Sidejacked

by SurveyShip

Chapter 6 - Rel'sy

Three hours...

Three hours of trudging in snow...

Finally... We are at the last stretch, just a little more and we will be within view of this fabled city.

We need to just get onto the top of this inclination and we will get a sight of the skyline. The remainder of the trip was rather quiet, only some small buildings here and there and a plethora of derelict cars littering the road. Cosmo did not have much to say other than reporting the status of Mechanoid presence; which was negligible by the way.

"Only a few more steps, Silver." I rhetorically told my companion, the apex of the inclination so tantalizingly close. Mere steps from the top I can see the buildings coming into view, sweet Celestia they are tall. I've been to metropolis before like Vanhoover or Seaddle but these buildings were just huge. I try to take a better look at them but something was feeling off about them. Do they look... Askew? I finally reach the top of this bump on the road and finally take a gander at the city's skyline.

It was staggering.

Not only did the city stretch from figurative 'coast to coast' but the inclination we climbed up sloped down sharply to a massive semi-frozen river. The most baffling aspect of the city is that some of the tall buildings were leaning menacingly to one side as if they were going to fall. Many of them were badly damaged too, from missing chunks of their exterior to entire floors that have caved in at some point but somehow the skyscraper remains standing.

Silver finally catched up and gawked at the city in the distance, her mouth went agape at the sheer size of the metropolis.

"Wow..." She uttered, there was no need for flowery language or a crass explicative, the simplicity of that three letter word was enough to convey her feelings on the matter.

I unholster the radio and speak into the microphone. "Cosmo, we have a visual of Black Mare City." I relay information to the stallion.

It took a few seconds for him to respond, "Good, now what proceeds is that you two are to find a way through the city. This is the shortest route out of the Red Zone. Any other path would take too long and put you a little too close for comfort to Mechanoid bases."

"Alright. We will head out now."

"Wait!" The stallion interjects, I stop in my tracks and look at the radio's microphone. "I got to give you a heads-up first... "

"What is going on? Did something happen?" Silver asked into the microphone.

"I ran a focused scan on the city and Mechanoid activity was detected!" He lays out clearly.

I thought about it for a moment, I knew something like this was going to come up. I take a deep breath and mentally prepare myself to traverse the city. Silver takes a queue of my body language, she too seems to prepare herself.

"Here is a plan I've come up with." The stallion clears his throat. "There is a railway bridge nearby that will help you cross that river; now don't worry, trains have long stopped passing by that route. With my eyes in the sky I will guide you through the ruined cityscape, helping you avoid Mechanoids if they pop up. If things go smoothly you should be out of that place in just under two hours. However..."

I curse silently.

"My sensors can detect Mechanoids out in the open no problem but through floors is going to be tricky. A lot of factors come into play when it comes to detecting them in buildings, like how many floors are above the Mechanoid and how strong its powerplant is. A focused scan is capable of spotting them inside buildings thanks to magic but I can only do that every twenty minutes or so for the scanners to refresh and recharge. So your best bet is to stay away from the larger skyscrapers and watch each others backs, I too will keep my eyes close to my scanners." The stallion finalized.

I take a second to simmer in the thought. Our situation is precarious, Mechanoids were detected in the area but their numbers seem to be miniscule. Cosmo will keep an eye on us but his scanners will struggle locating them within the tall skyscrapers. An ugly feeling begins germinating inside of me...

NO!!!

I shake away the intrusive thoughts and get a hold of my bearings. We have reconnaissance support and intel of the enemy presence. We may not have proper weapons but we have the ultimate tactic in this situation. Stealth! As long as we keep checking our surroundings and avoid Mechanoid detection we should be able to clear this hurdle in our journey.

I take a look at Silver. I can tell she is a little tense by news on what we have to do but she is putting on a strong face. "You ready?" I asked her.

"Y-Yes Ma'am." She salutes me, she puts on a brave stance as she brings her right foreleg above her brow.

"Alright, let's go then." I ordered. But before we began trekking again I needed to spot the rail bridge, which did not take long however. Just a block or two away the giant, snow covered frame of the bridge was visible, I pointed out the direction and we both headed towards it. As we got closer there was something on the bridge, it does not take a genius to figure out what it is.

"Hey look! A train!" The Pegasus pointed out with an enthusiastic twinge.

We had to climb a small hill before we actually got onto the metal structure. On the bridge we were greeted by two rails side by side and on our right the stationary locomotive of the train, a very industrial looking locomotive. It had various technological bits and bobbles all over it, another curious aspect about it is that it seemed to have no wheels and was resting directly over the rails. it did not look like it had derailed or been damaged, curious.

As we crossed the bridge over the vacant rail we looked at the train, wagons upon wagons ranging from long tanker cars to box cars, they too were not donned with wheels. As I checked our surroundings for anything suspicious Silver was gawking at the locomotive all starry-eyed, I was about to get her attention but something else got mine first.

In the distance a parked train car was blocking the bridge, the other locomotive by the looks of it stretched all the way to the other end of the bridge. The space between the trains was too small for any of us and trying to clamber on the sides of the bridge would be too risky.

"Any idea on how to get past this?" I asked the Pegasus.

She presses a hoof under her chin and thinks for a moment before perking up. "Oh! I know, why don't I fly you to the top of the train? I have wings after all." She points out as she flaunts her wings, extending them to show off all of their glory.

For a second she startles me but I keep myself subdued enough for her not to notice, for a moment I completely forgot she had wings. And now that I think of it, I don't believe I've ever seen her fly before. Back in Equestria she was stuck with me on guard duty and once our shift was over we went our separate ways within the castle.

"I like that plan, Ok go for it." I give her the 'go-ahead' as we reach the wagon. She inspected the height of the wagon and quickly made calculations in her head, at a glance the wagon was well over fifteen feet tall. She then proceeded to stretch her wings and joints.

"It's a lot I have to carry, don't wanna pull something." She says with a smile, I just look at her with a neutral face. But as I gawk at her unusually exaggerated warm up I get an idea on how to ease the burden.

I summon my magic as my horn glows. The backpack is suddenly enveloped by a pink aura as I unlatch the buckles, it is now floating a few feet above me. The Pegasus mare is blissfully unaware that the saddlebag now has a pink aura of its own, I gently lift the saddlebag off of her back. Silver then lets out a surprised squeak, she then looks at the floating equipment confused. I then merge the two auras and carefully lay them on the roof of the train.

"Work smarter, not harder." I say with a smirk. Silver gives me a reassuring smile.

"Good, now. Are you ready, Ma'am?" She says to me, I nod.

She then flutters her wings and lifts off the ground. She hovers towards me and hugs my barrel from above. "Here we go!" She remarks as she lifts me off the snowy platform as my back legs dangle freely, we slowly ascend to the roof of the train. Silver flies a little higher in order to give me space to land on the snow-covered roof of the train, as we did that I get a glimpse on how far the locomotives went. Dozens of wagons from both trains stretched far into the distance.

Silver sets me down onto the train's roof, the snow crunches loudly. The Pegasus lands beside me. "Thank you." I respond simply. The Private smiles.

"Let's march on now. I don't want to be here for too long, I feel exposed." I remarked. We took our respective equipment and began trotting over the train. We hopped over the gaps between wagons, there was some sort of corrugated connector that joined the wagons but it did not look sturdy. As we walked and hopped over the wagons the city crawled closer to us, its imposing size was frightening. We were just about to clear the steel bridge when we came across a skylight on the roof that was half opened, it looked like it led to the inside of the wagon.

Noticing an opportunity for scavenging I talk about it with Silver. She agrees. We got close to the opening and took a look inside, there were rows of empty passenger seats and the section of floor under the skylight was a mound of snow. I also noticed other things sprawled across the floor...

Abandoned Luggage. I point out the lost belongings to Silver, she gets the idea. We go in and loot.

I analyze the drop, maybe six or seven feet high. If I land correctly on my legs I can fall without injuring myself, the snow can also serve as extra cushioning. I prepare myself as I fully flip over the panel, I get into position and jump down the skylight.

*THUD*

I landed on all fours on the mound of snow, bending my knees helped soften the fall. I check the area directly front of me to see what can be salvaged. Some duffle bags, purses and suitcases of all sorts of sizes and colors were left behind in the wagon. I turned around to see if more luggage was lootable. But my sight was blocked by a large object standing in front of me. My heart stops when I see what it is, just how in Tartarus did it find us!?

"MECHANOID!!!!" I yell out.

In my panic I levitate a nearby solid object and smash it as hard as I can against its head, the object in question was a plastic suitcase and it exploded on contact, an assortment of clothing items fly all over the place. Silver immediately swoops into the wagon and rushes to my side, eyes locked on the metal freak. The Mechanoid however was unfazed by my attack, I quickly scan among the scattered luggage and spot an aluminum suitcase. In a split second I levitate the much heavier case and was ready to crack its skull open but Silver places a hoof on my shoulder. I am momentarily distracted and overshoot my magical throw, the case merely scrapes the side of the Mechanoid's head and bounces off into the background.

"Ma'am... I think it's already dead." Silver commented.

I pause for a second, did my first attack with the plastic suitcase really take it down? No, that is ridiculous! I take a cautious look at the metal freak. It is just standing there menacingly, unmoving. It has not reacted to my attacks. Now that I have a better look at it, the design of this one seems a lot less... threatening.

It was obviously a metal pony, that was a given but it had a lot more curved and round shapes. The snout of the machine was less pronounced compared to the first one we met, like that of a mare, Its eyes were not slits but a wide visor. This one had no horn or wings and it was wearing clothing. It wore a dark blue dress with a white handkerchief wrapped around its neck. It also had a, now crooked, bright red beret on its head with a small emblem of a train and a star. It even had little golden beads attached to its ears to simulate earrings!

Overall, this Mechanoid's design was a complete one-eighty compared to the jagged mess of its buried friend.

"I guess... It is." I spoke between breaths as I tried to calm myself down. I can't help but feel the burn of embarrassment on the on my cheeks, I got to keep the hair-trigger twitchiness under control.

I magically bring the radio's microphone near my muzzle and contact Cosmo.

"Hey, Cosmo. We began scavenging a train and found another dead Mechanoid, but it does not look like the one we found from earlier, it does not look damaged and... It is wearing a dress." I relay the information to Cosmo.

It takes a moment for the stallion to respond. "Hmmm, describe it a bit more." He answers in a serious tone.

I give him the description.

"Oh! I see what is going on here. You found an old train steward mechanoid, like many of its kind they were made before The Uprising. Unlike that last one you found." He says. "Guess at some point she had her batteries yanked out or something. Anyway, scavenge what you can, I will continue to monitor the city." Cosmo finalized.

"Copy that." I responded whilst holstering the microphone. Seems like this stewardess has my curiosity as I approach her for a closer inspection. I grin as I catch myself referring to the machine pony as a Her, it seems like Cosmo's 'Isms' are rubbing off on me. There was an armband on the mechanoid with an inscription.

'Железные дороги Ховестрояна'

Further examination of the Mechanoid revealed a small satchel that was hanging on her side. With my horn I open the satchel and pull out its content. It was a collection of, which I assume are tickets and other small useless junk but one item stood out. "A red plastic card..? " I spoke out loud. The card was emblazoned with the same illustration as the emblem of the Mechanoid's beret. This item, I had no idea what its use was but It definitely looked important so I keep it close just in case.

Not much was there to discover on the Mechanoid short of undressing it, not only would it likely not reveal anything useful I don't want to risk accidentally triggering something that might cause it to come back to life. And also the fact it would be astoundingly bizarre to do so. Leaving the mechanical stewardess alone I proceed to sift through the abandoned luggage.

For the next twenty or so minutes both Silver and I search the numerous bags and cases. Nothing useful was found apart from old clothes of various designs. However, I did notice that a lot of the luggage contained items one would deem as 'personal belongings'. Like the vast amount of clothing that many of them possesses, watches, trinkets, small electronic devices, passports with important looking documentation and photos.

One item in particular seems to be widespread within them, paper notes with numbers. They had five, fifty, one-hundred and there was even one with the number five-thousand on it. They were also commonly accompanied by coins so I am getting the idea that this must be Hoovestroyan currency.

I bring forth the microphone again. "Cosmo, I think we found Hoovestroyan money. I am wondering if it is still in use since, you know... Robot apocalypse and what-not." I asked the disembodied voice of the radio.

"Definitely, it's called Russk. Survivors down there still use it, but from what I hear their prices for goods can wildly differ from settlement to settlement, so recover any loose bill you can find." The stallion said.

"Good to know, continue providing overwatch." I ended the conversation.

Paper money is an infrequent occurrence in Equestria as it is normally brought in by foreigners. Equestrians still use coins or in rare instances precious gems. Money is money regardless of what state it is in. We counted our 'earnings' and came to a grand total just shy of seven-thousand Russk. I am surprised by the large number but I am getting the feeling it is not a one-to-one conversion rate from Equestrian Bits.

We stowed the coins in one of the saddlebag's smaller compartments and rolled the notes into a wad, secured by a salvaged rubber band. It too was stored in the same compartment.

Just as we began to wrap up something seems to have Silver's attention. At the end of the wagon there is a set of stairs leading to a landing. on the landing's level a door is present. She goes down the stairs and begins inspecting the door, I follow her. Curiosity got a hold of me as to why there were stairs in a train wagon but it did not take long to figure out why. On the landing another set of stairs led to an even lower section where more empty seats were visible. The wagon was two stories high, that explains why it was so tall in the first place.

Silver was now fiddling with the door's locking mechanism.

"Silver, what the heck are you doing?" I asked the overly curious mare.

"It's a train, right? This door leads to the other wagons." she says as she messes with the locks

"Silver, I understand your eagerness to find more supplies but the mission right now is to get out of the Red Zone, the more time we sit in the same place the more likely the chances are of us getting spotted by the machine ponies. Especially since we are right next to them." I retorted, this train does have a degree of loot but spending too much time here could spell trouble. The risk-reward factor leaned a little too much to the 'risky' side since we are so close to patrolling Mechanoids.

"Ma'am, that's not what I mean. Up there you said you felt exposed so that got me thinking, why not traverse the rest of the bridge inside of the train?" She says as she smiles whilst messing with a handle of sorts. "Scavenging would be a bonus." She finalized. She does have a point, right now we are concealed from the outside from any prying mechanical eyes, even the windows of the wagon are fogged up by frost and snow buildup giving us extra cover...

*Thonk*

My thought process is interrupted by a muffled metallic noise coming from Silver's direction. She succeeded in opening the door and pulled it inwardly, it led to a miniscule room that had a near identical door on the other side.

"Tah Dah!" Silver raised a hoof and presented the newly opened room, she gestures towards it. I was not opposed to Silver's idea so me following her instructions was a clear enough indication that I accepted her little proposition. The gangway between the wagons was barely big enough to fit the front half of my body so it was up to me to open the next door. I saw a red lever on the door with some Hoovestroyan writing.

"ПОТЯНИТЕ ВНИЗ"

Huh... It felt familiar... It felt like I had seen this word before. Something inside of me was telling me to pull the lever down, I was not sure why but I followed my gut, I magically envelope the lever and pull it down.

*Thonk*

The door's locks audibly retract and it sways outwards. The next wagon is now accessible.

---

We traversed the wagons as time-consciously as possible as we looted the abandoned luggage, however they seemed to become less abundant as we went on. I checked the outside through the window to measure our progress. Nope, the bridge's steel frame was still visible even after what seemed like a dozen wagons.

After countless bags and cases were pilfered we acquired some valuables. Eight-thousand more Russk was added to our wealth and a few more cans of non-perishables were discovered too. We did find various gadgets and devices but most of them were either non-functional or would serve little to no purpose to our mission.

The wagons did unfortunately contain more of those Mechanoids, albeit already dead. They were either standing silently staring at nothing in particular or splayed on the ground like an old ragdoll, regardless of what position we found them in. I could not look at them without a small knot of stress forming in my stomach. We carefully sidestep the corpses as best we could.

I was about to become lost in thought by the monotony of opening doors into identical looking train cars when we encountered something unusual.

We opened a door to a wagon's gangway for the umpteenth time, but instead of a copy of the door on the other side this one had notable markings. The overall frame is the same but there was a unique logo that adorned the middle of the door.

A five point, red star.

It was not just a simple red star, the top point had the swirling ridge of a Unicorn's horn and the two points besides it were stylized in a way to look like wings. There was also some text under the logo.

"Комната технического обслуживания"

And a smaller subtext was present too.

"Только для сотрудников."

So simple, yet so imposing. This wagon must have something important, but trying to open it was a problem. The handle was there but it was not budging even when I put strength on my telekinesis. I give up trying the muscle-head approach and begin inspecting for any curios.

"Ma'am, what's that?" Silver Interjects, maneuvering a hoof between the wall and me, pointing at something besides the handle.

I look at the object of interest. It was a thin rectangular hole, under it something was etched onto the metal. The train and star logo of the Mechanoids beret.

Then I remembered something. Back at the first car I found a red card with that same logo on a Mechanoid, Perhaps it is related to this. I pull out the red card that was stowed under my armor and analyze it besides the hole. The card matched the width of the hole, like a key. Perhaps it is a key?

I levitated the card and set it up, I then slowly inserted it into the hole, it was a snug fit. And suddenly...

*Ka-Clic*

I felt it push against some sort of apparatus inside the slot and the sound of gizmos click into position from within the door, then the door lets up.

I gingerly swing open and take a look inside the wagon. It was very dark due to a lack of windows, which is strange. I instinctively summon an illumination spell and soon a ball of white light scares the darkness away allowing Silver and I to look inside.

My heart skips a beat.

Mechanoids... Dozens of Mechanoids... They were standing adjacent to one of the walls of the wagon. All of them facing my direction. But like their freaky friends on the other wagons they too were unmoving, that black mirror that hides their eyes completely devoid of life.

In other words, dead.

I swallow subconsciously and walk into the wagon with silver right behind me, by my estimations we are just a wagon or two from reaching the other side of the river. The Mechanoids may be lifeless but it irks me every time I see them, however I must remain observant. The car had these small cubicles that housed each machine pony, like a stable. A quick glance reveals an assortment of tools and other unidentifiable machinery strewn about the floor, some of the Mechanoids were undressed and their internal bits exposed. But it was not due to damage but it looked like it was intentionally disassembled.

"So... This is where they fix them up?" I ask a question to no one in particular. The blank, featureless expression on faces of the Mechanoids creeps me out, I take a look at Silver and she too has an uneasy expression.

"Silver, They are dead." I deadpanned.

"I-I know Ma'am, but I can't shake away the feeling they are staring at us." She motions a hoof at the machine ponies, they do not react. I get where she is coming from, the sense of pareidolia that is occurring by the Mechanoids' pony-like appearance. But ultimately they are stiff and cold, whatever ticks inside of them no longer works. But I would be lying if I was not a little paranoid about them, I do not know how a mechanoid works and I am most definitely not going to mess around with them and figure it out the hard way.

We walked down the long car carefully so as to not trip, the floor is covered by abandoned tools and other junk. The idea of looting is tempting but there is little use various power tools of unknown purpose would give us. And also the fact I distrust these machine ponies indirectly gawking at us. The door was closed, just a few more steps and we were out of the creepy wagon full of deceased robo-ponies. But something near the exit catches my eye. A metal table full of buttons, switches and levers.

I take a quick glance at the table, Silver on the other hoof admires it. Numerous interactive components are embedded on the table, however all of it just blended in with each other. Nothing seems to be worthwhile until I spot an unusual looking button. It was encased in a red painted box, around the box black and yellow caution stripes adorned it. On the very top of the red box a sheet of shattered glass caved inwards towards the button. Hoovestroyan text is written on it.

"АВАРИЙНОЕ ОТКЛЮЧЕНИЕ МЕХАНОИДА"

"РАЗБИТЬ СТЕКЛО, ЧТОБЫ ОТПУСТИТЬ КНОПКУ"

It was written in bright red font. I wondered what was said, then dismissed it. There are more important things up ahead and one of them is getting out of this wagon.

We walked past the table and reached the door, thankfully it was only a matter of turning the handle and pulling it. I checked every subsequent wagon's windows to check if we managed to cross the bridge and to my surprise we finally managed to cross that absurdly long bridge. We went to the lower floor of the wagon and headed for one of the access doors that would normally let passengers onboard the train. With some tinkering of the handle and a little bit of elbow grease we managed to open the door. We were greeted by a rush of cold wind. The puffs of powdery white snow often swept out crest and tails, the landscape was the sharp inclination of the riverbank with a concrete wall on the zenith blocking off access to the icy water.

We at last got off the train and looked upon the city, it was just gigantic. Only a couple of blocks away the massive snow covered concrete jungle awaited us. I am ready.

I bring up the radio's microphone and speak into it. "Cosmo we have crossed the bridge and are about to begin venturing into Black Mare City." I reported.

After a few seconds of silence the stallion responded. "Excellent! Now, your best bet right now is to follow the train tracks. Recent scans indicate that no Mechanoids are near them but keep your eyes wide open." Cosmo ordered.

"Copy that." I responded as I holstered the microphone.

I take a look at the train tracks. The locomotive we were in only has a few more cars remaining before it ends and besides it is the cargo locomotive that stretches for maybe another mile or so.

I check my surroundings, nothing but snow and wrecked buildings. Good, that is better than Mechanoids.

"Silver!" I get the attention of the Pegasus, she looks at me. "You ready?" I say as I motion a hoof towards the ruined metropolis. She just salutes with a smile. I nod in acknowledgement, and so we begin our perilous journey traversing the city.

"Into the breach..." I mutter under my breath.

Author's Note:

_{>CAUTION! CAUTION! NEW MECHANOID ENCOUNTERED!
-Servant Mechanoid (Rail Assistant Variant) - Pre-Uprising Model: General all purpose unit for passenger care. Comes in stallion models too!}

Comments

[ARandomLonelyDude]

good chapter👍

[SurveyShip]

11209390
Appreciated my man