A young mare, who had just turned 16, with a white coat, and dark crimson tail, wearing nothing but common stable barding, torn and stained by the horrors of the Equestrian Wasteland, was doing a bit of scavenging when she stumbled upon an old, rotten, wooden shed. It looked crude, but surprisingly sturdy.
It had no windows, only a single door leading into a small room, no larger than four ponies, both in length, and width.
The mare looked around the dark room, only to find it empty, save for a skeleton, which was missing its left foreleg, and hoof, and a chest with a rusted lock.
She walked closer to the chest, being careful not to disturb the corpse at her hooves, and bent down to pick the lock. If the it hadn't been rusted with age, the lock would have been easy, but it took a couple tries, and a few broken bobby pins, to get it open.
Inside, was a Pip-Buck: a very rare find in the Equestrian Wasteland, sitting loosely over the skeleton's missing foreleg. It was in almost pristine condition, an even rarer find, so the mare took extra care in lifting it out of the chest, so the bone wouldn't scratch the device when it fell out. She powered it on for the first time in decades, her eyes being flooded by a very inviting blue sea-blew glow as the Stable Tech logo appeared on the screen, then slowly faded away to make room for the navigation menu.
The mare made sure to look in every single option, finding nothing, that is, except for one. The "miscellaneous" tab. Inside, she found a single item: an Audio Recording labeled: Truth. It dated back a full sixty-eight years. Almost one-hundred and thirty two years after the War. Out of curiosity, the mare played the Audio Recording.
* Audio record from Pip-Buck number 43869.
*Recorded: January 9th, 2027.
*Playing Audio Record.
"I'm recording this one-hundred and thirty two years after the Mega-spells fell. I've been hulled up in this; in this; shack? Cabin? I like to think of it as a cage. Only four walls, and a ceiling, with the only light coming from my Pip-Buck, and my horn.
"I'm leaving this message to anypony who finds it, and I leave it because I want ponies to know the truth about the war, and not just what they've been taught in those. Those Goddess forsaken Stables.
"Currently, the world outside is, well - to put it plainly - Dead. Extremely lethal amounts of Magical Radiation still flood the atmosphere outside, despite it being almost one-hundred and fifty years after the war. Hell, there's enough to kill an entire town ten times over in this room!
"I'm not even sure anypony is listening to this right now, let alone having found my Pip-Buck, but I want to get this out before I go completely insane.
"My name is Shadow Storm. I had my full support out to the "war effort", going as far as working for all six of the ministries.
"I started working with The Ministry of Wartime Technology, followed by The Ministry of Awesome, while it lasted, The Ministry of Peace, The Ministry of Arcane Sciences, The Ministry of Morale, The Ministry of Image, and even Stabletech. That's how I was able to get the nice blue screen on my Pip-Buck. You can go fuck that Apple-Green, it looks too sick. Excuse me.
"This is my perspective on the 'war effort'. Consider it as the closest thing anypony will ever get to the truth. No, don't completely disregard what they've taught you in your Stable "schools." You can use that as the mortar for the brick wall of knowledge your brains are about to build as I tell you this story; my story. The story of me, watching Equestria burn.
"And you say you just found this, out in the wasteland," An older stallion asked, examining the prize his daughter brought home.
"Yeah," The mare - Red Mist - answered with a nod.
"You know," her father said, "Somepony will give you a pretty nice amount of caps for this," he floated the Pip-Buck back to his daughter.
"Um, actually," - Red Mist put a hoof on the back of her neck - "I want to keep it. I found some really useful stuff on it, like a map, and a radiation detector, and even a targeting spell!"
"But you have no way of putting it on," Red Mist's older brother retorted.
"Not yet," Red Mist said, "But I'm sure one of the stables around here has the tools to open it!" She took the Pip-Buck from her father, and tried to pry it open with her magic.
"I am not letting you poke your head around in one of those stables!" Her Father shouted, "Not while you're under my jurisdiction!"
"But Daddy!" Red Mist complained.
"I said 'No!' Those stables are just too dangerous! You remember what happened to your mother?"
Red Mist was silent. She didn't like the mention of her mother, not after that time she went into stable 24 - Alone - So she just lowered her head, and turned to go to what she had claimed as her room in the weather-torn office complex her family called home.
She sat on her pile of blankets and hay for a dreadfully long five minutes before remembering the Audio Recording. She levitated the Pip-Buck out in front of her, and began to listen.
~V~V~
First, I want to tell you about myself.
I as born into a small family of four, There were my two older brothers: Silver Stone, and March, and my twin sister, younger than me by a full five minutes, Bella.
Even though my brothers were almost ten years older than me, and Bella, we got along with them pretty well. And by 'got along' I mean, we tried to stay out of their way. They didn't like the idea of not being the only children anymore, and liked to pick on me, and my sister whenever they got the chance. We tried not to give them that chance.
The only ponies my sister and I got along with - in true twin fashion - were each other. We did almost everything together, from being in the same classrooms our entire schooling career, to playing "Dress-up" as fillies. She even got me to wear a dress once. Just once though, and it only lasted a few seconds.
The only things we didn't do together, was work. As a matter of fact, Bella went straight on to work for The Ministry of Peace, as the war had been going on since we were about ten years old. And if I remember correctly, she got to work first hoof on the original Mega-Spell project; the one that was meant to heal multiple ponies to full health at once, not the altered version meant for mass destruction.
I, on the other hoof, went on and became a bar tender, despite my efforts to get into working for one of the ministries. Yeah, I worked my ass off to get one of those jobs, and my sister is the one who actually did! Go figure, but I digress.
My sister had more of a passion for healing the sick, and injured anyway, and I just wanted to get something in Ministry tier. Even during my time as a bar tender, I still worked my ass off, because nopony gives up on their dreams after they fail only once, but this time, instead of learning how to get into working for a ministry, I learned about what they did-- and what their motifs were - that sort of thing.
~V~V~
"Hit me with another," a middle-aged stallion told me from across the bar counter.
"You've had six already," I informed him, not wanting him to over-do himself.
"Hit me," - the stallion drunkenly emphasized - "With another."
"Alright," I said reluctantly, using my magic to levitate a bottle of Bourbon from the shelf behind me, and topping off his glass, which he swigged down as swiftly as a drunken stallion could. I only rolled my eyes.
"Excuse me -" a younger stallion called, getting my attention, "- Can I get two glasses of Apple Whiskey with a shot of Vodka?"
"I can get you two whiskeys," I told him, taking the bottle off the shelf, "But we don't have any more Vodka. The Zebras stopped importing the stuff when Princess Luna passed her contraband law last month." I poured the glasses of Apple Whiskey.
"Aw, that's too bad." - The stallion took the drinks - "Vodka always gave it a nice kick."
"I'll take your word for it,"I said with a smile as the stallion walked away, and I was left to my own devices.
My shift was almost over anyway.
You have no idea how much I miss having a home. Someplace to go back to at the end of the day, and feel at peace with yourself. I haven't had one of those since the mega spells fell. No, this place that I'm at now is not a "home." It's a prison. A prison I created for myself because I can't stand to see the state that the world is in for another day.
I lived in a single bedroom, studio apartment. The perfect dwelling for a single pony of only twenty-five. It wasn't much; It had a small kitchen, a living room that contained a couch, and some small bookshelves, and then there was also my bedroom, a single bathroom, and a small balcony.
I dropped my keys into the small dish I have on my kitchen counter, and trotted myself over to the fridge, grabbing myself a bottle of wheat-barley ale, and moving towards the balcony, where a beanbag chair sat, facing the edge.
My shift ends just before sunset, so - when I get home every night - I like to sit on my balcony with a drink floating next to me, and watch the sun set. My apartment is in the perfect spot too, so the sun will pass directly behind Ten Pony Tower, the Ministry of Arcane Science's Manehattan hub - and where my sister lives - and create a prism effect as the light passes through the glass windows.
I visited Bella up there once. It was really nice, but the ponies who live up there are a little too... stuck up for my taste. Not Bella though.
You see, we grew up in a situation where you were grateful for what you had, and we learned not to complain about what we didn't have, because there are other people - not just ponies - who have it much worse, and Bella carried that straight over to her suite in Ten Pony Tower. All I saw when I went up there were only the essentials, other than what the suite had already come with.
"To be honest," Bella said as she gave me a tour of her suite, "I don't even use half of this stuff, but this is the lowest tier that Ten Pony Tower had to offer."
"Then why don't you find a place that only has what you use?" I asked, admiring her stuff.
"Because the only other places are too tiny, even compared to Mom, and Dad's house back in Ponyville." She answered, "I'd love a place like yours over in Appaloosa, but that's too far of a commute, even by train; not to mention the coal shortage."
She had a good point. She was good at making those. She dealt with what she had available to her, within reason.
As I watched the sunset, there was a knock at the door, and at the most inconvenient time, too. The sun was about to pass behind Ten Pony Tower.
"One moment," I called as I took a swig of my drink, but whoever was at the door didn't have much patience, and knocked again.
"One moment!" I called again, a bit louder this time, but the pony at the door still persisted, and forced me out of my spot.
With a groan, I called out, "Coming!"
When I opened the door, I was greeted by a young - yellow - earth mare with a rose-red mane, and what she towed behind her would change pony life forever.
~V~V~
Terminals. One of the many ways Earth Ponies have made things easier on themselves. They have a 10 Terrabyte storage capacity for all of your home, and business needs, and - if you had the skill - you could run an entire building autonomously, but - even one-hundred and thirty-two years after the war - I still have yet to see that.
Anyway, the yellow mare who came to my house had one of only ten prototypes, and I had the privilege of being one of the lucky few who were selected to test one of them. I would even receive a free upgrade to the highest tier of their commercial product if the tests proved successful.
In no time after that, almost everypony had at least one terminal in their household being used for all sorts of things. Wives used them in the kitchen to store recipes, husbands used them in the garage for looking up instructions for various repairs, and businesses would use them for inventory, and accounting, but mot me.
I was the only pony I knew who didn't use their terminal for what it was designed for. I tinkered with mine, making it run smoother, and faster than it did out of the box, and do you know what I did next? That's right, I did absolutely nothing. I made my terminal run like an Olympic sprinter on steroids, and I did absolutely nothing with it.
I knew how to take the thing apart, and put it back together again blind-folded - and in the opposite room - but what I didn't know, was that the Ministry of Moral had been watching every tweak that I made, and the three mares over at Stabletech were swift to come to my door, and personally ask for my help.
"What are you offering?" I asked.
"We can easily double your current salary." The pale-purple Unicorn answered.
"That is, if..." The tan Pegasus began to say, but I cut her off.
"I'll take it.
"I'll give ya two-thousand caps f'er it," The blue merchant pony said, pointing a hoof at the Pip-Buck that Red Mist had entrapped in her levitation spell.
"For the second time, Bluetail." Red Mist stated with a frustrated tone, "It's not for sale. Now, what can I get for these?" She motioned to a small pile of assorted items.
Bluetail looked disappointed, then down at the pile that sat between him and Red Mist.
There was a broken - but salvageable - sub-machine gun, a few torn articles of clothing, some bits assorted ammo the Red Mist didn't have guns for, and a few cartons of cigarettes.
"Hmm..." Bluetail said as he examined the items, "Considerin' the condition of most of these, I'd have to say, about ninety bottle caps."
"Okay," Red Mist began searching her bags for anything else she could sell, then she found a small tin, sitting at the bottom, "Aha! -" She pulled out the tin of Party Time Mintals, and gave a sly smile, "- How much would this add?"
"Uh, um -" Bluetail stuttered, "- Wh-where did you get those?" He leaned in to get a closer look.
"I found it on a scavenging run," Red Mist answered, "Now, how much?"
"Th-that's easily a good two-hundred caps alone!" Bluetail exclaimed.
"It's yours -" Red Mist grinned, "- If you have the caps."
Bluetail started searching his saddlebags, trying his best to scrounge together the necessary caps to buy the Party Time Mintals, then he gasped.
"What?" Red Mist asked, moving a bit closer to the stallion, "What is it?"
Bluetail gingerly pulled out a set of Stabletech access keys with his teeth, and set them on the ground, "If ya ain't gonna sell me the Pip-Buck, I'll trade ya these f'er the Mintals, and one-hundred caps."
Red Mist's eyes widened, and she quickly began searching her bags for the required funds.
"T'was a pleasure, Ms. Red Mist." Bluetail said, tipping his hat. The kid was always a gentle-stallion.
Red Mist smiled warmly, and began trotting home.
Once she was a comfortable distance away from the merchant pony, Red Mist floated the Pip-Buck out of her saddlebags, and played the recording from where she left off.
~V~V~
"So, what am I doing here," I asked as I walked into Scootaloo's office.
"Well," Applebloom answered, "As you may know, Stabletech invented the Terminals. Hell, I even came to your door to hoof-deliver a prototype to you."
"Yeah," I agreed, "But what do you need me here for?"
"Um," Sweetybell said, "We're working on a new project, and require your assistance."
"And Pinkie Pie herself informed us of the amazing work you've done to your personal terminal."
"I'm listening," I said, as Scootaloo unrolled some blueprints onto her desk.
"The terminals were an early design," Applebloom said as we all walked up to look at the blueprints, "Just to see what kind of good they would do. I call this the Pip-Buck. It's like a terminal, but is worn on the fore-hoof of a pony, and can do so much more."
"Like what?" I asked, observing the prints.
"Well," Applebloom began, "There's a magical radiation detector, a saddlebag sorting spell, a targeting spell..."
"Who would use a targeting spell?" I interrupted.
"I dunno, but Scootaloo said to throw it in there," Applebloom answered.
"I was thinking of the soldiers," Scootaloo stated, "But we don't have the funds to make an exclusive model for them, so we're putting it in all of them."
"Okay, Makes sense. Please continue Ms. Applebloom." I said, wanting to know more about this "Pip-Buck."
"As I was sayin'," Applebloom continued, "It has a targeting spell, An auto-map spell accompanied with - what I like to call - the "Eyes-Forward Sparkle,"or EFS. It's a holographic compass display that only the wearer of the Pip-Buck can see. It can even tell the difference between hostile, and docile people.
"It can send, and receive audio messages, download data from other Pip-Bucks and Terminals, and store it on its six-hundred Terabytes of storage space.
"Oh, and it also has a lamp."
I was in awe. How did these ponies think they could cram this much tech into a hoof-worn device like this?
"Do you really think you can cram all this tech into something this small?" I asked, echoing my thoughts.
"That's where you come in." Sweetybell said, "You have the technical skills to make one of our own creations run much better than it did off the shelf, so we want you to take that knowledge, and use it to create a smaller version of what you saw inside the terminal."
"Er. Fair enough," I said, "Just give me the tools, and a place to work, and I'll get right on it."
The mares were silent for a few long seconds, then Scootaloo said, "Well, that makes it easier for us."
"Easier, how?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion.
"We were expecting you to request a design team," Scootaloo answered.
"Yeah, I tend to work better on my own." I stated with an awkward grin.
"Perfect!" Applebloom exclaimed, "We can get you started tomorrow at eight."
~V~V~
"And here is your office," Sweetybell said, opening a door to a slightly rundown room with only a wooden desk, a padded chair, a few empty book shelves, and a single large window with a lovely view of - though it was still a few miles away - Factory A's scrap yard.
"I know, it's not the best," Sweetybell said in a sorrowful tone, "And the view outside isn't the prettiest, but it's the only bit of office space we have available at the moment. If it were up to me, I would have waited at least a week before your first day so we could fix it up for you, but Scootaloo, and Applebloom wanted you to start as soon as possible."
"Your giving my a six-figure pay check," I said, walking into the room, and giving it a good look-over, "I can work with this."
And work with it I did. I took each individual bookshelf - and the desk - down to the company workshop, and cleaned, stained, and polished each them by hoof. I buffed the wood floorboards, painted the walls a nice, and inviting amber-gold-ish color, and replaced the old desk chair with an identical one. The only thing I couldn't fix was the view outside, so I just replaced the clear glass window with a frosted one. The natural light from outside gives the room a nice glow.
"Wow. You really fixed this place up," Scootaloo said with a grin as she walked into my office; then she saw my desk - and the floor behind it - and her grin fell a bit.
My desk, and the floor were littered with torn apart terminals, and failed attempts at shrinking the logic board.
"Glad to see you're working hard," The Pegasus said, trying not to step on anything as she made her way towards me, "Are you sure you don't want a design team?"
"I tend to focus a lot better on my own -" I groan in frustration as my screw driver slips, and cuts my hoof, "- How the fuck does Applebloom expect me to be able to fit six-hundred Terabytes of storage space in this tiny thing? I can hardly shrink down five-hundred Gigabytes!"
"She has no idea," - Scootaloo scratched the back of her neck. - "She just knows it's possible, and you're the type of pony who can do it."
"That's helpful," I grumble, more in pain than frustration, "I was able to shrink most of everything else down to size except these damned Storage Drives," - I sighed in frustration, put my tools down on the desk, and walked towards the door. - "I'm going out to lunch. Care to join me?" I smiled at the Pegasus.
Scootaloo turned to me, "Are you asking me out, on a date?"
"Er -" I stumbled for the right words. "- N-no, I'm meeting a couple friends, and their marefriends, and I don't want to be the odd one out -" I smiled weakly, "- You know?"
"Yeah, sure," - The Pegasus smiles, suppressing a laugh - "I can tag along," She then leans in close to me ear, and says, "It would have been better if you just said 'Yes'."
My friends were dumbfounded when I walked into the cafe with Scootaloo by my side. No, not because I was a Unicorn, and she was a Pegasus - which is rare on its own - but because none of my friends expected me to be able to gain the attraction of such an exotic pony. At least, that's what I assume they were thinking, judging my the looks on their faces.
"Mother of Celestia, man," My friend - Speedy - whispered "How did you snag her?"
"She's..." I whispered back, "My boss."
"It doesn't matter if she's your boss," Speedy said, "She's gorgeous!"
"Yeah -" I looked at Scootaloo, who was laughing along with my other friends, "- She is."
After lunch, Scootaloo, and I headed back to work.
"I had fun," She said with a smile, "And your friends are really nice. Especially that 'Speedy' guy. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was trying to flirt with me."
"That's because he was," I replied, "That's how he treats every mare he meets for the first time."
"Shadow and Scootaloo, sitting in a tree!" - Applebloom and Sweetybell had ambushed me and Scootaloo, and were now dancing around us - "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
Scootaloo face-hoofed, and I lowered my head in embarrassment.
"Can you girls be any more immature?" Scootaloo asked.
"What?" - Applebloom laughed - "It's weird!"
"First comes Love!" - Sweetybell continued - "Then comes marriage!"
"I'll be in my office," I said softly, pushing passed the two mares in front of me.
The next morning, I didn't go into work. I was out with a group of Stabletech Scientists, trying to figure out how to fit six-hundred Terabytes of storage space inside the Pip-Buck. The scientists themselves were out for something else that I fell is irrelevant for this story.
We were exploring a cave full of crystals and, and the light outside was pouring in through a hole in the top of the cave, lighting it up. The crystals were reflected this light in such a way that you could see the thin, individual pentagonal plates that made them, so I found a few that were about hoof-sized, and brought them back to my office for experimentation.
~V~V~
"Shadow?" Sweetybell asked, opening the door to my office, "Everypony's gone home. Maybe you should too."
"Yeah, yeah," I said, focused on my work, "You go ahead. I'll only be a few more minutes."
"Okay," Sweetybell was a bit unsure about what she was told, but she left my office anyway.
I gingerly levitated a paper-thin crystal disk - only about half an inch in diameter - into a small metal enclosure.
I never left.
~V~V~
"I've done it!" I exclaim as I burst into Scootaloo's office, where she was talking with the other two mares, "It took all night, but I've finally figured it out!"
"Figured what out?" Applebloom asked, turning her attention from Scootaloo, and giving me a confused look.
"I figured out how to fit six-hundred Terabytes of data on the Pip-Buck!"