//------------------------------// // P - 9 - Library of Salvation... // Story: Metro - Lavender Exile // by Wreck //------------------------------// 'The train ride took soo long.' Twilight thought as the trains started slowing down. On the front, she could notice lights and noise reminded her of the other station Prospekt they visited during their ride. In the last few hours, she got to know her company. The Griffon is called Ronal and his pegasus friend is called Mack and both of them owned a food cart and drove around Stalliongrad selling their food. The changeling... Well, he hasn't spoken much and he... Or she... She has no idea who the changeling is, no matter how many times she tried to start a conversation, the changeling would not respond in any way... She decided to call the changeling Red since that's the color besides the black skeleton. On that note Twilight discovered something, changeling doesn't have skin but something like a skeleton but it's smooth... She couldn't properly explain it other than what some bugs have on them that's as hard as a rock but smoother than skin or fur. She would note that down when she came back. "Right, the Universitet station. Back in the day, it was a station where many students came and went since it was the fastest way from their home to the Universitet. Now it's the biggest of the three sister stations that we know survived to this day." Mack stated as he left the cart with his bag. Red silently followed and Ronal grabbed two bags with Twilight jumping onto the station's floor. "So students came here?" Twilight asked. Ronal started walking behind his friend who followed their group. "Aye, still are from what we heard. Just before the day happened students were on their way back home and some were lucky to arrive at the last moment." Rolan said while gesturing at nearby rooms which reminded Twilight of the room she had back when she was Cel... Princess Celestia's student. In those rooms, different beings sat at their tables or walked back and forth while what she could relate to... Muttering and Science. "All of us are lucky Ron. If not for luck nobody could survive in those tunnels. Sure they prepared for war and those tunnels were supposed to work as shelter from magic- which I doubted at first after knowing that someone could raise the sun and moon -and bombardments in case someone used explosives. But after the day I know that nobody could survive that even if they could move the sun or moon." Mack responded with a depressing tone. Everyone knew that by a string of luck everyone is alive and nobody dared to change it. "Anyway, Twilight I heard you have family that went on the first group. Do you think we could-" Ronal was about to ask but was cut off by Twilight. "NO-no! Sorry but no I... Am not supposed to be here helping in the expedition. Uncle said that it's too dangerous." Twilight half-whispered as she looked around. "Right... So what do we do when your uncle bumps into us?" Mack asked while shrugging. "If it comes to that then I'll talk to him... Hopefully, he won't be too angry since he would prefer to prioritize the expedition before wanting to yell at me." Twilight answered slightly cringing at small memory back on her home station when she and Sky helped Miss Gaba for... Fifth time probably and a pair of teens crashed into her house creating a big mess. Sky cleaned up and seemed calm at first until he finished and started yelling in a way she reminded about a pony trainer that trained her br... Captain of Royal Guard. 'They aren't here... And they wouldn't follow me after what they did.' Twilight closed her eyes and resisted the urge of letting anger get to her. Breathe remember what she... 'No it's her fault. I should find a better way to calm down.' Twilight sighed. Then she felt she walked into someone. Red... "Sorry..." Twilight didn't know if she would offend Red if she called Red... Well, Red. Red nodded and continued behind Rolan. "You alright Twilight?" Mack asked looking at her as she caught up. "Yes, it just... Bad memories... Before the day." Twilight hinted that it isn't something she want to talk about. "It's ok. Everyone has a personal bag with dark magic. That's what my dad used to say that everyone has magic both good and bad. He would sometimes call things like memories as magic... I'm still not sure why." Mack said looking toward where they have arrived at. The crowd in front of them stood before a train where police forces were stationed on top of it with someone who... Is that a marshall? A changeling with a black kevlar chest piece and metallic talons with a silver badge on his shoulder. He wore a brown trench coat. "Sir the last group has arrived." Earth pony officer said while saluting. "All right," Marshall muttered as he stood up and walked towards the edge of the train. "All right listen up... I SAID LISTEN UP!" He yelled at the whispering crowds. "Thats something. Didn't realize there was a marshall alive." Ronal whispered. "Yeah. I thought they were stationed on the western side of Stalliongrad." Mack whispered as well. Twilight was a bit too fascinated to answer as this was her first time seeing someone who is a marshall. A marshall was someone that was a veteran police officer and detective. Most of the police forces are supposed to be led by marshalls. Their attire just screamed about some evil intent but when she looked at the expression of the changeling he was calm and collected and didn't have an inch of evil overlord vibe. "I'll keep this short." Marshall paused as he looked at the crowd. "Our excavation team manage to dig up an entrance to the library from which we hope most of you could retrieve its contents. Anything is valuable. From storybooks to science documents... That's what we recommend. And is the first phase. The second phase is much more dangerous as we don't know if the Universitet is safe from the air outside the building. We managed to gather a small package that was supposed to arrive before this fiasco took place but we're lucky it got here. It's a small collection of gas masks that should allow for short-term breathing outside." Marshall said in all directions making sure everyone heard it. People perked up at the idea of being able to look around the surface. "Don't let that bring up hopes yet. When I mean short-term I mean half an hour outside. After that, you suffocate." Marshall dropped the enthusiasm of the audience. "Bigger problem is we don't know how to make more of them. Until now... Or well hopefully now. From what we could recover in reports the plans for those masks and their filters are in the university. The second phase requires a few volunteers to search the university in hopes we could find the plans. We narrowed the search area to a few design rooms. Map for the university will be given to those who choose to be part of the second phase." Marshall said as he looked around and heard the sound of approval. "Now... Raise your glove if you want to be part of the second phase..." Marshall started as he looked at the crowd from which 20 gloves/talons were raised. He silently counted. "Right I see twenty brave beings. I'll need two of you to drop out as we have only eighteen masks." Marshall said. Two gloves dropped. "Thank you. Now we are going to have four teams per four beings. Those who raised their hands walked towards the armory. It's a room next to the police station." Marshall said as he pointed towards the police station. He waited a few moments before leaving the crowd. Twilight silently went towards the station looking around for Sky just in case he volunteered to the second phase. Luckily he wasn't anywhere near the armory at the moment. Now, where did the... "Told ya she would come." A familiar voice said as she turned towards it. Rolan and Mack were walking toward her with Red in tow. "What are you three doing here?" Twilight asked. "We sort of... also volunteered to join the second thing," Mack said as he scratched the back of his head. "Why would you though?" Twilight asked tilting her head. "Well our old lives may be gone but... We can try to recover as much as we could." Ronal said as he smiled slightly looking at Mack and Red. "That's quite nice though, after all, that happened," Twilight said as she walked with them towards the armory. "Right looks like we got four of already teamed up eh? Well, any one of ya got weapons training?" Unicorn officer asked as he looked at them. Red nodded and went forward. "Right here ya go. Don't use it unless ya have to. Here you go 24 bullets." Unicorn said as he grabbed a locker in which there was a smaller firearm and two pouches with golden metals strapped to them. Red grabbed the firearm and placed it in her pocket bag and took the pouches with metals. "Now for all of you. These here are mighty medical injections. Perfect for fast and simple wounds like cuts and headaches while also great painkillers. Just don't think those can revive the dead or they heal everything. For broken bones and other stuff, you have a hospital. You have five of those injections in one lovely orange box. On the surface, there should be also a few of them scattered around in the same boxes. Do try to retrieve some of them as they could save lives." Unicorn said she placed four of those boxes on the table. "Now for the main and most important object you receive. Those are the gas masks marshall said. Each of them is made for all sizes and shapes so you shouldn't have a problem wearing them. Just be aware that every breath uses filters which we don't have many. Once you're out of them then you die. So remember to keep in check with time. Each filter lasts around 15 standard minutes. Also, make sure you don't break the glass. They didn't make it that its mouth only so please make sure that glass is in one piece." Unicorn stated as he placed four of the masks I'm the table. All of them are black material similar to rubber. "Right, that's all there's to it. Remember that you should get the masks before you enter the university or if you see as much as a hole in the room from which light comes out... Or you start choking." Unicorn continued to babble before he stopped and bid them good luck. Twilight was currently walking through a poorly lit tunnel made obviously by diamond dogs. She could notice what looked like what once would be crystal formations but were excavated probably for use for the stations. Ronal and Red were silent through most of the journey while Mack kept looking towards other groups that were already returning with fortunes of books. Some look like they barely are attached to their covers. Once they entered the library Twilights eyes shined from the number of books she could find. Ronal thought for a second there were two moons instead of eyes. "Right our search area should start on the upper floor in the northern segment," Mack said as he held the map given just before they left the armory. They reached what looked like small reception where two great doors led towards the university. "We should close the door behind us so others don't suffocate," Mack suggested. "Aye." Ronal approved as he went toward the door and placed a small plank to make sure nobody opened it. "Right... Who had the instruction for the masks?" Ronal asked as he looked at Mack who looked at Red. Red grabbed a scroll from his bag and opened it for everyone to see. "Ok, so we get those on our face and then secure it with those behind our head," Twilight said as she studied the small instruction and grabbed her mask. Others copied her and tried to get the masks on them correctly. After a few tries and wasting two minutes of filters, they managed to securely wear the masks... Even if it was uncomfortable for some. "My feathers itch..." Ronal complained while scratching the back of his head. "Hey, not my fault they made them like that... Also, try not to scratch there I don't want you to die in this place." Mack responded. Red nodded in approval. The longer they walked among those halls the more stressing the silence became. They found a couple of ruined roofs where the extremely clouded sky could be seen. Most of the universities halls looked trashed by what happened that day. They were a few rooms before reaching their design room before Twilight stopped and tried to understand what she saw. In the wall was a massive hole that appeared the building has collapsed part of itself... "Gods..." Mack muttered as he saw the same landscape. Once the proud standing tall building was turned into something that looked decades old as with fires ranging all across the city. There could be seen some weird flying birds in the distance through a lot of them were shortly after falling. "So that's how outside looks like now... I think I prefer to stay in the metro." Ronal said looking at the destruction. Red watched the birds in the distance with suspicion. "I wish I could take a picture so I could look at it later. Right now we need to move we have only twenty minutes of filters left to explore. After that, we are returning with the last filters." Mack said as he checked his watch. Finally, after a long time, they reached the design room secured with a metal door. Luckily they had the keys from police forces who used a universal key to open most public doors. Before all of them entered Red stopped and swiftly turned towards where they came from... Streeeeep... Streeeeeep... Streeep... Red noticed in the slightly broken wall something moved behind its holes. Red jumped into the room and closed the door with loud *wham* following it. Everyone looked at her as she slowly opened a small opening in the viewing window to see... Something beyond their experiences...