His hat and coat felt heavy from the added weight of the rain. The rain fell heavy that day. It always did when he came here. Normally it was a beautiful place, with lush greenery and vibrant flowers. The rain, however, drowned out the color of the place, leaving it cold and grim. He never found himself here on sunny days. Maybe that told him something about himself? He shrugged. It didn't matter.
He had a fair bit to go before he was there. The long alleys and winding paths of the place were decorated with various ornamental miniature gardens, gazebos and statues. Including that. He never liked going past it, but he always forced himself to.
At the halfway point he turned a corner and there it was. Covered in moss and vines was a stony figure of a bizarre agglomeration of various animals, forever contorted in a pose of anger and mocking defiance.
"I'll never understand why they keep you here." He said to the thing. His voice filled with contempt.
With a huff he turned in place and continued on his way, unaware of the slight crack running along the statue's side.
A while later he arrived at the part of the garden he was headed for. A large ornate gate separated it from the rest of the place. He pushed it open, the heavy gate creaking from neglect. He remembered when there used to be guards by this gate, and when the gate didn't creak. He entered and slowly shut the gate behind him.
He walked along quietly, as to not disturb the other visitors, though few they were. He knew the way by heart, but he always counted the rows of headstones as he passed by. It somehow made the approach easier,
he felt.
Eventually he stopped in front of a black headstone. Slightly larger than the others and within its own little alcove, an obsidian headstone was placed.
"I'm sorry I don't come by more often." He spoke softly. "But I would never miss your birthday, Sis... Mom..."
He stifled a sob, reflexively pulling on the brim of his hat. "Geez, it's been several hundred years and I still don't know what to call you..."
In his claws he held a simple bouquet of daffodils and daisies. He gently laid it on top of the headstone.
"They always were your favourite." He smiled.
He stood in place for a while, reminiscing, listening to the rain smattering against the stoned path, drowning out any other noise. He never kept track of how much time he spent there. He always stayed until he either felt that horrible sense of calm, or when crippling emotions of grief, guilt and sadness washed over him. He enjoyed neither, but always welcomed them openly. Today was going to be one of those crippling days. As if on cue the feelings came roaring, and he stood there and took it all in.
The carving on the shining black stone in front of him read:
Here lies Twilight Sparkle
"I miss you." He whispered.
A hazy light streamed in through the window of the apartment as the alarm sounded. It was an annoying beeping sound coming from a digital alarm clock riddled with scratches, dents, and a crack here and there. The clock was engulfed in a red glow of magic and then flicked away. The clock landed in the corner with a notable clattering, surely adding to the collection of scratches. From the mess of pillows and bedsheet, a pair of sleepy, green eyes looked up.
"I hate Tuesdays... " Ruby groaned tiredly.
The greyish dark blue unicorn got out of her bed and picked up the clock and placed it back on the nightstand, then went about her normal morning routine. After brushing her teeth she checked her red matted mane. Dreadlocks were a tad unconventional, but it was on the other hoof pretty easy to maintain. Satisfied that she didn't have to fuss with it she went to prepare breakfast. She started with the coffee, putting in the coffee in the machine, setting the program and adding water. With coffee brewing, she made a pair of sandwiches and then took a look in her pantry.
'Daffodils, daffodils, daffodils.' She thought to herself. 'Aw shoot. I'm out?' She furrowed her brow with annoyance, closing the pantry door a little harder than intended. She didn't like it when she ran out of things, irrespective of what the particular item might be.
'Well that ruins my plans for lunch... I'll just have to go get something else for lunch. Maybe some hay fries? And I'll have to remember to buy some more daffodils on the way home.' Her pondering was interrupted by the beep from her coffee maker, signaling that the machine had run its program and the coffee was done, hopefully. She grasped the pot with her magic and poured a cup, and then poured the rest into a thermos she had prepared beforehoof. She took a sip of the brew. The taste of the black coffee was bitter and strong. Not perfect, but good enough.
With the cup of coffee in her magical grasp she went over to her bookshelf. Well, one of them. She scanned the books. She took out two books and judged them side by side. The Lunar Republic: Birth of a Nation and Trotting about Albuckuque. Eventually she placed Trotting about Albuckuque back onto the shelf. Ruby's family had moved from Albuckuque to Seaddle when she was just a foal, and while she was indeed interested in knowing more about her birthplace the history of the Lunar Republic was just a far more interesting subject matter. Especially the chapter about the new alicorns. She had never seen an alicorn up close. Only in pictures in the book. She put the book and the thermos in her saddle bag and took her time finishing her breakfast. She had ample time to get to work, so she needn't hurry.
She exited the apartment building where she lived. As she stepped out into the sun she held a hoof up to shade her still tired eyes. While sunny, the day was surprisingly cold. Not cold enough to warrant extra clothing, but it was definitely the first sign of winter. 'Seems they've moved winter up a few weeks this year.' She thought and made a mental note of it.
She turned north and started walking. The street was bustling with ponies going to and fro, as was normal on a week day. Ruby looked up at the sky. Only a few clouds dotted the sky. She could see a group of three, maybe four, pegasi flying in formation. 'Weather ponies?' she thought. When they flew closer she saw the familiar black on yellow emblem of a black wing against a yellow shield. 'BlackWing.' She corrected herself.
Ruby shuddered slightly. She wasn't particularly fond of the so-called "peacekeepers". Sure, some of them were decent enough ponies, but the majority of them relished in the authority they held and were quick to use it as an excuse to harass others. Bullies, in short. Luckily she hadn't had many run-ins with them, but it never hurt to be on your guard.
She continued on her way, going her normal route. She followed the same street three blocks up, then turned right to pass over a bridge that lead to the close by park. She usually cut through the park straight, but as she had time to spare this morning she followed the stream flowing by the edge of the park, separating the park from the rest of the city.
Having gone through the park and another hoof-full of blocks, she eventually arrived at the large building. It was a bit older than the other buildings in town, but that only added to its charm. Its roof was a large dome, with windows spaced evenly around it to allow natural light to fall into the open space in the buildings center at all times during the day.
The buildings facade had murials of hard working ponies, decorating its walls. A simple but elegant oaken door was placed in the center of the building's front. Above it a sign of beaten copper read Seaddle City Library. Ruby pushed the familiar door open and entered the building.
Rubys day at work was much like any other. She started the day with taking inventory over what books had come in, which were still loaned out, which were overdue, and so on. She shelved the newly come in books, correcting books misplaced by patrons while she did. it was the regular boring, but yet strangely satisfying, humdrum she was used to.
Soon enough the day had gone by and she was headed home. She took another route home, avoiding the park at evening. Like many things, the park was not necessarily pleasant during the darker hours.
Well at home she flung her bag aside and stretched, her neck making a satisfying pop. Being a librarian might not be the most labor intensive profession in the world, but a long day at the library could still tense you up some. Ruby lazily sat down in front of her computer and booted it up. The machine hummed as the fans inside it spun up. Only moments after the machine was fully operational a blip caught her attention. One of her friends had started a chat with her. She opened up the window with a click.
"Hoofst0mpR: Done with work?" It read. Ruby replied with a short "yea."
"Hoofst0mpR: Cool. How's it goin with that script for the ManeFrame?"
Ruby groaned and rolled her eyes, then started typing again.
"Crimson1: Are you still calling it that?"
"Hoofst0mpR: Yeah... why?"
"Crimson1: It sounds stupid."
"Hoofst0mpR: Well..."
"Hoofst0mpR: When YOU develop a relay system able to handle packets to and from the moon, you can name it something equally stupid."
"Crimson1: Whatever."
"Crimson1: Anyway, I checked in the new code yesterday. It ran fine here, but you'll have to do a double check on your side."
"Hoofst0mpR: Of course."
Ruby closed the window, stood up from the computer and went into the kitchen to make dinner.
The rest of the evening was slow and quiet. She ate her dinner, read two more chapters in the book about the Lunar Republic, and spent some more time at the computer. Eventually she grew tired and shut down the machine and drowsily went over to the bed. She made sure the alarm clock was set and laid down to sleep. She laid there, trying to fall asleep, but something was eating at her mind. What was it? She turned over and looked up at the ceiling.
"I forgot to buy daffodils... "
The following morning the alarm clock once again clattered against the floor, after waking its owner with the loud alarm. Ruby got up and went about her morning routine, making sure to write down a note about buying more daffodils.
At the library Ruby sat at the reception while going over a list of which books needed to be replaced and which of those that did were too damaged to give away to charity. She had made it halfway through the list when she noticed an orange earth pony standing at the other side of her desk. "Pard'n me Ma'am." He said.
Ruby quickly put the list of boooks away and greeted the stallion. "Hi. How can I help you?" The pony had been looking off slightly to the side but righted himself when spoken to. "Well y'see. Ah' was supposed to find a book, but Ah' can't rightly find it. Looked all over the shelf. Figured maybe you could see if it's been loaned out."
"I see." Ruby replied and walked over to the library terminal. "What was the name of the book?"
The stallion hastily replied "Uh, 'Cumulus Correction Sumthin' Sumthin'." Ruby looked up from the terminal. "Cumulus Correction: A Beginners Guide to Weather Work?" She questioned. The stallions face lit up. "Ah yes, that's the one!" She eyed him for a bit. She was used to ponies borrowing all manner of books, but an earth pony borrowing a book about weather work was new. Noticing her confused expression the stallion spoke "It's for, uh.. research. Yes! Research." Something was off about this pony, but Ruby was all too familiar with wanting to know more about something. "It seems it's still in. It must have been misplaced. I will go take a look."
"Thank'ee kindly Ma'am." The stallion said as Ruby trotted off in search of the book. It didn't take her long to find it. She found it lying on one of the reader's desks. There was no sign of anypony still using the desk so she picked it up and brought it back to the stallion waiting at her desk. "Here you go." she said as she levitated the book to the pony on the other side. The pony took the book and flipped it open.
Suddenly the oaken door thrust open as three pegasi wearing the distinctive emblems of BlackWing entered the building. Two of the muscular armored ponies spread out and loudly started interrogating the patrons, one by one. Ruby was just about to raise her voice as the stallion standing at her desk quickly hands her the book back. "Seems that wasn't the book I was after, after all. Gotta run along now, you have a nice day Ma'am."
"You're welcome I guess, but be careful about those..." Ruby looked around, but the stallion was gone. 'Where did he go?' She asked herself.
"You there!" a gruff voice growled as the third pegasus approached her desk. He stood before her and looked at her with dead, cold, cybernetic eyes. "You see any suspicious pony recently? A stallion, perhaps?"
Ruby felt her front legs involuntary grip around the book tighter. "Well... " She said nervously. "There was a stallion here... but I don't know where he went. Why?"
"None of your concern, citizen." The pegasus replied coldly. As the stallion started walking past her, Ruby found her voice again. "Could you please not terrorize the patrons?" The pegasus simply looked at her shortly then continued on his way. Most likely to search the back rooms, where only employees were allowed. Ruby harrumphed and sat down at her desk and waited for the pegasi to leave.
After having searched the entire building, the pegasi determined that whoever they were looking for was long gone. They left in their wake a mess of turned over tables, scattered books and a few patrons needing light medical assistance, having been shoved around harshly by the BlackWing pegasi. Ruby helped as much as she could. The library had a medical kit and a resting room, in case of emergency. After tending to the patrons, apologizing for their inconvenience, Ruby sought to the mess of books and tables. Luckily she wasn't alone on staff that day so cleaning up the mess was not as big an ordeal as it could have been. Though she'd prefer it if there hadn't been a mess to clean up at all.
Cleaning up took the remainder of the work day and Ruby was just about to leave when she remembered the list she had been going through before all that. She was not supposed to leave papers like that list lying around when she left, so she hurried back to retrieve the list. She then noticed the book that the earth pony had asked for.
'Might as well put this in its place while I'm at it.' she thought and grabbed the book by it's spine. As the book left the table something fell out of it and clattered against the desk. She took a closer look and saw what seemed to be a data drive of some description. She engulfed it with her magic and brought it up closer, inspecting it. There was no label to signify what it was, or who it belonged to. The turned it over and around, several times over. No serial number either. She could see circuits running to and fro. There were at least to different pin connectors, and some other jacks she couldn't identify. 'Did that stallion put that there?' It seemed likely, but why? And also, how did she not notce it earlier? For a drive it was spectacularly thin, but still bulky enough that she felt she should have noticed it tucked in the book at some point or another. She pondered it some more before putting the thing in her bag, then returned the book to its shelf.
The walk was long and cold. Her thoughts racing back and forth between the gruff pegasus, the strange stallion and the drive lying in her bag. Ever since the BlackWing officers had torn up the library she'd been tense and there had been so much to do. Now that everything was over, her tension started to loosen up.
The BlackWing had probably found the pony they were looking for and wouldn't bother her again. Right? Did the drive have anything to do with it? She shot a quick glance at the skies. Nopony in sight. 'But if they aren't there, they must be somewhere else. Maybe they're just waiting for the right time to...' She could feel her body tensing up again. Ruby stopped and slapped her face lightly with her hooves. "Keep it together Ruby. They weren't even looking for you then! Why would they now?" She shook her head and neck in an effort to clear her thoughts. Her matted locks flopped from one side to the other as she did. Having collected herself she continued home.
The humming fans and the slight buzz from the monitor was a welcome return to familiarity in contrast to the days rather unpleasant turn of events. She tapped her hoof against the desk impatiently, waiting for the machine to load up the operating system. The machine was fairly new, for the most part. To save bits she had built it with parts from an older machine she had. It was days like this she regretted that decision. The drive hang in front of her, slightly to the right side of the monitor, suspended in midair with her magic. She eyed it lazily, suspiciously, as she waited.
Eventually the computer was ready and she opened up the chat client and started typing.
"Crimson1: Hoof! You there?!"
Again, she tapped her hoof impatently against the wooden desk. 'C'mon... '
"Hoofst0mpR: yea."
"Crimson1: I found something."
She took out a camera from a drawer and took an picture of the drive and sent it to her friend.
"Crimson1: Do you know what it is?"
"Hoofst0mpR: Looks like a drive of some sort. Weird one at that."
"Hoofst0mpR: Where did you find this?"
She leaned back in her chair a bit, pondering how to best describe what happened. Should she mention the stallion? And BlackWing? She knew that like her, Hoofst0mpR wasn't exactly fond of BlackWing. But if this really had something to do with the BlackWing and that orange pony from earlier, then she would be dragging Hoofst0mpR into it too. She brought her attention back to the monitor and typed.
"Crimson1: I'll tell you if you really want me to. I'm not sure if it's safe."
"Hoofst0mpR: Well now you HAVE to tell me! XD"
Rubys ears flopped a bit. He was right. The way she'd put it only made it sound more interesting. 'Stupid.'
"Crimson1: Ok, ok. There was a patron at the library. Some orange pony, had a really thick country accent."
"Hoofst0mpR: Go on."
"Crimson1: He told me he was looking for a book, so I got it for him. A weather work guide for pegasi."
"Hoofst0mpR: k"
"Hoofst0mpR: Wait, what?"
"Crimson1: Yeah, I know. Anyway, I think he snuck it in the back of the book somehow when I wasn't paying attention. Not that that was difficult."
"Hoofst0mpR: How so?"
"Crimson1: When I gave him the book, BlackWing burst in and started harassing everypony. I think they were looking for him, but I'm not sure. Thing is, the guy just up and disappeared. No clue how."
Ruby waited for a response. This was weird. Hoofst0mpR usually relished getting into heated discussions about how terrible BlackWing were. She had expected a reaction close to that, not... nothing.
Ruby waited for a reply from her friend. When ten minutes had gone by and nothing had come, she'd begun preparing dinner. She had just finished slicing carrots when she heard noticed a slight flickering coming from the light of her monitor. Hoofst0mpR had made a reply. She finished up the carrots and put them in with the rest of the food to cook, and trotted over to the computer.
"Hoofst0mpR: Could you take another picture of the drive for me? I'd like to get better look at the ports."
She did as he asked and took out her camera to take another picture. She turned the drive over with her magic, locating the area, placed the thing on the desk and took the picture. She fed it into the machine and sent it over to Hoofst0mpR. The reply was quick and short.
"Hoofst0mpR: oh."
Ruby settled down in front of the monitor and wrote a reply.
"Crimson1: What?"
"Hoofst0mpR: You see the circular port? At the left side, near the pin connector?"
She inspected the port. It was the one she hadn't been able to identify. It looked like a simple headphone jack, but slightly larger.
"Crimson1: Do you know what it is?"
"Hoofst0mpR: uhm, yeah..."
"Crimson1: Well? What is it?"
"Hoofst0mpR: Bad news. This is bad news Crimson."
"Crimson1: explain"
Rubys brow furrowed and her body tensed up. Everything about this suddenly felt wrong. Hoofst0mpR was behaving really weird. Even for him. She didn't like it.
"Hoofst0mpR: You know how some... ok, a LOT, of ponies have augmentations? Replacement legs, eyes. That kind of thing?"
Ruby's mind once again turning to the large, imposing pegasus pony. The one with the cybernetic eyes. Her coat hairs stood on end at the thought.
"Crimson1: Yes, it's not like it's something secret."
"Hoofst0mpR: Well, this thing kind of is."
"Hoofst0mpR: It's a head jack. Underground tech. Mostly used by hackers, or illegal couriers."
"Crimson1: Wait, 'head'? As in plug into your brain 'head'?"
"Hoofst0mpR: Pretty much. Well, not this one in particular. This is the other end. The tech was proposed years ago. But because of speculations of negative side effects such as impaired mental faculties, as well as rumours about experimentaion gone awry with fatal results, the thing was scrapped and buried. Buried deep. But the tech found its way onto the underground market and then spread."
"Hoofst0mpR: Look, whatever's on that thing is either illegal as buck all, or dangerous. Most likely both. Get rid of it. Now."
"Crimson1: wait"
Ruby paused for a second.
"Crimson1: if it's secret, how do you know about it?"
"Hoofst0mpR: ... crap."
"Crimson1: Tell me. How do you know?"
She waited as her friend tried to decide what to write. She could tell from the little icon showing when he was typing. She observed the icon as it flickered in and out of existence. At least fifteen minutes had passed and she could hear the hiss water hitting the hot stove from the kitchen as her soup boiled over. She paid it no mind, still focusing intently on the little icon. Finally a new message appeared on the screen.
"Hoofst0mpR: Ok, fine. I'll tell you."
"Hoofst0mpR: You know my day job?"
"Crimson1: Yeah, freelance software engineer."
"Hoofst0mpR: Well, that is my 'day' job. I also work nights, sort of. Look, I'm not comfortable talking about this over the grid. I can tell you, but in person."
"Crimson1: I don't know."
Ruby hesitated. She had known Hoofst0mpR for so long, but they had never actually met. She didn't even know where he lived. Under normal circumstances she would trust him and already have agreed and started scheduling a meet-up, but now she was unsure. She scrolled up and re-read their discussion, looking for any hints that he was pulling her leg and this was all a joke.
Detecting sarcasm or other inflections through text was difficult, sometimes nigh impossible, but she had chatted with Hoofst0mpR for so long. She knew his quirks and ways of writing when being sarcastic or otherwise facetious, at least she thought she did. She went over the lines again and again. Nothing looked like lies to her. Her unease growing with every line. She mulled the situation over in her head. While curious about the drive, exactly how far was she willing to go to find out what it was? Would it be worth it? If there was something dangerous or illegal on it, or it itself was, wouldn't it be better to pony up and hand it to the proper authorities? She turned her attention back to the screen.
"Crimson1: I have to think."
She didn't wait for a reply and shut the machine down. She sat down on the edge of her bed, pondering.
She wasn't really trying to make sense of the situation anymore, she couldn't. Instead she just sat there, trying to figure out the emotions swirling about in her mind.
After sitting like that for a while she grew restless. She stood up from the bed and paced around the room for a bit. Her horn glowed with magical energy as she once more picked up the drive and levitated it in front of her. She regarded it coldly. It was really an unremarkable thing, if you didn't look close. You might mistake it for a spare computer part or something to that effect. But up close it was very different from an ordinary drive. She was still confused as to how it could have been hidden in the book so well.
Her pondering was brought to a halt as she felt something. There was something else about the thing. Something strangely familiar. It almost felt magical. Why didn't she notice that earlier? Maybe she was so proccupied with the situation in full that this detail had gone her by at first? Her unease was replaced by intrigue, and any hesitation was blown away by a her innate curiosity. She didn't know how to access the thing, and didn't want to risk plugging it into her machine. But this was magical, wasn't it? She gambled and reached out with her magic. Extending the grasp of the thing to reach inside, for whatever was the source of this familiar feeling. As she probed, the feeling got stronger. Ruby figured she was onto something and pushed further. As she did, she felt an odd sensation. Not only was she pushing towards something, but she was being pulled in as well. Like a piece of metal drawn towards a magnet. Her hesitation returned, but it was too late. Her mind began to race and her vision blurred.
It was like being tossed into a wild tornado. A torrent of memories and feelings surrounded her. She had no control, no way to direct the flow. All she could do was watch. She saw ponies and places she did not know.
'No wait!' She did know this place. She had seen it somewhere before, but couldn't recall. Trying to recall memories of her own felt impossible. She saw glimpses of books, something purple and green, and leaves. She saw blue against blue. A speck of cyan quickly moving against sky blue, trailed by bright colors. Then she saw a pink blur, and something yellow. She saw more colors. Orange and yellow, white and purple.
The flow grew more focused and she could make out clearer images as the events unfolded in her head. She saw a city atop a cliff. A huge throne room loomed over her as she found herself amongst a crowd at the city square. Light shone down on her and she looked up, holding a lilac hoof in front of her face to shield her eyes. She saw wings. They stretched out, spread to the full width. Each feather pristine and glowing, filtering the glorious light shining from behind. Or maybe the light came from them, it was hard to tell. She also saw a flowy mane in various colors. They felt warm, like a morning sun, as she found herself tiredly leaning against the white fur, an open book in her grasp. She felt content and snuggled against the figure. She had never felt more calm or happy.
Then with a violent rush the scene changed. The soothing warmth was exchanged with harsh cold. The wind howled around her as snow whirled in every direction. She was cold and exhausted. She felt tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked upon a towering inferno. Something screamed at her, but she couldn't make the words out. She saw figures lying in the snow between her and the inferno. More colors. The inferno roared as it charged at her and she felt it scorch her entire body.
Her hooves pressed against something cold and hard. Chips of ice splintered off as she slammed her hooves against the surface in front of her. It was fruitless. The surface wouldn't budge and there was nothing she could do. She slid down and curled up against the cold ice, sobbing uncontrollably
Then she saw nothing more as her mind clouded, pulling her into a deep slumber.
