//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Friends in High Places // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 10 Surprise opened her eyes. At least she thought they were open. She closed them again, and then opened them again. Nothing, the world around her was black space. She looked around and noticed something, in the distance, there was a faint ring of light that was shining through, that’s when Surprise realised what was going on. The chaos cultists and tossed her in the cave and then pushed a huge boulder up to block the entrance! Those bastards! They’d trapped her in here... and now she was alone. They’d taken her master from her, and they locked her up and left her to die. Surprise began to feel overwhelmed with emotion. She wanted to cry, cry out for someone to come and rescue her. She wanted to call out for her master to save her, she even had her mouth open, but no words would come out. It was useless, she was alone, her family, her friends were all gone, and now master was gone too. Surprise curled up into a ball, she rocked herself back and forth, burying her eyes into her knees, she began to cry. She felt something sharp brush up against her, Surprise unfolded herself and felt around for it. It was the chain knife her master had given her. The cultists must have tossed it in after her so she’d have something to kill herself with when she felt that there would be no hope for her. Surprise picked it up and stuffed it into her thick, unruly mane where it would be out of the way... but close by in case... in case... Surprise broke down into tears again at the thought. There was no hope of her in here. She was alone, and there would be no escape. That was when the lights came on. Bright lamps scattered about the cave all came on at once, flooding the room with light and blinding the Pegasus mare. She had to shield her eyes it was so bright. She blinked for a few minutes, and then her eyes adjusted. At least now she could see. See what? There was still no hope at escaping. She looked at the boulder blocking the entrance. Canterlot province was known for its heavy rainfall, maybe in a thousand years, the boulder would erode some and it would become small enough for it to roll inside, but that was neither hear of there, while Prince Zephyr had granted her life eternal, she still needed to eat... or at least, she thought she did, and she didn’t particularly like the idea of starvation. Now that she could see. She decided to take a look around, she noticed a pathway that curved around and decided to follow it. The pathway branched off into two more pathways; Surprise decided to take the one to the right and followed it downwards. It stretched on for several kilometres before taking a series of sharp turns and dead ending, it was a curious dead end though. Because sitting before her was a large, metal door in the shape of a gear. Surprise studied it for nearly a minute taking in every detail, noting the white letters painted on the front. “EPMB.” Surprise noticed a small console next to the door with a large lever on it, and a small display that said “unlocked.” Curiosity had gotten the better of her; she threw the lever downwards.Two hazard lights began to flash. A small buzzing alarm went off, and the air filled with the hiss of steam. Something from the inside pulled the metal gear back, creating a deafening screech as metal grinded against metal. Surprise had to cover her ears, and watched as the large metal door rolled to the left. The way was open, and Surprise stepped inside, noting the curious sound of her hooves against the metal floor as she walked in. She jumped as the alarm went off again, she turned around to see the gear as it rolled to the right and was pushed back in. The cacophony of metal against metal forced Surprise to cover her ears again as the large metal door slammed shut. Surprise noted that the door could be opened again at any time, for there was another console, identical to the one she’d seen outside. Not that it mattered, because there was no way out of the cave itself, at least. Not that she had seen. Surprise trotted along the deck plating as she began to explore the interior of... wherever she was, this EPMB place. Surprise began to hear someone talking. It wasn’t clear at first, but when she got closer, she could make out words. “Data tape reel three, this is Doctor Emerald Sparkle... oh you know who I am. Let’s get down to important business then. You know, or at least, should know, that the restructure of government into the Principality of Equestria mandated changes. Princess Celestia ordered that all electronic technologies be destroyed. Factories to be disassembled, things like that. Simple mechanical devices, like a clock, are fine. Anything with a thermionic valve has got to go... stupid bitch. Yes! Let’s completely undo every major technological advancement we’ve made in the last hundred years! That’s a wonderful Idea. Do I sound bitter? Good. I am bitter. Fortunately... I cheated! Rather than complying, I programmed a virus to delete every reference to EPMB on external networks. I cut the hard lines that connect us to the other installations, everypony doesn’t trust their own computers anymore, and we stopped keeping paper records nearly a thousand years ago, so they’re not going to bother coming out here to check. EPMB is safe... and even if somepony does. I’ve collapsed the tunnel to the front entrance to the base. Very few know about the back way in, so we’re fine. I’ll just finish up these tapes, and then pop out the back door and nopony will ever be wiser. ‘Oh Emerald Sparkle! You’re so brilliant!’...” Surprise had stopped listening at this point, she had heard enough, and it was making her angry. This... pony, this Emerald Sparkle that was talking was in the service of Princess Celestia, that was her master, and she was openly defying her! It made Surprise angry to no end that someone who still had their master could be so callous to their wishes. Surprise would fix that. She began banging on the door to the room she was in. “I... hey? What’s that sound?” came the voice from inside. Surprise burst through the door. Chain knife in teeth, she revved the blade loudly. “SURPRISE!” she cried out as she approached the room’s sole occupant. The emerald green unicorn mare that was in the room began to cower in fear. She put her hooves out in front of her face, trying to shield herself. “No! Wait... what are you doing? Stay back! Please! No! I’M PREGNANT!” Emerald Sparkle cried out, hoping for mercy. She would get none. Surprise revved the chain knife again and planted it right in the pregnant mare’s stomach, she watched as it ripped and tarred her to pieces, spraying blood all over the room. Emerald Sparkle screamed horribly, and then went silent. Surprise pulled the chain knife out of her and allowed it to clatter to the floor. “Let this be a lesson to you,” She said into the microphone that Emerald Sparkle had been using, “Never disobey,” and promptly hit the stop button on the recording. Surprise picked the chain knife back up and tucked it back in its hiding place within her mane, and casually walked out of the room. She figured that there would be a shower where she could wash the blood off her around here somewhere. She had to make herself presentable, after all. She knew her master would return to her eventually, all she had to do was wait. The Everfree Plains Missile Base was just as good a place as any.