> Soma Psychi Mageia
>  by SubjectNumber2394
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prelude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay, the recording has started. Let's go through the basics, shall we?”

“Fire away, Doctor.”

“Could you tell me your name?”

“Rarity.”

“Just Rarity?”

“Just Rarity, one word name.”

“Well one word names are!”

“One word names are what?”

“Aha, never-mind. Just a poor attempt at a joke.”

“Hmhmm, well I'm sure I'll work it out on the way home and get a giggle out of it.”

“Now I know it's rude to ask a lady her age but could I inquire how many years you are?”

“Anything for a such gentlestallion, I'm twenty nine.”

“Mmmhmm, and I can clearly see you are a unicorn. So check that. Err, any history of mental disorders, damage or illnesses that could affect the outcome of this scan?”

“Unless everyday stress counts, none that I'm aware of.”

“Then I'll just fill in my section...and it's done! We're all set to start. If you'll please take a seat.”

“You couldn't afford to have anything fancier than a fold up chair?”

“Heh, we recently had a bit of a cut to our funding I'm afraid, which is why I'm so grateful for volunteers such as yourself!”

“I completely understand and I'm happy to help in any way I can.”

“Fantastic! Now if you can set yourself up as I showed you before...”

“I just place this part onto my horn?”

“That's it! Then just relax and let the program do its thing. Also try not to use any magic during the scan or you could affect the final image.”

“Will it hurt?”

“Not at all, it's just like getting your picture taken. Only instead of a photo we get a map of the connections between your nervous system, brain, and magic reservoirs.”

“Did you know the buffalo believe that cameras can steal your soul?”

“Well lets hope that doesn't happen! Now just close your eyes and hold still while the machine calibrates.”

“Is...is it supposed to be making so much noise, darling?”

“I'm afraid no amount of technology will make this a quiet procedure, unfortunately.”

“...”

“And that's it! The scan's been taken.”

“Oh, well that was certainly much easier than I thought it would be.”

“See, just like I said! Again, thank you so much for this. It really is a huge help to our scientific endeavour. This will be a great hoof step towards the future of computers and pony kind!”

“It's no worry at all, Doctor. I really do enjoy helping the community in any way I can. Now unfortunately I do have an appointment with a client in a half-hour so I do need to get going. Am I right to lea-”

The recording stopped, cutting off the last word. The listener of the recording let out a short sigh.

“Guess I have my way out then,“ the listener said sadly before switching to their second monitor. “I just hope you can forgive me for this.”
> Chapter One - Radio Silence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was holding my eyes closed, waiting for the good doctor to let me know when the scan was complete. The loud, pulsing noise from the machine had now melded into a gentle hum. The doctor was being very quiet. I didn't want to risk mucking up the scan so I continued to play along. At least for the first minute. The gentle hum was starting to slowly burrow into my head. I was going to gain a few wrinkles at this rate.

Finally I had to ask, “Doctor? Has the machine finished, then?”

There was no reply. It couldn't be too problematic to just have a quick look, right? I opened one eye a crack and saw darkness extend out from where I was seated. The doctor was gone, and so was the rest of the room. The deep oak walls were replaced with unpainted metal. In place of the interesting nick-knacks and gadgets that had littered the room were tracks of ribbed pipes and wires that hung from ceiling to floor. And the door, which had moved a few meters to the left, now looked like a strange elongated submarine hatch.

I shut my eye. Perhaps the scan was just causing hallucinations? It was a scan of my brain after all. Who knows what kind of effect that could have. Well, the doctor probably knew, but apparently he wasn't around now, was he? I checked again, with both eyes this time.
The room had not returned to its original look. Instead it held onto the unclean hospital feel it had decided to adopt. With all the grime and loose ends on show. Really it could be summed up in one word, icky.

Okay, there has to be a good reason for this. Maybe I simply fell asleep and this is just a nightmare. Or maybe they thought I died during the scan and this was the morgue. Or maybe the camera actually had stolen my soul, and this was my own personal Tartarus!
It took me a moment to realise I was screaming. Loudly. I threw my hoof over my mouth, my eyes going wide. The scream continued to echo around the tiny room for a good few seconds after.

I had to relax. Screaming wouldn't get me anywhere. I tried to remember that thing Twilight did to calm herself. Breath in. Stretch out your foreleg. Breath out. I did it again. My heart slowed to the point where I could no longer feel it savagely pumping in my chest.
Able to think clearer, I took stock of my surroundings. I had none of my supplies. The saddlebags I had brought with me were not here. The doctor was not here. I recognised nothing in the immediate area. This was not a good start.

Hopping out of the chair and onto the floor, I trotted over to the door, being careful to step over the lines of cables which ran messily across the room. Now that I was closer I could see the circular handle had more than a few patches of flaking rust eating away at it. It was at times like this I was glad to be a unicorn, my white coat stains far too easily. Taking the wheel in my magical grip, I gave it a clockwise pull. When it failed to budge I tried the counter direction. Still no luck. The rust had crept into the inner workings. This door wasn't opening any time soon.

Okay, maybe there was another way. I scanned the room for anything useful. On the opposite side of the room was the chair I had been sitting in, a featureless table, and an open vent on the far wall. Directly next to the door, to my side, were several screens and computers. They were the same sort of devices the doctor had been typing into before my scan, only these appeared to be far more advanced and much larger. They sat on the floor instead of a desk and still managed to reach my shoulders.

Now I might not be as technologically inclined as Twilight, but I'd like to think I've learned a few things from all those times she would chatter on about her research into the computer sciences. She would excitedly explain how computers were going to change the face of Equestria. And that in a few years nearly everything would have a computer in it. I then explained to her that as interesting as a dress that could keep track of the wearer's whereabouts sounded, there simply wasn't a market for it. Which prompted Twilight to start explaining how the economy was going to be run by computers. Honestly, some days I think her obsession with computers is somehow more unhealthy than her old obsession with the Princess.

Of the three screens positioned on top of each computer only the middle one was not completely blank, although it was very dull. I remembered Twilight telling me computers slept when they were like this. I decided to wake up the screen by pressing a random button on the keypad in front of me. The button made a satisfying mechanical 'click' as it was depressed, and another as I released it.
The screen lit up and was filled from top to bottom with lines of strange information. None of which made any sort of sense. I tried to think back to what I was told about each of the keys and pressed the ENTER button. Instantly every line of text on the screen shifted upwards. Immediately I wanted to un-press the button. I didn't want to lose what was already on the screen by fumbling about like a monkey at a typewriter. I attempted to see the text which had shifted above the screen limits by pressing the button with the symbol of an up arrow. The text didn't shift this time, however a new single line of text now wrote itself at the bottom of the screen.

start E:\users\dr\cerebrum\notes\1003.txt

If I squinted very hard it sort of made sense. Notes of the user Dr. Cerebrum. I couldn't work out what the rest meant. Notes sounded useful, however, so I pressed ENTER again. This time it worked! A new screen opened up with the words 'Notes 1003' written at the top in bold and underscored letters.

Notes 1003

Doctor: Dr Cerebrum

Patient: Misty Wails

Notes_

Today's patient was Misty Wails, a 20 year old pegasus female with severe sleep narcolepsy. Her condition was so pronounced we had to try 3 times to get the scan because she couldn't make it through the full process.

Nothing of particular note for this case. I believe Dr Drops has had some similar situations in the past so I might refer to his solutions to try and speed up the testing cases. Especially when it can be so difficult to get a clean reading when the simulation struggles to replicate normal sleeping conditions.

Misty was provided a doctor's note signed by myself which should exclude her from all physical weather work until we figure something out.

I sighed. That was certainly much less helpful than I had been hoping.

BzzzzzzB

The sudden sound caught my attention and I turned my head towards the source which resided in the top corner of the room. It was a security camera. Which was looking directly at me. I stepped over to the other side of the room and the camera followed my movements. Somepony knew I was here.

“Hello?” I asked tentatively, unsure if the pony on the other end could even hear me. When the camera showed no signs of replying, I decided that I should make the first move. At least try and gain some sort of control of this situation.
With an exaggerated hoof stomp I spoke strongly to the camera, “Excuse me sir or madam, but the door is currently unable to be opened and I am now stuck within this room. I would politely ask to be assisted, please!”

My firm but polite demand was met with silence. For just a moment. Suddenly there was a great screeching of dying metal from the ventilation shaft tucked into the back of the room. My head thumped as the sound was replaced by a rhythmic scraping of metal on metal. The sound was getting closer with each second. As did the thumping. My eyesight blurred. The low hum from before was now trying to split my head apart. I could hardly think. It took me a moment to realise I had collapsed onto the floor.

From this new position I had a clear view directly into the vent where I could now see the source of the sounds. It was some kind of robotic machine with a piercing red light. The machine crept slowly forward along the crawlspace inch by inch, pulling itself along with two long pincer-like protrusions.

I had to get out of there. Whatever that machine was I could only be safer away from it. And the pain being shot through my brain was getting worse and worse by the second. Rows of bright colours flickered across my vision. My eyes stung. Forcing myself to my hooves I stumbled as I attempted to grab hold of one of the computer monitors with my magic. Pain flared through my horn as I tried. In my current state I was unable to concentrate enough to make anything useful happen. Without a second thought I grabbed the largest screen with both fore-hooves and in a desperate, almost primal, need to escape I pulled it free and flung it at the door wheel. The box shattered into pieces, however there was a sharp squeak from the door handle.

I noticed the room had become noticeably brighter, and was now bathed in a strong electric crimson. The loud clanging from the vent was echoing off of the rooms walls. I didn't need to look behind myself to know that the machine had reached the room and was merely hoof steps behind me.
My head was pounding over and over, my heartbeat pulsing through my ears. With as much force as I could gather I threw my hooves down onto the wheel. If I chip a hoof so be it! I couldn't stay in that room for a moment longer. The wheel squeaked again and moved a bit more. Again I raised my hooves and slammed them down. The wheel was loosening up little by little.

Clang...Clang...Clang...

The machine had reached the half way mark of the room. Taking a quick look behind myself I noticed the whole back half of the machine was missing. Cables and metal frames stuck out from a split across what had been its mid section like the guts of a wounded animal. The light, which was on a long stalk, stared straight into me. The two spindly legs it pulled itself along with were getting tangled up in the wires that littered the floor. A spider caught in its own web. But they only slowed it down so much.

The door wheel was now loosened up enough that I could turn it with some effort and two spins later it popped open inwards. I jumped through the gap and pulled on the outside of the door to close it. At the last moment I could see the machine reaching out at me before the door slammed shut with a dull thud. I spun the wheel backwards as hard as I could. With any luck nopony would open the door ever again.

Immediately my headache dissipated, the pain subsided, and my vision was recovering. I dropped against the door, my legs giving out from under me. The panic and adrenaline only now catching up. I could feel my shuttering breaths shaking my whole body, not that my body needed any help with that. I was alone, and I was scared, and I didn't know where anyone else was. I wanted to just lay down and sleep. Wake up in my bed at the boutique. But that wasn't going to happen. I could feel my cheeks dripping, I was crying.

My legs refused any attempts at getting back up. Perhaps resting for a little bit first was a good idea.


---[616c6f6e65]---


It had been a long time since I'd felt so isolated from others. Every day was normally filled to the brim with other ponies. Family, friends, clients, complete strangers I'd see at the markets. But as I awoke from my rest I realised just how empty this place really was. I couldn't hear a single thing. A single meaningful thing that is. The constant low hum I had been hearing since I got here was continuing unabated. It was going to drive me mad if it kept up.

It occurred to me that I didn't even have my friends to rely on. They had always been there, no matter what. I had foolishly become complacent in the idea they would just be right behind me, always. And I'm sure they would be if given the chance. But this was something out of their control. Now I didn't even have the kindness of strangers to assist me.

My legs had recovered and I was able to stand again. The door behind me was still shut, and I had no interest in reopening it. Which left me two options, left or right. Or to stay put, but that didn't really appeal either. To my left was a corridor that turned a corner into the unknown. The direction to my right opened into a larger room with several doors that led to more unknown. In the end it didn't really matter, I certainly didn't have a preference. So I chose right.

The open area was some sort of common room. There were no windows; just steal, iron, pipes and grates like the last room. As well as the corridor to get here. I could only hope to Celestia nopony actually designed this place. And if someone did, they needed to be fired.
A stale haze hung in the air. Small dust motes drifted around the stained room lights that struggled to make do with whatever power they were receiving.

Several elongated tables were placed around the room in no distinguishable pattern. Except for, that is, a strangely clear path curving from one room entrance to another where no tables or objects lay. It was like a snowplough had been driven straight through. It wouldn't be so easy to spot had the rest of the room not been filled with old papers, broken glasses, turned over chairs, and other assortments of general use items.

I slowly made my way through the mess. Carefully stepping over and onto tables to avoid the worst of it. At one point I almost tripped when I was caught off guard by the sound of another camera. Whoever they were they were very interested in my movements. As much as I hoped it was to look out for me I couldn't help but feel I was nothing more than entertainment. An gladiator in a ring of lions.

My hoof stepped onto a lunch tray, squishing into the previous meal. "Uuk!" Great, now I was dirty too. I wiped as much of the decaying peas onto the table top and continued forward, hoping to find some water to wash myself with.

I entered through the first door I could reach, my attention immediately drawn to the closed shutters along the wall. There was a bulky lever to the right of each shutter, the operating mechanism. I really wanted these shutters open, the indoor lights simply weren't doing the job. Much of the room was encased in shadow. The room itself appeared to be a kitchen of some sort. If the, hopefully nonexistent, designers were going for the sterilised industrial look then I applaud them because they nailed it. It included an oversized fridge, bulky cupboards, even an industrial sized kitchen sink. All matte grey.

The lever didn't move gracefully, but as I forced more power into my magical grasp the closest set of shutter blinds slowly rotated, allowing the dreary outdoor light to filter into the room. I excitedly peaked through the blinds. There was a solid blanket of clouds as far as the horizon. It took a moment to realise why the clouds appeared to be so large. I was very close to them. In fact this whole building was in the sky from the looks of it. The only way I was able to even see the ground at all was by standing on the counter to get at the right angle.

Actually if this building was a pegasus construct, then maybe I was in Cloudsdale! Perhaps I did know where I was after all!
My elation was slowly eroded away by the realisation that my situation may actually be even worse than I had previously thought. The outside was as void of ponies as this facility. From this vantage point there should have been lights on the ground from homes and towns. The only life visible at all was a small flock of birds. They appeared to be vultures too. Something about bad omens fluttered through my head. Not only that, but if there weren't any pegasai outside or inside, then I wouldn't be able to get back down to the ground.

I might be stuck here.


---[667269656e64]---


There wasn't much food remaining in the fridge. However, I was able to find a few cans of beetroots and asparagus from a walk in pantry. Although, with nothing to hold them in, I wouldn't be able to take any more than two with me. Fortunately there was an entire room full of useful discarded items that I had walked through to get here. After a bit of scavenging from the common room I was able to put together something that held well enough. While I wasn't able to find a full set of saddlebags, I did find a small wicker basket which I was able to attach to my back by unwinding and re-purposing the handles into a strap to fit around my midsection. It was kind of homely, like those fruit baskets Applejack would collect her apples in. I smirked to myself, even in the middle of an unfamiliar building running from killer robots, I can still make something both practical and stylish.

I placed four of the five cans into the basket. Despite being tempted to hold onto the food as long as possible, I was already hungry. So I pulled open the tab on one of the beetroot cans. It wasn't the most pleasant looking food in Equestria, but it was something. And right now I didn't have much choice. The vegetables were slimy and fell apart with ease. I shuddered slightly under the texture. The taste was better than I thought it would be at least. The juice it had been marinating in for who knows how long might have helped somewhat. Still, what I would do for something fresh...

As I ate I observed the can they came in. There was a faded icon of some sort. Just beneath it I was able to make out the words 'V. A. Farms'. I had never heard of them before, but I was sure Applejack would know who they are. I made a note to avoid all their produce until then.

After I finished I left the kitchen area and wondered back into the common room to continue exploring. A quick skip over the tables found myself walking through the second of three doors. This room had more computers. A lot more than the room I had started in. They lined the walls. It looked like a very important room. I trotted over to the largest console directly in front of me. The buzz of a camera followed my movements. I didn't even look at it this time.

None of the screens currently displayed anything at all this time. They were entirely off. I quickly searched the blocky towers for a power button. Which didn't take long. Large red buttons screaming 'Press Me!' are pretty hard to miss. I pressed it in with a click. The screen lit up in front of me and a flat synthetic piano tune rang out. The computer ran through two screens. One for the computer company Hard Hooves which I recognised immediately as the brand was printed on almost every bit of computer technology I had ever seen. The second I recognised as Twilight's computer research team, Sparkle IO. After a few seconds on each screen the computer finally loaded into what I assumed must have been the main menu.

Three options were presented on the left hoof side of the screen. The first option, titled 'Files', was glowing goldenrod. It sounded interesting, I made a note to come back to that one. The second was titled 'Systems'. Not so interesting, but could prove useful. The final option was 'Communications'. Aha! Almost without thinking I intuitively pressed the DOWN key twice to highlight that final option with the selection glow. Then I pressed ENTER. The screen flashed crimson with an important looking warning.

Signal missing! Autotuning enabled...

I waited patiently for the computer to complete the tuning. I wasn't really sure what it was tuning. But it looked like it was important so I let it tune.

Bzzzzd

That annoying camera sounded again. Except...I hadn't moved...so the camera shouldn't have either. The camera pony was looking at something other than me. I slowly turned my head around to look behind myself and sucked in a breath of air when I saw the bloated mass standing in the doorway.

The features were obscured in shadow but the silhouette revealed four shaky legs holding up a solid mishmash of shapes, as well as strange wisps of smoke, dust or something wafting from it. I didn't move. Not an inch. So far it hadn't either. Then, after a moment of the two of us just staring in complete silence, it turned around and slowly waddled away. I wasn't sure if it had even known I was there, or just didn't care. Frankly, I was just glad it was going. I realised I had stopped breathing. As I slowly started my respiration again I watched the thing walk away and noticed that it made almost no sound. No wonder it had been able to sneak up on me like that. 

Hoping it was gone for good, I turned back to the console. The camera made a buzzing noise as it swivelled to face me again. The tuning had completed at some point during the encounter and now the screen had a list of locations written on it. Cloudsdale, Ponyville, Canterlot, Baltimare, Manehatten, Las Pegasus, and The Chrystal Empire. Most were dimmed and had the words 'Unreachable' written on them. With the exception being just Cloudsdale. Cloudsdale was highlighted by default so I simply pressed ENTER. The screen displayed an animated image of a phone. A bubbly tune played from a small speaker just under the screen. Suddenly there was a click, followed by a voice.

“Hello Rarity,” the voice said. It sounded tinny and distorted.

“Who...who is this?” I asked back in surprise. “How do you know my name?”

“I can't hear you. You need to press the orange button down when you're speaking.” Just under the speaker was a faded, dark tangerine button with a symbol of a microphone on it. I pressed the button down and tried again.

“Yes this is Rarity, now I demand to know who you are and how you know my name!”

There was a light chuckle from the speaker. “Now Rarity, is that any way to greet an old friend? It's Twilight, and I know your name because we used to be friends a long time ago.”
> Chapter Two - Hello World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My mind froze up attempting to connect the voice I was hearing through this tiny speaker to my dear friend.

“T-Twilight?” I managed to stutter.

“Yeah, it's me,” Even through the distortion, Twilight's voice was unmistakable. With just those three words, the bridge between the voice and my friend connected and the mental dam broke.

“Oh, thank Celestia! You would not believe the day I've been having, Twilight! There was this room with a computer and then this robot chased me out of a vent and I couldn't find anyone but I did find a kitchen and saw I was in the clouds, and then there was this absolutely awful tasting food and then another robot and now you!” I couldn't hold back my verbal sick as I threw myself onto the cold console, trying to wrap my fore-hooves around it. Twilight's voice, even warped, was a warm hug during a snow storm. And I had no intention of letting go, lest I freeze to death.

“It's okay, Rarity, I'm here now,” Twilight cooed, “Well, my voice is.”

I continued regardless, "I've just been so scared I mean I haven't seen anyone at all! I had no idea what to do or where to go, I thought I might not see any of you again and...uh....what..what did you mean by 'a long time ago'?" I frowned. Only as I was coming down from my initial wave of relief did I realise how strange that comment had been. We had hardly been separated for more than a day after all.

"A lot's happened and there's even more to explain. It'll take a while to go through it all or you'll just be confused and lost, so first we need to get you out of danger and get you to me," Twilight said.

My eyes were locked to the source of Twilight's voice. Despite the fact that it wasn't actually her in the flesh, it was the closest thing I had right now. “But I don't understand anything that's going on. Where...where are we?”

“We're in Cloudsdale,” Twilight confirmed my earlier guess.

“I thought this might have been," I slowly breathed in and then out, trying to calm myself down, "But...how?”

“How what?”

“How did we end up here? I mean there weren't any signs of magic or teleportation, I just closed my eyes and poof! I was here!” I clarified. There was a pause. It was long enough that I started to worry the call might have closed, “Twilight? Are you there?”

Just as the horrid thought crossed my mind that I might have been imagining Twilight's voice to make myself feel better, she spoke again, “Sorry! I...Rarity this might sound strange but what's the last thing you remember? Before this place, I mean?”

I thought back, “Well, I was helping out your research team. Doctor Membrane asked if he could scan me into your system and I offered my time. I don't know how but during the scan I somehow found myself here.”

“Doctor Membrane? I remember him,” I cocked my head as Twilight thought for a moment, something about the way she phrased that wasn't right, but I couldn't work out what was bothering me so much, “I know how you got here but again it'll take too long to explain, I'll go through it all when you get to me. Trust me when I say you don't want to be where you are any longer than you need to be. I guess I don't really need to tell you that though given what you went through earlier."

I nodded, Twilight was right, first safety, then answers. It was at that moment a thought occurred to me, “I'm not sure how to get to you, I'm afraid. In fact I don't even know where you are, darling.”

Twilight was quick to reply, “I'm not that far away, just on the other side of this facility. I can guide you to me with the cameras.”

“That's you on the cameras?” Surprise and relief flooded my body. I looked to the camera, feeling a lot safer knowing Twilight was looking back.

“It is. How else would I have known it was you calling?”

A sigh of relief escaped me, “Well that makes me feel better to know a friend was looking over my shoulder.” Then I had another thought, “Have you seen any of the others on those cameras of yours? Any of our friends?”

After a short silence from Twilight, “No. It's just you.” Even though we were in different rooms, the air of concern that drifted between us was thick. I had no idea what sort of things Twilight had seen on those cameras. Although if it was even a fraction of what I had seen already then she might be even more worried than myself.

I decided to push forward, “Well it's nothing that can be helped for now. Tell me how to reach you, Twilight, and we can work out what to do from there.”

“There's a few more directions than you'll be able to remember so I'll need to be able to communicate with you on the way.”

I frowned, “And how do we do that? Are there more communication computers like this one?”

“Well, yes. But reaching them will be both tedious and dangerous so I have a better option. On the counter behind you there's an earpiece." I looked around and found the machine grey earphone and mic easily enough. I floated it to myself and looked over the device but could find no way to turn it on.

“Put it in your ear,” Twilight instructed. I placed it into my right ear, ensuring the mic rounded my cheek to sit just in front of my mouth.

“I haven't used one of these before, it feels a little strange.”

Twilight chuckled, it sounded wrong hearing it so compressed. “You'll get used to it. Now go to the keyboard, there should be two buttons. One that has the letters A, L, T, and the S key.”

It took a couple of seconds, the keyboard layout was still so unfamiliar, “Hmm, okay I see them.”

“You need to hold down the ALT button, and then press the S button.”

“Press the S button while still holding down the ALT button?” I asked for confirmation.

“Yes,” Twilight answered. I performed the given instructions and the monitor in front of me changed to display a new menu. I didn't quite understand what the options meant, but Twilight must have had experience with this menu as she continued to guide me through the camera from her corner of the room.

“Okay the screen changed,” I informed.

“Press DOWN twice to highlight the third option down. Then press ENTER.”

I read aloud the option Twilight wanted me to select, “The one that says 'Live Sim', colon, fullstop, 'Unit Coms' with the little phone and a bunch of numbers and letters next to it?”

“That's the one.”

I did as I was told and selected the option. There was a beep. “Oh! I heard a beep.”

"Good, that should make me mobile," said Twilight, her clear voice now ringing through my ears.

“Oh, I can hear you!" I said excitedly, then cocked my head to the side in confusion wondering why it sounded like Twilight was everywhere. "That's strange though, I can hear you with both ears, as if you were right here. I thought the sound only came from the device?"

"There's an enchantment on them that copies the sound to the other ear," Twilight explained, "Mono only I'm afraid," She chuckled at her own joke, whatever the joke had been. But I nodded anyway, now that I thought about it I had never actually seen a performer or announcer with two before. Why make another physical set when a spell could do the job just as well, I suppose.

"So I can go anywhere now and I'll be able to hear you?”

“Within the city, yes. You'll lose connection if you go any further and would need to actually take me with you if you wanted to do that and keep talking.”

“That's the plan! We're getting out of here together, darling.”

“...get to me first and then we'll work out what we're doing,” As much as she tried to hide it, there was an unmistakable dejected tone in Twilight's voice.

“Twilight?”

“Right! So..so...let's find where you need to go first.” 


 ---[7472757468]--- 


Every step I took reverberated around the tight corridor. I didn't feel quite as terrified as before, knowing Twilight was watching over me. But that didn't stop the shivers running down my spine at every tiny sound; even at each of my own hoofsteps as they clanged about on the metal floor. More of those metallic monsters could be wondering around anywhere. I had seen how quiet they could be. The quietness I had been 'just' unnerved by previously now terrified me. I made a mental note: just because it's quiet, doesn't mean no one's home.

I hadn't travelled far from the room where I found Twilight. Through the headset, she navigated me back to the room where I had started in, which I trod past very carefully, and down the path I previously decided against. She assured me that there was nothing dangerous ahead. As I passed through each corridor I sought out the cameras to ensure Twilight could always see me. I desperately wanted to reach her, to just see a friend again. Just to see another pony again.

It couldn't have been more than a day since I found myself in this dreadful place and I was already struggling. I was never the bravest of my friends, that was always Applejack and Rainbow Dash's thing. They would do much better here than myself, I'm sure of it. Not that I would ever want for them to have to go through this. Now that I thought about it, if Fluttershy was here I could only hope she found a place to hunker down. The poor dear was far better than she used to be, but this place would easily be too much for her sweet heart.

"Take the next right." Twilight instructed, breaking me from my thoughts.

There were further paths ahead of the one Twilight indicated, but their mysteries would have to remain. As I turned right, the path opened into a large room. It was shaped like a ninety degree triangle, only with the hypotenuse curving away instead of running straight. My eyes were immediately drawn to the curved wall, which was entirely made of glass panels connected together with thin strips of metal. The panels reached from the floor to the ceiling. Much of the glass was broken and cracked, letting through a strong breeze. My shivering was now the result of a sudden drop in temperature, rather than the sounds in the dark. There was an almost musical whistle from the wind as it passed through the glass spiderwebs. The rest of the room had a few rotting couches, and some vending machines against the corner. There wasn't much to go off of, but an employee break room was fairly unmistakable.

I made my way closer to the glass wall and took in the incredible view before me. Beyond the window was an expansive vista of Equestria that I had been unable to see through the shutters previously. The clouds were still coating the sky, gently glowing. The sun must have been above them somewhere, but the clouds only let through so much of the light and the rest of the land was sitting in a deep shadow and a thick mist. There was only one exception, where the light shone through the clouds and lit up the unmistakable ground below. The Everfree Forest. Where the clouds moved on their own. There could only be one reason the sky was covered how it was, the pegasai had covered the sky on purpose. What could lead them to do such a thing? I was about to ask Twilight if she knew when I noticed something else that was far more surprising. It was shocking, even. There was no Ponyville. Right in the valley where it should have been was now an expansive town at least four times the size of Ponyville. There were large business buildings and parks, and no houses that maintained small town rural qualities, but were instead entirely brick and tiles.

"Twilight?"

"Hmm?"

"Where's Ponyville? I can't see Ponyville anywhere," I asked, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

"It's right where it's always been," Twilight answered nonchalantly. No, that couldn't be right. Because that was definitely not Ponyville that I was looking at. Then I saw it, the gears in my head ground to a halt. At the centre of the miniature city, I could see something that looked frighteningly familiar, surrounded by a fenced off garden. As much as I wanted to not believe, to blink and have it disappear, there was only one tree house in all of Equestria with that amount of purple presence and crystal glory. Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle. My head hurt, I felt angry and I didn't even know why. Nothing today was making any sense at all! I wanted answers and I wanted them now.

"How? How is that possible? Ponyville shouldn't be nearly that large!" I exclaimed.

"Like I said before, it's going to take a while to explain. You need to keep moving before something finds you, please," Twilight replied calmly.

No, this room looked safe enough. And I had reached the limit of my confusion. I needed this. I kept my eyes towards the impostor-ville while trying to keep my voice steady, "But there's nopony down there, Twilight! Just answer this at least, because I feel like I'm walking a tightrope blind. Tell me what you meant by 'a long time ago'. Please. Just give me something to hold onto." My mane gently brushed against my face, being stirred up by the wind.

Twilight sighed. I thought she was about to insist I keep moving again, and I wasn't actually prepared to fight her if she did. I simply didn't have the energy for arguing. "I'm sorry, Rarity. I should have said something earlier but I was afraid it might just make things worse. You're a strong pony and I've been underestimating that," Twilight said, surprising me. She took a moment, working out how to proceed. I thought back, the idea of me passing out during the scan was feeling a lot more plausible now. I wondered how long I had been out for.

"Well, Rarity, I don't know how to tell you this, but there's no use suger coating it...it's been a few...decades since that visit with Dr. Membrane," Twilight said slowly and uncomfortably.

My blood went cold. Decades. I had lost decades? I could feel my eyes widening on their own. I was unable to breath. I didn't want to believe it, but this was Twilight, she didn't joke around about these kinds of things. And if seeing is believing, then right now the entire world was showing me the truth right in front of me. I held myself, the shock alone preventing me from fainting right there. "H..how many decades?" My voice was hardly a whisper.

The fact that Twilight had to think about it only served to put me on even more of an edge, "Six decades...and eight years."

I blinked. Nearly seventy years? But...that couldn't be right at all. Frowning, I held a hoof up in front of me. It was not the wrinkled, fading hoof of an elderly ninety-seven year old on their death bed. No, my hoof and the rest of myself that I could see, for that matter, were still young, spry and full of energy. In fact, somehow I had managed to keep myself looking pristine even through the traumatic events of the last day. Twilight was either lying, or just plain wrong. I couldn't imagine any reason for her to lie. But then I couldn't understand how the smartest pony I knew would be so misinformed. She was keeping something from me, she had to be. All I could imagine is that she thought it was something that was better left unknown to me for now and that she had her reasons. Now I may trust my friends to the end of the world but I still hold the right to be upset with them. And upset I was.

Six decades, puh! It simply wasn't true. It was ridiculous to think such a thing. I shook my head, I could tell I wasn't going to get anything else out of Twilight and whatever game she was playing. Instead of arguing, I just stomped the ground with a hoof, turned from the window, and trotted through the exit. Twilight said nothing. If she didn't want to tell me what was going on I would just have to get it from her later.


 ---[6368696c64]--- 


"Hold up a minute," Twilight said suddenly. I paused mid step. If Twilight had seen any more of those horrid creatures, I didn't want to risk attracting its attention by moving even a muscle. I still wore the frown from our previous conversation, but I wasn't going to risk death over a flight of irritation. The silence ticked by as Twilight did whatever it was she was doing. Finally she returned with a sigh, "Alright, I didn't want you to have to go through this way but there doesn't seem to be another choice. The other routes are far too dangerous."

"What's the problem with this route?" I asked.

"It's...well I'll just say it has some unpleasant things in there." Again with the vague answers. Sensing the unease the statement may have caused me she added quickly, "Nothing dangerous I assure you! Just an unfortunate fact of this future. Something I don't like to think about." Sure, future. I wasn't sure what Twilight meant by 'unfortunate fact', but I could put up with some unpleasantness if it meant a safer trip. Personally I would rather she just told me what the problem was.

I started walking forward again before pausing, hair standing on end. Ahead of me somewhere I could hear a faint rhythmic tapping sound. "Twilight? I can hear something up ahead."

"It's okay, Rarity. Like I said it's not dangerous. Just try to ignore it. I'm still watching over," Twilight reassured me. I swallowed, bracing myself for whatever could be putting Twilight on such an edge. With my pace slowed, I carefully followed the corridor into another control room. This one looked much larger than the one I found Twilight in, at least four times the size. Steel consoles were built into the walls, and I couldn't see any primary monitors. Just lots of smaller ones positioned both on top of the consoles and onto the ceiling above them. The primary lights were turned off or broken, the only light filtering into the room was through windows at the far end. Smaller lights flickered across the consoles like fireflies in the night. I didn't have a clue what any of them could mean. The only other exits to the room were two doors, one to the right and one to the left. That and another vent, which I kept my distance from.

The clanging of metal was coming from within the room, but I couldn't see any source. I stopped in the centre of the room, reassessing the location of the sound. I realised it was actually coming from the broken window on the far wall which led into a brightly lit corridor. I eyed the door to my right, the direction Twilight had directed me to travel in. However, my curiosity got the better of me and I slowly crept forwards regardless.

"You need to go right," Twilight said. There was strain in her voice. I ignored her. If she wouldn't tell me what's going on then I would just have to find out myself. "Rarity..."

I stepped up to the broken window panes between a gap in the wall consoles and froze when a loud crunch emanated from under my hooves as I stepped onto a few crumbling bits of glass that were littering the ground. I sucked in a breath of air. Immediately the sound I had been seeking out ceased. A calm air washed over the room. Then something happened that I would never have expected, "Hello?" A voice asked, "Is someone there?" It sounded like a foal, but not quite.

I was conflicted between my instinct to respond to someone who may be hurt, and my desire to not attract things that could hurt me. My mind decided on a compromise and I before I realised it I had whispered back, "Yes there is, where are you?"

"I'm just over here!" The voice had hope, "I can't find my mommy." It was coming from the corridor on the other side of the window.

"It's okay," I comforted in a voice I'd used on occasion for Sweetie Belle when she had bad days at school. I placed my hooves onto the window gap, being careful to avoid the remaining shards of glass. "We can look for her toge..." My voice died on my lips as I peaked through the window and into the hallway beyond. In front of me was not the small frightened filly I was expecting. But a strange robotic creature like before. My mind was caught between wanting to find and comfort the child and run away from the murderous robot.

Before I had a chance to decide, the robot turned to look in my direction, "Please? Please help me," it said. I felt my eyes widen. Almost every nerve in my body was screaming at me to turn around and run back to the window room. But the staring eyes of the machine froze me in place like a burglar that's been caught breaking in. This wasn't like the last one.

"What are you?" it asked. The machine didn't clamber towards me like the first one I had found. Instead it just stood there on four legs. Unlike the previous robot, this one was smaller, and appeared to be in an exceptionally better condition. It had an entire back half, including all four legs, and was wearing a rather unsightly dark slate gray suit made of what appeared to be a much more advanced form of latex rubber than I had ever seen before. A closed helmet fitted over the two glowing crimson eyes that were otherwise shrouded in darkness. Both of which were focused on myself through the dirtied glass panel. The whole getup reminded me of an old diving suit, like the one Pinkie Pie owned. At first I thought it might be to protect the fragile metal and electronic components from being damaged through physical damage, but then it occurred to me that water proof material was expensive and a designer would only use it if you absolutely needed to keep out water. Of which there's a lot of in Cloudsdale. The city was made of it. Someone was protecting their toy from rust.

I shook my head, this was no time for material design. Scanning over the rest of the scene, I noticed the robot was wired into several computers and devices sitting on a large trolley. The robot attempted to pull forward towards me, only to be stopped by the taunt wires. The trolley shifted and the computers tilted, only to be flung back when the pull stopped and created a loud slapping sound as they came together. I flinched, my ears folded back. Two diagonally opposite wheels of the trolley were missing, causing the entire thing to tilt when the robot pulled. The combined weight of the computers must have been too heavy for it to pull along with it.

"Why wont you help me?" It asked. I frowned, it wanted me to help it? Whatever this robot was built for I couldn't imagine. Who would make a robot that needs help? Even without any way of expressing itself, it still somehow managed to look scared. Which I knew was impossible, robots weren't able to feel anymore than an abacus. They were just fancy computers. That didn't stop a twinge of pity for the thing from running through my heart, though. Us ponies could be ever so emotional, even over the silliest of things.

I reached out my magic to release the trapped device by wrapping my magic around the tethers that bound it. Before I was able to do anything, however, two separate things happened. The first was that Twilight suddenly cried out in alarm. Unfortunately whatever she had said was in-audible over the second thing that happened: my head exploding in agony. I yelled out, fell back onto the glass, and covered my head. I held my eyes closed as forcefully as I could, crying out and rolling around in a futile attempt to alleviate the pain. The thumping and low whine reverberating around in my head continued for nearly an entire minute before it settled enough that I could slowly pull myself off the floor. I wiped a few pieces of glass from my coat, and blinked away the tears that had built up in my eyes. Fortunately none of the glass had managed to scratch me, small favours I guess. I panted hard, still recovering from the shock of whatever had just happened.

"Are you okay, Rarity?" I heard Twilight ask quietly.

I didn't answer right away, still trying to catch my breath, "I'll be fine...let's just keep moving." I could hear what almost sounded like crying from the robot in the hallway. I briefly considered going back and trying again, but decided I didn't want to risk that kind of pain for a machine. Worried about using my magic while I was near the robot, I physically picked up my food cans that had fallen out of my basket and replaced them, my legs shaking the entire time. With the little energy I had left to lift my hooves, I slowly trudged towards the direction of Twilight.
> Chapter Three - Memory Leak
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Rarity," said Twilight simply.

No words had been spoken since the robot incident, the most recent incident that is. The more of these robots I ran into the more I realised it was perhaps hopeful to believe that where ever Twilight had hidden herself away was any safer than out here. This place was infested with the things, and even the most placated of them was hazardous to my health. It made me wonder what the rest of the world was like. Would there even be somewhere to run to once I had found Twilight? How long could we run for?

"Where do I go next?" I inquired in a whisper, patently ignoring Twilight's implied request for discussion.

The sigh on the other end did not go unnoticed, "Just through the server room coming up, there should be a back door you can get through. Take the door at the end of the corridor, then there'll be an open area for deliveries. I'm at the top floor of the building across from that," Twilight directed as I mentally visualised the path I would have to remember. When I was sure I had it, I stepped into the server room.

Lengthy walls of screen-less computers stood side by side, forming an array of parallel alleyways. The floor was pocketed with a pattern of perforations, although I couldn't see anything beyond the solid second layer beneath. The door closed automatically behind me with a pressurised swoosh and a click and immediately I noticed how warm the room was. Not just warm, but hot, and uncomfortably so. "Is this room supposed to be on fire?" I asked to myself, forgetting Twilight could hear me regardless of how loud I spoke.

"Not at all, that room is actually designed to be one of the coolest in the building. There's a whole system dedicated to allowing a constant flow of air to run through it. The flow's probably been blocked up somewhere. So with those servers still running the heat is just building up," Twilight answered, "Hopefully it shouldn't get any worse, those servers aren't exactly being used anymore."

"What are...were they used for?" I asked, stopping to examine the nearest box. A solid chartreuse light stared back, awake and ready. The smooth dark grey exoskeleton of the device reflected the red warning lights throughout the rest of the room.

"I never taught you that? Well, servers are basically filing cabinets that anyone can request information from, so long as they have a connection to it. They can also do some more advanced stuff like officiating games between two ponies, or solving complicated problems," Twilight explained, "The ones in that room, though, are just storage to hold all the patient, medical and research data that comes through here." She hummed knowingly, "And before you ask I already have backups, so don't worry about that."

To be brutally honest I wasn't worrying about that at all, the mention of information had piqued my interest. "Information, you say?" I poked my head around the corner of the servers for some way to access the information stored on them. Perched on the far wall was a computer screen. Just the computer screen with no box. It had to be the access to the information.

I had just started to step over to the screen when I noticed several alien-looking glowing lights in the peripheral of my vision. The source was a series of small aquamarine lights embedded into a bunch of featureless vine-like growths. Only these...didn't look natural. They were more like computer wires than vines. They unnerved me. This was some sort of non-organic plant? The glowing implied there was energy flowing through it. It definitely wasn't placed here by anyone. It had clearly grown up through the cooling vents to reach this room. At least of all the things I had seen come out of a vent recently this looked pretty harmless.

It twirled around one of the closest server boxes. I eyed one of the vines which had grown up along the wall, and was now collecting on the sprinkler system along the roof. It was also leaking some sort of black, oily goop onto the ground. It didn't look particularly safe. I decided not to touch the goop, for the sake of both my coat and health.

"Well, I believe I've found your problem, Twilight."

"What did you find?" She asked, "The camera doesn't have an angle of that corner of the room."

"There's some sort of strange vine growing up through the vent. But it looks...I'm not quite sure...artificial?"

"Oh! I know what you're talking about."

"What is it?" I asked, curiousness overtaking me.

"I have some theories, but nothing solid. I've been watching it grow on some of the monitors, it's all over the place. I'm not really sure what it's doing but I think it might have something to do with one of the A.I.s we had running on the systems. The behaviour lines up pretty well to the model at least. It seems to be attracted to anything electronic. Which is probably why it found its way into that room. How an AI managed to form into those vines I have no idea. It's strange though, they kind of look like..."

"The Everfree vines that took over Ponyville a few years ago?" I completed.

"Exactly."

"What is an...A.I.?" I asked.

"It stands for Artificial Intelligence, basically a really smart computer program." I still wasn't really sure I understood why that was significant, but I moved along for Twilight's sake.

"Is it dangerous?" I took a step back, realising how close I carelessly had walked to it.

"Uuh, maybe? It probably wont hurt you, if it actually is the same A.I.. In fact it's more likely to do the opposite. Still, I've seen bits of it stuck to some of the birds that are still flying around so it's probably best not to take the chance."

I nodded, deciding to leave the vines alone. Instead, I made my way over to the console and started tapping at the keypad.

"What are you trying to do?" Twilight asked.

I sighed, "I'm sorry, Twilight. It's not that I don't trust you but I just want to check a few things myself." If Twilight had any disagreements, she voiced none of them. Although I had the feeling she was worried about upsetting me any more.

This computer was a lot like the previous computer, with a nice visual menu instead of that text version from the room I arrived in. The options were pretty straight forward, and within moments I was viewing a list of files. There was a lot. Many thousands at least. Simply far too many to look through, it would take hours, if not days. There had to be a faster way to search through these.

I spied a magnifying glass icon in the upper corner of the screen. Instantly I was reminded of Shadow Spade. The sneaky detective would always have a magnifying glass on hoof in their search for answers. That must be what it was, a search! Oh yes, this was all perfectly doable. So long as I kept my wits about me. I smiled to myself, despite being a little disappointed I didn't have my detective outfit.

A few taps later and I was able to type into the search field. Although now I wasn't quite sure what it was that I should actually search for. I thought over what could provide me with answers. Perhaps 'Equestria'? It was a tad generic, but it would be a start. After typing into the field I pressed ENTER. Just as many results as before appeared. Apparently nearly every single file had 'Equestria' written into it somewhere. Which was not surprising at all now that I thought about it.

Maybe something a bit more contained would work. I tried 'Ponyville'. This time the results narrowed down to the hundreds. Progress, but still too many to manage in a timely manner. I would mostly likely have to search for individuals to cut down the results enough.

I thought about checking for Twilight. But stopped myself. Twilight did say the server stored medical records. It would be a breach of privacy to look through her files. I couldn't do that to her, even while being upset. I couldn't do that to any of my friends. Actually, I just couldn't bring myself to do that to anyone.

Which meant there was only one choice, myself. With a little trepidation I typed 'Rarity' into the search. Then I pressed the ENTER button. Immediately the search returned only five files. They were displayed on the screen in order of date created. The first four files included:

'E:\patients\unicorn\rarity001\birthcertificate.pdf'
'E:\patients\unicorn\rarity001\scan\0008-05-03.scn'
'E:\patients\unicorn\rarity001\braindamage\0050-01-16.txt'
'E:\patients\unicorn\rarity001\amnesia\0050-06-16.txt'

The last file, however, caught my complete and utter attention. As I read the filename, I felt myself pale.

'E:\patients\unicorn\rarity001\deathcertificate.pdf'

Death...I wasn't dead. No that wasn't possible! How could I possibly have a death certificate when I was right there?! I was right there! Once again, nothing was adding up. Twilight believed I was old, when I had not aged a day. This server claimed I was dead, but I clearly wasn't! And yet the dates revealed a story written in light. One that was impossible to ignore. If I...Rarity...was really dead, then how could I be here? Who was I?

With a tremble, I highlighted the file, and opened it.

-------------------
MEDICAL EXAMINER'S - CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

SECTION ONE
1. DECEASED NAME: RARITY
2. SEX: FEMALE
3. DATE OF DEATH:  MARCH 08, 0059
4. COUNTRY OF DEATH: EQUESTRIA
5a. AGE-LAST BIRTHDAY: 80
5b. DATE OF BIRTH (MONTH, DAY, YEAR): APRIL 16, 0979 ANN
6a. CITY, TOWN, TWP, OR ROAD DISTRICT NUMBER: PONYVILLE
6b. HOSPITAL OR OTHER INSTITUTION: PONYVILLE MEDICAL CENTER
7. MARRIED, NEVER MARRIED, WIDOWED, DIVORCED(SPECIFY): DIVORCED
8. CAUSE OF DEATH: INTERNAL BLEEDING CAUSED BY IRREPARABLE BRAIN DAMAGE
-------------------

I stopped reading. I simply couldn't continue. My head felt light. Brain damage? And that amnesia file? That amnesia was the only part with any merit because I certainly couldn't remember when any of this happened. When did I get married for pony's sake?!

I felt myself fall back onto the cold floor. Could...Twilight have been telling the truth? How far would anyone need to go to set this all up to trick me? Not even the Pinkie and Rainbow prankster team could pull something this elaborate. Although that was largely because they simply wouldn't have the patience to fill out all these forms. But it just didn't make any sense, otherwise! I had to know more.

Unfortunately I wouldn't get that chance. As I reached out to select another file, Twilight spoke up, "Rarity, you've got to go," her voice was hushed and quickened, "There's something coming from the hall you entered through."

I didn't need to be told twice. My eyes flew around the room, looking for the way out. The room wasn't too large, fortunately, and I managed to spy the exit door on the same wall as the console, just a few meters away. Without another thought I sprinted over to the exit. My hoof was just about to tap against the glowing 'open' panel when the door I had entered through opened. My vision instantly started to flicker and blur. I didn't know what was causing the disruption, but it wouldn't go away when I closed or rubbed my eyes. Even my hearing struggled to work properly. Through the strange distortion, the creature's steps were slow and heavy. I wasn't sure if it'd come over to this side of the room but I didn't want to take the chance. I could already feel myself starting to shake again.

When I pressed the door button down, it let out an electronic beep and the door shifted open with a jolt. I cursed at myself for forgetting how loud the doors were! Immediately the robot ceased its stomping, let out a deep, broken, screech and quickened its pace towards me. Each step rhythmically pounding the floor and sending tremors through the room. With no more hesitation I bolted through the door and down the corridor beyond.

Now I don't consider myself a track runner by any means, in fact I can't stand running in general, but anypony will sprint for their lives when the adrenaline is pumping. Unfortunately robots must have some equivalent because it was faster still. The stomping was catching up, getting louder and louder. It screamed out in some garbled yell. I braved a quick look behind myself. It looked like the first one I had seen. Bulky and squared off with a single eye stalk tracking me like an eagle would a mouse. Only where the first one was hurt, this one seemed complete. Two large piston powered legs carried the whole creature. It towered above me, at least double my height. The light from its 'eye' bathed me in crimson.

I tried to scream but it caught in my throat. My vision worsened the closer it approached, the bright flashes disorientating me. The cans in my basket only made things worse as they knocked around my balance.

Just ahead I could make out the door I needed to enter. Just as it was about to catch up, I darted into the entrance, and just in time. I heard the air rush by as it missed by millimetres. The robot wasn't expecting the turn and I heard it stumble and crash in the hall. I didn't stop to see if it was down and out or getting back up for another round. Instead I shot around a few of the large cargo containers in the open dock to remove any line of sight with the door.

The dock was huge. The largest area I had been in so far, and completely open on one side to allow airships and ponies to travel in and out. The sky beyond was dark thanks to the cloud layer, but some of the nearby clouds and buildings were lit up by the powerful, if sterile, industrial dock lights. Yellow safety lines had been drawn here and there along the ground, partitioning off specified areas and marking potential dangers.

I peaked over the smooth concrete edge, now very glad for the spell infused floor holding me up. There was nothing below but more clouds. Visions of my horrid fall at Rainbow's Best Young Flyer's Competition flashed through my head. I shook my head to clear away the ghastly images, and ducked into the nearest steel shipping container and pressed myself against the dark inside.

I hardly had a moment to contain myself when the robot reached the room, having righted itself and turned around in the hall. The cargo crates blocked it from being able to immediately seek me out. I just hoped to goodness that it didn't have a sense of smell because, after spending all this time in this horrid, bath-less, place, my scent alone could alert an entire town to my presence.

It wasn't moving. I only knew this because I couldn't hear the haunting steps. I waited with baited breath. Not willing to let myself make even the tiniest of sounds. The only noise was the wind gently passing by, whipping through spaces between the storage, and the fluid pulsing through the veins in my ears. The pulse was so strong that my body involuntarily rocked back and forth in time to it. Then, finally, thankfully, the robot started moving again, apparently satisfied that I was no longer a threat. It didn't return to the door, but instead calmly walked to one of the loading bays opposite the open wall to continue doing...whatever it was that these things did.

I decided to wait before moving again. If just to fight off the shakes that had returned, and clean myself up.

Breath in.

Breath out.


 ---[626c61636b626f78]---


It may have been minutes, it might have been hours. I wasn't really sure. But at some point I had calmed myself enough to start moving again. Twilight had been as quiet as usual. Just some gentle prods to remind me how close I was to her location. After the third time, I decided to make my move.

With a quick hoof-groom of my mane, I poked my head out of the container and checked for any killer robots. I couldn't hear it anymore, but I was still weary. Finding none, I slipped out and along the path between the containers and the edge of the dock. The wind was cool on my coat. Twilight was just up ahead. I could see the building and mentally guessed where she might be. I hadn't felt this good since before I arrived. Everything was looking up.

It didn't take long for the door to the next building to come into view. I was about to pick up the pace when a bizarre sight caught my attention through one of the parted container doors. I slowed, and gently prodded the door open wider to get a look inside. Light poured in, and my face fell as my brain parsed the horror I was looking at.

"Oh..oh, Celestia no..." was all I was able to get out. My throat closed up and breathing became difficult as my widened eyes refused to move from the sight in front of me. Leaning against the crate wall, staring into nothing, was the decaying body of a stallion. It was bathed with dark red. Multiple deep lacerations cut across it's frame, exposing the insides. The mane and tail had long fallen out, and the faded bronze coat was half way along. It had clearly been here for a long while. It wore a ripped and dirtied uniform that was reminiscent of a mail pony. The remains of a wing stuck out from the stitched wing-hole, hardly a feather remaining. A name tag hung limply from the front pocket.

A body. My heart thudded against my chest. A dead body. I started hyperventilating. I didn't know what to do. I had never seen a dead body before. My jaw refused to work and my legs locked up. I did the only thing I could think of, I reached out with my magic and plucked the name tag from the suit. There was a picture of the pony in their non-dead form. A boxy looking stallion that didn't look too pleased to have his photograph taken stared back. According to the tag, his name had been Sky Tracker. ID was 4058. I placed the ID into my basket.

"Are you going to be okay?" I heard Twilight say, "I know that can't be easy for you." I had seen the cameras lining the roof, opening the door had revealed the body to my watching friend as well.

It certainly wasn't easy. As I stared into Tracker's soulless eyes I thought about how dangerous this place was. So many times I could have died, myself. This could have been me...this could still be me, if I wasn't careful.

"It's easy for you?" I asked, no strength in my voice.

"No," she replied, "And I hope it never is. There's a lot of cameras in this facility, they see a lot of things. Some are...more difficult than others. But it's never easy." I wasn't sure she was talking to me right now. It didn't bother me if she wasn't. How could I let anything bother me when ponies were meeting their fate like this. Huddled in a transport crate, alone and scared for their lives.

This was it. Of everything I had seen: the robots, the technology, my death certificate. It was this body that sealed my fate. I didn't know how, but Twilight was right. This wasn't my time anymore. I had to believe that now. For this stallion's sake, I refused to believe this was just a joke. Or that this was a dream. My dreams didn't sink this low, and Luna would be here to help if this was a nightmare. No, this poor pegasus deserved my belief of his existence, and by extension, this world. If only because nopony else knew they were here, knew of their struggle and their demise. It would be a disservice not to.

I blinked away the tears that had formed and tried to take a deep breath in, but it just caused my body to painfully shudder. My legs wouldn't comply to the demands to start moving. Instead I just kept looking, at all the blood, at the tattered clothing. I wasn't even sure why anymore.

Something was nagging at me. A small twinge, a feeling of...something, that was right there. I couldn't see what, but I knew it was just in front of me. I reached out and gently pressed my hoof against the stallion's face.

uy76=6sd9-s<-3dfgu88332?/

"Hey Gear, is this the last of them?"

"Yeah, we don't need anything more."

"Alright, let's grab the others and head out."

metal screeching

"What was that?"

"Shhh!"

loud clanging

"AARG!"

"TRACKER!"

"GAAAARrrrprpr"

electronic screeching

s9iuhoi33__sds!@ref3t%w34

My senses returned, the strange audible scene having finished playing through my ears.

"What was that?" I asked.

"What was what?" Twilight returned.

"I just-" But I was interrupted by a disturbingly close roar. "Oh no...oh no no no no no," I whispered frantically, jumping from the container. It had heard me, returned, and was now stalking closer, somewhere from the other side of the room.

The body was not forgotten but I pushed it out of my head to run for the exit door. But it was too late, before I could reach my salvation the machine barrelled from between a gap in the crates with its unholy sounds and slammed into my side. All I could feel was blunt pain. With no safety rails I flew off the side of the dock. I sailed downwards, flailing about trying to get a grip on anything. But there was no stopping my descent.

The distorted screech of the robot disappeared somewhere ahead of me. It hadn't even tried to stop, it might not have even known the fall was there, and followed me down. I didn't see where it went, however, I was too busy screaming and trying to stop myself from falling faster. There were a few clouds below me. I braced to fall through them. Shockingly, however, instead of passing through, I instead slammed into the closest cloud at full speed.

There was surprise, confusion, then pain. Then nothing.
> Chapter Four - Buffer Overflow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stress. We all deal with it in different ways. Whether its day-to-day 'I have to get all this work done' stress, or 'I can't handle this social situation' kind of stress. It needs to be handled the right way or it will drive you up the wall and around the ceiling fan a few times for good measure. And everyone has various ways of alleviating the problems brought on by its troubles.

My dear friend Fluttershy tends to block out the world around her, hiding away until the problem passes on its own. Twilight has gone off the rails a few times, causing her to lose sight of her mental anchors: logic and reason. Rainbow Dash lashes out at those around her with a reckless disregard to her self. Pinkie changes her own view of reality until the stressful corners have been rounded...and dear Applejack focuses so much on powering through troubles that she often loses sight of the most obvious and simple solutions.

It may not always be the most healthy of methods, but it's how we cope.

I myself, am known for the dramatics. A flair for theatrics. I know this because no-one is unaware of their own actions and crying out the wrongs of the world to any who would listen is not something you do idly. Having those actions then called out by your friends also helps.

Alas when I awoke on a cloud after being pushed off of an industrial docking station by a killer robot in a strange future, all things conducive to stress I might add, I may have been somewhat...shall we say...stressed.


---[73686f636b20616e6420617765]---


I awoke with a gasp, staring straight out and across the sky towards the far horizon. My body was stiff and heavy as I slowly came to. The events prior slowly coalesced in my mind as I struggled to remember how I had fallen unconscious.

With the gracefulness that only a brick could match, I managed to flip myself onto my belly. My eyes widened as I took in the scene around myself, "Wha..uuh...ooh...oh goodness!"

The dock I had been run off of was some distance far above me. The robot which had been most likely charging at full speed was nowhere to be seen. I could only assume it had sailed past, could only hope.

I mustn't have been out for too long. While I still couldn't directly catch a glimpse of the sun, the sky had not turned dark.
Of all the things around me which demanded my attention, only one was so inquestionably incorrect that I was unable to tear my eyes away from it.

The cloud which I sat upon.

Really, it begged the question, how was I even still alive and not plummeting to my dreadful death? My hooves were softly supported by the spongy cloud below me. Which should have been impossible. I was a unicorn after all...and I had certainly not cast any cloud walking spells. At least that I could remember. In fact, now that I thought about it, I didn't even know a cloud walking spell! Twilight was the one with all sorts of spells up her custom fitted sleeves.

...But of course, Twilight! I spun about on the spot with a burst of renewed energy. She had to be here! She must have been the one to cast the spell, saving me from my untimely demise!

I cried out to her, "Twilight! Darling! My rescuer! Thank you ever so much!" Sadly, my wails fell on deaf ears and no reply was returned. There was not a single living soul in sight or sound, "Twilight? Where are you...?" My bottom lip started to tremble, my excitement crumbling fast, "...darl..."

"Rarity? Is that you?" Twilight! She was here! I knew she would never leave me!

"Oh Twilight! You're still there!" My relief was palpable; you could palp it!

"Of course, I'm always here," she sounded equally relieved, "Where did you go? I saw you get thrown off the edge by that thing and then I lost you. I still can't find you anywhere."

I took a mental recap of my surroundings, there was very little that would make a good landmark, "I'm fine...I'm on a cloud. Thank you so much for casting that cloud walking spell, darling! I don't know what would have happened had you not acted so fast."

"Uh...well...I didn't cast any spells, Rarity."

No, hold on, "You didn't? But..." I took a step forward, only to feel my hoof brush against something solid. I could only blink as I stared down at the fractured, in-two, and clearly broken device below me. It actually took a moment to register what it was that I was even seeing.

Laying on the cloud, in two pieces, was my ear piece and mic which had fallen out during the fall, "But...I don't understand."

"I'm not sure why you're able to sit on that cloud either, but you need to get to-" No.

"You do," I announced bluntly. "You do know what's going on but you won't tell me!" And I was sick of it. The lying, the excuses, the vague information I've had to blindly trust. This had been the closest I had come to death so far, a few meters here or there and it would have been too close, yet Twilight continued to keep me in the dark.

"And I can't even work out why you're not telling me anything," I continued, "Why can I still hear you?!"

"And why can I walk on clouds?!"

"What happened to Equestria?!"

"I don't understand!"

"I just don-"

Something cracked and everything went black.

I wasn't even able to cry out from the pain. Instead I just held myself stock still, clenching my jaw. The ringing encompassed me. It drowned out the rest of the world with its pitch. And although pain faded quickly, the shock lingered.

As the whine evaporated away like rain after a storm, all that remained in its wake was the whistling wind. There was no distortion, there were no more electrical zaps, there was no Twilight.

There was just this cloud.

Then, as quickly as it had left, my vision returned. I felt wrong. Something had changed but I couldn't work out what.

In my peculiar limbo, I slowly stretched a foreleg out before me, and observed the black rubber material which now encased it. Small seams and ridges where the material folded over itself ran the length of the limb. Metal clamps were fitted above and below my knee for support. And a scruffed steel horseshoe was embedded into the hoof.

Worst of all was the artificial looking vine creeping throughout the whole article. Small growths glowing shades of aquamarine to cyan along its length. It pulsed in a way not unlike a heartbeat.

I rotated my head about to check if anything else had changed as dramatically. As far as I could examine, I was covered from head to flank in the same material and synthetic vines. I was even complete with rubber fibre hairs to fake the tail. With a hoof, I went to press against my face. Only for my hoof to tink against the glass panel in front of my eyes.

It didn't take Twilight to put this and the small robot I had seen before together, but frankly I had no desire to.

Honestly, I expected myself to scream, or to faint, or really to emote at all in some way. Instead I just sat there, unable to think through the numbness. I had hit my limit, and couldn't bring myself to accept what my eyes were seeing. Instead I turned my attention to the other matter.

"Twilight?" I rasped with an almost inaudible voice. There was no reply, "Twilight, please. I'm sorry. Just talk to me," I tried again, but only to the continued silence from my friend. Turning my head up towards the delivery bay above me, I traced the path between it to where I currently was through the cloud city.

"I just need to get to you, right? Then you'll tell me everything. Just like you said you would." It looked like it would be a significant trip. Certainly I was further away now than I ever had been, "I can do that."

I quickly checked the basket which remained on my back, only to find the last of my cans had rolled out and through the clouds. I ignored the voice in the back of my head telling me I didn't need those anymore anyway. The only thing remaining was the ID card of the dead stallion which had fortunately caught between two braids of the wicker.

The cloud I had landed on had a small bridge to the nearest building, and with a walk, I was in front of a door with the words 'Sparkle IO' painted onto the front.


---[72656164696e67206d6174657269616c]---


The inside of the building was dark thanks to the turned off electric lamps which limply hung from the ceiling. This was a reception area if the oversized desk, waiting chairs and framed paintings of landscapes was any indication. Entirely empty, as I had come to expect during my time here.

Growing down the corner was more bio...gunk. The growth was just as disgusting as before, leaking black goop was coating the floor. I cringed inwardly knowing I was now acting as a walking pot for some of it. I didn't want to think about what it was doing to me. Twilight had said it wouldn't hurt me, but I wasn't sure how far I could trust her words right about now.

A moment of silence passed to listen out for trouble further in. But when nothing rose to the bait, I willed my legs to carry me forward. My hesitation was a result of Twilight no longer keeping lookout over my shoulder. I would have to rely on my own instincts from here on in. If I even had those anymore. My eyes purposefully avoided looking down at the elephant's legs.

Looking back, I still wasn't sure what had actually happened. All I was able to piece together is that Twilight was no longer responding. I refused to believe she would purposefully ignore me after everything that's happened. So I had to concede it was a technical fault, on her end, that was causing our separation. Which meant there was very little I could do to fix the issue.

Removing myself from the room, wandering down the attached hall, and entering the first room on the left, found me in some sort of office for one.

The first thing I noticed was how the floor was a bird's nest of paper. To be completely honest, it looked as though the entire room had been ransacked by a pair of ruffians. Books torn off of shelves, curtains pulled from their windows. The only thing untampered with was the monitor on the desk, and the keyboard which oddly lacked any noticeable traces of dust or debris that was quite present everywhere else.

I left a trail of impromptu origami as my hooves crumpled the paper floor to get a better look at the computer. It was still turned on, but asleep. With a press of a button, the screen lit up and I gasped. A quick scan of the electronic mail on the screen, and more specifically the recipient and author fields, let me know that these were Twilight's letters.

Which meant this was Twilight's computer.

This was Twilight's office.

Really, it made sense now that I thought about it. This was the head building for Twilight's research group, of course her office would be located here. But I certainly wasn't expecting to just walk right into her personal work space. Then again Twilight would want to be close to the action, and an open door policy wouldn't go amiss on her. She was very much a hooves-on leader and Princess.

Before, I had been hesitant to delve into personal information. Now, however, I just wanted answers. And being upset at Twilight made it very easy to quickly take a peak. And really, emails aren't as personal as medical records...right? Besides, it could contain information pertinent to my very survival.

I decided to read the email that was already opened on the screen. Which was in the outgoing mail, oddly.


Dear Chairmare of the A.I. and Neurological Studies Oversight Committee,

I write to you via email instead of in-pony or through company representatives as an attempt to professionally re-direct these conversations of conflict from the public eye. I'm sure neither of us feel these discussions are beneficial to our image.

I am sure these discussions will not take much longer, however, and I feel we should be able to come to an agreement in short time. Especially given that my research group has made every possible effort to fall in line with the severe, and quite frankly needless, limitations you have placed upon us.

Signed,
The Director of Sparkle IO, Twilight Sparkle


I remembered Dr. Membrane mentioning they had been lacking funds, but I had no idea they were being pressured from an above committee. What would a computer research group need an oversight committee for in the first place? Even as I posed the question, I immediately thought to everything I had seen in the previous facility. Perhaps stricter limitations would have been a good thing after all.

"I thought I heard somepony up here."

My head shot up to find a pony-shaped robot staring back from the door. Before I had a chance to think any further, I screamed, grabbed the nearby pen holder, and magically threw it towards the intruder. The robot ducked back into the hall and the cup collided with the far wall, pens exploding out on impact.

"Woah! Is that you, Twilight?! I thought I said you weren't welcome here!" The robot barked back, and I flinched in response. I must have misheard. It shouldn't be possible! But that voice was unmistakable. I had listened that scratchy tone near daily for years.

"R..Rainbow Dash?"

"Rarity?" The robot poked its head around the door frame, staring in, "What year?" It asked, hostility front and center. It was certainly not the response I had been expecting.

I blinked, "Sorry?"

"What year is your scan from?"

My scan? My brain scan? "Wha..what are you talking about?"

The robot took a cautious, yet forceful, step forward into the room, "That early, huh? Did Twilight put you up to this?" She was getting worked up, and fast.

"I...I don't..." was all I could stammer, unable to avert my gaze from the piercing electronic eyes.

The head tilted, it scanned my frame, properly looking me over the first time. The eyes moved back up to match my own, then with a softer tone it spoke again, "You really don't know? Do you?"

I shook my head. What was it going on about? The Rainbow imitate crawled the rest of the way into the room, almost like it was seeing a new creature, unsure if it was about to be torn apart. The only sound was the crumpling paper under-hoof. I tracked it the whole distance.

She stopped within a hoof length from myself. Slowly, a foreleg extended and was pressed against my chest and gave a gentle push. Another press against my face...plate. Then, with the carefulness of a balloon threading a needle, it reached its arms up and placed them around my shoulders, softly pressing her whole body into me in an embrace.

It was cold, and stiff. But I kept perfectly still. Until, that is, she spoke, "Rarity...it's been so long..." With that, she was no longer a machine. A walking abacus. She was Rainbow Dash. Regardless of where she had come from, what had happened to her, or if she was even a pony. My friend was here and in need of comfort.

Extending my own arms, I held her in return. We sat like that for a good minute before she started talking again.

"You shouldn't have come here," Rainbow Dash whispered, almost in disbelief. She pulled herself away and held me by my shoulders, shaking my frame, "You shouldn't...you shouldn't even be here, why are you here? How can you be here?"

I sighed, "Honestly, I've been trying to figure that out for the past day. I'm afraid Twilight hasn't told me too mu-"

"Twilight!" Rainbow interrupted, "I bet she brought you here, that'd be just like her! Throwing her friends into a death pit for her own sick ideas. What did she want you to do?"

"I'm...not really sure to be honest. She just wanted me to reach her. I almost made it but ran into some trouble around the docks." Rainbow looked in thought for a few moments, and I took the break in conversation to ask what I'd been hesitating on, "Is...that really you inside there, Rainbow?"

She nodded, "Heh, I guess this might be pretty strange if you're really from before...you know...any of this started..." she gestured to herself and the surroundings, "But yeah, it's me. Me from O' fifty two anyways. Not really sure what's happened to the uh...other me, since."

"Other you?" I inquired while examining Rainbow's suit. As far as I could see it was somewhat similar to mine. With a couple of notable differences. Firstly, the material was a lighter shade, although that was most likely through ageing than any desire for a lighter texture. Second, was that the seams were differently placed, perhaps a different model? Thirdly, was the roughly aligned stripes of chipped paint running through her false tail and around the helmet, one stripe for each colour of a rainbow. Definitely a later add on and not part of the original design I concluded.

I wondered if I looked anywhere close to this bizarre.

And finally, there were no blue bio-mechanical vines growing on her. Although, the suit was significantly more scuffed up and damaged. Small cuts through the rubber and glass littered the suit and visor. Scattered abrasions wore away at the contact points. Also, I hadn't noticed it from the door, but from up close her left eye light appeared visibly dimmer than the right one. She had clearly been through a lot.

"The other me," she explained, "that kept going after my scan. Like, you've got another you somewhere. When was your brain scan done?"

I thought back to the records I had found in the medical database. My original had lived a whole life. My life. "Well, if you mean the one for Twilight's research, that was the year eight."

"Woah," she said, wide eyed.

Finally, I had to ask, "Darling, hmm, please don't take this the wrong way, but what are you...and I suppose myself?", I stretched my foreleg alongside hers. Rainbow appeared to have at least some idea of what was going on, surely she would know.

"Hey!" She took my shoulders once again and pressed her glass face right up to mine with an intensity I had never seen from her. Then she said in a low, yet strong, voice, "Listen to me. We. Are. Ponies. Don't let anybody else tell you otherwise."

My eyes drifted to my hooves, "But, what about..."

"Doesn't matter...you feel real don'tcha? You're here. You're present. We are real and alive..."

I looked back to Rainbow. Pure determination was breaking through cracks in her featureless face.

"...so very very alive," she completed, "You don't want to die do you?"

Shaking my head, I managed to croak out, "No, of course not."

She leaned away from me, I could almost see that confident trademark smirk on her face, "Good. 'Cause we're not gonna! Because I know how to live forever."
> Chapter Five - Console.log
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...forever?"

"Yup!" Rainbow proudly exclaimed.

"Darling, not to say I don't believe you, but forever seems a tad far-fetched."

"Well, maybe not forever, but at least for a few...uh...thousands?"

"Millennium," I corrected almost without thinking, "and what in Equestria are you talking about, dear?"

"Well, Starlight was working with Fluttershy on a way to keep us all alive, like, the new us. I dunno how it works but she says we can all live together, in a new world!"

A new world? That didn't really explain that much at all. In fact, at the very least, it managed to raise more questions than it answered. "New world? I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific, dear. I'm not particularly sure what that means. I sort of feel like I'm in a new world right now."

She thought for a moment, "So like...it's this world...but different?...better!" she cried with a nod to herself. "At least that's what Starlight told me. It's a place for, like...ponies like us."

I still didn't understand. "I still don't understand."

"Aaaarrrhh!" She threw her head back. "Uuuh...hmm...oh! What if I show you?" Rainbow raised to all fours and started towards the door, stopping only to look back. "Come with me, I'll show you what I mean."

Without waiting for any more incentive than some actual answers, I caught up to my friend. As we travelled deeper into Twilight's old research facility, I decided to try prodding some topics that were on my mind. "So I do have to ask, what are you doing here, darling?"

She looked over to me for a second before beginning. "I've been looking for...a thing."

"A thing?"

"Yeah it's this box thing..." She shook her head "I'll explain when I show you this other thing, you could say they're related."

I shot a peek into one of the side rooms, inside was an empty stock room of some sort. Most of the building appeared to be cleared out. "Oh, no, I mean what are you doing in this city. How did you get here?"

She immediately perked up. "Oh! Well, I had a scan done of me to be put into Fluttershy's world and then...uh...I guess it didn't work out. Next thing I know I wake up in this repair suit and the whole world is gone. I've been trying to piece everything together for the last couple months. Figured out most of it I think."

"Repair suit?" I asked, re-examining the horrid patchwork ensemble she wore.

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, we used them for outside repairs and changes when the place moved around. Lets non-pegasai pitch in for the more complex things that need magic and stuff. Kinda strange you ended up in a med sim like that." She took a moment to look over my form. "And what's with all the gel?"

Med sim? "Gel?" We turned a corner into a spacious computer-orientated research laboratory. The walls were made of computer blocks and servers. Wires crawled through everything they could reach. A few screens were on, casting around multi-coloured glows. I winced slightly at the high-pitch whine which enveloped the air. It was barely audible, but constant.

"All those blue, glowing wires on your legs and stuff; It's Mag-e gel, or...some messed up version of it at least. We use it with the R.H.U.. That's a computer thing we had keeping everyone healthy in the medical centre, by the way. You'd just put that gel onto whatever you wanted the R.H.U. to fix, spread it on like jam on toast...I dunno how it really works but it's like smart glue for computers."

I nodded my head in faux understanding. Glue for computers? Was this digital arts and craft? I hoped the computer equivalent of scissors were at the very least rounded off on the ends.

"Here it is!" Rainbow proclaimed, directing my attention to a rather sizable box around the dimensions of a bulky stallion. It was made of stained plastic and metal. There were two rubber mouth grips on either end which allowed it to be carried by two ponies. There was a miniature screen in the centre of the outward facing side with a tiny keypad under it. Bundles of wires slung over and around technical equipment plugged into various sockets and merged into similar birds nests under nearby desks.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's the world!" She paused. "Well, a box with the world in it." She paused harder. "Well, a prototype for it. The actual one is somewhere else."

"Somewhere, as in...?"

"That's what I've been trying to work out!" She exclaimed, throwing her hooves up. "I even went through Twilight's emails looking to see if she had it moved. But she never said a word about it! Instead she just went on and on about that stupid committee. If I could get into the delivery records I could probably find it in the logs somewhere, but I don't know anyone who worked here who would have access to that sort of stuff."

With a flick of magic, I reached over my shoulder and retrieved the name tag of the late Sky Tracker. "Do you think this could work?" I asked, holding the tag before her.

Rainbow took a step back, eyes flicking to the top of my head momentarily, but made no movement to take the card. I held the I.D. patiently, unsure what was causing so much concern. Gingerly, she placed a hoof under the magic field and waited. I let it go, allowing it to fall into her grip.

Flipping it over in her hooves, Rainbow then looked back to me. "Yeah, this'll work!" Within a second she was rapid-fire tapping at the keys of a nearby computer with more speed than I could believe. I was embarrassingly slow in comparison. I promptly decided to avoid using all computers around anypony else if I could until I learned to type with such finesse.

Rainbow slammed down the final key, and took a step back. The computer thought for a moment, before beeping lightly and opening what looked to be a list of delivery logs. "Ah-hah!" Rainbow cheered. "Now we'll find it." She continued to move through the menus and forms at lightning speed, stopping only to read this entry and that one. Eventually, she settled on the most recent record relating to her magic box.

"Ah ha! Here it is! Says it was moved from the Sparkle Research delivery bay to...oh nuts," She slumped.

"What is it?"

"It's somewhere on the ground."

"And?" I asked, having a difficult time grasping why that was not a good thing.

She looked back at me, clearly missing the reason for my confusion. "And that means we need to go to the ground, and it might take weeks or months to search for it. This doesn't give any specific location."

With level monotone, "Rainbow."

"Hmm?" Realisation crept over her face, or...it probably would have if her arcing head was any indication. "Oooh! Well, since the cloud cover things have gotten pretty bad down there. It's cold, it's windy, and you can hardly see anything. Most of the plants have died off and...well it's not like how it used to be. There's also..." Her eyes once again flickered to my forehead and back down again. "...no magic."

If I had eyes, I would have blinked. "I'm sorry, darling? But how...oh..." My primary school lessons on magic basics ran through my head. 'Magic isn't an inheritent universal law such as gravity or entropy' we were told. 'It's a side effect of life'. Heat from a fire was the example given. 'From the highest bred unicorn, to the smallest cave fungi. We all contribute to the magic in the universe'. If there were really no more plants or ponies on the ground as Rainbow claimed, all you'll be left with is dead, stale, air.

"Yeah, long story short, it sucks. And it's dangerous."

"If there's no magic down there, then how is there still magic up here?"

"There's only a little, and I think most of it's coming from Twilight. Plus the occasional bird. Don't ask me how they're still alive. I really hope there's some non-metal survivers around...but I haven't seen any." It was a sobering thought that cast a twinge of worry in my gut. I pulled my mind out of such thoughts.

"So what are we going to do once we find this?" I nodded my head towards the box. "Well, the real version, I mean."

"We're going inside it!" She proudly exclaimed, clanking a metallic hoof against the top of the imitation.

I stared towards the box rather pointedly. "Awfully small for the both of us wouldn't you think?"

Rainbow smacked her faceplate. "No no no, like, we go into it. Err...I dunno how to say it. We're out here in this world, but there's another world in there...that we go into. But it's like a computer made world....or something...I dunno I didn't make it. Fluttershy or Starlight would have a better idea."

I nodded, hoping it would make more sense once we reached the box. "Well, once we get there and do whatever we need to do, what about Twilight?"

"What about her?!" Rainbow snapped.

"Well, I mean, shouldn't we try and help her too?"

She stepped towards me. "Listen, that Twilight isn't your Twilight. She's not the same one you knew. She's changed. To her, we all died when the flesh us died, we're nothing but machines to her now. She's an alicorn, she can look after herself anyway."

I took a step back. "I...but we are ponies aren't we, dear? That's what you told me."

"Well...yeah..we are..but not to her! You're just a tool to her. She probably would have just used you like a battery or somethin'. I dunno. I try to avoid her as much as I can. I mean she'll play nice, but she'll throw you under the cart the second you're more trouble than you're worth."

I waited in silence for a moment, trying to process everything I had been told. Twilight certainly had been reluctant to tell me anything useful and even tried to hide things from me. But she had also looked out for my back, and gave me some direction when I was utterly lost.

In my silence, Rainbow spoke up. "You know, you're actually taking this really well. The whole 'being a robot' thing, I mean."

I inwardly sighed, honestly not wanting to think about it. "I suppose...have you ever been told that someone you know has...passed on, that feeling you get, not the gut-wrenching despair kind of feeling...but uh..." Rainbow sat patiently, waiting for me to continue. "You know, when I lost my grandfather, I wasn't torn apart, I didn't break down like you might expect. I just carried on, even through and beyond the funeral. It worried my parents to no end. Goodness, it worried me. Did I not care about my dear Pop?

"But each day after, for months after months, I woke up expecting it to have been a bad dream. I was sad of course, but I couldn't comprehend why. I know I've been here less than a day, but already some part of me is still expecting to be shaken from these nightmares any moment now by a rampaging Sweetie Belle, asking where her breakfast is."

Rainbow extended a hoof to my shoulder. "That's gotta be rough. I mean I lived through most of this, I can't imagine just waking up in the middle of it all. But...we can go back to that. We can fix everything...sorta."

"I really do hope you're right." I took in the dilapidated lab. "I suppose it can't be any worse at the very least."

"That's the spirit! First thing's first though, we need to get to a balloon if we're gonna get to the ground. And working one at that."

I was about to suggest simply having her fly me down my eyes flicked over her vacant back. "Well I hope you have an idea of where to get one of those. I'm afraid I'm a little new here."

She waved a hoof at me. "Yeah yeah, the medical centre has a bunch of them that they use to ferry patients up here. There's got to be at least one still working."

"Excellent! And you know the way?"

Rainbow rubbing the back of her head gave me all the answer I needed. "Err...sort of? I know where the medical centre is at least. Could take a bit of searching once we get there."

"We should probably get going then, yes? Which way to the exit?"

"We'll head out through the back, it connects straight onto the main road."


---[6f757473696465]---


We strode through the empty streets. I was worried about roaming robots, however Rainbow's lack of hesitation calmed those fears. The empty storefronts and benches were no less unsettling.

"Where did everypony go?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"No idea. I'm assuming they ran for it when it all started going to tartarus. Only ones left are wacked out machines, and us. I know I wouldn't stick around if I hadn't been looking for Fluttershy's project."

"Where would you go if you weren't looking for it?"

She thought for a moment. "Maybe East somewhere. See what's happened in the Griffon Empire. See how they're holding up. Though I doubt it'd be any better than here."

"Hmm? Why would they be having trouble? Did the pegasai really cover up that much of the sky?"

"Nah, just most of Equestria from what I've picked up. We all would've burned to death otherwise."

I came to an abrupt stop. "I'm sorry? Why would we have burned to death?"

Rainbow turned her head around to face me, but kept walking on ahead. "How long ago did you say you woke up here?" She asked.

A swift jog allowed me to catch up. "I'm not entirely sure, my guess would be half a day at least."

"Ah, so you probably haven't noticed the sun isn't moving anymore, then."

The sun wasn't moving? I stole a look towards the clouds. The impenetrable ceiling muffled its exact location. I doubt I'd notice any celestial changes. "But the sun can't stop, wouldn't that mean..." There was only one reason the sun would no longer move. "You aren't saying what I think you're saying, are you?"

Rainbow nodded. "No idea if she's...you know. Maybe she just can't. Or maybe she doesn't see the point anymore. I dunno. I try not to think about it. It'd be nice to know if she's alright, at least. I haven't been able to find any of the princesses except the obvious one."

I nodded to myself. Celestia was an immortal alicorn. Practically a goddess. She'd seen Equestria through some of its lowest times. "Of course, herself and Luna have been around for over a thousand years. Still...a mystery it remains for now."

Someone had to know what happened. In fact, I knew exactly who would know. Someone who had actually lived through whatever catastrophe had occured to warrent covering up the entire sky. However, I wasn't sure if I wanted to poke further at an issue Rainbow had shown to be rather sore about.

"Rarity? You alright there?" Rainbow asked.

I raised my head, realising I had stopped walking entirely and was just staring towards the ground. "Do you...do you think maybe Twilight might know what happened to them, darling?"

Rainbow stared me down, equally unmoving. A showdown in the sky. After a brief silence she spoke with the utmost care, "Yeah...she was around through all this. If anypony would know it would be her."

I took cautious step forward. "Then how about we go and see her? I know that whatever she might have done in the past has sown seeds of disdain between you two. However she is more informed than either of us. Plus, if we're going to find this magic box we may need her help. She might know where its got to." Honestly, I had no clue if Twilight knew anything about the box to begin with. But there was always the possibility, and I really wanted Rainbow to take me to her.

Rainbow sighed, "Dammit Rarity...you just want to see Twilight don't you?" She was right of course. I needed to see a living pony. Not just wire and steel, but flesh and blood. I had to know someone survived. See them with my eyes. To know something from my own world was still around.

I just nodded. Rainbow stomped her hoof against the ground. "Rarity..."

"Please?"

Rainbow let out a sigh. "Fine. But I'm only doing this for you, and for Fluttershy; we'll go and see Twilight." She threw a foreleg at me. "However! I'll wait outside. You can ask the questions. And she doesn't come with us." Through the wind I heard her mutter, "Not that she'd want to.".

"Very well. Thank you."

"Yeah." Rainbow took a look towards the direction of the medical centre, then back to me. "We shouldn't take too long though. You said you were looking for her around the docks?"

"Yes, I can lead the way once we get there."

With that, my journey to Twilight continued.