Last reminder! Author's notes first!! You've been warned!
---------------------------------
The peace and tranquility in the Hooves household was shattered by a bird. It was a loud bird, and one with a particularly annoying song at that. Rather than something beautiful and lilting and varied, it was the same four notes over and over again. Every three seconds. It took a short while for a sleepy, annoyed groan to sing out in response as a pony began to stir.
An aquamarine bed headed mane slowly poked out of a cocoon of covers enshrouding the body resting on a little fold-out cot. It was a teeny bit cramped, but the pony in question had found that when wrapped up extra snug and tight in her favorite sheets and blankets she slept like a baby. Reflecting on this very thought elicited a tiny giggle from said pony; that analogy was oddly fitting for her. Weakly kicking her back hooves, the jasmine pegasus began trying to dislodge herself. She was so darn comfy though!
“Mmmmmgh, m’gonna shut you up, birdie..” She mumbled softly, wriggling a little more. “Too early for this mess-” Any further discourse with the bird outside was cut off as she toppled sideways out of her cot and onto the floor. On the bright side, the loud squeak had been enough to frighten the bird away. Slowly sitting up, the pony groaned and sighed with a faint blush on her cheeks.
“Smooth Raindrops, smooth…” After a second a devious smile came to her face. “Whelp, no sense not milking this for all it’s worth…” Taking a deep breath, Raindrops braced herself and then let loose with a mighty wail.
“MOMMYYYYYYYYYYYY…!!” It was a yell loud enough to wake the dead, and one that should have had a certain somepony scrambling for the room… But nothing. Not a sound in the house. Raindrops blinked a few times in confusion, then sunk down in place and sulked.
“Where’s the fun if she doesn’t come running? Eep! Dinky!” Her attention whipped to the larger bed in the room, one which should have been occupied by a much smaller pony, namely Raindrops’ sister. Nothing. The bed was neatly made and nopony rested within. Satisfied she’d not blown Dinky’s ears out at least, Raindrops finally dislodged herself from her blankets and carefully rose to her hooves, stretching a little and waggling her rear with a little giggle. She dropped her head, looking down and backwards between her legs at the rather thick and foalishly printed diaper she was wearing. The funny crinkling noise it always made was a source of endless amusement (and embarrassment on occasion) to her.
By now it should be quite clear to any observers that this was not an average pony household. A full grown mare, dressed as a foal, sleeping in a filly’s room, and screaming for her mother would likely conjure up a respectable list of ‘Oh Celestia what is wrong here?!’s, or perhaps a few ‘Sweet Discord kill it with fire!’s instead. At the very least an average pony would recommend the homeowner receive a visit from Foal Protective Services, but the whole story was a little more complicated than one might think.
The Hooves household did indeed contain one Derpy Hooves, Ponyville’s resident mailmare and mother to Dinky Hooves, Ponyville’s resident frontrunner for cutest foal (according to Derpy, at least). It also was home to Amethyst Star, or Sparkler to those who knew her, Derpy’s adopted daughter. Raindrops was the newest edition, and in spite of being Derpy’s best friend and in her age range, she was treated like the youngest.
Raindrops… Just never grew up. There were few better and simpler ways to put it. Bouncing from job to job and failing at every turn, the poor pony had found herself mere days away from eviction when Derpy stepped in. A little kindness and a shoulder to cry on coupled with an unusual encounter about town with a couple living an.. alternative lifestyle, had left Derpy with the idea that Raindrops needed a second foalhood. And of course, Derpy was just the mother her friend needed. It had taken a little coaxing but Raindrops had fallen into the position of family foal like she’d always belonged there, and the warm treatment and love she’d received from the whole household had gone miles to repairing her secret wounds and lonely heart. It was barely over a month since she’d moved in but already she found herself quite taken with bottles, bibs, bubble baths, bedtime stories, binkies, and plenty of unalliterative foal things as well. Aside from exceptionally rare accidents (she’d been ticked, honest!) her diapers were nothing more than a source of comfort and security to her, something reminding her that her family loved her dearly, like her plot was being hugged all the time by them.
She gigglesnorted. “Plot…” Another immature giggle at the notion followed as she bounded for the doorway, intent on searching the house. On a normal day she might spend a little time playing with Dinky, perhaps with some of their building blocks or coloring books. She was rather fond of hanging out with Sparkler too, but she’d gotten in trouble more than once for rooting around in her ‘big’ sister’s room uninvited… And besides, Sparkler’s music was usually loud enough to announce her presence there even through a wall. Naturally Derpy wasn’t home, for she’d have come running by now if she were in. That left a certain big foal home alone, with a mystery to be solved no less!
Drops skidded to a halt, frowning a little bit. There was only one pony big enough, brave enough, and tough enough for this job! It was time for an adventure, but first she needed her communication device. Searching the room quickly she found it, hopping back over to her bed and snapping up her pacifier from her pillow where it had dropped out overnight. Popping it in her mouth brought a goofy smile to her face and a small coo of happiness; something so simple and silly was at the same time infinitely comforting to her. All set to go, she headed for the door once more, waddling just a teensy bit thanks to her attire. Drops crouched low as soon as she hit the hallway, slinking down it toward the kitchen first.
“First contact… I’ve been dropped into a ghost town, home base,” she lisped around her pacifier, err, comm. device, to nopony in particular, eyes darting around rapidly as her imagination went into overdrive. The warm inviting house, painted soft pastel tones under Celestia’s midmorning sun, was changing in her mind’s eye to reflect a scene of muted colors and desolation. It was a wasteland, long since abandoned by ponykind for reasons unknown to her now… She was one of the last of her species, the brave Captain Marshal Overlord Rain, dropped in from space station COT-1 to discover the terrible truth behind the abandonment of Equuis Prime.
“I’ll never survive down here without an enviro-suit,” Raindrops whispered frantically, her tail flicking back and forth in worry as she crouched there in the hall. “The air could be toxic…! What if there’s a… A pathogen, and it turns me into… Ummmm… Into an adult…!” Her eyes widened in horror! “Oh the equinity! I’d be reduced to… Doing taxes! And drinking coffee, and talking about what was in the paper this morning!” Reeling wildly, the overgrown foal plopped on her padded rear, then toppled onto her back with a soft thump, hugging herself with her forelegs and sucking harder at her pacifier for comfort. Getting into character was hard sometimes, but she had to push through it.
“No… No! Get a hold of yourself, Captain!” She berated, shaking her head to clear it. “Those thoughts are unbecoming of an officer of your station, now get a grip! You have a mission, and you’ll be court-martialed and spanked if you fail from cowardice!” Rolling over again, the brave captain pressed onward to the end of the hall… She didn’t spare a glance at the living room, not yet. She needed to suit up, and fast. Taking a deep, gasping breath and tucking her wings extra tight to her body, Captain Rain leapt heroically for the entryway into the kitchen…!
“Ooof..!” She fell short by a good yard, landing on her tummy. Not wasting a heartbeat, she scrambled the rest of the way in and pressed her back against the wall. Wriggling on her padded backside, she finally took a good look around at her new environment. “I’m in a giant warehouse, base,” she intoned softly, gazing about the cabinets and appliances in wonder. “It seems to go on forever…” And it did, the kitchen shifting and changing before her very eyes. The cabinets stretched and warped, graying into dull gunmetal to match the cavernous walls around her… Tiny can lights hung high overhead, as big as Captain Rain’s body but so far up that they looked barely bigger than pinheads. Here and there were strange, incomprehensible looking devices in whites and reflective steel and satin blacks, dials and switches with uses of which she could only fathom. Some were the size of her hoof, some around the size of her body, while others seemed big enough to fly a spacecraft into. Slowly rising to her hooves, the captain began her journey into the dimly lit depths.
“Base, do you copy?” Captain Rain muttered into her comm. device, clipped to her ear with a mic running to her jawline. “My dropsuit is in tatters, all that’s left of it is enough rags to cover my modesty.” She chanced a glance back at her hindquarters, the remnants of her snow white thermo-insulated waterproof dropsuit clinging to her barely. “My scanner’s not picking up any signs of viruses and the air is breathable, but I’m not taking any chances. This warehouse could be airlocked and running on scrubbers and recyclers. First priority is an enviro-suit, second is a means of defense if possible. This place is huge, it’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack…” She glared a little as she trotted deeper in, eyeing every looming shadow for potential threats. “Thing with that is, finding that needle always hurts when it sticks you too. I’ll have to be on my tippy-hooves. Over and out.”
The captain moved quickly, years of training and miles of forced marches in the Academy bolstering her endurance as she braved the depths of the abandoned warehouse. It was a labyrinth of piled boxes and crates, devices, shelves, and tarped objects. Slinking through the shadows, Rain began to hurriedly search as she moved on and through. She knew better than to stay still, on the off chance that she really -wasn’t- alone. She knew the feel of being alone though, deep in her war-hardened soul… Captain Rain had been in situations like this before, all alone and against all odds, but she never backed down from a challenge and the mission always came first. That’s how a hero was, and she was a hero’s hero.
Rain followed standard breach and clear when opening larger crates, keeping her back to something solid at all times and checking her flanks. One of the longer, thinner ones revealed a veritable weapons storehouse. Her eyes widened as she took in the cache; combat knives were just about the only thing familiar to her trained eye, the rest were so alien in form and probable function that ever her stomach turned a little. These were too dangerous to be used, and she reluctantly scrapped her secondary objective in light of this discovery. First rule of exploration – don’t use something that could do more harm to you than to somepony, or something, else.
Other crates and boxes contained heavy armor, which she rejected for being far too clunky for quick and speedy movements. Rain likely had many miles to cover in pursuit of the truth, and being weighed down in reinforced metal and ceramic plate was more of a liability than an asset. She passed by what appeared to be mechs, transports, and staff vehicles long fallen into disrepair – most seemed to be little more than parts now. Near the back of the warehouse she struck paydirt, or at least she thought so.
“Base, this is Overlord, do you copy?” She opened the line again, standing before a giant white chamber. Part numbers could just barely be made out, worn by the ravages of time, and any further language seemed to have been purged by the ages entirely. It looked as though different levels comprised the bottom, while a large chamber with a transparent door awaited higher up. “I believe I’ve found my objective, looks like one of the old model enviro-mods I’ve seen in the archives. I just need to get up and in and I’ll be good. Over and out.” The captain wasted no more time reaching out and jamming the button to start up the contraption – a set of stairs was designed to open out, allowing her up into the chamber set above. There she would be scanned and fitted with a suit of skintight protective gear, perfectly designed to withstand anything the outside world could throw at her.
There was a problem though. It wasn’t starting. Scowling, she jammed the button again. And again. “Argh! So that’s how it is, huh? Fine! Two can play this game!” Spinning around to the side, Rain took only a few moments to spot a small panel, and a swift kick sprung it open to reveal a glowing interface. The captain was a skilled hacker, naturally. She began to override the defense protocols protecting the machine and its prize… The first level sprung open within moments, allowing her access up a level. Beginning to climb, she repeated the process at a second panel. This one was a little trickier, the gears inside grinding and groaning from disuse but finally yielding to her skilled hooves. After one more level of security the top was open, revealing a small room just big enough for a pony to stand and turn around in. Rain edged in carefully, her guard up.
The translucent door slammed shut behind her, but her blood was ice and her nerves were steel. This was how these things worked anyways. A green optics grid began scanning the captain’s body, head to hooves and flank to nose, after which a shiny material began to mold itself over her from the floor up… It felt cold at first, but Rain held fast and waited the process out. It took a few minutes, but soon she was securely encased in a silvery blue enviro-suit which conformed to her every movement. Checking herself over, the captain nodded once in approval, turning and hopping back down.
“Base, first objective complete,” Rain intoned as she quickly moved back out into the warehouse. “Weapons are a bust, so I need to secure rations next. It could be a long journey and I doubt there’s much to eat out there in the wastes. Once rations are a go I’ll be moving to the primary objective of scouting the landscape and discovering just what happened here, over and out.” The deep shadows were like old friends, and she became one with them as she hurried through the facility. She knew for certain that food stores would have to be close to the living quarters, and those would almost certainly be accessed the edges of the warehouse, probably at the back. It didn’t take long to find what she was looking for.
Pulling up short, Rain stared at the two massive blast doors of riveted steel; one was cold storage and one was room temperature according to the worn labels, though both were sealed airtight and climate and humidity controlled. Food stores in a place like this could stay fresh for centuries… The captain couldn’t help but wonder how long this place had been abandoned, how alone she truly was… She suppressed the pang of melancholy, beginning to hack the cold storage first. The door yielded with little difficulty and three ration packs were quickly liberated from its massive stores. Even if other ponies were there, a small inconsistency in the supply logs would surely be overlooked. Next came the second storage bay, however a problem quickly presented itself as the captain hacked the controls and the blast door receded into the wall.
An alarm klaxon blared, and from all around the edges of the door a pressurized blast of white powder erupted outward at Rain before she could even react. Leaping back too late, she coughed and sputtered in a vain attempt to dislodge the stuff from her lungs… She looked up, fear gripping her heart. Had she just been poisoned?! Her powerful, rational mind wrestled the fear into submission as she drilled her memories for the answer.
“That… Was a sterilization procedure,” she coughed out as it dawned on her, old protocols coming back with a little thought. “It keeps pathogens out of the storage facility, of course. Rookie mistake, I should have been ready for that possibility…” Rain ventured in once her coughing had completely subsided, securing a few more ration packs. These looked a little different than the first ones, probably designed to fulfill different nutritional requirements. A quick scan of the packaging confirmed that they were edible by her species at least, although the taste may leave much to be desired. After a short debate she consumed them all, reasoning that the road ahead could be quite treacherous and it would be best to eat in the relative safety of the warehouse. In the end they were far better than Rain was expecting, bringing back to mind a simpler, happier time spent among other ponies, so long ago. The hardened veteran allowed herself an even greater luxury, and a small but genuine smile crossed her face for the briefest of moments. A short time later the impromptu meal was consumed and it was time to move out again. A whole world was waiting outside this lonely warehouse after all, an empty one full of questions which needed answers. Captain Marshal Overlord Rain was going to get to the bottom of this mystery. There was no better pony for the job.