Bridlewood: the Cost of Lies

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Communications Trailer

To say Alphabittle was annoyed was an understatment.

"What the Tartarus were you idiots thinking?" he thundered, holding the earpiece as close to his face as he could without it snapping into bits. "Do you have any idea how much damage you have done?"

"Alphabittle, I have no idea what you're referring to. We got you that robot, didn't we? What have you got to complain about?"

"The fact that you gave an incorrect reading on purpose to CanterLogic, causing the robot to break down on that rooftop? The fact you fuckheads have been so slow to acknowledge anything we tell you? Or how about your repeated delaying tactics and drawing of maps which bear absolutely no resemblance to scientific advice?"

"The security of the administration matters over all. If Unicorns, or indeed any ponies learn the truth, there could be future problems down the road and that could severely harm our jobs."

Alphabittle suddenly went deadly silent, his voice almost a harsh whisper. "So, saving face and protecting your job is more important to you than saving lives and preventing this situation from repeating itself." He paused for a moment.

"This reactor, and us, are merely temporary, but our empire will last forever. And whatever the authorities say is true, no matter what happens on the ground. Do you understand?"

"No, I do not," Alphabittle replied, his voice seething with frustration. "All you lot have done is make our lives on the ground harder for no good reason, and make procuring what we need more difficult because you want to avoid international embarrassment. You have your priorities backwards, and the whole rotten system is responsible for this chaos!"

"I would advise you to watch your tone, Alphabittle. The King is on the line, and able to hear what you say."

Alphabittle smiled. "Well then, your majesty, know this; your government of halfwits and clowns tried to ensure nobody knew of this disaster, and in doing so nearly blew up the planet. If that isn't achievements in ignorance, I have no idea what is." He went silent again. "This whole mess is a consequence of this system, so I say if it falls because of this, so be it." He slammed the phone receiver down, hard, causing the table it was mounted on to fall over. The phone shattered into pieces on the floor.

Alphabittle looked at his map in annoyance. The middle management always cocked everything up. He made his way to go outdoors, trotting over to the trailer door and slowly opening it with his teeth. Outside stood a soldier on duty, who turned around at the door opening.

"Sir?" he said.

"We will need a new telephone," he said, stepping out through the door and trotting off down the road towards the meeting point with his allies. He needed to fill them in on what was going on, as the situation was now even worse than he had thought it had been. The soldier, on the other hand, went in search of a new telephone.

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Command Trailer

The familiar beep which signalled the arrival of a new member of personnel into the trailer sounded in my ears almost as background noise as I continued to study our options. I had heard that the robot had broken down, but Solar Blossom's report had been slightly garbled, to say the least. There was something about the Unicorn authorities intentionally reporting wrong numbers to CanterLogic, but I was a little skeptical of this claim. After all, what would they get out of making things up in the face of a world ending disaster? That would surely be insanity.

I turned around to see that it was Alphabittle who had entered. I was about to speak, but the General spoke first.

"What news from the Unicorns?" he asked. "Do they have any information on why the test failed?"

Alphabittle shook his head and sighed, before speaking. "They lied to the Earth Ponies. Instead of informing them of the true number, they told them the roof was only reading 10,000 Starswirl, not 20,000. The robot never had a chance." He sighed again and looked at the monitors. "I wish to apologise on behalf of my species for their complete and utter stupidity."

I shook my head too. "It's baffling. It's like they want us to fail."

Another series of beeps signalled the arrival of Solar Blossom. "Bad news on my front," she said. "After that fiasco, CanterLogic are refusing to send any more equipment. They're also billing us for the loss of Maximus, to the tune of several million bits."

"Power corrupts, and total power corrupts totally," General Rider noted. "I'll be ordering my men back onto the roof, as we've run out of robots with which to complete the work."

Something that the General had said resonated within my head. "Sorry, could you repeat that?" I asked.

"I said we've run out of robots with which to complete the work."

"Work... work..." I quietly said to myself. I was starting to have an idea.

Solar Blossom glanced over to me, her eyes and ears noticing that I was saying something. "What are you getting at, Argyle?" she asked.

It was here that I proposed by idea. It was a crazy one, but considering the circumstances stupid ideas were better than none at all. "We need to break out the museum pieces!" I said triumphantly, looking about the room for approval. There was little. In fact, they all looked baffled at what I had just said.

Alphabittle was the first to respond by rolling his eyes. "This is hardly the time for jokes, Argyle," he said, the frustration evident in his voice, and still believing I was something of a clown at that given moment.

"I'm not joking." I waited for them to acknowledge. "Not far from here are leftovers of an old program that I think can tip the scales in our favour."

Countryside around Bridlewood

There was one thing that Ocean Breeze knew he would never be able to get out of his nostrils. That was the smell of concrete.

They were using hundreds of tons of the stuff. As he and Starfish had been patrolling, large bulldozers had been systematically sweeping up the topsoil in many fields, driving it about into gigantic hills like large moles had been there. They had then been dumping it into large pits that had been dug for them, and these pits were in turn concreted over. This would, they hoped, prevent the worst of the radioactive leak that had been going on even as the reactor was yet to be sealed.

They weren't required to deal with that, though. What they were tasked with was far more uncomfortable. Although the majority of ponies had already been evacuated from the zone of exclusion (which was due for expansion, based on information from the top brass), there were still some who either had not heard the instruction or were too stubborn to leave. On top of that, thousands of animals still roamed free. If they escaped the zone, they could spread radiation far and wide outside the zone itself.

Their job was to deal with them, and the repeated bangs from a nearby farmhouse confirmed that another group of irradiated animals had just been shot. He and Starfish approached another farm, seeing a door to a barn open, and presumably somepony inside. He signalled to approach slowly, and then he stepped inside.

An older mare was there, tending to a cow. The world almost seemed not to have noticed her there.

Ocean Breeze cleared his throat. "Ma'am, we need to speak to you."

"What do you want, pegasus?" the unicorn mare replied.

"By order of the state, this area is subject to clearance of all inhabitants," Ocean Breeze said. "Radiation levels in this area are high, and the region is not safe to inhabit. Additionally, all livestock must be destroyed."

The mare snorted. "My family was here when the Unification Wars tore the continent apart. We were here when the Battle of the Bell raged. We were here as well when the races chose to live apart. So, tell me child, what makes you think I will leave, just because of something I cannot see? If it cannot be seen, how can it be a threat?"

Ocean Breeze indicated to Starfish. Seconds later, a loud crack rang out, and the cow dropped dead.

The mare recoiled in horror, before the screaming began.

This was the part of the job he hated the most. But he had no choice. Orders were orders, and it was for their own good as well. He activated his radio. "Farmhouse cleared. Mare is ready for evacuation. Will update you when you arrive, over."

He glanced to Starfish. "Make sure there's no other livestock in the farm," he said.

He sighed as they went about their work. This wasn't what he'd signed up for, but orders were orders, and he had to carry them out.