Fallout Equestria: Ruins of the Present

by weirdjed

P.O.M.A. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A hiss of air escaped from the engine room door. Heat flowed into the room as smoke billowed behind and through the cracks in the door. The two robots turned away from each other to view the now cherry red steel door. From the other side of the door, the piston thumps had audibly stopped while they were speaking. But now they listened as it restarted its tumultuous job. Louder thumps and a sudden shriek accompanied the electronic panels firework display as multiple resistors capped and blew. Bent inward, the door was the only thing that separated the room from the heat and pressure built up in the other room. Another hiss of air screeched and squealed as heat desperately wrestled in an effort to escape its prison.

Colgate quickly turned back to the panel it was messing with previously and plugged a cord into the yellow electric box installed next to the panel.

“I shut it off! No, no, no!” the panicked robot shouted over the screeching door. The robot messed with a few switches and more sparks emitted from the panel. With a sigh Colgate unplugged the cord and turned back to Pixel. “Look, we don’t have a lot of time. I’m assuming you turned on this ancient machine and that might have doomed the integrity of this station. Follow my track down the hall and I’ll be right behind you! I just need to-” Colgate exclaimed before multiple rivets blew outward and struck the walls violently, ricocheting until it embedded itself into weak parts of the floor or into the glass window near Pixel.

Colgate looked down at the door and seemed to change her mind. “Ah Tartarus! This thing is gonna blow anyways! Come on you DEV-X piece of...I mean whatever you-! Agh, just run!.”

The robot moved down the track turning the corner before it stopped and looked back at Pixel. He was still sitting in confusion on the floor, looking between the body and the robot.

‘Logic couldn’t solve something like this, can it? ‘ Thoughts of fear and bewilderment raced across the front of mind, gluing him to the spot.

“Look, we don’t have time for this! If you’re somepony that got stuck in there I’ll try to explain things. But later! So get up!” Colgate angrily shouted over the loud groaning of the heated room.

Pixel looked over at the robot another time before putting a hoof onto the floor.as he started to get up, his efforts were interrupted by a deafening clang from the other room. Time seemed to slow as an enormous piece of metal that was the piston to the engine, sailed over Pixel’s head. punched through the ceiling. and cascaded into another floor. Water fell from the gash created and the built-up heat from the other room breathed through the now gaping hole into the hallway.

Instinct kicked in and Pixel quickly shoved off the floor and out of the way of the heat explosion. He fell onto the floor as immense and terrible heat melted anything in its direct way. It quickly spilled into the corner he escaped to hungry for more tinder to eat.

“Run!” Colgate exclaimed before whisking her robotic chassis along the rail down the half-lit halls of the station. Pixel ran after her as quickly as his legs could take him. Images of hanging robots, dark blobs of the goo from before, bodies, danger. Everything rushed past him in a blur as heat melted and ate the fragile components he left behind in his retreat. The fire licked his heels. It spilled over its victims in more rooms, greedily devouring anything remotely within its grasp.

Left, right, then left again. Colgate rushed along the hanging tracks that accompanied the rooms they ran through. Her terrified and rushed words were drowned out by the overwhelming sounds of water and loud reactions from the engine that they were running from. More of the station seemed to be crumbling and falling into itself as the weakened rooms were assaulted by the enormous amounts of heat that came from a broken and melting spark battery the size of a bus. Water eventually seeped through the now weakened room, pouring itself into the room containing the battery unknown to the fleeing robots. The vaporous water poured into the crevices in between the many capacitors the engine was plugged into. Violently reacting with it, the batteries melted, causing a catastrophic breakdown. Energy, violent and untamed, escaped in a rush as it lashed out in a ring around the station. In a moment the magical energy stored inside the battery flashed a brilliant light like the sun. Then in the next, everything was gone.

Pixel ran along the darkening halls until he quickly turned and saw Colgate stopped before a large steel door. Colgate hurriedly grappled at the cord in her back compartment and plugged it into the yellow box next to the door. Hearing the thunking of Pixel as he maneuvered the DEV-X suit on the hard steel, she turned back to see Pixel rushing down the hall.

“We might make it! Come on! Just through this door and were home free. You’re going to have to rip me off my utility line when the door starts opening though…but I think we're safe!” Colgate shouted down at Pixel.

Pixel was on autopilot. He pushed past the walls of the hall that seemed contorted and layered in pipes. He was slipping on the soaked floor but he reached for anything to fasten his a grip on his uphill approach.

Then the world turned on its side. Sheering from the station behind Pixel and Colgate, the section they were in previously was erased completely by a blinding beam. Screaming and tearing its way through metal, the pure and concentrated energy tossed Pixel into the top of the hall, tangling him in the light strings. His heavy body dented the metal and then slammed him into the floor like a lightweight doll.

As sound returned to both of them the blaring of the door stood out against the sounds of flooding waters. The metal gate pulled itself free from its outcropping a little and Colgate screamed joyously before tearing the cable out of the wall violently. Pixel, dazed by the suddenness of his flight, pushed off the ground and stared at the increasing amount of water on the floor.

Turning to look back at the bent hallway, light bulbs were falling into the rising pool of water in the machinery room they had run through. Waves of water tossed it back and forth, increasing the volume of liquid that crept steadily toward Pixel.

Something seemed to be wrong with his vision. He held his hoof up to his face and his vision seemed to create a cut in it that made it appear detached or shifted from its normal place. Shaking his head he stood up and grasped at the wall to stabilize himself. Colgate was looking at him saying muffled words that tried to swim against the cacophony of sounds. He shook his head again and reached for the rail that hung above him. Pulling down on it with both his hooves, it snapped easily and the robot chassis of Colgate slid down into his arms. With a few steps, he walked into the damp red room ahead of him. The automatic system dragged the heavy steel door into place behind them. With a clunk, the chaotic world he was born into was shut away. The ominous blaring continued for a few seconds before another mechanical lock slid into place and silenced it. Colgate said something to him but Pixel wasn’t there.

”Nothing…it..what.why..” Pixel mumbled under his breath.

Collapsing onto the wet grates that were the floor, Colgate fell out his arms and landed on her side.

Constant screaming was the world he needed to stay in. The silence was what greeted Pixel as he fell into an ever darkening pool.

___________________________________________________________________________________

19:00 PM Battery: Critical/15%

AYBDBUPDPIAD!&#F{NOI@}I!J}JI!-MISSING DATA

W A K E U P….END MESSAGE SENT

___________________________________________________________________________________

Scraping. mechanical whirring. Soft clanks.

Pixel woke with a start and stared across the room at the walls. Cold steel covered in the warm light of the warning system greeted him. With a groan, Pixel picked himself off the ground feeling the gravity that pulled like heavy sandbags on all his joints.

“Oh, you're awake,” Colgate said.

Pixel turned his eyes to the robot and sighed. “I wasn’t dreaming..why isn’t this a dream.” Pixel wanted to cry. He wanted to escape, do something. In the end, he just felt powerless.

The robot tilted its binocular eyes to the side. Not saying anything, it pulled itself toward Pixel until it sat near his feet. In his off vision, the robot appeared broken in half but nonetheless, he bent down to the ground and sat next to it.

“Colgate, what’s going on..” He whispered, hesitant to break the encroaching silence.

“Were enclosed in a pressurized chamber that stands as a mediator between the machine repair rooms and the Bio-Lab. If you’re asking about what's going on about your body…well…that’s a longer story.” Colgate fiddled with the front plate of the chassis.

Pixel sat in silence and looked at the pipe filled room. Machinery ticked quietly and regulated things that were either broken or weren’t receiving what it was originally filled with. The red orb that hung from the ceiling flickered slightly but maintained its gloomy crimson light.

“Why is that light on?” Pixel said with a chuckle.

Colgate looked up at it. “This sections being powered by the emergency batteries…we got maybe four hours before those fail.” She said. Quizzically, she fiddled with her front plate again.”Ironically, you powered them again..so, if you fully recharged them well…we got ten.”

Nervously Colgate prodded Pixel’s shoulder. “Come on, we're almost there. I can explain everything when we get through.“

Pixel turned toward her, thinking whether or not to continue sulking or not. Deciding on the latter he nodded and picked up Colgate as he stood.

“Whoa..man that’s still dizzying.” She said holding the binoculars level with the door on the side. “Anyways, you see that yellow box up there next to the door? Hold me near that.” She pointed towards the other circular door labeled with a bold yellow 06 on its front.

“Alright..”Pixel quietly spoke. He followed her instructions and watched as she opened the panel and manipulated a few switches on the inside. With a button press, the door clicked and swung open into a harsh fluorescent glow that contrasted the red of the chamber. Stepping through, Pixel walked into the room before stopping before a bed of flowers.

Stretching out before them was the bio-laboratory which housed long rows of dirt filled troughs. In each was some kind of plant; tomatoes, potatoes, daisies, and other vegetables. In seeming rebellion of the neglect they received, the plants spread vines over multiple rows and shared water that it obtained from the water containers that sat at the sides of the large atrium. The ceiling vaulted over them and presented the ocean proudly through the many windows that broke up the steel supports. Parts of the glass were encrusted in the black goo, others in seaweed and crustaceans. The sterile white floors contrasted the room’s contents, making the stains and dark patches on the ground stand out significantly.

“These are…were our experiments and food supply. It used to be more, eeer, regulated.” Colgate said as she gestured to the mess of plant life in front of us. “Look. What we need, at least I hope it's still there, is in that room over there.” She pointed to the right of the room to the dark outcropping of a door.

Pixel walked over to the door, examining the mess of vines that punched through the water tank next to their objective, and opened it. Soft sighs of air passed by Pixel and Colgate. Fumbling in the darkness, Pixel eventually hit a switch on the wall and two cylinders bulbs filled with magical energy, illuminating the space. Inside the room were different mechanical equipment and a few terminals. On the side of one nearest to Pixel he spotted a plaque with numbers and lettering., Reading the plaque attached he found that it indicated its producer: Robronco.

“Yes! You’re still here!” Colgate exclaimed as she excitedly turned to Pixel and pointed at a table that sat at the end of the small room.

Walking over to the table, Pixel set Colgate on it and examined the sphere that sat in contrast to the many tools and wiring residing next to it.

“What..is it?” Pixel said to Colgate. He nudged it slightly and watched it rock back and forth before settling again.

“That!” She said with a rebuking tone. “Is a data transfer sphere. Think of it like a powerful terminal computer that can house as much data as an industry standard superbank. Normally you have to have huge and clunky devices put on an entire floor in order to record large data quantities. Like manufacturing records required by industries like Scootaloo’s scooter thing. Never understood that mare. Head of Stable-tech and yet she needs more money?” Colgate shook her head. “Doesn’t make sense.”

Pixel looked back at the sphere. ‘Scootaloo…that name..she was on the board for Stable-Tech? That much he knew because he had to do a couple reports on their vaults. But a scooter business?’ Pixel fumbled over those words. Something wasn’t adding up.

“Why did you bring me here then..surely this computer…thing could be dealt with later. I’m assuming you couldn’t access it before because of your line not reaching past that door, but why is it important?” Pixel questioned.

Colgate turned away, looking embarrassed if such words could apply to a robot.”Um…yeah your right...It can wait.” She turned away from it and looked at Pixel. “A better question is how long have you been on? You were out for a couple of hours and I know you were on before I met you...But your battery is probably nearly spent.”

Pixel sighed. ”I…have a battery.”

“Yeah, all DEV-X suits have one. It can last about 10 hours but..” She turned away from and tapped her fingers together. “They often don’t last that long..”

“Ok...Well, how do I know how much I have.” Pixel said. It felt weird saying such things but it seemed like there were stranger things than what he was going through. He needed answers. He needed to be here if he was going to ask those questions.

Colgate put her hand on her head and thought for a few seconds. Then with a start, she did a waving movement. Satisfied she turned toward Pixel. “Ok, this is gonna sound weird but you need to extend your hoof out in front of you.”

Pixel obeyed and Colgate adjusted it until it was angled to his vision. “Now what?” Pixel inquired.

“Now you swing down to the bottom right of your vision. There should be an indicator in the top right of your vision..assuming it wasn’t damaged by your broken vision LCD..”

‘My what?’ Pixel thought. He shook his head and focused on his hoof again. With a swipe, his vision was filled with blue indicators that plentifully detailed the environment around him.

“I’m looking at a lot of stuff I don’t understand...Also trying not to freak out. How does anypony get used to these things?” Pixel laughed nervously.

“Yeah, the first rodeo is the worst. Anyways, what number does it say in the top right corner?”

Pixel’s eyes scanned the display before him and found a battery indicator in the corner where she said it would be. “Uh..15 percent? Is that bad?”

Colgate scanned around the area she was in and sifted through the heavy-duty cables that spilled out the back of the sphere. “Uuuuuuuuum..no? Not if we find a cable real soon. How do I describe this..” She turned back to him and pointed at the computers across the room. “You need a cable that is rather thick and has a conical ending. The cone should be plugged into devices made for it…Frekin Discord! Why didn’t we make it a universal plug...Look, just search over there and I’ll sort through the cables on this freaking thing. I’m pretty sure it's on this.. so many redundant cables sweet luna…just..look in case.”

Pixel backed away a bit and quizzically looked at the robot named Colgate as it went to work on the sphere. Shaking his head he turned around and walked over to the Robronco terminals.

Turning the terminal around, he pulled all the wires out and examined each one. He wasn’t really paying attention and simply went on autopilot as he examined the other devices.

Lost in thoughts.

‘Who was she..I know I've heard that name before...Colgate...Advertisement?’ His memory pulled up faded commercials that tried to escape him. Sorting through them he remembered something about toothpaste. ‘Wait. Was she that mare that lived in Ponyville? What's going on here? Lyra Heartstrings, Berry Punch, Colgate…Minuette! That’s right! She probably changed her name before she was hired here. But what is she doing here?’

Pixel finished unplugging the last computer terminal and started examining the cords before Colgate interrupted with an audible “Aha!”

“Find it?” Pixel answered. He walked over, watching Colgate hold a dagger-like cable end triumphantly.

“Obviously. Anyways, bend down. I need the back of your head.”

Pixel hesitantly submitted and felt the same ice-cold shock shoot through his spine. Shooting up, he took a few steps away from Colgate.

“Wait! Don’t go so far! You might break the cable!” She exclaimed waving her hands.

Pixel stopped. fearful of what was happening. Taking a few steps forward, the cable went slack again and the same cold feeling filled his entire body. He shivered.

“This is messed up…so what. I’m a robot. And..this….is charging my onboard battery.” Pixel carefully formed words that didn’t make sense when he said them.

Colgate nodded. “I know it doesn’t make sense. Honestly, when I first woke up I wish I had someone to explain what was going on..something is wrong here…something that drove myself to copy me onto this service droid.” Colgate turned around and dug through the compartment in her chassis. “I was given this audio recording but, well…” She moved her hand a little and the flat plastic card fell apart in two pieces, landing on the table in front of her. “It’s been rendered useless when you dropped me.”

Pixel hung his head. “Sorry..I..just was overwhelmed.” He looked back at Colgate and examined her as she swept the card into her hand again and deposited it in her compartment.

“No..Don't be sorry. Look I know that everything is just..un understandable...Not a word but eh, screw it. The only ones that might care are long dead.” Colgate stopped herself.”Ah, Tartarus.” She mumbled a few words under her breath but eventually stopped and sighed. “Look..I’m sorry...We got started on the wrong foot. Pixel. Nice to meet you.”

Pixel shook her clamp hand and laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. “I feel like I’m in some weird sci-fi film! Ha, ha.....names Pixel.”

Colgate looked up at him again and motioned toward the sphere. “Here, If you could help me attach into this thing I might be able to help you more.”

Pixel shrugged and turned the sphere towards Colgate. “Don’t know how this is gonna be useful but I’m willing to help. I guess you also technically saved my life.”

“And you mine.” Colgate turned towards pixel and softly grabbed his hoof. ”I’m just…glad to have another person to talk to.” She turned his hoof towards him and tapped on different indents built into his hoof.”All right, now I need you to think about extending your hoof without moving it. This will unlock your H.A.N.D.I. unit. Just, don’t freak out.”

Pixel looked at his hoof and back at Colgate. “You gotta be kidding me. There’s a thing in my hoof? Also, what's a handi.. it sounds weird.”

Colgate laughed. “Multiple things, I didn’t add them to the suits...Blame that on my coworker slash boss Lyra. That pony was obsessed with a race called humans..apparently, they were upright animals kinda like the DEV-X suit that had digits on these things called hands that they used to craft things. They didn’t have wings, magic, or any means to conquer the skies. Just…look they are kinda like my own.” She said, holding up her hand. She separated the three fingers and Pixel quizzically examined them.

“Weird. All right, I’ll try to use my…hands.” Pixel smirked but tried to follow her instructions anyways. Soon enough five small squares rose from his hoof. “Is this supposed to feel natural?”

He automatically used the fingers, clenching and releasing them, as if they had always been a part of him.

“Yeah, the instructions on how to use them are hardwired into the suit to make sure ponies aren’t confused by trying to relearn to use their own hooves. Gives you a bit of vertigo when you hop out of the suit though because you suddenly no longer, well..have..those digits. Also, that reminds me of why its called h.a.n.d.I.”

“What, a clever ploy on it being a clever way to grab things?” Pixel retorted.

“Helping assistant for non-digited individuals. I freaking hate you Lyra.” She replied under her breath. “She had us memorize that part since she built it herself. You would have though Celestia had come and kissed her she was so excited.”

Pixel chuckled but decided not to press the subject too far. He messed around with them a bit more and tried grasping a wrench which sat beside the sphere. Slipping away from him once because of the split in his vision, he managed to grab it and swing it like a sword. Returning it to the table he turned back towards Colgate and flexed the fingers in curiosity.

“So what’s next.”

Colgate pulled a few cables away from the main sphere and untangled the ribbon cables that were lying on top of the main wires.”Um, let's see.” She held up a wire with a nut on the end of it. “This needs to be attached to you. You have a port on the side of your head. Just press around its general area and it should come unsealed.”

Feeling around the area prescribed, a small hatch opened in response to his efforts. Being handed the cable by Colgate he plugged it into an accepting slot after a few tries. With a spin and tightening, the cable solidly locked itself into the side of his head.

“Now comes the hard part. Celestia, please forgive me.” She quickly plugged two cables into the front of her chassis and pressed a square outline on the side of the machine. With a whirr, the machine lit up with multiple LEDs. Mechanical parts interacted with the electronics inside and beeped in response. “Device ready. Data transfer has begun.”

The words echoed in Pixels mind. ‘Wait, she’s still going to be here right? What did she mean?’

Pixel worriedly looked at the device and then at Colgate. “Are you sure your gonna be OK?”

Colgate didn’t respond but stared blankly at him.

“24%”

“Pixel, I don’t want to forget you...I was so lonely.”

“53%”

“It’s cold.”

“78%”

“I don’t want to die..who are you?”

Pixel stared at the robot and shook the chassis of it.”Colgate, you still there? Colgate! What’s going on!?”

“99%”

“I’m……DUWIUB!!IUU$%^…..cold.”

“Finished data transfer.”

“cold….cold….coooooooooooooooo.

With a small hum, the robot before Pixel lowered its head. Nothing was in it anymore. Stunned, he set the bot back on the table.

“Colgate…why did you leave me alone? Why…” Pixel picked up the empty shell and held it to his chest.

“Hello?”

Pixel heard the voice. Startled, he immediately dropped the robot in response. With a crash, the cables unplugged and the metal became even more dinged up. He cringed but searched for the voice regardless. “Hello? Who’s there?”

Nothing answered him for a while until a small white rectangle appeared in his vision. ‘Can you see this?’ the message stood out like a text message.

“Yeah! I heard you a bit ago. Colgate is that you?” Pixel said as he swung his arm to try and open the displays again. He examined the battery life in the corner, 84%.

The message deleted itself and was replaced by another. ‘Good, I’m working on creating a visual for myself. Don’t worry about me. I’ll talk in a bit.

Pixel stepped toward the table, hooves resting on the cold metal. ‘What…what is going on?’

He eyed the dead robot that lay on its head. The wheels that it used to attach to a rail greeted him. It was still on, the fans inside almost being drowned out by the louder ones installed in the sphere, but nothing on it moved. It was like a discarded toy that sat dejected by the foal that used to play with it.

Pixel bent down, making sure he didn’t unplug the charging cord that was becoming entangled in the mess between the sphere and his own head and picked up the robot shell. He shoved a couple wires out of the way and nestled it where it used to be.

“You..I..” Words didn’t fit the questions he wanted answers to, “Colgate this doesn’t make sense..” Pixel fumbled over his words trying to put a cohesive sentence to what happened.

The white box stayed empty for a few seconds before words started appearing. “Look…I’m sorry. If I had explained what would happen you would never have let me do it. I don’t know you and you don’t know me.” The words expanded the white box to accommodate the increasing text.

They deleted themselves and filled with text again. “I didn’t know how you were going to react… just…give me a sec.” The words ended at the edge of the white box.

Sighing, Pixel turned away from the sphere and picked up a loose wire bundle that sat dejected next to the sphere. Using the digits that extended from his hoof, he pulled them apart and twisted them together as practice. ‘Well, at least they’re fun to use.’ A laugh escaped his mouth but it quickly died in the eerie quiet.

The text box responded with a simple “What?”.

Pixel set the cables on the table and look out at the horizon of the room. “Nothing...I just was thinking how much my friend Shadow would freak out if he saw these..handi things. He loves new technology…he’s too young to know the dangers that come with them.” He sighed and held his hoof in front of his face again, contrasting it against the fluorescent bulbs on the ceiling.

‘robot huh.’ Pixel thought. "Could be worse I guess. Remember the balefire bomb that Fluttershy dropped? You're involved with the higher-ups so surely you should know about it." He said to Colgate.

The white box answered with a simple yes after some time.

“I was just thinking that if this is what we can do, what's stopping the zebras from doing the same?

Silence greeted him and Pixel mentally added it to a list of questions to ask later. ”Never mind then.”

As he pondered, he emptily stared past his hoof and into the pale light. That is until a black box suddenly blocked his vision.

Pixel snapped out of his trance and focused on the now intrusive darkness. “Uh, Colgate. I can’t exactly see through this.”

“Yeah.I know, smart plot.” Colgate voiced in his ear.

He spun on his feet and looked over to his right but found nothing. “Oh..man I thought..” He wanted to say he wished she was still there but he couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Thought what? That I would suddenly have my old form again? Well! Introducing me!” Colgate triumphantly exclaimed. The black box disappeared into a small green dot in the middle of his screen. It soon spread and formed a pixelated version of the corpse he saw before of Colgate. Walking triumphantly she tested moving her hooves and shaking her mane. “All right! I guess this works! Awesome!”

Pixel watched the pony in his vision with inquisitive eyes. “You are…in the overlay then? You created basically an additional…UI that edits my current vision screen..” Saying such complicated words felt weird to describe this situation. He didn’t exactly fit it into the correct description but it seemed to satisfy Colgate as she nodded in response.

“Kind of. Basically, I am in your code..though I do have to say a lot of it is filled with errors. It's almost like your not a copy…your like, source code data.”

“You just said a lot of words that mean nothing to me.” Pixel laughed. The Colgate in his vision sat and huffed in response to him.

”You don’t have to understand it to recognize how awesome it is that I could do it though. A little praise would be welcome.”

“Thank you?”Pixel smiled as he stared at Colgate.

“Works, for now, …hey..look…now that we have time, why don’t we start over? I don’t know.” The animation nervously scratched her mane and looked away. Amusingly small red pixels appeared on her cheeks which Pixel pretended to not see them.

“Well, then I can start it with hello. I’m Pixel. I am lost, don’t know what's going on most of the time, I am standing for some odd reason, and the only pony I know is alive around here is an animated GIF that lives in my vision. Does that work for a greeting?” He said and laughed at himself.

Colgate looked at him for a bit and eventually shook her head. She smiled.”Idiot.”

Time seemed strange to the two ponies trapped in this predicament. Something about their company seemed to spark a bit of light in the dark rooms that were crushed under metric tons of water.

“So what’s next?” Pixel said. He turned back to the sphere.

“Well, first let's check something.” She trotted to the corner of his vision and tapped where the battery indicator was to summon it. In response a 100% greeted her.”Good. Well, first we need this cord for the future. All DEV-X suits have a bar that is built into their backs. I’ll activate it so just unplug your charging cable and wrap it up.” In parallel with what she said, Pixel felt something move on his back.

He moved the sphere gently to the side and pulled the cables out of the wall. Wrapping it over his hoof he eventually pulled the other end out his skull with the same electric feeling he had felt before.

Moving it over his shoulder he found the bar and tied it on with a loose cable. Blindly doing a knot he finished eventually and noticed the sphere sitting on the table.

“I’m assuming..I’m assuming that you are- that you live in that thing now? How do we bring it with us?” Pixel said while stumbling over his words.

Colgate pondered a bit but then triumphantly pounded her hoof into the air. “I got it! Ok just hold the sphere for a sec over your shoulder,”

Pixel nodded and picked up the sphere tentatively but firm. Raising it over his shoulders he heard a hiss and then the sphere pull itself out his hooves. A small weight tugged him backward and Pixel stumbled in response.

”Woah! OK. a bit of a warning before you do something like that!” Pixel exclaimed.

Colgate appeared embarrassed again. “Sorry! Regardless though I’m not going anywhere. I just secured the clamps on the sphere onto the back bar. As long as your neural cable isn’t unplugged I should be able to stick around,”

They shared a smile.

“I appreciate that.” Pixel didn’t know what he would do without some…one being with him. His brain rejected it in an effort to say “something”. The world didn’t make sense before he woke came here but now it needed an explanation. And Colgate was the mare with answers.

“Now, I need answers.” Pixel replied.

“All right, I am assuming you want to know how a pony can be put into a device, right?” Colgate began as she started to pull out an animated board from the middle of his vision.

“I guess. We can start with that, sure.” Pixel said.

“Well, our souls are interesting. Rarity did-, you know Rarity right?” Colgate pulled up a picture of a white pony with diamonds for a cutie mark and a fashion choice to match it.

“Roughly, I worked in the news so I’ve seen her picture before. She’s a ministry mare right?”

“Correct. But, she wasn’t exactly-..she wasn’t always; a ministry mare. She worked on a project of soul fracturing. She found out that she could split her soul and transfer them to different objects. The only reason we know this is because equine synthetics work heavily with Goldenblood, a pony whom you do not want to meet unless you want your secrets used against you.” The animated sprite scratched its head and then threw up a picture of some ponies huddled around a chair with cables strewn around and flowing out of its back.

“We worked on the concept of soul transferring or temporary soul distortion. This chair, once you’re plugged in properly, of course, detects the magical energy that our soul naturally puts off and sort of moves it with more energy. If you have another device that can catch that soul before it snaps back to its original position then you get what is known as temporary soul transfer” More pictures transitioned on the board between Colgate as she gesticulated what she said. A pony with a large Robronco logo floated by along with simple artificial hooves that bent back and forth without a host. “We tried it on small things first in order to make sure that the soul would return to the body after we had released it from the form it was pushed into. The process…was agonizing. Soul transfer felt like some part of you like your own heart was being ripped away from you in a split instance. The process itself took just a few seconds, though it felt like hours. I know this myself...I can’t begin to-…” Colgate sat distracted for a while before turning back to me. "One person lost access to his front hoof after a failed soul return made him think it didn’t exist. It was like his body didn’t want to believe that his body still had four legs so we made a replacement for it. When we got ready for full body tests we….thought, we thought...that we had every variable checked. Except for one thing. When we showed the device to a bunch of big folks, even the mares from Stable Tech, they demanded a trial run. So, we set up a standard Robronco service pony in the middle of the room and hooked everything up to the chair and it. Then we elected our new-er coworker Cotton Swirl to try it out. She was always antsy about the whole underwater bit of our laboratory but she knew how to take orders well.” Colgate gave a half-hearted laugh while Pixel added to his list of how. “She was so…innocent. She didn’t deserve...” Colgate looked away from Pixel and sighed. The board automatically filled with a video that played from the point of view of Colgate.

Pixel remained silent as other voices invaded his hearing. The video blew up to fill up his entire vision, while the silent Lyra simply sat, watching it with him in the corner of his view.

Lyra stood next to Colgate and adjusted a complex table of knobs and dials with her magic. She appeared well kept on the outside but the lines under eyes indicated the stress she was under. Sweetie Belle, one of the Stable-Tech head, turned toward Colgate and nodded towards her with a smile. She pulled herself a bit closer and audibly spoke to Colgate with a soft rich voice. “Don’t worry. I know everything is gonna go fine! You still have our funding no matter what the results of this are.”

Scootaloo grumbled but said nothing as she turned away from them and talked to Applebloom quietly. Whatever they agreed upon seemed to trouble the southern speaking pony but she said nothing to interject. A bunch of fine dressed business ponies filled the edge of the circular room: all dressed in casual suits while a few with pieces of notes that they scribbled on intensely with their mouths or magic. In sharp contrast to the rest of the ponies was one dressed in a sharp blue suit, almost as if it came from Canterlot itself. The strange part came in the pink stripes that stood in contrast to his white fur.

‘A zebra? What’s a zebra doing at a conference like this and why isn’t he being beaten to death?’ Pixel wandered through the list of zebras that actually survived the prejudice against their kind, but the number could be counted on his hoof. ‘Well…actually, now that I have those digits I guess that isn’t correct anymore..shoot.’

“Who’s that?” He inquired.

“Goldenblood. Now watch.” Colgate’s reply cut in spryly.

A mare with light blue fur and pink hair sat nervously in the chair but smiled at the many business ponies. She turned toward Lyra and then at Colgate. “We, uh, ready?” She nervously broke into the graphite-filled silence.

In response, Colgate trotted over to Lyra and checked the dials for her. One was a small bit off so she adjusted it to the right position before smiling to Lyra.

“Don’t worry, we got this.” She whispered.

Lyra sighed and whispered a thank you. Then with a nod to Cotton, she increased a lever installed on the far left of the station.

A loud hum filled the room. Dark pools formed in front of the device whilst the fluorescent bulbs flickered. A few turned off on the outside rim of the room and a couple of the business ponies worriedly backed a few steps away from the machine. The back of the chair filled with life as countless cables started to pour energy into it. The noises filled the air like an unchained animal. It felt strange but familiar.

Cotton swirl sat in this strange machine as the dark pools lengthened forward until it wrapped around the feet of the Robronco pony. With a sharp crack the energy from the chair pulsed again. In the air appeared a strange white mist that floated between Cotton Swirl and the robot body. It spilled into every crevice of the robotic surface. Obviously in pain, Cotton Swirl writhed in the chair but didn’t make a noise. It was as if she physically couldn’t scream.

Eventually, something seemed to be shut off in Cotton Swirl. Her head fell limp and the dark pools retreated away from the body. The last of it escaped into the robotic body and with a start, the body came to life with audible gasping. The room was quiet besides the heavy gasping, then an uproar of clapping ensued. Everyone was fascinated with the experiment…everyone except Goldenblood.

Goldenblood smirked which somewhat startled Pixel as he stared at his face. He broke from the crowd and caused many of the celebratory remarks from the other ponies to quiet. The room transformed back into silence again aside from the hoofsteps of Goldenblood and the nervous breathing of Cotton. As he neared Cotton the robotic body shrank away instinctively. His imposing presence dominated the air as he inspected her up and down.
" Interesting...Tell me, what happens when...hm, let's say she loses her head? A standard unit with a Robronco CPU and memory cards can easily be transferred in-between bodies-correct?"
Goldenblood stared around and locked eyes on the representative for the company questioned.
Clearly intimidated he replied to Goldenblood;" Well theoretically, yes. But most times we find these units missing their heads entirely due to leaked intelligence...were worki-" He stopped mid-sentence as Goldenblood raised a hoof. He turned his attention over to Lyra and looked at the abandoned body.
"And her body? What of it? Is the mind completely transferred so that if the main one is destroyed she can simply stay unaltered in the robotic supplement?" His eyes dug into Lyra and Pixel watched as Colgate wrapped an arm over her shoulders. With a deep breath, she looked at Goldenblood.
"Look, I know you want to use this somehow for your war. I know our funding comes from the princess herself. However, isn't this too far?! The implications of what your propos-" Colgate cut off as Goldenblood once more raised his hoof.
With fire in his eyes, he spoke once more. "Yes or no. Simple answer- please."
Colgate and Lyra looked at each other while Cotton Swirl looked visibly scared as she took step after step away from him. With a gulp, Lyra raised her eyes to him again.
"We don't know. Nor, do we want to know." She said.
"Fascinating." He replied as he turned quickly and marched towards the active Cotton Swirl. A small meep escaped the metallic face whilst the lights behind the plastic visors that served as eyes glowed with surges of unfiltered power. The surges quickly blew one of the light bulbs out and Cotton Swirl screamed in pain. It was an empty, hollow scream that sounded like it came from the inner recesses of the machine instead of from the installed speakers.
"I-i- mmaaAAH! Wha-? Why! My eye! I can't see! I ca-" She was hyperventilating if her voice gave any credence to what she was actually doing. All Pixel and the rest of the ponies could see was a Robronco machine hysterically fighting its way into the cables that tangled around her hooves. She lurched towards Lyra and Colgate and they instinctively held her in their hooves.
"Help m....heel...please...I don't want to do this anymore..please." Cotton begged.
"Don't worry we will.." Lyra said as she brushed a cord off of the shoulder guard it was caught on. She looked at the Goldenblood. "We are going to continue with our demonstration-sir. This will return her to her original body."
They pulled the cords off her and stared defiantly at Goldenblood. He stood silent and watched them plug in the proper set of prongs and wires. They returned to the console and they set the dials to assorted numbers labeled next to them. More scratching filled the room as pencils filled in and edited previous statements that they had made about their work. Lyra simply sighed and looked at Cotton again.
"We're ready to begin. Confirm consent on your side Cotton." She said. She watched the robotic body fidget a little but ultimately locked eyes with Colgate.
"I-...I am ready. Do it." Cotton replied in a hushed tone.
As the lever was flicked into a secondary slot and pushed forward, a small unicorn in similar garb trotted forward out of the crowd. The unicorn mare stood beside Goldenblood as they watched the humming electricity spark reactions in both bodies. The lights flickered and shut off. Held down by straps the flesh body of Cotton Swirl breathed again. Her eyes and mouth filled with a bright white glow. With a hush, the stream of shadows grasped the robotic pony and seemed to claw away at the soul inside. Then it retreated back into the body of Cotton Swirl.
As the lights flickered back to life Lyra ducked out from behind the console and quickly undid the restraints on Cotton Swirl. But something was off. Lyra shook the breathing body and forced her eyes open. But something was wrong.

Pixel turned away from the scene and centered in on Goldenblood. Soon everyone else did as well as a familiar voice echoed out from the now floating head of the Robronco unit. A thick bundle of cords hung below it like some kind of spinal cord. From the speaker came a question...filled with tears.
"Colgate....why can I see my body?" Cotton said from inside the somewhat separated head.
"No...no you....monster." Lyra shook with rage and Colgate froze in a horrified gape.
"Science came with a price. Many times it wasn't money. Since the dawn of ponykind, we made fire. We burned in the inferno it made. Recently, we were able to make a Megaspell. She decided to allow us to fight that same war over again. I don't want those same mistakes." He turned towards his assistant and motioned for her to move the head higher. With a tug, the cords tightened. Audible groaning and stretched plastic came from the bundle.
"NO! I don't want to die! No, don't do this!" Cotton Swirl cried in desperation. Lyra rushed forward quickly stopping before Cotton. "Goldenblood this is murder! Luna is going to vaporize you if she knows you are doing this." She grit her teeth as she faced down the strange zebra. He took a moment to relish the moment, then turned towards cotton with a smile writhed in mirth.
"Loyalty is an attribute that is found way too little. Of course you wouldn't know that..would you?" His words hung in the air. Those words could only mean one thing and with realization; Cotton Swirl froze. Lyra turned away from Goldenblood and looked in confused sadness at her.
"What does he mean? Please don't tell me you're...you're a spy?" The room hung on those words and with desperation Cotton cried.
"I had to Lyra! They have my child...I didn't want to! Please, believe me!"
Applebloom looked away from Cotton while sympathy riddled the faces of everyone else. Colgate spoke up after what felt like ages.
"But... she needs to be judged in a court of law...Goldenblood, please. I feel the same way you do about this, this needs to be taken care of...but not like this!"
Without skipping a beat he continued his speech whilst slowly trotting around Cotton.
"Who is to say that these soldiers won't just turn around after a transfer and blast away our troops? Now we must kill those traitors but what about the moral costs? Were killing someone, not something. Someone hesitates, and we have dead ponies on our hands." Slow methodical evil drooled into his every words as the floating head of Cotton whimpered. This wasn't right but the way he held himself implied that anypony that crossed him would meet a grisly fate as well. Powerless, the crowd watched him complete a full circle around the pony.
"So! Since you refuse to get your hands dirty. I'll do it for you." He nodded at the unicorn and again the bundle of cords stretched upwards, even further than before.

"No. don't!"
"You'll kill her!"
"Someone help me!!"
"Why are you doing this!?"

Shouting erupted around the room but no one moved against Goldenblood. A high pitched scream ripped through the air as the body of Cotton Swirl ran blindly at Goldenblood with its head limp and lifeless. It almost made it before a loud snap signaled the cable breaking. With a clunk the head hit the ground, it's remaining eye-light fizzling out.
Everyone held their breath as they watched Cotton Swirl get up from the ground.
She turned around and Pixel gasped in unison with the other ponies. A large white ring solidified around itself around the neck of Cotton Swirl. She smiled and breathed a sigh of relief and then trotted towards Colgate. "Look! I'm fine! I'm al-thunk" She said before her head rolled forward towards Colgate.

Through the screams and crying of the few that dared to cry with Lyra and Colgate, Goldenblood could be heard. " Your new assistant is a mare named Berry Punch. Don't disappoint me."
He started to trot away before a final sob forced one word from through Pixel's and Colgate's mouth. They seemed to breathe it as one.
"Monster."
He stopped in front of the exit and looked over his shoulder at them. Actual remorse seemed to seep in. Then, in an instant, it was gone. He turned away and tossed a final few words over his shoulder.
"Sometimes, this world needs monsters to fight monsters."
__________________________________________________________________________
With a start Pixel's vision returned back to the stark white room they were in before. Weakness was all that was left in him and so he simply slumped against a table. The suit automatically compensated and locked his legs in response. He wanted to fall over...he wanted to leave this Tartarus.
Colgate's pixel avatar slowly trotted into his focus and sat in silence. She was giving him time to process it but the silence only angered him more.
"why...... Why? Why??!........... WHY?!" Pixel turned around and picked up a computer monitor. With a thrust, he hurled it across the room and listened to the glass shatter against another monitor. "Why! WHY! WHY!?" He shouted at the empty air. He tossed the table at the door and kicked at the metallic computers towers that cascaded off of it. Another thrash at a tower turned the rectangle into a bent U which sailed into a light that hung from the ceiling. Sparks flew and Pixel threw his hooves into another table.
He stopped and simply cried. He couldn't physically but whatever way his brain processed it he tried to feel sorrowful.
"You can't feel anything. right?" Colgate broke in as Pixel stared emptily at the dented table.
"why..." He muttered.
Colgate sympathetically looked at Pixel and simply sighed again.
"We never had a reason to put any sensors on these utility bodies. They were never meant to be lived in...I'm sorry...I don't know if it means anything anymore but I am truly sorry that you were brought here. We.....aren't alive. Just a disposable copy that could be turned off anytime and turned back on with no repercussions. Surely now you have to realize that the war did things...horrible things to ponies and we had to change with it. " Colgate looked at anything but his eyes, then shamefully hung her head. "We aren't even a type of life...and I built it this way." She turned away from him and disappeared into the orb that served as her body.
Pixel had only one word that was able to escape his mind.
"Monsters."

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[Starlight Nova]

What's SOMA?

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