//------------------------------//
// Chapter Sixty Four: Intermission, Part 1 
// Story: We don't go to Sub-Level Five 
// by RadBunny 
//------------------------------//

Twilight glared at the cowering unicorn. The company representative had wet himself, limbs still shaking in fear.

“I don’t suppose you’re able to explain any of this?” she asked calmly, horn still smoking from multiple arcane discharges.

The unicorn shook his head initially, but then finally nodded once.

Behind Twilight, the now-smoldering corpse of the Skitter Queen and a dozen pony corpses were visible, the teleportation spell having yanked the wounded behemoth creature into one of the Stairway Company’s large receiving platforms along with six of her brood.

The Princess had only been contacted when the security force of the previously-secret installation had begged her to intervene. The Queen had slaughtered the Company’s quick-reaction force before attacking the large blast doors. Twilight could only assume it was Astral who had sent the monster here; contact had been lost with him many hours ago.

When she had gotten word of it, Luna had offered to dispatch the creature herself, claiming it would be a ‘glorious battle’. Her husband had apparently been rather miffed that they couldn’t have a monster-slaying date again.

She now understood why Luna had picked the stallion. But Twilight had settled for some instant alchemy, modifying the hydrogen levels in the room until one of the many damaged electrical panels ignited the air. It had been an instant inferno, burning everything inside the teleportation room to a sterile crisp behind a dozen layers of magical shields.

The Skitters accompanying the Queen had been dispatched, so the threat was disposed of, for now. But there were still two Thestrals unaccounted for.





Sassi awoke to a pounding headache. The mare let out a groan, her senses dulled and limbs obnoxiously leaden.

I was in the reactor room.
An armored figure.
Running.

That snapped the mare back to the present, her eyes flying open.
ASTRAL!

Everything else took a back seat in her mind. Sassi’s eyes darted around their surroundings. The medical bay greeted her, and while she hadn’t been to this one specifically, it was laid out similar to another one in Silo Three. Dormant healing crystals were glowing softly next to the mare, a few others on retractable robotic arms.

An armored pony was crumbled near the entrance, two miniguns strapped to their side.

Only now noticing the empty IV connected to her arm, Sassi disconnected it and dashed over to the figure. Even with her increased strength, it was a struggle to push them onto their side. Red healing spells still flickered across the armor, the aura emanating from the identical, robotic arms poised over the nearest medical bed with diamond-shaped crystals on the ends.

She carefully removed the helmet, red warning lights flashing on the interior.

A horrified cry then ripped from her throat.