//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: 28 regrets later // Story: MegaMare-X // by Xujints the Water Horse //------------------------------// A crater, that was where Lyra found herself as her ears rang loudly. Dirt was everywhere: on the ground; in her mane; and worst of all, in her mouth; Lyra spit up a heaping helping of earth and groaned, “Ugh… My head… what the heck did you do Twi-” Silence… Dirt was not the only thing she found. Silence was everywhere. Not even a breeze running through the grassy field around her could be felt. The sky was dark, hazed by murky black clouds. Something was very wrong. As she got to her hooves, she would look up to see a tall city a little ways away. A city made of metal and stone, rather than the many thatched homes and wooden architecture she was familiar with. Was this… Ponyville? Looking mighty peeved, Lyra asked, “What the heck did that egghead get me into this time?” On shaky hooves, the mare walked into the city, noting where cool grass stopped and hard pavement and metal streets began. This place… It was as if Twilight had a field day and straight up modernized the once rustic town until it looked and felt like it was Manehattan on steriods. Scratch that, make it a field year. That was worth a laugh or two in this bleak looking situation, but only just. As she walked, she noticed an oddity following her, a small square-like machine that seemed to be picking up the dirt left behind with each step she took as well as general debris. It was rapidly gaining on her too, something that normally would have made her chuckle. However, something huge told her she should be running fast. That thing was covered in exposed saw blades! Whoever designed this street cleaner clearly didn't have a sense for safety. She stepped out of the way to let it pass as it drew near, however upon doing so it changed course and continued to go straight for her. It wasn’t going to stop… When it was nearly almost upon her, she decided the best course of action was to jump over it, and that is exactly what she attempted. Despite this not being the first time jumping as she stood, the weight of the Buster and Power pack left her with only just enough height to clear the buzzing beast. She figured now was as good a time as any to see just how well this Proto Buster worked. Once, twice, three times and the offending machine was sent to the scrap heap. She felt pretty good about herself, “Clean up on L street! That was kind of fun…” Her excitement about the destruction of the street sweeper was short-lived, as soon another two came to replace it, scraping up the debris and Lyra’s fleeting enjoyment, “Oh come on!” Rather than deal with them, she ran off toward the center of town. Surely there had to be something or somepony else other than these things in town, right? Well, she was half right… As she ran, she spotted more ponies, but upon closer inspection she found they were robotic duplicates, frauds! She couldn’t trust anything she saw here, could she? Not the birds in the sky or the ponies in the street. It was as if all of them wished for her head as they started creepily making thier way towards her! Rather than stick around and try to figure out a friend from foe, she ran faster. She wasn't sure where too, but she figured she would know a good place to hide when she saw it. As her bizarre luck would have it, there was a hatch leading underground near one of the large buildings. She quickly weighed her options and decided that it would be safer to get off the streets and out of sight. She tried to pry it open, but found that it wouldn't budge. Of course she would find a hatch leading to potential safety but be unable to open the darn thing. That was when she spied something familiar. There was a crystal embedded on the hatch that reminded her a little of the ones that Twilight had on the workbench when this mess started! Taking yet another gamble, she used her magic upon the crystal and it opened for her. Just in time too, as those robots were hot on her heels. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief hearing those things passing by overhead. A lucky break at last. It almost made up for being stuck… Wherever she is. Alright, there was no way just one break could make up for this. She put her hooves onto the metal ground beneath her and lit up her horn, illuminating a small area around her. The sign beside the ladder gave her a small chuckle. It read, ‘Emergency Exit.’ An emergency exit indeed! But where this exit take her? With a small smile, the Unicorn proceeded through the dark corridors until she noticed something rather odd. All the lights she passed lit up in response to her presence. Or perhaps… Going off her hunch, she levitated a small stone down the hall and a similar phoenomena occurred. This got her thinking that either this place reacted to movement, or her magic was charging up objects in the vicinity. She turned around to look at where she had been and saw the lights were off. Armed with this knowledge, she no longer would reside in darkness, she just neeeded to keep her magic on. This place looked like some sort of lab. Actually, the longer she looked at the logos on the wall occasionally and the cryptic maps, this was definitly some sort of lab, but for what she couldn't figure out. For a short amount of time, Lyra just wandered around until something caught her eye. There were signs aplenty, but they didn't tell her a whole lot. Without a map or frame of reference, everything just looked the same. She was getting hungry. Thoughts of food encouraged her to find a kitchen, but between the debris blocking her paths ahead and the lack of a map, she was completely lost. As she turned around to head back the way she came, a sudden banging diverted her attention from her aching stomach to an open door. Warily stepping inside, Buster at the ready, she investigated the disturbance. Inside the poorly lit room, Lyra found some bizarre semi cylindrical looking object. It seemed to be malfunctioning, occasionally sparking as some metal shutters refused to budge from their place. Her curiosity piqued at the sight of this object trying to jumpstart itself, she forced it open with her magic. As she did so, the rest of the room seemed to regain the spark of life it must have had so long ago. The lights lit up, the computers turned on, and buttons of all shapes and sizes flashed. She was totally getting some Time Turner vibes here from this set up… Her attention once again returned to the capsule as it spoke in a monotone that easily was louder than everything else in here, “Power surge detected! Rebooting…” Something was happening… Again! The shutters closed once more, this time fully for about a minute before they would open again. Inside was a static ball, trying to form from within the ether inside the capsule. The unicorn sighed and crossed her hooves in a mix of emotions she could barely describe at the moment, “Oh great… What now?” The figure seemed to respond, their voice very familiar to her, “Ly-Ra… Is that… Y-ou?” Lyra gasped, jumping backward in shock, “Twilight!?” After that exclamation, the figure finally coalesced, revealing the figure of Twilight. However, something seemed rather different about her. Those glasses were new, and so was the lab coat. However, she would admit it looks good on her. With a smile, Lyra stated in a polite, yet strained tone, “Hey there egghead… Its good to see you, though I have no idea how you are there.” Twilight seemed to let out a sigh of relief as she stated, “I am sorry! I didn't expect this to happen… I am just glad I was able to find you. After you teleported, I tried probing for your location throough the tiny rift you left behind. If It weren't for a power surge coming from this direction, I might not have seen you." “Teleported? I don't think it was as simple as a teleportation spell.” After a moment’s pause, Twilight corrected herself, “You are right. It is very different from a simple teleportation. It would seem you ended up in another world close to ours. Luckily for us both, strong Magics like that can leave behind a traceable magic signature if you know where to look.” Lyra crossed her arms once again, careful not to bump into the Proto buster strapped to her wrist and asked, “You said there was a rift left behind? Do you think I can go back through?” Twilight shook her head and answered, “I am afraid not… It is too small for you to fit through. I am only able to send a fraction of my magic through to hijack this terminal and maintain the link to you. The good news is, I have control over this system, so I have an active tether to this world so it shouldn't close on us. Poor pony… Didn't even get the chance to log out of here, though it did give me a way in.” Lyra cocked her head to the side, “Please tell me you have a plan for these sorts of situations.” There was a small spot of hope, yet it would be swiftly dashed when Twilight responded, “I am afraid not. I appear to be stuck in some sort of holo-matrix for the time being. A projection of the previous user, if you will. I can’t exactly see all that far yet so I don't know what I am working with. What can you tell me Lyra? You were here for an hour, right?” An hour? That can't be right. It was maybe only twenty minutes, a half hour tops. Curious… Still she did have some information to give her would be savior, so she relayed what information she could, “Yeah. You are currently in some sort of capsule thingie in an underground lab. Reminds me a bit of your old one and Time Turner's wacky science bunker.” Twilight hummed, noting the similarities herself, “Hmmm, right. That reminds me, I still need to talk to him about that screw driver of his, but I am getting ahead of myself. I will keep poking around this system for links to the others. I may find something out about where you are. Anything else I should know before I… Nerd out?” Lyra snorted at that and said with mild growing frustration, “Aside from the killer robots outside? Not too much. That Proto buster of yours really saved my tail. The plink it made when it hit them was nice, but I worry it won’t be able to keep me safe much longer.” Twilight looked rather concerned, “You seem rather calm about this…” “I live in Ponyville, this is only in the top five worst situations I have been in personally.” Twilight nodded in understanding, “Oh, right. Hang tight, I will alert you if I find anything.” Lyra nodded as well and waved at her colleague, “You do what you do best!” As she turned away, she noted a distinct static noise coming from the capsule that drew her right back to Twilight, “Everything okay in there?” Twilight was definitely nerding out, so much so that her hologram was losing its form repeatedly, “Yeah! The data stream I am downloading is amazing! Apparently, the mixture of our magics caused a temporal shiver, leading to a microphobic reaction of protons in the atoms within a six point three one five bar radius from the zero impact. That must’ve lead to a microcosm of completely ran-” Lyra scoffed, “I swear, if you say it went all Wibbly Wobbly on me, I am gonna punch you and the Holo-Doc in the face!” The static seemed to calm down as Twilight did, “Sorry. I must be overwhelming the link with my chatter. Basically, for the brief moment your magic was charging the power pack it started to resonate with something else on this end of rift. The two worlds started to overlap and the strain of the collision was enough for a hole to form large enough for you to fall through. And without the resonance holding it open, it started to shrink." “So, you are saying this rift could have been caused on purpose?" Twilight slowly shrugged, "It could be, but I still need to run some calcuations to be sure. I don't know what you resonated with, nor do we appear to be in the same place where it happened. Sit tight." Lyra sighed, deflating briefly before her stomach make it's presense known again, "Actually, I need to get something to eat. I am going to go look for some food." Twilight eyed Lyra warily for a moment before presenting her with a map of the complex, "Alright, you do that, but stay safe. I have not forgotten your reference to killer robots." With that map finding a kitchen would be easy! She beamed with gratitude, "Thanks Twilight, you are a life saver." To her surprise, she found canned foods everywhere. If she had to guess, this place was at one time a haven from the machines and they needed to stockpile food… It felt a little wrong just taking and eating it… But! She has not seen a single soul since she got here and needed it more than they did. She grabbed a can opener and ate her fill of tomatoes and apples. Mostly apples! Sweet Apple Acres has always made the best stuff, and she refused to let anypony tell her otherwise. Not surprisingly, Twilight eventually called her back over a PA system, requesting she return to the capsule. With a smile and a small spring in her step after eating, she asked, “Hey Doc, got anything for me now?” Twilight nodded enthusiastically and stated, “I found something I believe will help you deal with those robots. It seems to be a prototype like the Proto Buster, but far more… Advanced~ I am rather jealous, actually. These schematics are brilliant! Just step into the capsule and I will handle the rest. A few modifications and you should be able to actually wear it." Brilliant? Well if it were able to impress Twilight this much, then it must be good. An upgraded Proto buster? Yes please! Lyra confidently stepped into the capsule and waited as the metal shutters closed around her. It was claustrophobic, and the buzzing and whirring of gears was a little unnerving, but the feelings she felt… It was well worth it. With a hum and hiss, the shutters opened to reveal a blue armor clad Lyra. She shrugged and moved about slightly, getting a feel for the flexible armor she was now encased in and prepared herself for some action. She was itching to see what this could do.