What Came Before

by Lynwood

VIII

Scootaloo sat at the bottom of the ladder, and watched a brown stallion open the hatch at the top. Through the portal, she could see nothing but fire, smoke, and the occasional flashes of magic. Bay climbed out, and looked down into the hole, giving Scootaloo a weak smile before closing the hatch. And leaving her with only the artificial lights and Rainbow Dash's gentle breathing.

She wasn't sure how long she had been down in the Machine. She had slept twice, so she assumed three days had passed but the strange dials and lights had no recognizable clock hidden among them. Scootaloo often looked over the controls of the Machine, but had no way of telling how they worked.

Bay didn’t keep much reading material, the only books he had was a big history book. It was something only a dedicated researcher like twilight would use, as it had over a thousand pages, and even then it skimmed some bits of history. Most wars weren't described in detail, as well as any rulers or leaders before Luna and Celestia's time. There was a chapter devoted to the Princess of the Night, and six devoted to her sister. Normally, Scootaloo wouldn’t even consider thinking about history or big textbooks but the complete absence of any activity pushed her to open it. She discovered that Bay had marked multiple parts of the textbook, and there were some notes next to the book written on excessively smooth paper, unlike any Scootaloo had ever seen.

The parts that bay had marked were extremely confusing, as they was only about ancient history and modern culture. The notes were written in a strange, minimalist version of Equestrian letters, but still used the same grammar and words. She read a few, but they were mostly babble about Celestia and cutie marks and ‘social control', whatever that was. There was quite a bit written about the Elements of Harmony, but he talked about them as if they were a weapon or something. At least, that’s what Scootaloo thought. Everything about the Machine made her doubt that Bay was even a pony more and more. The one part of the Machine she hadn't explored was the back, and the mysterious door Bay had passed into each night.

Suddenly, she realized that she couldn't hear Dash's breathing. She spun around, and saw Rainbow Dash sitting up in her bed, looking around, confused and bewildered. She looked at Scootaloo, and her eyed widened.

"Scoots... You're okay!" she croaked. Dash tried to get off the bed, but Scootaloo ran over.

"No! Don’t get out of bed! Bay said that your in-ter-nul organs could rup... rupt... break if you move too fast." At the mention of Bay's name, Dash's expression sullied.

"Where is that bucker?! I'll kick him into tomo-" She hunched over, clutching her stomach. Rainbow realized that her entire abdomen, from her shoulders down to her hips was covered in shiny bandages that had once been white. Over in the corner was a pile of similar strips of cloth, though they looked much soggier. She felt something cold inside the bandages, almost like metal. Rainbow fought the urge to vomit.

"Scoots? Did y-" she stopped to cough. "Did you do this?"

"Me? Oh I could never do this! Bay did." Rainbow gave her a strange look.

"You sure, squirt? It wasn't anypony else?"

"Yeah. You were on that table over there," she gestured with a hoof. "He spent like six hours hunched over you with these weird glowy thingies sticking out of his hooves. And there was blood. And guts. And other stuff. Do you think he's a cyborg?" Rainbow Dash didn't answer. She was staring at the table Scootaloo had pointed at. It was a shiny metal, and had a thin, industrial design. It was covered in blood. There were small bits of red flesh speckled on the table. Scootaloo saw Dash's expression, and wordlessly pointed at the small, shiny trashcan in the corner. Rainbow hurried over and wretched into it.

When she was finished, she looked at the contents of her stomach. It was mostly red-tinged bile. To her great surprise, the bottom of the trash bin opened up and swallowed the bile, closing up again looking shiny and clean. She frowned.

"Oh so the trashcan can clean itself, but the table can't? What kind of creepy-looking futuristic machines are these?" Scootaloo was about to answer when three pings sounded from the ceiling. Then a small hatch in the ceiling opened and grey light filtered in. Simultaneously, a column of metal rungs slid out of the wall, traveling from the floor all the way up to the hatch. Bay's upside-down head popped in through the opening, grinning when he saw Rainbow.

"Oh! Good! You're up. Hey, you might wanna come up here, you two!" His head promptly disappeared.

"Hey! Get back here!" Yelled Rainbow, before doubling over and coughing. Bay's head returned.

"Oh, and don't yell. I kind of had to prop your lungs open with some metal bits because I completely crushed them. Now get up here!" Rainbow shivered at the thought of metal propping her lungs open, but she walked over to the rungs. With more than a little difficulty, she used her wings to prop herself against the wall and climb up. Scootaloo did the same.

When the duo reached the top, they were greeted with and almost apocalyptic view. They were in sweet apple orchards, most of which was smoking. Small shiny looking things whizzed through the air, spraying strange orange mist on parts of the farm that were still smoldering. A little ways away from her, Rainbow's friends were sitting in a group, talking. Further away from her was a large, sleek looking machine, sitting on metal legs. It had an open hatch, revealing a cold interior full of flashing lights and other things Dash couldn't identify. Near its base stood the two princesses another alicorn, and tall, thin creatures standing on two legs. There were three creatures, two stood behind the third and were dressed in metal. The third was wearing deep blue clothing and was talking with the alicorns. Most prominent of all, a ginormous structure hung it the air, blotting out Celestia's sun. Bay stood near Scootaloo and Rainbow.

"Yeah. It’s a lot. Don’t try to take it all in at once."

Author's Note:

HHHOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYY CCRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAPP
I really put off workin on that one.
Anyway, the chapters are gonna be much smaller so that I can make more of them, quicker.
Constructive criticism is welcome.
Comments, also!
Enjoy!

Jiggy