The next few days, to say the least, were surprising as fuck. Phoenix is a fucking boss. She was able to access the entire mainframe of the warehouse, and we had more information than I could ever want in my life. She managed to get the security systems online on day one, and had a set of working auto-turrets up halfway through the second, guarding the entrances with visible lights scans, infrared, ultraviolet, and I swear she said we have working sonar on them. The mainframe's VI, or virtual intelligence, was also working quite well. It's a relatively new thing, the VI's. They were created by the military not long after they requisitioned some tech from this really big tech firm. VI's were ridiculously efficient, and as a soldier, I don't know exactly how they worked, but they made us win a few fights. I heard some rumors about full blown AI's, but I don't think we managed to make any. We were able, however, to make self-repairing armor and then nano-skins like the one my helmet is made of.

Speaking of which, we had two huge discoveries thanks to Phoenix's skills with the mainframe. We learned that we actually had two sets of working nanobots. One set was currently repairing, constantly, a space station orbiting the Earth in a geosynchronous orbit above... Washington DC. Guess where we were? Yes, it moved with the beacon from the Smithsonian with the continents. It was named Space Station One, and if that means exactly what I think it does...

The second discovery was that this entire warehouse was filled with nanobots. Well, not entirely nanobots. They were more of really small maintenance robots, built as self-sustaining off of solar energy absorbed from external arrays. They had been keeping this place active for nearly a billion years, just a little bit dusty. They had obtained resources from mining underneath us, with a set of bots built specifically for the purpose. We actually were able to make something completely self-fucking-sustaining for once. Wow.

But that's not my priority. I spent my first day organizing the ponies outside and in, showing them around and explaining to them why they were not going to be shot on sight, as long as they were peaceful and followed instructions. I answered questions, with the help of Phoenix and the mainframe, whose VI I've taken to calling Muse, due to the shortness of the name and the whimsical nature of its speech. I have yet to show her to the ponies, but I will eventually. On the second day, I let them do what they wanted, and I allowed Celestia to send in a full team, but with food added. We couldn't get meat, but we made do with eggs. God knows how much I could have used a strip of bacon.

Day three was more boring for me. I spent it researching the other species on the planet, joining my preexisting information with that of the Equestrians. It was tedious, but I managed to end up relatively well-read about the others, enough to get around anyways. Besides that, there was one security breach, but the turret on the door took out the intruder without hassle. It was some sort of black, big-ass bug. Regardless, it was half cleaned up by the time I got there; the bots had almost cleaned up the entire mess beforehand. In addition, during inventory, we had found out that underneath the warehouse was a factory, but a very complex one at that. It was a military supply factory, there was no doubt about that, but the VI controlled it completely and could build any thing with a schematic in the database. I asked if it could build me a Mark IV EMC, or as the military guys call it, the Eat-it Motherfucker Cannon. Yes, they actually named it that. It had the specs on my suit, but not the resources, so that was a bummer. I was, however, able to find a ridiculously large amount of medical supplies. That could prove helpful for negotiation purposes. I also tried to see if we still had any weaponized orbital platforms around, but we couldn't get a signal from any of the known ones. We need to make it to Space Station One asap. Adding it to the list.

Day four, I received confirmation of the conference. It had been agreed upon by a majority of the rulers to hold the meeting in our Warehouse. Good. I am totally, although this is a 'peace' talk, going to set up a pair of turrets in the room we're meeting in. I returned the message, stating that we would be meeting inside the mess hall, on even territory, and I also informed the rulers that they would be sitting on the ground. It always helps to show yourself on even ground, especially if that ground is the ground. It makes intimidation harder, too... unless you've been through a lot more than any of the others. I'm still worried about the dragon, but I read something about them being able to manifest themselves in a smaller form, otherwise they'd eat the world or something. Phoenix and I also did a little more chatting over the comms, as usual, but this time we talked a little more about personal things. Like our lives before the war, our experiences, and... family. I know I should probably talk to someone, but, it can wait. Hopefully, she found a cryopod too. Or at least one of my... No. Not now.

I was also able to rig some speakers up around the place, and I made sure to give a comm unit to each unicorn, so they could communicate their findings to each other and myself and Phoenix. From what I heard, they had already made use of the printers and printed and published a rough history of us. The book was published with permission from me, as it used our subject material, and we received compensation, in the form of food and resources. Not bad profit for information. But now that I think about it, we really needed to keep some of this information to ourselves. We don't actually have the resources to make anything, so we need to... Shit. I'm already speaking as if there's actually some of us left. I can't count my chickens this quickly.

The fifth day finally rolled around, the day of the conference. It was still the morning, and I had just taken a shower and dressed up in uniform. I was on my way to the control room with a pair of mugs of steaming hot coffee, when I heard Phoenix over the comms.

"Virus. We have a situation. Get to the control room. Now." I quickened my pace, my earlier weariness forgotten.

"I'm on my way. ETA thirty seconds." I was just about right, but it made no difference. I slipped down the hatch, and into the mainframe room. "What's up?" I silently handed her a mug, and she silently thanked me for it.

"SS-One is responding to pings. It's an automated message, but it's still something. Let me play it for you." She tapped a few keys, and the center screen on the display lit up with a face from a video feed. Static crossed the screen, and the voice was garbled. It was hard to make out, but it was there. After a few moments it began to clear up.

"...lo. This is Pre... rn. Day... We have been floating up here for a few days, and I'm recording this because I just got word that... eted his mission. We basically won, folks. Good job troops, the war is over. I want to congratulate you all on a marvelous job, and that you are a.. oes." The man's head turned to the side, suddenly, and indistinguishable voices were heard in the background. Something about a 'launch'. My blood froze...

The man gave a defeated chuckle. "Sorry, just kidding. Nukes have been... ll over the world. We're firing them now, there's nothing we can do. Troops, I recommend that if you can, freeze yourself in a cr...d or hide in a bunker. We might just live through this. But anyways, I'll see you all on the other side. Just know that you all, you brave souls, have made me proud." The man had started... crying? He reminded me of my old man, and I touched my cheek to find a tear rolling down it.

He stepped out of the camera, and then back in. "Oh, and if you're still alive at the end, report to Warehouse Prime, you know where it is. It will still be active, waiting for us to get back..." He stepped out again, and the sounds of cryopods opening were heard through the interference. The feed cut off.

I stood up straighter, and then saluted. I wiped the tear away, and then turned to Phoenix. She was wearing casual clothes, a t-shirt and sweatpants or something, and she was tearing up. That magnificent bastard. He was the best president the US had ever had...

She turned to me and buried her head into my chest, sobbing quietly. I cocooned her in my arms, swaying. I myself felt another tear, a drop of cold, wet, sorrow, roll down my face. That was for my family, who I'm never going to see again in my life. That was for my friends, for the ones who died with a bullet in their chest or a new sun on the horizon. That was for humanity, the doomed race. But most of all, that was for hope, which had just sparked itself within me.

After a moment, she broke the embrace, recoiling backwards, back into her seat at the console. She had the same look on her face as I most likely did.

"No..." *sniffle* "...more crying. Okay?" She asked me, her hand flying over the keyboard. "No more. We have to find them. There has to be some of us left..."

I silently nodded to her. That was what I said before I found her. Maybe it works the same way... Just then, two alerts went off on the console. One was a proximity alert, people were approaching the door; and the other was a 'connection established' alert.

Her gaze locked against mine, and with a silent nod, I turned for the hatch back to the main level, and she turned back to the console.

"Meet me in the mess when you're done here." I exited the control room, headed for the main doors. Time to meet our guests.

Author's Note

Short chapter, double update.
Deal?