//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Fields of Fire // by Wheller //------------------------------// Fields of Fire Chapter 1 Ponyville was changing. Twilight Sparkle looked around in confusion, watching as she and her friends walked along the High Street following Mister Happy as he lead them along towards the edge of town. Twilight kept a close eye on the combat as she walked whoever these FutureTec bosses were, they had seized control of the Everfree Plains Ballistic Research and Development Facility, along with what remained of Emerald Sparkle’s combot and spritebot armies. Twilight watched as a combot work crew pulled up the cobblestone road as she walked; another work crew not far behind it were putting down asphalt for a new road. Parts of Ponyville were being torn down and built back up right before her eyes, and it was a lot to take in. Twilight glanced to her friends, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike, Vinyl Scratch, Surprise, and Whirlwind had all fallen in behind her, and all of them were dumbstruck by the turn of events. Following the north eastern road, they exited Ponyville and into Whitetail Wood, following along the pathway. They entered a clearing and discovered a small building that they were not familiar with. ‘This is where the cave is supposed to be’, Vinyl Scratch said. ‘There used to be a cave here!’ Mister Happy proclaimed in his cheerful voice as his torso rotated around its axis for him to ‘look’ at them. The face on his monitor giving them the same cheerful appearance it always did, as if it weren’t able to display anything else. Which, they supposed to be very likely. ‘FutureTec levelled it and built this building on top of the old site!’ Mister Happy waved his manipulator arm for the ponies to follow as they went inside the building. It was a small, rather plain looking room, with nothing in it with the exception of a few potted plants and several posters adorning the walls. Twilight glanced at the one closest to her. It displayed a picture of Cheerilee teaching a class. ‘FutureTec, building a better future, for our children’, it said, printed in large, bold letters. Another poster displayed a combot walking a group of foals across a busy street while holding a balloon. ‘FutureTec, Old Friends you never knew you had’. At the far end of the room, there was a set of metal doors, an elevator, Mister Happy rolled over to it and pressed the down button. The doors slid open and he beckoned for the ponies to join him. ‘This is always my favourite part!’ Mister Happy said. Twilight glanced over to Rainbow Dash, who shrugged, and then over to Vinyl Scratch, who was wearing an uncharacteristic frown on her face. ‘Please! We mustn’t keep the bosses waiting!’ Mister Happy proclaimed. Without another word, the ponies followed the combot into the elevator. The metal doors closed behind them with a loud clank. They all felt the elevator begin to move. ‘These bosses?’ Applejack asked. ‘Who exactly are they?’ Mister Happy rotated towards her, not answering immediately. ‘It embarrasses me to say this, but I don’t actually know! I’ve never met them!’ ‘Didn’ they make ya?’ Applejack asked. ‘Nope! I was built as part of Doctor Emerald Sparkle’s force for her coup d’état against Princess Celestia!’ Mister Happy said. ‘But I was never deployed. I was in storage during that time, and I was reprogrammed and reactivated by a FutureTec engineer named Sprocket!’ ‘Ah see...’ Applejack said. The elevator reached the bottom, opening to the familiar, albeit, now well lit cavern, which housed the EPMB door. The door was shut tight, and had been repainted. The large white letters that said EPMB were gone, and instead the door had been painted with a new message. ‘Welcome to FutureTec Headquarters!’ Mister Happy rolled over to the control console, throwing the switch, to open up the door. Two hazard lights began to flash, and the air began to hiss with steam. Something from the inside pulled the metal gear back, creating a deafening screech as metal grinded against metal. Twilight and her friends through covered their ears as the door pulled back, then rolled to the left. ‘Right this way!’ Mister Happy said, as he rolled into FutureTec Headquarters. Twilight glanced to all her friends, and then followed. Twilight looked to Vinyl Scratch and Rainbow Dash, this corridor was a familiar one to all of them, but it was unlike anything they had ever seen before. For the entrance corridor to EPMB was filled with ponies. Each of these ponies were wearing identical cards around their necks detailing identification information, however, other than that, the corridors were filled with a diverse crowd. Some of the ponies were ponies that Twilight and company recognised as Ponyvillers. However, they were few and far between, most of the ponies here were ones that Twilight had never seen before. Most of them were wearing a set of blue robes. There were small subsets, however, that were wearing black robes. Twilight figured that the robes had to indicate something, but otherwise, she hadn’t the faintest idea. ‘Why am I not surprised?’ Vinyl Scratch said. ‘Machine Cultists’. ‘What?’ Twilight asked. ‘You remember when Surprise and I went off to Fillydelphia before Emerald Sparkle unleashed her combot horde on Equestria?’ Vinyl asked. ‘How could I forget?’ Twilight asked. ‘Well, I met some ponies dressed like these while I was there; they’re members of an organisation called the Cultus Mechanius, or, the Machine Cult’. ‘That’s correct!’ Mister Happy said brightly. ‘FutureTec currently has a partnership with the Dustbowl and Manehattan chapters of the Cultus Mechanius to produce a number of FutureTec products at several of their offsite production plants!’ Applejack raised an eyebrow at Mister Happy’s statement. ‘Dustbowl? What’s that?’ she asked, she looked to the rest of her friends to see if it sounded familiar to them. They all shook their heads in the negative. It did not. ‘It’s a town!’ Mister Happy said cheerfully. ‘Where’s it all?’ Applejack asked. ‘I don’t know! I’ve never been there!’ Mister Happy said. Twilight sighed, for all his cheerfulness and seemingly friendly attitude, Mister Happy wasn’t exactly the most helpful. She figured that if they wanted to learn more about the FutureTec bosses and the Cultus Mechanius, they were going to have to ask somepony else. That was when somepony they knew rounded the corner, a filly with a brilliant raspberry mane and with a bow in it. ‘Apple Bloom?!’ Applejack cried out in surprise. Apple Bloom stopped, and turned to look. Her mouth widened into a bright smile. ‘Applejack! Yer back!’ she cried out happily, leaping towards her sister and giving her a tight hug. ‘Apple Bloom!’ Applejack cried out. ‘What are ya doin’ here!?’ ‘Ah work here!’ Apple Bloom said as she released her sister from the hug. She pointed to the ID badge around her neck. It had her picture on it, and reading, ‘Apple Bloom, Sales’. ‘Ya work here?! But yer just a filly!’ Applejack cried out. ‘Ah know! But FutureTec believeses not age that’s important, it’s ability!’ Apple Bloom said. ‘Take Sprocket, he’s only a lil’ older than me, an' he reprogrammed all tha combots that were here!’ Twilight was interested now. ‘I’d think I’d like to meet this Sprocket...’ she said, but before Apple Bloom could answer back about it, Mister Happy interrupted her. ‘Hello! Sales representative Apple Bloom! How are you doing today?’ Mister Happy asked. ‘Well hi there Mister Happy!’ Apple Bloom said giving the combot a smile. ‘Ah’m great! Thanks fer asking! How are you?’ ‘I’m super! I was just taking this group here to see the bosses!’ Mister Happy said. Apple Bloom’s mouth fell open and her eyes widened. ‘Ya’ll are goin’ ta see tha bosses!?’ she cried out in surprise. ‘Yes indeed’, Rarity said. ‘Darling, you say it like it’s a rare occurrence, does anyone know who these... bosses are?’ ‘Uh... sorta?’ Apple Bloom said. ‘Ah mean, ah met em when Me, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle got hired ta sell FutureTec toasters ta Ponyville... that’s how they got started ya know, but we never did see their faces, they keep em hidden!’ ‘Sweetie Belle is here?!’ Rarity cried out in surprise. Apple Bloom nodded. ‘She an’ Scoot are round here somewheres’. ‘Apple Bloom? How come the bosses don’t show their faces to anypony?’ Rainbow Dash asked. ‘I dunno somethin’ about wantin’ ta keep their privacy or something. Anyway, it was nice seeing ya’ll but Ah gotta get back ta work’, Apple Bloom said. She gave the group a smile and trotted off out of sight. ‘Well then! That was nice!’ Mister Happy said. ‘Please follow me, we shouldn’t keep the bosses waiting!’ Mister Happy lead the group down the hallway, Twilight and Vinyl recognised it as the pathway to the control room, which had been the room that housed Emerald Sparkle’s mainframe terminal when she was still in control of the base. The doors to the control room were shut tightly. Mister Happy turned around to face them. ‘This is as far as I go. Good luck in meeting the bosses!’ Mister Happy said. ‘Who knows? Maybe you’ll get jobs out of this meeting!’ Mister Happy opened the doors and allowed them to enter, and then shutting the doors behind them. Twilight looked around the room. She could see Emerald Sparkle’s mainframe terminal, identical to the last time she had seen it. Printed on the screen were the words, ‘Connection Lost...’ In the middle of the room, however, there was a large wooden desk, and several thick vinyl chairs on wheels facing towards the terminal. ‘Uh... hello?’ Twilight said. ‘I’m told you wanted to see us?’ ‘Yes’, a mare’s voice said from behind the centre chair. At the moment the centre chair rotated around to face them, giving the group what would be their first glimpse of the FutureTec bosses, and likely not the last. All of their jaws dropped. ‘No way...’ Rainbow Dash said.