Alibi Street Cinema, Trotson
Day 2
“Watcher,” I mimicked back to the Sprite-Bot. I wasn’t sure if that was his real name or a fake one. My eyes drifted to the right slowly, only for me to snap my attention back to the Sprite-Bot. “Name is definitely accurate. I’ll pass up your offer.”
“Are you sure? I’ve heard living down here is different then just being on deployment from Dashite’s before,” he said. His voice sounded more monotone than my own, and the metallic orb he was speaking through didn’t make for many interesting gestures. “You're doing a pretty good job so far, though. I would recommend a bit more friendliness to your companions.”
I asked, rolled my eyes, and looked away. A few red flags had already shown themselves to me, one major one being they seemed a bit too friendly. Sharpshot wore the fact he was an ass on his sleeve, and while it made him infuriating it made what friendliness he was showing believable. The fact Watcher knew I was with Sharpshot and Willow was also a mark against them. They weren’t with me now, which means they had been spying on me earlier. If they wanted me trust, they had severely fucked up.
“I’ll remain as friendly as I see fitting. Right now you're not inspiring the most friendly version of me,” I told him, glaring at them as if he was a hostile in a rifle’s scope. “So I recommend leaving me alone or coming clean about what you are really here for.”
Watcher remained quiet, and for a few seconds I had believed he had given up. Instead he came back swinging with info that weighed like a dark age warhammer.
“The Invisible Mare is interested in you about something called M.A.M.,” He replied. I felt my wings suddenly go wide in fear. “She thinks you’ll lead her to it. They're a young but dangerous pony. I figured you might want a warning.”
It was like ice water had been poured on my body, my chance to calm myself. That acronym, M.A.M., had led the windigos to my body and frozen it in their hateful cold. Nopony should know of it, tartarus most of the Enclave did know it existed. There should have been no way the Invisible Mare could have found out about it by pure happenstance. No chance… unless somepony had stolen those documents.
The theft had happened two weeks ago, and I had only been on the surface for two days total. In hindsight having gone down sooner would have saved us this pain, but politics and procedures got in the way. That was with the court marshaling process speeding up to an insane degree. Of course things could have happened in those two weeks! Everything had taken too damn long, and now one of the wasteland’s most dangerous had what Ironsight had been working on in her hooves.
If shit hadn’t gone sideways at the station, it most definitely had now.
“Luna damn you, Angel Hair,” I said, stomping a hoof and flapping my wings in rage. I look at the Sprite-Bot. “How the hell do you know what it is?”
“I only know she is looking for it. Whatever this M.A.M. stuff is, I’m unfamiliar with it,” Watcher answered. That put my mind at ease to some mild extent. “If you’re gonna have ponies like her on your tail it is even more important to have friends. Thankfully you have two good ones.”
“Right,” I growled, a hoof connecting with my forehead. “Look, I don’t know how you found out she knows about it, but I don’t care. Nopony can know about it.”
“Lips are sealed,” the stallion on the other side said. At least I was pretty certain they were a stallion, making myself an absolute foal. “Well, best of luck. If you need anything, just call me through one of these.”
The hoof I had placed on my head flew outwards, waving Watcher off. “Yeah, sure.”
With that, old and rather unpleasant music greeted my ears. It wasn’t that it was a genre I didn’t like, it was literally just putrid. Perhaps whatever was playing it had distorted pieces of the score, but even then the instrument composition and the– I was getting caught up in shit that didn’t matter. The music didn’t matter, my talent didn’t matter. What did was the knowledge laid out before me.
Outside of her being a traitor, there was nothing attached to killing her now. She was just another dashite out in the wasteland, much like myself. The major difference was that Angel didn’t have an Enclave general – and on a more worrying note the leader of ArcanaTech –keeping track of her. Still it would be easy to come up with an excuse for me not to kill her, and it would get me a headstart on finding my next target. That was the smart choice in that instance.
Pride, however, was a great counter to intelligence.
I was down here because of her, I was away from my family because of her, and years of living were thrown away just because of her. Even if the Enclave didn’t need her dead, I wanted her dead. No, want was not the correct word. I craved her death, much like a raider craved blood and the defacing of purity. My career – my pride – was destroyed by her. I would have her blood on my hooves, and the thought of vengeance calmed my nerves.
Getting up and turning back to the cinema, I grinned. It was a smile made both in imagining the vengeance I wish for, and the less serious matter of the film reels we believed were viewable. I had left them waiting to be viewed long enough.
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To my relief, my absence had not been long enough to cause any questioning from Willow and her grounder husband. The two had mainly spent the time talking, Sharpshot making sure his beloved was as comfortable as could be. Considering the tension and continuing consistency of her swallowing, that was not exactly great. She had the will in her to eat, however, which had sent a sigh of relief. I wouldn’t want one of my own to be unable to perform a basic function of life like that just because of some cruel plant.
We set the film reel on the projector, the time it took for us to figure out all the hows and whats greatly shortened by the terminal. It wasn’t too hard to figure out, truth be told, but it was technology none of us had toyed with before. Knowing we had some way to make sure we couldn’t further damage the film or projector was comforting. When all was said and done, we had our first film ready to play. All we had to do now was start up the projector and look out into the theater below.
“Ready everypony?” I asked.
“I am, soldier mare,” Sharpshot said, Willow excitedly dancing behind her. It was so easy to forget she was dealing with an eternally burning throat, seeing her like that. “Hit it!”
With a nod, I flicked the projector on and my eyes found themselves glued to the light before. It rhythmically clicked along, film passing through the device and into another, empty reel. We were greeted not by music, or the start of the film itself. It was a statement that in my day and age meant nothing, but during the war meant so, so much more.
The following has been approved by the
Ministry of Image
It faded away, and was then replaced by bombastic music and a title card. It showed a cartoon colt with the biggest, happiest grin on his face and a unicorn filly with a similarly over-the-top cheer in her expression. I could see something foal-like ignite in Sharpshot’s eyes, clearly recognizing the two from somewhere. If I was to guess, it was probably from Stable 17; must have had more films or comics with these two in it.
The cartoon characters were placed above giant bold letters.
BUTTON AND LILY IN… LOVESTRUCK LUNACY!
“No shit, these two were film characters too?!” Sharpshot shouted, leaning forward the slightest bit more. “I remember finding some old newspapers years ago that had them. Figured they were just anti-stripe comics.”
“Anti-zebra?” I questioned, looking at the cartoon. It had actually started, showing the colt and filly now blabbing at each other in annoying, overly foalish voices. They sounded too fake to truly be voiced by foals, but the fact old Equestria could do this was rather amazing. “Not seeing how they could turn this into war propaganda.”
“You’d be surprised. The Ministry of Image practically required some patriotic showing in anything published,” Willow explained. “Zebra’s tried the exact same thing. Did you know they had the Power Ponies creator under their hooves for a time?”
I had no idea what Power Ponies were, so I just shook my head at the alicorn and watched along. From what little I could tell, Lily was a very stereotypical filly with a love for all things cute and easily fell for anypony she saw. Button was similarly stereotypical, hating cute in favor of the cool and not using his head. The two could have been friends, or they might have been dating. All I did know from watching the short was that Button definitely had a thing for his friend, and that Sharpshot was somehow right about something as simple as this having anti-zebra ties to it.
All of it was tied to a pegasus colt, arrogant and prideful, who Lily fell for the moment she saw him. The colt was enjoying the attention, and went to overly comical levels to keep her attention. Button was clearly jealous, and he quickly tried to one up his fellow colt. Thus began a series of hilarious hijinx that managed to get a laugh out of all of us. The slapstick nature of most of the comedy made it sit in rather well with the wasteland environment of the present day.
It all led into the rather powerful but clearly pro-Equestria finale. A few zebras wanted Lily as a captive and had called out to both foals for help. What quickly proceeded was, to be frank, absolutely ludicrous and completely impossible. The two foals absolutely demolished their enemies, making the zebras look as incompetent as a feral ghoul in negotiations. Effective or not, the point of it had been made exceedingly clear.
“And that is how most wartime cinema went,” Willow stated as the short ended, Lily rolling her eyes as Button and the pegasi argued about who truly saved her. Not even half a minute later, that same music that opened the short originally appeared again, and we were back at the title. “Must be a collection.”
“Makes… makes sense,” Sharpshot said, recovering from his laughing fit. I’m not entirely sure when he had collapsed onto the floor, but he had pulled himself back up to make sure he could watch the next one. “The film on the reel wouldn’t have been so big otherwise.”
I’m not entirely sure how long we had been there, watching short after short. Sharpshot seemed to enjoy it the most, clearly finding the slapstick nature of it all to his taste. Willow would silently giggle with him, the laugh fake but the smile on her face real. The cartoons were not entirely my thing, though I did manage to pick up on a few of the more dirty jokes. Those got me, like they had for pretty much my entire life.
It proved to be a nice, hour long distraction, but at the end of the day that was all it was. My intrigue in the projector had done nothing but turned our minds away from more important matters. The laughter was also a double-edge sword, heavily reminding me of home. Especially Willow’s laughter. Clear was also a silent laugher, though the reasons were likely different.
Thinking like that made me realize: Clear and Rainy would have absolutely loved this.
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“Eight… nine… ten! Ready or not, here I come!”
I turned around and looked at our living room, noticing a distinct lack of foals in the immediate vicinity. It was amazing how fast those two could move in such a short amount of time, but it always made hide and seek very interesting. Especially since they could fit almost anywhere with how small they currently were.
Hide and seek had been a favorite of mine growing up, and knowing Rainy and Sunny enjoyed filled me with joy. They were pretty good at it too, having gotten to the point where the more obvious spots were not always the first thing they go to. Sometimes I would find them in the cabinet under the sink, where all the plumbing was. Other times they would try and pull a fast one and hide behind the curtains. I couldn’t help but giggle whenever they tried to pull that one. I remember Rainy once tried to simply hide behind me.
She was caught instantly, and proceeded to pout for the rest of that round.
The round that immediately comes to mind was a round much like. Typically the two of them were rather good at knowing that staying together was not a good idea in hide and seek. It’s like what happens when you cluster up on the battlefield and the enemy is smart enough to throw a grenade, though with less blood and far more cuteness. It was an easy way for the round to end before it even began, especially when the hiding spot was not so stellar.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Though, now that I think of it, perhaps it wasn’t the hiding spot that was really the problem. Perhaps it was the fact that, upon turning into the kitchen, anypony wouldn’t notice the high-quality cutlery or the wonderful stove, but the two tails sticking out of a cabinet. One had my light blue and a streak of black, while the other was pure gray. They could hear my hooves enter the kitchen, giggling at what I’m sure they thought was a brilliant hiding spot.
There was a roll of the eyes, and then the opening of the cupboard. I watched as two pegasus fillies froze up and looked behind themselves. The blue and white tail connected to a yellow body, making up the first of my two foals: Clear Skies. Obviously the second tail belongs to Rainy Days, a dark gray coat matching her tail. Next to my dear Anchor they were my biggest treasures, and ones I had helped bring into the world besides that.
“Aw.” Clear Skies said. “She got us.”
“Indeed I have,” I said, giving a devious grin to the two. “Now, come here you two.”
Much to their displeasure, Clear and Rainy were pulled out of the cupboard and brought into a warm hug. They squiremed within my grasp, but like a dragon with its prey I refused to let it escape. I giggled at their attempts, squeezing them a bit harder and nuzzling their cheeks. Rainy groaned in embarrassment.
“Mom, stop it,” she whined.
“Okay, okay,” I replied, letting go of them both. I watched them both turn to me, that joy in my heart swelling as I saw them both pouting at me. “Next time, make sure your tails aren’t sticking out.”
I watched Clear turn to Rainy, pushing her with his hoof. “Told you we were forgetting something.”
“No you didn't!” Rainy shot back in that tone of voice only a foal could manifest. A hoof was pointed at her sister. “You were laughing the entire time!”
“Was not!”
I couldn’t help but shake my head as the two descended into an extremely petty argument. Even like this, my foals were just far too adorable. I wish I could see them again, but I know I lost that chance. I was on the surface now; I likely would never see them again.
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“Equus to soldier mare. Equus to soldier mare. You still with us?”
I shook my head, eyes looking at Sharpshot. The ghoul was looking at me with a raised brow, and Willow was watching me with a great amount of concern. The reminiscence bug had gotten to me again, it seems. An unfortunate effect of having so much shit, both good and bad, happen in my life was that I found myself looking back at it a lot. I shook my head, trying my best to remove the thoughts of my foals and old life from my head, and then gave Sharpshot a nod. He seemed less than convinced, but shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, you ready to see what this next film is? Seems to be a decent amount shorter than what we watched previously,” He said, slapping the projector like it was an old world bug.
“Uh, yes. Ready,” I replied.
He walked back over to the otherside of the projector, but Willow joined me by my side. She didn’t say anything at first, watching Sharpshot set up the new film for a time before turning her attention to me. Her smile was somewhat different from her usual one, a mix between gleeful and sympathetic, and I was the subject of it. She sat down to my left, eyes momentarily turning back in front of us before returning to me.
“You were remembering something,” She said. Sharpshot didn’t react, so I assumed he was left out of the telepathy. “It seemed like you were ready to cry.”
“I… was,” I responded, voice quiet. She wanted this to just be between the two of us, so I did my best to lower my voice enough where it would be both audible and understandable. “Thinking about what I left behind, and what I’m trying to save. I got two foals and a husband still up in the clouds.”
“Foals?” She asked. I gave her a nod. She turned away from me, eyes staring at nothing. “I won’t deny, kind of jealous of that. I would love to have children but, well, I can’t. Even if I could, it wouldn't be from Sharpshot.” She giggled, a hoof covering the front of her muzzle. “His banana is a little broken.”
“Too much information,” I whispered, face heating up a bit. “I am sorry you aren’t able to, however.”
“You’ll have to tell me about them during our time traveling together,” WIllow Wisp replied. “It’s strange, I’m jealous but at the same time I don’t know if I really want foals. Perhaps hearing about the experience from you would help me figure out if I do or not.” Her smile faded away, head drooping. “To add one good thing to the world sounds very nice.”
I wanted to say that her foals would have hated the surface, and that it was probably better she didn’t have any, but I couldn’t. Instead, words of understanding and sympathy left my muzzle.
“I’m sure you would have made a good mother,” I lied. Truth be told, the idea of somepony like her being a parent terrified me; the child wouldn’t be mentally okay. “You got everything set up, ghoul?”
“Yeah yeah, just give me a second,” Sharpshot replied from the otherside of the projector. “Okay, everything seems to be set up. Let's start it up.”
I gave a nod, and we started the next motion picture. At least, it was supposed to be, but I could tell immediately that something about it was off. There was no music, no title card, and no assurance from the Ministry of Image. Instead what we got was a crescent moon, shattered in its middle by a lightning bolt. My eyes briefly flicked to the terminal, remembering the audio recording.
The loud sound of hooves brought my attention back, watching as a pegasus sat down. With the lack of color, a lot couldn’t be made out about her appearance. What was clear was that she was missing her front right hoof, a metallic prosthetic making up everything below the shoulder blade. Her expression was pure gloom.
“To friends new and old, welcome,” the mare said, her tone as sour as the look on her face. “I’m sure you all know who I am, and why I have asked you to join me here on this day. To those who somehow do not, then allow me to make it perfectly clear.” Her hoof went to her chest. “I understand that the zebras have done horrible things to our Equestria, and I understand why our princess and our ministry fight for what we do. I once did, at least.”
The mare’s voice turned cold as she continued on.
“I was there on the fields of Zebrica some time ago, fighting for what I believed was right. I nearly died there, and I watched a lot of other soldiers die as well. Good soldiers, better ponies.” She shook her head. “When I was discharged, I was left to think over why I was still fighting – why we are still fighting. I knew the reason this war had started but… we did need those resources anymore. We don’t need to fight this war, or do more terrible things, or live in a constant state of fear and terror of what we’ve made the zebras to be.”
A stomp of a hoof echoed through the recording’s mic. It had become extremely clear at this point that what we were watching wasn’t a film, but something else.
“Equestria. Was. Wrong! I was wrong. Everypony is being led to believe this is for something and I quickly realized it was for nothing. I was once all too gungho to be out on the front lines,” She continued on. “Now I realize that the bloodshed is pointless, and that we soldiers are but cattle for the slaughter. Ministries of Equestria are sending ponies to die for no real reason. They’re begging, no, pleading for the world to end. We cannot allow them to do this!”
I hadn’t realized she had sat down until she stood back up, another powerful stomp of her hoof hitting our ears. Her words felt both scripted and unscripted, as if she had forgotten her lines midway through and was trying her best to get back on track. Lines that reminded me of the mare we had heard on the recording earlier. They weren’t the same pony though; the one from earlier had a deeper and more… maternal tone to her, for lack of a better word.
“To you, members of the Shattered Moon, I have brought you here today because I fear that day is far sooner than anypony would want to admit. The end is possibly nigh, and we must prepare for any possibilities that may come our way. I know until now our focus has been on the end of the ministries, and if their downfall would possibly save our nation I would do it in a heartbeat, but the worst must be prepared for. I wish that I could tell you everything in detail, but Minister Pinkie is on my trail and I must hide. The explanation of everything will be left to Miss Tempest Shadow.”
Her entire body sagged, ears folded back.
“Thank you all for your services, and let us hope that the end isn’t truly the end.”
It ended, and we were left with the mechanical clicking of the projector. Overall the recording hadn’t been all that important to today's world, but the mares' words left me wondering. She was a soldier just like me, scarred in a manner similar to what had happened to her hoof. Where I had doubled my efforts in service to the Enclave, she found herself questioning the authority she had come to trust. It was like looking at a reflection of my own self.
That reflection had seen the end of the world, and it left me silent and confused.
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I can’t recall what the third film was about, or what was in it, or anything else. Something about hearing that mare speak caused the dead to return to tormenting my soul once more, their raging drowning out the world for a time. I’m not entirely sure how long, but when next I felt truly conscious the projector had been turned off and we were in the theater room proper. Sharpshot had prepared a fire, and Willow was lying down watching him do his work.
That lost frame of time caused me to look back towards where the curtains should have been, wondering how I had gotten here. I was quickly drawn back to the fire by the feeling of flame heating my face, and I turned back. In this cold, desecrated place, that fire offered a much needed color to the world around us. The red both it and Sharpshot wore, along with the white and blue of the alicorn across from me, were the perfect contrast to our environment. It all came together to offer a tiny, beautiful sign of life.
“So, you haven’t told us exactly who it is we are chasing down first,” Sharpshot piped up, laying down next to his wife. “I doubt you came all the way to Trotson just to get us. One of them is close by, I take it?”
“Yes. Her name is Angel Hair,” I explained. Perhaps a piece of me was still stuck in the screams of the damn, cause I sounded far more robotic then I wished. “Good soldier, and good at getting you to talk. Not that hard when her parents run a bar.”
“She’ll know you went after her then, and that you are down here,” Willow Wisp stated. I gave her a nod, and watched as her face grew contemplative. “That will make tracking her down rather tricky. Probably avoiding settlements to keep her off your tail.”
“Only way I could think of getting in contact would be through ArcanaTech themselves,” Sharpshot said. He threw a hoof up in the air, before it returned to the zebra rifle in front of his hooves. “Shit chance that will happen. As far as I know none of them leave their little base of operations, and I’m not about ready to lead a suicide charge through there front door.”
“The implication that you have thought about it is worrying, but hopefully we shouldn’t need to,” I told him. I grabbed my battle saddle, took both the novasurge rifle and semi-auto rifle off its frame, and placed them before me. I needed something to distract my brain outside of the conversation before me, and a weapons inspection seemed perfect. “Sharpshot, you said they would come for Shining Gemini, correct?”
The ghoul gave me a nod, and I found myself smiling as I started my inspection. “We won’t be able to tail them, though. They won’t want anypony seeing them.”
He was correct. All of Trotson called ArcanaTech “Shadow Corp '' after all, meaning ponies likely knew nothing more than the bare minimum about them. Tartarus, it was more than possible they knew we were in Alibi Street Cinema at that very moment. No way any standard pony would be able to get their attention unless ArcanaTech wanted to talk themselves.
Thankfully, one of us wasn’t a standard pony.
“Willow, judging by your coat and how you snuck up on Sharpshot and I earlier, you can turn invisible, right?” I asked.
“Feels like second nature,” She answered indirectly, the more direct form coming in the form of a quick nod. “Can keep it up for a decent amount of time, but it is finite.”
“It still leaves you as our best choice,” I replied. A hoof reached up to the underside of my muzzle, closing my eyes. “As far as I see it, either Willow managed to catch them in the act of kidnapping or they came for me. That Sprite-Bot did say I.M. was interested in me.”
“Wait, Sprite-Bot? You’ve met Watcher?” Sharpshot asked. I looked at him surprised, but nodded my head. “So he is still kicking. Haven’t heard from him in a decent period of time.”
“To be fair, you weren’t his favorite pony,” Willow reminded him. A coy smile graced her lips, and she gave the ghoul a brief nuzzle. “A shame. You're quite the wonderful little thing once somepony gets to know you.”
His eyes drifted to the floor, and I’m sure there was a visible blush underneath those rags of his. If a ghoul was still capable of blushing anyways, considering they existed with a few hooves already in the grave. The sight of love twisted my stomach, so I coughed in order to bring my focus back.
“The point is, Shining Gemini is currently our best option at finding where Angel Hair is. Whether it is through her having seen them, or her getting us in contact with ArcanaTech is up to the dice,” I explained, setting the novasurge to the side; it seemed the sand hadn’t harmed it just yet. “That will be our goal for tomorrow. Hopefully, if everything goes well, we will have the first of the traitors dealt with by the end of the week.”
“Then you two should probably get some shut eye,” the ghoul replied, standing up and raising that abomination of his upwards. “Don’t need to worry about sleep, so I’ll make sure nopony comes in to bother us.”
“Be safe hun,” Willow replied.
The two kissed, my stomach twisting a little more at the sight. It hurt so much to see these two grounders happy together, but I refused to let that envy take a grander form. I listened to the sound of Sharpshot’s hooves as I did a quick check of the semi-auto, not wanting to look at the joy before me. When I was done, and the rifle was set to the side, I laid there for a time in frustration and sadness. If Anchor had been there, I’m sure his touch would have gotten tears to flow.
If only Anchor was there…
“Singing, could you be his friend?”
I looked up at Willow as she spoke those words, raising an eyebrow. “You want what?”
“Sharpy. Outside of me he doesn’t have anypony,” She told me. Her head rested on her hooves, and she stared into the fire. “He tends to self sabotage when ponies get close to him. I think he is scared of losing a friend again, but I… I want him to have someone.” She closed her eyes, clearly ready to fall asleep. “I might not be around forever. My coat wasn’t this blue when I became an alicorn; the killing joke won’t hold her back forever. I’m worried that once I’m gone, he’ll go feral.”
I stared at the alicorn for a bit, unsure what to make of her proposal. I understood what she was asking, but me? I wasn’t sure how to answer, but as I rested my head and closed my eyes for the day, words managed to escape my mouth.
“No promises it’ll work out,” I said.
I couldn’t see how her smile grew from my response, but something in my mind felt it. “That is all I can ask.”