The lights in the metal room flickered reluctantly to life and I breathed a sigh of relief that they still worked at all. The light from my pipbuck screen was nice, but it wouldn’t have been enough to illuminate the entire space comfortably.

As I took in the familiar sights around me, my eyes fell upon a single pony skeleton propped up against the side of a reloading bench. He or she had been dressed in a security outfit – much like mine – when they died. A helmet sat loose and crooked upon its skull, begging to be straightened again. A dusty old pipbuck still clenched the air around the pony’s leg bones. I strode over to the remains, silent sorrow upon my face.

“I’m sorry, my friend.” The words slid from my mouth like razors against my tongue. I hoofed the controls of the dusty old pipbuck respectfully to avoid disturbing the pony’s rest too much.

Stable-Tec’s pipbucks were an amazing thing. After what was likely decades of inactivity, the little device lit up as it awoke from some sort of deep-coded sleep mode. I flipped over to its Notes tab and discovered a whole series of audio recordings. I selected the earliest one and set it to play as I returned to examining the rest of the room with my companions.

“It’s been two days since the incident with little Cherry.” The voice that played from the recording was a stallion’s. The gentle concern in his voice was a striking contrast from it’s gruff tone. My ears perked up at this, but I didn’t turn my attention away from the ammo I was stripping from the room’s drawers.

“The poor filly’s parents still don’t know what exactly happened to her. Doc says it was some sort of toxin that got into her lungs, but it ain’t anything he’s ever seen before. Don’t really know where it came from either.”

I moved from the drawers to a nearby weapons locker. I tried the handle, but it refused my entry. My eyes began perusing the area for a key that might open it.

“Sweet Cherry’s body had been found inside a small air duct. Normally, it wouldn’t be so odd for a foal her age to intentionally climb into any open nook or cranny they could. This was different though. It looked as if she had been dragged inside it. Her body was bent over at the waist, and jammed tight into the space backwards. The oddest thing about it was that there were no signs of what did that to her.”

My attention landed back on the security guard’s remains as a glint of gold from under his hind leg caught my eye. The keyring appeared to have fallen from his belt when the leather around it dried out and cracked. I made my way back over to where he lay, determining the best approach to retrieve them without upsetting his spirit.

“Shielded Law seems to think one of the ponies here did it. That they killed little Cherry and stuffed her where they thought nopony would find her.”

While I felt sorry for what had happened to the little filly he was talking about, I found it hard to connect to her. These were ponies from long before my time. Their story had ended long ago, and right now, I was in the middle of much more pressing issues of my own.

“You know what though, I don’t believe it for a second. It ain’t like these ponies to go around hurting other folk. You wanna know who I think it was? You wanna know what I think it was?”

When I finally settled on how I would attempt to pull the keys from their prison, I bent down and carefully snaked my hoof around through the dry bones.

“I think… I think it was sentient plants.” At that, my head jerked up, pulling my carefully placed hoof along with it.

Crash!

The poor security pony’s bones scattered across the floor. I had been so careful not to disturb their rest, but how could I not jump at those words – his words. They echoed through two-hundred years of time and space, resounding within the situation me and my companions had found ourselves in.

Reeling myself back to reality, I searched amongst the strewn remains until I relocated the keys. I quickly picked them up and made my way back over to the weapons locker, fumbling through the many keys. There were so many, it would be a crapshoot to find the right one.

“Yeah, you heard me. Plants with minds of their own,” the audio recording continued. “You might think I was crazy, but there’s proof. Last week, a couple of the boys down in engineering found something.”

My curiosity rose ever higher. Had these foul things really been here for that long?

“Apparently, it had forced its way through the outer walls of the stable, sheering off bolts that would have taken tremendous force to break. They said it was some form of black vine, though to me it looked more like a tentacle. The damn thing was covered in thorns, and it…” The guard pony paused and I heard him verbally shudder. “It writhed about as if it were searching for something. Even after they cut it off and patched up the hole it had created, it still continued to squirm about for hours before finally falling limp. Only then was it fully examined, put to flame, and finally burned.”

Key after key I tried in the lock either didn’t fit, or was simply the wrong one. I was quickly growing frustrated with it, but I kept at it. Goddess, if only I could pick a lock.

“This stable was built under the old Vanhoover Botanical Gardens. I wouldn’t be surprised if the plants were exposed to radiation and mutated.”

The recording clicked off, and the relative silence was unnerving. Neither of us exchanged words, for there were no words to be exchanged. The only sounds that I could hear were the clanging of the keys in my hooves and the horrific noises the creatures loitering just outside the door continued to make. The occasional banging they made served only as a reminder that our current sanctuary was only a temporary solution.

Stables were built to survive a direct nuclear blast, but their armouries were made to survive even more than that. However, even the strongest walls would not get us back to the surface. We’d have to do that ourselves. Fortunately, luck was on our side.

With a very satisfying click and the turn of a key, I swung the locker doors open. I might not have liked to use guns against other ponies, but I’ll be damned if what I saw there didn’t make my eyes sparkle. There, sitting on the locker floor, propped up against the wall in order to make it fit into that tight space, was something I hadn’t expected to find in a normal stable armoury: a shiny new battle saddle, fitted evenly with a flamethrower on either side, complete with four fresh tanks of fuel. Stable-Tec must’ve expected the plants above to mutate into flesh-eating flora in the radioactive aftermath of the war.

“Hey Gale, you bring your cooking equipment?” The pegasus gave me a quizzical look as she trotted over to see what I had found. “‘Cause I think it’s about time we sautéd these accursed herbs.”

Gale’s reaction was somewhere between a chuckle and a groan as she facehoofed. “Well, I think I’d rather throw myselves to the plants after that statement.” She looked back up at the weapon. “But, roasting the damn things definitely still sounds more fun. Someone’s gonna have to carry my own battle saddle though. I ain’t leaving it here.”

Sprocket made her way to us now. “I’ll carry it. I’m not much good in a fight, honestly, so might as well make myself as useful as possible.”

We both kinda looked at her. Gale started, “Battle saddles are quite heav—”

“Heavy?” Sprocket interjected. “I know. I’m a lot stronger than I look. Working day in and day out on machinery will do that to you, ya know.”

“Fair enough.” Gale carefully slipped the contraption off her back, and held it out on a hoof for our rust-coloured companion. “Here you go then. Take good care of her.”

Sprocket reached out for it but hesitated a moment as if considering Gale’s warning. Finally, her hoof stretched forward the rest of the way and she took the saddle into hoof. She began to don it as Gale retrieved its replacement from the locker.

With only a rifle and shotgun, her old equipment could easily be managed by a single pony, but the much heavier flamethrowers made strapping this one on a two-pony job. Gale had been able to pull the straps in front together on her own, but the added weight of the weapons made pulling the back side of the harness together a chore. Using my mouth, I fought with the leather belts, bending my neck in ways it probably shouldn’t go in order to get them to fit correctly around Gale’s wings.

I took one of the fuel tanks between my teeth and slipped it into place on the pegasus’ back. Placing another into the slot next to it, I strapped them into place and connected the hoses to their nozzles. The other two canisters I placed into my saddle bags. The fuel would burn quickly, and I would need to swap out Gale’s supply when the first two ran dry.

The cream-coloured pegasus turned to me once everything was in place. “Alright, this time, Dove, use your pistol. The fire may be hot, but it’s not deafening, and I’d like to be able to hear at the end of this.”

I nodded, taking the pistol from its holster and checking it’s ammo load.

“Now, this goes for both of you,” Gale continued, “watch your fire. Make sure your bullets don’t stray or ricochet. Flamer fuel is extremely compressed in its tanks. I don’t really wanna end up covered in gasoline or worse – barbecued – and, I would presume, Dove doesn’t want to either.”

My head moved in agreement again, in sync with Sprocket’s. Gale took her place at the door’s threshold as she signaled for me to press the button. I approached the door switch and carefully put a hoof to it. The thick steel drew open and time perceivably slowed before me.

The many waiting tendrils creeped into the room. A smirk slid its way onto Gale’s face, and a flame glinted in her eye. The fuel lines primed with the kick of a lever on the back of her new saddle and the pilot lights flickered to life.

“Time to smoke some weeds.” The pegasus bit down hard on the trigger bit suspended in front of her and hot flames erupted from the contraption. The metal walls did nothing to reduce the effects of the heat. It was like a sudden wave of hellfire had been unleashed inside of a giant steel-sided oven. However unbearable the temperature might have been, it was still better than going deaf from reverberating gunfire.

Even as time seemed to stop for me as the S.A.T.S. feature of my pipbuck came into full effect, I felt the swelter embrace me. Misconceived as slowing time, the targeting spell instead heightens the user’s perception to a point where their mind is processing data ultra fast. I slipped slowly around the corner and took aim at the nearest abomination, placing all the bullets the spell would allow on its head. As time began to resume, the silenced rounds of my pistol shot forth in tandem with Gale’s fiery torrent.

Thpp!

The first shot flew past its target.

Thpp!

A perfect hit.

Thpp-thpp! Hit-hit.

Time was in full motion again now, and the plant I had put rounds into dropped to the floor. My spell-assisted rounds may have been effective against a single target, but Gale’s fire was sweeping through the abominations like dust on the wind. The creatures were big enough and flammable enough that she barely even had to aim the flames. A simple touch of ignited fuel and those black vines flared up in a brilliant yellow-orange glow.

Their unearthly screams became nothing but harsh white noise in my ears as we finally began to push back out of the armoury. Hoof after hoof we stepped forward through the doorway. Gale was being as conservative with her fuel as she could, firing only to light new enemies up and letting the expanding flames do the rest. My pistol was significantly less useful and so I only placed headshots when and where I could. S.A.T.S. needed time to recharge when used so I limited my exploitation of it, instead utilizing my own two eyes and the handgun’s sights. It may have meant I missed more frequently, but fire was our ally and had more than made up for my inaccuracies.

As the plants dropped and smoldered out, the stench of burning flora quickly began to fill the air and mix with the already familiar odor of combusting flamer fuel. It was a goddess-awful stink that all but turned my stomach. Despite its strength, I ignored it and continued to press onward. My hooves made their way over the piles of dead vines that had already fallen to the catwalk. I was cautious not to step on any of those accursed blue thorns in my strides. Even dead they could still impale a pony who wasn’t careful enough.

Our advance was slow but steady. Many of the plants were, instinctively I assumed, moving as quickly as they could away from the flames, making things easier on us. As soon as we reached the door to the Overmare’s office, I keyed the terminal next to the door on.

Luna damn it, I cursed to myself. I should have known. If only Lily were here, she’d have this cracked before I could finish this one thought.

The plants had us backed into a corner again, and the security measures were still between us and our goal. To make matters worse, Gale’s flamethrower petered and flickered out. She needed more fuel. Fortunately, the creatures were still shying away from the dimming fire which was still burning on the last few that she lit up. I needed to make decisions quickly. I needed somepony to take charge. No, I would have to do that myself.

“Sprocket,” I ordered, “get this door open.” I slid my pistol along the floor towards our pegasus companion. “Gale, take my pistol and cover her.”

“Dove, what are you do—”

“No questions right now.” I pulled some of the bandages I still had left in my bags out and tore them into much smaller strips before tossing them to my companions. ”Put these in your ears and stay here. As soon as you get that door open, I want you to get inside and hole up there. Find what you need and hold your position.”

I pulled the empty fuel tanks from my saddlebags and set the canisters next to the door. “Sprocket, take these and get Gale’s supply restocked. Don’t use it though unless you absolutely need to. We still need to get out of here, remember.”

Demonslayer slid from its holster and I jammed the wads of bandage fabric into my own ears. “I’ll knock four times, pause, and then knock thrice more when I return. Good luck.”

Gale must have seen something new in me as she didn’t even try to stop me. Both ponies simply just saluted in understanding and went about their tasks. I turned to face the one I had set before myself and took a deep breath of scorched air.

Dovetail, this is insane, I told myself. Too bad this is the best I can do to buy my friends time.

The plants had ceased their retreat and were now encroaching on us once more. I cocked the shotgun with my hoof and took its trigger bit into my mouth. One of the tendrils drew near me, which was the last mistake it made. I raised the weapon, following the length of the vine up to its ugly head and I pulled the trigger. The creature’s head burst into flame and down it went.

It. Was. On.

I charged forward, working the shotgun’s pump action as best I could as I went, adapting the awkward step into my galloping stride. Each shot I fired found its mark, but it was hard to miss with the weapon’s spread. It was a random chance for the enchantment to catch, but even when it didn’t, the pure force of Demonslayer proved to be enough to tear the things apart.

The wads of bandage I had shoved into my ears dampened the effect of the echoing soundwave each shell produced when fired. The impact of those waves was minimized, but it would still get to me in time.

What would also stop me was ammo count. As I passed the end of the hallway I ducked behind the first bit of cover I could find: a pile of metal crates that had been stacked against the wall. I pulled a fresh box of buckshot cartridges from my saddlebags and dumped the cartridges on the ground next to me. I fumbled with the shells, loading as many as I could into the breach of the gun.

Before I could reload in full, a black vine creeped its way around the crates. I worked the pump again and poked around the crate, again following the vine with my sights.

Blam!

Another of the abominations crept up behind the flame-engulfed creature, and I took the second shot. This one didn’t ignite, but it did stun the creature as half of its stem-like body was rent from the whole. A third shot to what would have been its face brought it to ground.

I finished jamming the shells into the breach of the gun and cocked it again. Bringing the weapon to bear, I rushed out from behind my makeshift cover, speeding down the hall. One of the creatures slithered in to block my way, but I refused to slow down and instead put all the force I could into my back legs and propelled myself into the air.

As I soared over the mass of tendrils that reached to grab me, I let Demonslayer throw another shell of flaming scattershot into the plant’s open maw. The lick of the fire singed my mane as I carried to the other side of the burning creature.

The shotgun’s muzzle hit the floor before me. My hoof had been placed on the weapon’s pump and the force from landing served to work the action in one fluid motion. I ducked and rolled, allowing the rest of my momentum to carry me forward once my hooves were once more beneath me.

My vision tunneled as I pressed on, taking more of the abominations down as I went. The gunshots were starting to ring in my ears despite the makeshift earplugs. The next shell tore its way into the fibrous flesh of the creature before me, but the following pull of the trigger returned no more than a jaded click of the hammer.

Reloading the weapon took but a moment this time. I only had four cartridges remaining in the box and not enough time to retrieve a new set from my bags. Chambering the first shell I turned and fired on the creature that had tried to slither up behind me.

The smouldering husk dropped to the metal floor as smoke swirled around me. Behind me, a trail of ashes and scorched vines littered the stable. The fires reflected in my eyes mirrored those burning in my heart. Any of the plants that had stood between me and my destination were no longer any threat.

I was fortunate enough to have found myself with a bit of a reprieve. Time to catch my breath, reload in full, and find a way to gain entry into the compound’s reactor room. The first two tasks took me little time to complete. The third, however, I knew would be much more difficult; once more, I wished Lilybloom were with me.

The door console proved my initial theory to be correct. Like the rest of the controls in the stable, it refused to allow me access. I knew the definition of insanity though. Instead of trying over and over, I input a string of command code that I remembered Lilybloom using. It was a miracle that I had recalled it correctly. The screen I had hoped for loaded up but the enthusiasm from my success immediately curbed. Lines upon lines of indecipherable jarble scrolled onto the display, and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

My ears drooped and a sense of terror gripped me. My chest started to ache as my heart pounded even faster. A tingling arose in my hooves and I began to feel light-headed. Between shortened breaths, I scanned the cipher. The longer I looked, the more I started to recognize words amongst the random symbols and glyphs.

I tried entering one of the words and the system flashed with with an error message. I keyed in another of the phrases, and was met with the same results. Again, I tried at random. And again, I was blocked by an error message. This time, the terminal warned me that I had one remaining attempt or it would lock me out. There was little time to make mistakes.

No, I told myself, taking a deep breath, don’t panic. Think, Dove. Lily mentioned something about this a long time ago. What was it?

I ran through the many memories of my old home, trying to recall when my friend would have divulged the information I needed now. It was tough, though. Lily always spoke about these things in such cryptic jargon that more often than not it just went in one ear and right out the other. And then I found it.

She had been bragging about how she hacked the stable’s maneframe terminal one day. It had proven especially difficult, even for her. The security system nearly locked her out as was the very same danger I now faced. She had told me that a piece of information she had found in a text book one day saved her tail. In a panic not to set off the alarms, she put that information to the test. It stated that on any Stable-Tec operating system, a pony could reset the failed attempts count with the right selection of inputs.

I scoured the lines of code, looking for the correct string of characters; anything between a matching pair of brackets. It was hard to find amongst the otherwise unsystematic lines of symbols and words. My eyes skimmed passed it the first time, but I did a double take when I realised it and sure enough I had found what I was looking for. My hooves moved quickly and I keyed the selection into the terminal. My breath paused momentarily with the stroke of the enter button.

The monitor went black for a second, and my heart stopped. I had locked myself out. Or so I had thought.

A new screen appeared after a short time and I let out a sigh of relief. Displayed now was the system’s main menu. Without much thought to the other options, I quickly hoofed the “Unlock door” selection. The screeching of two-hundred-year-old metal echoed through the stable halls and the door slid slowly open. Without delay, I slipped through its open passageway and it slammed closed behind me.

Beep.

Fuck.

I flung myself to the side as the stream of bullets crashed into the metal where I had been just a few seconds before. It occurred to me now that one of the options I had skipped over on the terminal had been “Disable security.”

Demonslayer had been holstered before dealing with the door’s computer, and it’s fire enchantment was useless against the steel turrets anyway. Instead I unslung my pistol as I galloped forward. Don’t ever let anypony ever tell you that charging headlong into an automated turret is a stupid idea; it’s a really stupid idea. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any other option in the empty hallway.

The turret began to track my movement as it spun up to fire again. Turrets aren’t necessarily smart, though. I slid along the slick metal floor and right up underneath it’s ceiling mount. The barrage of lead pounded into the floor as the sentry reached the limit of it’s downward movement arc. I grimaced as if I had just outsmarted a worthy opponent.

My security pistol didn’t have the highest caliber of ammunition, but it was enough to disable a basic turret. I popped the trigger twice and the rounds pierced into the power cable that dangled from the ceiling into the gun mount, fraying the wires and powering down the unit.

I took a moment and listened. No further beeps reached my ears. Hopeful that meant my endeavor would go unhindered the rest of the way, I holstered my pistol again.

The hallway to the reactor room was not very long, but even so, it was not very well lit despite the many still-functional lights. It was almost unnatural, this murky darkness.

As I opened the door that marked the end of the hall, I was greeted by a burst of air that carried on it a cloud of what I could only describe as smoke. I covered my muzzle with a hoof, but it wasn’t enough to keep the miasma from entering my lungs. I began hacking up a storm involuntarily, which I quickly learned was likely worse for my health than I could have imagined.

The entire room was filled with this noxious pollutant, and while it was stagnant at first, it quickly began to stir. Something else was in here with me.

Through the smoke, a pair of black tendrils with blue thorns short forth toward me. I quickly slipped Demonslayer from its holster and cracked off two cartridges. One hit its mark, setting the cirrus alight. The second shell only grazed the other appendage, but the collective damage was enough for whatever was down there to retract its efforts in a hurry.

These things were the same as the ones on the sentient plants I had encountered so far, save for one thing. They were bigger. Much bigger. I could have turned and ran then, but instead I took a deep breath, held it, and pushed myself into the murky darkness.

My pipbuck’s dim light only afforded me an extra hoof’s worth of vision inside the fog. My eyes were nearly useless, but I knew the layout of the reactor room well. As Stable 61’s security officer, it was my duty to check in with the maintenance team regularly. This meant performing inspections on the stable’s most crucial component often as well. I followed my memory to where I believed the reactor to be.

The breath I had held started to slip before I reached the center of what my mental map said was the main room. I darted forward instinctively, and got lucky. The pollution cleared and I drew a new breath, but what I saw as my eyes took in the clearing made me choke on that fresh air.

Encasing the main reactor was a massive tangle of brambles. Atop the hedge rose three grotesque heads, similar to those of what I could only presume were this thing's offspring.

My eyes moved from taking in the monster to searching for my real goal: the main reactor's control terminal. I knew where it should be, but the creature's "body" had nearly covered the reactor in its entirety. Before I could confirm the terminal's location, I felt a familiar brush against my leg.

Demonslayer whipped upwards and I spun 'round on my hooves. I wasted no time putting the slithering vine down before it could wrap itself around me. A smirk worked its way onto my face only to turn upside down at what could only be described as a roar of anger. Mama plant had finally had enough of my crap.

Tendrils began to writhe all around me, stirring up the noxious fog and wrecking anything in their way. My muscles went limp in fear.

Good job, Dove, I scolded myself. You killed one hornet and in turn woke the whole nest.

That hesitation was my downfall. Or rather my uplifting, as one of the vines ensnared me from behind and pulled me into the air. Demonslayer slipped from my grip and clattered to the floor below, out of reach. There would be no badass heroics from me this time.

I continued to struggle as more of the things wrapped themselves around my legs, restraining me in a manner most demeaning. The more I fought the tighter they constricted. Eventually their grip had grown so taut that it began to hurt, but I didn't give up. That is, not until I heard one of my front legs snap. The pain was immense and the accompanying howl forced its way out. My resolve broke with my leg, and I gave in to the creature's control.

As with the first of the plants we encountered, I felt an uncomfortable touch in places I didn't want touched. However, there was little I could do this time. My will to fight back was gone. I merely hung my head and accepted my fate.

As the creature moved to enter me, a sudden rush of flame whipped through the room, replacing the lingering fog. My tail singed a bit as it passed by and the heat was nigh unbearable. The fire ignited the vines holding me in place and they relinquished their possession. I hit the ground face-first. Somehow I managed to stay conscious, though my head was reeling from the impact. My vision had blurred as well, and as it slowly came back I watched as Gale and Sprocket came bursting through the entryway, guns blazing.

Gale's flamethrower was successful at driving the vines back with calculated blasts of napalm. Sprocket stopped firing our comrade's battle saddle as soon as she spotted me and rushed to my side.

Her eyes fell upon my bent and broken leg, and without a second thought she began to tend to it. Taking one of the larger thorns and tearing it from its disembodied tendril, she strapped it to my leg, straightening it into place. She then retrieved a healing potion from my bags and forced it down my throat.

The potion quickly worked its magic. The healing process was painful, but it was also quick. It wasn’t until I had stopped screaming in agony that she spoke.

"Dove, you alright?" she asked, helping me to my hooves.

"I-I think so. I thought I told you to stay put."

"We did. Just long enough to get what we needed and then come rescue your sorry plot."

"You knew I was in trouble?"

"Not at all. Gale just knew you running off on your own was trouble in itself."

"Haha, very funny." I sighed. "It's probably true though. How'd you find me anyway?"

"Dear, it wasn't hard to follow the trail of burning plant corpses you left on your way here."

I blushed, taking that as a sort of compliment. "Oh. Yeah. Guess I did leave a bit of a mess, didn't I?"

"Ya think?"

A burning vine came crashing down, narrowly missing Gale. She yelled over to us. "I don't mean to sound cliché, but could you two cut the banter and help me out with this thing?"

"Right!" Once assured I could stand on my own, Sprocket turned back to the fray. With her back hoof, she kicked Demonslayer across the ground to me. "Hope you've still got your ear plugs in, Dove. It's about to get loud in here."

I picked up the shotgun and cocked it for action. "I sure do. Though after what this creepy plant was about to do to me, I'd light it up even if I didn't."

Sprocket bit down on the battle saddle's trigger, which resulted in a resounding volley of fire. "What was that, Dove? I can't hear you!"

I shook my head. Honestly, I was glad she hadn't heard me. I wasn't really up for sharing what had happened. Instead I brought my Demonslayer's sights level to my eye and took aim. My first shot fell upon an approaching vine, which flared up and burnt clean off.

The zeal I had to tear this beast a new one was immense, and I made sure every shell hit it's mark. It was hard to miss a creature of this size though, especially with buckshot loaded.

The monster seemed to have an extreme hardiness. Even with the amount of damage we had already done, it still kept up the offensive. A large tendril crashed into the ground as I rolled sideways. Another slammed into the wall where Gale had stood only a moment before. Sprocket charged forward only to be thwarted by yet another.

At this rate we’ll run out of ammunition before this thing goes down, I realized. I have to get to the reactor’s terminal now, or this isn’t going to end well for us.

In between cracking off bullets and dodging lawless vines I searched for an opening to the reactor. Amidst the twisting tendrils and the chaos of our combat with them I would never get that opening.

“Gale, Sprocket, rally on me at the doorway!” I shouted, turning tale towards the room’s entrance. I heard the plant’s attempts to grab me hit the metallic floor behind me, but I kept my focus forward. When I reached the door, I spun ‘round on my hooves. Demonslayer laid down covering fire as Gale and Sprocket drew up to my position.

“Alright kid, what’s the plan?” Gale asked. A vine made its attempt to strike her and she moved to retaliated with the flamethrower, but I drew her back with a hoof and planted a shell into the flesh of the plant. The shot ignited and the tendril withdrew.

“Hold your fire, Gale. I’m willing to bet you’re almost out of fuel, and we’ll need to use it wisely.”

“Alright,” she acknowledged. “So then, what did you have in mind?”

“Sprocket,” I yelled over her gunshots, “continue laying down fire from here. Cover Gale as she advances up the middle with me.”

“Right!”

“Gale, I’ll need you to use your fuel sparingly as we move in, but light up any vines that come too close to us.”

“Roger that, but what do you expect to do when we get close?”

“You let me handle that. Just, when I tell you to run, I want both of you to get out of here. I’ll follow you if I can.”

“Dove,” she said in a much harsher harsher tone, “what exactly are you planning to do? Tell me. Now.”

“I—” I hesitated, realizing just how crazy what I intended to do was. I steeled myself, though. This was the only way my tunneled vision could see to end this. “I’m going to overload the reactor, taking that monstrosity and it’s children with it.”

“Are you crazy‽ That’ll turn this whole damn place into a smoldering crater!”

“That’s exactly why I want both of you to run and get the hell out of here.”

“But what about you? If you get caught in the blast, what do you expect me to tell Lily?”

A vine crashed down between us, bringing our attention back to the fight. I yelled across it to Gale as it retreated, “Forget about me. In the event that I don’t make it out, Lily will understand if it was to protect you two. Just take care of her for me, Gale.”

My words spoken, I rushed forward. I knew Gale was going to protest, so I didn’t give her the chance. I’m sure the thoughts ran through her mind, though. Regardless, I felt the heat of her flamethrower pulsing behind me. I knew she was with me for better or worse.

The charge toward the reactor was short in distance, but the adrenaline flowing through me slowed everything down to a more manageable pace. Rounds from Gale’s battle saddle, in the hooves of Sprocket, rushed overhead, keeping the beast at bay. Where it found an opening to encroach, it was quickly set aflame. I galloped over the charred remains of severed vines, pushing forward all the while. My heart pounded in my ears. Through it all my mind remained clear. I had one shot at this and I was going to make it count.

Demonslayer rose in front of me as I ran. It was hard to aim with the weight of the shotgun bobbing around in my mouth. But I didn’t need perfect aim, I just needed to hit.

The shell rocketed out of the gun’s muzzle, dispersing into its individual pellets. Those pellets crashed into the plant where it had surrounded the reactor. The flame spell didn’t catch this time, but it was enough. The dark vines tore away from their host and fell to floor, creating an opening to the terminal beneath.

Gale and I slowed to a halt and I immediately began to work at the terminal. Fortunately, this one was not locked with a password and came to life on command. The pegasus behind me continued to spew flame from her weapon as the plant attempted to stop me. It was distracting, but I kept my focus centered on what I was doing.

Reactor settings. Manual override. Authorization code... crap. I should have known it would ask for that. This time, I didn’t have time to question it. I had to just assume that Stable-Tec kept its codes the same across its facilities this time. Authorization code 1-16-16-12-5-10-1-3-11.

The terminal hesitated for a moment as it processed the code. I heard Gale’s voice behind me, but I never registered what she actually said. The screen yielded an “override code accepted,” displayed the settings menu, and I continued my work.

Reactor core 1. Power output 200 percent. Reactor core 2. Power output 200 percent. Reactor core 3. Power output 200 percent. The terminal flashed with a warning instructing me to reduce power output levels or an overload could occur. I dismissed the warning with a chuckle.

“Gale, it’s time. Take Sprocket and get out of here. Assuming I survive, I’ll meet you back at Underdog Town.”

Gale paused for a moment. I stared intently at her, showing her my resolve. A nod was all she gave me and she took off back toward where Sprocket was. I made sure the two of them had cleared out and the door closed behind them before continuing.

Reactor core 4. Power output 200 percent. Main reactor core. Power output 300 percent. The screen flashed another warning, this time to tell me that an overload was imminent. I dismissed it again and all that remained was a countdown. Okay, Dove, this is it. You either make it out of this alive or die putting up one hell of a fight.

Thirty.

Sticking as close to the reactor as I could, I reloaded Demonslayer. I was beneath the plant’s line of sight. While it knew I was there, I just had to avoid it’s searching vines while I prepared my escape. As soon as the shotgun was loaded, I burst forth from my cover and ran.

Twenty-five.

For the first few moments I was in the clear. My exit seemed to have gone noticed as I made for the door. My hopes were short lived though when a vine I hadn’t seen snuck up underhoof and snagged itself on my leg. I tumbled forward, slamming face first into the floral ashes that had settled on the hard, metal floor.

Twenty

I felt the plant’s tendrils begin to envelope me once more. That was it; I wasn’t having this a third time. Demonslayer sung out with all it’s fury. Every single shell struck its target. About half of them struck a flame in the creature. The vines retreated and I turned tale myself.

Fifteen.

Breaking through the doorway, I left the monstrosity behind me. More of its spawn lay just beyond in the hallway, smoldering in ruin. My companions had done a fine job clearing a path. I holstered Demonslayer in stride and galloped onward.

Ten.

Hooves to metal, I ran.

Nine.

Down the stairs toward the entrance.

Eight.

A barely surviving plant reached it’s still burning vine toward me, helpless.

Seven.

Avoiding the creature’s reach, I pushed forward through the stable.

Six.

Up the stairs and down the hallway.

FIve.

The stable door drew into sight.

Four.

Fortunately, it was still open.

Three.

Out into the light.

Two.

Blinded. Running.

One.

Tripping. Falling.

Zero.

The ground behind me shook. I felt the earth below my body lift as it fractured. The trees around me groaned as they were uprooted and crashed into one another. It was as if Hell itself had opened up directly beneath me.

I felt myself lift into the air and a rush of heat around me. The explosion threw me away like a wet paper towel, sending me flying amongst the debris. Something struck the back of my skull and I blacked out.

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Ugh. The pain in the back of my head throbbed and my eyes drifted open.

Smoke breached my lungs, strangling my throat as I choked on it. The orange light around me flickered. Fire glowed brightly amongst the ruins as I took the sight in.

Strewn about on their sides, trees lay shattered, broken, and burning. The structure of the dome surrounding the gardens had collapsed into piles of rubble and shards of glass. Where the stable entrance had been, a massive crater now took its place. I began to question what had happened.

I remembered running. What had I been running from?

I remembered tripping. What had I tripped on?

I remembered the ground quaking. I remembered the explosion.

Explosion. That’s right. I had overloaded the stable reactor and ran, both from it and that horrible plant-beast. As I left the stable and made my way through the gardens, my hoof had snagged on a tree root, which sent me face first into the ground as it shook and fractured. During the blast, something had smacked the back of my head causing my loss of consciousness. What had that been?

I looked around, trying to spot anything that could have landed the blow. The problem was, in an explosion of that size anything could have done it. I was near to giving up when my eyes landed upon Demonslayer. The shotgun laid silently amongst the wreckage. Somehow it had slid free of its holster and was likely the culprit for knocking me clean out.

I struggled to my hooves in order to retrieve the weapon. My entire body ached, but fortunately this time the bones all seemed to be intact. That didn’t make it any easier to stand, though. I finally found myself on all four hooves, so I stumbled over and retrieved the gun.

My head pounded again and the shock of the impact knocked me off my hooves. I hit the dirt again and this time I stayed there. I had exhausted all my energy just to get this far. I started to fade once more. This time however, I heard something before I lost consciousness completely.

“Dovetail? Dovetail!”

Once more into the void I went.

Footnote: Level up!
New Perk: The Fire of Courage - Your actions have inspired your companions. Even when you’ve given up, they will continue to fight on with a ferocious loyalty.