//------------------------------// // Part 1, Chapter 6: Cupcake // Story: The Chronicle of Relic // by SkeIePone //------------------------------// Thwunk! The bolt whistled through the air and struck the crudely painted target with a loud, resonating thud. It was three o’clock in the morning, and I was outside doing some crossbow practice; using a target made by Mica. She was asleep, as were all the other survivors of Sweet Apple Acres. That did not necessarily mean that I was alone. “Eh.” Rainbow Dash grunted with a shrug, hovering just slightly over my head. “It wasn’t a bull’s-eye. Maybe you just need to be about twenty-percent cooler.” My imaginary friend had appeared to me earlier in the night, when I was mulling over my future with the Element of Loyalty. She had initially just sat back, shades over her eyes, watching me from afar. Later, around midnight, she had found a suitable spot watching me from over my shoulder. “I am sorry, miss, I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean. But perhaps you would rather take a shot?” I asked, knowing fully well that she couldn’t carry anything physical. I was satisfied to see her scowl in irritation. With her now visibly frustrated, I reloaded the crossbow and fired once more at the target. Thwunk! “That’s more like it!” She cried. This time, the bolt struck the target dead-center. I clopped over to admire my aim while retrieving the bolts. Granite Pie had a sizable stock of ammunitions in barn’s loft, but she had only lent me about twenty crossbow bolts. Five of which were explosives, one-time use. Granite and the few remaining engineers would unfortunately need the other ammo and weapons to trade for labor once I left Sweet Apple Acres. I was one of the only reliable sources of work available in the fertile town. “Betcha can’t do it again.” Thwunk! “... Oh.” All the farmers had been killed by the Manticore attack about a week ago, literally every single one. And the runaway survivors had shacked up in Runeton and now refused to come back. Occasionally, some traveller from elsewhere would settle down and get to work, but so far only two or three ponies actually did any manual labor. The many engineers had fixed up almost all of the damage from the attack. With so little work to do and so little money to be made, a few of the engineers simply got up and left. First Spark, the mare who had repaired my chassis, was one of those who did so. So in all, there was only about eleven ponies out of what used to be one hundred and fifty left. And everyday, I would hear some other horror about what had happened during the attack. ‘They just tore through everypony! Weaseled into them cabins an’ ripped them inside out!’ One engineer, a stallion named Steam Willie said. ‘They were so coordinated. Like they was lookin’ fer somethin’. I coulda sworn they checked the cabins one by one.’ ‘Were hellbent on gettin in ‘ere. Then when Granite sent out Mica, they vanished real quick. Don’ blame ‘em. That filly can lift fifty stone widdout breakin’ a sweat!’ Another added. “Think I’m pullin’ yer leg? Ask ‘er yerself!” ‘All dem out there kept on knockin’ on the door, beggin’ ta be let in. But Granite done said we ain’t ta let anypony in fer nothin’. Cuz Manticores can mimic the voices of tha last thing they done killed, ya know. Ah swear on me mum I could hear their lil’ bones snappin’ like twigs out there.’ The stories had gotten progressively worse and far more brutal, so I had simply requested that they not tell me any more of those tales. Of course, they didn’t listen, but that didn’t mean I tried my best to ignore them. As much as I appreciate acceptance in a community, I didn’t want to stand around and chatter about the massacre that had happened not too long ago. Especially when I could so vividly remember burying each and every one of the dead. It was nice making new friends, though. And Steam Willie seemed to like talking to a machine and having it talk back. Occasionally I wondered if my new friend was senile. Thwunk! The bolt went soaring once more, and it struck the target with a resonating thud. “Ya missed again, nuts and bolts.” Rainbow Dash commented with a yawn. “Why can’t you be good at anything?” “Why can’t you shut up?” I said, quietly. She may have been merely a hologram or a hallucination, but I was still bound my faulty programming to treat ponies with respect. Rainbow Dash chuckled victoriously and faded into the dusty air. The air was dusty because another storm was inbound, one obviously less powerful than the one several months ago, but it was still something to worry about. I was just reloading my crossbow for another shot at the target when I realized that I was no longer alone. Standing sleepily outside the slightly ajar barn door was Mica, rubbing her eyes with her hoof and letting out a squeaky yawn. Her mane was as poofy as ever, an obvious bedhead. “Good morning, Relic!” She chirped, her bright blue eyes staring into my own glowing ones. “Good morning.” I greeted with a curt nod. “You’re up early. Several hours early, at that.” “Yeah, well… I wanted to talk to you.” “About?” I asked, taking aim once more with my crossbow. I was beginning to really like my latest modification. I wished that I could compliment First Spark’s work. “I wanted to ask you where you planned on going next.” Mica said. I stopped aiming and looked back at her. Realizing that she actually desired a conversation, I respectfully removed the bolt from the crossbow and let the new weapon fold up into my left leg. Then I directed my full attention to the sleep-deprived pink mare staring expectantly at me. “What do you mean by that?” I asked. “Well,” she elaborated, “you’re obviously not staying in Sweet Apple Acres for much longer. You’ve been here for awhile already. So I was wondering where you were going to go now. There’s not that much that I know about out there. There’s a few cities, from what I heard. Some of them are even inhabitable. But it’s really dangerous out there, Relic! If you thought the Carcolhes were bad, there’s bogeys hundreds of times more deadly than those out there! Patchworks! Bandits! Secret societies! Diamond Dogs! Dragons!” “I don’t know what I plan to do beyond what I desire to do, if you can understand that. Your grandmother had told me about the Princess, that Twilight Sparkle pony? I figured that I could try my hoof at finding her, and return the Element to her. From what I understand, she’d need it more than I do.” Mica looked aghast. “Y-You’re not keeping the Element?!” “Of course not. What if it was stolen? Or destroyed? I was already thousands of years old when I was activated, and I’ve been active for a few decades. My central processor due to fully break down eventually, and once that happens, I’ll be unrepairable and useless. I need to return this gem to its rightful owner. I’ve procrastinated long enough.” “You could just keep it! It’s so useful to you, you never having to recharge your battery. I mean, c’mon! The Pie family’s had ours since before the cataclysm! Surely you can keep yours a little while longer.” “Maybe you should consider returning that Element as well. From what Granite said, they’re important to the Princess. They’ve defeated a god of chaos three times and they’ve saved Equestria double that, back when the land wasn’t quite like this. They probably could have saved Equestria from this ‘cataclysm’ everypony speaks of, had they have all been together. Hopefully, the Princess will have the others. Maybe she could even do something about all this… Death. Destruction. These monsters and such.” Mica was silent, staring at the ground. “Maybe you’re right.” She admitted. “I know I am. It would be the best, to return them to her. She would know how to properly utilize them, anyways.” She bounced up, smiling. “So when do we go?” “We? Go?” “Yeah! You did say I should return it, too. So let’s go together! It’ll be fun, like a road trip!” Before I could stop her, she had already galloped inside at full speed. I let out an electronic sigh and followed her. All the while I felt like I could faintly hear Rainbow Dash laughing at me. I followed Mica back inside, and immediately bumped into Steam Willie. He was an older Earth pony stallion, not as old as Granite, but his mane was already salt-and-peppery with age. It contrasted greatly with his tan coat, with a greasy wrench on his flank. He was apparently just a handystallion, and former assistant to First Spark before she left. He smiled at me, and I returned the gesture. We were friendly, considering he was the only engineer who seemed to think that synthetics were more than just mindless slaves. The other engineers had taken to asking me to cook them meals and serve them beverages. Which I obliged to do, but only because they asked nicely. “So ya headin’ off then Relic?” Steam grinned. “Mica said y’all were headin’ out. We’ll miss ya here at the Acres. Been a long time since we had a synth workin’ for us.” I shrugged. “I’m not sure just yet. I just have a little something that I have to do out there.” Steam Willie gave me a knowing look and nodded his head, tugging a hoof through the little white beard on his chin. “Well, y’all be careful, aight? It’s a dangerous place out there.” “I’ve heard.” Granite Pie was unfortunately quite open to the idea of returning the Elements to the Princess. If we were able to find her, of course. Yet there were many pros and cons to joining this journey, on our noble quest to find Princess Twilight Sparkle. Let us go over them. The pros were decent. I would be given a nice supply of spare parts, for starters. A grand total of six replacement servos, three motor refinement kits, an emergency battery, armor panels, armor patches, lubricants, and more. It was, of course, packed into a brand-new saddle bag, along with my twenty crossbolts (plus fifteen more that Granite threw in). Not to mention the bulbous bag of bits that the elderly, blind mare had bestowed upon me. It was all that I would ever possibly need on my trip into the unknown. As for the cons? Mica Pie was to accompany me. And if a living pony were to join me on my travels, I would have to also pack rations, water, purification tablets, a tent, various medicines and bandages… Ponies required a lot more maintenance than a synth. Besides the rather talkative mare, I would also be given an equally complicated map detailing everything that I would need to know about everything in the dusty wastes. I had desired a pony guide, yes. But Mica and a map was not exactly what I had imagined. Granite had told us that we were to first go to a place called Fillydelphia. From there, an airtram could fly us up to New Cloudsdale, where we could ask the Pegasi for assistance. The Pegasi, having control over the skies, would surely know where the Princess could be. In all, it would be about a month of trotting. Not to count the time I would have to spend waiting for Mica to get some sleep and to feed herself. And this time, we didn’t have any preserved Guard rations. Instead, we had spoilable foods like lettuce heads and apples. Yes, the fruits and vegetables were much lighter than cans, but there’s a reason why they’re called ‘spoilable’. But from what the map in my hooves said, the Boneyard stood directly between Sweet Apple and Fillydelphia. The Boneyard was only an hour away, and I could even see parts of it from the distance; towering piles of garbage and a tall chain link fence. Mica had said something about Patchworks residing in the Boneyard, but I figured that going through there could save us more time than just going around it. The reason it was such an obstacle was the fact that it stretched sideways across the map, extending all the way from Sweet Apple to the mountain range of the Ruins and the icy wastes up north. For some reason the north was scribbled over with various symbols, and the few discernable words read ‘DANGER: SOMBRA.’ So rather than going North to whatever this Sombra was, we could simply skip through the Boneyard and face off the Patchworks. And not only could we be taking less of a risk, but it would require less time and packing. I did not relay my plans to Mica or Granite, mostly because I knew that my idea would be shot down and trampled upon. So when the day came that we would be leaving for Fillydelphia, I led Mica out into the wasteland after she and Granite had exchanged a tearful goodbye. Unfortunately, Mica was more observant than I had hoped. “Relic? Why are going that way? We should be heading North.” Mica asked with a knowing look. “I have a shortcut.” I replied. “Just straight through that old garbage dump and we’ll be there in a matter of days.” “NO!” Mica shouted in protest, sitting on her haunches with a face full of horror. “Ponies don’t go in the Boneyard! The Patchworks! They’ll kill us!” “Mica.” I said. “I have this crossbow now. You have that magical cannon. I’m sure we’ll be okay.” She continued to cower, staring straight into my eyes with defiance and fear. I realized that she was possibly afraid that I would drag her all the way through the place. Whatever these Patchworks looked like, they seemed to terrify the ponies of Sweet Apple Acres. But I’ve handled myself well against Manticores. And Mica knew how to avoid a Carcolh attack. So I was confident that we could hold off a few rogue synths. Especially myself. I was an FF-7! The Patchworks sounded like FF-4s at the most; I was superior to them in quality and performance. I told all this to Mica, and slowly, she began to come to my side. “If you’re sure, Relic…” “I am positive.” I said, with a smile. “Trust me, Mica. As long as you listen to me, you’ll be okay.” “Okie dokie lokie! But, you have to Pinkie Promise.” “Pinkie Promise?” Mica took a deep breath. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” And then, like an absolute madmare, she smashed her own hoof into her eye socket. “Now you do it!” “... Why?” “Just do it! Everypony in Sweet Apple Acres does it. It’s traditional.” “Very well. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” I placed my hoof over one of my sensors. Mica smiled in satisfaction. And together, we approached the Boneyard, just as the sky began to darken.