//------------------------------// // 1. Awakening // Story: The Last Soldier of Equestria // by KolyanGOLD //------------------------------// A sharp hissing sound came to my ears, and my consciousness gradually began to recover. Awakening gave only pain, that it spread out in waves over my slightly numb body. In the next moment, I felt, how my head collides with the hard surface of the cold stone floor. There was a whole lot of mess in my mind that I didn’t even know what was happening to me. The exhausted body refused to obey, just shivering involuntarily from the cold. I didn't even have the strength to open my eyes and get a grain of information for my brain. It feels like how my consciousness slipping away again... maybe it's better... *** A breath and I almost immediately regretted it. It feels like my lungs burst from the inside with every attempt I tried to fill them with air. The second attempt to regain consciousness was more successful, but the pain was not going to leave, and still tormented every muscle of my body. With great difficulty, I managed to open my eyes. It seemed I spent all my remaining energy on it. The room was dark, with only a small streak of light coming from somewhere in front, illuminating the grey stone floor where my dying body lay. At least that's how I felt myself right now. I wanted to fail back into the emptiness of unconsciousness so that I wouldn't have to endure all this, but something inside me makes me keep my eyes open and fight. I took one more breath and tried to move my forehooves, which I gradually began to fell. Turned from the flank to the belly, I put them to myself and tense them, trying to straighten them up to get up. Blood started running the arteries, causing the legs to cause a couple more times involuntary cramps. But now I could feel the surface beneath them. But the happiness was short-lived because after a couple of seconds they buckled and I again collapsed on the solid floor. After laying there a few more minutes, I finally waited when I can fully feel my body. The raising will certainly not be any less painful, so that's why I began to slowly crawl towards the light. All I have to do is get to the top of a small staircase and… I'll figure something out. The smooth floor and the flash of pain that accompanying each movement made me put a lot of strength in overcoming tiny area to my goal and making small pauses to rest. Finally, the hooves found the bump where the stairs began. It'll be harder than moving on a flat surface. I stopped after each raising of the next step until I found myself at the front of a slightly open door through the slit which passed the same light that illuminated my way inside the room. I poked it with my right hoof and made the metallic door open with an unpleasant screech. The poured out bright light made me close my eyes for a few seconds, letting them get used to it. In the nose, replacing the dusty and dry air of the room, came fresh, pleasantly filling already noticeably less painful lungs. It wasn’t much upstairs, but it was warmer, so the muscles started to relax a little bit, dulling the pain. By leaning on the doorway, I was able to stand on top of it. My eyes finally adjusted to the light and I could make out the empty corridor where I was in. The light was coming from a couple of windows in front of me, behind which was the street. My head was filled with scattered memories of the past, but I can’t deal with them now. Right now, I need to get to the medical ward, which was a few metres from me. I turned to the right, and everything was floating that I almost fell again. That's good that it only lasted a few seconds and I saw the second door with a frame and a red cross. Leaning on the right side of the grey wall, I walked down the dark brown cover of the corridor, gradually approaching the door. There was a small card-reader next to her, but apparently, due to the lack of electricity, which I could tell from the off-lighting, she wasn’t working and the door gave way as I leaned all over her. When I was in the room, the first thing I did was look through the glass medicine cabinet. When I was in the room, the first thing I did was look through the glass medicine cabinet. It was locked and I had to break down the door to open it, slightly slicing my left leg on the broken glass. Inside, in addition to a pair of medicinal potions, there were several syringes and jars with different markings. The potion will help, but the pain won’t be over for a while, so I put one of the bottles of red liquid next to me, and I started looking for painkillers among the jars. When I read the next label on the yellow jar, I was sure that I found what I needed. I took out three pills that looked like capsules. It was dry in my mouth and I couldn’t swallow it, so I opened the vial and I drank all that there was. It couldn’t get any worse. The fluid-cooled off the throat at first, forcing me a little wiggler, but then the heat of the acting spell spreads throughout the body, and the eyes began to close themselves. The legs began to fail, and the brain demanded sleep. As I walked past the wide wooden table, with the papers laid on it, I capsized onto a single bunk, each millimetre of which was covered with a layer of dust, which immediately went up in the air. After sneezing a few times at the irritant that hit my nose, I put my head on what used to be a pillow and my body finally calmed down. Looks like someone in ancient times told: «Sleep is the best cure». I hope that it's true, and the potion will work when I wake up in the morning. *** When I opened my eyes, I was met by a dim light coming from the only window of the room, cutting a semi-darkness. The head was slowly recreating the sequence of yesterday’s actions. As I rolled to my side, I climbed up from a dusty mattress, with all four hooves. Yesterday’s pain reminded me of my whining muscles, but at least now I could stand it. "What happened?" I asked myself a question, trying to collect fragments of past pictures passing at the head. The last thing I remembered before I woke up was some pegasus pushes me inside the camera, and most of the events before that were a blur. I don’t even remember his face as trivially as I remember the commander's face… mother’s face… Just bits of childhood, a few army weekdays, our base on the island, but no details. What's happened to me? Is this camera being faulted where I woke up in? When I came across the hanging mirror, I went up to him to look at myself. A beige stallion with dark blue eyes looked back at me. The burgundy mane was vulnerable in all directions, almost concealing the horn, and the clotted blood, surrounding the wound, was clearly visible above the right eye. Looks like I got it after I landed on the stone floor. Maybe that why I got amnesia? Anyway, panic won’t help, memories return one day. My eyes went down and I just noticed that I was wearing a camouflage jacket that had a few drops of blood on my collar. I must have soiled it when I got to the stairs. The first thing I decided to do was test my magic. When I tried to use a simple telekinesis on an empty bottle of medicinal potion, I got strong hit in the brain, as if the horn had been hammered into the skull, so I even cried out a little. I should wait with magic. Well at least the rest of my body is more or less in order. Stomach soon reminded me of himself, making me think about finding food. Besides, I don’t think I drank enough potion last night to quench my thirst for a long time. It seems, the next building will have a dining room. When I opened the door, I walked into a spacious corridor, walking through the room where I woke up, and I walked to way out of the building. Glass doors were open and I found myself on a small porch. The sun was only rising, illuminating several small grey buildings. I was about to turn to the next two-story building, which was supposed to contain the barracks and the dining room, as a thought came to mind, made me freeze. "Where are the others?" How couldn't I notice it before? There was a little tremor on my body and I started to look around very quickly. There was no sign of anyone other than the concrete structures I already knew! Was the base evacuated? But why and where? Or maybe…Though no, there’s no sign of a fight. And my camera would have been opened a long time ago. Wait, camera! How many I was in it? There must be four, I need check them. In last memories I wasn’t alone, so something happened here while I was inside. But first I'm going to check the kitchen of dining room, see if something have there, because I don't want to chew on, and it looks strange... so dark grey-brown. In thoughts, I went inside the next building and turned right and I found myself in a wide, dark room with tables standing there. Inside the dining room there were only small windows at the ceiling, so there was very little light, but there was enough light so that I could walk to the kitchen without hitting the tables. When I got to the center, my leg stepped on something solid that made a nasty crack. Maybe it's plate? Leaning closer, I tried to see something in the shadows that I carelessly touched, but when I saw some raised parallel contours, I shied away with a terrible hunch. "No, no-no-no!" Ignoring the possible consequences, I tried to light a small flame of magic on my horn. The spell only lasted a few seconds, I couldn’t bear it any more. But that was enough to confirm my hunch. I just crushed one of the bones of a pony lying between the tables of the skeleton that had a few scraps of the same camouflage clothing on it as mine. A slight chill ran down on my back. "Holy Selestia, that's happened?" Removed crushed remains under the table, I continued my journey to the kitchen room. There’s nothing I can do right now, but I need to figure out what I missed as soon as possible. The kitchen was already noticeably lighter. It was a small room with several stoves, refrigerators, a dish table and a warehouse. There were several plates on the table, some of which had mould slides on what was once food. Fridges also do not make sense to check, without feeding from them there was no point and the food probably also spoiled, but in the backroom I can try my luck. As I walked into the kitchen, I stopped next to the yellow door leading to the back room of the dining room. My plans to find food were engulfed by one small lock closing the door. And who came up idea of locking the door? Looking for the key, I opened all the closets, but apart from cutlery, a few bags of labels that bleached and even soda cans, I couldn’t find anything. So I’ll have to pick the lock. Back in the hall with the tables, I took one of the nearest metal chairs and, back at the backdoor, I hit them several times on the hanging locker. He was weak and, after the fourth stroke, collapsed on the tile. As soon as I opened the door, the nasty smell of long-rotten, mouldy foods came up my nose. I got a lump in the throat, and my head got a little dizzy, so I had to step back to breathe some air and cough. Holding my breath, I went inside the darkroom and took a couple of small wooden boxes off the shelves, taking them to the door. When I opened one of them, all I could see was the strange goo on the bottom and the walls, from whose sight alone, I began to vomit. I was expecting something like this, but it was worth checking. Back in the room, I felt all the shelves looking for what I really came here for. Finally, I stumbled across the only metal box that could have been my saving. The red cover faded, as did the emblem itself, which left only a golden wing, but it was enough to know it was the right one that I needed. A miniature time loop was created in such boxes, which allowed the contents to be kept in the same state as when they were placed inside until the box was open. There should be a supply of food and water inside that I can afford for a week. If I remember correctly, there are a few more in the warehouse. When I opened the magical lock, which was again reflected in pain, I opened the box. Inside were four bottles of water and six tin cans of canned goods. It was a bit difficult to figure out, out of the details, just the number on each of them. Not long after thinking about it, I found a knife in one of the closets and, having pierced the bottom of the jar, opened it. There was a strange green mass inside that had no smell at all, and it didn’t look good. I didn’t have a choice, so I flipped the jar over and the contents of it gradually dripped into my mouth. It tasted like I was chewing on an orange peel and eating it with fried hay, but I had to eat something. After emptying the jar, I took out one of the bottles of water and rushed to wash down the dish I had just eaten... dish. The water, floating in sulfur, also had a strange taste and bitter aftertaste. After I got drunk, I put it back in the drawer and put it on my back (it would still be more convenient to carry it with me). I also took the knife I found with me, who knows when it will come in handy. I went back to the base headquarters, where I spent last night. As I walked through the grey corridor again, towards the medical office, which I had decided for now to make a permanent location, my eyes caught on the metal door of the room. When I put the drawer on the floor, I opened the door completely and went down the stone steps to four large capsules, one of which I had recently been in. There was not enough light to illuminate the rest of the room, and I could barely see the capsules themselves. There’s a blood stain in front of one of them that I left after I woke up. Now, I noticed that three of the capsules were open, but the one next to mine was still closed. "What if there’s someone alive inside?" A joyous thought quickly caught me and made me come closer to check it out. There was a small glass at the top, through which you could see the inside of the camera, but because of the small layer of dust and the poor lighting, I could only see that there was clearly someone inside. For a second, I thought, wasn’t there supposed to be some visible sign of its functioning? When I wiped the glass with my right hoof, I looked inside. I was right, the camera didn’t seem to work, because inside, I could definitely see the pony’s skull. Suddenly, my eyes began to darken and my body weakened, forcing me to settle down a little bit so I wouldn’t fall. *** I was standing in front of the headquarters, and there was a loud siren sound, and two earth ponies ran past me in soldier uniforms with saddlebags on their backs. At some time, Rins flew to me. "What's going on?" asked I, looking at few soldiers rushing somewhere. "Zebras decided to ditch us all!" shouted flowing pegasus. "Everypony being evacuated. Follow me!' turning me around to face the entrance, the stallion ran inside the building. "How they found our island?" I wondered. "And why are we running, if we have something to defend ourselves with?" "They launched Megaspells into Canterlot. And our idiots shot down one from them, and soon there’ll be a residual wave here and there’ll be nothing left of us if we don’t make it!" Rins answered, dragging me inside one of the cameras. It took my mind a while to realize what I heard. Did our enemies decide to end the war this way by killing their own and others? They just condemned most of the world to death! "That's the hey, then why are we here instead of evacuating with the others?" asked I, blinking from the unexpected bright light. "Vertibird picked up everypony he could a long time ago, and one of the boats left for the port of supply this morning. What's happened to the second one you already know. There’s no way off this island anymore, and we have one last option," my partner finished, showing four dark-grey installations with the inside blue light on. "It's a prototype! Only Selestia knows what will happen if you get inside!" I shouted. "Trust me, if she doesn't know, but this is the only chance to survive, so get in!" the stallion was pushing me toward the camera. "Wait, stop…" I tried to stop him. "That's an order, understand?" having interrupted, strictly said pegasus. "Now it's not time to change mind." Rins was my friend, but he was also one of the two lieutenants on the base. Maybe someone else would have taken advantage of his position, but I didn’t need it. As an officer, he was superior to me and I had to obey his orders. Already inside the camera, the door closed and the pegasus pressed something on the next panel. "If everything goes smooth sailing, next minute we’ll just wake up in the neighbouring cameras," he smiles. *** I opened eyes and found myself on the floor with hurting head. It seemed to be my last memory. Now, at least, I know what happened… "I’m sorry, look's like something went wrong," the last time I looked inside the camera, I spoke to a dead friend before leaving the room. It’s getting darker on the street. It looks like I’ve been unconscious for most of the day. The muscles were again slightly ill, probably due to a long lying on a hard surface. So I took the drawer, left in front of the door, and I went to the medical office and I put it in front of a dusty wooden table. There was nothing to wipe it with, so I just put the sleeve of my jacket, leaving a dark gray stripe on it. Bring the open tin can again, I finished eat the rest of the mass. The shadow of light had already slowly reached the window, suggesting that the sun would soon fade away and the night would take the baton of the day. With a long yawn, I closed the drawer and went to the open medical cabinet. After drinking another jar of healing potion, I went to the bed and pulled off a thin blanket of dust, which was supposed to be white, but the mud made it grey. I lay on her without taking off my jacket. The potion warmed me up again from the inside and soon I fell asleep.