Octavia was the first to awaken, coughing and sore. Her back ached where the spiders had pressed their hard metal legs into her, but she could force her way up with a soft groan to her hooves. Her lungs burned, but she was still breathing. She sniffed the air once and didn't smell... what did horrible toxins smell like?
"Vinyl?" She reached out a shaking hoof, nudging the form of her friend. "Wake up." If she survived whatever the gas had been, she reasoned Vinyl was alright. "I could really use a little 'rock magic' about now." Vinyl was not stirring at the shaking, a fact that had Octavia frowning. It was far from the first time she had been unsuccessful trying to get Vinyl awake in her life.
"Lazy bump, rise and shine." She gave Vinyl a rougher shaking with two hooves. "I really must insist." But the way Vinyl flopped was just a little too loose for comfort. "This isn't funny." She leaned her head in close, listening. There was breath there, but she didn't like how it sounded. How hurt was Vinyl?
Of all the tricks she had learned, restorative magic was not among them. "Wake up so you can heal yourself!" She barked at her unresponsive friend before flopping to her haunches. "No Name? Bullette? Are either of you here?" she called out, holding a hoof to the side of her snout as of to direct her cry. "Please tell me either of you know basic first aid."
But there was no reply. Octavia rose to her hooves, looking around the quiet of the basement they had intruded on. "And this is how it ends, alone, in the middle of... whatever this is..." She sighed as she began to walk down between the rows of cubicles, hoping to find someone and praying that it wasn't a body she'd find.
Not that there weren't any bodies, but dead machines usually weren't called 'bodies' per se. She nodded at the downed spiders. One of them had survived, bumping sightlessly against a partition with a soft click each time it tried again. Octavia considered leaving it be, but visions of it finding Vinyl made her cringe. She approached it slowly and reared up on two legs, an act she was quite practiced at.
She came down with both forehooves with a low grunt, smashing the thing in a fit of sparks that singed at her hooves and burnt some of her fur, but it stopped moving. Silence returned. "If this is to be my resting place, at least it's peaceful..." She turned away from the crushed machine, eyes slowly panning left and right, trying to find someone, anyone. "No Name? Bullette Belle? One of you has to be here..."
Someone had stopped them from being gassed, unless... Had they simply run out of gas, or whatever released the gas had a malfunction? Had they been saved by years of neglect? Octavia snorted softly as she walked, amused at the idea that perhaps the only reason she was alive was that the toxins had decayed over time. "No Name?" He was large and strong. Surely he'd be alright, she reasoned. It took more poison to hurt something that was larger. If she could weather it, surely he would as well.
Bullette was a robot! she reminded herself. You can't... gas a robot, can you? She was no expert on mechanisms, but the fact that they don't breathe seemed a simple enough idea. Why would a robot breathe. They'd be powered by magic or coal or something or other, not by breathing and eating.
Octavia gasped sharply. She had found Bullette, slumped over beside a box, a wire running from her into the box. One of those panels was on a desk beside it. It displayed a lot of nonsensical characters in some other language. She had no time for that. She rushed for Bullette. "BulBul!" She only realized her error a moment later. "I mean, Bullette!" She reached out and gently nudged her metal companion. "Please be alive."
A mechanical voice replied, but it was not Bullette's. It spoke in a deep baritone, "Damage: Critical. Electrical damage in systems 1, 2, 3, 4, 5..."
It just kept right on counting as Octavia took a wavering step back. "No... No no no!" She took a step forward. "Wait, it can't be all the, uh, systems, or you wouldn't be talking to me. Tell me what systems are working instead of the ones that are damaged."
"Systems online: Diagnostics, life support, dock control," replied the male-sounding voice.
Octavia tilted her head. "Dock control?"
The limp Bullette's tail gave a little wag.
"Oh..." Octavia put a hoof over her face. "Wait, life support?" Why would a machine have a system for life support?"
With a rough series of clicks, a small hatch on Bullette's back seemed to be trying to move. Octavia reached for the spot and gave a helping hoof, allowing it to swing open, revealing the end of what appears to be a root. It ran upwards along Bullette's spine right into her head, which did not open up. "She's... a plant? Is she alive?"
"Life support online," unhelpfully reminded the male voice.
Octavia crashed to her haunches. Bullette was alive, sort of... "One step at a time, one step..." She released her breath slowly. "You, uh... keep doing what you are doing." Was the machine trying to heal itself? She had no idea. She couldn't help it one way or the other. She still had to find No Name, or what was left of him.
"No Name?" She pressed on past where Bullette sat. "You're scaring me..."
"Didn't mean to scare no mare." His head came up into view with a slow motion as if he was sitting up, his snakes looking as tired as the rest of him. "Did you get the number of the train that smashed into me?"
Octavia broke into a bright smile. Finally, she wasn't alone! "No Name! I am so glad to see you right now. Please tell me you know first aid. Vinyl and Bullette need--"
"--Where is she?!" he barked in an angry voice, rising fully to his hooves and lumbering towards her. His wounds were scabbed over, still raw and painful looking, but he didn't seem to be still bleeding. "Where is Bullette?!"
Octavia's ears pinned against her head. "C-calm down, please." She pointed where she had come. "Third cubicle on the right."
He rushed right past her, storming to Bullette's limp and darkened form. "Goddamnit," he grunted, leaning his head in close. One of his snakes grabbed the end of the cord that attached Bullette to the box she was next to and yanked it free. It withdrew into Bullette without prompting. He noticed the hatch that hid her root was open and quickly raised a hoof to close those hatches. "The heck are these doin' open."
Octavia followed after him. "She suffered electrical damage to basically everything. Her--"
"How do you know?!" He spun towards her. His voice was a mess, as if the different snakes were trying to speak all at once. "What do you know?!"
Octavia shrank back a half-step. "Her, um, body spoke to me. It said her life support was still working."
He sank suddenly. "Good... um... anything else?" His voice was a little softer, one snake taking the reigns from the chaotic mess.
"Diagnostics, and her dock controls."
Just naming them was enough to make the limp Bullette's tail wag.
He broke into a cough of a laugh. "God... damn... Alright, alright... Just keep it togetha."
Octavia had to smile a little. It was somehow comforting knowing that even a huge pony like No Name had to go through the same calming motions she did in a tense situation. "Will she be alright?"
"She ain't gettin' worse." He nuzzled under her slowly, working her up onto his back. "Where's Vinyl?"
Octavia pointed where she had left her friend. "I was hoping you knew first aid? She isn't waking up."
"She ain't alone." He began lumbering towards her. "'Least the two of us are moving. Bloody Hell, that was rougher than I figured."
They returned, together, to where Vinyl lay in a half-curl. No Name winced at the sight of her. "She still breathin'?"
Octavia hurried in and extended an ear, leaning in and going quiet a moment. "Still breathing... Vinyl, don't you go. This isn't nearly cool enough of a way to do it." She shook a hoof at her unconscious friend. "You wouldn't accept it, so don't."
No Name smirked as he carefully settled beside Vinyl and Octavia. "Reach into my right pouch. I got a little something to wake her up. She's all, you know, flesh n' bones, so it'll work on her." Unlike Bullette, he silently added.
Octavia reared up and nosed into his saddlebag. "What does it look like?" The big pony had a frightful amount of things tucked away in there.
"A flask with a cork on the top. Red-purple color?"
She saw it and grabbed it free, clenched carefully in her teeth. "This one?"
"Yeah that's the one." He nodded towards Vinyl. "Feed it to her, nice and slow. Don't want her chokin' on it or nothin'."
"Right." Octavia hurried over to Vinyl's side and sat beside her. She cradled her hooves and spat out the vial into the cup they made, which allowed her to bite into the cork at the top and work it free. She spat it out to the side and brought it close, but Vinyl's mouth was quite sealed in her slumber. She considered her options. No Name was just as hooved as she was. Bullette was unconscious, unable to assist.
"Make do with what one has," sighed out Octavia. "Never tell her of this." She leaned in and planted a kiss on Vinyl's unresponsive lips. It was not an amorous gesture, even if her tongue did dart forward. She worked the unicorn's lips open and managed to work her own lips in place to hold them, running her tongue over Vinyl's teeth with a frown of concentration.
Little did she know her first Prench kiss would be in the name of medicine. She had to snort to herself as she slowly worked those teeth apart, thankful for the moment that Vinyl was so limp, even as visions of Vinyl suddenly coming awake and biting her tongue haunted her with a painful possibility, though Vinyl waking up would be a lovely part of that injury.
At last, she felt confident there was enough room. She worked up the vial between the junction of their mouths, pouring it between both their lips into the crack in Vinyl's teeth. "Drink..." She could smell the bitter hints of whatever thick syrup she was pouring mixing with the scents of Vinyl's weak breath. The latter faded a moment and Octavia went tense. Was she choking her friend with it?
She thumped Vinyl with a hoof on the chest. "Swallow!" she hissed. With a great gulp, the breath returned, only for it to peter out as more poured in. "Keep going," She urged, tapping at Vinyl as she leaned back the vial just enough to not flow until a swallow was felt. "There you are, hang in there..." There was no hurrying it. If she had to spend all day nursing down the drink, Octavia knew she would do it. "You have to drink it..."
No Name watched the two of them quietly, glancing once in a while back at the still form on his back. "Hey, uh... if I could do that for Bullette, you know I'd already be doin' it," he said at last, breaking his silence. "Yer a good friend."
"T-thank you." She would have smiled, but her lips were busy. "Almost... You can do it..." She tipped the vial, but nothing seemed to be coming free. She sat up with a confused expression, Vinyl's lips popping shut. She could see the vial was empty. "Oh. How quickly does it... do whatever it does?"
"Should be right away." He nodded softly. "If she's still breathing, it did what it does. She sound any better?"
Octavia cocked an ear, going quiet. She could hear that soft breathing, but it did seem... "I think she'll be alright." She smiled softly up at the big pony that had provided the curative. "Whatever was that? Do you have more of it? Does it--"
"Easy there." He held up a big hoof. "I only had the one, and you just used it up. She needed it more than we did. Yer a tough mare. Whatever that stuff was, it still hurts to breathe." He thumped the same hoof against his chest. "But we're breathin' and here we are."
Octavia rose to her hooves, letting the vial clink to the floor, empty and useless. "I'll blame that on being an earth pony." She tilted her head at No Name. "Which you are too, I think?" Large, but still an earth pony, she figured.
No Name shook his head slowly. "Nah. Maybe I was? Ain't now.." His voice shifted to a different male voice suddenly, "Whatever I am, only the Jester knows." His voice shifted back. "Enough like a pony at least." He stood up with Octavia. "We came here for a reason. Any idea what we're lookin' for?"
Octavia put a hoof to her face. "I think only Bullette could answer that. How is she doing?"
He looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Diagwhatsit. She alright?"
"System online, left pinna," explained the baritone male mechanical voice. Bulette's left ear swiveled left and right before clicking back into its original position. "External repair requested."
No Name tensed. "Who are you requestin' help from?"
"External repair requested," repeated the diagnostic unhelpfully.
He grunted softly. "The diagnostic ain't so swift. All it knows is keeping her workin'. Least it's doin' that. Look, can you carry her?"
"Of course." Octavia nuzzled under Vinyl much as No Name had done for his friend and soon had the limp musician across her back. "But where are we going? We don't know what we're here for, and I'm not sure leaving this place would be any safer. At least there are no strange monsters in here that we haven't already dispensed with."
"You got a point there." He stepped slowly past her, deeper into the cubicle maze. "I'm hopin' whatever it is happens to be kinda obvious. Something big and flashy-like. If we can get you two back home, that'll be somethin'. I can carry Bullette back to town on my own."
Octavia frowned as she followed at his side. "While I appreciate your concern, abandoning you in this... dire strait hardly seems a proper way to end our time together."
"Yeah, ain't perfect, but it is what it is." He nudged open a door leading into a clean hallway. "Better to get you home. You two ain't fit for this world."
"I won't argue that part." She took a moment to adjust Vinyl's weight on her back. "But that's still wrong..." She veered off to the left and nudged the door open. It swung easily, having no latch of any kind. "What... is that?" She pointed even as No Name peered over her shoulder. The room was spacious, with wires running in a haphazard mess in defiance of the cleanliness of the hall they were still standing in.
In the center of it all was an orb on a pedestal. Many wires ran towards it, but only two actually made contact with it. No Name stepped over Vinyl as if she wasn't there. "Well, that there's obviously a world-travel thingamajig, I think..." He stepped around the wires, making his way towards the strange black orb. "Just haveta figure out how it works."
"System online: Audio."
The diagnostic voice was replaced with a weak and warbling synthesized voice, "Am I functional?" Bullette's lips did not move with the words. She was just as still despite the words coming from her.
No Name froze in his tracks. "Bullette! You alright?"
"It is dark. Am I functioning? I do not like this. Is this what it is like to be inoperational?"
She called for help, but it seemed she could not hear No Name, her words becoming increasingly fearful whimpers. He shook his head, tears stinging at the edges of his eyes. "This ain't right..." But he could think of nothing he could do to help his poor metal friend. "Diagwhatever, can you work on her hearing?"
"Top priority," added Octavia, at his side.
"Priority set," spoke the diagnostic, drowning out Bullette's upset little voice a moment.
No Name stomped the floor, making the wires around his hoof jump from the violence. "We can't do anything..." He stomped forward, his little ward crying for help on his back, so close and yet she may as well have been on the other side of the world for how much he could reach her.
"Will I be stuck here for an indeterminate amount of time?" asked the sad warbling voice. "I should have fought better. It is my fault I am here. He might be dead. At least he would go to an afterlife. I have heard living things have nice afterlives. Why do I not get one? I hope he is not dead! If he is dead, it is my fault. Maybe this is my afterlife for failing." The last word was spoken with a downwards turn in octaves.
No Name's ears pinned against his head, trying to put Bullette's frightened words out of his thoughts for just a moment. "So... how does this thing work?" He was sure Bullette would have figured it out in a snap, but that was not an option. He raised both hooves carefully, straining to hold himself steady for his passenger. It felt smooth under his hooves, but he could feel subtle ridges that ran along it.
"Welcome to Trans-Tech," the sphere spoke and he dropped it in surprise. It bonked on the pedestal then rolled right off, its wires trailing behind it. It didn't reach the ground, one of the two wires going taught as it dangled there. "Please enter the coordinates of your destination," it requested as if it had no idea it had fallen.
Octavia raised an ear at the curious thing. Was it that easy? "Do you know the coordinates of Equestria?"
"Searching, record not found." The search seemed basically instant. "Please enter the coordinates of your destination."
Octavia tilted her head at it a little. "Before we get to that, come to think. Are you fully, hmm, operational?"
"Initiating self-diagnostic... No errors detected. Warning: Power level: Minimum. Insufficient power for portal creation. Please increase power. Error: Battery offline. Removal of power cord will result in unit shutdown. Please command shutdown before proceeding to avoid improper shutdown."
Part of the sphere glowed red. It was highlighting one of the two cords. Octavia pointed at it. "This is your power cord then?"
"Correct."
Octavia nodded. She knew what a power cord was. "Alright then..." She followed the cord away from the sphere, tracing it through the wires away from the pedestal and No Name until it ended at a powerstrip that then ran to the wall. "Hmm..." She turned back towards the sphere and No Name. "I don't think the building itself is making enough power for it."
No Name reached a hoof and carefully lifted the sphere back up until it rolled back into place. "Figures. Already a miracle it's workin' at all. Suppose we can't expect a hundred percent or nothin'." He glanced over his shoulder at the sad voices of his friend. "We have nothing but broke stuff everywhere..." Part of him was tempted to ask the diagnostic to cut the audio, but that felt... He couldn't do that. Even if she didn't know, he had to hear her, to be there...
Octavia perked up. "Vinyl said there was a working generator, back in town! Why don't we take this there?" She trotted up, Vinyl bouncing gently on her back. "Excuse me, do you need that other wire?"
"The network cable is required for information gathering but not basic functioning. If you have the coordinates of your destination, a portal can be created without it."
Octavia frowned softly. "How much... can you remember without the connection?"
"Downloading database..." A soft green light pulsed in and out on its surface, but it said nothing further.
No Name nodded. "Good thinkin'. If it takes the mess with us, then we aren't leavin' anythin' behind."
"Download complete." The green light faded away.
Octavia took a slow breath. "If you are shut down, how do we wake you up again?"
"Restore power, then issue a verbal command to power up, turn on, or to awaken. Do you wish to set a command word to be spoken before the command to ensure authorized use?"
Octavia hesitated a moment. Had they forgotten to set such a password in the first place? Had it forgotten it? Either way, she was silently thankful for that. "Yes. Command word... By Celestia."
"Command word accepted. Speak 'By Celestia'--" That phrase was in Octavia's voice. "--before the command you desire. Password set for all commands."
"Alright... shutdown."
It did not respond.
Octavia laughed, a small tense noise. "Oh, right. By Celestia, shutdown."
"Shutting down." The green light returned, but slowly faded away.
No Name reached with his mouth, popping the cables free of the orb without too much difficulty. He soon had it stuffed in his left saddlebag, bulging it impressively with its presence. "Let's get out of here. Turves has some talented people. Maybe one of them can help fix her, and get you two on yer way."
"Right." Octavia nodded with certainty, moving for the exit. "At least we found the blasted thing after all that." She glanced around as she went. "I bet more than a few ponies would kill to get in here, and take a lot more than we're taking with us."
No Name frowned softly. "This place is lucky it was us that showed up. We'll leave it mostly as it is." He snorted softly. "As if we have time for looting."
They returned to the elevator, cutting through the building. It would have been a quiet journey, if not for Bullette's sad monologue. "If this is where I am to be, perhaps I should consider the better sides of it... processing... better side not found! If he was here, it wouldn't that bad. We could exist in darkness, but we would have each other. That is not an unbearable infinity to consider."
No Name colored faintly at her words as he plodded on. "I hope her hearin' stars workin' soon."
Octavia tilted her head. "From her perspective, wouldn't that be you coming to be with her in the darkness?" She put a hoof over her mouth. "That would apply to me too, come to think."
"Responsible Adult detected! Octavia Melody!" spoke Bullette suddenly very excitedly.
"System online, auditory senses," droned the diagnostic, washing out Bullette's excitement a moment.
"--did you get here?" asked Bullette, her voice returning when the diagnostic stopped talking. "Are you also inoperational? Did we all die? I am sorry for my failure."
"No, no!" exclaimed Octavia quickly. "I'm fine, and so are you, mostly."
"Bullette," barked No Name. "You're knocked around but intact. You're on my back."
"I am operational? Success!" she sang out joyfully, though her lips did not move. "What is the state of Vinyl Scratch? Is she also operational?"
Octavia glanced over her shoulder. "She's injured, like you are. She's unconscious, but she can't talk to us while she's like that. She'll be alright, I hope, like you."
"I did not fail," sang Bullette, her tone only growing more joyful. "Were the neurotoxins kept to a tolerable level?"
No Name snorted softly. "We're still breathin', so I'm gonna guess yes on that one. Hold on, we're getting out of here."
"I cannot hold on," replied Bullette truthfully. "But I trust you."