Blips
Ping. Ping. Ping. Blip. Blip. Blip.
A single hoof gently tapped a small radar screen before reaching down and pushing a red button on a large console. “Initiating protocal G-16 alpha,” a monotone mares voice spoke over a speaker in the top right corner of the room. The small red dot on the radar screen was joined by a plethora of white ones before disappearing.
Once again the soft ping played over the speakers again. The small room was only barely large enough for half a dozen ponies, though most the space was taken up by a large console against the wall. Most of the screens had long since either gone out or no longer received any feed from the outside world so all that remained was a single radar screen which gave off small constant pings. Dozens of buttons covered the console, all but one large red one in the center covered with dust. The red button was clean but worn from years of use.
A large spinning chair, the springs, braces and wheels all long busted from years of use, stood in front of the console and sitting in the chair was a large brown coated unicorn stallion. His skin was gaunt, but loose, revealing the thin bones underneath. His coat lacked any shine, instead dull and graying from years of inattention. His mane and tail were heavily knotted and grown out so far that they occasionally covered his eyes.
Blipblipblipblipblip.
He didn't know how long it had been since the last sign of activity, hours? Days? But four new red dots had formed on the radar screen. He tapped the screen a few times, he didn't even remember why any more, before pushing the red button. “Initiating protocal G-16 alpha.” Once again a plethora of white shapes filled the radar screen. However this time things were different. One by one the white shapes were eliminated and only one of the red dots disappeared. Before to long all the white ones were gone and it was just the red ones.
For the first time in he didn't know how long he found he had to think back to all those years before. Procedure. What was the procedure?
------
Light flashed in his eyes as the pod slowly opened. A small voice called out. “About time,” moments before coughing filled the air. The world in front of him was hazy and as the pod fully opened the straps holding him in receded. His legs quickly gave out and he fell flat to the floor.
“W-what? What's going on?” he asked as he whipped his head around. The room was dim and all he could make out were blurry shapes in the distance. Try as he might he couldn't remember where he was or even who he was.
“Relax. You're suffering from stasis shock. Your,” the words were interrupted by another coughing fit, “coordination will return soon,” the voice said.
“Who are you?” he asked as his vision slowly focused. Towering over him was a small gray haired earth pony mare. She looked ancient, her skin molding to her bones and flaps hanging out.
“I am employee G6079... something. I don't remember all of it any more. Not like it matters any more,” she mumbled. “When you're able too, meet me outside,” the ancient mare said as she turned away and walked off. He caught sight of her cutey mark, or at least where it had been once. The skin had been clawed at and torn, hiding the mark under layers of scar tissue.
Slowly feeling began to fill his legs and he took a deep breath before trying to get to his hooves and to his relief he succeeded. He glanced back at the stasis pod he had been sleeping in. To the left of his were half a dozen empty pods and to the right were many others, all enveloped in magic and still closed. His pod had a few words on it, 'Employee E98245.' He wondered if that was his name?
He slowly followed after the woman in a large hallway. The walls were old with dull green wallpaper, most of which was falling off to reveal the wood underneath. The floors were cement, the occasional piece of carpet that had yet to be torn out could be seen against the walls. Once he was outside the room he could feel a light vibration through the floor, the first time in what would become an eternity.
“Okay employee... E something... You've been, hack cough, snrork!” the woman spit off to the side, making him cringe as it splattered against the wall. “You've been chosen as my replacement by the computer. Do you remember anything from before you arrived here?”
“I don't even remember arriv... No... wait. I remember. Screaming... lots of yelling and...” he shook his head. “I-It's hard to think about.”
“Do you remember your name?”
“No... Maybe E9?”
“If... If I had more time I'd wait for you to... recover... but time is-” she burst into another coughing fit, this time when she moved her hoof away from her mouth blood covered it.
“You're hurt,” he stated quickly and then felt like an idiot. Of course she was hurt.
“Of course I'm hurt. There was... an accident,” she grumbled as she motioned towards a large steel door. “That... part of the factory has been sealed off,” she said with another cough.
“What do you need me for? I don't know anything about medicine!”
The woman chuckled before shaking her head. “I don't need a doctor, I need a priest. That's not what you're needed for, here,” she said as she came up to a large window and motioned inside.
The massive window looked down into a large factory. A production line had been set up, constructing mechanical components piece by piece on a large conveyer belt and disappearing into the distance.
“What is this place?”
“Factory. “
“... I meant a name,” he grumbled.
“Factory lc:5C0U4. We craft a wide assortment of products for the Ministry of War... Nevermind. None of that matters anymore. All you need to know is for now, we're alone,” she started walking again towards a small room with a console, the very console he had spent a life time since working on.
“Alone? Oh! What about the others? Workers! I remember others working here,” he said as he looked at the monitor. All the screens were off or broken except one, revealing a large metal door and parched dirt outside. A single radar display pinged just above a red button.
“Dead. All dead, we're-” she fell into another coughing fit, this one far longer than the others. “we're the only ones left. Me, you, the ones still in stasis. We're alone in here.”
“What happened? What's out there?”
“Zebras... those bastards won,” she said angrily as she glared at the last screen. “All that's left in Equestria are monsters. Creature's that would devour ponies in a second.”
“What? But... but everyone? That can't be... then what's the point of us... of us...”
“The pegasi. They survived. They are the only ones out there now,” once again blood spewed from her mouth as she coughed again. “Don't... have much time. There... a radio. If you ever... wanna chance to meet pony kind again... just... just try to fix it... I don't care how, just...” she slumped down, trembling. “Console... It... it activates... defenses. Watch the radar... if anything comes in... red button acti... vates the first... defenses. You'll need to... key in... defense manager...” she closed her eyes. “Defense... manager... don't... don't fail like... You'll need... to...” she never finished her last words as the life left her.
------
E9 glanced around at the console as he surfaced from his memories. Blowing off some dust he slowly typed in defense field. Some of the broken monitors flashed and sparked one by one until green text materialized on a screen that had long been blank. Large green words 'Defense manager' popped up. A number of options appeared. The first, outer defense drones, was grayed out so he quickly activated the second and third outer defenses. His eyes glanced up at what had once been the only working camera screen. Now just a broken husk with the shattered remains of an old radio lodged halfway inside.
The red blips, which hadn't moved since the white ones had disappeared, were gone within moments. He let out a sigh before closing his eyes, trying to focus as more memories, stirred by his earlier thoughts, stirred from their resting place.
------
One of the first things he did was dump the mares body off in the incinerator, at least that's what the chute said it went to, and let out a small prayer for her. After that he was able to discover the 'computer' she mentioned. Sadly it seemed to be quite basic, no AI interface and had once been directly tied to the mainframe at headquarters, but that had long been severed and most the information and options he could access were either corrupted, disabled or useless. He was able to find out who he was supposed to wake up in the event he died though. Apparently a roboticist named R26254.
Many of the doors in the factory had long been sealed, either due to loss of power in certain sections or him not having the necessary qualifications to get to them. He did manage to find the employee quarters where he spent most of his time rummaging through their remaining effects. Anything edible had long since been devoured or become a moldy mess but he did manage to find a few electronics, an old cassette player, a battery, a broken pipbuck and a few others as he slowly began working on getting the radio to function.
He fortunately had access to a small case of tools, not enough to do anything to complex but enough to take the radio apart. There seemed to no longer be an exit to the factory, the only one long sealed with a broken metal door, the electronics in it long since fried, that he would need heavy explosives to even try to budge, his little screwdriver and hammer wouldn't do anything. He figured he could fix it if he really wanted to, but if the world outside was as bad as it looked he had no desire to leave. He also found a storeroom filled with canned food with pop up lids. Unfortunately they tasted like little more than sawdust mixed with gravel, but better than starving to death.
He had began to remember a time before the stasis as well. He remembered working alongside a pegasus and, on more than one occasion, admiring her plot. He remembered trying to work up the courage to ask her out and even going as far as programming one of the droids to ask her out for him, but he never got the courage to set it loose. He tried to see if she was amongst the others in stasis but he couldn't see into the pods and he was unable to open them without the proper passwords.
He also remembered war. Zebras, hate filled striped monsters that had started a war with them out of greed. He remembered the raids and when he was transferred to this factory. It had been built deep underground to protect it in the event of an attack with a full range of inner and outer defences and stasis pods for the more important employees. He remembered a zebra trying to break into the factory and being used to 'test' some of their products before shipping them out to the war effort.
He remembered his family. His little sister joined the war effort, last he heard before... this happened was she had been stationed in Canterlot. Their parents were happy since in the war there couldn't be a place safer than at the princess's sides. But, most important of all, he remembered his name.
Copperwire. A B student from the Fillydelphia engineering academy. Specializing in weapon development. He used to be able to craft a weapon using nothing more than a simple projectile array spell combined with some rocks and a lead pipe. Now he really wished he had spent more time focusing on electronics as he struggled to repair his transceiver radio. He eventually brought everything he needed into the main control room and focused on fixing it, only occasionally pressing the red button when the alerts would go off.
Days turned to week and eventually months before the first sign of life. 'The grand pegasus enclave-” burst from the speakers and, in his excitement, Copperwire had accidentally jammed the screwdriver through one of the connectors. It took him days to find something to replace it and locate another signal.
“Hello? Can anybody hear this?” Pause. “Hello? If you are reading this, please respond. Hello?” the message repeated over and over, a mare's voice. The signal had plenty of static but he could still make out the voice and hear the sadness in her voice.
As both his hooves shook he slowly reached out to grab his transceiver and brought it to his mouth. “H-hello?” he finally answered.
“Hello? Can anybody hear this? Hello?” the message repeated.
He took a deep breath before yelling into his transceiver, “HELLO! Can you hear me? I read you!”
“Hello, ca- Wait hello? You hear me? You're there? Someone else is out here in this Celestia forsaken hell hole?” the voice responded.
“Yes! I'm here. Who are you? What are you?”
“My name is Whisper. I'm a merchant, or, I was. I got attacked and... and everyone's dead. Who is this? Where are you? Are there any towns nearby?”
“Towns near... I don't know. I'm not, I can't move from my position. I'm located at the old-”
Blip blip blip.
------
Blipblipblipblipblip. The sounds snapped him from his memories. The defenses had been disabled and four blips had appeared on the radar now. His mouth fell open as they came closer and closer to the front door. His hooves shook as he glanced at the external defenses again, but they were now grayed out. Only internal ones remained. He took a deep breath and watched. The blips made it to the front door before turning around and... leaving? They took out all the defenses and now they were just going to leave? The door must have been to thick for them.
He leaned back and let out a sigh of relief. He was getting to old for thi- BOOM! He shrieked and fell out of his chair as a massive explosion rattled the walls. “Who? What? Wh-” his confusion was cut off as more explosions rattled through the halls. What on- THE MAIN DOOR! They had explosives! He looked up at the broken screen once again. It almost made him regret throwing the radio through it. He crawled into his chair as his hooves slowly moved along the console to activate the internal defenses. All of them. Red lights flashed through the halls as the room was locked off by a large steel door. The wall to his left retracted a few inches before the gears ground to a halt.
He slowly got to his hooves and walked towards the hole. Inside the broken compartment a single gun and clip had been deposited with the words 'Emergency firearm, use in event of zebra attack.' hanging over them. He took a deep breath and reached inside, letting out a curse as his arm was cut open by the containers edge but he managed to yank the gun out.
Sitting on the ground he gripped the gun and clip in his hooves and slowly slid it inside. He then looked to the door and waited. He could hear gunfire and explosives as whatever... no... whoever it was came for him. He made a mental note to save one bullet for himself as he disappeared into his memories while he waited.
------
Whisper had begun searching to find the factory. Every time a red blip appeared on the radar he would look up with excitement and soon lose it to disappointment as the thing left. They talked each night though. He told her about the factory, the defenses, food, shelter. It wasn't much but to her it sounded like the most wonderful thing in the world.
She told him about the world outside. Raiders. Monsters. The horrors that seemed to thrive in the wasteland. Things that would have brought the princess's down with the full brunt of their rage and might were now common place. Starvation, rape, torture, slavery, murder. All those were a common occurrence in the world she now lived in.
To conserve battery power they agreed to only talk at dusk and he quickly found himself dreading and longing for the sun to lower each day. Fear filled him each time he flipped the radio on, followed by relief when she answered and had survived to another call. In their off time he worked on the door, trying to find a way to get it open and only running back when the alarms told him something was caught on radar, just to see if it was her.
On the third day he couldn't contain himself and asked if she would stay with him. Forever. He actually got up and danced when she said yes, moments before tripping over the chair and falling face first on the ground. He had shaken it off by saying it was a minor technical difficulty.
On the fifth day she didn't answer. He left the radio on as long as he dared, but there was nothing. He tried the next day but still nothing. On the seventh day however...
“Whisper? Are you there? This is Copperwire. Please respond,” he said before pausing and listening, sadly expecting no response.
“Copperwire? This... this is Whisper,” a soft, frightened voice came back to him.
“Whisper! Oh, I was so worried, I-”
“Please... I-I'll be there soon, I think. I... I... y-you'll let me in, won't you?”
“Let you... yes! I... I still need to work on the door. But I'll have it open soon, I promise!”
“Please do...” at the time his excitement deafened him to the sadness in her voice. Maybe if he hadn't he would have been able to save her.
------
He was brought back to the present by the sudden silence. The shooting had stopped as had the explosions. Nothing could be heard outside. He slowly reached out to the chair and used it to haul himself up, his horn glowing as he struggled to grip the gun with his telekinesis. Slowly he limped to the doorway and pushed his ear to it. He didn't hear anything. He then walked to the console and tried to bring up any working cameras.
There was only one internal one still working and it showed massive destruction down one of the halls. Bullets were buried in the walls and the turrets were sliced to pieces or just plain blown up. Fortunately blood was smeared across the ground as well so he knew at least someone had been caught. Unfortunately it seemed all the internal defenses had been removed and it would take at least a couple days before any of the factory's robots would be operational to scout. He couldn't go that long without food or water, he cursed himself for not thinking to store some in the room.
He took a deep breath and decided to wait. If anything was still out there, he'd probably hear them again. He prayed to the sisters that they had bled out after their last assault.
He glanced to the radio again and closed his eyes, sitting back against the doorway. He thought of her, possibly for the last time.
------
True to Whisper's word she had arrived a day later. When she finally walked outside the door he lost his breath almost instantly. She was an earth pony, dirty orange maned with a faded blue coat. Her right front hoof was wrapped in a bloody bandage, as was her forehead, and her face had a large gash across her cheek. She was the most beautiful mare he had ever seen.
She had looked up at the camera with wide, frightened eyes before talking into a small radio. He thought it was odd at the time, she only had the radio. No food, no water. Nothing but the radio. If only he had been smarter. “Copperwire? Are you here? It's me, Whisper.”
“I'm here! I see you, you're on the camera.”
“The door. C-can you open it?”
“Soon. I haven't... Whisper? What's wrong? Why are you crying?”
“Please, open the door, you have to open the door...” she said as she looked behind her.
“I'm working on it, wh-” suddenly the radar was filled with little red blips. Hers was right up to the center but dozens more were flooding in. “What's going on out there? Whisper? Whisper!” he yelled as the mare backed up against the door and cowered.
A new pony moved in front of her. An earth pony wearing a leather jacket two sizes to small with, to Copperwire's horror, a number of bloody unicorn horns on a wire hanging at his side. The pony took the radio out of the trembling mare's hooves and brought it to his mouth. “Listen kid. We don't want any trouble. We know you've got food and water in there. We're going to just take them and then we'll leave you and your little mare friend alone, capiche?” On the edge of the camera's vision the unicorn could see the shadows of other ponies. So many of them...
“I... I see. If I refuse?” he asked as he brought up the defense controls, the first time he had to since he took over this position.
The pony reached out and grabbed the mare as he pulled a switchblade out from his jacket. “In that case my little friend knifey here is going to have a lot of fun raping this little unicorn bitch of yours. Don't worry, I'm sure after the last couple of nights she'll barely notice at first.”
“NO!” he shrieked into the transceiver before looking down at the controls. “I-I'll do it. It'll take a little bit though. I just need som- WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER?!” he screamed as the pony shoved Whisper down and held her.
“While we wait, just going to give you a little show. You have until each of my men have their fun... if the doors not open by then we kill her. If you wanna save her you better hurry...”
He got to work quickly, his actions sped up by her screams. He refused to look at the camera screen as he searched desperately for a way to access the ally/enemy controls. He navigated through menus he'd never seen before and was forced to go through each one and try every option in hopes of finding them.
“Time's almost up,” the voice yelled from the radio as tears went down Copperwire's face. The screen took a few seconds to load... and there it was. Options. He could access and reset who the defenses would target.
He had no idea how to change it.
She had no pipbuck, she had nothing electronic for the computer to scan and use to register her. He didn't know how to set it based on biological features or if it even could be. He couldn't set it to avoid a certain area or person. He needed time to figure this out!
“Time's up,” the earth pony said one more time as some of his men held her down, forcing her flank in the air. He watched in horror as the blade got closer and closer.
“NO! Stop! STOP IT!” he screamed into the receiver. “It's almost open! STOP!”
But he didn't. Her screams filled the radio and he couldn't take it any more. Gripping the radio with his magic he hurtled it into the screen, destroying both before slamming his hoof down on the big red button.
Within moments all the blips were gone. He didn't care. He just laid on the ground and wept, his entire body shaking as the screams played through his mind over and over.
------
The door opened behind Copperwire as he fell back with a startled cry. Before he could maneuver the gun around to aim it was slashed clean in half by a long glowing clawlike dagger that seemed to materialize from thin air. Before he could say a word the dagger slashed down and nearly stabbed him through the heart, only barely managing to block the blade with his hand. The dagger was pulled up and about to finish him off as he finally caught sight of his assaulter. Hiding under a cloak he could just make out a striped muzzle holding the dagger from under the hood. A zebra.
“Shade! Stop!” a woman's voice called out. The zebra scoffed and lunged down.
“Stop or I'll shoot!” an angrier woman's voice yelled out. The zebra twitched but slowly pulled away. The knife withdrew into the cloak before the zebra joined it and seemed to phase into the air and disappear.
“Fine. But if he tries anything, Kree, it's on your head,” the voice, he assumed the zebra's, came from his right. He groaned and looked around. Down the hall from him was a large griffin holding a revolver aimed at the air above him. To her right was... he had no words for it. It looked like a pegasus but there was armor plating across its body, a strange saddle on his back strapped with what he assumed was a missile launcher and a strange robotic eye. Metal blades jutted out from his wings with a small trickle of blood coming out from where they exited his wing.
Behind the two of them was one of the prettiest mares he had ever seen. Her coat was pure white, like ivory and her mane was just as pure silver. Her eyes were pure aqua blue. Despite the rugged appearance of her friends the mare's coat and main was perfectly trimmed and combed. She stared at him with worry as the griffin moved closer.
“This facility. All those robot attacks, were you behind them?” the griffin asked.
He looked at the creature with confusion. “What are you... I... only defended this... place from creature's like you. Bandit scum who rape and kill everyone in their wake...”
“We're not bandits. We were hired to eliminate whatever it was that was sending those things at people,” the griffin asked as she towered over him.
“Don't forget the incentive of food and water they mentioned,” a voice said from the shadows.
“Yes, that as well. My name is Kree. Why have you been sicking those things on people? You've attacked good ponies an-”
“There's nothing good out there!” Copperwire snapped as he glowered at the creature, his eyes narrowed. “Just monsters and things like that! Don't lie to me and tell me you're not bandits. You travel with a Luna-damned ZEBRA! How can you get any more despicable than that?!”
From behind the griffin there was a snicker from the unicorn mare, “He has a point. I mean, we have Shade with us so it's not like we could be that go-”
“Silver. Not. Now,” the griffin snapped angrily. “Shade isn't bad,” she then paused for a moment, “she isn't completely evil.” There was a cough from behind her. “Fine, she's completely evil but only to the things that try to kill us, okay?! Everyone happy now?!”
“I'm fine being evil. Better than being a useless unicorn who can't survive outside a vault.”
“I'm not useless!” the mare snapped.
“Oh. Right. You can clean our gear. Truly your talents will protect us if we're ever assaulted by a stampede of dirty coats,” the voice said sarcastically.
“ENOUGH!” the griffin yelled and, to her credit, the others did. She then glanced down at him again. “Do you have any idea how many good ponies you've killed?”
He merely sneered, “Good ponies? There is no such thing any more... nothing but monsters out there... All of you should burn i-grrk!” his last words were drowned out as a knife was embedded in his throat.
“Shade!” Kree snapped as the zebra appeared over the pony.
“What?”
“You killed him! Why would you, he... it, why?!” the griffin snarled.
“He's killed hundreds of ponies in his time here. Do you think if we take him back to the village they'll forgive him? No. They'll string him up like a bandit. Then you or your little buck toy will get a fire in your flanks and decide you have to save him or them and frankly I don't give a buck about wasting my time on some ancient killer that would as soon shoot us as look at us,” the zebra said as she leaned down and plucked her knife free and wiping it off on the body. She then slid it into a sheath under her cloak. “Come on, Bolt. Let's see if you can unlock any more of these doors.”
She sauntered off, the pegasus giving a nervous grin to the griffon before following after the cloaked mare.
Kree glanced down at the pony as he slowly bled out, clutching at his throat as he struggled to breath. “I'm sorry...” she mumbled softly as she lowered her pistol and pulled the trigger.
Back in the console room the radar continued to scan away, ping, ping, ping blipblipblipblipblip!