Chapter 2: What doesn't Kill you...
...only makes you stronger. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
I should have died.
I mean, how do you survive a megaspell detonation? It's not like everything was just made to be able to protect ponies from megaspells. I thought only the stables were made to do that.
I guess I was wrong about though, 'cause I'm still alive. Alive and ready for anything life can throw at me!
Anything...
<---------------------------->
"Where the hay are we?"
The blue stallion leading the group of three looked back and sighed. "If you didn't listen the first three times I explained it, why should I try again?"
The brown unicorn stallion who had posed the question grinned and gestured towards the last member of the group, a grey mare. "Oh, it isn't for me. I just know she's probably already forgotten."
She glared at both of them and rolled her eyes. "Just go over it again." She proceeded to mutter in the unicorn's direction. "Idiot."
The blue stallion sighed again. All three of them knew the unicorn hadn't listened any of the first times it was explained. "There used to be an outpost out here-"
He was cut off by the unicorn's remark. "But this map we stole in Ponyville says there is nothing here."
The stallion was glad to see that the unicorn was at least paying attention this time. "Yeah, and this ancient map we found in the Manehatten ruins says there is one there, which means-"
He was once again cut off by the unicorn. "There used to be an outpost out there, but then it collapsed, or something!" The unicorn seemed to be proud of the connection he made.
The blue stallion sighed again, while the mare just facehoofed. "Yes, and a collapsed out post means easy loot."
The unicorn grinned as he turned to the mare. "And do you know what easy loot means?"
She walked over and punched him. "I'm not an idiot."
As she walked away, he muttered under his breath. "Coulda fooled me."
The stallion just sighed and kept walking.
<--------------------------->
"Where the hay are we?"
The steel ranger to the right of the speaker glanced back at him. "I'm not explaining it again."
The speaker, a younger steel ranger, galloped forward to catch up. "But, why are we out here?"
"To get whatever was left from a steel ranger outpost that collapsed a while ago."
"What's going to be there?"
"Expensive equipment we need to retrieve."
"What kind of equipment?"
"Important equipment."
"Is it much further?"
"No."
"When will we get-"
"No!"
The young steel ranger jumped. "But that wasn't a yes or-"
The older steel ranger stopped in his tracks. "I don't care. Just. Stop. Talking."
There was a long moment of silence. "You aren't a very talkative pony, are you?"
"Tell you what. The next time you talk, I'm deactivating your armor. Got it?" He waited for a reply, and was rewarded with silence. Beautiful silence.
<----------------------------->
"This is taking forever. When are we going to get there?"
The grey mare turned to the unicorn and was about to mutter a reply, when she decided to just give it up. They were all tired from walking, and she was in no mood to deal with the unicorn's ramblings. Eventually, she turned to the unicorn to say something. "Do you ev-"
Her sentence halted as she fell to the ground after tripping over a rock. She pulled herself to her feet and kicked the rock. "Stupid rock."
The unicorn snorted. "It's still smarter than you."
His remark was met by another sigh from the blue stallion, and another punch from the mare. The stallion looked at the ground to see the 'stupid' rock roll to a halt, and a grin spread across his face. He motioned towards the rock. "We're here." The unicorn and mare looked down to see half of a steel ranger symbol on it.
The unicorn was the first to break the silence. "So, where's all the stuff?"
The reply came from the stallion. "It's underneath the ground here, so digging."
The two ponies began to sift through the rubble, as the blue stallion 'supervised,' by sitting on the ground and relaxing. The landscape had few clues that there was anything hidden beneath it. Time had seen to that. That was something time was good at: hiding things. But, it could never take them away totally, just hide them. Take these ruins, for example. Time had covered them up, made them blend in, but the ruins were still there. There was nothing time could do about that.
Time can't get rid of things, it just gets rid of the clues.
<------------------------------>
The group had been digging around for almost two hours, with nothing to show for it.
The grey mare groaned and sat down. "This is pointless. There isn't anything here." Suddenly, she yelped and jumped to her feet, pulling her tail out from underneath a boulder. She turned around to see a blueish glow disappearing from around the large rock. In about two seconds, she was chasing after the unicorn, quickly catching up. "You little runt! I'm going to beat you to a pulp!"
The unicorn looked back, and stuck his tongue out at the mare, just as he tripped. The mare pounced at him, but felt herself get pulled away by the blue stallion. She found herself, with the unicorn and stallion, huddled behind yet another rock. The two combatants opened their mouths to complain, but were cut off by the stallion. "Shut up and listen, we may have a problem."
They sat and listened, as they heard a group of ponies approaching. They each peered around the rock, then flattened themselves against it, their quarrel quickly forgotten. The three held their breaths, listening to the conversation starting on the other side of the boulder.
"So, where's all the stuff?"
"Just shut up and start digging."
The mare turned to the blue stallion. "Of course, it's Steel Rangers. It just had to be Steel Rangers."
The unicorn, apparently to voice of optimism, or stupidity, as some might call it in this situation, spoke up. "We can take 'em. There's three of us, and two of them, right? We just jump out there, surprise them, and take 'em down with our superior numbers. It'll be easy."
The two other ponies stared back at the unicorn with mollified looks covering their faces. The mare glanced at the blue stallion. "He's not serious, is he?"
The blue stallion glanced back. "Well, he seems pretty serious to me."
The unicorn looked at the two, with a smile quickly disappearing from his face. "What? You don't think we can take 'em?"
The mare slapped her forehead. "You've never actually fought a Steel Ranger, have you?"
"Well, no, but they're just ponies like us, but with armor on, right?"
"Exactly. Ponies with armor, against us. Without armor."
The unicorn glanced from from the mare, to the stallion. "I don't get it."
The mare slapped her forehead again. "Idiot. Just stay here and don't do anything stupid."
The blue stallion silenced them with a glare. "Stop talking, we might get heard." The two ponies glanced over at the blue stallion, who seemed to be listening intently to what was happening on the other side of the rock.
"Hey, we finally found something!"
"Just get back to work. There's plenty more to find under this rubble. We didn't come for just one Steel Ranger suit."
<----------------------------->
"Good morning, sunshine!"
I opened my eyes. There was darkness, I couldn't move, and now there was a voice in my head. Never did think I would go insane. Oh well, happens to the best of ponies sometimes.
"Hey. Knock, knock. I know you can hear me. Just say something."
I tried to look around to locate the source of the voice, but it's hard to find things when you can't see. I guess there was only one way to find out where it was coming from then. "Where are you?"
"A place I haven't been for a while: not under a rock. Glad to see your brain's functioning. Sometimes when ponies are in stasis for as long as you were, they don't really work when we pull 'em back out. But, enough about other ponies, we need to get you caught up. Oops, where are manners? My name's Paragon."
Paragon. That definitely sounded familiar, almost like from a dream I had. Paragon. Paragon. Why did that sound so darn familiar?
"I should probably warn you, you may be suffering from some minor memory loss. Or major memory loss, it's hard to tell. A little while ago, a rock fell on your head, and you were knocked out. There was some brain damage, and I'm not 100% sure, but I think it was in the portion of your brain that remembers stuff. I was able to fix the damage, but I can't reconnect the dots you need to access your memory. It may take years to get it all back, or it might never come back at all. Oh well, it's not really that important.
Reconnect the dots? How does that work? Seems like something I can worry about later. There are more pressing issues. "What the hay is going on?"
"I guess I should start from the beginning. We were in an outpost. Do you remember the outpost?"
Paragon's question, however, was the last thing on my mind at that moment. As soon as Paragon said 'outpost,' a batch of memories flooded into my mind. I remembered Red Delicious. I remembered the doors, those evil doors. I remembered the armor. I had been testing a suit of armor. The Paragon armor.
And I was talking with Paragon. Paragon was talking. Yup, I had gone insane.
"Ummm... you wouldn't happen to know about the Paragon armor suit, would you?" I was almost afraid to hear what the answer would be.
"So you are remembering things. I was betting on you not remembering, but at least this makes things easier."
Now we were getting somewhere, I think.
"It all began, for me at least, with you activating me. We were attempting to escape the outpost, when it collapsed on us. A rock hit your head. A large rock. You were almost dead, and I had no other choice, so I activated the life support system and put you in stasis. Then, I began to analyze your brain in attempts to determine the extent of the damage. I couldn't find a way to fix it, so I realized I had some upgrading to do. I set about rewriting my code to try to make it more effective at searching for ways to fix the situation, but there was nothing to base my improvements off of, nothing to show me how to better solve the problem of fixing you brain, except, well, your brain itself.
"I eventually tried to model my coding after the functions your brain seemed to be designed to perform. It took thousands of trial and error tests, but I finally began to make progress. As the code I made began to resemble a brain's functions more and more, I started to notice there were some... unexpected results, but that doesn't mean they were unwanted. I mean, this whole personality thing is pretty cool.
"Anyway, I finally found a way to fix your brain. There were a lot of problems with it, but I just fixed the ones that weren't there before the ceiling collapsed on you."
I rolled my eyes. "Gee, thanks."
"So, with your brain fixed, I focused on getting us out from under the rubble."
"And I assume you succeeded?"
"Well... no... we were under a really large rock..."
"Then, what did you manage to do for this... um... how long have I been unconscious exactly?"
"You were in stasis for roughly 200 years."
I started to reply, when I realized what Paragon just said. 200 years! Just imagine what can happen in 200 years. I can't even remember what everything was like back then, what would things be like now? Well, it's just 200 years, it's not like that much can change in 200 years, right? I mean, maybe some countries might have beat others in wars, balances of power could have changed, ponies might have-
My thoughts stopped dead in their tracks as the next word popped into my head: died. Death, that's what can happen to everypony I knew in 200 years.
No...
"NO! You're lying! There's no way it could have been 200 years! My friends would have dug me out... or found me... or something. They wouldn't have just abandoned me... would they? They would have come back... right?"
I could sense the stern tone in Paragon's metallic reply. "Look, I don't know what happened, but we do have a little more to worry about here. My threat detection system has been edgy lately, so I thought I should pull you out of stasis, just in case. Well, it seems I was right, because there was somepony up there, digging. I figured it was only a matter of time before he uncovered us, and he just did. I'm not sure of his intentions, but we should be prepared for the worst, so get ready. I'm about to activate the environmental synching, so don't say anything you don't want others outside the armor to hear."
I suddenly started to feel a little nervous. What if he attacked?
Well, then I would have to fight him, and I bet he doesn't have a suit of Paragon armor. Yeah, I don't have anything to worry about. This is gonna be easy.
A screen popped up in front of me, and all I saw was a bunch of rocks. Stupid rocks. Then the EFS showed up in the upper corner of the screen.
I leapt to my feet at the sight of five red dots all around me, noting that the armor was moving again. I turned to a group of three red dots, but all I saw was another big rock. I pulled a 180 to see what the other two red dots were. They were ponies in armor, apparently having an argument over whether or not one of them should shut up.
A sound behind me diverted my attention once again.
"Sneak attack!"
A pebble bounced off of my armor. I turned to see a unicorn, with a grin quickly disappearing from his face. He was then tackled by a grey mare who had jumped out from behind the large rock I had first looked at. A moment later, a blue stallion walked out from behind the rock and pulled the grey mare away from the unicorn she had begun to punch repeatedly.
"What the hey is going on?"
All five ponies ceased their quarrels immediately and pointed whatever weapons they could manage to grab in about a second at me. The beautiful contrast of the noise and confusion that was present just a moment ago and the silence that had covered the scene around me now was the last thing on my mind as I looked from one gun barrel to the next. Ok, maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought.
I whispered in my armor, hoping it was quiet enough to not be picked up by the hostile ponies around me. "Paragon, can you adapt to being bulletproof, like right now?"
"It doesn't work like that, you know."
"Darn, figured it was worth a shot."
"You're truly an idiot."
"Shut up."
"Well then, I guess you don't want to hear about my idea for disarming everypony here, then?"
"You can do that?"
The proceeding reply wasn't as confident as I would have hoped for. "Well, there isn't an instruction manual for all my functions, but I do have this one thing that should do the trick."
"Should?" I wasn't sure if I liked what I was hearing."
"Well, there's only one thing I can see it doing, so sure, it should work."
"So this thing can just disarm everypony?"
"Well, indirectly. Although, there may be some unexp-"
"Actually, I don't care. Activate it."
No one knew what hit them, including me. One moment we were all standing there, watching each other, the next all ponies in armor were on the ground, immobilized, and there were no working magically powered guns within 100 feet of us.
I stared at the black screen in front of me and realized what Paragon really meant by disarm everypony. The screen suddenly lit up, and Paragon's voice sounded out in what seemed to be a prerecorded message. "Thank you for activating the Paragon armor version 183.5.4."
He had made over 180 upgrades and still couldn't figure out a single way to get out from under some stupid rock?
"Reboot complete."
"What was that?"
As Paragon replied, the screen began to light up, signifying that the armor was reactivating everything. "That was a high powered discharge of magical energy. I call it an electro-magical pulse, or EMP."
"So you just launched a bunch of magical energy around?"
"Well, technically it was more of a pulse."
"Then why didn't that hurt?"
"It was raw magical energy. It just passes right through most objects. Magically powered weapons and armor, however, are not so unaffected. Luckily, whoever designed it had enough sense to shield any components in me that would be affected by such a weapon, but the sheer amount of energy lost when I activated it did cause me to shut off, so I had to reboot."
I looked over to the two armor-clad ponies, and they were just lying on the ground. "Why aren't the other armor suits reactivating?"
"Well, for one, this reactivation sequence was something I figured out about 50 years ago. Originally, this armor would have to be activated by an outside source, so it is possible that their armor needs that too. Also, even if they did find a way to reactivate their armor, it wouldn't work. The whole point of the EMP is to overload any magically powered devices. The device gets fried, broken. It would take some maintenance to get it working again."
I glanced back around to the other three ponies. They were attempting to fire their guns, but to no avail. I looked at the guns, and realized they were all magical energy rifles. Suddenly, the unicorn leapt up and glared back at me.
"Got ya!"
He pulled out a pistol from his saddle, levitating it towards me, and fired. The bullet bounced off of my steel helmet without making even a dent. I was about as surprised as he was, but he didn't need to know that, so I laughed instead. "You want to try that again?"
He took me up on it and unloaded a full magazine, which was met with similar results. His look of surprise was priceless. Eventually, the blue stallion grabbed him and the three raiders ran off into the distance.
"Should we chase them?"
I thought for a second about Paragon's question. "No, we'll probably never see them again."
Instead, I turned around to face the two armored ponies. I walked up to them, and nudged one of them with my hoof. "Hey, who are you?"
"We're the Stee-"
His reply was cut off by the other armored pony. "Don't tell him anything! The less he knows, the better. And where the hay did you come from?"
I just stood there a moment before I realized his question was directed at me. "Oh, I was just here the whole time."
"Oh, so you're trying to be the funny guy, huh?"
"Uh, no, I was laying just over there since before you got here." I motioned over to the spot I had, according to Paragon, been laying for the past 200 years or so. "Well then, see ya."
I began to walk away, expected them to get pretty worried about being abandoned out here stuck in their armor.
"Yeah, you better run before the other Steel Rangers respond to our distress call!"
The young-sounding armored pony, apparently a Steel Ranger according to his last comment, was addressed by the other one once again. "I thought I said... Shut... UP!"
I really, and I mean really, didn't want to run into another bunch of these Steel Rangers. "Actually, I hope I don't see you again." I galloped a few yards before coming to a stop. I looked back at the spot I had been laying for about 200 years.
Everything had changed, hadn't it? Everything I used to know was gone. Everypony I used to know was gone. Heck, my own memory was gone! The world changed, and I couldn't even remember what it used to be like.
I began to gallop away from the pair of Steel Rangers, hoping I could put enough distance between me and them to not have to worry about the batch of Steel Rangers that would be coming to find them. Well, this place sure did seem welcoming. I hope finding yourself surrounded by guns pointed at your head isn't too common around here. I'd really prefer not to get myself killed, at least until I can find some answers to my past.
There it was again. I just couldn't seem to stop thinking about what I couldn't remember. It kept coming back to frustrate me time and time again, and I've only been conscious for like 10 minutes!
In attempts to distract myself, I decided to talk to Paragon. "So, how many weapons do you have?"
"I have two rocket launchers, as you already know, one machine gun, a grenade launcher, a pair of rifles, a..."
I began to zone out as Paragon's list went on. The ground suddenly looked much more interesting. It had dirt and rocks. Hmm, maybe there would be something else to looked at? I glanced around, searching for trees, but I was disappointed. There was just dirt as far as the eye could see. How boring.
"...and the EMP thing, if you want to count that as a weapon."
I tuned back in as I realized Paragon was done. "How am I supposed to remember all those weapons in a fight?"
"I just remember them for you."
"And how do I fire these weapons? I mean, telling you to fire them is cool and all, but it doesn't seem too practical in a fight."
"Well, I am constantly scanning your brain, so I can just-"
"Wait, hold on a sec! You're doing what?"
"Well, I have to make sure you aren't dying on me, so I keep track of your vitals and brain activity. By keeping track of where your brain is most active, I can get a general idea of your thought process."
Sweet Celestia, he can read my mind!?
"For the most part, it's pretty hard to understand, but it is fairly simple to figure out what you are thinking when you think of a word."
I am doomed.
But, I may as well make the best of it. "So, how does this affect firing weapons?"
"Simple, you think about firing a weapon, I fire it. Of course, to prevent accidentally blowing stuff up, you will have to tell me to activate and deactivate something I call 'combat mode.' I've got all of these features that are pretty useless outside of combat, and a bunch that are useless during combat, so I grouped them into combat, non-combat, and all the time features. That way I can put more processing power on thinking, which can be pretty draining sometimes."
I bit my lip to stifle a laugh. I had finally discovered a way to insult Paragon back. I made a mental note to save that one for later, as long as I remember it.
Remember.
That word just brought all those nagging thoughts back into my head. "Hey, Paragon?"
"Yeah?"
"You said something earlier about my memory having to be... reconnected, or something, right?"
"Yes, certain events or words should trigger your brain to reconnect to some of your memories. But, it isn't as easy as it sounds. In fact, you probably have many memories that will be lost forever."
Lost forever? Just like everything else about my old life, I guess. Any goals I had, anything I strived half a lifetime for, was all gone now. Lost to time.
Any family I had would be dead by now. I knew I loved some ponies back then. I can feel it itching away in my mind, just out of reach. I had friends, friends I can't even remember. Friends that never thought to dig me out of the rubble. But, of course, they all probably just assumed I was dead.
I should have been. I almost wish I was. It would have been better than trying to live as a ghost of my past. But, there's no sense turning back now. I can't change my past, all I can do is try to remember it, recover it.
Try to remember the times when everypony wasn't gone, when I wasn't alone.
Back when I thought I was ready for anything.
Level Up!
New Perk - Armored
Bulletproof! That's what you are. Well... not really. You can, however, deflect small bullets. Shotgun wielders, beware!"