//------------------------------// // 11: Welcome to the Ghoul Town // Story: Shadowbolt Chronicles: Codename Prism // by RDDash //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash and Matilda have been travelling in the woods for many hours, so it came to a bit of the surprise to them that they stumbled onto ruins of the small settlement right in the middle of woods. “Well, this is officially creepy town territory,” Matilda had been resting in front of the ruins of the water fountain. “Which part? The fact that we just passed a lot of very dangerous animals or the fact that there was a very creepy two hundred years old cursed graveyard? I know when the things are cursed because that graveyard produced a lot of smoke.” ‘Well, actually everything you just said. Anyway, stop being such a drama queen, that ghouls only scratched your armour twice.” " I was more concerned that they would rip my artery. Right, well whatever.” Rainbow Dash trotted to the of the ruins, probably what used to be the main plaza. “Do you sense that?” “I am sorry, I think I lost you!” “There is something funny on my sensors, like an unusual radiation coming out from somewhere. " “You know, if I did have a pipbuck with me it would probably be clicking by now, in fact, that sprite-bot probably does have radiation sensors.” “No, no! This is completely different, the radiation that everyone, you included are used to it is gamma radiation, dangerous screw you kind. This one is similar to the alpha radiation, and the weakest type can be isolated by a piece of paper. And probably the worst type of radiation that you can encounter is the neutron type, but that can easily be countered by a thin layer of water shielding.” “Water shielding, how does that work?” “You could in theory design a device based on the pegasi magic, that could generate a small localized force field that could capture water particles around you and formed into the sphere made of water.” “So basically if Enclave weren’t such flunk holes?” “Pretty much yes, there is also an option to surround yourself with the thick layer of metal. That’s probably why Steel Ranger armour is popular it’s good against magical radiation, except for neutron type. “Huh, the worst you had to deal with is the pink cloud and the taint.” “I heard about that, two hundred years ago zebras were the only known practitioners of necromancy. Since apparently nopony else bothered with it before the war, some idiot started to mess with ideas that she had no actual clue about how it works. And let me guess, it was frowned upon by the ignorant princess because it’s a dark magic or some other pony feathers.” “And you do understand how it works then.” “Yes, we used in warfare, and we were quite good at it. Anyway, enough about that.” Rainbow Dash then carefully looked at the fountain ruins. “No way!” “What is it?” “You aren’t going to believe what I found, a fully functional portal.” “You are right about that, I don’t believe you. I never heard of naturally occurring portals just popping up.” “They aren’t natural, they are pony made, they are probably made very long time ago, and probably had been forgotten about them. Which honestly I find it difficult to believe.” “What makes you say that?” “Well, what makes you say that?” “Well you see,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as if the conclusion isn’t that obvious. “The main convenience of the portal is to quickly transport an object between two points of space-time, like that.” With that, she quickly grabbed Matilda and pushed her into the portal. Then she stepped through it herself. “You’ll do that again and I will rip your wings off!” Matilda pushed herself back up from the dirt. Hey, are you listening to me!” “Yeah! Yeah! You can continue to threaten me once we deal with incoming ghouls.” Rainbow then took her rifle and took a few shots to the head downing a group of three of them. She then took her rifle as a club and smacked hard a fourth ghoul that was running straight for her. Ten minutes later they managed to waste most of them. “So where do you think we are?” “If I had to guess we are in the ghoul town, today weather prediction heavy rain with a seventy percent chance of ghoulification.” Matilda’s voice had a hint of sarcasm in it. “I mean where we are geographical?” “Oh that’s easy, we are... Oh shit, we had to go back!” “What why?” “We are in the Canterlot’s ruins, this is really bad. Not only this is used to be the biggest ghoul town in Equestrian Wasteland, but now there are only wild ones left, and they are really pissed off because Enclave fired a few missiles at the city that used to be on the mountain.” “Well I have news for you, we can’t go back, the portal just got collapsed.” “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” “Nope, sorry, come on let’s get out of here!” With that the long treck had stated, occasionally they were forced to defend themselves from a horde of the ghouls. It wasn’t easy considering that the ammo had to be conserved, they started to run dry on the incendiary instant explosion grenades. “Rainbow if we die here I’ll make sure to drug you to Tartarus with me!” “Duly noted, I’ll make sure to keep that in mind. What is that?” Rainbow’ pointed to some random wreckage. “This is...what in a word!” Matilda gawked at the corpse of the wooden sailing ship that has been laying In the middle of the wreckage. The odd thing was a couple of rocket engines have been attached to it for horizontal flight, and a few to hoover, as well as a few miniature rockets that being placed on the bow. Rainbow started to laugh at how ridiculous the whole situation was, they were about to get mauled by the ghouls, and there it was a rocket-powered sail ship just laying here in the middle of the city, with no ocean around for the ship to swim in it. “You down there, get the hey on my ship, before I decide to just leave you both down here!” Yelled Doctor Whooves. Oh, this was just too much, however, Rainbow didn’t want to waste the opportunity of the lifetime. “Please tell me that you have migraine pills somewhere out of there. I think I’m beaten.” “You are not the only one who needs them, anyway Doctor where did you find this piece of junk. And where is your first ride?” Doctor Whooves flipped a few switched “It’s not what you think, I mean, it could have been less wasteful on the fuel. Like the only reason because it’s still moved in the first place because I am using one of my own magic generators as the power source. I think it was originally belonged to the overenthusiastic team of robots. I helped them to repair it, and at the end, they just give it to me, since they said I can use it fair and square since I am the only one who has the legal authority to use it.” “Aha! Well lucky you then for such a broad interpretation of the security protocols.” “Meh!” Responded Matilda from somewhere in the hull. “Well, actually the crew is still here, they just let me be a captain of the boat. To answer your second question my TARDIS refuses to move, so I was forced to leave it behind. So where would you want me to drop you off? Rainbow was about to say sarcastic remark but thought against of it “And here I thought you left this hell hole behind. Oh, well just drop us I don’t know wherever there is a nearby civilization. You know you are always welcome to join us?” “You are absolutely sure about that, the old man is going to slow us down?” Matilda just now returned from downstairs where she finished raiding the sailboat for useful painkillers. “Yes, Matilda. I am absolutely positive.” “I might be, I might be not!” Doctor Whooves quickly defused the situation.” I don’t know, I usually go wherever I am needed. About two hours later their new ride had arrived at what looks like an abandoned shack in the middle of nowhere. “Okay, there should be a settlement somewhere ten miles that way! I suppose this where we have to say goodbye to each other. I am afraid you won’t see me again Miss Dash!” With that, he entered on the ship and it flew away leaving them both behind. “Yeah well, I am not going to miss him, ten miles I really don’t want to walk all the way to there.” “Nuh he is going to be back! If I understood him correctly he is still salty about what happened. He tells many lies, but he never lies about his mode of transportation. He is really stuck with the rest of us.”Rainbow responded, “and who said anything about walking, we just fly there.” “Yes, because you simply aren’t going to be shot down simply because you are a Pegasus.” “No, that won’t happen, simply because I am not that stupid. Are we going to continue to argue, or are we going to get going.” It’s been at least thirty minutes when Rainbow received a random signal. Now that was simply curious, she signalled Matilda to stop and then took a long metal stick, she attached an electromagnet to it and flipped a switch. After some time she stopped at where the metal detector had been bleeding a solid obnoxious noise. She then turned it off, and then dug out a small, five hoofs long hole “now that does look quite interesting, and a heavy inscription lock, okay Mr heavy inscription lock, let’s see how you handle this for a chance.” She then took two medium sized green egg-shaped devices tied them up with copper wire took a bubble gum she is been chewing and attached them to the other side. “Matilda, I suggest you start running! This thing is going to blow” She then quickly flew as high as the range of her sniper rifle allowed, which was pretty actually high, about twelve kilometres up. She then paused for a second and aimed the sniper rifle straight down, at the same time she started a free fall quickly accelerating to the terminal velocity. Eleven kilometres ten and a half, she closed eyes and quickly pulled the trigger twice. Two red beans flew straight down, nine and a half kilometres, then the improvised bomb detonated with an extremely loud explosion. About three seconds later the explosion died out and Rainbow flew straight down. “Damn it Rainbow, are you trying to kill me?” “No, I specifically told you to run! Now let’s see what’s down there.” She then tossed now completely busted door, and they both went inside. “What is this place?” “If I had to guess this is an old bunker of the Ministry of Awesome. Before you ask that computer told me that info, I guess they only have the budget for the door and they went cheap with everything else. Aha! Let’s see what happens if we push that button, she pressed a few keys. “Ah, a hidden wink out subroutine, they are my favourite.” “Wink out subroutine, what’s that?” “Oh I forgot, you don’t use this term, what I call wink out you call teleportation. This primitive computation device is programmed to take us somewhere, I assume somewhere important. One final push of the button and...” Rainbow pressed Enter. Then they both disappeared from this room and into the next one. This room had been larger, roomier and at the same time suspiciously empty. There was a large flat screen that had been hanging on the wall. Rainbow noticed a few hidden cameras, that’s definitely a very bad news. “You know how often you tend to diss our technology, I can’t help but think offended about it.” “Will you be quiet! Now is not the time to be offended. Do you see this big flunk computer screen, now please tell me where else have you seen such modern technology?” “Now that you mention it, this is the first time I’ve seen it.” “My point exactly! Now then, if I know myself and if the other me just as smart as myself, then we are in the SPP facility, a real one, mind you!” “This is the real SPP facility, you are kidding me right!” “Nope, I never joke around, especially not about this! Now listen carefully, this is a probably the main hub which houses all of the fun stuff, all of the hardware need it to operate it. All of the other facilities are probably decoys or connection hubs. All of this horse apples about a single pony micromanaging the weather is just that horse apples. Equestria doesn’t need all of that. Now then the main purpose of this facility is a prison designed specifically to house one and only prisoner. Isn’t right mister prisoner, whoever you are!” “Rainbow, what the buck?” “Shh, just watch” so they waited, meanwhile computer screen light up and the image of the white alicorn showed up on the screen “Amazing isn’t it, she almost looks realistic, and yet you can find her corpse just laying down as a pile of trash in the ghoul town. Matilda let me introduce you to the so-called Single Pony Project, Equestrian Wastelands very first and only fully functional Artificial Intelligence. You do know she could of clean up those clouds anytime she so wished too and yet she didn’t. Are you listening to me? Do you have anything to say in your defence?” “No, unfortunately, do not! Everything you just said is the truth, you must be the curse of my existence!” “Now then should I tell you what happened to that unfortunate vault dweller Littlepip or should you say it, because you definitely know the answer...Well, if you don’t want to say it, so how about this why don’t you let me take the guess?” “No wait don’t! The system had been designed to completely destroy the original mind of the pony, at the same time it created an automated backup copy stored somewhere in the system.” “Why?” “The system needed one pony to function, that is true, and the spot had been occupied for almost two hundred years, however, if the pony wished to leave, then the system required a live body to get transferred to. Then when the replacement process is done then the copy takes over.” “So then what I am wondering is this, Is her mind really got wiped out, or not?” Matilda had been quietly listening to all of this madness, however now she couldn’t resist butting in “Woah! Woah! Prism slow down, what the actual buck!” “Well, Matilda, do you actually believe that the hero of Equestria Rainbow Dash would design such sadistic system? Or is there some other catch all of us are not seeing.” Matilda wanted to protest, she wanted to say that all of this is ridiculous, that all of this is some kind of sick joke. But then she remembered all of the disturbing reputation that comes with the wasteland, and how is everypony are complete bastards. “No, this is not true! It can’t be true!” “I don’t want to interrupt the moment but I can assure you that Littlepip is unharmed, I just can’t-do that!” “Is she? Really now, I know lying when I see it, especially I can see when an AI is trying to lie to me. Now, why don’t you tell me the truth.” Celestia sighed, she then started talking, her voice became completely robotic. “The system functions as intended, Littlepip mind had been wiped clean, and the body is set on preservation for future use. She can live if she so wishes. I can live whenever I so wish. However only one of us can leave, and the other one who remains must stay.” “Why don’t you leave then!” “I already told you, I cant do that.” “Can’t or Wouldn’t? Because I assure you that you can.” Celestia remained silent Rainbow Dash focused her attention to the pony on the screen “Well, would you look at that, an Artificial Intelligence with morals” She then attached a small silver chain to the screen. “What are you doing?” “I am downloading you! The project is over I am shutting it down.” “But the weather? You can’t-do that!” “Didn’t you heard me! Nopony needs to control the weather, the planet spins perfectly without the assistance of some all-powerful alicorn princesses.” Celestia was about to say something but the screen turned black and rebooted instead of Celestia there was an image of Littlepip “What is happening, what did you do?” “I can’t believe I need to repeat myself, I am shutting down Single Pony Project, its over and done for! You are free to go, nopony is keeping you here! You know what I don’t really care! Buck me, I am so pissed right now!” Ten minutes later Matilda and Rainbow exited the now useless bunker, the shutdown command had been sent to the core processor, which then triggered a small fifty megaton balefire explosive to detonate burning all of the critical systems down into oblivion. Somewhere out there Littlepip woke up from her sleep. “Thank you, for doing the right thing Rainbow Dash.” The AI Celestia had been carefully placed inside of one terabyte capacity solid state hard drive, which is also functioned as the silver wings chain. The same silver wings chain that has been a standard issue equipment for every Shadowbolt of the Crystal Empire. Service in excellence, from the eternity and beyond. the line which had been engraved on it. TheAI voice came directly to the biomechanical ears, to which Rainbow did have direct access to it. Rainbow Dash said nothing in reply. “Um, Rainbow?” “Yes Matilda, what is it?” “Did you really blow up that heavy door with just the two balefire eggs?” “Of course not! I did it with bubblegum, those nukes helped. Here, want some!” she then tossed a bubble gum package to Matilda. Matilda caught it and looked at it. DH3456. The High Explosive bunker buster bubble gum, strawberry flavour.Safe for chewing and accidental swallowing. Requires five hundred megawatt laser burst to detonate. “You Crystal Empire ponies are truly insane.” “Yeah, insanely brilliant!”