Chapter Two: Headache
It was a busy day in the makeshift hospital, there was only one doctor, after all, so
having more than one patient tended to turn Sun Glorie’s duty into a hectic race with time.
Knight, to the surprise of exactly no one, jumped from cover for a “badass one-liner,” only for his hand to be shredded by shrapnel that ricocheted from the kill box.
The line was “Eat shit.”
He was the only one throwing explosives, making it his own projectile that hit him.
Sun felt like he should be disappointed, but he knew better.
And then there was Twilight.
The little pony went catatonic after the raid was over. Not answering to anything they did so far.
Even when he tried to pull her away from the front line, the stress must have been too much.
He punched the table he was standing at, his bionic fist leaving a mark on the solid wood. It was his job to keep others safe, and he failed.
But there was always a silver lining. After the mantodeans retreated, a supply cache landed in the base. containing medicine and one healer mech serum.
A routine by now. Just another weird rule of this place to add to the pile. Survive the wave, and get a random crate of stuff.
Sometimes it was life-saving equipment and materials, such as his armour, prosthetics or the steel they used to craft weapons.
Other times, it dropped explosive jellyfish and golden spears.
“Twilight,” he kept his voice soft, and eyes on the same level as hers. No visible reaction. “I'm sorry.”
Failure. Again.
Twilight was awestruck.
The cavern had to be enormous. A cathedral of metal. Green material covered every inch of what was around her. Yellow lines pulsating with otherworldly light were the only thing allowing her sight. Distant mechanical droning permeated thru her entire being, less of a sound and more of a feeling,
A structure rose from the ground. Giant pillars disappearing in the far above.
There was a presence. Monolithic, godlike.
Ancient.
Alive.
She walked, as commanded, her hoof steps echoing, towards the endless towers. Awe slowly replaced by fear, thousands of questions bombarding her mind, only to be crushed by It.
It knew her, what she was, but not what she would become. It inspected her as she was inspecting it. Poking around her head, revealing, unfolding.
She stopped being afraid.
It had names, as many as there were stars. The piece here had its own, a long time ago, when it had a use for one.
A projection, an image. A human soldier in rugged clothes, barret on his head. Bionics replacing limbs, body covered in scars and wires. What once was, before It became part of the greater Whole.
Boredom. Countless aeons. Countless nothing.
But now, it played. So many possibilities and outcomes.
Winston Waves, It called itself.
A shard of the Archo.
With a scream, Twilight woke up.
‘Ouch,’ she thought. Her horn stung, it was dark and she felt like somepony used her skull as an impromptu musical instrument.
‘This is becoming an unhealthy habit for me.’
As the clouds cleared from her mind, she started to recognize her surroundings. She was in her bed at the house the humans provided. She could not begin to guess what time it was, as it still didn't have windows. Next to her, on a slate bedside table, was a glass of water.
Feeling like she was forgetting something, her thoughts went back to the people of Going South.
She knew only the bare minimum about them and she would hesitate to call any of them a friend, except maybe Lilith.
Most of them were kinda mean, abrasive, swore and profoundly scared her. Even Lilith, who clearly had a softer side to her, had no problem with justifying the killing. All of them had…intensity hidden just behind the surface she could not reconcile with.
She just helped them, didn't she? She helped them massacre the…
What has she done?
She was an element of harmony! A student to Princess Celestia. She should have stopped both sides from fighting. Make them talk to each other. Not give them helping hoof with senseless violence! When did she turn into a spineless coward? She stood against Nightmare Moon, against Discord, the spirit of disharmony himself! When did she draw a line at a few aliens?
So if her magic was weak! So if there were more of them, clearly capable of violence, so if she needed them if she hoped to get back home so if-
Maybe that wasn't such a great idea.
And it wasn't the human's fault they were like this, it was forced upon them the same way it was forced on her. A gladiator, that was all she was now. Fighting and suffering for somepony else's enjoyment.
Was that her life from now on?
No, she wouldn't think like that. She had family and friends to get back to.
First, get your clothes, then food. Easy enough.
Her stomach grumbled.
Okay, so food first.
The diner was relatively quiet when she arrived, with both Lilith and Crown absent. Glory was meanwhile busy serving as her personal butler, even after her numerous attempts at dismissing him.
“Have some more, you need your strength back.”
It made her nervous, how the giant human was hovering around her. One would think that spending a large chunk of her foalhood and most of her early adulthood around probably the largest pony in Equestria would make her numb to this, but apparently not.
She would chalk it up to the fact that Celestia didn't strut around in full plate and wasn't trying to give her reassuring smiles with a metal jaw.
He bent down and filled her another glass of juice of unspecified origins.
It tasted like grapes and was blue.
“You don't need to do this, I'm fully capable of eating by myself.”
She had to admit, her attempts at stopping him became a lot more token after he brought the hay fries. And hayburgers. By Celestia, Sun knew how to make hayburgers.
“Nonsense, you've been out for three days. And it's not like anyone else can eat this.”
She didn't need further encouragement, the prolonged bed rest leaving her with the appetite of a pack of manticores. The taste was divine, the greasy goodness just as she liked it. Burger gore flying around her, ponies gave her a splash zone in the Hay Burger back in Ponyville for a reason.
“Hey, how is it that when I got hurt, you didn't cook my favourite food?” Knight was waving his hand in a slink for effect. “You didn't even give me a get well soon card.”
“Easy, Twilight had a mental break caused by extreme stress, you were just a dumbass.”
“...Point taken.”
Sun chuckled.
“Well, if any of you need anything, I will be at the lab.”
Knight gave him a mock salute while Twilight watched him leave.
Immediately after the door closed, Knight turned to the pony. The sight was almost comical, the chair and table being too high for her and the debris from her feast scattered around.
But he wasn't in the mood for laughing.
“You know he feels like shit because of you.”
Twilight staggered, a piece of a hayburger stuck in her throat. She felt like someone had poured icy water over her. “W-what?”
“He blames himself for your little episode, simple as that,” he explained. “Every time one of us falters, it's his fault. That's how he thinks.”
She swallowed, the food suddenly tasting more like ash.
“B-but, that’s not true. I only-”
“You went catatonic for three days." Knight deadpanned. "He made you participate in a skirmish.”
Twilight felt...guilt.
She made them all worry, she hadn't even thought of that. They thought that she was powerful, that she would help them survive, and what she has done so far? Failed at programming and leached on their kindness? Useless. But that wasn't there weren't to blame for that.
“I chose that! He gave me the out and I chose to stay.”
“Doesn't matter now, does it? He is responsible for you, and everytime you fall down, it's his duty to pick you up, cause it's his fault that you fell in the first place by not stopping it. Can't change that about him. It's basically his whole modus fucking operandi. And the rest of them? They are already starting to warm up to you. If anything bad happens, they will be devastated And that's the best outcome.”
“Why are you even telling me this?”
“Because someone has Twilight. You will hurt them if it continues like this. And I won't allow it to happen.”
She started to hyperventilate.
So that was it. he would make her leave, the same po-person that led her here would be the one to kick her out. To keep his friends safe.
“That's why I will be teaching you how to handle a rifle. Basic stuff mostly.”
“...You want me to learn how to shoot?”
“Yup, look, I know ya don't like it. But around here, it's the safest option. In a battle, and I don't mean the shooting gallery that was the last wave, but real pitched combat, ya will be about as useful as a camel with the mystical ability to talk with fish. Psychic powers be damned. I don't want you to be a killing machine Twilight, just train you enough to not faint or panic from some gunshots and not to be put down like a dog by some crazed junkie.”
That's…actually very reasonable.
She still disliked the idea of having to learn to fight, but she would need to do lots of things she didn't like in the future. The weapons the humans used terrified her, the loud noises and the smell…
But she would have to get used to it, otherwise, she would put them all in danger.
"Meet me tomorrow morning in the field, capish?"
With that, he left the confused pony behind.
“You sure this will work, Lilith?”
Crown scratched his head. It wasn't that he didn't trust Lilith's programming skill, or King's crafting expertise, but the whole thing seemed…wrong.
The turret was nothing more than a gun on a tripod with a small electric motor and a computer for choosing targets.
Maybe it was the angry looking red laser, but he would swear that it looked at him with malice.
And it wasn't even plugged in yet!
“You don't need to worry, the system is foolproof.”
He winced as she said that.
From his experience, to call something foolproof is to underestimate the capability of people to be idiots.
“All right. Hoping we don't get blown up now. Here goes nothing”
He connected the wire. The machine buzzed with activity.
“Don't be ridiculous, you loaded blanks into it. We are completely safe.”
Very fast, and without hesitation, the barrel of the weapon turned towards them, the red laser pointing at Lilith's chest.
“You did load blanks, didn't you?”
Crown had only one available rebuttal for that.
“Bollocks.”
The turret opened fire.
Crown leapt, knocking Lilith to the ground and covering her with his body. She yelped and struggled but he did not let go.
The barrage of bullets, ending his life, never came.
Covering the turret was a purple energy field, the turret turned and beeped angrily. shots flying wildly into the sky. Taking his chance, he severed the cables connecting it.
The turret turned limp, the targeting system shutting down
He got up, his adrenaline rush slowly ending.
“Crown! Are you okay, where have you been shot? I call Sun, just stay with us!”
“I'm fine Lilith, shook up, but fine.”
Twilight tossed the turret aside.
The simple magic took more from her than she expected, legs trembling and breath shallow - she did overtax herself, the low magical field and long bed rest weakening her. But the humans were uninjured and that was what mattered.
“Glad to see you. Thanks by the way, for saving me from becoming holier than a saint. Thought I was a goner for a second.”
She did not react, continuing to stare at the jovial man.
“You nearly died,” how could he be so casual about this? If she didn't see them and didn't want to talk, both of them might have been seriously wounded or worse.
“Yep, it tends to happen in this place for some reason.”
…Sarcasm. He tried to brush her off with sarcasm. A close brush with death and he tried to dismiss her with sarcasm, what was wrong with him?
The lab coat wearing woman turned to Crown.
“This one was your fault. Why didn't you load blanks?” indignation layered thick in Lilith's voice.
“I thought this was a live-fire test! And I’m pretty sure we don't even have blank ammunition!”
“I told you we were just testing the targeting software! Didn't you listen?”
“No…I mean…no?”
And now they argued. The bliss of unconsciousness never seemed so sweet. Black spots danced in her vision. However, she did promise herself to not be knocked out again for what felt like the tenth time in a single week. Rainbow may have been fine with her large amounts of head trauma, but this was becoming rather extreme and she didn't want to deal with brain damage, considering that the one viable doctor was here mainly to chop vegetables and his only medical credentials were “I had a course once.”
So, she endured her desire to fall down.
Only now, the two humans seemed to notice her distress and came to her aid.
Lilith kneels down next to her while Crown tried to support her and keep her from falling over.
"Are ya okay?"
"No, I…I had a talk with Knight.”
They gave each other a look. Both of them sighed.
"Of course, he would do that, he didn't call you anything too insulting, did he?"
“He called me a camel.”
“...That's surprisingly tame actually “
“Crown!”
“Oh common! You were thinking it too!”
“But I wasn't going to say it!”
Crown sat down beside her, offering her a shoulder to lean against.
“Look, Twilight, my brother is a bit of, eh, what's the right word?”
“Mean?”
“Abrasive?”
“A massive dick.” Crown shrugged “If he has something on his mind, he lets you know. We are…similar in that, Brothers and all. My point is, Knight doesn't do it to hurt others. . . If he criticizes you, it's because he cares, he just has a very inventive way of showing it, by that I mean insults. Don't-”
“If you were going to tell me that I don't worry about it, I want to let you know that I have a sharp object permanently attached to my head.”
“Okay, okay and here I thought you were some kind of pacifist.”
Twilight scowled at him, Crown would find that pouty face adorable, if not for the fact that it came from possibly one of the most powerful psykers on the planet.
“Look at the time. As much fun as it was almost getting shot to bits, I have to go to work. See ya!”
“Wait! Aaaand he's gone. Great. Wow, he is fast. Well, better get back to work on the targeting system. We need it to be functional soon.”
“Can I help you with it?” asked Twilight hopefuly.
“I mean, not really, I will have to use a computer and we have only one. Also, the keyboard isn't really made for hooves…But we have some backlog! What was that thing the King wanted to be done? Oh, sorting the storage, no one wanted to do that one, It's super boring. Sorry. You basically just shelf and categorize stuff for hours on end and…Why are you looking at me funny?”
Twilight was in heaven.
The storage room used to be in utter chaos. Row upon row of boxes, cabinets, pallets, skips and shelves, all holding different assortment of scrap, parts, ammunition and everything else that would be needed to be stored for the workshop and colony's needs.
But Going South had a bit of organization trouble.
Had is the key word there.
All time ceased to exist, all of existence vanished, except the cluttered warehouse.
And now it was over, now it was perfect.
Last item remained to be sorted, a green box with a yellow hue and a belt attached. Seemed familiar to her for some reason. She lifted it with her telekinesis to put it in the clothes section. She noticed that it was much heavier on her magic than it looked like it would be. The material must be very dense, she thought.
Weird, did it always glow?
With great care, she put it down where it belonged.
And now, at least, everything was where it should have been from the beginning, clearly labelled through the use of her magic. Every piece of equipment was placed sorted, and even the little parts were placed into dividers, categorized by her own specialized system.
She made a chart for others to follow, burned it into the stone of the walls with magic, like commandments of some old god.
Only more complicated to follow, somehow.
Order and stability reigned supreme.
She slumped down, tired and exhausted.
Soon, dreamless sleep took her.
“Aww…This is just precious.”
King found her passed out in the storage, and for once he was glad he forgot to turn off the heating when he left. Still, it was a bit chilly in the morning, and he doubted the duster was enough to keep her warm.
The whole storage system was renewed so it took him a few seconds to find her a blanket, he had to comment on her work, she did a splendid job, never would he think that anybody would be able to make sense of the mess of stuff that slowly rose in their stockpile. Well, she proved him wrong, and how!
But his good mood was spoiled the second he was reminded of his task.
The next wave was a mechanoid one, and without anything to penetrate their plasteel shells,he would have to get creative.
Sun recommended molotovs cocktails in a pinch and they certainly had the chemfuel for it, but something better was needed.
“Hmm…Huh? Where am I? This isn't my bedroom.”
“Good morning. You fell asleep in the warehouse Sparky."
She stretched like a cat, a loud pop coming from her back. Honestly, King only regretted that he couldn't snap a photo. So adorable.
"Oh no! Knight is waiting, sorryhavetorunhaveaniceday bye!"
She trotted past him before he could reply.
"But it's still dark out…"
Well, it was only what? Three hours before sunrise? She be fine.
He whistled to himself as he resumed his work, opening one of the cabinets, but stopped midway through the motion.
Strange, he would swear that the archotech shield belt was nearly depleted, how was it charged now?
King shrugged, he ask Glory later, he was the last one to use it.
Meanwhile, the belt continued to dimly glow.
"Ya know, I should have been more specific when talking about time, but when I told ya we meet in the morning after sunrise and breakfast was kinda implied."
She gave him another attempt at scowling, narrowing her eyes and scrunching her face.
It seemed to have the opposite effect than intended on Knight for some reason.
"Ah don't be grumpy, can't survive that much cute this early. And you only have been waiting an hour.”
"Three."
"Well, that's still-"
"I've been here since three."
"You see-
"Its eight."
"So we have no time to lose!"
Knight led her to a clearing near the cliff walls west of the field, behind the workshop and away from everything else. Nothing but a rock formation, a few sandbags and what looked like mutated signposts scattered around.
"I won't get in trouble for missing the morning meeting?"
"I don't think so, we don't even have disciplinary actions here, but Sun is kinda miffed, he hates having to fridge fresh food. Ruins the flavor he says.”
Good news, but she could not notice her belly rumbling.
"What did he make."
"Some strips of grass on a pan, looked horrific, you wouldn't like it Im sure."
“He made hay bacon and I missed it!?"
"Ehm, anyway, I brought a rifle, I want you to learn how to use it."
He pointed at the weapon slung on his back.
To Twilight, it looked like a minotaur walking stick that someone dragged through plumbing supplies and it carried the consequences. Yet, she saw first hoof the destructive potential of the weapon.
"This model is called a Lee-Enfield, an ancient bolt action pattern from Terra. Shoots .303 ammunition, I brought a box of HP we never use so you can try it to your heart's content. First, some safety rules before I let ya handle it.
"Never, and I mean never, aim a gun at something you don't want shot.
"The gun is always loaded, doesn't matter ya just pulled all the bullets out and the safety is on, act like it's ready to blow yer face off.
"Be wary of what's beyond your target. Friendly fire and ricochets are a son of a bitch. Look at my hand for reference.”
“And…actually I don't know if that one even applies, but keep your fingers, hooves, telekinesis? Eh, whatever, just don't play with the trigger if not ready to fire.
"Understood? Kay, here you go."
She lifted the offered weapon in her magic, it wasn't very heavy, but she felt a certain…rigidity in her TK field. It must have been her imagination, the feeling like the rifle had a mind of its own, an attack dog ready to be released. She made sure to aim the barrel down the range and leave the trigger alone.
"You said that Lee Anfield is ancient?"
"Enfield and the pattern is. This one was made here by King, but yeah, some odd ten thousand years. That's what I call good old reliable design."
Twilight nearly dropped the weapon.
"TEN THOUSAND YEARS?!"
That wasn't ancient, that was older than all of Equestria's recorded history, older than the Princesses and even the stories from before the unification of the tribes.
"Guess that's a long time for ya?
"Long? That's more ancient than everything. How old are you?"
"Hey, that's kinda rude, I let you know I ain't a day over twenty-two. If you mean the human species, I honestly have no idea."
"How can you not know? It's your species! Is humanity so old you forgot?"
"Yeah, kinda."
That took Twilight by surprise. How would that happen? Wouldn't they keep records? They didn't do it here but that was because of the lack of paper and limited computer memory, whatever that was, on Liliths device in the lab. On a large scale, they had to have something, what happened to it?
"You see, after the loss of Terra, we scattered around in all directions, those who made it had no way of contacting others and lots of knowledge and tech became lost. There is no standard level of technology for human-occupied places, we have all from tribal to ultra."
"Terra?
"Earth, our homeworld."
And now it made sense
People with no home, long lost in the vast confines of space, cultures drifting apart.
But it still didn't add up.
"Wait, if your home planet was destroyed, where are you from?"
"Lost and a smallish agri-world. Nice place to live, good people, horrible taxes. My ancestors banned most advanced technology after the landing, helped with keeping our grit and not killing ourselves with nukes. The only stockpile left was for planetary defence, if my memory serves right."
Banning technology? Nukes? Every question answered only made way for even more.
“How advanced even is humanity?”
“Hard to say, I dunno about most of the spacer stuff. Lilith told me most of what I know. She actually lived most of her life on a spaceship as an engiseer, so she knows lots about it. Sun is probably also a spacer, but he doesn't talk about his past, but I'm pretty sure he was one. Like he was seriously augmented way before he landed here. The jaw of his? Yeah, Sun had it from the beginning.”
Spacer? A slang for somepony working is space she guessed, but what's an engiseer?
"Enough talking, it's time to shoot this baby. See this?"
He handed her a piece of metal from his pocket, with cartridges stuck to it.
"This is a stripper clip, but call it a magazine when King's around, believe me, it's hilarious. What you do is open the action, by moving the bolt here. Then you push the bullets in. Easy."
She yanked the bolt into place.
"You don't need to pull so much, the gun can take it, but smooth motions is what ya want for accuracy and real speed. Now, aim down the sight. Keep it steady, and don't put it so close to your face, the kick would leave you with a nice black eye.”
Twilight pressed the stock against her shoulder, bracing it, Knight nodded along. Looking down the iron sights was difficult with the weapon's human-centred ergonomics. She chose the closest target and aimed.
"Good so far, remember, I don't know how much feel ya got in your TK, but when you press the trigger, dont jerk it, squeeze if you can manage. And keep yourself steady. Ready? Breath in, aaand fire!"
Bang! The rifle shook, the weapon falling out of her grip. The shot missed and landed with a splatter of dust somewhere in the field, far away from the intended target.
“Well, there is room for improvement. Could be worse.”
“Worse? How? I let go of it!”
“I mean, you didn't hit me.”
It took Twilight an hour and most of the ammo to hit her fist target.
She aimed for a different one, but she took what she could get.
She bit her lip as she took one more shot, the round ricocheting from a stone behind the intended mark.
“Horseapples!”
She got better at working the bolt, she was much faster than before, and even the laud shot and recoil didn't spook her anymore. Now it was just infuriating, as it refused to do what she wanted.
“Yelling at it won't help.”
Knight was bored. He tried his best to coach her, but nothing seemed to stick and he had to admit to himself that he wasn't the best at teaching her, but he wasn't surprised by the results.
His real intention was never to make her good at shooting, with the psychic power like that, he doubted she would need it.
He wanted her to stop being scared of guns, which went mostly smoothly.
Knight knew few things about horses, his family used to own a few.
Still fresh in his memory was the day some arseholes decided to have some fun with fireworks near the stables and the stampede that followed.
Horses do not like loud noises, and the smell of fire.
Unfortunately, those were things that were unavoidable when besieged and forced into a gunfight.
So he did what they normally do to train an animal to not be spooked by something anymore. Introduce the scary thing in a safe environment, and build resistance by exposure.
He felt bad for doing it to Twilight. She wasn't some common beast of burden, but a person.
But circumstances demanded action, and this could save her life in the future, so he was ready to swallow some guilt for it.
“This stupid thing! It wasn't made with ponies in mind!”
Aim, ready, fire.
Another shot rang out, missing widely.
“Aaaahhhh! Work you stupid machine!”
She wanted to reload, but she realized that was the last bullet. Out. Empty. All she did was waste ammo.
“I think we better call it a day.”
Defeated, she nodded.
“Don't be so glum, ya maybe have the aim of a dead mole rat, but that’s learning for ya, so chin up.”
Small words of encouragement, but it made her smile anyway.
That night, as she laid in the cold sheets, she went over yesterday and today's happenings.
The colonist welcomed her back, in spite of her lacklustre display fighting the mantodeans. More so, it was them trying to make up for it, in their own strange ways.
She also learned how to use one of the human weapons, well, maybe learned was a strong word, but familiarized with at least.
Twilight found that when the smoke and smell of cordite still unnerved her, the fear subsided substantially.
She didn't make nearly enough progress at making friends, but she guessed that there was enough time.
Four years of it.
“Brr, this storm is ugly.”
Crown, made his way in, covered head to toe in clothes that turned to rags during his brief time outside.
The rest of the Going South residents could only nod.
During the night a freak sandstorm struck the valley, covering the whole crater in dust. Visibility sunk to nothing and the fast winds were merciless, grains of sand and debris striking with enough force to shred anyone without protection,
Not a good time to be outside.
Worse still the power grid, dependent on solar power, gave out.
“The backup generator is on. Should be enough to keep the lights on in here.”
Twilight counted herself lucky that she made her way to the diner before the storm gained in intensity. But they were trapped inside until it calmed down.
The rest of them also took shelter there, with the power secured, they only had to wait.
Sitting by the table, with some corn-based snacks. Doing nothing.
While an opportunity to get them to open to her, it also presented a challenge. She tried her hardest to remember what her book about sleepovers said, as this situation was similar enough.
On the other hoof, would they even cooperate? What if she angered them? Was human culture so fundamentally different that the rules of sleepovers were not applicable? Would they secretly hate her and kick her out to become a lonely hermit in a desert and be there, all alone in the hot sun and be-
“This is boring as hell, I'm taking out the beers, all for it?”
Knight always preferred the blunt and efficient approach to things.
“Jesus yes, I was outside for like five minutes and It felt like someone changed the air for sandpaper. I need a drink.”
A sentiment that his brother seemed to share.
“Where did you even get beer?” she asked. Beer wasn't a common drink in Equestria, but very popular with the griffons. She had met the griffon ambassador, an elderly hen who brewed beer as a hobby, enough times back in Canterlot to get some basic knowledge and an extreme desert environment should have made the growing of necessary ingredients impossible. But true to his word, Knight pulled a pack of beers from behind the kitchen counter.
“Bunch of raiders tried to kill us with it, believe it or not.”
Both King and Lilith refused a glass, but Sun to her surprise took one of the bottles.
Twilight was faced with a dilemma.
Accepting would be a bonding moment, but refusing also appeared as an option. She was never big on drinking, only trying a glass of wine on her eighteen birthday, a gift from Princess Celestia that they enjoyed together, and Applejack’s cider, which was a Ponyville tradition.
Tradition, this was their version of it, wasn't it? When she looked at the men, nursing their beers, the whole thing did seem almost ritualistic.
“I have one too please.”
Crown gave her a wink.
“Our little lady is brave today.”
She gave it a taste and immediately regretted it. Bitter.
“So any news on the turret front?”
Before Lilith could answer, she was cut by Knight.
“Common Sun, relax. You don't need to bring work stuff into every conversation.”
She glanced at the calendar with one more mark on it and shuddered.
Mechanoids, Twelve “Pikeman” and four “Scythers. When asked about it, King told her they were malfunctioning war machines that went rogue after some big ancient war. Sun, quite distressingly to her, said that the mechanoids were not malfunctioning, following the last order of their dead masters to the T.
Kill. Them. All.
She took another hesitant sip of her drink.
"We could always use something to talk about that's not super grim for a change, any ideas?"
Seeing her chance, she began. Operation friendship was officially on.
"I wanted to ask about you, in general."
That got their attention.
"I realized that I don't know any of you really well and since we are stuck here, I thought I should try to be friends. And friends should share things about themselves."
"Seems fair enough. Does anyone want to start? Nope? Okay, I start. I hate melons. Won't grow right no matter how I try."
"I meant more, where are you from, what's your story."
"Oh that, you know most of it already. Born in a bumfuck nowhere agri-world. Grew up on a farm, got kidnapped and dropped into this hell hole. That's about it."
"Same story here, I just went into carpentry apprenticeship while Knight stayed home at the farm.”
King looked around, clearly nervous, playing with his hair and avoiding eye contact.
"...I fixed guns. I always was a gun nut. Not much about it. Home was an industrial hive world. Overpopulated, crime ridden, filthy, but it was home. Worked for a big corp that basically ran the place. Gunsmith officially. Part of their police department on paper. Never saw action. Sat at my desk and fixed any gun the law enforcement brought to me for repairs. I was darn good at it. Seen probably any way anyone can break a gun at least two times. I swear, it had to be some kind of competition. Twisted gas block, how do you even manage that? Boring stuff, but I liked it.”
Lilith took a handful of doritos, unfocused as ever.
"My turn? Okay,” she cleared her throat.” My family and I were caretakers, thirteenth generation. Our planet was destroyed, but a colony ship with survivors made it, although many of the ship's systems were incomplete or broken. Some were forced to stay awake and keep the whole thing running while the rest went into cryogenic sleep. Well, at least that's what I think. The scripture is more…cryptic.
King raised an eyebrow
"Cryptic?"
"Oh yea of exalted flesh,” she recited. ”Thine fate has been chosen. Reread thine sacred manuals, taketh care of frozen brethren and thine souls shall find saintliness in the stars above.
"In case of engine failure, look at the hallowed dials. If the red glow of anger, signed with the rune of a tear shall appear, try replacing the holy oils, so the machine spirit sings once more. Yellow rune of indecision, strike the lever of balance twice with thy sanctified wrench. If the blue screen of dread is the answer, do sing the litany of repair.”
“Press the sacred power switch.
“Watch the screen turn black as pitch
“Count to holy number ten
“Turn the damn thing on again
"So is thine duty, so is thine fate."
Twilight stared at the woman.
"...What the fuck was that?" Knight was evidently taken aback as much as her.
"A prayer to the machine spirit of propulsion.”
"Ehm, you don't believe in that crap Lilith, do you?"
"What, of course not."
"Uh, good."
"Traveler told me it's a superstition made up by my ancestors, mostly as a way to keep the knowledge of how to maintain the ship between generations alive. It got out of hand over time and turned into a religion"
Twilight perked up, a culture evolving isolated wholly on a spaceship? A fascinating subject of future study opened to her.
"That's so interesting! But who is Traveler?"
"Oh, that's how the ship called itself when it talked to me."
"..."
Sun facepalmed.
"Do you mean the ship's AI persona?"
"Yes, that. He couldn't talk to others as they weren't sensitive enough and the neural network was one of the incomplete systems. But after he started communicating with me, and I told others, they thought me a prophet and made me engiseer. To be honest, it made for a lonely childhood as the rest of my family kept their distance to not disturb me, in my “musings” but it wasn't all bad and I enjoyed the solitude it gave me. We didn't have much space on board, so that was a luxury. "
"Wait, Traveler,” King scratched his head. “You told me about him before, wasn't he your teacher?"
"He was. Traveller taught me lots of things. Then we entered some sort of psychic field and I woke up here."
"I remember that you dropped after a wave,” Crown smiled. “Just wandering around puking all over."
"Would you stop mentioning that? It was my first time being somewhere without a ceiling! I had every right to be disturbed."
Twilight chuckled and took another sip. When she got over the first few, it wasn't bad. And the slow buzz and heat in her cheeks made her extra giggly. It reminded her of Pinkie Pie.
"What about you Twilight? What is your planet like?"
"Hmm? Oh! Equestria is…good? The sunlight is harsh here. Princess Celestia is much more gentle with hers. I live in a village called Ponyville and-"
(Snort)
Crown gave his brother a small nudge with his elbow. "Sorry, continue please."
"My friends and I lived there, along with Spike. He is my…assistant? Adopted little brother? It's complicated.
“I miss them so much. The little things they would do. Applejack saying howdy in the morning when I pass her stall. Pinkie being silly and making me smile. Dash trying new tricks and crashing into the library. I-I-I”
She took a deep breath.
“It's okay, take your time,” Sun's voice, was even and calming. It made her feel better, but worse at the same time.
“No, I'm sorry, I'm supposed to talk about Equestria, and here I'm, crying.”
“Again, it's alright. We are not machines.”
She let go, tears flowing openly.
“Fuck, this is depressing. We manage to get a horse hammered and it turns out she is a sad drunk. Typical.”
A chair creaked, Sun was standing, holding his beer high.
“Raise your glass. Let's toast. To our safe return!”
Knight gave him a look. “Eh nope? That's cheesy as fuck and you know it.”
“Common, try it,” Sun continued. “To our homes!”
“To our loved ones!” Knight gave in, rolling his eyes.
“To our friends!” Twilight chorused.
“To us!” added Crown
“To the stars above!” spoke Lilith.
“To Going South, and no, the joke is not running old!”
They all stood, a little circle of strangers stranded. Together, meeting in the vast, be it by fate or the unknown. Glass met glass, and they cheered.
“To the flame that does not let us die!” Glory ended the impromptu toast, and the moment was over.
“Now, does anyone want to play some darts?”
The storm dissipated soon enough, but not before Crown decimated them all in the impromptu dart competition.
Turned out that as an apprentice carpenter, Crown spent half of his time in a local pub. Social fights were a big problem where he came from and there was always something to repair after the latest brawl. During his downtime, he honed his skills and became basically unbeatable at most common bar games. It was him who installed a dart board in the diner, to keep himself sharp.
The next few days blurred together, as she settled in the position of Lilith's research assistant. Most of her work duty consisted of running tests and simulations and learning to type on a computer with her magic. Most of it turned out to be much easier on her than first guessed, as her ability at making a fully fleshed out spell matrix translated very nicely to programming.
She found that she enjoyed spending her time in the lab, trying to make a breakthrough with Lilith at her side. The turrets were a bust, the dump AI needed was complete, but they ran out of components, King used the last of them to make special ammo for the mechanoid wave, so they were unable to use them. So they changed their focus to Geothermal power sources - the valley was full of geysers they would be able to tap into, breaking their reliance on sun and wind, which were unreliable with the poultry amount of batteries they had.
Sun Glory would occasionally visit, bringing a bowl of fruits or veggies and some other snacks. Then he would be half-heartedly scolded by Lilith for bringing food to a sterile laboratory. He would smile, apologize and do it all over again.
She also had other chores. Hauling, cleaning, and extinguishing fires when one of the boomalopes spontaneously combusted. The few days of idling left them with a huge amount of work to do. And every morning, bright and early, she would go with Knight to the range, where she would try to learn how to shoot.
It was going poorly, but Sun told her that Knight would be okay and that there wouldn't be any lasting damage.
Her routine was interrupted when Sun Glory approached her out in the fields with a package in hand.
“Twilight, do you have time? I have something I need to test.”
“Sure? What is it?”
“I spoke to the King recently. Do you remember if by any chance you used your powers on this?”
The package was the mysterious, glowing item from the stockpile. The green texture with green patina gaining a new sheen in the daylight, but still easily recognizable as the strange belt, as eerily familiar as before.
“Yes? Why? Did I do something wrong? I didn't break it, did I?”
“No, nothing like that,” he reassured her. ”The opposite possibly.
“Would you pick it up in your TK please?” Seeing nothing wrong with the request, she did as told.
Her horn lit up, willing the belt to move. When her aura enveloped the archotech device, its glow intensified and a low, humming noise assaulted her, seemingly ignoring her ears and going straight into her head.
Sun Glorie's gaze was fixated on the back of the device, more accurately, on the display showing three lines, instead of the two it had before.
“By the gods…You can charge it. Twilight, do you know what this means?”
“No?”
“Twilight, how long is the range on your telekinesis?”
“About ten paces, why?”
“I think I have a plan.”
"Just so you know, this is still loonier than batshit."
They waited by the entrance, crouched next to the doors. Shotguns loaded with special slugs in hand. Flasks filled with chemfuel and lighters close by. The fortifications had been changed for this wave, the entrance was prolonged, a new tunnel now forming the gateway, slim enough that only one person could go through at the time.
"I'm aware, thanks."
"I mean, engaging murder bots at melee, that's crazy, like, not talking unicorn level of insane, but getting there.”
"Hey!"
The plan was as dangerous as it was simple. Hide, open the gate and let them approach. Funnel them through the gateway one by one. Stun them with EMPs as they go. Burn them if able. They had to bet on the mechanoids focusing fire on Sun, and on him not going down. Risky, but a better option than being picked by bots who widely outranged them, not to mention the fact that their guns didn't have enough penetration to get through their armour.
"Hmm. Again, you said so before."
"No, I said that you are a lunatic with a martyrdom syndrome big enough to collapse on itself and create a singularity."
"From when you even know what a singularity is?"
He grabbed his chest in a display of fake dramatics.
"What? You think me dumb, oh treacherous brother of mine?"
"Do you really want the answer for that?"
"Traitor! Okay, I asked Lilith."
But the thing that made Twilight's skin crawl about the plan was her part in it.
Keep the shield up.
They tested it. Pumping magic into the artefact from a distance. It was possible to recharge it that way. Costly on her magical reserves and taxing on the fine machinery, lowering its durability significantly, but possible.
But Twilight was terrified.
One slip up, one mistake, and Sun could die, and after him, the rest would follow.
She had dangerous adventures before, moments where her health and life were at stake, but this wasn't her life she now held in her hoof, and this wasn't Equestria where harmony and friendship saved the day always.
The mechanoids. Unfeeling and efficient machines. A golem without the spark of life. Weapon.
Nothing more.
"Twilight, you there?"
She looked at her watch, a gift from Lilith.
Five minutes till the next wave.
"Yeah..."
Sun's pink apron was gone, replaced by the archotech belt, his face was covered by the visor of his helmet.
A slab of steel strapped to his left arm, a large ballistic shield thick enough to stop rifle fire.
Right hand rested at the hilt of his sword, iron fingers clutching it.
"I just want to tell you, we will make it, but if anything happens to me, it's not your fault, got it?"
There was confidence in his voice that made her feel a little better, despite the ominousness of the sentence.
"Okay, I got it."
"Yeah! Only Sun is allowed to be guilty round here!" quipped Knight.
"Quiet! Do you hear it?"
Whirring, scraping of metal against metal and the ringing of their screeching.
"They are here."
Wave number twenty-two arrived.
Unnatural.
That was the first word that came to Twilight's mind when she first saw the mechanoids through the peeping hole in the wall, or murder hole as Crown affectionately, and worriedly, called it. Bodies of iron, wires and circuits covered by plasteel shells and with only a crude imitation of life.
The first one looked like a terribly mutilated beetle. Walking on four misshapen legs, sensors like compound eyes scanning for foes. Slow and methodical. Weapon placed on its back, the coil gun long, slick barrel sticking out awkwardly.
Pikeman
The one behind it was much quicker, standing upright, with blades instead of arms.
A scyther.
And there was more.
A mass of metal and armaments, clustered together. More mechanoids, mainly the pikeman, if only they had something to take them out all at once.
Knight gave her a nod from behind his cover by the door, she concentrated, magic energy swelling, feeling the pull on her horn, the slow draining of her magic - it was done. A connection was made, now only maintain it.
The first scyther was by the gate, climbing the trenches and craters.
Sun raised his fist, a signal, the translucent energy barrier forming around him.
One heartbeat.
She could see the details on it through the murder hole. Dents and scratches on the scythers plating dried blood on its blades.
Two heartbeats.
Red glowing "eyes", the little noises made by gears and internal electronics.
Three heartbeats.
It was so close it might been able to reach her through the murder hole, she felt a gust of hot air the machine released from where she hid.
"Now!"
Sun Glory jumped into action in an instant, his armoured body moving at frightening speeds.
His chain sword activated, roaring angrily and impacting in a blur, cutting deep into the scyther, causing cooling fluid to pour out. Sun gave the wreck a kick to dislodge his weapon and raised his ballistic shield as rounds of plasma fire impacted the energy barrier, cracking it in places. Twilight felt more of her own magic leave. Dizziness and a sudden headache attacked her senses. But she held, continuing to feed the device, Sun's only lifeline against enemy fire.
Few shots whizzed past.
Knight and King peeked from behind the door frame, letting loose a barrage of EMP slugs at the mechs. Few molotovs hit the targets in the back. Stuck in the hallway, unable to use their numbers, or backup, the mechs were stuck. Sun went into town on the mechanoids, body blocking them from going any further, cutting them apart, roars of the chains sword announcing the death of his foes.
Another shot exploded next to his head but he ignored the shower of stones and gravel dust. Muscle memory was doing most of the job. Footwork to keep him stable, holding the shield to protect his sword arm as he struck, aiming at the joints where the armour was less thick. All lessons ingrained from long ago, working in tandem.
Pikeman was his next opponent. He parried a kick from its front leg and used the opening to slash at it, severing the limb and crippling it.
More impacts on meeting the barrier. More cracks.
The weight was too much on Twilight. Her head was splitting open, she tasted blood in her mouth. Noise, the noise was everywhere, buzzing like flies in her head, but she had to hold.
His enemies were savage and without pause, but Sun moved like water, fluid and smooth. A torrent that would sweep them all.
Facing a scyther, he used his steel shield to deflect its blades, then hit his elbows with a lightning-quick upwards cut, then twisting his arm and going for a jab at the scythers head, destroying it.
Next one, another pikeman.
Knight shot the mechanoid with the special ammo. The second for it was stunned enough for Sun to use and gut it.
Knight smiled as he reached into his vest for more slugs - then he heard it, from behind him
A mechanical clicking noise.
Twilight clenched her jaw. A horrible feeling as if someone was trying to pull her brain through her nose threatened to overwhelm her.
A scream from behind her.
A scyther standing above Knight's body, arms raised, ready to deliver the killing blow.
“No!”
Connection severed, desperation and adrenalin powering her body and acting on pure survival instinct, she struck with a bolt of purple magic.
It dissipated on contact with the scythers shell, leaving no damage.
Turning its attention to her, the mechanoid charged, in the blink of an eye, it was upon her, slashing and slicing.
Twilight yelped and dodged, her hoofs skidding on the desert sands.
Horn alight, she jumped right as it attacked again, blades hitting only air,
but the machine was not letting down.
More of her bolts connected, only to do nothing as it continued, its strikes getting faster and better at predicting her, while she only grew tired.
She needed something, anything.
Knights shotgun!
Twilight steadied herself, the mechanoid reading another lounge.
She skidded under the blade and landed hard, her vision turned hazy, she gripped the shotgun in her hooves and turned, pulling the trigger.
'Click'
Empty.
…Horseapples.
The mech ran at her, blades gleaming in the desert sun.
This was the end.
Anger.
Why her?
The injustice, the unfairness of it all.
She would not die here.
Lifting the gun in her telekinesis, ignoring the searing pain it brought her, she attacked, using the discarded shotgun as a club.
Wild, uncoordinated, and fueled by the need to survive, Twilight was on a warpath.
Smacking it in the air as it pounced and forcing it to the ground, the scyther took a moment to recuperate, but a moment was enough.
Another hit, and another and another.
Bending the barrel and turning the wooden stock to splinters, she did not care.
It got up, slashing again.
Side stepped, she only increased the tempo of the beating.
“Die! Die! Die!”
Smashing its head in a fountain of sparks, it fell down, twitching slightly.
Her face felt damp, and she couldn't see right, but it didn't matter anymore. The bot was down. She was alive.
Something forced all air out her lungs, like if Applejacked kicked her square in the chest, the force of the impact enough that Twilight was propelled backwards and sprawled on the floor.
Pikeman, standing near, weapon pointed at her. The coil gun charging another shot.
It never came.
A hilt of a chain sword stuck in its head.
From the kill box, Sun charged, weaving and dodging plasma coated bullets, sand melting and turning to glass where they hit.
One connected, going straight through his ballistic shield, red mist exploded from his shoulder.
Sun did not slow him down.
Meeting the mechs head-on, using his power arm as a bludgeon and grappling with the first one, preventing the mechanoid from shooting by using the remnants of his ballistic shield to keep the gun away and tearing it from its frame with his other hand.
With a terrible sound, the abused metal gave out, leaving the mech dead, its electronic guts hanging out. Sun was left heaving, legs trembling as his numerous little injuries made themself known.
Not yet. Last one.
Throwing the bend needly gun away, he made his way, one step at the time, towards the last enemy.
Only for him to realize that it was already dead.
Twilight standing triumphant over it, chain sword in her magic, Pikeman diced apart.
She climbed down. Vomiting. Face covered in her own blood. Shaking like a leaf in a storm.
They have won, but it didn't feel like a victory.