“Please, let us on!”
“The shield is failing; there’s no time!”
A mass of ponies crowded in front of an air wagon. Everypony was jostling about, anxiously awaiting their turn to board, though the assigned pegasi were nowhere in sight. A green mare near the back of the crowd suddenly blurted out, shrieking. Desperately, she pushed ponies aside in a wild dash for the front.
“This is impossible! How can this be happening? Celestia’s abandoned us! Luna’s abandoned us! There's n—”
BLAM!
The mare fell silent as her body hit the ground. All eyes turned to a soldier who racked a fresh shell into her riot shotgun.
“FORM A LINE AND WAIT YOUR TURN! THERE'S ROOM ENOUGH FOR EVERYPONY. TROUBLEMAKERS WILL BE MET WITH LETHAL FORCE!”
The towers of Canterlot overshadowed the hysterical crowd, observing the madness from afar.
Far above, in the streets of Canterlot, ponies scrambled wildly to find safety. Whole blocks were engulfed in fire, and many of the roads were blocked by upturned carts, crumbled buildings and fallen debris. Some ponies tried to help each other, struggling to clear paths and aid the injured.
In one crowded street, a group of stallions was attempting to breach a crumbled wall.
“One more time! All together now! Heave!” The ponies forced themselves upon the wall once again, desperately throwing their strength against it.
Finally, the wall gave way, allowing the group to filter through the opening. The road emptied, save for a young filly, oblivious of whatever was going on. She sat on her haunches in the middle of the street with her mane in her eyes, staring at the sky. Far above, a massive, shining bubble loomed over the city spires. As she watched, something hit the top of the shield and exploded into thousand colors.
“Oh, yay! Fireworks!” she exclaimed gleefully.
“Hey, you there!”
A unicorn medical officer dressed in a white uniform had been hurrying down the lane, distributing protective suits to the foals. Upon seeing the foal alone, she rushed over, casting her a concerned look.
“Are you alone? Where are your parents?”
The foal smiled back at the officer. “Mom is up there!” She pointed a hoof at the force field surrounding Canterlot. The energy bubble seemed a lot thinner than it was ten minutes ago. “She'll be back for dinner!”
The officer hesitated, before looking at the foal and forcing a smile. “Of course she will. What's your name, little one?”
“I'm Puppysmiles!” cheered the filly, bouncing up and down on the spot.
“Yes... yes, Puppy, all right... Now, listen to me carefully. I want you to take this suit and put it on. You must wear the suit and not take it off, do you understand?”
The filly looked at the object with a puzzled expression, then at the white pony. “Yes miss pretty pony! I like you!”
The unicorn smiled nervously, then levitated and unfolded the suit— it was lemon yellow, with several pockets on its legs and two saddlebags on the sides.
“Okay, I need you to put your hooves into the holes for me. It's just like... like the pony pokey! Do you know the pony pokey?”
“Yush!”
“You reach your right hoof in
you reach your right hoof out!”
“Right, that’s perfect! Now the tail... here, let me close it up and put this on your head... there!”
The mare put a round, glassy helmet on Puppysmiles’ head, then snapped shut a pair of locks on each side, finally sealing the small pony safely inside her radsuit.
“Woah! I look like a space pony! Like... like Captain Andromeda! Wooooosh!” She started running and jumping in circles, giggling naively. The mare simply sighed in relief and turned towards the next group with foals.
Puppysmiles was having a super duper great time. Everything had begun with that huge boom. It had sounded like a super humongous party popper! Then the castle blew a gigantic-o-mongous bubble around itself, sort of like the bubbles her Mommy blew for her, only way bigger—and now everypony was in the streets partying. She prayed to her lucky stars that Mommy would come back home sooner today, so they could join in on the fun. The helmet and the space suit were just the icing on the cupcake: they were super cool and she was sure they made her look awesome... Right! What she needed now was a mirror! The filly dashed off toward her home.
The muffled street noise filtered into her mother’s room. Puppysmiles stood in front of the dresser, examining her helmet from the inside. Strange lights and symbols danced across the glass. Several objects in the room were encircled in green halos and as she looked at them, in turn, writing appeared beneath. Too bad Puppy couldn’t read. Her mom had barely taught her the basics.
“Buh... eh... duh.” The filly wrinkled her brow in concentration as she constructed the word. “BED! Wow, I'm good!”
Satisfied, Puppy trotted downstairs, completely forgetting about the mirror. Instead, she headed for the fridge.
“Muffins!”
Puppy promptly plucked one from the tray and went to take a bite. This immediately presented a problem— she couldn’t get at it with that stoopid helmet on.
“Do want, but can't has... Bad helmet! How do I take you off?”
She grabbed the offending fishbowl between her forehooves and wrestled with it for a full minute, but to no avail. Panting, she sat down hard on her rump and decided to play her trump card.
“WAAAAAAaaaaahhhhhhh!”
Unnoticed by the yowling Puppysmiles, a red symbol appeared on her visor. Her tantrum was cut short by a robotic voice which began speaking from within the suit.
“Status of the host: panic.”
The filly blinked stupidly. What was going on? Who had spoken?
“Wut?”
“Internal medical diagnostic initiated. Error! System rebooting. Estimated time: thirty seconds.”
All those funny words were amusing, but they did nothing to rid her of the helmet. Puppysmiles was still upset.
“Go away stoopid talking space suit! I want muffins!”
“Reboot complete. Checking version. Initiating. Ten seconds to full operational status... Eight... Seven...”
In that instant, the noise outside surged— screams and howling cries filled the air. It sounded to Puppy as if all the ponies outside were singing.
“Five... Four... Three...”
Suddenly, the world went pink. Outside her mother’s window, the foal could see the ensuing chaos. The cloud seemed to swallow everything. In an instant, the street, the houses, and all of the ponies were eaten. Oblivious to its meaning, Puppy watched on in awe.
“Two... System rebooted. Starting diagnostic routine. Warning. Primary healing talisman is not responding. Activating backup healing talisman. Starting diagnostic. Female. Foal. Earth pony variety.”
Wow, this space suit sure was smart! It knew a lot of things!
“Hi, I'm Puppysmiles!” she said.
A blanket of pink mist flooded the streets, muffling the sounds of the ponies it caught. Screams, whispers, and tears were all washed away as the cloud rolled on.
“Life support online. Temperature within parameters. Blood pressure within parameters. Warning. Radiation level above the average by three hundred percent.”
Puppy giggled. “Tee-hee, Mister Space Suit says fancy words!” Puppy sat in front of the window, looking a bit puzzled at the mist leaking inside. She now wasn't sure of‒
“Warning. Minor radiation poisoning detected. Inoculating: Rad-X. Inoculating: RadAway. Inoculating: Rad—
“Warning. Hazardous agent detected. Analyzing. Pink agent, Littlehorn type. Lethal at a concentration exceeding 5%.”
“1.8%... 2.0%... 2.2%... Warning. Concentration of pink agent above safety limits. Evacuate the area immediately.”
Puppy stared in amazement as the pink fog oozed from the window and across the floor, smiling as it streamed between her hooves. It was like candy floss... pink candy floss! Yay! Her mom hadn’t let her eat it since she made herself sick last Nightmare Night.
Suddenly, she felt her gut tighten.
“I feel funny...”
“Danger! Mutation detected! Concentration of 5.4%. Danger! 6.0%! Evacuate immediately! Contact Ministry of Peace for immediate help! Initiating transmission of distress signal. Scanning for emergency channel. Transmitting. Warning! Concentration at 7.5%!”
“Ugh... Mommy... I don't feel very… good. Can I stay... home... tomor...” Her eyesight was steadily growing hazy. She felt like she was sweating a lot, while at the same time she was freezing.
“Inoculating: Med-X. Inoculating: Healing potion. Concentration at 12.1%. Inoculating: Rad-X. Inoculating: RadAway. Concentration of pink agent at 16.0%. Inoculating: Poison Antidote. Inoculating: Healing potion. Inoculating: Healing potion. Concentration at 22.6%. Inoculating: Healing potion. Inoculating...”
The ceaseless litany of the radsuit’s medical systems continued as Puppy’s legs gave out beneath her. Lying unconscious on the kitchen floor, the healing potions that coursed through her veins kept her alive. As the deadly pink agent slowly permeated the suit, the suit did its best to mitigate the worst of the effects. She did not die, but she didn't quite survive, either.
“...Healing potion. Inoculating: healing potion. Inoculating: healing potion. Warning. Healing potion doses left: three. Concentration of pink agent at 35.0%. Inoculating...”
Like a lost doll, Puppysmiles lay silent as her suit sang its clinical chorus of programmed procedures: atmosphere toxic, suit compromised, medical supplies exhausted. She heard none of it as the minutes flowed into hours, hours into days...
She simply lay there on the floor, trapped inside a suit that endlessly informed her that she was near death and needed... practically everything.
Days became weeks and weeks became months as Puppy continued to sleep, frozen in that single instant of life.
Months gave way to seasons, and seasons to years, still the suit to sung its lullaby of medical emergencies.
Year after year, the voice of the suit grew lower and lower, beginning its descent into malfunction. Her helmet was covered in dust and soot, hiding the tragedies of the outside world from her sight as she napped on. Sealed inside her suit, her body twisted and broken, decades passed until they became a century... then two.
The house bore the years without a single repair; it was a good house, built by earth ponies in the old fashioned way— brick by brick, with a solid roof and strong foundations. But all things must come to an end. It began as a little crack in the middle of the main roof beam during spring, growing larger and deeper with every rainstorm until the whole thing resigned to old age.
Right on top of Puppy.
| Location: | Clover Leaf Terrace, suburb of Canterlot |
The building’s collapse sent a plume of dust and pink smoke high into the air, and the resounding crash echoed through the city’s desolate streets. As the debris settled, from beneath the ruins came a tiny, muffled voice.
“Owie...”
Slowly, a brick moved, followed by another, revealing something glinting in the rubble. A round glassy helmet popped up, followed by the yellow silhouette of a very small pony a radsuit. There was a long crack in the helmet, but somehow the damage began to disappear as the pony finished freeing herself from the collapsed building.
“Mom?” The filly resembled an astronaut taking her first steps on an alien world. “What is this place? Where is everypony? Mom? MOOOM?”
Something felt wrong, beginning with the fact that she was still wearing that talking suit.
“MOOOM!”
“Bzzzt- FzZZzzZzt- line... rebooFZZZt necesszSzT!”
“Shut up suit! Where’s Mom? Where is my house? Where... am...” The words caught in her throat as she finally realized where she was. An enormous mountain towered above her, topped by a ruined, but unmistakable castle; there was no doubt, this was Canterlot— her home.
“What... b-b-but... it's... all broken!”
“Fzzzt... critical failure... no living parFZZZTT! Requesting conffFFZZZTanual rebooting.”
“Yeah, whatever!” she said, still gazing upward. All of a sudden she felt funny again. Her sight became foggy and she fell on her flank, her legs unable to support her. Puppysmiles grew weaker and weaker, feeling a terrible pain crawl from her hooves up to her spine. It was a new type of sensation— everything in her seemed to stop working. The more she tried to do something, the more she felt trapped. She tried to scream, but her mouth wouldn’t move. The only thing left to her was staring down the empty street through a cloud of pain and a dusty helmet.
As she lay there, her focus shifted to a pile of strange, dirty white stones. Their shape was unusual: long and thin, some curved, some straight. Now that she was paying attention, she realized that they were everywhere. For some reason the sight of them strewn about disturbed her, but the sensation didn't last long. Suddenly, a green dot pulsed before her eyes, commanding her full attention.
“Reboot complete. Checking version. File not found. Starting emergency mode. Version 0.2...”
Puppy tried to say something, but her mouth wouldn’t cooperate. The foal just stared at the weird lights in front of her eyes that flashed from green to pink. That was good news, at least. She loved pink!
“New components detected. Initializing matrix. Connecting.”
A spark ran through her body, zipping from her nose to her tail. It washed away the horrible sensation of paralysis. Hesitantly, she tried raising a hoof. It worked! It was as if the last five minutes had never happened. She just got better all of a sudden... Go figure.
“Wow, that was weird,” she said, getting to her hooves. “Now I just need to get this stoopid space suit off—”
“All systems operational. Starting diagnostic routine. Analyzing. Subject 001, Puppysmiles. Female. Foal. Earth pony variety. No vitals. Checking for errors in diagnostic equipment. No errors found. Repeating diagnostic routine. Female. Foal. Earth pony variety. No vitals.”
“What are whytles? I want whytles! Are they yummy?” Puppy exclaimed.
“Launching Learning Program for Foals. Connecting to Ministry of Image for recent updates. Unable to establish communication bridge. Launching program from backup files. Please wait for installation to finish.”
Puppy began to skip around, testing her now unparalyzed legs. Eventually, she moved to a pile of old, weathered stones and stopped to get a better look at them. The HUD in her helmet illuminated the heap and surrounded its silhouette with a pink halo.
“Curly cuh... oh... ruh... puh... ss... eh! Cor... corrupse!” She giggled: reading was fun! A second later, she frowned. “What's a corrupse?”
“Corpse, noun. Remnants of a dead creature – the more you know!” the suit’s metallic voice answered.
“Dead? Like... dead dead dead?”
“Searching synonyms for dead... Cadaverous. Deceased. Defunct. Departed. Done for. Erased. Expired. Extinct. Gone. Inanimate. Inert. Lifeless...”
Puppy listened for the first part of the list, then lost interest and poked at a long white bone with a hoof. She wasn’t sure why, but something seemed familiar about this skeleton.
“Uhm, Mister Voice... this corpse... what was it?”
“Analyzing: Pony— Unicorn variety. Adult female.”
Puppy shivered, or at least felt like shivering. Her eyes rose, and she looked down the street littered with bones. Skeletons of dead ponies, curled in on themselves, lining the walls, and huddled into small groups, as if they had tried to find safety in numbers. And now they were dead. All dead.
“What... what happened? Mom? Where's Mom?” Puppysmiles felt a cold sensation running down her spine. “Mister Voice... where's Mom?”
“MoM— Ministry of Morale. Analyzing data. Connecting to Equestrian Cartography Onspark. Downloading data. Error, name matching failed. Searching for MoM broadcasting signal. Spritebot found. Establishing communication bridge... ”
Puppysmiles stopped following the voice after the first two or three sentences. Now she was trying to find her home. Maybe, just maybe her mother was there waiting for her!
“Why is everything different? Where is my house? Where are all the pretty ponies?” She saw the rusted and battered remnants of the Pony Joe's Doughnut shop down the street, confirming that this was the street where she lived. Her house must have been... “B-b-but...” She stood in front of the ruins she’d crawled out of just minutes ago, looking at them in disbelief.
“Query: broadcasting source. Broadcasting signal found. Location marker transmission in progress...”
“If this is home... where's my mom?” Puppy sat down and began to sob, or at she least tried to. It took her some time to realize that she was just bawling: no tears came from her eyes and she didn't feel relieved at all. Now she was almost sure that something in her was wrong. She was about to ask the voice about it, but was interrupted.
“Ministry of Morale's locations added to map. Nearest MoM hub displayed on the navigator.”
“Y-you found my mom?” Puppy exclaimed, feeling a burst of hope.
“Affirmative. MoM has been located. Nearest MoM hub outside Canterlot Ruins is set as new navigation priority.”
“Uh... I... guess that's a yes?” The filly tilted her head.
“Instructions: follow the pink arrow on the compass until destination is reached.”
“Uh... thanks?” It took her a moment to realize what had just happened. The voice had just found her mom! Who cared about the house, the dead ponies, the ruined castle or this stoopid... no wait! This super duper smart space suit was going to bring her to mom! The thought overwhelmed her with glee. Who cared if she didn’t feel hungry or tired or whatever, Mom would know why! She was going to find her mom, so everything was going to be fine!
“YAY!”
| Location: | Sunshine Plaza, outskirts of Canterlot |
“Warning. Vital parameters absent. Warning. Medical supplies exhausted. Warning. All emergency channels are mute. Warning...”
“Warning wrap up warning wrap uuup!”
Puppysmiles was trotting down the streets of Canterlot's suburbs, singing her own version of the greatest song ever in all of Equestria. She tried to match the suit’s droning so that they seemed like a chorus.
“The medical supply’s tired!
Warning wrap up warning wrap up!
We'll soon need batteries!”
“Negative. Energy supply is sufficient. Estimated lifetime of the spark before red level: one thousand, two hundreds years.”
“Oh come on! Just sing and stop whining.”
“Negative. This is not whining. This is a warning. I can supply appropriate audio samples of whining.”
“Warning for what? Everything will be all right as soon as we find my mom! She’s the coolest pony ever!”
“Negative. MoM is not a pony. It is an acronym for—”
“Of course Mom’s a pony... and she’s not an... uh... an acrobat either!”
“Negative. MoM is Ministry of Morale.”
Puppysmiles giggled. “Silly Mister Voice! Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” She giggled again. “Ministry of Morale, as if that has to do with anything.”
Puppy trotted down the deserted road, passing many places familiar to her. As daylight faded into dusk, she found herself in a large city square before a statue of Princess Celestia. “Wow, pretty Princess Celestia... when I'm big I want to be a princess too!”
Puppy paced around the monument with curiosity, trying to find a way onto the statue’s back. Having a ride on a gigantic marble Celestia seemed just too awesome to be a bad idea, but as she prepared to begin her ascent, the suit interrupted.
“Warning. Hostile detected. Distance: twenty meters. Analyzing...”
A red dot appeared on the compass beside her pink objective. Turning to face it, she saw a pony watching her from the doorway of a post office. At last, somepony else! What’s-his-name, Horse Tile? Tee-hee, that was a funny name! She skipped toward him with her best winning smile.
“Hi Mister Horse Tile! I'm Puppysmiles!”
“Warning. Hostile at six meters and closing.”
“Oh, and this is Mister Voice! He lives in my space suit and whines all the time, but he's super smart!”
The creature stared at Puppy with an empty, glowing gaze. He was a horribly disfigured earth pony— his mane was almost completely gone, and skin peeled off his body in several places, revealing rotting meat and yellow bones.
“Gwaah...” he growled and took a step towards her.
“Uhm... is something wrong with you, Mister Horse?”
“Analysis complete. Creature: Canterlot feral ghoul. Threat level: lethal. Tactical retreat is advised.”
Puppy stopped, transfixed by the ghoul’s unwavering gaze, suddenly aware of the horror standing before her. The ghoul simply stood and stared back.
“I-forgot-something-very-important-sorry-gotta-go-okay-bye-bye!”
The foal turned and sprinted for her life, scrambling over bones and screaming like the scared little filly she was. “Ayeeeeeeeeee!” The ghoul watched her display until she disappeared from sight, then sauntered back into the post office.
After several blocks, Puppy finally decided it was safe to slow down and catch her breath. She looked over her shoulder, hoping the monster had given up the chase. The street was empty. Lucky Puppy! She was best runner ever! Maybe she could even do a sonic rainboom without even flying! Was that possible? It would have been super cool for sure... “Okay Mister Voice... you’re the egghead. Is that not-so-pretty-pony still chasing us?”
“Negative. Scanning shows no activity in the area.”
“Super... now let me just catch my breath then... we’ll...” Puppy realized something strange. She was barely winded despite having just run half a kilometer at full gallop. She had only stopped because she felt that she should be tired. Something about that seemed a teeny tiny bit wrong, and it made Puppy recall all the warnings the suit had been giving her... Maybe there was something that she needed to know.
“Uhm... Mister Voice... am I ill?”
“Running diagnostic procedure. Please wait. Negative. The subject is not ill, wounded, or poisoned.”
Puppy felt relieved: the thing about not being hungry or tired was probably nothing unusual. Her mom was always awake after Puppy’s bed time, and she never got tired. Maybe she was growing up at last? Yush! Puppy was becoming a big pony like Mom!
“Diagnosis complete: the subject is deceased.”
“Diseased? You just told me I was all right!”
“Negative. I said that you were not ill.”
She frowned. “Waaaait just a moment. I'm not ill, but I'm diseased?”
“Negative. You are deceased.”
“But that's what I just said!” She stomped her hoof.
“Negative. The word you are using is incorr-”
“Aw, just stop with this. I say tomato, you say tomahto! You don't want to tell me what's wrong? Fine! I don't want to know! Bleh!” Puppy stuck out her tongue at the helmet HUD and once more started to follow the pink compass heading. She had barely noticed that night had drawn in around her; she could still see everything as though it were day. Unbeknown to Puppy, her eyes now shone with a faint pink light.
| Location: | Dead Hills, Wasteland |
As Puppy made her way out of the city, she found herself overlooking a huge valley. As it stretched into the distance, she saw it pass through a desolate landscape of scorched hills and dead forests with little sign of civilization in between. Puppy slowed to a stop and looked around, confused.
“Hey, Mister Voice... are you super duper sure that this way is okay? We’re not heading anywhere near the mountain top...”
“Affirmative. The nearest likely-intact MoM hub is located in this direction. However, it is not currently broadcasting. Other hubs are also located further down this route.”
The filly frowned for a moment, straining to understand what the suit had just said. In the end, she simply smiled. “Okie dokie lokie... let's sing something then!”
“There, is a place, where the grass is what's for dinner!
Charmed, fun and wild, there must be something in the water!”
In the Wasteland, walking down the road making as much racket as she was is just asking for trouble. Within half an hour, Puppy had attracted the attention of every potential aggressor in the area, though most of them were a bit wary of how to proceed.
“Warning. Several hostiles detected. Caution is advised.”
“Wut? Mister Horse Tile again!?” Puppy looked around in a frantic panic. She was sure that she’d lost him in town, how could he— BLAM!
She fell to her rump as a stinging pain in her left hind leg made it buckle. The pain wasn't that bad, but for some reason she couldn't get up.
“Owie...”
Puppy looked up from her injury to see a group of ponies rushing wildly toward her.
“I hit it! Go, kill it- kill it!” One of the ponies shrieked.
“You! I’m gonna eat your heart! GRAAAAH!”
“I want his helmet. It’s mine, I saw it first! It’s mine it’s MINE! He's not bleeding! Why isn’t he bleeding? MAKE HIM BLEED!”
“Warning. Breach in containment layer. Exposure to external elements unavoidable. Survival of subject not guaranteed. Self repairing magic activated.”
Puppy waved a hoof at the new arrivals. “Hi pretty ponies! I'm Puppysmiles! Have you seen my Mom? Oh, and watch out for the horseflies! They sting like crazy!”
She just sat smiling at the three ponies, trying to behave and ignore the annoying sting in her leg. Stoopid insects. The trio of ponies charging toward her showed no signs of slowing down. She frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“Immobilize that bastard! Cut his fucking legs off! I want to see how he does as a snail!”
One of the three, a large, muscular earth pony, tackled Puppy to the ground, effectively burying her under his bulk. The other two split up— the unicorn kept his distance and trained a rifled at the foal’s head, while the second earth pony, a mare, pinned Puppy’s legs and withdrew a wicked-looking knife.
“Got you! Now, hold still while I—”
“Warning. Pink agent, Littlehorn Type detected.”
As the second earth pony landed on Puppysmiles, a thick pink cloud gushed out from the bullet hole in the suit, puffing right into the muscular pony’s face. At first the stallion looked annoyed, but his annoyance was quickly replaced by realization, and then terror as his face began to boil.
“WAAAGH! EAUGH! HELP ME! HELP ME!”
The other two raiders stared in disbelief at the massive earth pony as his face melted and dripped from his skull like ice cream on a hot summer’s day. The earth pony mare looked at the filly inside the helmet. She seemed so small, so innocuous... she had big... pink... glowing eyes.
The mare gasped. “It’s a ghoul! Back off! Back o‒” Suddenly, she coughed up blood. She squirmed, trying to flee, but it was too late to run. She had already tasted the pink venom, and without a healing potion she was just as dead as her companion.
The unicorn screamed in terror, threw the rifle against Puppy's helmet, and then ran for his life. In the meantime, the big male rolled from Puppy’s back as liquefied brain leaked from his skull and splashed onto the asphalt. The female hardly made it far. Choking on her own blood, she managed to get about a hundred meters before collapsing.
“Warning. Breach in the containment layer. Exposure to external elements unavoidable. Survival of the subject is not guaranteed. Repairs in progress.”
Puppy was reeling, shell-shocked by the big pony’s death... it was more horrible than anything she’d ever seen. What in Equestria could have done that? Melting a head with all the skin and the bones and... suddenly she realized. “Mister Horse Tile! He had the same melted face! He killed them!” And now she was next! No... no, no, no, no! That wasn't good, she had to get up and run away, run away fast. Unfortunately, her leg wasn't cooperating. She tried to get up and run but could barely manage a stagger, so stagger she did.
“Repairs completed. Containment restored. Running medical diagnostic. Subject deceased.”
“Don’t you dare start that again! We're in a pinch here!”
“Negative. No immediate threats detected. Hostile count in the area: zero.”
“Count? Mister Horse Tile is a noble pony?”
“Negative. The correct word is hostile. You are distorting the meaning of-”
“What are you, a dictionary? I'm tired of your fancy words!” Puppy sighed with frustration. “Look, there's a super-evil zombie pony count after us and we have to get out of here before he finds us again!”
“Negative. You misundersta—”
“CUT! IT! OUT!” She seethed. As anger grew inside Puppy, her eyes flared, becoming as bright luminescent. The twin flames were so bright that she could see herself reflected in the glass of her helmet. That vile-looking monster staring back at her— Was- was that her?
Speechless and completely lost in the vision, Puppy fell to the ground. She clutched the helmet between her hooves, closed her eyes and started to cry. There were no tears, but it was loud— a soul-felt wail that echoed through the wasteland.
| Location: | Dead Hills, Wasteland |
Through the night, many creatures heard her cries and ventured to investigate, though none of them drew too near to her. There was something about the filly that disturbed them.
It was nearly morning by the time Puppy stopped crying; light was just peeking up over the horizon. Slowly, she lowered her hooves from the helmet and opened her eyes. The suit had been mute since her little scene the previous night, and she now felt lonely.
“Uh... Mister Voice... are you there?”
“Affirmative. All systems are powered and ready.”
“Ah... right... I... I just wanted to say that I'm sorry... I didn't mean to shout at you. I...”
“Warning. This program is not designed for socializing. The emergency mode only provides hardware support, voice command interpretation, and basic survival advice.”
“I... please... please, please, please, don't leave me alone! I'm sorry! Please take me to my mom!”
“Location MoM already set as priority navigation point.”
Puppy hesitated for a moment, trying to understand what the voice was implying. “Uhm... are you saying that we are still going to find Mom together?”
“Affirmative. It is the set priority.”
“YAY! I love you Mister Voice!” Puppy was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a manly metallic laugh, but it wasn't coming from inside her helmet. The filly looked around, trying to pinpoint the source, and found a spritebot fluctuating in the air behind her.
“Uh... hi? I'm Puppysmiles...” After her last experience with newcomers, she wasn't completely sure that the everypony is a welcome pony approach was the best one, but she had been told to be nice and she didn't want to disappoint her mother.
The spritebot hovered for a few moments longer, then replied, “Oh, hi, Puppy... can I call you Puppy? You’re quite an interesting encounter.”
Puppy smiled happily. A friend at last! “Sure! Everypony calls me that. What's your name, buzzing eye?”
“I'm Watcher, pleased to meet you.”
She tilted her head. “What are you watching?”
“Well, anything that I find interesting.”
“Wow, that must be a lot of things!”
The bot laughed for a moment. “Well, yes, quite a lot... Say, is that a fully functioning Mark VI Omni-Environmental Suit you’re wearing?”
“Nope, it's a space suit! It's super cool and it also talks, but I can't get out of it.”
“Oh, and how did you get inside it?”
“A pretty pony put it on me yesterday.”
“Yesterday? Can I ask who that pony was?”
Puppy pondered for a moment. “She had a pretty white vest and made me sing the Pony Pokey... it was all a bit crazy, and she didn't tell me what her name was...”
“Crazy? Like what?”
She frowned, trying to remember the important details of the encounter. “Well, there was this big bubble all around the castle and the streets were full of ponies and soldier ponies and then all that pink mist and-”
“Woah, slow down for a moment! Pink mist? Castle? Do you mean in Canterlot?”
“Yup! Well... not Canterlot Canterlot... we live downhill, but it's still Canterlot, you know?”
“Yes, I... I know...” the voice hesitated. “And... this happened yesterday?”
“Uh... maybe it was a couple days ago... yesterday I woke up and all the pretty ponies were gone and... ah... my house was gone too and... there were lots of corpse ponies and it was creepy... and a really ugly pony chased me but now it's okay because me and Mister Voice are going to find my mom!”
The spritebot was silent for a long time. Puppy just kept smiling, waiting for her new friend to say something else. When the voice finally came back, it sounded distant and somehow not so friendly.
“So, after the thing with the pink cloud, you went to sleep and you woke up the next day and everything was just... gone...”
“Eeyup!”
“And... you’ve not been able to get out of the suit since then and... you haven’t had to drink or eat or... go to the restroom?”
“Nopey mopey.” The filly smiled. “Mister Voice said it was because I was diseased but then he said no and then yes and we had this big argument about fancy words.”
“And... can I ask you where you are going right now?”
At last, an easy question! “Sure! I'm going to find my Mom! Mister Voice found her and I'm following this super nice pink arrow! When I find her everything will be all right!”
“This... Mister Voice... pointed you in that direction? Down this road?”
“Yes! Wow, Mister Watcher, you are super curious, aren’t you? You should be called Mister Questioner!” She giggled, the voice didn't say anything for almost a minute.
“Oh Celestia I... I can't. Listen, Puppy, I...”
“Yes?” Her eyes grew bigger.
The voice went mute again for a long while. “I'm sorry, I have to go. I... I wish you luck.”
“Sure! Good luck to you too! When I find my mom I'll tell her that you were nice to me! Bye bye!”
The spritebot gave a brief burst of static and began playing some music, floating away in the direction of Canterlot.
“Wow, music! He has music! Cool! Hey Mister Voice, do we have music too?”
“Affirmative. I receive several radio signals. Some of them are meant for entertainment.”
Fancy words again. Puppy frowned trying to translate that sentence. “Uhm... this means we can has music?”
“Affirmative.”
“Hit it!”
After a few crackles of static the radio began playing. Puppysmiles continued south, trotting merrily along the lonesome road.
What is this place
filled with so many wonders?
Casting its spell
that I am now under...
Footnote: Level up... No wait, Puppy uses a monster template! Does she get lvls? I think not.
Puppy’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L.