Between The Lines by Mikhal Minters (A collaboration with Brayden Draper)

VII: Mikhal

Mikhal woke up to the light shining through the glass doors of the Inspirationatorium, and into her face. She had slept on the top bunk last night and saw that one of those cleaning robots was bouncing around the walls of her room. She did her morning routine, and went down to get some breakfast. Brayden was sitting in the nook, watching a pair of metal arms make pancakes.

"I named him Mark." Mikhal said, breaking the silence.

"Named who Mark?" Brayden said, worried that she brought an animal into the house without saying anything.

"The Roomba. I named him Mark." Mikhal said.

"Guess that's a better name than Roomba Number 6." Brayden said, relief resounding in his voice.

"Number 6?" Mikhal asked, confused.

"Yeah. You think only one of them can clean this whole house?" Brayden replied.

"Right. What's the plan?" Mikhal asked, ready to face the world.

"I think we should go see the 'Higher-Ups' that Nurse Redheart was talking about." Brayden said.

"I think we should find where these 'Higher-Ups' are, first." Mikhal said.

"Easy. We'll just go back and see Nurse Redheart again. Although, I don't think she'll be too happy with how we just left like that." Brayden said, a little afraid.

"Whatever. Easier than catching a train, right?" Mikhal joked.

"Roger, roger." Brayden said, imitating a robot.

Mikhal laughed and headed over to grab a few pancakes that the robot had created. She tried one. They were a little bland, but Brayden seemed to enjoy them.

"So what would we do when we run out of supplies?" She asked.

"Oh. That's easy." Brayden said. He got up and walked over to an unusually slim door, possibly meant to keep ponies out. He opened it to reveal an equally small spiral staircase made of metal. A cool breeze flew through of the door, and Brayden invited her into the dark staircase. Brayden talked as they walked.

This is what i like to call 'Cold Storage'", Brayden commented. "Remember those things that the capsule used to collect materials? They keep going. They bring whatever they deem useful and not in use here."

They reached the bottom. Brayden opened the door to reveal a large underground room with stone walls and hundreds of collectors reaching out of tunnels and placing things onto conveyor belts. There was one conveyor that was dispensing wood, perfect for use as firewood. Another was dispensing all sorts of computer parts. One was even dispensing Twinkies.

"Oh." Mikhal said, satisfied with Brayden's solution to the problem. "Neat."

The two picked up backpacks from one of the conveyor belts and packed up, Brayden putting perhaps one too many twinkies in his bag. They left the house, and set off for Ponyville.

As they closed in on the small town, Mikhal explained what they would do.

"First, we ask Nurse Redheart who the Higher Ups are." Mikhal explained. "Then, we make sure we don't get our butts kicked."

"Good plan.", Brayden joked.

They stopped a couple of ponies, a white pegasus with a dark blue mane, and a grey unicorn with a black mane, and asked them if they knew where Nurse Redheart lived.

"Why do you need to know?" The grey one asked, and Mikhal noticed that she had a voice that was eerily similar to hers.

"We need to ask her a....", Mikhal trailed off, giving Brayden the cue to help.

Brayden, as smart as he was, also happened to be extremely stupid. But now was a perfect example. He seemed to be analyzing the white pony, ignoring Mikhal's verbal request.

"You say something?" he said, in a daze.

The white pony shifted his expression.

"You sound familiar." He stated blankly, studying Brayden.

They awkwardly exchanged looks for a few moments, and Mikhal and Brayden felt as if they had been woken up in the middle of a dream.

"Hmm... Well, then. Nurse lives over there." The grey mare pointed her hoof towards a house in the distance. It looked to be a minute or two away. Brayden thanked them and he jogged over towards the house. Mikhal waved goodbye to the two and ran after Brayden. The two ponies stood there for a moment, then returned to the heart of the town.