Winds of color, book 1: Digging up the past

“Nature is a labyrinth in which the very haste you move with will make you lose your way.”

-Francis Bacon, Sr.

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Wandering through the moss and mushroom infested hallways of a building that could fall apart wasnt the best Idea Iridescene ever had. With the flickering lights and some broken entirely, it reminded her of a horror movie, whatever that was, and creeped her out. The paranoia wasnt helped by the announcement system occasionaly turning on announing a burst of loud static and a high pitched whistling sound occasionaly. The first few times made her jump, but she quickly got used to the strange sound that was being emitted every ten or so minutes as far as she could guess. Her search for food wasnt going so well, so far she had found an janitors closet and countless pods. while she hadnt looked into the various empty and broken down pods she passed after seeing Data Jack's pod holding his skeleton.

Eventually she came across a room with a worn stone sign reading faintly, "Cafeteria". beyond the doors she could hear the sounds of something moving. Iridescence let her curiosity get the better of caution and slid the door open a few inches to look inside. The cafeteria was a mess, broken down tables destroyed by age, robots cooking what looked to be dirt sandwhiches and moss with mushroom soup that instead of water being a componet of the soup, mud and some worms were added from a faucet that was broken at the top with the little things nest inside it. one part, presumably the Waiter, which was an eye mounted above and out of view of the kitchen looked at me and said in a monotone voice, "Would you like Celery and rose soup or a whole wheat tomato sandwich madam?"

"Um... you realise thats dirt, moss, and worms being used in the kitchen right?"

"Celery and rose soup and a tomato sandwich Madam."

"...If you would just look..."

"Soup it is! get something hot in your stomache."

a few seconds later an mechanical arm pulled an dish of the disgusting substance out and the eye noticed the problem immediatly before stating in a defeated tone, "oh." and the entire kitchen shut down realising that none of the food inside it was was safe to eat or drink.

Iridesence twitched an eye at the now unmoving bot and shut the door and trotted down another set of mossy decaying stairs all the way to ground level.  The door was gone, no doubt decomposed into more of the moss and fungus on the floor as a result of age and decay. Slightly nervous she peered within, inside was a empty waiting room with a metal receptionists desk, on top of said desk was a layer of dust and a briefcase of stainless steel with another layer of dust, but the mold had yet to climb up the metal desk. A quick trot later and her hungry stomache complaining with a loud rumble again she opened the briefcase, inside was a bunch of preserved papers with numbers on them and then the prize she sought.

"Twinkies" the wrapped confectionary read, and she opened a wrapper, it still smelled fresh despite its probable actual age. She wasted no time Devouring the small treats that were inside the briefcase. While not enough to fill her up, it did however, she wiped her face of the frosting goatee that had devolped while she munched on the snack and licked it up before halting in mid lick.

Thunk...Thunk...Thunk... Each sound was getting louder and closer, she hid behind and under the desk as the steps grew louder before. Soon the glass and metal door leading to the outside creaked open and the muffled steps of somepony or something coming in was heard. a few seconds later another set of steps aproached the building and stepped in a voice complaining in a high nasally voice that complained, "This buildings covered in moss too. I hate moss, gets between my claws and takes weeks to brush it out of my fur."

A second voice, presumably the first set of thumps she had heard come in replied in a irritated tone, as though they had this conversation before , "For goodness sake, shut up! your as bad as that... 'pretty' pony we let go a week ago"

The first voice whined again even higher in pitch, "but Rover, what do you expect to find in these pony ruins? Theres little to no chance the precious gems will be here!"

She peeked around the corner of the desk barely, just in time to see a strange creature who stood on two legs, hitting himself in the face with a claw,both were s a strange dog like creature whos upper arms where large enough to touch the ground despite being in a bipedal standing position. Each wore a vest lined with gems and had a face of a dog, but it wasnt a species she was familar with. Both had brown coats but the smaller one who came up to the others chest and had a darker one who presumeably was the one who had spoke about the moss first. The dog that was face clawing himself spoke in the tone one would to someone who was a tad bit slow in learning, "we are here to collect old technology and sell it as new technology for precious gems, do I make myself clear to you now spot?" he finished his sentance by whacking spot in the back of the head with his large hand sending spot reeling into the desk, causing Iridesence to make a small instinctive squeal of fear in a low voice.

"Did you hear that?" came spot from the other side of the desk, "someone else is here."

"Yes, it sounded like a pony...", came the response from Rover.

The sound of loud sniffing filled the air and she dared not to move, not wanting to make another sound or do anything else to reveal her presence, she heard who she presumed to be spot climb onto the desk and the edge of his claws grab onto the edge of the desk. Close up she could tell the claws were disgusting and dirty probably never been washed once in his life. she gagged from the smell that was coming from them, her heart was beating fast adrenaline was pumping through her veins at this point and she was fighting the urge to bolt from under the desk towards the doorway beyond out of the reasoning that she knew not how fast these creatures could move; but if they were anything like the dogs her mind conjured up she knew she would never outrun an relentless chase through unknown territory by these two or escape their noses if they caught her scent.

A thud noise was then heard, spot letting go of the edge of the table as the noise repeated getting louder and near shaking the ground as the smell of yet another unwashed body filled the room, "Hey Boss, I found lots of Tech-y Things a block west of here! I even brought back some of it to proove it."

"What? no way," that was spots voice way too close for comfort with him on the desk and less than an inch of metal between her and him.

The sounds of a pair of gasps could be heard a few seconds later as the new arrival revealed whatever he was carrying, Iridesence fought her urge to look and lost peering over her eye uncomfterably close. There was a third dog, bigger than rover and spot combined, he wore a tattered vest like the other two but unlike rover or spot, his was devoid of gems but instead holding proudly out an device of stone circular with an opening through the center and a dial on the side and a lid near the top.  Impatiently Spot waved towards himself and she barely had time to duck down as the other two dogs looked at their comrade who began in his still annoyed tone, "well hand it here then!"

The new arrivals voice spoke in a tone that was slightly grudging, "he promised me a treat!"

Rover laughed as  a thunk was heard on the desk, presumably spot hitting the desk.

Rover started up his voice shakey from trying to contain his laughs, "so we did Fido, so we did." he continued digging into his own pockets Rover took out a gem and threw it directly into Fidos mouth.

Fido munched on the gem in a series of loud crunches that sent chills down Irids spine. If he can chew a solid gem with no problem...What about me...assuming they are omnivores or carnivores as well as... huh... what would one classify a rock as in the food groups? its neither a plant or a meat... her mind returned to the present and her body was stock still again as Fido commented to her surprise, "Is that a purple and brown fungus at the edge of the desk or am I just seeing funny?"

Her eyes widdenned as the click clack of muffled claws on ground came from three directions at once, her bodies dose of natural adrenaline had worn off and her nerves had been worn down pretty bad from the close encounters so far, so when three dog like faces suddenly apeared face to face and the reek of bad breathe hit her face her body and mind just gave out, her own fear causing her to faint in order to preserve her own mind.  As she lost conciousness she heard the voice of their leader, Rover one last time, "A pony here? How very strange for one to be here... and a unicorn too..." and with that, she collasped inwardly back into her mind, full of new thoughts to explore while she recovered in the mercy of the Diamond Dogs.