uh-Cosmo! I have a question." She blurted out.
"Yeah?" The stallion answers nonchalantly, like if he didn't just explain how his world died a few minutes ago.
"Are there other ponies like us out there? From other realities I mean." The Private questions Cosmo.
Cosmo lets out a pensive 'hmmm' before answering. "As I see it, you two are the first successful interdimensional travelers in the history of Chevalier! However..."
My heart skips a beat, I brace myself for his answer.
"..I know about you because the Fractures emit a strong magical signature my sensors can detect when a new one appears, you just so happened to be within range of one of them when you got hurled into my reality. But my sensors cannot detect all of those instances for the simple fact that they have a limited range to begin with. So there may be a chance that there are other ponies from your reality lurking about out there, but still, it's a big MAYBE. I've kept a close eye on Chevalier after The Great Fracturing and not one instance of other interdimensional travelers have tripped my sensors. Well, not as of 3-ish hours ago."
His answer rattled my mind, the mere possibility that ponies from my world may be out there disturbs me. The chance that, maybe, a fellow guard is out there fending for his or her life against those Mechanoids, possibly alone, does not settle well with me.
"Can't you... I don't know... somehow check?" I ask warily.
"I've tried Kobylka , but the Fracture's signature weakens after a while. Then they just blend in with the rest of them, nearly impossible to differentiate." Cosmo responds sympathetically.
I get a cold shiver, that familiar dread reared its ugly mug again. My heart begins accelerating as an uneasy sensation starts enveloping me. I start breathing more rapidly. "Keep it together Frost Blossom, In and out. In and out." I whisper under my breath.
"In... "
"...And... "
"...Out"
Then I feel a hoof on my shoulder.
"Ma'am? Are you feeling alright?" The Private asked me.
In a faint moment of clarity I'm aware of myself. I am shaking, my jaw quivers and the back of my throat is burning. A tear wants to form on the edge of my eye. How uncharacteristic of a Royal Guard.
I raise my foreleg to wipe off the liquid shame and answer. "No Silver, I am not alright. None of this is alright." I tense up. "When I woke up today or yesterday or whenever it was when we got sucked into this horrible place, not once did I think I or you would end up in an alternate reality full of death robots... " I raise my tone, dread intensifying within me.
Silver's expression changes to a more worrisome display. I try to hold back my emotional outburst as much as I can. There are about ten things I can do right now that would make me feel better about the predicament I find myself in. One of which is screaming my woes at Silver at the top of my lungs, but that would be uncalled for. Silver is not the problem here, its whatever twisted entity or bad turn of fate that hurled us into this reality is.
I can feel tears forming in my eyes. I turn my head away from Silver, I don't want her to see me like this.
"And now look at us... we are trapped in this awful place." I say in a shaky breath, The 'tough mare' façade I desperately tried putting up, now crumbling.
The dread was bubbling over, I grit my teeth together as hard as I can trying not to have an outburst. Why am I reacting like this all of a sudden? I am a Guardsmare Celestia-dammit!
I can not keep it back anymore, I can feel my face burning.
I can't-
I-
I-
-feel a pair of forelegs wrap around me? I turn my head and my nose is suddenly tickled by a two-tone pink crest.
"S-silver!?" I exclaimed, surprised. The Pegasus simply squeezes me tighter.
"Mam, I know it's a lot of stuff to take in, perhaps too much for anypony, really. I too feel overwhelmed by... Well, everything that has happened to us in the last few hours. But I want you to know that whatever happens afterwards, we will pull through. Its just a matter of taking things one step at a time, we will resolve this situation. Perhaps slowly, but resolve it nonetheless."
Silver just embraces me. The awful sensation of dread that was harassing my senses seemingly melted away, I stretched a foreleg out and reciprocated the hug. A lump in my throat that formed quickly dissolved as my pent up tension relents, then I realize that noticeable trails below my eyes have formed.
"Overwhelmed. eh?... I think I just needed somepony to tell me that 'problems can be solved.'" I said to Silver while stifling a chuckle. Admittedly this little interaction is greatly embarrassing for me, I can't help but blush.
We hugged it out for a little longer before separating.
"Hey!" Cosmo exclaimed from the radio. "I hope I am not interrupting something, You two good?"
I quickly wiped off the damp trails from my face and looked at the grounded radio microphone, Silver too faced the radio. "No, we just...needed to talk something out." I answered coyly, praying that he didn't hear my 'near outburst.'
"You do realize I heard all of that, right?" Cosmo somewhat awkwardly responded.
If my face wasn't red before it is definitely a very bright crimson now. Silver on the other hoof kindheartedly smiled at me.
"Heh, Its alright. I would have been very concerned if you weren't phased by the reality of your situation." Cosmo commented. "Also, you mentioned that you were trapped in my dimension? I'm not sure where you got that but I never said anything about you two fillies being trapped in my dimension."
At that moment I felt an immense weight lifted off of my shoulders. Silver turned to me and gave me a 'See? What did I tell you?' face."
"Excellent! So you are saying that we have a way of getting back home?" Silver asked the stallion chipperly.
"In... a way..."
I don't like the tone of that response.
Cosmo sighs deeply. "Kobylka ... I am not saying there is, possibly, NOT a way back, not by a long shot. I did not spend the last 7 years of my life researching the Fractures for nothing, the science and magic is there and you are the proof!"
"How so?" I ask.
"Don't you realize it kobylka ? YOU are in MY world, do you honestly believe that there wouldn't be a way to make it work the other way around? Fat Chance!" Cosmo stated with a confident demeanor.
"Hmmph, I guess I didn't see it that way." I commented as I pondered on my realization.
"Besides, many researchers even before The Great Fracturing already had put in the heavy legwork for a proper foundation. All of their methods, their notes, their ideas and theories. All of it has been backed up with me. But even with all that I am having trouble getting substantial progress done." Cosmo stated.
"Why is that? you just told us you have all of their... science and stuff." Silver asked.
"I'm afraid its not that simple. I do have their research and the methods, but I am short on Data, lots of Data. Gaps in the information that were unfortunately lost during The Great Fracturing." The stallion laid out. "I've resorted to studying the Fractures in order to recover it, but due to my location being horrendously secluded I have to resort to remote surveying, but that is taking a lot of time. With my current estimate, it would take me years to open a Fracture safely, much less make it safe enough for a pony to pass through it."
My heart sinks, perhaps we are not trapped in Cosmo's dimension forever but if his words are to be trusted, we're looking at years. The stress was rising within me.
"BUT!" Cosmo placed emphasis on the word. "You two can help me make this a whole lot quicker!"
"How... How would we help you? we are not even remotely close to scientists." I questioned curiously, wondering just how in Celestia's mane we could lend him a hoof.
"In short, I need somepony on the field that can help me gather the Data. They would need special equipment but I would be more than willing to assist them in this effort!" Cosmo enthusiastically explains his plan. "If a steady stream of data is achieved, in around a Year and a half I could get a Fracture stable enough for dimensional travel."
My eyes go wide, there is a chance to get out of this dimension, back home.
"That's... That's wonderful Cosmo!" Silver's spirit is practically glowing at this point.
But there are a couple of things that I need clarified. "Cosmo hold on, aren't you afraid that it might cause something similar to the Fracturing? I interrogated the stallion.
The radio went quiet for a moment before Cosmo answered. "Kobylka , what happened back then was a horrible tragedy but after years of researching interdimensional travel, even before the Fracturing, I came to a point where I know how this strange magic behaves. The experiment should have worked and opened a perfectly stable Fracture but something went wrong and with the data I can figure out what was their fatal error."
I thought about it, I thought about it HARD. Before I made a decision that can possibly irreversibly change my life and Silver's, I had one last question.
"Why us?"
It was simple and straightforward.
Cosmo remained silent for around a minute and with each second the tension grew thicker, the silence was only broken by the various mechanical noises coming from the radio's speaker. And then, Cosmo gave his answer.
"Because I'm your best shot at getting yourselves back home. I am not going to lie, with those Mechanoids out there it's going to be really dangerous and its going to be really hard too. But I will always be one radio transmission away from lending you a hoof or two. I'll always have your back, kobylka." He replied completely honestly. We just stared at the microphone thoughtfully, we had our answer and now we are processing it to make our final decision.
Then Silver ushers me closer to her and speaks softly so as to not be heard by Cosmo. "Mam, Cosmo seems to be our only hope of getting back home, at least as of now. He has helped us find somewhere to hide from that run in with those machine ponies and has been completely honest when we questioned him. I think we should 'help-him-help-us' if you know what I mean, because honestly I don't know what else we could do."
I analyze her point of view, she does have a point. Cosmo has indeed given us a hoof and has been extremely helpful in clearing up things as best he could. Silver unintentionally summed up my own thoughts on the matter.
"Well, its not like we have a choice. We decline and we trap ourselves in this reality." I say coldly. Silver simply nods in agreement. Alright, it's settled then. We help Cosmo with his data, then he gets us back home.
I levitate the mic off the ground and near my muzzle, ready to relay our answer to the stallion. "Cosmo, we gave it some thought and we decided to help you-"
"Prevoskhodno !" The stallion exclaimed in jubilation, Interrupting me, in what I assume its some sort of happy exclamation in his tongue.
"-But I have a condition!" I quickly interjected.
"Oh... " Cosmo sounds a little disheartened saying that. "Well, is not to say I didn't expect something of the sorts. What's your 'condition'?" I take a deep breath before I give out my answer.
"Promise us you will get us back home." I say in the most clear tone I could muster.
I admit it sounded a bit out of character for me that even Silver was caught by surprise by my demeanor. But after going through a rollercoaster of emotions I needed something constant, Cosmo giving his word would give, albeit, little reassurance but if he were to fail in keeping it I can hold it against him. There was radio silence for around 5 seconds before he responded but I could swear it felt like an hour.
"Kobylka , I promise you that I will do my absolute foremost performance. I will ensure that whatever happens, you will see your world again." The stallion spoke in a soft but clear tone. "Because you helping me will not only get you on the path back to your reality, it will also help my home too." Cosmo gave his response.
I was surprised by the revelation at the end of his answer. "Help your home? How?" I inquired him.
"The Fractures make their surroundings unstable for ponies to live or work. If I can figure out how to open one, surely I can find a way to close them too. Granted, Mechanoids will probably still be an issue but success would mean one less major problem for Chevalier."
I feel something course through my body. It was like an invisible switch was flipped and gave me the resolve to power through this mess. I look at Silver, she just nods at me with the same resolve in her eyes. I levitate the radio close and speak.
"Alright Cosmo, We'll help you." I say with an unusually high amount of determination.
"Zamechatel'nyy! Just Marvelous!" He exclaims excitedly.
"Ok... Now what do we do? I asked inquisitively.
"Ah! Of course, you need the special equipment to analyze them. But don't worry, you just have to set it up near the Fractures, the device will do the rest and then send me the Data automatically." He explained in an almost cheery mood.
"So do we head to your place and get this 'special equipment'?" Silver asked.
"Oh.. yeah, Uhm. about that." He stammers. "You do know what a Space Station is right?"
"A space what?" I responded incredulously.
"O, Blin "
Author's Note
ATTENTION! ATTENTION! NEW MEMBERS ADDED TO GROUND TEAM!
ATTENTION! ATTENTION! NEW EQUIPMENT AQUIRED!
I suddenly wake up from my sleep, my heart momentarily going at a thousand as I jolted my head upwards. It took me a second for my brain to warm up to remember I used one of the torn sofas as a bed for the night, Silver was on the opposite side of the living room doing the same. Curled up on the other sofa akin to a cat, her legs tucked under her body and her head upon the armrest peacefully sleeping despite the severity of our situation, it's almost adorable in a way.
Both of us have removed our armor before sleeping for obvious reasons and suffice to say it's strange to see ourselves 'naked.' The room was now dimly lit by Celest... oh, I guess it's no longer Celestia's sun anymore. Anyway the sun provided feeble illumination to the room, I'm able to discern the general silhouettes of my surroundings.
I get off the couch and stretch my joints, they give off a satisfying pop. Then I make my way to the radio that's now placed beside the coffee table, no way I am putting such a priceless device on a wonky piece of furniture. My senses make me aware of the chilly surroundings, it's not intolerable per say but it isn't welcoming either. I shiver in response.
Then I remember last night's events, after Cosmo explained to us what a space station was we then entered into a conversation and how technologically dissimilar our worlds were. Equestria's technology and science is decades, maybe even centuries behind the feats Chevalier had. Silver, being the gigantic nerd she is, had her ears glued to the radio, I doubt that she even understood most of the technology Cosmo was describing like trains that use 'magnetic levitation' or a 'space shuttle' but I would be lying if I said I did not show interest on the subject. Still though, the idea of a station whizzing around the planet makes my head spin.
I get close to the radio and stare at its main screen, a series of small digits are displayed on the top right corner of it.
"7:09 утра."
"It's pretty early, huh?" I mumble in my groggy state. Yesterday Cosmo gave us a little bit more insight on the radio, I discovered how to operate the 'Mute Mic' switch and the fact that the screen can tell the time. But now I have something to do, Cosmo told me that he needed to prepare the equipment and it was going to take a while to do, so he recommended that we sleep off yesterday's events. But as soon as we woke up to report to him and ask about the status of the equipment.
And that's what I did, I levitated the microphone near my muzzle and spoke. "Cosmo? you there?"
I was unsure how this strange radio knew when I spoke into it but I guess it was the advanced technology that did the work. for around thirty seconds there was no response and I was about to repeat myself until I heard that familiar voice.
"Dobroye utro Frost Blossom! How are you feeling?" He responds in an upbeat mood. not sounding even remotely tired.
"I'm alright. I'm also getting the feeling you didn't sleep." I asked him as I held back a yawn.
"Sleep? There was no time for sleep! There was so much I needed to prepare." He answers in high spirits. "And it's good you called me at this time, the equipment is ready for delivery! In thirty-two minutes I'll be within launch range."
"Launch range...?" I absentmindedly repeated his last phrase. My mind is still half asleep.
"Frost, You do remember what I told you yesterday night, right? I was the one who sent out the radio. I will do the same for the equipment."
Then I remember another detail, that weird metal orb thing the radio came in is called an 'Orbital Capsule' and Cosmo was the one that sent it to us. From his space station he can launch those but only in tiny windows of time when he is above us since he is 'orbiting' around the world.
"Ye-yeah, I do. I'm just waking up." I say as I rub the tiredness off my eyes. "So... where is this capsule-thingy going to land?"
"Within 500 feet of your immediate vicinity" He answers. "Same deal as the first one, pull the red lever down and it will open up."
"Ok, after getting the equipment what do we do afterwards?" I ask him, wanting a heads up on our future task.
"After that you'd trek to the nearest metropolis in order to get out of the Red Zone, it's called 'Gorod Chernoy Kobyly.' Translated into your tongue it's 'Black Mare City.' And don't worry about directions, it's mostly a straight shot to it and you got me as your 'tour guide,' heh." He answers cheerfully.
"Alright, and the Mechanoids? are they going to be trouble?" I get straight to the point.
"The Mechanoids have largely given up on searching. I've kept my sensors on you the whole night and not even a peep from them was detected. But still, I will have an eye on your surroundings in case they decide to creep up. Your best course of action right now is to avoid them entirely. With no weapons or proper defenses for their ranged attacks you two will not fare well against them."
A cold shiver runs down my spine. The Mechanoids are something you definitely do not want to meet with unprepared. "What about supplies?"
"Down there scavenging is going to be your best friend. Tons of food, water and such were left behind during The Uprising when the ponies of the big cities evacuated to the far stretches of Hoovestroya, although mostly in cans. If you are lucky you might find gear left behind by the military to better equip yourself." Cosmo added.
"That is good to know. How far is the city anyway? Are there ponies there?" I asked the stallion some more.
"Negative Kobylka , ponies do not live in the Red Zone due to the Mechanoid presence. To answer your first question it's around a three hour trot northwest."
I grumble under my breath, a three hour long endurance race was not what I had in mind. But I guess it's a necessary step. Perhaps if I had something to eat it would make this more tolerable. Maybe we'll find something on the way there? I hope so.
"OH! also, I have a surprise for you!" Cosmo interrupted my silent grumbling.
"A surprise? what for?" I questioned him, for the lack of a better term, surprised.
"It's in the capsule too, but I am not giving you a hint, you will have to find out when it lands. Heh Heh!" He responds in a rather smug demeanor. Its' almost charming, almost. "Consider it as a thank-you-for-helping-me-fix-this-mess."
I can't help but crack a smile. I take it back, his antics are a little charming. "I appreciate it Cosmo." I thank him.
"Aww, you flatter me Frost." He responds bashfully. "Anyway, I have to make some last checks before I send out the equipment so I'll go off-radio for a sec. I'll contact you again when the capsule touches down so I can give you the location."
"Okay Cosmo." I respond before Cosmo goes silent, this time for a while.
I stifled a yawn once again, I don't know how many hours of sleep I had but it was definitely not enough. Cosmo did say that the capsule was going to take thirty minutes to land, so perhaps I can rest my eyes a little more, the radio right beside me just in case.
I lay down on the floor and stare at the time again.
"7:13 утра."
Add thirty minutes and you get seven-forty-three... whatever that Hoovestroyan gibberish on the side means, which I assume it's 'AM' in Ponish. I close my eyes but without the intent of sleeping, I just need to rest my eyes a little more. A rested sentry is an efficient sentry.
I just need a little more rest.
Just a... little more...
Little...
More...
...
*BA-THUMP*
I jolted upwards, my heart felt like it was about to explode in my chest. I swear if something inside of me is not ticking right I'm going to curse out never before spoken profanity. An internal issue is not something I need right now. I shake my head and recover my bearings. Something made a muffled thumping noise and it sounded close, I got on my hooves in an instant. Thinking the worst, I levitated the nearest blunt object; which happened to be one of the coffee table's wooden legs and kept my ears swiveling in case even the most minor perturbation alerts me. although my groggy mind was making it difficult to focus.
"Hello!" The voice of a certain stallion echoes in the room.
"GAAH!!!" I let out the most feminine yelp I've ever done in my life. I sounded like a filly and that is saying a lot coming from a fully grown mare.
"Uh... I didn't spook you did I?" The stallion retorts awkwardly, then I realized that I have cocked the table leg over my head. ready to smash the radio into a million bits, I quickly levitate the table leg down. I can't believe I was about to do that. Maybe being in this strange world made me a lot more twitchy. Perhaps I didn't take a swing at it but the fact I was ready to do so was enough for me to feel a bit of shame.
"NO! No! you... did not!" I give out a bold faced lie to save my diminishing pride.
"Heh, Kobylka , you know that is not true." And now my cheeks are aflame and my pride is obliterated. "Anyway, I have news!" Cosmo added.
I quickly compose myself before speaking. "Ahem, news huh? what is it about?" I inquired, my pride still hurting.
"The capsule has landed!" The stallion replied happily.
"Landed!? You just told me a few minutes ago that it was still a half hour away!" I replied perplexed, Is this some sort of joke he is pulling on me?
"Are you suuuure you didn't fall asleep just now?" Cosmo replied a lot more smugly than usual.
"No I did not, I just rested my eyes for a second and then I heard a thump and... Uh..." I lose my sentence midway through saying it as I unconsciously look at the radio's screen.
"7:51 утра."
Then I notice that the room is a lot brighter than usual. "Ah, ponyfeathers." I let out one of my more subdued expressions of annoyance as I face-hoof, I just embarrassed myself royally.
"HAH! Hah! It's alright Frost." Cosmo chuckled kindly as he tried to save what little pride I had left but it did little to reduce the pain. "At any rate, in a second I will have the location of the capsule so you two can go pick up its contents." The stallion explained as electronic noises were heard in the background.
"Just one more moment..... And... It's... Oh... Oh dear." Cosmo exclaims in a surprised tone.
"What? What happened? Did something go wrong?" I begin tossing questions at the stallion, readying myself for his answer.
"It landed on the roof..." Cosmo deadpanned.
"On the roof? On what roof?" I toss another question at the stallion.
"On the roof of the building you are in right now..." Cosmo responded, his voice somehow duller.
Then it clicked. That thumping noise coincided with Cosmo's call, he did say that he would call when the capsule landed. It must have been the capsule landing on the roof that made that noise to begin with!
"Oh it's here!? Wait hold on, how do I get on the roof!?" I toss yet another question.
"It's an apartment complex, it surely has a stairwell that leads to the roof. Get going frost, the parachute is still attached and if the wind picks up it might hurl it off!" Cosmo ordered.
"I am on it!" I say with a stern determination. I quickly pick up the radio with my magic and head towards the front door, no time to put on my armor. But before I exit the room I take a glance at silver, she is still sleeping even after all of the commotion Cosmo and I made. I simply roll my eyes and head outside.
I was greeted by a familiar cold sensation, my breath condensed into clouds of vapor. I shut the door and began inspecting the exterior. everything was tinted in a red-orange hue, a sign of it being in the very early hours of the morning. But I have no time to gawk at colors, I need to get to the building's stairwell and head to the roof. I traversed the rickety first floor corridor as fast as I could, it still creaked and groaned angrily. As I made it to the stairwell I looked up to see if it even led to the roof but a large beam of orange light shining at the very top gave me the answer. Thankfully the stairs were made of a very non-rickety concrete and it was a brisk walk to the top with radio in tow.
As I walked up the flights of stairs, snow became more prevalent forcing me to slow down a bit, better safe than sorry. When I reached the final step I saw that the beam of light was coming through an open door leading to the roof, and by 'opened door' I meant it was torn clean off its hinges and tossed aside. I wondered what story was behind this. I lay a hoof on the snow covered roof. There was a little bit of a gust, not a good sign. I quickly scanned the top of the building and looked for something out of the ordinary but it did not take long. A blue light blinking off a metal sphere just few a feet away from the opposite end of the building's wing, Which is good! What was not so good is that a large white tarp connected to the capsule and was billowing over the edge of the building.
"Aw Crap!" I swore loudly as I began hoofing it to the capsule. The snow was not as deep compared to the ground but it still hindered my movement. As I got closer to the capsule the wind began picking up some more, the tarp was billowing more and causing the capsule to rock menacingly. I was not going to lose my lifeline back to Equestria because of a light breeze, I laid the radio on a lump of snow as gently as I could, leaving it behind temporarily so as to free my telekinesis and began focusing on the capsule looking for the red lever.
There! just out of view, over it. I summoned my magic and focused on the lever. I then pull it down with all my might.
*CLUNK*
A familiar noise came from the capsule as the seams made themselves visible, then they pop outwards before finally bursting off. The tarp was now freed from the capsule and floated away from the building like a deformed phantasm. I take a quick glance at the inside of the orb and see its contents are unscathed. I breathed a sigh of relief as the capsule was no longer in danger of being dragged off of the roof, I telekinetically recovered the radio and reported it to Cosmo. "I have secured the capsule."
"Excellent! now go ahead and inspect the cargo." Cosmo requested.
I got closer and Inside the capsule were three objects tightly crammed in. "I see a thin black case with metal edges. A thick beige plastic box with Hoovestroyan text on it and a... Saddlebag?"
I inspected each item thoroughly. Starting with the black case, it had a strange texture on its surface. Almost like sandpaper but uniform in its grittiness. The beige box's most distinct feature was the text splayed across its width.
"Инструменты"
The texture was a lot more smoother but it had numerous scratches and scuffs all around, it has seen better days. And finally the saddlebag, a curious detail about it is that it had a lot more pockets than your standard run-of-the-mill variant and it looked like it was heavily worn.
"So what exactly is all of this?" I asked the stallion.
"Go ahead and open the black case," Cosmo asked me.
I levitate the case out of the capsule and place it in front of me, unlocking the sole latch I flip it open and the contents are revealed to me. A device of some kind was inside. Its main body was a thin gray slab of metal, on one end it had a folded tripod stand and on the other it was a camera of sorts.
"It is a... Camera?" I asked curiously, honestly all this tech is confusing.
"A camera? Ah ho ho! It ain't just any camera." Cosmo sounds eager to explain what it is, let's hope his explanation is not too convoluted. "That's a Portable Arcane-Ethereal Astro-Parallel Full Spectrum Scanner!"
I think I just had an aneurysm when he said all of that nerd-speak. He explains it with a sales-pony façade, almost like he is trying to sell it to me at a good price. "So it is the special equipment?" I simplify.
"Yes, now. To operate it you'd need a phone book sized instruction manual to do it but I, being the helpful soul I am, simplified it down to a single page with pictures!" Cosmo responds with a jolly tone. I silently thank Celestia for not making me read an entire dictionary worth of instructions.
"But worry about the instructions for later. Now, check out the plastic box." He asked.
I close the case and set it aside. Then I levitated the beige plastic box out of the capsule, removing the two pins keeping the lid closed and then I open the box. It is full of...
…small bags and containers?
"Uhhhh.... what is all of this?" I comment quizzically, I think I am more confused over this than the camera.
"Rations, Kobylka !" He answers without skipping a beat.
"Wait!? Rations!? You mean food!?" I retort to him, not believing that he just sent a box full of food.
"Yes, It is food. I did say that I was going to lend you a hoof for helping me. It's mostly non perishables and it might have a strange texture but it's perfectly edible" He answers gleefully.
"Where did you get all of this!? Can you just drop a capsule full of supplies whenever you want!?" I was simply not accepting the fact that I was seeing a box with a week's worth of food, much less the possibility of a supplies-on-demand dynamic with Cosmo.
"Well, not exactly. Perhaps I should explain something to you." Cosmo clears his throat. "As much as I would like to shower you with supplies whenever you need so that my research can be done as quickly as possible, I can't do it 'whenever I want' for two reasons. One being that it's a freaking capsule parachuting from space and that is certainly one way of getting the attention of the mechanoids if launched in the wrong area. And two is that I have a limited number of capsules, removing the last two I sent out I am down to eleven capsules, and they are better spent on replacing the important equipment in the event that the camera or radio gets damaged." Cosmo explains.
"Oh, alright then. I will keep that in mind." Although I am disappointed by this new information I only got myself to blame for getting my hopes up.
"Ah! I almost forgot, check out the saddlebag!" He commands me with a certain eagerness.
I seal the box and set it near the case and then levitate the saddlebag close, I can not help but gawk at it. It was made out of olive-colored canvas and it showed signs of age. Unlike the two other containers which looked modern and sleek this one seemed to be from a different era. It even had tarnished buckles to close the satchels and faux leather straps. But still, it did not feel like it was about to fall apart. Whoever made this made it to last.
"This seems to be a bit old-school, even for me." I commented on its ancientness.
"It used to belong to my Dedushka , my grandpa. Then it was passed down to my dad and then to me." Cosmo explains with a small scintilla of nostalgia in his voice.
My eyes grew wide, this was not a simple beaten-up bag. It was essentially a family heirloom that survived three generations. I feel like, somehow, me holding it was disrespecting it's legacy.
"Cosmo! Are you just giving this to me?" I question the stallion.
"Frost, that bag used to carry the hopes and dreams of my dad and his dad. At one point it used to carry my hopes and dreams too but now I am stuck up here in my little space station, and if I'm stuck here then it is not serving its purpose." Cosmo answers with a never before seen resoluteness. "I, Cosmo, pass this saddlebag onto you so it too can carry both you and Silver's hopes and dreams." He finalizes.
I can not help but feel a teensy bit inspired by his words, even if it sounds a little silly. Cosmo definitely has a way of wording things.
"And besides. You need something to carry stuff, Heh." He adds with a chuckle.
"Hah, I guess you are right." I requite the feeling. "So I am guessing this is my surprise, huh?"
"What? no! Your surprise is inside the saddlebag, didn't you check?" Cosmo responds sounding a bit huffy.
I then noticed that the saddlebag had some bulk in it, just how did I miss that? I quickly unbuckle the straps and open it. Two objects float. One is an empty backpack, I am guessing this is because there are two of us on the ground, and the other is a metal cylinder. Take a guess which one has my attention.
"What the heck is this tube?" I questioned into the radio's microphone.
"It's a thermos! go ahead and twist the cap off!" Cosmo adds.
I carefully twist off the cap and look inside, but before I can analyze the contents a peculiar scent invaded my nose. A very peculiar, warm but pleasant scent. My eyes grow wide as I immediately recognize that magnificent beverage. Ever since I woke up I was craving for this drink but my heart fell into the deepest pit of despair as I was unable to procure it. But Cosmo, like a divine messenger, hands me a sizable flask full of it. My stomach was beckoning me to chug it all down in one go but I resist the urge, not only it would cause me painful burns I knew that I had to share it with Silver, because deep down I know that it is going to be a long time before I get a chance to taste liquid glory again.
"Heh heh heh heh, you won't find a finer Brew anywhere else." Cosmo quips smugly.
Author's Note
ATTENTION! ATTENTION! NEW EQUIPMENT AQUIRED!
-Cosmo's Saddlebag - Carrying Equipment: Used to belong to a dedicated aeronautics engineer, then to a cosmonaut and finally to his son who followed his hoofsteps. Now you own it, take good care of it.
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!
Three hours...
Three hours of trudging in snow...
Finally... We are at the last stretch, just a little more and we will be within view of this fabled city.
We need to just get onto the top of this inclination and we will get a sight of the skyline. The remainder of the trip was rather quiet, only some small buildings here and there and a plethora of derelict cars littering the road. Cosmo did not have much to say other than reporting the status of Mechanoid presence; which was negligible by the way.
"Only a few more steps, Silver." I rhetorically told my companion, the apex of the inclination so tantalizingly close. Mere steps from the top I can see the buildings coming into view, sweet Celestia they are tall. I've been to metropolis before like Vanhoover or Seaddle but these buildings were just huge. I try to take a better look at them but something was feeling off about them. Do they look... Askew? I finally reach the top of this bump on the road and finally take a gander at the city's skyline.
It was staggering.
Not only did the city stretch from figurative 'coast to coast' but the inclination we climbed up sloped down sharply to a massive semi-frozen river. The most baffling aspect of the city is that some of the tall buildings were leaning menacingly to one side as if they were going to fall. Many of them were badly damaged too, from missing chunks of their exterior to entire floors that have caved in at some point but somehow the skyscraper remains standing.
Silver finally catched up and gawked at the city in the distance, her mouth went agape at the sheer size of the metropolis.
"Wow..." She uttered, there was no need for flowery language or a crass explicative, the simplicity of that three letter word was enough to convey her feelings on the matter.
I unholster the radio and speak into the microphone. "Cosmo, we have a visual of Black Mare City." I relay information to the stallion.
It took a few seconds for him to respond, "Good, now what proceeds is that you two are to find a way through the city. This is the shortest route out of the Red Zone. Any other path would take too long and put you a little too close for comfort to Mechanoid bases."
"Alright. We will head out now."
"Wait!" The stallion interjects, I stop in my tracks and look at the radio's microphone. "I got to give you a heads-up first... "
"What is going on? Did something happen?" Silver asked into the microphone.
"I ran a focused scan on the city and Mechanoid activity was detected!" He lays out clearly.
I thought about it for a moment, I knew something like this was going to come up. I take a deep breath and mentally prepare myself to traverse the city. Silver takes a queue of my body language, she too seems to prepare herself.
"Here is a plan I've come up with." The stallion clears his throat. "There is a railway bridge nearby that will help you cross that river; now don't worry, trains have long stopped passing by that route. With my eyes in the sky I will guide you through the ruined cityscape, helping you avoid Mechanoids if they pop up. If things go smoothly you should be out of that place in just under two hours. However..."
I curse silently.
"My sensors can detect Mechanoids out in the open no problem but through floors is going to be tricky. A lot of factors come into play when it comes to detecting them in buildings, like how many floors are above the Mechanoid and how strong its powerplant is. A focused scan is capable of spotting them inside buildings thanks to magic but I can only do that every twenty minutes or so for the scanners to refresh and recharge. So your best bet is to stay away from the larger skyscrapers and watch each others backs, I too will keep my eyes close to my scanners." The stallion finalized.
I take a second to simmer in the thought. Our situation is precarious, Mechanoids were detected in the area but their numbers seem to be miniscule. Cosmo will keep an eye on us but his scanners will struggle locating them within the tall skyscrapers. An ugly feeling begins germinating inside of me...
NO!!!
I shake away the intrusive thoughts and get a hold of my bearings. We have reconnaissance support and intel of the enemy presence. We may not have proper weapons but we have the ultimate tactic in this situation. Stealth! As long as we keep checking our surroundings and avoid Mechanoid detection we should be able to clear this hurdle in our journey.
I take a look at Silver. I can tell she is a little tense by news on what we have to do but she is putting on a strong face. "You ready?" I asked her.
"Y-Yes Ma'am." She salutes me, she puts on a brave stance as she brings her right foreleg above her brow.
"Alright, let's go then." I ordered. But before we began trekking again I needed to spot the rail bridge, which did not take long however. Just a block or two away the giant, snow covered frame of the bridge was visible, I pointed out the direction and we both headed towards it. As we got closer there was something on the bridge, it does not take a genius to figure out what it is.
"Hey look! A train!" The Pegasus pointed out with an enthusiastic twinge.
We had to climb a small hill before we actually got onto the metal structure. On the bridge we were greeted by two rails side by side and on our right the stationary locomotive of the train, a very industrial looking locomotive. It had various technological bits and bobbles all over it, another curious aspect about it is that it seemed to have no wheels and was resting directly over the rails. it did not look like it had derailed or been damaged, curious.
As we crossed the bridge over the vacant rail we looked at the train, wagons upon wagons ranging from long tanker cars to box cars, they too were not donned with wheels. As I checked our surroundings for anything suspicious Silver was gawking at the locomotive all starry-eyed, I was about to get her attention but something else got mine first.
In the distance a parked train car was blocking the bridge, the other locomotive by the looks of it stretched all the way to the other end of the bridge. The space between the trains was too small for any of us and trying to clamber on the sides of the bridge would be too risky.
"Any idea on how to get past this?" I asked the Pegasus.
She presses a hoof under her chin and thinks for a moment before perking up. "Oh! I know, why don't I fly you to the top of the train? I have wings after all." She points out as she flaunts her wings, extending them to show off all of their glory.
For a second she startles me but I keep myself subdued enough for her not to notice, for a moment I completely forgot she had wings. And now that I think of it, I don't believe I've ever seen her fly before. Back in Equestria she was stuck with me on guard duty and once our shift was over we went our separate ways within the castle.
"I like that plan, Ok go for it." I give her the 'go-ahead' as we reach the wagon. She inspected the height of the wagon and quickly made calculations in her head, at a glance the wagon was well over fifteen feet tall. She then proceeded to stretch her wings and joints.
"It's a lot I have to carry, don't wanna pull something." She says with a smile, I just look at her with a neutral face. But as I gawk at her unusually exaggerated warm up I get an idea on how to ease the burden.
I summon my magic as my horn glows. The backpack is suddenly enveloped by a pink aura as I unlatch the buckles, it is now floating a few feet above me. The Pegasus mare is blissfully unaware that the saddlebag now has a pink aura of its own, I gently lift the saddlebag off of her back. Silver then lets out a surprised squeak, she then looks at the floating equipment confused. I then merge the two auras and carefully lay them on the roof of the train.
"Work smarter, not harder." I say with a smirk. Silver gives me a reassuring smile.
"Good, now. Are you ready, Ma'am?" She says to me, I nod.
She then flutters her wings and lifts off the ground. She hovers towards me and hugs my barrel from above. "Here we go!" She remarks as she lifts me off the snowy platform as my back legs dangle freely, we slowly ascend to the roof of the train. Silver flies a little higher in order to give me space to land on the snow-covered roof of the train, as we did that I get a glimpse on how far the locomotives went. Dozens of wagons from both trains stretched far into the distance.
Silver sets me down onto the train's roof, the snow crunches loudly. The Pegasus lands beside me. "Thank you." I respond simply. The Private smiles.
"Let's march on now. I don't want to be here for too long, I feel exposed." I remarked. We took our respective equipment and began trotting over the train. We hopped over the gaps between wagons, there was some sort of corrugated connector that joined the wagons but it did not look sturdy. As we walked and hopped over the wagons the city crawled closer to us, its imposing size was frightening. We were just about to clear the steel bridge when we came across a skylight on the roof that was half opened, it looked like it led to the inside of the wagon.
Noticing an opportunity for scavenging I talk about it with Silver. She agrees. We got close to the opening and took a look inside, there were rows of empty passenger seats and the section of floor under the skylight was a mound of snow. I also noticed other things sprawled across the floor...
Abandoned Luggage. I point out the lost belongings to Silver, she gets the idea. We go in and loot.
I analyze the drop, maybe six or seven feet high. If I land correctly on my legs I can fall without injuring myself, the snow can also serve as extra cushioning. I prepare myself as I fully flip over the panel, I get into position and jump down the skylight.
*THUD*
I landed on all fours on the mound of snow, bending my knees helped soften the fall. I check the area directly front of me to see what can be salvaged. Some duffle bags, purses and suitcases of all sorts of sizes and colors were left behind in the wagon. I turned around to see if more luggage was lootable. But my sight was blocked by a large object standing in front of me. My heart stops when I see what it is, just how in Tartarus did it find us!?
"MECHANOID!!!!" I yell out.
In my panic I levitate a nearby solid object and smash it as hard as I can against its head, the object in question was a plastic suitcase and it exploded on contact, an assortment of clothing items fly all over the place. Silver immediately swoops into the wagon and rushes to my side, eyes locked on the metal freak. The Mechanoid however was unfazed by my attack, I quickly scan among the scattered luggage and spot an aluminum suitcase. In a split second I levitate the much heavier case and was ready to crack its skull open but Silver places a hoof on my shoulder. I am momentarily distracted and overshoot my magical throw, the case merely scrapes the side of the Mechanoid's head and bounces off into the background.
"Ma'am... I think it's already dead." Silver commented.
I pause for a second, did my first attack with the plastic suitcase really take it down? No, that is ridiculous! I take a cautious look at the metal freak. It is just standing there menacingly, unmoving. It has not reacted to my attacks. Now that I have a better look at it, the design of this one seems a lot less... threatening.
It was obviously a metal pony, that was a given but it had a lot more curved and round shapes. The snout of the machine was less pronounced compared to the first one we met, like that of a mare, Its eyes were not slits but a wide visor. This one had no horn or wings and it was wearing clothing. It wore a dark blue dress with a white handkerchief wrapped around its neck. It also had a, now crooked, bright red beret on its head with a small emblem of a train and a star. It even had little golden beads attached to its ears to simulate earrings!
Overall, this Mechanoid's design was a complete one-eighty compared to the jagged mess of its buried friend.
"I guess... It is." I spoke between breaths as I tried to calm myself down. I can't help but feel the burn of embarrassment on the on my cheeks, I got to keep the hair-trigger twitchiness under control.
I magically bring the radio's microphone near my muzzle and contact Cosmo.
"Hey, Cosmo. We began scavenging a train and found another dead Mechanoid, but it does not look like the one we found from earlier, it does not look damaged and... It is wearing a dress." I relay the information to Cosmo.
It takes a moment for the stallion to respond. "Hmmm, describe it a bit more." He answers in a serious tone.
I give him the description.
"Oh! I see what is going on here. You found an old train steward mechanoid, like many of its kind they were made before The Uprising. Unlike that last one you found." He says. "Guess at some point she had her batteries yanked out or something. Anyway, scavenge what you can, I will continue to monitor the city." Cosmo finalized.
"Copy that." I responded whilst holstering the microphone. Seems like this stewardess has my curiosity as I approach her for a closer inspection. I grin as I catch myself referring to the machine pony as a Her , it seems like Cosmo's 'Isms' are rubbing off on me. There was an armband on the mechanoid with an inscription.
'Железные дороги Ховестрояна'
Further examination of the Mechanoid revealed a small satchel that was hanging on her side. With my horn I open the satchel and pull out its content. It was a collection of, which I assume are tickets and other small useless junk but one item stood out. "A red plastic card..? " I spoke out loud. The card was emblazoned with the same illustration as the emblem of the Mechanoid's beret. This item, I had no idea what its use was but It definitely looked important so I keep it close just in case.
Not much was there to discover on the Mechanoid short of undressing it, not only would it likely not reveal anything useful I don't want to risk accidentally triggering something that might cause it to come back to life. And also the fact it would be astoundingly bizarre to do so. Leaving the mechanical stewardess alone I proceed to sift through the abandoned luggage.
For the next twenty or so minutes both Silver and I search the numerous bags and cases. Nothing useful was found apart from old clothes of various designs. However, I did notice that a lot of the luggage contained items one would deem as 'personal belongings'. Like the vast amount of clothing that many of them possesses, watches, trinkets, small electronic devices, passports with important looking documentation and photos.
One item in particular seems to be widespread within them, paper notes with numbers. They had five, fifty, one-hundred and there was even one with the number five-thousand on it. They were also commonly accompanied by coins so I am getting the idea that this must be Hoovestroyan currency.
I bring forth the microphone again. "Cosmo, I think we found Hoovestroyan money. I am wondering if it is still in use since, you know... Robot apocalypse and what-not." I asked the disembodied voice of the radio.
"Definitely, it's called Russk. Survivors down there still use it, but from what I hear their prices for goods can wildly differ from settlement to settlement, so recover any loose bill you can find." The stallion said.
"Good to know, continue providing overwatch." I ended the conversation.
Paper money is an infrequent occurrence in Equestria as it is normally brought in by foreigners. Equestrians still use coins or in rare instances precious gems. Money is money regardless of what state it is in. We counted our 'earnings' and came to a grand total just shy of seven-thousand Russk. I am surprised by the large number but I am getting the feeling it is not a one-to-one conversion rate from Equestrian Bits.
We stowed the coins in one of the saddlebag's smaller compartments and rolled the notes into a wad, secured by a salvaged rubber band. It too was stored in the same compartment.
Just as we began to wrap up something seems to have Silver's attention. At the end of the wagon there is a set of stairs leading to a landing. on the landing's level a door is present. She goes down the stairs and begins inspecting the door, I follow her. Curiosity got a hold of me as to why there were stairs in a train wagon but it did not take long to figure out why. On the landing another set of stairs led to an even lower section where more empty seats were visible. The wagon was two stories high, that explains why it was so tall in the first place.
Silver was now fiddling with the door's locking mechanism.
"Silver, what the heck are you doing?" I asked the overly curious mare.
"It's a train, right? This door leads to the other wagons." she says as she messes with the locks
"Silver, I understand your eagerness to find more supplies but the mission right now is to get out of the Red Zone, the more time we sit in the same place the more likely the chances are of us getting spotted by the machine ponies. Especially since we are right next to them." I retorted, this train does have a degree of loot but spending too much time here could spell trouble. The risk-reward factor leaned a little too much to the 'risky' side since we are so close to patrolling Mechanoids.
"Ma'am, that's not what I mean. Up there you said you felt exposed so that got me thinking, why not traverse the rest of the bridge inside of the train?" She says as she smiles whilst messing with a handle of sorts. "Scavenging would be a bonus." She finalized. She does have a point, right now we are concealed from the outside from any prying mechanical eyes, even the windows of the wagon are fogged up by frost and snow buildup giving us extra cover...
*Thonk*
My thought process is interrupted by a muffled metallic noise coming from Silver's direction. She succeeded in opening the door and pulled it inwardly, it led to a miniscule room that had a near identical door on the other side.
"Tah Dah!" Silver raised a hoof and presented the newly opened room, she gestures towards it. I was not opposed to Silver's idea so me following her instructions was a clear enough indication that I accepted her little proposition. The gangway between the wagons was barely big enough to fit the front half of my body so it was up to me to open the next door. I saw a red lever on the door with some Hoovestroyan writing.
"ПОТЯНИТЕ ВНИЗ"
Huh... It felt familiar... It felt like I had seen this word before. Something inside of me was telling me to pull the lever down, I was not sure why but I followed my gut, I magically envelope the lever and pull it down.
*Thonk*
The door's locks audibly retract and it sways outwards. The next wagon is now accessible.
We traversed the wagons as time-consciously as possible as we looted the abandoned luggage, however they seemed to become less abundant as we went on. I checked the outside through the window to measure our progress. Nope, the bridge's steel frame was still visible even after what seemed like a dozen wagons.
After countless bags and cases were pilfered we acquired some valuables. Eight-thousand more Russk was added to our wealth and a few more cans of non-perishables were discovered too. We did find various gadgets and devices but most of them were either non-functional or would serve little to no purpose to our mission.
The wagons did unfortunately contain more of those Mechanoids, albeit already dead. They were either standing silently staring at nothing in particular or splayed on the ground like an old ragdoll, regardless of what position we found them in. I could not look at them without a small knot of stress forming in my stomach. We carefully sidestep the corpses as best we could.
I was about to become lost in thought by the monotony of opening doors into identical looking train cars when we encountered something unusual.
We opened a door to a wagon's gangway for the umpteenth time, but instead of a copy of the door on the other side this one had notable markings. The overall frame is the same but there was a unique logo that adorned the middle of the door.
A five point, red star.
It was not just a simple red star, the top point had the swirling ridge of a Unicorn's horn and the two points besides it were stylized in a way to look like wings. There was also some text under the logo.
"Комната технического обслуживания"
And a smaller subtext was present too.
"Только для сотрудников."
So simple, yet so imposing. This wagon must have something important, but trying to open it was a problem. The handle was there but it was not budging even when I put strength on my telekinesis. I give up trying the muscle-head approach and begin inspecting for any curios.
"Ma'am, what's that?" Silver Interjects, maneuvering a hoof between the wall and me, pointing at something besides the handle.
I look at the object of interest. It was a thin rectangular hole, under it something was etched onto the metal. The train and star logo of the Mechanoids beret.
Then I remembered something. Back at the first car I found a red card with that same logo on a Mechanoid, Perhaps it is related to this. I pull out the red card that was stowed under my armor and analyze it besides the hole. The card matched the width of the hole, like a key. Perhaps it is a key?
I levitated the card and set it up, I then slowly inserted it into the hole, it was a snug fit. And suddenly...
*Ka-Clic*
I felt it push against some sort of apparatus inside the slot and the sound of gizmos click into position from within the door, then the door lets up.
I gingerly swing open and take a look inside the wagon. It was very dark due to a lack of windows, which is strange. I instinctively summon an illumination spell and soon a ball of white light scares the darkness away allowing Silver and I to look inside.
My heart skips a beat.
Mechanoids... Dozens of Mechanoids... They were standing adjacent to one of the walls of the wagon. All of them facing my direction. But like their freaky friends on the other wagons they too were unmoving, that black mirror that hides their eyes completely devoid of life.
In other words, dead.
I swallow subconsciously and walk into the wagon with silver right behind me, by my estimations we are just a wagon or two from reaching the other side of the river. The Mechanoids may be lifeless but it irks me every time I see them, however I must remain observant. The car had these small cubicles that housed each machine pony, like a stable. A quick glance reveals an assortment of tools and other unidentifiable machinery strewn about the floor, some of the Mechanoids were undressed and their internal bits exposed. But it was not due to damage but it looked like it was intentionally disassembled.
"So... This is where they fix them up?" I ask a question to no one in particular. The blank, featureless expression on faces of the Mechanoids creeps me out, I take a look at Silver and she too has an uneasy expression.
"Silver, They are dead." I deadpanned.
"I-I know Ma'am, but I can't shake away the feeling they are staring at us." She motions a hoof at the machine ponies, they do not react. I get where she is coming from, the sense of pareidolia that is occurring by the Mechanoids' pony-like appearance. But ultimately they are stiff and cold, whatever ticks inside of them no longer works. But I would be lying if I was not a little paranoid about them, I do not know how a mechanoid works and I am most definitely not going to mess around with them and figure it out the hard way.
We walked down the long car carefully so as to not trip, the floor is covered by abandoned tools and other junk. The idea of looting is tempting but there is little use various power tools of unknown purpose would give us. And also the fact I distrust these machine ponies indirectly gawking at us. The door was closed, just a few more steps and we were out of the creepy wagon full of deceased robo-ponies. But something near the exit catches my eye. A metal table full of buttons, switches and levers.
I take a quick glance at the table, Silver on the other hoof admires it. Numerous interactive components are embedded on the table, however all of it just blended in with each other. Nothing seems to be worthwhile until I spot an unusual looking button. It was encased in a red painted box, around the box black and yellow caution stripes adorned it. On the very top of the red box a sheet of shattered glass caved inwards towards the button. Hoovestroyan text is written on it.
"АВАРИЙНОЕ ОТКЛЮЧЕНИЕ МЕХАНОИДА"
"РАЗБИТЬ СТЕКЛО, ЧТОБЫ ОТПУСТИТЬ КНОПКУ"
It was written in bright red font. I wondered what was said, then dismissed it. There are more important things up ahead and one of them is getting out of this wagon.
We walked past the table and reached the door, thankfully it was only a matter of turning the handle and pulling it. I checked every subsequent wagon's windows to check if we managed to cross the bridge and to my surprise we finally managed to cross that absurdly long bridge. We went to the lower floor of the wagon and headed for one of the access doors that would normally let passengers onboard the train. With some tinkering of the handle and a little bit of elbow grease we managed to open the door. We were greeted by a rush of cold wind. The puffs of powdery white snow often swept out crest and tails, the landscape was the sharp inclination of the riverbank with a concrete wall on the zenith blocking off access to the icy water.
We at last got off the train and looked upon the city, it was just gigantic. Only a couple of blocks away the massive snow covered concrete jungle awaited us. I am ready.
I bring up the radio's microphone and speak into it. "Cosmo we have crossed the bridge and are about to begin venturing into Black Mare City." I reported.
After a few seconds of silence the stallion responded. "Excellent! Now, your best bet right now is to follow the train tracks. Recent scans indicate that no Mechanoids are near them but keep your eyes wide open." Cosmo ordered.
"Copy that." I responded as I holstered the microphone.
I take a look at the train tracks. The locomotive we were in only has a few more cars remaining before it ends and besides it is the cargo locomotive that stretches for maybe another mile or so.
I check my surroundings, nothing but snow and wrecked buildings. Good, that is better than Mechanoids.
"Silver!" I get the attention of the Pegasus, she looks at me. "You ready?" I say as I motion a hoof towards the ruined metropolis. She just salutes with a smile. I nod in acknowledgement, and so we begin our perilous journey traversing the city.
"Into the breach..." I mutter under my breath.
Author's Note
CAUTION! CAUTION! NEW MECHANOID ENCOUNTERED!
"Well... That is certainly a sight." I commented on a find on our travels
Silver and I are thirty minutes into our journey through Black Mare City as we were following the cargo train of obscene length, like seriously how damn long is this thing? We managed to reach its other end of the train to find another locomotive facing the opposite direction. It was nearly identical to the engine all the way back at the bridge apart from a small, tiny little difference.
And by small, tiny little difference I mean that the engine component was blown outwardly as if a bomb detonated inside of it. It also had strange trails of holes on it too, like the car wrecks on the way to FrostHaul.
Apart from the initial surprise there was not much else to look at so we resumed the trek. For the short time we were following the rails the wind had picked up significantly and a white haze blurred the horizon. However, this could work in our favor, It could make us harder to be seen by Mechanoids. The rails, as of now, are our guide through this with Cosmo alerting us of imminent threats.
I huffed out clouds of cold breath. Snow was accumulating in the nooks of my armor and my mane and tail were covered in flecks of ice, Silver was afflicted by this too. The cold was getting to me, it was no more a bit chilly in the morning but now the weather bares its teeth. However I must remain steady, it is cold but not frigid, I'll live.
But I would not mind something warmer to wear.
The ruined buildings and disheveled surroundings are eerie to say the least, besides the tracks, plots of land are buried under the snow and the small businesses are either abandoned or half-demolished, and some are just a pile of rubble. I am having a hard time believing all of this destruction was solely the work of those machine ponies. In the distance through the snowy haze, once mighty skyscrapers are now empty dilapidated husks that are slowly crumbling away. To think this was a bustling city less than a decade ago, now it looks like it was left to rot for over a century.
"Ma'am, can I tell you something?" Silver asked out of the blue.
"What is it?"
"Do you think they miss us?"
I blink before stopping. "Uh... I am afraid I do not understand your question, Private."
"Perhaps I did not word it right. I mean the ponies back in Equestria, surely by now they have noticed that two guards have gone missing." Silver rephrases her question.
I ponder for a moment. The Royal Guards would have more than likely begun a search for us after disappearing from our post, but after not finding us they would have raised an alarm due to the suspicious circumstances. If they are smart they would have sent out someone to question our friends and... Relatives... My relatives... My folks... Both my mother and father must be confused and bewildered. I admit I do not talk to them much nowadays but I try to send a letter every now and then. I cannot imagine the thoughts that must be running through their heads, that their only goody-two-horse-shoes of a daughter has magically vanished. My heart aches.
"I know two ponies that no doubt are flummoxed on my whereabouts and those are my elderly folks." I responded trying my best to not show too much emotion. I ask a similar question to Silver as to distract myself from the thought. "How about you? Do you have anypony that would wonder where you are right now?"
Silver's expression turns sad, the topic weighs heavy on her. "There is one... It's my little brother, Silver Bits. He is eleven." The private sighs deeply. "He lives with my parents now. But when I was younger, before becoming a guard, I was the one who took care of 'Bits since both my mom and dad had to travel a lot for their jobs. He is very close to me..."
I am surprised, for the longest time I thought of Silver as a laidback mare who delves into, admittedly, foalish pastimes. Her family life was completely unknown to me and to see her feel grief over being separated from her younger sibling imparts that sadness unto me.
"...He would always ask me what all the trinkets and devices around the house do and I tried to explain it as best I could, then one thing led to another and now I am the one wondering how things tick. Heh..." Silver forces a chuckle. "Frost, I can't help but think he is worrying his little head right about where his big sister went too."
I get close to the Pegasus and place a hoof on her withers. "Silver, it is going to be fine. After all of this... Fracas... We will one day return to Equestria with... the best party story in recorded history." I tried to comfort her, consoling ponies is not one of my fortes but it was worth an attempt. She helped me in a moment of weakness and now I return the favor as best I could at least. Silver gives me a soft smile, a good indication.
"Well, that day can't come any sooner." She remarked.
"Alright, now let's move on. The less time we spend here the better." Silver composed herself and we both resumed the journey.
The wind was picking up noticeably as a thick miasma of powdery white snow cut visibility down significantly as well as the temperature dropping. It was getting hard to see but I still felt the rails under my hooves. As long as we follow the train tracks we will get out of here. Our surroundings had opened up a little bit recently, but the snowy haze made it difficult to discern anything in the distance short of a vague outline. However we are undeterred.
I frequently would ask Cosmo about the Mechanoid presence. His responses ranged from 'a few streets away' to 'some distance away.' Ignoring the sameness of his answers, those were much preferable responses than 'hot on our heels' or 'right behind us.' I was going to remain quiet for a while until something unusual happens...
…up until something unusual happened.
A giant mass materialized from the horizon in front of us. Around sixty feet tall, it looked like an absolutely gigantic pile of rubble, but most importantly it was blocking our path.
We approached it slowly, inspecting every inch of the pile for any sign of machine ponies. As we got closer more details became visible, like the big square sections arranged evenly in vertical rows, large chunks made out of gray bricks and some areas of the inside were visible revealing... Sideways stairs? Hold on, something is iffy about this. I looked all the way to the left, a tall concrete wall stood there and it ended abruptly when making contact with the pile, like it was smashed by it. I do the same for the other side, it is a bit difficult to make out but I can see a row of buildings just a few feet away from the rails, a section looked like it was crushed by the pile of rubble too.
Then it clicks.
It's just not a regular pile of rubble, it's a Celestia-damned skyscraper that toppled over the rails!
"This is a problem." I commented.
"Yeah, no kidding!" Silver exclaimed.
I pick up the microphone again. "Cosmo, one of those skyscrapers collapsed over the rails. What do we do now?" I inquired about instructions from the pony on the radio.
"Is that so? Not good... Give me a second, I need to plot another route. You two keep an eye out." The stallion instructed as a cacophony of 'beeps' sounded in the background. As I surveyed my surroundings Silver gets close to the microphone and speaks into it
"Hey Cosmo, if you don't mind me asking. If you were in that space station, couldn't you have seen the collapsed skyscraper and found a way around it earlier?"
I stare mildly nonplussed at Silver's astute observation.
"It is not that simple, I don't always have a clear line of sight of you with my station or satellite, that wind storm is pushing clouds in the way and I have to cross-reference your location with the old maps before everything got wrecked. But worry not as Ol' Jimbo has a powerful scanning system keeping you safe!"
I pause for a moment.
Silver pauses for a moment.
...
…
"...Uh, hello?... Are you still there?..." A confused stallion asked.
...
"Jimbo?... Who's Jimbo??" Silver breaks the silence.
The radio goes silent for a second before a sonorous guffawing crackles through the radio's speaker, catching us both off-guard.
"Oh my stars I forgot to tell you about JIMBO!" Cosmo wheezes as he attempts to explain who this Jimbo character is, I fail to understand the humor.
"Cosmo, what is so funny?? Who is Jimbo? Is he another pony with you?" I question the chortling space pony as the laughter slowly diminishes.
"Oh, I'd WISH he was another pony but no. Jimbo... is the name I bestowed upon the satellite that watches over you. Being stuck up for so long made me assign names to a handful of the objects in the space station to distract my mind from the solitude. Like Francis the Propulsion Module or Pip the Little Toaster."
My eye twitches. That... has to be the most RIDICULOUS thing I have ever heard in my life. "Why?..." I questioned Cosmo's decision.
"Why? I just told you, it gets lonely up here and I have to do something to pass the ti-"
I interrupt the stallion. "No, that is not what I mean... Well... that too. But what I really mean is that why the name 'Jimbo' of all things??" I restructured my response. Who names a mission critical piece of equipment 'Jimbo'? Imagine a veteran guard who has spent more time on the line of duty than most ponies have spent in a job and his name is 'Buttermilk' or something.
"Because saying 'Jimbo' is funny to me." He said. "Come on, say it with me... JIMBO!" He exclaims with a falsetto voice tone.
*SNORT*
I hear a snicker escape from Silver. I glare at her, she has a hoof over her mouth trying to suppress a laugh. I am just astounded by the immaturity that is happening right now. "Silver! No, that is not funny!" I reprimanded the private, albeit with half-serious indignation. I am more annoyed by the fact she found such a ridiculous thing funny.
"Ma'am, I swear... Heh... It is not funneh heh heh. " She fails to contain her giggling, I roll my eyes in annoyance.
"Anyway, how long is it going to take for you to rechart?" I asked Cosmo to break away from this ridiculous little conversation about naming inanimate objects.
"Oh, right! Scan should be done right about now, just give me a second to read it." Several electronic noises echoed in the background. "Ah! ok. On your right there should be a row of buildings, find an access point and pass through. After that go straight until you reach a park, just about where you'd clear the fallen skyscraper. Just go through it and head back to the train tracks. But be careful, the scan spotted Mechanoid patrols near the park so keep your senses sharp."
I take a deep breath as Silver composes herself. "Alright, we are heading out now. You keep an eye out for Mechanoids."
"Gotcha." Cosmo answers affirmingly.
We deviate from the rails and head to the wall of buildings, scanning the immediate exterior of a damaged door presented itself from the haze of snow. A swift buck tore it off its hinges allowing us access to the building. Time to go.
We trailed along the fallen skyscraper, the small detour was maybe a little under three street blocks but we had to traverse through the collateral rubble created by the skyscraper. Judging by its enormous length it was maybe a hundred stories tall and that is excluding the remaining length on the other side of the rails. The weather seems to have worsened, the wind is kicking up more snow into the air reducing visibility to a fraction of what it used to be. And don't get me started with the cold, perhaps we should have taken some of those clothes back on the train...
"Just a little more, Silver." I commented on the mission's status.
"Ma'am, I think I see the park!" Silver pointed out. Even in the blinding haze of white snow you can barely discern an ornamental fence. As we trotted by the fallen skyscraper was narrowing down in its size, extrapolating on this information I can safely assume we are close to reaching the 'top' of the building.
Just as we reached the fence the skyscraper was crushing a section of it, however that is working in our favor, the rubble acted as a ramp of sorts allowing us access to the park. Once inside I contact Cosmo. "We have reached the park, any signs of machine ponies?"
"Be advised there is one patrol on the other side of the skyscraper. I presume its path is just passing by the road beside the park but I wouldn't bet on that." Cosmo gave us a clear warning. "Keep your eyes wide open."
"Copy that." I replied as I holstered the radio. "Silver, stick close and guard my back." I ordered the Pegasus, she nodded and followed.
We huddled up and began trailing the remainder of the skyscraper. We took each step whilst carefully watching the horizon, making sure that if any instance of those machine ponies was visible we had a chance of getting away from their line of sight. As we walked by we managed to reach the roof of the skyscraper. However I was not ready for what I saw in front of it.
Just mere feet from the skyscraper's path of destruction and debris a statue stood. Like if divine intervention came into play the massive metal statue was essentially unscathed. The elements did take a toll on the metal but overall it is in good condition compared to the rest of the scenery.
What the statue depicted was a tall Alicorn with a foreleg raised, her wings spread out in full glory. Her mane and tail was enormous and possessed a number of small swirling patterns. She also was adorned with a large ostentatious metal breastplate with a stylized five-point star as its center point, very similar to the one back at the train. Her pedestal had a giant plaque on the front face but much of the Hoovestroyan text was caked in snow so it was extremely difficult to decipher the small font; the billowing clouds of white powder that rushed around us did not help either. But what I did manage to see was a large chunk of what I presume is the title of the plaque.
"Императрица Андромеда"
Something about this made me curious, perhaps she is a prominent leader or even the queen of Hoovestroya. But I will keep that question for later, I will ask the living repertoire of information known as Cosmo in a better place other than a Mechanoid-infested metropolis. Silver gawked at the statue too, admiring her magnificence but I got her attention. Right now it is not the time to be a tourist.
We made our way to the other side of the fallen skyscraper making sure there were no Mechanoids on sight, of course with a little guidance on Cosmo's behalf.
With confirmation that the Mechanoid patrol had vacated the area we proceeded to scamper back to the train tracks, our original path. I have to admit my heart was racing, the combination of running the equivalent of several hoofball field lengths and the stress of the Mechanoid ponies hounding us was definitely a lot for the ticker in my chest. By an estimation in my head we are around the midpoint of the skyscraper, just a few more harrowing minutes and we are back on track.
But we quite literally ran into a snag. A line of military looking vehicles blocked the road as well as a mountain of rubble was on the road. However, the rubble only covered half of the road and with some maneuvering we could squeeze by the vehicles. I quickly analyzed the situation and began formulating a path through it. But my pondering did not last long.
"FROST, SILVER, WE HAVE A SITUATION!" Cosmo bellowed from the speaker.
My blood freezes. Not good. I scramble to bring the microphone close and speak into it. "What happened!!??"
"A patrol just diverted towards your location, I don't think they know you are there because their pace has not changed but you have to seek shelter now!" Cosmo yawped.
"Ah Dammit!" I cursed. We are very much ill prepared to face off against the mech ponies, if we want to escape this awful place we have to hide immediately! "How close are they!!"
"ONE MINUTE!! SEEK SHELTER NOW!!!" He repeated his orders.
My eyes are rapidly darting around my surroundings. The skyscraper? No, no easy way into the structure. The vehicles? I try opening the visible doors with my magic but none of them seem to budge in the slightest. Something was forming in my stomach, something ugly. The last possible way of escaping the Mechanoids is the nearby buildings, I quickly glance over the establishments to look for something that might let us hide.
Then I see it, a wooden door of one of the buildings looks ajar in the slightest. I instantaneously summon my magic and force the door open.
"Silver! Door! Now!" I bark orders at my companion, but before I could bolt to the door Silver does something unexpected. She unfurls her wings and begins to hover towards me. Before I could react properly she grabs me from my barrel and carries me through the air towards the opened door. But I did not protest her actions, I understood what she was doing. Flying will save us precious seconds.
As we swoop into the building Silver lets me go and I land on the floor on all fours. I turned around and telekinetically shut the door as fast as I could, but there was a problem. In my haste I accidentally damaged the locking mechanism and the pin that keeps the door shut no longer functions. The door shakes with the violent winds of the outside. That ugly feeling growing inside of me intensifies.
My eyes dart around inside the building. It looks like a bar of some kind, toppled tables and broken chairs are scattered all over the place. I tried formulating an idea on how to keep the door still but Silver beats me to it. Without even landing the Pegasus blitzes to a disheveled chair and grabs it before swooping back and wedging it between the doorknob and the floor, locking the door in place.
"Good thinking." I complimented the Private, she smiles, pleased with herself. "Now get down and keep quiet. They will be here any second." I commanded, Silver simply nodded and landed close to me.
As we mentally prepare for the Mechanoids arrival I notice something on the door, a crack, the smallest of apertures. Was this created by me or was it an uncaring environment? A quick glance through it allowed me to see, albeit a very limited view of the outside. I got an idea but a section of my subconscious was debating whether or not to follow through with it. I did not debate it for too long as my yearning for knowledge regarding the Mechanoids overtook me. Besides, the crack was so miniscule that I sincerely doubt anypony would be the wiser.
*Clank*
*Ca-Clank*
*Clank*
The noise of rhythmic mechanical hoofsteps is heard, my heart begins to quicken. I gingerly press my face against the crack on the door.
"Ma'am, what are you doing??" Silver whispers at me, worry in her voice.
"Identifying the enemy." I softly replied. And then, the machine ponies cross in front of my field of view, revealing themselves.
I finally get to see my foes live.
They were... Grotesque. Everything about them just seemed so unnatural. The obvious being the fact they are metal ponies, but even down to their gait was abnormal. Real ponies when they walk have fluid motion, from lifting their legs to taking a step, but the Mechanoids did not do that. What they did was to quickly snap their legs to the next position, each motion giving off a faint mechanical noise. Even marching has an elegance and rhythm to it. This was not marching, this was stomping.
Mechanoids already made me feel uneasy from the inside, even as corpses. But seeing one alive made me feel just gross.
In a group of four the mechs get into view, the appearance of these Mechanoids was nearly identical to their forgotten comrade back at the wrecked cargo transport vehicle but something was off. Their coats were yellow and the general form was the same but the black accents were different.
Ever so slightly the black stripes and blocks that cover their bodies were slightly different shapes between the Mechanoids. As they walked by another two Mechanoids appeared, one of them was a little more unusual than its metal kin. The odd Mechanoid had a much more extravagant paint job, instead of blocks and stripes decorating all of its body a solid coat of black paint covered the left half of its face, vertically. Not only that but its front left leg was painted a withered onyx too, the rest of its body was bare of any other markings apart from the yellow coat.
What was the purpose of the paintjob? I internally asked myself. What use did it serve because a camouflage it is definitely not, amidst the white snow they stick out like a sore hoof. Was it some sort of display of rank? Designation? Is it a symbol? I shake my head, I store those questions for later. I continue spying on the Mechanoids.
They marched away from my field of view, the clanking of their steps grew quieter making way for the howling winds of the outside. I breathed a sigh of relief as they simply stamped away from us, I was then going to check on Silver...
...But as I peel away from the door a faint rumbling echoed. Coming from the outside.
I immediately peered through the crack again, there was nothing, yet. The rumbling grew in intensity, I could not only hear it but I could feel it too. I felt like something big was coming down the road. I prepare myself to see whatever mechanical abomination rolls into view.
It only took a second for the source of the noise to expose itself.
"What... The... Buck is that???" I utter quietly in disbelief.
What (literally) rolled into view was not a pony shaped metal freak but some sort of massive vehicle. It was a slab of metal with caterpillar-like treads on opposing sides, on top of it was another large metal block in the shape of what I can only describe as an oversized fridge, with a tube sticking on the block's front face. It also donned the same yellow paint job with black accents. Eyeballing the whole machine it was maybe twenty feet in length and ten in height.
The large vehicle-abomination drove away from my view, the rumbling of its treads slowly faded and after a moment we were greeted once again by the howl of the wind. We did not dare make a single sound, not even the faintest of whispers, we wanted to make sure to be as quiet as possible for a while until those machines were far as buck away.
For maybe three minutes we remained completely mute until a soft masculine voice broke the silence. "They're gone." A certain stallion said.
I exhale out a stress riddled breath as a shiver crawls up my spine. Silver sits down, visibly shaken.
I levitate the radio close and speak into its microphone. "Cosmo, what happened back there!? I thought you were watching over us!!?" I asked, aggrieved and agitated.
It took a second for Cosmo to respond. "They suddenly appeared in my scanner, likely from an underground tunnel entrance nearby, sensors cannot penetrate that deep underground and of all the directions they could have taken they chose the one road you are on. It was all sheer misfortune... I reacted as fast as I could." He replied downhearted.
I let his words sink in, I can't help but perceive he is a bit... Upset. I process the whole situation, if he had not acted quickly like the way he did we would have most likely ended up in a very bad situation. I feel a bit of discomfiture, I let my emotions slip and unintentionally placed blame onto Cosmo. It was not his fault, it was no one's fault, it was all bad luck.
I compose myself and try to respond in a more thankful manner. "Well if... That is the case then... You did... uh... good, Cosmo." I majestically butchered my attempt of a compliment. Awkward silence permeated around us for what seemed like hours, at least in my head.
Way to go, Blossom... way to go.
"Uh... Okay?...Thanks?..." A confused space pony finally answers. "...Anyway, I'm just glad you two knuckleheads are alright. Did you happen to get a glance of the Mechanoids? The scanner picked up something big." He asked.
I relay the information to Cosmo as Silver stares wide-eyed at the new information.
"Oh... Now that is interesting, you just came across a Mechanoid Automated Tank or MAT for short."
"Interesting?" Silver asked coyly.
"Mechanoids don't normally send armor in patrol missions and I can only think of two possible reasons why it is here. Either it is a remnant of your original pursuers returning to their post; you know, like the ones from when we first spoke. Or they are mobilizing for something." The stallion explained.
"Mobilizing? Why would they need to mobilize such equipment?" I ask.
"Your arrival to Chevalier was not exactly quiet, in the magic department at least. You managed to set off alarms in my station, no doubt you also tripped some sort of Mechanoid sensor. You did spook them pretty hard, they are probably beefing up their patrols after that." Cosmo contemplated out loud.
"Well then, that is something we should definitely keep in mind for the future." I responded. "What do we do now?"
"Hole up in that building you are in, too many patrols are nearby. But once they clear, return to the rails and resume your trek, I'll keep a close eye on you for anything."
"Copy that, we'll wait for your all-clear." I replied and ended the conversation
I holstered the radio and unbuckled the backpack, with my magic I set it down near me and stretched my joints. As I did Silver begins rummaging in the saddlebag and pulls out a ration pack, with some brute forcing with her teeth she tears the packaging and exposes the inside. It looks like a set of some sort of pastry.
She gleefully nibbles on it.
Silver then notices me gawking at her, she then gets closer and offers me a piece of the ration. "Eat something, Ma'am. It has been a long day."
"Thank you." I answer simply as I levitate a segment of the pastry, I then take a bite out of it. It was the very distinctive flavor of an apple strudel, a bit tough but at least it tasted alright.
A small comfort in this strange and hostile world.
I suddenly burst through a set of doors as the winds behind me raged with cold fury, nearly every inch of my body was caked in snow. Silver shortly followed and as soon as she entered I slammed the door shut, she too was plastered in white. She sat on her haunches and began rubbing her forelegs rapidly, puffing out clouds of her breath as she shivered uncontrollably. Poor mare was not ready for the sudden snap of the weather.
After waiting out the Mechanoid patrols and returning to the track we went along our journey mostly uninterrupted for around an hour before another significant problem popped up again. Cosmo alerted us that the windstorm we were in was worsening much faster than anticipated according to a 'still functioning Weather-Sat.' So he advised us that we should find a place to bunker down so that we do not freeze to death.
Huh... Been doing a lot of hiding ever since I got stuck in this reality.
However that proved to be a little more difficult than expected, when we got the message the storm seemingly grew a mind of its own and cranked up the nastiness to eleven in a matter of minutes. The wind and cold was devastating, with both the temperature and visibility nearing 'zero' we depended on Cosmo's guidance to seek refuge amidst this mess.
With him constantly barking orders at us we managed to reach a large building. Not wanting to deal with this stupid cold I simply pry the doors open with my magic and enter.
I shake my entire body like a soaked dog to quickly remove most of the snow and my armor clangs like a bell tower. With that done I go check on Silver, she looked like she is half way to becoming a snow-pony. "Silver, are you okay?"
"Y-yes-s... Miss-s-s." She answers with a smile as she shivers, snow slowly flaking off as she shakes.
She is obviously not completely 'okay.'
'Look, I got something for you.' I say as I summon a ball of light once again, but this time with a twist. I pump more magic into said ball and it grows in size and luminosity and with a special little spell I cast, it shrinks down to its default size but then turns a bright orange and with it a much welcomed warmth envelops us both. I lastly float the magic ball of heat close to Silver, she gazes amazed.
"Wow! I did n-not know you could do th-th-that?" She stutters a bit as she stretches out her front legs towards the ball like a campfire.
"Eh, it is nothing that special. It's an old, makeshift spell not many know." I dismiss the perceived novelty of the spell but I am thankful of Silver's praise, I bring the radio's microphone close and speak. "Cosmo, we are now inside the building."
"Good, I probably should have warned you that Hoovestroya is known for unpredictable weather, sorry about that." Cosmo apologized jocosely.
I internally grumbled. "It's fine... At least it is not Mechanoids." I answered. To be fair, being shaken up by bad weather for a few minutes is leagues better than facing off those metal freaks. "What do we know?"
"I am afraid it is hiding in the shadows again, that blizzard outside would turn you into ice sculptures within an hour if you try to soldier into it." Cosmo explained. "Now, I am getting the feeling that you are about the ask a question about certain freaks of the metal variety, if so then scan indicates that there are no Mechanoids near but I will continue to monitor the area. If I were you I would snoop around and look for loot while waiting out the blizzard, just make sure to check around your corners. Be careful you two."
"Noted." But before I ended the conversation I asked one last question. "Where are we anyway?"
"You are in a train station." Cosmo added
"Noted... Again." I holster the microphone and inspect the surroundings. The orange ball of light provided sufficient illumination and revealed some details.
It was a short corridor, on the opposite end of us a door. Around us various bits of machinery imbedded into the wall, nearby a cart full of tools. I wondered if it had anything useful so I got close, Silver got back onto her hooves and began following, I also towed the ball of light close to her. It was a simple tool cart, numerous old tools and other bits of unidentifiable machinery just layed unorganized in it. Carefully sifting through it with my magic I began looking for something useful.
A pipe wrench? Unless there is a leak somewhere not much use can come out of it.
A hack saw? The teeth on this thing seem a little dull, nope.
A rubber mallet? Just... No.
Pliers? Huh, that could help in a pinch. I separate it from the main pile of junk.
There was this large power tool with a larger serrated, circular blade on the side. I fantasized for a split second about wielding this thing against the Mechanoids but that idea dies quickly. It would be very ineffective against metal armor and the more glaring issue is that I don't know how to power this thing.
A screwdriver? You know, This actually might come in handy, I set it aside for now. Searching through more junk revealed little more than refuse and small bits of scrap.
Satisfied, I collected my new instruments and stashed them in my backpack. We headed towards the door and passed into a large chamber unimpeded, it was the main hall of the station. It was enormous, the hall's height alone was maybe three stories tall, small cracks in the roof let little columns of snow swirl inside. Four chandeliers placed equidistant from each other made out of ornately sculpted metal and crystals hung high above us, however one of them had fallen at some point and turned itself into modern art when it hit the floor. Numerous benches were fairly spaced out between each other, and with it more abandoned luggage.
But before we began looting I noticed something unusual, at a far off corner there was a large rundown tent with equipment and crates around it. I inspected around to see if there was any sign of life but the state of the encampment was a good indication that whoever was there had abandoned it some time ago. With a better look at it, it seemed more to be a really shabby shelter of some kind.
As I approach the shelter with Silver I inspect the surroundings. I get a look at a nearby crate, it is full of cut up scrap metal, another nearby crate had the same contents. I also get a gander at the equipment, there was a dolly with two gas tanks of some kind on it, a short red one and a tall green one connected to a hose of some kind with a nozzle at the end. Near to it large chunks of metal debris.
We managed to get into the front of the shelter and peer into it, three sleeping bags were on the ground. Around the walls of the tent a number of lockboxes, equipment and junk ranging from opened cans and empty bottles and bags. Whoever were the ones here really dug in. A table with all sorts of gizmos was at the very back of the tent. One of those gizmos in particular stood out.
I got close for a better look, it was a medium sized flat box. On the front face there was a small cracked, black mirror on the left with a series of knobs and switches on the right, behind it a long antenna stood tall. Out of curiosity I begin inspecting the strange little device, it kind of looks like the radio on my back only more... squat. I brush a hoof over the device to get a feel of what it is made of...
*Click.*
My heart skips a beat. I felt my hoof push against something.
And just like that the device's mirror lights up with a yellow illumination as a string of numbers appear. I am more surprised by the fact that this thing still works.
"...And with that ends today's weat- *Kzzt*-er update... "
The voice of a young mare crackles from the device. Both Silver and I look amazed at the little radio, to hear another voice was refreshing to say the least.
"...And now for everypony's least favorite part... Mechanoid activity. *Kzzt*-You will not believe what rolled in yesterday night, according to some brave scouts at the Red Zone something managed to rile up the Mechanoids. Lots of them are crawling out of their holes and pa- *Kzzt*-olling all of those ruined cities like Black Mare. Not only that, some are saying that they are rolling out the big guns like those M-A-T's. If anypony is in the R-Z I would highly suggest you keep watching your back as those things can pop out anywhere..."
"Is it me or am I hearing another voice??" A very confused Cosmo asked through our radio.
I quickly levitate the microphone close and explain. "We found an old radio that still works."
"Heh, lucky you. Could you put the microphone close to it? I think I recognize the voice" Cosmo asked. Obliging, I levitated the microphone close to the smaller radio as the mystery mare spoke again.
"...Multiple scouts report that the R-Z will remain hot for a while, so if you have any expeditions to it I would recommend changing your destination. The Y-Z and G-Z have not changed much in relation to Mechanoid activity, just keep your eyes open and report anything unusual..."
"Hey! HEY! that is Flashing Diode! She is one of those news-ponies!" Cosmo exclaimed, surprised.
News-ponies? huh. I guess Hoovestroyans still need their daily dose of local on-goings. But one small detail was bugging me, why was I able to understand her?
"Cosmo, why is she speaking Ponish? aren't we in Hoovestroya?" I asked the space pony.
"She is from the New Alicornia Federation, our friends from the other side of the ocean. Lots of ponies from New Alicornia fled to Hoovestroya when The Uprising took control of their factories, but since a good number of them don't know Hoovestroyan so there was a lot of confusion running amok, so those who could took the mantle of translators. After a while some got into the radio stations and began relaying information across the frozen waste in both Ponish and Hoovestroyan." Cosmo detailed.
"Hmmm, interesting. Is she well known?" I asked, my curiosity taking the helm.
"She is one of the more liked ones amidst the news-ponies. Oh! before I forget, do you see a screen or a dial with numbers on the radio?" Cosmo cuts himself off with his own question.
I then switch my focus at the small radio looking for the specified descriptions, on the screen a small number is on it. "Yeah, what is it??" I questioned.
"That is the frequency of the signal, you can use your radio to tune into it!" He replied with a tinge of enthusiasm.
"Tune... into?" I muttered incredulously, was this more nerd speak?
"Really? How do we do it?" Silver asked, a smile spreading across her face.
"Farthest knob to the right of the radio, just turn it to the number displayed on it." He instructed, Silver was more enthused by this odd technology than I am so I unfasten the radio from its perch and place it on the table near where the smaller one is.'' Flashing Diode yammered away at topics but it was all background noise to me. I made a way for Silver to interact with the device.
I stepped back a little more and spoke. "I'll just let you two techno-geeks do your thing, I will look around for something useful."
"Suit yourself." Cosmo commented. But as I slinked away I heard another remark from the space pony, but uttered quietly. It causes Silver to let out a suppressed giggle.
"Heh heh heh, 'Techno-geeks,' to think she gave me crap for silly names."
I simply rolled my eyes, it was a sly dig at me but not a hint of malice was in his words. I moseyed over to some of the lockboxes and began fiddling with one of them, despite the word 'lock' being in the name it simply pops open with unusual ease. Inside there were a number of advanced looking devices, likely gutted from larger machines.
As Cosmo instructed Silver on how to 'tune in' the radio I began opening the other boxes and containers splayed about the tent. Most of them contained bits of technology among other widgets of unknown purpose, which is curious by the way. Were the original occupants of this shelter running some sort of recycling operation?
After moving some of the empty containers away I spotted a small container buried in the refuse. I levitated the tiny box closer and inspected it, on the top was a Hoovestroyan scripture.
"Спайкбол"
There was a simple metal latch keeping the tiny container close, no lock or anything really. I opened it.
I was surprised on what I found, there was a pocket sized folding blade inside. The beautiful wood handle and the metal painted matte black, so simple yet gorgeous, not tacky or overdone like some... monstrosities I've seen before. The blade did have some of its finish scratched off but that is to be expected of a used knife, if anything it adds character.
"You are coming with me." I whispered deviously. I pressed the locking button of the knife and the blade went loose, allowing it to fold in on itself for storage in the backpack.
Searching around a little more I realized I have exhausted most of the containers in the tent, only finding a singular stray can of... what I assume is beans by the label, the rest was useless junk.
*Klec*
"I did it!" A jubilant Pegasus exclaims. I turned around and looked at her, she was clapping her hooves together happily. Cosmo's radio then transmits Flashing Diode's voice.
"... And so that ends today's report. Now my dear denizens of Hoovestroya, enjoy these calming tunes for the rest of the morning. Like always stay safe out there..."
After Diode's signoff a smooth sounding jazz song caught my ears. The gentle percussions and snares mixed in with a talented saxophone player created a wonderful little ditty. It is not too different from something made back in Equestria. Silver had a huge grin on her face, happy she managed to successfully operate the radio's other function, Cosmo then chimes in.
"Huzzah! Silver did it!" He congratulates as the jazz music plays in the background.
"Well then, that surely is something." A very interesting function indeed but I rather not have music play while sneaking by Mechanoids. "Hopefully there is a way to switch back to normal , I don't want you to get cut off by other random news-ponies."
"Quite easy actually." The Private then placed a hoof on one of the knobs and twisted it, the smooth jazz then slowly faded into complete silence.
"Ta-Da!!" Cosmo sang out a fanfare. His voice was untouched.
"Huh, neat." I am impressed by the radio's unique functionality.
"You can use it to tune in on other broadcast around Hoovestroya, just keep in mind that some signals require a specific tune in frequency to catch and might not sound as crisp as my own transmission." He explained, I only came out of that moderately confused but I let it slide for now, Silver might help me break it down to laypony's terms.
"Okay, that is enough of this tent. There is a lot more of the station to explore before the storm dies down enough for travel. Come on Silver." I commanded, Silver nodded and stuck close as I swiftly reattached the radio to the backpack, but before leaving I turned off the tiny radio, no need to leave a trail.
We exited the tent and began looking into the forgotten baggage. However, much to our disappointment, of the twenty or so pieces of luggage we searched into, all of them were cleaned out. Likely from the original occupants of the shelter, barely anything at all was left. But we were undeterred, there are likely many rooms within the station, some are bound to have something good.
We entered through one of the doors leading deeper into the station, a sizable corridor full of small windows that would normally have a view of the outside but right now are blinded by the raging storm. A good number of the windows were broken or missing, letting in a little bit of the horrendous weather. We trotted briskly through it, not wanting to get covered in snow. We got to another large room, not quite as big as the main hall but pretty big overall, it was similar in most aspects sans the chandeliers. But one detail did stick out more than the rest, a large flag hanging from the roof.
It was a tattered white flag, in the very center the familiar stylized five-point star in red. The flag also had two separate red outlines on the edges close to each other, the last noticeable aspect was the thin, tilted ring on the star with a small dot on the very apex of it. Or in laypony's terms, a small red dot looked like it was orbiting the larger star.
"This looks to be the Hoovestroyan flag." I commented, admiring the beauty of the symbol. Silver too gazed at it. Seems like the country focused on the stars and space, it is a shame to see such a symbol in a dilapidated state. I may have pledged my allegiance to the banner of the princesses but like any guard or military personnel worth their salt you are to show respect to the flag of other sovereign nations, specially in their own land. Although the damage was likely caused by the surrounding elements, no one is here to tend to it and that makes me feel despondent.
I simply leave the flag alone, not much I can do about it. With the ball of orange light floating close I brighten up the surroundings. Debris is everywhere, parts of the ceiling have fallen onto the floor and the walls are damaged beyond safe parameters, even holes dot the roof letting in slivers of the very angry storm outside. There was some luggage but it was already opened, bare of anything useful. Silver and I walk around the place searching for... anything really, supplies are 'in the green' and Cosmo is keeping an eye on the Mechanoids, I should feel safe but I don't. We are not 'safe' in this cursed city, we are hidden, if anything I am calm and alert.
After a few minutes inspecting the area I came across some graffiti, I can safely say that because it is spray-painted across one of the cream colored walls in bright neon purple paint.
"Мехи победили, все кончено."
Under it a crudely illustrated Mechanoid stepping over a pony's skull was painted too. Charming.
Oh I really, REALLY need a way to understand Hoovestroyan. There is likely tons of vital information I skipped over because I do not understand the language. I bring the microphone close and speak. "Cosmo, is there a way for me to understand Hoovestroyan short of actually learning it?" I understand this question falls under the 'dumb' category, but seeing all the technology around perhaps there is a device that would at least assist with easing the linguistic barrier.
The space pony responds shortly. "You know, there is a device called a Hoof-held PDA. From organizing your schedule to finding deals on stuff you need, some had these fancy-dandy programs that could translate languages in real time! Killer stuff some may say."
I... Am... Surprised. I did not know such technology existed. "Wow...for real? You know where we could find one?" I asked in high spirits.
"Err... That will be an issue." And my spirits deflate like a volley ball striking a cactus. "Most of them, including other useful devices were likely destroyed -slash- dismantled for parts -slash- lost in the past seven years since 'The Big F U.' I highly doubt that one of those things is still out there much less functional...". Cosmo said.
Gee Cosmo, way to get my hopes up.
"... Your best bet is to find one of those Hoovestroyan-to-Ponish dictionaries down there, sorry I can't help you more on that."
"It's fine, I was just curious." I finalized, that is what I get for expecting this to be a (momentarily) walk in the park .
...
...
Park... Park... That reminds me of something. The Alicorn statue, I could pass a little bit more time by asking about it. It would not hurt to know a tad more about Hoovestroya. "Hey Cosmo, can I ask you something?" I inquired.
"Ask away"
"Back at the park there was a statue, a statue of an Alicorn with a swirling mane and donning a baroque-esque breastplate with a star. Do you know who she is?" I ask inquisitively.
Cosmo took a moment to respond, a much longer moment than usual. A saddened sigh is heard. "You found her, didn't you?" Cosmo responds completely disheartened, was she somepony important to him? Before I could ask, the stallion continued. "I am going to get straight to the point, she was Empress Andromeda the ruler of Hoovestroya." He said.
"Was?... you mean she is no longer ruling? What happened to her?" I asked cautiously.
"Current status: M-I-A." Cosmo replies, sadness permeating his tone.
"Missing!?" I reply in a combination of shock and consolation, my exclamation gets the attention of Silver who walks closer to me. I feel like she can sense the tense aura of the moment. Just how does a king or queen go missing? "How did that happen?"
Cosmo takes a deep breath before answering. "When the Fracturing occurred the resulting fireball that engulfed the entire capital of Hoovestroya destroyed almost everything. Emphasis on almost." Cosmo explains. "Be it luck or a fluke, the Empress was not in the capital when it went boom. She was at a meeting with other royals two-hundred miles away from the blast, Her Majesty may have been spared from the fireball but I can assure you that she definitely felt it, even from that distance. Protocol indicates that in the event of a large-scale disaster or attack she is to be evacuated to a secured location to continue the governance of Hoovestroya. After that Her Majesty and twenty royals, officials and other high ranking members of government disappeared, whether or not they made it to the secured location is unknown." Cosmo takes a momentary pause.
...
...
...
"Is... Is that it? Just like that? Just like that, The Empress disappeared from the face of Chevalier?" I was astounded, this cannot be the end of her tale. It is just too abrupt.
Cosmo sighs sadly, his voice shakes for a split second. "After seven years you'd think somepony would have sent out a message but no. Ponies still think Empress Andromeda perished in the fireball which is simply not the case." Cosmo retorted sternly.
"What about the secured locations? Has anypony checked them" Silver adds.
"Those are secured locations, it is in the name. Only a handful of high ranking ponies actually know where they are, I do know some of them but those are the old publicly known ones, all of which are in the capital..."
My mind is trying to wrap itself around the idea of how I, or any guard really, would react to a disaster of that magnitude as well as the disappearance of Celestia or Luna. I grimace at the idea of total chaos that would ensue, making even that insane entity of mischief known as Discord worry.
"...So much time has elapsed that ponies think Andromeda is either dead or worse, cowering away." That last part Cosmo says with a hint of what I presume is indignation. "Frost, Silver, I want to tell you something. My Empress is a lot of things, too careful, meticulous, worrywart, paranoid even. She is all that and probably some other things too, but cowardly? No!" He continues his rant, his voice growing slightly more indignant, even angered. "Would a cowardly leader protect her ponies from rampaging bandits by striking down the bandit general herself? Would a cowardly ruler sacrifice the vast majority of her own wealth and magical resources to safeguard her denizens from a viciously infectious magical plague? Would a cowardly empress stop a war, not by sheer force but by talking to the right ponies on the other side of the conflict, thus preventing bloodshed. Tell me you two, would a coward do that?"
We stood there in silence. I can't help to notice Cosmo's words carried a lot of pain, it is obvious that the Empress meant a lot to the Hoovestroyans. "No Cosmo, a coward would definitely not do any of that... Was- Was she close to her subjects?" I asked gingerly, slightly stuttering at the start.
Cosmo takes a second to answer, a faint shudder is heard in the background. "Close? That barely begins to describe it, nearly every Hoovestroyan looks up to her, me included. I joined the space program because of her and for the Empress to disappear during a crisis like that nearly killed my country from within. Not to mention the Mechanoids that followed..."
Perhaps it is just me but I am beginning to see a similarity between the Empress and Celestia, the almost motherly attitude shown towards her subjects.
"Frost, Silver. The Empress is not one to run away from a problem, something else had to happen for her that caused her to seemingly disappear. Even... E-Even if....." Cosmo chokes up. "E-Even if the UNTHINKABLE occurred and she was gunned down but those damnable machines... she .... she ...SHE WOULD HAVE BROKEN, DAMAGED, INCINERATED, TWISTED, SPLIT-IN-HALF A MILLION OF THOSE CURSED MECHANOIDS BEFORE SHE WOULD HAVE GONE DOWN, GAH!!!" Cosmo lets out an exasperated yawp, quiet shuddering and mumbling in Hoovestroyan is heard in the background, he possibly retreated away from his microphone.
We just stared at the microphone unsure on how to respond to this, Cosmo had a mostly cool, almost jokey temperament and always kept his bearings. But now, the subject relating to the Empress of his beloved nation being missing or possibly deceased made him despairing and emotional, likely a sentiment shared amidst the surviving populace. I try to formulate words to comfort the obviously agitated space pony but no words come to fruition, the ranting stallion continues.
"I don't think I have mentioned it directly but I am alone up here in my little space station. One of the reasons why I have remained sane is the hope that she is out there, alive. Even with her missing, her teachings and leadership still lives on thanks to the Hoovestroyans that still believe she is out there somewhere, hiding, perhaps with a plan to defeat the Mechanoids. But after all these years even hope wains, I have long given up on being rescued from this space station any time soon but what has also kept my bearings in place was the fact that the ponies down there are still fighting, still latching on to the idea of that one day the Mechanoids will be no more and the Fractures would go away..." Cosmo stops and sighs solemnly.
"...I was beginning to lose hope myself until I found you two." Cosmo finalized.
"Cosmo..." Silver utters, her voice mixed with concern and sympathy. I too was taken aback, his revelation that our misfortune restored his withering hope is... Is... uh... I am not sure how to react to that, I don't think words can describe what exactly am I feeling right now. Flattery? Shock? Confusion? Some combination of the three?
"Anyway, sorry for rambling, being a touchy subject for me and all. Well, That storm should let up soon according to the Weather-Sat." Cosmo changed the subject, His voice shaky but relieved at the same time.
"Don't be." I interjected. "You felt like you needed somepony to talk to and I am here. You help us and we help you, that was the deal, even if it is just lending an ear. I can not imagine how it feels to be alone, much less completely secluded from ponykind for seven years, if you ever need to talk about non-mission things I am all ears." Silver looks at me, then gestures at the microphone with a smile. "And Silver too."
It takes a moment for the space stallion to respond, the tension seemingly vanishes. "You know after hearing that from you, I feel a lot better. Spasibo , thank you two."
"Don't mention it." Silver said chipperly.
“Alright. you two sit tight while I’ll keep an eye for those metal freaks.” Cosmo finalized.
“Got it” I said as I returned the microphone to the radio.
We then got back to exploring the abandoned train station, not much stuff to loot and what little objects there contained nothing useful. After fully surveying the hall we went into a far off door in the back. It led to a small room that looked like an office of some kind. A desk and some damaged filing cabinets, it was a pretty ordinary office. I am already here so why not check the filing cabinet? I approach the cabinet and begin opening them, nothing but old documents written in a language I cannot understand; AKA trash.
I went over to the desk there as there were some documents on it too. Using the still lit ball of orange light I moseyed and began looking through the pile of papers and knick-knacks. All of it was written in, you guessed it; Hoovestroyan. Even the assortment of junk on the desk was unamusing, a marble cradle, really? How original. I was about to give up on the desk when I noticed something colorful just peeking behind a loose document, I moved the trash away and revealed it.
A comic book?
It is indeed one of those colorful booklets that little foals spend their allowances on. On the cover of the comic a short gray mare with a brown mane and a tall white mare with a red and black mane looking at each other with death stares, on the background a cast of colorful ponies gawking at the angry duo. One of the background ponies had a ghastly looking armor that kind of reminds me of the Mechanoids, but it is somehow uglier. There was even a zebra amidst the crowd.
To my amazement the little comic was written in Ponish, the title said 'Falling Out: Double Shot!!' in bright green text.
"Hey Silver! I found something for you!"
Author's Note
ATTENTION! ATTENTION! NEW EQUIPMENT AQUIRED!
