//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Friendly faces in rundown places // Story: P.O.N.I.E.S: Shadow of Canterlot // by GoldenGust //------------------------------// ”I found one. From the border. SENSE got to him before I could" "You know what to do with-" "This one is alive.” "Bullshit! You're lying!" "Let the zone take me if I am!" The sound of a unicorn's magic filled the office. A light blue magic aura gently cradled a chipped and worn porcelain tea cup. The unicorn lifted the cup to their lips. The heat of the tea filled her body with fleeting comfort before they placed the cup down on a clean coaster, despite the table under said coaster's derelict condition. They got comfortable on their haunches before eyeing the typewriter in front of them with annoyance. They flicked their well-maintained mane before lifting plain, metal-rimmed glasses, resting them snuggly on their snout and beginning their work. Personal Notes: 8 Months since the Incident Found a survivor from outside the fog today (which is a rarity). SENSE hunters don't usually leave survivors. When I brought the stallion back, Molten Bit complained he would be too much of a hassle, but I was able to silence him with the stallion's PDA. Bit didn't tell me what was on it, but that look in his eyes could mean only one thing: profit. For now, the stallion is in my care in the infirmary. I've removed some shrapnel from his back legs and treated some burns on his body. All of that should heal fine. What I am worried about is the damage to his horn. I won't know much about his mental state until he wakes up so (with my current tools) I won't be able to identify any brain damage, but you don't need to be a doctor to understand how serious horn damage can be. For now, all I can do is wait. Days turned to nights. Time marches on. Personal Notes: 10 Months since the Incident, Still no response from our stallion friend. When I went to talk to Molten Bit about our next course of action, he was surprisingly adamant that I keep him alive. I'm not complaining, but it's a rare bit of compassion from the merchant. He showed me the PDA, and it turns out, our Stallion is called Silver Bullet. Silver is working for Luna. She was surprised to hear from me, of all ponies, and after our conversation over PDA, Bit and I had a long talk about what should happen next. The stallion may be greedy and sanctimonious, but he understands just how important this is. I will continue to keep Princess Luna updated on Silver's condition. Molten Bit sent some Mercs to Ponyville but they haven't returned. I sure hope this stallion is everything Luna said he would be. Silver's mind was a blur. He heard voices and saw lights flashing red, blue, red, blue. He could hear sobbing and commotion. Then, a scream that could split the sky dragged the white stallion to consciousness. The rain from his dream has turned into a cold sweat. He felt a sharp pain carve its way through his body, up his spine, and to the tip of his horn, which ached like a pulled tooth. Silver groaned and caught himself from falling backwards by putting a hoof behind him, using the other one to soothe his head with a rub of his free hoof. He looked around the room. It was a classroom converted into a makeshift hospital. It seemed surprisingly clean for being in the fog. Silver remembered just how decrepit the building with the corpse in it was. This place was a palace in comparison, But there was something off. The smell of the corpse was still filling the room. The sulfuric stench of rotting flesh clawed its way into Silver's snout as he looked around for the source of the smell. His eyes landed on the silhouette of a large earth pony stallion. Looking out of a broken window at a field of dead grass and shrubs, the sky was a kaleidoscope of colours, with an eclipsed sun framed in the centre. "Onyx?" Silver stuttered; his throat was like sandpaper as the smell seized its chance to fill his mouth. The black stallion did not respond. Onyx simply stood there, admiring the sky, entranced by it. Silver tried to come up with something to say, but memories flooded his mind; he remembered the split-second look of horror and grief on the soldier's face. Before Silver's mind could give a response, a buzzing noise filled his ears. Silver's eyes focused more on Onyx, noticing little black flies covering and swarming the stallion. Silver felt this sinking feeling of dread. He was staring a Cockatrice down; his body was stone, glued to Onyx. "I'm sorry," Silver felt his lip quiver, trying with all of his might to tear his gaze away, unsuccessfully. The buzzing was slowly taken over by a deep, bassy vocalization. It got louder and louder. Onyx's neck and head twitched before bending backwards with a sickening crunch of the bones. The thing locked eyes with Silver. Its eyes were void, a deep chasm that Silver was confronted with. Silver attempted to respond, but the creature's mouth opened and opened. It didn't stop; the sickening pop of the thing's jaw tore through the room before it lunged with speed toward Silver, snapping and cracking its body on the floor and the beds. Silver felt the scream well up from his stomach before he was able to finally shut his eyes. Silver jolted awake. A scream ripped through his throat, causing him to cough, and the noise of shattering porcelain snapped him to attention. His eyes locked with the azure eyes of a mare who was breathing heavily before taking one final deep breath and getting to her hooves. She flicked her well-maintained, indigo mane out of her face and collected herself. Her white coat was covered by a doctor's robe. It was clear there were attempts to clean it, but there were still bits of dried blood around the cuffs. Her tail swung softly behind her, matching her mane in colour and curls. She rushed over to assess the situation.   "Please, darling! You need to lay back down!" The white unicorn's horn lit up with urgency, Silver felt himself get forced down with gentle necessity. "You scared me! You could have woken up half the settlement!" Her brow unfurrowed, her face showing concern. "Nightmare?" "Yeah," Silver felt the pain from his scream still pinching his throat. The dull throbbing soreness of his horn persisted into his waking moments. "You must be Rarity," Silver stated, looking up at the mare who was now turned around and looking through some notes. She froze, then turned her head to look at the stallion with confusion. "You know me?" Rarity smiled warmly as she turned back around, looking at a steel tray with some syringes. "Everyone in Equestria knows you; you shouldn't be surprised." Silver offered a small smile through the pain. Rarity turned around with a syringe clutched in her magic. "Lend me a hoof, please. This will help with some of the pain." Silver extended a hoof out. After feeling the small prick of the needle and the cool enter his body, the pain began to subside. "What's in that stuff?" Silver raised an eyebrow, attempting to sit up again before Rarity's horn flashed again and forced him back down. Her face scowled like a mother disciplining her son. After a small moment, Rarity's face softened before she explained. "There are many odd things in the zone. Some are dangerous, some are helpful. Most are both," Rarity turned around mid-sentence. "What I injected you with is the latest combat stims from our dear friends over at the Rock Farm Research Centre. I'm not entirely sure what's in it, but it works, and they have told me it is safe." She turns back to face Silver with a hair flick and a confident smile. "I trust them, so don't worry, you won't turn into some horrific monster." Silver felt soothed enough, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He turned his head to face Rarity to ask the burning question. "What happened to me?" Silver's eyes narrowed for a moment. He felt the wave of warmth from the explosion ripped through him. He heard somepony yell something, but it was too muffled to tell. "You ran into SENSE," Rarity's expression soured, and she rocked a little, adjusting her stance slightly. "What's that?" Silver questioned. "Faction of zealots from deep in the CMPP core. No pony knows what they worship, and no pony cares. You just avoid them. Even bandits don't shoot back; you just run." Her eyebrows furrowed. She stared off into a random section of the floor before snapping back to attention. "It's a miracle you are still with us; normally, they leave nothing behind." Her look shifted to a more thoughtful one. "Now that I think about it, the ones that ambushed you must have been new. They didn't even notice me." "You saved me?" Silver asked softly. "You said that most ponies would just run." "I was looking for somepony. I found you instead. I know what those beasts do to survivors," Rarity smiled proudly "I'm a medic; saving lives is just part of the job." "I remember finding a body. Were they..?" Silver stopped himself, looking at rarity to gauge her reaction. She nodded somberly. "A Newbie. I sent them out on a simple fetch quest. I guess they didn't listen to my warnings," she sighed. "Being new around here is dangerous. Everything is out to kill you. Sometimes even the air you breathe is a hazard." A smile graced her face once again. "That's why you need a good mentor. From what Luna has told me, you are already trained with weapons, right? Although, that ‘peashooter’ you came in with won't do much to anything that isn't a pony. Don't worry, we can get you equipped, but first." She rushed over to where she was sitting at the beginning, a small stool at a wooden desk with a candle and typewriter. On the floor, next to the spilled liquid and shard of porcelain, was a large, expertly crafted leather saddle bag with an embroidered patch just out of view. Out of the bag, she pulled some purple-rimmed glasses, placing them on her snout while pulling a clipboard off the desk. In one motion, she turned around and pulled her saddlebag over her back, where it sat comfortably against her side. She cleared her throat. "Just some basic tests before the more specific tests." Rarity begins to fill out some paperwork. The quill danced across the page with the light blue glow wrapped comfortably around it. "What would you need to test me for?" Silver asked, beginning to sit up once again, this time not being scolded by the mare. "First a physical, normally used to determine the cause of the coma, but I think it was pretty obvious since I spent the first week pulling shrapnel out of you," her words sent a shiver down Silver's spine. He finally got a proper look at himself; most of his back legs had expertly woven stitches, and his wounds looked like the seams of a designer dress. "If you are interested, you had around 12 different lacerations, some very deep, countless bruises, and.." She trailed off for a moment, searching for words. "No unicorn wants to hear this, but your horn was damaged. Not broken but cracked." Rarity was gentle with her words. Silver's heart quickened. The loss of his horn would mean the loss of everything for him. "So it's just fractured? It can be fixed right?" Silver stuttered, beginning to fidget. "Of course it can. The healing process is already near its end. After a mental check, I want to see your magic, just to make sure you can still do simple spells without too much strain." The quill stopped as she looked up "I am aware you have had trouble remembering the event, right?" "Yeah, it's just static with some weird flashes," Silver explained as he turned around into a more comfortable position, lying on his side facing Rarity. "Quite common, especially around here. You had a nightmare. That's common too. A pony with trauma can be triggered by anything. We call it PTSD. It's different for every pony. Just try to keep on top of it. I will help; it's my job to," her voice had her signature care that Silver had felt from her but now with needed professionalism. "Your dreams can access those memories that your mind blocks. Talk to Princess Luna when you can. I don't know if she can physically help you here, but she knows more about dreams than anypony. She will know what to do." Rarity finished her documentation and the satisfying sound of quill to page finishes. "Now, I want you to stand for me" She took a step back as Silver moved. Silver planted his hooves on the wooden floor; its slight unevenness made him stumble. He quickly found his hoofing with a small, embarrassed smile. "Don't worry about it, darling. I'm surprised you can stand at all," she took some more notes before floating some forceps over to Silver. "Try to grab it with your magic." Silver's snow-white magic aura enveloped Rarity's blue. He could feel just how weak his magic had become. He could float the forceps and operate them, but attempting a more complex spell like teleportation could be disastrous. "I got it," Silver reassured himself mostly as he looked at Rarity, like a student looking towards their magic teacher for validation. "You are doing great, darling." Rarity smiled genuinely. "Your levitation articulation is intact. A great tool to have around here. You can still operate a trigger." Rarity stated, with a smile still on her face. "No fancy spells though. So you may need to give more thought if you are going to jump into work." She leaned in slightly "I will get my work partner to give you a discount, somehow…" She rolled her eyes with a chuckle. "A discount? You run a shop all the way out here?" Silver twitched his ears and sure enough, outside of the room were the faint noises of trotting and assorted dialogue. "Welcome to RookieVille. This place is a melting pot of ponies or as we call ourselves, P.O.N.I.E.S" Rarity explained, flashing the embroidered patch more clearly. It was the universal sign of dangerous magic: a yellow triangle with a black outline and in the centre was a horn surrounded by unstable magic. "What does the acronym stand for?" Silver asked, admiring the stitch work. "Plunderers. Operators. Navigators. Intruders. Explores. Scavengers. It describes all the types of ponies you can find around the village and on the job. I am a co-founder," Rarity explained with pride. While Silver looked, her cutie mark caught his eye: three vibrant, blue gems now with a large, neatly stitched-up wound across it. "My eyes are up here, darling," Rarity smiled gently as Silver nervously stammered. "Relax, it's fine. The bandits got a lucky shot. Molten Bit saved my life. It's why I trust him, despite his greed." She moves over to stand next to him. "Follow me, I would normally say that you should be resting more but…" Her face grew more serious, "We have some work to do."