Imaginary
My eyes bolted open. My heart was racing, my breaths were quick and swallow, and I could feel trickles of sweat run down my back. Shaking like a leaf in the wind, I brought up my hooves and stared at them.
“Just a nightmare,” I muttered, rubbing my shoulders and looking around the room, sighing in relief. “Nothing else.” My heartbeat slowed down to a calm pace.
Luna’s moon was still in the sky, sending silvery threads of moonlight finding their way through the window to light up the room. Apparently, I had fallen asleep on the couch. The empty glass and nearly empty bottle of alcohol sitting next to it on the table nearby was the probable cause for that... Grunting, I brushed away a white book and some other papers on the table and scooped up the bottle. In a single, trembling sip I emptied it, some of the liquid missing my mouth and running down my chin instead.
Wiping off the liquid from my chin, I tried to get up from my improvised bed, my legs still shaking slightly. Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself against the armrest until my body had calmed down completely, looking down at my front-legs to make sure that neither of them had suddenly turned to metal.
As soon as I was sure that my legs would support me, I pushed away from the sofa and walked over to the mirror hanging on the wall. Glaring back at me with hard, orange eyes was a tired stallion with a messy mane and bags under his eyes. I shook my head slightly.
“Just a nightmare,” I told myself again, bringing my hoof up to brush my mane away from my face. “Just a…”
In the mirror, my leg had just turned to metal. I saw it, my fleshy leg, right in front of my face, but the mirror’s was metal. Beyond that, a robotic orange eye glared at me, accompanied by a wicked smile. The cold metal reflected my features as I looked into the depths of that eye, paralyzed. My heart started thumping.
A hard knock, as one would do after having done so several times or was in a hurry, caused me to tear my eyes away from the mirror. Snapping my head back, I saw nothing but my own reflection looking back at me. “Coming!” I shouted, muttering a couple of well-chosen words over ponies knocking on my door in the middle of the night as I went to go open it.
Passing the window, I threw a glance outside and noticed the first sunrays of the day dancing on the horizon. “Still too early for someone to visit,” I muttered as I opened the door, allowing the chill winter night entrance to my house. “Yes, what is… it?” Raising an eyebrow, I looked out at the nothingness.
Muttering darkly I looked from side to side into the night. Just as I was about to close the door again, I saw something from the corner of my eye. Looking back, a pony seemingly materialized in front of my eyes, nearly causing me to jump in surprise. Half expecting her to show up, I took a deep breath. “Jackal, what have I told you?” I growled.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” the black-clad earth pony excused herself, bowing slightly. “It won’t happen again.”
“It’s not the first time,” I reminded her, grunting in annoyance. “It’s done, then?”
“As you ordered. The courier’s relatives have been notified, and our condolences have been given.”
I sighed. “Far too many murders of the zebra population are left unquestioned. Their father wasn’t the first one, and he won’t be the last. Was there anything else?”
“Sir…” Jackal hesitated slightly. “I offered them jobs, seeing as how their situation was--”
“Their situation? Was it worse than we thought?”
“The wife, their mother, was murdered when they fled from the Zebra Empire. They killed her for treason.” She paused to take a deep breath. “The children are all alone, now. The war has taken both of their parents.”
I nodded, giving her a reassuring grin. “You did the right thing, offering them a way to survive in an otherwise hostile environment.” I sighed, my smile faltering. “But I assume they didn’t accept?”
“The son refused the offer. The daughter, however, did not.”
“Do they have anywhere safe to stay?” I didn’t wait for her to answer. “If not, SAT can arrange something for them without charge. It’s the least we can do.” I raised an eyebrow at her, in silence. “And I trust that you can find a department that fits the daughter to work with.”
“The girl was an herbalist and alchemist in her home town. I made sure to place her in Project Aiónios.”
“Aiónios?” I mused, looking away to hide the tiny smile on my lips. “Can she be trusted with that?”
“She’ll only be told of the essentials, sir. And besides,” I could feel Jackal smile even though I couldn’t see her face under the helmet. “If she would chose to tell someone, it would be your word against hers. Not even the Ministry of Morale will listen to zebras when it comes to that.”
“Especially not MoM.” The smile on my lips widened as my eyes fell on the white book lying on the floor where I had pushed it down. “You have done well, Jackal. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a book to return to. Dismissed.”
“Then I wish you a good evening, Sir.” I barely noticed the earth pony bowing as she made her leave.
Closing the door behind me, I walked up to where the book had landed. Each step sent shivers through my coat. When I was next to it, I bent down and scooped it up, careful not to bend or tear it anywhere, and put it on the table. Placing myself on the couch with the book and some paper for notes in front of me, I once again started to make my way through the crude and incomprehensible letters, making a small note every now and then. It didn’t take long before I had completely forgotten about the nightmares I had earlier.
{8-O}
I slowly opened my eyelid, blinking multiple times to get the sand out of my eye. It felt as if someone was using my head as an anvil as the pain spread through my entire body in a steady pulsating rhythm. Closing my eyes again, I moved up my hoof and started to massage my head, the cold metal slightly oppressing the pain.
The cold metal?
Snapping my eyes open, I stared down at my cybernetic limb. Looking back at me from the reflective surface were two eyes -- one a natural orange and the other cybernetical.
“Good morning, Cogwheel,” Spitfire greeted me. “Did you sleep well?”
“My... my legs,” I stuttered.
“Oh, that. Bolt took the liberty to clean them up some.” She paused. “You’ve been asleep for quite a while.”
“Was it just a dream?” I followed the polished metal with my eyes. “It... It felt so real.” For a second, I lost myself in the reflection. Looking up again, I blinked. “Where am I?”
“You’re in Green Valley, more precisely at Radio Flash’s house. Some of Exo’s thugs found you and Bolt unconscious close to one of the glades. They brought you back here.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to remember what we were doing in the glade, but the focus set off a searing pain in my head again. I started rubbing my forehead once more in an effort to relieve the pain. “What were Exo’s thugs doing here?”
“They returned our weapons, lad,” Radio said as he stepped in the bedroom, smiling down at me. “Exo’s finally leavin’, and Green Valley’s gonna have to learn to hold its own again. But I wouldn’t have ya worry ‘bout that too much. ... Now, how d’you feel? You’ve been out for nearly a day. And you’re lookin’ a bit pale...”
“I’m fine, really,” I said, waving my hoof dismissively. “Just a slight headache, but I’m sure it will go away soon.” I paused, thinking, but only until the searing pain came back. But this time, memories of Free came back with it. What had he done to us?... “A whole day, you said?”
“Give or take a couple of hours.” Radio tapped a hoof against his chin. “I bet you’re mighty hungry by now.”
“Oh, it’s not that...” My stomach thought otherwise, interrupting me with a growl. I clenched my hooves to my sides, hugging myself. “Okay, maybe a little hungry,” I said, smiling sheepishly.
“I think there’s some of my daughter’s...” He trailed off, looking around the room quickly before speaking more quietly. “... Cooking... left in the dinin’ room.”
“I heard that!” Bolt’s voice reached me from the other room.
Radio gave me a pained smile and lowered his voice even more. “She’s tryin’, she really is. But tryin’ and... Makin’ edible food are two totally different things.”
“That was clearly edible!” She shouted again. “You just ruined your tastebuds with all that whiskey!”
He stood up and shouted back out the door. “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that! You must be right!” He turned and leaned even closer to me. “I’ve eaten things that look like rotten bloatsprites that taste better than that mush she’s made.” He took a step back, looking anxiously out the door as if awaiting her response. She said nothing. “Whenever you’re ready, the... Food is on the table.” He sighed, a tiny smile on his lips, as he turned around. “I’m sure I could find a few carrots for ya if you’re interested.”
“Dad!”
The unicorn chuckled lightly and left the room, muttering about something being ‘worth it’.
“They were talking like that earlier today, amongst other things,” Spitfire informed me. “When Bolt was in here cleaning your cybernetics, Radio talked with her about trying to cheer up Precious and Dust.”
I slowly steadied myself on one hoof in the bed, massaging my head lightly. “How are they?”
Spitfire sighed. “They are still mourning.” She paused as I rolled out of the bed. “But both Bolt and Radio are trying to help them through it. Precious has been here a few times since you were brought here. She’s never come in the room; she just watches you through the door.”
“It’s only been two days since they heard about their brother.” I tried to get the stiffness out of my leg and back. “Isn’t it normal for them to still be mourning?”
“It is.” Spitfire hesitated. “What are we going to do now, then?”
It took a moment for me to understand her question after the sudden change of subject. “I still want to find my memories. And I think that continuing to follow SAT would be my best chance to remember.”
“What about Precious and Dust?”
I sighed and rested my body against the bed. “I... I don’t know. I don’t think there’s anything I can do to help them.”
“Right now they can only help themselves.” Looking up, I saw Bolt standing in the doorway, a sad smile on her lips. “I don’t think that death was as common back in Marvel as it is here. They took the news hard, and they don’t seem to be open to what we have to say.” She sighed. “At least they have each other.”
“Will they be alright?” I pushed myself away from the bed again, taking a step closer to her.
“My dad doesn’t know how long it’ll take, but he’s confident that they’ll move on soon. And I believe him.” She looked away for a second. “He knows what they are going through -- we both do -- but he also knows just what to say to... Ease the process.” Hesitating, she looked back at me again. “How about you? How do you feel?”
My stomach answered for me with a dull rumbling. “Hungry,” I agreed with it. “Otherwise I’m feeling fine.”
The unicorn laughed softly. “There’s food on the table. And no matter what he said, it’s edible. I would even go so far as to call it tasty.”
“I think I could eat anything right now,” I said, my stomach the one agreeing this time. Seeing the dangerous look on the unicorns face, I quickly changed subject. “And you? How do you feel? Free didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“Free?” Bolt snorted. “He barely pinned me down. Was weird when he started to glow, and it’s safe to say that I didn’t sleep too well. But all in all? No wounds, bruises, broken bones or other injuries.”
“That’s good.”
“Who was he, anyway?” Bolt asked, stepping aside so I could walk into the bigger room.
Precious and Dust had settled down on the two old, worn out sofas that stood against the wall, barely even looking up at me as I walked into the room. Radio had taken a seat in an armchair even more worn out than the sofas, carefully polishing his shotgun. The old unicorn flashed me a quick smile, which faded when he looked at the two younger ponies. After a moment, he went back to polishing.
“I don’t know.” With a sigh, I walked up to the table and made myself comfortable, looking down at the food Bolt pushed over to me.
It was a grey, shapeless paste with strings of orange creating a spider-web across its surface. Moving my muzzle closer, an odour that reminded me about mud and rain filled my nostrils.
“Just try some, you wuss!” Bolt smiled at me when I looked up at her. “It’s not that bad.”
“I’m getting the carrots,” Radio mused, just loud enough for everyone to hear.
Bolt glared in his direction, an amused smile revealing the falseness of it, before she returned her gaze to me. “At least try it.” She motioned towards the food. “I promise you, it’s not that bad.”
I looked down at the food and, cautiously, took a small bite of it. The paste tasted vaguely of carrots, and it was salty. But neither my tongue nor my stomach complained, and soon, the plate was empty.
“See, I told you it was edible!”
“I could’ve sworn that his tongue wasn’t metal,” Radio said as I leaned back with a sigh and a smile of satisfaction. “But if he could eat that, I pray for him that his stomach is metal as well.” I didn’t even need to look at Bolt to know that she rolled her eyes, earning a laugh from the old unicorn. “Just teasing. You know I like your cooking.”
The smile on my face widened slightly as I started to relax. Warmth spread through my body after the food, leaving me pleasantly full. For a moment, I felt at peace. In that single moment, it felt as if I could sit there forever, without a trouble in the world, a calm oasis in a world I couldn’t understand.
Then the moment passed -- shattered like glass by the low sound of a snivel. The smile died on my lips as I looked at Precious and Dust, who still sat close together. Both of the other unicorns had their eyes on them as well, their faces masks of concern and sympathy.
It hurt seeing them like this. I wanted to say something, anything to ease their pain, but every time I opened my mouth to say something, I slowly closed it again. I didn’t have anything to say. The words that came to mind all sounded too hollow, and it felt as if they’d hurt more than help.The pain they felt was something I couldn’t relate to.
“I think anything you say would help them.” Spitfire sighed. “But maybe Bolt is right. The only ones who can help them now are themselves.”
Each minute passing felt like an eternity, and a feeling of helplessness crept over me. It felt as if I knew what they felt, as I myself had battled those very feelings too many times. But every time I thought that I knew what to say, how to react, the feeling slipped out of my grasp, leaving me looking blankly forward. A light tapping on my shoulder brought me out of my thoughts, startling me. Tearing my eyes away from the two siblings, I looked up at Bolt who motioned me towards the door with a sad smile, turning towards it without a word. Throwing a last glance towards the mourning brother and sister, I rose from the chair and followed her.
A light trickle of rain, as if the dull sky above mourned as well, met me as I stepped outside. The smell of wet mud reached my nostrils as I stepped up the small slope to where Bolt stood and looked out over the silent settlement. We were the only two ponies in sight that were outside in the rain.
“Your share of the profit,” Bolt said without looking back, floating a small pouch over to me. “Don’t spend it all at once.”
I just looked at the pouch floating in the air.
“What are you waiting for?” She asked as she turned around, bringing the caps even closer to me. “You’ll need the caps sooner or later if you want to get anywhere out here.” She snorted. “Or do you expect everyone to be as nice as my dad?”
“I... I guess not,” I admitted as I bit down on the pouch. I turned my neck around with the intent of putting the pouch in my saddlebags, but then I remembered I left them inside. I turned back to Bolt. “Fhanks.” Somehow, I managed to keep the pouch in my mouth even as I spoke.
The unicorn rolled her eyes as she tugged the pouch out of my mouth, keeping it floating between us. “Don’t mention it. You’ve earned them after all.” She paused for a moment, as if waiting for me to say something. She sighed when I didn’t. “So... What are you going to do now?”
I looked up at the ever present cloud cover, a sigh escaping my lips. On a day like this, the clouds felt appropriate. “I... I don’t know. I want to continue tracing my memories. I want to know who I was and what happened to me. But I can’t just leave them here. Without them, I would never have gotten here in the first place -- or anywhere else for that matter.”
We stood there in silence, the rain starting to come down more fiercely. “If you would go anywhere...” Bolt hesitated, as if breaking the silence had been a bad idea. “To get your memory back, I mean. Where would that be? Have you found somewhere, or...” She didn’t finish the question.
When I looked down at her, she had the slightest inkling of a smile on her muzzle. “The terminal in the workshop mentioned some place...” I said slowly, trying to recall the name. I couldn’t remember it, so I shook my head. “Can’t remember it now, thou--”
“Biomechatronic,” Spitfire reminded me. “Manufacturing lane 16. The log said that SAT’s equipment for the stable was shipped from there.”
“Biomechatronic, if Spitfire is correct.”
“Biomechatronic? I have heard that name somewhere...” Bolt tapped a hoof lightly in the ground. “Come.” Without even waiting to see if I followed her or not, she turned around and started to walk towards her workshop.
Blinking in surprise, I stared after her. With a sigh and a last look back at Radio’s house, I moved toward her through the muddy street. Stepping into the workshop, I had to quickly dodge a magazine flying towards me.
“I know that it’s here somewhere,” Bolt muttered as she dug around in a box standing on the floor. She was kicking up plenty of magazines and metal scraps, whatever she was doing. Poking up from the box with a magazine balancing on her head, she glared at me. “Well, don’t just stand there! Help me find it.”
“Uh... what exactly are we looking for?” I asked, swiftly walking up to the closest box, nudging it open. The box contained an assortment of objects, ranging from what looked like twisted metal to dirty old rags, all of it laying without any order.
“Found it!” The unicorn exclaimed, floating up a magazine from a box she had practically torn inside out. She quickly turned the pages, until she found whatever she wanted to read. “The war... SAT’s big announcement... aha, here it is! Listen to this. At place in Biomechatronic we had our top reporter, Featherweight, ready with the questions you readers had sent in for the upcoming press conference.” She looked up at me, a wide smile on her muzzle, and threw away the magazine. “I knew I had seen the name Biomechatronic somewhere!” Throwing a quick glance around her, she started to spin in place. “Now, where is that map?” she muttered. “I know I put it here somewhere.”
I heavily sat down, not sure of what the unicorn was doing at all. “What...”
“There!” Bolt sat down next to me, levitating away debris from the floor to make room for the map she hastily opened out, leaving a few of them to weigh down the ends of the map. “Let’s see... Here.” A sharp piece of metal pierced the map. “Is Green Valley. And, over here,” Another piece of metal pierced the map, not very far from the first piece. “Is Biomechatronic.”
“And... What?” I looked down on the map, where two cities, one of them considerably larger than the other one, were marked out with the metal pieces. Other cities were marked out as well. The city in the middle, Canterlot, was by far the largest of them all.
“According to this map, it shouldn’t be very far between Green Valley and Biomechatronic!” Bolt exclaimed happily, placing one hoof at each mark and bringing them up before her face, smiling brightly through the gap they made. “It wouldn’t take us more than a day or three to get there, and then the same to get back!”
“Wait... What do you mean ‘us’?” I stuttered out, looking between the smiling unicorn and the map. “Who said you were coming with me?”
She blinked quickly, before she raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think I’d let you go alone, do you?” She snorted. “You might survive a day, and that’s only if you don’t encounter any raiders or slavers.”
“I never said I was leaving!” I quickly lowered my voice. “I can’t just leave them like this.”
“It would only be for a couple of days -- a week at the most.”
“But--”
“Besides,” she continued, not allowing me to get a word in. “Didn’t you want to get your memory back? Where’s the cryborg who entered my workshop a couple of days ago, determined to get his memory back even if he had to walk into those ruins alone?”
I sighed. “But what about Precious and Dust? I need to be here for them.”
Bolt rolled her eyes. “They won’t even have time to miss you before we’re back again.” She rose and unfurled the map, floating it into a saddlebag standing close to a workbench. “And the sooner we leave, the sooner we’ll get back.”
“I...”
“She’s right, you know,” Spitfire silenced me with a soft voice. “Precious and Dust may need days, if not weeks to come to terms with the news about their brother -- at least enough to be able to move on. The more time they get to mourn, the better their mental... recovery will go. Wouldn’t it be better for you to go now and leave them to their mourning than to wait here and force the journey on them later?”
“I...”
“Or maybe you’ve given up the thought of getting your memory back?”
“Fine...” I sighed again, suppressing the urge to throw my hooves in the air in annoyance. “I’ll go to Biomechatronic.”
“We’ll go to Biomechatronic,” Bolt corrected me, levitating the saddlebag onto her back. “So, when do we leave?”
“You seem eager,” I remarked as I rose from the floor. “Why do you want to go with me anyway?”
The unicorn stopped in the middle of a step. “Well... I already told you. I’m going to make sure you don’t get yourself killed.”
“Bolt, I’m half-made of almost indestructible metal,” I said with a smirk. “I think I can handle myself.”
She chuckled uneasily. “But you’re too clumsy to be walking around by yourself. And what if someone runs into you that knows about Exo? They might mistake you for one of his thugs. And what if your prosthetics short out again?” Bolt started to walk again.
“Spitfire can just restart my limbs or something if that happens--”
“That’s not true, Cogwheel,” Spitfire interrupted me. “If your limbs short out, I’ll probably short out, too.”
I shook my head, snorting, as I hurried after her. “Why do you really want to come with me? I thought Green Valley was your home.”
She stared at me blankly for a few seconds. “Well, you’re going to a place that might have something to do with SAT, one of the biggest cybernetic manufacturers during the time before the bombs.” Her eyes practically sparkled as she spoke. “I want to see that! It’ll be like the Stable, but better! There’ll be so much stuff in there for us to get! And it’ll be fun getting to see everything on the way there, and...”
I had blanked out and was now walking absentmindedly next to Bolt. I honestly couldn’t imagine her wanting to walk to and back from a place for a solid week only for some scrap metal.
When I came back, I noted that I didn’t walk next to her anymore and, looking back, I saw her sheepishly scratching at the ground.
“It was just fun, you know? I never get the opportunity to do things like that, and if you go, I’ll be lucky to do anything but--”
“Wait, what?” She stopped scratching to look up at me. “What was fun?”
“... Being in the stable? That whole adventure we just had?”
“You were having fun being attacked by Free in the glade? ” I asked incredulously. “You weren’t afraid?”
“Of course I was afraid. I’m not saying I wasn’t scared when we were being chased around by ghouls or attacked by Free... But I wasn’t just sitting at the shop, bored out of my mind. Maybe it wasn’t fun, but it was exciting.” She resumed her scratching at the ground and looked away from me, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Besides, you’re... Fun to be around.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means what it means. It was a compliment.” She shook her head and cleared her throat, looking back at me. “But I meant what I said earlier, too. If you don’t know how to use a gun or something, and I don’t come with you, you’re probably going to die.”
I sighed. “What is it with you ponies and guns? Wouldn’t it be better to... I don’t know, cooperate?”
“Trust me, Cogwheel, I don’t like it anymore than you do. That’s just the way it is.”
“But--”
“Think about it this way,” Bolt interrupted me. “You might never have to use a revolver, but in a situation where you have to, wouldn’t it better to be able to actually use it?”
“... Yes,” I admitted.
The unicorn nodded with a smile, and we walked the last of the way back to Radio’s house in silence. The old unicorn stood outside the house, looking up at the cloudy sky, when we got there.
“I’ll fetch your saddlebags.” Bolt quickened her pace before I could say anything, leaving me alone with the older unicorn.
“You’re leaving.” He said. His tone was not questioning. “Can’t say I blame you. There’s better things you younguns can do than look after two mournin’ siblings.” He looked down from the sky at me, the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid, y’hear?”
“We won’t be gone for long. No longer than a week, I promise.” I sighed. “Enough time for them to recover, I hope.”
Radio’s smile vanished. “It might take longer than that, I’m afraid... Sure, they’ll get over Vigil soon, but, from what Vigil told me, their parents are dead. They’ve been dead for a while, actually. He was the only thing keepin’ ‘em alive. He was almost the father they never had. And now he’s just gone.” He stared down at the ground. “It’ll take a while for them to get used to that...”
“But they will recover eventually, right?”
The old unicorn sighed, a tremendous weight now resting on his shoulders. “I hope so, but only time will tell for certain.” He shook his head quickly, as if he tried to get the thought that they might not out of his head. “Where are you an’ Bolt headed off to?”
“Biomechatronic. A terminal in the ruined workshop mentioned that city, and I hope that I’ll be able to learn more about my past while we’re there.”
“Biomechatronic?” The unicorn looked surprised as he wiped some of the rain from his brow. “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in years. Used to be a slaver nest around the time I first got here. They’re gone now. Kind of odd, if you ask me. It’s like they just disappeared! Same thing with anypony else that’s tried keepin’ it for themselves. If you’re going up there, you’ll have to be careful, y’hear? I don’t want either o’you disappearin’.”
“Disappearing? A whole group of slavers just disappeared?”
“As if the ground swallowed them whole. DJ Pon-3 would talk about the town all the time, ‘specially about their disappearances. Might’ve been a week or not even a whole day, but he’d always have to say that one group or another just vanished.” I just stared at the old unicorn as he spoke, and he met my gaze without even blinking. “What?”
“So you’re just letting us go?!” The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
Radio laughed softly. “Lad, I know my daughter. From the way she ran in the house, she’s too excited to go for me to get her to stay. Besides, you’re both adults who can take care of yourselves, an’ I don’t have the right to hold either o’you here.” He sighed. “I just wish I could help you out somehow--”
“Don’t you worry about that,” Bolt said as she trotted up to my side, causing me to take a step to the side in surprise. I hadn’t even heard the door open. “I traded some of the things we scavenged for food, so we should have supplies for a few days at least.” She levitated my saddlebags over to me and put them on my back before turning and embracing her father. “Don’t you worry, we’ll be back as soon as we can!”
“You just take care now, alright?” Radio said, hugging Bolt close to him, tears visible in his eyes. “Always find a house to sleep in ‘fore nightfall, and keep a fire goin’ the entire night if you don’t, understood?”
“Yes, Dad.” Bolt nodded, rolling her eyes slightly, as she ended the hug. “We’ll be extra careful.”
“And don’t--” The old unicorn stopped mid sentence, silenced by Bolt’s patient smile. “Sorry, just worried. Just... take care.”
“I will. Trust me, would you?”
“I always do, you know that.” He sighed, his eyes wandering to the door. “Are they still asleep?”
Bolt nodded, her smile slipping. “They are.”
“Nothing to do then,” he said and turned to me. “Take care of my daughter out there, lad. Don’t let her run into any situations she can’t handle.”
“I think she’s going to be taking care of me,” I said with a snort. Looking between the door and Bolt, I frowned. “Can’t we wait until they’re awake? I... I just don’t want to leave them without saying anything.”
“We don’t know how long they’ll be asleep,” Bolt argued. “And the faster we go, the faster we’ll come back for them.”
“But...”
“Lad,” Radio interrupted me softly. “In the state they’re in now, they might not even remember tomorrow that you spoke to them.” He sighed. “I’ll tell them that you left and that you’ll be back soon. It might be better for you t’get some distance before nightfall rather than stay here and wait for them to wake up.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but quickly closed it, thinking over what I was about to say instead. It just doesn’t feel right...
There was a gentle exhale of breath that didn’t come from Bolt or Radio. “Cogwheel... What do you mean? Both Radio and Bolt have said that it’d be better just to go now. If that’s the correct way, why does it not ‘feel right’?”
“Because I don’t want to leave them,” I said, not noticing that I said it aloud. Both unicorns turned towards me and raised an eyebrow, but I only partially noticed. If Dust and Precious had just left me in the Wasteland without saying anything, I’d be dead right now.
“But that was different. You weren’t mourning, and they intended to help you. ... Or, at least they did not just abandon you.”
That feels the same to me, I responded. Why would I just abandon them, after all they’ve done for me? How could it be right for me to just leave them in the condition they’re in?
I didn’t get an answer.
I turned to see Radio cocking his head at me. “... Who were you talkin’ to just now?”
“Spitfire...?” No recognition showed on Radio’s face. I turned to Bolt. “You did tell him about Spitfire, right?”
Bolt shook her head and snorted. “The robot-thing, dad...”
I heard Spitfire mumble something, but I couldn’t make out what it was.
“Oh, yeah... That thing,” said Radio, also shaking his head. “Boy, let me tell ya, I thought Bolt was crazy when she told me that you could hear voices. That’s somethin’ a lot of raiders are known for, the voices, an’ you really don’t strike me as one o’them.”
“She’s artificial intelligence -- kind of like a robot, but more like a pony. I don’t know how to explain it, really. Just don’t call her a robot.”
“You know what, that doesn’t matter,” Radio concluded. “As long as it’s not just a voice. ‘Sides, Bolt’s told me that it helps you out a lot, and anything that helps keep her safe is fine with me.”
“We all know that it’s going to be the other way around,” Bolt snorted, her horn starting to glow softly. “But, speaking of that.” She tugged out the revolver I had worn earlier from her saddlebags. “Even if you’re a horrible shot, you should hold on to this.” She quickly fastened it to my cybernetic foreleg.
I looked down at the revolver, once again glad that there was no risk of my prosthesis’ circulation being cut off. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“Nope,” Bolt confirmed as she smiled to her father. “It’s time for us to get going. We’ll be back in a couple of days, I promise. Let’s go, Cogwheel,” she said, turning around and walking off.
“You should visit your mother before you leave,” Radio said softly.
Bolt stopped mid-stride at her father’s soft voice, the smile on her lips dying. She stood frozen in place for a moment before she finished the step, blinking away tears that had started welling up in her eyes. “Yes, I... I should do that.” Her voice was thick. “Like I said... I’ll see you in a couple of days.” Without another word, she continued walking.
“But I thought--”
“Go after her.” Radio didn’t take his sorrow eyes away from the young unicorn. “Take care of her.”
I followed his eyes to Bolt, who had stopped to pick up a flower from a pot standing at the entrance to another house. The earth pony who I had seen when I first came to Green Valley, Rose, stopped her. She said something with a sad smile on her face, plucked another flower from the pot and stuck it in Bolt’s mane, gave her a tight hug, and waved her off.
“I will do my best,” I promised as I turned around. “Let them know that we’ll be back soon!”
Hurrying up my steps, I walked up beside Bolt. If she noticed that I was there, she didn’t show it. We walked in silence, except for our steps in the mud and the rain that had already started to fade away.
Cogwheel, what’s happening right now? Is Bolt upset about something?
I looked over at the unicorn that trudged along beside me. Through the rain on her face, it was difficult to tell whether or not she was crying. But her face told the story; her eyes were dead, her lips were quivering, and her head was drooping, bobbing along gently whenever she took another step.
Yes, I answered. She’s upset.
“Then it would be a good idea to leave her alone, right? That’s what Radio said to do when a pony is upset.”
It was a good idea for Dust and Precious--
“But they’re all upset!” she shouted suddenly. She paused for a second and lowered her voice once more, likely noticing the silence as I did. “Won’t the treatment be the same?”
I don’t think that’s how emotions work, Spitfire.
“How are you able to really know? You haven’t asked her if she’s upset. She hasn’t told you that she is upset. What makes you so sure?”
You can just feel it, you know?--
“No!” she shouted again. “I don’t know! I’ve never known!” She made an incomprehensible noise, something that sounded electronic, before continuing. “Sadness: emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being. Bolt’s readings are fine. Her brain is functioning normally, her heart is beating steadily, and she is breathing. How is she not in a state of well-being?”
Emotions aren’t just something you can observe--
“You just observed them! You were the one who told me that Bolt was upset. How could you tell?”
She just looks upset, okay?
“But Dust and Precious didn’t look upset. Radio said that they were, though. And you’re saying that Bolt’s upset now. How did he know? How did you know? What makes you, a pony, so much better at observing something than myself? How can I not do what I was made to do?”
I had no answer for her.
Bolt stopped before a twin gate that seemed to be fused into the stone pillars holding it up. The matte black metal had to be almost three times my height, even though it was warped and rusted and missing parts. Bolt hesitantly nudged the gate open. A shrilling shriek pierced through the silence, shattering it like glass, as the gate swung open at Bolt’s light touch. Following the unicorn, I took in the surroundings.
Around me stood statues and monuments -- depictions of unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi -- as well as engraved stones rising up from the ground. They were tombstones, marking the final resting place of ponies long forgotten. The dead grass, swaying lazily in the gentle breeze, spread out over the precinct like a brown rug. On the top of a small hill that rose in the middle of the cemetery stood the ruins of a temple, the clock tower above it the only intact piece.
An eerie silence fell around us as we walked along the fence. This time, not even our hoofsteps dared make noise. As we moved towards the hill, the tombstones standing around us abruptly changed, looking more crude than beautifully somber. Some of these graves had flowers on them, others were paired with a flickering candle-lantern.
Bolt stopped halfway down the line of graves. The one she stopped in front of was more detailed than the ones around us. Small birds and flowers were engraved into the stone, and in the middle of the engravings was written a short poem.
Sisters, our help in ages past
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
In memory of Melody, beloved mother.
With teary eyes Bolt gently placed the flower next to the lantern already standing on the grave. Taking a step back, she wiped away the tears that had made their way down her cheek. For minutes, the only sound around us was from the dead grass and an occasional snuffle from Bolt.
“... Is that her mother’s grave?” Spitfire asked calmly.
Yes, I believe it is.
Then Bolt whispered something I couldn’t hear, and as I looked at her she smiled weakly. She turned around and continued down the line. Without a word I followed her, and she stopped again further down, this time at graves that looked newer. Standing at one of them, she tucked out the flower that Rose had placed in her mane and gently placed it at its foot.
“He was always such an idiot,” she whispered fondly. “Never knew what was good for him, and always acted before thinking. I... miss him.” She wiped her eyes again. “He could always make me laugh, no matter how down I was.” A sad laugh escaped her. “I’m just thinking about him in that ridiculous duster he found when we were foals.” She gently patted the soil. “I will see you soon again, cowboy,” she whispered before turning towards me. “Sorry, I just--”
“I understand,” I said, wiping my own eyes dry.
She gave me a little, grateful smile. “Shall we?” Without waiting for me to answer, she started to walk.
I followed after her and together we left the cemetery, and Green Valley, behind us. Forgoing its warmth and safety in place of the mysteries of Biomechatronic...
~(-)~
This chapter is in memory of my father. Know that I think about you even today, and wouldn’t have been the one I am without you.
~(-)~
A really big thank you to Masquerade313, not only for proofreading and editing, but for giving the story a hell of a lot more life than it had from the beginning. I can’t thank him enough for all the time he devoted helping me with this!
Also thanks to James Tonto, not only for catching a lot of awkward phrasings as well as telling me when I use bad words or something I should think about, but also for keeping me company in the docs and giving me ideas.
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But having voices in your head makes travelling the Equestrian wasteland or any other kind of activity more awesome and fun YUSH!
It seems that bolt is starting to like cogwheel. Guess chicks dig guys with robot arms.
Apparently, Fimfiction hate me commenting. This was meant to be the first comment on "Imaginary":
You heard right, people!
Or... the ones who for some reason actually reads this...
Anyway, Masquerade313 got me to see the flaws in earlier chapters, where the characters aren't as "defined" as they are today. So we are going to sit down and look through them.
Hopefully, the story won't change, only the characters reactions and comments to things, as well as the interaction between Cogwheel, Spitfire and the world.
This work might, unfortunately, take some time, seeing how little time Masq have to put aside to this, and I myself suck donky arse when it comes to editing and find wrongs in my own texts.
However, we are fairly certain that chapter 9, Imaginary, won't be affected heavily by this, and therefore I present to you... you guessed it, Imaginary!
Enjoy!
REVIEW TIME! And I hope that it are still okay now that it is the second time that I read the chapter.
AHA! I knew it! It was all just a drunken dream in the mind of Cogwheel... HEY! That are not the start that I want!
And you do not dare to make a ending were he wakes up from a giant intoxication! I have used way to much time on this to you can end it as a troll fic
And what are Project Aiónios with capital letters both time! That are not sounding to well, I do so hope that the Project ends better than the M.A.C. did down in the stable!
"...we had our top reporter, Featherweight..." Hot damn Faindragon, nice detail there. He is the perfect pony to the job after all
And damn, are Spitfire a little bit autistic or what? And before the mob comes with their pitchforks and torches, I have autism so I can say stuff like that HA!... What I mean is, it is fist time I sees her like that, are it something that are going to stay or was it just something that was right there?
Nitpick: Finally do I have something on you again Andreas! "my fleshy hoof" As you can see here is a hoof not fleshy, it are made of bones and nails! AHA!... Oh and this picture are always good to have in the back hand
"Bolt took the liberty to clean them up some" Are there not missing something from this sentence? Because it are messing with my brain
feels man, just feels, there being tossed around like bullets in a war.
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I've been told that I'm good with writing feels.
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Yes, all props go directly to Masq. Will I might be writing the story, he makes it at least ten times better with his editing skills.
Trust me, SAT would be nothing without this dude!
For have written the only cyperpony that I like, for having showed me that you don´t need to follow the lore of all the stories there is and for to damn many cliffhangers does I hereby grant this story on this day my stamp of approval
th04.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2013/056/8/a/commission__brony_seal_of_approval_by_shrineart-d5w6301.png
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Been on my 'To Read' list for a while... So worth the wait!
So many brilliant ideas! I just love Bolt! She has the slightly crazy, bouncy feel to her; she is just fun to read in my head.
Cogwheel is an odd character but in a good way. I keep wondering what he is going to remember and how he is next going to get himself into trouble.
SPITFIRE is really likable to... I just hope he doesn't get hit by an EMP grenade!
Things to improve on are very limited. I think you are being done over by auto-correct quite a lot with words popping up that don't match so watch out there and the occasional There, Their and They're issues but besides that its superb.
I wonder when the romantic tension between Bolt and Cogwheel is going to be to much... spent all of chapter 9 expecting Bolt to give him a peck on the cheek!
Cant wait for the next chapter! Keep up the good work!
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I'm very happy that you like the story, and even more so that you take your time to comment.
Bolt and Cogwheel are characters I quite enjoy writing, even if very few of the lines I write gets out here. Masq is doing a hell lot of better work with that, and it's his character writing you're reading. This story would be nothing without that dude!
...Romantic tension? Peck on the cheek?
Maybe later~
Huh. Spitfire raises an interesting question: Is it possible for an OSAI to get Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome?
In any case, a most intriguing setup thus far. I look forward to seeing where you go with this.