Lost once again, Blake is searching for his way home. Along the way, he's run into many familiar faces, some friendly, some not as much, but none were able to help him in achieving his goal. Now, he is stuck in a room with three door: A red, smoking door labeled "FEAR", a brown, wood door covered in blood stains labeled "DEATH", and a green door that sends electricity through the air labeled "DREAD". Every single one sounds like a horrible decision, but Blake has no choice. He has to go through one of these doors.
Having no choice but one of the three doors, Blake went with the one label 'FEAR'. He wasn't exactly sure why he did, but he did. Opening the door, he was greeted by a dimensional void. One that led to another world outside this one. "Well... Here goes nothing..." He said in a small voice, jumping into the void as the door slammed shut behind him.
After tumbling through the vortex, he came out walking on the other side. "Well, that was fun... Like the first 200 times..." He said, slightly annoyed. He sighed and gave his surroundings a look around. He was in a dimly lit cave of some sorts. Wooden beams where in place, holding up the ceiling of rocks that look like they could fall. The floor was completely submerged in water, which came up past Blake's forehoof. The surrounding walls were made of a brick-like material, though Blake wasn't for certain. "This is cheery." Blake said to himself. "I wonder what possibly could go wrong down her."
Then from the depths of the cavern came a cry. No, a screech of something unholy. The sound sent shivers down Blake's spine. "What the heck was that?" He asked aloud, his voice shaking in fear. He decided that it was probably best not to stay in one spot and started to head forward, his hooves wading in the water, splashing. "Hope there's no flesh-eating bacteria in here..." He commented.
The screech came again, louder, much closer than before. Blake had to clamp his jaw together to keep his teeth from chattering. Before him was two different paths: One leading into darkness, no certain destination visible, the other heading deeper into the cavern. Blake had to choose a path, and quick! That sound was growing closer...
As the sounds of the screeching grew closer, Blake made the quick decision to go deeper into the cave. "Nothing good can come from darkness. Especially with those sounds..." He said to himself as he splashed through the water, heading down deeper into the cave.
His travels took a while and along the way, he found several colorful stones. One's that he felt were important somehow. Not knowing why he would need them, or even how he knew, he chipped the rocks out of the wall and placed them in his convenient saddle bag, which he had this whole time. "At least... I think I've had it." He commented, looking at the bags. He shook the thought out of his head and continued down the path as the screams from behind grew softer.
As Blake traveled down the path, he notice the walls become less rocky and more brick-like, which confused him. "I'm deep in this cave. How the heck is that possible?" He asked aloud. Then he noticed that the water around his hooves began to flow forward, as if gravity was having more of an affect on it position. "Wha..." Blake looked a bit worried.
Then he noticed the light at the end of the path. It was a bright, warm glow that seemed far more inviting than the dimly lit cave he was traveling in. Without hesitation, he rushed forward, moving towards the light at a very quick speed. Then the sound of rushing water hits his ears and he tried to slow down, skidding through the water towards an edge. He managed to get a grip on the ground underneath the water, coming to a full stop on the edge. His heart raced inside his chest as he breathed heavily, but then he forgot the incident right then.
Over the edge, he saw what he could make out to be a small town, one built UNDERground! This certainly was a discovery! "But... Why?" Blake questioned, confused on why this would, or even could exist. Something about the town was off. "It could be worth investigating. There might be somepony... Or something alive down there that could help me..." Then he noticed them. The giant metal figures that stumbled through the town, a giant drill attached to a hand. "But... Heading down there could also get me killed..." He said, looking around. "Of course, I could always fly over to that tunnel over there. It might lead to a way out of here. Or even another door!" Blake frowned, scratching his head. "Oh, what should I do?"
Blake decided that it was worth the risk to explore the town in hopes of finding somepony who could help him. Flapping his wings, he lifted himself of the edge and lowered himself slowly into the town, avoiding the gaze of all the metal creatures that were stomping around the town. Landing on one of the upper parts of the town, he proceeded to sneak his way through, hiding and dashing from spot to spot, knocking on the doors, only to get no response from each one.
Eventually, he made his way to the third level of the town when something caught his eye at the bottom of the cavern. Well, more like caught his nose. As he was passing over a small bridge, he got a whiff of the raw sewage that rested at the bottom of the cavern. "Oh, geez, that stinks..." He said, trying to waft away the smell. He peered over the edge to see the greenish-yellow liquid that swirled and bubbled, looking far more harmful then it smelled. "Definitely NOT going for a swim..." He commented.
As he looked over the edge, he felt the metal ground under him shake as a pair of footsteps thudded his way. "Uh oh..." Was Blake's only comment as he looked up into the (face?) of a metal monstrosity. It roared at him, it's drill spinning rapidly as it reached out to grab him. Blake tried to back off, but his hind hoof slipped off the edge and, before he could do anything, he slipped off the bridge, but his fall was short. The back of his neck was grabbed forcefully by the metal monster, which pulled him back up from his watery grave. "Oh, sweet Celestia, that was..." He started to say, before the creature nearly forced the drill into his face. "AH! GET OFF!" Blake cried, trying to push away the drill with his magic as it grew closer to his face...
"Ignit, Stop!" A voice called out. The metal monster groaned as the drill stopped inches from Blake's face, which Blake was reacting to via panicked breathing.
The beast turned, looking at the man in white who ran his way. "Put him down, Ignit!" He commanded the metal beast. It moaned again in reply as it set Blake onto the ground before stepping back. The man made his way to Blake's side. "Oh dear, are you alright?" He asked, a bit worried. Blake simply nodded, lifting himself up slowly. "I'm so sorry about that... We don't get many visitors from the surface anymore... Ignit's programming must have thought you as a threat..." He explained.
"Guess you should consider yourself lucky we were making our rounds at this moment, huh, or you might have been a stain of big boy's drill..." A taller man said from behind the other.
"Yeah... Lucky..." Blake said, rubbing the back of his neck. He winced in pain when he touched it.
The man in white looked him over. "Ignit's grip is quite strong. The pain should only last a short while." He stood up, giving Blake a small smile. "It's nice to have visitors, especially one that's an alicorn. Please, come with me." He turned and started to walk.
Blake looked at him, curious. 'There's something off about this... I could go along with them, or I can take my leave now, before anything else tries to kill me...' Blake thought to himself.
Blake sighed and got up, following after the strange man. He led his through the town to an empty building that didn't seem any different than the rest. Along the way, the man asked him questions about the surface world, which Blake replied to as best as he could.
"I'm sorry for bombarding you with all these questions, sir. It's just... We don't get any visitors from above anymore. I started to believe you forgot about us..." He said to Blake, looking sorry.
"It's fine... I'm just curious why you would think that." Blake said, giving him a look of curiosity.
"Oh, it's just that... Ever since that monster moved into the cave, it's attacked every single pony that's come down into the cave... I thought that since there wasn't any known solutions to the current situation, you all just simply gave up." He explained.
"Uh... Monster? You mean that screeching I heard a while ago?"
"You only heard the screeching? Well, that's good news. It means it doesn't know where you are..." He said in a slightly hopeful voice.
"I guess that's good..." Blake said, rubbing his head. He looked over at the taller man wearing a red shirt and vest and noticed...
"Is that Twilight?" He asked, a bit concerned.
"Not exactly... It's a clone of her. Not a perfect one, either. She doesn't have a functional voice box yet, but I'm working on it."
"A clone? You made a clone of Twilight?"
"Well, yes. We couldn't keep the real Twilight down here, so we made a duplicate to fill in as our secondary scientist." He explained, approaching the doorway of the building.
"And the cybernetics?"
"Part of our testing. We're attempting to create metallic body parts for ponies so if they are to lose any limbs, we can replace them. She's current testing out our latest development and they seem to be handling well, right?" He looked at the lavender pony, who nodded in agreement.
They entered the building, which was empty except for a counter and a few bookshelves.
The Cloned Twilight trotted around the counter and pressed a switch. Then the bookshelves began to move, revealing a hidden passage that led further down.
"Come, please! You must see what we have done!" The man in white said with a smile.
"Wait! I don't even know your name..."
"Dr. Gast, sir." He replied. "Won't you come?"
Blake followed Dr. Gast through the doorway into a spiral staircase that led down further into the planet. His hooves clattered against the metal as he went down, followed by the Cloned Twilight and the man in red. There was a loud 'thud' from behind them, causing Blake to jump and almost tumble down the staircase. "What the..." He looked behind after getting his balance back.
"It's just the bookcase moving back into place, sir..." Dr. Gast said to him, looking back at him. "It's nothing to worry about."
Blake let out a small sigh and continued down the staircase till they came to the bottom, where it led into a long corridor towards another closed door. Blake started towards it, but felt something tug on his tail as he started walking. He looked back at the Twilight behind him, who quickly trotted next to him and kept close to him, as if she was trying to help keep him safe. It was a bit weird to Blake, but he didn't question it, walking with her next to him, approaching the door.
Dr. Gast opened the door and a flood of light washed over the corridor, brightening up everything. "Welcome to the Lab, sir." He said, stepping through the doorway. Blake followed in gave a look around, surprised.
"This is the main observation station. It over looks the rest of the lab." He said, walking through the room. He stops in front of the large window. "And here... Is what we've been working on..." Blake walked over to the window, Twilight by his side, and looked out.
"Sweet Celestia..."