> lethal comPONY
>  by Blobskin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Version: 1

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Team Leader Orange was at the computer terminal trying to decide their next destination. Yellow was nervously pacing up and down the ship while she waited. Red was seated in the corner out of the way, busy adjusting the strap of his environmental suit.

Eventually Red was satisfied that his outfit would stay in place. He then grunted as he stood up and approached Orange by the terminal. "So what's the plan?"

"Not sure," their team leader admitted in an aged voice. "Assurance likely has a lot of scrap metal left to collect and that's always in demand, but Vow probably has some old biological samples the Company is gonna want to see."

"Vow is also gonna be crawling with freaks," Yellow commented with a fearful grumble.

"Move fast enough and we won't have to deal with them," Orange replied dismissively.

"What's the weekly quota?" Red thought aloud while looking up to check for himself.

Above the terminal was a lengthy digital display divided into three sections. The time and date, their current coordinates, and the weekly quota.

"Shit, it's over a thousand this week," Red grumbled.

"We're gonna have to take some risks then," Orange sighed.

"Those bastards are trying to kill us," Yellow accused with a shiver.

"Then maybe you should work harder to make them happy," Red sassed.

"How am I supposed to make a tentacle monster happy?" she snapped back.

"Enough," Orange cut in. "Arguing doesn't get the job done. First, we've got to decide: Assurance or Vow?"

"What about Experimentation?" Yellow suggested. "The open desert is pretty reassuring."

Red scoffed while Orange shook his head. "No good. Experimentation is currently under an eclipse and I'm not taking that chance when there are options."

"I vote for Vow. With a high quota we've got to earn some big money. Scrap metal isn't going to cut it."

Orange nodded. "I vote for Vow too. It'll be a risk, but we just need to move fast."

Yellow sagged. "That's your advice for everything. Getting chased by a monster? Run. Don't like the dark? Run. Is Red annoying you? Run."

Red tapped his hoof on the metal floor. "I am not annoying," he asserted in an annoying voice.

Orange took a breath to hold back the coming headache. Rookies, he thought bitterly. Any thought of trying more dangerous locations like Offense or March suddenly vanished. "Vow it is then."

"Hey, what about my vote!?" Yellow cried as he pulled the lever that sent their ship zooming towards the chosen moon.

Red stood tall and cocky. "We already voted."

"That's not fair."

"How is a vote not fair?"

"Enough," Orange said gruffly. "Just try to enjoy the greenery."

Red chuckled for a moment until the wait made him bored. "Who named these moons anyway? Like, Experimentation? Assurance? Vow? Those aren't names! They're just random words."

Orange grunted dismissively. "Who knows."

"What's next, a moon named Stone? Room? Cup?"

Silence overtook the craft as Red waited for one of his teammates to join him in playful banter. However, Orange wasn't interested and Yellow was still silently steaming about their destination. So that was it for the mid-trip conversation. A few minutes later the ship pulled into orbit and then landed. It was time for work.

"Walkie check," Orange barked as the others tried to step outside.

The two ponies paused, raised a hoof to their respective helmets, and pressed the button over their ear's.

"Can you hear me?" Red's voice buzzed.

"Testing," Yellow droned.

"Copy that, communications are good," Orange nodded with satisfaction.

"Can we go outside now, Mom?" Red joked.

Rather than answer, their team leader brushed past them and into the humid morning air of the moon known as Vow. A moment later Red and Yellow were standing beside him at the railing.

Before them was a sparse forest of old trees, each as thick as a pony. A carpet of grass and leaves decorated the hilly landscape around them. A fog hung over their surroundings, obscuring the view of anything beyond more than a few dozen meters. The songs of alien birds filled the air.

"Well," Yellow mumbled, "this isn't so bad."

"Where's the outpost? Or colony. Whatever structure we're supposed to be looting!" Red rambled.

Orange scanned the area looking for any sign of the facility. "It should be west of us. Nothing to do but hike it. Better make it fast because we've only got 16 hours to clean this place out, half that before we'll have company. Follow me."

Their team leader placed one hoof on the railing before vaulting over it and down to the mushy ground below. He landed with a grunt, turned right, and started walking. The other two hesitantly glanced at each other before doing the same. Orange decided to give them a review of his safety rules while they wandered.

"Remember to keep your ears open. Every threat will let you know it's there if you listen hard enough. We can expect bunker spiders and snare fleas here, so stick together. Either one will gladly make a meal out of a lone pony. And move fast," he added seriously. "The longer we take the more nightmares will notice us and come out to play."

"Yes sir," Red replied dutifully.

A few minutes later Yellow spoke up. "Hey, is that the base?"

Sure enough the horizon ahead of them was dominated by a large boxy shape barely peeking out of the mist. Once the team escaped the treeline they paused for a moment to simply take it all in. The building was made of plain old concrete and, though the fog made it hard to be sure, it looked like there was a water tank on the roof. But what really caught their attention was the gorge which cut across the terrain and separated them from the entrance. Upon closer inspection it was actually a dry riverbed with a sandy floor and steep muddy walls. Luckily there was a rusty bridge nearby that spanned the gap.

"Is this... safe?" Yellow mumbled while poking the corroded metal.

"How long has this place been abandoned?" Red added.

Orange hummed in thought. At first glance there didn't seem to be another option. The front door was on the opposite side and they didn't have any climbing gear. However, as his eyes roamed, two alternatives soon became apparent. To the team's right the level of the riverbed actually rose until it would have been trivial to cross. But the detour would easily add 30 minutes to their trip. To the left was an explanation for the dry gorge: a dam. A wall of stone that could also be used as a bridge. However, using this second detour would cost them about as much time as the other. And every minute counted.

Orange sighed. "Wait here for a moment. I'll cross first, then Red, then Yellow," he instructed.

The two nodded silently to his plan.

Orange, the oldest and most experienced, stepped onto the rusting catwalk. The metal groaned and he could swear it flexed beneath him. After a second of gathering his courage the Company veteran slowly made his way across. The bridge protested his every step, but it held. Once on the other side, reassured and happy to be on solid ground again, he quickly turned back towards his team and called out.

"It's good! Let's go!!"

The others also made it across without incident.

The double doors squealed as the team pushed their way in. Three stone corridors led away from the lobby to other halls and rooms. A pervasive darkness, only broken by the beams of their shoulder mounted flashlights, surrounded them. Countless old smells, of dust and stone and rot, assaulted their noses even through the masks they wore.

"What was this place?" Red grumbled.

"Research outpost," Orange explained lazily. "They were studying the local animal and plant life. So we can expect a lot of chemicals and beakers and stuff like that. Careful not to drop anything."

"We splitting up or going together?" Yellow asked while fearfully eyeing the three different paths.

"You two should stick together, go right. I'll head left. As soon as your bags are full head back to the ship. Report sounds and if you see anything."

"Copy that," Red acknowledged and began leading Yellow into the darkness.

And thus the team scoured the old facility for anything left behind when it was abandoned. As Orange had suspected there were plenty of glass beakers and bottles, some with yet identified chemicals and samples still sealed inside. But there were also old cages, rusted that they were, that could be taken back. Which Yellow was happy to do. Any excuse to get out of the facility if only for a few minutes.

Over and over the various members of the team filled their loot-bags with as much random scrap as they could, then returned to the ship to stash it. Hours passed. And there were a few incidents. Luckily, with the power of their walkies, Orange was able to guide the team in the best ways to deal with each new threat.

A snare flea, basically a giant centipede, ambushed Yellow by dropping down on her neck from above. In a flash she was being strangled to death. Fortunately, Red was right next to her and immediately dislodged the freak with a single powerful blow. Once on the ground the huge bug was slow and vulnerable. So he gladly stomped it to death while his partner recovered.

A hydrogere, an expansive but slow moving slime monster, flooded a hallway and blocked the team's path. However, Orange knew they were strongly attracted to music and could be coaxed to move faster wherever the team wanted. So Yellow was recruited to sing to it. Yet even while "chasing" it wasn't particularly fast, so it took her some time to lead it into a room. Once inside she deftly skirted around it and they locked it up so it would stay out of the way while they continued scavenging.

Less than an hour later Orange found himself in a standoff with a hoarding bug, a short bipedal beetle species that could be quite troublesome for scavenging teams like theirs. In this case the one he encountered had claimed a plastic crate filled with bottles. If Orange wanted that crate he'd either have to fight the bug for it or offer it a trade. It was fortunate he happened to have a spare shiny key on him and that hoarding bugs didn't really assign value to the items they claimed. As long as they could hold it any two objects were equally worthy of having a place in their hoard. So the "trade" was near immediately accepted and Orange made off with the obviously far more valuable crate of bottles.

Then the team was graced with the sudden arrival of a coil-head.

It was getting late and Yellow was back at the ship after having dropped off her most recent load. She didn't immediately return however, because Red needed her to use the ship's terminal to hack an electronic security door that was preventing them from going any deeper. The mare easily entered the code and then watched the screen as her partner moved into the new hall. Yet she still didn't leave the ship. The mare dreaded going back in after the close calls and approaching night.

Then a mysterious dot appeared on the monitor and shot towards Red faster than she'd ever seen anything else move!

"Red! Lookout!!" she barked into the mic.

Red had just stepped into the opened passage and was taking his time searching the floor for salvageable loot or over-sized webs that might have indicated the presence of a bunker spider. The sudden warning made him jump back and begin swinging his light down either hall of the T-intersection he was in. For a moment he considered trying to ask Yellow for clarification, like from which direction the threat was coming.

Then he heard it.

The extremely rapid pitter-patter of approaching hooves.

Red spun around and froze as a twisted mannequin lit up under the beam of his flashlight. It wasn't moving now, but the spring that served as its neck and held its porcelain head was bouncing wildly back and forth. The terrible squeaks made the pony's ears itch. As did the deathly silence that followed as he stared down the seemingly lifeless imitation of an equine. There was an otherworldly aura coming from it. Something alien and wrong. Something dangerous. And it wasn't just the random screws that had been driven into its legs as though somepony had been using it for torture practice.

Residual dark magic practically oozed off of it and made Red queasy simply looking at it. But he couldn't afford not to, even for a second. Coil-heads could only move if nopony was looking at them. And move they did. The artificial ponies were beyond fast and had a supernatural ability to kill on contact.

In other words, if Red looked away for more than a second the mannequin horror in front of him would race towards him, touch him, and instantly kill him.

"Coil-head," he breathed into his mic.

Orange, who was alone on the other side of the facility, felt the hairs on his neck stand up. "You got it?"

Red had other priorities than reassuring his team leader. "Yellow, is the hall I just came from clear?"

The mare, safely tucked away on the ship, was breathing heavily while staring at two dots on the monitor. For a second she had been certain Red was going to die so it took her a moment to respond. And she had to lick her dry lips first. "Yes... the way back is clear."

"Yellow," Red began, not taking his eyes off the coil-head, "I am going to back up to that door you opened a second ago and you are going to shut it. Are there any other ways to that corridor though? Can it circle around somehow?"

"Are there any dead ends behind a security door?" Orange added. "If you can lead it into one, we can lock it up for the rest of the night."

Red waited while Yellow studied the monitor for a blink or two. "No dead ends. Red, get out of there."

"Hold on Red," Orange scoffed. "I'll keep an eye on it while you finish exploring. My side is basically done anyway. Yellow, get back here and help us carry the last bit of scrap."

Neither pony obeyed. Red was trying not to trip or lose eye contact with the coil-head while he retreated the way he'd come. Meanwhile, Yellow was outright challenging his orders.

"Orange, it's already 6 pm. We've got plenty of scrap. Let's just go. Get back here," she hissed.

Their leader was about to chastise them, but the sound of skittering nearby made him freeze. "Yellow, are there any threats near me?"

The mare switched the monitor's focus to him with a single button press. She shivered. "Yes, but it's moving around in the room next to you. It's a little big. Spider or thumper maybe?"

Orange nodded. Spider was most likely based on the sound. Not a worst case scenario, but certainly not ideal. He took a breath as he measured his options. "Yellow, do you see any scrap in that room?"

"Yes. I'm detecting two, maybe three, items. Hold on, I've got to help Red."

Orange knew enough. Saving Red from a coil-head was more important at the moment anyway. He had to decide whether he was going to risk it. Was he going to race into that room for a few more pieces of scrap or was he going to leave it behind? Tough call.

Bunker spiders were ambush predators so they didn't like chasing prey or open fights. They could be expected to even ignore a pony as long as they didn't get too close. But so much as graze one of their huge webs and all bets were off. Orange was confident that he wouldn't get caught in a web, the question was whether it would give chase anyway. The next room had to be its lair. Would it tolerate him poking around? Was he confident he could escape it if it chased him?

"Alright, you got it Yellow," Red's relieved voice came through the walkie. "I've already got a few things on me. I'm heading back to the ship. I'm done here."

Orange grit his teeth in frustration. There was still so much left to search and the others were happy to cut and run. But what could he do? He knew that if he got too pushy they'd just stop listening to him. He was only the leader because of his experience and the respect that earned. A respect that could be easily lost. And without a leader this young team could be torn apart. Quite possibly even literally.

Orange sighed. Then he tapped the button on his mic. "Copy that Red. Yellow, I need you to watch over me. I'm probably about to be chased. I need you ready to close a security door behind me if it comes to that."

Red's voice came through even as Yellow tried to inform him she was ready. "What are you doing?"

Orange quickly explained the situation.

Yellow didn't comment on his plan, but Red certainly did. "Are you crazy?! You're going into a spider's den for a couple pieces of crap?!"

"Did you forget about our quota?" Orange barked back, unable to restrain his anger any further. "Every last item counts. I'll meet you back at the ship. Over."

It was time.

Orange found the door already open around the corner and peeked inside. Sure enough, webs decorated the walls and ceiling. A huge multi-legged body lay still in the corner. And there was scrap. A large flask was lying on the floor and a nearby cabinet probably held the rest. Nothing else mattered.

Grabbing the flask would be easy, but the cabinet was dangerously close to the waiting spider that was doing its best to pretend it wasn't there. He probably wouldn't have more than a few seconds to rifle through the shelves before it decided to pounce on him for the crime of being distracted.

As usual, speed was key.

Taking a deep breath, Orange put his makeshift plan into motion.

The leader of the scavenging team bolted into the room and beelined for the cabinet. The spider flinched, at least two of its legs visibly tensing, but it continued to wait. Orange nearly crashed into the only non-webbed furniture in the room as he skid to a halt and threw open the old doors. A bottle of pills on the top shelf. A magnifying glass on the bottom. With practiced motion he grabbed both without thinking and threw them into his saddlebag.

It was by that time the spider decided he would make a good meal.

Ten legs of horror skittered into motion, pulling a body just larger than his own. But Orange was already leaving. He shoved himself away from the cabinet and bounded towards the flask lying in the middle of the room. He easily snatched it up in his jaws while leaning at nearly 45 degrees so he wouldn't fall as he turned for the door. The sound of death racing after him was good motivation not to look back or slow down. There wasn't even time to tap his walkie or call for help. He just had to hope that Yellow was still watching over him on the monitor and was ready to save him.

If she wasn't, his only other hope was that the spider might quickly lose interest and simply let him escape. Weighed down by a few other items he'd collected earlier, there was no way a prolonged chase would end in his favor.

Barreling into the cold stone hallway, Orange nearly collided with the opposite wall as he poured all his strength into turning again. By now the bunker spider was already in the doorway and still following. A moment later his hooves were pounding the concrete floor as wind whipped by his concealed ears. He turned right, then left, then he blazed straight through an intersection. One of the perks of doing this job for so long was how well honed his memory and sense of direction had become. He knew almost the exact path back to the entrance. Unfortunately, it sounded like he was going to be bringing company with him. The spider was not losing interest. It was on his heels every turn.

And, if his terror and ears weren't deceiving him, it was steadily closing the distance.

He whirled around another corner and an open security door appeared ahead. Salvation. But would Yellow be fast enough? Was she even still watching him? Had Red run into some other trouble and distracted her? His life was in the hooves of another. All he could do was run.

SLAM! Crunch! Squeal!

The instant he passed them the huge metal doors closed seemingly by themselves. The poor bunker spider was not able to make it all the way through in time however. The mighty hydraulics, meant to slam the thousand pound blast doors closed in a fraction of a second in case of the most extreme of emergencies, cut the creature neatly in half. A fate it clearly did not enjoy as the four legs still attached to what remained of its upper torso and head flailed wildly. Not that Orange stuck around to watch. He didn't even look back.

A few minutes later Orange burst through the double doors outside with relieved gasps. The once mist shrouded forest was now slowly turning dark and foreboding as the glow of the sun grew dimmer and dimmer with approaching nightfall. A quick check of his watch indicated that it was just after 6 pm. They still had another six hours, but Yellow was refusing to leave the ship, Red was "done", and he had just spent a lot of energy fleeing from a bunker spider. Maybe they had indeed overstayed their welcome. It was time to leave.

Orange made his way across the old bridge, which groaned in protest as usual, then pushed his way into the forest. Only now did he go to his walkie.

"Status report," he announced gruffly, still catching his breath. "I'm alright and on my way back. How's Red? You in the ship already?"

"Orange..." Red's voice dragged fearfully. "I'm pinned down and I don't know what to do."

The company veteran froze mid-step. "Explain."

It was Yellow who replied. "It's... a giant. It's circling the ship. Red can't get to me."

News of a coil-head on the loose was enough to make Orange nervous. Knowing there was a giant stalking this forest made his blood run cold. Giants, or Forest Guardians as some called them, were quite possibly the most dangerous monsters they could have encountered. Why couldn't it have been baboon hawks, he thought bitterly.

"Red, listen carefully," Orange began. "Giants have very good eyesight, but they are deaf. Make as much noise as you want, but stay out of sight. Where are you right now?"

"Near the ship, hiding behind a hill and a tree. I can't be any more specific than that. I can hear that thing stomping around. Should I try to make a run for it?"

"Don't move!" Orange immediately barked as he picked up the pace. "Just stay out of sight, I'll be there in a second. Yellow, can you guide me to his exact location?"

The mare's voice buzzed in his ear. "Turn a little left and go straight. You'll run right into him."

A few minutes later the two ponies were standing side-by-side.

Red looked to Orange hopefully. "So how do we get passed it?"

Their leader crept up the rise until he could glance over. Sure enough the ship was right there. About 15 meters (50 feet) of open grassland between them and safety. But there was also a giant just barely visible even over the bulk of the ship. Orange ducked down before it could turn and spot him. Then he sighed, trying to get control of his trembling hooves.

"Giants are super sensitive to bright light so a flash-bang would leave it blind for more than long enough to reach the ship," he noted robotically. "A zap gun would also make a great opening for us."

"Ugh," Red droned, "we don't have either of those."

"That leaves sneaking, waiting, or... a distraction."

The two stared at each other.

"Can you outrun that thing?" Red mumbled.

"Not for long. Nopony can escape a giant with speed alone," the veteran of the pair replied seriously.

"So sneak or wait?"

Orange peeked over the hill again. The giant was very interested in their boxy metal ship. It wasn't wandering off. "We can't wait. Any longer and other nasty creatures might show up. There is nothing worse than being sandwiched between two giants."

"So run for it?" Red offered.

"As soon as it looks away, when it's on the opposite side of the ship, we make a break for it. Try to keep the ship between you and its eyes."

Red nodded at the warning while Orange politely updated Yellow on their plan. The two of them then spent the next minute sneaking glimpses over the hill as they waited for the right opportunity. Meanwhile, the giant seemed restless. It couldn't stop pacing back and forth. It even circled the ship again. Occasionally it would glance into the treeline around it, but it otherwise kept its eyes trained on the ship. Taking in its design from as many angles as it could. Studying the harsh corners and silver metal that was so different from the typical forest decoration.

Finally, their chance came. The giant had wandered back to the other side of the ship and paused for a moment. Neither pony spoke as they dashed from their hiding spot down the hill and towards the salvation of the ship. But just as they moved so too did it. Almost as though it had sensed them. The creature spun around and paced back the way it had come, back towards the front of the ship. Yet the two couldn't stop. They were out in the open and for another few precious seconds the ship would remain between them and the giant's eyes. They were almost certainly dead if they didn't get there before it did.

They weren't even close.

The hoof of a forest guardian crashed down right by the ship's invitingly open doors. Instead of fur, the twisted approximation of a pony was covered in bark-like armor that only flexed where it absolutely needed to. Ring shaped scars resembling those left on trees when old branches had been cut off or died spotted its legs. And held up by those tree-like limbs was a gnarled torso. Thin and angular towards the hindquarters, but wide and buff near the front. It gave the creature an unbalanced appearance. It was at least three stories tall, possibly four, and its head was near identical to a pony's except for two abnormalities.

First, the giant's eyes were huge and expressionless. They had wide black pupils with a gold iris highlight which could not move within their sockets. To look somewhere else it had to turn its whole head, so it was easy to know what direction they were watching. And secondly, the monster didn't have ears. Instead two short stubby horns projected from the sides of its head and curled backwards much like a dragons. Their purpose was completely unknown.

Red and Orange literally skid to a halt as they matched gazes with the forest guardian. It paused too. That instant of hesitation as both parties processed what they were seeing and decided how to act seemed to last an eternity.

Stars sparkled overhead. Alien birds called in the forest. Bugs much like crickets chirped. A passing breeze made tree branches creak. The lights in the ship so close by buzzed.

The giant marched forward, one hasty thundering step at a time.

Orange wasn't about to let Red die, so he did the only thing he could. He jumped up on his hind legs and flailed his forehooves. "HEY!! Look at me!" he screamed at the giant.

Red gawked at him, stunned by a combination of terror and confusion. The giant slowed for a fraction of a second as its wide empty eyes firmly focused on the wiggling oddity it had stumbled upon. No longer paying the boring stationary one any mind, it began properly stomping towards the far more interesting squirming pony. Which is when Orange spun on his hooves and fled back towards the treeline.

"DON'T MOVE UNTIL IT GETS BEYOND THE TREES!" he shouted as loud and clearly as he could.

Red didn't have time to so much as process the warning. A leg as wide as his body crashed down next to him, close enough he could have reached out and brushed it. Then the forest guardian had moved on. Charging by as fast as it could on its stiff limbs. Seconds later the lumbering horror drove into the treeline and began to disappear into the coming night. Soon even the thumping of its gargantuan steps faded away.

For a few moments Red remained there, too shocked to move, just staring in the direction the giant had run off. "Orange...?" he whispered hollowly.

"Red?" came Yellow's meek voice. "What just happened? Where's Orange?"

At once Red stormed into the ship, almost shoving Yellow aside as he rushed to the monitor. In seconds he was typing away and had the monitor's active tracker focused on Orange. The screen showed a blue dot racing through the forest with a large red circle not far behind.

"He's still alive..." Red mumbled with an ounce of relief. "But... nopony can outrun a giant..."

Yellow trembled fearfully behind him. "Red... what's happening? What do we do?"

Red desperately glanced around their pitiful little ship, but they were a new team with limited equipment. All they had was the default setup, a computer terminal and the main ship controls. They didn't even have a fog horn for their fledgling vessel.

There was nothing they could do but wait and watch.



Elsewhere, an intense pursuit was underway.

As soon as Orange had reentered the forest he'd pulled on the buckle of his pack and instantly dropped all his loot. If he was going to have even a fighting chance he needed to be as unencumbered as possible. Little else was going to be working in his favor after all. The terrain was hilly and spotted with bushes and rocks that could trip him at any moment. Every tree was enormous and forced him to dodge back and forth like he was on an obstacle course. Finally, there was the sun itself. The ball of orange light was just slipping below the distant horizon leaving only the ambient glow off the sky and clouds to see by. In less than an hour he'd be left in pitch darkness.

Yet none of that compared to the pounding thumps that sounded in his ears. So loud and rapid he couldn't tell which ones were coming from his own heartbeat and which ones were the steps of the monster chasing him. Like it mattered. The only thing he could do was run. Run with every ounce of strength he could muster.

Orange curved around a tree and sprinted down a channel that cut through a hill to save his speed and energy. The forest guardian behind him struggled to do the same and he heard the sickening crash of its obvious failure. The tooth rattling sound of splitting wood and tearing bark was an alarming reminder of the giant's awesome power. And, all too soon, he once again heard the booming of its rushed trot as it immediately recovered and continued the pursuit. At best the collision had bought him a few paces that were already being devoured.

A black rock, almost as large as the giant itself, loomed ahead of him. Enough to hide him from even its elevated perspective. At least it would have if he wasn't already being hunted down. When forest guardian's lost sight of their prey, even for a second, they slowed down ever so slightly. However, they'd still head for their quarry's last known location. So getting behind the rock now wouldn't do Orange much good. But he didn't have any better ideas at the moment so he went for it anyway. Diverting his course to the left, and skirting around another troublesome tree, he aimed to put the rock between him and the giant's most straightforward path.

There was another crash as the monster brushed the tree and stumbled, but its gate was restored in an instant.

Orange dove behind the rock and for the briefest of seconds he considered stopping to rest. He was so tired and his gasps for air so desperate it was starting to hurt. His muscles burned, his mouth was dry, and his hooves ached. Yet the fear wouldn't let him stop. He'd broken eye contact, thus slowing it down the smallest bit, but it would be investigating the rock any moment. The pony couldn't afford to be there when it arrived. So on he raced, barely giving up a lick of speed, but remembering to try and keep the black boulder between him and the monster for as long as possible.

His plan worked. The pounding of its earth shaking steps paused. For at least five seconds the forest was nearly silent as Orange made his getaway. A kind of hope poured into his chest like pure water from a precious spring. He could make it. The space between them was growing with every beat of his sprinting hooves.

However, at the same time, a serious problem emerged. On this side of the rock was a vast clearing and the new treeline was a good dozen meters away. He had left the forest guardian at the edge of this empty space with no obstacles to re-break its line-of-sight. There was no way it wouldn't see him. He was stranded out in the open.

Then the thundering of its titanic hooves started again. Though Orange had gained a fair amount of space he had failed to escape.

Two breaths in, one breath out. A simple exercise pattern sprinters used to pace themselves and delay exhaustion. It was difficult to maintain while running for his life. For now it was also just a temporary strategy. It could only buy him time, nothing more.

Think! Orange screamed in his mind. The reason he was still alive today was due to a combination of luck, quick thinking, and measured risk-taking. He'd lost coworkers and friends, seen his entire team wiped out, yet he had survived. The reasons were obvious. While many monsters he'd encountered before could be overcome with brute force, like hoarding bugs and even bunker spiders, most had to be out-thought. Coil-heads were fast, but they struggled to open doors. Nutcrackers were armed, but they had poor vision and couldn't detect non-moving targets. And forest guardians... what did he know about forest guardians? He had to think. Orange needed a plan and he needed it now.

Like the pounding of his heart, the giant's every step rung in his ears as they raced through the alien woodland.

Orange found himself blinking in wonder as a towering boxy shape began to appear ahead of him. A moment later he realized that it was the facility. He'd literally sprinted all the way back. He grit his teeth in frustration once he remembered the gorge which was coming up fast. If he didn't make a hard turn in the next few seconds he'd plummet into the dry riverbed and likely break his legs. But turning that sharp at speed while being chased? Could his situation get any worse? Maybe that ball of slime had finally escaped and would be making its way slowly across--

Orange gasped, but not because he was so out of breath. He had an idea. But first he had to look back.

The giant, covered in its bark-like armor, head adorned with devilish horns, eyes wide and expressionless, was not far behind. It would have to be enough because he didn't have any more tricks. It was do or die.

As Orange burst free of the treeline he made a gentle turn towards the rickety old bridge. His hooves bit into the muddy soil with every push. His heart hammered in his chest. His vision blurred with exhaustion. His whole body cried out for rest, yet he kept demanding more from it. He just had to make it to the other side. Then he was suddenly reminded of the giant's power. At that moment the forest guardian announced that it too had escaped the treeline by grazing another tree and filling the air with the horrible sound of splitting wood. Memories of past near-death experiences flashed before the pony's eyes.

No. He was not going to die today. He was determined to live.

Orange blazed onto the rusted catwalk and bounded for the other side. His ears paid the creaking beneath his hooves no mind. All that mattered was forward.

The entire bridge shook. A piercing shriek of metal deforming filled the air. Orange stumbled and dared to glance back. The giant had stepped onto the bridge and was about to do so again.

Orange bounced along with the metal beneath him, but he was quickly able to regain his balance and continue running. The screams of the old bridge were growing louder by the second. He could even hear the bolt-heads exploding from the pressure.

The metal flooring ripped like paper, steel beams split, the stone foundation below shattered.

The entire bridge collapsed beneath both their hooves.



Orange's head was spinning. He could barely feel his legs. It felt like his lungs were on fire and he couldn't breathe. His ears were pounding along with his heart. It felt like he'd just gotten a solid kick to the face with how much his jaw and teeth hurt.

But he was alive.

Alive and clinging to the side of the gorge wall, forehooves barely finding a grip on the concrete sidewalk that ran along the edge of the facility. A few meters straight ahead were the double doors leading back inside. Of course, he wasn't headed that way.

Mustering what might have been the last bit of his strength, Orange pulled himself up with a wheeze.

For a moment he sat there, dazed. Excited to be alive, but his body was so abused he couldn't fully experience it. All he could do was lazily turn his head and take stock of his surroundings. Other than the definite arrival of nighttime, there was one detail that stuck out to him immediately. The bridge was now gone.

But where was the forest guardian?

Orange dragged himself back to the edge of the gorge and glanced down.

It was just... standing there. Scattered around it was the rubble of the former bridge, yet it didn't appear injured or particularly bothered by its new location in the slightest either. Until it realized he was there. After a two second staring contest it stepped up to the gorge wall and... did nothing. The two resumed merely staring at each other.

It was a strange thing looking down on a forest guardian. They seemed larger than life from below. Unstoppable and inescapable. Yet even this giant wasn't bigger than the remains of the river. And now he was higher than its horns. If it had been just a large pony it could have reached up with one of its hooves and simply plucked him off the wall. But it wasn't. Giants didn't have that much flexibility. It could barely even tilt its head up enough for them to meet eyes now.

Those eyes... those black spots ringed with gold. Somehow infinitely curious yet completely thoughtless at the same time.

Orange shivered and shook his head. After taking a moment to gather himself, the stallion sluggishly got up and began walking towards the shallow end of the dry riverbed. But, after a few steps, a loud thump made him freeze. He glanced down at the forest guardian. It was following him. He licked his lips and took another few steps. It copied him, staying as close as possible to the wall and himself as it could. Orange glanced ahead, realizing he'd effectively lead it right to himself like this.

So he turned around and headed for the dam, ensuring he wouldn't accidentally guide it out of the trap. After crossing to the opposite side he took one last look down at the pitiful giant. Still it stared back at him, providing no clues as to what was going on behind those soulless eyes. Orange shivered, turned away from it, and trotted back into the forest to get his loot and return to his team.



Yellow nearly cried as soon as he stepped into the light and rushed to hug him.

As the ship took off and they left the moon mysteriously known only as Vow behind, Orange snickered. "So, what grade do you think we earned?"

Red scoffed. It was a sound loaded with so many emotions, yet the strongest at the moment was amused relief. "Oh shut up."

Orange and Red shared a manly chuckle while Yellow merely bowed her head, too spent to shame them for their nonsense.



The End