The mine itself was only a few hundred meters away from the prison complex so Twilight and Bullseye were able to make their way over without difficulty despite Bullseye's slight limp. The mine itself was built into a cave in the middle of the forest. Trees had been cleared to make it easier to ship supplies back and fourth from the complex to the town. The entrance to the mine lay completely exposed before them as they approached.
"The guards must've retreated into the mine. It's going to be pretty rough fighting in there. You ready Twilight?" Bullseye asked, his eyes fixed on the mine.
Twilight exhaled. "I am. Let's go." They abandoned stealth and galloped straight for the mine. A string of dim lights ran along the cieling leading inside. It almost reminded Twilight of the powerplant in Cloudsdale she was in, what felt like weeks was really only just a few hours ago. This time though, she wasn't alone. Twilight was thankful for that.
They continued down the narrow path into the mine with Bullseye leading the way, his weapon drawn as he walked on three legs. He motioned for Twilight to stop as they approached an intersection in the mine. He pointed down both tunnels and then gestured for Twilight to remain quiet. She understood.
They crept through the intersection and then continued forward until they reached an elevator. It looked a tad out of place in the middle of the tunnel, a large metal frame surrounding a sqaure hole. Bullseye looked over the rail and down the shaft.
"This elevator leads to the dig tunnel." he explained. "It's at the bottom right now. We're going to have to call it to this floor. We just passed the gaurd quarters. If there's any gaurds still in there, they're going to know the elevator's coming up."
Twilight nodded. "I understand. I'm ready." She prepared herself for what was about to come by calming her mind. Taking careful deep breaths, she recovered some of her energy and restored her magic potency. Bullseye hit a large green up arrow button on a side panel and the generator nearby spun up.
Bullseye turned around, crouched and took aim. They were completely exposed next to the elevator frame. Twilight could summon an energy shield but it would only protect them for so long. Their only defense was to see the enemy coming and shoot first.
"You prepared for this Twilight?" Bullseye asked.
"I... yes." Twilight said, her hooves braced against the ground.
"It's us or them. We have to do what needs to be done. For Ponyville, for the Princess, for Equestria." Bullseye said. It was a good speech, one that was necessary. He knew it wasn't going to be easy for Twilight. She just wasn't used to anything like this. But they couldn't afford to have either of them breakdown now. Despite the pain in his leg, he took a deep breath and aimed down range, focusing on the task at hand.
A voice came over Twilight's communicator. "Who's accessing the elevator? I didn't give anyone authorization."
"I got my 'authorization' right here pal. Why don't you come check it out?" Bullseye said into his own headpiece. Twilight looked over at the marksman pony. He grinned as he aimed the confiscated weapon at the entrance to the tunnel. Was this pony crazy? He practically just invited the gaurds to come shoot them. Sure enough, lights appeared down the dark tunnel heading towards them.
Over the sound of the elevator, Twilight heard the dogs shouting orders at each other. Bullseye closed one eye fired a round down the corridor. One of the red lights advancing on them went out. The other lights started approaching faster. A ray of light streaked past Twilight and hit the wall behind her. The dogs started returning fire. She threw up a shield and did her best to move it so both she and Bullseye were both behind it. Taking cover behind the barrier, Bullseye continued firing at the dogs but it seemed like the more lights went out, the more appeared to take their place.
Laser blasts hammered Twilight's shield. Some of the rays passed overhead and hit the wall behind them. Bullseye was doing his best to keep the gaurds at bay but more kept advancing on them. To the side, the elevator's generator pulling up the car began to slow its grinding.
"I think we're in luck! Elevator's almost to the top!" Bullseye shouted over the noise. He spared a glance over the railing behind him and looked down into the shaft below. He quickly pulled back his head as a red bolt sizzled past and smattered into the cieling above them.
"We might have a problem." Bullseye said, firing at the gaurds from behind the shield.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, focusing on keeping the shield intact.
"Looks like there's a full car coming up." Bullseye's expression was completely somber. Twilight realized the implications instantly. They were about to be surrounded by guards from both directions. There was no way her shield could protect them from both groups simultaneously. Bullseye fired a few more rounds at the approaching gaurds. He popped out of cover one more time to fire but nothing happened. He pulled back around, pressing his back to the shield, he pulled off the gauntlet. Out of ammo. The elevator almost reached the top behind them. Twilight's shield was weakening, she couldn't hold it up forever. But maybe she didn't have to. It was in that split second she got an idea. Behind her, the full car reached the top of the shaft.
Gaurds took aim at the two ponies. Before Bullseye could try to attack them directly, Twilight lunged at him and tackled him to the ground. Her shield disappeared as she pressed both their bodies into the floor of the tunnel to the side of the elevator. Lasers that would've impacted the shield moments earlier sailed right through the space where it had been... right into the full car of gaurds behind it. Before the deadly rays of light hit their marks, the dogs in the car fired one volley into the tunnel ahead of them. The double barrage of lethal boltspassed each other and ripped apart the canine soldiers. In an instant, they were torn to shreds and their bodies fell to the ground. The tunnel became silent.
Twilight slowly opened her eyes. They were alive. She exhaled the breath she'd been holding. Underneath her, Bullseye did the same. For a moment, the two locked eyes as Twilight had pinned Bullseye to the floor. Twilight felt her face warm up a bit and her heart beat faster. Bullseye just looked right back into her eyes. He opened his mouth to say something.
"You're on my leg." Twilight had accidentally been kneeling on his injured back leg. She quickly pulled herself off of him and stood up. Bullseye brushed himself off and did the same. Together, the two scanned the tunnel. None of the bodies moved, whispy trails of smoke rose slowly from some of the carcasses but not a sound escaped them.
"Wow. Talk about crossfire." Bullseye remarked. Twilight was a little in shock to see so many bodies. Her hooves shook but she carefully followed as Bulleye lead her into the elevator car. Bullseye ripped off the arm gauntlets of two of the gaurds. He examined the weapon and then inserted his right hoof into it. Holding it up, he worked the fingers on it.
"The digits are designed to coordinate with the dogs' paws but basic gripping functions can be accomplished by simple left and right motions. They fire by twitching their wrists down, probably so they don't shoot their fingers off." Bullseye explained to Twilight as he worked the gauntlet. Twilight did her best to focus on what he said and ignore the bodies around them. He offered her a gauntlet, she hesitated, her body arched back in disdain. She'd never touched a weapon before, never seen a device capable of such violence. Bullseye held it before her like it was any other item. She stared nervously at the chrome glove.
"I... it's okay, I really-"
Bullseye shook his head. "We need every advantage we can get. This thing could come in handy... literally." he said, thrusting the gauntlet at her again. Twilight shook her head slowly.
"No... I can't. Besides, I have my magic. Having something on me that resists magic might throw off one of my spells." Twilight made an excuse. Bullseye frowned.
"I suppose so." he said as he put on the other gauntlet. He still stood on all fours, giving him sort of ape-like appearance. He could care less how he looked; this was survival and anything advantage he could get that would make him last longer, he would take. He started carrying the bodies out of the elevator. Twilight joined him, using her magic to levitate the corpses out of the elevator car. She averted her gaze from the gruesome task as her spell placed the bodies outside of the car in a pile off to the side. After the last one was removed, Twilight and Bullseye entered the car.
Bullseye pressed a button on a panel to the side and the generator started again. The elevator began a slow descent into the shaft. Twilight watched as the corridor before her rose up to be replaced by the solid, jagged surface of a rock wall. There was almost no light as the elevator car descended.
Suddenly, the small car shook and its descent hastened. It quickly corrected itself though and continued down. Twilight looked to Bullseye who showed the same alarm she had. Only a moment passed before the elevator shook again and then stopped. Twilight and Bullseye looked around in the near pitch-blackness of the elevator shaft, wondering what was wrong. The answer soon came to them as the elevator began to descend again, this time dangerously fast. The elevator dropped down the shaft with frightning speed, they were in freefall.
"What's going on?!"
"We're in freefall! The elevator's busted!" Bullseye called back.
Twilight started panicking. "What do we do?!"
"We're going to crash if we don't do something! Do you have any spells that could stop this elevator? Slow it down?"
Twilight thought quickly, going through the library of spells in her head. She didn't think of any of them that could help them in this situation. "I... I don't know any spells like that!"
"Can you teleport us out of here?"
"My teleport spells are only short-range! There's nowhere to teleport to!"
Bullseye's voice strained in desperation. "Wing spell?" Twilight shook her head; there was nothing to make the wings out of nearby.
Bullseye slammed a hoof onto the elevator floor. "Why does magic never work when you need it?!" Just then, the elevator let out a screeching noise and ground to a halt in the middle of the shaft. Twilight and Bullseye looked around again, trying to find the source of their momentary safety.
"Emergency brake's kicked in." Bullseye said. They both let out a sigh of relief, quickly interrupted by the elevator lurching again. The gearbox containing the emergency break let out a grinding screech punctuated by a metallic snap and the elevator fell again. They were racing towards the bottom of the shaft, their manes and tails blowing upward by the force of gravity, wind whipping by them. Bullseye looked through the floor grating to the fastly approaching rock below.
"What do we do now?!" Twilight cried in panic.
Bullseye ran over to the emergency brake and pulled off the panel revealing two rapidly spinning gears behind it. The lever that held them in place had broken in half. They had to stop those gears from spinning. He held up his guantleted hoof and flexed the fingers. This was going to be painful. Pulling back, he rammed the gauntlet in between the gears. The fingers mangled, the casing around his hoof crushed. Bullseye screamed as sparks sprayed out from the gearbox. Their pace slowed abruptly but the gears spun.
"Twilight! Push the glove in!"
Twilight stared back, frozen in uncertainty. "What will happen to-"
"DO IT!!!" Bullseye shouted. Twilight's horn glowed and the gauntlet moved forward into the gears, Bullseye groaned as the glove stuck between the gears, stopping them finally. Mere meters from the bottom, the elevator stopped. Bullseye fell back as the glove slipped off his hoof.
Twilight rushed over to him. "Bullseye! Bullseye, are you okay?!"
Bullseye pulled up his free hoof and rolled it. "I... I'm fine. Hey, it worked."
Twilight's relief poured off of her. "Thank Celestia you're okay. You almost lost a leg."
Bullseye just grinned. "Eh, I got three more. Now, how are we going to get down from here?" They both looked down beneath them through the floor to the bottom of the shaft below.