//------------------------------// // Now leaving DELOS // Story: The Bold, The Brash, and The Beautiful // by Razalon The Lizardman //------------------------------// "I'm sorry, but this is their central control center?" Rarity asked, disbelief prevalent in her tone. The two ponies had managed to outrun Sin and enter the CCC building through the front door, which they quickly locked and barricaded with a plank they found nearby before collapsing to the floor in exhaustion. While the sounds of Sin ramming against the door rung repeatedly behind them, Rarity and Prickly took a minute to rest before getting up and taking stock of their surroundings. Rarity was displeased with what she saw, to say the least. "Ah reckon so," Prickly replied. "Don't it suit yer fancy?" Rarity huffed. "No, it most certainly does not. But I suppose I have no valid complaints since this place wasn't intended to be seen by the eyes of guests. Still though, a little decor never hurt anypony." It was true, the interior of the CCC building was noticeably bland and generic in design. The walls were painted a single shade of gray and weren't adorned with any kind of decorations whatsoever. Above them was a popcorn ceiling that stretched down both directions of the hallway they were currently in, while a third hallway in front of them lacked a proper ceiling which left all the pipes, wires and such exposed. All the hallways were alight, but the ones in front and to the right repeatedly flickered which added a decrepit quality to the already unappealing interior of the CCC building. "Maybe they're jus' not finished with buildin' this place yet?" Prickly suggested, turning his gaze between all three hallways in slow succession before turning his gaze to Rarity. "I suppose," the fashionista replied. She cast a glance down each hallway herself before returning Prickly's gaze. "Do you think something happened to the staff?" She pointed a hoof behind them to the barricaded door, still being rammed by a certain masked robot. "Maybe Sin got them all as well?" "That's 'bout the only thing that makes sense," Prickly replied. "Come on, let's go see fer ourselves." "Alright," Rarity said. She pointed down the hallway to her right. "I'll check down there." "An' Ah reckon Ah'll check over yonder," Prickly said, pointing down the adjacent hallway. With that settled the two ponies split up, hoping to get some answers as to what happened to the staff, as well as what made Sin go berserk. It hadn't taken long for Prickly to realize that the CCC building was a lot bigger than it appeared to be from the outside. Most of the building was located underground, and Prickly had only spent a few minutes walking on the ground level floor before finding a stairway to the lower section. That was ten minutes ago. Not a single pony, awake or unconscious, so far. Where is everypony? The design of the CCC's underground section was every bit as bland and boring as the ground level. Just like above, the walls were painted a single shade of gray and also lacked any kind of decor. The same popcorn ceiling was installed above, but unlike upstairs it fully covered every hallway Prickly had been down. None of the lights he'd seen so far had flickered, which led Prickly to conclude that more resources were used in maintaining this section than the one upstairs. None of the doors he'd come across were unlocked, so it came as a shock to Prickly when one particular door he tried opened with relative ease; the one with a sign that read Repair Laboratory. Stepping into the room, he started at what greeted his eyes. Lying around the various operating tables set up along the room were unconscious ponies in white lab coats and wearing hairnets over their manes and tails. Walking further into the room, Prickly finally began to understand what happened. Stepping around a cluster of ponies in the room's middle, he guessed that Sin was one of the robots they were repairing when something in its programming went screwy, resulting in it knocking out everypony present as well as anypony it came across afterwards. Prickly was about to turn around and catch up with Rarity to share his discovery when he heard a faint noise echoing through the halls outside the laboratory. Swiveling his ears, he listened extra carefully to pinpoint exactly what he was hearing. clop clop clop clop clop clop Sounds like . . . hoof steps. clop clop clop clop clop clop Is it Rarity? clop clop clop clop clop clop "Rarity!?" No response. Instead, the hoof steps pattern changed from a canter to a gallop, and were now coming closer to the Repair Laboratory. Now Prickly was concerned. If it was Rarity approaching in response to his call, then surely she would've answered. The hoof steps continued down the hall until they reached the door to the lab. Prickly lowered his stance in preparation for a possible fight should one arise. The door re-opened. It didn't take Rarity long at all to regret splitting up with Prickly. As she walked down the building's darkened hallways she couldn't stop herself from looking over her shoulder every five seconds out of fear for the unknown. It no longer mattered that the building's interior was generic and unappealing to her; Rarity was more concerned about the possible dangers lurking around every corner, ready to pop out and attack her once it was too late for her to escape. After having walked down about a dozen hallways without a single unlocked door, Rarity spotted what appeared to be natural sunlight pouring into the building from around a corner. Cautiously, she made her way to the corner and peeked around it. At the end of the hallway was an open door leading outside. Rarity smiled as she happily cantered down the hallway toward the door. The natural, luminescent glow of the sun's rays possessed an inviting, comfortable aura that Rarity was sure would provide safe haven from her fears of the darkness. Rarity stepped through the door and let out a deep, long sigh as her fears washed away and replaced with awe at the view she had of the ocean in front of her. The sky was clear all the way to the horizon and Celestia's sun hovered directly overhead, indicating the time was around noon. Rarity's peace was interrupted, unsurprisingly, by a blast of magic sounding off to her four o' clock position. With all the grace of a panicked mare used to jumping out of harm's way, Rarity side-rolled left and tumbled along the ground until the chain link fence of the DELOS scrapyard halted her. She quickly scrambled to her hooves and stared back at where she was to find Sin standing near the building's corner, once again charging up its horn to fire another shot. Doesn't it ever take a break? Rarity frantically swung her head around in search of an escape route. Seeing none, Rarity made a break for the scrapyard entrance just as Sin fired the next shot. Rarity thought herself quite fortunate that it was a scrapyard and not a garbage dump; unlike trash, she had no qualms with taking refuge in piles of rusted metal, frayed wires, and cracked magic circuits. She would still have to be careful not to severely cut herself, however, since no conscious medical help was currently present on the island. Without a second thought, Rarity dove behind the first pile of scrap she saw just as Sin fired off a third round of magic. The ground next to the pile was hit, resulting in a wave of dirt washing over Rarity's newly washed coat. She didn't bother grieving, however; instead, she began crawling along the scrap pile away from the gate as fast as possible. Just before Sin rounded the scrap pile itself and turned in her direction, Rarity had already moved behind another pile out of its sight. It was at this point that the adrenaline rushing through Rarity's body subsided, being quickly replaced by nerve wracking tension. She could hear Sin's hoof steps follow her movements alongside the scrap pile at a slow, softened pace that Rarity had yet to see from the masked cybercorn. It was unsettling; not because it frightened her, but because Rarity felt a sense of eerie calmness at the sound of its hoof falls. It was a feeling beyond simple fear, but the fashionista unicorn lacked the vocab skills to come up with an adequate description. She made a mental note to discuss this with Twilight upon returning to Ponyville. Once Sin was about halfway along the scrap pile, Rarity resumed her crawling along the opposite side. After having moved naught but a few meters she spotted something lying half buried in the dirt just ahead of her position. Picking up her pace slightly, she made her way up to the object, which she proceeded to yank from the ground with her telekinesis. It was a rusted metal bar. . . . Perfect. ----- . . . walking protocol cancelled. Scanning for target/s . . . scanning complete. Target/s located: 0 Frustration protocol initiated. Selecting random swear from database . . . selection complete. Swear: "Horseapples!" Walking protocol initiated . . . *DAMAGE SUSTAINED* . . . Rarity swung the metal bar as hard as her telekinesis would allow right into Sin's face. The bar shattered Sin's mask into dozens of tiny pieces, but it held off the blow enough to prevent massive damage to Sin's innards. Sin staggered back from the strike and collapsed onto the pile of scrap just below where Rarity stood atop it. Rarity hopped down onto the dirt and turned to face the robot, metal bar still in grip and ready for use at a moment's notice. After flailing about for a few moments, Sin managed to upright itself and immediately turned to face the unicorn fashionista. The sight of Sin's true face shocked Rarity briefly before she recomposed herself. Underneath Sin's mask was a view into the inner workings of his cybernetic body. For the most part all that was seen was metal framework, wires, and glowing magic circuits, but it was what lay in front of it all that drew Rarity's attention. A single eye existed underneath the mask on the right side. It was entirely red and had a glazed over, dead look to it that disturbed Rarity. Where the left eye would normally be there was instead a series of white wires running from the left side of Sin's face into the sole eye. In place of a mouth was what appeared to be an inside out microphone; no doubt how Sin (or any of the DELOS robots) talked. What further disturbed Rarity, however, was the slit-like appearance of the microphone. It resembled the kind of expression one who opens their mouth for a dentist would have; neither smiling or frowning but at the same time not neutral; just an open, expressionless mouth. It was easily the most disturbing feature of Sin's true face, and it sent a shiver down Rarity's spine. Rarity was about to prep the metal bar for another strike when she felt another force latch onto it and begin wrestling for control. The fashionista looked up at Sin's horn and was unsurprised to see it glowing in a transparent aura as it attempted to snatch the metal bar out of Rarity's possession. She glared daggers into the robot's lone eye; she had every intention to wreck it for attacking her and everypony else, and it was only convenient she do it here in the scrapyard. That way, she wouldn't need to haul Sin's pulverized cybernetic carcass here herself upon completion. Unfortunately for her, however, Sin's grasp on the metal bar proved to be too much to overcome. Rarity struggled to keep her grip tight on it, but every second it slipped a little bit out of her grasp until, finally, Sin broke it from her telekinesis and tossed it out of sight over the chain link fence. Rarity was too tired to panic; instead, she slumped to her knees and stared gloomily at the ground. I've had enough. "RARITY!!!" Before Rarity realized she'd been called to, she felt a whoosh of air in her mane as something was thrown over her head towards Sin. She looked up just in time to see what appeared to be a robot stallion donned in ancient Pegasopolian armor slam into Sin, the force great enough to hurl them both into the nearest scrap pile with Sin underneath and unable to right itself. Wide eyed, Rarity looked behind her to see Prickly Pear standing near the scrapyard entrance with a javelin-esque weapon clutched in his mouth. Despite being full, his mouth easily betrayed what could possibly be the widest of smirks to ever adorn the face of anypony in history. "Ya alright, pook 'eh pie?" Rarity took a moment to process what just happened before answering him. "I'm alright, darling." She turned to look at the two robots and saw that the one pinning Sin in place was little more than scrap itself. The head had been all but torn off, the limbs were crushed and flat like pancakes, and the barrel was ripped open with its innards actually spilling out like fish guts. It looked as if a manticore had used the thing for a chew toy; Rarity almost pitied the thing. "Ah found 'im in the underground laboratory," Prickly said, walking up to her, "Darn thin' came 'n attacked me fer no reason; y'all see what he got fer that." Rarity stood up and used her hooves to brush some dust off her coat before turning to face Prickly. "Is it all finally over?" "Almost." Prickly hoofed her the javelin. "Put Sin outta its misery." Rarity smiled an evil smile as she turned to face the still flailing menace. "With the utmost pleasure, darling." ----- Walking protocol failed. Walking protocol failed. Walking protocol failed. *Error 444* . . . . . . . . . *Error 56* . . . . . . . . . *Error 390* . . . . . . . . . *Error 71* . . . . . . . . . *Error 23* . . . . . . . . . System Crash It was mid afternoon by the time Rarity, Prickly, and the still unconscious Applejack reached the airship docks to wait for the Kazum to arrive. It had been an arduous journey for the duo traveling across the island in the sweltering heat of the sun's rays, and even more so for Prickly who had to carry Applejack on his back the whole way, though Rarity helped with her telekinesis upon request. Once AJ had been set unto the concrete ground Rarity and Prickly collapsed next to each other in exhaustion, ever grateful for a chance to rest. Panting, Rarity let her eyes wander the surroundings aimlessly, at least until she spotted a most comforting sight in the distant sky. "Prickly, look." She pointed towards the object. Panting himself, Prickly looked to where she was pointing and smiled. "It's the Kazum, ain't it?" "Well, that too," Rarity replied, "but I was referring to the fastest flyer in Equestria." Confused, Prickly squinted his eyes to see better. It was then that he caught sight of a pegasus flying alongside the airship; one with a rainbow mane and tail. Prickly whistled. "Rainbow Dash." "Indeed it is," Rarity replied. "I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time swapping stories when this is all over." They both laughed at that for a while as their salvation neared the docks. Once Rarity stopped, she returned to letting her eyes wander aimlessly. It wasn't long before they settled on a sign that Rarity hadn't noticed a few days ago upon first arriving. Emblazoned on it was the DELOS resort's slogan in bold print. Boy, do we have a vacation for you.